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politics | Christian Science Monitor | http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/1005/Trans-Pacific-Partnership-deal-What-are-the-major-sticking-points | Trans-Pacific Partnership deal: What are the major sticking points? | 2015-10-05 | politics | The United States and 11 Pacific Rim nations have agreed to a sweeping regional trade accord that would cut barriers to goods and services and set standards for 40 percent of the world ’ s economy .
The Trans-Pacific Partnership has yet to be ratified by Congress and lawmakers in the other countries involved . But the deal – the result of nearly eight years of negotiations – could be a defining achievement for President Obama and “ the capstone for his foreign policy ‘ pivot ’ toward closer relations with fast-growing eastern Asia , after years of American preoccupation with the Middle East and North Africa , ” The New York Times reported .
The accord , set to be announced later Monday , could also reshape industries and influence everything from the price of cheese to the rules of automobile assembly . The deal would phase out tens of thousands of tariffs and other barriers to international trade , establish uniform rules on corporations ’ intellectual property , open the Internet even in communist Vietnam , and crack down on wildlife trafficking and environmental abuses , according to the Times .
The final round of talks in Atlanta , which began on Wednesday , centered on a number of issues , including protections for dairy farmers and rules governing the auto trade that dictate how much of a vehicle must be made within the TPP region in order to qualify for duty-free status .
One major snag in negotiations was the minimum period of protection to the rights for data used to make biologic drugs , which are medicines made from live organisms .
The US had sought 12 years of protection to encourage pharmaceutical companies to invest in expensive biological treatments , while Australia , New Zealand , and public health groups had sought a period of five years to bring down drug costs and reduce the burden on state-subsidized medical programs . US negotiators eventually conceded to minimum terms of about five to eight years – something that the generic drug industry , nonprofit health groups , and most of the other TPP countries insisted was a necessary incentive for innovation .
The Biotechnology Industry Association in Washington , D.C. , however , said it was `` very disappointed '' in the compromise . `` We will carefully review the entire TPP agreement once the text is released by the ministers , '' the industry lobby said in a statement .
The TPP is expected to face stiff opposition from US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders . Both condemned the deal long before any agreement was reached , while Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has expressed wariness of the accord .
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As The Wall Street Journal put it , “ legislation designed to expedite passage of the agreement through Congress passed narrowly this summer , and a variety of factors , including the presidential campaign , could make the final deal a hard sell . ” | oS8aa1I1gKWUd6vN | 1 | Politics | -0.2 | Trans Pacific Partnership | -0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
justice_department | CNN (Web News) | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/30/holder-meeting-more-substance-than-charm/?hpt=po_c1 | Holder meeting: More substance than charm? | 2013-05-30 | justice_department | Washington ( CNN ) – Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder 's long-time friend Reid Weingarten , the high-powered Washington attorney , came to his defense Thursday telling CNN that off-the-record sessions with media executives were not meant as a mea culpa .
`` This is not about Eric Holder giving his defense . This is a policy discussion Eric has been instructed to do by the president . He wants people to sit down and roll up their sleeves , '' Weingarten says . `` This is not a charm offensive . This is substantive . ''
Holder invited news organizations to meet with him as part of a review of the Justice Department 's guidelines for leak investigations . The offer of meetings became controversial-due to the department 's insistence the sessions be off-the-record– and some organizations , including CNN , Fox News , The New York Times , the Associated Press and Reuters , refused to attend the sessions citing the restriction in the midst of an ongoing news story .
Several news organizations , including the Washington Post , the Wall Street Journal , Politico and ABC News , decided to attend the meetings on Thursday and Friday . ( The Justice Department late in the day Thursday authorized invited organizations to bring their attorneys . )
Holder wo n't comment directly on the matter , but Weingarten spoke out on his behalf .
`` We have genuine , legitimate policy issues '' that need to be discussed , he said . `` We need to get at these horrible leaks and protect the First Amendment . ''
The controversies stem from leak investigations over classified information regarding North Korea reported by Fox News Reporter James Rosen and a separate investigation about a thwarted airliner bomb plot reported by the Associated Press . As part of these probes , the DOJ obtained journalists phone records as well as , in the case of Fox News , email records . The subpoena for the AP 's phone records as well as the one for the Fox News reporter 's personal emails were kept secret .
News organizations and many members of Congress have criticized Holder and the Obama administration for going too far in these investigations , using overly broad criteria-and secrecy–for their searches of the records .
Holder 's allies take pains to point out the difficult-and competing– missions the Attorney General is trying to meet . `` It is this agonizing dilemma you have in national security cases…you 're obliged to investigate them aggressively , '' Weingarten says . But he also tells CNN that `` Eric has always been a real First Amendment guy…the question is where do you draw the line . ''
Holder has been asked to deliver a report with his recommendations on possible changes by next month . | ukB9hsts0U6E2Krd | 0 | Eric Holder | -0.1 | Justice Department | -0.1 | Justice | 0 | null | null | null | null |
free_speech | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/16/opinion/schlumpf-pope-paris/index.html | OPINION: The Pope is wrong on religious speech | 2015-01-16 | Religion And Faith, Pope Francis, Free Speech | Heidi Schlumpf is a columnist for the National Catholic Reporter and teaches communication at Aurora University . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author .
( CNN ) The popular Pope Francis is taking some hits himself after some lighthearted comments that included a pretend punch to a colleague . The comments came while trying to make the point that free speech should have some limits , including on the right to insult another 's faith .
Speaking Thursday to reporters on the plane ride to the Philippines , the Pope gestured with a fake punch to demonstrate what he would do if someone were to say `` a swear word against my mother . ''
Still , the Vatican felt the need to clarify , in response to a later CNN question about the punch , that his words were `` spoken colloquially '' and consistent with the Pope 's `` free style of speech . ''
I do n't for one minute think the Pope is advocating for any type of violence , whether religiously motivated murder or sparring among friends who dis each other 's mamas .
What concerns me is his apparent belief that religion should have special protection when it comes to free speech .
`` One can not provoke , one can not insult other people 's faith , one can not make fun of faith , `` he said . `` There is a limit . Every religion has its dignity . ... In freedom of expression there are limits . ''
JUST WATCHED Pope : 'One can not insult other people 's faith ' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Pope : 'One can not insult other people 's faith ' 03:58
The Pope , responding to a general question about the interplay between religious liberty and free expression , was clearly referencing the massacre of journalists at Charlie Hebdo magazine by Islamist militants in Paris last week .
Although he did not say the slain cartoonists brought the attack upon themselves because of their satirical criticism of Islam , it 's not a huge logical leap to that conclusion and raises the likelihood of such a misinterpretation .
Let 's just say it 's not what most public relations professionals would advise .
And while the Pope has been known to talk more informally with reporters on the papal plane ( his `` Who am I to judge ? '' comment about gay Catholics came on the return flight from Brazil in 2013 ) , he 's still on the record and obviously aware that his words will be reported and analyzed .
The Pope is not the only prominent Catholic raising the issue .
Bill Donahue , a self-appointed spokesman fighting `` anti-Catholicism '' as the president of the New York-based Catholic League , released a statement with the headline , `` Muslims have a right to be angry , `` on the day of the killings .
JUST WATCHED Blair takes issue with Pope 's freedom of speech remarks Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Blair takes issue with Pope 's freedom of speech remarks 04:05
While no one can match the offensive tone of Donahue , who actually said Charlie Hebdo 's Stephane Charbonnier `` did n't understand the role he played in his own death , '' the gist of the Pope 's message was the same : Criticism of religion is problematic .
As an aside , I 'll be curious to see if those who slammed Donahue have the same harsh words for the Pope .
Perhaps both of them should take a lesson from the response of another Christian , Jim Wallis , president of Sojourners , a progressive , evangelical community and publication . He had a different suggestion for how people of faith should respond to the Paris attacks :
`` Jesus tells us to bless those who persecute us , to return love for hate and good for evil , and even to love our enemies , '' Wallis wrote . `` Loving your enemies certainly includes supporting the foundational commitment to free speech , and defending the right of free speech , even , or especially , for those who offend you . ''
I think most American Catholics agree that while blasphemy -- offensive speech against God or religion -- is not particularly nice , it does not follow that it can or should be regulated or outlawed . In the United States , the Supreme Court outlawed blasphemy laws in 1952 .
I 'm hoping the Pope was only offering counsel to his followers , rather than advocating for any sort of legal position . No one has the right not to be offended . Even the Pope . | 464b4fb64c2d71cb | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Washington Times | https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/oct/15/elizabeth-warren-takes-heat-democratic-debate/ | 'Punitive' Warren takes heat in debate | 2019-10-15 | elections | WESTERVILLE , Ohio — Sen. Elizabeth Warren got a first taste of what it is like to be the front-runner on the debate stage Tuesday when her rivals ganged up on her and questioned whether her tax-the-rich rhetoric was too “ punitive ” for an already polarized nation .
The more moderate 2020 Democratic hopefuls took aim at Ms. Warren ’ s far-left agenda and plans for a wealth tax to finance a host of new benefits from tuition-free college to universal childcare .
“ We need to be focused on lifting people up and sometimes I think that Sen. Warren is more focused on being punitive or putting some part of the country against the other , ” said former Rep. Beto O ’ Rourke of Texas .
Ms. Warren was baffled by his charge . “ I am shocked at the notion that anyone thinks I am punitive , ” she said .
The aggressive challenges to the Massachusetts senator , coupled with deferential treatment of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden , underscored Ms. Warren ’ s new status as the leader in the race .
In going after Ms. Warren , the Democrats clashed on familiar ground during the party ’ s fourth primary debate , including how far to go toward a government-run “ Medicare for All ” health care system .
Mr. Biden batted away questions about his son Hunter ’ s sweetheart foreign business deals by saying in the Democratic debate Tuesday that President Trump ’ s corruption was the real issue .
The other top Democratic presidential hopefuls cooperated , giving Mr. Biden a wide berth to avoid the questions of nepotism and corruption involving Hunter Biden . Instead , they piled on in demonizing Mr. Trump and trying to one-up one another on how strongly they vouched for the constitutional necessity not just to impeach him but also remove him from office .
“ This is about Trump ’ s corruption . That is what we should be focused on , ” Mr. Biden said . “ What I think is so important is that we speak of how important it is to remove this man from office . ”
Sen. Cory A. Booker of New Jersey , who is struggling in the polls , came to Mr. Biden ’ s defense . He said the only person enjoying watching Mr. Biden answer for his son ’ s lucrative overseas paydays was Mr. Trump .
“ He should not have to defend himself , ” said Mr. Booker , appearing as if he was auditioning for a spot on a Biden ticket .
Hunter Biden ’ s lucrative business deals in Ukraine and China while his father was vice president now dog the elder Mr. Biden ’ s campaign . His $ 600,000-a-year job on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company is also at the center of the House Democrats ’ impeachment inquiry . Mr. Trump is accused of abusing his office when he asked the Ukrainian president to investigate the Bidens .
While going after Ms. Warren in the party ’ s fourth primary debate , the Democratic contenders often clashed on familiar ground , such as how far to go toward a government-run Medicare for All health care system .
South Bend , Indiana , Mayor Pete Buttigieg took Ms. Warren to task over her reluctance to say whether she will raise taxes on the middle class to pay for her Medicare for All vision .
“ I have made clear what my principles are here , and that is costs will go up for the wealthy and for big corporations , and for hard-working middle-class families , costs will go down , ” Ms. Warren said when asked directly whether her plan would lead to middle-class tax increases .
Mr. Buttigieg frequently took on a more forceful tone , contrasting with past low-key debate performances . He is considered in the best position to the race to emerge as the more moderate alternative to Ms. Warren should Mr. Biden ’ s campaign collapse .
Turning to Ms. Warren , Mr. Buttigieg said voters are fed up with elected leaders that are unwilling to answer “ yes-or-no ” questions , pressing her to say whether she ’ d raise taxes as Sen. Bernard Sanders admits will be necessary for Medicare for All .
“ This is why people here in the Midwest are so frustrated with Washington in general and Capitol Hill in particular , ” Mr. Buttigieg said to Ms. Warren . “ Your signature , senator , is to have a plan for everything — except this . ”
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang slammed her proposed wealth tax . He warned that the idea failed when tried in other countries .
“ The problem is that it has been tried in Germany , France , Denmark , Sweden and all those countries ended up repealing it because it had massive implementation problems and did not generate the revenue that they projected , ” he said . “ If we can ’ t learn from the failed experience of other countries , what can we learn from ? ”
Ms. Warren said House Democrats ’ impeachment push wasn ’ t a distraction from the party ’ s agenda .
“ Sometimes there are issues that are bigger than politics , and I think that is the case with this impeachment inquiry , ” she said .
Mr. Sanders agreed and called Mr. Trump the “ most corrupt president ” in the nation ’ s history .
“ This is a president who is enriching himself while using the Oval Office to do that , and that is outrageous , ” Mr. Sanders said .
While popular among Democrats , the impeachment question is not a slam dunk among all Americans .
A Quinnipiac Poll this week showed that 46 % of Americans approve of impeachment and removal of Mr. Trump , compared to 48 % who say he should not be impeached and removed from office .
Shortly before the candidates joined in an impeachment frenzy on the debate stage , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the decision to launch an impeachment inquiry would not be put to a vote . The announcement fueled Republican criticism that the inquiry was an unfair partisan exercise .
Mr. Biden and Ms. Warren stood shoulder to shoulder at center stage on the campus of Otterbein University , flanked by 10 of their rivals in the largest primary debate in history .
The showdown was the first to play out since the House launched an official impeachment inquiry , Mr. Sanders of Vermont suffered a heart attack and Ms. Warren emerged as Mr. Biden ’ s top rival .
Ms. Warren has been on the rise in polls , sprinting past Mr. Biden in Iowa and New Hampshire , the two states that host the opening contests in February .
Mr. Biden has struggled to match the appeal Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders have with far-left activists , and he has trailed them and Mr. Buttigieg in the latest fundraising reports , fueling more doubt about his staying power and cutting into the initial belief that he is the most electable candidate .
Mr. Biden , meanwhile , has become Mr. Trump ’ s top target after the bombshell whistleblower complaint accusing the president of using U.S. military assistance to pressure Ukraine ’ s president to investigate the business dealings of Mr. Biden and his son Hunter . Mr. Trump has spun the accusation into an attack against Mr. Biden , saying the Democrat and his family are the corrupt ones and running with that message in attack ads .
Hunter Biden has tried to stop the bleeding by announcing he is leaving the board of a Chinese private equity company and forgoing all foreign work if his father becomes president . The former vice president says Mr. Trump is afraid of facing him in the general election .
The showdown in the Columbus suburbs was viewed as a make-or-break opportunity for some of the lower-tier candidates . The Democratic National Committee heightened the fundraising and polling thresholds to qualify for the fifth debate in Georgia next month .
As of Tuesday , former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro , Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii , Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mr. O ’ Rourke were in jeopardy of missing the cut .
The DNC is requiring candidates to get at least 5 % in at least two approved polls in Iowa , New Hampshire , Nevada and South Carolina or 3 % in at least four national or early-state polls .
The decision to hold Tuesday ’ s debate in the Columbus suburbs fueled speculation over the role Ohio will play in the 2020 election .
Barack Obama carried Ohio in 2008 and 2012 , and Mr. Trump carried the state by 8 percentage points in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton .
The Trump campaign , meanwhile , launched a pre-emptive strike against the candidates by flying a 35-by-105-foot banner over the city that read in all capital letters : “ Socialism destroys Ohio jobs . Vote Trump . ”
“ While Democrats will use the debate stage to paint a glamorous view of their socialist agenda , Team Trump is here to expose the truth behind their job-killing policies and remind Ohioans what ’ s at stake in 2020 , ” said Tim Murtaugh , Trump campaign spokesman . | PTFVCz7fSgcGmjob | 2 | Presidential Elections | -0.1 | Elections | -0.1 | Democratic Debates | 0 | null | null | null | null |
elections | Wall Street Journal - News | http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/us/politics/london-fund-raisers-may-put-mitt-romney-in-banking-scandals-glare.html?ref=politics | London Fund-Raisers Put Romney in a Scandal’s Glare | 2012-07-20 | elections | In late June , Barclays agreed to pay $ 450 million to resolve accusations that it had tried to manipulate rates to benefit its bottom line . Shortly after , Mr. Diamond resigned from his position .
In a sign of just how politicized the scandal has become , 11 members of Parliament recently signed a resolution , naming Mr. Romney , that called for Barclays executives to “ cease fund-raising for political candidates ” and focus on rebuilding consumer confidence in the banking system .
Soliciting donations abroad , as exotic as it sounds , is by no means new . Election laws permit candidates to accept contributions from citizens living outside the United States , and John McCain and Barack Obama did so .
Barclays was the ninth-biggest source of contributions to Mr. Romney ’ s campaign either directly or through his joint fund-raising effort with the Republican National Committee , according to the Center for Responsive Politics , with employees contributing $ 234,650 through the end of May .
But Democrats may be loath to draw attention to Mr. Romney ’ s donations from big banks like Barclays . Employees of the bank have contributed $ 34,800 to Mr. Obama and his joint effort with the Democratic National Committee . ( Mr. Obama does not allow registered lobbyists to bundle for his campaign . )
This month , Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. attended a fund-raiser in Park City , Utah , co-hosted by Mark Gilbert , a top executive at Barclays , who has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mr. Obama ’ s re-election bid .
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Representatives of the Romney and Obama campaigns declined to comment .
Besides Barclays , executives at several banks under investigation , including HSBC , Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse , are co-chairmen for the Romney fund-raisers in London .
Mr. Romney appeared to take all the normal precautions for his events in London : an invitation to one of the fund-raisers reminds guests that they “ must provide copy of U.S. Passport . ”
Still , any ties to the firms under investigation could detract from a trip intended to highlight Mr. Romney ’ s history with the Olympics . Mr. Romney , who ran the 2002 Salt Lake City Games , plans to attend the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Games next Friday .
What is more , it may give ammunition to his left-wing critics , since Mr. Romney has railed against Wall Street regulation , like the Dodd-Frank Act .
Despite the controversy , the co-host of one fund-raiser , Karl Dasher , said there was “ strong excitement ” for Romney among expatriates in London .
Republican fund-raisers described the London receptions as a case of awkward timing , noting that scrutiny of presidential donors always intensifies when a company is under investigation .
