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The result was stupendous. I got in a cab and did the full loop and filmed the denser sections, in three parts (the first is above): some stretches, especially in the north, were quite patchy. I also didn’t quite catch the clumps of pro-Putin kids holding red hearts reading “Putin Loves Everyone.” But if you watch the ...
You can also see that Moscow, especially in a coat of gray winter slush, is not the friendliest of cities—something anyone who’s been here can attest to—which made it that much more moving to see it as it was today, encircled with a ten-mile smile.
It may seem like a small thing, but one-on-one meetings between the president and opposition leader s are suddenly more common. So are regular confabs between opposing party leaders on Capitol Hill - some of whom hadn't spoken in months. Even thank-you notes are back in vogue: White House Chief of Staff Andy Card has b...
These are simple gestures, but they are helping to bring an undeniably different tone to Washington politics. After a decade of acid partisanship, the nation's capital for the moment is almost reflecting a white-linen civility.
Gentler winds have been blowing through Washington for only a few weeks, and they may not last when confronted with the harsh blast of actual policymaking. But for now, at least, the new climate is giving rise to talk of compromise and swifter action on issues such as a broad-based tax cut and education reform.
"There's been an across-the-board desire recently to move in the direction of civility, but it needed a catalyst - and that catalyst has turned out to be George W. Bush," says longtime Washington observer Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.
Mr. Bush, of course, pledged during the presidential campaign to "change the tone" in Washington - and his very public efforts to reach out and talk with Democrats on Capitol Hill have only strengthened his hand. So long as Bush is perceived to be the one offering the olive branch, Democrats know they risk losing publi...
Time will tell whether Bush's outreach is a "getting to know you" gesture or a permanent feature of his governing style, but so far he shows no indication of slowing down. Tomorrow he plans to appear at the Senate Democrats' big strategy gathering - something no recent chief executive has done. He may also attend House...
Yesterday he sat down with the Congressional Black Caucus. And he lunched in his private dining room this week, first with Senate minority leader Tom Daschle and then with House minority leader Richard Gephardt.
In a meeting of two of America's political clans, the Bushes plan to host the Kennedys - including Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts - at a screening of "Thirteen Days" in the White House theater tonight.
But more than White House-congressional relations are on the mend. In the Senate, which is evenly split, a Republican-Democrat powersharing deal has led to baby-step cooperation - and moderates wielding more power. In the House, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) of Illinois and Mr. Gephardt are holding weekly meetings - after...
One part of the new political calculus is this: Congressional Democrats are heeding the lesson of the past eight years, in which Republicans battled a Democratic president who artfully blasted them from his bully pulpit. In showdowns over government shutdowns, impeachment, and other issues, much of the public came to s...
Consider the words of Sen. Max Baucus (D) of Montana, chairman of the committee that will take up Bush's tax-cut plan, after meeting with Bush this week. "Those of us who've been in Washington for a long time are tired of the excessive partisanship," he said. "This president is reaching out to both sides of the aisle -...
Several other forces are behind the newfound reticence to engage in political bludgeoning. Most lawmakers are reconciled to the fact that the election did not give one side an edge over the other - almost as if voters were telling them to grow up, get along, and get something done.
Indeed, if Bush is focused on one thing more than all else it's "changing the tone." "Bush doesn't have much of a mandate, but the one thing the broad public wants to see is a better way of doing things in Washington," says Denver-based pollster Floyd Ciruli.
The tide of change is also at work in this shifting political calculus. On taxes, for instance, most of the Democrats' objections to a big tax break have been undercut by economic developments. Consumer confidence is at a four-year low, federal surpluses are now projected to reach $5.6 trillion over 10 years, and talk ...
If the partisan truce holds, lawmaking could be expedited. "It depends on this cooperation thing," says Mr. Baucus. "If we perceive [Bush] as being fair, we'll work with him" - and get a tax cut passed as early as July 4. If not, he says, it could take a lot longer.
But the big question is whether the new tone will last.
"Don't expect miracles," says Mr. Ornstein. Tough issues loom - vouchers, Medicare reform, national missile defense. And the fight over the Ashcroft appointment has exposed a deep rift between the parties on justice appointments. If a US Supreme Court slot opens and Bush names a conservative in the mold of Mr. Ashcroft...
Yet for both parties, cooperation may be a matter of survival, says former Democratic Sen. Paul Simon. Otherwise, more third-party candidates - such as Gov. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota - will take over their seats, he says.
The latest critic to blast JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson? The man who hired him.
Ackman had been a relentless cheerleader for Johnson, despite a series of gaffes last year that fueled a 25 percent sales drop and an operating loss of nearly $1 billion.
But at a Boston investor conference yesterday, where Ackman said he wore socks purchased at JCPenney to signal his commitment to the brand, the money manager let loose.
Johnson made “big mistakes” as he drastically changed the retailer’s pricing and merchandise strategies, according to Ackman.
“One of the big mistakes was perhaps too much change too quickly without adequate testing on what the impact would be,” Ackman said, finally admitting what many critics have been saying for more than a year.
