In its infinite wisdom, or lack thereof, the U.S. State Department does not grant citizenship to babies born in vitro unless the American-born mother can prove that the egg or sperm donor was an American.

A child adopted by an American from another country is American. But a child born to an American via in vitro fertilization cannot claim American citizenship without proof that the donor was American. This can be difficult to establish since the mother may not be able to learn the identity of the donor, let alone his citizenship.

You can’t be too careful! The baby–or in this case–the twins, might be terrorists!

This is one of the rare instances where the insanity predates the current regime.

Ken Previti lists 80 programs that will be eliminated if Trump’s budget is approved.

https://reclaimreform.com/2017/03/17/irta-these-80-programs-would-lose-federal-funding-under-trumps-proposed-budget/

They are all programs that help people.

Trump will invest instead in expanding the military although we have a bigger military than the next seven nations put together.

Alexandra Petri writes a satirical column for the Washington Post. She explains the glories of Trump’s budget here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2017/03/16/trumps-budget-makes-perfect-sense-and-will-fix-america-and-i-will-tell-you-why/?utm_term=.32e9ba9e92c3&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

The funniest thing about this article is that the White Gouse thought it praised Trumpcare and circulated it. Someone read it and realized it was a joke.

Here is a quote:

“This budget will make America a lean, mean fighting machine with bulging, rippling muscles and not an ounce of fat. America has been weak and soft for too long. BUT HOW WILL I SURVIVE ON THIS BUDGET? you may be wondering. I AM A HUMAN CHILD, NOT A COSTLY FIGHTER JET. You may not survive, but that is because you are SOFT and WEAK, something this budget is designed to eliminate.”

Here is another:

“Environmental Protection Agency: We absolutely do not need this. Clean rivers and breathable air are making us SOFT and letting the Chinese and the Russians get the jump on us. We must go back to the America that was great, when the air was full of coal and danger and the way you could tell if the air was breathable was by carrying a canary around with you at all times, perched on your leathery, coal-dust-covered finger. Furthermore, we will cut funding to Superfund cleanup in the EPA because the only thing manlier than clean water is DIRTY water.

“Agriculture Department: NO MORE OF THIS NAMBY-PAMBY “GATHERING” NONSENSE. We will be HUNTERS again. This is also why we are cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children: Let them FIGHT for their meat or have NONE.”

And the White House thought this article supported their budget cuts!

Trump has said that he learned about the wiretapping of the Trump Tower by watching FOX News, specifically Judge Napolitano. He saidTrump Tower was wiretapped by British intelligence. When questioned about sources, Trump said, ask Fox News.

Shepherd Smith of Fox News went on air tonight to state definitively that Fox News has no information whatever about any wiretapping of Trump.

Trump stands by his story, even though no one else agrees or offers any evidence.

The indispensable family:

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nominate-conways-husband-to-lead-doj-civil-division-2017-3

The federal government has long been a major funder of basic and advanced research, but if Trump’s budget cuts are sustained, science and basic research will be gutted.

Research on climate change will be eliminated.

Let’s face it. The people in charge of the federal budget are ignoramuses, anti-intellectual, and hostile to science, creativity, and culture. To call them Neanderthals would be an insult to Neanderthals. Neanderthals look like intellectual giants compared to the Trump team of knuckle-draggers.

“Before he became president, Donald J. Trump called climate change a hoax, questioned the safety of vaccines and mocked renewable energy as a plaything of “tree-huggers.”

“So perhaps it is no surprise that Mr. Trump’s first budget took direct aim at basic scientific and medical research.
Still, the extent of the cuts in the proposed budget unveiled early Thursday shocked scientists, researchers and program administrators. The reductions include $5.8 billion, or 18 percent, from the National Institutes of Health, which fund thousands of researchers working on cancer and other diseases, and $900 million, or a little less than 20 percent, from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which funds the national laboratories, considered among the crown jewels of basic research in the world.

“The White House is also proposing to eliminate climate science programs throughout the federal government, including at the Environmental Protection Agency.

“As to climate change, I think the president was fairly straightforward: We’re not spending money on that anymore,” Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said at a White House briefing on Thursday. “We consider that to be a waste of your money to go out and do that.”

The links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government continue to emerge.

Here is a story in the New York Times reporting that Michael Flynn received $65,000 from Russian firms for speaking fees. One was a payment of $45,000 to deliver a speech at the Russia Today dinner, where he was seated next to Putin. If you look at the photo accompanying the story, you will see Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in the foreground at Putin’s table.

RT is the Kremlin’s propaganda outlet.

Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, was paid over $65,000 by companies linked to Russia in 2015, according to a letter released on Thursday by congressional investigators.

The letter and supporting documents provide new details about a trip Mr. Flynn took to Moscow in December 2015 on behalf of RT. As part of that trip, RT paid him more than $45,000 to deliver a speech at an opulent gala hosted by the network, where he sat next to the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin.

This is a great column by Nicholas Kristof, recounting an imagined conversation between Jesus and Paul Ryan.

Jesus tells Ryan (here called “Pious Paul”) why he has an obligation to help the needy, and Ryan tells Jesus that he doesn’t want people to become dependent on handouts.

A must-read.