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U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Sunday she is reviewing self-driving vehicle guidance issued by the Obama administration and urged companies to explain the benefits of automated vehicles to a skeptical public.

The guidelines, which were issued in September, call on automakers to voluntarily submit details of self-driving vehicle systems to regulators in a 15-point safety assessment and urge states to defer to the federal government on most vehicle regulations.

Automakers have raised numerous concerns about the guidance, including that it requires them to turn over significant data, could delay testing by months and lead to states making the voluntary guidelines mandatory.

In November, major automakers urged the then-incoming Trump administration to re-evaluate the guidelines and some have called for significant changes. Automakers called on Congress earlier this month to make legislative changes to speed self-driving cars to U.S. roads.

Chao, in her first major public remarks since taking office last month, told the National Governors Association: This administration is evaluating this guidance and will consult with you and other stakeholders as we update it and amend it, to ensure that it strikes the right balance.

She said self-driving cars could dramatically improve safety.

In 2015, 35,092 people died in U.S. traffic crashes, up 7 percent and the highest full-year increase since 1966. In the first nine months of 2016, fatalities were up 8 percent.

Chao, noting research that 94 percent of traffic crashes were due to human error, said: Theres a lot at stake in getting this technology right.

She said the Trump administration wanted to ensure it is a catalyst for safe, efficient technologies, not an impediment. In particular, I want to challenge Silicon Valley, Detroit, and all other auto industry hubs to step up and help educate a skeptical public about the benefits of automated technology.

Companies including Alphabet Inc.s self-driving car Waymo unit, General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Uber Technologies Inc,. Tesla Inc. and other are aggressively pursuing automated vehicle technologies.

Chao said she was very concerned about the potential impact of automated vehicles on employment. There are 3.5 million U.S. truck drivers alone and millions of others employed in driving-related occupations.

She also said she would seek input from states as regulators develops rules on drones. We will ask for your input as the (Federal Aviation Administration) develops standards and regulations to ensure that drones can be safely integrated into our countrys airspace, she said.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Trump Administration Reviewing Obama's Autonomous Vehicle Guidance - Insurance Journal

When Nigel Farage, the man behind #Brexit, spoke at CPAC 2017, I was pleasantly surprised. As a fan of that event myself, but not a Trump supporter, I assumed that many attached to Britains separation from the European Union might also be aligned similarly and, therefore, be less apt to associate with President Trumps more aggressive approach. So the mere appearance was nice enough, but when Mr. Farage then stuck around to mingle and chat, I was more than pleasantly surprised I was blown away.

I came [to CPAC] two years ago, Farage explained when discussing his past relationship to the event with us just outside the ballroom doors. There are a lot more young people here [than last time]. So there is more of a buzz and excitement in the air. Winning does that.

And winning is certainly something both Farage and Trump have in common. And the POTUS even promised more winning for America in his own speech that kicked off the second full day of events at CPAC at the top of the morning. That appearance, which contained a healthy mix of truth and fiction (Trump claimed that he had a line going back six blocks of fans waiting for him at the Gaylord Convention Center; he did not), set the tone as being quite cheeky. The President started things off with a joke: that if the audience never sat down, the dishonest media would likely be able to spin that into a headline claiming that he received no standing ovation. Ha.

But that rhetoric clearly works. The man got elected. And while sitting in the audience during the speech, I was involuntarily back-slapped and elbow-jabbed by an elderly gentleman to my right who kept raving about how bright he thought Trump was, and how he would wager that Trump has a lot more in common with us than with them. Us vs. them. And there it was Trumps winning formula. Not only was his a strategy of populism, but a type of populism based around the concept of the frontier of antagonism. Want solidarity? Unite against a common enemy. Except with Trump, the common enemy is everyone.

Well, everyone except Bernie Sanders. I like Bernie, Trump proclaimed at one point during his appearance.

Luckily, the trend of an open and accepting CPAC, which started one day prior, continued into this day, which saw yet another conservative minority group setting up shop and voicing their views.

