RSN: Trump, Putin, and the Election

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Ronnie Dugger | Trump, Putin, and the Election 
 
Ronnie Dugger, Reader Supported News 
Dugger writes: "Early this month with Trump's inauguration approaching, the chieftains of the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA were providing President Obama and the president-elect proof that Putin and his government had hacked both sides of the American election and had directed the stolen information on Clinton, especially her private email system while secretary of state, into the American press to help elect Trump." 
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How Chelsea Manning Lifted Lid on Harsh Facts of US Wars and Military Justice 
Ed Pilkington, Guardian UK 
Pilkington writes: "Physically tiny in frame, she has proven to be over the past seven years oversized in the intensity of her resistance to anything she sees as unjust in the world, or disrespectful in terms of her own treatment at the hands of her military captors." 
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Dems Raise Concern About Possible Links Between DeVos and Student Debt Collection Agency 
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post 
Douglas-Gabriel writes: "Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos and her husband have extensive financial holdings through their private investment and management firm, RDV Corporation. The firm, where DeVos once served as director, has financed real estate acquisitions, telecom companies and online charter schools, among other things. But one particular deal is creating concern on Capitol Hill." 
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Obama-Era Wall Street Enforcement Sunsets With One Last Milquetoast Deal 
Alan Pyke, Medium 
Pyke writes: "JP Morgan Chase will reportedly pay $55 million - a tiny sum for a megabank - to resolve discrimination allegations without admitting any wrongdoing." 
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Women Are 'Backbone' of Native Actions Against Dakota Pipeline 
teleSUR 
Excerpt: "The actions and protests against the Dakota Access pipeline could not have yielded success if it had not been for the participation of the Native American women water protectors as they took on a leadership role in the months-long protests in North Dakota against the oil project." 
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Born in a Cell: The Families Stranded at the US-Mexico Border 
Sophie Eastaugh, Al Jazeera 
Eastaugh writes: "Family detention in the US continues despite ongoing controversies." 
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Senate Panel to Question Trump's EPA Pick Over Energy Ties 
Valerie Volcovici and Timothy Gardner, Reuters 
Excerpt: "Democratic Senators quizzed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, over his energy industry ties during a contentious confirmation hearing on Wednesday that was briefly interrupted by protesters." 
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Progressive Breakfast: As Trump Meets Tech CEOs, "Silicon Valley Rising" Calls For Resistance

MORNING MESSAGE

Dave Johnson

As Trump Meets Tech CEOs, "Silicon Valley Rising" Calls For Resistance

Tech CEOs met with President-Elect Donald Trump Wednesday as tech industry workers called on them to "to take a stand and resist threats to the rights of workers, consumers and the communities they live in." Only heads of the largest companies were invited. Heads of startups and smaller tech companies were also not present. The tech oligarchs want deals to let them off the hook for taxes they owe on profits they have stashed in offshore tax havens.

ELLISON MAKES CASE FOR DNC CHAIR

Rep. Keith Ellison calls for “3,007 County Strategy” by the DNC. Chicago Tribune:“‘We need a 3,007-county strategy. We need a town strategy. We need a precinct strategy,” said Ellison, as [Sen. Bernie] Sanders and AFT President Randi Weingarten looked on proudly … ‘We don’t need to decide between social justice and economic justice,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to have all of that. If we don’t stand up for both, we won’t have either one, because they’ll use tribalism and manipulation to divide us.'”

DNC race flummoxes labor. Politico:“…organized labor loves [Tom Perez] from his work as Labor Secretary, but some of the most influential union players have already committed to his main rival, Keith Ellison … Perez’s relatively late entry to the race has given Ellison time to consolidate serious labor support from all over the political spectrum.”

Dems grapple with how to win back white working-class and maintain multicultural base. NYT:“…those in Mr. Biden’s camp believe … they will not be a majority party again in Washington or across much of the country without winning back white voters of modest means … some Democrats now worry they missed the bigger picture of the electorate: failing to deliver a message that would cut across all constituencies … [But] in the eyes of a vocal contingent of Democratic strategists, [that’s] a dated approach that ignores inexorable political and demographic trendlines … [Instead,] the party must tailor a platform and strategy that explicitly appealed to younger and nonwhite voters on issues like policing, climate change and immigration.”

