[1st Amendment is Cool Until You Challenge White Folks & Racist Government] Advocates Protest Minnesota GOP Law to Increase Protest Fines

[MORE] And The Powerful Racist Majority [whites] Protect Racist Speech at the expense of the Powerless [non-whites]. The First Amendment refers to the ability of white folks to say whatever they want to about any niggers any fucking time they please dood. [MORE]

After protesters blocked recently-confirmed U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from entering a D.C. public school on Feb. 10, racist suspect cartoonist Glenn McCoy channeled Norman Rockwell’s “The Problem We All Live With.” [white supremacy/racism

Caucasional Sage Steele: "The Worst Racism I Receive Comes From Black People" [programmed by Racists to hate each other & themselves]

What Happens When Non-Whites Believe the Lies & Fantasy of White Supremacy? Black on Black Hate & Mental Illness. From [HERE] Earlier this wek ESPN anchor Sage Steele [coin operated negro in photo with on going grimace] charged during a recent faith forum in Florida that the worst racism she’s received as a biracial TV personality has been from “people with my skin color.”

Mrs. Steele made the statement while moderating the Feb. 16 “Under Our Skin” forum at The Crossing Church in Tampa, The Christian Post first reported Monday.

“There are times that I believe that we, as African-Americans, can be hypocritical, and that is to not look ourselves in the mirror when we are saying certain things and blaming other groups for one thing when we are doing the exact same thing,” the “SportsCenter on the Road” host claimed.

“The worst racism that I have received and I mean thousands and thousands over the years, is from black people, who in my mind [I] thought would be the most accepting because there has been that experience,” she continued. “But even as recent as the last couple of weeks, the words that I have had thrown at me I can’t repeat here and it’s 99 percent from people with my skin color. But if a white person said those words to me, what would happen?” [MORE]

Answer. Nothing really besides you complaining to them to do something about it. You would be just as powerless to do anything about it because as a Black person you are 'powerless class' in a system of vast unequal power based on skin color - or white over Black system; the system of white supremacy/racism. Do not confuse racism with bigotry or name calling. In reality, to be a racist is to be an "upholder, supporter and perpetrator of the institution of the White Supremacy Dynamic in a system of oppression (structured and perpetuated injustice—racism.)" 

There is no system of Black supremacy. Nelly Fuller has observed that there is only one functioning form of racism in the known world- White supremacy. He challen­ges his readers to identify and then to demonstrate the superiority or functional supremacy of any of the world's "non-white" peoples over anyone. Concluding that since there is no operational supremacy of any "colored" people, Fuller reveals that the only valid operational definition of racism is white supremacy. He observes that in spite of any and all statements the world's "non-white" peoples may make about themselves having economic and/or political independence and the like, in the final analysis, they are all victims of the white supremacy process. He places major emphasis on the present realities of the world that can be verified and tested, rather than on what one could imagine to be the case (such as a black or yellow supremacy). He further emphasizes that, instead of focusing on individual cases or on specific locations, a perspective that examines the patterns of relationships between whites and "non-whites" worldwide must be developed. [MORE]

Racism is white supremacy and white supremacy is racism. 'Everywhere one finds Whites and Blacks in close proximity to each other, whether it is Chicago or Zimbabwe, the Whites are in control. This extraordinary universal phenomenon which defies every known statistical law of probability is rarely questioned by African Americans (90% of the world is non-white)'. [MORE] and [MORE]

Anon explains: 

Q: Isn’t all racism the same, regardless of who is practicing it?

A: There is only ONE kind of racism: white supremacy. White people are the only group in America with the POWER to discriminate (deprive or punish other ethnic groups), and the systems and institutions to maintain the imbalance of power.

For example, rich people are more powerful than poor people. Rich people have the POWER to discriminate against poor people by depriving them of income, promotions, jobs, housing, land, justice, and any other rights – if they choose to do so.

