US Politics Mega-thread - Page 8877

On September 29 2017 08:01 Plansix wrote:

So it clearly cost the tax payers more than a dime.

The White House approved the use of military aircraft for multi-national trips by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to Africa and Europe this spring, and to Asia in the summer, at a cost of more than $500,000 to taxpayers.

The overseas trips bring the total cost to taxpayers of Price’s travels to more than $1 million since May, according to a POLITICO review.

Price pledged on Thursday to reimburse the government for the cost of his own seat on his domestic trips using private aircraft — reportedly around $52,000 — but that would not include the cost of the military flights.

Price’s wife, Betty, accompanied him on the military flights, while other members of the secretary’s delegation flew commercially to Europe.

HHS spokeswoman Charmaine Yoest said Price has reimbursed the agency for the cost of his wife’s travel abroad, but declined to say when he did so. Price has been under intense criticism since POLITICO revealed his extensive use of charter aircraft for domestic flights last week. His travel expenditures are subject to reviews by the HHS inspector general and the House Oversight Committee. Democratic and Republican senators have also demanded information about Price’s travel expenditures.

The White House assesses the use of military aircraft for overseas travel by Cabinet members on a case-by-case basis. Secretaries whose jobs involve national security functions are more likely to require military jets, but the White House occasionally approves the use of military planes for other members of the Cabinet.

“Use of military aircraft for Cabinet and other essential travelers is sometimes an appropriate and necessary use of resources,” said Raj Shah, White House principal deputy press secretary.
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But one of Price’s recent predecessors, Kathleen Sebelius, who served for five years under President Barack Obama, said she never took a military plane on her many trips overseas; she always flew commercially. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who served as HHS secretary for the final 2½ years of the Obama administration, used a military jet for travel to Havana, Cuba, according to former HHS aides.

On September 29 2017 08:44 Danglars wrote:
https://twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/913489827068334081
The famous twitter memer and Texas supreme court justice was nominated. Keep 'em coming, Don.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his aides have taken several flights on private or military aircraft, including a $12,000 charter plane to take him to events in his hometown in Montana and private flights between two Caribbean islands, according to documents and a department spokeswoman.

Zinke is at least the fourth senior member of the Trump administration to have used non-commercial planes at taxpayer expense, along with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and HHS Secretary Tom Price. President Donald Trump has fumed at Price's pricey travel, and Democrats say the revelations demonstrate a cavalier attitude by Cabinet members toward excessive spending.

Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said Zinke's charter or military plane trips were booked only after officials were unable to find commercial flights that would accommodate Zinke's schedule, and that all were "pre-cleared by career officials in the ethics office." Swift said she had not spoken to Zinke about whether he would reimburse the government for the cost of the flights, as Price plans to do for some of the $400,000 tab he racked up on charter flights.

On June 26, a Beechcraft King Air 200 carried Zinke and several staffers from Las Vegas to Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell, Mont., about a 20-minute drive from Zinke’s home in Whitefish, according to his official schedule. The flight cost $12,375, Swift said.

Zinke left after speaking at an event for the city's new professional hockey team, the "Vegas Golden Knights Development Camp Dinner," according to his schedule. Earlier in the day, he had been in Pahrump, Nev., for an announcement related to public lands.

Zinke's flight left Las Vegas at 8:30 p.m. PST and landed around 1:30 a.m. MST in Kalispell. The secretary stayed overnight at his residence, Interior documents show.

Las Vegas is one of the main connecting airports for commercial flights to Glacier International. Commercial flights between the two cities are available for several hundred dollars a ticket, according to travel planning websites.

In Whitefish, Zinke attended the Western Governors' Association's annual meeting, where he spoke for about 20 minutes without taking questions. He then had a private lunch with association members. In the afternoon Zinke was the subject of a photo shoot with GQ magazine at Lake McDonald and fished while being interviewed by Outside Magazine, the records show.

Zinke and staffers flew commercial back to Washington, D.C., the next day, according to the records.

The trip was not the first in which Interior booked a private jet for Zinke. On March 31, Interior chartered two flights to take Zinke and staff from St. Croix to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to attend the centennial of the Danish government turning the islands over to the United States. Another two flights were chartered to return to St. Croix later that night.

Swift said she did not know how much the flights cost but that no other arrangements were available.

Commercial flights between the two islands generally run a few hundred dollars, according to travel booking websites.

In May, Zinke and his wife, Lolita, used a military aircraft to travel to Norway. From there, they flew on a military plane to Alaska for events organized by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The trip included charter planes to travel within Alaska, a common occurrence in the large, remote state. The Zinkes paid for Lolita’s share of the trip, the full cost of which was not immediately available, Swift said.

Zinke also took a military helicopter from Fort Bliss to review the Organ Mountains monument in New Mexico in June, and he used a Bureau of Land Management helicopter to review the Basin and Range National Monument on July 30. “It is difficult to survey a half-million-acre piece of land with few roads by foot or car in an hour and a half,” Swift said.

Along with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Zinke took a military plane to Ravalli County, Mont., to check on wildfires in the area in August. "The military plane was used because of a very tight travel window, with no viable commercial airline options to transport two secretaries, security details, and associated USDA, Forest Service and Interior staff to Missoula in the time required," said USDA spokesman Tim Murtaugh. The cost of the flight was not immediately available, but the two agencies plan to reimburse the Air Force, Murtaugh said.

