PastaJoe

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is resisting the pleas of State Department officials to spend nearly $80 million allocated by Congress for fighting terrorist propaganda and Russian disinformation. It is highly unusual for a Cabinet secretary to turn down money for his department. But more than five months into his tenure, Tillerson has not issued a simple request for the money earmarked for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, $60 million of which is now parked at the Pentagon. Another$19.8 million sits untouched at the State Department as Tillerson’s aides reject calls from career diplomats and members of Congress to put the money to work against America’s adversaries. The $60 million will expire on Sept. 30 if not transferred to State by then, current and former State Department officials told POLITICO. The struggle over the money is a case study in Tillerson’s approach to managing the State Department and the frustration it is engendering among American diplomats. Current and former U.S. officials call it the latest example of a severe slowdown in department decision-making; of Tillerson’s reliance on a coterie of political aides who distrust State’s career staffers; and a casualty of President Donald Trump’s intention to slash State's budget, which has Tillerson looking for ways to reshape the department and spend less money, not more. Sources cited another sensitive factor at play: Russia. One Tillerson aide, R.C. Hammond, suggested the money is unwelcome because any extra funding for programs to counter Russian media influence would anger Moscow, according to a former senior State Department official. "This is an extraordinary example of the dysfunction that is ripping through the State Department," said Brett Bruen, a former U.S. diplomat in contact with State employees involved in the funding fight. "What we're seeing is a small group of people with very thin knowledge making all the decisions in a very centralized and isolated process. It causes unnecessary delays and confusion." http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/02/tillerson-isis-russia-propaganda-241218

I'm surprised the big signing ceremony wasn't televised..

And Trump products.

Curious that when dealing with healthcare Trump said he was waiting with pen in hand to sign it as soon as it was passed by the slimmest of margins. The new Russian sanctions bill was passed last Thursday by the Senate 98-2 and earlier by the House 419-3, and Putin has ordered 755 American diplomats to leave Russia. Yet Trump has said nothing about Putin's action, and still hasn't signed the veto proof bill. Trump must be petrified about what Putin has on him.

After all he did for Trump, Putin's mad that the House of Cons screwed the pooch with their ham-handed attempts to cover up the collusion, and can't deliver the goods by removing sanctions.

The White House worked with Fox News and a wealthy Republican donor to push a story about the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, according to an explosive lawsuit filed Tuesday. The story was pushed in an attempt to discredit the US intelligence community's determination that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and obtained the emails released by Wikileaks, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit, which was first reported by NPR, was filed in US District Court in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiff is Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor and former homicide detective hired to investigate Rich's death, who alleges that he was misquoted as part of the effort to put the story together. Douglas Wigdor, who is representing current and former Fox employees in other lawsuits against the network, is Wheeler's lawyer. 21st Century Fox, the Fox News Channel, Fox News reporter Malia Zimmerman and Republican donor Ed Butowsky are named as defendants. Butowsky denies the allegations in the lawsuit. The lawsuit says in part, "The motivation behind the article: establish that Seth Rich provided WikiLeaks with the DNC emails to shift the blame from Russia and help put to bed speculation that President Trump colluded with Russia in an attempt to influence the outcome of the Presidential election. ... Zimmerman, Butowsky and Fox had created fake news to advance President Trump's agenda. Mr. Wheeler was subsequently forced to correct the false record and, as a result, lost all credibility in the eyes of the public. Mr. Wheeler has suffered irreparable damage to his reputation and his career will likely never recover." Included in the lawsuit is a text message from Butowsky to Wheeler in which Butowsky writes, "Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It's now all up to you. But don't feel the pressure." http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/01/media/rod-wheeler-seth-rich-fox-news-lawsuit/index.html

They must be trying to pull readers from Breitbart.

Turns out that Trump personally dictated the statement in which Don Jr. misleadingly said he and the Russian lawyer had primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children when they met. This was done on Air Force One, just hours after Trump's private meeting with Putin. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-dictated-sons-misleading-statement-on-meeting-with-russian-lawyer/2017/07/31/04c94f96-73ae-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_no-name%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar&tid=a_breakingnews&utm_term=.8f2e6fc72de0

The Mooch did his job, he got Don Jr. and Jared out of the headlines. Meanwhile, not distracted by the daily White House circus, Mueller continues to build a case against the House of Cons.