In America, whites have the POWER to discriminate against blacks (and other non-whites) by depriving them of income, promotions, jobs, housing, land, justice, and any other rights – if they choose to do so. It doesn’t matter that some whites are poorer than some blacks.

In all things and in all places in America, whites are collectively more powerful than blacks are collectively. This imbalance of (white) power creates the opportunity and the ability to practice racism against non-whites. Racism is not empty rhetoric (words) or mindless emotion. Racism is economic, political, institutional, and systematic POWER. Since whites control all the institutions and systems of power in America, only whites have the power to practice racism. [MORE]

It is not hypocritical; black on black hate is done in service of white domination. Black people are relentlessly programmed by racists like remote controls to hate themselves and each other in order to maintain their servant status. Observe your own thoughts. 

The context of white supremacy was missing from Ms. Sage's comments as it is in all discussions about "race" by racists and their programmed surrogates.

"The Black race is presently facing an enemy whose method of destruction is without any historical precedent; namely, "mentacide" - which is defined as the "deliberate and systematic destruction of an individual or groups' mind." [MORE]

Reversing Obama, Justice Department to continue using private prisons [for gender annihilation & family destruction of Blacks & Latinos]

From [HERE] The Department of Justice has rescinded guidance from August that discouraged the use of private prisons.

“This will restore (the Bureau of Prison’s) flexibility to manage the federal prison inmate population based on capacity needs,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

In August, then-deputy Attorney General Sally Yates directed the Bureau of Prisons to reduce its use of private prison contracts. In the August memo, she said private prisons had been used to house a prison population that had grown 800% between 1980 and 2013. But, she said, the population is now on the decline, from 220,000 in 2013 to 195,000 in 2016.

“At a time when many states, including Connecticut, are closing prisons because of a rapidly declining crime rate and reforms within the criminal justice system, the Trump Administration wants to return to the failed policies of the past and lock up more Americans – harming families and communities,” said Gov. Dan Malloy.

A DOJ official said on background Thursday that the BOP has 12 private prison contracts, housing approximately 21,000 inmates.

In a new memo dated February 21 and released for the first time on Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote that the Yates memo “changed long-standing policy and practice, and impaired the bureau’s ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system.” He directed the bureau to “return to its previous approach.”

“This will restore BOP’s flexibility to manage the federal prison inmate population based on capacity needs,” the Justice Department said in a statement Thursday.

Racist Idiots Elected Racist Idiot: Elite White Media Continues w/Bullshit about Trump & "the white working-class" votary

From [HERE] Was the 2016 presidential election determined by “economic anxiety” among the white working class? That persistent media narrative has again been shown to be largely untrue.

Writing in the New York Times, Stephen Phillips explained that “hundreds of articles” have argued the importance of pursuing lower-income white voters who supported Barack Obama in 2012 and then “bolted” to Donald Trump last November.

The far more important — and largely untold — story of the election is that more Obama voters defected to third- and fourth-party candidates than the number who supported Mr. Trump. That is the white flight that should most concern the next D.N.C. chairman, because those voters make up a more promising way to reclaim the White House. The way to win them back is by being more progressive, not less.

Whoever prevails as chairman must resist the pressure to follow an uninformed and ill-fated quest for winning over conservative white working-class voters in the Midwest. The solution for Democrats is not to chase Trump defectors. The path to victory involves reinspiring those whites who drifted to third-party candidates and then focusing on the ample opportunities in the Southwest and the South.

Phillips’ comments mirror findings by political scientist Jonathan Rodden that show that Donald Trump’s much ballyhooed “populist” uprising in the Rust Belt was a chimera. Hillary Clinton won the larger and more populous metropolitan areas in states such as Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Donald Trump eked out his victory by winning by large margins in less populous Republican suburbs and more rural areas in those states.

Racism can impact physical health says Black physician

From [HERE] Experiencing direct or systemic racism can have a negative impact on a person's mental and physical health, according to a Toronto physician.