“ You want to make sure that you don ’ t wind up with egg on your face because you got some money from some guy who pulled a stunt . But you can ’ t screen everybody that writes your check , ” said Alfred Hoffman Jr. , a Florida developer who is a top Republican fund-raiser but is not raising money for the Romney campaign . “ You do the best you can — you make sure that they ’ re an American citizen . ” | YoX37YWAbLPNADPm | 1 | Elections | -0.3 | Presidential Elections | -0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
general_news | Guest Writer - Left | http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/opinions/parini-jesus-refugees-christmas/index.html | OPINION: At Christmas, remember that Jesus was a refugee | 2015-12-23 | Holidays, General News | Editor’s Note: Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont and is the author of “The Damascus Road.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. View more opinion at CNN. This article was originally published in December, 2015.CNN —As Christmas arrives, many of the over two billion people in the world who identify as Christians begin to refocus in a particular way, thinking about the meaning of this holy celebration. They do so, of course, with varying degrees of intensity.Jay Parini xxxxxxFor some, it’s only a matter of jingle bells and the exchange of gifts, perhaps a kiss under the mistletoe. There is usually a tree with lights and ornaments. Candles may flicker in the windows. And Santa may play a more important role than Jesus in many of their lives.But those who care about the practice of their faith keep Jesus front and center. His birth and the story that surrounds it is the reason for Christmas, and its message should sing loudly through the season.It is a moving story, with elements of joy and terror.A young family from Galilee comes into a small town as strangers, the mother is pregnant, and there is “no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7). When the child is born, the magicians, or “magi,” come looking for him from the East to worship him, after inadvertently telling a wicked king about this newborn with great potential. The king wants to kill him; he believes the child may be a future rival. Angel appears to Joseph, and he is told to run with his young family and to hide in Egypt; Jesus becomes - at once - a refugee, on the run for his life.The Christmas story appears in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and in the former it’s very much a tale of horror and flight, the murderous king ordering the immediate slaughter of all children younger than 2 in the vicinity of Bethlehem. (Matthew 2:16-18).This is straight from the annals of terrorism, even though it has perhaps less claim to historical veracity than one might like. Yet the mythic point is real, undeniable: Jesus arrives into this troubled world in a threatened situation.Thomas Merton, the poet and Trappist monk, writes memorably about the manger scene in Bethlehem: “Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited.” It’s because of his extreme situation, a newborn on the run, a refugee who must flee with his parents to Egypt to escape persecution and death, that Jesus stands for all political refugees, all those in despair of having a place to lay their head. Jesus is always present with those, as Merton says, “for whom there is no room.”I love the Christmas story in its terrifying and beautiful dimensions. Jesus is a human being who is fully inhabited by God. Thus he becomes, in the Greek word, the Christos, or the anointed one, a person in whom God dwells – as in the word Emmanuel, which in Hebrew means “God dwelling within.”Follow CNN Opinion Join us on Twitter and FacebookChristmas is, for those who wish to follow the way of Jesus, an invitation to accept into our comfortable and safe lives those who come to us from far away, who seem ragged, marginal, in transition. This is how God finds us, at this very dark time of the year, the winter solstice, when the daylight hours have shrunk to their minimal light. He comes knocking at the door, looking for a haven, for a place to rest and recover.In John 8:12, Jesus calls himself “the light of the world.” This light shines into the darkest corners of our bleak midwinter existence and offers a glimmering of hope. It’s a light coming from an unexpected place.I don’t believe it’s possible to imagine a Jesus who would not welcome refugees with open arms, who would not fight hatred with love, who would not understand that the “war on terror” – whether it flashes from the throne of Herod the Great or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – is fundamentally a war of ideas.You can’t defeat ISIS with weapons, with boots on the ground, with carpet bombing or any vengeful threats. You overcome darkness with light, and this is not some vague, wishy-washy, “liberal” idea.It’s the hard reality that Jesus taught us, over 2,000 years ago. And every year at Christmas, he comes to us as a child on the run with his impoverished and terrified parents. He knocks at the door of our house and our hearts. And we let him in – or we turn him away. | 70cb577d513640a8 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | The Columbus Dispatch | https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/06/13/ohio-gun-laws-gov-mike-dewine-signs-armed-teacher-training-bill/10002086002/ | Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs law to arm teachers with 24 hours of training | 2022-06-13 | Gun Control And Gun Rights, Mass Shootings, Ohio, School Shootings, Violence In America | School districts across Ohio will be able to authorize teachers, principals and other staff to carry firearms into classrooms this fall after 24 hours of training. The new law, signed Monday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, will lower the required training hours for armed school personnel from about 700 hours to four scenario-based training hours, plus a maximum of 20 hours for first-aid training, history of school shootings and reunification education. The signing came the same day Ohio's new constitutional carry law took effect. "In life we make choices, and we don't always know what the outcome is going to be," DeWine said at a news conference. "What this Legislature has done, I've done by signing it, is giving schools an option based on their particular circumstances to make the best decision they can make with the best information they have. That's all any decision-maker can do." More:What's inside the bill to arm Ohio teachers as it heads to Gov. Mike DeWine? Ohio school districts are not required to allow staff to carry firearms under the law. House Bill 99 allows local boards of education to decide whether they want staff to carry firearms at all and how much training will be required. DeWine said he directed the Ohio School Safety Center to require at least 24 hours of training and eight hours of requalification training each year. The move appeared aimed at eliminating confusion among lawmakers over whether the bill established a minimum number of training hours. Private businesses that want to train school staff must also meet the 24-hour minimum to have their curriculum approved, DeWine said. Democrats and gun control advocates panned the new law, saying it won't do enough to prevent gun violence and mass shootings. Law enforcement officials have also said 24 hours is not enough time to learn how to safely use a firearm. Opponents argued DeWine walked back on promises to address gun violence after a gunman killed nine people in Dayton in 2019. The governor responded to cries of "do something" by unveiling a package of gun control reforms, but they never went anywhere in the GOP-controlled Legislature. "I feel like a putz for believing him," Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said. "He did something, alright. He gave in like a coward, and he made the problem worse." DeWine has signed three bills loosening gun restrictions since the shooting. "It’s a complete bastardization of what people said in Dayton, frankly," said former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, who is running for governor against DeWine. "This is not what the people of Dayton had in mind when they started chanting that." During Monday's news conference, DeWine urged lawmakers to consider provisions of the 2019 legislation that would increase penalties for straw purchases and prevent people with severe mental health conditions from possessing a firearm. DeWine's signature puts an end to years of debate over how many hours of firearm training Ohio teachers should have. Parents in the Madison Local Schools district in southwest Ohio sued the district over its armed teacher program, arguing that the training required – about 24 hours – violated state law. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled for the parents in 2021. The court ruled in a 4-3 decision that Ohio Revised Code required anyone authorized to carry a gun on school grounds to have 20 years of experience or peace officer training. DeWine argued the ruling made firearm training unmanageable for school districts that wanted to permit it. But some law enforcement disagreed. "I think it’s a horrible idea to arm our teachers," Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said. "There’s a lot of training that’s involved in that. It's naïve to believe that is something we can put on them and expect them to respond to from a law enforcement perspective." The governor used Monday's news conference to highlight other school safety initiatives that he's rolled out since the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The new capital budget includes $100 million in grants that schools can use to upgrade building security. The state is also investing in training to help school staff identify behavioral health problems in students. "We are trying to do and have been trying to do every single day things that people keep safer – keep kids in school safer but also these same children who go home to neighborhoods where there's violent crime and repeat violent offenders," DeWine said. "Their lives are important, too. All children's lives are important." Anna Staver and Haley BeMiller are reporters with the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau. It serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio. | 545c9aaee12033df | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
us_congress | TheBlaze.com | https://www.theblaze.com/news/ocasio-cortez-confronted-over-support-for-womens-march-amid-anti-semitism-scandal-her-response-says-it-all | Ocasio-Cortez confronted over support for Women's March amid anti-Semitism scandal. Her response says it all. | 2019-01-20 | us_congress | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( D-N.Y. ) was confronted Saturday over her support for the Women 's March movement , a notoriously left-wing progressive activist organization currently embroiled in scandal over allegations of deep-rooted anti-Semitism among its national leadership .
The allegations — which range from supporting Louis Farrakhan to removing Jewish leaders from the organization to co-president Tamika Mallory refusing to affirm Israel 's right to exist — have forced numerous supporters to cut ties with the organization , including the Democratic National Committee and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz ( D-Fla. ) .
While participating in demonstrations with a Women 's March group near Central Park , a CNN reporter confronted Ocasio-Cortez about anti-Semitism in the Women 's March movement . Instead of answering the question , Ocasio-Cortez rambled about the Trump administration , claiming , without evidence , the White House has an anti-Semitism problem .
`` Well first of all , I think that right now , in this moment in the United States , we have to center this conversation . I think that concerns of anti-Semitism with the current administration in the White House are absolutely valid and we need to make sure that we are protecting the Jewish community and all those that feel vulnerable in this moment , '' Ocasio-Cortez said .
Ocasio-Cortez neither addressed the growing problem with the Women 's March movement , nor did she denounce the alleged anti-Semitism that exists among its ranks .
In another clip , right-wing activist Laura Loomer is seen confronting Ocasio-Cortez .
`` Why are you standing with people who openly support Hamas , a terrorist organization that kills Jewish people ? '' Loomer asked as Ocasio-Cortez walked past her .
Right-wing activist Laura Loomer confronts socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( D-NY ) : `` Why are you standing with people who openly support Hamas , a terrorist organization that kills Jewish people ? '' | 45n7mLrlrR1uW4FZ | 2 | Politics | -0.4593 | US Congress | 0.1531 | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez | 0 | null | null | null | null |
culture | Monica Hesse | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/03/28/will-smith-jada-pinkett-slap-fallout/ | The misguided chivalry of Will Smith | 2022-03-28 | Culture, Movies, Oscars, Violence In America, Justice, Comedy, Toxic Masculinity, Race And Racism, Men's Issues, Women's Issues | clockThis article was published more than 2 years ago Chris Rock made a bad joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. Unfortunately, her husband’s offense became the story. In the moment before Jada Pinkett Smith’s husband strode onstage to slap another man during Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony, the camera panned briefly to her face. Comedian Chris Rock had just made a joke at her expense, and she did not appear happy. She rolled her eyes. She clasped her hands tightly in her lap. She sat ramrod straight, wearing a high-necked emerald gown — there was almost a genteel Victorian sensibility to her restrained displeasure. | a68847888d4ebca7 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/opinion/dash-gun-changes/index.html?hpt=op_t1 | On gun control, two places to start | 2012-12-18 | gun_control_and_gun_rights | Story highlights Anil Dash : People revert to old arguments on gun control , but there are 2 areas of agreement
He says in social network chats people agree : gun buyers should have mental health test
He says other area of agreement includes examining gun distribution channels
Dash : Stop demonizing the other side of the issue ; just start with these two simple ideas
I 'm writing about some changes we need to make in the wake of the horrible school shootings in Sandy Hook
Stop . Do n't race to the bottom of the screen to leave a comment repeating the same statements you 've made after every such shooting in your life .
We have the same conversation each time . We say things that alienate our friends on Facebook . Or we get affirmative agreement from our family members . And nothing changes .
Here 's the good news : There are specific , meaningful policy guidelines we can adopt as a country that nearly everyone agrees with across the political spectrum . We 'll never eliminate unexpected violence , but a small number of changes could save thousands of lives .
I 've shared two key ideas with more than half a million people across a variety of social networks online in recent days , and even over this incredibly stressful weekend with such passionate feelings behind everyone 's words , I 've heard nearly universal consensus on implementing these two changes .
1 . Mental health screenings before gun purchases . Because everyone in America will have health coverage next year , we can ask for a simple , straightforward clean bill of mental health before a person can buy a gun . Just like we ask drivers to take an eye test before hitting the road , we should do the same when someone wants to buy a gun . The most passionate target shooters , hunters and self-defense enthusiasts I know all agree : There are often warning signs in the boys and young men who usually carry out these acts of mass violence , and broadly implemented tests could reduce the number of them who have access to guns , without affecting any of the hundreds of millions of safe , responsible gun owners in America .
While law enforcement officials say that the guns used in Newtown had been bought legally by Adam Lanza 's mother , there are instances when rampage shooters have acquired guns illegally . And we are talking here about areas for broad agreement . A place to start . Which brings us to the second key idea .
2 . More accountable gun distribution and retailing . Since the earliest days of our country , guns have been relatively readily available , and there 's no need to compromise that to improve the safety of our gun distribution infrastructure . Instead , we can look at weak points in gun distribution through which guns go from legal manufacturers to illegal use .
JUST WATCHED 'Fun day ' helps distract from tragedy Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 'Fun day ' helps distract from tragedy 01:39
JUST WATCHED Carney : Hard to forget rawness of Newton Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Carney : Hard to forget rawness of Newton 01:12
JUST WATCHED Newtown tragedy renews fierce debates Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Newtown tragedy renews fierce debates 02:47
Gun shows that require only a brief in-person event with no live-fire training to qualify for a purchase permit , or that allow bulk purchase of weapons disrespect the care and dedication with which most gun owners teach themselves and their children . Again , a few simple changes requiring proof of real safety , such as shooting lessons before buying a weapon just makes common sense , not only to prevent irresponsible gun distribution , but to ensure that future generations of gun owners obey the traditions of the hundreds of years of millions of thoughtful , smart gun owners in America .
If you 're like most Americans , you already have some canned response ready . You want to talk about a slippery slope or how guns do n't kill people , people do . Or you want to rant about how barbaric and foolish gun owners are and how the Second Amendment was written in a totally different period in history .
We 've all heard all this before . When you fall back into those tired cliches , you put us back in the cycle where no progress happens . You put us back into a cycle where the responsible gun owners who do n't mind some minor changes to encourage upholding the American tradition of safe shooting get stuck feeling defensive against the condescension of people who 've never fired a gun .
You put us back into a cycle where hundreds of millions of thoughtful opponents of the proliferation of lethal weapons in the hands of unstable people are forced to stand in disbelief as people tell them that these kinds of tragedies are somehow inherently American and thus ca n't be prevented .
When I shared these two simple ideas with about half a million people across a few social networks , at first people responded out of habit , with extremists ranting about fantasies of armed insurrection against the government or of hundreds of millions of guns being melted down .
But once they read what we 're actually saying , hundreds of people , from across the political spectrum , came together and agreed on these principles , that a few simple ideas can make a big difference . I 've seen gun-owning Obama voters in the hip hop industry who agree with prominent Romney supporters in the financial industry who would never bring a gun into their home , with all in favor of a few common-sense guidelines .
We know we can fix things because we 've made huge progress already . America is a far less violent country that it used to be . Violent crime overall is lower than it has been in decades . The reality is , the overwhelming majority of Americans kids are safe . But dozens of our kids are shot every week , so we have to do better . And just as we 've made so much progress on so many intractable problems , we can fix this one , too .
Step away from the usual rehearsed responses . Stop demonizing your fellow Americans , your fellow countrymen who love their kids as much as you do .
And start by talking to someone who disagrees with you overall on all the big issues around guns and violence in our society , and see if you ca n't agree on these two points . We wo n't solve the whole problem , but at long , long last , we 'll make a small bit of meaningful progress , and will have a policy that our representatives across the political spectrum can unite behind . | qAlePPRmyxnLXN8u | 0 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | -0.5 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
violence_in_america | The Texan | https://thetexan.news/14-children-one-teacher-killed-in-uvalde-elementary-school-shooting-18-year-old-suspect-dead/ | 19 Children, Two Teachers Killed in Uvalde Elementary School Shooting, 18-Year-old Suspect Dead | 2022-05-24 | Greg Abbott, Gun Violence, Texas, Uvalde Shooting, Violence In America | File not found: /14-children-one-teacher-killed-in-uvalde-elementary-school-shooting-18-year-old-suspect-dead! | 09bf5b2250e7e8c3 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Fox Online News | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/warren-releases-dna-analysis-on-native-american-heritage-firing-back-at-trump-attacks | Warren releases DNA analysis on Native American heritage, firing back at Trump attacks | politics | Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren took the rare step Monday of releasing DNA test results examining her possible Native American ancestry , in apparent response to persistent criticism from President Trump and other Republicans .
The results , as shared with The Boston Globe , reportedly reveal “ strong evidence ” the Massachusetts senator had a Native American ancestor dating back six to 10 generations . At the same time , the report could embolden critics by showing only trace amounts of that heritage -- which Republicans have charged she used to advance her career at Harvard .
According to the analysis , if Warren ’ s great-great-great-grandmother were Native American , she would be considered 1/64 Native American . Should Warren ’ s ancestor date back 10 generations , she would be only 1/1,024 Native American . ( The newspaper originally pegged the figures as 1/32 and 1/512 , but in a correction that did n't do Warren any favors , later added a note saying , `` Due to a math error , a story about Elizabeth Warren misstated the ancestry percentage of a potential 6th to 10th generation relative . The generational range based on the ancestor that the report identified suggests she ’ s between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American . '' )
`` To put that in perspective , Warren might even be less Native American than the average European American , '' Republican National Committee Deputy Communications Director Mike Reed said in an email , while saying this would `` not give you the right to claim minority status . ''
But as Warren mulls a presidential run in 2020 , her Senate re-election campaign produced a video playing up the results .
In it , Warren says : “ The president likes to call my mom a liar . What do the facts say ? ”
Stanford University Professor Carlos D. Bustamante replies : “ The facts suggest that you absolutely have Native American ancestry in your pedigree . ”
Bustamante , according to the Globe , authored the six-page report and conducted the analysis after Warren released a sample of her DNA to a private lab in Georgia over the summer . Warren did not use a commercial service for her DNA analysis , according to The Globe , but rather Bustamante , who is on the scientific advisory board for Ancestry . He also worked on projects for other commercial services like 23andMe .
Bustamante found that “ the vast majority ” of Warren ’ s family tree is European , but added that “ the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor ... in the range of 6-10 generations ago . ”
Warren has been repeatedly criticized by Trump over her heritage claims—including last week at a rally , when he once again used his “ Pocahontas ” nickname for her .
“ I ’ ve got more Indian blood in me than Pocahontas , and I have none , ” Trump said . “ Hey , I have high cheekbones too , maybe I ’ m Indian . ”
Over the summer , Trump said that if Warren did mount a presidential run in 2020 and the two faced off in a general election debate , he would offer $ 1 million to her favorite charity on the spot if she took a DNA test to prove her Native American heritage .
The DNA results report could , at least , eliminate that as a line of attack .
Trump , though , brushed off Warren 's DNA test when asked about it Monday morning , while claiming he never made the million-dollar offer ( he did , at a rally over the summer ) .
`` Who cares ? '' Trump said . `` I did n't say that . You better read it again . ''
`` I think she 'd be very easy . I do not think she 'd be difficult at all . She 'll destroy the country . She 'll make our country into Venezuela , '' Trump told reporters on the White House lawn . `` It 's going to be a long process for the Democrats . ''
Meanwhile , Warren used the Globe report to directly respond to Trump 's challenge .
`` By the way , @ realDonaldTrump : Remember saying on 7/5 that you ’ d give $ 1M to a charity of my choice if my DNA showed Native American ancestry ? I remember – and here 's the verdict . Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women ’ s Resource Center , '' Warren tweeted , including a link to the group 's website .
