Moyer’s Morning Reads

Morning Reads: American Workers Get a Raise; Trump, Clinton and Obama Are Ready to Cash Your Six-Figure Checks

May 18, 2016

Millions get a raise –> Michael A. Memoli for the Los Angeles Times: "More than 4 million Americans could get pay hikes under new federal regulations that will double the salary level under which workers must be paid overtime, the White House said Tuesday. The Labor Department’s final rule, to be finalized Wednesday, establishes a new overtime pay threshold of $47,476 a year for those working more than 40 hours a week. That’s below the $50,400 that the administration announced in its proposal last June, but twice the current level of $23,660 a year, which has been unchanged for more than a decade."

Democrats split wins –> In yesterday's primary Bernie Sanders picked up Oregon; Hillary Clinton declared victory in Kentucky but the race there was very close.

Money machine in place –> Rebecca Ballhaus at the Wall Street Journal: "Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee finalized a joint fundraising agreement late Tuesday that would allow individual donors to write checks of as much as $449,400—far higher than the $2,700 cap on what the presumptive GOP nominee’s presidential campaign can accept."

And: Matea Gold at The Washington Post: "The Trump Victory Fund — a joint committee between the Trump campaign, the RNC and 11 state parties — will solicit larger checks than have ever been sought by presidential nominees through such ventures, thanks to legal changes made in 2014 that expanded the fundraising abilities of national parties. Trump follows Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who set up a joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee last year that can accept up to $356,100 annually per donor."

White House payoff –> Andrew Perez writes for the money-in-politics tracking website MapLight: "In January 2015, President Barack Obama held a small, private gathering at the White House residence with Hollywood actress Julia Roberts and major Democratic donors. The night’s guest list included two couples who had recently made six-figure donations to the foundation raising money to build Obama’s presidential library in Chicago. The exclusive event drew scant public attention. For one, it wasn’t on the president’s public schedule: a White House advisory simply said he had 'no public events scheduled' that day. And the White House visitor log, released three months later, didn’t highlight Roberts’ attendance. She visited under her married name, along with her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder."

"The clock has run out" –> The Senate voted yesterday to approve the first openly gay secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning, making him the highest-ranking gay military official ever. Michael S. Schmidt and Charlie Savage write for The New York Times that Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas finally agreed to stop holding up Fanning's confirmation after the White House assured him that Guantanamo detainees would not be moved to his state. In fact, Roberts indicated that he had been told detainees would not be moved to any state because Obama's time in office — and the time he has to order the close of Guantanamo — is dwindling.

Sue the Saudis? –> The Senate unanimously passed a bill yesterday that would allow victims of terrorism in the US to sue the countries that sponsored it. Specifically, this bill could pave the way for the families of those who died on 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia, which allegedly has bankrolled al-Qaeda, perpetrators of the attacks. The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill, but the unanimous Senate vote indicates that the legislature could override that veto. Jennifer Williams writes for Vox that Obama likely is trying to protect the Saudis — a supposed American ally that wields powerful influence in DC — but is also concerned about ending the longstanding tradition of "sovereign immunity," potentially opening the door for foreigners to sue the US over, say, drone strikes.

Of course he would –> Donald Trump says he plans to renegotiate the Paris climate change agreement if he becomes president. Never mind that it took more than two decades to get all the players to the table and make a deal.

Related: At USA Today, two experts in international diplomacy evaluate how the advice Trump dispenses in Art of the Deal would work when cutting deals with other nations. Conclusion: it won't.

Report says GMO crops not harmful, BUT –> Time magazine's Justin Worland writes that a new report from by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine finds that "[g]enetically engineered crops pose no additional risks to humans and the environment when compared to conventional crops," but that widespread use of GMOs, "which are often engineered to resist the effects of pesticides, has contributed to concerning levels of pesticide resistance in weeds and insects… the report is unlikely to stop calls for labeling that have already succeeded in some states, such as Vermont, and led some food manufacturers like Whole Foods to promise to curtail their use of genetically modified ingredients. Report authors acknowledged that their report would not — and should not — settle the debate over GMOs."

Get out the vote effort –> Ben and Jerry's wants to make sure voter ID laws don't suppress the vote, and has a good way to make you pay attention: "The ice cream giant on Tuesday announced a new flavor, Empower Mint, as part of the nascent effort to register voters in states where new rules meant to curb virtually nonexistent fraud threaten to keep eligible voters away from ballot boxes. The mint ice cream contains chunks of brownie and swirls of fudge," Alexander Kaufman writes for The Huffington Post.