This time, it was a group of black Americans who were not only pro-Trump, but adamantly against what they saw as the media-pushed idea that Trump or Republicans at large, are racist. I have always been for God, but now I am also for the Republicans, proclaimed Maurice Symonette, the group leader and administrator of the website Gods2. Symonette continued by pulling from history on behalf of the Republicans and citing failed regulation policies to disparage the Democrats: The Republicans fought to free us; the Democrats are the ones who want to keep us enslaved. The shirts worn by everyone in the group read as follows: TRUMP & Republicans Are Not Racist.

Even more surprises were found as well once one entered The Bone Zone, a booth on the show floor dedicated to taking pictures with overnight sensation Ken Bone, because of what Mr. Bone was actually doing at CPAC. Contrary to what a lot of people may thing, Ken is much more than just a meme he is currently working with a company called Victory Holdings, which is itself developing an app known as DonorDex that aims to provide a network of potential donors for small-profile and third party political candidates to reach out to with but a touch of a button. In this way, Mr. Bone hopes to raise awareness about this new service and therefore make it easier for underdog candidates to truly compete with the elite politicians they will run against. Not a bad idea, at all.

While there were some misfired attempts at humor (because Republicans), such as a sign depicting a shady looking cartoon character reaching into his pants and proclaiming lets get fiscal, the environment at CPAC was largely one of genuine chill and fun. Whispers of an exclusive party held by Breitbart on a reserved boat began circulating; certain attendees showed up who, while not scheduled speakers, were celebrities in their own right (such as Cassandra Fairbanks, a journalist and ex-Bernie Sanders supporter who very publicly switched her allegiances to Trump after Hillary got the Democratic nomination).

Whether one wants to admit it or not, modern conservatism has become cool again. And CPAC 2017 was the place to be in that regard.

This post was written by Micah J. Fleck.

The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.

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CPAC On My Mind: Part Two - Being Libertarian

The Libertarian Cato Institute released a study in 2016 that actually disproves Donald Trumps theory that banning Muslims from entering the United States will save American lives. That likely wasnt the intention of Cato, but their own work proves that Trump is full of it. Ring of Fires Farron Cousins discusses this.

Transcript of the above video:

The Libertarian Cato Institute actually released a report in 2016 that incidentally happened to completely disprove everything that Donald Trump and his Administration have told us about the intended effects of their Muslim ban. Now as it stands right now the Administration is currently redrafting that executive order to make it into something that the courts are not going to rip apart. The likelihood of them being successful with that, extremely low considering the fact that these are not lawyers, these are not people who understand foreign policy. Its likely theyre going to write something thats not exactly going to pass the muster when it comes to being legal.

However, this Cato Institute study from 2016 shows that in the years between 1975 and 2015, a 40 year span, there were 20 incidents where refugees entered the United States and committed acts of violence. In those 40 years, of those 20 people who were refugees three people were killed. 40 years, 20 refugees involved in incidents. Only three people killed.

Contrast that with home grown terrorism. I mean, how many people died in the Oklahoma City bombing? How many people have been killed by right wing hate groups? I mean just this week two men were killed by one white man because he thought they were Muslims. He thought they were Middle Easterners. Turns out they were from India. They were engineers, very well respected people with huge educations, working to make things in the world better, and he murdered them in a hate crime because he thought they were Middle Eastern, as if thats some sort of justification for killing another human being. While he murdered them he was yelling, Get out of my country. No. You get out of the country. Thats not what we do here in the United States.

I bet if Donald Trump and his Administration actually looked in to the amount of terrorism being caused by white men in the United States, maybe wed have a different kind of travel ban. Its not hard to identify the problem when you look at all the variables. Now the Cato Institute Study was just trying to figure out if refugees coming into the United States were a threat or not. It turns out according to Cato that theyre not. If we want to address the real threats we have to look at all the data. We have to look at the acts of home grown terrorism being committed by white men in the United States, because those are the treats. Those are the real problems. The people who take over a wildlife refuge in Oregon, the people who have standoffs with federal officers in the SouthWest, those are terrorists. Those are people that we need to be worried about. Those are people that we should probably be afraid of. Those are people that should spend the rest of their lives behind bars because that is illegal.