Warren for years has been accused of exaggerating her Native American heritage to help get a job as a Harvard law professor . Last month , the Globe reported that her heritage was not considered by Harvard Law faculty when analyzing her application in the 1990s . The report also said that her race was not considered when she applied to work at Rutgers University , the University of Houston , the University of Texas or the University of Pennsylvania .
Warren ’ s move to release her DNA results is yet another indication that she is considering a run for president . Warren has already released 10 years of tax returns and made her personnel files available to the Globe .
Warren is up for re-election in November against Republican candidate Geoff Diehl . The latest polls show Warren with a solid lead . | rDqlz4Go4D2usS93 | 2 | Donald Trump | -0.2 | Elizabeth Warren | -0.1 | Politics | 0.1 | null | null | null | null | |
elections | Christian Science Monitor | http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0527/With-Trump-vs.-Clinton-looming-Libertarians-get-a-look | With Trump vs. Clinton looming, Libertarians get a look | 2016-05-27 | elections | Not happy about voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton ?
This weekend in Orlando , Fla. , Libertarians are expected to nominate a presidential ticket of two popular former Republican governors whose crossover message could appeal to disenchanted voters from both parties – as well as independents .
Libertarians are known as fiscal conservatives and social liberals . They support small government but also personal freedom on such issues as legalized marijuana and gay marriage .
`` I think the vast majority of Americans are libertarian , they just do n't know it , '' Gary Johnson , the expected presidential nominee , said in a recent CNN interview .
Mr. Johnson , former governor of New Mexico , took a hard line against government spending , leaving his state with a $ 1 billion surplus . He is expected to run with William Weld of Massachusetts , who cut taxes and created a governor 's commission on gay and lesbian youth .
Their stature and governing experience , along with the historically high negative ratings of Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton , lead some political observers to say this could be the “ break-out ” year for the Libertarians . They won only 1 percent of the vote in 2012 , but recent polls put their share at about 10 percent in a three-way race .
That increase is important because only parties that poll at 15 percent or higher can participate in the presidential debates – a necessity for any candidate hoping to win the White House .
“ The potential for a political realignment that favors libertarian ideas is real , ” says Matt Kibbe , a leading figure in the tea party and libertarian movements . “ Several major Republican donors are headed to Orlando as well to check out Gary Johnson . ”
The party had only $ 35,000 as of March , and Johnson is hoping Weld can turn on the donation spigot , saying he could be a `` huge influence '' on fundraising . The former Massachusetts governor – who was reelected in 1994 by the largest margin in the state ’ s history – helped raise funds for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 .
One question is whether the billionaire Koch brothers , who have withheld their funds from Trump , might back a Libertarian ticket . David Koch was the Libertarian vice presidential candidate in 1980 .
Money is just one of an array of challenges facing Libertarians , as well as other parties like the Green Party or Constitution Party , as they try to take advantage of the unusually high level of discontent with the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees .
“ Signs are brewing that this could be a great third-party year , but all the other obstacles still remain to keep third parties down , ” says Brian Smith of St. Edward ’ s University in Austin , Texas .
Professor Smith , an expert on third parties , says candidates from nontraditional parties do well when the major-party choices are unacceptable to many voters – or when the establishment is overlooking a big issue .
That was the case in 1992 , when businessman Ross Perot burst on the scene as an independent candidate . Mr. Perot hammered home the dangers of deficits as he competed against Gov . Bill Clinton of Arkansas , who was tarred with the “ slick Willie ” moniker , and President George H. W. Bush , who struggled against high negative approval ratings . Perot emerged with 19 percent of the popular vote , while Mr. Clinton clinched the presidency .
Third parties also do well when Americans know the candidates – the most famous being a former president , Teddy Roosevelt . In 1912 , he launched his bid under the Bull Moose Party after failing to win the Republican nomination . He won 27 percent of the vote , but Democrat Woodrow Wilson won the White House .
Govs . Johnson , who headed the Libertarian ticket in 2012 , and Weld “ are both very popular governors . These are not fringe candidates , ” says Emily Ekins , director of polling at the Cato Institute , a think tank in Washington that embraces libertarian ideas of small government and free markets .
The Libertarian ticket will also have the distinct advantage of being on all 50 state ballots in November , Johnson says . Ballot access is a significant hurdle for third parties , and is just one of the challenges facing Republicans who have been trying to draft an alternative to Donald Trump , whom they view as unfit for the presidency and not really a Republican .
One of the most powerful incentives not to vote for a third party is the “ spoiler ” threat . Democrats blame Green candidate Ralph Nader for costing Al Gore Florida – and the presidency – in 2000 , while Republicans can point to Perot ’ s strong showing in 1992 , when Clinton defeated George H. W. Bush .
Smith doubts the billionaire Koch brothers will back the Libertarians for fear that they will take votes from Republicans and hand the White House to a Democrat . “ They ’ re more likely to sit on their billions , rather than give it , and end up getting President Clinton . ”
Other huge obstacles stand in the way of alternative parties , including their ideology .
Libertarians may see themselves as the perfect blend between Republicans and Democrats , but it ’ s hard to imagine conservatives embracing their abortion-rights stance or huge budget cuts to the military . Likewise , why would Bernie Sanders liberals warm to their free-trade stance ? Over time , the two parties have proved flexible enough to simply absorb positions that have made third-party candidates popular .
“ The best choice remaining for president ( at present ) is clearly whatever Libertarian Party option emerges from their fray , ” wrote Leon Wolf , managing editor of RedState.com , earlier this month . “ Under normal circumstances , Johnson would never get my vote because he is pro-choice , but there isn ’ t a functionally pro-life option on the ballot at present . ”
The Libertarian strategy is to deny the Democratic and Republican candidates the required electoral college votes , thus throwing the election to the House of Representatives . That , too , will be very , very difficult , says Smith .
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Right now , the electoral college map favors Democrats . Libertarians tend to siphon off Republicans , so that would skew the map more in the Democrats ’ favor , resulting in a likely landslide for Clinton , Smith explains .
To deny the candidates electoral college votes means Libertarians would have to win states , he adds . “ You don ’ t see them moving from 4 percent to 40 percent ” of the vote in a state , he says . Simply put , “ there ’ s no state out there that ’ s prime Libertarian space . ” | G9QMQ8yeHLU0yNFj | 1 | Presidential Elections | -0.2 | Elections | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | The Week - News | https://theweek.com/speedreads/901256/sanders-biden-both-cancel-electionnight-rallies-over-coronavirus-evaluate-future-events | Sanders, Biden both cancel election-night rallies over coronavirus, will evaluate future events | 2020-03-10 | Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, 2020 Election, Coronavirus, Public Health, Elections | The novel coronavirus prompted both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden to cancel their election-night rallies in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday evening. The two candidates are going head-to-head in six states, including Ohio, on Tuesday, but they won't be celebrating any potential victories with their supporters.There's seemingly nothing Cleveland-specific about the decisions — it appears both candidates would have reached the same decision regardless of location, and instead acted on advice of Ohio officials who cautioned against hosting large public gatherings, especially indoors, as COVID-19 cases rise across the United States.The Sanders campaign said in a statement they would continue to evaluate future campaign events on a case-by-case basis.Subscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign upBiden's team is taking the same route, and will continue to work with public officials to reach decisions. Tim O'Donnell | 548feec876ee6f84 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
north_korea | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/opinions/north-korea-nuclear-test-adam-cathcart-opinion/index.html | OPINION: How far will North Korea go to get the world's attention? | 2016-09-09 | north_korea | Adam Cathcart is a lecturer in Chinese history at the University of Leeds ( United Kingdom ) and the editor of Sino-NK.com . The views in this article are those of the author .
( CNN ) North Korea has carried out its fifth nuclear test , and Kim Jong Un is smiling .
After a breathtaking run of missile and nuclear tests this year , the North Korean leader is now promising miniaturized warheads .
With the country 's nuclear potential seemingly realer than ever , Pyongyang television sets are relentlessly beaming out the image of their Supreme Leader 's grinning visage .
There 's no escaping the fact that Kim Jong Un 's North Korea presents a complex challenge to a fragmenting world .
Why did the test happen now ? What is North Korea hoping to get out of it ?
While there is a huge amount of bluster and untruth spun out of Pyongyang , sometimes when North Korean state organs talk , they mean precisely what they say .
JUST WATCHED Seoul says North Korea conducted nuclear test Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Seoul says North Korea conducted nuclear test 03:52
We can scoff when they call their nuclear program a `` treasured sword , '' but increasingly they are making the point that their nukes are not for bartering .
Kim Jong Un has not and probably does not want to engage in talks on denuclearization : he wants North Korea to be recognized as a nuclear state .
Because the peninsula is still technically in a state of war , there are a host of goals he might potentially have . These could range from the cessation of US-South Korean joint military exercises in and around the peninsula , to a peace treaty that would move American forces off of the peninsula altogether .
He also might wish to demonstrate to everyone around him -- both in his own country and in the region -- that he is a strong leader who can intimidate the United States , the country which every North Korean is told to hate from birth .
Nuclear weapons are also a powerful tool in demonstrating Pyongyang 's asymmetric ability to stand up to the existential challenge it faces from its rival , the wealthy , US-aligned Korean republic to its south .
Since 2006 , North Korea had been testing its nuclear weapons at roughly three-year intervals . But this new test follows only nine months on the heels of the last -- why ? The accelerated timing of the tests is probably a combination of scientific and political expediency .
Kim Jong Un is eager to present the incoming US administration with a finished and multi-faceted nuclear threat .
Yet , in spite of a flurry of missile tests , including a crucial launch from a nuclear-capable submarine last month , North Korea has not made major inroads into the American presidential campaign as an issue .
This is perhaps not surprising , with ongoing crises in Syria , the UK 's slow but ugly divorce from Europe , Hillary 's e-mail history and Trump 's focus on Mexico and trade .
The new tests flag North Korea as a major challenge for US foreign policy , encouraging foreign policy advisors to both Trump and Clinton campaigns to either rethink or raise the prominence of North Korea as an issue .
The Clinton campaign has loads more experience in dealing with North Korea -- as Bill Clinton 's 2009 trip there to spring two noteworthy hostages suggests .
But Hillary has problems here due to her overall alignment with the Obama administration 's policy on North Korea , which is charitably called `` strategic patience '' -- the application of sanctions on North Korea and working as closely as possible with China on the issue .
Apart from a flight by James Clapper to spring another hostage and some back-channel discussions in Singapore , Berlin , and Sweden , this strategy has gone nowhere , and the missiles and nuke tests are piling up .
Kim Jong Un also recognizes that there are huge fractures opening up between the US and China both in the South China Sea and also with respect to anti-missile defenses proposed for South Korea . While they helped the US in early 2016 , today officials in Beijing are in no mood to go along with Washington in crushing North Korea 's nuclear program .
JUST WATCHED North Korea conducts powerful nuclear test Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH North Korea conducts powerful nuclear test 05:08
For supposedly being ignorant of the outside world , the North Korean leadership is fairly astute when it comes to timing the tests . This new test should inject fresh momentum behind North Korea as a campaign issue , regardless of what NBC anchor Matt Lauer did or did n't ask the candidates .
It 's becoming apparent from its actions that North Korea wants not to negotiate its nukes away , but to have them recognized , and to look forward to victory -- which it might define as relaxation of US conventional and nuclear military pressure on it .
How far Kim will go between now and the US Presidential inauguration will depend as much on resources as it will on his own whims .
Like the US or the Soviet Union in the late 1940s , there is by no means an inexhaustible supply of nuclear bombs at his disposal . Kim Jong Un 's regime has shown a remarkable resilience in resisting sanctions , but there are limits , too , to the resources he can marshal from of Maoist-style Chollima campaigns or `` loyalty contributions '' from North Koreans making money overseas .
In the meantime , the North Korean people themselves must be exhausted after what is often backbreaking manual labor to feed their country 's nuclear weapons progress . Political culture and the dictatorship in Pyongyang require that they smile as they work .
As Kim Jong Un looks out at the world today , he may very well feel stronger than ever . | Rw54eYPLkIjA3AtP | 0 | North Korea | 0.2 | World | 0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
immigration | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/21/obama-launches-sales-mission-immigration/ | Obama launches immigration sales mission at Nevada rally: ‘Borders mean something’ | 2014-11-21 | immigration | At a boisterous rally to celebrate his granting of legal status to millions of illegal immigrants , President Obama said Friday that his action won ’ t apply to new undocumented immigrants because “ borders mean something . ”
“ Let ’ s be clear about what this deal is , and what it isn ’ t , ” Mr. Obama said at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas . “ This action doesn ’ t apply to anybody who ’ s come to this country recently . You can ’ t show up for a week and then suddenly apply . You can ’ t , because borders mean something . It doesn ’ t apply to anybody who might come illegally in the future . ”
As he did in his address to the nation Thursday night , Mr. Obama dared congressional Republicans to pass a comprehensive immigration bill , which he said would nullify his executive actions . He rejected the argument by the GOP that his move has made it more difficult to pass such a bill because he has “ poisoned the well ” with Republicans .
“ I understand that some of them are already saying that my actions sabotage their ability to pass a bill and make immigration work better , ” Mr. Obama said , laughing . “ Why ? I didn ’ t dissolve Parliament . That ’ s not how our system works . I don ’ t have a vote in Congress . Pass a bill . You don ’ t need me to a pass a bill . ”
The president signed two documents Friday directing federal agencies to carry out his executive actions , which include shielding more immigrants from possible deportation and focusing deportations more on people with criminal records .
Republicans in Congress who vehemently oppose Mr. Obama ’ s action say it will encourage more illegal immigrants to come to the U.S . There was a surge of illegal child immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this year , in part due to the belief that they would not be returned to their homes in Central America .
Outside the high school , protesters of the president ’ s actions held signs that said “ Impeach Obama ” and “ No Amnesty. ” Some chanted , “ Worst president ever , Obama ! ”
The president was interrupted at the rally several times with joyous chants of “ Si Se Puede ” ( Yes We Can ) , a throwback to his presidential campaigns . He was also heckled at one point by a young man who apparently was complaining that the president ’ s action did not include enough illegal immigrants , such as parents of children who have already received protection from deportation by Mr. Obama .
“ We ’ re still going to have to do more work , ” Mr. Obama told the heckler , referring to the need to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill in Congress . When the young man persisted in his shouting , the president said , “ I ’ ve heard you , young man . I ’ ve been respectful to you ; I want you to be respectful to me . ”
Astrid Silva , a woman who qualified for Mr. Obama ’ s deferred action plan because she came to the U.S. illegally as a child , introduced the president to the crowd . She criticized inaction by the GOP on immigration , saying “ House Republicans have refused to help me keep my dreams alive . ”
The president said some Americans are unfairly associating his action as only applying to Hispanic immigrants .
“ Not everybody who comes here is Latino , ” Mr. Obama said . “ I ’ m from Chicago . We ’ ve got some Irish immigrants whose papers are not in order . We ’ ve got some Polish immigrants whose papers are not in order . This is not just a Latino issue . This is an American issue . ”
Mr. Obama also said that his legal advisers told him that his authority was limited on immigration .
“ Not everything that we want to do , we can do , ” he said . “ We should be creating new programs for farm workers . We should be adding visas for the high-tech sector . We should be creating a pathway to citizenship . But only Congress can do that . ”
The president said he received many letters from Americans urging him not to take these actions .
“ There are folks who are good , decent people who are worried about immigration , ” he said . “ They ’ re worried that it changes the fabric of our country . They ’ re worried about whether immigrants take jobs from hard-working Americans . And they ’ re worried because they ’ re feeling a lot of economic stress and they feel as if maybe they ’ re the ones paying taxes and nobody else is taking responsibility . So they ’ ve urged me not to act . And I hear them , and I understand them . ”
But Mr. Obama said he also received messages from people “ reminding me why we had to act . ”
“ From American family members of hard-working immigrants who fear their families could be torn apart , ” he said . “ From dreamers , who had proudly stepped out of the shadows and were willing to live without fear , even though it was a big risk for them . From Republicans , who don ’ t agree with me on anything but are tired of their party refusing to vote on reform .
“ We didn ’ t raise the Statue of Liberty with her back to the world . We did it with her light shining as a beacon to the world , ” he said . | gbKpmSwpcGK77KVk | 2 | Barack Obama | 0.6 | Immigration | 0.3 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
education | Politico | http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/unable-to-repeal-common-core-foes-try-sabotage-115522.html?hp=t1_r | Unable to repeal Common Core, foes try sabotage | 2015-02-26 | education | The red-meat speeches at this week ’ s Conservative Political Action Conference are likely to thunder with calls to repeal the Common Core . But out in the trenches , conservative lawmakers in state after state are running into difficulty rounding up votes to revoke the academic standards outright .
So , aided at times by unlikely allies in the teachers unions , Republican lawmakers are trying a new tactic : sabotaging , in incremental steps , the academic guidelines and the new Common Core exams rolling out this spring .
Bills to repeal the Common Core have been introduced in 19 states so far this year , down slightly from the 22 states that considered such a step last year , according to the National Conference of State Legislatures . So far , they ’ ve fared poorly .
Common Core opponents had high hopes for rooting out the standards from Mississippi and Arizona . But in both cases , the state senates rejected repeal bills . North Dakota lawmakers killed a repeal bill earlier this month ; on Tuesday , their counterparts in South Dakota did the same .
Kansas state Rep. Ron Highland , a Republican , said he ’ s not even sure a repeal bill will come to the floor in his deep-red state this session , much as he would like it to : “ I ’ m not sure we have the votes , quite frankly . ”
Refusing to concede defeat , Highland said he ’ s considering drafting a bill to curb state funding for textbooks and tests aligned to the Common Core and for the computer equipment that schools need to administer those tests online .
And the Common Core tests developed by two federally funded consortia , Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and Smarter Balanced , have become a popular target in other states .
Wisconsin lawmakers are considering an effort to strip funding for the Smarter Balanced exam from the state budget and let districts pick their own assessments from a state-approved list . The New Jersey General Assembly this week overwhelmingly passed a bill to prevent the PARCC test from being used to evaluate students or teachers until 2019 .
And in Colorado , where Democrats repeatedly have shot down attempts at outright repeal , Republican state Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt is pushing a bill to withdraw the state from the federally funded PARCC testing consortium in what he sees as the first step toward reclaiming local control over education .
“ I ’ m not trying to hit a home run , ” Klingenschmitt said . “ I ’ m trying to lay down a bunt single . ”
Meanwhile , teachers unions in New Jersey , Rhode Island , Illinois , Washington and elsewhere are encouraging members to support parents who want to opt their children out of the Common Core tests . The New Jersey Education Association has even launched a six-week TV and online ad campaign featuring videos of parents expressing concern — to the point of breaking down in tears — about the PARCC exam .
Yet another creative approach to undermine the Common Core has emerged in New Hampshire , where the state Senate this month passed a bill that explicitly gives local districts , and even individual schools , the right to opt out of the standards .
