Eleven months into his term, President Donald Trump has spent nearly a third of his time in office at properties owned by his real estate empire, according to a new report.

CNN: Today marks Trump’s 108th day at one of his properties as president. 85th day at one of his golf courses. 37th day at Mar-A-Lago during his first term.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) December 24, 2017

The Wall Street Journal  found  that the president has spent more than 100 days at one of his properties, including more than a month each at his golf course in New Jersey and at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

While Trump frequently criticized President Barack Obama for taking golf outings, and pledged on the campaign trail that he “would not be a president that takes time off,” he took to calling Mar-a-Lago the “Winter White House” almost immediately after entering office.

Trump’s frequent travel has drawn criticism not only for the questions it raises about his use of taxpayer money and his level of interest in the work of running the government, but also for the benefits afforded to his business when he visits his properties.

The president gave control of his business to his two eldest sons when he entered office, but did not  divest his assets. Critics including the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)—which vowed to continue fighting against the president’s conflicts of interest after their lawsuit against him was dismissed this week—say Trump still profits off of his hotels, restaurants, and clubs. Many of his properties have raised their rates  since Trump began his term, raising concerns that Trump and his company are profiting off his position in government, particularly when foreign leaders visit them.

Trump’s visits to his properties in Florida costs the local Palm Beach government so much that it considered raising taxes.https://t.co/vTKLeLJrTH

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) December 25, 2017

Trump has spent about a third of his presidency visiting his businesses. And these visits come with a cost. Trump has used tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize numerous trips to his properties in 2017. https://t.co/04ecP4pJfn

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) December 25, 2017

Meanwhile, the recruitment website Glassdoor found earlier this month that most Americans don’t take all of the vacation time they’re afforded. Nearly 10 percent of workers who are entitled to paid time off take none at all, while only 23 percent take all of the times they’re allowed—a contrast noted by some critics on social media.

Trump is heading back to Mar-a-Lago. Current count:

Bedminster: 40
Mar-A-Lago: 34
Trump Nat’l Golf Club: 23
Trump Hotel (Washington, DC): 5
Trump Hotel (Waikiki): 1

Americans, on average, get 15 paid vacation days a year, but use only 12.

Trump has taken more than 100.

— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) December 22, 2017

Published time: 25 Dec, 2017 23:07

Legal cannabis sales in the US have seen a sharp increase this year, with total purchases growing by 30 percent, a report by Marijuana Business Daily says. It suggests sales could grow even more next year.

President Donald Trump leaves after speaking about newly passed tax reform legislation during an event December 20, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images)

With the Republicans having just passed a $1.5 trillion tax cut, the bulk of which goes to the richest 1 percent, it was inevitable that the generational warriors would come out of the woodwork and resume the attack on Social Security and Medicare. Generational warriors try to divert attention away from how our economy has redistributed income upwards over the last four decades, and convince a large portion of today’s workers that their real problems stem from their parents’ and grandparents’ overly generous retirement benefits.

The opening shot in this new round of generational warfare showed up earlier this month in The Atlantic Magazine. It told the classic story about how seniors are getting too much money back from Social Security and Medicare, the same thing we’ve been seeing for decades. (There is little expectation of originality if you’re in the business of promoting generational warfare.)

In fact, middle-income seniors will get somewhat less back from Social Security than they paid into the system. The cost of Medicare benefits does exceed their taxes, but this is because Americans pay twice as much for our doctors, drugs, medical equipment and other health care items than people in other wealthy countries.

The real problem is high-income people in the health care sector making too much money, not the country being too generous to its seniors. But, the folks promoting generational warfare aren’t interested in clamping down on the rich doctors and drug companies; they want us to go after retired school teachers and retail clerks.

Even if Social Security and Medicare were more generous, it would still say almost nothing about generational equity. While the generational warriors would like to have everyone focus on the cost of programs that primarily serve the elderly, paying for…

The ‘Army Oversight of Logistics. Civil Augmentation Program Government-Furnished Property in Afghanistan’ report was released by the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense earlier in December. It analyzed the US army-administered Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) which enlists contractors to provide housing, transportation and facilities maintenance for US forces. The program is tasked with maintaining Government-furnished property (GFP) in Afghanistan, servicing heating and air conditioning units, forklifts and power generators.

The key finding of the study highlighted the US army’s negligence in managing US assets and that it didn’t conduct “effective oversight” of it’s inventory. “LOGCAP contractors themselves reported more than $9.7 million in GFP losses since 2012,” the report says. And as US army officials did not maintain accurate records of all the property, they cannot be certain that “all contractor GFP losses have been identified, investigated, and reported.”

“As of May 2017, the US army didn’t maintain accountability of at least 26,993 items, valued at $99.9 million,” the document said. It added the property was at increased risk of “being lost, stolen, or unaccounted for without Army detection.”

