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middle_east | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/meast/egypt-us-what-next/index.html?hpt=po_c1 | Billions in aid on the line: What will the U.S. do about Egypt? | 2013-08-15 | Egypt, Middle East | Story highlights The U.S. gives Egypt about $ 1.23 billion in military aid a year
Egypt is one of two Arab countries that has made peace with Israel
The U.S. also has interests with the Suez Canal and American companies in Egypt
When Egypt 's first democratically elected president was tossed out this year , the White House stopped short of calling it a coup .
Doing so would have forced an end to the $ 1.23 billion that the United States sends in military aid a year -- and changed the course of its relationship with its strongest Arab ally in the region .
But that was before Wednesday , when the military-led interim government stormed two camps full of former President Mohamed Morsy 's supporters . More than 525 people were killed and 3,717 wounded in the bloodiest day in Egypt 's recent history , officials there said .
On Thursday , President Barack Obama condemned the violence against civilians and announced the United States is canceling next month 's joint U.S.-Egyptian military exercises .
But will the carnage in Egypt spur more changes in U.S. policy toward the most populous Arab country ? And might the hardening U.S. stance affect Egypt 's own approach ?
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The United States helps Egypt in part because it 's one of only two Arab countries -- along with Jordan -- that made peace with Israel .
In return , Egypt gets more than $ 1 billion each year in U.S. taxpayer money for military and civilian programs . No other country except Israel gets more .
That aid buys Washington an ally to depend on in a turbulent region .
The U.S. does n't want to upset that balance . And pulling aid might do so .
`` It 's a hornets ' nest . And that 's why the administration is trying not to stir it too much , '' CNN 's Fareed Zakaria said .
But it 's not just the peace process and regional stability that the United States is interested in .
Egypt controls the Suez Canal , a crucial sea route used by more than 4 % of the world 's oil traffic and 8 % of all seaborne trade . So far , the canal is running smoothly . But a disruption there could end up hitting Americans in the pocketbook , not to mention affect the safe passage of U.S. military ships and equipment .
Then there 's business for American companies , intelligence cooperation -- and the military relationship .
`` The reality is that the Egyptian military has not only been a source of stability for the United States in an otherwise turbulent Middle East , but it has also been a cash cow , '' said Khairi Abaza , a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies .
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`` Currently , the Egyptian military relies on U.S. military equipment , training and services . This reliance means that Egypt is essentially a client of the U.S. military complex , and aid money is in fact re-injected back into the U.S . economy . ''
All of the factors are enough to give the U.S. pause .
`` If you want a different relationship , you have to articulate what that looks like , and accept you are going to have to give up some things to get other things . ''
From the Obama administration 's side , it 's an `` incredibly complex and difficult situation '' that will require more time to figure out .
That 's what White House spokesman Jay Carney said in July soon after Morsy was ousted , and reporters pressed him as to why the administration was n't calling it a coup .
`` It would not be in the best interests of the United States to immediately change our assistance programs '' to Egypt , Carney said at the time .
Middle East analyst Robin Wright with the Wilson Center says the core issue is what our policy ought to be .
`` The United States faces a really tough dilemma now , '' she said . `` What to do about the most important country in the Arab world , the cornerstone of the peace process , a country that has received over $ 30 billion in U.S. aid since the peace process began in the late 1970s . ''
Some in Congress , including Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona , already have called for halting the aid , saying the United States `` should not be supporting this coup . '' McCain traveled to Egypt on August 5 along with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina . Both held meetings with representatives of the interim government and the Muslim Brotherhood .
Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey , chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , has said the United States has n't committed much of this year 's aid -- and that 's a good thing .
`` This is an opportunity to have a pause and say to the Egyptians , 'You have an opportunity to come together , ' `` he said . `` You have to have the military understand that that 's what we 're looking for , a transition right away , as soon as possible . ''
According to senior U.S. officials last month , the administration is examining three potential options :
-- Call it a coup and issue a national security waiver to allow aid to continue .
-- Do n't call it a coup because the Egyptian military has taken steps to move the country toward a civilian transitional government and subsequent elections .
Now , officials -- both current and former -- recognize the climate is not encouraging .
`` I think it is time to call it a coup . I think it was time six weeks ago , '' former Assistant Secretary of State P.J . Crowley said Wednesday .
`` Suspend military assistance so the military is invested in the process of rewriting the constitution , setting the parliament and electing a new president . ''
Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that while a political solution is still possible , `` it has been made much , much harder , much more complicated . ''
`` The path toward violence leads only to greater instability , economic disaster and suffering , '' Kerry said
He also called for an end to Egypt 's new state of emergency , which prevents freedom of peaceful assembly and due process .
But as far as firm actions , the United States ' game plan has yet to be drawn .
The Pentagon is mulling whether to halt or delay arms exports .
But as leaders in Washington mull their options , Americans overwhelmingly support staying out of the unrest , according to a recent United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll .
Almost eight in 10 Americans ( 78 % ) said the United States should `` mostly stay out of events '' in Egypt , according to the poll . But 16 % said the U.S. should `` do more '' to end the violence .
The desire to stay out of Egypt 's affairs might be connected to the fact that a majority of Americans feel what happens in the country is n't very important to U.S. interests .
According to a Pew Research Center poll , 61 % of Americans say what happens in Egypt is somewhat important or not important , while 36 % say it is very important .
But ultimately , it 's up to Egyptians to find a peaceful resolution between the military-backed interim government and those who want Morsy back .
`` The role the United States had tried to play as mediator between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood to try to find some kind of compromise is now moot , '' said Wright , the Middle East analyst . `` There 's not much the United States can do . '' | 5069c822c9960be1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
free_speech | USA TODAY | https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/04/27/ann-coulter-free-speech-alicia-shepard-column/100950568/ | Trumpeting Ann Coulter's free speech | 2017-04-27 | free_speech | CLOSE After several days of back-and-forth between Ann Coulter and UC Berkeley , the conservative speaker just canceled her planned April 27 speech . βββ
It β s hard to believe that a campus such as Berkeley couldn β t find a way to protect Coulter .
Shame on Berkeley , cradle of the Free Speech Movement , and shame on lefty protesters who succeeded in thwarting conservative provocateur Ann Coulter β s right to speak there Thursday night .
Wednesday afternoon , officials at the University of California campus canceled the event fearing violent protests that would threaten students ' safety . What β s alarming is this is part of a disturbing trend across some college campuses to silence conservative speakers whose ideas are unpopular . Three times since February , masked protesters at Berkeley have turned demonstrations into violent confrontations .
Something similar happened earlier this month at Claremont McKenna in southern California , when protesters disrupted Heather MacDonald of the conservative Manhattan Institute as she attempted to share her critical views on the Black Lives Matter movement . Last month , protesters rudely interrupted Charles Murray of the conservative American Enterprise Institute while speaking at Middlebury College . Administrators were forced to whisk him away to a safe location .
Academic environments should be a place for all students to learn and debate a robust variety of viewpoints β particularly if they contradict one β s own beliefs . Universities should do all they can to create an atmosphere for a free and fair exchange of ideas β and that means making it safe for controversial speakers and students .
Coulter , as many know , is an ultra-conservative , uber-Trump supporter whose ubiquitous presence drives the left wing crazy . She epitomizes and invites controversy . She β s made hundreds of outrageous statements that make one wonder if she actually believes them or is just a master at turning divisive remarks into an attention-getting art form .
America β s growing interest in soccer , she said , is a sign of β the nation β s moral decay. β And that β liberals love America like O.J . loved Nicole. β Coulter suggested if we took away women β s right to vote , β we 'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. β Google her name and β ridiculous β and up pops β Crazy Ann Coulter Quotes and Statements . β
But it doesn β t matter . She still has a right to express her thoughts . It β s called the First Amendment , and it protects her right to free speech .
Berkeley College Republicans and Young America 's Foundation invited Coulter , a huge Trump supporter and right-wing darling , to speak Thursday night . Her attraction might be that she believes there are β no good democrats , β while acknowledging there are a β lot of bad Republicans. β Or they are drawn to her 2015 book , Adios , America : The Left 's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole .
First the university tried to push off the speaking engagement to the fall . But a backlash ensued , and Coulter threatened to speak anyway on the iconic Sproul Plaza , which ironically is outside of Sproul Hall , where the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s began .
Coulter should have been allowed to speak at the birthplace of a movement that began because students in 1964 were angry that the university banned on-campus political activities . Students then were demanding their right to free speech .
The same right to free speech Berkeley College Republicans are demanding for themselves and Coulter . The university offered to try to allow her to speak next week in the afternoon β but that β s when classes will be over and students madly studying for exams .
β What are you afraid of β her ideas ? β asked Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont , a fan of the liberal college wing . β Ask her the hard questions , β he concluded . β Confront her intellectually . Booing people down , or intimidating people , or shutting down events , I don β t think that that works in any way . β
The right to free speech , enshrined in our Constitution , is one of the hallmarks that proudly differentiates America from more restrictive governments . It means anyone has the right to spew abhorrent political views on the right or left without fear of a violent crowd turning on them β especially on a university campus .
β Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise , and freedom to express the most despicable views , β said noted legal scholar Alan Dershowitz .
Berkeley said that there are two principles that are non-negotiable on its campus : free speech and campus safety . But this time , campus safety trumps free speech . It β s hard to believe that a campus such as Berkeley couldn β t find a way to protect Coulter , or that this invitation came as a surprise to them .
Regardless of our political beliefs , we should all stand firmly behind Coulter . Even a few strange bedfellows support Coulter : Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts , MSNBC β s Chris Matthews , HBO β s Bill Maher and Bloomberg View columnist Margaret Carlson .
β I β m very sad about Berkeley 's cancelation , but my sadness is greater than that , β tweeted Coulter . β It is a dark day for free speech in America . β
Alicia Shepard is a veteran media writer and a former ombudsman for NPR . Follow her on Twitter @ Ombudsman
You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page , on Twitter @ USATOpinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter . To submit a letter , comment or column , check our submission guidelines . | roEHHK96lAedjRcn | 1 | Ann Coulter | 0.2 | Free Speech | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
healthcare | NPR Online News | http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/08/22/342400717/insurers-refuse-to-cover-some-contraceptives-despite-health-law | Insurers Refuse To Cover Some Contraceptives, Despite Health Law | 2014-08-22 | healthcare | How much leeway do employers and insurers have in deciding whether they 'll cover contraceptives without charge and in determining which methods make the cut ?
Not much , as it turns out , but that has n't stopped some from trying .
People still write in regularly describing battles they 're waging to get birth control coverage they 're entitled to under the Affordable Care Act .
In one of those messages recently , a woman said her insurer denied free coverage for the NuvaRing . This small plastic device , which is inserted into the vagina monthly , works by releasing hormones like the ones in birth control pills .
She said her insurer told her she would be responsible for her contraceptive expenses unless she chose a generic birth control pill . The NuvaRing costs between $ 15 and $ 80 a month , according to Planned Parenthood .
Under the health law , health plans have to cover the full range of birth control methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration without any cost sharing by women .
There are some exceptions if the plan falls into a limited number of categories that are excluded . One is if the plan is grandfathered under the law . Those plans were around since March 23 , 2010 , or before , and have n't changed much . If your plan is grandfathered , it has to disclose that status to you .
The other exception is if the plan is offered by a religious employer or house of worship . Following the recent Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case , some private employers that have religious objections to providing birth control coverage as a free preventive benefit will also be excused from the requirement .
In addition , the federal government has given plans some flexibility by allowing them to use `` reasonable medical management techniques '' to keep their costs under control . So if there is both a generic and a brand-name version of a birth control pill available , for example , a plan could decide to cover only the generic version without cost to the patient .
As for the NuvaRing , even though they may use the same hormones , the pill and the ring are different methods of birth control . As an official from the Department of Health and Human Services said in an email , `` The pill , the ring and the patch are different types of hormonal methods . ... It is not permissible to cover only the pill , but not the ring or the patch . ''
Guidance from the federal government clearly states that the full range of FDA-approved methods of birth control must be covered as a preventive benefit without cost sharing . That includes birth control pills , the ring or patch , intrauterine devices and sterilization , among others .
But despite federal guidance , `` we 've seen this happen , plenty , '' says Adam Sonfield , a senior public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute , a reproductive health research and education organization . `` Clearly insurance companies think things are ambiguous enough that they can get away with it . ''
If you are denied coverage , your defense is to appeal the decision and get your state insurance department involved .
`` The state has the right and responsibility to enforce this law , '' says Sonfield . | 7qkyjzgEupDLzP4Y | 1 | Birth Control | -0.2 | Obamacare | 0 | Healthcare | 0 | null | null | null | null |
us_house | Salon | http://www.salon.com/2013/10/11/republican_moderates_face_one_final_shutdown_test/ | Wimp caucus' last chance: GOP moderates face one final shutdown test | 2013-10-11 | Government Shutdown, Republican Party, US House, Politics | Ever since conservatives staged a strategic coup and forced a government shutdown on skeptical Republican leaders , a band of House Republicans led informally by Rep. Peter King , R-N.Y. -- most of them from competitive districts -- has been bellyaching about the mess they created .
The moderate-conservative civil war is entertaining to watch , but it has been consistently defined by the sane caucus ' unwillingness to wield its power as ruthlessly as the insurrectionists . The two camps are roughly the same size , and thus possess the same leverage . Doing almost anything in the House requires simple majorities , and that means fewer than 20 Republicans in the current Congress can align to make considerable mischief . The hard-liners ' power stems from a threat to deny John Boehner the majority he needs to keep his speakership ; the moderates ' from the theoretical ability to deny conservatives the majorities they need to pass actual bills .
But while the hard-liners cowed Boehner into the shutdown , the moderates have relinquished every opportunity they 've had to bring it to an end . By forswearing their own power , they 've given conservatives carte blanche to continue a crisis of their choosing with no clear endgame , and convinced everyone involved that their whining is insincere , their threats toothless .
The debt limit could give them one last chance to redeem themselves .
House Republican leaders have proposed increasing the debt limit for six weeks with no strings attached -- other than a commitment from Democrats to enter budget negotiations immediately after the extension is enacted . ( Democrats , of course , have been asking for threat-free fiscal negotiations all year . )
That 's a significant retreat from their earlier position , and almost enough on its own to end the standoff altogether . But for now , these Republicans say they are n't ready to end the government shutdown simultaneously . Conservatives are still locked into the fantasy that the shutdown will force Obama to badly undermine his own healthcare law . Combine that with the fact that President Obama wo n't reenter budget talks under the duress of GOP budget crises and suddenly we have a predicament .
The dilemma led the New York Times to report briefly Thursday night that Obama had `` rejected '' the GOP 's debt limit plan . That headline misidentified the source of the disagreement , and overstated the extent of it . It 's even possible that Obama and GOP leaders will resolve their differences among themselves . But if they do n't , it 'll provide moderate Republicans the opening they need to reclaim some of the honor they 've sacrificed over the past couple of weeks .
If Republican leaders do n't address Obama 's objections , Democratic votes will be very hard for Boehner to come by . The only way his plan would pass under those circumstances is if Republicans supported it overwhelmingly .
That 's when the moderates could make their move . If reopening the government is as important to them as they claim , they could follow the Democrats ' lead -- withhold their votes , unless Boehner agreed to end the shutdown too .
It would constitute a complete reversal for them . Over the past week and a half , they 've sided with their party on every procedural vote , including ones that would have ended the shutdown had they the will or the courage to buck Republican leadership . They have likewise laughed off a Democratic petition that would guarantee a vote on ending shutdown if just a few of them would agree to sign it .
In other words , it 's easy to imagine them demonstrating one final time how disingenuous their complaints about the shutdown have been all along . And if Boehner 's plan passes the House as conceived , it 'll fall to Harry Reid to sweep away the mess the moderates have been too sheepish to clean up themselves
A no-strings government funding bill has already passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis , and there would be nothing other than the passage of time to stop them from tacking it onto a House debt limit bill . Once it returned to the House , it would pass easily with both Democratic and Republican votes .
There are a handful of other ways the story could end , and little reason to worry that the crisis will flare up again . But if it ends with the Senate bailing out moderate House Republicans , bookmark this story for easy access when Peter King or Charlie Dent claim , as they predictably will , that they were leading opponents of the shutdown all along . | 33337824324d8c8f | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
education | National Review (News) | https://www.nationalreview.com/news/math-reading-scores-plummeted-to-lowest-level-in-decades-during-school-shutdowns/ | Math, Reading Scores Plummeted to Lowest Level in Decades during School Shutdowns | 2022-09-01 | Education, Department Of Education, Coronavirus | National Review Trump Praises Muskβs DOGE Team During Joint Hannity Interview for Helping Implement Executive Orders Senate Confirms Howard Lutnick to Be Commerce Secretary Trump Administration Eliminates DEI Considerations from Federal Contracting Guidelines Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed at βReducing Barriersβ to IVF New Pro-Life Coalition Seeks to Redefine Abortion Discourse with $30 Million Investment Elementary school studentsβ math and reading scores plummeted to the lowest level in decades amid the school shutdowns implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, national test results released Thursday show. In math, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which has dubbed itself the βnationβs report card,β reported a first ever score drop among nine-year-olds since it was first administered in 1973. Their reading scores dropped by the largest margin since 1990, the New York Times reported, indicating a serious setback for literacy acquisition. The assessment also measured the window between 2020, when Covid-19 erupted, and 2022. Average scores for nine-year-old students in 2022 declined five points in reading and seven points in mathematics compared to 2020. The learning loss was experienced by kids across race and income level, but it was particularly severe among low-performing and minority students, a well-documented disparity that widened during the two years of remote school. Students in the 90th percentile of scores lost three points in math, but students in the bottom 10th percentile lost 12 points in math. Black students lost 13 points in math compared with five points among white students. As a consequence, the WhiteβBlack score gap from 25 points in 2020 was expanded to 33 points in 2022. A May study conducted by Harvard University found that school closures and remote learning disproportionately harmed the academic performance of minority and low-income students, exacerbating the existing gap separating low-income and minority students from their white and wealthier counterparts. While the study does not draw causation between virtual learning and learning loss, it acknowledges that students with greater access to resources while attending school from home fared better academically during the pandemic. The disruption of remote learning posed a disadvantage to all students regardless of socio-economic means, many researchers widely agree, but students with high-quality education technology at their disposal were more likely to overcome it than those who lacked it. βOf the 70 percent of 9-year-olds who learned remotely during the 2020β21 school year, higher performers (those at or above the 75th percentile) had greater access to a desktop computer, laptop, or tablet all the time; a quiet place to work available some of the time; and a teacher available to help them with mathematics or reading schoolwork every day or almost every day compared to lower performers (those below the 25th percentile),β the report notes. Send a tip to the news team at NR. Under the SECβs new guidance, undertaking βspecific actions on a social, environmental, or political policyβ may be seen as a violation. Usually the State Departmentβs FTO designations are reserved for groups like al-Qaeda or ISIS instead of money-driven cartels. After Trump left office, there was a βrapid return to underreportingβ under Biden, according to the National Association of Scholars. His tone and false claims can be explained by personal history more than anything else. The MTA immediately filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court challenging the decision. Ernst has already laid out a blueprint for how Loeffler can improve the SBAβs various loan programs and make the agency run more efficiently. Β© 2025 National Review Newsletters Β© 2025 National Review End your day with an after-hours roundup of NRβs top stories and biggest headlines. You have been subscribed! Check out our full lineup of newsletters to get more of our insight delivered straight to your inbox. | ff8ec43eaaf4d5be | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-we-must-fight-hard-line-conservative-freedom-caucus-in-2018-midterm-elections/2017/03/30/56783e38-154e-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.804d005fbd54 | Trump: βWe must fightβ hard-line conservative Freedom Caucus in 2018 midterm elections | 2017-03-30 | White House, Politics | clockThis article was published more than 7 years ago President Trump threatened Thursday to try to knock off members of the House Freedom Caucus in next yearβs elections if they donβt fall in line β an extraordinary move that laid bare an escalating civil war within a Republican Party struggling to enact an ambitious agenda. In a series of tweets that began in the morning, the president warned that the powerful group of hard-line conservatives who helped block the partyβs health-care bill last week would βhurt the entire Republican agenda if they donβt get on the team, & fast.β | 3e1aaad70c23d0c1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
healthcare | CNN (Web News) | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/14/republicans-tackle-obamacare-as-the-clock-ticks-down/ | Republicans tackle Obamacare as the clock ticks down | 2013-09-14 | Healthcare, Republican Party, Obamacare | ( CNN ) - With less than a month before open enrollment begins for Obamacare , Republicans again went after the president 's signature health care law in their weekly address on Saturday .
Rep. Diane Black , R-Tennessee , highlighted her bill , `` No Subsidies Without Verification Act , '' which was passed by the House this week , -one of dozens of attempts by the GOP-controlled House to chisel away at the health care law .
The bill , however , has little chance of going anywhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate .
`` This legislation stops the government from issuing health care subsidies until it has a system in place to prevent fraud . It 's that simple , '' said Black , a registered nurse for 40 years .
Obamacare subsidies are essentially tax credits that help free up money for individuals to purchase health insurance . The lower a person 's salary , the higher their subsidy will be .
Opponents of the health care law are frustrated by a rule change announced by the administration this summer . The new rule says that state insurance exchanges can relax how they verify the income of people who apply for the subsidies .
As CNNMoney 's Jeanne Sahadi explains it , exchanges must still check the applicant 's income against a federal database , which will include information from his or her federal tax returns and a record of Social Security benefits .
The exchanges will be looking for disparities between what the applicant says and what 's in the database .
If it looks like someone is understating his or her income by more than 10 % , and the exchange does n't have other sources to quickly check against , the exchange may choose to rely on what the applicant says .
To prevent fraud , the IRS will check the person 's actual income when he or she files their tax return that next April . Anyone who might get a bigger subsidy than they 're eligible for will have to pay back the difference to the IRS .
But Black argued the Obama administration is relying on `` the honor system '' rather than a true verification system .
`` You heard that right : instead of exercising common sense and accountability , the administration is willing to just give away your tax dollars β no questions asked , '' she said .
Hi , I 'm Diane Black , and I represent Tennessee 's Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives . What an honor it is to be speaking with you .
Protecting taxpayer dollars is one of Washington 's most important responsibilities . Your money should be spent wisely or not at all . And everything we do to stop waste and fix broken government removes obstacles to creating jobs and building a stronger economy .
This week , the House took on a hot spot for fraud and abuse in the president 's health care law by passing a bill I authored called the No Subsidies Without Verification Act . This legislation stops the government from issuing health care subsidies until it has a system in place to prevent fraud . It 's that simple .
Now , you 'd be right to ask , why is n't this the case already ? Well , in an attempt to prop up its struggling health care law , the Obama administration decided they 'd hand out subsidies without verifying who 's eligible . They just want to rely on the honor system . You heard that right : instead of exercising common sense and accountability , the administration is willing to just give away your tax dollars β no questions asked .
Not only is that unfair to hardworking taxpayers like you , it opens the door a mile wide to fraud and abuse . According to one independent estimate , some $ 250 billion in bad payments could be doled out over the next decade .
This is nonsense . And members of both parties agree . Democrats on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee have also come out for requiring verification . Now we need the full Democratic-led Senate to act .
This is just the latest in a string of bipartisan efforts to repeal and protect Americans from the president 's health care law . The House has also acted in bipartisan fashion to give individuals and families the same delay from the law 's mandates that big businesses have received . The president himself has signed seven bills that dismantle parts of the law .
It 's important work , and like many of you , this issue affects me personally . I 've been a registered nurse for more than 40 years now , and I can tell you the things patients and their families count on β their doctors , their plans , the cost of their care β all of this comes under siege in the president 's health care law . It wo n't just fail to keep its promises ; it will make things much worse . You do n't have to take my word for it : every day we 're seeing new reports of higher costs , less access , and fewer jobs .
Together , we can stop this 'train wreck ' and put the focus back on patient-centered solutions . Together , we can build a stronger economy that rewards hard work and people who do the right thing .
Again , it has been my honor to address you on behalf of my colleagues . Thank you for listening . | 1d60aff6937c851d | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
banking_and_finance | Fox Business | https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/fed-slows-interest-rate-increases-fifty-basis-point-hike-signals-more-come | Fed slows interest rate increases with 50-basis-point hike, but signals more to come | 2022-12-14 | Banking And Finance, Interest Rates, Economy And Jobs, Inflation, Recession | The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points, slowing its campaign to cool the economy amid early signs that stubbornly high inflation is finally starting to ease.The widely expected move puts the key benchmark federal funds rate at a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest since 2007, from near-zero in March. It marks the seventh consecutive rate increase this year and places interest rates in firmly restrictive territory. While the rate hike is slightly smaller than the 75-basis-point increases approved at the past four meetings, it is still large by historical standards.In addition to the large rate hike, Fed officials laid out an aggressive path of rate increases for next year. New economic projections released after the two-day meeting show policymakers expect rates to rise to 5.1% in 2023, a far higher level than the 4.6% rate officials last projected in September, according to the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) dot plot of individual members' expectations."The committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2% over time," the FOMC said in its statement.INFLATION EASES MORE THAN EXPECTED IN NOVEMBER TO 7.1%, BUT CONSUMER PRICES REMAIN ELEVATEDThe quarterly forecasts indicate the U.S. central bank will not cut interest rates until 2024, to a rate of about 4.1%.Officials also indicated that economic growth will slow sharply next year and that unemployment will march substantially higher to a rate of 4.6% as rates hikes bring the U.S. to the brink of a recession. The Fed expects the jobless rate to remain elevated in 2024 and 2025 as steeper rates continue to take their toll by pushing up borrowing costs.THE FED'S WAR ON INFLATION COULD COST 1M JOBSStocks fell after the Fed decision as investors weighed the hawkish projections.Ticker Security Last Change Change % I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 38314.86 -2,231.07 -5.50% I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 15587.786263 -962.82 -5.82% SP500 S&P 500 5074.08 -322.44 -5.97%The rate hike decision and the latest economic projections underscore just how committed the Fed is to wrestling high inflation under control, despite early evidence that consumer prices may have peaked earlier this year. New government data released on Tuesday showed that the consumer price index rose just 0.1% in November from the previous month and 7.1% on an annual basis β far less than economists expected.Still, inflation remains about three times above its pre-pandemic average and far higher than the Fed's 2% target.NOVEMBER INFLATION BREAKDOWN: WHERE ARE PRICES RISING THE FASTEST?A growing number of Wall Street economists anticipate the Fed's actions will tip the economy into a recession next year. Hiking interest rates tends to create higher rates on consumer and business loans, which then slows the economy by forcing employers to cut back on spending.Still, Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed back against that expectation during his post-meeting press conference, suggesting that lower inflation prints could boost the odds of a soft landing β the sweet spot between curbing inflation without flatlining growth."To the extent we need to keep rates higher and keep them there for longer and inflation moves up higher and higher, I think that narrows the runway," he said. "But lower inflation readings, if they persist, in time could certainly make it more possible. I don't think anyone knows whether we're going to have a recession or not, and if we do, whether it's going to be a deep one or not. It's not knowable." | 41c40d61e6e6fd3b | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | NPR Online News | http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/10/12/162806389/bachmann-faces-competitive-re-election-bid-in-minnesota | Bachmann Faces Competitive Re-Election Bid In Minnesota | 2012-10-12 | elections | More than a year after winning Iowa 's Straw Poll for the GOP presidential nomination , and more than nine months after dropping out of that race , Rep. Michele Bachmann , R-Minn. , is back on the campaign trail .
This time she 's after a fourth term representing Minnesota 's 6th Congressional District , and Bachmann 's campaign is running into stiff competition .
Bachmann may be best known for her stridently conservative worldview and controversial remarks , but also her ability to raise huge amounts of money by congressional standards . According to Bachmann 's campaign , in the past three months , $ 4.5 million flowed into her re-election bid .
OpenSecrets.org reports that through July , Bachmann had raised nearly $ 16 million , and that her Democratic opponent , Jim Graves , had raised less than $ 600,000 .
On her campaign website , Bachmann pleads for more money , telling supporters the Democratic campaign committees have her in their sights .
`` Now , perhaps you do n't know this , but the DNC and the DCCC have specifically targeted me for defeat from the United States Congress , '' she says in a Web video asking supporters for campaign contributions .
Bachmann 's district is indeed among those the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting in its Red to Blue campaign . St . Cloud State University political scientist Stephen Frank says that might seem surprising , since redistricting this year added more conservative voters to what had already been a fairly conservative 6th District . And Bachmann , he says , easily won the last three times she ran there .
`` She 's a good candidate . She 's very strong . She raises money early and often . She appeals to constituents . She 's a very formidable opponent , '' Frank says . `` But I do n't think she 's had very good opponents in the past . ''
This time , though , Bachmann faces a Democratic opponent unlike any she 's had before .
At a candidates forum this week at a St . Cloud community college , Graves told a crowd of students that his success as founder of the AmericInn hotel chain has made him a very wealthy man . He 's from the world of business , he added , where nobody cares whether you 're a Democrat or a Republican .
`` I may be in the 1 percent club , but it does n't make any difference . We all are in this together , '' Graves said . `` The problem in America right now is we 're way too polarized . I 'm a bipartisan fella . ''
Bachmann was a no-show at the candidates forum . That disappointed first-time voter Bailey Eilers .
`` It would 've been nice to hear everyone 's point of view , '' said Eilers . `` [ I ] do n't really like her , but I 'm not strong one way or another , so she could 've changed my mind if I would 've seen her in person . ''
Later , Bachmann campaign manager Chase Kroll responded , saying voters can compare the two contenders in three debates scheduled for the final days of the campaign .
`` The Graves campaign has been saying they want to be able to draw a clear contrast . I do n't think there 's any more need of a contrast , '' Graves says .
For now , Bachmann is going after Graves mainly on the airwaves . She 's running ads that might make you think it 's Graves , not Bachmann , who 's seeking re-election . One ad refers to her challenger as `` big spendin ' Jim , '' and says : `` We ca n't afford big-spendin ' Jim in Congress . ''
At a well-attended Graves fundraiser at the St. Paul home of Garrison Keillor , the host of the public radio show A Prairie Home Companion sees off a pair of donors . Keillor grew up in Bachmann 's district , and he 's confident Graves is the man to replace her .
`` I think that Jim is making a good case ... that she 's been doing her own business for two years at least , and maybe she ought not to do that on the public payroll , '' Keillor says .
Back in St . Cloud , resentment lingers over Bachmann 's quest for the presidency .
`` She probably could 've , you know , paid more attention to the homefront , but she does a lot of good work with veterans here in the state , so that 's a good thing , '' says Kevin Solie , an independent who supports Bachmann .
`` It 's a competitive district , and ... it 's a somewhat close race . I think we 're gon na win , but we 're not taking anything for granted , '' Kroll says .
In the latest poll from August , commissioned by the Graves campaign , the Democratic challenger trails Bachmann by 2 percentage points . Still , Frank , of St . Cloud State University , says the race remains Bachmann 's to lose .
`` I think it is going to be much more in play , and I do think he is probably the best candidate she 's ever faced , '' Frank says . | IgUWUzuK6tSfrXiK | 1 | Elections | -0.2 | Presidential Elections | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | The Blaze | https://www.theblaze.com/news/bloomberg-nails-bernie-sanders-for-hypocritical-socialism | Bloomberg obliterates socialist Bernie Sanders over his 3 homes during Democrat debate | 2020-02-20 | Presidential Elections, Democratic Debates, Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Elections | The debate got very heated and personal in numerous moments New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg obliterated Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for owning three homes while declaring himself a socialist democrat during the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sanders criticized President Donald Trump and Walmart over what he called "socialism for the rich," when Bloomberg inserted his verbal assault. "I believe in democratic socialism for the working people, not billionaires!" exclaimed Sanders. "Health care for all, educational opportunities for all!" "What a wonderful country we have!" interjected Bloomberg. "The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses! What'd I miss here?" "Well, you miss that I work in Washington, house one!" exclaimed Sanders. "That's the first problem," Bloomberg retorted. "Live in Burlington, house two!" Sanders continued. "That's good!" said Bloomberg. "And like thousands of other Vermonters, I do have a summer camp. Forgive me for that! Where is your home? Which tax haven do you have your home?" Sanders asked loudly. "New York City, thank you very much! And I pay all my taxes!" responded Bloomberg. Earlier in the debate, Bloomberg himself came under attack by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) over comments attributed to him that were seen as sexist and misogynist. Sanders is considered by many to be the Democratic presidential front-runner after a disastrous showing for Joe Biden in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. www.youtube.com Carlos Garcia Staff Writer Daniel Horowitz Andrew Chapados Paul Gottfried | 2371297993e07711 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | San Antonio Express-News | https://www.expressnews.com/politics/article/Texas-secession-GOP-convention-highlights-17253140.php | GOP wants Texans to vote on secession from U.S. β plus 6 other takeaways from the party's convention | 2022-06-20 | Politics, Texas, Republican Party, State Governments, 2020 Election, Voting Rights And Voter Fraud, Elections, LGBTQ Issues, Gun Control And Gun Rights, Abortion, Education | A crowd gathers before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at an event at The Rustic on Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Houston. Abbott is skipping the GOP convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center, which is an unusual move for a sitting governor. Thousands of Republicans gathered in Houston last week for the 2022 Texas State Republican Convention. Measures adopted to the party's platform at the convention are not set laws, rather they act as a "mission statement" of sorts for the party over the next two years. SALE! Only 25Β’ for 3 months of digital access to local news. SALE! Only 25Β’ for 3 months of digital access to local news. Below is a roundup of the GOP's take on hot-button issues β in their own words β from the official platform document. Advertisement Article continues below this ad There are more than 270 measures on the document. Read them all here. On Texas seceding from the U.S.: "We urge the Texas Legislature to pass bill in its next session requiring a referendum in the 2023 general election for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation." On the 2020 election: "We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States." On gender identity: "The official position of the Texas schools shall be that there are only two genders: biological male and biological female. We oppose transgender normalizing curriculum and pronoun use." Advertisement Article continues below this ad On voting rights: "We urge that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, codified and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized." On abortion: "We urge lawmakers to enact legislation to abolish abortion by immediately securing the right to life and equal protection of the laws to all preborn children from the moment of fertilization." On the United Nations: "The United Nations is a detriment to the sovereignty of the United States and other countries; because of this we support ... Our withdrawal from the current United Nations." On the new bipartisan gun proposal: "We reject the so called 'bipartisan gun agreement.'" (U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is a chief negotiator for the gun package, which emerged just weeks after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school.) About Contact Services Account Get all the news, all the time. Unlimited Digital Access Only 25Β’ for 3 Months Donβt miss saving on digital access to local news. Stay connected anytime. The Express-News Sale Ends Soon! Cancel Anytime. | 73fef3c49b7df7b4 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
economic_policy | National Review | https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/elizabeth-warren-accountable-capitalism-act-terrible-idea/ | Elizabeth Warrenβs Corporate Catastrophe | 2018-08-20 | economic_policy | Her bill is based on bad economics and worse business ethics .
The ability of businesses to grow rapidly is a one of the most defining and precious features of the American economy . Amazon went from a fledgling online bookstore to an β everything store β and the second-largest employer in the United States in just two decades . Uber emerged from nowhere less than ten years ago to become a dominant transportation option in cities around the world . And earlier this month , Apple became the first U.S. public corporation to reach a $ 1 trillion valuation β a far cry from its sorry state in 1996 , when it looked doomed to fail .
It β s not just the information sector . The United States is home to 64 percent of the world β s billion-dollar privately held companies and a plurality of the world β s billion-dollar startups . Known in the industry as β unicorns , β they cover industries ranging from aerospace to biotechnology , and they are the reason America remains the engine of innovation for the entire world .
Unless Elizabeth Warren gets her way . In a bill unveiled this week , the Massachusetts senator has put forward a proposal that threatens to force America β s unicorns into a corral and domesticate the American economy indefinitely .
Dubbed the β Accountable Capitalism Act , β Warren foresees the creation of an Office of United States Corporations that would require any company with revenue over $ 1 billion to obtain a federal charter , binding company directors to β consider the interests of all corporate stakeholders β including employees , customers , shareholders , and the communities in which the company operates. β The bill further requires 40 percent of a chartered company β s directors to be selected by employees and adds statutory restrictions on how executive compensation may be structured .
As motivation , Warren cites stagnant median wages and the declining labor share of income . Yet to call this bill a non-sequitur doesn β t quite do it justice . Changes in labor share , such that they exist , are almost completely explained by rising real-estate prices ( which appear in the statistics as capital income ) . Stagnant wages , meanwhile , are largely the result of a secular decline in economy-wide productivity β a force that the country β s biggest , most productive firms are actively fighting against . Indeed , as Michael Lind and Robert Atkinson note in their recent book Big Is Beautiful , productivity growth in any era tends to be driven by a handful of highly innovative frontier companies at one end of the size distribution . Workers in large firms , for instance , earn on average 54 percent more than their small-business counterparts . This helps to explain why regulations that distort the size distribution of firms can have such a big impact on a nation β s aggregate productivity .
Increasing productivity growth is a hard problem . Vilifying America β s mega-corporations , in contrast , is easy . Warren β s proposal , by channeling the very real malaise of much of America β s working class into a campaign against her favored scapegoats , thus has all the hallmarks of populism at its most Trumpian .
When I met with representatives from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation , the internal β think tank β for Germany β s center-right Christian Democratic Union , in Berlin earlier this year , understanding their deficit of high-growth firms was at the top of the agenda . Germany , they noted , had failed to become a dominant player in tech , producing just five billion-dollar technology companies in the last decade . Instead , Europe β s largest economy is dominated by old behemoths such as Volkswagen and an abundance of specialized , thoroughly unscalable β small and medium β firms known as Mittelstand .
A central problem , I argued , was hiding right in their name : Konrad Adenauer . The first chancellor of Germany after World War II , Adenauer is revered for having instituted the β social-market β model that led to West Germany β s post-war economic miracle . The model secured the shaky political order by balancing pro-market reforms with social welfare and worker representation that , following Catholic teaching on subsidiarity , was largely instituted at the level of the firm . These are the roots of Germany β s contemporary β worker councils , β which provide a conduit for employee input into firm decision making , and its β co-determination β system , the inspiration for Warren β s proposal to force large firms to share their board of directors with labor .
While co-determination is not without its strengths β Germany is still a rich , productive country β it fails as a model for creating new , fast-growing companies . When Steve Jobs took over Apple in 1996 , for instance , he famously forced the resignation of most of its board of directors , installing close friends who would be loyal to his vision . He then proceeded to lay off 3,000 workers and shuttered a number of the company β s biggest boondoggles . This earned him a reputation for ruthlessness , but it also set Apple on the path to become America β s first trillion-dollar company . It β s simply impossible to imagine Jobs β s unilateral vision succeeding in an environment of constant stakeholder management and worker negotiation .
Consider the trend in recent years of private companies β delaying , or even reversing , the decision to go public . With bigger pools of capital come additional compliance burdens and a degree of backseat-driving by shareholders and the broader public that can drive a CEO insane . Co-determination laws , to the extent that they simply add bureaucracy for public and private companies alike , could diminish whatever competitive edge remains to staying private .
This is not to say there β s no need for reform in America β s system of corporate governance . But before proposing a cure it β s essential to get the correct diagnosis . In his lengthy defense of Warren β s proposal , Vox β s Matt Yglesias argues the disease infecting shareholder capitalism is its embodiment of the view , made famous by economist Milton Friedman , that the only social responsibility of business is to increase profit .
Yet , notwithstanding Gordon Gekko β s exaltations about the goodness of greed , the β requirement β for corporations to maximize shareholder value is virtually nonexistent outside of a few specific circumstances . In practice , corporate boards don β t have a fiduciary duty to do much of anything in particular , outside of the standard prescriptions of common law . As an acquaintance who β s spent decades working in large , publicly traded companies put it to me , β I often don β t know what does motivate corporate decisions , but I can assure you it β s not that . β
Milton Friedman was simply wrong , descriptively and prescriptively . That does not mean , however , that Warren and Yglesias β s alternative theory of corporate social responsibility β what philosophers call β stakeholders theory β β is a good idea . As the influential business ethicist Kenneth Goodpaster once observed , simply multiplying the number of stakeholders
blurs traditional goals in terms of entrepreneurial risk-taking , pushes decision-making towards paralysis because of the dilemmas posed by divided loyalties and , in the final analysis , represents nothing less than the conversion of the modern private corporation into a public institution .
This raises the question of why we have private corporations in the first place . Ever since the late Ronald Coase published his famous theory of the firm , economists have tended to argue for a view grounded in public policy . Namely , shareholder corporations dominate modern economies because they are , as a nexus of contracts , much more efficient at pooling capital and directing resources than any competing organizational form . Thus the normative foundation of corporate law is not any subset of stakeholders , but the welfare of society as a whole .
Business ethicist John Boatright makes the point a bit differently , noting that through bargaining , β any constituency or stakeholder group could conceivably make its interests the objective of the firm and the end of management β s fiduciary duty. β The fact that shareholders tend to bargain hardest for formal control simply stems from their greater exposure to losses as residual claimants .
Enforcing co-determination rules doesn β t change this fact . On the contrary , when scandal struck Volkswagen in 2005 , the blame was laid squarely at co-determination β s feet . Members of Volkswagen β s supervisory board , widely seen as an β old-boys network β in its own right , were caught exchanging favors , including access to prostitutes , in exchange for union-member votes . It turns out Coase β s theory drives a hard bargain .
As the Democratic party debates whether or not to embrace β democratic socialism , β Warren , to her credit , claims she β s β a capitalist to my bones. β Yet the fact remains that the Accountable Capitalism Act is in many ways the most radical proposal advanced by a mainstream Democratic lawmaker to date . Not because Germany is a socialist dystopia , but because , unlike universal health care or increased spending on the poor , Warren β s proposal is to fundamentally upend the way the most productive companies in the American economy work from the top down .
Forget β If you like your doctor , you can keep your doctor. β Warren β s plan will have you asking if you can keep your retirement savings . As Yglesias notes in his piece , co-determination could cause average share prices to plummet by as much as 25 percent . But don β t worry , says Yglesias : β Cheaper stock would be offset by higher pay and more rights at work . β
Maybe . Or maybe , after the dust settles , we would find ourselves in a new , lower equilibrium β one with less inequality , perhaps , but even lower productivity , as America β s corporate unicorns are converted into glitter glue .
A wise person once said that a model based on preventing the worst-case scenario risks stopping the best-case scenario from ever coming about . The American system , whatever its flaws , is exceptional in its openness to visionaries . Warren β s plan , based on bad economics and worse business ethics , is nothing short of a plan to hold those with vision to account . | cSr2o3XCzd0hMw8A | 2 | Economic Policy | -0.4 | Elizabeth Warren | -0.4 | Economy And Jobs | 0 | null | null | null | null |
technology | New York Times (News) | https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/01/technology/amazon-union-staten-island.html | Amazon Workers on Staten Island Vote to Unionize in Landmark Win for Labor | 2022-04-03 | Amazon, Business, Economy And Jobs, Elections, Labor, Unions, New York City, Technology | Advertisement Despite heavy lobbying by the company, workers at the facility voted by a wide margin for a union. It was seen as a rebuke of the companyβs treatment of its employees. By Karen Weise and Noam Scheiber Karen Weise writes about Amazon, and Noam Scheiber writes about labor issues. They have been following union campaigns at Amazon facilities for several years. It was a union organizing campaign that few expected to have a chance. A handful of employees at Amazonβs massive warehouse on Staten Island, operating without support from national labor organizations, took on one of the most powerful companies in the world. And, somehow, they won. Workers at the facility voted by a wide margin to form a union, according to results released on Friday, in one of the biggest victories for organized labor in a generation. Employees cast 2,654 votes to be represented by Amazon Labor Union and 2,131 against, giving the union a win by more than 10 percentage points, according to the National Labor Relations Board. More than 8,300 workers at the warehouse, which is the only Amazon fulfillment center in New York City, were eligible to vote. The win on Staten Island comes at a perilous moment for labor unions in the United States, which saw the portion of workers in unions drop last year to 10.3 percent, the lowest rate in decades, despite high demand for workers, pockets of successful labor activity and rising public approval. Advertisement Critics β including some labor officials β say that traditional unions havenβt spent enough money or shown enough imagination in organizing campaigns and that they have often bet on the wrong fights. Some point to tawdry corruption scandals. The union victory at Amazon, the first at the company in the United States after years of worker activism there, offers an enormous opportunity to change that trajectory and build on recent wins. Many union leaders regard Amazon as an existential threat to labor standards because it touches so many industries and frequently dominates them. But the win by a little-known, independent union with few ties to existing groups appears to raise as many questions for the labor movement as it answers: not least, whether there is something fundamentally broken with the traditional bureaucratic union model that can be solved only by replacing it with grass-roots organizations like the one on Staten Island. Amazon is likely to aggressively contest the unionβs win. An unsigned statement on its corporate blog said, βWeβre disappointed with the outcome of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees.β Advertisement The Staten Island outcome followed what appears likely to be a narrow loss by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union at a large Amazon warehouse in Alabama. The vote is close enough that the results will not be known for several weeks as contested ballots are litigated. The surprising strength shown by unions in both locations most likely means that Amazon will face years of pressure at other company facilities from labor groups and progressive activists working with them. As a recent string of union victories at Starbucks have shown, wins at one location can provide encouragement at others. Amazon hired voraciously over the past two years and now has 1.6 million employees globally. But it has been plagued by high turnover, and the pandemic gave employees a growing sense of power while fueling worries about workplace safety. The Staten Island warehouse, known as JFK8, was the subject of a New York Times investigation last year, which found that it was emblematic of the stresses β including inadvertent firings and sky-high attrition β on workers caused by Amazonβs employment model. βThe pandemic has fundamentally changed the labor landscapeβ by giving workers more leverage with their employers, said John Logan, a professor of labor studies at San Francisco State University. βItβs just a question of whether unions can take advantage of the opportunity that transformation has opened up.β Advertisement Standing outside the N.L.R.B. office in Brooklyn, where the ballots were tallied, Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee who started the union, popped a bottle of champagne before a crowd of supporters and press. βTo the first Amazon union in American history,β he cheered. Amazon said it was evaluating its options, including potentially filing an objection to βinappropriate and undue influenceβ by the N.L.R.B. for suing Amazon in federal court last month. In that case, the N.L.R.B. asked a judge to force Amazon to swiftly rectify βflagrant unfair labor practicesβ it said took place when Amazon fired a worker who became involved with the union. Amazon argued in court that the labor board abandoned βthe neutrality of their officeβ by filing the injunction just before the election. Amazon would need to prove that any claims of undue influence undermined the so-called laboratory conditions necessary for a fair election, said Wilma B. Liebman, the chair of the N.L.R.B. under President Barack Obama. President Biden was βglad to see workers ensure their voices are heardβ at the Amazon facility, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters. βHe believes firmly that every worker in every state must have a free and fair choice to join a union,β she said. Advertisement The near-term question facing the labor movement and other progressive groups is the extent to which they will help the upstart Amazon Labor Union withstand potential challenges to the result and negotiate a first contract, such as by providing resources and legal talent. βThe company will appeal, drag it out β itβs going to be an ongoing fight,β said Gene Bruskin, a longtime organizer who helped notch one of laborβs last victories on this scale, at a Smithfield meat-processing plant in 2008, and has informally advised the Staten Island workers. βThe labor movement has to figure out how to support them.β Sean OβBrien, the new president of the 1.3 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said in an interview on Thursday that the union was prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars unionizing Amazon and to collaborate with a variety of other unions and progressive groups. βWeβve got a lot of partners in labor,β Mr. OβBrien said. βWeβve got community groups. Itβs going to be a large coalition.β Advertisement A culture of fear created by intense productivity monitoring that was documented by The Times at JFK8 has been a key motivator for the unionization drive, which started in earnest almost a year ago. The Amazon facility offered a lifeline to laid-off workers during the pandemic but burned through staff and had such poor communication and technology that workers inadvertently were fired or lost benefits. For some employees, the stress of working at the warehouse during Covid outbreaks was a radicalizing experience that led them to take action. Mr. Smalls, the president of the Amazon Labor Union, said he became alarmed in March 2020 after encountering a co-worker who was clearly ill. He pleaded with management to close the facility for two weeks. The company fired him after he helped lead a walkout over safety conditions in late March that year. Amazon said at the time that it had taken βextreme measuresβ to keep workers safe, including deep cleaning and social distancing. It said it had fired Mr. Smalls for violating social distancing guidelines and attending the walkout even though he had been placed in a quarantine. After workers at Amazonβs warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., overwhelmingly rejected the retail workers union in its first election last spring, Mr. Smalls and Derrick Palmer, an Amazon employee who is his friend, decided to form a new union, called Amazon Labor Union. While the organizing in Alabama included high-profile tactics, with progressive supporters like Senator Bernie Sanders visiting the area, the organizers at JFK8 benefited from being insiders. Advertisement For months, they set up shop at the bus stop outside the warehouse, grilling meat at barbecues and at one point even passing out pot. (The retail workers said they were hamstrung by Covid during their initial election in Alabama.) They also filed numerous unfair-labor-practice charges with the N.L.R.B. when they believed Amazon had infringed on their rights. The labor agency found merit in several of the cases, some of which Amazon settled in a nationwide agreement to allow workers more access to organize on-site. At times the Amazon Labor Union stumbled. The labor board determined this fall that the fledgling union, which spent months collecting signatures from workers requesting a vote, had not demonstrated sufficient support to warrant an election. But the organizers kept trying, and by late January they had finally gathered enough signatures. Amazon played up its minimum wage of $15 an hour in advertising and other public relations efforts. The company also waged a full-throated campaign against the union, texting employees and mandating attendance at anti-union meetings. It spent $4.3 million on anti-union consultants nationwide last year, according to annual disclosures filed on Thursday with the Labor Department. In February, Mr. Smalls was arrested at the facility after managers said he was trespassing while delivering food to co-workers and called the police. Two current employees were also arrested during the incident, which appeared to galvanize interest in the union. Advertisement The difference in outcomes in Bessemer and Staten Island may reflect a difference in receptiveness toward unions in the two states β roughly 6 percent of workers in Alabama are union members, versus 22 percent in New York β as well as the difference between a mail-in election and one conducted in person. But it may also suggest the advantages of organizing through an independent, worker-led union. In Alabama, union officials and professional organizers were still barred from the facility under the settlement with the labor board. But at the Staten Island site, a larger portion of the union leadership and organizers were current employees. βWhat we were trying to say all along is that having workers on the inside is the most powerful tool,β said Mr. Palmer, who makes $21.50 an hour. βPeople didnβt believe it, but you canβt beat workers organizing other workers.β The independence of the Amazon Labor Union also appeared to undermine Amazonβs anti-union talking points, which cast the union as an interloping βthird party.β On March 25, workers at JFK8 started lining up outside a tent in the parking lot to vote. And over five voting days, they cast their ballots to form what could become the first union at Amazonβs operations in the United States. Advertisement Another election, brought also by Amazon Labor Union at a neighboring Staten Island facility, is scheduled for late April. Jodi Kantor contributed reporting. Karen Weise is a technology correspondent based in Seattle, covering Amazon and Microsoft. Her work aims to help readers better understand two of the most powerful companies in America and their growing influence on society. More about Karen Weise Noam Scheiber is a Chicago-based reporter who covers workers and the workplace. He spent nearly 15 years at The New Republic magazine, where he covered economic policy and three presidential campaigns. He is the author of βThe Escape Artists.β More about Noam Scheiber Advertisement | 87a87181360b9dbd | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | Christian Science Monitor | https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/0214/Virginia-s-amazing-moment-The-view-from-ground-zero-of-U.S.-gun-debate | Virginiaβs βamazing momentβ: The view from ground zero of U.S. gun debate | 2020-02-14 | gun_control_and_gun_rights | β It is an amazing moment , β says Adam Winkler , author of β Gunfight : The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America. β β A lot of people since [ the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre ] have expressed disappointment that nothing has changed , but we have actually seen a real shift in American gun politics . Virginia is really the crucible of that . β
Virginia , a historically gun-friendly Southern state , has become a front line in the battle over gun rights in the United States , as newly elected Democrats move forward with a ban on new sales of assault-style rifles .
But if you are like the 22,000 people who gathered in Richmond , Virginia , late last month , openly carrying an assault-style rifle is a form of protest and a reminder of Second Amendment rights . β The pictures that are taken from here ... can live forever and encourage people to remember our rights , β says Jeff Hulbert , a gun-rights advocate from Maryland who attended the rally .
If you are like Laura Kinzinger of Cape Charles , Virginia , you might call the police and then duck , run , and hide . β It might be legal , β she says . β But it β s not normal . β
How would you react to a plainclothes resident strolling down the street with an AR-15 tossed over his shoulder ?
As chants of β USA ! USA ! β poured over him , Jeff Hulbert stood at the ready β a soldier , in his eyes , of democracy . Behind him rose the peak of the Virginia Capitol in the state that has become ground zero in the shifting politics of gun rights across the United States .
On a fence fluttered a β We Will Not Comply β banner . Strapped around his shoulder , an Israeli Tavor rifle , which fires the same ammunition as an AR-15 β a military-style weapon that has become popular as an avatar of armed citizenship on the right and decried as a machine of mass death on the left .
β We think it β s very symbolic to wear our sidearms , to wear a rifle , because the pictures that are taken from here ... can live forever and encourage people to remember our rights , β says Mr. Hulbert , a Maryland resident and founder of Patriot Picket , a gun-rights advocacy group .
But Cape Charles resident Laura Kinzinger has an opposite reaction . If she saw someone openly carrying a long rifle , she says she β d call the police and then duck , run , and hide .
β It might be legal . But it β s not normal , β she says . β That person might suddenly use it . I mean , there could be accidents . The thought of walking around with an [ assault-style ] rifle is just horrific . They are designed to kill people . That β s what they do . β
As complaints of government overreach still echo from the 22,000-strong show of largely armed force in Richmond late last month , newly elected Democrats are moving forward with a ban on new sales of the assault-style rifles , including misdemeanor penalties for possession of magazines that hold more than seven rounds .
The turn of a historically gun-friendly Southern state toward gun restrictions comes as the U.S. Supreme Court takes its first gun rights case in a decade to determine how far municipalities can go to restrict guns . Given that a conservative majority is unlikely to OK broad new restraints , battles at the state level have come to define an epic shift for Second Amendment reformers .
β It is an amazing moment , β says Adam Winkler , a law professor at the University of California , Los Angeles , and author of β Gunfight : The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America. β β A lot of people since [ the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre ] have expressed disappointment that nothing has changed , but we have actually seen a real shift in American gun politics . Virginia is really the crucible of that . β
On Monday , the House of Delegates advanced the assault-style ban to its final reading , with Democratic lawmakers contending that it will not infringe on anybody β s Second Amendment rights . Republicans argue otherwise , saying it would criminalize ownership of some magazines , even after Democrats tempered penalties to a misdemeanor . At one point , police escorted protesters out of the chamber . β Whose side are you on ? β they shouted at officers .
But the political fight between blue suburbs and red rural areas over the proposed ban has also bared tensions among gun owners themselves . Does open carry , as Mr. Hulbert hopes , normalize the image of an armed citizenry ? Or does it further entrench the idea that the right to carry a long rifle infringes on the freedoms of non-gun owners ?
Williamsburg , Virginia , resident Josiah Gray says open carry should be restricted to police officers . The parking officer says carrying a gun might make some people feel safer , but others could be intimidated or possibly traumatized , especially if they lost someone they knew to gun violence .
β You never know how it affects other people , β he says . β If you don β t have a uniform , it looks kind of off to the other people that you have a gun . β
Some gun owners share those doubts . Few gun owners question the right , but many ask about the β pragmatic aspect of open carry , β says Wake Forest University sociologist David Yamane , founder of the Gun Culture 2.0 blog . β There are many people in the gun community who really dislike open carry as a method of normalizing firearms . β
In essence , an open source platform that has sold more than 8 million exemplars on its journey to become β America β s Gun , β the Armalite Rifle , gun owners say , is basically a slick-looking single-fire rifle . Mechanically and caliber-wise , that is correct . But it is also a masterpiece of war . Its military cousin was a replacement for the unreliable M-14 ; its ability to kill Viet Cong in tight quarters stunned Army researchers .