The Nation dedicates issue to analyzing Obama’s legacywith Chris Hayes, Robert Borosage, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert and Mike Konczal

TRUMP'S WHITE CABINET

Trump cabinet is 82% white, 76% male and 41% with government experiencetabulates Bloomberg.

Sierra Club tries to block Scott Pruitt from EPA. The Hill:“[Digital] ads will run for a week in the home states of 10 senators the group is targeting … The targets include some senators who are facing potentially tough reelection battles in the 2018 campaign cycle, like Sens. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). Other targeted senators have shown moderate positions on environmental policies in the past: Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Susan Collins(R-Maine), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).”

Trump picks Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke for Interior. AP:” Zinke has advocated for increased energy drilling and mining on those lands and expressed skepticism about the urgency of climate change. The Republican lawmaker, who describes himself as a ‘Teddy Roosevelt Republican,’ also has been a vocal supporter of keeping public lands in the government’s hands.”

“Trump’s Newest Senior Adviser Seen as a White Nationalist Ally” reports Mother Jones:“Stephen Miller, a top aide to Trump’s presidential campaign, will serve as a senior White House adviser for policy … The announcement of Miller’s new role drew praise from white nationalist leader Richard Spencer … Miller helped [Spencer] with fundraising and promotion for an on-campus debate [at Duke U.] on immigration policy that Spencer organized in 2007, featuring influential white nationalist Peter Brimelow … Miller wrote about two dozen columns for the Duke Chronicle, and his articles assailed multiculturalism (which he called ‘segregation’) and paid family leave (which he said results in men getting laid off).”

DEMS PRESS TRUMP ON CONFLICTS, CONSTITUTION

Dems explore where Trump could violate insider trading law. Politico:“The STOCK Act, adopted in 2012, was designed to restrict insider trading by members of Congress and their staff. But ethics lawyers say it also applies to the president and might extend to private holdings like Trump’s real estate ventures … Of particular interest is how Trump might violate the law if he told his children information that they acted on or invited them to participate in a government meeting where they learned something and used the information to make money.”

Trump children still involved in both transition and business. ABC:“Trump’s adult sons — along with daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner — attended a tech summit at Trump Tower with Silicon Valley leaders. Trump Jr. was involved in the selection of Trump’s pick for interior secretary.”

Democratic attorneys general prepare to fight Trump. NYT:“If the Trump administration withdraws from environmental, antitrust or financial regulations, the attorneys general say they will plug regulatory holes that may gape wide open … They have pledged to defend undocumented immigrants, and to combat hate crimes … And if Mr. Trump’s policies veer toward the unconstitutional, several of the 10 current and incoming Democratic attorneys general interviewed recently said they would apply a remedy favored by Mr. Trump himself: a lawsuit.”

WILL DEMS HELP REPLACE OBAMACARE?

Some Democrats say they will cooperate with Republicans on Obamacare. Politico:“‘If it makes sense, I think there’ll be a lot of Democrats who would be for it,’ said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) … ‘If they want to change things around the edges, fix some of the things we agree ought to be fixed and call it Trumpcare, that’s OK,’ said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats and is up for reelection in 2018. ‘Let’s get people covered.’ … [But] any legislation moderate enough to conceivably entice Democrats will likely be unacceptable to GOP hard-liners, [other Democrats] predict.”

GOP plan is “repeal and collapse” says HHS Sec Sylvia Mathews Burwell. The Hill:“Republican leaders say the repeal likely wouldn’t go into effect for at least a year. But Burwell said ‘delayed implementation’ would wreck the marketplaces … ‘Insurance companies, because of the uncertainty, will make decisions not to go into the marketplace. They will make decisions to raise their prices,’ Burwell told PBS Newshour.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren to join Armed Services Committee. WSJ:“[That is] a sign that the Massachusetts Democrat is looking to broaden her policy portfolio beyond the economic and consumer issues that propelled her political rise.”

Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's Action.more »

Progressive Breakfast: Through the GOP, the Wealthy Are Waging War on the Old

MORNING MESSAGE

Richard Eskow

Through the GOP, the Wealthy Are Waging War on the Old

Republicans are pushing proposals that protect and expand the wealth of the wealthy at the expense of the elderly ... Trump nominated rabidly anti-Medicare partisan Tom Price to become Secretary of Health and Human Services ... Nor have Republicans forgotten about Social Security. Last week a senior Republican in Congress, Rep. Sam Johnson, unveiled the most ambitious anti-Social Security program since the GOP’s 2005 privatization attempt.

TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

Incoming EPA chief Scott Pruitt threatens your water. American Prospect’s Sam Ross-Brown:“…Pruitt led a multi-state lawsuit against Obama’s Clean Water Rule, a regulation aimed at protecting source water for one in three Americans. As with his Clean Power Plan suit, Pruitt and his allies succeeded in blocking the rule’s implementation … All of this is happening at a time when much of the nation’s water infrastructure desperately needs an overhaul.”

And incoming AG Jeff Sessions threatens your civil rights. American Prospect’s Samuel R. Bagenstos:“I expect the efforts to attack voter suppression to end in the Trump administration and the division instead to bring new lawsuits that will themselves be designed to suppress the vote … [Obama’s Justice Dept.] entered into major consent decrees to transform law enforcement agencies … [Sessions] will likely allow police departments to get out from under the decrees … don’t expect the Trump administration to bring systemic fair-housing cases, like the one against Trump in the 1970s…”

Republicans look to abolish the estate tax. Roll Call:“South Dakota Sen. John Thune and other top Republicans will launch a new drive to repeal the estate tax next year, while pulling back on efforts to force a year-end vote aimed at blocking a proposed Treasury Department rule that would tighten levies on inheritances … [Thune] has voiced confidence that there would be consensus support for his proposal to repeal the estate tax as part of a broad tax overhaul…”

Larry Cohen tells Trump to back off unions in Guardian oped:“Trump is like a Goliath of great wealth and political power. At times, he might toss gifts to the masses like a 19th-century monarch, but his strategy of attacking and dividing working families will clearly lead to net losses for them and big gains for corporate management at multinationals like UT. Working-class unity is the ammo Chuck Jones and workers across this nation need for their sling shots.”

37 sanctuary cities resist. Politico:“…officials in at least 37 cities … have doubled down since Trump’s election, reaffirming their current policies or practices in public statements, despite the threat of pushback from the incoming administration, and at least four cities have newly declared themselves sanctuary cities since Trump’s win.”

BIG OIL IN CHARGE?

“Corporate oil sovereign” Rex Tillerson may be named Secretary of State. New Yorker’s Steve Coll:“Tillerson joined ExxonMobil in 1975. He has never worked anywhere else … Tillerson once listed his favorite book as ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ … Trump is handing the State Department to a man who has worked his whole life running a parallel quasi-state, for the benefit of shareholders, fashioning relationships with foreign leaders that may or may not conform to the interests of the United States government.”

SEC currently investigating ExxonMobil:“The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating whether Exxon and other oil companies appropriately account for climate change as a business risk … [Tillerson would] obviously have direct access to the president, who appoints SEC commissioners in line with his viewpoint.”

Tillerson may have difficulty being confirmed. WSJ:“‘It’s a matter of concern to me that he has such a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin,’ [said] Sen. John McCain … Sen. Marco Rubio [tweeted] ‘being a “friend of Vladimir” is not an attribute I am hoping for’ in the next secretary of state…”

Rick Perry considered for Energy Secretary. CBS:“Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been summoned to Trump Tower for a meeting today … Perry will now be the third contender against Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. VA, and Ray Washburne [who is an] investor in oil and gas operations. Perry sits on two corporate boards – one of them Energy Transfer Partners [which] is attempting to build the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

Billionaires invest in clean energy. Bloomberg:“Bill Gates and more than a dozen of the world’s wealthiest individuals revealed a new $1 billion investment fund late Sunday to foster major advances in clean energy production. Dubbed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the 20-year fund [will] pump money into risky, long-term energy technology that could dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions…”

Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's Action.more »

This & that.....

Garrison Keillor: And now we sit and watch in disbelief

It's a wonderful satire right out of Twain or Thurber, a minority of the electorate goes for the loosest and least knowledgeable candidate, certain that he will lose and their votes will only be harmless protest, a middle finger to Washington, and then — Whoa. The joke comes true. You put a whoopee cushion on your father's chair and he sits down and it barks and he has a massive coronary. You wanted to get a rise out of him and instead he falls down dead. Very funny.