“If enemy forces obtain certain controlled items, such as personal protective equipment, they could be used against US and Coalition forces,” it said further. LOGCAP’s “lack of accountability” limited the US army’s ability to sustain its bases in Afghanistan in a proper manner, the company adds. Specifically, the US military had to rely on contractors’ records “for procurement-related decision making.” At least 20 fire trucks worth $8.6 million, and six semi-trucks worth $1.3 million, were among the items ‘lost’ due to negligence.

This is not the first report that questions US management strategy in Afghanistan. In August this year, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed that its mission in the war-ravaged country failed to report fresults from 91 percent of Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) contributions in its 2013-2015 annual reports. USAID provided Afghanistan with $1,5 billion, according to the data.

Also in August, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) revealed that USAID spent $160mn on failed e-payments program for Afghanistan.Later in September, SIGAR criticized the Pentagon for spending billions outfitting Afghan forces without giving them proper training.

Earlier this year, US president Donald Trump blasted the US military’s top brass for losing ground in the country and even questioned whether America’s longest-running war is still worth fighting. In July, US Defense Secretary James Mattis echoed the president, criticizing the Pentagon for spending $28 million on uniforms for Afghan National Army soldiers, which featured a camouflage pattern entirely unsuitable for Afghanistan.

Despite the US-led war in Afghanistan which has been raging on for nearly seventeen years, the Taliban still maintains a significant presence in the country. From 2001 to mid-2016, around 104,000 people, including 31,000 civilians have been killed in the war, according to the Costs of War Project.

Every year I do a list of ten good things about the year. This year, I was about to skip it. Let’s face it: It has been a particularly horrible year for anyone with a progressive agenda. When I recently asked a prominent activist how she was doing, she took my hands, looked me in the eyes and said, “Everything I’ve been working on for 50 years has gone down the toilet.”

With so many good people feeling depressed, let’s point to the positive things that happened, even in this really, really bad year.

1. #MeToo movement has empowered victims of sexual harassment and assault, and encouraged accountability. Those two small words defined a social media-based movement in which women,  and some men, have come forward to publicly share their stories of sexual assault and harassment, and expose their abusers. The movement—and fallout—spread globally, with the hashtag trending in at least 85 countries. The bravery and solidarity of these victims of sexual abuse will help build a future in which impunity for sexual predators is no longer the norm.

As we head into the new year, let’s keep ourselves inspired by the hard work of folks at home and abroad who gave us something to cheer about for 2017.

2. The year has seen an explosion of grassroots organizing, protest, and activism. An active and uncompromising spirit of revolt has blossomed in the face of a frightening political climate during Donald Trump’s presidency. On January 21, two million people took to the streets in Women’s Marches across the world as a show of solidarity against Trump’s vile and misogynistic rhetoric. On January 29, thousands gathered in airports around the country to protest Trump’s xenophobic and unconstitutional Muslim ban. In April, 200,000 people joined the People’s Climate March to stand up to the administration’s reckless stance on climate. In July, disability rights activists staged countless actions on Capitol Hill in response to the GOP’s cruel and life-threatening healthcare bill. In November and December, “Dreamers” protected by Obama’s provision called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) stormed the Hill to demand a replacement for that program, which Trump ended in September. New groups like Indivisible have helped millions of Americans confront their members of Congress, roughly 24,000 people joined the Democratic Socialists of America, and organizations like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have seen massive surges in donations.

3. We’re already seeing rebukes of Trump at the ballot box. A wave of Democratic electoral victories swept some unlikely regions of the country, showing popular rejection of Donald Trump and his party. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie, who ran a shameless race-baiting campaign, lost by a wide margin to Democrat Ralph Northam in Virginia. In New Jersey, Phil Murphy handily defeated Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, making that state the seventh in the nation with Democratic control over legislative and executive branches. In Alabama’s special election to fill Jeff Sessions’ vacant Senate seat, Democrat Doug Jones took the lead over alleged sexual predator Roy Moore—an astonishing win in a deep red state, propelled largely by Black voters. Danica Roem in Virginia, who ran against a virulently anti-LGBTQ opponent, became the first openly transgender person elected as a US legislator. Her win ended 26 years of Republican rule in that district. And in Virginia’s 50th district, self-described democratic socialist Lee Carter defeated powerful Republican delegate Jackson Miller.

4. The first group of J20 protesters, people arrested in Washington DC on the day of Trump’s inauguration, were found not guilty. It was a scary year for the 194 protesters, journalists and medics facing multiple felony charges, including rioting and property destruction, that could have resulted in prison terms of up to 60 years. The state’s attempt to collectively punish almost 200 people for property destruction committed by a handful is an outrageous example of judicial overreach in an era in which First Amendment rights are under siege. On December 21, however, the jury returned 42 separate not-guilty verdicts for the first six defendants to stand trial. Their acquittal on all charges hopefully portendss more non-guilty verdicts for the remaining 188 defendants and gives a boost to our basic rights of free speech and assembly.