The AR was first introduced to the civilian population as a hunting rifle , and its advertising slogan belies its appeal : If it is good enough for the military , it is good enough for all of us . The sunsetting of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004 opened an era of gun rights expansion , where three-quarters of states have now loosened regulations on concealed and open carry , and have expanded the rights of lethal self defense .
But that arc has been complicated by the gun β s use in a growing number of mass killings , as well as the rise of violent far-right nationalism , members of which law enforcement said posed credible threats as they sought to infiltrate the Richmond rally .
As a result , some of the states that led the expansion of gun rights β like Florida β are tapping the brakes . Gun control advocates like Everytown for Gun Safety , which is backed by Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg , are building on success in turning Virginia blue by spending $ 60 million this election cycle to elect reformers in states like North Carolina , Pennsylvania , and Arizona .
β Democrats in Virginia aren β t doing anything different than what they promised to do , what they ran on , β says Ernest McGowen , a political scientist at the University of Richmond .
Stephanie Keith/Reuters A large crowd gathers on Gun Lobby Day in front of the Virginia Capitol in Richmond , Jan. 20 , 2020 .
At the same time , he adds , open carry of AR-15s in protest β is also a statement to the strength of our democracy : [ Gun owners ] were there about politics , about policies , about working out , how do we reasonably deal with this thing with guns in our country ? β
Gallup says 6 in 10 Americans support an assault-style weapons ban . Those poll numbers and the renewed passion of gun-control advocates after the Parkland massacre in Florida , some gun owners say , has hastened a push to normalize the weapons β and their use in place of protest placards .
β I think they wanted to show that carrying weapons , whether it β s open or concealed , is a normal thing that millions of Americans do every day , β says Tom Ferguson , a University of Virginia senior who came to Richmond in January to lobby on behalf of gun rights . β We have just normal people coming in who just care about making their voices heard . β
The symbolism of the AR-15 is apparent to both sides , and it β s unclear whether a ban would reduce gun deaths . Rifle deaths make up about 300 out of 30,000 gun deaths in the U.S. a year , making the toll from handguns far more dramatic .
As Democrats mull gun-control legislation , nearly 100 Virginia counties have declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries , where local sheriffs vowed to not enforce laws that , in their estimation , don β t meet constitutional muster . ( So far , U.S. courts have allowed assault-style weapon bans . )
β The right has understood that the battle of ideas is terribly important , because people want to feel that they are part of a crusade that is inspired by a philosophically sophisticated ... and morally significant agenda or purpose , β says Colin Bird , a political philosopher at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville .
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While the largest share of gun owners are older white men over the age of 40 , women and minorities are part of an increasingly diverse gun culture . For Anna-Marie Lewis , who owns a shooting range in Bergen , New York , carrying a gun is both practical and empowering .
At the rally , she is wearing a helmet and carrying a small AR-15 style rifle . β No one walks around like this at all , ever , but we do just to show we can , β says Ms. Lewis . β This is very peaceful . We have no intent of ever using these in this scenario , but it β s just to show that we should be able to ... that it β s our right . β | 4sMut3qIHKwE2J7a | 1 | 2nd Amendment | -0.1 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | -0.1 | Virginia | 0 | null | null | null | null |
general_news | CNN (Web News) | https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/27/media/tom-brokaw-nbc-meet-the-press/index.html | Tom Brokaw says he is 'truly sorry' for his remarks about Hispanics on 'Meet the Press' | 2019-01-27 | Hispanics, General News | New York ( CNN Business ) NBC News , facing mounting backlash stemming from former `` NBC Nightly News '' anchor Tom Brokaw 's comments that Hispanics should `` work harder at assimilation '' into American culture , distanced the network from his `` inappropriate '' commentary .
`` Tom 's comments were inaccurate and inappropriate and we 're glad he apologized , '' an NBC spokesperson said Monday .
Also on Monday , an alliance of Latino advocacy groups wrote an open letter to NBC demanding more than just an apology .
`` Mr. Brokaw 's comments are more than just out-of-touch musings , '' the letter said . `` Mr. Brokaw 's comments are part of a legacy of anti-Latino sentiment that is spreading freely in 2019 . ''
The groups called on NBC to improve the diversity of bookings on `` Meet the Press ; '' make a `` significant '' donation to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists ; and produce a series about the Hispanic community in the United States .
Brokaw tweeted Sunday that he regrets the comment he made on `` Meet the Press '' Sunday .
`` I feel terrible a part of my comments on Hispanics offended some members of that proud culture , '' he said at the beginning of a series of tweets .
The veteran newsman also said he has `` worked hard to knock down false stereotypes , '' and pointed out that he said in his final comment on Sunday 's `` Meet the Press '' that all sides have to work harder .
Criticism erupted after Brokaw , 78 , commented on Hispanics and assimilation during Sunday 's broadcast of `` Meet the Press . '' He said on the show that his view on assimilation is one he 's been sharing `` for a long time . ''
`` You know , they ought not to be just codified in their communities but make sure that all their kids are learning to speak English , and that they feel comfortable in the communities , '' he said during Sunday 's segment . `` And that 's going to take outreach on both sides [ Republican and Democrat ] , frankly . ''
Although he did not issue a formal apology at first , Brokaw emerged again later in the night with another series of tweets in which he said that he is `` truly sorry '' for his remarks , which he acknowledged were `` offensive to many . '' He also thanked fellow panelist and `` PBS Newshour '' correspondent Yamiche Alcindor for her comments during the segment , saying she 's a `` wonderful colleague and an important voice . ''
`` I never intended to disparage any segment of our rich , diverse society which defines who we are , '' Brokaw said .
`` We also need to adjust what we think of as America , '' she said . `` You 're talking about assimilation . I grew up in Miami , where people speak Spanish , but their kids speak English . And the idea that we think Americans can only speak English , as if Spanish and other languages was n't always part of America , is , in some ways , troubling . ''
Tom Brokaw , one of America 's best known journalists , has won 11 Emmy awards during his career .
`` It really was a punch in the gut to a lot of people , '' he said . `` It was not only factually incorrect , it was also xenophobia in action . ''
Speaking on CNN 's `` Newsroom '' later in the day , liberal commentator Maria Cardona said that she loves Brokaw , but that `` he 's a little out of touch . ''
`` I 'll give him a pass because he 's probably not up to speed as to where things are today and age , especially with young Latinos in this country , '' she said . She insisted that `` Latinos absolutely assimilate . ''
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists said in a statement late Sunday that it found both Brokaw 's initial comments and his Twitter response reprehensive .
Hugo Balta , the organization 's president and a senior producer at MSNBC , said that assimilation means `` denying one culture for another . ''
`` Hispanics are no less American for embracing their country of origin or that of their ancestors ... being bicultural and bilingual is a strength in an increasingly multi-ethnic , multilingual society , '' he said .
After reading Brokaw 's response to the controversy , conservative commentator Erick Erickson weighed in on Twitter . He said Brokaw 's comments on the `` Meet the Press '' were not something `` that anyone needs to apologize for making . They 're truths people do n't want to hear . ''
Erickson 's tweet was a preview of how this debate is likely to unfold β pitting prominent conservatives and liberals against one another . Sure enough , some Fox News commentators stood up for Brokaw on Monday .
But a portion of Brokaw 's remarks on `` Meet the Press '' also stoked anger among Republicans .
Before his comments about assimilation , he said that many Republicans perceive the growth of the Hispanic population in the United States to be helping Democrats .
`` Also , '' he said , `` I hear when I push people a little harder is , ' I do n't know whether I want brown grandbabies . ' That 's also a part of it . ''
His talk of racial animus on the right spurred objections from Republicans like Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush , whose mother is Mexican-American .
`` With all due respect @ Tombrokaw , '' Bush tweeted on Monday , `` I am one of those 'little brown ones ' and can assure you that my grandparents conveyed to me that they loved and were proud of me before they passed . ''
Correction : An earlier version of this story misspelled Hugo Balta 's name . | dc7eda6a79caca54 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
family_and_marriage | Salon | http://www.salon.com/2015/06/03/josh_duggar_confessed_three_times_to_sexually_assaulting_his_sisters_and_his_parents_still_did_nothing/ | Josh Duggar confessed three times to sexually assaulting his sisters β and his parents still did nothing | 2015-06-03 | Family And Marriage | Just when it seemed the details of Josh Duggar 's admitted sexual assault could n't get worse , the story has become more horrifying .
On Wednesday , InTouch magazine -- which first broke the story of abuse in the `` 19 Kids & Counting '' family last month -- released additional police reports indicating that Duggar told his father , Jim Bob , on three separate occasions that he had sexually abused his sisters as well as a family friend . Then Jim Bob and his wife , Michelle , waited more than a year to contact the authorities .
The new report , which is less redacted than initial documents , confirms that Duggar was 15 years old when he first molested his five-year-old sister . He also admitted seven separate instances of abuse to his father before he or any of his sisters was taken for professional counseling ; InTouch notes that it remains unclear whether Jim Bob and Michelle brought their children for counseling of their own volition , or if intervention was mandated once law enforcement officials did become involved in the sexual assault allegations .
`` James [ Jim Bob ] said that in March of 2002 [ redacted , Josh ] who had just turned 14 , came to him very upset and crying , '' the police report states . `` James said that [ redacted , Josh ] had told him that he had been sneaking into [ redacted , his sisters β ] room at night and had been touching [ redacted , his sisters ] on the breasts and vaginal areas while they were sleeping . ''
According to the report , Duggar -- now a 27-year-old father of three who recently resigned from a leadership position at the anti-LGBT Family Research Council -- went from sister to sister `` in a common room '' where all of the girls slept at the time . He also confessed to Jim Bob that he had assaulted one girl while she slept on the couch .
Legal experts reportedly told InTouch that the Duggar parents could have faced six years in prison for failing to report the assaults to the police , but the statute of limitations on the case had expired by the time law enforcement officials first investigated the allegations in 2006 . Jim Bob and Michelle eventually took their son to speak with state trooper Joseph Hutchens , who apparently gave the teen offender an unofficial talking-to ; the officer is currently serving a 56-year prison sentence for child pornography .
Duggar confirmed the truth of the sexual assault allegations by saying he `` acted inexcusably '' the same week InTouch published its first report . TLC , which airs the family 's reality series `` 19 Kids & Counting , '' pulled the show from its lineup in light of the reports , but has yet to announce whether it will remain on the air . | 538293976391e913 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | The Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/05/joe-biden-2020-campaign-climate-policy-plagiarism-allegations | Joe Biden's team alters climate policy plan after plagiarism allegations | 2019-06-05 | Election 2020, Joe Biden, Presidential Elections, Elections | Joe Biden β s Democratic presidential campaign has amended his climate policy plan hours after it was released on Tuesday because a handful of passages did not credit some of the sources in the proposal , prompting allegations of plagiarism .
Trump faces growing Republican revolt over Mexico tariffs β live updates Read more
The changes come after the conservative Daily Caller and others reported that several passages from Biden β s plan appeared to borrow from policy papers and statements written by outside groups without citation .
A Biden campaign statement read : β Several citations , some from sources cited in other parts of the plan , were inadvertently left out of the final version of the 22-page document . β
The added citations included passages from documents published by the Blue Green Alliance and the Carbon Capture Coalition . The document by Biden , vice-president under Barack Obama , cites sources in the text of the plan . Some other campaigns use more formal footnotes in their policy papers .
Biden β s 1988 presidential campaign ended amid controversy over plagiarized passages in his campaign speech and after he admitted plagiarism on a law school paper . At the time , Biden said the incident at Syracuse University was a matter of him not knowing the proper way to document sources .
David Axelrod , a Democratic strategist and architect of Obama β s 2008 campaign , was skeptical that the errors in Biden β s climate policy proposal will affect his campaign .
β There are many , many molehills that look like mountains during a campaign , β Axelrod said . β The challenge for the campaigns and the press is to decide which is which . β
Yet Donald Trump β s re-election campaign wasted little time in trying to capitalize .
β Four decades in public life and there β s always one constant . What would a Joe Biden candidacy be without a little plagiarism ? β said Tim Murtaugh , the campaign communications director . | b62f53dc417bd77f | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Newsmax (News) | http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/christie-jersey-presidency/2013/11/10/id/535812 | Christie: Focused on New Jersey, Not on Seeking Presidency | 2013-11-10 | Presidential Elections, Elections | President Barack Obama's apology for Obamacare was not enough, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday, but it was the right thing to do."I had said to him earlier, last week, that he should apologize," the newly re-elected Republican governor told CBS' "Face the Nation" guest host Norah O'Donnell, emphasizing that he doesn't know if he was "the" one who led to the apology."In general, when you make a mistake, you should own up and apologize for it," said Christie. When it turned out to not be true that people could keep their insurance policies or doctors, "we need to confront that issue," said Christie, who was making the round of most of Sunday morning's network talk shows.New Jersey didn't choose to put their residents into a state-based insurance exchange, Christie said, because "anybody who has ever managed anything or run anything could see this was a train-wreck. I was not going to get the people of New Jersey involved in this train-wreck in this way."The popular Republican governor, who has often been mentioned as a Republican contender for the 2016 presidential nomination, also used his appearance to tout his state's successes over the past four years, saying the federal government could learn a lesson by paying attention to New Jersey."I have a completely Democratic legislature," said Christie. "On governing, it's about doing things, accomplishing things, reaching across the aisle."He noted that in the past four years, New Jersey has attracted 143,000 new private sector jobs and reduced spending to the point that less money is being spent in fiscal year 2014 than was in 2008."The lesson is to govern and to show up," said Christie. "There are obvious problems that need to be fixed. In a place like New Jersey, we're not using an excuse like a divided government not to act."In New Jersey, Christie said, "we get together, we argue, we fight, we debate. But then we get around a table and we conclude the argument by getting things done and they're not doing that in Washington."Christie insisted he is focused on running his state, not on any speculation he might seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.But he sounded a lot like a candidate, tempering his typically blunt responses, while downplaying actions he has taken that might not play well with tea party voters."I know everybody's going to be speculating about what may come in my future and lots of other people's future in our party, but the fact is, I'm focused on being the governor of New Jersey and be the chairman of the Republican Governors Association," Christie told "Fox News Sunday." Christie told ABC's "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos that he isn't thinking about 2016 since he has just been elected to serve four more years as governor."All four years?" Stephanopoulos asked."Listen, who knows? I don't know," Christie said, sidestepping presidential speculation. "I didn't expect to be sitting here four years ago."Christie didn't hold back on the unpopular rollout of President Barack Obama's healthcare law."Anybody who's run anything in their lives could see this coming a mile away," Christie said. "And that's why we didn't do a state-based health exchange. We didn't do it because we could see that this whole program was going to be a problem."Obama's biggest problem, Christie said, is that he has to tell the truth and not be "working out of a fantasy that these are not major problems that need to be fixed and need to be addressed."Christie appeared on four of the five Sunday morning news shows.Noting that some say Christie isn't conservative enough to win the Republican nomination, "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace asked him about several issues.On immigration reform, Christie insisted his position is about "fixing a broken system." On gun control, he said he wants to "control violence." Sometimes that involves guns, he said, but the focus should be on mental health issues.He said he is unconcerned about the current Time magazine cover that shows him in silhouette with the headline: "The Elephant in the Room." Some have speculated the headline has a double meaning, referring both to the mascot of the GOP and to Christie's weight."It is certainly not the first weight joke that has been thrown my way over the course of the last four years," Christie said.Christie refused to render an opinion on tea party favorites Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, even though he has criticized them in the past. Wallace played a clip of Paul criticizing Christie last week for running post-Hurricane Katrina ads featuring himself.Christie called it "just the game that gets played in Washington" that demonstrates why people hate what happens in the nation's capital.He also responded to charges in the book "Double Down: Game Change 2012" that he was rejected by the Mitt Romney campaign as a vice presidential contender because of trouble in his background."The only person who hasn't said that is Governor Romney, who has completely refuted what they said in the book," Christie said. "He did it immediately after the book came out."Related stories: | 8b1a41da31206524 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
media_bias | Media Research Center | http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2016/05/10/bozell-graham-column-team-obama-boasts-about-ventiloquizing-press | Team Obama Boasts About 'Ventriloquizing' the Press | 2016-05-10 | media_bias | Barack Obama β s political appointees are not only celebrated by the media as the best and brightest America has to offer . They are promoted as so bright they are allowed to boast about how they masterfully manipulate the press , like sculpting a smelly can of journalistic Play-Doh .
The New York Times Magazine wrote a long profile of Obama β s foreign-policy communications whiz Ben Rhodes , lauded as β the master shaper and retailer of Obama 's foreign-policy narratives , at a time when the killer wave of social media has washed away the sand castles of the traditional press . β
Don β t blame social media for the traditional media β s adoration of Obama . β Rhodes has become adept at ventriloquizing many people at once , β wrote David Samuels for the Times . First these ventriloquists enter the briefing rooms to dazzle and deceive the dedicated journalists on those beats , and then there are the β force multipliers β β described as β prominent Washington reporters and columnists who often tweet in sync with White House messaging . β
Rhodes exploited the fact that as the TV networks and newspapers close foreign bureaus and economize on staff , the gray beards are gone . `` They call us [ at the White House ] to explain to them what 's happening in Moscow and Cairo , β Rhodes proclaimed . β Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington . The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old , and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns . That 's a sea change . They literally know nothing . β
Exhibit A for the β master shaper β Rhodes bending the press to Obama β s will was the Iran arms deal . The Times explained that the Obama people exploited the press by pretending the 2013 election of prime minister Hassan Rouhani and a β moderate β regime presented a brand-new opportunity to strike an Iran deal . But in reality , the Obama negotiators began talking to Iran in July of 2012 , before this false narrative entered that echo chamber . Polls showed the American public didn β t like the Iran deal , but the media just shouted over them with recycled Obama lingo about the β historic β and β landmark β agreement .
Exhibit B wasn β t mentioned by the Times : the death of four Americans at Benghazi . In 2012 , Rhodes easily β ventriloquized β the media with the bizarre spin that the U.S. consulate wasn β t subjected to a terrorist attack , but suffered from a spontaneous protest over a YouTube video mocking the prophet Muhammad . Even after Team Obama was forced to relent on this blatantly false talking point , the ventriloquist dummies wouldn β t focus on how they had been used .
Over on Fox News , diplomatic correspondent James Rosen told host Bill O β Reilly the State Department blatantly lied to him when he asked about the negotiating timeline .
β I can attest directly that the Obama administration in the person of then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland , of whom I am very fond , Bill , flat-out lied to me in February 2013 , β Rosen said . β I asked , point blank , β Are there any direct talks going on between the U.S. and Iran of any kind ? β And she said no , at a point when those talks had been ongoing for eight months . β
The next step naturally followed . The other networks all ignored the kerfuffle over the Rhodes boasts as some sort of inside-the-Beltway snoozefest . The last thing a supine media wants to report is just how supine it is β even when the accuser is the liberal β master shaper and retailer of Obama β s narratives . β | ctbW8xwNwGLutEVp | 2 | Media Bias | -0.6 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
great_britain | BBC News | https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47715933 | Brexit: MPs prepare for votes in bid to break deadlock | 2019-03-27 | Brexit, Great Britain, World | MPs are awaiting the results of votes on eight different proposals for the future of Brexit .
Options they are considering include leaving without a deal , a customs union and a confirmatory referendum .
Speaker John Bercow will announce what support there is for each later after MPs took over the Commons timetable .
Theresa May has promised to stand down as prime minister if her own deal is approved , prompting several Tory Brexiteers to say they will back it .
Meanwhile , MPs have approved the legislation required to change the date of Brexit from 29 March - after the EU agreed to give the UK an extension last week .
Friday had long been the day written into law for the UK to leave the EU but the Commons approved a statutory instrument - by 441 votes to 105 - changing the deadline to 22 May if a withdrawal agreement is passed this week ; or 12 April if it is not .
The prime minister is still trying to drum up support for her withdrawal agreement despite it being voted down by a large margin twice and the DUP saying they still can not vote for it .
The government is seeking the support of MPs for the Commons to convene on Friday , if necessary , amid reports a third vote on the PM 's deal could be held then .
But Mr Bercow reiterated his earlier warnings that the PM 's deal could not come back for a vote if it had not significantly changed .
He said the government `` should not seek to circumvent my ruling '' by introducing procedures that could reverse his judgement .
But a Downing Street spokesman said there had been a `` significant development '' at the summit in Brussels last week , after Mrs May agreed `` extra reassurances '' over the Irish backstop with the EU , and the date of exit had changed .
MPs are currently voting on a statutory instrument to confirm a delay , after the UK was given until 12 April to propose a different way forward if the current agreement can not get through Parliament and until 22 May to finalise Brexit if the deal is passed .
Earlier on Wednesday , MPs took control of parliamentary business from the government for several hours as they attempt to find a majority for the next steps in the Brexit process .
Conservative backbencher Sir Oliver Letwin , whose cross-party proposal ushered in today 's debate , said the only way leaving the EU with no-deal can be prevented is by crystallising an alternative majority and trying to carry it forward .
He said that if MPs supported the prime minister 's deal in another meaningful vote this would be `` the easy route '' .
But he added that he `` profoundly hopes '' that if on Monday there is a majority view in favour of a particular position , that the government will say that it will carry that forward .
Never afraid of stoking controversy , the Speaker has again infuriated many Tory MPs with his latest surprise pronouncement to the Commons .
Just as it seemed the government was poised to try and get its Brexit deal through again , John Bercow took it upon himself to tick ministers off before they had even tried .
Why ? Because last week he ruled the deal could not be brought back to the Commons for a third time without `` substantial '' changes .
No 10 will only bring the deal back for a third vote if it thinks it could pass . That probably requires DUP backing and a guarantee some Labour MPs will vote for it too .
As it stands , there is n't yet a majority for the deal , but the mood is shifting fast .
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Groups have put forward different options for the UK 's future relationship with the EU , with several based on the assumption Mrs May 's withdrawal agreement with the EU will be approved - albeit with changes to the controversial Northern Ireland backstop .
The Speaker of the House , John Bercow , chose eight to be voted on by MPs .
No-deal Brexit - Leave the EU on 12 April without a deal - Tory MP John Baron
- Leave the EU on 12 April without a deal - Tory MP John Baron Common Market 2.0 - The UK joins the European Economic Area and negotiates a temporary customs union until alternative arrangements can be found - Tory MP Nick Boles
- The UK joins the European Economic Area and negotiates a temporary customs union until alternative arrangements can be found - Tory MP Nick Boles EFTA/EEA - Similar to Common Market 2.0 but rejects any kind of customs union with the EU and says the Irish backstop must be replaced with alternative arrangements - Tory MP George Eustice
- Similar to Common Market 2.0 but rejects any kind of customs union with the EU and says the Irish backstop must be replaced with alternative arrangements - Tory MP George Eustice Customs union - Calls for the UK to negotiate a permanent customs union with the EU after Brexit - Tory MP Ken Clarke
- Calls for the UK to negotiate a permanent customs union with the EU after Brexit - Tory MP Ken Clarke Labour 's alternative plan - A customs union with the EU and `` close alignment '' with the single market - Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
- A customs union with the EU and `` close alignment '' with the single market - Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn Revoke Article 50 - Cancel Brexit if the UK gets within days of leaving without a deal . MPs would be asked to vote on a no-deal exit and if they rejected that , Article 50 would be revoked - SNP MP Joanna Cherry
- Cancel Brexit if the UK gets within days of leaving without a deal . MPs would be asked to vote on a no-deal exit and if they rejected that , Article 50 would be revoked - SNP MP Joanna Cherry Confirmatory public vote - Parliament can not ratify or implement any agreement on the UK 's withdrawal and future relationship `` unless and until they have been approved by the people of the UK in a confirmatory public ballot '' - Labour MP Margaret Beckett
- Parliament can not ratify or implement any agreement on the UK 's withdrawal and future relationship `` unless and until they have been approved by the people of the UK in a confirmatory public ballot '' - Labour MP Margaret Beckett Malthouse Plan B - The UK makes its budgetary contributions to the EU to the end of 2020 and agrees with the EU a period of two years in which UK goods have full access to the EU - Tory MP Marcus Fysh
Read more on the Brexit options MPs are voting on
After a four-hour debate on each proposal , MPs were given a piece of paper listing the options , and had to mark each one with a `` yes '' or `` no '' .
MPs used both lobbies for completing the ballots in a process that took about half an hour .
Several MPs , including Tory Michael Fabricant and Lib Dem Jo Swinson , posted images of their forms on social media .
The process is likely to continue on Monday as MPs seek to whittle down options which could command majority support in Parliament .
Now : Debate on statutory instrument ( SI ) bringing Brexit delay into law
21:30 : The Speaker announces the results of the indicative votes - though he could announce them earlier during SI debate
Conservative MPs were given a free vote , meaning they were able to support or reject any proposal without pressure from party whips . Cabinet ministers will be abstaining .
The decision followed warnings that more than a dozen ministers might quit if they were told they had to follow party orders .
Labour MPs are being whipped to support the party 's own proposal , as well as motions on a customs union , Common Market 2.0 and a confirmatory public ballot .
Mr Starmer told the Commons any deal `` needs further democratic approval '' before being enacted .
But the move has angered Labour MPs in Brexit-vote constituencies , with Great Grimsby MP Melanie Onn reportedly resigning as a shadow housing minister . | 35fef3a6cf5a7820 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
media_bias | Nieman Lab | https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/07/republicans-and-democrats-read-a-lot-of-the-same-news-what-they-do-with-it-is-a-different-question | Republicans and Democrats read a lot of the same news. What they do with it is a different question. | 2020-07-21 | Media Bias, Media Industry, Fake News, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Culture, Polarization | The growing stream of reporting on and data about fake news , misinformation , partisan content , and news literacy is hard to keep up with . This weekly roundup offers the highlights of what you might have missed .
β ( Almost ) everything in moderation β ? New research by Princeton β s Andy Guess finds that Democrats and Republicans read a lot of the same news sources ; most American news consumers aren β t isolated in echo chambers , and most don β t read that much about politics anyway . The outliers with β the most polarized political media diets , β however , are more likely to vote in primary and general elections β and the fact that people are reading a lot of the same news doesn β t mean they β re not processing it ( or sharing it ) very differently .
Guess started out with 2015 and 2016 data from YouGov Pulse , which tracks users β web browsing activity ( it β s anonymized ) in addition to surveying them . He found that most rely on centrist media , including mainstream portals like MSN.com or AOL.com , which have a moderating effect on media diets .
If you follow me , you might 've encountered the headline finding before : contra @ CassSunstein and others who argue that we 're increasingly siloed into informational cocoons , people mostly rely on centrist media . As a result , news consumption patterns of Dems + Reps overlap a lot . pic.twitter.com/FNtxCdTqqK β Andy Guess ( @ andyguess ) July 15 , 2020
There are extremes at either end , though , especially on the right , and those groups may get more attention . Guess writes :
Even many people who identify in the data as very conservative have relatively moderate media preferences . But those who do not are driving a disproportionate amount of traffic to conservative sites , producing at the macro level an illusion of polarized media consumption . This evidence , then , is consistent with a view that β among the fraction of respondents who visit news and politics websites β the preponderance of the content encountered is ideologically moderate . There is also suggestive evidence of an intense subgroup of Republicans who , possibly in addition to mainstream sources , consume large quantities of conservative , but not liberal , news and information about politics . Similar bumps on the left correspond to the popular viral site BuzzFeed and other left-leaning mainstream sources , in addition to partisan destinations such as Daily Kos . Arguably , then , most people are not habitual partisan news consumers β approximately 18 % of respondents in 2015 and 33 % in 2016 have at least 10 % of their visits to political news content originating from sites with absolute slant greater than 0.75 . But it might seem so from the point of view of news publishers , which may lack the ability to see the individuals lurking behind inbound traffic β leading to the possibility of feedback loops via engagement metrics and optimization .
The narrative can be actively misleading . E.g . : the `` Red Feed , Blue Feed '' simulation popular in 2016 excludes the large mainstream sources that I show are so important https : //t.co/qBzomspJ86 This is selecting on the dependent variable β the examples are designed to be partisan . pic.twitter.com/bTZZqBgt7Q β Andy Guess ( @ andyguess ) July 15 , 2020
( 2 ) Despite that there 's good reason to think that moderation and relative centrism are the norm for most , even today and incl . social media . Take a new working paper by @ wrahool @ feedkoko @ ylelkes , who describe Twitter as a `` remarkably centrist platform '' : https : //t.co/bfNRVKVZP6 β Andy Guess ( @ andyguess ) July 15 , 2020
The New York Times β Max Fisher warns that Guess β s findings shouldn β t be interpreted to mean that polarization isn β t a major problem . Sure , people may be reading a lot of the same news , but how are they getting to it and what are they sharing on social media ? β I think this severely misunderstands how people read and share news today , β he writes .
If I write a story whose facts affirm liberal worldviews , it will be shared and read heavily by liberals . The next day , a different story might be shared & read by conservatives . Both groups visited the same NYT domain , but they hardly developed a shared media diet or reality . β Max Fisher ( @ Max_Fisher ) July 16 , 2020
For one , reader diets have always been like 10-to-1 news-to-opinion . To understand polarization , you have to look at that 1 opinion article that frames how readers process the 10 news links . Or how posts on social platforms frame those 10 news links . β Max Fisher ( @ Max_Fisher ) July 16 , 2020
At some point `` social media filter bubble '' came to be seen as implying that people read 100 % Gateway Pundit or 100 % Occupy Democrats , but this has always been a straw man . There was a lot of hyperbole about social media after 2016 for sure , but we might be overcorrecting a bit . β Max Fisher ( @ Max_Fisher ) July 16 , 2020
I also share some of Max 's worry about using domains as a proxy for ideology . E.g . this popular post on FB today , which links to a local ABC affiliate but is framed in a very partisan way . pic.twitter.com/CCGTP6Fhu1 β Kevin Roose ( @ kevinroose ) July 16 , 2020
Also , I suspect that despite the readership data you identify that within-outlet selective exposure is also less common than you might think overall β low-engagement people are less able to screen/motivated to do so , high-engagement people do e.g . more hate-reading β Brendan Nyhan ( @ BrendanNyhan ) July 16 , 2020
Guess β s paper is forthcoming in the American Journal of Political Science ; read the preprint here .
β Under the company β s guidelines , climate content can be classified as opinion. β The New York Times β Veronica Penney notes that Facebook lets climate change misinformation flow free by classifying it as opinion content .
The policy means that peer-reviewed science can be lumped into the same category as industry statements and even blatant disinformation . In September , for example , the CO2 Coalition , a nonprofit group that says increased carbon emissions are good for the planet , successfully overturned a fact-check when Facebook quietly labeled its post as β opinion . β
The CO2 Coalition story was originally reported by Scott Waldman of E & E News . In June , he investigated what happened :
The CO2 Coalition is increasingly focused on using Facebook to reach more people with its message that climate change fears are overblown and that burning more fossil fuels would help humanity , executive director Caleb Rossiter told E & E News this week . He sees the battle over its climate-related posts as part of a larger proxy war over how to reach an audience outside of conservative media . β It β s a huge reach . You can reach so many people both with your posts and your advertisements , β Rossiter said . β We β re kind of like Donald Trump . We β re not happy with the treatment we β re getting from the mainstream media , we resort to social media . That β s where our action is in larger part. β Rossiter said the coalition was also temporarily blocked from running ads after the fact-check . After the β false β label was removed from its climate models piece , the coalition is now again allowed to buy ads . It has run a number of ads with messages that distort climate change and make inflammatory statements such as β we are saving the people of the planet from the people who claim they are saving the planet. β Those ads have received more than 50,000 impressions , Facebook data shows . | 7b5c95d36f532121 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
violence_in_america | ABC News | http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-killed-police-shooting-ferguson-missouri/story?id=27807891 | Video Shows Moments Before Police Shooting Near Ferguson, Missouri | 2014-12-24 | Police, Violence In America | A man was shot and killed by a police officer Tuesday in Berkeley , Missouri , authorities said -- sparking new unrest in a region already reeling following an August police shooting a few miles away in Ferguson .
The town 's mayor worked to calm the unrest this morning by saying that there are major differences between the two cases .
`` All of us are saying the same thing : 'It 's a white policeman killing a black man , and when does this stop ? ' I can assure you that is not what happened last night , '' Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said this morning .
Hoskins said that he has watched the video of the incident and , though they are going to complete two thorough investigations by both the local police and the county police , he differentiated Tuesday night 's shooting from other recent cases .
`` You could n't even compare this with Ferguson or the [ Eric ] Garner case in New York , '' said Hoskins , who is African American . `` The Garner case in New York , they had the video ; Ferguson they did not . We have the video . I can assure you what is on the video , we 're going to use . ''
The latest shooting happened at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday at a Mobil gas station , St. Louis County Chief of Police Jon Belmar said in a morning news conference .
St. Louis Rams , Police Disagree Over 'Apology ' for Players ' Ferguson Gesture
Belmar said police visited the gas station when a report of a larceny came in . The victim , who is 18 years old that has not been officially named by police , pointed a gun at the officer which sparked the deadly shooting , Belmar said .
`` Bad choices were made , '' Belmar said . `` This individual could have complied , he could have ran away , he could have dropped the gun . ''
The shooting sparked a new wave of unrest in the region , which has been wracked by anxiety following the August shooting of Michael Brown , 18 , in nearby Ferguson . Following Tuesday β s shooting , a crowd of 200 to 300 people swarmed the gas station , with four people arrested and a police officer sustaining a leg injury , said Belmar , who is white .
St. Louis County Police released surveillance video today showing the moments before the shooting . The officer can be seen parking his vehicle , and a conversation ensues . The man β s arm appears to be raised -- but the video is inconclusive , captured from the side of the building a considerable distance away .
Police also released a second and third video this afternoon showing surveillance footage captured from other angles of the gas station parking lot . However , in the second video , neither the teen nor the police officer are clearly visible in the footage at the moment the shooting happens , but one man can be seen running away .
In the third video , the police officer can be seen stumbling backward as he fires shots and then falling . Police said that out of respect for the teen 's family , he has been cropped out of the clip .
Belmar said the officer was assigned a body camera on Tuesday , but was not wearing it at the time of the shooting . Additionally , the vehicle 's dashboard camera was likely not in use .
The officer -- a six-year veteran of the Berkeley police department , whose name will not be released until after the investigation but has been revealed as 34 years old and white -- fired three rounds , with one round striking the victim , Belmar said .
Belmar declined to release the victim β s name or race , but said the man β s criminal record includes assault and armed robbery charges .
Gov . Jay Nixon , who coordinated the state 's response to the Ferguson protests , released a statement in support of the officer this morning .
`` The events in Berkeley are a reminder that law enforcement officers have a difficult , and often dangerous , job in protecting themselves and law-abiding citizens , '' he said in the statement .
Toni Martin identified the victim as her son , Antonio Martin . Toni Martin told reporters at the scene that her son was with his girlfriend at the time of the shooting and refuted police claims that her son was carrying a gun .
He was trying to get his life back on track after getting expelled from school , she said . | 60d607d761e0a373 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
middle_east | CNBC | https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/08/blinken-says-us-has-not-yet-seen-evidence-of-iran-involvement-in-hamas-attack-on-israel.html | Blinken says U.S. has βnot yet seenβ evidence of Iran involvement in Hamas attack on Israel | 2023-10-10 | Middle East, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Israel Hamas Violence, Facts And Fact Checking | U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 22, 2023 in Washington. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that it is not clear there was any involvement by Iran in the weekend attack by Hamas on Israel. Iran has long been a supporter of Hamas, the group designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, whose attack on Saturday left at least 250 in Israel dead. "We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship," Blinken said on CNN's "State of the Union."Smoke billows following Palestinians' respond to Israeli airstrikes with rockets from Gaza, in Gaza City, Gaza on May 10, 2023. Ali Jadallah | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesSome Republican leaders have pointed to Iran as a cause of the attack. Rep Michael McCaul (R-TX) said later on CNN that "we do know that Iran was behind this" but did not specify whether he was talking about specific information on this weekend's attack or just the country's historic support of Hamas in general. One area of criticism of Blinken and the Biden administration has been the $6 billion the U.S. agreed in September to unfreeze for Iran to use only for humanitarian purposes as part of a swap of detainees. However, Blinken said Sunday that none of the $6 billion released to Iran has been spent. Blinken also said the U.S. is working to verify reports that Americans were killed or are missing from the attacks. He added there could be news about requests for additional aid for Israel from the U.S. later on Sunday.Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza City, on May 10, 2023. Mohammed Abed | AFP | Getty Images | 6f303d805108a812 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
culture | Slate | https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/12/weekly-standard-killed-no-trump-love-media.html | The Weekly Standardβs Dismantling Is Terrible News for Conservatism and Journalism | 2018-12-14 | culture | The Weekly Standard shut down on Friday after 23 years of publication . In an unceremonious execution , MediaDC , the magazine β s owner , instructed staff to clear out their desks by the end of the day . According to co-founder John Podhoretz , MediaDC chose to kill the outlet so it could strip-mine its assets and subscriber list . The shuttering of the flagship conservative publication is a deeply unfortunate development in an era when right-leaning media is increasingly obsequious toward Donald Trump and hesitant to criticize his abuses of power . No critic of the president should cheer the Weekly Standard β s demise .
To many progressives , Friday β s news may seem to be just desserts for a magazine that has long espoused what the left views as noxious policy proposals . And there is no doubt that the Weekly Standard has published more than its share of dubious , specious , and offensive articles . The magazine was closely aligned with the George W. Bush administration and , notoriously , vigorously promoted the catastrophic war in Iraq . Its LGBTQ coverage is reliably atrociousβrecall this 2009 classic titled β The Worst Thing About Gay Marriage , β which claims without evidence that the β most profound aspect of marriage β is β protecting and controlling the sexuality of the child-bearing sex . β
I could go on . The magazine is vehemently anti-abortion and anti-trans , pushing offensive falsehoods to mock and degrade transgender people . It has asserted that gay people , like me , who sought the right to marry will demand polyamory next . Writers routinely peddle climate change skepticism and denialism . These articles are dangerous and irresponsible .
There is obviously much to criticize here , and I do not expect liberals to praise a magazine that has derided their beliefs for more than two decades . But there is still nothing to celebrate about its untimely death . Over the last few years , the Weekly Standard has emerged as one of the very few conservative outlets to resist Trumpism , to defend a vision of conservatism that rejects Trump β s lawlessness , his authoritarian impulses , and his grotesque embrace of white nationalism . Even if the Never Trump movement represents a small segment of the Republican Party , it remains an important counter to the broader opportunistic conservative embrace of the president . And the Weekly Standard β s dissolution will only encourage other right-wing outlets to publish more irresponsible pro-Trump garbage .
That is not to say that every other conservative publication has entirely jettisoned its principles to defend Trump . If you β re interested in a reasonable take on , say , the Robert Mueller investigation or Trump β s trade wars , you can read David French in National Review or Gabriel Malor in the Federalist . But these voices are ever rarer and lonelier . As I write , the top story on National Review is an absurd defense of Michael Cohen β s crimes , which argues that prosecutors are β twisting campaign-finance law β to secure his conviction . Its purpose is not to defend Cohen himself , but the criminal acts to which he has confessed and in which he has implicated Trump . The Federalist has posted a similar article , as well as a dark warning that the FBI is β hiding the truth β about Michael Flynn , replete with a baseless intimation that Mueller β s team might be destroying documents that could exonerate Flynn .
The Federalist appears to be the new model for conservative media , a truly depressing development given its almost unrelenting dishonesty . In May , the Week β s Damon Linker wrote a devastating critique of the magazine β s many lies about the FBI . The Federalist , Linker wrote , β is a leading disseminator of pro-Trump conspiracies and up-is-down , funhouse-mirror distortions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller β s investigation into Russian election meddling and potential Trump involvement. β If anything , that β s an understatement . The Federalist led the push to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein , who long oversaw the probe . It has claimed , over and over again , that Mueller is leading a partisan β witch hunt. β Its authors have decried his β obsessive pursuit β of the president and condemned Mueller as β the clown prince of federal law enforcement. β At every turn , the Federalist seeks to reinforce Trump β s claim that the Mueller probe is illegitimate , if not illegal .
The Weekly Standard , by contrast , has remained profoundly skeptical toward Trump .
Click over to National Review and you β ll find a more mixed bag ; French , for instance , writes eloquently and accurately about the investigation and its achievements . But his work is countered by Andrew McCarthy , a fantasist who describes Rosenstein as a β weasel , β declared that Mueller β stacked his staff with partisans , β wrote that Paul Manafort β s conviction was β good news for President Trump , β claimed Mueller set up Trump for a β perjury trap , β and indicated that the FBI is corrupt . McCarthy also champions the narrative that the Steele dossier β was the driving force behind the TrumpβRussia investigation , β which is false .
There are plenty more examples . Byron York at the Washington Examiner humiliates himself by lying to help Trump and spreading conspiracy theories about the FBI . Kimberley Strassel , a member of the Wall Street Journal β s editorial board , writes toxic pro-Trump nonsense that sometimes contradicts the paper β s excellent reporting . I am sure that there are reasonable people at the Examiner and the Journal who are embarrassed by this drivel and wish their outlet did not publish it . But publish they do , aiding Trump β s effort to assault the integrity of Mueller , Rosenstein , and the FBI .
The Weekly Standard , by contrast , has remained profoundly skeptical toward Trump . Its reporting on the latest developments in the Russia probe are truthful and perceptive . One of its very last articles , published Friday , celebrates Trump β s inability to impede the investigation . There are exceptionsβits executive editor , Fred Barnes , has penned some very silly criticisms of the special counsel . But the magazine has not slipped into the Federalist β s fever dream . It does not often carry water for the president and does not hesitate to condemn his dumbest ideas . The Weekly Standard is , in short , a conservative magazine rooted in reality .
Those are now in short supply . And while it is apparently untrue that the Weekly Standard bled readers because of its Never Trump stanceβits web traffic has reportedly increasedβother conservative outlets may view its death as a warning : Stray too far from the Trump party line , and readers will abandon you . We will see more writers like Byron York and Kimberley Strassel , and fewer like Weekly Standard star Haley Byrd , one of the finest congressional reporters working today .
It is healthy to have a magazine that challenges both Democrats and Republicans in good faithβa conservative outlet that progressives can not simply write off as an asinine pro-Trump propaganda machine . And it is encouraging to know that the entire conservative movement has not latched itself to Trump β s cult of personality . American conservatism will always be with us , but Trump will not . What happens after he is gone ? Will the Republican Party indefinitely adopt his cruelty , his know-nothingism , his contempt for the law ? Or will a saner faction assert dominance in the GOP ? The Weekly Standard made me optimistic for the latter possibility . Its demise suggests that the Trumpists will win out . | 01siLGUAxjHtoFED | 0 | Culture | -0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
media_bias | National Review | https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/fact-checker-denies-that-planned-parenthood-is-an-abortion-business/ | Fact-Checker Denies That Planned Parenthood Is an Abortion Business | 2020-05-12 | media_bias | A member of the New York Police Department stands outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in N.Y. , November 28 , 2015 . ( Andrew Kelly/Reuters )
Thanks to the Media Research Center , which has highlighted a recent fact-check from USA Today and the Green Bay Press-Gazette . In the article , local reporter Haley BeMiller considers the claim β made in a 2019 LifeNews.com article β that Wisconsin β s Democratic governor Tony Evers β wants to force residents to fund Planned Parenthood abortion business β and rates it β partly false . β
In her effort to debunk LifeNews , she offers two falsehoods . First , she attests that taxpayer money wouldn β t fund abortion because Wisconsin has its own version of the Hyde Amendment , a federal rider added to spending bills to prevent tax dollars from directly reimbursing for elective abortion procedures .
β Wisconsin generally can β t use state or federal tax dollars to pay for abortions . And that wouldn β t have changed under Evers β proposal , β BeMiller writes , adding , β Evers β proposal would have restored funding β cut under former Gov . Scott Walker β that went to Planned Parenthood , which provides abortions . But the money never made it into the final budget , and even if it had , it would have generally been barred from paying for abortions . β
Here BeMiller repeats an error often found in arguments for government funding of Planned Parenthood . While Hyde and similar state policies prevent direct reimbursement of elective abortions through Medicaid , they do nothing to prevent money from being fungible . If Planned Parenthood receives state funding in Wisconsin , and if Planned Parenthood affiliates in the state perform abortions , taxpayer money is necessarily funding abortion , even if that money doesn β t directly reimburse the organization for the cost of any particular abortion procedure .
Second , BeMiller parrots the myth β debunked in turn by both Slate and the Washington Post β that abortion is just 3 percent of what Planned Parenthood does . β Another part of the claim labeled Planned Parenthood an abortion business . That caught our eye , β she writes , before pointing out that , according to the group β s own reports , β abortions made up 3.5 % of [ its ] services , nationwide . β
She concludes , β Even at that rate , Planned Parenthood is still the largest provider of abortions in the United States . But to call it an abortion business is a stretch , as the organization provides other services far more often . β
To understand why this is wrong , consider how Planned Parenthood obtains this statistic : by calculating abortion as a percentage of its services rather than calculating what percentage of its clients show up primarily for an abortion . For instance , if a woman comes to Planned Parenthood for an abortion but , while she β s there , obtains a pregnancy test , an STD test , and a well-woman exam , and is given contraceptives on her way out the door , the organization would record the abortion she received as just one-fifth of the β services β Planned Parenthood performed . This does little to capture the true part that abortion plays in Planned Parenthood β s business , nor does it acknowledge the fact that abortion is , by far , the most expensive procedure the group offers .
As BeMiller herself admits , Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the U.S. β and it β s not even close . The organization performed north of 345,000 abortions last year alone . According to statistics from the CDC and estimates from the Guttmacher Institute , that means Planned Parenthood performs somewhere between one-third and half of all the annual abortions in the country .
BeMiller says calling that organization an β abortion business β is a stretch . It β s a stretch to call it anything else . | 3MqnV4bUQ69PMVBv | 2 | Planned Parenthood | -0.8 | Abortion | 0.6 | Media Bias | 0.5 | Facts And Fact Checking | 0 | Fake News | 0 |
us_senate | The Hill | http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/385254-after-a-respite-cruz-again-questioning-mcconnells-strategies | After a respite, Cruz again questioning McConnellβs strategies | 2018-04-30 | us_senate | Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael ( Ted ) Edward CruzWarren goes local in race to build 2020 movement Trump holds chummy meeting with Turkey 's ErdoΔan Overnight Defense : Trump hosts ErdoΔan at White House | Says Turkish leader has 'great relationship with the Kurds ' | Highlights from first public impeachment hearing MORE ( R-Texas ) , who has been more of a team player since losing the 2016 GOP presidential primary to Donald Trump Donald John TrumpGOP senators balk at lengthy impeachment trial Warren goes local in race to build 2020 movement 2020 Democrats make play for veterans ' votes MORE , is reemerging as an agitator in the GOP conference .
Cruz is questioning Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison ( Mitch ) Mitchell McConnellGOP senators balk at lengthy impeachment trial Graham : Senate trial 'must expose the whistleblower ' Graham says Schiff should be a witness in Trump impeachment trial MORE β s ( R-Ky. ) strategy on the GOP 's 2018 agenda , which is to steer clear of partisan bills that don β t have Democratic support .
Cruz , who is up for reelection this year and faces a spirited challenger in Rep. Beto O β Rourke ( D ) , is leading a group of restive conservatives who want to vote on a budget resolution that would set up a special process β known as reconciliation β to allow the GOP to pass ambitious legislation , such as an ObamaCare repeal , with a simple majority .
β We have 254 days until Jan. 3 , 2019 . I believe we need to do everything humanly possible to deliver on the promises we made to voters and to score major substantive victories for the American people while we have majorities in both houses and a Republican president , β Cruz said last week .
β If we do that , we maximize the chances of keeping majorities in both houses because we β re enacting policies that make a real and positive difference in people β s lives , β he added .
Cruz worries the time for passing lasting legislative reforms might be limited given the widespread perception that Democrats have a good chance of winning back the House next year . Those concerns are shared by many conservatives in the House , who communicate regularly with Cruz .
Cruz gave a presentation to the GOP conference last week in an attempt to rally colleagues behind the idea of passing a budget with reconciliation instructions .
Without reconciliation , it takes 60 votes to pass controversial legislation through the Senate .
McConnell , however , shot the idea down , according to two senators .
β Mitch pushed back . He said , β I agree with where you want to go , but we have a math problem , β β one source said .
It was the first time in a while that Cruz second-guessed McConnell β s leadership in front of the entire GOP conference , although colleagues said he did it respectfully .
β We need to keep going , β he said . β We need to finish the job at ObamaCare . We need to keep simplifying the tax code and lowering taxes . We need to keep lifting regulation so we see more jobs at higher wages for working men and women . β
It β s possible Cruz β s efforts to tout an ambitious 2018 agenda is intended to spur on conservatives he β ll need to come to the polls this fall .
Cruz is favored to win reelection in November , but Democrats have high hopes of taking him out and have a fundraising magnet in O β Rourke , who raised a staggering $ 6.7 million in the first quarter of 2018 .
If Cruz is in a tight race this fall , he might need additional funds from the National Republican Senatorial Committee , which is run by GOP leadership .
A senior Republican aide said Cruz β s ambitious strategy is unrealistic because it would require the entire GOP conference to vote for the same budget resolution and then to agree on a plan to repeal ObamaCare or other major reforms .
It would be a heavy lift given the ideological differences between conservatives such as Sen. Rand Paul Randal ( Rand ) Howard PaulSenate GOP waves Trump off early motion to dismiss impeachment charges McConnell discounts quick dismissal of Trump impeachment articles : 'We 'll have to have a trial ' GOP motions to subpoena whistleblower MORE ( R-Ky. ) and moderates such as Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsLawmakers under pressure to pass benefits fix for military families Senate GOP waves Trump off early motion to dismiss impeachment charges GOP senators warn against Trump firing intelligence community official MORE ( R-Maine ) , the staffer argued .
β If Sen. Cruz has a plan that can get 50 votes , he should show it to us , β the source said .
A spokesman for McConnell declined to comment on the meeting .
Republicans control 51 seats , but with Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCain2020 Democrats make play for veterans ' votes The Memo : Democrats confront prospect of long primary Defending their honor as we hear their testimony MORE ( R-Ariz. ) away from the Senate indefinitely while he undergoes treatment for brain cancer , they have an effective majority of 50 .
Sen. Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann MurkowskiHillicon Valley : Federal inquiry opened into Google health data deal | Facebook reports millions of post takedowns | Microsoft shakes up privacy debate | Disney plus tops 10M sign-ups in first day Senators press FDA tobacco chief on status of vaping ban Federal inquiry opened into Google health data deal MORE ( Alaska ) , one of three Republicans who voted last year to kill the so-called skinny repeal of ObamaCare , says she doesn β t want to plunge back into the health-care debate .
β I am not enthusiastic about that at all . Not at all , β she said . β It would be one thing if somebody had the plan . What β s the proposal ? Are we just going to go through an exercise with no plan ? We did that and it didn β t work too well . β
But Cruz argues the biggest legislative accomplishments during Trump β s first 15 months of office have come by circumventing Democratic filibusters .
They include confirming Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch , the passage of tax reform , the opening up of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve to drilling and the repeal of more than a dozen Obama-era regulations under the Congressional Review Act .
During Wednesday β s meeting , Cruz argued passionately for what he sees as a big opportunity by showing colleagues a graphic that listed a variety of bills sponsored by different members of the GOP conference that he thinks could pass under reconciliation , according to a senator who attended the meeting .
β I think there β s a great deal we can do that would command 50 votes , β he told βββ .
McConnell and Cruz have had a history of clashing in recent years .
Their highest profile standoff came in the fall of 2013 , when Cruz mobilized a group of conservative House members to vote down any spending bill that didn β t block the implementation of ObamaCare .
McConnell wasn β t a fan of the strategy , which resulted in a 16-day government shutdown , and vowed it wouldn β t happen again , proclaiming , β There β s no education in the second kick of a mule . β
Their relationship hit a low point in 2015 , when Cruz accused McConnell on the floor of lying about what he believed was a secret deal with Democrats to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank .
A group of Senate Republicans agree with Cruz that leadership needs to get more aggressive .
β A lot of us are pushing it , in particular on the block grant to the states on health care , β said Sen. Ron Johnson Ronald ( Ron ) Harold JohnsonOvernight Health Care : Trump officials making changes to drug pricing proposal | House panel advances flavored e-cig ban | Senators press FDA tobacco chief on vaping ban Why Republicans are afraid to call a key witness in the impeachment inquiry Lindsey Graham basks in the impeachment spotlight MORE ( R-Wis. ) .
He referred to a proposal he has sponsored along with Sens . Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamGOP senators balk at lengthy impeachment trial Graham : Senate trial 'must expose the whistleblower ' Graham says Schiff should be a witness in Trump impeachment trial MORE ( R-S.C. ) , Bill Cassidy William ( Bill ) Morgan CassidyUN Security Council to meet after Turkey launches Syria offensive Trump faces growing GOP revolt on Syria To win the federal paid family leave debate , allow states to lead the way MORE ( R-La . ) and Dean Heller Dean Arthur HellerThis week : Barr back in hot seat over Mueller report Trump suggests Heller lost reelection bid because he was 'hostile ' during 2016 presidential campaign Trump picks ex-oil lobbyist David Bernhardt for Interior secretary MORE ( R-Nev. ) that would dismantle ObamaCare and convert its funding to health block grants to states .
β I β ve been pushing for a budget and budget reconciliation procedures forever , β Johnson added .
Republicans who favor this approach acknowledge there isn β t yet consensus within their conference on how to proceed on ObamaCare . | MVhd5RrE4ofijbXN | 1 | Mitch McConnell | -0.3 | Ted Cruz | 0.2 | Politics | -0.1 | US Senate | 0 | null | null |
coronavirus | Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/28/covid-vaccine-variant-south-africa/ | Novavax vaccine protects against coronavirus in variant hot spots but proved less effective against strain in South Africa | 2021-01-28 | Coronavirus, Safety And Sanity During COVID-19, Coronavirus Vaccine | clockThis article was published more than 4 years ago A coronavirus vaccine made by Maryland biotech company Novavax proved effective at stopping symptomatic infections in global hot spots where concerning variants are dominant, the company announced Thursday. But warning signs lurked amid those findings: The protective effect of the vaccine was substantially muted in South Africa, where a worrisome virus variant is in wide circulation. | c312edf92833d281 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
opioid_crisis | Guest Writer - Right | https://townhall.com/capitol-voices/congressmanpaulgosar/2019/02/08/its-time-to-call-the-opioid-crisis-what-it-is--a-national-emergency-n2541046 | OPINION: It's Time to Call the Opioid Crisis What It Is: A National Emergency | 2019-02-08 | opioid_crisis | Americans were rightfully outraged when almost 3,000 Americans were killed on 9-11 and another 6,000 injured . As a nation , we declared war in Afghanistan and have suffered more than 2,200 killed and over 20,000 injured . We value life in our country , and we do not turn a blind eye when our citizens are killed and harmed . That is why the President was correct in August 2017 when he declared the opioid crisis a national health emergency . The CDC reported that there were 70,237 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2017 . The numbers remained just as high in 2018 . 70,000 dead Americans per year is a national crisis of unprecedented proportion . Just recently , border patrol agents in Arizona confiscated the β largest seizure in U.S. history of fentanyl , the synthetic opioid blamed for the majority of overdose deaths β and the overwhelming majority of which comes from Mexico .
It is time to elevate this national health emergency to a National Emergency under the National Emergency Act and focus on the source of opioids that are killing our people -- drug running from Mexico . Without an effective barrier , drug traffickers routinely and successfully cross the southern border to deliver death to Americans . There are currently 32 National Emergencies declared , not one of which is killing even one U.S. Citizen . With the yearly carnage of our people exceeding the entire death toll for the 12-year Vietnam War , there is no rational basis to conclude this isn β t a national emergency .
