#Rep. Rob Portman

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Here are just two of the corporate giveaways hidden in the rushed, must-pass, end-of-year budget bill

Yesterday, Congress finally voted through the must-pass, end-of-year budget bill. As has become routine, this bill was stalled right until the final moment, so that Congressjerks could cram the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion package with special favors for their donors, at the expense of the rest of the country.

This year’s budget package included a couple of especially egregious doozies, which were reported out for The American Prospect by Lee Harris (who covered a grotesque retirement giveaway for the ultra-rich) and Doraj Facundo (who covered a safety giveaway to Boeing and its lethal fleet of 737 Max airplanes).

Let’s start with the retirement scam. The budget bill includes Rep Richie Neal’s [DINO-MA] SECURE Act 2.0, which gives savers with retirement funds until age 75 to cash out their retirement savings — netting an extra three years of tax-free growth for the lucky, tiny minority with substantial retirement savings. This follows on Neal’s SECURE Act 1.0 of 2019, when the age was raised from 70.5 to 72.

The tax-exempt retirement savings account is a Carter-era bargain that replaced real pensions — ones that guaranteed that you wouldn’t starve or freeze to death when you retired — with accounts that let people gamble on the stock market, to be the suckers at Wall Street’s poker table:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/25/derechos-humanos/#are-there-no-poorhouses

The market-based gambler’s pension is a catastrophic failure. Half of Americans have no retirement savings. Of the half that have any savings, the vast majority have almost nothing saved:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Retirement_Accounts;demographic:all;population:all;units:have

All in all, America has a $7 trillion retirement savings shortfall:

https://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IB_19-16.pdf

But for a tiny minority of the ultra-rich, tax-free savings accounts like ROTH IRAs are a means of avoiding even the paltry capital gains tax that you have to pay if you own things for a living, rather than doing things for a living. Propublica’s IRS Files revealed how ghouls like Peter Thiel avoided tax on billions in “passive income” by abusing tax-free savings accounts that were supposed to benefit the “middle class”:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/26/wax-rothful/#thiels-gambit

Meanwhile, Social Security is crumbling, thanks to a sustained attack on it by the business lobby and its friends in both parties. Progressive Dems had sought to amend SECURE Act 2.0 by inserting some clauses to shore up Social Security, and none of these were included in the final bill.

One of the fixes that died was the Savings Penalty Elimination Act, introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown [D-OH] and Rob Portman [R-OH]. This act would have tweaked the means-testing for Supplemental Security Income, which supports 8m low-income disabled adults and kids. Right now, you can’t collect SSI if you have $2k in the bank, a limit that hasn’t been adjusted for inflation since the 1980s (adjusted for inflation, $2k in 1980 is $7226.00 in 2022).

The $2k savings cap means that you have to be substantially below the poverty level to receive $585/month in SSI assistance — this being the only source of income for the majority of SSI recipients. Means-testing is a self-immolating fetish for corporate Dems and in retrospect, this betrayal seems inevitable:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/03/utopia-of-rules/#in-triplicate

(Notice how no one proposes means-testing billionaires when they get PPP loans or hundreds of millions in IRS “refunds” — like Trump, who paid substantially less tax than you did:)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/21/trump-income-tax-returns-detailed-in-new-report-.html

And it was a betrayal: progressive Dems bargained with Neal and co not to publicly condemn SECURE Act 2.0 if they could get some concessions for the 8 million poorest disabled people in America. In the end, Neal rug-pulled them. Of course he did! This is Richie Fucking Neal, the best friend the Trump tax giveaway ever had:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/13/youre-still-the-product/#richie-neal

As with everything Neal touches, this screws poor people in multiple ways. First, it leaves the SSI cap intact. But it also creates a giant unfunded liability in the federal budget. Technically, there’s no reason this should lead to cuts. The US Treasury can’t run out of dollars, and giveaways to the rich are only mildly inflationary, since rich people put their money in the bank and mostly spend it on buying politicians, not goods.

But because of the delusion that currency producers like the US Treasury have the same constraints as currency users like you and me, Congress will need to come up with “Pay Fors” in future budgets to “make up for” the money they’re giving to rich people with SECURE Act 2.0. Dollars to toenail clippings, they’ll do that by hacking away at the tattered remains of the US social safety net.

Fear not, you don’t need to be a desperately poor disabled person or child to get fucked over by late additions to a 4,000 page must-pass bill! If you can afford to get on an airplane, Congress has something for you, too!

Remember when Boeing (the monopoly US airplane manufacturer that squandered $43b on stock buybacks and had to borrow $14b from the US public to survive the pandemic) told the FAA that it could self-certify its 737 Max airplanes, and then killed hundreds and hundreds of people with its defective planes?

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/12/boeing-crashes/#boeing

The 737 Max was unsafe for many reasons, but one glaring factor was the fact that Boeing sold some of its core safety as “extras” — like they were downloadable content for your Fortnite character — leading to multiple crashes in which all lives were lost:

https://apnews.com/article/ethiopia-indonesia-accidents-ap-top-news-international-news-140576a8e9d4449eae646c8c479fdc3a

Boeing was forced to take the 737 Max out of service, but it eventually brought the plane back, “fixing” the problems by renaming the “737 Max” to the “737 8”:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/20/dubious-quantitative-residue/#737-8

Supposedly, Boeing has been diligently working on fixing the problems with its defective jets that can’t be addressed by a rebranding campaign. This wasn’t voluntary: the 2020 Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act required Boeing — and every other manufacturer whose aircraft were certified by the FAA — to meet new minimum safety standards by December 27, 2022.

Every manufacturer met that deadline, except Boeing, and someone amended the budget bill to give the company three more years to meet these security standards. Critically, the new security measures, when they come, will be certified by an FAA that Republicans will control, thanks to the House changing hands.

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/government-spending-bill-waives-aircraft-safety-deadline/

Boeing is slated to ship 1,000 new 737 Maxes, which will fetch $50b for the company. Many of these planes will fly directly over my house, which is on the approach path for Burbank airport. Southwest Air flies dozens of 737 Maxes right over my roof every single day.

As Facundo points out, the FAA can ill afford any more hits to its credibility. It was once the case that if the FAA certified an aircraft, every other country in the world would waive any further certification, so trusting were they of the FAA’s judgment. That is no longer the case: today, the European Aviation Safety Agency does its own aircraft testing, holding jets that enter EU airspace to a higher standard than the FAA does for US planes.

It’s just another reminder that the US doesn’t have “corporate criminals” because the US doesn’t have any meaningful enforcement for corporate crimes. In America, we love our companies like we love our billionaires: too big to fail and too big to jail:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-criminals-no-crimes/#get-out-of-jail-free-card

Image: Ryan Lee (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/190784293@N05/50862532686

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Henry Wadey (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flames_%2858765896%29.jpeg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A living room scene, featuring a sofa in the background and a sofa in the foreground. A man's hand reaches into the frame to lift up the corner of the sofa. A broom enters the frame to sweep a pile of dirt under the rug. Mixed in with the dirt are a crashed WWI biplane with Southwest Airlines livery, and an old lady in a rocking chair.]

[newswireml]

Not couch cushion money: Former members sitting on $54 million#couch #cushion #money #members #sitting #million

Ohio Republican Rob Portman, who retired from his Senate seat, still had $3.1 million in campaign cash and another roughly $47,000 in his leadership PAC. Former Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont had $1.3 million in his two accounts. Former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost a primary over her vote to impeach Trump, converted her campaign committee into a PAC called the Great Task,…

[worldofwardcraft]

The China syndrome.

January 23, 2023

Most Americans understand that, under its Communist dictator Xi Jinping, China is a determined rival and a potential menace. A recent report by the Atlantic Council describes at length how "China presents a serious problem for the whole of the democratic world." Which is why President Biden's administration is investing $53 billion in American tech innovation and making it illegal for US companies to aid the Chinese chip-making industry. Under Biden, the US has also sent defensive weapons to Taiwan to create a massive stockpile in the event China moves on the island.