Penney shares — which have taken a beating on worries that Johnson’s botched turnaround has damaged the retailer beyond repair — jumped as much as 7.3 percent yesterday before closing up 2.5 percent at $15.45.
In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Questrom said Johnson took him on a tour of a prototype store last week and still appears determined to pursue a costly rollout of in-store boutiques without first doing market research.
“The shops are very creative, very well done,” Questrom said.
The suspect legally bought the semiautomatic at a Broward County gun shop last February, officials say.
The suspect in a Florida school shooting bought the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack legally a year ago, authorities said Thursday.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, is charged with murdering 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he had been expelled for fighting, according to authorities.
Cruz lawfully bought the semiautomatic rifle last February, according to Peter Forcelli, special agent in charge of the Miami office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The gun, a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .223, was purchased at Sunrise Tactical Supply, according to the Associated Press.
Federal law allows people 18 and older to legally purchase long guns, including this kind of assault weapon. With no criminal record, Cruz cleared an instant background check via the FBI criminal database.
If somebody is adjudicated mentally defective or has been committed to a mental institution, he is prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal law.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said at a news conference Thursday that he would discuss with the Legislature next week increasing funding for mental-health services and keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
“If somebody is mentally ill, they can’t have access to a gun,” Scott said.
Melisa McNeill, his public defender, described Cruz in his initial court appearance Thursday as a "broken child" who suffered brain-development problems and depression.
Gun buyers are seldom turned down because of mental illness. From 1998 to 2014, the FBI rejected 16,669 potential gun buyers because a background check found a mental health adjudication, about 1.4% of the roughly 1.2 million background checks that resulted in a denial.
Mental health entered the debate after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. The gunman in that case had been treated at a Virginia hospital on the grounds that he might be a danger to himself or others. He was nonetheless able to pass a background check. After that, a lot of states moved to supply the FBI and their own bac...
The FBI reviewed databases and couldn’t track down who made the statement, he said.
“There was no connection found to South Florida,” Lasky said.
Cruz was equipped with a gas mask, smoke grenades and magazines of ammunition when he opened fire Wednesday, police said.
"An AR-15 is not for hunting, it's for killing," Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said on the Senate floor Thursday.
After Cruz’s mother died Nov. 1, he moved in with a friend’s family around Thanksgiving, the family’s lawyer, Jim Lewis, told AP. The family was aware of the rifle and made him keep it locked in a cabinet, but he had a key, he said.
Photos posted in an Instagram account linked to Cruz show a half-dozen weapons displayed on a mattress and a box of ammunition.
Lewis said the family wasn’t aware of other weapons in the cabinet. The family is cooperating with authorities and had no idea he was planning the shooting, Lewis said.
Cruz had been part of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps while attending the school as a freshman, and he wore one of the group’s shirts Wednesday. But current members of JROTC said the uniforms have changed, and Cruz’s shirt didn’t match theirs.
“If he wore the uniform, he would have been more successful,” said Colton Haab, 17, who attends the school.
Gun control advocates are calling for tougher measures.
Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said the Florida shooting came on the 10th anniversary of a shooting at Northern Illinois University that killed five people and injured 17.
Gabrielle Giffords, a former member of the House who survived a shooting, urged Congress to act after three of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history in the past five months.
We've now witnessed 3 of the deadliest mass shootings in American history in just the last 5 months.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declined Thursday to support a proposal made by Democrats to create a special committee to study gun violence. He made reference to the shooter's possible mental illness but said Congress had passed legislation to deal with that question.
“This is not the time to jump to some conclusions," Ryan said.
Experts say national tragedies such as Wednesday’s rarely lead to changes in federal gun laws because people burrow further on their own side of the fence. States with tight gun restrictions squeeze tighter. States with loose laws open up more.
"In the wake of these shootings, reactions are polarized, and people tend to double down,” said Timothy Lytton, associate dean for research and faculty development at Georgia State’s School of Law.
"States are likely to do more of the same, while Congress is likely to be deadlocked on the issue of guns," he said.
He pointed to less politically toxic solutions that might help curb gun violence, including bolstered school security. In many parts of the country, metal detectors are commonplace.
If lawmakers start "thinking about security of schools the same way we think about it in other places,” Lytton said, people on both sides of the gun debate might find middle ground.
Mike Meyers shows how to make pork sliders on the Big Green Egg. Video by Suzy Fleming Leonard. Uploaded April 21, 2016.
Mike Meyers is serious about grilling. More specifically, he's serious about his Big Green Egg.
He got his first Egg, a high-end grill/smoker, about four years ago. He's been perfecting his barbecuing technique since.
He became such a fixture at Wassi's Meat Market, asking questions and seeking advice, that they finally put him to work. Now he spends Saturday mornings under a tent in the Melbourne store's parking lot making everything from breakfast pastries to pork sliders.
"I bought my Egg here," Meyers said. "I buy meat here two or three times a week. I got to talking to Frank Jr. I think I was bothering him enough that he kicked me outside. He said, 'Do you want to come up here and cook on Saturdays?' "
It's BGE nirvana. And great practice for cooking at this weekend's Sunshine State Eggfest. But more on that in a second.