Most of the anti-Common Core bills proposed this session have been sponsored by Republicans , though Democrats are taking the lead in New Mexico and Washington state .
Common Core foes say the array of tactical maneuvers they ’ ve introduced in statehouses shows the movement is maturing and digging in for a long fight . “ There ’ s much more thoughtful consideration , rather than ‘ Let ’ s just get rid of it , ’ ” said state Sen. Paul Farrow , a Republican .
“ I feel confident if we don ’ t get it done this year , then within the next three years we ’ ll get it done , ” said Washington state Sen. John McCoy , a Democrat who recently co-sponsored a bipartisan repeal bill .
Common Core supporters acknowledge that their dream of using common exams to assess students across the country has already taken a hit and will most likely take more as additional states pull out of the testing consortia . But they insist that the tests aren ’ t as important as the standards themselves — and they feel certain that the overwhelming majority of states will continue to use the standards to shape classroom instruction for years to come .
At a press briefing on Wednesday morning , Idaho Gov . Butch Otter , a Republican , made the case that the tea party ’ s fierce fight to dismantle the Common Core has failed . He was joined by fellow Common Core supporters Karen Nussle , executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success , and Michael Petrilli , president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute .
Petrilli spent a lot of time in 2013 and 2014 traveling to testify on behalf of the Common Core in a frantic effort to beat back repeal attempts . This spring , however , he plans to stay in D.C. : He said he ’ s confident that local business leaders , teachers and parents who support the Common Core will be able to handle the legislative fights .
“ There are certainly fierce debates going on out there , but just a handful of states are in play , ” Petrilli said . “ The big story is how resilient this thing has been in the face of a huge national backlash . ”
Consider Mississippi . The tea party group FreedomWorks has made the state a priority target in its anti-Common Core campaign ; it even staged a rally outside the state capitol this winter featuring Republican Gov . Phil Bryant . In early February , Noah Wall , the group ’ s grass-roots director , called the movement in Mississippi “ powerful ” and told ███ that he was “ really excited ” about the prospects for a repeal .
Less than a week after that conversation , however , the Mississippi Senate rejected the repeal effort . Instead , the chamber voted to create a commission to recommend new standards — but left it up to the state Board of Education to decide whether to adopt them or to stick with the Common Core . The board so far has backed the Common Core standards , calling them more rigorous than Mississippi ’ s previous academic guidelines .
Despite the defeat , FreedomWorks continues to send out fundraising pleas in which it pledges to eradicate the standards nationwide . “ Every dollar you give goes toward making sure one more child doesn ’ t have to learn under Common Core standards , ” one recent email promised .
Other groups are also stepping up mobilization efforts . American Principles in Action , for instance , just launched a new website meant to rally parents against the Common Core .
A recent national poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that only 17 percent of Americans support the Common Core , with the remainder divided between opposition and uncertainty . But many respondents were hopelessly confused about the standards , erroneously believing that they covered topics such as global warming , evolution , sex ed and U.S. history . In fact , they cover only math and language arts .
Backers of the standards continue to believe that if they could just explain the Common Core more clearly , public support would grow . In the meantime , they are counting on powerful groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce , teachers unions and even the U.S. military to convince legislators that the standards are good public policy . The Chamber ’ s foundation on Tuesday released a new video touting the Common Core — without ever mentioning it by name — as essential to prepare kids for the challenging jobs of the future .
About 40 of the 45 states that initially adopted the Common Core remain committed to the standards .
The boldest defection has been Oklahoma , where the state Legislature repealed the Common Core and replaced it with the state ’ s old academic standards . Indiana also has officially repealed the Common Core , though its new standards are so similar that some lawmakers are now pushing to revoke those , too , and go back to the academic guidelines in place before 2010 .
North Carolina , South Carolina and Missouri have all set up commissions to review and potentially rewrite the standards , but it ’ s as yet unclear how much they will diverge from the Common Core , which lays out guidelines for what students at each grade level should learn in language arts and math .
Whatever happens in state legislatures , activists on both sides agree that the debate will continue to flare at least through the 2016 Republican presidential primary .
Several potential candidates , including Louisiana Gov . Bobby Jindal and Sens . Rand Paul , Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio , have been aggressive in touting their opposition to the Common Core .
Jindal is suing the federal government over the standards , alleging that the Obama administration coerced states into adopting them . He ’ s also circulating an online petition to stop the standards . Paul has sent out a fundraising appeal blasting potential rivals as “ prominent backers ” of the standards . And Cruz urged the crowd at the recent Iowa Freedom Summit to use Common Core opposition as a yardstick for measuring candidates ’ conservative credentials .
All hope to use the issue to batter former Florida Gov . Jeb Bush , a longtime champion of the Common Core , and New Jersey Gov . Chris Christie , who generally supports the standards , though he recently said he had “ grave concerns ” about how they have been implemented . Ohio Gov . John Kasich also backs the Common Core and recently called the opposition movement a “ runaway Internet campaign . ”
The debate is likely to surface Thursday in a CPAC panel on the Common Core . The title : “ Rotten to the Core ? ” | vTtNBVxbHy3netic | 0 | Common Core | -1 | Education | -0.9 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Daily Kos | https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/3/29/1752952/-Democrats-demand-FBI-investigation-into-whether-Jared-Kushner-leaked-classified-info-to-Saudi-Arabia | Democrats demand FBI investigation into whether Jared Kushner leaked classified info to Saudi Arabia | 2018-03-29 | politics | Jared Kushner and a member of the Saudi delegation watch Donald Trump speaking to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman
In October , Jared Kushner took an unexpected and unannounced trip abroad to meet with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman . Needless to say , that trip raised eyebrows . The Intercept reported that the pair stayed up until 4 a.m. talking :
In late October , Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to Riyadh , catching some intelligence officials off guard . “ The two princes are said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights , swapping stories and planning strategy , ” the Washington Post ’ s David Ignatius reported at the time . What exactly Kushner and the Saudi royal talked about in Riyadh may be known only to them , but after the meeting , Crown Prince Mohammed told confidants that Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince , according to three sources who have been in contact with members of the Saudi and Emirati royal families since the crackdown . Kushner , through his attorney ’ s spokesperson , denies having done so .
Emphasis added . It wasn ’ t long after that unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia that the crown prince ordered dozens of his family members arrested :
On November 4 , a week after Kushner returned to the U.S. , the crown prince , known in official Washington by his initials MBS , launched what he called an anti-corruption crackdown . The Saudi government arrested dozens of members of the Saudi royal family and imprisoned them in the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh , which was first reported in English by The Intercept . The Saudi figures named in the President ’ s Daily Brief were among those rounded up ; at least one was reportedly tortured .
Now Congressional Democrats are asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate whether Jared Kushner leaked classified information from the Presidential Daily Brief to the crown prince . From CNN :
We request the FBI open an immediate investigation to determine if these reports are accurate and to explore the extent to which information and sources may have been comprised , '' reads the letter from Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu , Gerald Connolly , Donald Beyer , Pramila Jaypal , Peter Welch and Ruben Gallego . The letter notes that the `` integrity of classified information '' falls within the purview of the FBI but that `` while the President has the authority to declassify and share information , the President 's advisers do not . ''
According to The Intercept , after the meeting , the crown prince bragged of having Kushner “ in his pocket . ”
One of the people MBS told about the discussion with Kushner was UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed , according to a source who talks frequently to confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers . MBS bragged to the Emirati crown prince and others that Kushner was “ in his pocket , ” the source told The Intercept . Access to the President ’ s Daily Brief is tightly guarded , but Trump has the legal authority to allow Kushner to disclose information contained in it . If Kushner discussed names with MBS as an approved tactic of U.S. foreign policy , the move would be a striking intervention by the U.S. into an unfolding power struggle at the top levels of an allied nation . If Kushner discussed the names with the Saudi prince without presidential authorization , however , he may have violated federal laws around the sharing of classified intelligence .
Only months before that meeting , Jared Kushner sought a $ 500 million loan from officials in Qatar for a troubled New York City real estate project . So what happened in that mystery meeting with the Saudi crown prince ? Was Jared Kushner trading classified information for his own financial benefit ? After all , Bloomberg reported that Kushner has been seeking financing from around the world :
Jared Kushner , Donald Trump ’ s son-in-law and top adviser , wakes up each morning to a growing problem that will not go away . His family ’ s real estate business , Kushner Cos. , owes hundreds of millions of dollars on a 41-story office building on Fifth Avenue . It has failed to secure foreign investors , despite an extensive search , and its resources are more limited than generally understood . As a result , the company faces significant challenges . Over the past two years , executives and family members have sought substantial overseas investment from previously undisclosed places : South Korea ’ s sovereign-wealth fund , France ’ s richest man , Israeli banks and insurance companies , and exploratory talks with a Saudi developer , according to former and current executives . These were in addition to previously reported attempts to raise money in China and Qatar .
It is clear the FBI needs to get to the bottom of this , one way or another . | be1tZjcyAzZDWAqT | 0 | Jared Kushner | -1.2 | Saudi Arabia | -0.7 | Politics | -0.4 | Democratic Party | 0.2 | null | null |
elections | Politico | http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/hillary-clinton-wikileaks-bernie-sanders-oppo-230185 | Clinton oppo files portrayed Sanders as a failed lawmaker | 2016-10-22 | elections | These are just a sampling of the most stinging descriptions of Bernie Sanders embedded in the Hillary Clinton campaign ’ s internal opposition research files from during their bitter primary fight , which were published this week by WikiLeaks . The documents are part of a trove of emails stolen from campaign chairman John Podesta ’ s account , part of a broader effort that U.S. officials have said is a Russian operation designed to disrupt the upcoming U.S. election .
While such research is a routine part of campaigning — and the Clinton team did not end up publicly using the overwhelming majority of the information — the documents ’ publication is still likely to cause Democrats ’ political heartburn at a time when Donald Trump is desperate to drive a wedge between the Vermont senator ’ s fans and the nominee .
In an email dated November 5 , 2015 , Clinton ’ s research director Tony Carrk circulated six exhaustive documents compiled by his staff , detailing Sanders ’ record and past , to two dozen other Clinton advisers as they girded for a longer-than-expected primary that ultimately stretched seven more months . It is not clear what pieces of the extensive research were intended for eventual public use or even represented the campaign ’ s views ; such in-depth documents typically include a wide range of potential hits and pieces of information that are never used or even considered .
But the timing of the documents ’ circulation to a group that included some of the campaign ’ s top aides — like Podesta , policy advisors Jake Sullivan and Maya Harris , communications director Jennifer Palmieri , chief strategist Joel Benenson , media advisors Jim Margolis and Mandy Grunwald , and debate coaches Ron Klain and Karen Dunn — is also telling .
The wording of Carrk ’ s email suggests the November exchange is one of the first times the research had been discussed internally . By that point , Sanders was already threatening Clinton ’ s lead in a number of states , and he had overtaken her in polls of New Hampshire , so the delayed conversation reinforces the public perception at the time that the senator ’ s candidacy had caught the former secretary of state 's team off-guard .
Sanders ’ spokesman did not offer a specific response to the opposition research files , instead pointing to a previous statement made by the Vermont senator declaring that , `` the job of the progressive movement now is to look forward , not backward . No matter what Secretary Clinton may have said years ago behind closed doors , what 's important today is that millions of people stand up and demand that the Democratic Party implement the most progressive platform in the history of our country . ''
Indeed , even amid the publication of other emails deeply critical of the would-be revolutionary , Sanders has been an energetic campaigner for Clinton , crisscrossing the country to convince his supporters that she is the obvious choice over Trump — regardless of the bitter words spilled in public or in private emails during a tense primary season .
Still , the emails have left some liberals concerned about the likely work of a Clinton White House , given her staff 's critical internal conversations about Sanders during their long primary fight and the long discussions over how Clinton should position herself on issues important to progressives , such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal .
And the files do appear to reveal the origin of some of Clinton ’ s most frequently used barbs against Sanders : The top issue raised in a document titled “ Sanders Thematics ” is “ Sanders Is Wrong on Guns ” — one of the main cases that Clinton and allies pressed against him in the primary . The files also include details on Sanders ’ history of avoiding identification with the Democratic Party , his vote for the 1994 crime bill , and his opposition to the Export-Import Bank , which also became major issues . And the hits on Sanders ’ scant record of accomplishment in Congress strongly foreshadowed Clinton ’ s campaign-trail refrain that she is “ a progressive who gets things done . ”
Clinton ’ s campaign , meanwhile , has refused to authenticate the emails or comment on their contents , instead pointing out their provenance : a Russian hack likely designed to swing the election to Trump .
`` Given a third opportunity on the debate stage to admit and condemn the Kremlin 's actions , Donald Trump refused to do it and instead chose to continue coddling Putin despite being briefed by U.S. intelligence , ” Clinton spokesman Glen Caplin said when asked about the Sanders files . `` It is bizarre and disqualifying that he continues to cheer on this attack on our democracy . ''
Nonetheless , all told , the six documents included in Carrk ’ s email total a staggering 1,020 pages , and run the gamut from a basic biography of Sanders to a year-by-year analysis of his activity during his 16 years in the House of Representatives . The vast majority of the information contained in the files is not harmful to Sanders , but rather a detailed rundown of his past . At points , however , the analysis is sharply worded .
The 108-page “ Sanders Top Hits - Thematics ” document lays out potential lines of attack , many of which popped up during the primary , like his history on guns and “ Sanders ’ Record at Odds with Key Democratic Constiuen [ c ] ies. ” It digs into his record on LGBT rights as the mayor of Burlington , Vermont , and includes a 2-page sub-section titled “ Using His Position to Benefit Family , ” detailing campaign work done by his wife , son and stepdaughter . And it anticipates more of the fights that would end up animating the primary , with detailed summaries of Sanders ’ votes and past statements about the Commodities Futures Modernization Act and the 1994 crime bill .
“ Sanders campaign planned to highlight Hillary Clinton ’ s statements in favor of the 1994 crime bill…but Sanders voted for the 1994 crime bill…and spoke out in favor of the bill…and criticized those who opposed it…and touted it on his 2006 Senate election website…the Sanders campaign also highlighted the crime bill to prove he had a strong record fighting crime against women , ” reads a collection of sub-section titles .
That file also includes a three-page section titled , “ Sanders Past Extreme Positions , ” starting with , “ Sanders supported a 100 percent tax rate for income above $ 1 million ” and finishing with “ Legalizing All Drugs . ''
Another document , “ Conflicts and Questionable , ” ranges over 630 pages to list an enormous compendium of Sanders ’ past statements on policy , noting potential , though often tenuous , examples of his supposed hypocrisy on issues from marijuana decriminalization to super PACs to specific tax credits .
Carrk ’ s team also put together an exhaustive analysis of Sanders ’ lengthy voting record , with a particular emphasis on his potential vulnerabilities — albeit many of them tendentious or cherry-picked examples of politically questionable votes he ’ d taken over his years in the House and Senate .
The documents previewed several Sanders weaknesses the Clinton campaign would go on to exploit during the primary , particularly his record on gun safety . But the files overall also lay out background information on areas both significant and minute that her advisers ultimately concluded were not worth pursuing , such as his refusal “ to take a stand on terrorism in Israel ” or his alleged siding “ with corporate interests over citizens ’ privacy. ” One potential hit noted his practice of not paying some campaign employees the $ 15 minimum wage he promoted . Another discussed his wife Jane ’ s rocky tenure running a college in Burlington . The researchers even flagged his 1993 purchase of an “ eco-socialist magazine subscription ” with $ 20 worth of taxpayer funds .
In many cases , the documents ’ narratives differ sharply from the glowing words Clinton and Sanders now have for each other on the campaign trail . The nominee now regularly invokes Sanders ' name as a way to energize millennial voters who were skeptical of her candidacy — particularly in battleground states where he defeated her in the primary or where their contest was close , such as Colorado , New Hampshire , Michigan , and Iowa .
In one particularly harsh section of the document titled `` Issues , '' the research portrays Sanders as soft on protecting children , noting that he had “ twice voted against establishing the AMBER Alert system to help find kidnapped children and impose tougher penalties on child abusers , kidnappers and child pornographers . ”
It added : “ He also opposed a measure that would allow parents to access information through a national hotline to determine in an individual was a registered sex offender . ”
Perhaps the harshest potential knocks against Sanders , however , came in a section branding him a lousy manager who failed to make much of a mark in his 25 years on Capitol Hill .
Titled “ Can ’ t Work With People To Get Things Done , ” the section in the “ Sanders Top Hits - Thematics ” document has sub-sections including , “ No Accomplishments , ” “ Sanders Does Not Work Well With Other Lawmakers , ” “ Not A Good Boss , ” and “ Abrasive Leadership in Vermont . ''
Over six pages , it dives into his history of going it alone on legislation , noting , “ Sanders only sponsored one substantive bill that became law. ” While Sanders ’ supporters often pointed to his work passing amendments , the document points out , “ None of Sanders ’ House Amendments had Co-Sponsors . ''
It recalls that when he was mayor of Burlington , Sanders “ and the Board of Aldermen fought so intensely that it attracted crowds from 30 miles away . ''
It cites a report labeling him one of the 10 “ least cooperative ” senators with the other party , quotes a 1983 Burlington Free Press editorial comparing him to “ the kid who starts a fight and then screams when he gets hit back , '' and even points to a local Vermont report from August 2015 that quoted former staffers trashing him anonymously .
“ Anonymous Sources Who Claimed To Have Previously Worked For Sanders Said That , As An Employer , He Often Mistreated His Employees , ” reads the header . | 4nHwY4r3lXUL1sD4 | 0 | Bernie Sanders | 0.5 | Hillary Clinton | 0.4 | Presidential Elections | 0.3 | Elections | 0 | null | null |
healthcare | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/29/opinion/bennett-court-romney/index.html | Health care ruling can help Romney | 2012-06-29 | healthcare | Story highlights William Bennett : Chief justice recast the mandate as a tax , which was n't in the law
He says he should have called the mandate a tax and sent it back to Congress
He says Obama had insisted it was not a tax ; the flip-flop will be GOP ammunition in election
Bennett : Romney has been handed a powerful issue to campaign on
The Supreme Court 's verdict on Obamacare is in . As a tax , the individual mandate stands ; as a Commerce Clause regulation , it fails .
What remains to be seen is whether Chief Justice John Roberts has crafted a masterly constitutional balancing act -- limiting federal authority and respecting the separations of powers -- or if he has engaged in a disappointing and inappropriate usurpation of the legislative function .
There are arguments on both sides . Some say that Roberts , not wanting to uphold the liberal reasoning behind Obamacare and an unprecedented expansion of federal power , concocted an opinion that would be limiting in scope , while still respecting the law and seeming nonpartisan . Others say that Roberts has unlawfully manipulated the mandate into a tax , thereby giving legs to a law that has none .