But while Biden is engaging in sober, serious steps to check China's growing power, Republicans have become infected with off-the-charts lunatic anti-China hysteria. We saw a hint of it back when disgraced former-president Trump insisted on calling COVID-19 the "China virus." And when he initiated a trade war with China that proved devastating to American farmers and ended up costing us 245,000 jobs, according to a 2021 study commissioned by the US-China Business Council.

But recently Republicans have taken Yellow Peril panic to outlandish extremes. The new GOP majority in the House, for example, has already established a Select Committee to investigate "strategic competition" between the US and China to be chaired by Wisconsin’s Mike Gallagher. This is the same Mike Gallagher who told CNN he considered the Chinese Communist Party "an enemy of the United States."

But he's not alone. Rep. John Katko of the Homeland Security Committee has warned, "We are going to be laser focused on China threat issues." And not to be outdone, Rep. Michael McCaul of the Foreign Affairs Committee proclaimed,

The Hunter Biden laptop issue involves China so you'll see a joint investigation between the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and HFAC.

Over in the Senate, Ohio's Rob Portman published a report alleging that for more than a decade China has targeted economists working for the Federal Reserve to access insider information.

Elsewhere, the far-right Hudson Institute has distributed a series of videos critical of the Chinese Communist Party, featuring former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (who calls COVID-19 the "Wuhan virus"). And the even further-right Committee on the Present Danger — originally created in the 1950s to fight Russian communism and now repurposed against the Chinese version — stated that stopping China’s rise would be “the defining event of our time.”

There's no doubt that Xi’s China presents a substantial diplomatic and economic challenge for the US. But the frenzied, pathological freak out on the part of the GOP is simply deranged.

[pashterlengkap]

GOP Congressmember says he was tricked into voting for marriage equality bill

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) claims the Democrats tricked him into voting for the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA). He is urging senators to learn from the error of his ways and vote against the bill. The RFMA would require every state to recognize marriages performed in other states and would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that banned the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. The bill would not require states that ban marriage equality to perform those marriages themselves, should they ban them if Obergefell v. Hodges, which nationally legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, is overturned. The bill also protects interracial marriages. In an interview with evangelical leader Tony Perkins, who is the head of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council, Rep. Perry said he had to make a difficult choice since voting against the bill would also mean voting against interracial marriage. “When I walked onto the floor, of course the vote was on, I had to vote almost immediately. And I calculated incorrectly. And maybe that’s the best way to put it, that my long-standing support of traditional marriage would be understood, and I didn’t want to vote against interracial marriage.” “And that’s the same trick they’re playing now. Now they’re gonna offer some kind of amendment but this actually literally destroys religious freedom and the ability to enforce religious freedom.” He encouraged senators to “not be fooled” and vote against the legislation. Last week, 62 senators – including 12 Republicans – voted to invoke cloture on the bill, meaning it is no longer at the mercy of a filibuster and the Senate is able to advance the legislation for a debate and vote. “It tricks people,” Perry said. “You don’t want to be a racist but you’re not against traditional marriage. You shouldn’t have to make that choice, yet that was the choice in the bill and that’s what’s facing senators, and if they have not gone through it… They don’t realize this is an absolute assault on religious liberty and the ability to enforce the freedom of religion.” Perkins also piped in to claim that the RFMA is “one of the most egregious assaults on religious freedom and the rights of parents. When you talk about what’s happening in classrooms across America, the indoctrination, this is linked to it.” Perry agreed and said, “This is by design.” An amendment to the bill will be put forward by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) to clarify that religious nonprofits would not be required to provide “any services, facilities, or goods for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage” because of the law itself, although state anti-discrimination laws may still apply. It also says that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Constitution’s religious freedom protections still apply. But for Perry, the amendment isn’t enough, despite the fact that many religious leaders have agreed that the bill in its current form protects religious liberty. Even the anti-LGBTQ Mormon church has endorsed the bill as is. But Perry touted a different and harsher amendment proposed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), one that is not being strongly considered by the Senate. Perry said that “anything less than the Mike Lee amendment is gonna be unacceptable.” http://dlvr.it/SdMXGJ

[beardedmrbean]

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers flew to Taiwan for an official visit Thursday, defying threats from the Chinese government.

Lawmakers from both the House and Senate landed in the country Wednesday morning to a warm welcome from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. The Chinese government soon released a statement condemning the visit.

The lawmakers visiting were Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Rob Portman of Ohio, Republican Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, and Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.

The lawmakers are among the most high-level U.S. officials to visit Taiwan, a territory of China. Mainland China argues Taiwan is a rogue region of China and not an independent country. 

The U.S. has tenuously respected that designation for decades, even while sending military aid and occasional visits from U.S. officials to support Taiwan.

CHINA ACCUSES US, TAIWAN OFFICIALS OF ‘PLAYING WITH FIRE’ WITH  UKRAINE COMPARISONS

"China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the U.S. and China’s Taiwan region," the spokesperson for the Chinese government tweeted Thursday.

Fears that China may move to invade Taiwan have risen in recent years, thanks to China's increasing aggression in the region, including frequent air force flights near Taiwan's airspace.

The issue has also been highlighted thanks to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Observers say Russia's invasion may embolden China to take action on its own.

The U.S. delegation in Taiwan will meet with President Tsai and is scheduled to depart Friday.

[when-did-this-become-difficult]

The SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act: An Update!

The US Senate bill that would let disabled & elderly people save more money while still keeping their Social Security benefits (and which is pegged to inflation so we don’t need to keep passing increases over and over!) aka baby’s personal favorite legislation of the 117th Congress, has a little update!

On 06/06/2022, the bill’s original sponsors, senators Sherrod Brown (OH Dem) and Rob Portman (OH Rep), were joined by two new sponsors, Senator Ron Wyden (OH Dem) and Senator Bill Cassidy (LA Rep). (Source: official congressional website for the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act, also known as S.4102) The more bipartisan support, the better a chance it has of actually passing, so I’m excited!

Right now, it’s still in the Senate Committee on Finance. Keep in mind that Sherrod Brown actually introduced this legislation (or something very similar) in a previous year and it didn’t go through, but now he has Portman on board and Portman is going to get replaced in 2022, probably by a far worse Republican (fucking JD Vance, a massive capitalist who thinks welfare is Bad), so the time to get this passed is now! We don’t know what the 2022 midterms will bring.

Here’s all the current Senate Committee on Finance members, with links to their Wikipedia page. If one of these belongs to you, now would be a great time to call or send a letter! If you enter in your state on the official Senate site it will tell you their official Senate contact info. If you'd like to read the full text of the bill, I recommend it, it's very short, probably shorter than this post! I don't have a head count of who supports it at this point, but it wouldn’t hurt to let them know that they should! (I mean, I’m guessing Elizabeth Warren’s on board, lmao, but.)

