Hasta La Gadget!

Like what you read below? Sign up for HUFFPOST HILL and get a cheeky dose of political news every evening!

Thanks to his reaction after meeting Donald Trump, we now know what the Pope would look like if he arrived late to a movie theater and had to sit in the front row. CBO projects 23 million more uninsured by 2026 under Trumpcare, but let that be President Dwayne Johnson’s problem. And Ben Carson effectively said poor people are poor because they’re terrible thinkers, so don’t be surprised when federal housing programs are gutted and entirely replaced by giveaways of “Gifted Hands.” This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, May 24th, 2017:

CBO: 23 MILLION MORE UNINSURED BY 2026 – Yeah, but remember what Stalin said about a million deaths. Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young: “Twenty-three million fewer Americans would have insurance under legislation that House Republicans narrowly passed last month, the Congressional Budget Office reported on Wednesday. The agency also predicted the deficit would come down by $119 billion over the next decade ― and that premiums for people buying insurance on their own would be relatively lower than those premiums would be if the Affordable Care Act stays in place. But the reasons health insurance would be less expensive for some aren’t much to cheer about, the budget report makes clear. Prices would come down for healthy people because those who are sick or have illness in their medical histories would have less access to coverage ― and the policies available on the market would tend to be a lot less comprehensive.” [HuffPost]

Also this bit, from the CBO report: “In particular, out-of-pocket spending on maternity care and mental health and substance abuse services could increase by thousands of dollars in a given year for the nongroup enrollees who would use those services.” [CBO Report] 

PAUL RYAN THRILLED: “This CBO report again confirms that the American Health Care Act achieves our mission: lowering premiums and lowering the deficit.” 

RNC: FAKE NEWS! “The CBO has a long track record of being way, way off in its modeling, with predictions often differing drastically from what actually happens.” 

COMEY GOT FAKE NEWS’D, TOO – Please tell us it was a dossier titled, “Hillary Clinton did what?!?” Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Marrett: “In the midst of the 2016 presidential primary season, the FBI received a purported Russian intelligence document describing a tacit understanding between the campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Justice Department over the inquiry into whether she intentionally revealed classified information through her use of a private email server… Current and former officials have said that document played a significant role in the July decision by then-FBI Director James B. Comey to announce on his own, without Justice Department involvement, that the investigation was over. That public announcement — in which he criticized Clinton and made extensive comments about the evidence — set in motion a chain of other FBI moves that Democrats now say helped Trump win the presidential election. But according to the FBI’s own assessment, the document was bad intelligence — and according to people familiar with its contents, possibly even a fake sent to confuse the bureau.” [WaPo]

NEVER MIND ABOUT THOSE FOOD STAMP CUTS – Joseph Erbentraut and Arthur Delaney: “U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue faced heated questioning Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s new proposal to slash food stamps….Contrary to the budget, Perdue simply said that SNAP would be fully funded in the next fiscal year and that any changes would be up to Congress. ‘The legislative proposal going forward is obviously something you and all of your members in Congress will deal with and have your stamp on that,’ Perdue said. He also said he stood by his comment last week that SNAP isn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing. It’s true that presidential budgets are basically just suggestions, and that it will be up to Congress to set spending levels, but it’s hard to reconcile Perdue’s sunny outlook on SNAP with the Trump administration’s push to cut the program by $193 billion over 10 years, or more than 25 percent of the program’s projected cost in that time. One possible explanation for Perdue’s comment Wednesday is that he wants to pretend that Trump’s budget simply does not exist. A USDA spokesperson said the policy changes recommended in the budget would be considered by Congress when it next reauthorizes SNAP next year ― as in, not right now.” [HuffPost]

Like HuffPost Hill? Then order Eliot’s book, The Beltway Bible: A Totally Serious A-Z Guide To Our No-Good, Corrupt, Incompetent, Terrible, Depressing, and Sometimes Hilarious Government 

 Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It’s free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to eliot@huffpost.com. Follow us on Twitter – @HuffPostHill

MAN’S DEEPEST WISH UNFULFILLED BY DONALD TRUMP – Well, now Sean Spicer knows what it’s like to attend Trump U. Kevin Liptak and Jeff Zeleny: “At the most highly anticipated meeting on President Donald Trump’s first foreign odyssey, the ever-shifting pecking order of a tumultuous White House was on full display. Not seen was one of Trump’s most visible hands: Sean Spicer, the embattled press secretary and Catholic who was eagerly anticipating the meeting with Pope Francis…Those were the expected faces. But there were others there, too ― less familiar yet nonetheless critical to the West Wing ecosystem. Hope Hicks, Trump’s communications adviser; Keith Schiller, his former bodyguard; and Dan Scavino, his social media master, all stood solemnly as Trump greeted the Pontiff…Asked about Spicer not being included in the group that met the Pope, a source close to the White House said: ‘Wow. That’s all he wanted,’ adding it should ‘very much be seen as a slight.’” [CNN]