First, Foxconn has a spotty track record of delivering on its promises. The company caused a lot of excitement about a revival of American manufacturing when it announced in 2013 that it would build a $30 million high-tech plant in central Pennsylvania but failed to deliver. The company also announced in 2014 that it would invest up to $1 billion in Indonesia, but failed to deliver on that promise, too. Second, as the Washington Post reported Tuesday, lawmakers and other concerned citizens in Wisconsin are concerned that the state may give away too much in incentives to attract Foxconn. Those concerns are heightened by the facts that Walker is up for re-election next year, has a low approval rating, and has run as a job-creator. Third, it is uncertain whether the promised jobs will be stable and pay a living wage. As for job security, both the BBC and MarketWatch reported in May 2016 that Foxconn had replaced 60,000 of its workers with robots. Foxconn is also known for a work environment so harsh it led to employee riots and suicides. The Fair Labor Association a non-profit formed by Nike and others in 1999 after a series of sweatshop scandals documented in 2012 major labor-rights violations at Foxconn facilities including excessive overtime and salaries that were too low to cover basic living expenses and sometimes not paid. The company has also been criticized for under-age workers, improper disposal of hazardous wastes, injury to workers required to clean iPhone screens with a toxic chemical, and fatal industrial accidents resulting from the failure to address known hazards. Harsh work conditions at a variety of Foxconn locations in China led to a spate of Foxconn employee suicides in 2010. Foxconn chillingly responded to those suicide attempts by installing safety nets to catch employees attempting to jump to their deaths from company buildings. A company that cared about its employees would have done more to investigate and remediate the conditions that led to the suicides in the first place. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/27/heres-whats-worrisome-about-foxconns-plan-to-build-a-plant-in-the-us-commentary.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/technology/business/foxconn-china-us-wisconsin-workers/index.html

In a pair of tweets Saturday, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said "AG Jeff Sessions has a good ring to it." Graham then expressed his disapproval of speculation that Sessions could jump over to DHS. "DHS Secretary Jeff Sessions doesn't sound right, doesn't feel right," he said. "Bad idea." The Republican head of the Senate Judiciary Committee warned "Everybody in D.C." that there was "no way" his committee could consider a new attorney general this year. Sen. Chuck Grassley issued the advisory on Twitter as a report said President Trump might bypass Congress and make a recess appointment for the top law enforcement position. "Everybody in D.C. Shld b warned that the agenda for the judiciary Comm is set for rest of 2017," Grassley tweeted. "Judges first subcabinet 2nd / AG no way." http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lindsey-graham-bad-idea-to-move-jeff-sessions-to-dhs/article/2630110

Obviously we were much better off when Obama left compared to what he had to start with. Stock exchange up 300%, health care for +20 million, and job creation way up. But there's always room for further improvement, and we can't afford to slide back into previous mistakes like supply side economics. Just ask Kansas how that worked for them.

Herding cats takes a smart person to accomplish, something Mitch McConnell has yet to learn.

Putin finally decided to retaliate because he's not getting his return on investment. He did nothing to retaliate when Obama took similar action during the campaign, with the expectation that Trump would lift the sanctions after he took office. Now that the collusion is exposed, Trump can't deliver.

"We will repeal and replace Obamacare. It will be done very, very quickly. It will be so easy." Repeal and replace - FAIL Repeal only - FAIL Skinny repeal - FAIL So much for the greatest deal maker. Trump couldn't even convince the Republicans who have had 7 years to come up with an acceptable plan. It turns out that Obama was the real deal maker. He should write a book, The Real Art of the Deal.

Is that something you've enjoyed? I'm getting a better picture of your issues. Good luck with them.

I don't take your words personally, you obviously have issues and can't be held accountable. I wish you well with your struggles. The Boys Scouts have created new merit badges inspired by Trump's speech.

Who's oyu? If you can't type, you should step away from the keyboard. Spellcheck is not a secret government conspiracy. FYI, I was a Boy Scout, as was my son.