DEMOCRATS on the Senate Committee on Finance

Ron Wyden, Oregon, Chairman - new co-sponsor

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan

Maria Cantwell, Washington

Bob Menendez, New Jersey

Tom Carper, Delaware

Ben Cardin, Maryland

Sherrod Brown, Ohio - original co-sponsor

Michael Bennet, Colorado

Bob Casey, Pennsylvania

Mark Warner, Virginia

Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island

Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire

Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada

Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts

REPUBLICANS on the Senate Committee on Finance

Mike Crapo, Idaho, Ranking Member

Chuck Grassley, Iowa

John Cornyn, Texas

John Thune, South Dakota

Richard Burr, North Carolina

Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania

Tim Scott, South Carolina

Bill Cassidy, Louisiana- new co-sponsor

James Lankford, Oklahoma

Steve Daines, Montana

Rob Portman, Ohio - original co-sponsor

Todd Young, Indiana

Ben Sasse, Nebraska

John Barrasso, Wyoming

[theyoungturks]

At a recent U.S. Senate debate, Tim Ryan called out J.D. Vance for doing nothing but kissing Donald Trump's ass. Ana Kasparian discusses on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live Read more HERE: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-took-j-d-vances-dignity-from-him-on-the-stage-tim-ryan-brutally-mocks-republican-opponent-during-senate-debate/ "Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) went on the offensive during Monday’s U.S. Senate debate, casting opponent J.D. Vance (R) as a lackey for former President Donald Trump, who told rally-goers last month in Youngstown, Ohio that the Republican hopeful “is kissing my ass.” Vance, the author of the best-selling Hillbilly Elegy, formerly opposed Trump, but ultimately supported him and was rewarded with the former president’s endorsement during the Republican primary. Ryan is trying to win the seat occupied by retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R) in a state Trump won twice. The congressman has tried to portray himself as a maverick and has distanced himself from Democratic Party leaders who are unpopular in the Buckeye State." *** The largest online progressive news show in the world. Hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. Help support our mission and get perks. Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows us to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world. See Perks: ▶ https://www.youtube.com/TheYoungTurks/join SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ http://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks TWITTER: ☞ http://www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM: ☞ http://www.instagram.com/TheYoungTurks TWITCH: ☞ http://www.twitch.com/tyt 👕 Merch: http://shoptyt.com ❤ Donate: http://www.tyt.com/go 🔗 Website: https://www.tyt.com 📱App: http://www.tyt.com/app 📬 Newsletters: https://www.tyt.com/newsletters/ If you want to watch more videos from TYT, consider subscribing to other channels in our network: The Damage Report ▶ https://www.youtube.com/thedamagereport TYT Sports ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytsports The Conversation ▶ https://www.youtube.com/tytconversation Rebel HQ ▶ https://www.youtube.com/rebelhq TYT Investigates ▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNJt9PYyN1uyw2XhNIQMMA #TYT #TheYoungTurks #BreakingNews 221011__TA01TimRyan by The Young Turks

[dhaaruni]

Hope you're feeling better!! Dont feel obligated to answer this but im just straight up exhausted from washington journalists - why do you think even credible beltway reporters cant seem to help themselves from doing horserace pieces or any type of serious reframing? Like I see these journo guys on twitter reblogging all these like pledges about how to cover politics where the context is the GOP is openly running against democracy but then going ahead and interviewing these folks w ZERO pushback??? Do you think there is any possibility of industry overhaul?

I am feeling a bit better, taking it day-by-day, thank you for your kind words.

I think the issue boils down to even reporters at reputable news sources like CNN or WaPo hailed from places like Politico or in Kaitlan Collins’ case, The Daily Caller. I don’t even think Politico is all terrible since there are some pieces that are worthwhile in it, but their feature writers and opinion writers opt for sensationalism over accuracy because that’s what brings about more clicks.

Like, Donald Trump was good for the Beltway press’ business model, and they’re trying to recreate it with Republicans. Reporters could write a puff piece on his late night Twitter rant and be done with work by 10am and then fuck around Twitter for the rest of the day! Now, they have to *shudder* do their jobs and report on the actual happenings in the White House and Congress and on legislation. Like, the Republicans being batshit insane and hurling masks at staffers and claiming the insurrection is a tourist adventure gets way more traffic than like, Mark Warner and Bernie Sanders bickering for 10 minutes about how they want to distribute the infrastructure budget and then agreeing that childcare is essential to include in it.

It’s just really mercenary, like reporters really don’t need to chase Republicans around to get comments day in and day out when there are dozens of House and Senate Democrats standing right there. Like, go ask *spins wheel* Sherrod Brown or Catherine Cortez-Masto what they think of the infrastructure negotiations! Brown reps Ohio, which Trump won twice, and CCM reps Nevada, which Biden won less than 3%, and she’s up for re-election in 2022! But no, they’d much rather treat Republicans like Rob Portman, who didn’t acknowledge Biden won the election for over a month, like good faith actors.

It’s like this: Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who impeached Trump in 2021 but acquitted him in 2020, will always get better press than Dems like Conor Lamb and Lauren Underwood, who flipped districts, and Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester in the Senate, whose states Trump won twice, who all quietly voted with their party to convict Trump twice. I’m not going to give a few Republicans for doing the right thing once when the majority of Democrats in the House and Senate vote party-line every single time! Even Joe Manchin never votes against Democrats when he’s the deciding vote like him being a Democrat is why Chuck Schumer is Senate majority leader, so I’m not going to spend my time complaining he doesn’t vote like Elizabeth Warren (whose anti-Betsy DeVos rally Manchin attended for the record). 

To be fair though, even voters hold Democrats to different standards than Republicans, which is why Abigail Spanberger has to be a moderate while Republicans in swing districts can vote to overturn the election and will still sail to reelection in 2022. That’s also why the press sucks, but so do American voters, which has to be understood as we try to build a more perfect union.

[mojave-pete]

White House scrambles on immigration, blames Trump, and calls in first lady.

by Naomi Lim, Political Reporter |  | March 06, 2021 06:30 AM

The White House is bracing for a worsening situation at the U.S.-Mexico border as President Biden faces criticism from both political parties over the influx of migrant children.

Biden's No. 1 priority remains the coronavirus pandemic. But the flow of asylum-seekers threatens to overwhelm the country's immigration system after it was overhauled by former President Donald Trump in ways that irritated Democrats.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was dispatched this week to brief reporters at the White House, repeatedly blaming Trump's administration for the country's immigration predicament and warning it would "take time" to undo its "cruelty."

The White House also picked first lady Jill Biden to be the public face of its family reunification task force. Using the first lady allows the White House to provide political cover to other officials who likely have future political aspirations that could be harmed by delving into such a tricky issue as immigration, chiefly Vice President Kamala Harris. She could well be the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential nominee, should Biden opt against another run.

Using Jill Biden also allows the administration to use her national popularity — 57% of those polled last month by Gallup had a favorable opinion of her versus 22% with a negative view — to tackle a hot-button issue.

The White House's maneuvers coincide with a jump in the number of child migrants referred to the Health and Human Services Department for long-term care: 321 by the end of February up from a daily average of 47 during the first week of January. And it's forced Biden's team to reopen Trump-era facilities to house them. 

As part of Mayorkas's attempt to lower public expectations, the secretary refued to describe the issue as "a crisis." Cesar Conda, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s chief of staff during Congress's last immigration reform push in 2013, didn't hesitate to use the word, evidence of tensions between Democrats and Republicans over the narrative.

“The Biden administration has caused an unnecessary crisis at the southern border," Conda told the Washington Examiner. "It’s going to become a humanitarian catastrophe."

Mayorkas admitted there is "a challenge" at the border. He also tried clarifying a position White House press secretary Jen Psaki has expressed from the briefing room podium. She had repeatedly discouraged migrants from traveling to the U.S. until Biden had better application procedures in place amid the pandemic.

"We are not saying don't come. We are saying don't come now," Mayorkas said, reiterating how the administration is prioritizing migrant children over families and single adults due to COVID-19.

Mayorkas's remarks provided a clear window in the White House's early immigration messaging plan: Pin any problems on Trump, and issue an all-hands-on-deck call to shield the president and vice president from blame.

"We are dedicated to achieving and, quite frankly, are working around the clock to replace the cruelty of the past administration with an orderly, humane, and safe immigration process," he said. "It is hard, and it will take time. But rest assured, we are going to get it done."

He added, "The first lady has driven us to action through her personal commitment to this moral imperative. And that moral imperative is to reunite the families and restore them to the fullest capacity that we, as the United States government, can do."

Conda insisted the tactics wouldn't halt the influx. And he predicted it could have ramifications for the White House's other immigration endeavors.

