Category: US Politics

Warren Buffett praises a talented and ambitious immigrantsa in shareholder letter

Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events It’s become an American tradition to parse billionaire Warren Buffett’s annual letters to his shareholders for nuggets of plain-spoken insight, wit and sometimes a dash of politics. In this year’s letter, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman brought up a familiar subject under Donald Trump’s presidency: immigrants.

Trump is upset the media is not reporting a meaningless statistic about the national debt

Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events People use mobile devices to record President Trump as he speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Feb. 24. On “Fox & Friends” Saturday morning, former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain credited President Trump with reducing the national debt, after just one month in office. “And here’s another statistic that I haven’t heard anybody talk about.

The Trump team may have gone even further to knock down news…

White House officials allegedly sought to recruit congressional lawmakers and the US intelligence community to help throw cold water on stories about communications between Russia and people in President Donald Trump’s inner circle. According to a Washington Post report published Friday evening, some of those lawmakers were asked by the White House to talk to reporters and refute stories from The New York Times and CNN that alleged frequent communication between Trump allies and the Kremlin before the election.

‘It transformed me’: Donna Brazile reflects on ‘constant…

Outgoing Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile, in some of her first public comments since the presidential election, opened up Friday about how Russian hacking of the DNC last year colored not only the outcome of the election but also her personal experience in politics. In an interview with Business Insider at the DNC winter meeting on Friday, the chair reflected on the effects of the release of hacked emails from the committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman that were published by WikiLeaks last year.

Al Gore just sold $29 million of Apple stock

Former US Vice President Al Gore sold 215,437 shares of Apple this week at an average price of $136.72 per share – a transaction netting him about $29.4 million. The sales appear to represent a significant portion of Gore’s stake in the iPhone maker.

Herbert Hoover’s Radio Malware Turns 90

On February 23, 1927, Babe Ruth had still to hit 60 home runs in a season. Yet President Calvin Coolidge would that day sign a bill that would establish how radio spectrum-the “economic oxygen” of the emerging information age-would still be governed 90 years later.

Trump to Speak at Conservative Forum

President Donald Trump takes the stage on Friday at an annual conservative forum, looking to plant his personal stamp firmly on the political movement even as some activists fret his immigration and trade policies go too far. Trump will address the third day of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, which has focused on how to fulfill long-held Republican goals to revamp the U.S. tax code, repeal federal regulations on industry and repeal former Democratic President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

Ajit Pai adopts a ‘light touch’ leading Trump’s FCC

The head of the Federal Communications Commission wants to embrace a “light touch” approach to regulation under his leadership and the new administration. “Light touch regulation means that we create broad regulatory frameworks that can protect consumers to ensure an overall competitive marketplace,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” last week.

Khanna says Democrats must be more “far more bold” at first town hall

Hundreds of people packed an auditorium at Ohlone College in Fremont on Wednesday night to hear freshman U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna speak on a broad range of topics at his first town hall event as a congressman. Khanna defeated fellow Democrat and eight-term incumbent Mike Honda on a campaign platform focused on moving the Democratic Party to a more progressive stance, and he pushed those same points to a receptive crowd Wednesday.

Trump Tower Protection Cost NY City $24M From Election to Inauguration

It cost New York City about $24 million to provide security at Trump Tower, President Donald Trump’s skyscraper home in Manhattan, from Election Day to Inauguration Day, or $308,000 per day, New York’s police commissioner said on Wednesday. The revelation prompted renewed calls for Congress to reimburse the city for the cost of protecting Trump’s private residence on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, where his wife and their son continue to reside.

FCC defends not fighting legal challenge to prison call rates

The Federal Communications Commission is defending its decision not to fight a legal challenge to its rate cap on prison phone calls that it passed under the Obama administration. Brendan Carr, the commission’s acting general counsel, wrote in a letter to Rep. Bobby Rush that the FCC’s stance has changed now that the group is chaired by Republican Ajit Pai, who criticized the original rule when it first passed.

FCC defends not fighting legal challenge to prison call rates

The Federal Communications Commission is defending its decision not to fight a legal challenge to its rate cap on prison phone calls that it passed under the Obama administration. Brendan Carr, the commission’s acting general counsel, wrote in a letter to Rep. Bobby Rush that the FCC’s stance has changed now that the group is chaired by Republican Ajit Pai, who criticized the original rule when it first passed.

Kansas governor to wield veto pen on tax bill

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, speaks of the tax bill he was sent last week at the Kansas Chamber annual dinner in Topeka, Kan., Tuesday night, Feb. 21, 2017. Brownback said Tuesday that he will veto a bipartisan bill that would roll back personal income tax cuts he’s championed to help balance the state budget.

