USAToday:
In a defeat for privacy advocates, Senate leaders rebuffed a last-ditch effort by a bipartisan group of senators Wednesday to allow a vote to block a new rule that allows federal agents armed with a single search warrant to hack millions of Americans' computers or smartphones at once.Note that it was a bipartisan effort to stop the rules from taking effect, and it was the Republican Senate leaders who overruled it. Never let it be said the Republican establishment is "Constitutionalist" in any way. This is a clear violation of the 4th Amendment, prohibiting illegal search and seizures.
That rule will now take effect Thursday.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Chris Coons, D-Del., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., took to the Senate floor to seek agreement to bring up bills to stop the rule from taking effect or at least delay it for three to six months to give Congress more time to study it. Republican Senate leaders denied the three senators' requests for a vote.
No worries though. I think the Cowboys and Vikings are playing tonight. We have our bread and circuses.
In other news of autocrats...
The Hill:
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday fended off a challenge to her long leadership reign, defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in a closed-door vote prompted largely by Donald Trump’s unlikely ascension to the White House.If there was an award for being the most like Marie Antoinette, it would have to go to Nancy Pelosi. This is the woman who infamously said about the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy."
Pelosi got 134 votes to Ryan's 63 — winning 68 percent of the votes after declaring before the election that she had the support of two-thirds of the caucus. The victory sends a message that while there's a growing appetite for major changes in the party's leadership structure and messaging tactics, it's not strong enough to loosen Pelosi's grip on a liberal-heavy group that's rarely challenged her authority.
Democrats like to complain about obstructionist Republicans, but it was Nancy Pelosi who once said about George W. Bush, "Why should we put a plan out? Our plan is to stop him. He must be stopped."
And let's not forget one of her shining moments, when she responded to protesters chanting, "Drill here! Drill now!" with this comeback: "Can we drill your brains?" (Ok, I have to give her credit for that as one of the all-time great comebacks, even if I disagree with the sentiment.)
Speaking of Democrats...
Quartz:
Barack Obama’s expansion of the student-loan repayment program, intended to help curb America’s $1.26 trillion pile of outstanding college debt, is proving a lot more costly.Explain why the federal government should be in the business of bankrolling education loans?
In a 100-page report (pdf) released today, the Government Accountability Office said it’d forgive $108 billion in debt for the borrowers of government loans who have fulfilled their obligations under the Obama administration’s income-driven repayment plans. That number is much higher than what the US government originally expected.
Why the discrepancy? Part of it is that the number of borrowers enrolling in the plans has tripled in the last three years, forcing the government to spend more. It said almost 20% of direct-loan borrowers were “delinquent on their loan payments at the end of 2015, and more than a million borrowers defaulted on their loans over the 2015 fiscal year.”
Don't try and toss some kind of selfless "it's for the kids" or "we need an educated workforce" excuse. If that is your reasoning, then give the money away. That would be charity, which this is not.
And don't to tell me, "but they can afford to repay the money" to me, since also they clearly cannot afford to do, as proven by the default rates.
Frankly, the idea of turning colleges into an educational system suckling on the public teat is horrendous. We already did that to our K-12 education, and what has that done? American education is some of the worst in the world, which is shameful. We have nothing to show for the money we have thrown at education.
If anything, it is time to pull all federal funding from colleges. But if you absolutely insist on it, then give it away. Asking for repayment is duplicitous.
But at least with Trump in office, we will see more fiscal responsibility, right? Well...
Politico:
The deal that President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence brokered to keep Carrier jobs in Indiana likely hinges on its parent company's fear about losing business with the federal government, said an official who will play a critical role in approving the agreement.
Trump and Pence will visit Indiana on Thursday to announce they’ve delivered on a campaign promise to keep about 1,000 factory jobs from moving to Monterrey, Mexico. The agreement reportedly includes $700,000 in state tax breaks offered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-public entity that doesn't require legislative approval for its deals.
But John Mutz, a former Indiana lieutenant governor who sits on the agency’s 12-member board, told POLITICO that Carrier turned down a previous offer from IEDC before the election. He said he thinks the choice is driven by concerns from Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, that it could lose a portion of its roughly $6.7 billion in federal contracts.
So this is how Trump will save American manufacturing: By turning them into welfare queens.
(Note to Democrats: Don't get all self-righteous over this. Those contracts were already in place under Obama. Democrats support corporate welfare too.)
"Make America great again with corporate welfare!" doesn't quite work as a campaign slogan, even if it is more accurate.
(Note to Democrats: Don't get all self-righteous over this. Those contracts were already in place under Obama. Democrats support corporate welfare too.)
"Make America great again with corporate welfare!" doesn't quite work as a campaign slogan, even if it is more accurate.
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