Dr. Onye Nnorom, an associate program director with the University of Toronto's Public Health and Preventive Medicine Residency Program, looked into the impacts of racism on the human body.

"Experiencing racism is a form of stress," she told The Morning Edition's Craig Norris. "We know that for all of us, stress can affect our mental and physical health." 

But it's not that simple.

As she explains it, chronic stress can increase the production of hormones, leading to health outcomes like hypertension and increased risk of diabetes. 

Click to read more ...

Psychopathic Israeli Soldier is a Hero For Murdering Unarmed, Wounded Palestinian: Gets 18 Month Sentence

[More likely to cause harm in the future, really?']From [HERE] More than a month after an Israeli military court found Sgt. Elor Azaria guilty of manslaughter, the soldier has been ordered to serve an 18-month prison sentence. Azaria, who worked as an army medic, shot and killed Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian assailant who was already incapacitated.

The 21-year-old soldier's defense team has said it plans to appeal any sentence that includes jail time. Since last month's verdict, many on Israel's right wing have called for Azaria to be pardoned — something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he supports. A potential pardon would have to come from Israel's president.

Video of the shooting, which took place in the occupied West Bank in March 2016, sparked strong and disparate reactions in Israel and beyond, fueling debate over the proper use of force and rules of engagement.

Here's how NPR's Joanna Kakissis described the videotaped events in her report from Jerusalem last month:

"Al-Sharif had been shot and wounded after stabbing an Israeli soldier. Eleven minutes later, Azaria shot the motionless Al-Sharif in the head.

"A human rights activist filmed the killing. The video went viral.

"Many Israelis say Azaria was justified because he feared Al-Sharif might have been wearing an explosive belt. But Azaria's superior officers say his actions contradict the army's ethical standards." 

The crime of manslaughter could have exposed Azaria to a 20-year prison term; prosecutors had sought a sentence of 3-5 years. In addition to the prison sentence, the military court demoted Azaria to the rank of private.

Supreme Ct rules in favor of Black Man Sentenced to Death b/c of testimony 'he was more likely to cause future harm due to his skin color'

From [HERE] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF]Wednesday Buck v. Davis [SCOTUSblog materials] in favor of a death row inmate seeking a new sentencing hearing. The inmate, Duane Buck, claims that his own lawyers stated during trial that he was more likely to cause future harm due to the color of his skin. The court ruled that Buck has proven both that he suffered from ineffective assistance of counsel and has shown an entitlement to relief in the form of the appeal. The court ruled that it was irrelevant that Buck's race was only briefly brought up as "some toxins can be deadly in small doses." Buck has been on death row [CNN report] for the 1995 murders of Debra Gardner and Kenneth Butler. During his appeal, Buck did not argue his innocence but rather that he deserved a new sentence due to his ineffective trial counsel. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had previously denied [opinion, PDF] petitioner's application for a Certificate of Appealability upon finding that petitioner had not shown extraordinary circumstances justifying relief. The case is being sent down to the lower court where Buck may argue that he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing.

Click to read more ...

NYPD Sikh Cops Now Sporting Turbans

As White Population Shrinks Census Bureau Says African American Population Increasing to 18% of US Population by 2060

Numerical Inadequacy Fuels Racism. From [HERE] Each year, the Census Bureau recognizes Black History Month by releasing up-to-date statistics that reveal the total Black population, the number of Black-owned businesses and even how many African-American military members are serving the country.

Currently, the Black population stands at 46.3 million, up about 1.3 percent from the previous year. The Census Bureau identifies individuals as Black, even if they list Black and another race on the survey.

Census officials project that the Black population will increase to 74.5 million by July 1, 2060 and, on that date, African-Americans will account for 17.9 percent of the nation’s total population.

The estimated number of Black-owned employer firms was 108,473 in 2014, according to the Census Bureau. Additionally, there’s an estimated 31,216 Black-owned health care and social assistance firms, the largest sector of Black-owned businesses.