What the country thought was a debate over federal regulation of interstate trade has been transformed by Roberts into a debate over Congress ' power to shape decisions through taxation . He writes in the majority opinion , `` The mandate can be regarded as establishing a condition -- not owning health insurance -- that triggers a tax -- the required payment to IRS . ''
The dissenters , Justices Antonin Scalia , Anthony Kennedy , Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito , adamantly disagree : `` [ T ] o say that the Individual Mandate merely imposes a tax is not to interpret the statute but to rewrite it ... ''
The dissent is right . Roberts recast the mandate as a tax , a rationale that was not in the law or the government 's case . He rewrote the administration 's position , baptized it , and then blessed it . Roberts ' defenders argue that he did so to avoid a constitutional crisis , but he may have created another by judicially re-legislating policy , a policy paid for and enforced by what could be essentially the largest tax increase in American history .
Roberts could have characterized the mandate as a tax and sent it back to the Congress , whose role is to legislate taxation , to redo . In my opinion , that 's what he should have done . If Roberts is so concerned with the integrity of the Supreme Court , he should know that its integrity rises and falls with the integrity of its decisions and its adherence to the Constitution , not public perception .
As it stands , the verdict is a serious setback for conservatives , but not a total loss . Roberts ' majority opinion does deny Congress the power to mandate health care through the Commerce Clause , dealing a strong blow to future Congresses ' ability to legislate social welfare programs . Since Wickard v. Filburn , modern conservatives have lamented the radical expansion of Congress ' power to regulate interstate commerce under Article I of the Constitution . This decision may stem the tide .
Furthermore , the Roberts opinion invalidated Obamacare 's penalty on states that refuse the massive expansion of Medicaid subscribers . States can opt out of the expansion of Medicaid and not be subject to a loss of funding . This is no doubt a victory for federalism and the 26 states that filed lawsuits against the government .
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Nevertheless , Obamacare will stand until at least the fall elections . For President Barack Obama it is a mixed blessing . On the one hand , it gives the president a political shot in the arm . His signature legislative achievement -- a massive expansion of health care -- has been validated . On the other hand , Obama must now defend his health care bill as a tax increase , something he and other Democratic leaders adamantly denied before the Affordable Care Act was passed .
In a 2009 interview with George Stephanopoulos , Obama was asked repeatedly whether his legislation was a tax . At one point Stephanopoulos said , `` But you reject that it 's a tax increase ? '' Obama replied , `` I absolutely reject that notion . ''
This flip-flop will not play well politically with the American people . Obama sold his health plan to the American people as anything but a tax . Had it been presented as the tax it is , it 's doubtful it would have passed the Congress during the economic malaise of Obama 's first years in office . The American people , particularly the tea party , may feel they are again victims of taxation without representation .
For this reason , the verdict , while a serious judicial blow to conservatives , may favor them politically . Mitt Romney and Republican leaders can now campaign relentlessly against a massive , sweeping tax increase that will fall on the shoulders of an already weak economy . Romney is already reaping the rewards . His campaign reports that he raised $ 4.6 million in the 24 hours after the Supreme Court decision came down .
For the next six months , Obamacare will remain hyper-politicized . The terms of the national political debate now center on whether a stalled economy can bear the brunt of higher taxes and more government spending . The Supreme Court did not hand conservatives a lifeline . Elections have consequences and this fall 's will be monumental . | Gc4jtwWuuQaLX3I3 | 0 | Healthcare | -0.6 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
terrorism | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/26/middleeast/isis-jihadi-john-identity/index.html | ISIS militant 'Jihadi John' identified | 2015-02-26 | ISIS, Terrorism | ( CNN ) His voice became hauntingly familiar as the masked man with a British accent who appeared repeatedly in brutal beheading videos from ISIS .
But the identity of `` Jihadi John '' remained a mystery -- until Thursday , when two U.S. officials and two U.S. congressional sources confirmed it .
The man , the officials said , is Mohammed Emwazi , a Kuwaiti-born Londoner .
The officials , who 've been briefed on the matter , spoke to CNN after a Washington Post report first revealed Emwazi 's identity .
Emwazi is believed to have traveled to Syria in 2012 , according to the newspaper , and later to have joined ISIS there .
Even with a name and face for the man behind the mask , uncertainty still swirled Thursday . London police and British officials declined to confirm his identity . Officials from a London-based human rights and Muslim advocacy organization who 've interacted with Emwazi said they could n't be 100 % certain it was him .
And a key question remained unanswered : What inspired him to join ISIS ?
Some terrorism experts said Emwazi 's history shows someone who 'd been on a path toward extremism for years .
But CAGE , the London advocacy group that worked with him , said if he is the man who 's appeared in ISIS videos , it 's a sign that British authorities ' tactics pushed him to radicalize .
Emwazi was born in Kuwait in 1988 and moved to the United Kingdom when he was 6 years old , CAGE said on its website
He studied at the University of Westminster in London and graduated in 2009 with a degree in computer programming , the group said .
Emwazi , according to CAGE , `` hoped that with this degree , he could build a successful career in Arab countries , as he was fluent in Arabic , English and had a British accent . ''
Did something change to send him on a different path ?
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According to the Washington Post , friends of Emwazi said they believed his path to radicalization began when he went on a trip to the East African nation of Tanzania in 2009 .
He was supposed to be going on safari there , but was reportedly detained on arrival , held overnight and then deported .
He was also detained by counterterrorism officials in Britain in 2010 , the Post said .
`` We have previously asked media outlets not to speculate about the details of our investigation on the basis that life is at risk , '' said Cmdr . Richard Walton of the Metropolitan Police 's Counter Terrorism Command .
`` We are not going to confirm the identity of anyone at this stage or give an update on the progress of this live counter-terrorism investigation . ''
A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman told CNN : `` We will neither confirm nor deny the current reporting as to the identity of Jihadi John . ''
There are `` striking similarities '' between Emwazi and the man known as `` Jihadi John , '' according to Asim Qureshi , CAGE 's research director .
Qureshi told reporters Thursday that he could n't be 100 % certain that Emwazi is Jihadi John because the man 's face is covered in the videos .
But Qureshi said the man he knew was very different than the merciless figure from ISIS videos .
Emwazi was a `` polite '' and `` beautiful young man '' who would drop into the CAGE office with treats to thank the group for helping him . Emwazi came to CAGE in 2009 looking for support when he felt that British authorities were -- in Qureshi 's words -- `` harassing '' him .
If Emwazi is indeed Jihadi John , Qureshi said , that makes him sad . But in some ways , he said , it 's not surprising .
`` It 's hard to imagine the trajectory , but it 's not a trajectory that 's unfamiliar , '' he said .
Many Muslims feel alienated in their society , like Emwazi did , he said .
`` When are we going to finally learn if we treat people as if they 're outsiders ... they will look for belonging elsewhere ? '' Qureshi said . `` Our entire national security strategy for the last 13 years has only increased alienation . ''
The Washington Post 's report includes emails Emwazi purportedly wrote after British counterterrorism officials detained him and stopped him from flying to Kuwait .
`` I had a job waiting for me and marriage to get started , '' he wrote in a June 2010 email to Qureshi , the Post reported .
But now `` I feel like a prisoner , only not in a cage , in London . A person imprisoned & controlled by security service men , stopping me from living my new life in my birthplace & country , Kuwait , '' the email said .
CAGE points the finger at British security services , who they say have `` systematically engaged in the harassment of young Muslims , rendering their lives impossible and leaving them with no legal avenue to redress their situation . ''
Haras Rafiq , managing director of the Quilliam Foundation , a UK-based counter-extremism think tank , said the advocacy group was pointing the finger in the wrong direction .
It 's clear Emwazi had been radicalized before 2010 , he said . And , according to Rafiq , intelligence agencies who stopped Emwazi traveling to Tanzania believed there was evidence that he intended to join the extremist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia .
Haras added that it was `` very upsetting that an organization like CAGE would spin this in the way that they 've done , '' by blaming intelligence agencies .
Former CIA counterterrorism analyst Philip Mudd told CNN that blaming radicalization on alienation was oversimplifying Emwazi 's story .
`` We 're only seeing half of this story , '' he said . `` The government does n't spend the resources and take the risk , the legal risk of pulling somebody aside , preventing them from traveling , searching through their luggage , just because somebody looks funny . There is something else going on here in terms of whatever triggered the government to undertake this investigation that we 're missing here . ''
The masked , black-clad figure believed to be Jihadi John appeared to be the ISIS militant shown in a video last month demanding a $ 200 million ransom to spare the lives of two Japanese journalists . A similar figure appeared in at least five previous hostage videos .
JUST WATCHED Why 'Jihadi John ' is critical to ISIS propaganda Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Why 'Jihadi John ' is critical to ISIS propaganda 01:48
U.S. and British officials have previously said they believed they knew who the man was , but were n't disclosing the information publicly .
That could be because Western intelligence agencies believed they had more to gain from keeping quiet , Aki Peritz , a former CIA officer , told CNN last month .
`` They can put pressure on his family , put pressure on his friends , '' he told CNN . `` Maybe they have a line to him . Maybe they know who his cousins are who are going to Syria who can identify him . However , if you publicly tell everybody who he is , his real identity , then maybe he 'll go to ground and he 'll disappear . ''
The man 's reported background gives some clues as to why he might have been recruited , said Sajjan Gohel , director of international security at the Asia Pacific Foundation .
`` We know that ISIS recruits a lot of Westerners who are skilled in new media , understanding of the Internet , because they use that as their platform as an oxygen of publicity , '' he said .
But by not revealing his name for operational reasons , one expert said , officials may have created another problem .
`` It created more speculation in the media , '' he said . `` In some ways , the nom de guerre of Jihadi John gave this individual a form of notorious celebrity . '' | d2b2b498c43fe3ad | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
republican_party | Newsmax | http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/GOP-2016-rand-Paul-Donors/2015/06/02/id/648191/ | Some GOP Donors Willing to Give to Many, Just Not Paul | 2015-06-02 | Republican Party, Politics | Some of the biggest donors and fundraisers in the Republican Party , still uncertain who should get their support in 2016 , are sprinkling their money around a presidential field that grows by the day .
The largesse born of their indecision has a notable exception : Rand Paul .
The Kentucky senator has aggressively tried to raise money around his effort to curtail the surveillance powers of the National Security Agency , emailing supporters and posting messages on social media imploring people to `` celebrate this victory '' with their cash .
In doing so , he 's exacerbated the perception among some of the GOP 's most generous donors that his positions on foreign policy make him an unacceptable choice for the White House . This is especially so to those who consider an aggressive posture abroad and support for Israel paramount .
`` I do not know of a single person in Mitt Romney 's donor network who will be with Rand Paul , '' said Phil Rosen , a Manhattan attorney and top fundraiser for the 2012 Republican nominee . Rosen said he met with Paul and politely told him he would n't be supporting him `` because of his isolationist and libertarian policies . ''
Rosen has n't settled on his choice in next year 's primary contest but expects to decide soon from a short list . Other prominent donors are doing the same , with some willing to give money to multiple candidates in the early stages of the campaign , but not to Paul .
Among them : Las Vegas casino owner Sheldon Adelson , New York hedge fund pioneer Michael Steinhardt and Ken Abramowitz , founder of a venture capital firm in New York . All three have given money to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham , who announced his presidential campaign on Monday by saying he wants `` to be president to defeat the enemies trying to kill us . ''
Those donors , like many of the Republican Party 's biggest spenders , are looking for the strongest candidate on foreign policy , especially on the protection of Israel . That 's become the centerpiece of not only Graham 's campaign , but also is a featured aspect of the bids of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz .
`` Graham in particular has a terrific record in Congress and is experienced and articulate , '' said Steinhardt , who is also giving to former New York Gov . George Pataki and former Arkansas Gov . Mike Huckabee .
The weight of donor opposition to Paul hit his campaign soon after he launched it in April , when a politically active nonprofit , the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America , began a $ 1 million television advertising campaign against him in the four early primary states . The nonprofit can raise unlimited money and is not legally required to disclose its donors .
Several other groups are prepared to pounce on Paul if they sense he is gaining traction in the race . Among them is a group led by John Bolton , a former ambassador to the United Nations who recently decided against running himself , but plans to push for strong national security policies from the sidelines .
`` I 've spoken to well over 1,000 major Republican donors and can remember only one who agreed with Rand Paul on foreign policy , '' Bolton said . `` The views he represents are a tiny , tiny minority within the Republican Party . ''
Unlike several of the other Republican candidates for president , Paul does n't have an obvious billionaire — or group of billionaires — backing his campaign , as New Jersey Gov . Chris Christie does with Home Depot founder Ken Langone and Rubio does in car dealer Norman Braman .
Campaigning in South Carolina last week , when he spoke about his fight against renewing the NSA 's authority to collect Americans ' phone records in bulk , Paul said he is n't concerned about the big donors lining up against him . But he said he would n't turn down their money .
`` If you know some billionaires , and you want to send them our way , we 're happy to talk to them , '' Paul said . `` It 's more about votes than it is about dollars , and I think we 're going to have plenty of money to compete . ''
Paul said he 's counting on small-dollar donations raised primarily online , the kind he 's tried to drum up during the debate that has resulted in at least the temporary suspension of the NSA 's authority to collect Americans ' calling records .
He 's attracted enthusiasm outside the usual Republican circles , particularly from college-aged voters with a distaste for military engagement and others who put civil liberties at the forefront of their concerns .
Republican pollster Frank Luntz , who is n't aligned with any 2016 candidate , said what Paul lacks in traditional deep-pocketed donor enthusiasm , he could make up for in smaller contributors .
`` He 's not going to have a traditional campaign because he 's not going to be a traditional candidate , '' Luntz said . `` That comes with advantages and disadvantages . ''
Paul 's campaign said it raised more than $ 1 million online in his first 24 hours as a candidate , but would n't say how much it has raised around the NSA issue . It will report on its finances next month . | 49ba201e5e2e2931 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | Fox Online News | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/24/michael-cohen-raid-rattles-trump-allies-did-feds-seize-presidents-communications.html | Michael Cohen raid rattles Trump allies: Did feds seize president's communications? | 2018-04-24 | white_house | While Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has told President Trump he is not the target of the investigation into Michael Cohen , the stunning FBI raid on Trump 's personal attorney has spurred mounting speculation about what presidential communications , if any , the feds might have picked up .
The U.S. Attorney ’ s Office for the Southern District of New York says Cohen has been under investigation for months , and they were behind the raid . But the move has so rattled Trump 's allies that Republican Rep. Jim Jordan on Monday plans to send a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking whether he was consulted .
`` We 're not talking about just any lawyer , it 's the lawyer for the president of the United States , '' he told `` Fox & Friends . ''
Cohen is being investigated by a grand jury probe for his personal and business dealings , which includes a $ 130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 .
A source familiar with the investigation told Fox News that Rosenstein recently told Trump he is not a target of the Cohen investigation . Trump had previously been told he is not a target of Special Counsel Robert Mueller ’ s probe , either .
But Rosenstein made the claim without the benefit of knowing what is in the trove of documents seized from Cohen ’ s residence and office . Some questioned Rosenstein ’ s decision to make such a statement .
“ If I was [ Sessions ] , I would fire Rosenstein on the spot , ” one legal source close to the White House told Fox News .
What the trove of materials picked up by the FBI contains remains a mystery .
“ The president is not out of the woods , ” former high-ranking Justice Department official James Trusty , who served under the Bush and Obama administrations , told Fox News .
“ There really has not been any visible change since he was apparently informed of his status as ‘ subject. ’ Not being considered a target of the Mueller probe does not mean he can ’ t still be charged as they obtain additional evidence , '' he said . `` Not being a target for the Cohen investigation and search warrant is slightly reassuring , but again does not mean much in terms of whether he will ever be charged . ''
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood last week denied a request from Cohen and Trump 's team to first review the materials seized in the April 9 raid , saying she had faith in the Justice Department 's `` taint team '' to isolate materials protected by attorney-client privilege . She added she would consider allowing a neutral third party requested by Cohen to weigh in .
Trump ’ s legal team had argued the president “ has a unique interest in ensuring that every privileged item is fully protected from improper disclosure ” and that the president should be able to review the seized documents .
“ The President , the public , and the government have a vital interest in ensuring the integrity of the privilege review process , and the taint team is plainly inadequate to the task , ” the filing said .
At the time of the raid , a source close to the Trump legal team called the raid “ aggressive ” and claimed it was designed to “ squeeze the president . ”
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow declined to comment to Fox News about the Cohen investigation .
One possibility is that the raid might have picked up recordings kept by Cohen .
The Washington Post reported last week that Cohen often taped conversations with associates and that those records may have been among those items seized by federal investigators .
“ We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes , ” one Trump adviser told the Post . “ Now we are wondering , who did he tape ? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized ? . . . Did they find his recordings ? ”
While any recordings would likely be subjected to attorney-client privilege and therefore isolated by the taint team , the Post notes that the privilege does not apply if the conversation was conducted to further commission of a crime .
Doug Burns , a former federal prosecutor , was more skeptical that the FBI has recordings of conversations between Trump and Cohen and also doubted they could have picked up conversations by a broader surveillance operation on Cohen .
“ I doubt that the government recovered tapes of conversations between Trump and Cohen and those would really implicate attorney-client concerns , ” he told Fox News . “ Last , the government might ( but I doubt it ) have intercepted records of calls ... but not the content of those calls . ”
If Cohen had taped calls with Trump , experts said that it could be highly problematic for Trump .
“ Tape recordings could be more overtly criminal than records or notes , due to the fact that people think it ’ s private and don ’ t know they ’ re being recorded , so the substance of the calls , if criminal-oriented , could make it easier for a judge ( or an appointed special master ) to rule that the privilege is destroyed , ” Trusty said .
The Trump team is certainly not acting like it is out of the woods . On Thursday , in addition to hiring former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani , the legal team hired Marty Raskin and Jane Raskin -- a husband-and-wife team of criminal lawyers . The Atlantic described the move as sending a message that “ Trump is moving toward getting serious about a very serious investigation . ”
On Friday , The New York Times reported more nervousness from the Trump team , reporting that Trump ’ s advisers are resigned to the possibility that Cohen could cooperate with federal officials about activity that could relate to Trump .
But Trump on Saturday , while not denying there is anything Cohen could reveal , asserted in an angry tweet ( in which he blasted the Times for its reporting ) that Cohen would never “ flip . ”
Burns told Fox News that the probe , apart from the legal troubles it poses , is also affecting Trump ’ s ability to govern .
`` It is damaging his ability to govern obviously ; much of the media is obsessed to it to the point of not reporting on the things he 's actually getting done and it 's causing rampant speculation , ” he said .
