Blog

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has rejected Nicolas Maduro’s demand that he withdraw U.S. diplomats by Saturday afternoon. I suspect he’s done so in order to encourage a systemic breach between Maduro and the Venezuelan military that keeps him in power. Pompeo knows that the Venezuelan military’s support for Maduro is not, ultimately, ideological in nature. Rather, it reflects Maduro’s mass-bribery of the military’s top ranks — the abundant patronage…

A search for a missing child in Craven County, North Carolina, continues after three-year-old Casey Hathaway was reported missing on Tuesday. Casey went missing after playing in the yard of his grandmother’s home along with two other children, according to the FBI Charlotte office, which is involved with the case. After looking for Casey, the child’s family called the police and reported him missing. According to Craven County Sheriff Chip…

President Trump’s strategy of forcing a government shutdown to get funding for a border wall took another blow on Thursday when a Democratic bill to reopen the government received more votes in the Republican-controlled Senate than his own compromise bill that included wall funding. There is, right now, more evidence that Trump’s support is fracturing than there is of disunion among Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is showing…

President Trump’s strategy of forcing a government shutdown to get funding for a border wall took another blow on Thursday when a Democratic bill to reopen the government received more votes in the Republican-controlled Senate than his own compromise bill that included wall funding. There is, right now, more evidence that Trump’s support is fracturing than there is of disunion among Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is showing…

President Trump’s strategy of forcing a government shutdown to get funding for a border wall took another blow on Thursday when a Democratic bill to reopen the government received more votes in the Republican-controlled Senate than his own compromise bill that included wall funding. There is, right now, more evidence that Trump’s support is fracturing than there is of disunion among Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is showing…

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Workers affected by the government shutdown should seek loans to pay their bills and financial institutions should make credit available, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday as employees were poised to miss their second paycheck. In an interview on CNBC, Ross said it was “disappointing” that some federal workers were not showing up to work and that “there really is not a good…

PG&E stock has surged more than 70% Thursday after the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said that the Tubbs Fire was caused by a private electrical system and not one of the utilities’ cables. The back story. PG&E stock (PCG) had been in free fall after it was blamed for fires in California that could have left it liable for billions of dollars in damages. The company said…

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s new Republican governor, ran one of the most overtly racist campaigns in recent history prior to his narrow November 2018 victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum. On Thursday, DeSantis lost a top cabinet official when his secretary of state, Michael Ertel, resigned just weeks after the governor appointed him to the powerful position. The reason: a state newspaper obtained 14-year-old photos of Ertel dressed in blackface and pretending…

President Trump’s decision Thursday morning to surrender to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demand that he wait until after the government shutdown is resolved to deliver his State of the Union speech in the House chamber is going to make it a lot less likely that Pelosi, D-Calif., gives in on the funding for a border wall. Sure, in the larger scheme of things, this childish skirmish doesn’t matter much. No…

President Trump’s decision Thursday morning to surrender to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demand that he wait until after the government shutdown is resolved to deliver his State of the Union speech in the House chamber is going to make it a lot less likely that Pelosi, D-Calif., gives in on the funding for a border wall. Sure, in the larger scheme of things, this childish skirmish doesn’t matter much. No…

President Trump’s decision Thursday morning to surrender to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demand that he wait until after the government shutdown is resolved to deliver his State of the Union speech in the House chamber is going to make it a lot less likely that Pelosi, D-Calif., gives in on the funding for a border wall. Sure, in the larger scheme of things, this childish skirmish doesn’t matter much. No…

The Hill 1625 K Street, NW Suite 900 Washington DC 20006 | 202-628-8500 tel | 202-628-8503 fax The contents of this site are ©2019 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he didn’t understand why furloughed federal workers, or those working without pay, might struggle or need to visit food banks. Democrats called him out of touch. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption toggle caption Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he didn’t understand why furloughed federal workers, or those working without pay, might struggle or need to visit food banks. Democrats called him out…

On Friday, students from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School encountered a Native American elder at the March for Life in Washington, DC, and appeared to taunt him. By Tuesday, video of the incident had gone viral; longer videos, giving more context, had been released; one of the students, Nick Sandmann, had issued a detailed statement telling his side of the story; and multiple members of the media had apologized for…

The Ohio hospital where a doctor is accused of ordering fatal doses of fentanyl to near-death patients said Thursday that three patients died even after the hospital was notified about the physician. In addition, officials at the Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus said it had found seven more cases in which patients were given “excessive doses of pain medication” ordered by Dr. William Husel, bringing the total number of…

The Senate will take two votes Thursday to reopen the federal government and end the longest shutdown in history. Both votes are expected to fail. The shutdown will continue. The pageantry of failed floor votes has become one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s calling cards in the Senate over the past few years. They’ve proven a potent tool to defuse awkward standoffs and to navigate stalemates. It used to…

Republicans are wisely considering a Senate rules change to speed confirmation of presidential nomination. But that move should be just the beginning of efforts to overcome unprecedented Democratic obstructionism. On almost every judicial nominee presented by President Trump, and also on many of his executive branch nominations, Democrats are demanding the clocking of the full 30 hours of allowable (post- cloture) debate even if they have no actual objection to…

In the latest twist in the ongoing saga over the State of the Union, President Trump on Wednesday wrote that he planned to ignore House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s disinvitation and proceed with delivering his speech on Jan. 29 “on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!” So can Trump simply show up to the House of Representatives to deliver his speech? And if he does, can Pelosi just have…

President Donald Trump’s advisers are reportedly urging him to bench his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and prevent him from making televised appearances following his hapless performances of late. According to The Associated Press, citing sources in and close to the White House, Trump is irritated by Giuliani’s recent mistakes, involving bombshell statements rapidly followed by confusing backtracking. The president reportedly thinks they distracted from what he views as vindication after an explosive BuzzFeed report…