5. Chelsea Manning was released from prison after 7 years. Army Pvt. Manning was first detained in 2010 and ultimately convicted of violating the Espionage Act after she leaked troves of documents exposing abuses by the US military, including a video of American helicopters firing on unarmed civilians in Baghdad, Iraq. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison. She developed post-traumatic stress disorder in prison and was repeatedly denied medical treatment for her gender dysphoria. The Army finally granted her the treatment after she went on a hunger strike. On January 17, 2017, President Obama commuted Manning’s sentence, and she was released in May. We owe Chelsea Manning a debt of gratitude for her tenacious commitment to exposing the crimes of U.S. empire.

 6. Cities and states have committed to positive climate initiatives, despite federal regression. Twenty states and 110 cities signed “America’s Pledge,” a commitment to stick to Obama-era climate goals even after Trump’s disastrous decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords. In December, a group of 36 cities signed the “Chicago Charter,” an agreement to reduce greenhouse emissions and monitor each others progress. These pacts demonstrate popular sentiment and political will, at the local, city and state level, to fight the corporate oligarchs who perpetuate climate chaos. 

 7. Trump’s presidency has deepened the critical national conversation about racism and white supremacy. The Black Lives Matter movement, which started under Obama’s administration, exposed this nation’s systemic racism. The victory of Donald Trump emboldened white supremacists, as evidenced in the violent Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally in August. But the year has also seen a wave of opposition to racism, Islamophobia and anti-semitism that includes the toppling of confederate flags and statues, confronting hate speech, demanding the removal of white supremacists Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller from the White House (two of the three are gone), and building strong interfaith alliances locally and nationally.

8.  This was the year the world said no to nuclear weapons. While Donald Trump taunted North Korea’s Kim Jung Un (“Little Rocket Man”) and threatened to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, on July 7, 122 of the world’s nations showed their rejection of nuclear weapons by adopting an historic Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty. The treaty, opposed by all nine nuclear states, is now open for signatures and the ban will come into effect 90 days after being ratified by 50 states. The organization that promoted this ban is The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), an alliance of 450 nongovernmental organizations in about 100 countries. It was thrilling to learn that ICAN was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. The treaty and the Peace Prize are indications that despite the intransigence of the nuclear-armed states, the global community is determined to ban nuclear weapons.

9. ISIS no longer has a caliphate. For peace activists, it’s hard to put forth military actions as victories, especially when these actions incur a large civilian toll. This is indeed the case with ISIS, where at least 9,000 civilians were killed in the battle to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. But we do have to acknowledge that taking away ISIS’ territorial base has put a stop to some of the group’s horrific human rights abuses. It will also hopefully make it easier to find a settlement to the dreadful wars that have been raging in Syria and Iraq, and give our government one less excuse for dumping so much of our resources into the military.

10. The global community stood up to Trump’s stance on Jerusalem. In a stinging rebuke of President Donald Trump’s controversial decision todeclare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, 128 countries, including some of the US’s most trusted and reliable allies,voted in favor of a United Nations resolution calling for a reversal of his position. Despite the threat from US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley that the US would be“taking names” of those who voted against it, only ninecountries voted with the US and 25 abstained. The resolution isn’t binding, but it’s a stark illustration of just how isolated the United States is in its stance toward Israel.

As we head into the new year, let’s keep ourselves inspired by the hard work of folks at home and abroad who gave us something to cheer about for 2017. May we have a much longer list in 2018.

American artist Robert Cenedella, 77, attracted the wrath of holiday crowds that gathered to catch a glimpse of his painting depicting Santa Claus hanging on a cross. Just below Ol’ St. Nick’s black boots is a modern representation of Calvary, the site of Christ’s crucifixion, a mount littered with brightly decorated Christmas packages.

Amid the gifts are also fallen trees, as well as an old tire, which could be an effort on the part of the artist to portray the environmental damage that modern living entails.

Cenedella’s controversial painting, removed from a Manhattan gallery following patrons’ objections, was put on public display in front of the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral, arguably the most recognizable symbol of Roman Catholicism in the United States.

The painting attracted cries of blasphemy and sacrilege from some passersby.

“You have to be a real piece of cr*p to try to ruin Christmas for children and families coming out of Mass,” said Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI), as quoted by the New York Post. “For shame!”

The paper also quoted a mother from the Bronx, Cynthia Rodriguez, 29, who worried what she would tell her kids if they saw the painting.

“If they saw this they’d be asking me, ‘Mommy, what’s Santa doing on the cross? Is Santa dead?’” Rodriguez said.

However, as Christmas has become more of a commercialized shopping event as opposed to a religious holiday, it seems many people failed to see the underlying message of the painting.

Cenedella defended the meaning of his painting, explaining to the Post that “the painting has been considered controversial from the outset but for the wrong reasons.”

“The thing about St. Patricks is, I always thought if the painting was there on Christmas Eve and people saw this during the service they would realize what has happened — how commercialism has really taken over what’s one of the more religious events in history,” he said. “That was the whole idea.”