In a statement released Tuesday night, the players said coaches and staff will join them with arms intertwined to represent a coming together of people who want "freedom, equality, tolerance, understanding and justice for those who have been unjustly treated, discriminated against or otherwise treated unfairly."

"Those of us joining arms on Thursday will be different in so many ways, but one thing that binds us together is that we are all individuals who want to help make our society, our country and our world a better place," the players said in the statement. "We believe that in diversity there can be UNI-versity. Intertwined, we represent the many people who helped build this country, and we are joining together to show that we are ready to continue to build.

"Let's work together to build a society that is more fair and just."

The statement, which called the NFL family "one of the most diverse communities in the world," noted how the game of football brings people together.

"The eclectic group of players that you root for, the coaches you admire, the people you sit next to in the stands, those high-fiving on military bases, fans at the sports bar or during tailgate parties -- we all come from different walks of life and have unique backgrounds and stories," the statement said.

"The game of football brings people together. As NFL players, we are a living testimony that individuals from different backgrounds and with different life experiences can work together toward a common goal."

Rodgers, speaking before the players' statement was released, said what the Packers are doing is not a protest.

"This is about equality," the quarterback said. "This is about unity and love and growing together as a society and starting a conversation around something that may be a little bit uncomfortable for people. But we've got to come together and talk about these things and grow as a community, as a connected group of individuals in our society, and we're going to continue to show love and unity, and this week we're going to ask the fans to join in as well and come together and show people that we can be connected and we can grow together."

According to a survey conducted this week by the Seton Hall Sports Poll, 84% of Americans surveyed support NFL players’ right to protest—even if they vary on how they feel the protest should be carried out.

16% of respondents say that protesters should be dropped from their team.

The Seton Hall poll surveyed 845 adults, on cell phones and landlines, from Monday through Wednesday of this week. It has a margin of error of 3.4%.

Of course, supporting the players’ “right to protest” is not the same as being in favor of the specific protest: kneeling during the anthem.

Seton Hall’s poll asked the question this way: Which of these statements do you most agree with? 1. I don’t support the players’ right to protest and believe they should be ordered to stand for the anthem or be dropped from the team if they refuse to stand (16%); 2. I support the players’ right to protest but believe they should stand for the anthem, find a different way to express their political opinions (49%); 3. I support the players’ right to protest and I think not standing for the anthem is an acceptable way to protest (35%).

In other words: 84% of people believe in the players’ right to protest, but only 35% support the specific protest of kneeling during the anthem.

There was a wide racial gap to this question: 70% of African-American respondents said kneeling is an acceptable form of protest, while only 28% of white respondents did.

Last Saturday, at a rally in Alabama, Trump encouraged NFL team owners to fire “son of a bitch” NFL players who kneel during the national anthem: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!'” He also urged fans to walk out of NFL games if players protest during the anthem: “If you see it, even if it’s one player, leave the stadium. I guarantee things will stop.”

Rick Gentile, director of the poll, tells Yahoo Finance that “with all the hoopla” over Trump’s comments, “the numbers haven’t changed that much from last year on the key question.”

The “key question” he means, in one of Seton Hall’s polls last year, took the form of asking Americans whether they approved of Colin Kaepernick’s protest during the national anthem: 47% supported his right to protest but believed it was wrong to not stand during the anthem, and 33% supported his right to protest and supported his form of protest. In other words, a combined 80% supported his right to protest.

One season later, even as more players kneel and President Trump continues to hammer the NFL publicly, the portion of people who support NFL players’ right to protest is unchanged.

Seton Hall also asked the 845 Americans whether they agree more with President Trump or NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on this feud.

The poll asked it this way: “President Trump has called on NFL owners to fire any player who refuses to stand for the national anthem. Commissioner Roger Goodell and several NFL owners have responded that the president’s comments were divisive. Whom do you most agree with?” 50% of respondents said Goodell and the owners; 28% said Trump; the rest said either “both,” “neither,” or “no opinion.”

An important question amidst the controversy over anthem protests is whether TV ratings for the NFL will suffer. TV ratings for the Sunday NFL games have dipped slightly each week so far this season, though in Week 1 it was widely blamed on hurricanes Harvey and Irma and in Week 3 the ratings were up if you included pregame shows.

Seton Hall asked respondents whether they are “watching fewer NFL games this season” and 29% of respondents said yes. Of that group, 47% cited the player protests during the national anthem as the reason.

When Seton Hall asked the same question in November of last year, 25% of respondents said they were watching fewer games because of Kaepernick’s protest. So the portion of people who identify anthem protests as the reason they are watching less football has nearly doubled.

On September 29 2017 09:49 Nevuk wrote:
Football players aren't just kneeling anymore.

https://twitter.com/packers/status/913561279402475520


www.espn.com

On September 29 2017 09:49 Nevuk wrote:
Football players aren't just kneeling anymore.

https://twitter.com/packers/status/913561279402475520


www.espn.com

On September 29 2017 13:16 Danglars wrote:

What a positive development! I was expecting everybody to double down on kneeling for another week.

On September 29 2017 13:18 GreenHorizons wrote:


I'll give you credit for recognizing this as closer to what you want. Why do you think so many people don't see a difference between the two?

On September 29 2017 13:18 GreenHorizons wrote:


I'll give you credit for recognizing this as closer to what you want. Why do you think so many people don't see a difference between the two?

On September 29 2017 14:42 Danglars wrote:

Loaded question aside, I thought his/their cheerleaders doing their thing would prevail. There was certainly pressure to keep it up unchanged. It looks like smarter heads prevailed.