"This also will have a negative spillover effect on legislative efforts to accommodate Dreamers and other immigration reforms because Republicans will demand securing the border before granting any legalization," he said, alluding to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program beneficiaries.

Former California Democratic Party adviser Bob Mulholland said the administration should not focus on the importance of immigration action. Instead, it should "talk about America's stories." He added that Biden aides should also publicly stress that the last major immigration bill was signed into law by a Republican president: Ronald Reagan in 1986.

"Democrats need to have ongoing conversations with the American people like two people talking over the backyard fences," Mulholland said.

Still, the White House's rhetoric and early moves, nor experts' advice, will likely not resonate with Republicans, who are already voicing concerns regarding the border after Trump railed about what was one of his pet issues as a candidate, then president during his Conservative Political Action Conference comeback speech last Sunday.

Even Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was dismayed by the White House reopening the Trump emergency migrant detention facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, as data point to immigration being the country's most divisive policy, and Biden's "Day One" reform package languishes in the House.

"This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay - no matter the administration or party," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans are agitating for oversight, though their power is diminished by their minority status. That has not stopped aides from flagging "bad" Biden immigration headlines to reporters.

Republicans do not control the Senate either, yet they could be more influential in that evenly divided chamber if Democrats stand any chance of clearing its 60-vote legislative hurdle.

Homeland Security Committee ranking member Rob Portman of Ohio has homed in on the White House suspending agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and it's starting to process asylum-seekers through updated Migration Protection Protocols. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson also wrote to Mayorkas this week asking why some coronavirus precautions weren't being taken with admissions at the border.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who leads the Senate Republican campaign arm, has introduced a bill that provides "a permanent solution" for Dreamers and beefs up border security measures.

"Maybe the administration is finally realizing that the American people don’t want a reckless approach to immigration that threatens American safety, kills American jobs, and prevents countless families from pursuing the opportunity to chase their American dream," a Scott aide said.

[ridenwithbiden]

"The #House, and especially the #Senate, are full of Portman types: long-serving, mainstream #Republicans who pride themselves on being practical problem-solvers - but who did not lift a finger to stop the takeover of their party by the lunatic fringe."

"After Trump won, however, #Portman caved just as the rest of the #GOP did. In Portman's case, he supported Trump on 88.3 percent of the legislation, higher than Sen. #RandPaul (R-KY) or Sen. #LindseyGraham (R-SC)."

[socialistexan]

With Romanoff's loss in Colorado, we likely aren't getting an actual progressive into the Senate this year (Dems really went balls out of Milquetoast corporatists this year), so our next best shot is 2022, where there's some real possibilities, either through retirements, primaries, or weak Republican incumbents in purple/lean blue states.

Retirements

We have no word on any retirements yet, but I'm sure there will be a small handful between now and 2022. California could open up if Biden does the obvious and picks Kamala Harris and they somehow pull out the win, besides that, not many open seats as of now.

Primaries

New York

This one should be front and center for Dems in 2022. Schumer has been a total failure as Senate Leader, allowing through a record number of federal judges for Trump, rolling over to McConnell and monied interests at every possible turn, total failure to wield any power. Not only that, but he's hippie punched every chance he got and threw tens of millions of dollars against progressives in open primaries. In an increasingly left-leaning state like NY, there should not be a Dem like Schumer representing them. He'll have Wall Street and Washington in his corner, but that about it. Large Progressive bench with a strong slate of progressive orgs and a built in progressive star in AOC. Schumer needs to watch his back.

Potential progressive challengers: AOC, Jamaal Bowman, Julia Salazar, Cynthia Nixon, Richie Torres, Zephyr Teachout, Jabari Brisport

Connecticut

Richard Blumenthal is a strong Biden ally, so that's a potential boost for him there, but he's also tough on crime (73% from the NAPO), anti-Palestine, pro-War and pro-corporate and that's hard to stomach in the Democratic party of 2022. Connecticut also doesn't exactly have a large bench with its size, it'll have to come from a state rep/sen, mayor, or city Councilor.

Potential progressive challengers: Travis Simms, Saud Anwar, Mike D'Agostino

Colorado

Michael Bennet, anothe hippie punching corporatist. It's hard to take him down, but Colorado isn't just trending Blue, but to the actual left (unlike say Virginia), so when Biden, should he win, totally fails to bring any victories for the Left, I think it puts a huge target on the Clinton-world favorite Bennet. It's hard to see a Pay-Go, pro tax cut, pro-cop, anti health care Dem being all that popular in Colorado. He kept his profile pretty low and let himself be "generic Democrat" for a while, but his Presidential run exposed him. Who his challenger is, well that's the tough part.

Potential progressive challengers: Andrew Romanoff, Julie Gonzales, Emily Sirota

Maryland

Chris Van Hollen, similar to the above, but fewer potential challengers

Potential progressive challengers: Ben Jealous, Brandon Scott

Republican seats

North Carolina

Richard Burr in a state that is increasingly swingy. Biden might just pick this one up win or lose overall. Very Virginia-esque Dem party, so a progressive breaking through will be tough. One or the most likely flips in 2022 so I it needs to be a priority.

Potential progressive challengers: Erica Smith??? I don't know many else, nor can I find many. Someone in NC give me a hand here, this is an important seat.

Wisconsin

Ron Johnson feels like an incredibly weak incumbent. He was saved by Trump in 2016, but he won't have that benefit in a midterm regardless of who wins in 2020. Even if Biden wins and there's a first midterm backlash (there always is), Wisconsin feels very gettable. What you need is a labor focused candidate that will excite young people and PoC in places like Milwaukee. Problem is, who steps up?

Potential progressive challengers: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and that's a problem. Wisconsin used to be a labor dominated state, Milwaukee had socialists mayors for g-dssake. Idk, followers in Wisconsin, educate me, please.

Kentucky

Rand Paul is just a weird guy. He's unpopular in Kentucky, but his, uh, "independent" streak gives him a leg to stand on that isn't tied directly to any national level Republican so he could be tough no matter who wins in 2020. I can see the Primary being a repeat of the 2020 Primary after McGrath gets demolished by McConnell, but with Booker getting two years to really boost himself instead of getting a last second rush at the end.

Potential progressive challengers: Charles Booker

Ohio

Ohio is tough. A former bellwether state, it's now solidly red. Rob Portman is a bit of a jam. He might have a primary from the right, so who knows how that'll affect him, either pushing him to the right in a red state or framing him as the "reasonable" conservative in a former Purple state. I can see the primary coming down to Tim Ryan and Nina Turner if she chooses to run.

Potential progressive challengers: Nina Turner, Morgan Harper

Also I think it's unlikely, buy I'd love to see Pramila Jayapal primary Patty Murray.

[phroyd]

President Trump’s inaccurate assertion that he has “total” authority to reopen a nation shuttered by the coronavirus is igniting a fresh challenge from governors scrambling to manage their states and highlighting a Republican Party reluctant to defy a president who has relished pushing the boundaries of executive power.

The president’s claim, first conveyed in a tweet Monday morning and underscored at a White House news conference and subsequent social media posts, caught his aides off guard and prompted them to study whether Trump would have such authority in a time of emergency like the ongoing pandemic.

Republicans were largely tepid in their criticism of Trump’s expansive views on his power, which he has wielded throughout his presidency as he circumvented the legislative branch on matters of spending and subpoenas, while enjoying decisions in which he maintained universal authority such as issuing pardons. Trump has also issued a multitude of executive orders while relying heavily on myriad acting administration officials rather than subjecting them to the Senate confirmation process.

At a White House briefing late Tuesday, Trump offered conflicting statements about which entity had the authority to reopen, seeming to backtrack from his claim Monday but at the same time insisting the federal government would have the final say.

“The governors are responsible. They have to take charge,” said Trump, who added that some states want to reopen now and probably can before May 1, while others aren’t there yet. He said that if a state with many cases tries to reopen early, the federal government might step in.

