Obama Gives First Post-Exit Speech, Trump Wants Corporate Tax Rate Cut, New Orleans Removing Confederate Memorials: P.M. Links

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  Tannen Maury/EPA/Newscom

  In his first public speech since leaving the White House, former President Barack Obama complained about special interests in Washington and acknowledged that he had failed in his "aspirational" plan to unite red and blue states. Wonder if he'd ever acknowledge that the massive regulatory state that grew under his presidency helps feed the need for those "special interests" in Washington in the first place?

• President Donald Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, which would be awesome if he were remotely interested in reducing the size of the federal budget or overall federal spending.
• Trump is also reportedly planning a new batch of executive orders to coincide with his 100th day in office.
• New Orleans has begun removing four monuments dedicated to memorializing the Confederacy. The workers are under police protection and are wearing helmets and scarves to conceal their identities in case there is a backlash.
• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is expanding universal pre-kindergarten to 3-year-olds, adding millions of dollars to the cost of what's essentially government daycare.
• The United States has issued sanctions against 271 employees of the Syrian agency it believes is responsible for the creation and use of deadly chemical weapons. It's one of the largest sanction actions in American history.
• Ann Coulter's backers have filed suit over UC Berkeley over the fight over whether she should be allowed to speak there, saying the college is discriminating against the free speech rights of conservative students.

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