Michael Avenatti , the lawyer for Stormy Daniels , said that Cohen had been set up as the fall guy for Trump and that he was not sure if Cohen “ has the mettle to withstand it . ”
“ If I am correct , this could end very badly for Mr. Trump and others , ” he said in a statement last week . | 4K0scvJe85Yw7FnJ | 2 | Michael Cohen | -0.7 | Executive Privilege | -0.5 | White House | -0.5 | Politics | 0 | null | null |
sports | The Daily Caller | http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/12/rush-limbaugh-very-uncomfortable-about-trumps-power-over-nfl/ | Rush Limbaugh ‘Very Uncomfortable’ About Trump’s Power Over NFL | 2017-10-12 | Sports, Rush Limbaugh, NFL, Donald Trump | Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday that he is starting to get “ nervous ” that President Donald Trump is able to dictate what NFL players can and can not do , and said orders like that should come directly from league owners .
“ I am very uncomfortable with the president of the United States being able to dictate the behavior of anybody . That ’ s not where this should be coming from , ” Limbaugh said . “ His motives are pure , don ’ t misunderstand . But I don ’ t think that it is useful or helpful for any employee anywhere to be forced to do something because the government says they must . ”
“ That scares the hell out of me , ” Limbaugh added . “ The commissioner should be demanding this . Not the president . We don ’ t want the president being able to demand anybody that he ’ s unhappy with … behave in a way that he requires . That ’ s scary to me , even if the president is somebody I happen to like . ”
NFL teams only began requiring players to remain on the field for the national anthem in 2009 , after former President Barack Obama instructed his Department of Defense to pay teams hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars to help boost recruitment . Before 2009 , teams had the option of waiting in the locker room .
Limbaugh said owners should release concise rules and regulations detailing acceptable protocol , but they should do so of their own accord , not because the White House is pressuring them .
“ This is a slippery slope to me , and it hit me awhile ago and crystallized last night . Trump is in the right , don ’ t misunderstand , but no president should have dictatorial power over individual behavior , ” he said . “ It ’ s up to the owners to come up with a system of punishment if their employees violate company policy . Like it is in any other business . ”
“ What he says about this is absolutely right on the money , but it ought not be a presidential dictate , ” Limbaugh concluded . | 227926ea52832589 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
economy_and_jobs | Washington Examiner | https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/california-residents-1050-stimulus-payments | Newsom: California residents to receive up to $1,050 in stimulus payments | 2022-06-27 | Economy And Jobs, Stimulus Checks, California, Gas Prices, Inflation | <mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656334312768,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d8e-d3f3-a7fc-7ffef6720000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656334312768,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017c-2d8e-d3f3-a7fc-7ffef6720000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":" var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_56334295", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1039987"} }); ","_id":"00000181-a537-d447-ad8b-f5f7cb9d0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedMillions of California residents could receive payments up to $1,050. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Sunday that he and the state’s legislative leaders have agreed on a framework for the 2022-2023 state budget, which includes payments to help residents deal with rising inflation and gas prices. “California’s budget addresses the state’s most pressing needs, and prioritizes getting dollars back into the pockets of millions of Californians who are grappling with global inflation and rising prices of everything from gas to groceries,” Newsom said in a press statement on Sunday. 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 | e1c365c409db988e | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Mother Jones | https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/11/stacey-abrams-effectively-ended-her-campaign-but-refused-to-concede-watch-her-rousing-speech/ | Stacey Abrams Effectively Ended Her Campaign But Refused to “Concede.” Watch Her Rousing Speech. | 2018-11-16 | Elections | On Friday afternoon, Stacey Abrams appeared to end her campaign to become Georgia’s next governor, but she refused to say that she conceded. “I will not concede because the erosion of our democracy is not right,” she said in an impassioned speech before supporters. Instead, Abrams acknowledged that her Republican opponent, former Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp, would be certified as the next governor and that there wasn’t a “viable” path forward for her candidacy. Even still, she announced that she intends to file a “major federal lawsuit” against the state “for the gross mismanagement of this election and to protect future elections from unconstitutional actions.” The speech was an indictment of Kemp, who, as secretary of state, disenfranchised thousands of voters, predominately minorities. “To watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in this state boldly pin his hopes in this election on the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling,” Abrams said. She added later: “Make no mistake: The former secretary of state was deliberate and intentional in his actions. I know that eight years of systemic disenfranchisement, disinvestment, and incompetence had its desired effect on the electoral process in Georgia.” Watch the full speech below: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership. And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you. It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible. Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership. And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you. It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible. Ari Berman Pema Levy Jamilah King Julianne McShane Ari Berman David Corn Dharna Noor Serena Lin Julianne McShane Julia Métraux Inae Oh Benji Jones Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights. Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation. Inexpensive, too! Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $19.95. Award-winning photojournalism. Stunning video. Fearless conversations. Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from Mother Jones and our partners. Copyright © 2025 Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting. All Rights Reserved. Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? We're a nonprofit (so it's tax-deductible), and reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget. We noticed you have an ad blocker on. Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the truth-telling investigations we do don’t happen under corporate ownership. We get to shine a bright light into the dark corners of power and report stories other media are afraid to touch. The essential ingredient that makes this possible? Readers like you. We’ve got a lot of hard, consequential work to do in the weeks and months ahead, and we can’t do it without reader support. Please stand up for independent media and make a donation today. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the truth-telling investigations we do don’t happen under corporate ownership. We get to shine a bright light into the dark corners of power and report stories other media are afraid to touch. The essential ingredient that makes this possible? Readers like you. We’ve got a lot of hard, consequential work to do in the weeks and months ahead, and we can’t do it without reader support. Please stand up for independent media and make a donation today. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. 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elections | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/opinions/if-hillary-were-a-man-opinion-doyle/index.html | OPINION: If Hillary Clinton were a man | 2016-04-28 | elections | Story highlights Patti Solis Doyle says Donald Trump is wrong in suggesting being a woman has helped Hillary Clinton
Clinton has been the target of bias and unfair criticism , as have other women , Doyle says
Patti Solis Doyle , a CNN political commentator , served in the White House as a senior adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton , was chief of staff on Clinton 's 2000 and 2006 Senate campaigns , and was Clinton 's presidential campaign manager in 2007 and early 2008 . She currently is president of Solis Strategies , a Washington-based consulting firm . The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers .
( CNN ) On Tuesday night , Donald Trump argued that , `` If Hillary Clinton were a man , I do n't think she 'd get 5 % of the vote . ... The only thing she 's got going on is the women 's card . ''
My immediate reaction ? I threw the plum I was eating at the TV , then tweeted , `` If Hillary were a man , she 'd have been president 25 years ago . ''
Trump 's argument -- and my reaction to it -- raise an important question . Are Clinton 's accomplishments less impressive , or more impressive , because she 's a woman ? How you answer should help you decide how to vote in November .
There 's really only one way to make sense of Trump 's position . He believes Clinton 's had an easier road because she 's a woman . I , on the other hand , think she 's had a tougher road , which makes her even more qualified to be President than if she were a man .
Let 's start with the facts . After graduating with honors from Wellesley and Yale Law , Clinton worked as an investigator on the Watergate Committee , taught law at The University of Arkansas , served as the chairwoman of the Legal Services Corp. ( a $ 300 million per year enterprise , at the time ) , made partner at one of the country 's oldest and most respected law firms , served on the boards of three public companies , and , for many years , was the principal breadwinner for her family . Throw in her experience as a best-selling author , first lady , U.S. senator , secretary of state , co-chair of a global foundation , and you get the idea . | qO6yfW3jL4HZ0nDr | 0 | Hillary Clinton | 0.9 | Presidential Elections | -0.8 | Elections | 0 | null | null | null | null |
race_and_racism | Fox News (Online) | https://www.foxnews.com/us/st-louis-mccloskey-charged-prosecutor-gardner-guns | St. Louis' top prosecutor says she's charging couple who flashed guns at crowd marching to mayor's office | race_and_racism | St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said Monday she 's charging the couple who flashed guns at a crowd marching to the mayor 's home last month , further igniting the gun-rights debate .
Gardner , the city 's top prosecutor , said Mark and Patricia McCloskey will be charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon following the June 28 incident .
`` It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner -- that is unlawful in the city of St. Louis , '' Gardner said in a statement . She added that she was recommending a diversion program as an alternative to jail .
The McCloskeys have said many times they were defending themselves , with tensions high in St. Louis and other cities over race and law enforcement . They said that the crowd of demonstrators broke an iron gate marked with `` No Trespassing '' and `` Private Street '' signs , and that some violently threatened them .
In a statement to Fox News , the couple 's attorney , Joel Schwartz , called the charges `` disheartening . ''
`` I , along with my clients , support the First Amendment right of every citizen to have their voice and opinion heard. , '' Schwartz said . `` This right , however , must be balanced with the Second Amendment and Missouri law , which entitle each of us to protect our home and family from potential threats . ''
The husband and wife told `` Hannity '' earlier this month they were preparing to sit down for dinner on their porch when `` 300 to 500 people '' stormed their community gate and began marching toward them .
The couple , both attorneys , displayed weapons as Black Lives Matter activists walked onto the private street in their community . They were headed to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson .
`` [ They said ] that they were going to kill us , '' Patricia McCloskey recalled at the time . `` They were going to come in there . They were going to burn down the house . They were going to be living in our house after I was dead , and they were pointing to different rooms and said , 'That ’ s going to be my bedroom and that ’ s going to be the living room and I ’ m going to be taking a shower in that room . ' ''
The husband and wife maintained they were protecting their home . St. Louis police seized the rifle from the home pursuant to a search warrant .
No shots were fired but the incident quickly went viral and fueled the debate over what rights do property owners have when confronted with perceived threats .
Missouri Gov . Mike Parson , a Republican , said Friday he would consider pardoning the couple should they be criminally charged .
`` A mob does not have the right to charge your property , '' Parson told 97.1 FM . `` They had every right to protect themselves . ''
Parson 's office did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment .
In response to local prosecutors , Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt moved on Monday to dismiss the charges against the McCloskey 's , saying their Second Amendment rights have been violated .
Last week , Sen. Josh Hawley , R-Mo. , urged Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate Gardner over her decision to investigate the couple , saying the prosecutor has been hostile to gun rights in the past .
`` This is an unacceptable abuse of power and threat to the Second Amendment , and I urge you to consider a federal civil rights investigation , '' Hawley wrote in a letter to Barr . `` No family should face the threat of harassment or malicious prosecution for exercising that right . '' | rDrwu6aYazt7nkOD | 2 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | 0.2 | Race And Racism | -0.2 | Protests | -0.1 | Violence In America | 0 | null | null | |
politics | The Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/25/roger-stone-trump-ally-arrested-on-seven-charges | Trump ally Roger Stone arrested on seven charges in Mueller inquiry | 2019-01-25 | politics | Roger Stone , a longtime adviser to Donald Trump , has said he will not testify against the president after he was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning and indicted on seven criminal charges .
Stone , a veteran Republican operative , appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale charged by special counsel Robert Mueller with obstruction , lying to Congress and witness tampering . He was released on $ 250,000 bail and denies wrongdoing .
Mueller alleged in a long-anticipated indictment that Stone , 66 , was asked by Trump ’ s 2016 presidential campaign to get inside information about emails that were stolen from Democrats by Russian government hackers and passed to WikiLeaks .
A senior campaign official “ was directed ” to tell Stone to find out what damaging information WikiLeaks had about Hillary Clinton even after it was reported that the material being published by the group came from Russia , the indictment said .
The allegations were the first to connect Trump ’ s campaign to the explosive release of the emails stolen by Russian operatives . Their release disrupted Clinton ’ s campaign and led the Democratic party ’ s chairwoman to resign .
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia ’ s interference was aimed at damaging Clinton ’ s campaign and helping Trump . Mueller is investigating whether any Trump associates coordinated with the Russian effort .
Appearing outside the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale after his hearing , Stone smiled and said he would resist pressure from Mueller to turn on Trump . “ I will not testify against the president because I would have to bear false witness , ” he said .
The White House press secretary , Sarah Sanders , repeatedly declined to say if the order for Stone was given by Trump himself . Sanders claimed the charges against Stone , an early adviser to Trump ’ s campaign , had “ nothing to do with the president ” .
Roger Stone 's arrest may renew threat of impeachment for Trump Read more
But Dianne Feinstein , a senior Democratic senator , noted that the phrase “ Trump campaign ” appeared 24 times in Stone ’ s indictment . “ It ’ s time for President Trump and his top aides to be truthful with the American people , ” Feinstein said .
Mark Warner , the Democratic vice-chairman of the Senate intelligence committee , said the new charges showed Stone ’ s activities “ happened at least with the full knowledge of , and appear to have been encouraged by , the highest levels of the Trump campaign ” .
Stone shuffled into court at 11am shackled at the waist and hands . Dressed in a blue polo shirt and jeans , he appeared disheveled after his 6am wake-up call from the FBI . Protesters gathered outside the courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale , some booing and waving “ Impeach Trump ” placards .
The indictment , which was issued in Washington DC , alleged that in June or July 2016 , Stone told senior Trump campaign officials that he knew WikiLeaks had damaging information on Clinton .
Julian Assange , the head of WikiLeaks , first publicly hinted that the group had information to release on Clinton on 12 June , in an interview on British television . Two days later it was first reported that Russia had hacked Democratic computer systems .
Mueller said that after WikiLeaks began publishing the first leaked Democratic emails on 22 July , Stone repeatedly attempted to get to WikiLeaks through intermediaries , and then “ told the Trump campaign about potential future releases of damaging material ” .
First he sent emails urging Jerome Corsi , a rightwing commentator , to get their mutual friend Ted Malloch , a London-based academic , to visit Assange at Ecuador ’ s embassy in London , where Assange has been holed up for more than six years . Corsi sent back what he said was inside information .
Then Stone began messaging with Randy Credico , a friend and eccentric radio host who had his own connections to WikiLeaks .
Mueller said that on 1 October 2016 , Credico told Stone that there would be “ big news ” from WikiLeaks later that week . “ Now pretend you don ’ t know me … Hillary ’ s campaign will die this week , ” he said .
On 7 October , WikiLeaks began publishing emails stolen from John Podesta , the chairman of Clinton ’ s campaign .
Mueller said on Friday that soon after the first Podesta emails were published , an associate of Trump ’ s campaign boss Steve Bannon sent a text message to Stone that said : “ Well done. ” Stone took credit for passing on inside information in later talks with senior Trump campaign staff , Mueller said .
Although Stone did not hold an official position for much of Trump ’ s 2016 campaign , he is perhaps the president ’ s longest-serving informal political adviser , stemming from a close association in New York spanning more than a decade .
Stone has attracted intense scrutiny from Mueller and other investigators , after a tweet and other public statements he made in the summer of 2016 indicated that he had knowledge the emails stolen from Podesta would soon be released . Late last year he predicted he would be indicted .
“ Robert Mueller is coming for me , ” Stone wrote to supporters in August . Stone denied wrongdoing and said he faced legal peril simply because he had advised Trump for several decades .
A self-proclaimed “ dirty trickster ” , Stone has been a controversial figure in Republican political circles stretching back to the 1970s , when he worked on Richard Nixon ’ s notorious committee for re-election . He has a tattoo of Nixon ’ s face on his back .
The indictment also said Stone made false statements when questioned by the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives . When asked if he had no emails or other communications relating to WikiLeaks and the hacked Democratic documents , Stone allegedly said : “ That is correct . Not to my knowledge . ”
In fact , the indictment said , Stone “ sent and received numerous emails and text messages during the 2016 campaign in which he discussed ” WikiLeaks , Assange , and their possession of hacked emails .
It was Stone who first recommended that Trump ’ s team hire as its campaign manager Paul Manafort , his former business partner . Manafort has since been found guilty on eight counts of financial crimes and is said to have breached a plea agreement with the special counsel .
Manafort made his first court appearance in months on Friday as prosecutors and defence lawyers argue over whether he intentionally lied to investigators .
Mueller ’ s team say Manafort repeatedly lied to them even after he began cooperating last September . Manafort ’ s lawyers say he simply forgot some details . | Q3fi7XE121Xj8pKB | 0 | Russia Probe | -0.1 | Roger Stone | 0 | Politics | 0 | null | null | null | null |
elections | Christian Science Monitor | http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/1104/Why-Americans-are-voting-early-more-often | Why Americans are voting early, more often | 2016-11-04 | elections | Every Election Day for as long as he can remember , Angel Del Carpio would head to the polls and cast his vote .
He did it when he lived in California and New York . Now a resident of Nevada – a closely watched swing state – Mr. Del Carpio decided to make an early appearance this year . The Wednesday before the election , the retired hairdresser drove to The Boulevard Mall , about three miles east of The Strip , to vote at a polling station set up inside .
“ I did my part , ” says Del Carpio , holding up his “ I voted ” sticker . “ It ’ s very important because our vote is what ’ s going to save this country . ”
Del Carpio 's ballot is one of more than 34 million already cast ahead of the election this year via in-person , mail-in , or absentee ballots . The figure is on its way to topping 50 million and setting a record for votes cast before Election Day , according to the Pew Research Center .
Early voter turnout remains a questionable indicator of victory . But the surge in early voting may suggest that Americans continue to value their role in the electoral process , particularly when they perceive that the stakes are high , political analysts say . And voters are eager to take advantage of ways that make it easier for them to play their part , they add .
“ People want to choose the most convenient thing , especially if they ’ re anticipating long lines ” on Election Day , says David Damore , professor of political science at the University of Nevada , Las Vegas .
In this election in particular , he says , Democrats and Republicans alike tend to see a win for the other side as an existential threat . “ The importance of the outcome looms over most people , ” Dr. Damore says . “ That may not fire enthusiasm , but it becomes important to people to participate . ”
As voting options expand , the percentage of voters nationwide casting their ballots early have soared from about 11 percent in 1996 to 33 percent in 2012 , Pew reports . Data for 2016 suggests the trend will hold . In states such as Nevada and Colorado , nearly half the total electorate had already cast their votes five days before the election , says Paul Gronke , founder and director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland , Ore . In Tennessee and Arizona , nearly two thirds have turned in their ballots .
“ That ’ s the biggest story , the earliness , ” Professor Gronke says . His theory as to why is somewhat less optimistic : “ People are very unhappy with this campaign . They want to get it over with . ”
The notion of casting ballots ahead of Election Day has been around since the Civil War , when Republicans – in an effort to secure the soldier vote for Abraham Lincoln – pushed for legislation to allow servicemen to cast their vote while away from their home states .
Early voting for convenience , however , took shape only in the 1970s : first when Congress passed a law allowing overseas voters without legal homes in the US to mail in their ballots , and then when California introduced a “ no-excuses ” law that let any registered voter cast an absentee ballot . By the 1980s , Oregon had adopted the country ’ s first vote-by-mail election system , sending registered voters ballots that they could either mail in or drop off in person .
Today , 37 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of early voting .
The shift makes sense , says Dan Schnur , director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California . The democratic ideal is to make it as easy as possible for people to participate , he says . In an earlier era , that meant face-to-face communication at an appointed time and place .