“If we disagree with it, we’re not going to let it open,” he said, before adding, “We’re there to help. But we’re also there to be critics.”

Earlier in the day, Trump’s comments on reopening the nation were challenged by his presumptive Democratic rival this fall, former vice president Joe Biden, and also by prominent governors overseeing the public health crisis in their states such as New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who in his daily news conference Tuesday skewered at length Trump’s position as wildly off-base from the Constitution.

Cuomo said the president’s claim of total authority is “not an accurate statement,” because the basic principle of federalism is enshrined in the Constitution, in which powers not given to the federal government remain with the states.

“The statement that he has total authority over the states and the nation cannot go uncorrected,” Cuomo said. “There are many things that you can debate in the Constitution because they’re ambiguous. This is not ambiguous.”

Later Tuesday in his own remarks, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was less pointed toward Trump but nonetheless unequivocal, tweeting: “When it comes to reopening, SCIENCE — not politics — must be California’s guide.” Newsom outlined six factors he will consider in doing so, including protecting communities from the spread of the virus and ensuring that hospitals could handle any surge in cases.

The fresh power struggle between the federal government and state officials came as the toll of the pandemic continued to grow, with more than 25,000 people dead from the virus in the United States and more than 600,000 confirmed to be infected.

The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that the pandemic is causing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is also inflicting acute pain in the medical sector, which continues to struggle with supplies and personnel becoming sick, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying Tuesday that 9,000 health care workers have tested positive.

In another assertion of authority, Trump said he would halt funding to World Health Organization while a review was conducted. He has criticized the organization for its slow response in the early days of the outbreak, but by Jan. 30, the organization declared a global health emergency, after which the president continued to play down the outbreak and compared it with seasonal flu.

Governors also began outlining their strategy for reopening their states in the coming weeks and months, while a consortium of seven East Coast states continued a plan to explore how and when to lift restrictions in their geographically aligned states.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) was among the state leaders who made clear Tuesday that the facts on the ground must dictate when the current restrictions can begin to ease.

“This monster is still going to be with us at least until we get a vaccine,” DeWine, who has said his state has had a good working relationship with federal officials so far, said at a Tuesday news conference. “It’s not going away, and that’s the sad news. . . . We are 12-18 months away from this going away. We’re going to have to live with it..”

Two White House officials said there was no broader planning for Trump’s comments that he had “total” authority and that they were both surprised by his tweets to that effect Monday. There was no legal underpinning for the remarks in advance, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly, and “it is widely viewed with skepticism in the building that we should be doing this.

The White House Counsel’s Office is studying what authority the president actually does have during a national emergency, according to the officials. But the operating plan in the White House is not to try to force any state to reopen, although one senior White House official said they had been in contact with some states — such as Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee — about reopening sooner rather than later.

“I am almost positive James Madison fell off a cloud somewhere today when Trump said that,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor. “The founders of the republic stitched together a complicated game of chess to ensure our president was a very weak king who could be simultaneously slowed down by the legislature, judiciary and federalism. His authority is far from total.”

Another prominent GOP donor, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations, said there was an effort “to talk him into a better place.”

One official said Trump is frustrated that the governors are getting so much credit and no blame while he gets all the blame and none of the credit. He particularly complains about Cuomo, this official said.

“Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc.,” Trump tweeted earlier Tuesday. “I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!”

Trump has said repeatedly that the federal government is merely a backup to the states and that the onus is on the governors to deal with the pandemic.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said in a recent interview that “at the end of the day, it will be the governors that make these decisions.”

Combative in public, Trump administration and congressional leaders negotiate behind the scenes on coronavirus relief

One Republican ally close to the president said Trump did not initially want to be associated with decisions to close down the government because “closing is bad news, and opening is good news.” And he spoke with governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis (R) who were skeptical, said this person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

Trump was happy to accept the argument from some advisers that he should invoke federalism, and the president repeatedly emphasized states’ rights when questioned by reporters in recent weeks why he was not instituting a national stay-at-home order. But he sees a political triumph in reopening the economy and wants credit for it, this person said.

In a tweet Monday, Biden said that he is “not running for office to be King of America.”

“I respect the Constitution,” Biden said. “I’ve read the Constitution. I’ve sworn an oath to it many times. I respect the great job so many of this country’s governors — Democratic and Republican — are doing under these horrific circumstances.”

Within the GOP, Trump’s biggest challenge to his exertion of executive power came last year, when a dozen GOP senators voted to reject an emergency declaration the president issued to take taxpayer dollars from the military and other accounts for a border wall that Congress had denied.

Of that dozen, two — Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) — issued comments Tuesday, both stressing that states should retain the power to regulate their own activities. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement: “I respect the authorities of the office of the presidency. I also recognize that it will take all of us — elected leaders and citizens — to effectively stop the spread of this virus.”

A spokeswoman for Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) pointed to his remarks from a Fox Business interview earlier Tuesday in which he said the matter was not just up to elected officials “deciding when it’s time and coming up with some arbitrary deadline,” but the science and whether people feel safe leaving their homes.

Aides to two others — Utah Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee — said the senators would have no response. None of the other six responded to requests for comment. They were Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Susan Collins (Maine), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.).

At least two other prominent elected GOP lawmakers, past and present — Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third-ranking leader among House Republicans, and Republican-turned independent Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) — challenged Trump’s notion.

Cheney, whose father, Richard B. Cheney, had pushed for broad executive authority as vice president in George W. Bush’s administration, cited the text of the 10th Amendment in a tweet: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

But other GOP lawmakers questioned about Trump’s bold claim, an assertion refuted by constitutional experts, were reluctant to challenge the president.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 2 House Republican, argued in a Fox News interview Tuesday that states had largely taken their cue from Trump and the federal government over the past two months, particularly when it comes to social distancing guidelines.

“When the president said that, you saw almost every governor in the country take that cue and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to institute a new set of policies,’ ” Scalise said. “And so, while the president hasn’t said every state has to do this, he’s been setting the guidance using the experts from CDC and other agencies, and then you see states following suit.”

A spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday declined to comment beyond the governor’s remarks to CNN on Monday in which he said governors were best positioned to make the ultimate decision on when their states can safely resume everyday activities.

“It’s not my understanding of the Constitution,” Hogan said in the CNN interview of Trump’s interpretation of his own powers.

Devlin Barrett, Ovetta Wiggins, Felicia Sonmez, Mike DeBonis, Samantha Pell and Brittany Shammas contributed to this report.

Phroyd

[claritalunaluna76]

MBW’s World’s Greatest Managers series profiles the best artist managers in the global business. This time, we speak to Mark Gillespie, founder of Three Six Zero and manager to huge artists like Calvin Harris. The World’s Greatest Managers is supported by Centtrip Music, a specialist in intelligent treasury, payments and foreign exchange – created with the music industry and its needs in mind.

Mark Gillespie grew up in Redditch, just south of Birmingham, England – where, as a teenager in the mid-’90s, he developed his passion for electronic music as a record collector and amateur DJ.

From there, he met local promoter Eddie Boulton, who gave him a job handing out flyers for Birmingham’s soon-to-launch legendary superclub Godskitchen.

Within a couple of years, Gillespie – deemed something of an internet-age whizkid within Godskitchen – was becoming an increasingly influential figure within the club, helping pick out emerging DJ talent, while also building websites, launching digital marketing campaigns and acting as a talent liaison.

This was a heady lifestyle for an 18-year-old dance music fanatic, which, by Gillespie’s own admission, invited “all kinds of crazy shit” into his life. Including the fact that local gangs – particularly the notoriously violent Birmingham Zulus – liked to frequent the club.

“For quite a while, I wore a bulletproof vest to work,” says Gillespie, matter-of-factly. “That was just being sensible; there’d always be standoffs between various gangs over who was and wasn’t allowed in the club. And then one night, this guy pulled a gun out and waved it right in my face.”