This is certainly not the first time Cenedella has experienced criticism for his art work.

His new work, “Pence on Earth” which was unveiled in September, depicts Mike Pence dressed as some sort of religious figure, with a giant Trump standing over him donning a crown and holding the Bill of Rights under his arm.

Social media exploded on Christmas Eve after Trump, coming on the heels of a tweet in which he bashed the FBI deputy director, retweeted an image of himself lounging in the backseat of a car talking on the phone. On the bottom of the shoe of his crossed leg is a bloody splat accompanied by the CNN logo. A pair of cartoonish bug eyes above the logo completes the picture.

The doctored photo was originally shared on Saturday by a Twitter account “oregon4TRUMP” after Trump had tweeted his presidential accomplishments from his first year in office.

“The Stock Market is setting record after record and unemployment is at a 17 year low,” Trump tweeted proudly on Saturday. “So many things accomplished by the Trump Administration, perhaps more than any other President in first year. Sadly, will never be reported correctly by the Fake News Media!”

In response to Trump’s retweet of the squashed CNN logo, CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who takes issue with the Republican leader on a regular basis, noted via Twitter: “CNN-labeled blood on the sole of his shoe. Retweeted by the President of the United States on Christmas Eve.”

This comment naturally triggered a number of ripostes.

Jason Osborne, a former adviser for the Trump campaign, responded to Tapper by claiming the image on the bottom of Trump’s shoe resembled a squashed bug, while advising the CNN anchor not to “make everything about your network.”

Tapper replied: “The president retweeted an image of blood labeled ‘CNN’ on the sole of his shoe. I noted it. Trump Adviser now faults *me* for ‘making this about’ CNN. God bless us, everyone.”

Other commentators noted that the president’s retweet was made on Christmas Eve, which apparently made the post much less acceptable.

“The President retweeting this on Christmas Eve, w/blood on his shoe representing CNN. White Evangelical Christians: is this the kind of leader that represents Jesus message of love and the hope of Bethlehem?” 

Walter Shaub, former director of the US Office of Government Ethics, slammed the president’s post, saying such “colicky tweets” make the country “look weak.”

Even John Aravosis, who tweeted the original post of the stamped-out CNN logo, seems to have released his tweet more as a piece of sarcasm than any sort of endorsement for the US leader.

“It took all of 15 seconds to confirm that it says ‘CNN.’ But you’re right: A guy who embraces pedophiles, and actual Nazis, would never knowingly retweet a call for violence against the media; THAT’S where he draws the line,” Aravosis tweeted.

CNN has come under increasing attack, not just from Trump, but from many regular Americans who, following the president, now refer to the channel as “fake news.”

Trump supporters point to the cable news channel’s reluctance to report positive news on the Republican leader, while supporting the narrative that Trump somehow conspired with the Russians to steal the 2016 presidential election from Hillary Clinton.

Yet even several CNN employees have admitted, off camera, that the entire ‘Russiagate’ story amounts to a “nothing burger.” In June, for example, Project Veritas uploaded a video that showed CNN political commentator Van Jones referring to the probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election as “a big nothing burger,” and adding, “There is nothing you can do.”

It is certainly not the first time President Trump has been called out over tweets that some say are conducive to spurring violence against journalists.

In July, Trump tweeted a video that showed him pummeling a man at a wrestling event bearing a CNN logo for a head.

President Trump talks with journalists after signing tax reform legislation into law in the Oval Office December 22, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

In what was described as a rare moment of honesty, President Donald Trump reportedly told his wealthy friends dining at Mar-a-Lago Friday night that “you all just got a lot richer.”

The comments — first reported by CBS News on Sunday — came just hours after Trump signed the $1.5 trillion Republican tax bill into law.

According to two of Trump’s friends who described the Friday-night event to CBS, the president “directed those comments to friends dining nearby at the exclusive club.” Given that the Mar-a-Lago initiation cost is $200,000 and annual dues are $14,000, it’s safe to assume that those “friends” are “some of the most affluent members of society.”

As Common Dreams has reported, Trump has been increasingly open about the central objectives of the GOP tax bill since it passed both houses of Congress. On Friday, Trump bragged that “corporations are literally going wild” about the legislation, comments that came a few days after Trump described the bill’s corporate rate cut as “probably the most important factor.”

Polls have consistently found that Americans did not buy the GOP’s attempt to present their tax bill as a boon for the middle class. A CBS News poll published earlier this month found that 76 percent of Americans believe the Republican tax bill will benefit large corporations, while only 31 percent said they believe it will help the middle class.

Independent analyses have shown this view of the bill to be correct. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, 80 percent of the bill’s benefits will go to the top one percent by 2027, while millions of middle class Americans will see their taxes rise.

On social media, critics of the president noted that — at least in private — “Trump is finally telling the truth about his tax bill.”

At least Trump is finally telling the truth…

The US Mission to the United Nations announced on Sunday that it had secured a major curb in the global organization’s budget for 2018 and 2019. Commenting on the announcement, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the cut would end benefits the international community has gained from “American generosity.”