Thank you, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania for this wonderful joke. Voters in high dudgeon against Wall Street manipulators and the Washington aristocracy vote for the billionaire populist who puts tycoons in power and the Republican hierarchy who owned the logjam that the voters voted against. If Billy the Kid had been smart, he'd've run for sheriff.

And now we sit and watch in disbelief as the victor drops one piece of china after another, spits in the soup, sticks his fist through a painting, and gobbles up the chocolates. Not satisfied with the usual election-night victory speech, he stages a post-election victory tour and gloatfest, a series of rallies in arenas where he can waggle his thumbs and smirk and holler and point out the journalists in their pen for the mob to boo and shake their fists at. He puts the Secret Service through their paces, highways are closed, planes diverted, cities disrupted, just so the man can say how much fun it was to defeat Hillary Clinton and confound the experts.

I stood in an airport last Thursday and watched live cable news coverage of his first stop in Indiana where he toured a factory whose owner had been promised a $7 million tax break in return for not laying off 800 workers. In November, 178,000 new jobs were created and unemployment fell, and here was a platoon of journalists in Indiana trailing a big galoot with a red tie who offered a corporation $7 million not to lose 800 workers. No gain, simply a non-loss. It was a classic TV moment, extensive live coverage of essentially nothing whatsoever and we all stood in a stupor and watched, like people mesmerized by drops of rain sliding down a windowpane.

Eighty-thousand Trump voters in three states gave us this man, which goes to show you how much damage a few people can do. It takes 12 million to provide health care, 3 million to run the public schools, but 19 men with box cutters can turn the country upside down and empower the paranoid right and create the pretense for wars that will cost billions and kill a million people and give us a permanent army of blue uniforms yelling at us to take off our shoes and put our laptops into plastic trays.

He is a showman and oddity has paid off for him, as it did for Lady Gaga and Gorgeous George and Liberace. But the public demands new tricks. Today, railing at the journalists who slavishly cover him is, like bear baiting or lion taming, entertainment enough, but by next fall he will need to pull canaries out of his ears, and by 2018 he'll be diving on horseback from a high tower into a pool of water while playing "Malaguena" on a trumpet.

Meanwhile, the Democrats wander in the woods, walking into trees. A wealthy San Francisco liberal is re-elected as minority leader in the House, having flung millions into the wind and gotten skunked in 2014 and drubbed this fall, and a lackluster black Muslim congressman from Minneapolis is a leading candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee, the person who will need to connect with disaffected workers in Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Why not a ballet dancer or a Buddhist monk?

Meanwhile, the emperor-elect parades in the nude while his congressional courtiers admire him and the nation drifts toward the rapids. The one bright spot is the old draft-dodger's new-found fondness for generals, including the one who talked him out of the idea of torturing prisoners of war. Military experience does encourage a certain respect for reality. There is hope that if the showman should decide late one night to incinerate Iran or North Korea and get it over with, someone might say, "Hold on. Let's think this through."

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4679952-155/garrison-keillor-and-now-we-sit

COMMENT: How many of you are still complacent?

 link.

And So It Begins... no demonstrations allowed 

in Washington, D.C. from now 'til March 1 

(and later?)

Apparently the incoming Administration is a tad concerned that there 

may be one…

DAILYKOS.COM

Living Blue in a Red State's photo.

Living Blue in a Red State with Michael Edwards.

December 8 at 1:57pm · 

Worst of the worst

Robert Reich

 

A coming purge? The Energy Department runs the nation's 17 national research laboratories, which examine a range of issues relating to energy and the environment. This week, Trump’s Energy Department transition team sent the agency a memo asking for:

1. The names of people who have worked on climate change and their professional society memberships.

2. A list of all department employees and contractors who attended the annual global climate talks hosted by the United Nations within the last five years.

3. A list of all department employees or contractors who have attended any meetings on the social cost of carbon (a measurement that federal agencies use to weigh the costs and benefits of new energy and environment regulations).

4. All publications written by employees at the department's 17 national laboratories for the past three years.

"This feels like the first draft of an eventual political enemies list," said a Department of Energy employee, who asked not to be identified because he feared a reprisal by the Trump transition team.

Trump has already picked Scott Pruitt – who says climate change isn’t caused by humans -- to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump has said climate change is a hoax perpetrated by China to damage U.S. manufacturing. He said he would rip up last year's landmark global climate deal struck in Paris that was signed by Democratic President Barack Obama.