“ You don ’ t have to go to your bank to withdraw money . You don ’ t have to harvest your food before dinner , ” he says . “ Even without crossing the divide into online voting – which is an idea of debatable value – there ’ s no reason in the world that a voter should be required to cast their ballot at a single precinct location . ”
For some Las Vegas voters , the expansion of early voting – and laws that require employers to give workers time to vote – provides a chance to reaffirm their role in the democratic process .
“ We ’ re fortunate to get to do it on the clock , ” says Belinda , a hotel employee who declined to give her last name . She and two of her coworkers had arrived at a polling station about a mile off The Strip on a charter bus that takes hotel workers to and from the site .
“ It makes a big difference , ” she says . “ Our voices are being heard . ”
Some say the main draw is the luxury of getting in their ballots minus the hassle of Election Day crowds – particularly in a race as volatile as this one .
“ With everybody split up the way they are , the country ’ s going to be crazy ” come Nov. 8 , says Timothy Salmon , a father and video producer , as he left a satellite polling station in the parking lot of a local shopping center . Except for work , he says , “ I don ’ t want to go out that day . ”
For others , the chance to vote early simply means an easy way to fulfill a sense of obligation . After all , voters had only to go online to find the site closest to their home or workplace .
“ It was very fast . I thought it was going to be more difficult , ” says Raul Sanchez , who plays in a mariachi band . Though in his 50s , Mr. Sanchez is a first-time voter , spurred to the polls by a desire to see someone who isn ’ t Donald Trump win the White House . Sanchez says the experience left him encouraged – and inspired him to take part in future elections .
That Nevada is a swing state has also led residents here to feel more keenly the weight of each individual vote .
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“ We have to make the election count , ” says Del Carpio , the retired hairdresser .
“ This is a state where your vote actually matters , ” adds Alex Zachary , who works at the Marquee , a popular nightclub , as he inched forward in line . “ I want to make sure I have my say . ” | wFxVZUAtllNzZ1gQ | 1 | Early Voting | 0 | Presidential Elections | 0 | Elections | 0 | null | null | null | null |
supreme_court | Guest Writer - Right | https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/kelly-shakelford-supreme-court-peace-cross-decision-religious-freedom | OPINION: Kelly Shackelford: Supreme Court Peace Cross decision is a major victory for religious freedom | supreme_court | Thursday ’ s 7-2 Supreme Court decision allowing a Peace Cross war memorial to remain on public land in Bladensburg , Md. , near the nation ’ s capital is a landmark victory for religious freedom . This is good news for America .
Thankfully , the days of activist courts illegitimately weaponizing the First Amendment ’ s Establishment Clause to attack religious symbols on public land are over .
At last , the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial – what everyone can now safely call the Peace Cross – is safe from the wrecking crew . Importantly , so are other memorials honoring veterans and public displays of religion across our country .
“ For nearly a century , the Bladensburg Cross has expressed the community ’ s grief at the loss of the young men who perished , its thanks for their sacrifice , and its dedication to the ideals for which they fought , ” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the Supreme Court majority .
The memorial honors 49 local soldiers who died defending our nation in World War I .
The high court ’ s decision should come as no surprise , because America ’ s founders were not hostile to religious symbols or expression .
Those who have for decades tried to purge the landscape of any religious symbols can now park their bulldozers and sandblasters . Our founders would have been appalled at their attempts to make the government hostile to our religious heritage , history and symbols .
As John Adams once said : “ Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people . It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other . ”
In other words , Americans have always been a religious people . With such a religious heritage , no one should be surprised to see religious symbols , mixed with secular , throughout the public square .
Those who have for decades tried to purge the landscape of any religious symbols can now park their bulldozers and sandblasters . Our founders would have been appalled at their attempts to make the government hostile to our religious heritage , history and symbols .
All Americans now have more freedom than we have had in decades . Government officials will now no longer be able to employ the First Amendment as a hostile cudgel against people of faith and their public expressions of faith .
Instead , the justices of the Supreme Court have restored a commonsense understanding to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment . In so doing , the Supreme Court has put an end to the mounting attacks on crosses , Stars of David , Nativity scenes and other displays of faith in public .
The Supreme Court decision sends a clear message that the presence of religious symbols and religious activity in public contribute to the diversity of America and can only be purged by twisting the Constitution .
Memorials like the Peace Cross , Justice Alito wrote , now receive a presumption of constitutionality for longstanding monuments , symbols and practices .
Americans need no longer fear reprisals against the display of the Ten Commandments , a Nativity scene or the national motto on government property .
Indeed , this high court ’ s decision sets students and teachers free to pray on public school grounds during their free time . It will allow speeches mentioning religious themes at a public school graduation ceremony to continue without hecklers trying to shut them down with the threat of a lawsuit .
Even elected officials – so fearful of an attack that they have been threatening students and valedictorians if they mentioned God in their commencement speeches – can now stop their censorship and rest at ease .
That is a hostility toward religion that the Supreme Court will not abide . As Alito wrote in the court ’ s majority decision : “ A government that roams the land , tearing down monuments with religious symbolism and scrubbing away any reference to the divine will strike many as aggressively hostile to religion . ”
Above all , the memory of those who served and sacrificed themselves on the altar of freedom can not now be questioned because someone is merely “ offended ” by the shape of their memorial .
The Peace Cross is a legitimate symbol of America ’ s history . The mothers who designed the memorial after the gravestones that marked the graves of their sons in Europe understood that . So did The American Legion , which defended the Peace Cross against a lawsuit by the American Humanist Association seeking to take the cross down .
And now , the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that – far from establishing a church or mandating any religious belief or behavior – the Peace Cross honors the sons and brothers in arms who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country .
It is fitting that a memorial to the men who died in the “ war to end all wars , ” now ends the war to end all memorials with religious shapes or symbols .
The 49 men from Prince George ’ s County , Md. , honored by the memorial appreciated the great freedom of religion that is a hallmark of our country ’ s brand of freedom . They exercised their faith and heroically gave their lives defending that freedom from enemies , both foreign and domestic .
To the mothers and the veterans of the American Legion who designed and erected the Peace Cross – and to all the war heroes of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars – the Supreme Court decision Thursday sends a loud and clear message : mission accomplished . | yjjKKoUABGkXPurQ | 2 | Supreme Court | 1.4 | Freedom Of Religion | 0.7 | null | null | null | null | null | null | |
taxes | The Hill | http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348474-trump-kicks-off-tax-reform-pitch | Trump kicks off tax reform pitch | 2017-08-30 | taxes | President Trump is set to kick off his sales pitch on tax reform Wednesday with a speech in Missouri as he seeks to rally the public behind one of his top legislative priorities .
The speech , held at a manufacturing company in Springfield , is expected to be the first in a series of tax-reform events for Trump . It comes at a critical time for the president ’ s legislative agenda , which counts tax reform as one of its key elements .
The White House said that the address is not expected to delve into policy details , including specific tax rates . Instead , Trump is expected to make the case for why he believes changes to the tax code are needed to give people a better chance of achieving the American dream .
“ The president is going to lay out his vision to bring back Main Street by reducing the crushing tax burden on our companies and our workers and also to restore our competitive advantage by repairing and reforming our badly broken tax code , ” a senior White House official told reporters Tuesday .
Administration officials said that Trump will talk about how middle-class tax cuts will result in American workers seeing bigger paychecks and how he plans to “ un-rig ” the economy and eliminate benefits for special interests .
The officials suggested that Democrats could get on board with remarks about doing away with special-interest tax breaks , targeting tax relief at the middle class and lowering the corporate tax rate .
The speech is being held in the home state of Sen. Claire McCaskill Claire Conner McCaskillEx-CIA chief worries campaigns falling short on cybersecurity Ocasio-Cortez blasts NYT editor for suggesting Tlaib , Omar are n't representative of Midwest Trump nominees meet fiercest opposition from Warren , Sanders , Gillibrand MORE , one of several Democratic senators up for reelection in 2018 in a state that Trump carried last year . Trump has already started to criticize McCaskill ahead of the speech , tweeting on Sunday that the senator “ is opposed to big tax cuts . ”
Trump is still seeking his first major legislative win , while the GOP continues to reel from the Senate 's failure to pass legislation repealing ObamaCare in July . Lawmakers only have a few months to pass tax-reform legislation before they will feel a need to shift their focus to campaigning for reelection .
Key GOP lawmakers , including Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanDemocrats hit Scalia over LGBTQ rights Three-way clash set to dominate Democratic debate Krystal Ball touts Sanders odds in Texas MORE ( R-Wis. ) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady Kevin Patrick BradyDemocratic chairman proposes new fix for surprise medical bills Nancy Pelosi is ready for this fight Impeachment push threatens to derail bipartisan efforts on health care costs MORE ( R-Texas ) , have been using the August recess to promote tax reform in their districts and across the country . Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Steven Terner MnuchinHillicon Valley : Treasury sanctions Russians over 2018 election meddling | How Facebook fought back on FTC fine | WeWork calls off IPO | Elon Musk unveils Mars rocket US sanctions Russian individuals for interference in 2018 elections Trump seeks to shift questions from impeachment at UN MORE has also pitched tax reform alongside lawmakers in West Virginia and Nevada in recent days .
But this month ’ s tax-reform efforts have been overshadowed by developments such as Hurricane Harvey as well as by Trump ’ s recent controversies , including his criticism of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison ( Mitch ) Mitchell McConnellMcConnell : Communist Party 's methods a 'tragedy ' for Chinese people Trump congratulates China on anniversary as GOP lawmakers decry communist rule Appeals court upholds net neutrality repeal but rules FCC ca n't block state laws MORE ( R-Ky. ) , his response to the violence in Charlottesville , Va. , and his pardon of former Maricopa County , Ariz. , Sheriff Joe Arpaio .
Sen. Pat Toomey ( R-Pa. ) said Monday in a radio interview with WPHT ’ s “ Chris Stigall Show ” that he thinks “ the president has gotten off message too often and hasn ’ t been able to be an effective spokesman for his own agenda . ”
While Senate Republicans are committed to overhauling the tax code , “ there ’ s some frustration that we ’ re doing it with some headwinds that aren ’ t necessary , ” Toomey added .
Supporters of tax reform say that Wednesday ’ s speech gives Trump an opportunity to discuss an issue that unites Republicans and the business community .
“ This allows him to connect with the American people on an issue that most Americans get , ” said Grover Norquist , president of Americans for Tax Reform .
Senior administration officials argued that if there ’ s pressure for the White House to deliver on tax reform , it ’ s to do so in order to boost economic growth . They also noted that stakeholders believe that presidential leadership is important to getting tax-reform legislation across the finish line .
Caroline Harris , vice president for tax policy and chief tax policy counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce , said that the group “ has long said that presidential engagement is a critical component of rallying the American people behind tax reform that will increase wages and make America ’ s tax code competitive for businesses of all sizes . ”
Republicans also think Trump ’ s use of the bully pulpit will be valuable in order to frame the tax-reform debate as being about job creation and to overcome attacks from Democrats that the GOP ’ s plans simply amount to tax cuts for the wealthy .
Already , most Senate Democrats signed a letter saying they won ’ t support a tax plan that cuts taxes for those in the top 1 percent of income , and a coalition of liberal groups has launched a campaign to push back against tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations .
GOP strategist Ford O ’ Connell said that in order to get tax-reform legislation through Congress , Trump will have to do one of the best sales jobs of his life .
“ He ’ s really going to have to sell this bill like he ’ s selling a New York skyscraper , ” O ’ Connell said .
The details of tax legislation are expected to be determined by the congressional tax-writing committees rather than the White House .
Trump ’ s speech is not expected to provide new specifics , and while tax experts said it ’ s important for the president to get the public supportive of his tax-reform efforts , they also said that it would be beneficial for him to provide more direction .
“ The more specificity , the more it gives the credibility to the notion that a tax-reform package could actually move through the process , given the timing challenges and other priorities , ” said Marc Gerson , chair of Miller & Chevalier and a former aide to the House Ways and Means Committee . | 1uwDTTOEQL4p9prb | 1 | Tax Reform | 1.1 | Taxes | 0.3 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Newsmax | http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/howard-dean-emails-scandal/2015/08/21/id/671286/ | Howard Dean: 'No Substance' to Hillary Email Saga | 2015-08-21 | politics | Howard Dean , a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee , thinks Hillary Clinton 's email scandal is largely being fueled by a `` media feeding frenzy '' — and the story itself has `` no substance . `` Dean spoke about the Clinton controversy on `` MSNBC Live '' Friday morning . `` Well , I think part of it is the media feeding frenzy . This is pact journalism at its worst , '' Dean said when asked why a recent poll showed two-thirds of American voters do n't trust Clinton . `` I had to experience this when I was running for president . This is what the media does . They go after the front-runner . There 's really no substance to this story at all . `` Host Craig Melvin pressed the issue with Dean , pointing out that a federal judge this week said Clinton broke the rules and that the FBI needs to continue its investigation into her use of a private email setup while she served as secretary of state.Reports say Clinton may have exchanged hundreds of emails on the non-government system that contained classified information . `` It 's not clear that that 's true , actually . All due respect to the federal judge , the federal judge does n't have any better idea of what 's going on here than anybody else . And violating policy is not violating the law , '' Dean said . `` Look , if the argument is that Hillary Clinton committed treason , then let 's have that discussion . This is innuendo . This is nonsense . There was no dishonesty . She did not send any emails marked classified . This is a classic press feeding frenzy . I might add by the right wing . And I think it 's disappointing . As I said before , The New York Times ran two stories about this . One about the Clinton Foundation supposedly involved with some kind of Russian uranium mine , that was totally untrue , and then this story saying she was under criminal investigation . `` `` I think the press has to do a better job of pushing back against a coordinated right wing attack and that 's what this is . '' The FBI is poring over Clinton 's email server , which had been wiped clean before the bureau took possession of it.Some experts think Clinton will be indicted for passing classified information over her unorthodox email system , which at one point was maintained by a small company in Denver whose office was in a converted loft apartment . Clinton 's server was located in a bathroom closet . | AdxNygKHiZfyhQQb | 2 | Hillary Clinton | -0.3 | Emails | 0 | Politics | 0 | null | null | null | null |
joe_biden | Politico | https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/24/biden-covid-symptoms-improve-00047606 | White House doctor: Biden’s ‘symptoms continue to improve significantly’ | 2022-07-25 | Joe Biden, Coronavirus | white house The president’s throat is sore, but other symptoms of Covid are gone. President Joe Biden gives the thumbs up while reacting to questions from the press about how he is feeling on July 22, 2022, in Washington, D.C. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images By Jesse Naranjo 07/24/2022 01:00 PM EDT Link Copied After testing positive for Covid-19 last week, President Joe Biden’s symptoms “continue to improve significantly,” the White House physician said in a memo Sunday. Biden finished a third day of treatment with the antiviral Paxlovid on Saturday night and his “predominant symptom now is a sore throat,” wrote Kevin O’Connor, the physician to the president. He noted that the sore throat was likely a result of Biden’s body clearing the virus, and that the previously reported nasal drip, body aches and cough have “diminished considerably.” O’Connor also wrote that Biden was experiencing no shortness of breath and that his blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remained normal. He said the president would continue taking Tylenol, using an inhaler for his cough and hydrating. The White House announced Thursday that the president had tested positive for the virus and was experiencing mild symptoms. Officials noted that Biden had received a second Covid booster shot. The president, who is 79 years old, also began taking the antiviral the day of his positive test. Pfizer says Paxlovid has been shown, if taken in the first five days of symptoms, to reduce the hospitalization and death risks by 90 percent for high-risk patients. The White House faced criticism over transparency regarding the president’s health, with Sunday news show hosts pressing Biden’s top Covid adviser on why reporters had been unable to interview the president’s physician. “Dr. O’Connor and I are speaking multiple times a day,” Ashish Jha said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “He’s speaking to Dr. [Anthony] Fauci. We are being very transparent, probably giving updates several times a day about how the president is doing. The president has a mild respiratory illness as of right now. And, in that context, we are making all of that information widely available every day to the American people.” The unofficial guide to official Washington, every morning and weekday afternoons. The unofficial guide to official Washington, every morning and weekday afternoons. Loading You will now start receiving email updates You are already subscribed Something went wrong © 2025 POLITICO LLC | 78427c7e24922f95 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
culture | Vice | https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59ngpb/you-can-definitely-skip-dave-chappelles-new-netflix-special-sticks-and-stones | You Can Definitely Skip Dave Chappelle's New Netflix Special 'Sticks & Stones' | 2019-08-26 | culture | Dave Chappelle made a return to Netflix Monday with a new stand-up special , Sticks & Stones . Fans quickly realized that , if you watch until the very end , the special has a secret epilogue called `` The Punchline , '' where Chappelle answers questions from audience members who went to his separate Dave Chappelle on Broadway stand-up show last July . The special takes the comic 's anti-wokeness schtick to a new level , and the whole thing is repetitive and exhausting enough that it 's a slog to even make it to the Q & A .
Chapelle 's controversial 2017 Netflix specials , like The Age of Spin : Dave Chappelle Live at the Hollywood Palladium and Equanimity and the Bird Revelation , honed his voice as a comedian wary of progressive criticism . That voice is even sharper in his latest special . At one point in his routine , he says he does n't believe Michael Jackson molested young children . He continues by saying that if Jackson did , the children should 've felt lucky their first time was with the King of Pop , adding , `` Do you know how good it must 've felt to go to school the next day after that shit ? '' Chappelle also returned to his now-infamous obsession with making fun of trans people , saying , `` [ trans people ] hate my fucking guts and I do n't blame them . [ ... ] I ca n't stop writing jokes about these niggas . '' This time , those jokes included asking the audience how funny it would be if he was actually a Chinese person stuck inside a Black man 's body , which ( you guessed it ) also included a racist impression of a Chinese person . He also found time to defend fellow controversial comedians Kevin Hart and Louis C.K. , painting them as victims of an overzealous callout culture .
By the time the Q & A plays at the end of the special , Chappelle has already shown his unapologetic approach to courting controversy . His answers put that into even starker view . He says that a white woman left one of his practice sets for the special at The Punchline comedy club in San Francisco , telling him , `` I 'm sorry , I was raped . '' Chappelle says he replied with `` It 's not your fault you were raped . But it 's not my fault either . Ta-ta , bitch , '' to which the audience laughs raucously , as though that were a real punchline . He then followed with a story about sparking an unlikely friendship with a trans woman who he says `` was laughing the hardest '' out of anyone at the trans jokes in his practice set . The strange story of camaraderie seemed to highlight the common accusation that Chappelle is only interested in repairing his relationship with marginalized groups if he does n't have to change anything about himself .
