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The congresswoman who represents the Florida district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort wants the White House to help pay for his frequent official visits to the area.
“We understand the president wanting to be here every week,” Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) said on Monday, per CBS Miami. “We understand that. This is paradise, right?”
However, she said presidential visits to Palm Beach County have cost $1.7 million in overtime pay and other expenses so far this year. A nearby airport shut down during presidential visits has lost $30,000 every weekend Trump was in town and it missed out on a $440,000 helicopter contract.
In a “friendly” letter also signed by Democratic Florida Reps. Alcee Hastings and Ted Deutch, Frankel urged the White House to pay for some of the costs of presidential visits.
“What we’re saying to the White House is: ‘Please step up to the plate and help us get this money back,’” said Frankel, via WPBF. “And if you’re unable to do that, consider curtailing your travel.”
Frankel represents portions of Palm Beach, where Mar-a-Lago is located, as well as parts of West Palm Beach. The president has spent five weekends in the area since his inauguration in January.
Frankel suggested Camp David as an alternative destination, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The letter also echoed the concerns of some local officials who have grumbled at the rapidly rising costs of Trump’s regular visits.
“I would never consider a proposal that says we’re not going to use our county resources when the president’s here. It’s our patriotic duty,” county commissioner David Kerner told the Washington Post last week. “It’s just unfair that burden should be borne alone.”
The letter also noted that an upcoming visit by Chinese dignitaries was expected to cost the area’s taxpayers an additional $280,000 just to cover the sheriff and fire departments related to the trip, per The Hill.
Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio ― a Republican ― said she was “hopeful” the city could get some of that money back, The Palm Beach Daily News reported. Palm Beach safety director Kirk Blouin told the paper that staffing for protests was a bigger expense than handling security for the president. He appeared less hopeful for a reimbursement.
“In the history of the protection of the Office of the President, I’m not aware of any law enforcement being reimbursed for that,” Blouin was quoted as saying. “If the money’s available, we’ll certainly seek reimbursement.”
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Seth Meyers blasted President Donald Trump’s campaign trail boasts of being an expert deal-maker on Monday.
The GOP’s failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act proved Trump’s bragging on the stump about his ability to do business was “a complete sham,” said the “Late Night” host.
And now that Trump had failed to deliver on a key campaign vow, Meyers said the administration was “trying to claim that he never promised to replace Obamacare quickly.”
“In fact, Trump seems to be looking for literally anyone else to take the blame for the collapse of the healthcare bill he enthusiastically supported,” Meyers said.
Check out the full segment above.
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NASA has begun preparing the ISS’ second space taxi dock for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Flight controllers at NASA Johnson Space Center have taken control of the station’s robotic arm, the Canadarm 2, to relocate one of its…
For many people, their first foray into the world of home automation begins with lighting. There’s a good reason for this: smart bulbs easily fit into existing furnishings and can be operated using just a smartphone, which (mostly) everybody now owns…
The Pirate Bay is about to turn 13, and in honour of the site becoming a teenager, folks like Torrentfreak are checking out the oldest content that has been continuously available since its launch back in 2003.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in a speech that there’s “no question” Russia attempted to manipulate the U.S. presidential election and that many would consider that “an act of war.”
George W. Bush’s former No. 2 explained Monday at The Economic Times’ Global Business Summit in New Delhi that he thinks the “major concern” now facing America is national security. Cheney pointed to Russia’s “cyber warfare, a cyberattack on the United States — the fact that [Russian President Vladimir Putin] took his capabilities in the cyber area and used it to try to influence our election.”
There’s “no question that there was a very serious effort made by Mr. Putin and his government, his organization, to interfere in major ways with our basic, fundamental democratic processes,” Cheney said. “In some quarters, that would be considered an act of war.”
U.S. intelligence determined that hacking operations into emails of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman were orchestrated by Putin in a bid to sway the election toward Donald Trump.
Despite the hacking, “there’s not any argument at this stage that somehow the election of President Trump was not legitimate,” emphasized Cheney, who said he was “happy” to be a Trump supporter (though Cheney said his election was a “surprise to nearly everybody”). But the Republican also clearly distanced himself from Trump’s often positive assessments of Putin.