The health care and social assistance sector is followed by professional, scientific and technical support (15,078) and administrative, support, waste management and remediation services (9,644).

Census officials also noted the contributions of African-Americans in the military. The latest figures show that 2.2 million Black military veterans reside in the United States.

Education has also improved among African-Americans with the Census Bureau reporting that 87 percent of the Black population age 25 and over has at least a high school diploma, more than 20 percent hold a bachelor’s degree and 1.9 million have attained advanced degrees.

Currently, nearly three million African-Americans are enrolled in an undergraduate college.

Further Census statistics indicate that the annual median household income for African-Americans is $36,544, compared to the $55,775 of the rest of the country. More than 25 percent of the Black population lives below the poverty level, while the national average is 14.7 percent.

The percentage of the civilian employed Black population age 16 and older who worked in management, business, science and arts occupations stood at 28.7 percent, while the total civilian employed population who worked in these occupations was 37.1 percent. [MORE]

White Plus Non-White Equals Non-White [MORE]

Liar Trump 'Creating Fear Among His Racist Believers About [Non-White] Immigrants To Advance Their Indiscriminate Persecution'

From [HERE] The Trump administration on Tuesday sought to allay growing fears among immigrant communities over wide-ranging new directives to ramp up enforcement against illegal immigrants, insisting the measures are not intended to produce “mass deportations.”

Federal officials cautioned that many of the changes detailed in a pair of memos from Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly will take time to implement because of costs and logistical challenges and that border patrol agents and immigration officers will use their expanded powers with care and discretion.

Yet the official public rollout of Kelly’s directives, first disclosed in media reports over the weekend, was met with outrage from immigrant rights advocates over concerns the new policies will result in widespread abuses as authorities attempt to fulfill President Trump’s goals of tightening border control.

Trump took a hard line against illegal immigration during his campaign, at times suggesting he would seek to create a nationwide “deportation force” to expel as many of the nation’s estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants as possible.

In a conference call with reporters, a senior Department of Homeland Security official moved to avert what he called a “sense of panic” among immigrant communities.

“We do not have the personnel, time or resources to go into communities and round up people and do all kinds of mass throwing folks on buses. That’s entirely a figment of folks’ imagination,” said the official, who was joined on the call by two others, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to answer questions. “This is not intended to produce mass roundups, mass deportations.”

The new guidelines, intended as a road map toward implementing a pair of executive actions Trump signed last month, call for the hiring of thousands of additional enforcement agents, expanding the pool of immigrants who are prioritized for removal, speeding up deportation hearings and enlisting local law enforcement to help make arrests.

The policies represent a sharp break from the final years of the Obama administration and could reverse a sizable reduction in the number of deportations that occurred toward the end of President Barack Obama’s time in office.

After deportations reached a record high of 434,000 in 2013, intense pressure from immigration advocates prompted the Obama administration to implement new guidelines that focused enforcement on hardened criminals. Obama announced in Nov. 2014 that his administration would deport “felons, not families.” Many undocumented immigrants have lived in the country for more than a decade and have family members and children who are U.S. citizens.

The number of people deported in 2015 was just over 333,000, the lowest number since 2007, according to federal data. Statistics for 2016 are not publicly available.

Kelly’s new DHS policies considerably broaden the pool of undocumented immigrants prioritized for removal, including those who have been charged with crimes but not convicted, those who commit acts that constitute a “chargeable criminal offense,” and those who an immigration officer concludes pose “a risk to public safety or national security.”

The Trump administration “is using the specter of crime to create fear … in the American community about immigrants in order to create an opening to advance the indiscriminate persecution of immigrants,” said Clarissa Martínez-de-Castro, deputy vice president at the National Council of La Raza. “This administration is saying, ‘Now, everybody is going to be a priority,’ and the devil may care.

