Top Trump Ally Met With Putin’s Deputy in Moscow
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/07/top-trump-ally-met-with-putin-s-deputy-in-moscow.html

Fox News sheriff’s NRA trip to Moscow is raising eyebrows on the House intel committee
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/fox-news-sheriffs-nra-trip-to-moscow-is-raising-eyebrows-on-the-house-intel-committee/

TALLAHASSEE — Three of Florida's four highest-ranking elected officials — and potentially the lieutenant governor and the state's 160 lawmakers, too — could be able to carry guns almost anywhere in the state under a special carve-out in Florida law being considered by the Legislature.

Sarasota Republican Sen. Greg Steube, who filed SB 646, said one of the three members of the Florida Cabinet "approached" him about proposing the exemption, which would let the Cabinet members carry concealed anywhere in Florida where federal law doesn't prohibit guns, so long as they have a concealed-weapons permit.

That means — unlike most of the rest of the state's 1.7 million concealed-weapons permit-holders — those statewide elected officials could be armed in the state's 15 "gun-free zones," such as in public schools, airport passenger terminals, police stations, government meetings, athletic events and bars.

Steube would not say which Cabinet member — Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater or Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam — wanted the law changed for their benefit. Each of those offices are elected by voters statewide; Gov. Rick Scott oversees Cabinet meetings but is not himself a member of the Cabinet.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/florida-cabinet-could-get-special-exemption-to-carry-concealed-guns-almost/2315748

Religious curricula funded by tax-credit school vouchers have become a cash cow for many private schools.

President Donald Trump is being praised for a change in tone in his recent address to Congress, but his belligerent attitude toward public education hasn’t changed a bit.

While it’s true he stopped short of repeating his claims that public schools are “broken” and a “government monopoly,” what Trump chose to highlight in his remarks about public schools was a story about a student who left them.

During his education remarks, Trump called out a guest of his in the audience, Denisha Merriweather, who, he says, “struggled in school and failed third grade twice. But then she was able to enroll in a private center for learning, with the help of a tax credit scholarship program. Today, she is the first in her family to graduate, not just from high school, but from college. Later this year she will get her masters degree in social work.”

Education writers were quick to jump on Trump’s shout-out to speculate that an education tax-credit proposal, like the one Merriweather took advantage of in Florida, would be just the sort of plan Trump would try to push through Congress.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trumps-school-choice-plan-religious-fundamentalism-taxpayer-expense

Looking at Facebook or watching news coverage of protests and counter-protests, it's easy to imagine the US as split into two bitter political factions. On one side, there's the "resistance," mostly Hillary Clinton voters who are so furious at each new Trump tweet they can barely focus at work. On the other are Donald Trump supporters, outraged that the media refuses give the president a chance to prove himself.

But more numerous than either Trump or Clinton supporters are the people who didn't vote at all. In 2016, 42 percent of eligible voters didn't make it to the polls, and that doesn't include US residents who can't vote for one reason or another: current or former prison inmates barred from the polls by state law, some people with mental disabilities, and immigrants and visa holders who aren't yet citizens. And in many states, concerted campaigns have made it more difficult for some would-be voters through photo ID requirements, limits on early voting, and new registration rules.

All told, a much smaller percentage of adults votes in the US than in most developed countries. Though there are many explanations for this oft-cited stat, one is that many people feel disengaged from the items on a ballot. A lot of nonvoters don't know or care much about politics, don't see how government decisions affect their lives, and see the whole mess in Washington as a waste of their time.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/meet-the-nonvoters-who-cant-stand-that-trump-is-president

Fallon to Deliver ‘More Political’ ‘Tonight Show’ to Win Back Ratings Crown From Colbert

snip

Deadline Hollywood has the numbers—it reports that Colbert’s fifth week at the top saw his Late Show on CBS clock 3 million viewers, compared with Fallon’s 2.92 million on NBC, although Fallon can take considerable consolation in the fact that he continues to win most eyeballs in the key 18-49 age bracket.