ITALIANS HATE DONALD TRUMP – 5/5 bungas for America’s commander-in-chief. S.V. Date: “As President Donald Trump makes his Italian debut in meetings with Pope Francis and government leaders on Wednesday, many Italians can already express their impression of the new U.S. president with a single word: ‘pazzo.’ ‘People think he’s a little crazy,’ said Benedetta Alabardi, a pharmacist whose store sits a few hundred yards from St. Peter’s Square. ‘The first impression is that he’s crazy and dangerous,’ said Orasti Gionti, a project manager for a telecommunications consulting company, who allowed for the possibility that Trump’s outrageous statements were an act. ‘Maybe he’s tricky.’ Fruit vendor Chowdhury Rafiquizzaman saw no need for any such qualifier. ‘He is crazy,’ he said. ‘Not only crazy, he is very crazy.’” [HuffPost]

Happy Wednesday. Here’s John Kasich speaking with 2 Chainz.

IJR is having a cutest dogs on the Hill contest and in the name of the fiery and unforgiving God of Content, you should enter it.

BETSY DEVOS CONTINUES TO MAKE AMERICA PROUD – At least she didn’t say that people should discriminate against LGBTQ kids like a business…yet. Jennifer Bendery: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Wednesday that states should have the flexibility to decide whether schools can discriminate against LGBTQ students ― even if those schools get federal money. During a testy exchange in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) told DeVos about Lighthouse Christian Academy, a private school in Indiana that receives state voucher money but denies admission to students from families where there is ‘homosexual or bisexual activity’ or someone ‘practicing alternate gender identity.’ Clark asked DeVos, whose budget seeks a $250 million increase for projects that include vouchers for private schools, if she would step in if that Indiana school applied for such federal funding. DeVos replied by saying she supports giving flexibility to states. ‘For states who have programs that allow for parents to make choices, they set up the rules around that,’ she said.” [HuffPost]

BEN CARSON URGES THE POOR TO THINK LESS POOR – Be creative, like the Egyptians, who made lemonade out of lemons and stored grain in their pyramids. Jose A. DelReal: “In an interview released Wednesday, Housing Secretary Ben Carson said that a ‘certain mindset’ contributes to people living in poverty, pointing to habits and a ‘state of mind’ children take from their parents at a young age. ‘I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there,’ he said during an interview on SiriusXM Radio with Armstrong Williams, a longtime friend. ‘And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom,’ he said.” [WaPo]

TED CRUZ CAN’T TAKE A JOKE – Remarkable that a man who takes most of his social cues from Tracy Flick, Ralph Reed and the John Birch Society would be such a pill. Burgess Everett: “Ted Cruz called Al Franken ‘obnoxious and insulting’ for devoting an entire chapter to the Texas GOP senator in Franken’s new book titled ‘Giant of the Senate.’ Franken, who told USA Today that he hates Cruz in an interview promoting the book, has deemed Cruz ‘singularly dishonest and smarmy.’ Cruz, for his part, said that the Minnesota Democratic senator is just trying to goose his sales with the Cruz-centric chapter called ‘Sophistry.’ ‘Al is trying to sell books and apparently he’s decided that being obnoxious and insulting me is good for causing liberals to buy his books,’ Cruz said in an interview. ‘I wish him all the best.’” [Politico]

BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR – Here’s a dog interrupting a newscast.

FIRST ADVERTISER PULLS ADS FROM ‘HANNITY’ – This never would’ve happened if Colmes stayed on. Lydia O’Connor: “Cars.com, the automotive classifieds site, said Wednesday that it’s pulling its advertisements from Sean Hannity’s Fox News show…The move by Cars.com to pull advertising mimics the start of a massive advertiser boycott that plagued Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, who was unceremoniously ousted from the network last month after after allegations of him sexually harassing female colleagues prompted protests and eventually led more than 50 companies to remove advertising from his show. “ [HuffPost]

COMFORT FOOD

– The first full-length trailer for the new “Game of Thrones” season.

– Where Navy ships go to die.

– The heaviest weight on Earth.

TWITTERAMA

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffpost.com)

— 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.

Last week, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke announced his plans to accept a senior post in the Department of Homeland Security as a liaison between state and local officials. The news set off a chorus of criticism describing Clarke as “controversial” with such consistency that it may as well be part of his title. So far, DHS has declined to confirm whether it actually offered him the job —which would not require Senate confirmation — nonetheless, Clarke maintains things are still on track. Let’s hope not.

