Megan McArdle is a Bloomberg View columnist. She wrote for the Daily Beast, Newsweek, the Atlantic and the Economist and founded the blog Asymmetrical Information.
Category: US Politics
Central banks secondary to politics
Central bankers like United States Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen are expected to be less effective this year. Photo: Reuters.
Russia pledges reprisals for US hacking punishment
Moscow – Russia on Friday eyed retaliatory measures against the US after President Barack Obama kicked out dozens of suspected intelligence agents and imposed sanctions in a furious dispute over alleged election interference. The barrage of punishment against Moscow over cyber attacks dragged ties between Russia and the United States – already at their worst since the Cold War – to a fresh low less than a month ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking charge.
Obama sanctions Russia for U.S. election meddling
PanARMENIAN.Net – President Barack Obama on Thursday, December 29 unleashed a barrage of retaliatory measures against Moscow for meddling in the U.S.election, imposing sanctions on two intelligence agencies, expelling 35 agents and shuttering two Russian compounds inside the United States, AFP reports. Making good on a promise to punish Vladimir Putin’s government for allegedly trying to tilt the 2016 election in Donald Trump’s favor, Obama unveiled a broad range of steps that will inflame tensions with both Moscow and the president-elect.
Trump pledges to meet U.S. spy chiefs for Russian hacking facts
PanARMENIAN.Net – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, December 29 responded to a slew of U.S. election related sanctions against Russia with a call for the country to “move on” and a conciliatory pledge to meet U.S. spy chiefs he has harshly criticized, AFP says. “It’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” Trump said, echoing previous prickly reactions to allegations his November win over Hillary Clinton was somehow tainted by Russian interference.
President-elect Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to reporters at…
The stakes confronting Republicans determined to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care law were evident in one recent encounter between an Ohio congressman and a constituent. “He said, ‘Now you guys own it.
The crazy 2016 political year means Colorado politics will never look the same again
Specialist John Haubert Colorado Army National Guard, 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces group, Airborne posts the Colorado Flag on the House floor to start the 2016 Colorado Legislative session at the Colorado State Capitol January 13, 2015. The tumultuous year in politics left an indelible mark in Colorado — one that guarantees the state’s political landscape will never look the same.
Guest column: Reflecting on 2016’s accomplishments and 2017’s opportunities
Tim WalbergCourtesy Photo By Congressman Tim Walberg As 2016 draws to a close, and we look expectantly to the New Year, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to continue to serve Michigan’s 7th District and pause to reflect…
Good riddance 2016 | Sheneman cartoon
My previous statement may qualify as a bit of hyperbole, but not by much. Let’s go to the videotape .
Trump tells Schumer he likes him more than other GOP leaders :0
Donald Trump told Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer in a phone call he likes him more than his GOP brethren House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a source close to the transition team said. During a recent phone call, the president-elect “said to Schumer he likes Schumer more than Ryan and McConnell because they both wanted him to lose,” the source said.
Commentary: Safety net faces dire threats from Trump, GOP
Poor Americans are facing the gravest threat to the federal safety net in decades as President-elect Donald Trump takes office accompanied by a Republican-controlled Congress. The risks to essential benefits for tens of millions of low- and moderate- income Americans include losing coverage extended to them by the Affordable Care Act , threats to the fundamental structure of the Medicaid health-insurance program for the poor, and further reduction of already squeezed funding for scores of other important programs serving the most vulnerable Americans.
Schumer: Don’t Oppose It ‘Because The Name Trump Is On It’
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer says he wants Donald Trump to include “real spending” and not just tax breaks in his plan to overhaul America’s transportation infrastructure. The New York Democrat tells The Associated Press he’s shared his view with the Republican president-elect.
2017: Staten Island’s future begins now
It all starts with the new American president. Republican Donald Trump is set to take the oath of office as the nation’s 45th chief executive in a couple of weeks, the first time we’ve had a new occupant of the Oval Office since 2009.
Politics | Fecteau: Obama Strikes Back, but Too Little, too Late?
The Obama administration held Russia incrementally accountable for suspected meddling in this past presidential election through a combination of sanctions and other actions. Some media reports say this is one of the toughest responses in American history to hacking.
Politics | “The Sunday Political Brunch” – January 1, 2017
Happy New Year! As of today, I begin my fortieth year in mass media, much of that time spent covering politics at the local, state, and national levels. The year 2016 was like no other.
Bad Move? Obama’s STRIKE Against Russia Just May Have Violated International Law
We all know that President Obama’s actions against Russian in America was petty at best, but now we’re learning that could potentially be a violation of the Vienna Convention. This according to Wikileaks, who issued a Tweet on the matter following the sudden ousting of Russian diplomats from American soil.
Trump expresses doubts about security of all computers
Melania Trump, right, looks on as her husband President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters during a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla. Melania Trump, right, looks on as her husband President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters during a New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla.
‘Fake news’ cries follow discovery of Russian malware at Vermont utility
“The response to news that a Vermont electric utility found malware associated with Russian hacking on a utility laptop has been fairly predictable: forceful denunciations from local and federal officials and support for President Obama’s sanctions against the Vladimir Putin regime. But reactions also have included the now-familiar cry of ‘fake news’ from many incredulous readers in Donald Trump’s post-truth America, perhaps inspired by the president-elect’s refusal to see the claims of Russian hacking as anything other than Democratic Party politics.”