Here are the benefits of declaring a national emergency : First , that is what this is . 70,000 dead year-in and year-out is a catastrophe of unprecedented levels . Second , in addition to the opioid deaths , due to drugs coming from Mexico , we have the problem of gang members and criminals sashaying across the border and inflicting mayhem in our nation . Every death and injury inflicted upon an American citizen by an illegal alien is a preventable crime if we had an effective barrier . Illegal aliens do not belong in our country and have no right to be here in the first place . Thousands of Americans would still be alive today , reunited with their families , but for the millions of illegal aliens here committing crimes on a daily basis .
This seems simple , tens of thousands of Americans are dying , and therefore it should be considered a national emergency . But the open border globalists crowd doesn β t seem to care about the families and communities being torn apart by the river of narcotics flowing from south of the border . Indeed , many are misguided and blame their doctors or pharmacies when the carnage is from illegal heroin and fentanyl .
Let β s look at the 32 other National Emergencies that are ongoing . On November 3 , 1997 , President Clinton declared a National Emergency , blocking Sudanese Government Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Sudan . No one complained about this .
On October 27 , 2006 , President Bush declared a National Emergency , Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . This was in response to violence around the Congolese presidential election runoff .
Just last week , the President declared a National Emergency with EO 13857 , Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency with Respect to Venezuela . Not only was this national emergency not condemned , but it is also being cheered by the majority of the D.C. swamp . Not one of these so called emergencies have resulted in an American death . Meanwhile , over 100 Americans per day die from illegal drugs from Mexico .
The question must now be asked , why is the D.C. swamp against a national emergency being declared to protect American citizens in their home , but cheer when a national emergency is used for an international issue with no impact on the lives of U.S. citizens ? The President should do what is right and declare an emergencyβbecause it is .
Congressman Gosar represents a border district as part of the 4th Congressional District in Arizona , including the Yuma Sector . A member of the House Freedom Caucus , he has been an advocate for secure borders since taking office in 2011 . | zEAsPe3WHW5J5IF0 | 2 | Opioid Crisis | 0.8 | Public Health | 0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | John Stossel | https://reason.com/archives/2016/09/28/the-debate-i-heard | OPINION: The Debate I Heard | 2016-09-28 | Debates, Presidential Elections, Elections | I watched Monday 's presidential debate . But what I heard was different from what Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton seemed to say .
When Clinton said , `` I want us to invest in you , '' what I heard was , `` I will spend your money better than you will . '' Also , I heard , `` I will spend lots of your money ! ''
When Trump said our economic problems are China 's fault , what I heard was , `` Blaming China wins me votes . ''
When Clinton told Trump , `` My father⦠printed drapery fabrics , '' what I heard was , `` Donald , you are a spoiled rich kid . ''
When Trump replied , `` My father gave me a very small loan , '' I heard Trump saying , `` Anything less than $ 200 million is a pittance . '' ( It 's actually not clear what Trump received from his dad . Trump claims it was $ 1 million ; others say $ 200 million . Anyway , is a million dollars a `` small '' loan '' ? )
When Clinton said , `` I 'm going to have a special prosecutor⦠to enforce the trade deals we have , '' I heard , `` Kiss my ring and pay my foundation if you want your trade deal approved ! ''
When Trump said President Obama has `` doubled '' our debt , I swear I heard Trump promise , `` I 'll triple it ! ''
When Clinton said , `` I think it 's time that the wealthy and corporations paid their fair share , '' what I heard was , `` Good thing Bill and I are 'broke , ' because we 're going to soak the rich like they 've never been soaked before . ''
When Clinton said Trump 's taxes `` must be something really important , even terrible , that he 's trying to hide , '' what I heard was , `` My emails , on the other hand , were just a minor mistake and nothing I 'm trying to hideβnext question ? ''
When Trump said , `` I was the one that got ( Obama ) to produce the birth certificate , and I think I did a good job , '' what I heard was , `` Since Hillary and her staff spread the lie first , I 'm blameless . ''
When Clinton said , `` Barack Obama is a man of great dignity , '' I swear I heard her add quietly , `` despite me smearing him in 2008 . ''
When Trump said , `` I was just endorsed ( by 200 ) admirals and generals , '' what I heard was , `` I wish members of the military supported me the way they support Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson . ''
When Clinton said , `` Putin is playing a tough long game here , '' I swear I heard Hillary say , `` I guess my 'reset ' with Russia was a bad idea . ''
When Clinton said she 'll `` do much more with our tech companies '' to fight ISIS , what I heard was , `` I 'll force Facebook and Twitter to shut down parts of the internet . ''
When Clinton said she 'll `` take out al-Qaeda leadership , '' what I heard was , `` I do n't know exactly who they are , but I 'll kill a bunch of military-age males . ''
When Trump said , `` I did not support the war in Iraq , '' what I heard was , `` β¦ except when I did . ''
When Clinton said , `` A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes , '' I heard , `` A man provoked by a tweet should not be near the nuclear codes . '' ( Clinton got some things right . )
When Trump said , `` My strongest asset is my temperament , '' I heard viewers laughing .
When Clinton complained that Trump `` said women do n't deserve equal pay unless they do as good a job as men , '' I wondered , `` So Hillary believes that women should get equal pay even when they do n't do as good a job ? ''
If only there were some way both Clinton and Trump could lose . Oh , rightβthere is ! Governor Gary Johnson 's in the race . But the most reliable predictor of future eventsβthe betting odds ( see ElectionBettingOdds.com ) βdoes n't give him much of a chance . The bettors do n't give Donald Trump a great chance either . As I write , Clinton is favored 68.7 percent to 29.6 percent .
During the debate , Trump 's odds dropped 5 percent . I did n't think he performed that badly , but I must be wrong . The bettors are generally right .
We may as well get used to hearing the title `` President Hillary Clinton . '' | 64d5b38e73d12d15 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | New York Times - News | http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/us/politics/hostage-deaths-show-risk-of-drone-strikes.html?ref=politics&_r=0 | Amid Errors, Obama Publicly Wrestles With Dronesβ Limits | 2015-04-25 | politics | Rarely has a president wrestled with the grim trade-offs of war as publicly and as agonizingly as Mr. Obama has over the last six years . He wanted to get away from the messy ground wars that his predecessor waged in Iraq and Afghanistan and institute a seemingly cleaner , more exacting form of war , one waged only when there was β near certainty β that civilians would not be hurt .
But the strike that killed Warren Weinstein , a 73-year-old American aid worker , and the Italian hostage , Giovanni Lo Porto , 37 , in January underscored that there is no such thing as near certainty in war , even one waged with precision instruments like the drones swarming the skies of places like Pakistan , Yemen and Somalia . The only near certainty of war is that innocents die and that presidents have to live with the consequences .
β I think he β s deeply conflicted , β said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California , the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee . β This is a president who won a Nobel Peace Prize and who understands the moral imperative of avoiding any civilian casualties , but who also takes his duties as commander in chief to protect the country very seriously . Those counterpressures are enormously difficult . β
Leon E. Panetta , who served Mr. Obama as C.I.A . director and then as defense secretary , said the president was especially engaged in counterterrorism operations and wanted regular briefings , always asking about civilian casualties . β You hit some of these targets , and you get a lot of people in a shot , and what you wind up doing is asking yourself , β Is every one of those guys you get a bad guy ? β β Mr. Panetta said .
And yet , for all of Mr. Obama β s achingly public struggle over the right approach to terrorism and war , he does not seem likely to overhaul his drone-oriented strategy . Reviews of the strike that killed the hostages may yield better ways to conduct the war β officials were already talking about forming a β fusion center β that would link agencies to deal with hostage situations β but aides gave no sense that Mr. Obama would embrace a wholesale shift . | eaCOMhLXGyiJYDd2 | 0 | Politics | 0.4 | Drones | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Newsmax (News) | http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Romney-Meeting-Trump-Looms/2016/11/19/id/759782/ | Romney Mum After Meeting With Trump | 2016-11-20 | White House, Politics | Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had little to say to reporters after meeting with President-elect Donald Trump for just over an hour Saturday afternoon.After coming out of the front door at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, and shaking hands with Trump, a non-smiling Romney told reporters that he'd had a "far-reaching conversation," particularly regarding various world leaders."We had a far-reaching conversation with regards to the various theaters in the world where there are interests of the U.S." Romney said. "We had a very thorough and in-depth discussion in the time we had and appreciate the chance to speak with the president-elect and look forward to the coming administration."Then the still grim-faced former Massachusetts governor walked away from reporters' shouted questions, got into a vehicle, and left without answering questions about speculation over whether they'd discussed his becoming Secretary of State.He also would not answer questions about if he'd take any other position in the administration, about whether he still thinks Trump is a "con artist," as he called him earlier this year, or if he and Trump had apologized to each other for their bitter words.Trump did not address the press at all, but went back inside the club while Romney was speaking with the press. Minutes later, he and Vice President-elect came out the door to greet former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee for another private meeting.Romney and Trump had an often-contentious relationship throughout the 2016 campaign, with Romney labeling Trump as a "phony, a fraud" during the 2016 campaign, and Trump calling Romney a "choke artist" for losing his election to President Barack Obama.Romney did extend an olive branch to Trump with a phone call to congratulate him for his win, but Trump so far has chosen mostly loyalists for key roles, including Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as chief of staff, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and retired Army Lieutenant Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser.However, for CIA director, Trump chose, Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo who initially backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for the GOP nomination. Trump also met this past week with Sen. Ted Cruz, who sparred fiercely with the eventual president-elect and who refused to endorse him even during a speech at the Republican National Convention.The meetings are sending a "clear signal" that Trump's appointments will not depend on political affiliations or loyalty to him, Republican National Committee spokesman and Trump transition team member Sean Spicer said Friday."He's met with Democrats, independents, Republicans," said Spicer. "His goal is to pick the highest quality and caliber of individuals to advance the agenda that will make the country better."No official reason has been announced for the meeting, and skeptics note that Romney does not have a great deal of foreign policy experience that would lend itself to his being named as Secretary of State.In addition, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump surrogate and close adviser, has widely been reported to be under top consideration for the spot.Romney also campaigned with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who had dropped out of the race in May.After that, Priebus urged Trump and Romney to reconcile their differences, but even this summer, Romney told CNN that Trump's "trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America."Romney's views on Russia will also likely clash with Trump's. President Barack Obama, during a debate against Romney in 2012, ridiculed him for basing his foreign policy on the 1980s after Romney warned of the growing threat of Russia.Meanwhile, Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his leadership skills, and the Russian leader was one of the first world leaders to congratulate the new president-elect on his victory.But while some are seeing Romney's meeting with Trump as a sign of party cooperation, others, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren ridiculed the thought of Romney becoming part of a Trump administration.Warren sent Romney a tweet Friday, including a photo collage of "Donald Trump's Cabinet Shortlist," a photograph that included just four women:Gov @MittRomney: when you're meeting with @realDonaldTrump, maybe you could bring your binders full of women with you? pic.twitter.com/4tJdYxTchc β Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) November 18, 2016She also asked him if "maybe you could bring your binders full of women with you," a reference to Romney's use of the phrase "binders full of women" to answer a debate question about the number of women he'd reviewed for jobs while he was still governor.Trump arrived Friday night at Bedminster, reports NJ.com, for a series of meetings that will also include New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who lives just 10 miles away from the private golf club, on Sunday.Christie was demoted to vice chair of Trump's transition team last week, but it remains unclear if he'll be offered a position in Trump's administration. On Thursday, Christie said he expects to finish his final term in office, which will end in 2018, but did not rule out a role in Trump's administration.Trump is also scheduled to meet with retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, a possible contender for Secretary of Defense. | e125f0d193824fef | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
terrorism | Christian Science Monitor | http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0424/Boston-bombings-Who-s-the-mysterious-Misha?nav=89-csm_category-leadStory | Boston bombings: Who's the mysterious 'Misha'? | 2013-04-24 | terrorism | In the years before the Boston Marathon bombings , Tamerlan Tsarnaev fell under the influence of a new friend , a Muslim convert who steered the religiously apathetic young man toward a strict strain of Islam , family members said .
Under the tutelage of a friend known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha , Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music , his family said . He began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq . He turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 , 2001 , and Jews controlled the world .
`` Somehow , he just took his brain , '' said Tamerlan 's uncle , Ruslan Tsarni , who recalled conversations with Tamerlan 's worried father about Misha 's influence . Efforts over several days by The Associated Press to identify and interview Misha have been unsuccessful .
Tamerlan 's relationship with Misha could be a clue in understanding the motives behind his religious transformation and , ultimately , the attack itself . Two U.S. officials say he had no tie to terrorist groups .
Throughout his religious makeover , Tamerlan maintained a strong influence over his siblings , including Dzhokhar , who investigators say carried out the deadly attack by his older brother 's side , killing three and injuring 264 people .
`` They all loved Tamerlan . He was the eldest one and he , in many ways , was the role model for his sisters and his brother , '' said Elmirza Khozhugov , 26 , the ex-husband of Tamerlan 's sister , Ailina . `` You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say , 'Tamerlan said this , ' and 'Tamerlan said that . ' Dzhokhar loved him . He would do whatever Tamerlan would say .
`` Even my ex-wife loved him so much and respected him so much , '' said Khozhugov . `` I 'd have arguments with her and if Tamerlan took my side , she would agree : 'OK , if Tamerlan said it . ' ''
Khozhugov said he was close to Tamaran when he was married and they kept in touch for a while but drifted apart in the past two years or so . He spoke to the AP from his home in Almaty , Kazakhstan . A family member in the United States provided the contact information .
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout Friday . Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill , and he could face the death penalty if convicted .
`` Of course I was shocked and surprised that he was Suspect No . 1 , '' Khozhugov said , recalling the days after the bombing when the FBI identified Tamerlan as the primary suspect . `` But after a few hours of thinking about it , I thought it could be possible that he did it . ''
Based on preliminary written interviews with Dzhokar in his hospital bed , U.S. officials believe the brothers were motivated by their religious views . It has not been clear , however , what those views were .
As authorities try to piece together that information , they are touching on a question asked after so many terrorist plots : What turns someone into a terrorist ?
The brothers emigrated in 2002 or 2003 from Dagestan , a Russian republic that has become an epicenter of the Islamic insurgency that spilled over from the region of Chechnya .
They were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam , the religion 's largest sect . They were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion , Khozhugov said .
Then , in 2008 or 2009 , Tamerlan met Misha , a slightly older , heavyset bald man with a long reddish beard . Khozhugov did n't know where they 'd met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together . Misha was an Armenian native and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend , family members said .
Once , Khozhugov said , Misha came to the family home outside Boston and sat in the kitchen , chatting with Tamerlan for hours .
`` Misha was telling him what is Islam , what is good in Islam , what is bad in Islam , '' said Khozhugov , who said he was present for the conversation . `` This is the best religion and that 's it . Mohammed said this and Mohammed said that . ''
The conversation continued until Tamerlan 's father , Anzor , came home from work .
`` It was late , like midnight , '' Khozhugov said . `` His father comes in and says , 'Why is Misha here so late and still in our house ? ' He asked it politely . Tamerlan was so much into the conversation he did n't listen . ''
Khozhugov said Tamerlan 's mother , Zubeidat , told him not to worry .
`` 'Do n't interrupt them , ' '' Khozhugov recalled the mother saying . `` 'They 're talking about religion and good things . Misha is teaching him to be good and nice . ' ''
As time went on , Tamerlan and his father argued about the young man 's new beliefs .
`` When Misha would start talking , Tamerlan would stop talking and listen . It upset his father because Tamerlan would n't listen to him as much , '' Khozhugov said . `` He would listen to this guy from the mosque who was preaching to him . ''
Anzor became so concerned that he called his brother , worried about Misha 's effects .
`` I heard about nobody else but this convert , '' Tsarni said . `` The seed for changing his views was planted right there in Cambridge . ''
It was not immediately clear whether the FBI has spoken to Misha or was attempting to .
Tsarnaev became an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda , two U.S. officials said . He read Inspire magazine , an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida 's Yemen affiliate .
Tamerlan loved music and , a few years ago , he sent Khozhugov a song he 'd composed in English and Russian . He said he was about to start music school .
Six weeks later , the two men spoke on the phone . Khozhugov asked how school was going .
`` Misha said it 's not really good to create music . It 's not really good to listen to music , '' Tamerlan said , according to Khozhugov .
Tamerlan took an interest in Infowars , a conspiracy theory website . Khozhugov said Tamerlan was interested in finding a copy of `` The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion , '' a piece of anti-Semitic literature claiming a Jewish plot to take over the world .
`` He never said he hated America or he hated the Jews , '' Khozhugov said . `` But he was fairly aggressive toward the policies of the U.S. toward countries with Muslim populations . He disliked the wars . ''
One of the brothers ' neighbors , Albrecht Ammon , recently recalled an encounter in which Tamerlan argued about U.S. foreign policy , the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq , and religion .
Ammon said Tamerlan described the Bible as a `` cheap copy '' of the Quran , used to justify wars with other countries .
`` He had nothing against the American people , '' Ammon said . `` He had something against the American government . ''
Khozhugov said Tamerlan did not know much about Islam beyond what he found online or what he heard from Misha .
`` Misha was important , '' he said . `` Tamerlan was searching for something . He was searching for something out there . ''
Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox . By signing up , you agree to our Privacy Policy | mx1g0yKPZN2WIGW6 | 1 | Boston Bombing | 0.2 | Terrorism | 0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
israel | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/15/world/meast/gaza-israel-strike/index.html?hpt=hp_c1 | Rockets pound Israel, Gaza as Netanyahu alleges 'double war crime' | 2012-11-15 | israel | Story highlights Israel says 422 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel in past two days
Both sides tweet photos of children struck by the violence
Explosions rumbled through Gaza City all night into Friday , and shortly after sunup , two detonations landed just 500 to 600 yards away from CNN 's team sending it running for cover inside the hotel .
A litany of bombardments provided for a sleepless night of hearing and feel incoming ordinance exploding and watching rockets leaving Gaza for Israel .
Falling bombs made doors clatter and sometimes even one 's bones . Clouds of smoke sprouted into the sky paralleling the repetition of thunderous booms .
New destruction will await Egypt 's new Prime Minister Hesham Kandil , when he arrives Friday morning in Gaza to meet with Palestinian officials .
Israel reported three people were killed , and Palestinians reported 19 deaths , including at least three killed late Thursday . Hamas gave conflicting information as to how many of them were Hamas militants .
At least 422 rockets from Gaza have been fired into Israel since `` Operation Pillar of Defense '' began Wednesday , the Israeli military said . Israel 's Iron Dome defense system has intercepted 130 , the Israel Defense Forces said . The al-Qassam Brigade , Hamas ' military arm , said on its Twitter feed that it had shot 527 projectiles at Israel in that time .
One rocket struck an open area near Rishon LeZion , an Israeli city with more than 200,000 residents just south of Tel Aviv , the IDF said .
JUST WATCHED Israel at a tipping point ? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Israel at a tipping point ? 05:49
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JUST WATCHED Israel , Hamas trade shots on Twitter Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Israel , Hamas trade shots on Twitter 01:50
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Also , air sirens went off inside and outside the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv . The building was evacuated briefly , and employees were allowed back in when the sirens stopped . An explosion was heard far off in the distance .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the building at the time of the evacuation , ministry officials said .
Israel has targeted more than 300 `` terror sites '' in Gaza , the IDF said . The military said it targeted scores of `` medium and long range rocket launch and infrastructure sites across the Gaza Strip . '' The Israeli navy has taken aim at targets along Gaza 's shoreline , the IDF said .
Airstrikes continued overnight , with planes striking sites in Gaza City .
Sources with Hamas , which controls the government in Gaza , and Palestinian Islamic Jihad said that more than 140 strikes had hit Gaza .
The al-Qassam Brigade said its operatives downed a military drone east of Gaza . An Israeli military spokeswoman told CNN that no IDF aircraft was shot down .
At least three Israelis were killed and four were wounded when a rocket struck an apartment building in the town of Kiryat Malakhi on Thursday , an Israeli police spokesman said .
Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich tweeted a photo that she said was a baby wounded from a rocket attack in Israel . The baby 's face is blurred , but the child appears to be spattered with blood .
The al-Qassam Brigade tweeted a screen shot from Hamas-run al Aqsa TV , showing the mangled body of a child . `` Israel 's military kills Palestinian children in cold blood in # Gaza , '' the tweet said .
Al-Aqsa TV quoted the health ministry as saying 19 people had been killed , among them six children and two `` elderly . ''
The channel said more than 180 people have been wounded since the Israeli strikes began this week in Gaza . Israel has reported several people wounded , including another three soldiers injured Thursday morning by rockets from Gaza .
`` We are defending ourselves , '' he said , arguing that Netanyahu was looking to cement support in advance of an election in two months .
JUST WATCHED Rocket fire escalates in Israel , Gaza Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Rocket fire escalates in Israel , Gaza 04:04
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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak denied that any politics are involved in the decision .
Speaking to CNN , Barak said Israel has destroyed most of the `` heavy long-range rockets '' used by militants in Gaza and is working to `` systematically destroy '' installations in which other rockets are produced .
Israeli forces are going after Hamas weapons , storage bunkers , weapons labs and workshops , an Israeli official told CNN . The official has direct knowledge of Israeli plans but declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information .
The Israeli army moved nearly a division 's worth of troops -- perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 -- to the border , the official said .
While multiple militant groups are behind the rocket attacks , Israel holds Hamas responsible ever since it took control of Gaza , Barak said .
Hamas ' military wing has claimed responsibility for numerous operations in the past . The U.S. government and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization .
Netanyahu issued a statement Thursday saying , `` In recent days and weeks , Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza have made normal life impossible for over 1 million Israelis . No government would tolerate a situation where nearly a fifth of its people live under a constant barrage of rockets and missile fire . ''
He added , `` The terrorists are committing a double war crime . They fire at Israeli civilians , and they hide behind Palestinian civilians . And by contrast , Israel takes every measure to avoid civilian casualties . ''
Ghazi Hamad , Hamas ' deputy foreign minister , told CNN that Hamas was sending rockets toward Israel 's population because Israel thinks `` that it is easy to kill people in Gaza , '' enter the area and `` do everything '' it wants in Gaza . `` We send a message to them that Gaza is not an easy bone . ... You ca n't eat Gaza in one minute . If you do something , we will react . ''
Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti said the Israeli government has `` proven that it is a government of war and not peace . ''
The sudden increase in violence has raised fears of a widening conflict that could lead to an Israeli ground assault .
Tony Blair , envoy for the Middle East Quartet , which is working to bring about a peace agreement , said on Thursday : `` I do n't think we should be of any doubt at all that if this situation continues and it escalates , it 's going to be really serious and tragic -- not just for Israelis and Palestinians , but actually it will cause a huge amount of upheaval right across the region , and this is a region , as you know , that does n't require more upheaval right now . ''
British Foreign Secretary William Hague issued a statement saying he is `` gravely concerned '' and calling on all sides to avoid civilian casualties .
`` Hamas bears principal responsibility for the current crisis . I utterly condemn rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel by Hamas and other armed groups . This creates an intolerable situation for Israeli civilians in southern Israel , who have the right to live without fear of attack from Gaza . The rocket attacks also risk worsening the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza , which is already precarious . ''
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , who leads the Palestinian Fatah movement based in the West Bank , is cutting short a visit to Europe to follow developments of `` the Israeli aggression on the Gaza strip , '' PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erakat said .
Israel says it has called thousands of residents in Gaza to warn them of strikes and dropped leaflets in Gaza warning Palestinian civilians to `` avoid being present in the vicinity of Hamas operatives , '' the IDF said .
It also uses `` roof knocking '' -- targeting a building `` with a loud but nonlethal bomb that warns civilians that they are in the vicinity of a weapons cache or other target . This method is used to allow all residents to leave the area before the IDF targets the site with live ammunition . ''
At one point Thursday morning , 13 rockets were fired in quick succession from Gaza into Israel . A CNN crew could see trails of smoke as they reported from the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing on Gaza 's northern border .
The crew was forced to take cover after rockets struck near the border crossing .
Later , reporting from Gaza City , the crew witnessed airstrikes and plumes of black smoke in many parts of the city .
The escalating violence is likely to further erode Israel 's fragile relationship with Egypt , which recalled its ambassador to Israel on Wednesday in protest over the ongoing strikes . It also delivered a formal protest to the Israeli government .
On Thursday , when asked by CNN 's Hala Gorani if treaties between Egypt and Israel are in danger , the chief of the Egyptian presidential cabinet said no .
`` Not at all . Because we have declared several times , repeatedly , that we abide by our international commitments , '' Mohamed Refa ' a al-Tahtawi said . `` But respecting a peace treaty does not mean to stay idle or indifferent to what is going on along our borders .
A spokesman for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy said the Arab League will meet Saturday in emergency session to discuss the violence .
`` Egypt is taking all diplomatic measures with all parties involved to reach some sort of immediate truce or cease fire , '' Yaser Ali added .
A senior official in U.S. President Obama 's administration told CNN that the White House is asking Egypt and Turkey -- two nations that have influence with Hamas -- to urge the group to de-escalate the rocket attacks .
But a Hamas deputy foreign minister told CNN : `` I am in touch with the Egyptians they are very angry and very upset because they feel that Israel put a knife in their back '' by attacking sites in Gaza .
Egypt 's Prime Minister Hesham Kandil will travel on Friday morning to Gaza with a team of presidential advisers and ministers to meet with Palestinian officials .
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon also will go to Egypt and Israel next week , because of the rising tensions between Israel and Hamas , a Western diplomat told CNN . The diplomat said the Secretary General has canceled a trip to Mozambique , Botswana , Seychelles and Mauritius to go to the Middle East . | 9iXIWdBVPrtv7w7N | 0 | Gaza | -1.3 | Israel | 0.5 | Middle East | -0.3 | null | null | null | null |
elections | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/15/democratic-debate-iowa-hillary-clinton-defense-ber/ | Hillary Clinton on defense; Bernie Sanders, Martin OβMalley attack in Dem debate | 2015-11-15 | elections | DES MOINES , Iowa β Hillary Rodham Clinton found herself on defense during Saturday β s Democratic debate as her two rivals , Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont and former Maryland Gov . Martin O β Malley , challenged her tenure as secretary of state and her culpability in the rise of the Islamic State , known by the acronym ISIS or ISIL .
β It can not be contained . it must be defeated , β Mrs. Clinton said of the Islamic State , which has claimed responsibility for the rampage by gunmen and suicide bombers Friday in Paris that killed at least 129 people and injured more than 350 others .
The attack shocked the world and became the focus of much of the Democratic presidential candidates β second debate , which was hosted by CBS News at Drake University .
The debate touched on other issues , with Mrs. Clinton and her closest rival , Mr. Sanders , a self-described socialist , clashing over whether Mrs. Clinton β s proposal for improving health care and reining in Wall Street were aggressive enough .
β Is health care a right for all people , or is it not ? β demanded Mr. Sanders . β I believe it is . β
Mrs. Clinton didn β t fire back , but she fiercely defended herself when Mr. Sanders implied that she was beholden to Wall Street because of the campaign donations she has received .
She said Wall Street supports her because as a U.S. senator from New York , she worked to help the financial district after the Sept. 11 , 2001 , terrorist attack on the World Trade Center .
β I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild . It was good for New York . It was good for the economy , and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country , β Mrs. Clinton said sternly .
On national security , Mrs. Clinton declared that the U.S. would lead an international effort to β root out β radical jihadi groups .
She also defended the foreign policy of President Obama , which she helped craft as secretary of state during his first term , saying the U.S. should be playing a supporting role , but β it can not be an American fight . β
β This can not be an American fight , although American leadership is essential , β she said .
β This is America β s fight , β said Mr. O β Malley , who is mired in low single digits in the polls far behind Mrs. Clinton , the front-runner and heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination .
Mr. O β Malley said the scourge of radical jihadis spreading from the Middle East was caused by intelligence failures over the past decades . He called for improved human intelligence to better anticipate emerging threats .
Mr. Sanders said Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia , Turkey and Jordan would have to get more involved in fighting the Islamic State .
β They are going to have to get their hands dirty , β he said .
Mrs. Clinton said Saudi Arabia and Jordan were helping the fight and exposing themselves to retaliation by jihadis in the process .
Mr. Sanders insisted that climate change was the top national security threat facing America and that climate change contributed to the spread of terrorism .
Mrs. Clinton was challenge by the moderators about whether she and the Obama administration had underestimated the Islamic State .
After all , Mr. Obama declared the Islamic State β contained β in an interview hours before the attack in Paris . In recent weeks , the terrorist group had been implicated in the downing of a Russian plane over Egypt and twin suicide bombings in Beirut .
Mrs. Clinton previously said she couldn β t have predicted the rise of the Islamic State .
Mrs. Clinton blamed the rise of the Islamic State on the Iraqis for allowing their country to fall apart and on Syrian President Bashar Assad for undertaking a bloody civil war while trying to hold on to power .
β I put that on Assad and on the Iraqis , β she said .
Mr. Sanders hit Mrs. Clinton for voting when she was a U.S. senator in favor of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 , arguing that it unraveled the region and resulted in the Islamic State and other conflicts .
Mr. Sanders , who voted against the war , has repeatedly leveled that criticism against Mrs. Clinton , but the Paris attack gave it added weight .
Mrs. Clinton said her vote had to be viewed in β historic context , β understanding the decades of terrorist attacks on the U.S. that culminated with the 9/11 attacks .
None of the Democratic candidates would endorse saying β America is at war with radical Islam , β as did Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida .
β I don β t think we are at war with Islam . I don β t think we are at war with all Muslims . I think we are war with jihadists , β Mrs. Clinton said .
Pressed to explain her reluctance to use the phrase , Mrs. Clinton said : β I don β t want us to be painting with too broad a brush . β
Mrs. Clinton said it wasn β t β particularly helpful β to risk alienating all Muslim people , who she said would be crucial allies in combating jihadi groups such as the Islamic State , which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks Friday .
The other two Democratic candidates agreed that the term β radical Islam β should be off limits .
β Let β s not fall into the trap of thinking that all of our Muslim-American neighbors in this country are somehow our enemies here , β Mr. O β Malley said .
Mrs. Clinton entered the debate as the clear favorite to win the nomination , making her the candidate on stage with the most to lose .
She recently steadied her campaign after a rough start and several difficult months in which she appeared rusty in interviews and struggled to put to rest the scandal over her exclusive use of a private email account for official business as secretary of state .
The scandal continues to dog her , including an FBI investigation of her handling of classified material in her email that could conceivably lead to criminal charges . She also must contend with the State Department β s monthly release of thousands of her emails in accordance with a court order , which keeps the issue in front of voters .
Still , Mrs. Clinton has reversed a steep drop in the polls and blunted the surprisingly strong challenge on the left from Mr. Sanders .
She enjoyed a 19-point lead over Mr. Sanders , 52 percent to 33 percent , among Democratic voters nationwide in a CBS News/New York Times poll released Thursday .
Mr. O β Malley continued to struggle at 5 percent in the poll . He picked up a percentage point or two since the field narrowed last month from six candidates to three , but he remained an afterthought for Mrs. Clinton and most voters .
Mrs. Clinton also has regained a double-digit lead in Iowa , home to the country β s first nominating contest and is jostling for the lead with Mr. Sanders in New Hampshire , home to the first primary and where Mr. Sanders surged into first place in August and September .
Mrs. Clinton recovered her footing in the race last month with a polished performance in the first debate that was held in Las Vegas and a solid performance standing up to an 11-hour grilling before the House Select Committee on Benghazi . The House panel is investigating the Sept. 11 , 2012 , terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi , Libya , that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans .
The events surrounding the attack and the role played by Mrs. Clinton , who was secretary of state at the time , remain a hot issue for Republicans .
Mrs. Clinton was asked in the debate whether there was another shoe to drop in the email scandal .
β After 11 hours , I think that β s pretty clear , β she said .
Mrs. Clinton has largely satisfied the party β s base that she was not at fault for the lax security at the compound nor for the mischaracterization of the attack by heavily armed militants as a spontaneous riot in response to an American-made Internet video that mocked Islam β s Prophet Muhammad .
Polls show that a majority of the general electorate doesn β t think Mrs. Clinton is honest or trustworthy .
The Benghazi issue and the terrorist attack in Paris highlight the challenges Mrs. Clinton will face defending her foreign policy record if Democrats pick her to go toe-to-toe with a Republican nominee in the general election . | SYzZmIYrBQ2AAzIT | 2 | Presidential Elections | 0.3 | Democratic Party | 0 | Debates | 0 | Elections | 0 | null | null |
healthcare | Newsmax | http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/reid-obamacare-exemption-congress/2013/04/25/id/501412 | Reid Denies Talks on Obamacare Exemption | 2013-04-25 | Healthcare | A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid denied a Politico report Thursday that lawmakers were considering exempting members of Congress and their staffs from Obamacare health insurance exchanges.Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson told The Hill that the Democratic leader said he has never considered exempting members and staff from the law β s insurance exchanges , and that β no legislative fix is necessary β to resolve the issue. β There are not now , have never been , nor will there ever be any discussions about exempting members of Congress or congressional staff from Affordable Care Act provisions that apply to any employees of any other public or private employer offering health care , β Jentleson said.The remarks by Reid β s aide , however , contradicted comments earlier in the day by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi , who confirmed reports that there were on-going talks on a possible Obamacare exclusion for congressional employees.Pelosi told reporters at a briefing that she has been working with House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer , who she said is participating in negotiations with leaders in the House and Senate concerning how lawmakers and congressional employees might be exempted from the healthcare program. β Whatever the outcome is , people have to be treated the same , β Pelosi said.Politico reported on Thursday that talks were prompted by concerns on Capitol Hill that staffers would have to pay 100 percent of their insurance premiums unless the Office of Personnel Management ( OPM ) rules the government can help subsidize their plans , just as it does now with their current coverage . The health law requires them to be covered by exchanges , like many other Americans , but it doesn β t address the federal subsidy issue.Requiring lawmakers and their staffs to join the exchanges could cost them thousands of dollars in new healthcare costs , which some members of Congress say could force congressional employees to leave their government jobs in search of higher-paying employment , according to Politico.Various proposals have reportedly been submitted to OPM , which will administer the benefits and decide whether and how lawmakers and their staffs will be covered . One proposal exempts lawmakers and their aides , while another exempts staff members , who currently receive a subsidy of up to 75 percent of their current premium costs , according to the Congressional Research Service.House Republicans said the Democratic maneuvering over the issue indicates just how confusing the Obamacare law is for most Americans. β The fact that Democratic leaders want to opt themselves out of the Obamacare exchanges shows that Sen. [ Max ] Baucus isn β t the only one who realizes the president β s healthcare law is a β train wreck , β β Michael Steel , House Speaker John Boehner β s spokesman , told βββ Thursday.He was referring to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus of Montana , who took a prominent role among Democrats in writing and passing Obamacare in 2010 . Baucus called the healthcare law a β train wreck β last week before announcing that he will not seek a seventh term in 2014.Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina weighed in on the matter Thursday as well. β Obamacare is a train wreck , β Graham said in a statement . β Congress shouldn β t be able to get out of Obamacare until everyone else does . β | d297120a2fd40ce3 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | NPR Online News | http://www.npr.org/2016/11/16/502020662/with-trump-win-gun-sellers-see-win-and-loss | With Trump Win, Gun Sellers See Win β And Loss ListenΒ· 3:33 | 2016-11-16 | gun_control_and_gun_rights | With Trump Win , Gun Sellers See Win β And Loss
It 's no secret that Donald Trump campaigned as a champion of gun rights , but a Trump administration poses both welcome relief and an immediate problem for the gun industry .
For Larry Cavener , who recently visited a new gun shop called Tactical Advantage in Overland Park , Kan. , this election means he can breathe easier .
`` This means that we 're not gon na be under siege for a few years , and it seems like it has been , '' Cavener says .
But the Obama years have actually been awesome for the U.S. gun industry . It has roughly doubled in size , according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation , an industry trade group .
Tactical Advantage is part of an Obama-era gun industry success story . Brad Bissey , behind the counter , says Obama 's executive order mandating background checks on more gun sales and proposals to limit military-style weapons have fueled gun sales .
`` You 're causing people that would n't normally buy a gun to buy two or three . The owner here , Craig , he had sold three rifles to one individual , just because of a possibility [ of a Clinton presidency ] , '' Bissey says .
The shop has only been open a month , and owner Craig Antovoni says customers have been spending big .
`` They were a little nervous thinking about Hillary getting in the office , and there 's been a run on the guns and parts , '' he says .
But Wednesday , those sales evaporated . That day , Antovoni says , traffic was `` a little slow . ''
Trump 's surprise victory did n't just hurt store sales , it slammed gun company stocks . Two big manufacturers β Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger β saw their stocks plummet because the industry is losing a very potent and enduring moneymaker .
`` The message is in fact that the government is going to come take your guns away , '' says professor Don Haider-Markel at the University of Kansas . He says that message made hoarding guns seem like political defiance .
`` I think the NRA and conservative media in general have pushed the idea that your rights are really under threat , and not only do you need to exercise those rights by owning guns , but you should own as many guns as you can afford , '' he says .
At Centerfire Shooting Sports in Olathe , Kan. , there 's a cheery Christmas tree , fresh cookies and coffee for customers . The business is 4 years old , another part of the Obama-era gun industry expansion .
`` We 'd only been open a month when Sandy Hook happened , and we did n't know what to expect , and it was crazy , '' says co-owner Jean Basore .
She thinks a Clinton victory would have produced another spike in sales . But , she says , Clinton 's likely gun control measures would have been bad for her industry long-term . Basore thinks the gun industry is turning a corner . About a quarter of her customers are new to guns and many are women .
`` So I do n't think a fear-driven , momentary surge in gun sales is what the industry needs as a whole , '' she says . `` For all businesses , I 'm a small business owner , so I want a strong economy , so people have that income to spend . '' | 5RZhqA9fw72OJx10 | 1 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | 0.3 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
coronavirus | The Dallas Morning News | https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/04/22/texas-gov-greg-abbott-says-visits-to-hair-salons-and-shopping-inside-stores-could-be-coming-soon/ | Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says visits to hair salons and shopping inside stores could be coming soon | 2020-04-22 | Life During Covid-19, Texas, Safety And Sanity During COVID-19, Public Health, Business, Coronavirus | Updated at 9:09 p.m. : to include Abbott saying restaurants , movie theaters also should open soon , with beaches following this summer .
AUSTIN β Gov . Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that Texans , at least in many parts of the state , will be able early next month to visit hair salons , stores and β once they β ve been reconfigured to allow distancing β restaurants and movie theaters .
Abbott , raising expectations that his coronavirus orders will be greatly relaxed , also said that beaches will be open this summer .
Previewing what he has said could be a lifting of his stay-at-home order on Monday , Abbott told radio talk show hosts in two markets that he was determined Texas should keep its ranking by some publications as the nation β s most business-friendly state .
β We β re going to be making an announcement opening so many different types of businesses , where you β re going to be able to go to a hair salon β¦ go to any type of retail establishment you want to go to , different things like that , with a structure in place that will ensure that we slow the spread of the coronavirus , β he told a Lubbock interviewer .
Abbott told WBAP in Dallas-Fort Worth that he and his advisers have been talking to businesses in detail about safe ways to reopen .
β They β re saying they need about a week , to ... go back in and clean up their facilities , and whether it be a movie theater ... or a restaurant to get everything organized to make sure they have all the supplies they need , β he said .
β But this is going to be happening in the first couple of days in May , where you β re going to be able to go back and go dining under safe standards , you β re going to be able to get a haircut , you β re going to be able to go to a hair salon , you β re going to be able to start doing some things that people have been been long wanting to do . β
Abbott also told β WBAP Morning News β that either Friday or Monday , he β ll greatly revise his stay-at-home order that expires April 30 .
β We β ll put a new order in place that begins to open up a lot of businesses and so we β re running pretty much every different type of business that exists in the state of Texas , β including churches , he said . And he said counties such as Parker County , which have had few COVID-19 cases , will get more freedom to reopen business than β let β s say the Dallas counties of the world . β
Abbott also said he is talking with officials of professional sports and the NCAA about games starting again without fans .
β They are ready to get going and they likely will be getting going with doing so without crowds at first , β he said .
In his appearance on β The Chad Hasty Show β on Lubbock β s 95.1 FM and KFYO-AM , the Republican governor said :
Β· Life β is not going to be like it was before , β and Texas β won β t be fully opened , β but restrictions he ordered last month will be significantly eased .
Β· Counties with high rates of coronavirus infection won β t be permitted as much leeway . He cited Moore County in the Panhandle , which has 7.43 cases per 1,000 residents , and nearby Potter and Randall counties , which include Amarillo , as having β too high of a growth rate right now . β
Β· When commerce starts to widen , β there will be some level of expansion of the spread of the coronavirus. β But , he said , β We can handle that , as long as the expansion is very minimal . β
Β· Businesses that reopen will have to β follow the safest practices. β Though he mentioned β distancing practices , β he didn β t explain how safety would be maintained in hair salons and other personal-care businesses .
Currently , Abbott has the entire state under an executive order requiring people to stay home unless they are participating in activities deemed β essential . β
On Tuesday , Dallas County extended its stay-at-home order through May 15 .
Also Tuesday , at a Capitol news briefing in Austin , Abbott said his revised plan would overrule orders by local government officials .
As he has said before , Abbott told Hasty he was not reviving economic activity in a way that amounts to β rushing the gates and having everybody get sick and having to close businesses down again . β
He noted that he has four physicians as medical advisers on his new Strike Force to Open Texas .
β Because we have this team of doctors working with us , advising us on the safest way to do this without spreading the coronavirus , there will be standards , β he said .
Asked by Hasty whether he agreed with what the talk show host described as Amarillo β s letting tanning salons and small boutiques reopen , Abbott said he wasn β t familiar with the city β s actions .
Asked about a move by Colleyville to let restaurants resume dining service on outdoor patios , with spacing between patrons , on Friday , Abbott acknowledged that there might be some β tension β between what the Tarrant County city is doing and his orders .
But he stressed that any differences could be resolved in a phone call .
Asked about criticism that he was moving too fast to reopen businesses β or not fast enough β Abbott said it could be done β in a safe way that doesn β t lead to a retrenchment . β
Without mentioning Lt. Gov . Dan Patrick , who on Fox News on Monday suggested he β d prefer a faster reopening , Abbott told Hasty he was β looking at the long game β on recovery from COVID-19 and the economic hardship that social isolation has caused .
β There β s some people who want to be real impulsive and think about β let β s just focus on tomorrow , β β Abbott said . β I β m focusing on the next year . β
β In typical Texas fashion , we are going to continue to lead America for doing business by doing this in a smart way and in a sustainable way . β | 02a4df4956587787 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
isis | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/21/world/meast/iraq-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t1 | Pentagon chief: ISIS 'beyond anything we have seen' | 2014-08-21 | Chuck Hagel, ISIS, Middle East | Story highlights ISIS is `` a cancer '' that can spread into Europe and the U.S. , Sen. John McCain says
`` This is beyond anything we have seen , '' Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says
Dempsey says ISIS ca n't be defeated without addressing its presence in Syria
U.S. Central Command has conducted 51 airstrikes near the Mosul Dam
America 's top defense officials left open the possibility of targeting ISIS fighters in Syria , saying during a news briefing Thursday that it was not enough to just hit the extremist group in Iraq .
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , stopped short of calling for U.S. military action in eastern Syria , an ISIS stronghold .
`` Can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization that resides in Syria ? The answer is no , '' Dempsey said during the briefing at the Pentagon .
Repeatedly pushed by reporters about whether that meant operations against ISIS in Syria , Hagel said , `` We 're looking at all options . ''
While it 's unclear what those options may be , Hagel said the United States is `` very clear-eyed '' about ISIS , which calls itself the Islamic State but also is known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria .
`` They are beyond just a terrorist group . They marry ideology , a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess , '' Hagel said .
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`` This is beyond anything we have seen , and we must prepare for everything . And the only way you do that is that you take a cold , steely hard look at it and get ready . ''
Speaking at a town hall meeting in Arizona , Republican Sen. John McCain , who has advocated for strikes against ISIS in Syria , said the extremists were `` an enemy that must be defeated . Not stopped , but defeated . ''
`` It is a cancer which has spread throughout that region and can spread into Europe and into the United States of America , '' McCain said . His phrase echoed the term President Barack Obama used Wednesday to describe the terrorist group .
Hagel offered his condolences to the family of American journalist James Foley , whose execution at the hands of ISIS was captured on video and posted online this week as a warning to the United States .
The group threatened the life of another American hostage , believed to be journalist Steven Sotloff , if the United States did not end its airstrikes in Iraq .
The threat has done little to curb U.S. military operations in Iraq . On Thursday , American warplanes pounded ISIS targets near Mosul Dam , where Iraqi forces have been battling to retake control of the area .
A total of six airstrikes hit ISIS positions , according to the Defense Department . The strikes destroyed or damaged three ISIS Humvees , one ISIS vehicle and multiple locations where improvised explosives had been placed , the U.S. military said .
Obama ordered targeted airstrikes in Iraq this month to protect U.S. personnel and facilities as well as minorities being brutalized by ISIS .
Since August 8 , the U.S. military has carried out 90 airstrikes , 57 of them in support of Iraqi forces near the Mosul Dam , according to the Defense Department .
Mosul Dam is the largest in the country , and Iraqi and U.S. officials fear that a breach in the dam would threaten the lives of millions of Iraqis who live downstream in Mosul and Baghdad .
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U.S. airstrikes played a role helping Kurdish and Iraqi forces retake control of the dam , pushing back ISIS militants who seized it .
With the dam clear of ISIS fighters , Iraqi forces are expanding their area of control , the Defense Department said .
The fighting and efforts by ISIS militants to take over towns in northern Iraq have forced as many as 1.2 million Iraqis from their homes so far this year , according to UNHCR estimates .
On Thursday , Kurdistan 's regional government praised the assistance provided by the United States and the international community .
`` We are grateful to the men and women of the American armed forces who have carried out these decisive attacks against the terrorist forces of ISIS , '' said a statement from the regional government .
Nechirvan Barzani , the prime minister of the regional government , described the beheading of Foley as `` a horrendous act committed with utter disregard for human life . ''
`` Like Mr. Foley , several hundred innocent members of the Yazidi and Christian communities have been killed in the same manner , '' Barzani said in a statement Thursday . `` There is no way to overstate the extent of this inhumanity , and it illustrates the true , dark nature of the terrorists that we are confronting . ''
Also Thursday , a third French aid flight headed to Irbil , according to the French foreign ministry . The aid includes 21 metric tons of food , tents , medical supplies and other basic necessities . France has delivered 58 metric tons of aid since it started its humanitarian flights on August 15 , the ministry said . | 2d6875caba55e8ee | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
justice | CNN Digital | https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/23/politics/slavery-indentured-servitude-state-constitution-ballot-measures/index.html | Voters in five states have the chance to wipe slavery and indentured servitude off the books | 2022-10-24 | Justice, Prisons, Inequality, Slavery, 2022 Elections, Federal State And Tribal Powers | Washington CNN βWhen slavery was outlawed in the US in 1865, the 13th Amendment included one exception.βNeither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,β the amendment reads.The penalty has remained on the books in more than a dozen states, even though it hasnβt been enforced since the Civil War. But next month, voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Vermont, Oregon and Tennessee will be given the opportunity to exorcise the punishment from their statesβ constitutions once and for all, according to a CNN review of pending ballot initiatives.The proposed amendments would either explicitly rule out slavery and indentured servitude as potential punishments or remove the terms from state law altogether.Advocates are hailing the initiatives as long overdue and hope that state-level movements will one day lead to the removal of such language from the 13th Amendment altogether, though some argue that the movement underscores a larger need to lift rules permitting forced labor from inmates for little to no pay, a practice that has been likened to indentured servitude. None of the five changes being considered next month would eliminate prison work.βIf their populaces vote for this at the state level, then we have to believe that their congressional representatives will also have to support it as a federal measure,β said Bianca Tylek, the executive director of Worth Rises, a non-profit that is campaigning to remove the clause from the 13th Amendment. βThe more states that do this, the more federal support we can garner.βAlabamaAlabama voters will have the chance to vote on an overhauled state constitution this November. The revised version includes changes to rid racist language and aims to make the constitution more accessible to Alabamaβs citizens, according to Othni Lathram, the director of the Alabama Legislative Services Agency.Voters will be invited to answer yes or no to this proposed ballot measure: βProposing adoption of the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, which is a recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, prepared in accordance with Amendment 951, arranging the constitution in proper articles, parts, and sections, removing racist language, deleting duplicated and repealed provisions, consolidating provisions regarding economic development, arranging all local amendments by county of application, and making no other changes.βIf the revised constitution is approved, it would prohibit slavery all together by altering this section:That no form of slavery shall exist in this state; and there shall not be any involuntary servitude, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, of which the party shall have been duly convicted.To:That no form of slavery shall exist in this state; and there shall not be any involuntary servitude.LouisianaLouisianaβs current constitution allows slavery and indentured servitude as punishment for a crime.Louisiana voters will be asked to mark yes or no to the question, βDo you support an amendment to prohibit the use of involuntary servitude except as it applies to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice?βIf approved, the new constitution would say: βSlavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited.βOregonOregonβs ballot measure aims to remove βall language creating an exception and makes the prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude unequivocal.βIf approved by voters, the Oregon constitution would be amended to remove the punishment exception and allow βprograms to be ordered as part of sentencing,β such as ones for education, counseling, treatment and community service.Democratic state Rep. Barbara Smith Warner said the intent was not to eliminate the prison industries, though she added, βif this leads to discussions about the prison labor movement, I would say, so much the better.βTennesseeTennesseeβs measure asks that slavery and indentured servitude shall be βforever prohibitedβ while including, βnothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime.βTennessee state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, who sponsored the resolution, said that its passage would βmove a step closer toward reconciling the consequences of the slavery exception.βVermontVermont, which was the first US colony to abolish slavery outright, is seeking to change their constitution by removing the exception clause.If approved by voters, the Vermont constitution would read, βThat all persons are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety; therefore slavery and indentured servitude in any form are prohibited.βWhen he announced the proposition in June, Republican Gov. Phil Scott called it a βmeaningfulβ move, but Democrat Dick McCormack, the sole nay vote against the initiative in the state Senate, dismissed it as βmerely symbolicβ and an βunderwhelming response to the legitimate demands of Black people.βMcCormack said Vermontβs constitutional clause was βrendered moot by the national outlawing of slavery with the 13th Amendmentβ and argued that the proposition amounted to putting βa smiley face on the constitution.ββI think ending prison labor is a reasonable policy proposal, and we should get started on it,β McCormack told CNN. βBut Prop 2 doesnβt end prison labor. It doesnβt fix the 13th Amendment.βA growing movementThe five states are the latest to push to eradicate the punishments. Nebraska and Utah voters decided to remove language allowing slavery as a punishment from their constitutions in 2020βs general election.And in 2018, Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to amend their state constitution to remove the possibility of enslaving someone for a crime. Like the states voting next month, the amended language didnβt change prison employment allowances, and earlier this year, two prisoners who argued their constitutional rights were violated under the stateβs revised constitution sued the state, including Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs were compelled to work by being threatened with punishments like the loss of earned or good time for early release if they did not. The suit argues that the spirit of the amended constitution prohibited βcompulsoryβ prison work, though lawyers for the state have filed for a dismissal of the lawsuit, saying that withholding βprivilegesβ isnβt akin to slavery or indentured servitude.Polisβ office declined to comment to CNN about the lawsuit, which is still ongoing.A push to amend the US Constitution once and for allUpdating the 13th Amendment is a daunting task requiring two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and three-fourths of state legislatures to agree. But state-level advocates hope their recent efforts can gin up enough momentum to prompt such a change.βThe hope is that a critical mass of states will remove the exceptions in their state constitutions and provide a strong foundation for a movement to repeal and replace the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution,β Theeda Murphy from No Exceptions Prison Collective told CNN.In recent years, congressional Democrats have put forth a joint resolution to remove the exception from the 13th Amendment, but the efforts have been unsuccessful.That has not deterred the effort, which has again been proposed this session and attracted the support of 10 Republican co-sponsors in the House.βThe loophole in our Constitutionβs ban on slavery not only allowed slavery to continue, but launched an era of discrimination and mass incarceration that continues to this day,β Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat who introduced the amendment in Congress this session, told CNN. βTo live up to our nationβs promise of justice for all, we must eliminate the Slavery Clause from our Constitution.β | 32bf44882594d887 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
race_and_racism | Associated Press | https://apnews.com/eda3ffe8fbfcf7727270e67bba1c9566 | John Lewisβ legacy shaped in 1965 on βBloody Sundayβ | 2020-07-18 | race_and_racism | FILE - In this March 7 , 1965 , file photo , a state trooper swings a billy club at John Lewis , right foreground , chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma , Ala. Lewis sustained a fractured skull . Lewis , who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress , died Friday , July 17 , 2020 . ( AP Photo/File )
FILE - In this March 7 , 1965 , file photo , a state trooper swings a billy club at John Lewis , right foreground , chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma , Ala. Lewis sustained a fractured skull . Lewis , who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress , died Friday , July 17 , 2020 . ( AP Photo/File )
SELMA , Ala. ( AP ) β John Lewis saw the line of Alabama state troopers a few hundred yards away as he led hundreds of marchers to the apex of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on March 7 , 1965 . Armed with gas canisters and nightsticks , the troopers were flanked by horse-riding members of the sheriff β s posse . A crowd of whites milled around nearby .
Lewis , who died Friday at age 80 , was just 25 at the time . He had been leading voting rights demonstrations for months in the notoriously racist town , and he and the others were trying to take a message of freedom to segregationist Gov . George C. Wallace in Montgomery .
That seminal step propelled him on to a global stage as a hero of the U.S. civil rights movement . The ensuing confrontation helped lead to the passage of the federal Voting Rights Act .
With fellow civil rights activist Hosea Williams at his side , Lewis finally stopped a few feet away from the phalanx of troopers commanded by Maj. John Cloud of the Alabama Department of Public Safety . Other marchers stopped behind them , shifting their feet uncomfortably on the bridge shoulder .
Williams asked Cloud whether they could talk . There would be none of that , said Cloud . Acting on Wallace β s order , he said the march was illegal and gave the group two minutes to leave . Seconds later , Cloud unleashed a spasm of state-sanctioned violence that shocked the nation for its sheer brutality .
β Troopers , here , advance toward the group . See that they disperse , β he said through a bullhorn . Lewis stood motionless with his hands in the pockets of his raincoat , a knapsack on his back .
Archival film footage and photos show a line of roughly two dozen troopers wearing gas masks as they approach the long , peaceful line led by Lewis . A trooper jabbed the butt of a nightstick toward Lewis and officers quickly pushed into the group . Feet became tangled and bodies hit both the grass roadside and the asphalt road . Screams rang out .
Lewis , in sworn court testimony five days later before U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. , recalled being knocked to the ground . A state trooper standing upright hit him once in the head with a nightstick ; Lewis shielded his head with a hand . The trooper hit Lewis again as he tried to get up . The officer was never publicly identified ; Lewis testified he didn β t know who it was , and a gas mask shielded the man β s identity .
Others were beaten even worse as whites cheered from nearby . Amelia Boynton Robinson , who was in the line behind Lewis , was tear-gassed and beaten so badly she had to be carried away unconscious . Others were clubbed by the sheriff β s posse members on horseback .
Lewis testified he never lost consciousness , but he also didn β t remember how he got back to a church where he was taken before being admitted to a hospital . He got out in time for a hearing before Johnson , who overturned Wallace β s order and ruled demonstrators could march to Montgomery .