Appointing Clarke would damage the agency’s ability to coordinate with state and local partners and elevate his fringe views to the national stage. Unfortunately, that may be the objective.

For the uninitiated, David Clarke has an appalling record on just about every topic. He made headlines in April when a prisoner died of “profound dehydration,” having been denied water for seven days in one of Clarke’s jails. A special jury has recommended criminal charges in the case, one of four deaths in just six-months that prompted state lawmakers to call for Clarke’s resignation and the Department of Justice to consider an investigation. Clarke is a vocal critic of criminal justice reform, believes there is a “war on police,” and likens Black Lives Matter to a “hate group” and “terrorist organization” that “will join forces with ISIS to being [sic] down our legal constituted republic.” He refers to Planned Parenthood as “Planned Genocide” and says that transgender individuals “suffer from mental disorders” and live a “freakish lifestyle.” His idea of bipartisanship is “reaching across the aisle to grab [Democrats] by the throat.” Perhaps the only positive thing to say about Sheriff Clarke is that he once plagiarized reports from the Brennan Center and ACLU – but clearly not their recommendations.

On national security, Clarke is disastrous. For starters, he has called for suspending habeas corpus and detaining up to a million American citizens at Guantanamo Bay for sympathizing with terrorists online. According to Clarke, he would “take all of these individuals that are suspected [of] spewing jihadi rhetoric … scoop them up, charge them with treason, and … detain them indefinitely at Gitmo.” He has also advocated for patrolling Muslim neighborhoods for signs of terrorism, praising a defunct, discredited, and unconstitutional program in New York City that decimated police-community relations and produced exactly zero leads.

It is hard to imagine a worse pick for DHS, but that may be just the point. Clarke is another poison-pill appointment. He has been outright hostile to federal law enforcement efforts, once comparing President Obama to Adolf Hitler for trying to “federalize local police.” He is also reported to have recent ties to anti-government extremist groups, accepting an award last year from the “Oath Keepers,” described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “one of the largest radical antigovernment groups in the U.S. today.”

At the same time, Clarke continues to rail against sanctuary cities protecting immigrants, vowing to apply “leverage” and “twist arms” to compel states to enforce federal policy priorities, effectively commandeering state and local police. Clarke is also a firm believer in Trump’s fact-free vision of “American carnage,” despite all evidence to the contrary. He believes that mass incarceration is a myth and is horribly out of step with prominent police chiefs and prosecutors who recognize that public safety means ending mass incarceration and building public trust. 

Indeed, the only consistent thread in Clarke’s agenda appears to be the propriety of his personal views and the desire to crush democratic dissent. Is this really the person DHS wants in charge of federal outreach? After all, the job is to work with state and local officials, explained one former official, not threaten to strangle them.

But at a time when President Trump is trying to shake up the federal government like a toddler having a tantrum, putting Clarke in charge of federal outreach is as fitting as it is disturbing. It’s also a story we’ve seen before. Consider Trump’s decision to appoint climate change denier Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Or Rick Perry’s appointment to head the Department of Energy – following his campaign promise to eliminate it. Or Betsy DeVos, who supports deep cuts to public school programs, as Secretary of Education. Trump might as well tap Jaws to be head lifeguard for the summer while he’s at it.  

Sheriff Clarke is profoundly unfit to hold a public trust position, let alone one with national security responsibilities. Should DHS move forward with Clarke’s appointment, it will be a self-inflicted wound on the agency and a blow to democratic values around the country. 

— 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.

“Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.’” —Martin Luther King Jr.

Some readers thought I went too far by calling policies pushed by the Trump administration and Congress a war on Americans of color. But the president’s new budget proposal shows it’s even worse than I thought.

Even some Republicans have been rightly horrified at how the administration’s proposed budget cuts so much of what’s good, decent and useful that the federal government does, from food assistance (cut by a staggering $193 billion over 10 years) to Medicaid. But we can’t forget that this budget targets some groups more than others, and the attack on Americans of color has never been more overt.

Those massive Medicaid cuts, for example, will hurt millions who depend on the program for basic health care. Because people of color are less likely to have employer-provided health insurance and, thanks to America’s ongoing racial wealth gap, have less money with which to buy insurance, 58 percent of the Medicaid population is non-white.

But Trump’s proposed health cuts go far beyond Medicaid. They target disease prevention efforts at the CDC as well as vital programs that help train young people from diverse backgrounds to work in health professions. This not only cuts off a pathway out of poverty, it also means that blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans will be less likely to see a health provider who understands their community and culture, leading to worse care.