On a recent Saturday, Meyers had two Eggs fired up. Breakfast was going on one. The aroma of a flaky, gooey, cream cheese-filled pastry mingled with the smell of grill smoke.
On another, sliced onions and butter sizzled in a cast iron skillet.
"And the secret ingredient," he said, holding up a bottle of Guinness. He poured most of the beer in with the onions, then took a drink.
"If you use beer in your recipe, you get to have a beer while you cook," he said with a grin.
Meyers said he cooks "tons of pork," and that's why he was stewing the onions. After the pastry baked to a golden brown, he pulled it off the Egg and sprinkled a couple of 1/2-inch thick pork cutlets with Pork U seasoning. Pork U, by the way, makes barbecue seasonings and rubs with names like Master's Degree and Prathe...
While the onions continued to cook, Meyers grilled the pork chops over medium heat on the BGE just vacated by the pastry. He assembled the pork sliders on King's Hawiian Rolls, adding homemade coleslaw and spicy mayonnaise.
Christina Wassi, Frank Wassi Jr.'s wife, said having Meyers cook out front is a great way to introduce people to the Big Green Egg's versatility.
"For people who already have Eggs, it's to show them how to use it," she said.
For anyone who is curious about the Big Green Egg, or for anyone who enjoys grilling, the Radisson Resort at the Port is the place to be on Saturday. Wassi's will host the Sunshine State Eggfest there from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tasting tickets are $29.99 for adults and free for children 12 and younger. Tickets can be purchased online at sunshinestateeggfest.com or at the door.
Many Big Green Egg demo models that will be used by the chefs participating in the event will be offered for sale.
The large Big Green Egg in nest with plate setter goes for $775, and includes two free Taster Tickets to the Eggfest. All demo Eggs come with full warranty. Be forewarned, the pricing on these models is so attractive that they usually sell out quickly, so get your order in ASAP if you’re interested.
Eggfest benefits Candlelighters of Brevard.
Wassi’s will also host a Big Green Egg cooking class from 4 to 7 p.m. April 30 at the store, 830 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne.
“Egging 101” will be led by Josh Tahan, a certified Egghead since 2011. Tahan has cooked everything from pretzels and cinnamon rolls to pulled pork and prime rib on his Big Green Egg.
Tahan will prepare cherry-wood smoked ribs, served with broccoli and green apple slaw, cedar-planked shrimp with a Key West dipping sauce, maple bacon-roasted Brussels sprouts and even cake, all cooked on a Big Green Egg.
Jan Wassi suggests you arrive with an empty stomach.
Tickets are $50 per person or $90 per couple. Purchase online at wassismeatmarket.com.
For more information, call 321-242-3348 or 877-492-7747.
Calling investors. Make an offer on this home. Colonial style 4 BR home sits on a large corner lot with loads of side yard that runs to the corner of Academy. This home has a formal liv rm, din rm, great room and very spacious bedrooms. Homes needs a lot of work and is priced to reflect this. Central a/c needs replacem...
After a weekend of violence in Charlottesville prompted by rallying white supremacists, President Donald Trump went on camera Monday to... read off a teleprompter.
Trump isn't known for his extemporaneous speaking (or tweeting) skills. On Saturday his lukewarm tweet condemning violence in Charlottesville from "many sides" was swiftly and strongly critiqued for its failure to address white supremacist ideology, the KKK and neo-Nazis directly.
So, on Monday, Trump gave a statement from the White House, this time reading prepared remarks directly from a teleprompter which, after three days of silence on racism, struck many as too little, too late.
Trump has a famously tenuous relationship with the teleprompter. Though he frequently criticized Hillary Clinton for her use of them during the 2016 campaign, he has since made use of it himself, which is par for the presidential course. But when it takes you three days and a prepared script to say, "the KKK is bad," y...
It's also a bold reversal for a man who, per CNN, said at a 2015 rally: "I've always said, if you run for president, you shouldn't be allowed to use teleprompters ... Because you don't even know if the guy's smart." Take from that what you will.
Naturally, Trump's ability to read on command has left Twitter unimpressed.
so it appears trump read a teleprompter statement, with no ad-libs. takes no questions & ignores shouted ones as he leaves.
I hate when Trump throws in his really obvious ad-libs when he's reading the teleprompter. "so sad," "I know," "it's about time"
He can't even read the teleprompter normally. These words are killing him. And no you haven't said anything about the color of skin.
Trump looks like a hostage reading the teleprompter. We don't believe you, you need more people.
Renouncing racism off a teleprompter 72 hours too late, after endless prodding, kinda just proves that you're both a racist and a wimp, no?
It felt like @realDonaldTrump read the TelePrompTer message condemning hate groups like a hostage forced to read a statement by his captors.
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Average daily trading volumes of foreign exchange rose 15 percent in June from a year earlier, NEX Group said in a statement on Tuesday, continuing a strong run for electronic trading platforms in currency markets this year.
NEX, which runs one of the largest FX trading platforms, said average daily traded volumes topped $95.8 billion, up from $83.3 billion in June 2017. However, volumes in June of this year fell 5 percent from May.

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