Lewis was just a few feet away from the Rev . Martin Luther King Jr. at the front of more than 3,000 marchers when they left Selma on March 21 , 1965 , for the epic 52-mile walk to Montgomery . Wallace , who had vowed β segregation forever β during his 1963 inaugural and served four terms as governor , refused to meet with them .
Lewis outlived other key players in what came to be known as Bloody Sunday by many years . He addressed a throng atop the bridge in March , after his cancer diagnosis , to mark the 55th commemoration of the day .
β Speak up , speak out , get in the way , β said Lewis , who appeared frail but spoke in a strong voice . β Get in good trouble , necessary trouble , and help redeem the soul of America . β
Wallace died in 1998 , five years after Cloud , and Judge Johnson died in 1999 . Hosea Williams , the other march leader who was beside Lewis that day on the bridge , died in 2000 .
Robinson , who recovered from her injuries and crossed the Selma bridge with Lewis and then-President Barack Obama during the 50th anniversary commemoration , died in 2015 . | CtXSMLHEKSBoMQqD | 1 | Violence In America | -0.6 | Civil Rights | 0.4 | History | 0.3 | Race And Racism | -0.1 | null | null |
environment | USA TODAY | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/22/dianne-feinstein-criticized-arguing-kids-over-green-new-deal/2956607002/ | 'I know what I'm doing.': Video shows Sen. Dianne Feinstein arguing with kids on climate bill | 2019-02-22 | environment | CLOSE A group of children with the Sunrise Movement , a climate advocacy group , went into Sen. Dianne Feinstein 's office to sway her vote on the Green New Deal . The California Democrat fired back . βββ
WASHINGTON β Sen. Dianne Feinstein is under fire after video shows her arguing with children who visited her office in hopes of swaying her vote on climate change legislation .
The children were with the Sunrise Movement , a climate advocacy organization , and approached Feinstein in hopes she would support the Green New Deal , an ambitious proposal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that includes an overhaul of U.S. energy that seeks to stall the effects of climate change .
`` I 've been doing this for 30 years . I know what I 'm doing , '' the California Democrat told a young girl at one point while debating with the group .
The children wrote a letter to Feinstein on a poster board decorated with hard-drawn animals and flowers , asking that she support the Green New Deal .
This is how @ SenFeinstein reacted to children asking her to support the # GreenNewDeal resolution -- with smugness + disrespect .
This is a fight for our generation 's survival . Her reaction is why young people desperately want new leadership in Congress . pic.twitter.com/0zAkaxruMI β Sunrise Movement π
( @ sunrisemvmt ) February 22 , 2019
After one of the children asked that she vote yes on the proposal , Feinstein said , `` OK , I 'll tell you what . We have our own Green New Deal , '' a mention of a climate proposal she said she 's planning to introduce the Republican-controlled Senate .
She explained to the group , which along with young children included several teens and adults , that the Green New Deal legislation that was rolled out in the House didn β t have a chance of passing in the Republican-controlled Senate and told the group her bill was more moderate in hopes of attracting some support from conservatives . Feinstein , at one point during the nearly 15-minute conversation , also offered a teen with the group an internship at her office .
The children kept pressing her , one young girl telling the senator , `` the government is supposed to be for the people , and by the people , and all for the people . ''
Feinstein replied , saying , `` You know what 's interesting about this group ? I 've been doing this for 30 years . I know what I 'm doing . You come in here , and you say it has to be my way or the highway . I do n't respond to that . ''
She pointed out that she just won an election by `` almost a million vote plurality , '' adding , `` I know what I 'm doing . So , you know , maybe people should listen a little bit . ''
CLOSE President Donald Trump is ripping a proposal that some Democrats have embraced to curb global warming . Trump , at a rally in El Paso , Texas , claimed that the `` Green New Deal '' would shut down American energy and air travel . ( Feb. 12 ) AP
One teen girl told the senator that `` we 're the people who voted you '' and pleaded for Feinstein to change her mind on supporting the Green New Deal .
The senator asked her age . After the teen said she was 16 and could n't yet vote , Feinstein deadpanned , `` Well , you did n't vote for me . ''
Feinstein , in a statement to βββ , did not apologize but said she wanted the children who visited her office to know they were heard and called the debate `` spirited . ''
`` I want the children to know they were heard loud and clear . I have been and remain committed to doing everything I can to enact real , meaningful climate change legislation , '' Feinstein said .
She continued : `` We had a spirited discussion and I presented the group with my draft resolution that provides specific responses to the climate change crisis , which I plan to introduce soon . I always welcome the opportunity to hear from Californians who feel passionately about this issue and it remains a top priority of mine . ''
A short video of exchange went viral on Twitter . Many on social media seemed surprised with Feinstein 's comments and reaction to the young activists , saying she did not handle the back-and-forth appropriately . Others , including many conservatives , applauded her .
`` I find it hard to believe that this isn β t an SNL or The Onion sketch - did Senator Feinstein really speak like that to a bunch of kids ? β I know what I β m doing β and β you didn β t vote for me β - are you fricking kidding me ? Beyond parody , '' wrote Mehdi Hasan , a columnist for The Intercept .
Waleed Shahid , a former staffer for Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders agreed , writing on Twitter that Feinstein should do some `` soul searching . ''
`` After the way she treated those children from @ SunriseMvmt , Feinstein should maybe do some soul searching and reflect on if she can genuinely represent the people of California or not , '' he said on Twitter .
Great now I love Feinstein . https : //t.co/VpvBc98T8b β Mike Cernovich | π½ ( @ Cernovich ) February 23 , 2019
Republicans , including Ben Shapiro and Mike Cernovich , two conservative commentators , applauded Feinstein .
`` WTF I love Dianne Feinstein now , '' Shapiro wrote on Twitter . | s5b9itb5UylavRBu | 1 | US Senate | -0.6 | Dianne Feinstein | -0.6 | Politics | 0 | null | null | null | null |
donald_trump | The Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/21/trump-new-york-investigation-ivanka-donald-eric | New York attorney general lawsuit accuses Trump of βstaggeringβ fraud | 2022-09-21 | Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. | Letitia Jamesβs civil suit accuses ex-president of inflating his net worth by billions in order to βenrich himself and cheat the systemβ The attorney general of New York state has filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump and three of his children involved in the family real-estate business, for falsely inflating his net worth by billions in order to enrich himself and secure favorable loans. Announcing the suit in New York on Wednesday, Letitia James also said referrals had been made to federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service β a move sure to anger the former US president and increase consternation among his inner circle about the depth of his legal predicament. Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump were all deposed during the New York investigation, which began when Trump was president and lasted for three years. The lawsuit seeks to bar all four Trumps from serving as executives in New York, and to prohibit the Trump Organization from acquiring any commercial real estate or receiving loans from New York-based entities for five years. James added: βThe complaint demonstrates that Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and to cheat the system, thereby cheating all of us. He did this with the help of the other defendants.β James said her office uncovered evidence of federal criminal violations including issuing false statements to financial institutions and bank fraud, and had referred the matter to the southern district of New York and the IRS. The lawsuit states: βThe number of grossly inflated asset values is staggering, affecting most if not all of the real estate holdings in any given year.β The suit also seeks to recover at least $250m and to bar the Trump Organization chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and comptroller, Jeffrey McConney, from serving in top roles of any company in New York. In a separate criminal investigation, in New York, Weisselberg, 75, has pleaded guilty to tax fraud. Noting how Trump and Weisselberg cited fifth-amendment protections against self-incrimination when refusing to answer questions at deposition, James said: βFor too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them. βDonald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples. Trump thought he could get away with the art of the steal but today that conduct ends.β Though the New York suit is not a criminal prosecution, Jamesβs referral to federal prosecutors at the southern district of New York threatens further serious legal peril for the former president and his three adult children. Trump has repeatedly suggested he will run again for president in 2024. But he faces legal threats including possible indictment over his retention of classified records and multiple investigations of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The former president and his attorneys have castigated the New York investigation as a politically motivated βwitch-huntβ β his default position under scrutiny β and insisted that the Trump Organization did not operate illegally. But in the 214-page complaint, James outlined an extensive record of alleged wrongdoing, such as fraudulently inflating the value of 23 properties including the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump Tower in New York and what was previously the Trump International hotel in Washington DC. James alleged that the defendants made more than 200 false and misleading asset valuations in financial statements between 2011 and 2021, and revealed strategies she said Trump and his organization used to commit fraud. Mar-a-Lago, the suit says, was valued as high as $739m when it should have been closer to $75m. James also said the Trumps βreceived a series of bank ordered appraisals for the commercial property at 40 Wall Street in New York City that calculated the value of the property at $200m as of August 2010 and $220m as of November 2012. βYet in his 2011 statement, Mr Trump listed 40 Wall Street with a value of $524m, which increased to $530m over the next two years, more than twice the value calculated by the professionals. βEven more egregious, the $500m-plus valuation was attributed to information from the appraiser who valued the building at just over $200m.β Regarding Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, James said: βMr Trump represented that his apartment spanned more than 30,000 sq ft, which was the basis for valuing the apartment. In reality, the apartment had an area of less than 11,000 sq ft, something Mr Trump was well aware of. βBased on that inflated square footage, the value of the apartment in 2015 and 2016 was $327m. To this date, no apartment in New York City has ever sold for close to that amount. Tripling the size of the apartment for purposes of the valuation was intentional and deliberate fraud. Not an honest mistake.β Trump has consistently accused James of being politically motivated. Before Jamesβs announcement, Bloomberg News reported that βmembers of Trumpβs inner circleβ saw the suit as βa fundraising opportunity for James, a Democrat facing re-election in Novemberβ. Trump has also claimed that the attorney general, who is Black, is racist. As James spoke, Donald Trump Jr tweeted: βThe bullshit Dem[ocratic] witch-hunt continues!β Trump lawyer Alina Habba said the lawsuit βis neither focused on the facts nor the law, rather it is solely focused on advancing the attorney generalβs political agenda,β accusing James of abusing her authority βby prying into transactions where absolutely no wrongdoing has taken placeβ. Habba said the allegations in the lawsuit are βmeritlessβ. Summing up on Wednesday morning, James said: βI want to be clear. White-collar financial crime is not a victimless crime.β Repeating her allusion to Trumpβs most famous ghosted book, she added: βClaiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. Itβs the art of the steal. βThere cannot be different rules for different people in this country or in this state β¦ No one is above the law.β The Associated Press contributed reporting | 5a42bbd6ac538059 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
us_senate | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/13/elizabeth-warren-gets-leadership-post-senate-democ/ | Elizabeth Warren gets leadership post by Senate Democrats | 2014-11-13 | us_senate | The Senate Democratic Caucus will have fewer members as the minority party in the next Congress , but they will have a larger leadership team .
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , Nevada Democrat , announced Thursday that he was expanding the leadership team with the appointments Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar , who will act as special liaisons to the party β s liberal base and to the Republicans , respectively .
He made the announcement after a four-hour caucus meeting in which he and the rest of the current leadership team were re-elected to the same posts in the new minority .
β We β re going to do things a little differently , just different approach , β said Mr. Reid , who suffered some criticism from members in light of Senate Democrats β humiliating loses in the elections but nevertheless survived as their leader in the minority .
The rank within leadership and the parameters of the jobs for Mrs. Warren and Mrs. Klobuchar remained unclear .
β Somebody asked me on the way in here : β Liz Warren is going to be part of your leadership ; what do you expect her to do ? β I expect her to be Elizabeth Warren , β Mr. Reid said .
Mrs. Warren has become a darling of the party β s liberal base and was in high demand on the campaign trail this year . Adding her to the leadership team will both tap her star power and placate liberals who want see Democratic leaders tilt in a more liberal direction .
Mrs. Klobuchar is a popular lawmaker who is credited with effectively working across the aisle .
The expanded leadership team was designed to help Senate Democrats better address the needs of middle-class Americans , said Mr. Reid .
β They β re not getting a fair shot , and we β re going to do everything we can in the 114th Congress to make sure the middle class of this great country of ours has a fair shot at succeeding , β he said . | 5uSl4gVwuj71WTMH | 2 | Elizabeth Warren | 0.3 | Senate | 0.1 | Democratic Party | 0.1 | US Senate | 0.1 | Politics | 0 |
ukraine_war | Associated Press | https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-5482b8f62cc70efbdbeb0b3f492c0393 | Russiaβs Putin makes surprise trip to occupied Mariupol | 2023-03-19 | Ukraine War, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Ukraine, Mariupol | KYIV, Ukraine (AP) β Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the occupied port city of Mariupol, his first trip to Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September and a show of defiance after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.Putin arrived in Mariupol late Saturday after visiting Crimea, southwest of Mariupol, to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsulaβs annexation from Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday. He was shown chatting with Mariupol residents and visiting an art school and a childrenβs center in Sevastopol, Crimea.Mariupol became a worldwide symbol of resistance after outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces held out in a steel mill there for nearly three months before Moscow finally took control of it in May. Much of the city was pounded to rubble by Russian shelling.Putin has not commented on the arrest warrant, which deepened his international isolation despite the unlikelihood of him facing trial anytime soon. The Kremlin, which does not recognize the authority of the ICC, has rejected its move as βlegally null and void.βThe surprise trip also came ahead of a planned visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, expected to provide a major diplomatic boost to Putin in his confrontation with the West.In an essay published Monday in the Peopleβs Daily, the newspaper of the Chinese Communist Partyβs Central Committee, Putin said: βWe are grateful for the balanced line (of China) in connection with the events taking place in Ukraine, for understanding their background and true causes. We welcome Chinaβs willingness to play a constructive role in resolving the crisis.βChina in February released a position paper calling for an end to fighting in Ukraine and for upholding all countriesβ sovereignty and territorial integrity. It did not address how to resolve Russiaβs illegal claim to have annexed four regions of Ukraine.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told βFox News Sundayβ that any call for a cease-fire in Ukraine coming out of the Putin-Xi meeting would be unacceptable to the U.S. because it would only βratify Russianβs conquest to date,β and give Moscow βtime to refit, retrain, re-man and try to plan for a renewed offensive.βPutin arrived in Mariupol by helicopter and then drove himself around the cityβs βmemorial sites,β concert hall and coastline, Russian news reports said. The state Rossiya 24 channel on Sunday showed Putin chatting with locals outside what looked like a newly built residential complex, and being shown around one of the apartments.Following his trip to Mariupol, Putin met with Russian military leaders and troops at a command post in Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city some 180 kilometers (about 112 miles) farther east, and conferred with Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of the Russian military operations in Ukraine. Peskov said.Peskov said the trip had been unannounced, and that Putin intended to βinspect the work of the (command) post in its ordinary mode of operation.βSpeaking to the state RIA-Novosti agency, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin made clear that Russia was in Mariupol to stay. He said the government hoped to finish the reconstruction of its blasted downtown by the end of the year.βPeople have started to return. When they saw that reconstruction is underway, people started actively returning,β Khusnullin told RIA.Mykhailo Podolyak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, heaped scorn on Putinβs trip to Mariupol.βThe criminal is always drawn to the crime scene,β he said. βWhile the countries of the civilized world are announcing the arrest of the βwar directorβ in the event of crossing the border, the organizer of the murders of thousands of Mariupol families came to admire the ruins of the city and mass graves.βWhen Moscow fully captured the city in May, an estimated 100,000 people remained, out of a prewar population of 450,000. Many were trapped without food, water, heat or electricity. Relentless bombardment left rows of shattered or hollowed-out buildings.Mariupolβs plight first came into international focus with a Russian airstrike on a maternity hospital on March 9, 2022, less than two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine began. A week later, about 300 people were reported killed in the bombing of a theater being used as the cityβs largest bomb shelter. Evidence obtained by The Associated Press suggested the real death toll could be closer to 600.A small group of Ukrainian fighters held out for 83 days in the sprawling Azovstal steel works in eastern Mariupol before surrendering, their dogged defense tying down Russian forces and coming to symbolize Ukrainian tenacity in the face of Moscowβs aggression.Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world denounced as illegal, and moved in September to officially claim four regions in Ukraineβs south and east as Russian territory, following referendums that Kyiv and the West described as a sham.The ICC on Friday accused Putin of bearing personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. U.N. investigators also said there was evidence for the forced transfer of βhundredsβ of Ukrainian children to Russia. According to Ukrainian government figures, over 16,000 children have been deported to Russian-controlled territories or Russia itself, many of them from Mariupol.While the ICCβs move was welcomed by Kyiv, the chances of Putin facing trial are slim because Moscow does not recognize the courtβs jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.Ukrainian officials reported Sunday that at least three civilians had been killed and 19 wounded by Russian shelling in the previous 24 hours. The deaths were in the eastern Donetsk region, amid fierce battles for control of the city of Bakhmut, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko on Ukrainian TV.Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a Telegram update that a 51-year-old woman was βfighting for her lifeβ after being hit by shrapnel as Russian troops fired on the border town of Dvorichna.Top Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said Ukrainian troops were holding the line near Bakhmut, a key target of a long, grinding Russian offensive, adding that the enemyβs plan to occupy the city βare now foundering.βThe spokesman for Ukraineβs eastern forces said Russian troops are βtactically unable to completeβ Bakhmutβs capture.βYes, there are very active battles, (the Russians) continue to carry out several dozen attacks by inertia, but they suffer huge losses,β Serhii Cherevaty said on Ukrainian TV, adding that Ukrainian defenses are βbleeding the enemy, breaking his fighting spirit.βTaking Bakhmut would give the Kremlin a battlefield victory after months of setbacks, and could pave the way for Russia to threaten other Ukrainian strongholds in the region, including Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.Russian forces shelled a house in Bilozerka, a suburb west of the southern city of Kherson, and a woman who was pulled from the rubble was hospitalized, according to the Kherson regional military administration, writing on Telegram.___Follow APβs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 61a2f30d35e8ac80 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
us_house | The Hill | http://thehill.com/homenews/house/317473-democrats-plot-protest-for-trumps-speech-to-congress | Democrats plot protest for Trumpβs speech to Congress | 2017-02-02 | us_house | House Democrats are rallying behind a plan to make President Trump β s first speech to Congress as uncomfortable as possible by inviting guests they say will suffer under new White House policies .
The strategy means Trump will likely face a crowd including ethnic minorities , LGBT people , undocumented immigrants , the disabled and others when he addresses a joint session on Feb. 28 .
It β s a shift in tactics for Democrats , some of whom skipped Trump β s inauguration last month in protest .
Democrats say there are no plans to stage a similar boycott of Trump β s speech , but they want to put him face-to-face with people who feel alienated and targeted by his controversial executive orders .
In a letter circulating on Capitol Hill , a group of liberals is urging fellow Democrats to bring guests who have made β a positive impact β on the community β despite discrimination or marginalization . β
β It is our hope that their presence in the House Gallery will remind President Trump that he is not the arbiter of patriotism , β reads the letter . β This country belongs to all of us , and his rhetoric of intolerance will not stand . β
The authors of the letter are as diverse as the crowd they β re seeking to assemble .
They include Reps. Jim Langevin ( R.I. ) , who was shot accidentally as a teen and became the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress ; Michelle Lujan Grisham ( N.M. ) , head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus ; Cedric Richmond ( La . ) , chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus ; Judy Chu ( Calif. ) , head of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus ; and David Cicilline ( R.I. ) and Jared Polis ( Colo. ) , the co-chairman of the LGBT Equality Caucus .
β We want to send a strong message to the [ president ] that he can not push these communities aside , and he can not change the fabric of this country , β they wrote .
Some liberals are also eyeing another form of protest during the speech : When Trump walks down the center aisle of the House chamber on the way to the dais , they β re hoping no Democrats scramble to get in the picture for the traditional handshake .
β We have to have a higher standard , β Rep. Luis GutiΓ©rrez ( D-Ill. ) said .
β For sure I will not be nearby , β Rep. Filemon Vela ( D-Texas ) echoed .
Trump β s campaign rhetoric was combative from the very start , and he β s brought that approach with him to the White House .
Most recently , he temporarily banned all refugees from entering the U.S. β and Syrian refugees idefinitely β as well as immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries . The move sparked an outcry from Democrats and human rights groups , and drew thousands of protestors to airports and streets across the country .
It β s that spirit of protest the Democrats are hoping to sustain as Trump prepares for his speech to Congress .
β Instead of celebrating the very diversity that makes our country a beacon of inclusion and equality , he has chosen to vilify , bully and alienate women , immigrants , people of color , people with disabilities , and people of differing faiths , β the Democrats wrote in their letter .
β His rhetoric emboldens those who seek a scapegoat for the challenges this country faces . β | 6PksPvNk2pMe1Mk7 | 1 | Politics | -0.2 | Protests | -0.1 | Democratic Party | -0.1 | US House | 0 | null | null |
ukraine_war | Washington Examiner | https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense/2889750/nato-allies-disagree-macron-western-troops-ukraine/ | NATO allies push back after Macron floats idea of sending troops to Ukraine | 2024-02-27 | Ukraine War, Russia, Ukraine, NATO, France, Emmanuel Macron, World, Europe | Various NATO allies have dismissed French President Emmanuel Macronβs belief that they should not rule out the possibility of sending troops to fight in Ukraine against Russian forces.Following a meeting of 25 European leaders in Paris on Monday, Macron said, βWe will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war,β though he acknowledged there is not unanimous support for sending Western troops to Ukraine to fight.βThereβs no consensus today to send in an official manner troops on the ground. But in terms of options, nothing can be ruled out,β the French president said.Other European leaders quickly dismissed the suggestion.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in part, βthere will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states,β while leaders from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain all said in various ways there was no serious consideration of sending their own or NATO forces into Ukraine.A NATO official also told CNN, βThere are no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.βKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that should Western troops enter the war, βWe need to talk not about the likelihood, but about the inevitability of a conflict,β according to Russian state media TASS.Russia achieved its biggest battlefield victory in months when it forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the city of Avdiivka, once a Ukrainian stronghold. Toward the end of the fighting for the city, Ukrainians ran short on ammunition and weapons, which officials have said was largely a result of slowed military aid from Ukrainian allies, primarily the United States.President Joe Biden is set to meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss the stalled supplemental funding package that includes aid to Ukraine, among other allies. The Department of Defense has been unable to provide Ukraine with military equipment since the end of 2023 because Congress hasnβt passed the request Biden initially sought back in October 2023.Both Ukrainian and U.S. officials have warned that Russia could secure a series of battlefield victories following the victory in Avdiivka ahead of a spring offensive.The Russian forces are conducting βa cohesive multi-axis offensive operation in pursuit of an operational significant objective for nearly the first time in over a year and a half,β the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, reported last week.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a news conference with U.S. President Joe Biden in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in Washington. An aid package for Ukraine has stalled in the U.S. Congress as Republicans insist on linking any more money to U.S.-Mexico border security changes. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last weekend, βThe next few months are going to be difficult for us,β and he acknowledged his country has suffered an estimated 31,000 military deaths since the war began. He also warned that Russia could commence its latest military offensive as soon as May.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINERRussian officials have continued to say their long-term goals are to complete the seizure of Ukraine and topple the government.βWhere to stop? I donβt know. Will it be Kiev?β Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev told Russian state media outlets last week, using Moscowβs preferred pronunciation of the cityβs name. βYes, it should probably be Kiev as well. If not now, then sometime later, probably during some other stage of this conflictβs development.β | 4afcf5e04d65cfed | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
fbi | Guest Writer - Right | http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/03/31/clinton-investigation-enters-dangerous-phase.html | OPINION: The Clinton investigation enters a dangerous phase | 2016-03-31 | Hillary Clinton, Emails, FBI, Defense And Security | The FBI investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton β s failure to protect state secrets contained in her emails has entered its penultimate phase , and it is a dangerous one for her and her aides .
Federal law enforcement sources have let it be known that federal prosecutors and the FBI have completed their examination of raw data in the case . After the FBI acquires raw data -- for example , the nature and number of the state secrets in the emails Clinton failed to protect or the regular , consistent , systematic nature of that failure -- prosecutors and agents proceed to draw rational inferences from that data .
Then they proceed to corroborate those inferences , looking for other sources to support or even to contradict them . With one exception , all of this work has been done with neutral sources of evidence -- documents , email metadata , government records and technical experts .
The exception is Bryan Pagliano , the one member of Clinton 's inner circle who , with either a written promise of non-prosecution or an order of immunity from a federal judge , began to cooperate with federal prosecutors last fall .
Pagliano has explained to federal prosecutors the who , what , when , how and why he migrated an open State Department email stream and a secret State Department email stream from government computers to Clinton 's secret server in her home in Chappaqua , New York . He has told them that Clinton paid him $ 5,000 to commit that likely criminal activity .
He has also told some of the 147 FBI agents assigned to this case that Clinton herself was repeatedly told by her own State Department information technology experts and their colleagues at the National Security Agency that her persistent use of her off-the-shelf BlackBerry was neither an effective nor an acceptable means of receiving , transmitting or safeguarding state secrets . Little did they know how reckless she was with government secrets , as none was apparently then aware of her use of her non-secure secret server in Chappaqua for all of her email uses .
We know that the acquisition and corroboration phase of the investigation has been completed because the prosecutors have begun to ask Clinton 's top aides during her time as secretary of state to come in for interviews . This is a delicate and dangerous phase for the aides , all of whom have engaged counsel to represent them .
The Department of Justice will not reveal to the aides or their lawyers what it knows about the case or what evidence of criminal wrongdoing , if any , it has acquired on each of them . Hence , if they submit to an FBI interview , they will go in `` blind . '' By going in blind , the aides run the risk of getting caught in a `` perjury trap . '' Though not under oath , they could be trapped into lying by astute prosecutors and aggressive FBI agents , as it is a crime -- the equivalent of perjury -- to lie to them or materially mislead them .
For this reason , most white-collar criminal defense lawyers will not permit their clients to be interviewed by any prosecutors or FBI agents . Martha Stewart 's lawyers failed to give her that advice , and she went to prison for one lie told in one conversation with one FBI agent .
After interviewing any Clinton aides who choose to be interviewed , the DOJ personnel on the case will move their investigation into its final phase , in which they will ask Clinton herself whether she wishes to speak with them . The prosecutors will basically tell her lawyers that they have evidence of the criminal behavior of their client and that before they present it to a grand jury , they want to afford Clinton an opportunity blindly to challenge it .
This will be a moment she must devoutly wish would pass from her , as she will face a damned-if-you-do , damned-if-you-do n't dilemma .
If she were to talk to federal prosecutors and FBI agents , they would catch her in many inconsistencies , as she has spoken with great deception in public about this case . She has , for example , stated many times that she used the private server so she could have one mobile device for all of her emails . The FBI knows she had four mobile devices . She has also falsely claimed publicly and under oath that she neither sent nor received anything β marked classified. β The FBI knows that nothing is marked classified , and its agents also know that her unprotected secret server transmitted some of the nation β s gravest secrets .
The prosecutors and agents can not be happy about her public lies and her repeated demeaning attitude about their investigation , and they would have an understandable animus toward her if she were to meet with them .
If she were to decline to be interviewed -- a prudent legal but treacherous political decision -- the feds would leak her rejection of their invitation , and political turmoil would break loose because one of her most imprudent and often repeated public statements in this case has been that she ca n't wait to talk to the FBI . That β s a lie , and the FBI knows it .
Some Democrats who now understand the gravity of the case against Clinton have taken to arguing lately that the feds should establish a different and higher bar -- a novel and unknown requirement for a greater quantum of evidence and proof of a heavier degree of harm -- before Clinton can be prosecuted . They have suggested this merely because she is the likely Democratic presidential nominee .
The public will never stand for that . America has a bedrock commitment to the rule of law . The rule of law means that no one is beneath the law β s protections or above its requirements . The DOJ is not in the business of rewriting the law , but the Democrats should get in the business of rethinking Clinton β s status as their presumptive presidential nominee , lest a summer catastrophe come their way . | cbc75fcb902fc2bb | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Fox Online News | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-cohens-newly-revealed-book-proposal-blows-up-testimony-totally-discredited | Trump says Cohenβs newly revealed book proposal blows up testimony: βTotally discredited!β | politics | President Trump on Friday blasted Michael Cohen over a newly reported book proposal that apparently painted the president in a positive light , saying his former lawyer 's pitch contradicts this week 's congressional testimony and renders him β totally discredited . β
β Wow , just revealed that Michael Cohen wrote β a love letter to Trump β manuscript for a new book that he was pushing . Written and submitted long after Charlottesville and Helsinki , his phony reasons for going rogue . Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony , which is now a lie ! β Trump tweeted Friday .
β Congress must demand the transcript of Michael Cohen β s new book , given to publishers a short time ago . Your heads will spin when you see the lies , misrepresentations and contradictions against his Thursday testimony . Like a different person ! He is totally discredited ! β he continued .
The president β s tweets come after the Daily Mail exclusively obtained a proposal reportedly dated Jan. 24 , 2018 and titled β Trump Revolution : From The Tower to the White House. β Cohen reportedly was shopping the pitch to publishers just weeks before the FBI raided his office as part of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York β s criminal investigation into his personal business dealings .
According to the Daily Mail , Cohen β s book would have touted Trump , countering descriptions of his then-boss as `` crazy , '' `` dumb , '' `` paranoid '' and hateful toward the media .
The pitch reportedly said : `` All of these things have been said about my longtime boss , Donald J. Trump . None of it is true . Except maybe that last one β about the media . Trump does believe that reporters are out to get him , and for a very good reason . Many of them are . ''
The Mail reported that Cohen promised chapters would focus on first lady Melania Trump and Trump β s children , as well as the β unfortunate saga β of Stormy Daniels .
`` By offering my point-of-view , it is my sincere hope that I can help close or at least narrow the knowledge gap , '' he reportedly wrote .
The book deal was reportedly being negotiated with Hachette β s Center Street , but ultimately collapsed when Cohen was charged by SDNY .
But the revelation of Cohen β s proposal comes after the now-disbarred attorney delivered scathing testimony about Trump before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday . Cohen called Trump a β racist , β a β conman β and β a cheat . β
β Since taking office , he has become the worst version of himself . He is capable of behaving kindly , but he is not kind . He is capable of committing acts of generosity , but he is not generous . He is capable of being loyal , but he is fundamentally disloyal , β Cohen said in his opening statement Wednesday , adding that β to our nation , I am sorry for actively working to hide from you the truth about Mr. Trump when you needed it most . β
Yet he also testified he started having his doubts about the president after the summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and Trump 's handling of white supremacist violence and rallies in Charlottesville , Va . While the book proposal came before the Helsinki summit , it came well after the Charlottesville violence , and a full year into Trump 's presidency .
Republicans on the oversight committee , like Ranking Member Jim Jordan , R-Ohio , blasted Cohen , questioning why he continued to work for Trump for 10 years and claiming that Cohen turned on the president after he did n't get a job in the White House . Cohen denied wanting to work in the administration .
Cohen β s high-profile congressional testimony came after he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump real estate project in Russia as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller β s investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates . Cohen also pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion , one count of making false statements to a financial institution , one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution , and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution .
He is reporting in May to serve a three-year prison sentence .
GOP REPS REFER MICHAEL COHEN TO DOJ FOR ALLEGED PERJURY DURING HEARING
Trump on Friday also complained that Democrats are now using the testimony to expand and pursue their own investigations .
β Oh β I see ! Now that the 2 year Russian Collusion case has fallen apart , there was no Collusion except bye [ sic ] Crooked Hillary and the Democrats , they say , β gee , I have an idea , let β s look at Trump β s finances and every deal he has ever done . Let β s follow discredited Michael Cohen and the fraudulent and dishonest statements he made on Wednesday , β Trump tweeted Friday .
β No way , it β s time to stop this corrupt and illegally brought Witch Hunt . Time to start looking at the other side where real crimes were committed . Republicans have been abused long enough . Must end now ! β he continued .
During his testimony , Cohen said he brought evidence to support previous claims that Trump organized the hush-money payments to two womenβDaniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal . Cohen accused Trump of being involved in a β criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. β Cohen testified Wednesday that Trump repaid him in $ 35,000 installments .
β Michael Cohen β s book manuscript shows that he committed perjury on a scale not seen before . He must have forgotten about his book when he testified . What does Hillary Clinton β s lawyer , Lanny Davis , say about this one . Is he being paid by Crooked Hillary . Using her lawyer ? β Trump tweeted Friday morning .
Cohen is represented by Lanny Davis , a longtime Clinton ally .
On Friday , Davis responded to Trump in a statement : β Sometime in early 2018 , Mr. Cohen was offered a substantial advance for a proposal regarding a book on understanding Donald Trump . Mr. Cohen ultimately elected not to proceed . In other words , POTUS has yet lied again ... but what β s the difference between 9000 or 9001 lies ? β
House Oversight Committee Republicans on Thursday referred Cohen to the Justice Department , claiming he committed perjury during his testimony over several statements made regarding his aspirations of working in the Trump administration and his foreign business contracts . Davis countered in a statement Thursday that his client testified `` truthfully '' before the committee , calling the complaint a `` baseless criminal referral '' and `` sad misuse of the criminal justice system with the aura of pure partisanship . β
Cohen also testified Wednesday that he would not commit to rejecting any type of book , movie , or television deal when his prison sentence is complete . | S6uUL8A87IJQ71rD | 2 | Michael Cohen | -0.6 | Donald Trump | -0.2 | Russia Probe | 0.1 | Politics | 0 | null | null | |
donald_trump | Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/02/trump-blog-dead/ | Trump ends blog after 29 days, infuriated by measly readership | 2021-06-02 | Donald Trump, Social Media, Technology, Politics, Republican Party, Capitol Chaos | clockThis article was published more than 3 years ago Upset that it was being mocked for low traffic, Trump ordered his team Tuesday to put the blog out of its misery Former president Donald Trumpβs blog, celebrated by advisers as a βbeacon of freedomβ that would keep him relevant in an online world he once dominated, is dead. It was 29 days old. Upset by reports from The Washington Post and other outlets highlighting its measly readership and concerns that it could detract from a social media platform he wants to launch later this year, Trump ordered his team Tuesday to put the blog out of its misery, advisers said. | 8d6b5b3afd135714 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
taxes | CNN (Web News) | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/04/29/republicans-pass-tax-breaks-but-dont-pay-for-them/ | Republicans pass tax breaks, but donβt pay for them | 2014-04-29 | Taxes, Republican Party | Washington ( CNN ) β Republicans want to cut the deficit . And Republicans want to cut taxes . Tuesday , those two sweeping goals collided as a GOP-controlled House committee voted to advance hundreds of billions in tax cuts at the cost of adding those billions to the deficit .
The House Ways and Means Committee voted almost entirely along party lines to make six tax breaks permanent at a cost of $ 310 billion over the next 10 years .
β To say that Republican action today is hypocritical is a serious understatement , β Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan said . β This approach today of Republicans flies smack in the face of fiscal responsibility . β
But the committee β s Republican chairman , Dave Camp , also of Michigan , did not blink . He responded that the tax breaks have been passed year after year without any offsets .
β This bill has been extended , unpaid for , probably 30 times , β Camp said of a research tax credit . β I think it β s important we extend this β¦ supporting permanency , not a temporary extension . β
Team Camp also points to another argument : They believe the jobs that come from tax breaks are worth adding some red ink to the deficit .
β These are things that people feel are extremely worth adding to the economy , β said Camp spokeswoman Sarah Swinehart .
These six so-called β tax extenders β that the Ways and Means Committee approved Tuesday were plucked from a larger group of 55 tax breaks that expired at the end of 2013 and have been waiting for congressional renewal .
Among those passed Tuesday were three biggies : the research and experimentation deduction , the credit that helps small businesses with major equipment costs , and the break for businesses earning rent and interest overseas .
Camp was correct . In recent years , Congress has extended the breaks year after year without offsetting their costs . But in the 90s , most of them were offset .
Democrats are particularly pressing the issue now because they see a conflict between the Republican demands that spending , especially on Democratic priorities like unemployment benefits , be offset while the GOP allows their own priority β tax cuts β to add to the deficit .
β It β s a clear double standard , particularly when you hold up unemployment , β said Chuck Marr , director of tax policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities .
But Democrats also have exceptions to pay-for pushes , notably , many Democrats believe that unemployment benefits are emergency spending and do not need to be offset .
When asked if that is a double standard from the left , Marr said no .
β Unemployment insurance is a temporary , countercyclical move , β he replied . β What Republicans are doing here is pushing for something permanent and unpaid for . β
Republicans insist their decision to choose tax cuts over trimming the deficit is nothing new .
β ( Chairman Camp ) has the position that extensions of current policy and tax cuts don β t have to be paid for , β said Swinehart . β Pay-fors are for spending . New spending . That β s his position . β
Yet , in Camp β s recent sweeping tax reform proposal , he did pay for all the tax cuts he extended . He did that largely by repealing other tax cuts . But that proposal is not going anywhere .
Camp insists that β s not a contradiction . His office argues that paying for tax breaks is only possible in a comprehensive revision of the tax system , not when tax breaks are taken one by one as the House is preparing to do now .
The result : On Tuesday , Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee choose their anti-tax crusade over their image as deficit hawks .
Next , all Republicans in the House will face a similar choice .
Multiple GOP sources tell CNN they expect all six tax credit bills to get votes on the House floor and that leadership is still working out the exact timing . | c4ff9c422e14ba5e | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
immigration | Guest Writer - Left | http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/opinion/the-supreme-court-the-nativists-and-immigrants.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0 | OPINION: The Supreme Court, the Nativists and Immigrants | 2016-01-20 | Immigration | As soon as 26 states took it upon themselves to sue President Obama over the sensible , humane executive actions he took in late 2014 to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation , it was inevitable that the lawsuit would land on the Supreme Court β s doorstep .
On Tuesday morning , the justices announced that they would hear the case , which means a decision will most likely come down by the end of June . The states should never have been allowed standing to sue in the first place , and their substantive claims are groundless .
There are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States . No one , besides Donald Trump , believes the nation has the resources , or the will , to deport them all . The clearest solution is to focus on removing those who pose an actual threat to public safety while deferring action on most of the rest and helping them β come out of the shadows. β In 2012 , the Obama administration allowed young immigrants who were brought here as children to be given work permits and be exempted from deportation , a program that has worked well . In November 2014 , the president announced a plan to offer work permits and a three-year reprieve from deportation to as many as five million undocumented parents of American citizens or permanent residents , provided they had no criminal record and had lived in the country at least five years .
Getting hardworking people who have deep roots in their communities out of the shadows isn β t a new issue . In a 1980 presidential debate , George Bush decried the harsh efforts to marginalize undocumented immigrants . β We β re creating a whole society of really honorable , decent , family-loving people that are in violation of the law , β he said . Mr. Obama , along with other reality-based politicians on both the left and the right , understands this , but congressional Republicans have refused to pass any meaningful immigration reform . | 0d27db031c36fdf4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/22/donald-trump-wont-pursue-clinton-email-or-foundati/ | Donald Trump wonβt pursue Clinton email or foundation investigations as president | 2016-11-22 | politics | President-elect Donald Trump doesn β t want to pursue further investigations into Hillary Clinton once he takes office , Mr. Trump β s former campaign manager confirmed Tuesday .
β I think when the president-elect who β s also the head of your party now β¦ tells you before he β s even inaugurated he doesn β t wish to pursue these charges , it sends a very strong message , tone and content to the members , β Trump transition official Kellyanne Conway said on MSNBC β s β Morning Joe . β
β And I think Hillary Clinton still has to face the fact that a majority of Americans don β t find her to be honest or trustworthy , but if Donald Trump can help her heal , then perhaps that β s a good thing , β Ms. Conway said .
β Look , I think he β s thinking of many different things as he prepares to become the president of the United States , and things that sound like the campaign aren β t among them , β she said .
The MSNBC program , citing an unnamed source , had reported Tuesday that Mr. Trump will not pursue investigations into Mrs. Clinton β s email setup or the Clinton Foundation .
On the campaign trail , Mr. Trump had vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Mrs. Clinton β s email setup if he got elected and suggested during one debate that the Democratic presidential nominee would be in jail if he were in charge of the law in the country .
FBI Director James B. Comey said Mrs. Clinton and her aides were careless with the private email setup , but Mr. Comey questioned whether the former secretary of state was sophisticated enough to know what she was doing and declined to recommend charges for mishandling classified information .
Some Democrats are blaming Mr. Comey β s late October announcement that the bureau was looking into relevant emails again , before reaffirming its decision over the summer not to recommend charges just prior to Election Day , for Mrs. Clinton β s stunning loss to Mr. Trump .
Alleged pay-for-play tactics between the Clinton Foundation and Mrs. Clinton β s team had also been a major part of the Trump campaign β s messaging .
The White House reacted to the decision by saying Mr. Comey had already settled the matter when he announced the Justice Department wouldn β t prosecute Mrs. Clinton .
β There was an investigation , β said White House press secretary Josh Earnest . β His conclusion β¦ is that no reasonable prosecutor would move forward with the case . β
Mr . Earnest added , β The point is , we don β t need staffers in the next White House to resolve the question of whether or not the prosecution should move forward . β | tRIRfBF2Hxn4yGjm | 2 | Politics | -0.4 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
terrorism | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/politics/paris-attack-refugee-visa-waiver/index.html | Entering the U.S. as refugees would be the hardest way for would-be terrorists | 2015-11-20 | World, Refugees, Terrorism | Washington ( CNN ) Even before the debris from the Paris terrorist attacks was swept away , politicians began sounding the alarm that Syrian refugees could be a national security threat to the United States . The issue has dominated the U.S. political conversation during the week since gunmen and suicide bombers terrorized Paris on a Friday night .
All Republican presidential candidates called on President Barack Obama to renege on his pledge to admit 10,000 refugees fleeing Syria 's brutal civil war into the U.S. and argued instead for a full stop , fearing terrorists could infiltrate their ranks .
Thirty-one governors have declared Syrian refugees unwelcome in their states and on Thursday the House passed a bill to bar refugees from Syria and Iraq from entering the U.S. Nearly 50 Democrats joined 242 Republicans to pass the bill , which the White House has threatened to veto . Sen. Ted Cruz , a Republican presidential candidate , suggested the U.S. only accept Christian refugees . Ben Carson , another candidate , likened refugees to `` rabid dogs '' threatening the neighborhood .
But those responses ignore one very important fact : the refugee program is quite simply the toughest way for a foreigner to legally enter the United States . There are other security gaps that would be easier for would-be terrorists to exploit .
As of now , none of the Paris attackers have been confirmed as having entered Europe as refugees .
In fact , most of the Paris attackers were European citizens born in France or Belgium . Two of them appear to have entered Europe through Greece although it does n't appear that they came in through a refugee program .
A Syrian passport found next to one of the attackers ' bodies stoked fears that the man had been a refugee . That has not yet been confirmed , although top European officials have suggested the passport was doctored , which raises its own set of questions , but does not confirm the suspected attacker was a refugee . Others have definitively been shown to be European citizens
Perhaps more importantly , the European refugee admission system is dramatically different from the U.S. system for Syrians , in large part because the U.S. is geographically separated from Syria . The U.S. has the opportunity to do far more vetting before refugees arrive on their shores .
JUST WATCHED What we know about the Paris terror attacks suspects Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH What we know about the Paris terror attacks suspects 02:33
Refugees must undergo an 18- to 24-month screening process , minimum , that the United Nations ' refugee arm oversees . And that 's before individual countries even begin to consider a refugee 's application and conduct their own additional interviews and background checks .
The screening process generally includes multiple interviews , background checks and an extensive cross-referencing process that tests refugee 's stories against others and accounts from sources on the ground in their home country .
Throughout that process , U.N. officials and local government officials in temporary host countries like Turkey , Jordan and Lebanon look to determine the legitimacy of asylum seekers ' claims and ensure that they meet the criteria of a refugee , including that they are not and have not been involved in any fighting or terrorist activities .
Refugees also have their retinas scanned and have their fingerprints lifted .
Christopher Boian , a spokesman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees , called the process `` stringent '' and `` long and complex . ''
JUST WATCHED Refugee : ' I would be dead ' if still in Syria Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Refugee : ' I would be dead ' if still in Syria 03:56
`` If at any stage in that process there is ever the slightest shadow of a doubt or the slightest whisper of suspicion , they are removed from the process . That is that , '' Boian said .
`` The very , very few Syrian refugees who are accepted and referred for consideration for resettlement in another country -- there simply is no more closely scrutinized population on earth these days , '' he added .
That 's because other countries have so far pledged to resettle just 159,000 of the more than 4 million Syrian refugees -- setting an extremely high bar for resettlement .
And refugees are n't automatically considered for resettlement : only the most vulnerable refugees -- such as torture victims , female heads of household , people with serious medical conditions and other especially vulnerable groups .
So after they go through that process by the U.N. , the U.S. does an additional screening ?
That 's right . After a rigorous screening process and several interviews carried out by the U.N. refugee agency , refugees the U.S. agrees to consider for resettlement have to undergo an additional interview , medical evaluation and security screening .
According to one U.S. government official , there 's an additional layer of vetting that 's specific to Syrian applicants , including special briefings for interviewers and information from the U.S. intelligence community .
The security screening involves checks against several government agencies ' databases and terrorist watch lists using biographic and biometric information . It 's a process Mark Toner , a State Department spokesman , recently called `` the most stringent security process for anyone entering the United States . ''
And Syrian refugees get an additional , more targeted layer of screening involving the U.S. Intelligence agency , according to a government official .
Sounds pretty rigorous . How does the refugee process stack up to other ways of getting into the U.S. ?
The refugee program is simply the toughest way for any foreigner to enter the U.S. legally .
For most people , getting a tourist visa to enter the United States is much easier , but still requires an in-person interview and involves a typical background check . The process takes anywhere from a few days to a couple months .
But there 's an even easier way to get into the U.S. if you 're a citizen of one of 38 mostly European countries , including France and Belgium .
Travelers from those countries do n't even need to first apply for a visa to get into the United States . They buy a ticket , grab their passport , and undergo the usual screening from U.S. customs officials when they land in the U.S . They are still checked against security databases before they get on the plane and upon arrival .
The fact that most of the Paris attack suspects were European citizens who would have had access to the visa waiver program is setting off some alarm bells . At least one of the eight Paris attackers likely would have been able to travel to the U.S. under the visa waiver program , U.S. national security officials told CNN Friday .
JUST WATCHED Angus King : Visa waivers bigger danger than refugees Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Angus King : Visa waivers bigger danger than refugees 03:22
As a sign that the Obama administration agrees that there are gaps that need closing , one of the U.S. officials said , in the coming days the administration expects to announce plans for additional steps to be taken with European countries that participate in the visa waiver program .
Sen. Angus King , an independent from Maine who sits on the intelligence committee , said it `` would be much harder '' for a terrorist to get into the country through the refugee program than with a passport from one of the 38 countries in the visa waiver program .
`` ( The refugee process ) would take 18 months to two years . Under the visa waiver program , it could take 24 hours , '' King told CNN in a phone interview . `` The target of our work should be strengthening the visa waiver program . ''
`` We do need to pay attention to whether the terrorists could infiltrate the refugee flow . I do n't think it 's something we should ignore , but the amount of vetting that goes on there already is very through , '' King added .
A bipartisan proposal to do just that is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill .
Noting that 20 million people each year use the visa waiver program to visit the United States , Sen. Dianne Feinstein , D-California , said in a Thursday news conference that a bill she is proposing with Sen. Jeff Flake , R-Arizona , would help guard against terrorists trying to exploit the program .
`` Terrorists could exploit the program , could go from France to Syria , as 2,000 fighters have done , come back to France , use the visa waiver program and without further scrutiny come into the United States , '' said Feinstein , a senior member of the intelligence committee .
The Feinstein-Flake bill , which is set to be formally introduced after Thanksgiving , would keep foreigners who 've traveled to Syria or Iraq in the last five years from using the visa waiver program . It would also mandate fingerprinting for all travelers entering the U.S. from visa waiver countries and requires all foreigners from those countries to have a modern passport that has an embedded e-chip that is more secure and includes an individual 's biometric information and other data .
Flake , the bill 's Republican sponsor , told reporters Thursday the refugee program could be strengthened to include better tracking of refugees once they arrive in the country , but said touted the rigorous process as something that should n't be a source of concern .
`` On the front end , it is a very thorough vetting that they get . So of all the things that we ought to be concerned about , that is not at the top of the list , '' he said . | 0e6c97307045916d | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
economy_and_jobs | Politico | http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/andrew-jackson-twenty-dollar-united-states-great-118840.html?hp=t4_r#.VX2dMlxViko | Keep Andrew Jackson on the $20 | 2015-06-14 | economy_and_jobs | David Greenberg , a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers , is the author of three books of political history including Nixon β s Shadow : The History of an Image .
He was a slave owner , hostile to the forces of abolitionism that were rising in America . He imposed a cruel policy of Indian removal , forcing the tribes of the Southeast across a brutal march to the Oklahoma territory . He was a hot-headed general , quick to violence and known to overstep his legal bounds , as when he summarily executed two Britons for aiding the Indian enemy during the First Seminole War .
On some levels , it β s easy to understand the campaign to remove Andrew Jackson β s mug from the $ 20 bill . Pundits are rushing to endorse the idea . The leading candidate to replace him appears to be the morally unimpeachable Harriet Tubman , who used the Underground Railroad to free herself and dozens of other slaves from bondage .
When Barack Obama first ran for president , he joked that he didn β t β look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills. β It is certainly time for our currency to bear the faces of African Americans and women . But this admirable effort shouldn β t come at Andrew Jackson β s expense . Jackson was a deeply flawed president and in many ways a detestable man . Yet he was also a towering hero , key to birthing the expansive American democracy we know today . It β s entirely possible to honor his enduring contributions even as we squarely acknowledge his crimes . Grappling with those paradoxes and contradictions is what distinguishes history from moralism or sentimentality .
The anti-Jackson campaign represents the overripe fruit of two generations of anti-Jackson scholarship . A century ago , progressive historians like Charles Beard saw Old Hickory as the champion of the frontier farmers and workers , fighting the Eastern moneyed classes ; decades later Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. focused on Jackson β s fiercely democratic politics , his class appeal rather than his sectional appeal . But in the 1970s New Left historians such as Michael Paul Rogin , awakening to problems his predecessors had ignored , placed Indian removal at the core of Jackson β s legacy and racism at the heart of his vision . More recently Jackson β s warlike nature and contempt for modern notions of civil liberties and due process have stained his reputation even more deeply . For years now , this unforgiving picture has been a staple of high-school lesson plans and popular culture .
Unfortunately , these high school-level popular understandings of Jackson typically veer into the cartoonish . His record on Indian removal is bad enough without resorting to the anachronistic charge that he committed β genocide. β ( That term was coined after World War II to describe the deliberate extermination of a people , as in the Holocaust . ) Jackson β s maintenance of a slave-operated cotton plantation at the Hermitage is odious enough without mischaracterizing him as an advocate of slavery , rather than as a defender of the problematic Missouri Compromise , which aimed to keep slavery out of national politics .
But the real problem with today β s anti-Jacksonism isn β t that it oversimplifies his defects ; it β s that it tends to omit his signal virtuesβmost importantly his role in promoting a radically more egalitarian political culture than the United States had previously enjoyed .
Biography can be overrated in explaining a politician β s values , but it β s surely significant that Jackson was the first truly low-born president , the first chief executive not to hail from an established family or boast a selective education . Born in the mountains of Carolina , he lost both of his parents by his teenage years ; his mother died during the Revolutionary War , contracting cholera as she tried to rescue two nephews from a British prison ship . ( A brother also died in the war . ) Andrew , though just in his early teens , also saw combat , engaging in the rough guerrilla-style warfare of the Carolina backcountry , which instilled , or maybe just reinforced , the courage and mettle , as well as the belligerence , that would mark his political career .
If Jackson helped open up national politicsβand ultimately the presidencyβto men of all classes , he also struck a democratic blow for a more geographically inclusive government , bringing the neglected West into the life of the nation . As a young man , he had moved to the Tennessee frontier , where he ascended in politics . As a congressman and then a senator from the new state , he held a radical spot on the spectrum , casting a stern eye on corruption and any deal-making that seemed to favor the rich or the insiders . As the historian Sean Wilentz writes in his short biography of Jackson , in those early years in government he supported taxing slaves , since taxing land alone would reward wealthy plantation owners ; and he joined a small group in opposing a feel-good resolution extolling the Washington administration when the first president retired , seeing it as a self-flattering gesture of the elite .
Later , when Jackson returned to politics after two decades earning fame as a general , it was again as a tribune of disenfranchised groups that were now claiming their place at the democratic table . States were starting to abolish property requirements for voting and to adopt what was called universal ( white ) manhood suffrage . The extension of the vote to even poor or working-class men helped give American political culture the vigorous , egalitarian spirit that Tocqueville immortalized in Democracy in America after he toured the country in 1831 . | 0Wu5LUxsO9ualbOU | 0 | Economy And Jobs | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
violence_in_america | USA TODAY | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/16/fact-check-donald-trump-press-conference-context/571976001/ | Fact check: President Trump's press conference, in context | 2017-08-16 | violence_in_america | President Trump held a contentious press conference in which he answered critics who said he waited too long to condemn the white nationalists who staged a protest in Charlottesville , Va. , on Aug. 12 that turned violent . Here we put into context some of the statements that the president made in his defense :
β’ Trump said that when he first spoke about Charlottesville on Aug. 12 β blaming β many sides β for the violence β he didn β t have the facts , saying β a lot of the event didn β t even happen yet , as we were speaking. β The president spoke at 3:30 p.m. , nearly two hours after a speeding car plowed into counterprotesters .
β’ The president also said β before I make a statement , I like to know the facts. β Trump hasn β t always waited for β the facts β after a tragedy . For example , he speculated that β yet another terrorist attack β was to blame for an EgyptAir plane that disappeared May 19 , 2016 . The cause is still unknown .
β’ The president also said he did not know when he spoke on Aug. 12 that former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke was at the rally . We don β t know what the president knew . But we can say that about two hours before the president spoke , CNN aired an interview with Duke at the rally praising Trump , and Duke tweeted about Trump .
Trump answered questions about the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville for the first time at a press conference on Aug. 15 .
At the event , the president discussed his first response to the Charlottesville violence on Aug. 12 . The president held a bill-signing ceremony at about 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 12 β about four hours after the Virginia governor declared a state of emergency and about two hours after a speeding car plowed into counterprotesters . That attack killed one person and injured many others .
In his Aug. 12 remarks , the president blamed β many sides β for the violence in Charlottesville . β We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred , bigotry and violence on many sides , on many sides , β Trump said at the time . It wasn β t until two days later that he condemned β the KKK , neo-Nazis , white supremacists , and other hate groups . β
Asked why he waited β so long β to publicly denounce white nationalists for the violence , Trump said that he was waiting for more information , claiming β a lot of the event didn β t even happen yet , as we were speaking . β
Trump , Aug. 15 : `` Here β s the thing . When I make a statement , I like to be correct . I want the facts . This event just happened . In fact , a lot of the event didn β t even happen yet , as we were speaking . This event just happened . ''
Trump went on to say that when he spoke about Charlottesville at the bill signing he didn β t even know that Duke , the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard , was at the rally . β I didn β t know David Duke was there , β he said . β I wanted to see the facts . β
We don β t know what the president knew at the time of his remarks , but we present here a timeline of events . We note a few things : Trump β s bill-signing event was at 3:30 p.m. β about five hours after the violence first broke out , about four hours after the declaration of emergency , three hours after the state police started to make arrests , and nearly two hours after the car attack .
The driver of the car hadn β t been identified when Trump spoke at the bill signing . But videos of the car attack were widely reported before Trump spoke , and witnesses described it as β absolutely intentional , β as Fox News reported .
As for Duke , CNN aired an interview with the former Klan leader at about two hours before Trump spoke . In the interview , Duke called the rally a β turning point , β saying those at the rally were going to β fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. β Duke had also tweeted about the rally β including a pair of tweets criticizing Trump at about an hour-and-a-half before Trump β s remarks .
Jason Kessler , a Charlottesville resident , organized the rally . Kessler is the founder of Unity & Security For America , a group described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as β a nativist , white nationalist group. β Richard Spencer , a leading white nationalist , was scheduled to speak at the rally .