Democrats and human rights groups blasted the administration. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) called the policies “xenophobic” and suggested they could lead to racial profiling of minorities.

“It is irresponsible to treat a hardened criminal the same as an immigrant mother with children for purposes of deportation,” Menendez said in a statement. [MORE]

The Private Prison Industry Set To Make Millions Over Trump's Deportation & Lock Ups of Non-White Immigrants

From [HERE] Immigration agents sparked panic across the country last week, when a series of high-profile operations made it clear that a new era of crackdowns on undocumented immigrants had begun. Coming on the heels of a couple of major executive orders on immigration, the arrests and deportations were a very public reminder of President Donald Trump's promise to deport upwards of 2 million immigrants upon taking office.

But given that America's detention system for immigrants has been running at full capacity for some time now, where is the president going to put all of these people before deporting them?

In new jails, for starters. In the same executive order that called for the construction of a southern border wall, Trump instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build out its sprawling network of immigration detention centers. Starting "immediately," his order said, ICE should construct new facilities, lease space for immigrants alongside inmates in existing local jails, and sign new contracts—likely with private prison companies. The scale of that expansion became clearer on February 5, when the Los Angeles Times reported on a memo handed down in late January from White House immigration experts to top Homeland Security officials. The document called for raising the number of immigrants ICE incarcerates daily, nationwide, to 80,000 people.

Last year, ICE detained more than 352,000 people. The number of detainees held each day, typically between 31,000 and 34,000, reached a historic high of about 41,000 people in the fall, as Customs and Border Protection apprehended more people on the southwest border while seeing a simultaneous rise in asylum seekers. But doubling the daily capacity to 80,000 "would require ICE to sprint to add more capacity than the agency has ever added in its entire history," says Carl Takei, staff attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project. It would also take an extra $2 billion in government funding per year, detention experts interviewed by Mother Jones estimated. And, Takei warned, "we don't know if 80,000 is where he'll stop."

Yet even if ICE does not adopt an 80,000-person detention quota, other changes laid out in Trump's executive orders suggest that vastly more people will be detained in the coming months and years. For example, Trump ordered ICE to prioritize deporting not only immigrants who been convicted or charged with crimes, but also those who had "committed acts that constitute a chargeable offense"—a category that could include entering the country illegally and driving without a license. Trump also ordered Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who oversees ICE, to take "all appropriate actions" to detain undocumented immigrants while their cases are pending.

Beyond that, ICE could stop granting parole to asylum seekers, explains Margo Schlanger, a former Obama administration official who served as Homeland Security's top authority on civil rights. With ICE taking enforcement action against more categories of immigration offenders and releasing fewer of them, Schlanger says, "we could get to a very large sum of people in detention very quickly."

It's not difficult to guess who profits. In an earnings call last week, the private prison giant CoreCivic (formerly known as the Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA) announced that it saw the ICE detention expansion as a business opportunity. "When coupled with the above average rate of crossings along the southwest border, these executive orders appear likely to significantly increase the need for safe, humane, and appropriate detention bed capacity that we have available," CoreCivic President and CEO Damon Hininger said.

As of November, a whopping 65 percent of ICE detainees were held in facilities run by private prison companies, which typically earn a fee per detainee per night and whose business model depends upon minimizing costs to return profits to their shareholders. Since Trump's election, private prison stocks have soared, and two new, for-profit detention centers are opening in Georgia and Texas.

Another private prison company, Management & Training Corp., is reportedly seeking a contract with ICE to reopen the Willacy County Correctional Institution, a troubled detention camp that held up to 2,000 ICE detainees in Kevlar tents between 2006 and 2011. "Historically, ICE has relied heavily on the private prison industry every time the detention system has expanded," Takei says. "There's little doubt in my mind that they will continue to rely on the private prison industry in what's going to be the biggest expansion of the agency in history."