Are we about to witness a purge of government researchers who have found that the climate is changing due to human activity?

What do you think?

RSN: How We Can Fight Back Against Trump's Anti-EPA

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Juan Cole | How We Can Fight Back Against Trump's Anti-EPA 
 
Juan Cole, Informed Comment 
Cole writes: "Trump's nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency is a slap in the face of every American who cares about the environment in this country." 
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American and British Spy Agencies Targeted In-Flight Mobile Phone Use 
Jacques Follorou, Le Monde 
Follorou writes: "A new field of espionage is emerging: the interception of data from phone calls made on board civil aircraft." 
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Women's March on Washington Barred From Lincoln Memorial 
Cady Lang, TIME 
Lang writes: "For the thousands of women planning to march on Washington following Donald Trump's inauguration, the landmark won't be available for rallying." 
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Judge Refuses to End Wisconsin Recount: Report
Mark Hensch, The Hill 
Hensch writes: "A federal judge on Friday dismissed a request from President-elect Donald Trump's supporters to halt a recount in Wisconsin, according to a new report." 
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Sanders Praises Carrier Union Leader for Standing Up to Trump 
Jennifer Calfas, The Hill 
Calfas writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the president of a local union representing Carrier workers Thursday to congratulate him on becoming 'the most famous labor leader in America.'" 
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A Botched Lethal Injection Ends in Agony 
Carimah Townes, ThinkProgress 
Townes writes: "Ronald B. Smith appeared to be conscious and gasping for breath during his lethal injection." 
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How Standing Rock Sparked a National Movement for Environmental Justice 
Wes Enzinna, Grist 
Enzinna writes: "The Standing Rock Sioux reservation sits in the Dakota Prairie Grasslands, an endless sweep of elephan­tine hills once home to millions of members of the Lakota Nation. Today, it's inhabited by fewer than 9,000 of their surviving descendants, and one of the few places in America where buffalo roam wild." 
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Progressive Breakfast: Workers Challenge Trump To Follow Through On His Promises

MORNING MESSAGE

Dave Johnson

Workers Challenge Trump To Follow Through On His Promises

Speaking at the New York Economic Club in September, Donald Trump promised that in his administration, “Every policy decision we make must pass a simple test: Does it create more jobs and better wages for Americans?” ... Trump has an opportunity to show he meant what he said. He can make sure federal government contractors at least stop stealing wages from contract workers.

TRUMP ATTACKS LOCAL UNION LEADER

Trump attacks Carrier’s union head. NYT:“Chuck Jones, the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the president-elect had ‘lied his ass off’ when he claimed he had saved 1,100 jobs … That was pretty much backed up by the chief executive of United Technologies, the parent company of Carrier, who said on CNBC that he would automate the plant and lay off many of the workers anyway … That, apparently, was too much for the man who will soon lead the United States.”

“He didn’t tell the truth. He inflated the numbers and I called him out on it,”Jones said on CNN today.

“Trump’s Carrier jobs triumph looks more like a sham every day” says LAT’s Michael Hiltzik:“Trump doesn’t seem to recognize that one-off tax incentives are mercilessly gamed by manufacturers … By showing himself to be a paper tiger on international job transfers, he gave all employers a template for extracting tax benefits by threatening to move across the border. And he offered carte blanche for firms to play states off against one another in a quest for local incentives.”

Alliance for American Manufacturing’s Scott Paul lays out a real manufacturing agenda in NYT oped:“First, we need to negotiate a new manufacturing deal with China to end its trade war on the United States … Trump in his presidential campaign said we needed at least $500 billion in new infrastructure investment. America’s civil engineers would like seven times that … Third, tax breaks to manufacturers for capital expenditures could help keep factory jobs in the United States … Lastly, [embrace] ideas from Germany on promoting apprenticeships and other vocational training…”

EPA PICK FACES FIGHT

Trump picks climate denier for EPA. Politico:“As attorney general for a state that is one of the nation’s biggest oil, natural gas and grain producers, Pruitt has been at the forefront of lawsuits challenging EPA regulations on carbon emissions and water pollution … Pruitt has questioned just how much temperatures have risen, and has been skeptical that man-made greenhouse gas pollution has had an impact.”