7:39 a.m. β David Duke , the former Klan leader , tweets , β Today will be a historic day , remembered as the moment everything changed . # Charlottesville # UniteTheRight β
8:30 a.m. β Demonstrators begin to gather . The Virginia State Police posts a photo at 8:40 a.m. on its Twitter account of men carrying weapons and wearing fatigues . β Participants for today β s rally at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville begin to arrive . # cvilleaug12 β
11 a.m. β CNN leads its 11 a.m. hour with footage of the clashes between the protesters and counterprotesters . White nationalists can be seen holding wooden shields , carrying weapons and wearing helmets .
11:28 a.m. β Virginia governor declares a state of emergency .
11:37 a.m. β Virginia State Police tweets , β UPDATE : Unlawful assembly declared at Charlottesville rally # cvilleaug12 β
11:55 a.m. β Police start to make arrests . State police tweets at 11:55 a.m. , β Arrests are being made following declaration of unlawful assembly at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville . # cvilleaug12 β
12:40 p.m. β Protesters and counterprotesters gather at nearby Justice Park .
1:02 p.m. β Corinne Geller , a spokeswoman for Virginia State Police , says in an interview with Fox News that β all sides β had engaged in throwing bottles and other debris in what had been β as of that point β a violent , but non-fatal confrontation .
1:19 p.m. β Trump tweets , β We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for . There is no place for this kind of violence in America . Lets come together as one ! β
1:31 p.m. β CNN airs an interview with Duke at the rally , which he said represents a β turning point. β The former Klan grand wizard said , β We β re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump . That β s what we believed in . That β s why we voted for Donald Trump , because he said we β re going to take our country back . And that β s what we got ta do . β
1:40 p.m. β A driver , later identified as James Alex Fields Jr. , speeds down Fourth Street and into a crowd of counterprotesters who are marching in the street . Fields then throws the car in reverse and speeds away .
2:01 p.m. β On Twitter , Duke criticizes Trump β s tweet calling for everyone to β condemn all that hate stands for. β Duke retweets Trump β s post and writes , β So , after decades of White Americans being targeted for discriminated & anti-White hatred , we come together as a people , and you attack us ? β
2:03 p.m. β Duke posts a second tweet to Trump . In it , Duke says , β I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency , not radical leftists . β
2:14 p.m. β Virginia State Police posts a photo of the crash scene , saying β several pedestrians β were struck and that there were β multiple injuries . β
2:49 p.m. β Fox News posts a video of the car attack . The Fox News reporter says that witnesses described the attack as β absolutely intentional . β
3:30 p.m. β CNN reports it had β now confirmed from Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer that one person has died , in fact , today during the violent events in the city . β
3:33 p.m. β Trump speaks about Charlottesville at a bill-signing ceremony . He blames β many sides β for the violence .
4:18 p.m. β Fox News tweets that the driver was in custody for β intentional collaborated car attack in # charlottesville . β
5 p.m. β Shortly after 5 p.m. , a Virginia State Police helicopter monitoring the rally crashes and two state troopers are killed .
We would also note that Trump hasn β t always waited for β the facts β before weighing in on a tragedy .
For example , Trump wasted little time in speculating that terrorism was to blame for the disappearance of an EgyptAir plane carrying 66 people over the Mediterranean in the early morning hours of May 19 , 2016 . β Looks like yet another terrorist attack , β Trump tweeted less than 12 hours after the plane went missing .
The cause of the crash still remains unknown . In May , French investigators contradicted earlier reports that traces of explosives were found on the bodies of victims . And in June , it was reported that French authorities were looking into the possibility that the crash may have been caused by an overheated mobile device in the cockpit .
The day after the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando on June , 12 , 2016 , Trump made a series of inaccurate statements related to the incident .
In an interview on CNN , Trump said β many people β thought the Orlando shooter , Omar Mateen , β was a whack job , β but they didn β t report him . In fact , Mateen β s co-workers in 2013 reported that he boasted of having terrorist ties , and the FBI investigated and interviewed him .
In the same interview , Trump specifically singled out Muslims for failing to cooperate with law enforcement . He said , β For some reason , the Muslim community does not report people like this. β That was wrong , too .
Mohammed A. Malik , who had known Mateen since 2006 , wrote in The Washington Post on June 20 , 2016 , that he contacted the FBI in 2014 after he learned that Mateen had been watching videotapes of β Anwar al-Awlaki , the charismatic Yemen-based imam who helped radicalize several Muslims. β Malik said he wrote his op-ed to refute Trump β s claim that β the Muslim community does not report people like this. β Malik writes , β I β m just tired of negative rhetoric and ignorant comments about my faith . β
A day after the Orlando shooting , Trump also repeated the baseless claim that β many people , β including neighbors of the earlier San Bernardino shooters , saw β bombs all over the floor β of the apartment , but did not report it to authorities because of concerns about racial profiling . There is still no evidence of that .
More : Trump : 'Alt left ' protesters just as violent as white supremacists | Txpa5ityckTm4VnI | 1 | Race And Racism | -0.8 | Violence In America | -0.6 | Facts And Fact Checking | -0.1 | Donald Trump | 0 | null | null |
immigration | Christian Science Monitor | http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/0926/Arizona-pushes-new-illegal-immigration-fight-but-other-states-steer-clear | Arizona pushes new illegal immigration fight, but other states steer clear | 2013-09-26 | immigration | Arizona is still targeting illegal immigration , but this time , almost no states are following .
Not long after President Obama decided in 2012 to `` defer action '' on the deportation of many young undocumented immigrants β allowing them to stay in the country legally for two years β Arizona Gov . Jan Brewer ( R ) fired back . She announced that none of the people protected by Mr. Obama 's decision would be eligible for driver 's licenses in her state .
On Sept. 17 , she doubled down on that decision , saying that those granted `` deferred action '' for other reasons β such as domestic violence and human trafficking β would also be refused driver 's licenses , though they had been granted them in the past .
Two years ago , when Arizona passed a `` show me your papers '' law that allowed law-enforcement to inquire about a resident 's immigration status during routine traffic stops , a number of states followed suit . But the state stands mostly alone in making driver 's licenses the next frontier in the fight against illegal immigration .
Only Nebraska has joined Arizona in withholding driver 's licenses from candidates eligible for the Obama administration 's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) program . Others such as Michigan and North Carolina have considered similar ideas , but a larger number of states are actually going in the opposite direction : opening driver 's licenses for more residents regardless of legal status .
The willingness of states to increasingly accommodate drivers who lack legal status portends a changing political climate , says Audrey Singer , senior fellow at the Brookings Institution 's Metropolitan Policy Program .
Young men and women who were brought into the country as minors have generated strong support , and `` the last presidential election put a lot of pressure on the Republican Party to get serious about changing the immigration policy of the country , '' she adds .
Arizona 's latest effort to keep unauthorized immigrants from obtaining a driver 's license surfaced in federal court documents as part of a lawsuit against Governor Brewer . The lawsuit alleges that her driver 's license stance is discriminatory . Brewer argues that the state , not the federal government , has the authority to determine who gets a driver 's license .
Mr. Obama 's deferred action program , which took effect in August 2012 , grants eligible immigrants a work permit . Through July 2013 , more than half a million people under age 31 who came to the United States before they turned 16 have applied for deferred action , according to Citizenship and Immigration Services . The agency has approved 430,236 applications .
The federal program prompted many states to review their rules for issuing driver 's licenses . This year , lawmakers in some 25 states took up the subject in the context of immigration , according to the National Conference of State Legislatures ( NCSL ) .
Before 2013 , immigrants could obtain driver 's licenses or special driving certificate only in New Mexico , Washington , and Utah regardless of legal status , says Ann Morse , a spokeswoman for the NCSL .
But earlier this month , California passed legislation that allows those in the country illegally to get a driver 's license . The state is home to the largest number of immigrants in the country β including more than 2.6 million who lack legal status , according to the University of Southern California 's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration .
Illinois , Colorado , Connecticut , Oregon , Maryland , Nevada , and Vermont also have created laws expanding access to licenses or driving certificates irrespective of legal status . Those laws will take effect between November and January 2015 .
Meanwhile , a National Immigration Law Center review in June concluded that some 45 states issue licenses to DACA recipients .
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That 's not to say all states were quick to embrace the idea of granting driver 's licenses to the young immigrants . In the midst of a lawsuit , Michigan rescinded its decision to not issue licenses , and as criticism mounted , North Carolina abandoned a plan to mark the licenses with pink stripes , though a `` no lawful status '' designation remains .
In Arizona , a campaign by Citizens for a Better Arizona is underway to try to change the governor 's stance . | RtPkgTDT2zrY9wcK | 1 | Arizona | -0.1 | Immigration | -0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
campaign_finance | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/15/ben-carson-tops-republican-field-in-fundraising-do/ | Ben Carson tops GOP field in fundraising as Donald Trump rakes in unsolicited cash | 2015-10-15 | campaign_finance | Ben Carson topped the rest of the Republican presidential field in fundraising for the third quarter , with Jeb Bush placing second β a critical showing for the former Florida governor whose White House bid has faltered in recent weeks .
Although billionaire front-runner Donald Trump is self-financing his campaign and does not actively seek donations , the real estate tycoon took in more cash unsolicited than did some of his rivals who need donations to keep their campaigns running .
( Corrected paragraph : ) Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas , meanwhile , reported the most cash on hand .
Mr. Carson , a retired neurosurgeon , said he raised $ 20.7 million from July 1 through Sept. 30 , followed by Mr. Bush β s $ 13.4 million and Sen. Mr. Cruz β s $ 12.2 million haul , according to records filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission .
Businesswoman Carly Fiorina raised about $ 7 million , Mr. Rubio raised $ 6 million , Ohio Gov . John Kasich collected $ 4.4 million and New Jersey Gov . Chris Christie brought in $ 4.2 million . Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky reported a $ 2.5 million haul as he fights to be included on the next debate β s main stage amid declining poll numbers .
β We β re in it for the long haul , β Mr. Paul insisted in an interview on CNN . β We have planned and we have organized in all 50 states . I wouldn β t waste two years of my life trying to put this message out if I did not plan on being there when they voted , so we plan on being there when they vote . β
His $ 2.5 million was a major drop from the $ 7 million he raised in the second quarter , which ran from April 1 to June 30 , but Mr. Paul said he has seen a surge in October and is comfortable with the $ 2 million in cash he had on hand .
But that $ 2.5 million take is less than what Mr. Trump raised with neither effort nor need .
The Trump campaign raised $ 3.9 million in the third quarter , not only more than Mr. Paul but also almost as much as Mr. Christie and Mr. Kasich . Mr. Trump received 73,942 unsolicited donations with an average contribution of $ 50.46 .
But the Trump campaign also spent $ 4 million from July 1 through Sept. 30 , a higher figure than some of his peers , albeit much less than Mr. Carson . For example , Mr. Kasich spent $ 1.7 million in the quarter , Mrs. Fiorina spent $ 2.2 million and Mr. Christie said he spent $ 2.8 million β all less than Mr. Trump .
Mr. Trump made a contribution of $ 100,779 to his campaign during the quarter , raising the amount he has personally spent since launching his campaign to $ 1,909,576 .
But for the others , the third-quarter report is a key midpoint test as donors and activists try to gauge who has the funding to stick it out .
β We knew from the start this was going to be a hard fought and close race , but few could have anticipated just how volatile this field would be , β Mr. Bush β s campaign manager , Danny Diaz , wrote in a letter to donors .
β I β for one β would be less than forthcoming if I said we predicted in June that a reality television star supporting Canadian-style single-payer health care and partial-birth abortion would be leading the Republican Primary , β he wrote .
Mr. Diaz assured donors that Mr. Bush would be β better funded than any other in the entire field β and that their campaign has a β formidable grassroots organization in the early states . β
Although his fundraising intake was respectable , Mr. Bush ended with $ 10.3 million in cash on hand , which lagged several of his competitors : Sen. Ted Cruz , with $ 13.5 million ; Mr. Carson , with $ 11.3 million ; and Mr. Rubio , with $ 11 million .
Mr. Rubio , who draws from the same Florida base of donors as Mr. Bush , was quick to highlight the difference .
β Thanks to smart budgeting and fiscal discipline , Marco Rubio for president started October with more money in the bank than Jeb Bush for president and most other campaigns , β according to a statement by Mr. Rubio β s campaign β put out six minutes after Mr. Bush β s announcement . β Rubio β s FEC report details the lengths his campaign went to save money . β
It goes on to list buying office furniture from Craigslist , taking cheap Uber rides and flying discount airliners such as Sprint and Frontier .
Mr. Bush has been criticized for running a costly campaign , complete with chartered flights and expensive hotels .
Surprisingly , one of the most frugal campaigns is associated with a name synonymous with opulence and high-class trimmings : Donald Trump .
According to the FEC filing , the Trump campaign showed frugality in his expenses , with roughly $ 320 spent for McDonald β s from Iowa to New Hampshire to Virginia . Staffers also frequented Wendy β s and Dairy Queen .
Their overnight stays were at the Comfort Inn and Courtyard by Marriott .
By contrast , while Mr. Carson raised the largest amount , his campaign also burned through $ 14 million in the third quarter , spending money on lavish dinners at Johnny β s Half Shell , an upscale Washington seafood restaurant , and stays at the swanky Waldorf Hotel in New York .
β It is my great honor to be participating in this Presidential race , which has the possibility of having a truly great and positive impact on America , β Mr. Trump said in a statement releasing his numbers . β While our original budget was substantially higher than the amount spent , good business practices and even better ideas and policy have made it unnecessary to have spent a larger sum .
β To be number one in every poll , both state and national , and to have spent the least amount of dollars of any serious candidate is a testament to what I can do for America . This is what our country β s leaders should do for the United States β spend money wisely and win ! β Mr. Trump said .
Mr. Trump also financed all of his own events β large rallies that cost him thousands of dollars in setup and security , his filing shows .
He also recorded a $ 723,426 cost for Tag Air , a private jet and charter . Ironically , a man known to dominate the media paid $ 30,000 to Drake Ventures for communications consulting and shelled out $ 243 to Constant Contact for email marketing .
At the lower end , Louisiana Gov . Bobby Jindal has been fighting to be heard this election cycle , being put at the so-called β kiddie table β in the past two debates . He is betting that the $ 260,000 he has left in his coffers will take him to the finish line .
Mr. Jindal raised $ 579,000 in the third quarter but spent $ 832,000 , according to the latest FEC records . It was the smallest haul of all of the candidates , but his lean campaign had to spend the largest amount on payroll , at about $ 300,000 .
While Mr. Jindal has been polling at or about 1 percent nationally , his numbers have picked up in Iowa , which holds the first nominating contest . Mr. Jindal has vowed to stay in the race and is betting on winning Iowa in order to do so .
β This is an election not an auction . We are running a lean mean campaign , β Shannon Dirmann , a spokeswoman for the campaign , said in an email . β We are tied for 5th right now in Iowa and plan to win it on February 1st . β
Scott Walker , the Wisconsin governor who bowed out of the Republican presidential contest last month , ended the quarter with almost four times as much money as Mr. Jindal , having $ 985,213.43 cash on hand , according to his FEC release . Mr. Walker concluded the quarter with $ 161,133.45 in debt but indicated that it would be paid and donations returned .
The biggest driver of Mr. Walker β s campaign debt was staff salaries , which came in at about $ 2 million . Communications director Kirsten Kukowski , campaign manager Rick Wiley and director of operations Matt Hall each made an annual salary of more than $ 200,000 . Mr. Hall β s company , Harbinger LLC , also was paid $ 143,425 in August and September .
Former Texas Gov . Rick Perry , who dropped out of the race in early September , had $ 44,553.59 cash on hand at the end of the third quarter and had begun paying back his donors . Mr. Perry has no outstanding debts to pay . | AfRYhuQKNjBGpTEP | 2 | Presidential Elections | 0.9 | Elections | 0.9 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
israel | Wall Street Journal - News | http://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-urges-congress-to-block-iran-nuclear-deal-1425392094 | Israelβs Netanyahu Urges Congress to Block βBad Dealβ With Iran | israel | WASHINGTONβIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , in a dramatic and highly public showdown with a U.S. president , told a joint session of Congress Tuesday that an emerging diplomatic agreement with Iran would not only fail to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons , but virtually ensure it gets them .
β This is a bad deal . It β s a very bad deal . We β re better off without it , β Mr. Netanyahu said in a 40-minute address that drew repeated standing ovations in a House chamber packed mostly with Republican lawmakers .
President Barack Obama , in remarks from the Oval Office a short time later , accused Mr. Netanyahu of sounding an alarm on a deal that isn β t final while failing to offer β any viable alternatives β to the current negotiations involving the U.S. , U.K. , France , Germany , Russia and China . Those talks began two years ago after Mr. Obama personally launched an initiative to engage Iran despite 34 years of frozen ties .
Concern for the potential unraveling of Washington β s long tradition of bipartisan support for Israel was at least one area where Messrs. Obama and Netanyahu agreed .
Still , the divisions between the two , playing out so publicly on opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue , underscore how severely strained relations between Israel and the U.S. have grown . The increasingly partisan overtone was demonstrated when about 50 Democrats boycotted Mr. Netanyahu β s speech because it was organized by Republican leaders of the new GOP-controlled Congress without consultation with the White House .
Mr. Netanyahu , who flew back to Israel where he faces an election in two weeks , left in his wake a growing battle between Congress and the White House over Iran nuclear talks , which continue this week in Geneva ahead of an end-of-March deadline .
Mr. Obama said he didn β t watch Mr. Netanyahu β s speech but read the transcript . He urged Congress to reserve judgment on a deal until one is reached .
β The alternative that the prime minister offers is no deal , β Mr. Obama said , β in which case Iran will immediately begin , once again , pursuing its nuclear program , accelerating its nuclear program , without us having any insight into what they β re doing and without restraint . β
Mr. Obama promised to make his case to Congress if there is a final deal and said it would be β a great mistake β to derail talks now .
β Let β s wait until there β s actually a deal on the table that Iran has agreed to , at which point everybody can evaluate it , β Mr. Obama said . β And what I can guarantee is if it is a deal I signed off on , I will be able to prove that it is the best way for us to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon . β
Mr. Netanyahu is counting on Congress to intervene on the path the Obama administration is taking in the negotiations . Senate Republican leaders responded later Tuesday by moving forward on legislation that would impose congressional authority to review any final deal .
Lawmakers also could pass new sanctions on Iran while talks are ongoing , which they have signaled they may do after a late March deadline in the talks . Mr. Obama has said he would veto any additional sanctions .
Mr. Netanyahu directly challenged Mr. Obama β s argument that a diplomatic accord allowing Tehran to retain some nuclear capabilities would be more effective than additional sanctions or military action .
He said any agreement that stops short of completely dismantling Iran β s nuclear programβwhich Tehran has said is for peaceful purposesβwould be ineffective .
Following Mr. Netanyahu β s appearance , Iran β s Foreign Ministry dismissed the address as repetitive and deceitful in its description of Iran β s intentions .
IRNA , the state news agency , quoted ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham as saying the mixed reception for Mr. Netanyahu in Washington was a symbol of his isolation , β even among those who supported the Zionist regime . β
The public upbraiding of Mr. Obama β s negotiations carries tremendous risks for the Israeli leader and his country as he seeks re-election in two weeks , American and Israeli officials said . Any apparent fraying of U.S. support for the Jewish state could unnerve Israeli voters .
β Israel must remain a bipartisan issue among our long-standing American friends , and it is unfortunate that the prime minister helped to stir rough political waters in Washington , β said Israeli Labor Party member Erel Margalit , a top opposition figure , on Monday in Washington .
Isaac Herzog , Mr. Netanyahu β s main leftist challenger in Israeli elections this month , reiterated accusations that the speech would backfire on Israel and cause damage to Israel β s ties with the U.S .
The mano-a-mano between Messrs. Netanyahu and Obama showed little space for agreement .
Mr. Netanyahu called on the U.S. to use the nuclear talks as leverage to force Iran to change its behavior , such as including provisions requiring the Iranian regime to stop supporting terrorism and threatening Israel . β Iran has proven time and again that it can not be trusted , β he said .
Such a move would expand the scope of the international nuclear talks . Mr. Obama rejected Mr. Netanyahu β s idea , stressing the importance that the negotiations remain focused solely on Iran β s nuclear program .
Obama administration officials have long said nuclear talks aren β t aimed at a broader rapprochement with Iran .
β The specific problem that is being debated right now is not whether we trust the Iranian regime or notβwe don β t trust them , β Mr. Obama said .
Mr. Netanyahu objected to any deal that would leave Iran with significant uranium enrichment capacity , or within 10 years of being able to resume a broader nuclear program . Mr. Obama said this week that a final deal is likely to include a time frame of at least 10 years .
Mr. Netanyahu said lifting economic sanctions would embolden Tehran to β sponsor even more terrorism β and the emerging nuclear agreement would set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East .
Mr. Obama pointedly noted that Mr. Netanyahu had opposed an interim nuclear agreement adopted in 2013 , which he said has kept Iran from progressing toward a nuclear weapon and of which Mr. Netanyahu supported an extension .
Some Democrats were disappointed with Mr. Netanyahu β s overall tone , but others agreed with some of his points . Sen. Dianne Feinstein ( D. , Calif. ) , said afterward that a potential 10-year time frame isn β t long enough and should be extended to 15 or 20 years .
But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi ( D. , Calif. ) said she found the speech insulting and condescending to past U.S. efforts to counter Iran and support Israel .
Ms. Pelosi said she was β saddened by the condescension toward our knowledge of the threat posed by Iran and our broader commitment to preventing nuclear proliferation . β
Many congressional Republicans wholeheartedly endorsed Mr. Netanyahu β s critique of the talks being led by the Obama administration . Sen. Ted Cruz ( R. , Texas ) , said the address was β Churchillian , β comparing it to the famed British prime minister .
β Like a lion in winter , Prime Minister Netanyahu is speaking with a clarity and a gravity about the threat a nuclear Iran poses to the existence of the nation of Israel , and to the safety and security of America , β Mr. Cruz said .
βMichael R. Crittenden and Aresu Eqbali contributed to this article . | lEBtEprM7aCwybAL | 1 | Iran | -1.5 | Israel | -0.1 | Benjamin Netanyahu | -0.1 | US Congress | -0.1 | World | 0 | |
fbi | NPR Online News | https://www.npr.org/2020/04/03/826129520/a-must-for-millions-zoom-has-a-dark-side-and-an-fbi-warning?utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=npr | A Must For Millions, Zoom Has A Dark Side β And An FBI Warning | 2020-04-03 | fbi | A Must For Millions , Zoom Has A Dark Side β And An FBI Warning
Dennis Johnson fell victim last week to a new form of harassment known as `` Zoombombing , '' in which intruders hijack video calls and post hate speech and offensive images such as pornography . It 's a phenomenon so alarming that the FBI has issued a warning about using Zoom .
Like many people these days , Johnson is doing a lot of things over the Internet that he would normally do in person . Last week , he defended his doctoral dissertation in a Zoom videoconference .
He had a big audience β he estimated it was about 40 people , including `` my closest friends , family and my classmates and my dissertation committee '' at California State University , Long Beach , he said .
Johnson is the first member of his family to graduate from college , let alone get a doctorate . He wanted to share the moment with them .
He said he was in the middle of presenting when someone started drawing male genitalia on the screen . At first , Johnson said , he was not sure what was happening .
`` I 'm like , 'Whoa ! ' And then I freeze , and everyone who 's watching the screen freezes , '' he said .
It got worse . The attacker scrawled a racial slur that everyone on the Zoom call could see .
Johnson was horrified . The organizers blocked everyone 's screen until they could remove the intruder from the meeting . But , Johnson said , they were not able to identify that person .
Although he was shaken , Johnson managed to finish his presentation . But what should have been a triumphant celebration was ruined .
`` The moment they [ told ] me , 'Congratulations , Dr. Dennis Johnson , ' and it 's all over and I leave the Zoom meeting , everything sets in , '' he said . `` I could n't even , like , communicate . I had to just walk out [ of ] my house . ... I did n't want to talk or see anybody . ''
Zoombombers have disrupted an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in New York , Sunday school in Texas , online classes at the University of Southern California and a city meeting in Kalamazoo , Mich .
With schools closed and millions of people working from home , Zoom has become wildly popular . The company said 200 million people used the app on a daily basis in March , up from just 10 million in December . But that newfound popularity is bringing new scrutiny .
The FBI is warning schools , in particular , to be careful .
`` The FBI has received multiple reports of conferences being disrupted by pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language , '' the bureau 's Boston office said this week .
As concerns have arisen , Zoom has worked to address them . It published a guide last month on how users can protect meetings . It also changed settings for accounts used by schools and universities to make their meetings more private by default .
New York Attorney General Letitia James has sent a letter to Zoom asking about its security and privacy protections .
`` Things you just would like to have in a chat and video application β strong encryption , strong privacy controls , strong security β just seem to be completely missing , '' said Patrick Wardle , a security researcher who previously worked at the National Security Agency .
He and other researchers have turned up flaws in Zoom 's software that could let hackers spy through a computer 's webcam or microphone . Zoom says it released fixes for these issues on Wednesday .
Technology An Etiquette Primer For Zoom And Other Videoconferencing Services An Etiquette Primer For Zoom And Other Videoconferencing Services Listen Β· 2:55 2:55
The website Motherboard found that Zoom was sharing data with Facebook , even data on people who are not Facebook users .
Zoom says that was a mistake and that it stopped sharing that data in March , but it 's now facing a class action lawsuit .
Wardle says Zoom may be easy to use , but he is wary of its track record .
`` This product was designed to prioritize things other than privacy and security , '' he said .
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan said in a blog post Wednesday that the company is freezing work on new features to focus on fixing its privacy and security problems .
`` We recognize that we have fallen short of the community 's β and our own β privacy and security expectations , '' he wrote . `` For that , I am deeply sorry , and I want to share what we are doing about it . '' | tlxFAVoDA046EK1H | 1 | Technology | 0.1 | FBI | -0.1 | Coronavirus | 0 | Hacking | 0 | Privacy | 0 |
immigration | Christian Science Monitor | https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2020/0406/Their-past-was-a-nightmare.-For-many-refugees-the-Dream-Center-offers-hope | Their past was a nightmare. For many refugees, the Dream Center offers hope. | 2020-04-06 | immigration | The goal , says Ms. Jallow , is that one day , their clients stop needing them . β I want to see them move forward . β
Maybe someone needs a ride to the hospital , they can β t pay their electric bill , or their child is being bullied at school . The Dream Center β s approach mixes compassion with pragmatism : They β ll give them a ride , provide some cash , set up a meeting with the guidance counselor .
Three years after his arrival , Mr. Bah β s wife , Teddi Jallow joined him . As refugees themselves , the couple understand how long it takes to rebuild a life from scratch . That β s why , in 2015 , they founded the Refugee Dream Center . The U.S. offers refugees 90 days of government assistance after arrival . Mr. Bah and Ms. Jallow aim to fill the gaps .
As a political journalist , Omar Bah was often at odds with Gambia β s authoritarian regime . He says he was nearly beaten to death by security forces on a reporting trip . After it discovered he was publishing stories online under a pseudonym , the government issued a warrant for his arrest . Mr. Bah barely escaped Gambia in 2007 , eventually landing in Providence , Rhode Island . He struggled initially , but his loneliness began to subside as he met refugees from other countries .
Teddi Jallow β s clients often call her β mama , β or β Mama Dream. β Or sometimes just β sister . β
In many ways , she and her husband , Omar Bah , are like family to the 300 refugees they serve at the Refugee Dream Center in Providence , Rhode Island .
Founded in 2015 , the center provides case management services to people who have fled violence or persecution , and runs programs that focus on health , youth mentoring , and adult education . But the couple also want to make sure Rhode Island refugees have a place to turn when they run into trouble .
Maybe they need a ride to the hospital , they can β t pay their electric bill , or their child is being bullied at school . The Dream Center β s approach mixes compassion with pragmatism : It will give them a ride , provide some cash , set up a meeting with the guidance counselor .
β We try to fix the problem , β says Ms. Jallow . β We always talk about problems , but how do we fix it ? β
Mr. Bah escaped Gambia in 2007 , and Ms. Jallow joined him in Providence three years later . As refugees themselves , Mr. Bah and Ms. Jallow understand how long it takes to rebuild a life from scratch .
In the United States , the government promises 90 days of assistance after arrival . Refugees can seek further aid from state programs , but that varies depending on the person β s location and individual circumstances . The process is geared toward rapid self-sufficiency .
Mr. Bah and Ms. Jallow aim to fill the gaps , offering not only immediate problem-solving but also long-term support so refugees can thrive in the U.S. , even as fewer and fewer are being accepted . It β s like having an aunt or uncle in your new neighborhood β an anchor .
β The government gets refugees set up , the refugee resettlement agency is responsible for helping them navigate all of these transitions , and then refugees are enrolled in some sort of public benefits system , but that β s all time sensitive , β says Danielle Grigsby , interim director of Refugee Council USA , a national coalition of refugee advocates . β And while that ticks boxes β like rent , housing , job , school β we all know that life is so much more than that . β
In Gambia , Mr. Bah and Ms. Jallow only had two months together as newlyweds before Mr. Bah went on the run . As a political journalist , he was often at odds with the country β s authoritarian regime . He says he was nearly beaten to death by security forces on a reporting trip and lost his popular newspaper column during an editor turnover . When the government discovered he β d continued publishing stories online under a pseudonym , it issued a warrant for his arrest .
β I had a dictator who had a price over my head , literally announced my name and picture over the TV , β he says . Mr. Bah barely made it to Ghana alive .
After a year in limbo , he was placed in Providence . Mr. Bah was the only refugee from Gambia in the city when he arrived , and he was afraid to interact with Gambian Americans due to his wanted status .
Lindsey McGinnis/The βββ Isabel Kayembe ( from left ) , Teddi Jallow , and Astou Lo meet with staff at Nathan Bishop Middle School on February 21 , 2020 , in Providence , Rhode Island . With the help of the Refugee Dream Center , Ms . Lo 's daughter is able to transfer schools .
But his loneliness began to subside as he met refugees from other countries . His English and computer skills meant he could help file paperwork and advocate for better housing .
β That β s how I built my community , β says Mr. Bah . β That became my life . β
Since he arrived , more than 2,000 refugees have been placed in Rhode Island , including Ms. Jallow , who arrived in 2010 . Mr. Bah noticed that even one or two years after their arrival , refugees were failing to integrate β they were still struggling with English , overwhelmed by bills , feeling isolated .
That β s why the couple founded the Dream Center , a nonprofit that could serve the needs of Rhode Island β s refugees after the government aid period ended . Mr. Bah deals with most of the outward-facing business , including fundraising , meeting with officials , and educating the public about refugees . Ms. Jallow focuses on the clients .
She works closely with Isabel Kayembe , the center β s case manager and a refugee from Angola , to make sure clients get the assistance they need . Together , they speak nine languages . Even amid the current health crisis , the Dream Center has continued looking out for its clients , with staff members making daily rounds to deliver food and household supplies and provide translation services .
Although temporarily closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus , their shared office space is typically packed . Staff and visitors step around boxes of donated coats , while volunteers conduct English as a second language classes in an adjacent room . As Mr. Bah returns from a meeting , Ms. Jallow and Ms. Kayembe are piling into a minivan , off to pick up Astou Lo , who came to the U.S. 10 years ago after fleeing ethnic violence in Mauritania .
Recently , Ms . Lo noticed her daughter β s grades were slipping , and she relied on the Dream Center to obtain an individualized education program and eventually transfer her daughter to a better school . During a meeting to finalize the switch , Ms. Jallow came prepared with questions and translated while Ms. Kayembe took notes . Ms . Lo left the building with the counselor β s contact information , a Monday morning game plan , and a sense of relief . She β s known Ms. Jallow and Mr. Bah since she arrived in the U.S. , but she was especially happy to have them in her corner that day .
β I β m so grateful I have someone I trust , β she says with the help of a Dream Center interpreter . β I could not do this alone . β
Laurent Tumba has been coming to the Dream Center for more than two years after escaping conflict in Congo . He β s worked with several resettlement agencies , but nothing beats Ms. Jallow and Mr. Bah for immediate assistance . β [ Other groups ] help , but they help on their own time , β he says through an interpreter . β It β s not like here . β
Many refugees , including Mr. Tumba , are waiting for relatives to join them in the U.S . But since the Trump administration halved refugee admissions in 2019 , reunification has slowed to a crawl .
β They are not coming . There β s nothing we can tell them , β says Ms. Jallow .
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Combined with travel bans targeting African countries that clients may pass through on their way to the U.S. , Ms. Jallow says the government has effectively stopped the flow of refugees into the U.S . In the meantime , the Dream Center focuses on improving the lives of its clients . Ms. Jallow hopes that one day , they stop needing the center .
β I want to see them move forward , β she says , β get jobs , know English , be able to do things for themselves . β | rTpRcLjIn4ZZiBeX | 1 | Refugees | 0.1 | Immigration | 0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
fbi | USA TODAY | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/28/brett-kavanaugh-week-seen-ample-time-fbi-probe-allegations/1457641002/ | Brett Kavanaugh: A week offers plenty of time for FBI to investigate allegations, former officials say | 2018-09-28 | fbi | They are special investigations into the backgrounds of nominees to the Supreme Court and other high profile jobs in any presidential administration .
Perhaps never before has such attention been focused on the long-shrouded process than in the case of Brett Kavanaugh .
And Friday brought a new and unexpected wrinkle : Republican senators and President Donald Trump acquiesced to Democrats β demand for the re-opening of Kavanaugh β s background inquiry to vet allegations of sexual assault against the Supreme Court nominee leveled by high school acquaintance Christine Blasey Ford .
While an extraordinary Senate Judiciary Committee hearing did little to reconcile the dueling accounts offered by Ford and Kavanaugh , lawmakers now believe that a clearer picture of the nominee β s credibility would likely emerge and Trump Friday authorized a `` limited '' one-week FBI review .
Only the White House was authorized to re-open the background review , closed long before Ford β s allegations were made public . But even in the narrow amount of time provided by Trump , former FBI officials said agents could reach a quick resolution .
β They could knock this thing out in a couple of days , β said Jim Davis , a former agent who participated in at least 50 such background inquiries . β The great and beautiful thing about the FBI is that it can apply incredible resources to whatever the issue requires . β
Phil Mudd , a former CIA and FBI official who has been the subject of a half-dozen background checks , said such re-investigation is common and can be completed fairly quickly .
`` You have to let things go where they go , but if it is narrow in scope it could take just a few days , '' Mudd said .
Apart from Ford , among the first witnesses likely to be contacted by investigators is Kavanaugh 's high school friend , Mark Judge , who Ford claims was in the room when she was assaulted at a house party in the Washington , D.C. suburbs in 1982 .
Ford told the Senate panel that while she was allegedly being assaulted by Kavanaugh , she made eye contact with Judge who she had hoped would come to her aid .
Democrats had unsuccessfully sought to have Judge testify at Thursday 's hearing .
Judge , in a statement Friday , said he would `` cooperate with any law enforcement agency that is assigned to confidentially investigate these allegations . ''
Judge had previously told the committee in a sworn statement that he had `` no memory '' of the incident outlined by Ford .
In her testimony , Ford identified two others who were allegedly present at the party , P.J . Smyth and Leland Ingham Keyser . Both of them also have issued statements indicating that they no recollection of the party .
Davis , the former FBI agent , said all of those identified as being present at the party would almost certainly be interviewed , as well the people who Ford told of the incident .
Prior to Thursday 's hearing , Ford 's attorneys provided the Senate committee with sworn declarations from four people , including Ford 's husband , who said that Ford had shared details of the incident and Kavanaugh 's alleged involvement with them .
More : Trump calls Ford 's testimony 'compelling , ' orders new FBI probe of Kavanaugh
More : Kavanaugh confirmation : Yale Law joins American Bar Association in request for FBI probe
More : What just happened ? Here 's a breakdown of the Brett Kavanaugh vote and what happens next
Ford 's husband , Russell Ford , said he first learned of his wife 's experience with sexual assault `` around the time we got married . '' However , he said Ford did not share details of the incident until a couple 's therapy session in 2012 .
`` I remember her saying that her attacker 's name was Brett Kavanaugh , that he was a successful lawyer who had grown up in Christine 's hometown , and that he was well known in the Washington , D.C. , community , '' Russell Ford said .
It was unclear whether the scope of an FBI inquiry would allow for the review of other allegations leveled by former Yale classmate , Deborah Ramirez , who claimed that Kavanaugh exposed himself at a drunken party during the 1983-84 academic year .
Another woman , Julie Swetnick , has alleged that in the 1980s she witnessed Kavanaugh and Judge attempt to ply teenage girls with alcohol at wild parties where girls were sexually abused .
She did not say Kavanaugh or Judge sexually assaulted her .
In his statement Friday , Judge said he did not recall attending the parties .
`` The allegations in the Swetnick affidavit are so bizarre that , even while suffering from my addiction , I would remember actions so outlandish . I categorically deny them , '' he said .
`` The FBI is going to put together a list , and you can bet that all of the people whose names have been floated out there are going to be on it , '' said Ray Mey , a former FBI agent who conducted dozens of background checks during his tenure at the bureau .
`` The FBI has more than enough resources to do this in a week , '' he said . `` What I worry about , is that nobody comes out of this looking good , including the FBI . ''
If the FBI discovers derogatory information , Mey said the FBI risks invoking the wrath of the president who has accused of the bureau of attempting to sabotage his administration as part of its inquiry into Russia 's interference in the 2016 election .
`` If they do n't find anything , the other side will say it 's a cover-up , '' Mey said . `` Either way , the bureau does n't gain anything . '' | BuQrgwemN8U7a3X1 | 1 | FBI | -0.2 | Brett Kavanaugh | -0.1 | Supreme Court | 0 | Defense And Security | 0 | null | null |
agriculture | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/18/sonny-perdue-nominated-be-agriculture-secretary/ | Donald Trump picks Sonny Perdue to be agriculture secretary | 2017-01-18 | agriculture | President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate former Georgia Gov . Sonny Perdue to serve as agriculture secretary , according to a person familiar with the decision but not authorized to speak publicly before it is announced .
Mr. Perdue , 70 , would be the first Southerner to lead the Agriculture Department in more than two decades . He comes from the small city of Bonaire in rural central Georgia , where he built businesses in grain trading and trucking .
The agriculture secretary job is the last Cabinet position for which Mr. Trump hasn β t named a candidate .
Mr. Perdue began his political career as a Democrat in the state Legislature in the 1990s . But it was after switching his allegiance to the Republican Party that Perdue made Georgia history .
In 2002 , Mr Perdue was elected the state β s first Republican governor since the end of Reconstruction more than 130 years earlier . Mr. Perdue β s victory over an incumbent Democrat completed Georgia β s shift to a solidly Republican state , ending generations of Democratic control of state government .
Despite the seismic political change , Mr. Perdue showed little interest in pushing big programs or signature legislation during his two terms . Instead he focused on finding ways to save money while improving customer service by state agencies β such as reducing wait times for renewing driver β s licenses . He often referred to himself as Georgia β s CEO .
β If I could choose my legacy it would be the epithet that he made government work , β Mr. Perdue told The Associated Press in 2010 before he left office . β That β s really what I β ve focused on . It β s not some big monument . β
Critics accused Mr. Perdue of failing to tackle some of Georgia β s biggest problems , such as struggling public schools .
Mr. Perdue didn β t rely only on his business acumen as governor . A devout Southern Baptist , he also found a place for faith in his administration . In 2007 , when a withering drought gripped Georgia and neighboring states , Mr. Perdue held a prayer rally in front of the state Capitol in Atlanta to pray publicly for rain .
It was also Mr. Perdue who brought an end to Georgia β s long-standing conflicts over a state flag that featured the Confederate battle emblem . The controversial flag was replaced by lawmakers under Mr. Perdue β s Democratic predecessor , but the new design proved unpopular . Mr. Perdue insisted Georgia voters should pick the flag . A referendum was held in 2004 , though Southern heritage groups were outraged that the options did not include the old flag with the Confederate symbol .
Under Mr. Perdue β s watch , Georgia adopted tough new food-safety regulations after a deadly U.S. salmonella outbreak was traced to Georgia-made peanut butter . He moved the state office that issues water permits for irrigation and other agricultural uses from Atlanta to rural south Georgia , where it would be closer to farmers . And Mr. Perdue poured millions of state dollars into Go Fish , a program that aimed to lure bass fishing tournaments to the state .
The ex-governor , whose full name is George Ervin Perdue III , grew up in central Georgia . He attended the University of Georgia , where he played football as a walk-on and earned his doctorate in veterinary medicine . Following a stint in the Air Force , Mr. Perdue returned to Georgia and settled in Bonaire , a city of about 14,000 people .
Mr. Perdue already has family serving in Washington . His cousin , former Dollar General CEO David Perdue of Sea Island , Georgia , was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014 . | Ug8HcDK3Ws8pD4OF | 2 | Agriculture | 0.2 | Economy And Jobs | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
world | The Daily Wire | https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-officials-send-earthquake-aid-to-turkey-joining-international-support-response | U.S. Officials Send Earthquake Aid To Turkey, Joining International Support Response | 2023-02-10 | World, Turkey, Syria, Earthquake, Foreign Policy, Foreign Aid, Middle East, United Nations, Syrian Refugees, Disaster | U.S. Military officials said Tuesday that the United States European Command has begun sending aid to Turkey and Syria after two massive earthquakes rocked both nations within the past 24 hours, killing thousands of people. βUsing a whole of government approach, we remain in close contact with our Turkish Ally to determine what assistance is needed to help those affected by the disaster,β Marine Lt. Col. Garron J. Garn said in a statement to Military Times. Two earthquakes, which reached 7.8 and 7.5 magnitudes, devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, leaving an estimated 3,000 structures destroyed and approximately 7,200 people dead. Around 1,500 have been found dead in Syria, and more than 5,400 were killed in Turkey as rescue workers continue to search for survivors following the worst natural disaster to hit the region since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake that killed more than 30,000 people. The region is situated on major fault lines. In the area affected by the earthquake, the dire situation is compounded by the presence of millions of refugees displaced by years-long civil war in Syria who were taking refuge on both sides of Turkey and Syriaβs border. Garn said the command is coordinating with the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, and other U.S. interagency partners to establish what capabilities are needed and available to support requests by the government of Turkey. President Joe Biden told President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey the United States stands ready to provide βany and all needed assistanceβ to the NATO Ally in response to the tragedy. Biden said that βU.S. teams are deploying quickly to support Turkish search and rescue efforts and coordinate other assistance that may be required by people affected by the earthquakes, including health services or basic relief items,β a readout of Bidenβs conversation with Erdogan said on February 6. The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, and the U.S. Air Force have sent the first round of aid from Dover, Delaware. βAirmen from the 436th Aerial Port Squadron processed U.S. humanitarian assistance Feb. 7, 2023, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, in support of search and rescue efforts in [Turkey],β according to the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa Facebook page. President Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces on Tuesday that were impacted by the devastating earthquakes. βWe have decided to declare a state of emergency to ensure that our [rescue and recovery] work can be carried out quickly,β Erdogan said, Al Jazeera reported. The Epoch Times reported that international aid for Turkey and Syria in the Damascus region has poured in from all over the world. Teams from Netherlands, U.K., and Romania have dispatched crews to Turkey, while Israel, Germany, and France have reportedly said they would also offer assistance. India sent a 99-member medical team with X-ray machines, an oxygen generation plant, and cardiac monitors to set up a 30-bed medical facility. A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, according to NBC, that a team of 77 British search and rescue personnel arrived in the city of Gaziantep in Turkey today with specialist equipment and dogs in response to a request from the Turkish government and would start assisting with the rescue effort. World Health Organization (WHO) officials warned that the death toll could rise to approximately 20,000 as rescue teams continue search operations in the coming days. βItβs now a race against time. Every minute, every hour that passes, the chances of finding survivors alive diminishes,β World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing Tuesday. Zach Jewell contributed to this report. Already have an account? Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference. Stay up-to-date on the latestnews, podcasts, and more. We won't sell or share your personal information to inform the ads you see. You may still see interest-based ads if your information is sold or shared by other companies or was sold or shared previously. Dismiss Opt out California residents may click hereto view our California Privacy Notice. To submit a request to exercise any of your privacy rights Click Here. Under certain state laws, the use of cookies that collect information for advertising and other specified purposes may be considered to be a type of selling or sharing of personal information. You may opt out of this type of sale or sharing of your personal information by clicking this toggle to the left (gray) position. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the Site. Our Site uses cookies for targeted advertising. 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coronavirus | TechCrunch | https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/10/coronavirus-5g-covid-19-conspiracy-theory-misinformation/ | Coronavirus conspiracies like that bogus 5G claim are racing across the internet | 2020-04-10 | COVID-19 Misinformation, Fake News, Technology, Coronavirus | As the U.S. and much of the world hunkers down to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus , some virus-related conspiracy theories are having a heyday . Specifically , a conspiratorial false claim that 5G technology is linked to COVID-19 gained ground , accelerating from obscurity into the rattled mainstream by way of conspiracy theorists who β d been chattering about 5G conspiracies for years .
While there is scientific consensus around the basic medical realities of COVID-19 , researchers are still filling in the gaps on a virus that no one knew existed five months ago . That relative dearth of information opens the way for ideas usually relegated to the internet β s fringes to slip into the broader conversation about the pandemic β a dangerous feature of an unprecedented global health crisis .
According to Yonder , an AI company that monitors online conversations including disinformation , conspiracies that would normally remain in fringe groups are traveling to the mainstream faster during the epidemic .
A report on coronavirus misinformation from the company notes β the mainstream is unusually accepting of conspiratorial thinking , rumors , alarm , or panic β during uncertain times β a phenomenon that explains the movement of misinformation that we β re seeing now .
While the company estimates that it would normally take six to eight months for a β fringe narrative β to make its way from the edges of the internet into the mainstream , that interval looks like three to 14 days in the midst of COVID-19 .
β In the current infodemic , we β ve seen conspiracy theories and other forms of misinformation spread across the internet at an unprecedented velocity , β Yonder Chief Innovation Officer Ryan Fox told βββ . He believes that the trend represents the outsized influence of β small groups of hyper passionate individuals β in driving misinformation , like the 5G claims .
While 5G claims about the coronavirus are new , 5G conspiracies are not . β 5G misinformation from online factions like QAnon or Anti-Vaxxers has existed for months , but is accelerating into the mainstream much more rapidly due to its association with COVID-19 , β Fox said .
The seed of the false 5G coronavirus claim may have been planted in a late January print interview with a Belgian doctor who suggested that 5G technology poses health dangers and might be linked to the virus , according to reporting from Wired . Not long after the interview , Dutch-speaking anti-5G conspiracy theorists picked up on the theory and it spread through Facebook pages and YouTube channels already trafficking in other 5G conspiracies . Somewhere along the way , people started burning down mobile phone towers in the U.K. , acts that government officials believe have a link to the viral misinformation , even though they apparently took down the wrong towers . β Owing to the slow rollout of 5G in the UK , many of the masts that have been vandalised did not contain the technology and the attacks merely damaged 3G and 4G equipment , β The Guardian reported .
This week , the conspiracy went mainstream , getting traction among a pocket of credulous celebrities , including actors John Cusack and Woody Harrelson , who amplified the false 5G claims to their large followings on Twitter and Instagram , respectively .
A quick Twitter search reveals plenty of variations on the conspiracy still circulating . β β¦ Can β t everyone see that 5G was first tested in Wuhan . It β s not a coincidence ! , β one Twitter user claims . β 5G was first installed in Wuhan and now other major cities . Coincidence ? , β another asks .
In the past , 5G misinformation has had plenty of help . As The New York Times reported last year , Russian state-linked media outlet RT America began airing segments raising alarms about 5G and health back in 2018 . By last May , RT America had aired seven different programs focused on unsubstantiated claims around 5G , including a report that 5G towers could cause nosebleeds , learning disabilities and even cancer in children . It β s possible that the current popular 5G hoax could be connected to disinformation campaigns as well , though we likely won β t learn the specifics for some time .
In previous research on 5G-related conspiracies , social analytics company Graphika found that the majority of the online conversation around 5G focused on its health effects . Accounts sharing those kinds of conspiracies overlapped with accounts pushing anti-vaccine , flat Earth and chemtrail misinformation .
While the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory has taken off , it β s far from the only pandemic-related misinformation making the rounds online lately . From the earliest moments of the crisis , fake cures and preventative treatments offered scammers an opportunity to cash in . And even after social media companies announced aggressive policies cracking down on potentially deadly health misinformation , scams and conspiracies can still surface in AI blindspots . On YouTube , some scammers are avoiding target words like β coronavirus β that alert automated systems in order to sell products like a powdered supplement that its seller falsely claims can ward off the virus . With their human moderators sent home , YouTube and other social platforms are relying on AI now more than ever .
Social networks likely enabled the early spread of much of the COVID-19 misinformation floating around the internet , but they don β t account for all of it . Twitter , Facebook and YouTube all banned Infowars founder and prominent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms back in 2018 , but on his own site , Jones is peddling false claims that products he sells can be used to prevent or treat COVID-19 .
The claims are so dangerous that the FDA even stepped in this week , issuing a warning letter to Jones telling him to cease the sale of those products . One Infowars video cited by the FDA instructs viewers concerned about the coronavirus β to go to the Infowars store , pick up a little bit of silver that really acts its way to boost your immune system and fight off infection . β
As it becomes clear that the disruptions to everyday life necessitated by the novel coronavirus are likely to be with us for some time , coronavirus conspiracies and scams are likely to stick around too . A vaccine will eventually inoculate human populations against the devastating virus , but if history is any indication , even that is likely to be the fodder for online conspiracists . | d0f2deb25d27a930 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | American Spectator | http://spectator.org/public-and-press-outrage-depends-on-your-politics/ | Public and Press Outrage Depends on Your Politics | politics | After perjuring himself in the Lewinsky scandal and unhesitatingly lying to the American people about having sex with a twenty-year-old White House intern , Bill Clinton became not a source of scorn and derision but the highest paid and most sought after speaker on the Democratic Party β s circuit .
Clinton didn β t merely engage in locker room banter about women , he actually did the things that , in Trump β s case , liberal analysts transformed , by rhetorical hocus pocus , from ugly words to actual assault .
In sharp contrast , Clinton β s parsing that he did not have sex with Lewinsky because he was a passive recipient ( also a lie ) of sex acts and did not participate in intercourse was readily lapped up by true believers .
Feminists who had years earlier stood like a solid wall behind Anita Hill β s account of sexual harassment were nowhere to be found when it came to the women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment and sexual abuse .
Uber feminist Betty Friedan toed the Hillary Clinton party line that it was Bill Clinton who was the victim of some amorphous and vast right-wing conspiracy . Freidan , with uncharacteristic dismissiveness of the women accusing the president , noted that his β enemies are attempting to bring him down through allegations about dalliance with an intern . β¦ Whether it β s a fantasy , a set-up or true , I simply don β t care . β
Feminists , when they did care , were using their verbal talents to mock Lewinsky as the looney tunes piece of trash Hillary had characterized . Erica Jong had joked , β My dental hygienist pointed out that [ Lewinsky ] had third-stage gum disease . β
None of this should excuse Donald Trump β s descent into vulgarities , but it does show that our sense of morality , outrage , and common decency is not immune from the political outcomes they can serve .
We are a nation of selective moralists . I am reminded of one of my feminist colleagues who said that if Clinton β s needs were so great , women volunteers should have been recruited to satisfy them . So much for protecting the virtues of American womanhood and not objectifying women as sex objects .
As the Middle East continues to explode in violence , as Syrian civilians are caught in the crossfire between sadistic Islamist fanatics and a ruthless dictator clinging to power , as China rises as a strategic threat and our economy is mired in what seems to be endless stagnation , the major issue of our presidential campaign is about locker room banter ?
It β s a β gotcha moment β for the mainstream media . Indeed , there is more replay of Trump β s juvenile comments than of the issue of Hillary Clinton β s security-corrupted servers , Benghazi , or her policies that resulted in the collapse of Libya , and the perpetuation of the war without end in Syria .
We would respect the mainstream media more if they were as concerned about the Arab governments that treat women like chattel and expect a return on their donations to the Clinton Foundation , as they are about Trump β s indefensible vulgarities .
There is across the West a growing economic inequality both within and between nations . We are confronting an economic and political disaster , one in which an elite that has benefited from globalization has shown a disregard for the rest of its fellow citizens , if not for humanity in general .
Such inequality will inevitably lead to a rapid delegitimacy of political and economic institutions . How Mr. Trump or Secretary Clinton will deal with this and other critical issues should be the focus of this election . Instead we are caught in the quagmire of selective outrage over the insipid . That should be far more frightening and threatening than the next replay of Donald Trump β s indulgence in locker room banter or reminders of Bill Clinton β s perjury . | xrOWMKafOV1SlsuC | 2 | Media Bias | -0.8 | Politics | -0.4 | null | null | null | null | null | null | |
fiscal_cliff | New York Times - News | http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/us/politics/obamas-aide-jacob-lew-is-a-low-key-power-broker.html?ref=politics | Trusted Aide to Obama Faces Test in Budget Showdown | 2012-12-02 | fiscal_cliff | But Mr. Lew β s last go-round with Republicans , the debt ceiling talks in the summer of 2011 , ended uncharacteristically badly . Mr. Lew , still the budget director at the time , irked Speaker John A. Boehner and his staff , who viewed him as an uncompromising know-it-all . Mr. Lew β s defenders call it an aberration .
β I think it β s because Jack knows the numbers , and they couldn β t pull a fast one , β said David Plouffe , Mr. Obama β s chief political adviser .
This time , Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is the lead negotiator ; as the chief of staff , administration officials say , Mr. Lew can no longer spend long hours away from the White House . Instead , he is overseeing the talks and plotting strategy from his West Wing office , where a painting of Abraham Lincoln hangs over the fireplace and a tiny ceramic replica of Ellis Island β a nod to his father , who immigrated from Poland β sits on his orderly wooden desk .
So far , there has been little progress . On Friday , Mr. Boehner declared the talks β at a stalemate , β while Mr. Obama hit the road to sell his plan to raise taxes on income over $ 250,000 . Earlier in the week , Mr. Obama met with business leaders , as did Mr. Lew , who declined to comment for this article .
At 57 , Mr. Lew may be the most unassuming power broker in Washington . He is deeply religious ( an Orthodox Jew , he leaves work each Friday before sundown ) and is so strait-laced that his colleagues feel compelled to apologize when they curse in front of him . He brings his own lunch ( a cheese sandwich and an apple ) and eats at his desk .
With his owlish glasses and low-key manner , Mr. Lew may come off as just a policy nerd . But he is a fierce negotiator . When defending social safety net programs , particularly those like Medicaid that help the poor , he morphs into a warrior , Republicans say , though he has proved willing to make concessions .
β Jack is tough , β said Jim Dyer , a Republican and a former Capitol Hill aide who negotiated budget issues with Mr. Lew in the 1990s . β He can be argumentative , he β s smart as hell , he β s very political , he is a true liberal , he is loyal to his superiors , and he has a good grasp of budgetary and policy issues . β
β Fighting with him is exhausting , β Mr. Dyer added . β We yelled at each other a lot . We never came to blows . We walked away from the table perhaps happy to be away from each other for a while , but perhaps equally happy that we preserved a modicum of what each side wanted . β
Mr. Lew arrived in Washington in 1973 , a skinny , bookish 18-year-old from Queens who got his first taste of Democratic politics at 12 while handing out fliers for Eugene McCarthy β s presidential campaign . Today , as a two-time former budget director ( he also held the job under President Bill Clinton ) , he has an intricate understanding of budget policy .
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In 1983 , as an aide to Speaker Tip O β Neill when Ronald Reagan was president , Mr. Lew helped put Social Security on a path to solvency with a plan that , to many Democrats β chagrin , will eventually raise the retirement age to 67 . He keeps a gavel from the day the legislation passed , signed by Mr. O β Neill , on a bookshelf in his office .
