Elizabeth Warren launched her anti-corruption crusade after bankrolling an indicted Senate Democrat

Sen. Elizabeth Warren keeps making it harder on herself. After all but ensuring that 2020 will be a drawn out genealogy project by releasing DNA to prove Native American heritage, the Massachusetts Democrat undermined her much-heralded ethics pledge: She slipped cash to the most corrupt senator in Congress. Disclosures filed with the FEC and first dug up by Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast, show the Warren campaign donating $5,000 to the Menendez Victory Fund. This is the same Warren who makes a show about good government and this is the same Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who was indicted on federal charges by the Obama Justice Department.

Warren certainly looks like she has been warming up for a presidential run. She released her tax returns, opened up her finances to the public, and introduced far ranging reforms to drain the swamp. But then this good government crusader decided to bankroll Menendez, a career politician credibly accused by the Obama Department of Justice of running an immigration racket. It isn’t like Warren doesn’t know about Menendez and his ethical troubles. The senator fought charges in court for three years and only avoided hard time because of a hung jury. Not satisfied with that outcome, the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee publicly reprimanded Menendez for trading visas to one of his political donors for flights on a private jet, rounds of golf at exclusive clubs, and hotel nights in Paris.

Either Warren missed all of this and simply doesn’t know or – more likely – she doesn’t care. Either way, Warren’s campaign wouldn’t say and did not respond to multiple calls and emails. Come 2020 though, Warren will have to explain. The senator will have a hard time criticizing President Trump while defending her decision to cover for a reeking ethical dumpster like Menendez. If Warren is lucky, he will lose.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/elizabeth-warren-launched-her-anti-corruption-crusade-after-bankrolling-an-indicted-senate-democrat

Heritage Foundation blasts Trump FDA for regulatory overreach

The conservative think tank Heritage Foundation blasted the Food and Drug Administration Monday for overreaching on issues that range from e-cigarettes to almond milk. The think tank released a report that represents the latest gripe anti-regulatory conservatives have with the agency. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb generally has earned plaudits from President Trump and conservatives, most notably for record-level approvals of generic drugs. But several of his moves have drawn the ire of conservatives and are detailed in the report.

Chief among Gottlieb's infractions is the FDA’s decision in July to consider strengthening enforcement of the definition of milk to restrict its use for plant-based products like almond, coconut, or soy milk. Gottlieb said the goal was to ease confusion for consumers. “An almond doesn’t lactate,” Gottlieb said at a Politico event in July. But Heritage blasted the decision. “Consumers know that almond milk doesn’t come from cows,” the report said. "They are not confused and unable to distinguish between dairy products and plant-based products.”

Heritage also chided the FDA for continuing to implement regulations approved by the Obama administration. Chief among those regulations is a rule under Obamacare that required large restaurant chains to put calorie information on menus. FDA is required under Obamacare to issue a rule on the menu labeling, but Heritage wanted the agency to pull the rule the Obama administration released and replace it with a version that would properly “interpret the law.”

Several conservative and e-cigarette advocacy groups have lashed out at the FDA for its crackdown on e-cigarettes. Gottlieb has said he is considering banning sales of e-cigarettes in convenience stores, and the agency has warned more than 1,000 retailers for sales to minors in an attempt to curb skyrocketing use of e-cigarettes. Heritage also targeted the crackdown in the report, as well as an FDA effort to explore reducing nicotine levels in traditional cigarettes. “Such a move would be, for all practical purposes, a ban on cigarettes,” the report said. “The government would be trying to force smokers to stop smoking cigarettes, even if they do not want to.”

The report concludes by calling for the agency to join the rest of the Trump administration in reducing “federal overreach and respect the rule of law.” Heritage also wants Congress to pass legislation to ensure FDA interprets the law as intended. The FDA did not immediately return a request for comment.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/heritage-foundation-blasts-trump-fda-for-regulatory-overreach

Trump's tax cuts jolt manufacturing jobs

In 2016, President Barack Obama said then-candidate Donald Trump would need a magic wand to deliver on his promise to bring back manufacturing. Turns out, Trump didn’t need a magic wand — all he needed was tax reform.

Since President Trump signed the tax cuts, manufacturing has been booming. At least 100 manufacturers have built new facilities, purchased new equipment, hired new employees, and invested in current employees through bonuses and benefit increases. Each has cited tax cuts as the reason for their actions. Manufacturers are taking advantage of two key pro-business and pro-growth provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: a reduced corporate tax rate and full business expensing. The new corporate tax rate is 21 percent, down from the developed-world high of 35 percent. Full business expensing allows manufacturers who purchase new equipment to deduct the full cost from their taxable income in the same year. Previously, deductions occurred over multiyear periods involving complex depreciation schedules.