Washington “reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key US priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system,” reads a statement from the US mission. 

According to Haley, “the inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known.” Washington will no longer “let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked.”

“This historic reduction in spending – in addition to many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable UN – is a big step in the right direction,” the ambassador asserted.

The US has long contributed the biggest share to UN funds, which in 2017 amounted to 22 percent of the organization’s $5.4 billion two-year regular budget. The regular budget is separate from the UN funds allocated for its global peacekeeping operations, which cost the organization $7.8 billion in 2017 alone.

The contributions are agreed upon by the 193-member UN General Assembly and are assessed by considering the size of a country’s economy and other factors, including GDP and the national income.

The Trump administration repeatedly made it clear that contributions to the UN budget could soon be limited to much smaller sums. Haley, who previously served as the governor of South Carolina, said upon her nomination as the US envoy that she would question whether US funding for the UN is justified.

In May this year, the Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal called for $19 billion to be slashed from the International Affairs Budget – from $59.1 billion in fiscal year 2017 to $40.1 billion.

The proposed budget also called for more than $710 million to be cut from the international peacekeeping account (CIPA). There are 125,000 peacekeepers spread among 16 peace missions across the world. “The figures presented would simply make it impossible for the UN to continue all of its essential work advancing peace, development, human rights and humanitarian assistance,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at the time.

Over the past year, there were instances when inadequate funding complicated UN-run relief efforts. In December, there were reports of underfunded assistance programs for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, two African countries where violence has left thousands displaced.

Assistance programs in both countries were “hugely underfunded,” according to Babar Baloch, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who said that of the $236.2 million required in the DRC, only $54.6 million has been received so far, while in Zambia, only $13.6 million has been received.

Back in 2015, the UN-run World Food Program (WFP) reported that insufficient funds forced the agency to cut food deliveries to Syrian refugees. The WFP’s regional refugee operations were 81 percent underfunded and required $139 million to continue helping desperate refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and Iraq, it said.

Washington has amplified its criticism of the UN after the General Assembly overwhelmingly voted for a resolution last week to oppose President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump himself suggested earlier this month that the US may cut off foreign aid to countries which voted in favor of the resolution, and Haley said that the American government would be “taking names.”

The fight between the Federal Communications Commission’s choice to abandon the principles of net neutrality and the majority of Americans started early in 2017 and continued into the very last month of the year. But even with the FCC’s bad vote coming so late, we fought all year to build up momentum that will allow us to fix their blunder in 2018.

“2017 started out with a warning: in his final address as chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler said that the future of a free and open Internet safeguarded by net neutrality was hanging by a thread.”2017 started out with a warning: in his final address as chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler said that the future of a free and open Internet safeguarded by net neutrality was hanging by a thread. “All the press reports seem to indicate that the new commission will choose an ideologically based course,” said Wheeler. Wheeler also offered up the argument that “Network investment is up, investment in innovative services is up, and ISPs’ revenues—and stock prices—are at record levels. So, where’s the fire? Other than the desires of a few [providers] to be free of meaningful oversight, why the sudden rush to undo something that is demonstrably working?”

That would be a constant question posed throughout 2017: why would the FCC, under its new chairman, former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai, move to eliminate something as functional and popular as net neutrality? After all, net neutrality protections guarantee that all information transmitted over the Internet be treated equally, preventing Internet service providers from prioritizing, say, their own content over that of competitors. It’s a logical set of rules that preserves the Internet as we know it. Net neutrality has been protected by the FCC for over a decade, culminating in the 2015 Open Internet Order, which we worked hard to get adopted in the first place.

As early as February, there were signs that the FCC was going to abandon its role guarding against data discrimination by ISPs. Early in the month, the FCC indicated it would cease investigating AT&T’s zero-rating practices. “Zero-rating” is when a company doesn’t count certain content against a user’s data limit. While zero-rating may sound good in theory, in reality it’s just your provider picking winners and losers and trying to influence how you use your data. AT&T was zero-rating content from DirecTV, which it owns. And, prior to Pai’s chairmanship, the FCC wanted to know if AT&T was treating all video service the same, in accordance with the principles of net neutrality. As Chairman, Pai abandoned the investigation.

The argument consistently put forward by opponents of net neutrality is that it imposes onerous rules on ISPs that stifle innovation and competition in the marketplace. The innovation claim is undermined by the many start-ups that lined up to defend net neutrality, telling the FCC that creativity depends on clear, workable rules. The competition claim is just as laughable, given that it is the large broadband companies that wanted net neutrality gutted—the same companies that are often the only option customers have. Net neutrality protections that forced monopolist ISPs to treat all data the same were some of the only competitive safeguards we had. Without them, Time Warner’s alleged practices of misleading customers and Internet content providers would lose the tempering effect the Open Internet Order provided.