In 1997 , under Mr. Clinton , Mr. Lew worked with Republicans to balance the federal budget , enabling the president to leave office with a surplus .
Mr. Lew also has foreign policy experience ; he spent the first two years of the Obama administration as a deputy to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton .
He has little use for Washington β s social scene ; a check of newspaper archives going back to 1977 shows that Mr. Lew has never turned up in The Washington Post β s gossip column . His wife , Ruth , lives in their home in the affluent Riverdale section of the Bronx ; they commute back and forth and have a daughter in Washington and a son in New York . He likes to cook ; he makes a pretty good chicken soup ( Ruth is in charge of the matzo balls ) and a mean potato kugel .
Mr. Lew β s worldview was forged in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Forest Hills , Queens , where he grew up in the middle class in a squat brick apartment building in a neighborhood of bagel shops and corner luncheonettes . His father practiced law solo and dealt in rare books ; his mother managed his father β s office . In high school , Mr. Lew found himself in music ( he played the 12-string guitar ) , edited the newspaper and fought for causes like building low-income housing in Queens .
β Jack was a folkie , β said an old friend , Stephen Norman . As a teenager , Mr. Lew liked to hang around the now-defunct Folklore Center in Greenwich Village , where he ran into Don McLean , who had not yet written β American Pie. β When the young Mr. Lew organized a fund-raiser to fight world hunger , he persuaded Mr. McLean to play .
If he had a teenage rebellion , it was moving to Minnesota to attend Carleton College ( his parents preferred Columbia University ) and then quitting after a year to work for Bella Abzug , the flamboyant Manhattan congresswoman . His mother worried that he would never get his degree , but he did , at Harvard . Later , while working on Capitol Hill , he picked up a law degree , attending Georgetown at night .
By the time he was 23 , Mr. Lew was a top policy aide to Mr. O β Neill , an experience that friends say sharpened his sense of how federal spending affects people β s lives .
β When he said β Pell grants , β it wasn β t something distant or numerical , β said Chris Matthews of MSNBC , who also worked for Mr. O β Neill and shared an office with Mr. Lew . β He knew this meant kids could go to college who didn β t have rich parents . β
The challenge now for Mr. Lew β and for Mr. Obama β is to forge an agreement that does not cut too deeply into the entitlement programs that Democrats cherish . Like Mr. Obama , Mr. Lew is a pragmatist ; one person familiar with his thinking said he had previously expressed willingness to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 , a move that many liberals oppose .
If Mr. Lew gets the Treasury job , the business world will not be unhappy . He is not a creature of Wall Street , but before joining the Obama administration , he spent three years in high-level ( and high-paying ) jobs at Citigroup , where he oversaw a unit that lost money but also profited from betting against the subprime mortgage market . Mr. Lew was chief operating officer ; in testimony before Congress , he has said he did not make investment decisions .
For Mr. Obama , the choice is whether he needs Mr. Lew more in overseeing the Treasury Department or in running the White House . Though Mr. Lew , who has been the chief of staff for less than a year , is not a member of Mr. Obama β s longtime Chicago inner circle , aides say he is a good fit β β the no-drama chief of staff for the no-drama president , β one said β and Mr. Obama relies on him for more than just budget advice .
β I have been in countless meetings with the president and Jack , β said Valerie Jarrett , Mr. Obama β s senior adviser , β and also been in meetings with senior staff where Jack hasn β t been present , where the president will say , β What does Jack think ? β β | 8L6IX4EnQhHao9wk | 0 | Fiscal Cliff | 0.6 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
religion_and_faith | Guest Writer | http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/opinions/costello-pope-francis-popularity/index.html | OPINION: Pope Francis faces criticism from left, right | 2015-09-21 | Pope Francis, Religion And Faith | Carol Costello , who anchors the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m . ET edition of CNN 's `` Newsroom '' each weekday , is writing a series of columns related to Pope Francis ' visit to North America this month . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author .
As he visits the United States for the first time , the Pope 's approval ratings here , according to Gallup , have taken a tumble , from 76 % in 2014 to 59 % today .
He washes the feet of the poor , talks of forgiveness and stresses care of the planet . He even tries to lead by example , rejecting the Vatican 's more opulent digs and fancy vestments . Yet Francis elicits a confusing mix of emotions . Love . Admiration . Scorn . And fear .
What other explanation can there be when an article actually exists with the headline : `` Why so Many People Think Pope Francis is the Antichrist `` ? In case you 're curious , that headline appeared on Charisma News .
Reporter Jennifer LeClaire googled `` pope antichrist , '' and came up with a motherlode of hits . None was more ridiculous than the online `` Jim Bakker Show . '' A guest author named Tom Horn told the show 's audience that 50 years ago , a Jesuit priest `` predicted the resignation of Pope Benedict to the day , '' which means Pope Francis could be `` demonically inspired , '' because , Horn said ominously , `` demons know things about times . ''
My head is about to explode , too . But now that I 've dispensed with that bit of nonsense , I 'll get down to brass tacks .
Pope Francis ' approval ratings have taken a tumble because he makes Americans squirm .
`` He 's nudging me , as he is lots of us , to think about some uncomfortable things and how we might be better human beings in our world today , '' Sister Donna Markham , the president of Catholic Charities , told me . `` And that 's hard . ''
The Pope recently called the unfettered pursuit of money `` the dung of the devil . '' He said that profit tends , especially in capitalist countries like ours , to drive all decision-making , often at the expense of the poor .
`` It is not enough , '' the Pope said , `` to let a few drops fall whenever the poor shake a cup which never runs over by itself . ''
Those remarks left many conservatives cold , especially those who say Pope Francis is a Marxist who wants to `` spread the wealth . ''
R. Albert Mohler Jr. , the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary , told me the Pope 's words are dangerous . `` It 's a mixture of naivete and papal authority , '' he said . `` The Gospel mandates we care for the poor . But there is a legitimate disagreement on how the poor are helped . He has split Roman Catholicism on that issue . ''
And because Francis may criticize American capitalism before a joint session of Congress , his appearance makes Mohler positively seethe . `` As an evangelical and American citizen , I 'm deeply troubled by the fact that Congress is going to host the Pope . I know they 'll say Pope is the head of state , but the Vatican is largely a diplomatic fiction and its size ... it can fit into a parking lot . He is there because he is the head of the Roman Catholic Church . ''
If it makes conservatives feel any better , Francis makes progressives squirm , too -- in a pool full of confusion .
On the one hand , Francis sounds like their hero , a holy version of President Obama or Bernie Sanders . He trashes greedy Wall Street types ! He thinks climate change is in part caused by man ! He 's urged us to embrace undocumented immigrants ! Awesome .
On the other hand , while the Pope has talked in a more merciful way about moral issues , the church still opposes same-sex marriage , women priests , married priests , divorce , birth control and abortion .
`` I think that Francis does n't intend to change any doctrine , '' the Rev . Thomas Bohlin , vicar of Opus Dei , told me . `` He 's been faithful to the church through thick and thin for many years . He does want to change the emphasis and the way people look at religion , not reducing it to left and right categories . ''
Maybe that 's really why Francis makes us squirm -- he 's a man who can not be categorized , who is , at times , difficult to read . In short , he 's not always a people-pleaser . He wants us not just to feel , but also to think -- and not just about our personal stake or `` take , '' but about our personal roles and responsibilities .
As New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told me , `` I do n't think he ( Pope Francis ) thinks about his work in terms of favorability . I think he thinks about telling the truth . It 's quite clear if you read his encyclical , he 's saying the status quo is unsustainable and we have to get on a new path . And he 's obviously just not speaking to the Catholics of the world . He 's speaking to people well beyond the church . And it 's interesting , a lot of people are moved by him , of all different backgrounds . '' | 83d63cec1753e6b6 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | CNBC | http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/20/trump-hints-at-immigrant-related-crime-and-terror-in-sweden.html | Amusement and bemusement over Trump's remarks about 'last night in Sweden' | 2017-02-20 | White House, Politics | U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during his "Make America Great Again" rally at Orlando Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Florida on February 18, 2017.When U.S. President Donald Trump told supporters in Melbourne, Florida, Saturday evening that "we've got to keep our country safe. You look at what's happening in Germany, you look at what's happening last night in Sweden," public attention turned to the Scandinavian country, expecting scenes of terror.But as it turned out, Sweden had seen no specific security threats despite Trump's claim that the country "took in large numbers (of immigrants), they're having problems that they never thought possible."Swedes, including those in government, have responded to Trump's assertions with both bemusement and a more serious denouncing of the current "post-truth" climate.Carl Bildt, former Swedish prime minister, tweeted:TWEETThe Swedish embassy in Washington D.C. posted the following soon after Trump's comments:TWEETSwedish Foreign Minister Margot WallstrΓΆm tweeted a link to "post-truth" being named the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year in 2016:TWEETMany users on Twitter mocked Trump's vague words.TWEETTWEETSwedish tabloid Aftonbladet responded to Trump's speech by publishing a list of incidents under the headline, "This happened in Sweden Friday night, Mr President." The article referenced serious events as well as the more mundane, including news that "famous singer Owe ThΓΆrnqvist had some technical problems during rehearsal for (a) singing competition."Trump later clarified that he was referring to a broadcast on Fox News in which filmmaker Ami Horowitz referred to Sweden as the "rape capital of Europe" and blamed the Muslim refugee population for a rise in crime.In 2015, Sweden accepted over 160,000 asylum applications, coming behind only Germany and Hungary in the European Union. | 5329e17a3ddc23e2 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
taxes | Reason | https://reason.com/blog/2017/12/19/gop-tax-bill-not-apocalypse-end-world | The GOP Tax Bill Isnβt the End of the World. Far From It. | 2017-12-19 | Taxes | Sometime today , both the House and the Senate will hold final votes on the tax legislation that has been working its way through Congress this year . And then , tomorrow , President Trump will sign it into law .
Democrats have treated the bill 's passage as an apocalyptic event . Earlier this month , when a previous iteration of the bill passed in the Senate , Nancy Pelosi , the Democratic House Minority Leader , declared that it was literally the apocalypse . `` It is the end of the world , '' she said , singling out the bill 's repeal of the individual mandate . `` This is Armageddon . '' How perilous the world must seem to her that this muddled bit of tax cutting could bring it all down .
Pelosi 's apoplectic reaction offers , among other things , a reminder of how long it has been since Republicans last passed major legislation , and how unhinged the responses to such an event can be . The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ( TCJA ) is not the end of the world , nor anything close . It is not even , unfortunately , the end of the tax code as we know it .
Instead , it is a predictable , conventional piece of Republican tax legislation , one that cuts taxes for corporations and individuals while sharply increasing the deficit . It is the sort of thing you can imagine passing , more or less , under Mitt Romney or John McCain or Jeb Bush . Which means , of course , that it has all the problems , and benefits , of conventional Republican thinking about taxes .
Among those benefits is the bill 's centerpiece : a permanent reduction in the corporate tax rate , from 35 percent , the highest in the developed world , down to 21 percent . There is little serious disagreement amongst mainstream economists that America 's corporate tax rate is too high . In 2012 , President Obama proposed slashing it to 28 percent . Predictably , the Republican plan goes further , but it still leaves America with a rate that is higher than the European average of 18.8 percent . Cutting corporate taxes may not provide the sort of quick boost to job creation or economic growth that some of its more enthusiastic backers claim . But it positions the nation to be more competitive internationally in the long term by permanently reducing the cost of doing business in the United States .
Corporations are not the only beneficiaries of the bill 's cuts to tax rates , however . The plan cuts tax rates across all seven tax brackets , doubles the standard deduction ( while eliminating the personal exemption ) , expands the child tax credit , and alters the alternative minimum tax so that it will affect fewer people . According to an analysis the Tax Policy Center , these changes would reduce taxes for every income group . Only about five percent of taxpayers would pay more next year .
The bill is broadly unpopular , and has been widely misunderstood by the public , with one recent poll showing that a majority of the public believes their taxes will go up under the bill . In fact , it will reduce taxes for most Americans . If you are reading this , you will most likely get to keep more of your money as a direct result of this legislation .
At least , that is , for the next several years . The individual tax reductions , including the doubling of the standard deduction , are all set to expire at the end of 2025 . This is where the bill 's problems become more apparent .
Sunsetting these provisions allows the bill to comply with the Senate 's self-imposed requirement that the bill not increase the deficit by more than $ 1.5 trillion over the next decade . Republicans , however , have argued that the provisions wo n't really expire , because no future Congress would allow middle-class taxes to rise . `` Those are sunsets that will never occur , we do n't believe will ever occur , we do n't intend to ever occur , '' House Speaker Paul Ryan said last month at event hosted by The Washington Examiner .
This may well be true . Under President Obama , the vast majority of the temporary tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush were made permanent .
The problem is that if it is true , and the provisions do n't expire , then the bill will increase the deficit far more than projected . What Republicans are arguing , essentially , is that the actual text of the legislation should be ignored , because the authors do not intend for the bill to be implemented as written . It is effectively an argument for intentional legislative deceit . At best , it asks for support on the basis of a transparent budget gimmick .
The bill also repeals the individual mandate to maintain health coverage that was part of the Affordable Care Act . This wo n't repeal Obamacare , as the subsidies , regulations , and Medicaid expansion will be left in place . But it might partially hobble it , sparking political blowback in the process .
The main βββ for repealing the individual mandate is that it provides about $ 340 billion in deficit reduction , helping to offset the budgetary effects of the tax cuts , because , according to the Congressional Budget Office , about 13 million fewer people will choose to obtain government subsidized health coverage . Republicans have credibly argued that the estimated coverage loss is too high ; if so , however , that means the deficit reduction is smaller too . It 's another budget gimmick β an attempt to have it both ways .
Indeed , Republicans are also promising that the bill wo n't raise the deficit at all . Although static estimates suggest that it would raise the deficit by a little more than $ 1.4 trillion , Republican leadership maintains that this will be made up via new revenue from increased economic growth . The bill , Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said earlier this year , would `` pay for itself . '' On the night the bill passed in the Senate , Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even went so far as to declare that it would result in an increase in government revenue .
Not a single independent analysis backs up this claim . The most favorable estimates , which assume large dynamic effects stemming mostly from the corporate tax cut , project that growth will make up for about $ 1 trillion in lost tax revenue . An analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the total hit to the deficit could amount to $ 2.2 trillion . That this comes after eight years of blistering GOP criticism about debt and deficit increases under Obama is more than a little telling .
Republicans did produce one short document outlining their argument for growth . It provided no detailed analysis , yet concluded that the bill would pay for itself via `` a combination of regulatory reform , infrastructure development , and welfare reform as proposed in the Administration 's Fiscal Year 2018 budget . '' In other words , the bill , on its own , wo n't actually pay for itself .
It is an admission that even under the most generous assumptions , GOP claims about the bill 's likely effects have no realistic basis . Republicans may not exactly be lying about the bill , but they are certainly bullshitting .
There are other problems with the legislation as well : It provides a tax break for pass-through corporations , which pay at the individual rate , in a way that is nearly certain to encourage accounting gimmicks and other types of tax arbitrage . When Republican lawmakers in Kansas set up a similar provision , it encouraged tax avoidance but not economic growth , according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation . Republicans sold tax reform on the notion that it would simplify the tax code , reducing opportunities for gaming the system . Instead they have produced a bill that provides an incentive for complex tax-avoidance schemes .
Meanwhile , Republicans won over holdout votes with sketchy side-deals , at least one of which appears to directly benefit a number of Republican legislators . Republican leaders have n't even bothered to pretend that these add-ons have a purpose beyond buying votes .
And even backers agree that the text of the legislation , which was hastily written and rushed through the legislative process , has numerous errors and glitches in need of correction . Rep. Kevin Brady ( R-Texas ) , who helped design the legislation , has already said that he anticipates a follow-up bill with technical corrections . Republicans are passing this bill into law despite knowing that it is a shoddily constructed mess .
This is not the first piece of partisan legislation to be passed with apparent gimmicks , glitches , and handouts . When Democrats wrote the health care law that became Obamacare , they structured it with gimmicks intended to make it score as reducing the deficit . The major spending provisions were phased in after four years to give it a lower total cost in the 10 year budget window , because some Democrats lawmakers felt it was important for the price tag to come in under $ 1 trillion . The CLASS Act , a long-term care program that was never going to be fiscally sound , and was eventually cancelled , was attached in order to bolster its on-paper deficit reduction . But the law 's backers at least felt an obligation to provide the appearance of fiscally responsible legislation .
The Republican bill , and the GOP 's evidence-free assertions about its likely budgetary effects , have all but ensured a future in which politicians do not feel obligated to even engage in the pretense of fiscal responsibility . Republicans complained endlessly about the opaque process by which Obamacare was passed . But now they have escalated the gimmick wars , and there may be no going back .
On its own , then , the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a fairly typical Republican plan to cut taxes without reducing spending , making some productive changes to the tax code while intensifying the nation 's long-term problems . Yet understood more broadly , through the lens of politics as well as policy , the effect of the GOP 's duplicity , opacity , haste , and carelessness is not only to produce bad legislation , but bad precedent β another excuse , going forward , for politicians of both parties to disregard even the imperfect norms of transparency that have often governed the policymaking process whenever it is convenient . So no , it is not the end of the world . Far from it . But neither , I suspect , is it a pathway to a better one . | 57bbcc3be069004b | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | Politico | https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/27/bill-shine-white-house-communications-678856 | Former Fox News executive Bill Shine considered for White House communications role | 2018-06-27 | white_house | Bill Shine β s addition to the White House team would come as the administration has been losing senior staff and having trouble recruiting new talent to come in . | Mark Lennihan/AP Photo Trump looks to amplify message by bringing Fox News into the White House The addition of Bill Shine , Roger Ailes β former right-hand man and a Sean Hannity confidante , also carries some risk .
President Donald Trump is expected to tap former Fox News executive Bill Shine as communications director , the latest sign of the network 's growing influence over the West Wing . But some of the president β s allies fear that he 's bringing in a target of the β Me Too β movement who will focus more attention on the president 's own problems with women .
Shine , who for years served as former Fox chief Roger Ailes β right-hand man , was ousted from the network over his handling of sexual harassment claims . The former producer met with Trump on Wednesday to discuss the role , according to multiple people familiar with the process .
The position was most recently held by Hope Hicks , who left in March and enjoyed near-constant access β if not always influence β over the president . It β s a crucial role for the message-driven president , who continues to blame many of the White House crises on his communications team and their failure to shape the narrative .
In Shine , Trump would gain a former executive with experience in reaching out directly to his political base : the millions of viewers who tune in to Fox β s primetime shows every evening . He would also be gaining a close confidante of Fox anchor Sean Hannity , the president 's most vigorous promoter on television .
β He 's already outsourced a lot of his communications stuff to Fox News , β said one Republican close to the White House . β He has a tremendously close relationship with Hannity , so he 's going to put Hannity 's guy in there . β
βββ Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the # 1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from βββ . You can unsubscribe at any time . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply .
But the big question mark that will follow Shine into the White House , allies said , is whether women will step forward to relitigate how he handled sexual harassment claims at Fox News .
β Nobody knows what the answer to that X factor is , β said another Trump ally .
Former Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky filed a lawsuit against Shine last year , accusing him of failing to investigate multiple harassment accusations against Ailes that were brought to him directly . A second former Fox employee accused him in a lawsuit of helping to arrange for secret rendezvous with Ailes by booking her travel .
That may be less of a concern for his new boss , said the Republican close to the White House . β For Trump , these are temporary positions , β the source said , noting that Trump wants a communications change-up now and will deal with any fallout later .
At Fox , sources said , Shine excelled at cultivating a relationship with Ailes by acting as his β fixer , β a role Trump himself has found valuable β employing his personal lawyer , Michael Cohen , in the same manner β but that he is currently lacking .
Though the position has remained unfilled for months , the president himself has largely played the role . Counselor Kellyanne Conway has also taken on a larger role in formulating communications strategy . And Mercedes Schlapp , an ally of chief of staff John Kelly , has positioned herself as one of the more senior people on the team who would be the natural fit for the gig . But she has failed to gain the trust of the president .
Meanwhile , the White House has at times struggled to help shape its message before Trump tweets out his thoughts unfiltered without consulting with his top aides .
In the past , family members like Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have pushed their own candidates for the job , with mixed results : Anthony Scaramucci , famously , held the post for an obscenity-laced 11 days . But this time , multiple sources familiar with the process said , Trump has been driving the search on his own , consulting mostly with outside advisers like Hannity .
Trump has flirted with the idea of bringing Fox News talent into the White House before , interviewing Laura Ingraham to be his press secretary shortly after his inauguration and Judge Jeanine Pirro for a post at the Justice Department , for example . Another Fox News host , Kimberly Guilfoyle , who is now dating Donald Trump , Jr. , briefly made a play for press secretary . Heather Nauert , a former Fox News anchor , now serves in a senior communications role at the State Department .
In recent months , Trump has hosted Hannity and Shine at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida , where Shine has cultivated a personal relationship with the president .
The pick also underscores how closely Trump follows cable news and how deeply engaged he remains with the coverage of his own presidency . The president frequently phones Fox hosts to suggest angles for coverage or to praise them for saying nice things about him .
Tweets remarking on the coverage offered by the network 's morning news show , Fox and Friends , have become a daily ritual .
`` The most profound question of our era : Was there a conspiracy in the Obama Department of Justice and the FBI to prevent Donald Trump from becoming President of the U.S. , and was Strzok at the core of the conspiracy ? '' he tweeted Tuesday morning , quoting Fox News ' judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano .
Shine has discussed with the idea of joining the administration before only to take himself out of consideration . A White House official confirmed Shine β s name is back in the mix for the post , but said there was no formal announcement to make yet .
Shine β s addition to the White House team would come as the administration has been losing senior staff and having trouble recruiting new talent to come in . Trump allies are buzzing about the departure of chief of staff John Kelly , as well as the potential loss of press secretary Sarah Sanders , possibly by the end of the year .
Shine coming in , allies said , is a sign of the bunker mentality that has beset the White House . `` Trump figures what better way to give an F -- k you to the media folks , '' said the Republican close to the White House , `` than by picking someone they hate . '' | erUcMqBWGrP7MLF5 | 0 | Donald Trump | 0.2 | White House | -0.1 | Politics | -0.1 | null | null | null | null |
coronavirus | CNN Digital | https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/20/health/pfizer-child-vaccine-data/index.html | Covid-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds is safe and shows 'robust' antibody response, Pfizer says | 2021-09-20 | Coronavirus, Coronavirus Vaccine, Pfizer, Children | (CNN) In a highly anticipated announcement, Pfizer said on Monday a Phase 2/3 trial showed its Covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated a "robust" antibody response in children ages 5 to 11.These are the first such results released for this age group for a US Covid-19 vaccine, and the data has not yet been peer-reviewed or published. Pfizer said it plans to submit to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization soon. FDA officials have said that once data is submitted, the agency could authorize a vaccine for younger children in a matter of weeks.The trial included 2,268 participants ages 5 to 11 and used a two-dose regimen of the vaccine administered 21 days apart. This trial used a 10-microgram dose -- smaller than the 30-microgram dose that has been used for those 12 and older."The 10 microgram dose was carefully selected as the preferred dose for safety, tolerability and immunogenicity in children 5 to 11 years of age," Pfizer said in a news releaseParticipants' immune responses were measured by looking at neutralizing antibody levels in their blood and comparing those levels to a control group of 16- to 25-year-olds who were given a two-dose regimen with the larger 30-microgram dose. Pfizer said the levels compared well with older people who received the larger dose, demonstrating a "strong immune response in this cohort of children one month after the second dose.""Further, the COVID-19 vaccine was well tolerated, with side effects generally comparable to those observed in participants 16 to 25 years of age," the company said.A Pfizer spokesperson also confirmed that were no instances of myocarditis, a type of heart inflammation that has been linked with mRNA vaccines.Pfizer said these data will be included in a "near-term submission" for EUA and the companies will continue to accumulate the data needed to file for FDA approval for people ages 5 to 11.The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is currently approved for people age 16 and older, and authorized for use in people ages 12 to 15.Pfizer said it is expecting trial data for children as young as 6 months "as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.""Since July, pediatric cases of COVID-19 have risen by about 240 percent in the U.S. -- underscoring the public health need for vaccination. These trial results provide a strong foundation for seeking authorization of our vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old, and we plan to submit them to the FDA and other regulators with urgency," Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, said in the statement.What happens nextDr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner and current Pfizer board member, has said a vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 could be available by Halloween."Pfizer could be in a position to file very quickly," Gottlieb said Monday on CNBC. "The data came a little earlier than some were expecting, and depending on how long the FDA takes to review the application, whether it's a four week review or a six week review, you could have a vaccine available to children as early as probably by the end of October, perhaps it slips a little bit into November."Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock and Dr. Peter Marks, director of FDA's Center for Biologics Research and Evaluation, said in a statement this month that the agency would review data for a vaccine for younger children "as quickly as possible, likely in a matter of weeks rather than months," once it was submitted for authorization."However, the agency's ability to review these submissions rapidly will depend in part on the quality and timeliness of the submissions by manufacturers," they wrote.Calls for a Covid-19 vaccine for younger children have grown louder in recent months as cases surged among children.Coronavirus infections have risen "exponentially" among children across the United States, and now account for nearly 29% of all cases reported nationwide, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported last week.Still, US health officials have emphasized that children are not just small adults, and even those approaching age 12 should not be given the larger vaccine dose available for older people."We don't want children to have adverse effects. Granted, we want them to be able to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, but let's do it right," FDA's Marks said in a fireside chat hosted by the ResearchAmerica Alliance last week."There is a difference here because they're not just getting the same-old, same-old dose as a 12 and up person will. They have to get a reduced dose. And that's why it's not a good idea for doctors to take things in their own hands at this point."Millions more would be eligible for vaccinationIf the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is authorized for children ages 5 to 11, more than 28 million additional people will be eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Census Bureau.Currently, about 85% of the US population is eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. But the 5 to 11 age group represents about 9% of the total United States population, which would bump it up to 94%.According to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 63.8% of the total US population has received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and 54.6% of the population is fully vaccinated.Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.Adolescents are the least vaccinated group. About 57% of adolescents age 12 to 17 have received at least one dose and 46% are fully vaccinated, according to a CNN analysis of CDC data. Children 16 and up were included in the initial emergency use authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and children ages 12 to 15 were added in May, more than four months ago.Kaiser Family Foundation poll last month found that about a quarter of parents of children ages 5 to 11 say they will vaccinate their children "right away" once a vaccine is authorized. Four in 10 parents said they would "wait and see" how the vaccine is working before they get younger children vaccinated.Meanwhile, one-quarter of parents in the poll said they would "definitely not" have their 5-to-11-year-old children vaccinated against Covid-19. | 58eef13e9a38b0a8 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | ABC News | http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/06/white-house-benghazi-emails-show-susan-rice-got-a-bad-rap/ | White House Benghazi Emails Show Susan Rice Got a Bad Rap | 2013-06-05 | Benghazi, Susan Rice, White House, Politics | If we learned anything in all the back and forth over the Benghazi talking points - the 12 revisions first reported by βββ , the 100 pages of emails released by the White House , etc . - we learned this : Susan Rice got a bad rap .
Rice , the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has now been tapped as President Obama 's national security adviser , came under withering criticism after she famously appeared on five Sunday talk shows Sept. 16 , 2012 , and proclaimed the attack five days earlier on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi , Libya , grew out of a spontaneous protest inspired by the protests in Cairo over an anti-Muslim YouTube video .
That proved to be wrong . There were no protests in Benghazi . The incident started as an attack by a large group heavily armed men assaulting the compound .
But Rice did n't invent the notion of spontaneous protest . And although she downplayed indications of an al Qaeda connection to the attack , that was n't her idea , either . Rice was the White House 's messenger on Benghazi , and although she was carrying a message that proved to be wrong , we know now that she herself had nothing to do with the crafting of that message .
It turns out that Rice 's comments did come from the now-infamous CIA talking points and , while those talking points were heavily edited , the White House emails suggest Rice had no part in the editing process .
All 12 versions of the Benghazi talking points , including the first draft written entirely by the CIA , use the words `` spontaneously inspired by the protests . '' That mistake belongs to the CIA .
The earlier versions of the talking points did include references to evidence that an al Qaeda affiliate , Ansar al-Sharia , took part in the attack . They also included references to earlier CIA warnings about the terrorist threat in Benghazi .
All of that was edited out . The emails released by the White House show that the deletions were made after State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland asked for those terrorist references to be removed .
But the first time Rice 's name appears anywhere ion 100 page of emails is at 1:23 p.m. Sept. 15 , nearly two hours after the final edits to the talking points were made . Indeed , that was the first email about the talking points that went to Rice 's office . The last edits were made at 11:26 a.m .
In other words , you can blame the CIA for faulty intelligence on spontaneous protests . You can blame the State Department for insisting that references to terrorism be deleted . You can blame the White House for allowing those references to be deleted . | dac3b2c4a0082f91 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
economy_and_jobs | Fox Business | https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/feds-powell-signals-inflation-fight-not-over-more-rate-hikes-possible | Fed's Powell signals inflation fight not over, more rate hikes possible | 2023-08-25 | Economy And Jobs, Inflation, Interest Rates, Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell | Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday struck a hawkish tone during the annual central bank gathering in Wyoming: Inflation remains too high, and additional interest rate hikes may be warranted.In his highly anticipated speech at the Kansas Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium, Powell noted that while inflation has fallen considerably in recent months, it remains far from acceptable levels."Although inflation has moved down from its peak β a welcome development β it remains too high," he said. "We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate, and intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective."MOODY'S DOWNGRADES US BANKS, WARNS OF POSSIBLE CUTS TO MAJOR LENDERSTicker Security Last Change Change % I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 38314.86 -2,231.07 -5.50% I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 15587.786263 -962.82 -5.82% SP500 S&P 500 5074.08 -322.44 -5.97%Powell said the Fed will "proceed carefully" in determining how to set monetary policy in coming months. But he also acknowledged that there are dual risks of doing too much and doing too little, and maintained that officials will carefully watch economic data β which has been hotter-than-expected this summer β for clues."Given how far we have come, at upcoming meetings we are in a position to proceed carefully as we assess the incoming data and the evolving outlook and risks," he said.The Fed is scheduled to meet three more times this year, in September, November and December.A FED PAUSE LIKELY WONβT HELP STRUGGLING CONSUMERSPolicymakers have raised interest rates sharply over the past year, approving 11 rate hikes in hopes of crushing inflation and cooling the economy . In the span of just 16 months, interest rates surged from near zero to above 5%, the fastest pace of tightening since the 1980s.Hiking interest rates tends to create higher rates on consumer and business loans, which then slows the economy by forcing employers to cut back on spending.Higher rates have already helped push the average rate on 30-year mortgages above 7% for the first time in years. Borrowing costs for everything from home equity lines of credit to auto loans and credit cards have also spiked.But the labor market has proved surprisingly resilient, even in the face of higher interest rates, raising some concerns that inflation could re-accelerate.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREPowell acknowledged that it's unclear how much higher rates are weighing on the economy, and said officials are attuned to potential risks."We are attentive to signs that the economy may not be cooling as expected," he said. "Additional evidence of persistently above-trend growth could put further progress on inflation at risk and could warrant further tightening of monetary policy." | 273289452f41457c | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
banking_and_finance | Politico | http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/conservatives-declare-victory-in-battle-vs-government-bank-118121.html?hp=lc2_4 | Conservatives declare victory in battle vs. government bank | 2015-05-20 | banking_and_finance | House conservatives are declaring victory in their yearslong quest to kill an obscure government bank β and Speaker John Boehner may soon face a choice whether to team up with Democrats to save it .
Republican hard-liners predicted Tuesday they have the votes to stop a reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank β a government agency that has come under fire from conservatives who argue it amounts to a free market-distorting handout β over the protest of powerful Republican business interests . The bank β s charter is set to expire at the end of June .
β I believe the momentum is in our favor , β said House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling ( R-Texas ) . β I think every day that the facts are out about the corruption , the cronyism , the political lending , the ideological lending of this bank , more and more members of the House Republican Conference are saying , β You know what ? I don β t want to be a part of that. β And so I β m optimistic that hopefully we can be victorious . β
The emphatic statements of Hensarling and other House conservatives set the stage for yet another potential showdown between Boehner , an Ohio Republican , and his right flank . Democrats want to reauthorize the bank and say it would pass if the speaker allowed a vote , but that would mean defying the wishes of a majority of the GOP conference .
Hensarling , along with Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio , RaΓΊl Labrador of Idaho and Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina , said enough of the 245-member Republican delegation are opposed to preserving the bank that House Republican leaders should let the agency die on June 30 .
Still , there are deep divisions within the GOP over the bank . Boehner has said letting the bank β s authorization expire could kill thousands of jobs , and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are pushing aggressively to extend its charter .
But nearly the entire GOP presidential field believes the bank should be dissolved β and opponents in the House have seen their ranks swell for weeks . Powerful senators like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. ) are also pushing to eliminate the bank .
β This is going to be a critical vote , or hopefully a nonvote , on the future of the Republican Party and the future of our economy , β Hensarling said .
The looming deadline for the bank , which provides loans to help American businesses that export products , will ramp up pressure on pro-Ex-Im Republicans and Democrats to forge a deal that can garner 217 votes . In the Senate , members of both parties hope to attach a reauthorization of the bank to trade legislation that the Senate hopes to finish by the end of this week .
Boehner has said publicly that he will follow Hensarling β s lead on whether to renew the Ex-Im Bank charter or allow it to end . But the speaker has also warned that thousands of workers could lose their jobs if the bank ceases operations . And he has told Hensarling that if the Senate passes an Ex-Im reauthorization plan , the House may be forced to put it on the floor .
β Listen , I support any plan that the chairman can get through his committee , β Boehner said late last month . β Whether it would reform the bank , wind it down β but there are thousands of jobs on the line that would disappear pretty quickly if the Ex-Im Bank were to disappear . So I told the chairman he needs to come up with a plan because the risk is , if he does nothing , the Senate is likely to act , and then what ? β
If Boehner moves to renew the bank , he would be opposing nearly his entire GOP leadership team , as well as Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan ( R-Wis. ) and the bulk of hard-line House conservatives .
And it would once again mean Boehner would be forced to rely on Democrats to pass controversial legislation over the loud objections of his conference . Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters on Tuesday that it would be simple to extend the bank β s charter before June 30 if Boehner has the confidence to allow a vote .
β Put it on the floor , it β ll pass , β Hoyer said . β It has the majority of the votes on the floor of the House of Representatives . The speaker said he β s for it and wants to see it passed. β Hoyer predicted 235 to 245 lawmakers would support that bill β a number that includes the vast majority of the Democratic Caucus and the 60 Republicans who have signed on to a reauthorization bill authored by Tennessee Republican Rep. Stephen Fincher .
Such a move , however , would cause major problems for Boehner with his right flank . The reauthorization of the bank has become a focal point for the House Freedom Caucus , the 30-member group of conservatives that attempts to push GOP leadership rightward .
If Boehner circumvents conservatives on Ex-Im , he would face tough questions over his leadership and past promises to respect the will of the majority of the GOP conference .
β He would have a lot of explaining to do , β Mulvaney said . β Why does John Boehner know better than all of our presidential candidates , the majority leader , Chairman Hensarling , Chairman Ryan , Chairman [ Tom ] Price [ the Georgia Republican atop the Budget Committee ] ? If John β s attitude is that he is the only adult in the room , why are those people children ? β
Conservatives have attacked the bank for β crony capitalism. β They argue that the bank picks economic winners and losers by giving loans to corporations like Boeing and General Motors β and runs counter to the small-government principles the hard-line Republicans were elected on .
β This is a fundamental position our party has , β Jordan said . β We β re the party of not cronyism , not cozy relationships , not connected corporations getting special deals . We β re the party of free markets . For the Senate to try and tie it onto something else , that is a huge problem , and our side will look at every option we have to try and stop that . β
Supporters argue that the bank helps U.S. companies compete abroad as most developed nations offer subsidies to corporations that export national goods . Democrats also argue that the bank gives loans to small businesses to help them get footing into foreign markets .
At a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Tuesday , lawmakers from both parties said without the Ex-Im bank , their districts could experience major job losses .
β As we continue to debate reauthorization , I hope we can focus on the fact of jobs and the more than 60 competing international export credit agencies that undercut and destroy American jobs daily , β GOP Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina said . β In a perfect world , the Export-Import Bank would not be needed , but , unfortunately β¦ we do not live in a perfect world . β | ZpcUkgQhB28LWHvv | 0 | Conservatives | -2.7 | Banking And Finance | -0.6 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
republican_party | Newsmax - News | http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/nate-silver-odds-republicans-senate/2014/09/16/id/594983/ | Nate Silver: Odds of GOP Senate Takeover Significantly Down | 2014-09-16 | Congress, Republican Party, US Congress, Politics | The Republican Party 's chances of taking control of the Senate have decreased significantly as the fortunes of Democrats in key states have surged , says Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com.the former New York Times statistician , Republican odds stand at 55 percent , a drop from 64 percent just two weeks ago . `` We 've never quite settled on the semantics of when to call an election a 'tossup . ' A sports bettor or poker player would grimace and probably take a 55-45 edge . But this Senate race is pretty darned close , '' Silver said on an article on his website.Silver 's detailed statistical model indicates that Democrats now have a stronger possibility of winning due to changes in the Senate races in Colorado and North Carolina which are currently giving the party an advantage when previously Republicans held the edge.Silver categorizes the two states as `` highly competitive purple states , '' among which are also Iowa , Michigan , and New Hampshire . All five seats are currently held by Democrats and , with the exception of New Hampshire , it has been in these areas where Democrats have gained ground.He cited numerous recent polls that have shown a surge for North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall . `` What 's perplexing is that [ the Democrat surge in purple states ] has happened right as Democrats ' position on the generic congressional ballot β probably the best indicator of the nation mood β has deteriorated , '' he said.He added that unlike the most recent figures , average historical data from the generic ballot tended to directly correlate to performance of candidates in state-by-state Senate polls.Silver said the influence of money in those races could be one explanation , citing massive financial advantages for the Democrats in North Carolina and Colorado , along with higher outside spending by Democratic-leaning super PACs . `` Whatever the reason , the GOP 's path to a Senate majority is less robust than before . '' | 1abbafcb52ad035d | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
us_senate | The Hill | http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/372657-senate-nears-two-year-deal-on-spending | Senate nears two-year deal on spending | 2018-02-07 | us_senate | Senate leaders on Tuesday said they are close to a two-year budget deal that could avert a government shutdown and set up a debate on immigration reform next week .
The deal would set spending levels for fiscal 2018 and 2019 and avoid the prospect of a second government shutdown Thursday when a stopgap spending measure expires .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison ( Mitch ) Mitchell McConnellGOP senators balk at lengthy impeachment trial Graham : Senate trial 'must expose the whistleblower ' Graham says Schiff should be a witness in Trump impeachment trial MORE ( R-Ky. ) and Democratic Leader Charles Schumer Charles ( Chuck ) Ellis SchumerOvernight Health Care : Trump officials making changes to drug pricing proposal | House panel advances flavored e-cig ban | Senators press FDA tobacco chief on vaping ban Chad Wolf becomes acting DHS secretary Schumer blocks drug pricing measure during Senate fight , seeking larger action MORE ( N.Y. ) touted their progress after meeting in McConnell β s office Tuesday morning .
β I β m optimistic that very soon we β ll be able to reach an agreement , β McConnell told reporters , predicting that another shutdown this week is very unlikely .
β I don β t think that β s going to happen , β McConnell said of a possible shutdown . β I think we β re on the way to getting an agreement and on the way to getting an agreement very soon . β
Schumer said he also expected a deal soon that would set higher spending levels for defense and nondefense programs .
β I β m very pleased to report my meeting with Leader McConnell went very well . We β re making real progress on a spending deal that would increase the caps for both military and middle-class priorities on the domestic side that my colleagues have been fighting for . β
Schumer said some β outstanding issues β remain , but stressed he is β very hopeful β for a deal .
Schumer won β t sign off on a final deal unless Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiOvernight Health Care : Trump officials making changes to drug pricing proposal | House panel advances flavored e-cig ban | Senators press FDA tobacco chief on vaping ban Speaker Pelosi , it 's time to throw American innovators a lifeline Why Americans must tune in to the Trump impeachment hearings MORE ( D-Calif. ) supports it , and the legislation will need the backing of House Democrats to get through that chamber , according to Democratic aides .
Pelosi is under pressure from members of her caucus to get a commitment from Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan Retirees should say 'no thanks ' to Romney 's Social Security plan California Governor Newsom and family dress as 2020 Democrats for Halloween DC 's liaison to rock ' n ' roll MORE ( R-Wis. ) on a House vote to protect immigrants brought to the United States as children who could face deportation beginning next month .
In the Senate , McConnell has agreed to a floor debate meant to produce immigration legislation .
Rep. Luis GutiΓ©rrez ( D-Ill. ) said these immigrants should not be left to the side and expressed anger they are not included in the initial deal being reported .
β Do you really think we β d be having this dialogue if every Planned Parenthood office were to come to a halt β I mean , shuttered . I don β t think so , β he said . β I think , however , unfortunately , it β s OK to do it to β Dreamers. β It β s OK to turn your back and walk away from Dreamers . And I think that β s unfortunate . β
Under the proposed deal , the Senate would approve as early as Wednesday a stopgap measure to keep the government open for six weeks . The legislation would also include budgetary ceilings for defense and nondefense spending that reflect the Schumer-McConnell agreement .
Defense spending would be raised more than nondefense spending , breaking the dollar-for-dollar link that Democrats have insisted upon . Lawmakers said the defense spending budget cap for 2018 likely would be hiked by $ 80 billion , while the nondefense cap would be hiked by $ 63 billion .
While this would be a concession from Democrats , they agreed to a deal last spring that broke the dollar-for-dollar link . And Democrats could also get money for community health centers and disaster relief as part of the stopgap , though some of those details are still under negotiation .
The stopgap would give Congress more time to work on the longer-term omnibus funding bill , which would cover government spending for the rest of fiscal 2018 .
The optimistic takes from Schumer and McConnell stood in contrast to remarks from President Trump Donald John TrumpGOP senators balk at lengthy impeachment trial Warren goes local in race to build 2020 movement 2020 Democrats make play for veterans ' votes MORE on Tuesday , who said he welcomed a shutdown if it would get Democrats to bend .
β I β d love to see a shutdown if we don β t get this stuff taken care of , β Trump said at a White House meeting .
β If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don β t want safety and , unrelated but still related , they don β t want to take care of our military , then shut it down . β
Trump β s statement angered Schumer , but didn β t appear to put the potential agreement in any danger .
β That speaks for itself . We had one Trump shutdown , nobody wants another , maybe except him , β Schumer said .
It appears lawmakers in both parties would rather avoid more shutdowns after the three-day government stoppage in January . While Democrats were seen as getting the worst of that one , both parties are tired of the stopgap funding measures and see risks in the perpetual shutdowns .
One Republican lawmaker attending the White House meeting pushed back at Trump .
β We don β t need a government shutdown on this , β Rep. Barbara Comstock Barbara Jean ComstockGun debate raises stakes in battle for Virginia legislature Progressives face steep odds in ousting incumbent Democrats K Street giants scoop up coveted ex-lawmakers MORE ( Va. ) said , according to a White House pool report . Comstock represents constituents in a Virginia suburb of Washington , D.C. , that includes thousands of federal workers . She β s also a top Democratic target in the midterm elections .
The House on Tuesday approved a six-week stopgap in a 245-182 vote that also includes a year of defense spending .
The current plan is for the Senate to vote on a stand-alone , yearlong defense appropriations bill as soon as Wednesday . If leaders can β t get unanimous consent to speed up proceedings , the vote would happen Thursday , however .
That vote will almost certainly fail to reach the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster , and is intended to demonstrate that the House bill does not have enough votes to pass the Senate , according to a senior Senate aide familiar with internal deliberations .
If Democrats block a bill , McConnell could then amend the House resolution to include the budget caps .
In the House , the deal seems likely to draw opposition from conservative Republicans , though members of the House Freedom Caucus said they needed to review details before taking a position .
β It depends on what the budget caps deal is . Some of the numbers that are being talked about are obviously much higher than what conservatives would support , β Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows Mark Randall MeadowsDemocrats seize on new evidence in first public impeachment hearing House Republicans call impeachment hearing 'boring , ' dismiss Taylor testimony as hearsay Key takeaways from first public impeachment hearing MORE ( R-N.C. ) told βββ on Tuesday afternoon .
β We β ll have to look . I want to see what comes back . Are they going to put the disaster money on this ? Are they going to put debt ceiling on this ? β said Rep. Jim Jordan James ( Jim ) Daniel JordanGraham says Schiff should be a witness in Trump impeachment trial Democrats seize on new evidence in first public impeachment hearing House Republicans call impeachment hearing 'boring , ' dismiss Taylor testimony as hearsay MORE ( R-Ohio ) , a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus . β I β m for increasing defense , but then holding the line on nondefense . β
Congress also needs to raise the debt ceiling soon , in part because the federal government is taking in less tax revenue after the passage of December β s tax-cut package .
Jordan argued that pairing an $ 81 billion disaster aid package with higher spending caps would amount to β the second-largest discretionary spending increase in a decade . β
Ryan could tweak the Senate bill to make it more acceptable to conservatives and send it back to the Senate , but that would be risky with government funding due to expire on Feb. 8 .
Though some House Democrats may oppose a bill without commitments on immigration , a large number are likely to support any deal that their leaders sign off on , especially if it includes increases for domestic programs , funding for community health centers and other Democratic priorities .
β We β ll have to see it , but we β re looking for a CR that provides for a resolution of our budget issues . And that means caps that get us off of the sequestration level , β said Rep. David Price David Eugene PriceNorth Carolina ruling could cost GOP House seats Trump officials say aid to Puerto Rico was knowingly stalled after Hurricane Maria DeLauro enters race to succeed Lowey as Appropriations chief MORE ( D-N.C. ) , an appropriator . | LJi4BlwHemxBjt33 | 1 | Budget | -0.2 | US Senate | 0.1 | Politics | 0 | null | null | null | null |
politics | Fox Online News | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/03/rice-declines-rutgers-commencement-invite-says-it-has-become-distraction/ | Rice declines Rutgers commencement invite; says it has become a distraction | 2014-05-03 | politics | Condoleezza Rice announced Saturday that she will not be delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University β s graduation ceremony this month , saying the invitation has become a `` distraction . ''
Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families . Rutgers ' invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time , β the former secretary of state under President George W. Bush said in the statement .
`` I am honored to have served my country . I have defended America 's belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas . These values are essential to the health of our democracy . But that is not what is at issue here . As a professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as ( its ) former Provost and Chief academic officer , I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way . ''
On Monday , roughly 50 Rutgers University students staged a sit-in at a school administration building in New Brunswick to protest the school 's invitation to Rice to appear at the university 's commencement .
The school 's Board of Governors voted to pay $ 35,000 for her appearance at the May 18 ceremony . She was going to be awarded an honorary degree .
But several faculty members and students wanted the invitation rescinded because of Rice 's role in the Iraq War . Rutgers ' New Brunswick Faculty Council passed a resolution in March calling on the university 's board of governors to rescind the invitation .
Photos and videos of Monday 's protest posted to Twitter showed students lining a staircase leading to University President Robert Barchi 's office , The Star-Ledger reported .
Some students held up signs reading , `` No honors for war criminals , '' `` War criminals out '' and `` RU 4 Humanity ? '' the report said .
The sit-in was one of the largest in Rutgers ' history , according to The Daily Targum , a student newspaper . Police reportedly responded to the site of the protest after a glass door was broken and a student cut their hand .
Barchi and other school leaders had resisted the calls to `` disinvite '' Rice , saying the university welcomes open discourse on controversial topics .
`` We can not protect free speech or academic freedom by denying others the right to an opposing view , or by excluding those with whom we may disagree . Free speech and academic freedom can not be determined by any group . They can not insist on consensus or popularity , '' Barchi said in a letter to campus last month . | x4rhivCb2s3oEyqB | 2 | Politics | -0.2 | Condoleezza Rice | -0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/1/greens-vow-mass-protests-obama-oks-keystone-xl/ | Greens vow mass protests if Obama OKs Keystone pipeline | 2013-04-01 | white_house | As crews clean up spilled oil from a pipeline in Arkansas , environmental activists and others are using that spill and other incidents as fresh ammunition in their battle against the proposed Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline .
The leak from ExxonMobil β s Pegasus pipeline , carrying the same Canadian oil sands that would be transported by Keystone , has forced the evacuation of more than 20 families in the small town of Mayflower . The company estimates that β a few thousands barrels of oil β were spilled in the area .
The incident comes at an especially bad moment for the oil and gas industry and other proponents of the Keystone pipeline . The project enjoys growing bipartisan support in Congress and is backed by a strong majority of the American people .
It also appeared that , after years of delay , President Obama was leaning toward approving the project after a recent , largely favorable environmental review from the State Department .
But now critics can point to the Mayflower spill and cleanup effort as an example of what can go wrong with large-scale pipeline projects . Not even 24 hours after the Friday afternoon spill , Keystone opponents began to make the connection .
β This latest toxic mess is just another reminder that oil companies can not be trusted to transport toxic tar sands crude through Americans β backyards , β said Michael Brune , executive director of the Sierra Club . β It β s not a matter of if spills will occur on dangerous pipelines like the Keystone XL , but rather , when . β
Rep. Edward J. Markey , Massachusetts Democrat and candidate for his state β s open U.S. Senate seat , is making a similar argument .
β Whether it β s the proposed Keystone XL pipeline , or this mess in Arkansas , Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers and for our environment , β he said in a statement .
Some environmental groups are arguing that thick Canadian oil sands could pose unique dangers to pipelines due to faster corrosion and other factors .
The exact cause of the spill , ExxonMobil said , remains unclear and is under investigation . The company also says it has taken steps to ensure that no oil reaches nearby Lake Conway .
The Arkansas spill is the latest in a series of incidents raised by Keystone critics to demonstrate holes in both pipeline safety and other dangers associated with crude oil transport .
They β re also pointing to last week β s rupture of a Chevron Corp. pipeline in Utah ; the derailment of a southbound train carrying Canadian oil sands through Minnesota last week ; and numerous other incidents over the past few years .
Meanwhile , even before the Arkansas incident , Mr. Obama was set to again hear from the environmental movement .
Liberal activist group Credo , the Sierra Club and others have organized a protest in front of a Democratic Party fundraiser in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon , an event the president is scheduled to attend .
Credo also has promised to mobilize more than 50,000 activists to engage in β civil disobedience β in front of government office buildings , outside banks financing the project and at other locations if Mr. Obama greenlights Keystone .
Support for the pipeline had been increasing both in Congress and among voters , though it remains to be seen whether that support erodes because of what β s happened in Arkansas .
A March 28 Rasmussen survey found that 58 percent likely U.S. voters support building the pipeline , while just 26 percent are opposed to it . The poll also reported that , despite the demonstrations and protests of the environmental movement , the real passion lies on the pro-Keystone side of the debate .
One-third of likely voters β strongly favor β building the pipeline , while just 12 percent β strongly oppose β it , the survey shows . | t18fLRjisddwkcsj | 2 | White House | -0.2 | Politics | 0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
great_britain | The Flip Side | https://www.theflipside.io/archives/brexit | Brexit | great_britain | β Both the cheers and the tears seem extreme at first glance , considering how little will change on the ground on Friday . The transition agreement struck as part of Brexit means that , for the next 11 months , the U.K. will be treated as if it were still part of the EUβ¦ And while the Brexiteers champion β Global Britain β as a free-market counterweight to a protectionist EU , we have yet to see a real divide on trade and geopoliticsβ¦
β This entente won β t last long , however . Both the U.K. and the EU are trying to carve out a place for themselves on a world stage that β s dominated by the U.S. and China . The Brits aspire to retreat from the world 's biggest single market in favor of a soft-power , light-touch island economy β experts have imagined Singapore-on-Thames , the Canada of Europe , or β Belgium with nukes . β β
β The problems we have faced in trying to leave the EU stand as a testament to how right the Brexiters were all along : this isn β t a simple trading block , it is far , far , more . And disentangling the relationship has likewise proved far more complicated than many people β including most high-profile Brexiters β ever imaginedβ¦ the period since the referendum has ended the careers of two prime ministers , eight cabinet ministers and over 80 MPsβ¦ We β ve learned so much about our country and its institutions since June 2016 . Yet the real decisions are still to be madeβ¦
β Four years hence , as we turn our minds to the next election , politics may have repositioned itself around a more traditional left-right axis ; a berated and battered civil service may have retained its core values ; Scotland may have voted for independence from the UKβ¦ And , of course , a majority government may have made parliament reassuringly boring again . But beware . Boredom is a dangerous thing . The choices stemming from Brexit are arguably more significant than the choice to leave in the first place . How paradoxical if , at the moment when the real decisions are being made , our interest starts to falter . β
β Johnson has promised he will not extend this transition period beyond 2020 , giving the UK and EU less than 11 months to figure out their future partnership . This isn β t impossible to achieve , but it β s going to be very , very difficult . If the EU and UK can β t reach an agreement at the end of the year , the possibility of a no-deal looms once again . Experts say that could still be damaging and extraordinarily disruptive , especially if tariffs and increased customs checks lead to backlogs at ports , which could mean shortages in food and other goods . So although Brexit will be official on January 31 , the uncertainty over it definitely won β t be over . β
β Britain must negotiate a trade deal governing future commercial relations with Europe by the end of the year β a perhaps impossible deadline β or risk expensive disruption with its largest trading partnerβ¦ Europe β s recent trade deals with Canada and Japan took seven years . Still , Mr. Johnson has repeatedly ruled out extending the transition dateβ¦
β If Mr. Johnson holds firm , that raises two potential outcomes , neither conducive to expanding fortunes . Either Britain and Europe strike a narrow trade deal that governs some manufactured goods , while leaving out services β the bulk of the British economy β or Britain crashes out of the European bloc with no deal at all . Even the threat of a no-deal exit would entail costly mayhem , as companies on both sides of the English Channel stockpile goods in anticipation of customs snafus and choked ports . That is what unfolded for much of last year as the British political system lurched toward a Brexit deadline without an agreed-upon plan , bringing a no-deal scenario into stark relief . β
β Brexit won β t mark the end of Britain β s zero-sum politicsβ¦ There was already something broken in the liberal status quo , long before Britain voted to leave the EU . Liberal societies have entrenched asymmetries of power and inequalities of wealth to a degree that citizens no longer see each other as equals . When some are rich and others are poor , when some are highly articulate and others haven β t completed GCSEs , when some have multiple houses and others are condemned to be homeless , the imperative to patiently listen to the other side is not just unrealistic : it is insulting to those who persistently lose out . β
β By declaring that the United States will respond with airstrikes to any attacks on American targets or assets , Mr. Trump is drawing a bright red line that Iran can not cross . And yet , Iran relies on a network of proxy actors from Yemen , Syria , Iraq and Lebanon . Must they all respect Mr. Trump β s red line ? There are plenty of hotheads in those proxy forces that will be incensed by the assassination , the same way young men with weapons and minimal discipline often areβ¦ Mr. Trump can β t keep an entire region from crossing his red line , making violent conflict all the more likely if the president holds to itβ¦ β β It is crucial that influential Republican senators like Lindsey Graham , Marco Rubio and Mitch McConnell remind Mr. Trump of his promise to keep America out of foreign quagmires and keep Mr. Trump from stumbling further into war with Iran . β | AOAt6pX2Mx63o1a8 | 1 | Markets | -0.1 | European Union | 0 | Banking And Finance | 0 | null | null | null | null | |
treasury | Salon | https://www.salon.com/2020/04/15/order-to-print-trumps-name-on-every-stimulus-check-expected-to-delay-payments-to-americans/ | Order to print Trump's name on every stimulus check expected to delay payments to Americans | 2020-04-15 | White House, Role Of Government, Economy And Jobs, Economic Policy, Banking And Finance, Treasury, Donald Trump | The Treasury Department said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump 's name will appear on every mailed stimulus check , a move that senior IRS officials said would delay at least the first round of paper checks .