Cheney warned that the Russian autocrat has operated “in ways that none of his predecessors have done for the last 40 years” and said that his actions in the U.S. were profoundly concerning. “I would not underestimate the weight that we as Americans assign to the Russian attempts to interfere with our internal political processes.”
He warned that the world can expect more of the same from Putin. Cheney also sounded an alarm about Russia’s military aggression and said Putin would do everything in his power to “undermine” NATO.
“He has designs on the Baltic. He wanted Crimea. He took it.”
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The team of correspondents on “The Daily Show” had a devil of a time figuring out who was to blame for the failure of Trumpcare. It seemed everyone had a different opinion about who deserved to be the scapegoat for why the American Health Care Act didn’t even come to a vote.
On Monday’s broadcast, Desi Lydic blamed Steve Bannon, who she described as “the man who looks like the ‘before’ picture in a foot lotion commercial.”
“He clearly sabotaged Paul Ryan to consolidate power in the White House,” Lydic said.
Jordan Klepper disagreed, saying the real culprit was former President Barack Obama.
“He’s the one who refused to ignore the Constitution and run for a third term,” Klepper said. “And if he hadn’t given 20 million people health care, there wouldn’t be anyone to take it away from.”
However, Roy Wood, Jr., may have uncovered the only plausible scapegoat: The lizard from the Geico insurance ads.
“That little lizard makes getting insurance so easy,” Wood said. “Trump sees that [and thinks], ‘If some British lizard can do it in 15 minutes, so can I.”
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
The need for more blood donations is a seemingly never-ending problem. Between interruptions to the donation process, fear of needles, rare blood types, and a general lack of awareness, life-saving blood supplies are difficult to keep stocked. But a team of researchers has found a way to manufacture artificial blood…
Hobby drone operators upsetting seals giving birth in a California marine sanctuary are threatening the survival of the pups, animal experts say.
Officials are cracking down on the buzzing machines at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary on California’s Central Coast. Close to 100 harbor seals typically gather annually to give birth at Hopkins Beach in Pacific Grove in the sanctuary. Mothers stay as long as June nursing their young. The Hopkins Beach rookery is currently fenced off to protect the pregnant and nursing seals and pups, but people have been getting around the fences and drones fly over them, reported KSBW-TV in Monterey.
The Marine Mammal Center in Marin County, which rescues starving and abandoned seal pups, has received several complaints about drones bothering the seals. Not only do the drones upset the seals’ sleep cycles, they can also frighten a mother so seriously that she may abandon her pup.
“A buzzing drone is a completely foreign sound for seals resting on the beach,” Laura Chapman, the center’s northern range operations manager, said in a statement to The Huffington Post. “This unexpected sound can startle a harbor seal mother, causing her to abandon her pup during this critical nursing time.”
Two pups were recently born in the rocks of Hopkins Beach, which is rare. Harbor seals usually give birth on the sand of a beach. Both pups were abandoned after witnesses reported that drones had been flying over them, according to the local TV station. One of the pups has been rescued by the Marine Mammal Center.
It’s illegal to operate any drones over the area because it’s within a drone “no-fly” zone around the Monterey airport. The federal Marine Mammal Protection Act also prohibits harassing seals and requires people on any beach to stay at least 150 feet from a seal or sea lion.
Volunteer docents at the marine sanctuary have been ordered to track down drone operators to tell them to stop.
“About half the time they’re very cooperative,” docent Thom Akeman told KQED in San Francisco. “Other times they’re very belligerent because they think they have a right to fly anywhere.” It’s not clear if the drones are filming the seals or if operators are simply using the open area to play with their drones, Akeman said. He doesn’t ask them — just tells them to stop, he said.
Harbor seals, sea lions and elephant seals along the Pacific Coast have enough to deal with because of climate change and dwindling and moving fish populations. The Marine Mammal Center has dealt with record numbers of pup strandings the last few years as mothers are away longer to search for fish. The hungry pups sometimes strike out on their own, often with little chance of survival.
The center cautions anyone who sees an abandoned pup not to touch the animal but to call a rescue center.
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