On April 26, the fear and rumor became reality as the FCC chairman announced his intention to roll back the Open Internet Order and “reclassify” broadband Internet access so that ISPs would be allowed to block content and selectively throttle speeds, which was previously prohibited. We knew this was unpopular and would have a devastating effect on speech and the Internet, so we gave you a tool to tell that to the FCC. We knew that the vast majority of you support net neutrality, and we worked hard to make sure your voices were heard.

The new plan proposed by Pai claimed to make ISPs answerable to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) instead of the FCC – even though a pending court case might keep the FTC from having any oversight of major telecommunications companies altogether. Even if it retains some authority, the FTC can only get involved when ISPs break the promises they chose to make—a flimsy constraint that telecom lawyers can easily write around. Sure enough, just as the FCC carried out Pai’s repeal, we saw Comcast roll back its promises on net neutrality. And that was just the start of the problems we have with Pai’s proposal. An attack on the open Internet is an attack on free speech, and that’s worth defending.

In June, we and a coalition of hundreds of other groups that included nonprofits, artists, tech companies large and small, libraries, and even some ISPs called for a day of action in support of net neutrality. That day came on July 12, when EFF and other websites “blocked” access to their websites unless visitors “upgraded” to “premium” Internet service, a parody of the real consequences that would follow the repeal of net neutrality. Our day of action resulted in 1.6 million comments sent to the FCC.

We kept busy in July, submitting our own comment to the FCC in strong opposition to the proposed repeal. Removing net neutrality protections would, we explained, open the door to blocking websites, selectively throttling Internet speeds for some content, and charging fees to access favored content over “fast lanes.” Our comment joined that of nearly 200 computer scientists, Internet engineers, and other technical luminaries who pointed out that the FCC’s plan was premised on a number of misconceptions about how the Internet actually works and how it is used.

Even with the comments from the engineers, the final version of the plan released by the FCC still contained incorrect information about how the Internet works. It became clear the FCC was forging ahead with a repeal, without stating a valid reason for doing so or listening to the voices of the public that were pouring in. With that in mind, we created a tool that makes it easy to tell Congress to protect the web and created a guide for other ways to get involved.

On December 14, the FCC voted 3-2 to roll back net neutrality and abdicate its responsibility to ensure a free and open Internet. That vote is not the end of the story, not by far. The new rule is being met with legal challenges from all sides, from public interest groups to state attorneys general to technology companies. Meanwhile, state governments have started introducing laws to protect net neutrality on a local level. Even as lawsuits begin, Congress can stop the FCC nightmare from going forward. Under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), Congress has a window of time to reverse an agency rule. This means that we, and you, must continue to monitor and pressure Congress to do so. So call Congress and urge them to use their power under the CRA to save the Open Internet Order.

Published time: 20 Dec, 2017 16:11 Edited time: 21 Dec, 2017 12:21

An attorney was caught with his pants down attempting to film sex scenes with an inmate for a ‘Girls in Jail’ video in Pinellas County, Florida.

The veteran Russian diplomat had an hour-long exchange with RT, discussing the state of global affairs as seen from his position. On several occasion he lamented the state of American diplomacy, apparently sacrificed to the needs of the shifting political agenda in Washington.

One vivid recent example is the crisis in the Korean Peninsula, where the Trump administration chose a heavy-handed approach instead of a negotiated solution, Lavrov said. “I cannot fail to remark upon a trend that we have seen over the past few months. The situation is serious enough that shedding some light on the American approach to the issue is not only proper but necessary,” he said.

“In September the Americans signaled that they were prepared for dialogue and didn’t plan any military exercise until spring [2018] and that the North Korean leadership should keep calm too. This natural pause before spring could be used to establish some kind of dialogue. We translated this signal and it was not rejected.”

Nonetheless, the Americans later announced they would be holding an unscheduled exercise in October, the minister said. “We were surprised by the lack of reaction from Pyongyang. Then in November the Americans announced they would hold an unprecedentedly large exercise with Japan, as if they were expecting to get some reaction from North Korea.” Pyongyang did react after this announcement with an ICBM launch, Lavrov remarked.

This flip-flopping by America may not break any legal rules, but it certainly wins them no trust in Pyongyang, making a negotiated resolution of the conflict less likely, Lavrov noted. And neither does the Trump administration’s attack on the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which helped to resolve a long-standing controversy over Tehran’s nuclear program.

“Questioning that deal, which had put a lid on military nuclear development in Iran, has made much noise and unnerved many parties, including those who helped negotiate the deal. And the signal it sends to [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un is very straightforward: we may lift sanctions from you in exchange for stopping your military nuclear program, but who knows what may get into our head once another administration takes over in Washington?” Lavrov said.

Yet another example of how the Trump administration in its apparent drive to destroy the legacy of Barack Obama undermines its own diplomatic corps comes from Cuba. Under Obama, the US took some positive steps in normalizing relations with Havana, even if it stopped short of lifting its trade embargo on the country.  Now Washington is reversing all that, justifying the change with mysterious “acoustic attacks” on members of the US embassy in Cuba.