The Treasury will print `` President Donald J.Trump '' on the memo line of every paper check , because only career Treasury Department officials can legally sign the checks , The Washington Post first reported . It will be the first time a president 's name has ever appeared on a government payment to the public .
Trump previously denied that he wanted to `` sign '' the checks after it was initially reported earlier this month . Trump pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to let him sign the checks `` for weeks , '' The Washington Post reported , but only career Treasury officials can legally sign the checks . The Treasury decided to print `` President Donald J. Trump '' below the words `` Economic Impact Payment '' on the memo line of every mailed check .
The checks are scheduled to be sent Thursday to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service , which will print the checks , but senior IRS officials told The Post that the change is expected to delay the first printing .
`` Any last minute request like this will create a downstream snarl that will result in a delay , '' said Chad Hooper , the president of the IRS ' Professional Managers Association .
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif. , said last week that the checks should be sent as soon as possible without `` waiting for a fancy-Dan letter from the president . ''
A Treasury Department official denied that it would cause a delay .
`` Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned β there is absolutely no delay whatsoever , '' the official said . `` In fact , we expect the first checks to be in the mail early next week , which is well in advance of when the first checks went out in 2008 and well in advance of initial estimates . ''
Hooper said the move was also `` an abuse of government resources . ''
`` In this time of need for additional resources , anything that takes our focus from getting those checks out the door and hampers the equitable , fair administration of the tax code is not something we can support , '' he said .
Former IRS officials also criticized the administration for politicizing the agency .
`` Taxes are supposed to be nonpolitical , and it 's that simple , '' Nina Olson , the IRS ' former longtime National Taxpayer Advocate , told The Post . `` It 's absolutely unprecedented . ''
Olson told the outlet that IRS officials pushed back in 2001 when the Bush administration asked the agency to send a letter along with economic rebate checks seeking to take credit for `` giving you your money back . ''
Though Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the bulk of the payments will be sent electronically , the IRS is scheduled to begin sending mailed checks to about 70 million Americans in the coming days .
The first wave of checks will be sent electronically to people who filed a tax return in 2018 or 2019 and provided the IRS with their direct deposit information . Paper checks will be sent to those who have not provided their banking details , though the IRS created a page for non-filers to submit their information . It is expected to roll out a portal this week for filers who did not provide their banking information to enter their details .
The checks are expected to be sent out at a rate of 5 million per week , meaning that some people could get their checks until as late as September . The department has said it will prioritize payments to the lowest-income taxpayers first . Single filers earning less than $ 75,000 per year will get $ 1,200 , while married couples earning up to $ 150,000 will receive $ 2,400 . Parents will also get $ 500 per child under 17 . The payments phase out for people earning more than the threshold .
Trump initially pushed for a payroll tax cut , which would overwhelmingly benefit the rich and take a long time to reach the public . He backed the direct payment plan after it was floated by Sen. Mitt Romney , R-Utah , and Sen. Josh Hawley , R-Mo . The president has since declared the bipartisan plan a `` Trump administration initiative . ''
The decision to plaster the president 's name on the checks comes as Trump increasingly politicizes the response to the coronavirus pandemic . He has turned his daily coronavirus briefings into wide-ranging , rally-like events which give him the opportunity to attack targets like the World Health Organization and journalists while pushing false conspiracy theories about voter fraud to rev up his base . He has doled out life-saving ventilators to vulnerable Republican allies facing tough re-election fights .
Legal experts decried the latest move as a blatant political stunt .
`` If you wonder where your stimulus check is , it is delayed so that Trump 's name could be added , even though it is Congress that authorized the payments . This is public money , not Trump 's money , '' former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade tweeted .
`` Apart from inexcusably slowing the checks , this display of ego is a reminder to all of us that the one and only thing Donald J. Trump cares about is . . . Donald J. Trump , '' Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe added .
Democratic lawmakers also criticized the president for potentially delaying payments people need as quickly as possible .
`` You are getting your money late because the President thinks it is more important that his name be on the check than that you are able to pay your bills on time , '' Sen Brian Schatz , D-Hawaii , said . `` This is not a rhetorical flourish . The checks are delayed . Because Trump . ''
`` 17 million people have lost their jobs . Millions ca n't pay rent , afford food , and are sinking into debt . And the president is delaying relief for them so he can see his name on a check , '' Rep. Ilhan Omar , D-Minn. , added . `` Trump first , America second . '' | a18e434b87664b50 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
civil_rights | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/14/george-soros-funds-ferguson-protests-hopes-to-spur/ | George Soros funds Ferguson protests, hopes to spur civil action | 2015-01-14 | civil_rights | There β s a solitary man at the financial center of the Ferguson protest movement . No , it β s not victim Michael Brown or Officer Darren Wilson . It β s not even the Rev . Al Sharpton , despite his ubiquitous campaign on TV and the streets .
Rather , it β s liberal billionaire George Soros , who has built a business empire that dominates across the ocean in Europe while forging a political machine powered by nonprofit foundations that impacts American politics and policy , not unlike what he did with MoveOn.org .
Mr. Soros spurred the Ferguson protest movement through years of funding and mobilizing groups across the U.S. , according to interviews with key players and financial records reviewed by The βββ .
In all , Mr. Soros gave at least $ 33 million in one year to support already-established groups that emboldened the grass-roots , on-the-ground activists in Ferguson , according to the most recent tax filings of his nonprofit Open Society Foundations .
The financial tether from Mr. Soros to the activist groups gave rise to a combustible protest movement that transformed a one-day criminal event in Missouri into a 24-hour-a-day national cause celebre .
β Our DNA includes a belief that having people participate in government is indispensable to living in a more just , inclusive , democratic society , β said Kenneth Zimmerman , director of Mr. Soros β Open Society Foundations β U.S. programs , in an interview with The βββ . β Helping groups combine policy , research [ and ] data collection with community organizing feels very much the way our society becomes more accountable . β
SEE ALSO : Ferguson mock β grand jury β indicts former Officer Darren Wilson for first-degree murder
Mr. Zimmerman said OSF has been giving to these types of groups since its inception in the early β 90s , and that , although groups involved in the protests have been recipients of Mr. Soros β grants , they were in no way directed to protest at the behest of Open Society .
β The incidents , whether in Staten Island , Cleveland or Ferguson , were spontaneous protests β we don β t have the ability to control or dictate what others say or choose to say , β Mr. Zimmerman said . β But these circumstances focused people β s attention β and it became increasingly evident to the social justice groups involved that what a particular incident like Ferguson represents is a lack of accountability and a lack of democratic participation . β
Soros-sponsored organizations helped mobilize protests in Ferguson , building grass-roots coalitions on the ground backed by a nationwide online and social media campaign .
Other Soros-funded groups made it their job to remotely monitor and exploit anything related to the incident that they could portray as a conservative misstep , and to develop academic research and editorials to disseminate to the news media to keep the story alive .
The plethora of organizations involved not only shared Mr. Soros β funding , but they also fed off each other , using content and buzzwords developed by one organization on another β s website , referencing each other β s news columns and by creating a social media echo chamber of Facebook β likes β and Twitter hashtags that dominated the mainstream media and personal online newsfeeds .
Buses of activists from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference in Chicago ; from the Drug Policy Alliance , Make the Road New York and Equal Justice USA from New York ; from Sojourners , the Advancement Project and Center for Community Change in Washington ; and networks from the Gamaliel Foundation β all funded in part by Mr. Soros β descended on Ferguson starting in August and later organized protests and gatherings in the city until late last month .
All were aimed at keeping the media β s attention on the city and to widen the scope of the incident to focus on interrelated causes β not just the overpolicing and racial discrimination narratives that were highlighted by the news media in August .
β I went to Ferguson in a quest to be in solidarity and stand with the young organizers and affirm their leadership , β said Kassandra Frederique , policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance , which was founded by Mr. Soros , and which receives $ 4 million annually from his foundation . She traveled to Ferguson in October .
β We recognized this movement is similar to the work we β re doing at DPA , β said Ms. Frederique . β The war on drugs has always been to operationalize , institutionalize and criminalize people of color . Protecting personal sovereignty is a cornerstone of the work we do and what this movement is all about . β
Ms. Frederique works with Opal Tometi , co-creator of # BlackLivesMatter β a hashtag that was developed after the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida β and helped promote it on DPA β s news feeds . Ms. Tometi runs the Black Alliance for Just Immigration , a group to which Mr. Soros gave $ 100,000 in 2011 , according to the most recent of his foundation β s tax filings .
β I think # BlackLivesMatter β s success is because of organizing . This was created after Trayvon Martin , and there has been sustained organizing and conversations about police violence since then , β said Ms. Frederique . β Its explosion into the mainstream recently is because it connects all the dots at a time when everyone was lost for words . β Black Lives Matter β is liberating , unapologetic and leaves no room for confusion . β
With the backing of national civil rights organizations and Mr. Soros β funding , β Black Lives Matter β grew from a hashtag into a social media phenomenon , including a # BlackLivesMatter bus tour and march in September .
β More than 500 of us have traveled from Boston , Chicago , Columbus , Detroit , Houston , Los Angeles , Nashville , Portland , Tucson , Washington , D.C. , Winston-Salem , North Carolina , and other cities to support the people of Ferguson and help turn a local moment into a national movement , β wrote Akiba Solomon , a journalist at Colorlines , describing the event .
Colorlines is an online news site that focuses on race issues and is published by Race Forward , a group that received $ 200,000 from Mr. Soros β s foundation in 2011 . Colorlines has published tirelessly on the activities in Ferguson and heavily promoted the # BlackLivesMatter hashtag and activities .
At the end of the # BlackLivesMatter march , organizers met with civil rights groups like the Organization for Black Struggle and Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment to strategize their operations moving forward , Ms. Solomon wrote . OBS and MORE are also funded by Mr. Soros .
Mr. Soros gave $ 5.4 million to Ferguson and Staten Island grass-roots efforts last year to help β further police reform , accountability and public transparency , β the Open Society Foundations said in a blog post in December . About half of those funds were earmarked to Ferguson , with the money primarily going to OBS and MORE , the foundation said .
OBS and MORE , along with the Dream Defenders , established the β Hands Up Coalition β β another so-called β grass-roots β organization in Missouri , whose name was based on now-known-to-be-false claims that Brown had his hands up before being shot . The Defenders were built to rally support and awareness for the Trayvon Martin case and were funded by the Tides Foundation , another recipient of Soros cash .
Hands Up Coalition has made it its mission to recruit and organize youth nationwide to start local events in their communities β trying to take Ferguson nationwide .
Hands Up Coalition has dubbed 2015 as β The Year of Resistance , β and its outreach program strongly resembles how President Obama β s political action committee β Organizing for Action β rallies youth for its causes , complete with a similarly designed Web page and call to action .
Mr. Soros , who made his fortune betting against the British pound during the currency crisis in the early β 90s , is a well-known supporter of progressive-liberal causes and is a political donor to Mr. Obama β s campaigns . He committed $ 1 million to Mr. Obama β s super PAC in 2012 .
Mr. Soros β two largest foundations manage almost $ 3 billion in assets per year , according to their most recent respective tax returns . The Foundation to Promote Open Society managed $ 2.2 billion in assets in 2011 , and his Open Society Institute managed $ 685.9 million in 2012 .
In comparison , David and Charles Koch , the billionaire brothers whom liberals often call a threat to democracy β and worse β for their conservative influence , had $ 308 million tied up in their foundation and institute in 2011 .
One of the organizations that Mr. Soros funds , and which fueled the demonstrations in Ferguson , is the Gamaliel Foundation , a network of grass-roots , interreligious and interracial organizations . Mr. Obama started his career as a community organizer at a Gamaliel affiliate in Chicago .
The Rev . Traci Blackmon of Christ the King United Church of Christ in Florissant , Missouri , which is part of the Gamaliel network , said in one of the group β s webinars that clergy involved with Gamaliel must be β protectors of the narrative β of what happened in Ferguson .
The Gamaliel affiliate in St. Louis β Metropolitan Congregations United β organized the β Weekend of Resistance β in October , in which clergy members from around the nation were called to come to Ferguson to protest .
Representatives of Sojourners , a national evangelical Christian organization committed β to faith in action for social justice , β attended the weekend . The group received $ 150,000 from Mr. Soros in 2011 .
Clergy representatives from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference , where the Rev . Jeremiah Wright serves as a trustee , also showed up . Mr. Wright was Mr. Obama β s pastor in Chicago before some of his racially charged sermons , including the phrase β God damn America , β forced Mr. Obama to distance himself . SDPC received $ 250,000 from Mr. Soros in 2011 .
During Gamaliel β s weekend protest event , Sunday was deemed β Hands Up Sabbath , β where clergy were asked to speak out about racial issues , using packets and talking points prepared for them by another religion-based community organizing group , PICO .
PICO is also supported by the Open Society Foundations , according to its website .
The weekend concluded Monday , when clergy members were asked to lead in acts of civil disobedience , prompting many of them to go to jail in the hopes of gaining media attention .
It worked , as imagery of clergy members down on their hands and knees in front of police dominated the mainstream news cycle that day β two months after Brown β s shooting .
β After the initial shooting , we were all hit in the face with how blatant racism really is , β said the Rev . Susan Sneed , a Gamaliel organizer who helped stage the October weekend event . β We began quickly hearing from our other affiliates offering support . β
At the end of August , Gamaliel had a large organizational meeting to discuss its Ferguson strategy , Ms. Sneed said .
It had its affiliates in New York and California handling the St. Louis Twitter feed and Facebook page , helped in correcting any inaccurate stories in the press and promoted their events , she said .
β When we started marching down the street , saying , β hands up , don β t shoot , β those images reached all over the world , β said Ms. Sneed , referring to the moment she realized Ferguson was going to become a movement . β The Twitter images , Facebook posts of burning buildings β it β s everywhere , and the imagery is powerful . And the youth β the youth is so engaged . They β ve found a voice in Ferguson . β
Larry Fellows III , 29 , a Missouri native , did find his voice in the chaos of Ferguson with the help of outside assistance backed by Mr. Soros .
Mr. Fellows is co-founder of the Millennial Activists United , a key source of video and stories developed in Ferguson by youth activists used to inspire other groups nationally .
Mr. Fellows explained how he started his organization in an interview with the American Civil Liberties Union ( another Soros-backed entity that sent national representatives to Missouri ) in November .
β Initially , it would just be that we would show up for protests , and the next day we β d clean up the streets . A lot of the same people were out at the protests and going out to lunch and talking about what was happening . That became a cycle until a lot of us figured out we needed to have a strategy , β Mr. Fellows explained to the ACLU , which posted the interview in its blog .
β Then a lot of organizers from across the country started to come in to help us do the planning and do the strategizing . That helped us start doing it on our own and planning out actions and what our narratives were going to be , β he said .
MAU has listed on its website that it has partnered with Gamaliel network churches . They β ve also received training on civil disobedience from the Advancement Project β which was given a $ 500,000 grant from Mr. Soros in 2013 β to build a fair and just , multi-racial democracy in America through litigation , community organizing support , public policy reform , and strategic communications , β according to the Foundation β s website .
The Advancement Project , based in Washington , also arranged the meeting between community organizers in Ferguson and Mr. Obama last month to brief him on the situation in Ferguson and to set up a task force that examines trust between police and minority communities .
In addition , the Advancement Project has also dedicated some of its staff to lead organizations in Ferguson , like the Don β t Shoot Coalition , another grass-roots group that preaches the same message , links to the same Facebook posts and β likes β the same articles as DPA , ACLU , Hands Up Coalition , OBS , MORE and others . | z9QT5yrYD7OVwaUz | 2 | Civil Rights | -0.3 | Liberalism | -0.2 | George Soros | -0.1 | null | null | null | null |
coronavirus | Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/12/27/covid-omicron-variant-live-updates/#link-MGZTWLJTDNEGLDACGVF4T6V3RM | Biden tells governors next steps to fight pandemic are at the state level | 2021-12-28 | Coronavirus, Media Bias, Joe Biden, Politics, Coronavirus Testing, Coronavirus Vaccine, State Governments | The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service.Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts. | 225d7e9e25cc5a31 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | NPR Online News | http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/07/26/157434868/romney-in-london-it-s-not-going-swimmingly | Romney In London: Not A Smashing Success So Far | 2012-07-26 | elections | The first stop β Britain β in Mitt Romney 's foreign tour certainly is starting out rockier than nearly anyone expected .
First there was the kerfuffle over remarks , attributed by a British newspaper to an anonymous campaign adviser , that Romney understood the shared `` Anglo-Saxon heritage '' between the U.S. and Britain in a way President Obama did n't . Those comments were viewed as racist by some and were disowned by the Romney campaign .
Then the candidate himself caused a dust-up by saying he found `` disconcerting '' security and other glitches in the run-up to Friday 's opening ceremony . It did n't help that at the same time , he appeared to express doubt about the eventual success of the games :
`` You know , it 's hard to know just how well it will turn out , '' Romney said .
British Prime Minister David Cameron skewered Romney with a comment that would have done Winston Churchill proud :
`` We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest , most active , bustling cities anywhere in the world . Of course it 's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere . ''
As in Salt Lake City , Utah , was the clear meaning , where the 2002 games Romney oversaw were held .
After a meeting with Romney at 10 Downing Street , the prime minister 's residence , Romney `` rowed back , '' as the British say , his earlier remarks . He allowed that he was now confident about the games :
`` I am very delighted with the prospects of a highly successful Olympic Games . What I have seen shows imagination and forethought and a lot of organization and expect the games to be highly successful . ''
But that walk-back appeared to be too late , at least for London 's mayor , Boris Johnson , who used Romney 's earlier comment to rouse tens of thousands of Londoners who had gathered in the city for a rally in the hours before the opening ceremonies .
`` I hear there 's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we 're ready . Are we ready ? Yes we are . Our venues are ready . The stadium is ready . The aquatic center is ready ... the security is ready ... the police are ready ... and our athletes are ready . Are n't they ? Team GB [ Great Britain ] is ready . They 're going to win more gold , silver , bronze medals than you 'd need to bail out Greece and Spain together . ''
With that last line , Johnson demonstrated that Romney was n't the only politician on British soil roiling international relations Thursday .
And as if that were n't enough , Romney breached British protocol by telling reporters publicly that he met with Sir John Sawers , the head of the British intelligence agency known as MI6 . Such meetings are typically not acknowledged , according to British news outlets .
This was the start of a three-nation trip including Poland and Israel whose purpose was partly for Romney to demonstrate his foreign policy chops and stature on the world stage . It obviously was n't getting off to the best start .
The liberal-leaning British newspaper The Guardian seemed to enjoy Romney 's difficulties , keeping tabs on the British reaction to him on its Election 2012 blog . The conservative-leaning Daily Telegraph also tracked Romney 's day .
Maybe there 's something about the British that just causes American politicians to put a foot wrong , as they say in London .
Early in his time in the White House , President Obama gave then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of 25 DVDs of classic American movies that were incorrectly formatted to work on European players .
Worse yet , at least by British standards , was the iPod loaded with American music that Obama gave Queen Elizabeth II . For that , maybe he 's entitled to a pass , since it has to be really difficult to shop for the woman who has everything .
The British press also looked askance at a gift from President George W. Bush of a bomber jacket to the same rather buttoned-down , aforementioned Brown . | qfoiMshZEYO9naIr | 1 | Presidential Elections | 0 | Elections | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
coronavirus | MarketWatch | https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-nine-companies-are-working-on-coronavirus-treatments-or-vaccines-heres-where-things-stand-2020-03-06?mod=home-page | These 13 companies are working on coronavirus treatments or vaccines β hereβs where things stand | 2020-03-06 | coronavirus | A mix of legacy drugmakers and small startups have stepped forward with plans to develop vaccines or treatments that target the infection caused by the novel coronavirus .
COVID-19 , which was first detected in December in Wuhan , China , has sickened more than 194,000 people worldwide and killed at least 7,800 . There are no Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccines or therapies for the disease .
In the U.S. , the companies that are initiating development have received funding from two organizations : the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority ( BARDA ) , which is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services , and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID ) , a division of the National Institutes of Health . Some companies have received funding from Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations ( CEPI ) , a global organization based in Oslo . Other companies are funding trials by themselves or through partnerships with other life sciences companies .
Here are some of the companies developing treatments or vaccines in the U.S. for COVID-19 :
Background : On March 17 , Pfizer announced that it would help develop and distribute BioNTech SE β s COVID-19 vaccine candidate , though the deal excludes China . BioNTech plans to put the vaccine candidate into clinical trials in late April , in Germany and the U.S . It is testing the vaccine in collaboration with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. in China . Pfizer and BioNTech for several years have said they would partner to develop mRNA-based influenza vaccines .
Year-to-date stock performances : Shares of BioNTech have soared 104 % ; Pfizer β s stock is down 20 % .
Background : Gilead is a longtime drug maker that is best known for developing the first major cure for hepatitis-C in Sovaldi , a therapy that changed the standard of care for that disease but also kicked off the national debate about drug pricing . The company has experience developing and marketing HIV drugs , including Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis ( PrEP ) , its preventive HIV medicine . Along with U.S. trials , Gilead is conducting a randomized , controlled clinical trial in Wuhan , testing remdesivir as a treatment for mild to moderate forms of pneumonia in people with the virus . The trial was given the go-ahead by China β s Food and Drug Administration in February .
1 . On Feb. 21 , the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases started enrolling patients in a randomized , double-blind , placebo-controlled Phase 3 trial evaluating 394 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 at up to 50 sites worldwide . The trial is expected to conclude April 1 , 2023 . Sites include the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda , Md. , ( not recruiting ) , the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha ( recruiting ) , the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston ( not recruiting ) , and Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane ( recruiting ) .
2 . On March 3 , Gilead said a randomized , open-label Phase 3 trial will evaluate remdesivir in 600 patients with moderate COVID-19 . The trial is expected to start enrolling patients in March , with results to come in May .
3 . On March 3 , Gilead said a randomized , open-label Phase 3 trial will evaluate remdesivir in 400 patients with severe COVID-19 . The trial is expected to start enrolling patients in March , with results in May .
Background : GSK is another leading vaccine maker , having brought to market vaccines for human papillomavirus ( HPV ) and the seasonal flu , among others . On Feb. 3 , it said the CEPI-funded University of Queensland will have access to the British drugmaker β s vaccine adjuvant platform technology , which is believed to both strengthen the response of a vaccine and limit the amount of vaccine needed per dose . On Feb. 24 , GSK said that Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc. , a Chinese biotechnology company , is also using adjuvant technology in combination with its vaccine candidate , COVID-19 S-Trimer , in preclinical studies . Dr. Thomas Breuer , chief medical officer for GSK Vaccines , is leading work on vaccines and the adjuvant platform .
Background : Heat Biologics has previously announced that it is developing a vaccine for the novel coronavirus with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine . It disclosed March 17 in a financial filing that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate had been added to the World Health Organization β s β draft landscape β of 41 candidate vaccines . The company also recently joined the Alliance for Biosecurity , which may help it β secure government funding to support its rapid development , production , and distribution β of its COVID-19 vaccine , according to Maxim Group analysts .
Background : Another CEPI grantee , awarded $ 9 million , Inovio has said it already began preclinical testing and small-scale manufacturing .
Timeline : Inovio develops immunotherapies and vaccines but hasn β t yet had a product approved for treatment . For INO-4800 , preclinical testing was performed between Jan. 23 and Feb. 29 . The company plans to begin clinical trials in the U.S. with 30 participants in April . It also plans to launch human trials in China and South Korea that same month , and that it has a total of 3,000 doses prepared for the trials in the three countries . Inovio said it expects to have the first results from the trial in the fall and to have 1 million does of the vaccine ready for additional clinical trials or emergency use by the end of the year . Inovio on March 12 announced a $ 5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to test a delivery device for its vaccine candidate . RBC analyst Gregory Renza recently downgraded the stock to sector perform from outperform on valuation grounds and said he believed in the technology .
Name : TBD ( β We are still in the process of identifying a vaccine candidate , so no there is no name at this time , β a spokesman said March 4 . )
Background : On Feb. 11 , J & J said it is working with BARDA to test its vaccine candidate , with both organizations providing funding for research and development and the public-health organization funding the Phase 1 trials . Similar to GSK , J & J β s AdVac and PER . C6 technologies are used to improve the development process for a vaccine and were also used to develop J & J β s experimental Ebola vaccine . β We are also in discussions with other partners , that if we have a vaccine candidate with potential , we aim to make it accessible to China and other parts of the world , β Dr. Paul Stoffels , J & J β s chief scientific officer , said in a statement . On March 13 , J & J said it started preclinical testing on multiple candidates in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston , and it aims to have a vaccine candidate by the end of the month . J & J also said in February that it partnered with BARDA on a project that aims to screen existing antiviral medications , including experimental or approved therapies , that may be effective against COVID-19 .
Timeline : The company aims to start a Phase 1 clinical trial by the end of 2020 , β compared to the typical five to seven years it takes for this milestone in vaccine development , β Stoffels said on Dr. Paul Stoffels , J & J β s chief scientific officer and leader of J & J β s global COVID-19 response , said March 2 .
Background : Moderna received funding from CEPI in January to develop an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 . On Feb. 24 , it said it had shipped the first batch of mRNA-1273 to the NIAID for a Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S .
Clinical trials : The first patient in the Phase 1 trial received a dose of the vaccine candidate on March 16 . The study is expected to enroll 45 healthy adult patients , between the ages of 18 and 55 years old , in an open-label Phase I clinical trial to test mRNA-1273 as a vaccine for COVID-19 . It β s expected to conclude June 1 , 2021 . Participants will be followed for one year . The trial will be conducted at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle . CEPI funded the manufacturing of the investigational vaccine for the first phase of the trial , which is evaluating different doses for safety and immune response .
Background : On Feb. 4 , Regeneron announced it is working on developing monoclonal antibodies as treatments for COVID-19 . The company β s VelocImmune platform uses genetically-engineered mice with humanized immune systems in preclinical testing . β We are aiming to have hundreds of thousands of prophylactic doses ready for human testing by end of August , β a spokesperson said . Christos Kyratsous , VP of infectious disease R & D and viral vector technology , is running the project .
Background : The FDA previously approved Kevzara , a treatment developed by Regeneron and Sanofi , as a therapy for rheumatoid arthritis in 2017 .
Clinical trial : On March 16 , the companies said they had started a Phase 2/3 trial testing Kevzara as a treatment for patients who have been hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infections . This randomized , double-blind , placebo-controlled trial is expected to enroll up to 400 patients and will take place at 16 sites in the U.S . The aim is to evaluate if the drug lessens patient fevers and their need for supplemental oxygen . The Phase 3 trial will evaluate if Kevzara prevents deaths and reduces need for mechanical ventilation , supplemental oxygen , or hospitalization . Early results from a small 21-person trial in China and that have not been peer-viewed found that COVID-19 patients reported reductions in fever and 7 % of them had a reduced need for supplemental oxygen within days of starting treatment .
Background : Starting Feb. 18 , Sanofi is working with BARDA to test a preclinical vaccine candidate for severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ) for COVID-19 using its recombinant DNA platform . It has a long history of producing vaccines in its Sanofi Pasteur business and acquired this candidate through its 2017 acquisition of Protein Sciences for $ 750 million . The French drugmaker previously worked with the organization on flu vaccines . Scientists in Meriden , Ct. , are working on the vaccine ; David Loew , Sanofi Pasteur β s EVP , is leading the project .
Timeline : A spokesperson said Sanofi aims to put a vaccine into a Phase 1 clinical trial between March 2021 and August 2021 .
Background : The Japanese drugmaker said March 4 it plans to test hyperimmune globulins for people who are at high risk for infection . As part of its research , which will be performed in Georgia , Takeda said it would need access to plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 or those who have received a vaccine if one is developed . Dr. Rajeev Venkayya , president of Takeda β s vaccine business , is the co-lead of the company β s COVID-19 response team . Like J & J , Takeda plans to examine whether other therapies , both experimental or with regulatory approval , may have treatment potential .
Company : Vir Biotechnology Inc. VIR , +9.83 % and Biogen Inc. BIIB , +8.37 %
Background : Vir said Feb. 25 it is collaborating with Shanghai-based WuXi Biologics to test monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for COVID-19 . If the treatment is approved , WuXi will commercialize it in China , while Vir will have marketing rights for the rest of the world . The preclinical company is run by George Scangos , the former CEO of Biogen . It later announced a partnership with Biogen to help develop and manufacture its monoclonal antibodies as a potential treatment for COVID-19 . Biogen will handle clinical manufacturing of Vir β s antibodies , the company said .
Year-to-date stock performance : Vir shares have jumped 324.94 % ; Biogen β s stock is up 4.95 % . | YFGueX0GYR82O27C | 2 | Healthcare | 0 | Public Health | 0 | Business | 0 | Corporations | 0 | Coronavirus | 0 |
justice_department | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/29/holder-criminal-charges-still-possible-irs-scandal/ | Holder: Criminal charges still possible in IRS scandal | 2014-01-29 | justice_department | Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Wednesday that there is still a chance the government would file criminal charges against Internal Revenue Service employees who targeted tea party groups for special scrutiny , disputing press reports that the criminal probe into the tax agency has already decided the behavior didn β t rise to the level of a crime .
Mr. Holder defended his department β s investigation into the IRS , saying it β s being run by career employees and is free from political taint β even though one key lawyer involved was a major political donor to President Obama β s campaigns .
But his words didn β t assuage Republicans , who said he should appoint a special prosecutor who could elevate the investigation beyond the realm of politics . They also said they are stunned that the probe has lasted eight months and some key tea party activists still haven β t been interviewed .
β Two hundred and eighty days have passed and many , if not all , of the victims have not even been interviewed , β said Sen. Ted Cruz , Texas Republican . β Two hundred and eighty days have passed and apparently the anger and outrage that both the president and you expressed has utterly disappeared . β
After an internal auditor reported in May that the IRS was improperly targeting tea party groups for special scrutiny , Mr. Holder ordered his department to conduct a criminal investigation .
Eight months later , there have been no indictments and House Republicans have begun looking into the Justice Department itself .
SEE ALSO : Will U.S. seek death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber ? Holder to make call
On Tuesday , House investigators sent a letter asking Barbara Bosserman , the lawyer involved in the investigation who is also an Obama donor , to testify at a hearing next week .
β With your history of extensive financial and personal support for the president and the Democratic Party , your involvement in the administration β s investigation raises the appearance of a substantial and material conflict of interest , β Rep. Jim Jordan , an Ohio Republican who is heading a subcommittee conducting the investigation , said in the letter , which was seen by The βββ .
Mr. Jordan and full Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa , California Republican , have identified Ms. Bosserman as the leader of the Justice Department β s investigation .
Department officials had never contradicted that claim , but Mr. Holder said Wednesday that was an inaccurate characterization of her role . He said Ms. Bosserman is from the department β s civil division , but elements of the FBI and the Justice Department β s public integrity and criminal divisions also are involved and the criminal division is taking the lead .
β I have confidence in the career people at the FBI and the other investigative agencies to conduct a thorough , comprehensive investigation , and that β s what I would expect of them . And that is why matters like this take as long as they do , β he said .
Mr. Holder refused to discuss the status of the investigation , but he denied a published report that the investigation concluded there were no criminal acts in the targeting .
β All the options that we have are on the table , β the attorney general said .
Ms. Bosserman didn β t reply directly to an email seeking comment from The Times but forwarded it to the press office , which said the department will respond directly to the committee β s request for her to testify .
The IRS targeting and the criminal investigation remain controversial on Capitol Hill , where Republicans say the administration tried to silence dissent by refusing to approve applications for nonprofit status from conservative groups . The internal IRS audit found some groups had waited for more than three years for approval .
The tax agency blamed a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that gave more leeway for groups to engage in politics . The IRS said it was having trouble weeding out political activities , which is why it delayed applications and asked questions it now acknowledges were intrusive .
Late last year , the tax agency issued rules that it says will prevent confusion by cracking down on what constitutes political activity . But many groups objected , saying it was an effort to stifle their rights to free speech .
Meanwhile , the back-and-forth between Mr. Issa and Mr. Jordan on the one hand , and the Justice Department has grown more pointed .
In a Jan. 24 letter , the Justice Department bristled at the accusations , calling the questions about Ms. Bosserman β inappropriate and unfounded . β
β Your decision to impugn the integrity of a career attorney raises serious concerns , β Principal Deputy Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik wrote . β Targeting career attorneys in this manner could plainly have a chilling effect on the valid exercise by federal employees of their basic right to participate in the political process . β
Mr. Jordan , in his letter to Ms. Bosserman this week , said the Justice Department was wrong to accuse the Republicans of β targeting , β saying it suggests an equivalence between Mr. Issa and Mr. Jordan on the one hand , and the IRS targeting of conservative groups on the other hand .
β His deliberate choice of this word not only insults the victims who were truly targeted by the IRS , but it further undermines the integrity of the administration β s IRS investigation , β Mr. Jordan said . | GLDW4SAbhC3mSOrp | 2 | IRS | -1 | Justice | -0.1 | Justice Department | 0 | Eric Holder | 0 | null | null |
violence_in_america | Daily Mail | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14243689/matthew-livelsberger-las-vegas-tesla-cybertruck-explosion-colorado-springs.html | Who is Matthew Livelsberger? Bomber in Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion is married Green Beret from Colorado Springs | 2025-01-03 | Violence In America, Terrorism, Las Vegas, Tesla, Donald Trump, Elon Musk | Tesla Cybertruck bomber Matthew Livelsberger is a long-serving married Green Beret who was on leave from active duty when he carried out the attack outside Donald Trump's Las Vegas hotel.Livelsberger, 37, was identified by law enforcement sources as the bomber in Wednesday's attack, which left seven wounded. The electric vehicle exploded about 15 seconds after the driver pulled up in front of the hotel's entrance.The blast was caused by 'a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck' or 'very large fireworks', according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.Livelsberger died in the bombing. He lived in Colorado Springs and was an active member of the Army. He previously received a Meritorious Honor Award for work benefiting the US Embassy in Tajikistan.Liveslberger was profiled by a local newspaper in Ohio for his work with the military in Afghanistan.He grew up in Ohio and was married to social worker Sara Livelsberger, who in the lead up to the 2016 election shared a slew of Facebook posts spouting anti-Trump rhetoric.According to CBS News, Liveslberger was on break from duty in Germany when he carried out the attack. His wife hadn't heard from him from several days.Property records reveal the couple purchased a home in Colorado Springs together in 2015.However, police have linked Livelsberger to several addresses throughout the city - including a different townhouse that was raided by the FBI overnight.Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was identified as the bomber in the attack that left seven wounded. He is pictured in Afghanistan in a profile by a local newspaper in the Ohio town where he grew upFew details have been made public about the alleged bomber's personal life. He is pictured with his ex-wife Sara. Livelsberger remarried and had a baby after the couple's divorceLivelsberger, 37, was identified by law enforcement sourcesLivelsberger is suspected of renting the Cybertruck in Colorado Springs and driving it across the border to Nevada on Wednesday morning to carry out his attack.Law enforcement sources have also revealed that Livelsberger previously served at the same military base as New Orleans terrorist Shamsud Din Jabbar, who on Wednesday drove a rented truck into a crowd of New Year revelers, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. Police have not confirmed if the pair were known to each other.Jabbar served at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, previously known as Fort Bragg. Livelsberger previously lived at an address close to the base, but investigators have yet to confirm the location of the base the pair have in common.Livelsberger has served in the Army for 19 years, the majority of which was spent in the Special Forces unit.The suspected terrorist seemingly climbed the ranks throughout his time with the unit, having started off working as a SF Communications Specialist in 2006.While holding that position, Livelsberger said on his Linkedin that he also worked on a nearly one-year contract with General Dynamics Corp, a firm specializing in aerospace and defense.He alleges he 'engineered and fielded the first mobile standoff hyperspectral imaging "Lightguard Minotaur" system' during his time at General Dynamics Corp.General Dynamics told DailyMail.com they have no record of employing Livelsberger.Livelsberger in 2015 moved into an intelligence and operations role within the SF and in 2016 received the Department of State Meritorious Honor Award.He was recognized by the US Ambassador for 'interagency contributions that resulted in increased interoperability and efficiency while serving as the Operations Sergeant at Special Operations Command Forward- Central Asian States (SOCFWD-CAS) within US Embassy Dushanbe', Livelsberger wrote on LinkedIn.He became a SF operations manager and team sergeant in February 2023 and moved into his remote and autonomous systems role in November last year.His LinkedIn profile also touts proficiency in French and certifications in unmanned aircraft systems, as well as a Project Director qualification.Livelsberg is seen in another picture from his deploymentThe Tesla cybertruck exploded about 15 seconds after the driver pulled up in front of the hotel's entrance. The blast was caused by 'a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck' or 'very large fireworks'Livelsberger (pictured) - who died in the bombing - grew up in Colorado Springs and was an active member of the Army. He previously received a Meritorious Honor Award for work benefiting the US Embassy in TajikistanLivelsberger has limited social media presence, but his 'registered Democrat' ex-wife Sara was very active on Facebook in 2015 and 2016She also shared a screenshot of a tweet posted by Trump in 2015, writing that he 'needs to spend less time on Twitter posting and deleting tweets, and more time focusing on maybe...a god d**m platform of some sort?'Another post showed her wearing a t-shirt that said 'Girls just want to have FUN-damental Rights', suggesting she takes a pro-choice stance on abortionLivelsberger has limited social media presence, but his ex-wife Sara was very active on Facebook in 2015 and 2016.Sara, who according to her profile studied political science and social work, revealed that she was a 'registered Democrat' in a post shared in May 2016.Sharing a photo of a sign featuring a cartoon image of Trump that read 'stop bigotry', Sara wrote that she 'can't wait to slap this baby on my truck'.She also shared a screenshot of a tweet posted by Trump in 2015, writing that he 'needs to spend less time on Twitter posting and deleting tweets, and more time focusing on maybe...a god d**m platform of some sort?'Another post showed her wearing a t-shirt that said 'Girls just want to have FUN-damental Rights', suggesting she takes a pro-choice stance on abortion.Sara, whose hometown is listed as Playa del Carmen, Mexico, has not posted on Facebook since May 2016.She also has not been tied to the Las Vegas bombing.The Tesla cybertruck arrived in Las Vegas at 7.30am Wednesday, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said in a press conference.Livelsberger is suspected of renting the Tesla Cybertruck in Colorado Springs, via the Turo app, and driving it across the border to Nevada on Wednesday morning - where he carried out the attack (pictured)Surveillance footage showed the truck sitting outside the front entrance, appearing to have nothing wrong with it. Seconds later, the entire car explodes, its roof blowing up first before the truck goes flyingThe explosion took place at 8.40am in the hotel's valet area. Surveillance footage showed the truck sitting outside the front entrance. Seconds later, the entire $80,000 car blew up in a fiery blaze - with its roof going up in flames first.Debris smoked as it pinged off the pavement and sparks which looked like fireworks could be seen lighting up the black cloud of smoke emitting from the vehicle.A tumble of charred fireworks mortars, cannisters and other explosive devices were found crowded into the back of the pickup.Officials are still exploring how the explosives were detonated, but sources with knowledge of the investigation have expressed that it was likely controlled by the driver.Livelsberger was the sole fatality in the attack, and authorities largely credit Musk's hulking stainless steel truck with preventing further damage because it was able to contain much of the explosion.None of the nearby windows of the hotel were damaged despite the violence of the blast.According to the KOAA, law enforcement officers wearing tactical gear and travelling in armored vehicles arrived at one of Livelsberger's Colorado Springs properties Wednesday night.Neighbors were 'escorted away' from the townhome complex in the Stetson Hills neighborhood as investigators carried out their search. Police have assured the public they do not suspect there is any ongoing threat to the community.Hours before the attack in Las Vegas, Shamsud Din Jabbar drove an electric vehicle into crowds in New Orleans, killing 15 pedestrians and injuring dozens more.Soldier Matthew Livelsberger is the man who filled the truck with explosives and fuel before driving it to the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas and setting them off on Wednesday morningPolice have released a series of photographs from inside the Cybertruck which blew up outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, revealing an arsenal of explosivesFireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel were in the bed of the car, and were likely connected to a detonation system controlled by the driverLaw enforcement sources have since revealed the cars used in both attacks were rented through Turo, and they were both EVs, prompting concerns they are linked.Turo is akin to Airbnb for cars and lets people hire strangers' vehicles for a daily rate.Police revealed on Wednesday afternoon that they are currently investigating potential links and have not ruled anything out yet.'Do I think it's a coincidence? I don't know,' Sheriff Kevin McMahill said. 'We're absolutely looking into any connections to New Orleans.'A spokesperson for Turo later issued a statement describing the company's heartbreak 'by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families.'We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents.'We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.'Turo added: 'We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals.'Fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel were in the bed of the car, and were likely connected to a detonation system controlled by the driverA Cybertruck - made by Trump ally Elon Musk's company Tesla - was seen in a fiery blaze outside the front revolving doors of the Trump International Hotel on WednesdayOfficers have also considered that Livelsberger may have purposefully chosen to use a car owned by Elon Musk to send a message - given the Tesla billionaire's newfound friendship with President-elect Donald Trump.'It's a Tesla truck, we know Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump and it's the Trump hotel, so there's obviously something to look at,' McMahill said.By Wednesday afternoon, Musk revealed the explosion was caused by 'a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck' or 'very large fireworks.'He said the explosion was not caused by or related to the vehicle itself, and it's understood the unnamed driver had rented the truck using Turo.'Law enforcement currently believes it was most likely intentional,' he added.'Both this Cybertruck and the F-150 suicide bomb in New Orleans were rented from Turo. Perhaps they are linked in some way.'Musk said 'Tesla vehicles transmit their state of health continuously,' meaning his team were able to check whether anything was wrong with the car's mechanics prior to the explosion.McMahill thanked Musk for his efforts in assisting the investigation, turning over data to authorities along with access to CCTV from Tesla charging stations across the nation.Trump has also broken his silence on the explosion outside his Las Vegas hotel, vowing to rid America of 'violent scum.' The president-elect took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to excoriate the security and justice establishment.He wrote in a post: 'Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World! This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership.'The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job. They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself.'Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country. The CIA must get involved, NOW, before it is too late. The USA is breaking down - A violent erosion of Safety, National Security, and Democracy is taking place all across our Nation.'Only strength and powerful leadership will stop it. See you on January 20th. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'The 37-year-old man reportedly has a military background and served at the same base as Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, (pictured), who fatally ran down 15 people in a rented car in New Orleans in the early hours of New Years DayYour browser does not support iframes.The FBI has said officials 'do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible' for the New Orleans attack.'We're aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates,' Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent with the FBI's New Orleans field office, said in at a news conference Wednesday.'Law enforcement officials in Texas searched a residence in Houston on Wednesday that they believe could be connected to Jabbar.'FBI Houston and the Harris County Sheriffβs Office are continuing a court-authorized search of a location near the intersection of Hugh Road and Crescent Peak Drive,' the agency said in a statement.As of Wednesday night, no arrests had been made at the residence.Authorities previously revealed that the rented truck was listed on Turo by a 42-year-old man who lives in Houston, who has been contacted by investigators. It is unclear if the Houston property that was searched Wednesday night was linked to this man.The FBI's New Orleans field office is also 'conducting a number of court authorized search warrants in New Orleans and other states'.The driver who plowed into pedestrians celebrating the New Year in New Orleans killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens is dead following a shootout with policeSuspect Jabbar is said to have made a series of videos that is being reviewed by law enforcement.Jabbar was killed by police after he slammed a truck into pedestrians celebrating the New Year, exited the vehicle, and started firing.Investigators recovered a handgun and an AR-style rifle after the shootout, law enforcement officials said.Investigators are probing a theory Jabbar rented a nearby property on Airbnb in St. Roch for his base before carrying out the attack.Exclusive DailyMail.com photographs show the moment the FBI removed bomb making materials from the two-bedroom and two-bathroom property close to the French Quarter.Jabbar is also said to have made a series of videos that are being reviewed by law enforcement. Authorities believe that the videos were made as he drove from Texas to Louisiana, although the timing is unclear.Multiple officials told CNN that the recordings appear to have been made while driving at night and the suspect is not visible in them.CNN reported that the recordings make reference to his divorce and that he planned on gathering his family together for a fake celebration so he could kill them.The suspect is also said to have talked about how he joined ISIS, and spoke of dreams that he had about joining the terrorist group.There were no overt links to ISIS in the Las Vegas attack as there were in New Orleans, but detectives have not ruled out any motive. | 8c89085c1a711e05 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
lgbt_rights | USA TODAY | http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/10/30/tim-cook-comes-out/18165361/ | Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'I'm proud to be gay' | 2014-10-30 | lgbt_rights | CLOSE Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly confirmed he is gay in an opinion piece , making him the highest-profile chief executive to come out . Though there have been rumors about his sexuality , Cook explains why he decided to publicly acknowledge it .
Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly confirmed he is gay in an opinion piece published Thursday , making him the highest-profile chief executive to come out .
In an essay published by Bloomberg Businessweek advocating for human rights and equality , Cook says he was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King to set aside his desire for privacy to do something `` more important . ''
`` While I have never denied my sexuality , I have n't publicly acknowledged it either , until now , '' writes Cook . `` So let me be clear : I 'm proud to be gay , and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me . ''
Cook becomes the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company , according to gays rights group Human Rights Campaign , who applauded the Apple chief 's essay .
`` Tim Cook 's announcement today will save countless lives , '' says HRC President Chad Griffin . `` He has always been a role model , but today millions across the globe will draw inspiration from a different aspect of his life . ''
Cook says he 's been open with others about being gay , but felt compelled to publicly come out to help others . `` I do n't consider myself an activist , but I realize how much I 've benefited from the sacrifice of others , '' writes Cook . `` So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is , or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone , or inspire people to insist on their equality , then it 's worth the trade-off with my own privacy . ''
Reaction has been mostly positive . On Twitter , Apple 's chief of global marketing , Philip Schiller , showed support for Cook . `` Proud to work for you and be your friend , '' Schiller said .
Proud to work for you and be your friendhttp : //t.co/1yZEqvke9n β Philip Schiller ( @ pschiller ) October 30 , 2014
Sarah Kate Ellis , president and CEO of GLAAD , applauded Cook and Apple 's `` long history '' in demanding equality . `` It is a game changer for corporate America , '' says Ellis . `` He set the example for inclusion . ''
Public confirmations of sexuality have increased in Hollywood , and have started to appear in the sports world , including football player Michael Sam , who came out right before this year 's NFL Draft . But it 's rare to see in the business world , which makes the revelation by Cook -- head of one of the world 's most profitable companies -- a much bigger deal .
`` This serves as an opening of the door for other CEOs , senior-level managers , senior-level executives to say I 'm ready to bring my authentic self to the office and I know now that it 's not potentially a detriment , it 's an asset to be out and proud in the workplace , '' says Justin Nelson , co-founder and president of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce .
Apple has been among the top American companies for embracing equality . Fred Sainz , vice president of communications at HRC , says Apple has achieved the top rating in their Corporate Equality Index every year since it was introduced in 2002 .
But Sainz notes it will be important to watch how Cook addresses equality now that 's he 's publicly revealed his sexuality . `` What we 'll be interested to see is how he now uses his platform as the CEO of one of the world 's most prominent companies to further advance equality and justice for people across the world . ''
Cook 's piece published days after the Apple CEO criticized his home state of Alabama over gay rights . `` We ca n't change the past , but we can learn from it , and we can create a different future , '' said Cook .
This is not the first time Cook 's sexuality has been addressed . In June , CNBC hosted a segment on gay CEOs where one host seemed to out Cook as gay . `` I think Tim Cook is fairly open about the fact that he is gay at the head of Apple , is n't he ? '' said Squawk on the Street co-host Simon Hobbs , causing an awkward silence . Hobbs quickly followed with `` Oh dear , was that an error ? ''
CLOSE During Friday 's 'Squawk on the Street ' , CNBC host Simon Hobbs potentially outed Apple CEO Tim Cook in a discussion about gay CEOs of major companies . VPC
Cook says the decision to reveal his sexuality was difficult , and hopes people focus more on his efforts running the tech giant . `` I 'm an engineer , an uncle , a nature lover , a fitness nut , a son of the South , a sports fanatic , and many other things . I hope that people will respect my desire to focus on the things I 'm best suited for and the work that brings me joy . ''
The CEO also says he will continue to advocate for human rights and equality . `` We pave the sunlit path toward justice together , brick by brick . This is my brick . '' | u3SmYfiGWnkmkpU9 | 1 | LGBTQ Issues | 2 | Apple | 1.5 | Tim Cook | 1.5 | Technology | 1.4 | null | null |
supreme_court | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/25/politics/health-care-ruling/index.html | Supreme Court to rule Thursday on health care | 2012-06-25 | Supreme Court | Story highlights The Supreme Court decision on health care will come Thursday
The Affordable Care Act was passed in March 2010 along partisan lines
The law requires individuals to buy health insurance or face a fine
The U.S. Supreme Court will rule Thursday on the constitutionality of the sweeping health care law championed by President Barack Obama .
The high court announced a series of other decisions on Monday , but not the most anticipated one . It announced that all remaining rulings for the year will come in three days .
The stakes can not be overstated -- what the justices decide will have an immediate and long-term impact on all Americans , both in how they get medicine and health care , and also in vast , yet unknown areas of `` commerce . ''
Saving this ruling for the final day `` may not be political , but they understand drama , '' said David Cole , a Georgetown University constitutional law professor . He added , `` It 's also the most difficult case , the most important case , so they may want the extra few days to make sure that they 're happy with their written opinions . ''
The nation 's highest court heard three days of politically charged hearings in March on the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , a landmark but controversial measure passed by congressional Democrats despite pitched Republican opposition .
The challenge focused primarily on the law 's requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine .
Supporters of the plan argued the `` individual mandate '' is necessary for the system to work , while critics argued it is an unconstitutional intrusion on individual freedom .
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Four different federal appeals courts heard challenges to parts of the law before the Supreme Court ruling , and came up with three different results .
Courts in Cincinnati and Washington voted to uphold the law , while the appeals court in Atlanta struck down the individual mandate .
A fourth panel , in Richmond , Virginia , put its decision off until penalties for failing to buy health insurance take effect in 2014 .
The polarizing law , dubbed `` Obamacare '' by many , is the signature legislation of Obama 's time in office .
After a lengthy and heated debate marked by intense opposition from the health insurance industry and conservative groups , the law passed Congress along strictly partisan lines in March 2010 .
When Obama signed the legislation later that month , he called it historic said it marked a `` new season in America . ''
While it was not the comprehensive national health care system liberals initially sought , supporters said the law would reduce health care costs , expand coverage and protect consumers .
The law establishes a staged series of reforms over several years , including banning insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions , forbidding insurers from setting a dollar limit on health coverage payouts , and requiring them to cover preventative care at no additional cost to consumers .
It also required individuals to buy health insurance , either through their employers or a state-sponsored exchange , or face a fine beginning in 2014 .
Supporters argue the individual mandate is critical to the success of the legislation , because it expands the pool of people paying for insurance and ensures that healthy people do not opt out of buying insurance until they needed it .
Critics said the provision gave the government too much power over what they said should be a personal economic decision .
Twenty-six states led by Florida say individuals can not be forced to buy insurance , a `` product '' they may neither want nor need . And they argue that if that provision is unconstitutional , the entire law must go .
The Justice Department countered that since every American will need medical care at some point in their lives , individuals do not `` choose '' whether to participate in the health care market .
The partisan debate around such a sweeping piece of legislation has encompassed almost every traditional hot-button topic : abortion and contraception funding , state and individual rights , federal deficits , end-of-life care , and the overall economy .
During arguments on March 27 , Justice Anthony Kennedy said the law appeared to `` change the relationship between the government and the individual in a profound way . ''
Chief Justice John Roberts argued that `` all bets are off '' when it comes to federal government authority if Congress was found to have the authority to regulate health care in the name of commerce .
Liberal justices , however , argued people who do n't pay into the health system by purchasing insurance make care more expensive for everyone .
`` It is not your free choice '' to stay out of the market for life , Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said during arguments .
`` I think the justices probably came into the argument with their minds made up . They had hundreds of briefs and months to study them , '' said Thomas Goldstein , publisher of SCOTUSblog.com and a prominent Washington attorney , though he conceded that `` the oral arguments ( in March ) might have changed their minds around the margin . ''
Americans are largely split over the reform effort and its legality , according to polling .
A March poll for CNN by ORC International found that while support for the law appears to be growing , 50 % of Americans opposed the law , 43 % supported it and 7 % had no opinion .
Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they wanted the Supreme Court to overturn at least some of the law 's provisions , although the poll did not specify which ones .
The law , which helped spur the creation of the conservative tea party movement , is likely to be a centerpiece of the presidential election campaign .
Obama 's presumptive Republican opponent , Mitt Romney , has promised to repeal the measure if elected .
But 76 % of respondents in the March CNN/ORC poll said a Supreme Court ruling against the law still would n't change their minds about whom to vote for in November .
The 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act came after months of bare-knuckled fights over politics and policy and a century of federal efforts to offer universal health care .
The legislation signed by Obama reached 2,700 pages , nine major sections and 450-some provisions .
The first lawsuits challenging the health care overhaul began just hours after the president signed the legislation . | 1b174638ed2d23a5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
homeland_security | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/28/politics/overseas-wiretapping/index.html | Senate votes to extend foreign surveillance law | 2012-12-28 | DHS, Defense And Security | Story highlights The law has helped authorities prevent terrorist plots , says a senator
But `` It 's something with enormous potential for abuse , '' says a member of Cato Institute
The law , passed in 2008 , requires officials to obtain a warrant to spy on any American
Opponents say Americans communicating with persons abroad still could be spied on
By a substantial margin , the Senate on Friday passed an extension of a controversial overseas wiretapping program , the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act .
The law has already been reauthorized by the House , and President Obama is expected to sign it .
According to Sen. Dianne Feinstein , D-California , who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee , the law , know by its acronynm FISA , has helped authorities prevent terrorist plots .
`` In the past four years , there have been one hundred arrests to prevent something from happening in the United States , '' Feinstein said . `` Some of these plots have been thwarted because of this program . I think it is a vital program . ''
But critics say the law gives intelligence agencies wide latitude in carrying out surveillance , under oversight by a special FISA court whose proceedings are not public .
`` It 's something with enormous potential for abuse , '' said Julian Sanchez , with the libertarian Cato Institute . `` The FISA Amendments Act authorizes what the Fourth Amendment was written to prevent , which is to say , general warrants -- blank checks for surveillance . ''
In 2005 , a national debate erupted when the Terrorist Surveillance Program authorized by President George W. Bush was revealed in the media . Under that program , begun shortly after the 9/11 attacks , intelligence agencies could spy on communications between U.S. residents and people overseas without a warrant , if it was believed one of the parties was linked to terrorism .
The FISA law passed in 2008 required officials to obtain a warrant to spy on any American -- including , for the first time , Americans who are abroad . The law also established FISA as the exclusive means for authorizing electronic surveillance .
Privacy advocates say if a foreigner overseas is being wiretapped , which does not require a warrant , an American communicating with that person could still have their communications with that foreigner monitored .
But defenders say the law contains provisions to protect privacy and prevent abuse , including a prohibition on spying on Americans except with a warrant .
The National Security Agency , the country 's primary surveillance agency , told CNN in a statement : `` One of the biggest misconceptions about NSA is that we are unlawfully listening in on , or reading e-mails of , U.S. citizens . This is simply not the case . NSA is unwavering in its respect for U.S. laws and Americans ' civil liberties . ''
Sen. Ron Wyden , D-Oregon , proposed an amendment requiring more disclosure .
`` I think we ought to know , generally , how many Americans are being swept up under the legislation , '' he said during Thursday 's debate on the Senate floor .