The first new detention center contracts will likely take the form of arrangements between ICE and local governments to reopen empty prison facilities as detention centers or rent beds in existing local jails, Takei says. The arrangements, known intergovernmental service agreements, allow ICE to cut deals with local governments and private prison companies while avoiding a lengthy public bidding process. Occasionally, the local government agrees to hold ICE detainees alongside inmates in their publicly run jail—an arrangement a Department of Homeland Security subcommittee recently called "the most problematic" option for holding detainees. But most of the time, local governments simply act as middlemen in deals between ICE and private prison companies.

Click to read more ...

Union files lawsuit over Iowa law that eliminates most collective bargaining rights for public workers

From [HERE] An Iowa union filed a lawsuit [materials] Monday challenging a new Iowa law [House File 291, PDF] that eliminates most collective bargaining rights for public workers. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61 [union website] argues that the law violates language in the Iowa Constitution ensuring equality to citizens and should be blocked. The union stated [AP report] that the lawsuit emphasizes parts of the law that exempt certain public safety employees from taking part in negotiations. The lawsuit outlines that by establishing two classes of public employees, the law violates the Iowa constitutional requirement for "uniform operation" on laws of general nature and grants privileges not equally available to all citizens. Governor Terry Branstad [official website] has argued [press release] that the law gives more flexibility to local government and school districts with their budgets and provides employers the opportunities to reward good employees.

The fight between the government and unions have intensified over the last few years. Earlier this month Missouri lawmakers sent a "right to work" proposal [JURIST report] to Governor Eric Greitens preventing unions from requiring workers to pay dues. In March a divided Supreme Court affirmed [JURIST report] a Ninth Circuit decision in favor of unions on opt-out policies requiring union workers to affirmatively opt-out of paying dues not directly used for collective bargaining. In January 2015 the Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] on collective bargaining agreement language on whether benefits last indefinitely.

What Law Requires Local Cops to Protect Trump Investments at Your Expense While Fake President's Family Reaps Profit?

From [HERE] and [HERE] The federal government should pick up the ballooning cost for local cops who protect President Trump and the First Family, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday.

The NYPD says it costs $500,000 a day to pay for close to 200 police officers in and around Trump Tower on Fifth Ave. That could rise to as much as $183 million annually.

“We all know that it is a national responsibility of the federal government to protect the President. And that’s as it should be,” Schumer said at a press conference at his Midtown office. “But right now, New York City taxpayers are paying a huge amount of money to protect the President and the Trump Tower.”

“This is his responsibility and I hope the President will step up to the plate,” he said.

The de Blasio administration is hopeful the exploding tab will be picked up the feds.

“We continue to calculate all costs the City will incur to keep Trump Tower secure during the Trump presidency,” said de Blasio’s spokesman Austin Finan. “Communication with Congress and the White House is ongoing and we remain committed to seeking full reimbursement.”

Palm Beach County officials say the weekend visits cost the Sheriff’s Office an estimated $60,000 a day for police overtime.

Trump’s three trips in the past three weeks to his so-called “Winter White House” have driven costs up to an estimated half-million dollars, according to Palm Beach authorities.

“We are overwhelmed right now,” Kirk Blouin, the town’s director of public safety, told the Sun-Sentinel.

“This is a whole new situation for us,” he added.

Trump is scheduled to stay at Mar-a-Lago — where he doubled the membership fee to $200,000 after the election — over the entire Presidents’ Day weekend.

All told, Trump and his family are on pace to far exceed federal security costs tallied by the Obama administration, according to The Washington Post.

The travels of former President Barack Obama’s family cost an estimated $97 million during his entire tenure, according to Judicial Watch, a conservative group that detailed expenses tied to those trips through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Trump is on course to tally hundreds of millions in similar expenses. Some of that money is slated to go toward protecting his four adult children.

That includes Eric Trump, who recently visited the Dominican Republic to discuss a branding deal tied to a beachfront luxury resort.

