Daily Archives: September 28, 2020

TRUMP PROMISING CASH TO SENIORS

TRUMP PROMISING CASH TO SENIORS

President Trump holds up an executive order
after delivering remarks on health care in Charlotte, N.C.,


What To Know About Those $200 Drug Cards President Trump Promised

TRUMP PROMISING CASH TO SENIORS TO HELP

President Trump promised this week to send cards worth $200 to seniors to help them pay for their prescription drugs, but it’s unclear how he will be able to pull it off — or how legal it is.

If he can, that’s $6.6 billion to a key voting bloc weeks before Election Day.

“Under my plan, 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs,” Trump told a crowd in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday. “Nobody has seen this before. These cards are incredible. The cards will be mailed out in coming weeks.”

Although anything involving the Treasury usually needs congressional approval, the White House doesn’t plan to go that route.

Instead, officials say the White House plans to use a section of the Social Security Act that allows Medicare to test out new programs aimed at saving money, for example, to see whether they work. Called “demonstrations,” these are usually proposed by state governments, agency staff, Congress or the private sector. And the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is tasked with evaluating and approving them.

READ MORE



 

PELOSI MOBILIZING DEMOCRATS FOR ELECTORATE TIE

PELOSI MOBILIZING DEMOCRATS FOR ELECTORATE TIE

FROM POLITICO

PELOSI MOBILIZING DEMOCRATS FOR ELECTORATE TIE

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has begun mobilizing Democrats for the possibility that neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump will win an outright Electoral College victory, a once-in-a-century phenomenon that would send the fate of the presidency to the House of Representatives to decide.

Under that scenario, which hasn’t happened since 1876, every state’s delegation gets a single vote. Who receives that vote is determined by an internal tally of each lawmaker in the delegation. This means the presidency may not be decided by the party that controls the House itself but by the one that controls more state delegations in the chamber. And right now, Republicans control 26 delegations to Democrats’ 22, with Pennsylvania tied and Michigan a 7-6 plurality for Democrats, with a 14th seat held by independent Justin Amash.

A battle inside the House could be brutal, even more politically bare-knuckled than Trump and Senate Republicans pushing through a Supreme Court nominee days before the election. In some states, a single seat could decide the partisan makeup of a delegation. There could be extended legal challenges over declaring victors in House races, as national party leaders and their legal teams dive headlong into the results for individual races at the county or even precinct level.

READ MORE


WHERE IS THE ELECTRICITY FOR ELECTRIC CARS

WHERE IS THE ELECTRICITY FOR ELECTRIC CARS


WHERE IS THE ELECTRICITY FOR ELECTRIC CARS

It’s a long drive to just about anywhere Gary Wright needs to go. A rancher in the far northeastern corner of California, he sometimes has to drive nearly 100 miles, one-way, to get to where his cattle graze. It’s 36 miles to Klamath Falls, Ore., for a significant errand run.

There are only a few gas stations along the routes through the forests and high deserts in Modoc County — let alone electric vehicle charging stations. There are none near the rangeland where Wright’s cattle graze.

So he was baffled when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that California would require all new passenger cars and trucks to be electric or “zero-emission” by 2035 to combat climate change.

Newsom’s directive signaled the governor was moving more aggressively on climate change during one of the hottest years in California, and with wildfires consuming nearly 4 million acres — the most in modern history. But his order comes with significant challenges for rural California and the Central Valley, where many people drive all day for work, not just to commute, and traveling long distances is a necessity.

Electric vehicle companies say battery technology is improving, but as it stands, the best electric car batteries currently on the market have a range of no more than 250 miles. There are few options for electric pickups like the ones Wright would need to haul equipment and livestock trailers over long distances.

READ MORE

DAWG SAYS: CALIFORNIA CANNOT KEEP THE LIGHTS ON IN THEIR STATE, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO KEEP THESE CARS CHARGED?

GAS POWERED GENERATORS I GUESS.

SCOTUS CONFIRMATION HEARING DATE OCT.12

SCOTUS CONFIRMATION HEARING DATE OCT.12

SCOTUS CONFIRMATION HEARING DATE OCT.12

Republicans are eyeing Oct. 12 as the target date for the start of confirmation hearings for Trump’s pick to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a source familiar with the process told Fox News.

President Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett, 48, on Saturday evening as his pick to fill the seat vacated last week by the liberal trailblazer — a move that would shift the court to the right, and set up a fierce pre-election day confirmation fight.

Republicans have promised to fill the seat quickly and are expected to attempt to do so before Nov. 3. An Oct. 12 start, 16 days from Saturday would be in line with such a timeline. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

READ MORE

 

SAN FRANCISCO FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TIKTOK BAN

San Francisco Federal Judge blocks TikTok ban

TikTok received a reprieve of its ban from U.S. app stores on Sunday after a federal judge in Washington granted a preliminary injunction blocking an order from President Trump.

It was the second setback for the Trump administration in its effort to curb U.S. residents’ access to popular Chinese mobile apps. Last weekend, a federal magistrate in San Francisco cited First Amendment issues in blocking a proposed ban of the WeChat app.

San Francisco Federal Judge blocks TikTok ban

U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2019, was not expected to make public his full ruling until Monday. He filed his decision publicly, but his full reasoning was filed separately as a sealed document.

Nichols granted the injunction for the piece of the ban that was set to go into effect Sunday night, but denied a motion to halt a second aspect of the ban that doesn’t go into effect until Nov. 12.

READ MORE