“The Americans tend to grab the sanctions club as soon as something doesn’t go their way in diplomacy,” the foreign minister remarked. “We have strength and don’t need diplomacy,” he said, paraphrasing a Russian saying to explain the approach.

Russia was on the receiving end of America’s shifting policies in Syria, Lavrov recalled, as the stated mission of the US-led coalition morphed to follow the political currents in Washington.

“Their initial assurances as voiced to me by [Secretary of State] Rex Tillerson were that the only goal of the US in Syria is to destroy Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS]. Now their statements have become vague, claiming that fully defeating ISIS requires starting an irreversible political transition, which will result in the removal of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad. Such interpretations of our agreements were quite unfaithful,” he said.

Lavrov added that the approach is just the same as with NATO expansion. Moscow was assured, as confirmed by recently published archive materials, that the bloc would not be expanded after reunification of Germany, but the reality was the opposite. “The situation is very similar in terms of the modus operandi and how it relates to the behavior that is considered proper in diplomacy,” he said.

President Donald Trump speaks about the passage of tax reform legislation on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, December 20, 2017. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images)

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Janine Jackson: A GAO report found that many states with voucher programs and education savings accounts don’t inform parents of students with disabilities how their rights change when a child transfers to private school through a “choice program.” Private schools aren’t subject to some of the same legal safeguards, like the requirement to provide something like speech therapy. About half of the private schools the GAO surveyed offered little or no information about special education services on their websites.

But that’s offensive, says the Trump Education Department: “The report unfairly assumes that parents who transfer a child with disabilities to a private school are unaware of how their rights will change.” An official explained:

Parents may believe that educational benefits or services provided by private schools to their children with disabilities outweigh any rights conferred by [the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] or services provided by public schools.

Undermining rights and saying it’s about freedom is par for the course for this White House, but this Washington Post piece by Moriah Balingit was rare in its focus on the particular impact of that worldview, if you will, on people with disabilities. Despite being hit first and worst by policies from taxes to healthcare to employment, the millions of Americans with disabilities are at best, it seems, an afterthought for corporate media.

Joining us now to share some of the stories we could be hearing more of is Rebecca Cokley. Formerly executive director of the National Council on Disability, she’s now a senior fellow working on disability policy at the Center for American Progress. She joins us by phone from Washington, DC. Welcome to CounterSpin, Rebecca Cokley.

Rebecca Cokley: Thank you so much….

Just days after the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved another “punishing” sanctions package crafted by the U.S., North Korea warned in a statement that the Trump administration’s efforts to place economic pressure on the regime constitute an “act of war” that will only accelerate its drive for more powerful nuclear weapons.

“Those countries that raised their hands in favor of this ‘sanctions resolution’ shall be held completely responsible for all the consequences to be caused by the ‘resolution’ and we will make sure for ever and ever that they pay heavy price for what they have done.”
—KCNA, North Korean state news agency

“We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula,” reads Pyongyang’s statement, issued by the North Korean state news agency KCNA on Saturday. “There is no more fatal blunder than the miscalculation that the U.S. and its followers could check by already worn-out ‘sanctions’ the victorious advance of our people who have brilliantly accomplished the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force.”

This latest round of sanctions—which were also approved by China and Russia—comes weeks after North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that it claimed is capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. That missile test was followed by massive joint military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea, during which an American B-1B supersonic bomber flew over South Korea’s eastern coast—a show of force Pyongyang slammed as a signal of America’s “extremely reckless war hysteria.”

Coinciding with the regime’s statement published Saturday, the North Korean foreign ministry insisted that increased economic pressure imposed by the international community will only intensify its drive for greater nuclear capacity.

“We will further consolidate our self-defensive nuclear deterrence aimed at fundamentally eradicating the U.S. nuclear threats, blackmail, and hostile moves by establishing the practical balance of force with the U.S,” it said.

Though the Trump administration initially pushed for a complete ban on all oil imports into North Korea, the sanctions package ultimately approved by the U.N. Security Council seeks to restrict imports to 500,000 barrels a year. The sanctions also demand “the repatriation of North Koreans working abroad within 24 months, instead of 12 months as first proposed,” the Guardian reports.

Pyongyang vowed to retaliate against the nations that threw their weight behind the resolution.

“Those countries that raised their hands in favor of this ‘sanctions resolution’ shall be held completely responsible for all the consequences to be caused by the ‘resolution’ and we will make sure for ever and ever that they pay heavy price for what they have done,” the statement concluded.

Published time: 20 Dec, 2017 16:24 Edited time: 21 Dec, 2017 12:21

Five Russian nationals, including the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, have been placed on the US sanctions list under the Magnitsky Act.

The former South Carolina governor, with very little experience in international diplomacy, vowed upon receiving her ambassadorship in January to protect Israel from international bullying – a rather peculiar promise from a diplomat presumably representing American interests.