However Page Six’s source said: “[Fallon] is feeling the pressure. I mean, Stephen Colbert is now beating him in a big way and he has to change his format to keep up because he’s losing viewers.”

snip

Page Six adds that his off-trend numbers are infuriating Fallon, “He freaks out over this. He has to be on top,” the source said.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/08/jimmy-fallon-to-deliver-more-political-tonight-show-to-win-back-ratings-crown-from-colbert.html

Protesters have booted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) out of a second office in Florida — not long after his staff was forced to leave his location in Tampa.

The owner of Rubio’s office in Jacksonville, Fla., has decided to not renew the lease because of weekly protests that some say have become too disruptive.

The owner of the senator’s office in Tampa recently made the same decision for the same reason.

Rubio’s Jacksonville office is next door to a health center for children with mental health issues. The decision to not renew the lease was prompted — at least partly — by concerns over the protests’ impact on patients.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/03/01/protesters-have-succeeded-in-kicking-sen-marco-rubio-out-of-his-office-literally/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.3d7794022d48



NICE!!!!!!!!!!

Immigration raids are starting to have an impact on small businesses out West, with some merchants suggesting a climate of fear is keeping customers away.

"We're seeing more cases of people reluctant to patronize the stores they were going to," said Mark Arabo, owner of San Diego's Lulu's International Market and former president of the Neighborhood Market Association, a business group of about 2,000 small stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. "It's fear for ICE and it's fear for the government."

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has held several enforcement actions in Southern California that have generated headlines, including the arrest last week of a Mexican immigrant dropping his teenage daughters off at school.

Lori Haley, a spokesperson for ICE, said in a written response Monday that agents and special officers have made "criminal and administrative arrests every day in the course of carrying out their mission to uphold public safety." She added, "Our arrests are targeted — we don't engage in indiscriminate sweeps or raids."

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/07/immigration-raids-having-chilling-effect-on-small-businesses.html

Do you face the morning with a sense of dread?

When you awaken with each new sunrise, c'mon admit it, is one of the first things to pop into your head "What did he do now?"

You're not alone, dearest reader. You are simply afflicted with a nagging case of Trumpsomnia.

There is no cure. The witching hour has become the twitching hour.

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/ruth-trump-plays-captain-queeg/2315552

CLEARWATER — The Church of Scientology is maneuvering to control all downtown real estate to create a master retail district that will operate under its management and oversight.

The plan, according to two city officials briefed by Scientology leader David Miscavige, requires all property from Osceola to Myrtle avenues between Drew and Pierce streets being bought by the church, its parishioners or other owners willing to participate.

The concept involves recruiting a few major, national retailers to anchor the district and filling the grid with handpicked businesses all at one time, similar to how an outdoor mall is established, said Community Redevelopment Agency Director Seth Taylor and City Manager Bill Horne, who in October were shown renderings of the retail strategy by Miscavige but not given copies.

The plan does not require approval from elected officials or voters, but is a vision the church has already started implementing on its own with the help of consultants and an aggressive acquisition of property in the downtown core.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/scientology-plans-control-of-downtown-clearwater-for-retail-makeover/2315501

Former top federal budget official David Stockman has a stark warning for investors: There's going to be a disaster in Washington and you're not going to see it coming.

Stockman, an ardent critic of President Donald Trump, has strong doubts that the rosy view investors are taking on the economy can hold water in the near-term. As usual, he didn't mince words when explaining his perspective to CNBC.

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index jumped following Trump's speech to Congress, with markets growing more bullish about the Trump policy agenda. Yet since Wednesday, both indexes have failed to continue the trend of new highs.

The stall in the rally has Stockman, former OMB director under the Reagan administration, labeling Trump's address as "irrelevant" to what will happen to the market and the economy.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/05/wall-st-is-misreading-trump-and-a-market-bloodbath-is-imminent-stockman.html