Senators Want Sessions to Review AT&T, Time Warner Deal

The planned $85 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner could be facing further scrutiny as top senators on the Judiciary Committee are urging the DOJ to look into the deal further, due to antitrust concerns. Subcommittee chair Sen. Mike Lee and Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions highlighting parts of the deal they find concerning, The Hill reports.

President Trump captured on tape telling golf club supporters to…

Leaked audiotape from inside President Trump’s New Jersey golf club shows him inviting members to “come along” to see him interview candidates for top government positions, shortly after winning the US election. In the tape obtained by Politico, the recently-elected President thanks members of the Bedminster club for their support throughout the campaign and congratulates them on picking a winner.

The top 20 presidents in US history, according to historians

It should come as little surprise to anyone that, for the third time in a row, historians agree that Abraham Lincoln was the best US President. As part of C-SPAN’s third Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership , almost 100 historians and biographers rated the 43 former presidents on ten qualities of presidential leadership: Public persuasion, crisis leadership, economic management, moral authority, international relations, administrative skills, relations with congress, vision, pursued equal justice for all, and performance within the context of his times.

Trump Team Sounding Out Tech Firms Ahead of Delayed Cyber Order

The Trump administration has quietly consulted technology industry leaders ahead of issuing a delayed executive order on cybersecurity, even as executives have clashed with the White House over policies including the president’s efforts to limit entry to the U.S. President Donald Trump delayed the signing of a cybersecurity directive that had been planned for Jan. 31 just as legal challenges stalled his effort to ban travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries. While no new date has been set for signing the cyber order, executives attending a security conference in San Francisco this week said the administration has sought input to help smooth the rollout.

John McCain just spent 9 minutes picking apart Trump’s…

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona just spent nine minutes picking apart President Donald Trump’s worldview without mentioning his name once at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday. “In recent years, this question would invite accusations of hyperbole and alarmism; not this year,” McCain said of the event’s provocative title.

Marathon CEO Placed Steep Price Hikes on Drugs Before Emflaza

The CEO of the latest drugmaker to face criticism over a product’s high price has a history of steep hikes on other drugs and at past companies. Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Aronin, under fire for setting an $89,000 price on the company’s drug for a rare, deadly muscle disease, was questioned in a letter more than two years ago by Washington lawmakers about mark-ups on two heart drugs.

Meet the man who’ll dismantle net neutrality ‘with a smile’ – CNET

Ajit Pai, the newly christened chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, won’t let a little thing like a hurricane stop him from his obligations. When the rest of the East Coast was taking cover from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, then-FCC Commissioner Pai was sitting in his kitchen at his home in Northern Virginia delivering a keynote speech via video conference to attendees at the 4G World Trade show in Chicago.

Senate confirms Mnuchin as treasury secretary

Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary nominee for President Donald Trump, speaks during a Senate hearing in Washington on Jan. 19. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg The Senate confirmed Steven T. Mnuchin as Treasury secretary Monday evening, putting an end to a contentious and protracted debate while adding another former banker to President Trump’s roster of advisers. Mnuchin ran a bank, OneWest, that foreclosed on tens of thousands of Americans following the financial crisis, and Democrats argued that he would not represent the financial interests of ordinary Americans in office.

Bank CEOs Ask Lawmakers to Ease Capital Rules, Allow Higher Fees

Chief executives at the biggest U.S. regional banks are asking U.S. lawmakers to consider easing capital requirements and repeal part of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul that caps fees banks charge retailers on debit-card transactions. Regional banks don’t pose risks to the financial system that have caused concern among policymakers, executives of 18 banks said in a Feb. 13 letter to the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress.

U.S. Senate Expected to Confirm Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary

The U.S. Senate is expected to confirm former Goldman Sachs banker and Hollywood financier Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary on Monday, returning a Wall Street veteran to the top U.S. economic and financial job for the first time in eight years. Mnuchin’s appointment to Treasury signals the Trump administration’s trust in bankers and other senior business executives after Democrat Barack Obama launched his presidency with career regulator Timothy Geithner running Treasury and a mandate to rein in Wall Street for its role in the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The dubious cases against one med-tech tax and for a subsidy

The enduring adage that we detest taxes but obligingly accept public benefits those taxes support is playing out in Minnesota by one of the state’s largest and most prosperous interest groups. That’s hardly surprising, but eyebrows may wrinkle in this case, in which highly questionable “facts” are pushed to knock down a federal tax and, in St. Paul, to prop up a subsidy that some call a freebie handout to folks who often don’t need it.

Ex-solicitor general outlines the biggest question regarding…

A former US solicitor general said this week that what will be key to whether President Donald Trump is victorious defending his immigration moratorium in the court system is whether the executive order is interpreted solely based on the text of the document. Charles Fried, who served as solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan and is now a Harvard law professor, told Business Insider that things may not bode well for Trump if the court decides to consider statements he made along the campaign trail about banning Muslims from entering the country.