Most recently, Haley has warned that she is “taking names” ahead of a General Assembly debate on Washington’s internationally-condemned recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. According to Haaretz, Haley has even gone so far as to send letters to representatives of UN member-states, warning them against supporting a resolution rejecting the US decision.

Whether she’s invoking the charred carcass of an unidentified missile to accuse Iran of treachery, or blaming North Korea for ruining her Independence Day barbecue, Haley’s diplomatic prowess is… something else.

Houthi missile with ‘American-made component’ supplied by Iran?

In a show-and-tell performance reminiscent of Colin Powell’s Iraqi anthrax vial, Haley told a crowd at the headquarters of the Defense Intelligence Agency last week that the US had obtained “undeniable” evidence that Iran supplied Houthi rebels with missiles and other arms. Standing in front of the charred remains of a short-range ballistic intercepted by Saudi Arabia on November 4, Haley said:

…the Iranian regime cannot be allowed to engage in its lawless behavior any longer… the fight against Iranian aggression is the world’s fight.

But a UN panel of experts which reviewed missile fragments from the alleged attack concluded it “has no evidence as to the identity of the broker or supplier.” In its confidential report, obtained by Foreign Policy magazine, the panel identified a tail component that bore the logo of an Iranian company. However, the panel also reported that the missile contained “an American-made component.”

And while Haley seems to be comfortable accusing Iran of “lawless behavior,” she’s remained silent about the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which has resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

Sky ‘hasn’t fallen’ after Trump’s Jerusalem move

Haley also casually brushed aside the growing discontent among Washington’s European and Arab allies, all of whom are lockstep-opposed to the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem. Haley told CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ program: 

When the president made this comment [recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital] on Wednesday, everybody said the sky was going to fall. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the sky’s still up there. It hasn’t fallen. 

Earlier, she claimed that the United States is the only fair and honest peace broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – a remarkable act of panache accentuated by a recent 14-1 Security Council vote condemning the US decision as counterintuitive to reaching a peace settlement. Undeterred, Haley said that the United States would not be “lectured” to by countries that lack credibility “when it comes to treating both Israelis and Palestinians fairly.” (The United States gave Israel more than $3 billion in foreign aid last year, compared to an estimated $350 million in financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority.)

North Korea ruined her Fourth of July

It looks like North Korea is indeed a villain and in blatant violation of all diplomatic conventions, after it deprived Haley of her right to eat hot dogs on July 4.

Haley tweeted on July 4 that she was spending the holiday “in meetings all day. #ThanksNorthKorea.”

The tweet didn’t sit well with some in the Twitterverse, however.

‘Fake diplomacy’

During deliberations over an investigation into alleged chemical weapon attacks in Syria, Haley lamented that she spent hours trying to reach her Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzya, to no avail.

For some reason, the phone of the Russian mission doesn’t work…We tried reaching them, but this week they were too busy to talk to us. And when I tried to call Vasily, for some reason he was not available.

After Nebenzya said there was not a single missed call on his phone, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov joked of Haley’s words, saying that “it seems we are witnessing a new phenomenon in international relations. Now there’s not only ‘fake news’ to deal with, but also ‘fake diplomacy.’”

The final tally was 224 votes in favor of the bill and 201 against, with 12 Republicans joining the Democrats in opposition.

The House first approved the bill on Tuesday afternoon, followed by a Senate vote early Wednesday morning. However, the Democrats convinced the Senate parliamentarian that several clauses in the bill were in violation of reconciliation rules, forcing it back to the House.

Republicans packaged the bill under the budget reconciliation rules, in order to prevent the Democrats from stopping it with a Senate filibuster. This left it vulnerable to procedural challenges, however.

One of the objections regarded the bill’s name, as the Democrats said ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’ does not pertain to the budget. Another clause would have allowed qualified tuition plans – also known as 529 savings accounts – to be applied to homeschooling. The third issue concerned the conditions under which private universities would be exempt from a tax on endowments.

Following the early morning Senate vote, President Donald Trump announced there would be a White House press conference if the House approves the bill, as expected.

“The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed. Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) praised the passage of the bill. “After years of work, dozens of hearings, and an open process, we passed an historic overhaul of our nation’s tax code. It will deliver tax reform to families and small businesses across the nation.”

The bill’s passage was met with opposition from Democratic senators and chants of “kill the bill” by protesters.

“The bill that the Republicans jammed through the Senate tonight isn’t tax reform,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts). “It’s a heist. Let’s call this out for what it is: Government for sale.”

Her colleague Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) called it a “giant handout for the rich and powerful.”

“There is no shame left in Washington when the biggest piece of legislation passed by this Republican Congress is literally a windfall for their wealthy donors,” said Murphy.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) called the bill an “utter disgrace.”

Republican lawmakers gathered at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the bill’s passage, however, called the legislation historic.

“President Donald Trump delivered a great victory for the American people,” Vice President Mike Pence said at the ceremony. “Merry Christmas, America.”