Baker Boy, a family-owned baked goods manufacturer in North Dakota, wasted no time in taking advantage of full business expensing. Earlier this year, they purchased new equipment needed to manufacture Magic Ring Donuts, a specialty doughnut that has never before been available in North America. The new equipment allows Baker Boy to inject jelly or cream filling in to the ring of a doughnut and still have a hole in its center. The company is reinvesting its tax savings back into the business, which will allow it to more than quadruple its doughnut production. “Right now, we can produce 5,000 donuts per hour,” said Guy Moos, president of Baker Boy. “By investing in more modern technology, we’re upping our capacity to 22,000 donuts per hour. That’s about $15 million additional sales of donuts every year.” Additional doughnut sales and production translate in to high-paying manufacturing jobs for many North Dakotans.

Trump has also followed through on his promise to make America more globally competitive for manufacturing companies. Centennial Bolt, which manufactures bolts, nuts, screws, rivets, and washers, is opening a manufacturing facility in the Midwest to produce a new line of products. The best part? Without the Trump tax cuts, this facility probably would have been opened in China. The new product line is “something right now that’s being manufactured primarily in China,” explained Mark Cordova, president of Centennial Bolt. “We’re actually going to be at a competitive level to build it in the United States again.” Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, also credited the Trump tax cuts for making the United States more competitive. The cuts enabled them to open a new $75 million research facility in Indianapolis.

“Congress and this [presidential] administration have enhanced our ability to acquire and develop U.S.-born innovation,” Dave Ricks, chairman and CEO of Lilly, said. “The tax reforms they’ve adopted place U.S. companies like Lilly on a level playing field with our global peers.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-tax-cuts-jolt-manufacturing-jobs

Trump could roll out China tariffs in December: Report

President Trump may follow through as early as December with his threat to impose tariffs on all of China's exports to the United States. The decision may be contingent on a how things go during a meeting Trump has tentatively set for next month with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G-20 summit in Argentina. A Monday report from Bloomberg citing three anonymous sources said that tariffs covering all Chinese goods could be announced next month if the meeting does not go well.

The U.S. has already hit $250 billion worth of Chinese goods with tariffs ranging from 10 to 25 percent. The remaining amount, about $257 billion, is still free of tariffs, but Trump has said tariffs would follow by January if China doesn't eliminate its unfair trade practices. Asked about the report Monday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders replied, "I won't get ahead of the president's meeting, and I hope it goes well."

Trump and White House officials sounded pessimistic on whether any progress could be made with China on trade issues at the November meeting. Requests for China to set its demands in writing have been reportedly refused. Trump told Fox News earlier this month that China had not signaled a willingness to make a deal. "I don't think so. I mean, I told them, 'They want to make a deal?' I said, 'You guys aren't ready yet. You're just not ready,'" he said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/trump-could-roll-out-china-tariffs-in-december-report

>>3658452

Now that you say that….they kind of do..interesting!

How does Russian malware get onto government computers? Through porn-watching civil servants

Want to export malware to U.S. government systems? Link it to porn and, chances are, a government employee will download those files to his work computer. That sounds crazy — who would think it was a good idea to watch porn on a work computer? But many government employees do just that, and it's exactly how one employee at a U.S. Geological Survey satellite imaging facility let the Russians into the network.

Some of the 9,000 adult video sites accessed on his work computer (it's anyone's guess how he got any work done) were linked to Russian website and contained malware. That meant that an Interior Department watchdog found that the USGS networks were infected with malware linked to porn sites, prompting an investigation. From there, it wasn’t too hard for internal investigators to figure out which computer malware had come from.

As the report, published Oct. 17, put it, “Our digital forensic examination revealed that [the employee] had an extensive history of visiting adult pornography websites” noting that “the malware downloaded to [the employee’s] government laptop, which then exploited the USGS’ network.” How embarrassing. That indiscretion also seems to have cost this unnamed employee his job, according to a statement from Inspector General External Affairs Director Nancy DiPaolo to Nextgov . Of course, he isn’t the first, and likely won’t be the last, government employee seeking adult diversions on taxpayer equipment. In recent years, employees at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency have been reprimanded for watching porn not only on government computers, but while they were supposed to be working. In some cases, all day, apparently in place of work.

The problem appears to be pervasive despite past reprimands, as an investigation in 2017 found that more than 100 employees in 12 major federal agencies either admitted to or were caught watching porn during work. Inappropriate actions have consequences. It's bad enough to get caught with your figurative pants down, but that’s also a compromising position when it comes to national security.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/how-does-russian-malware-get-onto-government-computers-through-porn-watching-civil-servants