“He crunched hands, shoved shoulders and struck poses. He scoffed chocolates, ignored protocol and harangued heads of state. He denied saying things he had said, then said things that showed he did not understand. It may, mercifully, have passed off without apocalyptic mishap, but Donald Trump’s first transatlantic trip as US president still left European leaders shaken.” More …
Trump’s Budget Relies on Magic Economic Growth
“While the Congressional Budget Office expects the economy to settle into a pattern of growing at about 1.9 percent per year by 2021, the White House says growth will rise to 3 percent — way out of line with what forecasting experts in the private sector, at central banks, and at international institutions think will happen.” More …
Carrier Plant that Trump Helped Save Will Cut 300 Jobs Right Before Christmas
“Donald Trump may have convinced Carrier not to move its Indianapolis furnace plant to Mexico. But the company is still shipping about 300 of its jobs to Mexico right before Christmas.” More …
Trump Budget Based on $2 Trillion Math Error
“One of the ways Donald Trump’s budget claims to balance the budget over a decade, without cutting defense or retirement spending, is to assume a $2 trillion increase in revenue through economic growth. This is the magic of the still-to-be-designed Trump tax cuts. But wait — if you recall, the magic of the Trump tax cuts is also supposed to pay for the Trump tax cuts. So the $2 trillion is a double-counting error.” More …
Gingrich an Odd Vatican Ambassador for an Odd President
“… It is astonishing that a party that celebrates family values at every turn has a president who is on his third wife and who has bragged about his extramarital affairs and who is appointing an ambassador to the Vatican who had a six-year affair with her future husband while he was still married to his second wife. That is not a rumor: Mrs. Gingrich testified to that fact under oath during her husband’s divorce proceedings.” More …
The Beleaguered Tenants of ‘Kushnerville’
“Tenants in more than a dozen Baltimore-area rental complexes complain about a property owner who they say leaves their homes in disrepair, humiliates late-paying renters and often sues them when they try to move out. Few of them know that their landlord is the president’s son-in-law.” More …
Trump Called Philippines Dictator to Congratulate Him on His Murderous Drug War
“In a phone call from the White House late last month, U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, one of the world’s most murderous heads of state, for doing what Trump called an “unbelievable job” in his war on drugs. Trump offered an unqualified endorsement of Duterte’s bloody extermination campaign against suspected drug dealers and users, which has included open calls for extrajudicial murders and promises of pardons and immunity for the killers.” More …
The Pentagon Can’t Believe Trump Told Another President About Nuclear Subs Near North Korea
“Pentagon officials are in shock after the release of a transcript between President Donald Trump and his Philippines counterpart reveals that the US military had moved two nuclear submarines towards North Korea.” More …
Klaxon: Open-source Reporting Tool Enables Reporters to Monitor Websites for Breaking News
“The Marshall Project has launched a new open-source reporting tool, Klaxon. This web-based program enables reporters and editors to monitor scores of websites, including data-heavy governmental or corporate sites, for newsworthy changes. When Klaxon finds a new update on one of the pages it is watching, the reporter receives an alert via email, or through a designated Slack channel.” More …
Former Director of Anti-Immigration Group Set to Be Named Ombudsman at U.S. Immigration Agency
“As FAIR official, Julie Kirchner advocated harsh restrictions on immigrants. Now her job is to provide them assistance.” More …