“What’s been going on while I’ve been gone?” - Former President Obama in his first public appearance since leaving the White House. Guess they didn’t have Wi-Fi on the yacht.

TALK CORPORATE TO ME

THE STORY

President Trump’s rolling out a plan to cut the corporate tax rate. Don’t fall asleep.

EXPLAIN.

Right now, a US corporation has to give up to 35% of its profits to Uncle Sam. Trump says this is too high, slows economic growth, and deters companies from planting their HQ flags in the US. Last year, he promised to cut that rate to 15% if elected. And here we are.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?

A lower corporate tax rate is good for US businesses - but it also means the federal government will have less cash on hand. Dems say this would take funding away from key social programs. Republicans say the plan should meet in the middle at 20%, since the US government has a LOT of debt. And this could add to that in the long run. Trump’s promised to roll out the new plan by tomorrow.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Yesterday, the State Department said ‘oops’ and took down a government webpage about Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort that was posted earlier this month. The State Dept. says it was to give more info on where Trump has held some of his recent VIP meetings. Ethics experts say ‘sure looks like the US gov is promoting one of the president’s businesses.’

theSKIMM

Trump’s administration is about to turn 100 days old. And cutting the corporate tax rate is at the top of his to-do list. But the timing’s not great. Congress is a little preoccupied with trying pass a budget and avoid a potential government shutdown.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU SEE SOMEONE RUN A STOP SIGN AND ALMOST CAUSE AN ACCIDENT…

Not ok. The US is saying the same to Syria. Yesterday, the US sanctioned hundreds of employees at a Syrian scientific research center. The US says they’ve been helping Syrian President Assad’s government develop chemical weapons. These sanctions mean they can’t do business with American companies or access any assets they have with US banks. Syria’s in year seven of its civil war.And Assad’s been accused of carrying out multiple chemical attacks against civilians. A few years ago, the international community cut a deal with Assad to get rid of all his chemical weapons. Turns out there were some leftover. Earlier this month, a chemical attack blamed on government forces killed nearly 90 people and led the US to carry out a missile strike. Now the Trump administration’s using sanctions as yet another way to try to get Assad not to attack his own civilians.

WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR FRIEND FROM THE SOUTH...

Hear about NOLA? Yesterday, New Orleans took down the first of four Confederate monuments throughout the city. Back in 2015, Dylann Roof - a white supremacist - opened fire on a group of black church-goers in Charleston, SC, killing nine people. Afterward, a lot of people said ‘this feels like the time to take down the Confederate flag from the state capitol.’ SC took it down, and the same year, New Orleans voted to take down these monuments. Supporters of the move say these monuments are symbols of racism. Critics say they’re historical artifacts of the country’s past that should be on display. After a lot of legal back and forth, the city’s getting its way. But it was so worried about backlash that yesterday, police stood guard as workers wearing masks removed one of the monuments in the middle of the night. For security reasons, the city won’t say when the others will come down.

WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR FRIEND WHO VOWED TO DELETE UBER BUT STILL HASN’T...

Maybe now? Earlier this week, it came out that Uber allegedly once tried to take a shortcut around some of Apple’s rules. And got caught. Back in 2014, Uber allegedly developed code that allowed the company to track an iPhone even after the Uber app had been deleted. At the time, this was a good way for the company to keep track of individual phones that some drivers used to make fake accounts, boost the number of rides they accepted, and make more money. But it’s a big ‘no’ in Apple’s book. And so to keep Apple HQ from finding out about it, Uber allegedly created a digital fence around the company’s offices. Apple found out. And when word got to Apple CEO Tim Cook, he allegedly threatened to kick Uber off the app store if it didn’t shape up. The company says it doesn’t track users who delete the app, but also said that “being able to recognize known bad actors…is an important security measure.” Unclear if that means Uber’s still using the technique on ‘bad actors.’

THING TO KNOW

Extra: That person you went on one date with who texted you…15 times. Your co-worker who bakes for the office…every single day. They’re both extra, meaning doing too much.

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