Those are the people that we should be worrying about, but instead the Trump Administration, Republicans in general, theyve created these Middle Eastern boogeymen, telling us that we need to be afraid of them coming over here and trying to kill us. Meanwhile, the real people who pose a threat to our very lives are the ones around us. Maybe the crazy neighbor, maybe the guy down the street. The people that you wouldnt ordinarily think because statistically they pose a far greater threat to our lives here in the United States than anyone coming over as a refugee.

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Libertarian Think Tank Proves That Trump's Muslim Ban Won't Work ... - The Ring of Fire Network

Back in Washington, however, members aren't expected to get much relief. Not only do they have a daunting to-do list, President Donald Trump's joint congressional address Tuesday is sure to color their efforts, if not disrupt their work entirely.

Senators return to their arduous task of confirming Trump's Cabinet, as Democrats remain committed to using everything in their procedural toolkit to slow progress.

Nonetheless, Republicans are expected to confirm Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary, as well as move forward on a trio of other nominations -- Ryan Zinke at the Interior Department, Ben Carson at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Rick Perry's at the Energy Department.

Republicans need 50 senators to support their repeal package (they can pass it with Vice President Mike Pence as a tie breaker), but that means they can only afford to lose two lawmakers.

Last week, Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told her state legislature in an address that she wouldn't support a plan that repealed Medicaid expansion available through Obamacare nor would she support defunding Planned Parenthood as part of repeal. That could be problematic if the final version of Obamacare repeal looks anything like a leaked draft released last week.

Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks conceded last week in a local radio interview that the town halls were so powerful they might stop repeal in its tracks.

The town hall pressure came in the form of organized chants of "do your job" or even "ACA," as well as more thoughtful, but challenging questions from individual voters.

One such constituent asked Tennessee Republican Rep. Diane Black a detailed policy question before citing her Christian faith as her reason for supporting Obamacare.

"The healthy people pull up the sick people right?" the woman said. "As a Christian, my whole philosophy in life is pull up the less fortunate. The individual mandate, that's what it does."

At a town hall in Kentucky, a woman confronted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about the high numbers of people on food stamps in Kentucky, the lack of coal jobs and the lack of health insurance.

"If you can answer any of that, I'll sit down and shut up like Elizabeth Warren," the woman said, referencing McConnell's recent use of Senate procedure to stop the Massachusetts Democrat from speaking on the Senate floor.

Overshadowing everything, however, is still Trump.

After a rocky start, Trump is expected to focus his joint congressional address on policy goals, including health care and tax and regulatory reforms, as well as increased military spending. But even though Republicans finally have an ally in the White House to enact their party's agenda, Trump has proven he can be as much a hindrance as a help.

"In many respects, this administration is in disarray, and they've got a lot of work to do," Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain told an audience in Munich last week.

Trump's tone and the content of his Tuesday night speech will ultimately set Republicans' agenda for the near future, and could dictate whether they will be forced to answer new concerns from constituents or focus on their own long-standing wish list.

Trump's propensity to get distracted by personal grievances and his administration's sloppy roll out of its immigration executive order -- now stalled in the courts -- have put Hill Republicans on defense rather than offense.

And right before the recess, senators were briefed by FBI Director James Comey on the ongoing investigation into possible Trump's campaign ties to Russia.

Democrats, meanwhile, remain committed to playing defense on the Affordable Care Act and further investigating Trump's ties to Russia. In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi argued that Trump's former campaign ally and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions needs to recuse himself from overseeing any investigation into Trump's campaign's ties to Russia.

Pelosi also argued that Republicans "don''t have the votes" to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act despite their rhetoric.

"They don't have a replacement. What they have put forth and outlined will cost more to consumers. It will cover fewer people. It will give tax breaks to the wealthiest people," Pelosi said on ABC.

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Republicans set to move on their agenda after a rough week off - CNN

California Republicans were in a festivemood at their weekend convention in Sacramento.