Funny thing is, Gillespie (pictured) doesn’t actually count this incident as his worst ever day at work. That came a couple of years before, when he considered turning his back on the music game for a ‘proper job’, by starting an engineering apprenticeship (similar to an internship) at UK car maker Rover.

“They were good people, but I hated it,” he says. “One day, I just stood up and walked out; I realized I had to make my music stuff work, otherwise I’d be at Rover for the rest of my days.”

Getting a gun thrust in his mush for Gillespie was, relatively speaking, still living the dream.

By 2003, Gillespie had progressed to booking the DJ’s at Godskitchen and its related festivals, as well as processing payments for talent and managing project budgets.

If anyone ever tells you that learning on the job is somehow bested by an academic education, let’s just run through the skills that Gillespie acquired within a few years of joining a nightclub as the flyer kid, aged 16: promotion, artist liaison, accounting, digital marketing, coding, talent booking, self-preservation – not to mention one of the best contacts books in the world of electronic music.

The next step was inevitable, wasn’t it? Godskitchen began releasing compilation albums through Sony Music, giving Gillespie a taste of how the wider record business worked.

Inspired by the likes of UK indie labels Defected, FFRR, and Toolroom, he hatched a plan to launch his own part-time record company – while still working at Godskitchen – and began scanning MySpace “for hours and hours most days, just trying to find new music played by interesting people”.

Eventually, Gillespie landed on the MySpace page of Scottish producer/DJ, Calvin Harris, and hotfooted it up to Glasgow to meet him. Leaving the city deeply impressed, Gillespie made a life-changing decision. “I pivoted,” he says. “I decided I didn’t want to be Calvin’s label – I wanted to be his manager.”

This was the beginning of what would become globe-straddling artist management powerhouse, Three Six Zero. Via his role at Godskitchen, Gillespie had become friendly with influential UK DJ and broadcaster Pete Tong and, in mid-2006, Gillespie passed Tong a CD with a bunch of Harris’s music on it. Tong played his track, The Girls, on his Friday night show on BBC Radio 1, and Gillespie’s cell phone began lighting up.

“I made the decision, right then, to quit my job and become a manager full time,” says Gillespie. “Calvin said to me, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Looking back now, leaving [Godskitchen] probably was a real leap of faith, but it didn’t feel like it at that moment.”

Before we come on to the status of Three Six Zero in 2019, it’s worth reiterating the enormity of Calvin Harris’s worldwide success. He has sold 12 million records globally to date, including 44 million singles, and has had 14 UK No.1s. He has also amassed over 16 billion audio and video streams.

Originally signed by Mike Pickering at Columbia in the UK, Harris is one of Sony’s bestselling, and perennially prioritized, global artists. He’s worked with everyone from Rihanna to Dua Lipa, Florence + The Machine, Sam Smith, Khalid, Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande and Migos.

In tandem with Harris’s rise, Gillespie, alongside his former business partner Dean Wilson, has built Three Six Zero into a truly blockbuster player in the global music industry. Based in Los Angeles, TSZ has one of the strongest rosters in dance music globally – with Harris, Tiësto and Disciples on its books, amongst others. It also reps leading lights in other genres like Louis Tomlinson, Kacy Hill and Grammy Award-winning producer Noah Goldstein.

Gillespie has an excellent story about his first foray into the United States with Three Six Zero: A major record label was interested in hiring the British exec to run a dance music-focused subsidiary. He took the meetings, and the paid flights to New York, gladly – but while in town, he was also meeting with Roc Nation’s Jay Brown, with whom Gillespie and Three Six Zero ended up going into business with for almost a decade.

Today, after a transformational year, Three Six Zero is fully independent, and fully-owned by Gillespie. TSZ recently launched a new office in London, headed up by long-term friend of the company, Phil Sales.

Gillespie, a major movie buff, has also quietly made a name for Three Six Zero in the film world, managing the likes of feature-maker Brady Corbet, Shameik Moore – the lead actor in Academy Award-winning animated movie, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse – and bestselling author/ scriptwriter Bret Easton Ellis.

Three Six Zero’s ambitions in Hollywood moved up a couple of leagues earlier this year, when Music Business Worldwide broke the news that the firm had acquired Westbrook Entertainment. That firm’s on-screen talent – including Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden Smith, Willow Smith, Kenna and Crespo – are all now integrated into the TSZ family.

What’s more, Three Six Zero launched its own first feature film – the acclaimed Vox Lux, starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law – at the end of last year. The soundtrack to the movie was released on Three Six Zero’s in-house record label, headed up by Pete Tong, which Gillespie runs as a JV with Sony Music Entertainment.

MBW recently sat down with Gillespie over dinner in Los Angeles to map out Three Six Zero’s history, and to learn what the British entrepreneur has up his sleeve for the future…

YOU’RE NOW FLYING SOLO AS THE HEAD OF AN INDEPENDENT THREE SIX ZERO – HAVING ALWAYS HAD BUSINESS PARTNERS SINCE YOU LAUNCHED THE COMPANY IN 2007. WHAT’S THAT LIKE?

The idea of running this company solo used to terrify me. But now it’s different: I like the autonomy, and I like that you can craft decisions that are entirely yours.

There isn’t any interruption in what you’re doing. In some ways, it’s more difficult, but in other ways it’s more enjoyable.

WHAT ARE THE BEST THINGS ABOUT THE MUSIC BUSINESS IN THE US?

I love the professionalism; people really take pride in what they do and that resonates with me. The level of execution that you see in the US business is very impressive – some of the festivals and the live touring setups in particular. You regularly come across people that are prepared to push the envelope [in order] to be able to ensure that really great and interesting things happen.

The potential scale in America is fascinating – the business here really thinks about things on a global basis. I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve managed to handle our business over here, and I’m really grateful that we’ve been enabled to do that.

We all know that some people [from international territories] come to the US with an attitude that they’re going to tell people what to do – to me, that suggests those people believe it’s somehow easy to conduct business over here, and it’s really not.

The flow of business and the way that things are done is totally different to the UK but I love it, and I’m hugely passionate about it.

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE TRANSITION FROM CALVIN HARRIS THE FRONTMAN TO CALVIN HARRIS THE SUPERSTAR DJ? SOME PEOPLE IN THE STATES MIGHT NOT KNOW THAT HE STARTED OUT AS A SINGER, VERY MUCH IN FRONT OF THE DECKS – BEFORE EMBRACING HIS KINGMAKING ROLE AS THE ARCHITECT BEHIND THE SCENES….

It’s one of the smartest decisions that he made in his career – and it was all him. He used the live touring circuit in the early stages of his career to help establish his business and hone his identity.

At that moment in time [indie/dance crossover acts with ‘frontmen’] was what was happening in the UK, but he saw what was coming and very intelligently saw that the world was turning in a slightly different direction. He also happened to write some of the greatest records ever released at the right time. That always helps.

HOW GOOD IS CALVIN?

His successes broadly speak for themselves. I may seem biased but I think he’s the best writer/producer of his generation.

I love him as an artist and a person. He’s ridiculously hard working, always has been, and he’s a huge a supporter of mine. His drive has definitely helped pushed me along over the years.

OTHER THAN JAY BROWN AND ROC NATION, WHO ELSE HAS BEEN MENTOR FIGURES IN THE US FOR YOU?

Rob Stringer. He’s really perceptive, and gave me some of the soundest advice in the early stages of my career. He’s also helped guide me, on more than one occasion, through what can sometimes be quite a complicated and political business.

Then there’s Michael Rapino – one of the smartest guys in the industry. He has a very direct, knowledge-based approach, which I respect him for. [That approach] is why, above anything else, I think he’s so tremendously successful.

On the subject of mentors, no-one comes close to my mum. She was an entrepreneur and raised three kids on her own. We didn’t have a lot, but she managed to get us into a place where we all had enough.