Not so predictable
A year ago, I wrote a prediction column for 2016 full of myself and greatly detailed scenarios. I was so proud of my concocted narratives that I encouraged readers to clip or save the column to their desktops for later reference.
Musical chairs
There they go again, this state’s congressmen, ’round and ’round they go, and where they’ll stop nobody knows. For it’s time again for members of the U.S. House of Representatives to choose new offices or stay where they are.
Scam artists
The “fake news” phenomenon was on vivid display in social media during the bitter 2016 presidential campaign. A typical example of the nonsense was a story, shared a million times on Facebook, stating falsely that Pope Francis had endorsed the Republican candidate Donald Trump.
New Hampshire dairy farmers struggling to survive
Dairy farms in the state had been declining slowly, from 130 in 2010 to 121 in 2015. But this year saw 19 more farms drop out of the dairy business, although they may remain in agriculture.
PROOF: Obama’s REGULATIONS Overtake Congress By The THOUSANDSa And He’s Not Done Yet
When Barack Obama said he had a pen and a phone , he of course meant he didn’t need permission to get any of his Marxist policies to become law. He would do it himself.
A woman reacts as Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump greets the crowd.
The election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and Britain’s decision to leave the European Union have raised questions over the future of tariff-free trade and companies’ freedom to move production to lower-cost countries. “We want our country back” was the rallying cry of those backing Brexit, a sound bite that had echoes in Trump’s “Make America great again.”
How to Get People to Vote
I have proposed a reform of the Electoral College that would return power back to state legislatures, would end the myth of “popular vote” for president, and would end voter fraud in presidential elections in every state chose this reform: place the selection of presidential electors back where it was in the first decades of the republic and have those electors chosen directly by state legislatures. As folks commenting on my article noted, we ought also to repeal the 17th Amendment and have state legislatures again reclaim the power to pick United States senators.
FILE – In this Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, file photo,
Trump really doesn’t trust computers President-elect leans toward old technology despite Twitter use. Check out this story on portclintonnewsherald.com: http://usat.ly/2iU5N8e FILE – In this Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, file photo, President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
The Latest: Obama kicks off New Year’s Eve on golf course
President Barack Obama is starting off New Year’s Eve hitting the links at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course, known for its views of the Pacific coastline and Koolau mountains, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Obama’s motorcade left his vacation rental home in Kailua about 10 a.m. As it arrived on base a few minutes later, the sun was breaking through the clouds.
From boycotting Olympics to expelling spies, spats between Washington and Moscow go way back
Maria del Rosario Casas Ames, with face covered, and her husband, Aldrich Ames, upper left, leave a federal courthouse in 1994. He is serving a life sentence for espionage.
Grand Old Party? Trump remaking GOP in his image
President-elect Donald Trump, center, walk with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Gov. Inslee downplayed talk of taxes on the campaign trail. Then he…
Gov. Jay Inslee told voters during 2016 that fixing Washington schools would require lawmakers “to actually put meat on the bone.” When asked where that meat would come from, the first-term Democrat talked mainly about ending tax exemptions, as well as harnessing revenue from the state’s growing economy.
US report on Democratic hacking was wake-up call for improved cybersecurity
A report that accompanied President Barack Obama’s announcement that the U.S. was expelling 35 Russian diplomats provided few new details about alleged Russian hacking of Democratic Party computers. But it did offer a warning to Americans: Beef up your computer security because the Russians are probing vulnerabilities.
It’s Alaska’s turn for EPA regional administrator, but will Trump listen to tradition?
Some Alaskans are eagerly anticipating the selection of a new regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, hoping that this time, an Alaskan will oversee the regional office. There’s a tradition, but no requirement, of rotation among the states in the region.
With Trump, Russia goes from foe of U.S. to friend
The diatribe against the Obama administration on prime-time television by a Russian Foreign Ministry official was hardly unusual in the long history of rocky relations between the United States and Russia. The Obama administration was “bad for everyone,” Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said on the Christmas Day broadcast, barreling on almost uninterrupted by the talk show host.
Did I really say that? I apologize
For your semi-faithful correspondent, 2016 has been a 12-month exercise in humility. I apologize to you, gentle reader, for the errors – all unforced – to which I subjected you.
Wisconsin’s lakefront counties soon may be out of ozone rule compliance
Counties along Lake Michigan’s shoreline in Wisconsin may soon be out of compliance with new federal standards for ozone pollution. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lowered the ozone standard from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion in 2015 with the regulations effective in October 2017.
Woman wanted for questioning in Village of Montfort theft
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help in identifying a woman in connection with a theft investigation in a store in the village of Montfort. The woman appears to be white.
Donald Trump’s praise of Vladimir Putin could signal a new day for US policy
WATCH: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for delaying any retaliation on U.S. sanctions. Jan Crawford reports.
Charade: Over.
Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to sign a bill if it passes through the Texas Legislature next session. The bills come after two faithless electors in this month’s Electoral College vote in the Texas State Capitol refused to vote for the state’s winner.
Top 5 Most Shocking Economic Moments of 2016
In a year where everything from populism to petroleum was in turmoil, 2016 had no shortage of nail-biter financial moments. As it draws to a close, experts reflect on the most significant – and to some, most alarming – economic moments and how they will affect the year ahead.
Reform the Electoral College: Community Voices
Are you familiar with the following individuals: Bonnie Dunkelman, Carole DePaola, Mary Anne Christie, or Curt Braden? Like a great majority of Ohioans, probably not. However, if you voted in the Presidential election on November 8, chances are you voted for two of them.