But defenders of the law say , the effectiveness of espionage programs depends on a level of secrecy .
`` It 's very hard to have covert and clandestine intelligence-gathering , if it 's not secret , '' said Clifford May , an advocate of national security with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies .
Without reauthorization , the law was scheduled to expire Monday , at the end of 2012 . | e523996b136f7f77 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Vox | https://www.vox.com/2018/5/8/17330102/primary-elections-2018-results-ohio-west-virginia-indiana | 4 winners and 2 losers from this weekβs 2018 primary elections | 2018-05-08 | elections | The spring 2018 primary season began in earnest Tuesday , as voters in Ohio , West Virginia , Indiana , and North Carolina went to the polls . And overall , it was a consequential night of voting , but not a shocking one . In the highest-profile races , the attention-getting outsiders for the most part went down to defeat in favor of more mainstream choices .
For the Senate , we now know the Republican nominees for three key races , who will challenge three Democratic senators representing states Trump won . Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin will face off with Republican state Attorney General Pat Morrisey in West Virginia , Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly will go up against Republican Mike Braun in Indiana , and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown will face Republican Rep. Jim Renacci in Ohio . These are all outcomes that the dubiously nicknamed β Cocaine Mitch β McConnell is happy with .
The matchup for the governor β s race in Ohio , one of the most important ones in the country , has also now been settled . Democrat Richard Cordray will run against Republican Mike DeWine ; both establishment favorites triumphed in their respective primaries . This will be a crucial contest for the next redistricting β and , meanwhile , the state β s voters also approved a moderate reform to that redistricting process .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn β t on the ballot today , but his reputation and influence were on the line in West Virginia β s Senate race .
Don Blankenship , a former coal company CEO convicted of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws after a disaster that killed 29 miners , was running for the GOP nod to take on Sen. Joe Manchin , and McConnell and the Republican establishment desperately hoped he wouldn β t win .
So Blankenship hit back , with attacks that ranged from reasonable ( he said McConnell is part of the β swamp β ) to racist ( he attacked McConnell β s in-laws by dubbing them β his China family β ) to ridiculous ( he called McConnell β Cocaine Mitch β for factually suspect reasons ) .
Blankenship dominated headlines toward the end of the race , and Republicans feared they had another Roy Moore on their hands , in what would have been another major humiliation for McConnell .
But in the end , West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won the primary , and Blankenship ended up in last place among the three major candidates β in a resounding victory for McConnell .
Really , though , Blankenship β s fairly resounding defeat is also a win for basic human decency . The man is a convicted criminal whose corrupt and mismanaged company was implicated in a disaster that led to many deaths . He then tried to make a comeback by embracing racism and idiotic conspiracy theories ( he said the government caused the disaster at his mine and framed him for it ) . The 20 percent or so of the vote he got is still too much , but his last-place finish is a fitting conclusion β let β s hope it β s a conclusion , at least β of the political career of Don Blankenship .
Democrats lost control of the Ohio governor β s mansion back in 2010 and hope to finally reclaim it this year , particularly because the winner of November β s gubernatorial race will be in office for the next redistricting , in 2021 .
But the party approached Tuesday β s primary with some trepidation β because Dennis Kucinich was on the ballot .
Kucinich , a former member of Congress who ran for president in 2004 and 2008 , has long been a left-wing gadfly for the Democratic Party . But he β s also sometimes shown a tendency to defend Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and even has claimed to have seen UFOs . Establishment Democrats feared that if Kucinich won , their chances of retaking the governorship would fall drastically .
Challenging Kucinich was Richard Cordray , the former ( and first fully confirmed ) director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , under Barack Obama . Cordray , the former attorney general of Ohio , stepped down from the CFPB last November to run for the state β s governorship . Democrats viewed him as a top recruit , but his early polling was tepid , and some feared Kucinich might have a shot .
In the end , though , Cordray won by a landslide . Now , the former Ohio attorney general will face the current Ohio attorney general , Republican Mike DeWine , in the high-stakes gubernatorial contest this fall .
The incumbent Democratic senator from Indiana , Joe Donnelly , is widely viewed as one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators running for reelection this year .
The moderate , anti-abortion senator won his first term in 2012 by defeating far-right GOP nominee Richard Mourdock , who blundered his way to defeat by claiming pregnancy from rape was something β God intended. β Republicans have long believed that win was a fluke . Furthermore , Indiana has moved sharply to the right in recent years . Obama narrowly won the state in 2008 , then lost it by about 10 points in 2012 , and Hillary Clinton lost it by 19 points in 2016 .
So when the GOP nomination fight to face Donnelly devolved into a remarkably vicious and negative contest , the senator and his team were naturally thrilled . Tara Golshan described how all three candidates ended up with a catchy negative nickname β β Lyin β Todd β Rokita , β Missing β Luke Messer , and β Tax Hike Mike β Braun . It was genuinely unclear whom Donnelly would prefer to run against .
But the eventual GOP winner , business owner Mike Braun , has some real strengths . He β s rich and can self-fund his campaign against Donnelly . Furthermore , unlike his two rivals , Rokita and Messer , Braun can β t be attacked as a creature of the unpopular Republican-controlled Congress .
Donnelly β s hope is that Braun is less vetted than Rokita or Messer . Perhaps , for instance , he will be vulnerable to attacks on his business practices . But this race surely won β t be anything remotely resembling a cakewalk . Donnelly β s in for the fight of his life .
With Republicans having controlled the House of Representatives since 2011 , many of their incumbents are getting antsy and dreaming of becoming senators or governors .
But there β s a problem : That GOP-controlled House in Washington , DC , isn β t popular . And state politicians or outsider entrepreneurs may well seem like better choices to drain the swamp .
There was , as mentioned , Braun β s defeat of Reps. Rokita and Messer in Indiana . Morrisey , West Virginia β s attorney general , beat Rep. Evan Jenkins in that state too . Rep. Robert Pittenger of North Carolina couldn β t even hold on to his current seat in the face of a right-wing primary challenge from Mark Harris .
The sole bright spot for House Republicans who sought higher office was Rep. Jim Renacci β s victory in the Ohio Senate primary over banker Mike Gibbons . Even there , though , Renacci starts as a clear underdog to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown .
A strange thing happened during Ohio β s primary : One of the most pro-Republican-gerrymandered states in the country put an actual bipartisan deal to reform gerrymandering in front of its voters β and it passed , easily .
Previously , Ohio β s once-a-decade redistricting for its congressional seats was controlled by the legislature , with the governor β s approval . That meant that if one party controlled the governorship and both chambers of the legislature , they could more or less gerrymander to their hearts β content , which Republicans did last time around .
But Republicans and Democrats in the state came together and struck a deal that put some checks on the majority party β s power . Under it , the legislature has to try to come up with a new map supported by a big bipartisan majority . If several attempts at this fail , a one-party map can still pass , but it would expire after four years , rather than the current 10 . Additionally , legislators are instructed not to draw maps that β unduly β favor one party or incumbents .
This is , to be clear , a moderate reform at best , not a radical one . It leaves redistricting in the hands of politicians , rather than handing it over to an independent commission , as some reformers preferred . And some Democrats have questioned whether this compromise meant sacrificing the opportunity for greater and more meaningful anti-gerrymandering measures . But even a moderate gerrymandering reform has been a rare thing this decade . | 5LcZb0JSMVO1DWNg | 0 | Elections | 0.3 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
defense_and_security | NBC News Digital | https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/first-latino-tapped-head-dhs-signals-shift-trump-s-hard-n1248716 | First Latino tapped to head DHS signals shift from Trump's hard-line immigration policies | 2020-11-24 | DHS, Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden, DACA, Defense And Security | Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Latino chosen for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet, will head a Department of Homeland Security that is expected to drastically overhaul President Donald Trumpβs hard-line immigration policies, as well as put Mayorkas at the forefront of the new administrationβs anti-terrorism strategy.Mayorkas will be the first Latino and first immigrant to head the Department of Homeland Security, if confirmed by the Senate. The highest-ranking Cuban American in the Obama administration, Mayorkas was deputy secretary of DHS under then-Secretary Jeh Johnson, and before that was the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, a part of DHS that oversees granting citizenship and other immigration benefits.Mayorkas, if confirmed, will take over the nationβs third-largest agency in terms of employees, one that was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and that oversees several smaller agencies such as Customs and Border Protection, Transportation Security, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service.The Trump administration has drastically transformed the nation's immigration system with over 400 executive actions β including refusing entry to asylum-seekers, taking children from parents at the border and restricting travel to the U.S. by Muslims.There will be pressure on the Biden administration to act quickly on immigration and uphold pledges he made on the campaign trail, such as ending travel bans and protecting young immigrants, known as Dreamers, and to take such actions in the first 100 days of his administration.Much of Trumpβs immigration policy was the work of his adviser Stephen Miller, who cited and promoted white nationalist beliefs in emails leaked to the Southern Poverty Law Center last year.Trumpβs first two Homeland Security secretaries were John Kelly and Kirstjen Nielsen. Kelly became Trumpβs chief of staff and Nielsen took his place. They both resigned after tumultuous tenures, including, under Nielsen, the controversial policy of family separations.This summer, the General Accounting Office found that Chad Wolf, acting secretary of DHS, was not legally qualified to hold his job.Mayorkas: U.S. gave him 'a place of refuge'Mayorkas, who turns 61 Tuesday, was born in Havana, but his family fled when he was an infant. His father was born in Cuba with Sephardic roots, and his mother is a Romanian Jew who fled the Holocaust, according to a report by The Jerusalem Post. He has said that his familyβs background has long shaped his identity.βWhen I was very young, the United States provided my family and me a place of refuge,β Mayorkas said in a tweet on Monday. βNow I have been nominated to be the DHS Secretary and oversee the protection of all Americans and those who flee persecution in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones.When I was very young, the United States provided my family and me a place of refuge. Now, I have been nominated to be the DHS Secretary and oversee the protection of all Americans and those who flee persecution in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones. β Alejandro Mayorkas (@AliMayorkas) November 23, 2020Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who is also Cuban American, called Mayorkas a βsmart and natural pickβ to lead DHS.βHe has the subject matter experience to take on the enormous job of cleaning up after the disastrous and inhuman immigration policies that have torn lives and families apart under the Trump administration,β Menendez said in a statement.Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Florida GOP and of the American Conservative Union, said in a tweet: βThis is it. The change we needed, hallelujah.βBidenβs selection of Mayorkas was supported by several immigrant advocacy groups despite record deportations under the Obama administration. Mayorkas became DHS deputy secretary in 2013, after Obama had revised his deportation policy and authorized DACA. Deportations are handled by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Mayorkas directed Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013.Mayorkas was instrumental in shaping DACA, the Obama-era program that allows young immigrants without legal status to remain legally in the country and work and study without fear of deportation. Trump has tried to end the program but has been stopped by the courts.Some 800,000 young adults are in the program, for which many more are believed qualified.βAlejandro Mayorkas is someone we worked closely with to implement DACA,β said Greisa MartΓnez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, a network that advocates for young immigrants.Martinez Rosas said that she and other immigrant advocates are looking for a DHS secretary who will roll back the abuses that DHS and Customs and Border Protection have had "on undocumented immigrants in the last four years and for decades now."Mayorkas has been the front runner for DHS mainly because, sources say, the incoming administration wants someone with immigration experience (rather than legal, cyber, intel, management, etc) due to the large amount of work to be done in untangling Trumpβs immigration legacy. β Julia E. Ainsley (@JuliaEAinsley) November 23, 2020Latino groups have been pressing Biden to name Hispanics to several Cabinet positions to reflect the size of the U.S. Latino population. Latinos voted for Biden by a little more than 2-to-1 in the Nov. 3 election.Some Latino groups had endorsed Mayorkas and included his name on a list of potential Hispanic Cabinet picks given to the Biden transition team. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra also had been proposed.According to a DHS fact sheet on Mayorkas, he played a significant role in developing the national cybersecurity strategies and protections and led negotiation of cybersecurity agreements with Israel and China.He led Obamaβs delegation to Cuba when the U.S. restored relations, which were reversed by Trump. He told The Jerusalem Post that he had been honored for his work at DHS in tackling anti-Semitism.At DHS, he also created an office of customer service and public engagement and elevated the visibility of the fraud section and national security.While Mayorkas was director of Citizenshp and Immigration Services, immigration benefits application fees went up β but not the citizenship application fees β because βrequesting and obtaining U.S. citizenship deserves special consideration,β he said at the time.Mayorkas went through the Senate confirmation process when he was nominated for DHS deputy secretary and also to head Citizenship and Immigration Services. He was confirmed as the DHSβ No. 2 official on a 54-41 vote with no Republicans voting for him, including two fellow Cuban Americans, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas.At the time he had been under investigation for a visa program that he managed. He was not found to have committed any wrongdoing, but was criticized for the appearance of exerting undue influence to grant certain visas.Mayorkas also was chastised for calling the Bill Clinton White House to ask for a commutation for convicted drug dealer Carlos Vignali. Mayorkas and other southern California politicians made their pleas on behalf of Vignali's father. Mayorkas admitted the call was a mistake and he should have done better research on Carlos Vignali, Politico reported in 2008.Mayorkas started his government career as an assistant U.S. attorney in California, later becoming the youngest U.S. attorney in the country.Follow NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. | a1aa05cfb94a21de | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
coronavirus | The Hill | https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/496485-florida-emerges-as-bright-spot-in-covid-19-fight | Florida emerges as bright spot in COVID-19 fight | 2020-05-07 | coronavirus | ORLANDO , Fla. β Florida has reported 37,439 positive coronavirus cases and 1,471 deaths , ranking it eighth in the U.S. for the number of confirmed cases despite being the nation β s third most populated state .
The case and death numbers point to something many may find surprising : Florida has not become as much of a hot spot as other states such as New York , California and Michigan .
The state has fewer cases per capita than other heavily impacted states , such as Louisiana . According to Johns Hopkins University , Florida has had a total of 176 cases per 100,000 people compared to Louisiana , which has had 644 per 100,000 people .
Most of the Sunshine State entered its first phase of reopening on Monday , with restaurants , retail stores and museums allowed to operate at no more 25 percent capacity with social distancing restrictions .
Gov . Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantisThe Hill 's Campaign Report : Biden 's virtual campaign swings through Florida βββ 's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - In reversal , Trump says he wo n't disband coronavirus task force Florida emerges as bright spot in COVID-19 fight MORE ( R ) , who took criticism last month for his initial reluctance to issue a statewide stay-at-home order , touted the progress his state has made in a press conference on Tuesday .
β The fact of the matter is , Florida has met all the gating criteria to be into phase one , β DeSantis said at a press briefing on Tuesday .
Experts say there are a variety of reasons , including individual willingness to self-quarantine , that could explain why the state appears to have avoided being hit harder by the virus .
The state β s most populated counties in South Florida , as well as Orange County , home to the greater Orlando area , were under stay-at-home orders prior to the governor β s statewide order issued on April 1 .
Early actions from local governments could have contributed to stopping the spread of the virus in the state , according to government and health officials .
β We put a safer-at-home order quickly , and then tried our best to over-communicate that so that everyone understood the significance of it , β Tampa Mayor Jane Castor ( D ) told βββ . β Our community understood the level of personal responsibility and took it very seriously . β
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez ( R ) said DeSantis β s initial focus on South Florida played an early role in combating the spread .
β He very wisely understood that the situation in southeast Florida was different than the rest of the state , β Gimenez said . β He β s been right on . He β s known that it β s a big , big state and that the orders can not be uniform throughout the state . β
Florida has a large elderly population , which raised fears it could suffer from a high number of COVID-19 fatalities . Images of young people partying over spring break in the state compounded some fears .
But experts say many in the state appeared to take a diligent approach on their own to COVID-19 .
β Many older people self-quarantined before being told to do so by the governor , β said Laurence Barton , a crisis management and public safety professor at the University of Central Florida . β That decision by an older population may have well saved , in my opinion , tens of thousands of lives . β
Cindy Prins , a health care epidemiology professor at the University of Florida , said that coverage of Florida β s crowded beaches over spring break in March also likely drove a number of the state β s residents to self-quarantine in an effort to protect themselves .
β People got some information about what we should be doing as opposed to what we were seeing , β Prins said .
Other experts say they are perplexed by the coronavirus β s impact on Florida so far , citing luck as a potential factor .
β Other aspects are just luck . It hasn β t gotten to some places yet , but it may still be on its way , β said Roger Shapiro , associate professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard University β s T.H . Chan School of Public Health .
He warned that Floridians should not get a false sense of security .
β The virus is still on the move , and it can still travel to new places in the world , and it may still be finding inroads into some of the states and some of the countries that are so far less affected , β he said .
Government officials and public health experts in the state have continued to urge caution , citing the possibility of a second wave in the latter half of the year .
β I don β t think you need to totally take your foot off the pedal , β said Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki said . β People don β t need to get this false sense of security that we don β t need to do the social distancing and do the things we need to do . β
Bay County , which includes Panama City , has only seen 76 positive coronavirus cases .
Experts also point to the importance of testing , which Florida officials say they are looking to improve across the state .
Johns Hopkins University ranked Florida 22nd in per capita testing , performing a total of 2,186 tests per 100,000 people as of Tuesday .
DeSantis announced new plans to expand testing in the state on Wednesday , permitting tests to be performed at pharmacies as well as the random checking of blood donations for antibodies that show whether someone has recovered from the virus .
The governor also introduced on Wednesday the state β s first mobile testing facility , through which 500 rapid tests , each lasting 45 minutes , would be processed a day . The tests are currently available at the Hard Rock Stadium site in Miami Gardens and will soon be available in Orlando and Jacksonville .
β Obviously the hospitals need it , but then the next things are the nursing homes and the long-term care facilities because it can really be a game-changer and if applied properly can save lives , β DeSantis said . | MyuGNHYewnyjEnJ3 | 1 | Florida | 1.5 | Coronavirus | 0.5 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Reason | https://reason.com/archives/2018/08/02/rename-austin-over-slavery-how-about-was | Rename Austin Over Slavery? How About Washington? | 2018-08-02 | politics | I grew up in Austin , Texas . At least that 's what we called it then . I 've often said that after all the growth it has experienced , I barely recognize the city I once called home . If a new proposal goes anywhere , though , I wo n't be able to call it home or Austin .
The Austin Equity Office , you see , recently published a report on Confederate monuments . It compiled a list of parks , streets , and facilities named for slaveholders , Confederate veterans , and other symbols of the antebellum South , and it provided cost estimates for changing names and removing statues .
One of the people mentioned is Stephen F. Austin , who played a central part in the founding of Texas . Though he owned no slaves and died long before the Civil War , the report notes that he `` fought to defend slavery in spite of Mexico 's effort to ban it '' and feared that freed slaves would be `` a nuisance and a menace . '' Among the things named after him are a street , a high school , a recreation center andβ¦a city of nearly a million people .
The unlikely idea of changing the city 's name , which the report raised , has provoked outrage and incredulity . I am no fan of Confederate statues , flags , and nostalgia , but the critics have a point . Carting off a bronze sculpture of Stonewall Jackson is one thing . Renaming a city is another .
Compared with the sins of the people who took part in secession and bore arms against the United States , Stephen F. Austin 's were not major . In any case , the connection between him and the city has withered to irrelevance .
When you think of Monument Avenue in Richmond , you think of the Civil War . When you think of Austin , you think of Willie Nelson , the University of Texas , South by Southwestβalmost anything but the person it was named for . In much of the Lone Star State , `` Austin '' is shorthand for `` crazy liberals . ''
If re-christening is obligatory there , sign-makers are going to be working overtime across the country . The nation 's capital and dozens of other Washingtons were named for a slaveholder . So were Madison , Wisconsin , and Jefferson City , Missouri . Anything named `` Columbus '' or `` Columbia '' would need a replacement , given the fate of Native Americans once the explorer arrived .
And let 's not forget the big enchilada : America . Its name came from Amerigo Vespucci , who on one of his voyages to the New World captured a couple of hundred natives to sell as slaves .
This is not to say the campaign against Confederate symbols is mistaken . On the contrary , it 's long overdue . The University of Texas has taken down statues of four Confederate leaders . The city of Austin has renamed Robert E. Lee Road and Jeff Davis Avenue . Confederate Avenue and Dixie Drive could be next .
The reasoning behind such changes is unassailable . It 's an abomination to honor the Confederacy , whose chief purpose was preserving white supremacy and African-American bondage . There is no way to think of Lee or Davis without recalling the vast monstrosity they upheld .
But Austin , like other cities , has an identity entirely separate from its namesake . As the report noted , `` Where do we stop ? '' is a reasonable question . I do n't know exactly the right place to stop , but the name of the city is way past it .
This addled suggestion , however , should not be used to discredit the reassessment of problematic tributes . The mostly white , mostly male people who ran cities and states decades ago had the right to decide who deserved a statue or a street name . The more diverse people in charge today have the right to make additions and deletions in accordance with their own valuesβracial equality being one .
Austin has a Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and a Cesar Chavez Street because locals came to see the contributions of people of color . That 's not political correctness . It 's democracy . You know why they call the Confederacy the Lost Cause ? Because it lost .
Changes like this do n't `` erase history '' as some critics charge . On the contrary , they expand our appreciation of history to include oppressed groups that were once rendered invisible . Confederate statues can serve an educational purposeβin museums . A Jeff Davis Avenue , however , makes about as much sense as a Benedict Arnold Drive .
It 's important that Americans have begun to rid ourselves of monuments to avoid glorifying evil and folly . It 's equally useful to know where to stop . | cOLxfKmYYOvP75cU | 2 | Politics | -0.4 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
supreme_court | CNN - Editorial | https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/20/politics/brett-kavanaugh-sexual-assault-accusation-clarence-thomas/index.html | OPINION: Kavanaugh case shows how little has changed for Judiciary Committee | 2018-09-20 | supreme_court | ( CNN ) As the nation awaits the resolution of another woman confronting another Supreme Court nominee with sexual allegations from the past , another similarity has emerged : the credibility of the Senate vetting process may be shot .
In 1991 , after the Senate Judiciary Committee faltered in its initial handling of Anita Hill 's sexual harassment complaint against Clarence Thomas , it reopened the confirmation hearings . The result was a spectacle of senators ' charges and cross-charges as they seemed locked in their partisan views without regard for the facts .
`` Anita Hill will be sucked right into the very thing she wanted to avoid most , '' Sen. Alan Simpson , a Wyoming Republican who supported Thomas , warned when Hill 's complaint first became public . `` She will be injured and destroyed and belittled and hounded and harassed , real harassment , different than the sexual kind . Just plain old Washington variety harassment , which is pretty unique in itself . ''
Simpson likely was not referring to the Judiciary Committee on which he sat , or the grilling he would give Hill days later . But that 's what many people made of the Hill onslaught and what became a defining cultural moment , leading to a record number of women elected to Congress a year later .
Now , as Christine Blasey Ford has alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers three decades ago , the committee 's continued shortcomings are plain .
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley , an Iowa Republican , has given Ford , a Palo Alto University professor , until Friday at 10 a.m. to say whether she will testify to the committee . She has asked first for an FBI investigation of her claim . Senate Democrats are backing up that request and insisting , too , that other witnesses should be called .
`` Dr. Ford was reluctantly thrust into the public spotlight only two days ago , '' Lisa Banks , her lawyer , said in a statement Wednesday night . `` She is currently unable to go home , and is receiving ongoing threats to her and her family 's safety . Fairness and respect for her situation dictate that she should have time to deal with this . ''
Senators are at partisan cross-purposes , lacking any mechanism that would appear neutral to hear out such allegations . Whether there will be a real attempt at the truth remains in doubt , as the lives of the accuser and accused have collapsed into caricatures .
Any possible hearing , as well as the fate of Kavanaugh 's nomination , is likely to be more politically charged than the 1991 Hill-Thomas clash because of increased polarization in Washington and the upcoming midterm elections .
Even separated by 27 years and with a transformed committee , several similarities exist between the Thomas and Kavanaugh confirmations . Both times , women brought confidential accusations to the Senate Judiciary Committee , senators were slow to act and the charges became public through leaks and news reports .
Hill , who is also a professor , now at Brandeis University , alleged that when she worked for Thomas at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission he harassed her with talk of pornography and references to women 's breasts and men 's penises . Judiciary Committee members were aware of Hill 's complaint , but they did not seek her testimony until information she had relayed to committee staff became the subject of news reports .
Ford alleges that at a private party in the early 1980s Kavanaugh pushed her into a bedroom and tried to remove her clothes . She said that when she attempted to scream he covered her mouth .
Ford 's July 30 letter detailing her allegations against Kavanaugh , a 12-year veteran of a prominent US appeals court , had been given to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California , but the senior Judiciary Committee Democrat publicly acknowledged the letter and passed it on to the FBI only last week .
Responding to criticism about the delay , particularly from President Donald Trump , Feinstein wrote Wednesday on Twitter that Ford `` did not want her story of sexual assault to be public . She requested confidentiality and I honored that . It was n't until the media outed her that she decided to come forward . You may not respect women and the wishes of victims , but I do . ''
Kavanaugh has issued statements categorically denying Ford 's accusation and said he has `` never done anything like what the accuser describes -- to her or to anyone . ''
In 1991 , as now , the question is how the committee resolves an allegation against a nominee for a lifetime appointment on America 's highest court . Trump chose Kavanaugh to succeed retired Justice Anthony Kennedy , a centrist conservative who was the swing vote on an ideologically divided court .
The second round of hearings for Thomas became a forum for something other than facts and getting to the truth . Republican senators questioned Hill 's motives and her memories . Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah , who is one of three senators who were on the committee in 1991 and remain today , suggested that Hill had concocted some of her claims , for example , including by taking details from the book `` The Exorcist . ''
For his part , Thomas categorically denied Hill 's claims and called the proceeding `` a circus '' as well as a `` high-tech lynching . '' His nomination was approved 52-48 .
Unlike now , Democrats were running the Judiciary Committee , and then-Chairman Joe Biden declined to call before the committee other women who claimed to have similar experiences related to Thomas . The sexually charged nature of the ordeal , combined with racial elements absent from today 's episode , seemed to overwhelm the committee . Late last year Biden said he owed Hill an apology .
Hill wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday that the Senate Judiciary Committee had failed to take her claim seriously . She recommended that the panel call for an independent investigation of Ford 's accusations against Kavanaugh .
`` That the Senate Judiciary Committee still lacks a protocol for vetting sexual harassment and assault claims that surface during a confirmation hearing suggests that the committee has learned little from the Thomas hearing , much less the more recent # MeToo movement , '' wrote Hill .
Chairman Grassley has signaled that with or without Ford 's testimony he will push for a committee vote next week that would send the Kavanaugh nomination to the full Senate . The committee is made up of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats -- just as the Senate has a narrow 51-49 Republican majority .
Grassley and Feinstein have swapped accusations throughout the vetting of Kavanaugh , and in a letter late Wednesday , Grassley blamed her for the state of play . `` You chose to sit on the allegations until a politically opportune moment , '' he asserted . `` I can not overstate how disappointed I am in this decision . It has caused me to have to reopen the hearings for the fifth day of testimony , when we easily could have -- and should have -- raised these issues before or during the first four days of the hearing . ''
Noting that Feinstein said she wanted to protect Ford 's anonymity , Grassley said the allegations could have been raised to him or Kavanaugh while still shielding Ford 's identity .
A day earlier Feinstein had noted other fault-finding by Republicans , who were suggesting that Ford might have mixed up Kavanaugh with some other teenage boy .
`` Well , this is really kind of what Me Too is all about , is n't it ? '' she said to CNN 's Manu Raju . `` That 's sort of the first thing that happens . It 's the woman 's fault . This is not the woman 's fault . '' | KVcHlIXShWx60ENE | 0 | Sexual Misconduct | 0.7 | Supreme Court | -0.7 | Brett Kavanaugh | 0.5 | Clarence Thomas | 0.2 | null | null |
education | National Review | http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454680/bryan-caplans-case-against-education-persuasive | Too Many Americans Are Going to College | 2017-12-15 | education | Suppose you always wanted to date tall and good-looking people , and believe yourself to be tall and good-looking too . There β s a club in your city called Lucky β s where all the tall and good-looking people go , so you show up there . But you can β t get in . The bouncer stops you .
β Only tall and good-looking people with the proper credentials. β At this point , as he β s letting in another batch of the long and luscious , you notice that most of them are presenting the bouncer with a fancy piece of paper that says , β 100 % certified tall and good-looking . β
Aha , you say . I need that fancy paper . You go to the marketplace and find a confusing system of stalls and shops selling various kinds of fancy paper . Some of them won β t even look at you . Finally you notice a guy beckoning from an alley : β Psst . Tall-and-good-looking credentials right here . β
β Only $ 60,000 , β he says . β Plus four years of your life . Deal ? β
You smell something fishy . And yet you go ahead with it . You take out loans . You spend four years of your life doing baffling chores . And you get your tall-and-good-looking credential . But when you take it back to the club , the bouncer just sneers at you . β We don β t accept credentials from this place . β
At this point you catch a glimpse of your reflection in someone β s car window . And you realize you β re 4β²11β³ and look like the Joker after he fell into a vat of acid . The guy you owe $ 60,000 is laughing .
That β s pretty much how college works . Want to join the lucky ones in Club Upper Middle Class ? Be smart and/or hard-working . And if you β re neither smart nor hard-working , the fact that most of the people who make it to the upper middle class did indeed obtain a college degree identifying them as smart and/or hard-working should be irrelevant to you . All the credentials in the world aren β t going to fool the bouncers who guard the doorway of the club . These bouncers are employers . And they don β t care about your feelings . Just as bouncers want people who will pretty up the place , employers want people who will add value to their company . If you can β t provide it , they β ll tell you to take a hike .
But many young Americans haven β t caught on to this . Economist Bryan Caplan of George Mason University has crunched the data for years from every angle and argues devastatingly in a piece in The Atlantic ( adapted from his forthcoming book The Case Against Education ) that college is , for many of those who go there , a boondoggle . Forty-five percent of those who enter college fail to graduate within five years . If you are in the bottom 25 percent of your high-school class , you are not going to make it through college . It β s much worse than a waste of time . It β s a waste of money , perhaps a great deal of it . If , at age 22 , with a college degree , you settle in for a career in retail that doesn β t require a college degree , laden with student loans , you β d have been much better off if you had started your career four years earlier instead of spending four years puzzling over T. S. Eliot , post-revolutionary Africa , and trigonometry .
An even better idea for those who aren β t well-suited for college : Go to the kind of school that actually teaches you a job β i.e. , a vocational school , where students stay engaged by doing things and learning in the process β rather than dozing your way through a lecture . Learn to be an electrician or a plumber and you might even lose interest in Club Upper Middle Class . You β ll be warmly welcomed at Club Successful Working Class , and you may find the people who go there more fun to talk to anyway .
As Caplan notes , college hardly ever teaches you usable job skills . This is because colleges still work largely the way the first ones were set up in the 18th century ( or , in the case of Harvard , the 17th ) . They weren β t conceived as job-prep programs . They were set up as finishing schools for men β to make them better , more well-rounded people before they went on to the clergy , or the law , or the family business .
Having a college degree doesn β t exactly prove intelligence . A survey from 2003 showed that more than two-thirds of college graduates failed to demonstrate proficiency in a very basic test of literacy . β The ignorance it revealed is mind-numbing , β writes Caplan , who after many years of teaching at a respected university has this to say about students in general : β The vast majority are philistines. β Caplan isn β t interested in teaching students how to pass his tests ; he wants them to pass life . He wants them to learn how to think , to see the broader implications of specific examples . They don β t . β In a good class , four test-takers out of 40 demonstrate true economic understanding , β he writes .
Fifty years ago , Caplan notes , the average student spent 40 hours on studying alone . These days students log 27 hours on all academics , including classes . College is a part-time gig . The main thing students are up to , surveys reveal , is having a good time . Why should they do otherwise when GPAs keep creeping up ? The mean GPA is now 3.2 . So students are doing very little and being told they β re practically perfect . This is America β s big job-prep program ?
So why do college graduates make so much more money than non-graduates ? As Caplan put it on the invaluable EconTalk podcast , β The whole educational process filters out the people who wouldn β t have been very good workers . So people who are lower intelligence , lower in work ethic , lower in conformity β those people tend to not do very well in school . They drop out . They get bad grades . And that β s why the labor market cares . It β s not that the school actually transforms you to a good worker from a bad worker . It β s that the schooling , the school puts a little sticker on your head β you know , Grade A . β
If your solution is to churn out more Grade A stickers by increasing federal loans and subsidies , you β re just inviting employers to apply some other filtering mechanism , such as a graduate degree . Colleges will keep making it easier and easier for students , because students are paying them . Employers , however , will continue to be selective , because if they take you on , they are paying you .
16 Most Ridiculously PC Moments on College Campuses in 2016 | 0uX4OQiIreH4Or9P | 2 | Education | 0 | Higher Education | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
foreign_policy | National Review | https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/john-kerry-iran-deal-collusion/ | Whereβs the Outrage over Kerryβs Collusion with Iran? | 2018-05-07 | foreign_policy | Secretary of State John Kerry ( left ) meets with Iran β s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Manhattan , April 22 , 2016 . ( Brendan McDermid/Reuters )
Liberals tried to criminalize contacts with Russia . Note their hypocritical silence about the former secretary of state β s β strategizing β with Iran .
Liberals tried to criminalize contacts with Russia . What β s the excuse for their hypocritical silence about the former secretary of state β s β strategizing β with Iran ?
If there is one word that has widened the gap between Democrats and Republicans in the past 16 months , it is β collusion. β Many on the left believe that the Donald Trump campaign colluded with Russia to steal the presidency from Hillary Clinton . Proof of any such plotting has yet to be produced and may never surface ( perhaps because it didn β t happen ) . We can hope the probe being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller will ultimately get to the bottom of the affair . The suspicion that Trump β s apparent soft spot for the Vladimir Putin regime is somehow linked to what we do know about Russia β s attempts to interfere in the election has cast a shadow over his presidency in the eyes of his opponents .
But it β s clear that whatever the truth of the allegations about Trump , another prominent political figure has been colluding with a hostile foreign power . As the Boston Globe reported last week , former secretary of state John Kerry has been engaged in secret talks with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif , as the two have β strategized β about how to preserve the nuclear deal the pair helped negotiate . If true β and Kerry has not only not denied this activity but has reportedly discussed it with members of Congress and others whom he hopes will assist him in thwarting the Trump administration β s apparent intent to either junk or revise the pact β this crosses an important line between legitimate advocacy and illegitimate efforts to sabotage the actions of a sitting U.S. government .
If allegations about that sort of behavior sound familiar , it β s because similar charges were lodged against Michael Flynn , Trump β s first national-security adviser , who resigned after a few weeks in office because he lied about contacts with Russia . Flynn pled guilty to lying but will apparently not be prosecuted because of when he held talks with the Russians : after Trump β s election though before his inauguration , when the Obama administration was still in charge .
When news about Flynn β s contacts with Russia became public , a chorus of liberal pundits and talking heads as well as newspapers like the New York Times demanded that Flynn and perhaps presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner be charged under the 1799 Logan Act . That law states that unauthorized diplomacy with foreign powers by private individuals is a crime . The statute has almost never been enforced . In the not-so-distant past , many Americans have traveled overseas to meet and β strategize β with other nations .
In fact , John Kerry did so back in the 1970s when , after his service in the Vietnam War , he and other anti-war activists journeyed to Paris to meet with the North Vietnamese , who were fighting the United States at the time . Richard Nixon was guilty of colluding with the South Vietnamese during the 1968 presidential campaign β he wanted them not to sign any peace agreement that might help the Democrats win the election .
Neither Nixon nor Kerry was charged under the Logan Act , and the odds are that federal prosecutors will be just as reluctant now as in the past to dust off that relic of the John Adams administration . But anyone who was outraged about Flynn β s activity , which was hardly unusual for a key member of an incoming administration , but remains silent about Kerry is not only hypocritical but winking at efforts to aid a hostile foreign power gain an advantage against an American government that is rightly concerned about its criminal behavior and intentions .
Of course , there is nothing illegitimate about Americans β wanting to preserve the deeply flawed nuclear deal . Obama-administration alumni have organized a group called Diplomacy Works to defend the agreement , and their efforts have received prominent and favorable play in the mainstream liberal media . Obama β s deputy national-security adviser Ben Rhodes once boasted about creating the β echo chamber β that helped him sell the Iran deal to a nation and a Congress that opposed it . Recreating that echo chamber has turned out to be child β s play .
But there is a difference between speaking up for a policy position and actively colluding with an enemy nation . Kerry may sincerely believe that he advanced the cause of peace by discarding all of the West β s economic leverage in exchange for a piece of paper that legitimized Iran β s nuclear program and ensured that it would eventually get a bomb while the country was enriched and empowered . Trump aims to end the Iranian nuclear threat by changing or scrapping the deal . Kerry β s campaign to torpedo his efforts has the effect of ensuring that Tehran won β t be held accountable for its terrorism and illegal missile production .
We may not be willing to jail someone who helps the very nation that Kerry β s own State Department labeled the world β s leading state sponsor of terrorism . But we should not hesitate to label Kerry β s collusion with Iran both immoral and dangerous .
Kerry also seems determined to let Iran hold on to one of his most egregious concessions in the negotiations , in which he ultimately discarded almost all of President Obama β s initial demands . Kerry is defending the sunset clauses that will allow restrictions on Iran β s nuclear program to expire within a decade , making it inevitable that Tehran gets its weapon of mass destruction without the West being able to do a thing about it .
For a former secretary of state to play the role of consigliere to a tyrannical Islamist , anti-Semitic regime is a disgrace . That it is happening at a time when Iran β s occupation of Syria and aggressive behavior is raising the chances of war with Israel is all the more outrageous . That β s especially true since it was the bankrupt policies of Obama and Kerry that effectively enabled the Iranians and their allies to intervene on behalf of the Assad regime . That led to atrocities and to the continued use of chemical weapons , which Obama and Kerry also promised to stop . Under the circumstances , it β s no wonder that Zarif and the ayatollahs think of Kerry as a trusted friend .
The crickets about Kerry from Democrats who were outraged over Flynn is not only a sign of hypocrisy but also proof that their Trump derangement syndrome has caused them to lose touch with any sense of morality . There β s no point in calling for Kerry to be indicted under a Logan Act that is never enforced against anyone . But those who casually lobbed around terms like β treason β to describe Trump β s attitude toward Russia need to ask themselves why they aren β t offended by Kerry β s giving aid and comfort to a rogue nation like Iran . We may not be willing to jail someone who works to undermine his country β s government and helps the very nation that Kerry β s own State Department labeled the world β s leading state sponsor of terrorism . But we should not hesitate to label Kerry β s collusion with Iran both immoral and dangerous . | 6geRPJiGYKN6F57I | 2 | Foreign Policy | -0.5 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/politics/senate-gun-laws/index.html?hpt=po_t1 | Senate overcomes filibuster, clearing the way for debate on gun bill | 2013-04-11 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | Story highlights Speaker Boehner stops short of promising a House vote on gun measures
The NRA says it `` unequivocally '' opposes legislation coming up for debate in the Senate
16 Republicans join Democrats in overcoming a GOP-led Senate filibuster
Proposals backed by the White House would expand background checks , take other steps
The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to overcome a Republican-led filibuster against tougher gun laws , clearing the way for a major congressional debate on a package of proposals sought by President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the Connecticut school massacre .
The procedural vote followed a breakthrough by Sens . Joe Manchin , D-West Virginia , and Pat Toomey , R-Pennsylvania , who reached a compromise on broadening background checks to include private purchases at gun shows and on the Internet .
Because of the bipartisan deal , Senate Democrats backing the legislation received support from enough Republicans to approve the cloture motion , 68-31 , setting up debate on the proposals and amendments expected to last for two weeks .
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nevada , pledged after the key vote to let both sides offer amendments . But he insisted they include an updated ban on semiautomatic firearms modeled after military assault weapons and a limit on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds .
Both proposals were part of Obama 's desired legislation , but were dropped from the package brought to the Senate because they would have prevented Democrats from overcoming the GOP filibuster .
While just a procedural vote , the Senate action represented a major step for Obama and Democrats in ensuring public votes on the most significant gun legislation to reach the Senate floor in almost two decades .
The powerful firearms lobby led by the National Rifle Association opposes the gun-control package and made clear it will seek political retribution on any legislator that supports it . This included Thursday 's vote on launching debate .
Despite the agreement forged by Manchin and Toomey , both rated as strong supporters of gun rights by the NRA , the prospects for significant gun legislation to win congressional approval remained uncertain .
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Any measure passed would then go to the Republican-led House , where GOP leaders have indicated resistance to the kind of proposals sought by Obama .
On Thursday , House Speaker John Boehner stopped short of promising his chamber would vote on gun legislation , saying he first has to see what gets sent over from the Senate .
`` I fully expect that the House will act in some way , shape or form , '' Boehner told reporters . `` But to make a blanket commitment without knowing what the underlying bill is , I think would be irresponsible on my part . The Senate has to produce a bill , and I 've made clear , if they produce a bill , we will review it and take it from there . ''
The NRA clearly rejected the proposed legislation so far , with Chris Cox , who heads the group 's institute for legislative action , saying in a letter to the Senate that it `` would unfairly infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners '' and that the group `` unequivocally opposed '' it .
Cox 's letter called the compromise by Manchin and Toomey `` misguided '' and added that Thursday 's procedural vote would be included in its assessment of legislators that serves as political ammunition in election campaigns .
Two Senate Democrats from pro-gun states up for re-election next year -- Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas -- voted with 29 Republicans attempting to filibuster the legislation . Sixteen Republicans joined 52 Democrats and Independents in supporting a floor debate .
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that Obama called relatives of Newtown , Connecticut , shooting victims who were in Washington for the vote to thank them for their efforts to pressure Congress to take up the gun proposals .
An earlier statement by more than 30 relatives of the 20 first graders and six educators killed in the massacre last December criticized senators for their attempted filibuster , saying they `` should be ashamed of their attempt to silence efforts to prevent the next American tragedy . ''
In an emotional scene Wednesday , Manchin choked up while meeting with some of the Newtown residents who praised him for political courage in taking on the NRA .
`` You give me more legislative strength than you know , '' Manchin said at one point . He later was unable to speak and reached for a tissue when asked by a reporter how the Newtown families affected his role in the negotiations with Toomey and others .
Following the Newtown shootings by a lone gunman , Obama called for a series of proposals including `` universal '' background checks on all gun purchases . Currently , the federal law requiring background checks covers licensed firearms dealers , with private sales excluded .
Fierce opposition by the NRA and its allies in Congress -- mostly conservative Republicans but also some Democrats from gun-friendly states -- made clear that the universal checks sought by Obama had no chance of passing , leading to efforts by Manchin , Toomey and others to work out a compromise .
In announcing the compromise on Wednesday , Manchin noted the proposal meant that firearms buyers at gun shows would face the same background check currently required in sales by federally licensed gun dealers . In addition , it would close a loophole that exempts intrastate gun sales on the Internet from requiring a background check , he said .
Addressing concerns of the NRA that expanding background checks would burden law-abiding gun owners seeking to trade or gift weapons in a personal transfer , Manchin declared that `` personal transfers are not touched whatsoever . ''
Another provision would recognize the legitimacy of concealed weapons permits across state lines .
The Manchin-Toomey compromise also would require states and the federal government to provide records on criminals and the `` violently mentally ill '' to the national background check system , addressing a criticism by the NRA and other opponents of gun laws that the existing system lacks substantive information .
In addition , the plan calls for a new National Commission on Mass Violence to report in six months on `` all aspects of the problem , including guns , school safety , mental health , and violent media or video games . ''
The NRA contends that an expanded background check system would create a paper trail that could eventually be used to build a national gun registry , which they reject as unconstitutional .
It also argues that an expanded system would prove a burden to law-abiding gun owners while doing nothing to stop criminals from getting hold of firearms .
According to a summary of the compromise proposal , it includes language that prohibits creation of a national gun registry or misusing information from background checks .
The NRA said rejection of the universal checks sought by Obama was `` a positive development , '' and it called for `` serious and meaningful solutions '' to gun violence instead of `` blaming law-abiding gun owners for the acts of psychopathic murderers . ''
Meanwhile , Obama said there were aspects of the Manchin-Toomey compromise that he would like to see strengthened .
`` But the agreement does represent welcome and significant bipartisan progress . It recognizes that there are good people on both sides of this issue , and we do n't have to agree on everything to know that we 've got to do something to stem the tide of gun violence , '' the president said in a statement Wednesday .
`` Congress needs to finish the job , '' Obama added , saying he would continue `` asking the American people to stand up and raise their voices because these measures deserve a vote . ''
The Brady Campaign , named after the former White House press secretary wounded in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan , called the compromise a `` good step forward , '' while New York Gov . Andrew Cuomo described it as `` better than nothing '' but a sellout to the gun lobby .
`` This is a Congress that is captive of the extremists and there is no clearer proof of that than this , '' Cuomo said on the `` Capitol Pressroom '' radio show , adding that the compromise meant `` we are not talking about a significant package of gun control anymore . ''
Obama has made gun measures a major focus of his second-term agenda , holding events across the country to push for Congress to vote on the package .
A new national survey showed that 86 % of Americans support some expansion of background checks .
At the same time , the CNN/ORC International poll released Wednesday also showed a majority of respondents fear that increased background checks would lead to a federal registry of gun owners that could allow the government to take away legally owned weapons .
Failing to pass new gun laws would be a stinging defeat for Obama and Democrats .
However , a public perception that Republicans blocked popular proposals , such as expanding background checks , could harm GOP prospects in 2014 and 2016 among moderates they need in their corner to have any chance of countering strong support for Democrats by minority demographics such as Hispanic Americans , African Americans and the gay-lesbian vote .
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a package of gun laws proposed by Obama after the Newtown attack by a lone gunman .
Proposals in the committee 's package included expanding background checks on gun buyers , toughening laws against gun trafficking and straw purchases , banning semiautomatic rifles modeled after military assault weapons as well as large-capacity ammunition magazines , and coming up with ideas for improving school safety .
Reid dropped the weapons ban , which would update a similar 1994 law that expired a decade later , saying it lacked enough support to overcome a filibuster .
Some states already have passed stricter gun laws similar to the federal proposals since the Newtown shootings . They include Connecticut , where the killings occurred , and Colorado , the site of two other notorious mass shootings that contributed to a renewed gun debate in America .
The current background check system was created in 1989 . It requires federally approved gun dealers to check whether gun buyers have a criminal background or other problem to make them ineligible to purchase a firearm .
Under the system , the gun dealer maintains a record of the transaction , but the federal government keeps no such identifying paperwork .
According to a Justice Department report , less than 2 % of those seeking to purchase firearms were denied because of background checks from 1998 through 2009 .
Opponents cite that figure as evidence that the system fails to stop illegal weapons sales that the legislation seeks to target , while supporters say the result shows the system keeps some guns out of the hands of the wrong people and the system should be expanded and strengthened . | 7f26026622527ebf | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
fbi | BBC News | http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43094840 | Florida school shooting: FBI under pressure over failure to act | fbi | Pressure is mounting on the FBI over the agency 's failure to act on a tip that Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz might carry out an attack .
Florida Governor Rick Scott said the agency 's director must resign , while Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review , lamenting FBI `` failures '' .
Some of those close to the 17 victims of Wednesday 's shooting also voiced dismay at the FBI 's actions .
President Donald Trump on Friday met survivors of the attack in Parkland .
Mr Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited a hospital and later the local sheriff 's office , thanking them for their response to the tragedy .
`` What a great job you 've done , '' Mr Trump told law enforcement officials , adding : `` I hope you get credit for it because believe me , you deserve it . ''
Nikolas Cruz , 19 , has confessed to carrying out Wednesday 's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and has been charged with 17 counts of murder .
It was the deadliest US school shooting since 2012 and has re-ignited debates about gun control , with many students from the school weighing in .
It comes after the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted it did not properly follow up on a warning about Mr Cruz .
On 5 January a person close to the suspect contacted the FBI tipline to provide `` information about Cruz 's gun ownership , desire to kill people , erratic behaviour , and disturbing social media posts , as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting '' , an FBI statement said .
The FBI said that information should have been assessed as a potential threat to life and passed on to the Miami field office but that `` we have determined these protocols were not followed '' .
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau was `` still investigating the facts '' and was committed to `` getting to the bottom of what happened '' .
`` We have spoken with victims and families , and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy , '' he added .
The 5 January tip was not the only information the FBI received about Nikolas Cruz .
In September , a Mississippi man reported to the law enforcement agency a disturbing comment left on a YouTube video by a user called `` nikolas cruz '' which said : `` I 'm going to be a professional school shooter . ''
Ben Bennight said he spoke to FBI representatives for about 20 minutes and that they contacted him again following the Parkland shooting .
The FBI on Thursday said they had conducted `` checks '' at the time , but were unable to identify the person behind the comment .
Questions are also being asked about how local police responded to concern about Nikolas Cruz .
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said his office had received 20 `` calls for service '' about him .
Each one would be scrutinised , he said , without going into detail about the nature of the calls .
Governor Scott said in a statement that `` the FBI 's failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable '' .
He said that an apology would never give families `` the answers they desperately need '' and said that Mr Wray had to resign .
`` We constantly promote 'see something , say something , ' and a courageous person did just that to the FBI . And the FBI failed to act , '' he said .
At a funeral for 18-year-old victim Meadow Pollack , Jeff Richman , a family friend , questioned the value of the FBI 's apology .
`` The FBI apologised ? Tell that to families , '' he told Reuters news agency .
Meanwhile , Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that the FBI 's `` failures '' had led to `` tragic consequences '' , and announced a review at the justice department and FBI into how `` indications of potential violence '' are responded to .
The FBI has been criticised before for having been aware of a possible threat and then failing to thwart an attack :
The gunman of the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas was known to the FBI
The bureau had information about one of the two brothers behind the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in 2013
The gunman who killed 49 people in a gay club in Orlando , Florida , in 2016 was on the FBI 's radar
In 2016 , the FBI received about 1,300 tips a day through its website , which is staffed around the clock by two dozen people .
In addition to online tips , FBI field offices receive dozens of calls . About 100 of the tips are considered `` actionable '' .
Mr Cruz had been expelled from the school he has confessed to attacking and some students said they had previously joked he would one day `` shoot up the school '' .
One former schoolmate , Chad Williams , said Mr Cruz was an `` outcast '' who was `` crazy about guns '' .
His interest in weapons was apparent on his social media profiles , which the Broward County sheriff said were `` very , very disturbing '' .
Mr Cruz had reportedly been treated for mental health issues at a clinic . | 710BLc7AaibyNVtA | 1 | Florida School Shooting | -0.8 | FBI | -0.3 | Defense And Security | 0 | null | null | null | null | |
epa | Townhall | http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/01/27/under-trump-administration-epa-workers-are-coming-back-to-work-in-tears-n2277257 | Under Trump Administration, EPA Workers Are Coming Back To Work In Tears | 2017-01-27 | epa | Over the past few days , the Environmental Protection Agency has been slapped with new media guidelines , expected to be hit with $ 800 million in budget cuts , and will have its current data on the agency β s website subject to political review . President Trump is reining in the agency , which was accused of overreach during the Obama presidency , specifically with its regulations on carbon emissions , power plants , and coal . The EPA is undergoing a facelift and some are not happy about it . ProPublica reported that EPA employees are coming into work in tears :
So far , Trump β s remodeling efforts have been both dramatic ( nominating Oklahoma attorney general and fossil-fuel ally Scott Pruitt to head the agency ) and quietly tactical ( freezing all EPA contracts and grants ) . [ β¦ ] At EPA headquarters , the mood remains dark . A longtime career communications employee said in a phone interview Tuesday that more than a few friends were β coming to work in tears β each morning as they grappled with balancing the practical need to keep their jobs with their concerns for the issues they work on . To be sure , the EPA is an agency where information has been tightly controlled for many years , including under the Obama administration , which was harshly criticized by the Society of Environmental Journalists in 2013 for having β taken secrecy to a new level. β The EPA β s sheer size , with 10 regions and more than 14,000 employees , guarantees some level of confusion , as well . From headquarters through the regional offices , employees said they still hadn β t confirmed if a freeze on work under hundreds of existing contracts , described in a headquarters memo acquired on Monday by ProPublica , applied to vital actions like responding to spills .
So , while the details of the order regarding contracts are being clarified , let β s not forget that Middle America has been crying for the past eight years , as Obama β s war on coal has led to coal miners being laid off , which led to the destruction of local economies . So , spare me the sob stories from government bureaucrats . | k9cJbKSO46g7e6Bq | 2 | Environment | -0.7 | Donald Trump | 0.4 | EPA | -0.4 | null | null | null | null |
coronavirus | NPR (Online News) | https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/01/24/960126270/u-s-tops-25-million-cases-of-the-coronavirus | U.S. Tops 25 Million Confirmed Coronavirus Cases | 2021-01-24 | Coronavirus, Life During Covid-19, Public Health, Coronavirus Vaccine | Matthew S. Schwartz Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives for an event on the coronavirus with President Biden at the White House on Thursday. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives for an event on the coronavirus with President Biden at the White House on Thursday. Almost exactly one year after the first case of the coronavirus was detected in the United States, the country has now reached 25 million confirmed infections. As it has for months, the U.S. remains by far the most coronavirus-riddled country in the world. Data from Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center showed the U.S. passing the tragic marker as of Sunday morning. The true number of cases, however, is likely far higher: Many people become infected but never get tested, so they aren't reflected in the count. The U.S. has more than twice as many confirmed cases as the nation with the second highest count β India, a country with 10 million cases and a population that is four times larger. Nearly 420,000 people in the U.S. have now died from the virus. That's almost double the number of the next highest country, Brazil, which is closing in on 220,000 deaths. The existence of a more infectious variant of the virus could make matters worse, top health officials say. The variant has swept through large parts of the U.K. in recent weeks and was identified for the first time in the U.S. in late December with a case in Colorado. Although U.K. scientists originally said the new variant is no more deadly, new data appear to suggest a more worrisome picture. Americans "need to assume now that what has been circulating dominantly in the U.K. does have a certain degree increase in what we call virulence: namely, the power of the virus to cause more damage, including death," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist, told CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. While former President Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed the virus β proclaiming, for instance, that it would disappear with the changing weather β President Biden has focused much of his first week in office warning of the severity of the virus and introducing new measures intended to bring the pandemic under control. The president has promised 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days, and on Thursday he signed 10 executive orders and directives that the White House says will boost testing, vaccinations, supplies and treatments. Still, experts caution that it will take several months before the pandemic is under control, and Biden himself has acknowledged that the situation will get worse before it gets better. "A lot of America is hurting. The virus is surging. We're 400,000 dead, expected to reach well over 600,000," Biden said Friday. "Families are going hungry. People are at risk of being evicted. Job losses are mounting again. We need to act. No matter how you look at it, we need to act." Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor These cookies are essential to provide you with services available through the NPR Services and to enable you to use some of their features. For example, these cookies allow NPR to remember your registration information while you are logged in. Local station customization, the NPR Shop, and other interactive features also use cookies. Without these cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those services. 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The information collected includes the number of visitors to the NPR Services, the websites that referred visitors to the NPR Services, the pages that they visited on the NPR Services, what time of day they visited the NPR Services, whether they have visited the NPR Services before, and other similar information. We use this information to help operate the NPR Services more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity on the NPR Services. These cookies allow our Services to remember choices you make when you use them, such as remembering your Member station preferences and remembering your account details. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to prevent you from having to re-enter your preferences every time you visit the NPR Services. These cookies track your browsing habits or other information, such as location, to enable us to show sponsorship credits which are more likely to be of interest to you. These cookies use information about your browsing history to group you with other users who have similar interests. Based on that information, and with our permission, we and our sponsors can place cookies to enable us or our sponsors to show sponsorship credits and other messages that we think will be relevant to your interests while you are using third-party services. | 8a3e1fa4f589dc65 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
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