Another Month of Record-Breaking Temps; No More “Self Funding” Trump

May 16, 2016

Another record-breaker –> Andrew Freedman for Mashable: "April was the warmest such month on record for the globe, and yet again, we saw a near-record large margin compared to average, according to NASA data released Saturday. The record all but assures that 2016 will set another milestone for the warmest calendar year in NASA's database, regardless of whether the rest of this year sees comparatively cooler global temperatures."

Climate activists mobilize –> A wave of “Break Free” protests this weekend sought to draw attention to fossil fuel extraction and transportation around the world. Deirdre Fulton writes for Common Dreams that more than 100 were arrested at a coal mine in Germany, part of a larger protest. Here in the US, more than 50 were arrested near Anacortes, Washington, while blockading tracks to an oil refinery. In Albany, New York, protestors held up oil train traffic for 12 hours, leading to five arrests.

Dissing what's his name –> In a speech yesterday at Rutgers University's commencement ceremony, President Obama took on the presumptive Republican nominee — without mentioning him. "In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It's not cool to not know what you're talking about," Obama said. "That's not keeping it real or telling it like it is. That's not challenging political correctness. That's just not knowing what you're talking about. And yet we've become confused about this." Via: Slate.

And: Shortly after, President Obama was followed on stage by Bill Moyers, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and spoke at the Rutgers-New Brunswick College of Arts and Sciences convocation. You can watch videos of both speeches here.

Overheated in Nevada –> The state's Democrats ended their convention Saturday, "after security became an issue and objects, including chairs, were thrown," according to the Associated Press. A dispute between Sanders and Clinton supporters got out of control when some Sanders backers "accused state party leaders of rigging the process against them, and they objected to procedural votes to approve the rules of the event. They also questioned a credentials committee’s disqualification of 58 would-be Sanders delegates, who state party officials said didn’t provide evidence about their identities or weren’t registered to vote as Democrats by a May 1 deadline."

And, at the Las Vegas Sun, Megan Messerly gives some more background on how the tensions between the two factions of the party arose. Final result: "… Out of the 35 pledged delegates Nevada will send to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer, 20 will support Clinton and 15 will support Sanders."

"Presumptive nominee" still a safe assumption –> As Philip Rucker and Robert Costa report for The Washington Post, anti-Trump Republicans, including Mitt Romney, continue trying to find a conservative who would consider a third-party run against Trump. But so far no one, including erstwhile candidate John Kasich, wants the job.

?But: Eliza Newlin Carney writes at The American Prospect that Trump's choice for vice president still could prompt a convention floor fight: "The Republican Party’s rules for nominating a vice presidential contender differ sharply from those that govern the top of the ticket, and give convention delegates considerable control over who ends up as Trump’s running mate."

That aforementioned presumptive nominee continues to claim that in the 1990s he didn't use fake names and pretend to be his own spokesman, even though it seems clear that he did.

So much for self-funding –> Sheldon Adelson says he has committed $100 million to back Trump, more than he has ever spent on an election. Julie Bykowicz reports for AP that Trump's campaign now is actively seeking donations with help from the GOP fundraising machine, and Rebecca Ballhaus writes for The Wall Street Journal that Trump now has a super PAC. Again. (Remember, there was one last summer but he disavowed it after The Washington Post raised questions about potential illegal coordination with his campaign.)

Anti-trust –> Christopher Williams for the British newspaper The Telegraph: "Google faces a record-breaking fine for monopoly abuse within weeks, as officials in Brussels put the finishing touches to a seven-year investigation of company’s dominant search engine. It is understood that the European Commission is aiming to hit Google with a fine in the region of €3bn, a figure that would easily surpass its toughest anti-trust punishment to date…"

Next in line to disenfranchise –> Missouri could be the next state to get a restrictive voter ID law. Ari Berman at The Nation reports that last week, "the GOP-controlled legislature passed a new voter-ID bill and a companion ballot initiative changing the state Constitution that must be approved by voters, most likely in November. (Governor Jay Nixon can still veto the bill, but the legislature has a super-majority to override him.)"

Zuckerberg's punishment –> James Vincent at The Verge: "Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is meeting with Glenn Beck and other leading conservatives this week to discuss allegations of political bias in the social network's Trending Topics section. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Beck said Zuckerberg's office had called him about the meeting, and that he wanted to "look [Zuckerberg] in the eye as he explains."

Morning Reads was written by John Light and edited by Michael Winship. BillMoyers.com produces this news digest every weekday. You can Sign up to receive these updates as an email newsletter each morning.