“The White House said it will ask Congress for about $2.2 billion for a new FBI headquarters, adding to about $1.1 billion already budgeted for the project, according to Justice Department officials who outlined the Trump administration’s budget proposal.”
“Mnuchin, speaking at a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee, said he has spoken personally with Trump about the issue, and that the president ‘does feel strongly’ that the tax should be applied.”
Read more: http://fortune.com/2018/02/15/donald-trump-online-sales-tax/
“The Trump administration wants $716 billion for defense in 2019. Have we totally lost our minds? We already spend more on defense than the next eight countries combined — and President Trump believes we need more.”
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol-le-military-spending-budget-20180215-story.html
“The debt has increased 123 percent over the past decade as the nation sought to break free of the financial crisis and the tepid growth that followed. Total debt is now nearly 105 percent of gross domestic product, just shy of its highest level since World War II. The most recent Congressional Budget Office projections have the trajectory leading to a debt-to-GDP ratio of 150 percent by 2047, well past the point where financial crises typically occur. In addition, the budget deficit is likely to swell, with the CBO projecting an increase from 2.9 percent of GDP in 2017 to 9.8 percent in 2047.”
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/13/us-security-chief-calls-national-debt-a-dire-threat.html
“Heath Hall left his position with the Federal Railroad Administration after reports surfaced that he also was working as a public-relations consultant for the Madison County, Miss., sheriff’s office.”
“The House Intelligence Committee’s dueling partisan memos about FBI surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser will result in federal agents keeping secrets to themselves because they no longer trust Congress, experts warn.”
“Judge Emma Arbuthnot rejected a call from Assange’s lawyers for the warrant to be revoked because he is no longer wanted for questioning in Sweden over alleged sex crimes.”
“Other anti-Isis volunteers have been arrested and questioned, with former volunteer Joshua Walker acquitted of unrelated terror charges over possessing a copy of the Anarchists Cookbook.”
“Minor missteps—a traffic violation or a workplace dispute—can turn lethal for unauthorized immigrants.”
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/when-deportation-is-a-death-sentence
“The Defense Department is preparing for possible preventive attacks on North Korean nuclear and missile facilities, supposedly intended to prevent the Kim Jong-un regime in Pyongyang from developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the continental United States. There are many indications that the Pentagon is putting in place the means to conduct such an attack—and recent enhancements to the GBU-57 bomb are among the most alarming of those.”
Read more: https://www.thenation.com/article/pentagon-readies-father-of-all-bombs-for-use-against-north-korea/