The licensing project — with the wealthy Hazoury family — had gone sour after the 2008 financial meltdown.

The Trump Organization has vowed to stay away from any new foreign deals during his term in office.

But the deal was never dead even though it remained dormant for more than a decade, according to the organization’s general counsel, Alan Garten.

That’s not the brothers’ only globetrotting trip.

On Saturday, Eric and his brother, Donald Trump Jr., opened a family branded golf course in Dubai.

Secret Service hotel bills for the visit have already gone past $16,000, The Washington Post reported.

As for New York, Obama came to the Big Apple four times at a cost of $4.1 million in fiscal year 2016, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office.

After Obama was elected, the Chicago Police Department paid $2.2 million to protect his Kenwood home between Election Day and the following April, according to documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

At least $1.5 million of that was reimbursed by the feds.

Trump’s first month travel expenses cost taxpayers just less than what Obama spent in a year

From [HERE] On Monday, President Trump returns to Washington DC from his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where he’s spent the last three weekends.

The Washington Post reports that those three trips “probably cost the federal treasury about $10 million, based on figures used in an October government report analyzing White House travel, including money for Coast Guard units to patrol the exposed shoreline and other military, security and staffing expenses associated with moving the apparatus of the presidency.”

Trump headed to Mar-a-Lago for third straight weekend, obliterating campaign promise

So far, the highlight of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago trips has been he and his aides struggling to deal with an international crisis in full view of diners and staff during the evening of February 11.

The three Mar-a-Lago getaways, combined with the hundreds of thousands of public dollars spent on Secret Service protection during two international trips Trump’s adult sons have taken to promote their father’s business, cost taxpayers about $11.3 million over the first month’s of Trump’s presidency, according to the UK-based Independent. President Obama, by contrast, spent an average of $12.1 million on travel each year.

It wasn’t even a year ago that Trump was complaining about taxpayers “paying a fortune for the use of Air Force One.”

Flint Threatens to Turn Off Residents' Water If They don't start paying for their lead-contaminated water

From [HERE] Residents in Flint, Michigan, have been dealing with lead-contaminated water for years now—since 2014, to be exact. Many people have responded by refusing to pay their water bills. 

Soon, however, those who ignore their bills will have their water turned off. Flint's chief financial officer, David Sabuda, told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday (February 15) that the city will begin issuing water shut-off notices in the spring. The move follows Governor Rick Snyder's February 7 announcement that the state will stop subsidizing the cost of the city's water by the end of the month.

While the city says water shut-offs aren't directly linked to the governor's announcement, the decision shapes how the city will handle future water payments. Per the Free Press:

Sabuda said there isn’t a direct link between the end of the state credits and the resumption of water shutoffs, except that the end of the credits makes it even more important for Flint to collect the water payments businesses and residents owe, while at the same time making it harder for many customers to make those payments.

The city used to threaten shut offs for lack of payment, but that practice ended last year when local and national media, including Slate and CNN, reported that the city was issuing notices to residents and businesses for lead-contaminated water. The Associated Press reports that Snyder originally committed to providing customer credits through March, but the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's (MDEQ) January 24 announcement that water lead levels now meet federal limits changed that timeline.

Though the state cites the decrease in lead levels as the reason to end its funding, the water is still not safe right out of the tap. Per the MDEQ: “The state continues its recommendation that residents use filtered water for drinking and cooking for everyone in their household due to the chance for disruption to pipes as the city replaces lead service lines.”

Members of the state’s water advisory committee worry that the declaration is premature, reports MLive.

“We are making a huge mistake by claiming things are getting better and will continue to get better,” said Laura Sullivan, a Kettering University professor and Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee member. Sullivan worries that the state would be “10 steps further back in establishing trust with residents,” if lead levels spike again.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told The AP that city officials will push the state to continue the assistance until the water is safe to drink. Ending the subsidies would save Michigan more than $2 million a month.