Massive cuts to affordable housing and other programs run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development would also disproportionately hurt low-income communities of color. When these cuts were first floated back in March, housing advocates called them “unconscionable,” and nothing has changed that situation. For example, Community Development Block Grants, which help struggling neighborhoods with needs ranging from infrastructure improvements to housing assistance, would be wiped out completely.

On the financial front, the Trump budget would gradually defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created largely because of predatory lending that targeted black, Latino and Asian communities in the run-up to the 2008 crash. The budget plan also attacks a number of programs that have been crucial to small, minority-owned businesses.

For example, the budget proposal caps the Community Development Financial Institution Fund, a vital lifeline for community development banks, credit unions, and mission-based lenders – institutions that are often the only feasible source of capital for minority-owned small businesses. It would also wipe out the Minority Business Development Agency, which runs programs and services to better equip minority-owned firms to expand and create jobs in their communities. Because these firms tend to be smaller in size than white-owned firms and have less access to conventional sources of credit and capital, CDFIs and the MBDA have played a crucial role in strengthening this sector of our economy. Cutting them will cost jobs, and most of those jobs will be in communities of color.

Environmental cuts will also disproportionately hurt communities of color, as these communities – too often used as toxic dumping grounds ― consistently suffer from the worst pollution problems. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice program would disappear completely, Native American pollution control programs would be slashed by nearly a quarter, Superfund toxic waste site cleanup would be cut by $330 million and grants to state and local air pollution control districts would be cut by 30 percent.

Also facing complete elimination is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps low-income families keep the lights and heat on. Until Americans of color catch up with their white counterparts in levels of employment, income and wealth, cuts to programs that alleviate poverty will always hit them the worst.

And, in one final bit of pointless cruelty, Trump’s proposed budget contains a provision that would make it far easier for the administration to withhold funds from sanctuary cities. Trump administration officials justify this as a crackdown on crime, but research shows that sanctuary cities – in which officials follow the law but don’t go beyond it in assisting with deportations – have lower crime rates than cities without sanctuary policies.

While the Trump administration budget literally contains something to hurt every American, it’s our communities who will be hurt first and worst if this atrocity passes.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=5924693be4b03b485cb59638,59135d17e4b0e070cad70b40,5924e896e4b00c8df29feb68

— 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.

President Donald Trump met with Pope Francis for the first time on Wednesday, and, as customary for visits between dignitaries, the two men exchanged gifts.

In a not-so-subtle nod to Trump’s shaky track record on environmental issues, Francis gave the U.S. president a copy of his 2015 encyclical on the environment, “Laudato Si.”

As his offering, Trump saw fit to present the pontiff with a first-edition set of writings by Martin Luther King Jr.

In some ways, the gesture was fitting. Francis spoke about King’s civil rights legacy during his address to Congress in 2015, and he frequently preaches on topics like nonviolence and the perils of capitalism, which were also close to King’s heart.

But Trump’s gift was filled with irony. The White House claimed the gift “honors Dr. King’s hope, vision, and inspiration for generations to come.” Whether Trump, himself, honors King’s message is a question many have pondered.

For one, Trump has had a troubling way of talking about black people over the years.

“I have a great relationship with the blacks,” he said in April 2011. “I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”

— 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.

Paws down, car buying can be ruff. Fortunately, there’s a pint-sized car dealer who’s eager to help.

Introducing Brus Griffin, an adorable Brussels Griffon who you know you can trust because she’s wearing a suit and tie.

Brus’ owner, a woman named Steph who also has a second Brussels Griffon named Griff, told HuffPost that inspiration for the commercial filmed last week came after she purchased the child-sized suit for her little breadwinner from a thrift store.

“I buy them outfits sometimes because it’s hilarious and great for the pictures,” she said by email on Wednesday. “It was only $4 and had already paid for itself in laughs before I even got home.”

After putting the suit on the pooch ― which Steph said her dog “actually really liked” ― she said she couldn’t shake off her dog’s resemblance to a car salesman. As for the name, Brus Griffin, she called it “just the slimy car salesman name I used.”

Of course, because they say it’s the suit that makes the man, other videos posted on Instagram show Gilda posing as a serious, chair-swiveling attorney, with the “Law and Order” theme song playing in the background.

“Have you been a bad dog? Injured while fetching?” the video’s captions asks. “Call Brus Griffin of Griffin & Griffin Law.” 

Another photo shows her in a side-by-side comparison to paper salesman Dwight Schrute from “The Office” and then again in a sales meeting for ― what else? ― tennis balls, compliments of Reddit’s Photoshop Battles.

Talk about a dog who knows a few tricks.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=58a36d85e4b0ab2d2b19d775,58c1a11ee4b0ed71826aed22,58064849e4b0b994d4c18fd2,58ffbcc9e4b04d882f2ca424

— 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.