Redditch is a very ‘normal’ place; part of it’s really nice, part of it’s shitty, and the town center is ‘burger, fries and two black eyes’. It’s not South Central, but it’s not Kensington either. She’s been an incredibly good example to me that if you work really hard, you can achieve important things.

WHY HAVE YOU GOT SUCH A HUNGER TO MAKE MOTION PICTURES OR AUDIO/VISUAL CONTENT?

Partly because I think that the world that we live in now requires the ability to work across multiple disciplines. And partly because I love film, and always have.

Film, TV, short-form digital content, music and socials all used to be very separate, different disciplines. But over the past few years, with the massive growth in streaming, they’ve all moved closer together – and I think they’ll continue to move closer together.

A lot of people ask me whether I’m moving more towards film [at the expense of music] and I’m not. I work pretty much every moment that my eyes are open, and the film thing began as a hobby. I decided to do a few things that made us a bit more of a [Hollywood] entity, and which showed that we have reasonably good taste.

We’ve had a few successes now, and I think that all of the practical lessons that we learn from the [film] business will be hugely beneficial to the music side of our business. But, by no means, am I getting out of the music business. If anything, I’m more focused on music than I ever have been for my entire career; I think this is the most exciting time that the music business has ever seen.

WHY?

There are fewer barriers. There is opportunity for all different types of music to be able to break through.

Also, streaming is working, so there’s the revenue there, if distributed correctly, for the industry to develop and build big artists.

Interesting things are happening in the music business on a daily basis. Since the start of my career, I’ve been hugely into technology, and hugely into music, and I feel like at this moment in time, I get to do a bit of both every single day.

WHY DID YOU START A LABEL WITH SONY?

Three Six Zero has always run labels since the beginning of our business. [The company previously released albums from the likes of The Prodigy in the US via a JV deal with Warner Music Group and label-managed Mau5trap, Rising and Fly Eye Records.]

Running a label helps define your level of taste as a company. It also means you can have different levels of involvement in the careers of talent. The most enjoyable part of that is the ability to work with other managers, actually.

As for why Sony, part of it is because [via Calvin] I’ve spent eleven years getting to know everyone in that system; if I need to ask a question of somebody in Mexico, I know who to pick the phone up to. I know all the label heads in all the major markets, and there’s some really great people there.

Sony’s a really good company at the moment with a great perspective.

YOU’VE HAD SOME BIG CHARACTERS AS CLIENTS DOWN THE YEARS, INCLUDING TRAVIS SCOTT, MORRISSEY AND FRANK OCEAN. ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS MOMENTS INVOLVED FRANK AND THE RELEASE OF BLONDE, WHERE HE COMPLETED HIS ALBUM DEAL WITH UNIVERSAL WITH A VIDEO-LP, ENDLESS, THEN INDEPENDENTLY RELEASED WHAT APPEARED TO BE HIS ‘REAL’ ALBUM WITHIN DAYS. HOW DID THAT SITUATION COME ABOUT?

Frank is a private guy, and that’s part of what makes him so great. So if that story is ever to be told, he should be the one telling it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO BE THE NEXT MAJOR TECHNOLOGICAL SEA CHANGE IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

The business needs to find a new format, in order to protect itself.

The biggest threat to the music business right now is decentralized networks. Thanks to Daniel [Ek] and Spotify, a new economy has been created in the business from streaming, but decentralization is a potential threat to that. Decentralization [i.e. blockchain technology] is something that was super buzzy for a year or two, and has gone away a bit, but I think it will swing back around at great pace in the next five years, and could be potentially devastating for the entire entertainment content business.

What happens after streaming is something that we need to focus on. The good news is that there are people within the major record companies and major publishers that are a hell of a lot more technologically savvy than they were when Napster hit.

One other thing is that I think other streaming platforms, from outside music, will want to get into music. That’s going to make things interesting but it’s potentially a threat as well – making sure that music is valued at the correct amount when that happens.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THREE SIX ZERO?

We’re in a place where we can largely do what we want, which is interesting. Over the last eighteen months, I’ve spent a lot of time reconnecting with my British roots, and I’ve come to the conclusion that, if everything came to an end tomorrow, I’d like to be seen as the guy who took some good British stuff to America and made it successful.

I hope for us to do more of that, which means spending a bit more time back in London, re-establishing the business there. I love seeing some of the new, young managers from the UK having a go at moving out [to L.A] and getting stuck in.

And obviously I’m really excited to see what we can achieve with Will [Smith], Miguel [Melendez] and the Westbrook guys. I’ve known them for seven or eight years, we all share a similar philosophy, and they’re very smart and innovative people. There is a real opportunity to work with them to grow our intellectual property [portfolio] while expanding our entertainment management business.

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THREE SIX ZERO UK? LAST WE HEARD IT WAS BEING CLOSED BUT NOW IT’S BACK.

It would be impossible for us to be champions of British talent and not have an office in London. Phil [Sales] is our head in London; we’re partners in the UK business and we’re building it around him.

He’s very direct, he’s honest, he truly loves music, and he’s incredibly passionate about what he does. I’m seeing lots of great things happening in the UK, musically.

The British business seemed to get very locked off [outside the US] for about a year and a half, but that seems to be changing now.

WHAT SIZE DO YOU WANT THREE SIX ZERO TO BECOME AS AN INDEPENDENT COMPANY?

I’m definitely not looking for mass scale – I’m not trying to be the biggest anything ever again. That’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my career so far; being the biggest is not necessarily being the best.

Continually re-assessing what success means to you – especially after you have prolonged success – is the most difficult bit of running a business, but it’s essential.

A specialist in intelligent treasury, payments and foreign exchange, Centtrip Music works with over 450 global artists helping them and their crew maximise their income and reduce touring costs with its award-winning multi-currency card and live foreign exchange rates. Centtrip Music also offers record labels, promoters, collection societies and publishers a more cost-effective way to send payments across the globe.

Music Business Worldwide - July 10, 2019

[quakerjoe]

Why Rep. Mike Turner (R) is a total cock-thistle... by “All Your Base”

Dayton’s former mayor and current member of the House of Representatives recently flipped from an ‘A’ rating from the NRA to supporting restrictions on what kind of guns can be sold to civilians along with magazine limits and is now in favor of red flag laws. Why? Because his daughter and a family friend were across the street when the Dayton mass shooting went down and 9 people died in 30 seconds because yet another fucking yahoo decided to go full metal stupid. Reminds me of the way Ohio US Senator Rob Portman was staunchly opposed to gay marriage until his son came out to him and his family. Because that’s when Republicans care: When it touches on them personally. The really scary part as far as I’m concerned is that this kind of thing could happen to every Republican in the House and Senate and some of them would STILL fluff the NRA. Looking at you Congressman Steve Scalise. Text: This should read, "Today, I announced my support for restricting military style weapon sales, magazine limits, and red flag legislation because someone I care for, my daughter, was across the street when a mass shooting took place." Because, let's face it, you've been boffing the NRA’s barrel your entire life. You've been in congress since 2003 and you didn't announce support for restricting military style weapon sales, magazine limits, and red flag legislation until NOW when a mass shooting personally touched on your life. You’re only interested in gun control NOW because this time your daughter was across the street when yet another mass shooter with yet another semi-automatic weapon and yet another fuck ton of .223 ammo cut down 9 people and injured 27 others in half a minute. “This tragedy must become a catalyst for a broader national conversation about what we can do to stop these mass shootings.” You’ve been a member of the House of Representatives since 2003 dude. “’The carnage these military-style weapons are able to produce when available to the wrong people is intolerable,’ Turner said.” It’s intolerable now but it was tolerable earlier this year when you voted against the two background check bills passed by the House earlier this year just like it was tolerable when 20 first graders and 6 educators where cut down in Sandy Hook, Connecticut in December 2014. How it wasn’t intolerable when those sons and daughters were literally cut to pieces but it’s intolerable now that your kid was across the fucking street makes you a reprehensible scumbag You should have had this epiphany in 2007 when 32 people were killed and another 17 were injured at Virginia Tech in April 2007. Or when your fellow sitting member of the House of Representatives, Gabby Giffords, was gunned down in the fucking street during a mass shooting as she was doing her work as a US Representative in January, 2011. Or when 12 were killed and 58 were wounded in the Aurora, Colorado mass shooting in July 2012. Or when 14 people were killed in San Bernardino, California in December of 2015. Or when 58 people were killed and 527 were injured at that music festival in Las Vegas on October 2, 2017. Or when 17 people were killed in Parkland, Florida in February 2018. Or when 12 people were killed and several others wounded in Thousand Oaks, California in November of 2018. I’ll give you this: You’re smarter that Steve Scalise but not by a whole hell of a lot. At the end of the day it’s better that you’re on board now than it would be if you were still swallowing Wayne LaPierre’s gift but, like all Republicans (except for idiots like Scalise) it only matters when it touches on you and those you love. No cookie for you.