They toasted their airy new downtown headquarters withviews of the Capitol and decorated with pictures of Ronald Reagan and other memorabilia from the partys storied history in the state. They reelected leadership that had turned a practically bankrupt party into one that raised $19 million last year. And they celebrated having helped elect a Republican president for the first time in more than a decade.

Isnt it nice to win? Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare asked hundreds of delegates and guests during a dinner speech Saturday night.

But for all the cheer, the state GOP still faces a hard reality.It hasnot elected a statewide politician in more than a decade, itsnumbers are dwindling, Democrats have a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature and, after three consecutive election cycles where Republicans ceded the top posts in government to Democrats, it hasno major prospects to run for governor or Senate next year.

Here in California, the state GOP has hit rock-bottom, said Jon Fleischman, aconservative blogger andthe state partys former executive director. But as delegates huddled across from the state Capitol, where we have no influence,the atmosphere was almost festive because of President Trump and how much he has riled up the left.

One of the most celebratory events was a reunion of Trump supporters on Saturday afternoon. Trump lost badlyto Democrat Hillary Clinton in California, but he had an active base of tens of thousands of volunteers here who called voters in battleground states. Republicans were hopeful these people, many of whom were new to politics, would turn their energy to California elections.

Our job is to build a structure that wins elections and wins elections right here, said Tim Clark, Trumps California campaign manager who is now serving as a liaison between the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. Weve done our job nationally. Now we have to focus on our state in 2018.

Throughout the weekend, Republicans focused on an argumentsimilar to one thatpropelled Trump to victory in unlikely states such as Wisconsin and Michigan: While Democrats have insistedthey have made life better for their constituents, ordinary Americans are still struggling.

On Sunday,Assembly GOP leader Chad Mayes highlighted a series of videos with the tagline California deserves better. Featuring a female narrator skewering Democrats for talking about their achievements,the videos focus on the ongoingproblems of poverty, crumbling infrastructure and high housing costs.

Attendees also heard from Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who were critical of Trump at times during the presidential campaign but praised some of his acts since taking office.

But notably absent from the conventionwasany major Republicancandidate laying the groundwork for a gubernatorial or Senate run in 2018.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whom many GOP activists would like to see mount a run, slipped into the convention quietly and briefly on Friday. Pressed by reporters, he denied once again that heplans to runfor governor.

California Minutemen founder and former Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, who mounted an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 2014, said he was considering running again. He blasted the party leadership for not stopping the Democrats from achieving a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature.

Updates from Sacramento

The California GOP, everybody who is in leadership should be fired. They should resign in shame because in the year of Trump they lost, he said. They lost their only purpose for existing, which was to resist the supermajority, or prevent the supermajority of Democrats in the state, and they lost seats. Its unbelievable that that could possibly happen in such a sweep of the country.

The Republican Party establishment helped knock Donnelly out in the primary in 2014because of his controversial statements and views, but then did nothingto help the partys eventual nominee, Neel Kashkari, who faced impossible odds against incumbent Gov. Jerry Brown.

In 2016, with low name recognition and sparse party support, Republican candidates were shut out of the U.S. Senate race, and two Democrats facedoff for the first open Senate seat in more than two decades.

It was the first time since the enactment of the states top two primary in which the top two vote-getters move on to the general election regardless of partythat a Republican failed to make the cut.Thatcould happen again in 2018, though elected officials were hopeful that the party had learned its lesson last year.

The Republican Party last election, for whatever reason, didnt want to engage, said Assemblyman Rocky Chavez (R-Oceanside), who briefly ran in 2016 for the seat vacated bySen. Barbara Boxerupon herretirement. But I think we have learned from the non-engagement. We will not do that again.We will have somebody.

Party Chairman Jim Brulte, reelected by anear-unanimous voice vote Sunday morning, said that since he took over the party in 2013, he has worked to strengthen itsgrassroots organization and tostock local city councils and school boards with quality GOP candidates, part of a strategy for a statewide GOP rebound.

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California's Republican Party is buoyed by Trump, but struggles for relevance at home - Los Angeles Times