NYT in 2014:“[There is an] unprecedented, secretive alliance that Mr. Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda … Energy industry lobbyists drafted letters for him to send to the E.P.A., the Interior Department, the Office of Management and Budget and even President Obama … Industries that he regulates have also joined him as plaintiffs in court challenges, a departure from the usual role of the state attorney general, who traditionally sues companies to force compliance with state law.”

Dems prepare to fight Pruitt. Bloomberg:“Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, signaled Pruitt faces a tough battle. ‘We are totally mobilizing on this one,’ Schatz told reporters in Washington, adding that he expects ‘it will be extremely difficult’ for Pruitt to be confirmed.'”

Trump slow in staffing sub-Cabinet appointees. Politico:“The slower pace of agency-level transition efforts could have a real impact on Trump’s ability to quickly tackle big issues such as Obamacare, infrastructure, and immigration reform.”

TRUMP ROILS GOP ON IMMIGRATION

Trump’s immigration comments confuse. AP:“…the president-elect’s advisers worked to walk back his comments almost as soon as they were published, with one transition aide demanding anonymity to deny that Trump intended to set any new policy … Republicans who’ve supported congressional action to help immigrant youths welcomed Trump’s new tone … For immigration hard-liners, on the other hand, Trump’s comments set off alarm bells.”

Rep. Steve King expects Trump to cancel DACA. The Hill:“‘Among all of these dreamers, there are some awfully bad people,’ King said Thursday on CNN … King said from listening to the president-elect’s campaign promises, he would expect Trump on his first day in office to cancel the DACA program.”

Trump to help student debtors? Bloomberg:“A Republican lawmaker who’s also a senior member of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team … Representative Tom Reed this week formally endorsed a law originally proposed by House Democrats. Though a long shot, the bill would do more for America’s roughly 42 million student debtors than the one proposed two years ago by Warren, the liberal firebrand from Massachusetts. Democrats didn’t quite know what to make of Reed’s move. ‘Heavens, are you sure that happened?’ said U.S. Representative John Garamendi…”

DEMS GEAR UP FOR OBAMACARE BATTLE

“Liberals mount campaign to save Obamacare” reports Politico:“Liberal groups plan to [share] the personal stories of thousands of Americans who would lose health insurance … The campaign will detail how many people in each state would lose coverage if the law is repealed, as well as the negative impact on hospitals and other health care organizations … The Center for American Progress Action Fund … has set up ACAworks.org…”

Health bill clears Congress. The Hill:“The Senate on Wednesday cleared a $6.3 billion bipartisan bill to advance medical cures, the biggest healthcare package to pass Congress since ObamaCare. The measure passed 94-5, with liberals like Sens. Elizabeth Warren(D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opposing it over provisions on drugmaker incentives.”

BREAKFAST SIDES

“Portland Adopts Surcharge on C.E.O. Pay in Move vs. Income Inequality” reports NYT:“…the City Council in Portland, Ore., voted on Wednesday to impose a surtax on companies whose chief executives earn more than 100 times the median pay of their rank-and-file workers. The surcharge, which Portland officials said is the first in the nation linked to chief executives’ pay, would be added to the city’s business tax for those companies that exceed the pay threshold.”

Rep. Ellison will resign if named DNC chair reports AP:“Aides and supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are searching for an alternative to Rep. Keith Ellison … Hoping to assuage some of the concerns, Ellison said Wednesday that he’ll resign his seat in Congress if he’s picked as chairman by DNC members at the late February elections.”

Sen. Harry Reid defense scaling back of filibuster in Politico interview:“… I’m satisfied we did it … We got almost 100 judges approved … we saved the integrity of different agencies of government … think of what our country would’ve been without that … [The rule are] going to erode [further], it’s just a question of when … changing the rules is one of the best things that has happened to America in a long time.”

Democratic millionaires look to emulate Trump. Politico:“In three major states with a governor’s mansion up for grabs in 2018, a big-name, politically active billionaire or multimillionaire is taking steps toward a run … In Florida, it’s John Morgan … In Illinois, it’s J.B. Pritzker … And in California, it’s Tom Steyer …[Already Democrats have elected] Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf — a furniture magnate who funded his own primary effort — and West Virginia Governor-elect Jim Justice — the richest man in his state…”

Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's Action.more »