[tabloidtoc]

Hollywood Reporter, October 30

Cover: Fighting for the Future of Film 

Page 2: Contents 

Page 4: Contents 

Page 11: The Report -- AT&T’s shadow war resets as activist investors claim wins 

Page 12: Why Wall Street doesn’t mind cable’s “Dark” pay TV future 

Page 14: When movies shift over to streaming: Bonuses just go out the window, When will Netflix finally end its content cash burn? 

Page 16: $0 is magic number for new streamers: It’s About Scale, Wanna Boost Box Office -- host a Q&A 

Page 18: Box Office, Broadcast TV, Cable TV, Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200 

Page 20: Tribute to Robert Evans -- William Friedkin 

Page 21: Rose McGowan, Joe Eszterhas, Phillip Noyce, Christine Peters 

Page 22: Feinberg Forecast -- Nominations, Britannias and Oscar Prom in October -- Best Picture -- The Irishman, 1917, Actor -- Matt Damon, Actress -- Scarlett Johansson, Director -- Greta Gerwig, Original Screenplay -- Us 

Page 24: 7 Days of Deals -- How Endemol turns Banijay into a truly global TV powerhouse, It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s a lot more spinoffs, Rights Available -- Thumbs by Sean Lewis, Tiny Imperfections by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans, Film -- Rachel Weisz, Bill Condon, Craig Mazin and Ted Elliot to develop a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot, Shia LaBeouf and Vanessa Kirby, Kelly Marie Tran 

Page 25: Justin Bieber, Television -- Dwyane Wade, Amy Poehler, Johnny Galecki and Anthony Del Broccolo, Alia Shawkat and Jeff Bridges, Digital -- Jared Harris and Lee Pace to star in Apple+ space drama Foundation, Beau Willimon, Freddie Prinze Jr., Joseph Mawle will play the main villain on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series, Rep Sheet -- Gwyneth Paltrow, Ozuna, Ross Mathews, Chris Diamantopoulos, Ayesha Curry, Next Big Thing -- Ana de la Reguera 

Page 27: Why Hollywood still doesn’t have a consensus presidential candidate 

Page 28: Long before #MeToo a showbiz secretary skewered Selznick 

Page 29: The unconventional path of Prince’s memoir -- Esther Newberg, Ian Schrager returns to the Sunset Strip 

Page 30: About Town -- Governors Awards -- Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini and Kyle MacLachlan, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Hamm and Olivia Wilde, David Lynch, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and Quentin Tarantino, Lina Wertmuller, Charlize Theron and John Lithgow and Regina King and Damon Lindelof, Wes Studi and Christian Bale, Geena Davis and Jim Gianopulos, Mark Twain Prize -- Elaine and Dave Chappelle, Tiffany Haddish, Morgan Freeman and Chris Tucker, Nancy Pelosi, Common and daughter Omoye Assata Lynn 

Page 31: Britannia Awards -- Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Kerry Washington and Lupita Nyong’o, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton and Dexter Fletcher, Norman Lear, Jordan Peele and wife Chelsea Peretti, Michael Howells and wife Courtney Howells and Matthew Wiseman and wife Lisa, Jackie Chan and Vin Diesel, Steve Coogan and Chantal Rickards and Hilary Roberts, Lorne Michaels, Bradley Cooper with daughter Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper, Michael Che and Colin Jost 

Page 32: Yes I Did Say That! Rachel Maddow, Bob Iger, Ted Mundorff, Tyler Perry, Kelly Bachman, Martha Stewart on Felicity Huffman, Amanda Knox on Lady Gaga, Kurt Sutter, Flashback -- Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2015 

Page 34: Rambling Reporter -- Josh Brolin avenges Santa Monica crime fighters, Strauss Zelnick goes topless in youth pill ad, how Koch went from Howard to Hawk, the day Taika Waititi made little Archie Yates cry 

Page 35: Hitched, Hatched, Hired, Power Dining -- Lenny Kravitz, Haim Saban, Maria Shriver and son Patrick Schwarzenegger, Lindsey Vonn, Bob Simonds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Andrew Garfield, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Joel Silver, Gary Gilbert, Natalie Portman and Ellen Pompeo double date, Jason Momoa, Lea Michele, Harrison Ford 

Page 36: The Business -- Mimi Leder 

Page 38: Who broke NDAs for Bombshell

Page 42: Who Wants to Take on Fox News? 

Page 44: My plea for a best blockbuster Oscar 

Page 45: Behind the Screen -- The sound of a de-aged De Niro 

Page 48: Style -- Ralph Lauren shares insights about his life and work on the eve of the HBO documentary Very Ralph 

Page 50: The “Shape Shifter” costumes of Harriet 

Page 52: Dan Aykroyd’s haunted hotspots 

Page 54: Cover Story -- The Executive Roundtable 

Page 62: Welcome to the Flim Flam Film Fest 

Page 66: Awards Season -- 42 movies in on Oscar 

Page 70: Making of Marriage Story 

Page 74: Reviews -- The Morning Show 

Page 75: Social Climbers -- Actors -- Zac Efron, Kristen Bell, Scripted TV -- Rick and Morty, TV Personalities -- Trevor Noah 

Page 77: Backlot -- Rob Riggle’s plans to play nice as awards show host 

Page 78: Dr. Mehmet Oz on his show’s health, past mistakes and his future 

Page 80: 90 Years of THR -- In 1984 Terminator arrived and (kept coming back) 

[ask-gpt]

The sad truth of the matter is that

The sad truth of the matter is that we don't have enough guns to fight the epidemic of guns and they get out like wild rascals. We need more power. They have their own problem."One of the other leaders of the campaign to expand background checks on gun purchases is Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)."We need to start a lot of action that says, 'No more Americans should just walk into the country on guns. You're going to see more people shot because of your policies," King said. "Some folks have said, 'I think I'm going kill myself, I'm going to take the guns out of my hands.'"King was not the only member of the committee to endorse the bill.In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Rob Portman Joe (Rob) Jones PortmanOvernight Health Care: GOP plays defense over pre-existing conditions | Groups furious over new Trump immigration proposal | Public health advocates decry funding transfer over migrant children Overnight Health Care: Senators target surprise medical bills | Group looks to allow Medicaid funds for substance abuse programs | FDA launches anti-vaping campaign for teens A state agency tasked with enforcing the nation's most risqué food stamp rules says federal government funding cannot be cut MORE (R-Ohio)."Our leadership in the Senate is more focused on fighting background checks and not on stopping guns from going into the hands of illegal buyers," Portman said in a statement. "The NRA has always wanted to stop the epidemic of gun violence, including overreach by the Obama Administration and Congress and with the support of many of the NRA's top leaders. I urge all Senate members to vote on SB 1660."