Chappelle has always been a daredevil comedian willing to take a controversial stance or downplay a serious controversy for laughs , including his early-2000s skits about R. Kelly 's court trials on Chappelle 's Show . But now he chooses to blatantly ignore the historic criticism against his style of comedy and new loud-and-clear criticism from the trans community . His approach comes off like a defiant rejection of change at any cost . As he keeps going down this path , drawing attention to the worst aspects of his important career , the biggest cost will be tarnishing his own legacy . | gjiPoli6yNbk5dmx | 0 | Dave Chappelle | -1.5 | Netflix | -1.5 | Comedy | -0.8 | Humor And Satire | -0.8 | Political Correctness | 0 |
abortion | Politico | http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/gop-texas-abortion-fight-93636.html?hp=t1 | GOP sits out Texas abortion fight | 2013-07-02 | abortion | Rick Perry is holding down the fort without much help from national Republicans . GOP sits out Texas abortion fight
The liberal side of the Texas abortion showdown has the two most powerful Democrats in Washington squarely in its corner : Barack Obama and Harry Reid — not to mention a Dixie Chick .
On the right : Rick Perry ’ s holding down the fort without much obvious help from national Republicans .
The RNC hasn ’ t latched onto the fight . Few national Republicans have weighed in . And a key party official in Texas acknowledged there ’ s no behind-the-scenes help coming , though he says he doesn ’ t need it .
Republicans will talk about the abortion bill when they ’ re asked about it , but they aren ’ t swooping into the fight with the same enthusiasm as liberals .
The mismatch makes sense : Even abortion bills that poll well , like the one in Texas does , open the door to the kinds of comments that have hurt national Republicans repeatedly — from Rep. Trent Franks ’ s comments last month on the “ very low ” number of rape-related pregnancies to Todd Akin blowing his shot at a Senate seat over his “ legitimate rape ” remarks in 2012 .
But that political calculus doesn ’ t do much for anti-abortion activists who are glad to see their issue front and center .
“ You either fight and ask your leaders to fight on an issue that cuts your way or you just fold up and go home , which is what the national party wants to do , ” said Marjorie Dannenfelser , president of the Susan B. Anthony List . “ It really is fear . It really is simply , ‘ We ’ re not going to go there . ’ ”
“ Now , you ’ ve got an issue that ’ s in your platform , that cuts your way with big margins . To be silent is a mistake , ” Dannenfelser said .
In contrast , Democrats couldn ’ t be happier with the way the issue is energizing their supporters .
Jeremy Bird , the former national field director for President Obama ’ s reelection campaign who now runs Battleground Texas , a group that ’ s trying to make Democrats more competitive in the state , says the abortion showdown inspired about 500 volunteers to knock on doors registering voters this weekend .
“ Most people don ’ t just wake up one day and say , ‘ I want to register voters in the 100-degree heat , ” Bird told ███ .
The political reality is that abortion is a dangerous debate to have on the national stage , even for a short period of time — as Franks found out when his comments on the “ very low ” number of rape-related pregnancies blew his chance to lead the debate on the House-passed ban on abortion after 20 weeks .
And that was a one-day debate in the House . The Texas Legislature is about to spend the better part of 30 days on it . That ’ s a lot of time for someone to trip on their shoelaces .
Perry ’ s decision to call a special session to pass the bill — which would ban abortions after 20 weeks and impose strict new rules on abortion clinics — carries the risk of political missteps for every day the Legislature spends on it . Perry has already made some people on his own side cringe with his remarks last week suggesting Davis was lucky she wasn ’ t aborted .
It ’ s not that Republicans are afraid the public won ’ t support the Texas bill . They know the polling is solidly on their side : Most Americans favor some restrictions on abortions , and a Gallup poll earlier this year found that their support for legal abortions drops dramatically after the first trimester .
There ’ s also the National Journal poll that found 48 percent of Americans would support a ban on abortions after 20 weeks . And the Texas bill , specifically , gets high levels of support , at least among the state ’ s voters : a Texas Tribune poll found that 62 percent of the state ’ s voters would support eliminating abortions after 20 weeks .
Those polls don ’ t measure public support for all of the implications of the Texas bill — particularly the new health standards that , according to its critics , could force all but five of the state ’ s abortion clinics to close .
But taken together , the polls give Republicans a reasonable amount of confidence that the Texas abortion debate won ’ t alienate huge blocs of voters .
“ I don ’ t know how you get in trouble politically for taking a position that a majority of Americans favors , ” Texas Republican Party Chairman Steve Munisteri told ███ .
GOP pollster Whit Ayres said he ’ d be “ happy to have a debate on an 80 percent issue when the 80 percent is on your side ” — referring to the eight out of 10 people in the Gallup poll who said abortions should be illegal in the third trimester .
But there ’ s a difference between having the public on your side on an issue and having them think it ’ s important . Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport noted that abortion is never one of the top priorities Americans list when the polling organization conducts its regular surveys of national priorities . In the May survey , he said , the top priorities for Americans were jobs , the economy and a more efficient government . | Kaqj3aOdjgAf51fX | 0 | Abortion | -0.6 | Texas | 0.5 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
world | CNN Business | https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/04/business/eu-russia-oil-ban/index.html | EU proposes ban on Russian oil imports | 2022-05-04 | World, Ukraine War, Russia, Europe, European Union, Oil, Energy, Trade | London CNN Business —The European Union is proposing to ban all oil imports from Russia by the end of this year and remove the country’s biggest bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT international payments network.But the plan immediately ran into opposition from EU countries seeking a longer transitional period, including Hungary, which has already been offered an extra year to ditch Russian oil.“The proposal on behalf of Brussels is suggesting that it should be done by the end of next year,” Zoltan Kovacs, spokesperson for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told CNN’s Eleni Giokos. “The shortest period, we’ve been clear on that, our oil companies have been clear on that, is three to five years.”European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier Wednesday the measures would form part of a sixth round of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.“We now propose a ban on Russian oil,” she said during a speech to the European Parliament. “Let’s be clear: it will not be easy. But we simply have to work on it. We will make sure that we phase out Russian oil in an orderly fashion, to maximize pressure on Russia, while minimizing the impact on our own economies.”Crude oil supply would be phased out within six months, and imports of refined oil products by the end of 2022, she added.News of the proposal boosted crude oil prices by about 4%. Brent, the global benchmark, was trading at nearly $109 a barrel, while US oil futures were above $106 a barrel at 12.30 pm ET.Oil prices have risen by about 40% since the start of the year on fears that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will deliver a supply shock, fueling inflation and piling pressure on European economies.EU countries have already agreed to phase out Russian coal imports but the bloc has found it much harder to reach consensus on an oil embargo despite weeks of talks.Hungary said it couldn’t back the proposal in its current form because it was worried about what it would mean for the country’s energy security. Nearly 60% of its imported oil came from Russia in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency.“The very essence of decision-making in Europe is consensus,” Kovacs said. “We’ve been telling Brussels and all the European states, that on Hungary’s behalf, it simply cannot be done as they require.”Slovakia — which got 92% of its oil imports from Russia last year — and the Czech Republic have also sought longer transition periods than those envisaged by the EU plan, Reuters reported.Russia is the world’s second-biggest crude oil exporter, and last year accounted for about 27% of EU oil imports. The United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia have already banned imports.Those sanctions — and a de-facto embargo by some European oil refineries and traders — have hit the price of Russian oil. Its benchmark Urals crude is now trading at a $35 per barrel discount to Brent, compared with less than $1 before the invasion.The PCK oil refinery in Schwedt, Germany, owned by Russia's Rosneft. Patrick Pleul/picture-alliance/dpa/APSome customers in Asia are reportedly buying more Russian oil but not in sufficient volumes to offset the loss of Western buyers.“Russia’s ability to redirect all unwanted cargoes from the West to Asia are limited, meaning that, in the case of embargoes, Russia will be forced to cut production further as it lacks storage capacity for extra crude volumes,” analysts at Rystad Energy wrote in a research report on Monday.The International Energy Agency recently estimated that Russia’s oil supply would fall by 1.5 million barrels per day in April as demand falters, with those losses accelerating to 3 million barrels per day this month.But the surge in global prices for oil and natural gas means Moscow continues to earn vast amounts of money from its energy exports. Rystad estimates that Russia will collect more than $180 billion in energy tax revenues this year — up 45% on 2021 — despite the oil production cuts.Financial isolationWestern countries continue to look for other ways to make it harder for Russian President Vladimir Putin to finance his war effort. Von der Leyen said the EU was proposing to remove Sberbank (SBRCY), and two other major banks, from the SWIFT system, the secure network that more than 11,000 financial institutions use to send messages and payment orders.Sberbank is the biggest bank in Russia. Alexander Sayganov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty ImagesThe Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, based in Belgium, must comply with EU regulations. With no globally accepted alternative, it is essential plumbing for global finance.“We hit banks that are systemically critical to the Russian financial system and Putin’s ability to wage destruction,” von der Leyen said. “This will solidify the complete isolation of the Russian financial sector from the global system.”Three big Russian state-owned broadcasters will also be banned from Europe’s airwaves.— Anna Cooban and Julia Horowitz contributed to this article. | 2a51d9b6bc1eed5e | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
polarization | Time Magazine | http://time.com/3821293/lincoln-obama-polarization/ | Another Similarity Between Lincoln and Obama: They Polarized the Nation | polarization | Americans yearn for an end to political polarization and partisanship , and many today fault President Obama for failing to achieve consensus on his major initiatives : health care , immigration reform , foreign policy and so on . But consider Abraham Lincoln . From their state of origin to their legal backgrounds , the two presidents have drawn many comparisons , and here ’ s another : Despite his various efforts at outreach , our sixteenth president was , in life , an intensely polarizing and partisan figure , every bit as polarizing and partisan as our current president .
Lincoln ’ s presidency , which ended exactly 150 years ago today , sharply differed from the experience of his predecessors . Before Lincoln , five presidents had won a second term : George Washington , Thomas Jefferson , James Madison , James Monroe and Andrew Jackson . Each had carried both North and South in at least one of his presidential bids . By contrast , Lincoln was purely a regional candidate , despised by intense majorities in a large chunk of the country . In 1860 , he received zero popular votes south of Virginia , and in 1864 , none of the 11 states in Dixie held a valid presidential election , thanks to sectional war precipitated by Lincoln ’ s prior election . Even Lincoln ’ s assassination was related to regional differences : John Wilkes Booth was an intense southern partisan .
In the ensuing century and a half , many of America ’ s most successful presidents have managed to achieve considerable popularity in both North and South . Franklin Roosevelt , Harry Truman , Dwight Eisenhower , John Kennedy , Lyndon Johnson , Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all outdid Lincoln in this regard . But our current president won , twice , by following a more emphatically Lincolnian path to power—that is , a distinctly northern route : Of the 11 states in the former confederacy , Obama lost eight twice , and lost a ninth ( North Carolina ) once , prevailing twice only in Virginia and Florida .
In our era , as in Lincoln ’ s , regional polarization is on the upswing . Prior to 1850 , the winning presidential candidate typically carried both North and South . But that pattern broke down in the 1850s , even before Lincoln rose to national prominence ; and a similar fate has befallen Obama . At the presidential level the North and the South have backed different candidates in every one of the six most recent elections ; and many states are becoming increasingly red or blue , presidentially . In 2012 , only four swing states—Florida , Ohio , North Carolina and Virginia—were close enough to be decided by fewer than five points .
See the American Civil War in Color Photographs Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress David Knox—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : David Knox—Library of Congress William Morris Smith—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : William Morris Smith—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress George N. Barnard—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : George N. Barnard—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Alexander Gardner—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Mathew Brady—Library of Congress Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Library of Congress Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME ; Original image : Timothy H. O'Sullivan—Library of Congress 1 of 62 Advertisement
If we shift gears from regional polarization to political polarization , Lincoln and Obama once again appear as political doubles . Both made efforts to reach across the aisle . For example , Lincoln , a Republican , chose a former Democrat , Edwin Stanton , to serve as Secretary of War . Democrat Obama has symmetrically chosen Republicans Robert Gates and Chuck Hagel to fill the same slot , now renamed the Secretary of Defense . Still , Lincoln ’ s signature executive accomplishments were at risk in a judiciary dominated by appointees of the opposite political party ; the same remains true for Obama . Shortly after Lincoln ’ s death , every single congressional Democrat voted against the Fourteenth Amendment , which codified Lincoln ’ s dream of birthright equality of all citizens ; almost never before had America seen such 100 % polarization . In our era , every single congressional Republican likewise opposed Obama ’ s signature health care plan .
But even on the topics where his proposals were most radical , Lincoln ’ s opponents ’ arguments have not aged well . Shortly before his death , he signed a proposed constitutional amendment providing for an end to American slavery—immediately and with no financial compensation to slaveholders . Nothing like this had ever happened in any American jurisdiction where slavery was widespread . In 1860 , less than 1 % of America ’ s black population voted on equal terms . In 1870 , all racial disfranchisement was constitutionally forbidden , building on another suggestion made by Lincoln himself in his last public speech , just days before he died .
That level of equality had been a new public stance for Lincoln , a break from his more cautious early views , much as Obama has only recently evolved to a position of open embrace of same-sex marriage . If the Supreme Court later this year constitutionalizes this egalitarian vision , following the lead of the latest lanky lawyer from Illinois to occupy the Oval Office , the decision will likely trigger howls of protest . These howls are likely to be loudest in those regions that hated Lincoln and all that he stood for when he was still standing . But Lincoln ’ s example should remind us that contemporary controversy does not necessarily mean that the judgment of history will be equivocal . Lincoln ’ s vision of racial equality has been vindicated by posterity ; and the same seems highly likely for Obama ’ vision of sexual-orientation equality . As Mark Twain is said to have noted , history never repeats itself—but it sometimes rhymes .
Akhil Reed Amar is a professor of law at Yale and author of the newly released book , The Law of the Land : A Grand Tour of our Constitutional Republic . | bk4ZCelolzdeRbCj | 0 | Polarization | -0.3 | Political Polarization | -0.3 | Barack Obama | 0 | null | null | null | null | |
elections | Townhall | http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/06/03/surprise-hillary-campaign-issues-suggested-questions-at-unscripted-events-n2172302 | Surprise: Hillary Camp Planted Suggested Questions at 'Unscripted' Events | 2016-06-03 | elections | One of the lines Hillary Clinton and her defenders employ when making excuses for her acute aversion to press scrutiny -- underscored by her decision to hold precisely zero press conferences over the past six months , and counting -- is that she answers countless questions from voters at town hall meetings . We 've heard anecdotes about how tightly-controlled and orchestrated Hillary 's events can be , and now the Associated Press offers additional insights into Mrs. Clinton 's `` image control apparatus . '' How the aloof inauthenticity sausage is made :
For Hillary Clinton , the presidential campaign has been about building an approachable image : She 's often eschewed big arenas in favor of town halls , peppered her ads with personal stories and planned less-scripted gatherings with voters . But emails obtained by The Associated Press reveal a careful , behind-the-scenes effort to review introductory remarks for college presidents and students presenting the Democratic front-runner as a speaker , as well as suggesting questions that happened to be aligned with her campaign platform . While it 's not unusual for campaigns to plan detailed appearances , the exchanges preview the kind of image-control apparatus that could be deployed in a Clinton White House , including attempts to steer conversations with her audiences . They also run counter to her campaign 's efforts to make Clinton look less wooden and scripted than she did when running eight years ago ...
The campaign still injects itself into the minute details of the candidate 's appearances down to the stemless glassware in her green room . That fixation on planning has sometimes pulled local officials uncomfortably into the political arena . `` They offered to write your introduction . I told them no , '' Becky Mann , the head of public relations for South Carolina 's Greenville Technical College , wrote in an email to the college 's president , Keith Miller . Clinton 's campaign also suggested questions that Miller could pose such as , `` We have a number of students who have a financial need — what do we need to do to make college affordable ? '' College affordability is one of Clinton 's campaign issues .
Larry O'Connor uses the occasion of this AP report to remind readers of just a few of Hillary 's greatest hits when she 's dragged off of her dull , poll-tested script . Some of her very worst answers have come in relation to her email scandal , likely because there are no good answers to give . On that note , Fox News ' Catherine Herridge is reporting that government sources view last week 's blockbuster Inspector General report as a potential boost to the likelihood the FBI recommends a criminal indictment against the likely Democratic nominee :
The recently released State Department inspector general report , which found Hillary Clinton broke government rules with her personal email use , increases `` the likelihood and pressure '' for the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges , an intelligence source familiar with the FBI investigation told Fox News . `` It is very harmful to her and increases the likelihood and pressure on DOJ to indict , '' said the source , who was not authorized to speak on the record . `` [ The IG report ] is not evidence in itself , but it clears up confusion [ about ] Department of State rules and makes the IG a witness , and the people they interviewed , to her computer antics being done without permission . ''
Some U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that Donald Trump 's `` shoot from the hip '' style could pose national security risks as they prepare to give him a routine pre-election briefing once he is formally anointed as the Republican presidential nominee . Eight senior security officials told Reuters they had concerns over briefing Trump , whose brash , unpredictable campaign style has been a feature of his rise as an insurgent candidate . Despite their worries , the officials said the `` Top Secret '' briefing to each candidate would not deviate from the usual format to avoid any appearance of bias . Most of the officials asked for anonymity to discuss a domestic political issue .
Recommended The Truth About Impeachment Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel
With that ball sitting on a tee , I 'll toss it over to you , RNC spokesman Michael Short : `` The only candidate who has proven incapable of handling sensitive information is Hillary Clinton . If there is anyone they should be worried about it is Hillary Clinton . '' Touche . Even if you nodded along with much of Clinton 's scathing indictment of Trump 's ignorance and incoherence yesterday , you also could n't help but recall that the woman who delivered that unforgiving message has knowingly compromised US national security , placing thousands of classified emails at risk , and very likely delivering top secret material into the hands of hostile foreign governments . And she 's lied about it many , many times . Perhaps Clinton 's aides could pre-script some questions for their candidate on this subject , such as , `` why is national security so important to you , Hillary ? '' Or , `` why do the Republicans keep obsessing over this issue that has already been addressed ? '' You know , hard-hitting stuff like that . | WH9vHawI1t5Z9ZSk | 2 | Hillary Clinton | -0.5 | Presidential Elections | 0 | Elections | 0 | null | null | null | null |
china | Al Jazeera | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/600-pakistani-girls-sold-brides-china-191205054627426.html | More than 600 Pakistani girls 'sold as brides' to China | 2019-12-06 | china | More than 600 poor Pakistani girls and women were sold as brides to Chinese men over a period of nearly two years , according to investigations by authorities in the South Asian nation of 200 million people .
A list of 629 girls and women , obtained by The Associated Press , was compiled by Pakistani investigators determined to break up trafficking networks exploiting the country 's poor and vulnerable .
The list gives the most concrete figure yet for the number of women caught up in the trafficking schemes since 2018 .
But since the time it was put together in June , the investigators ' aggressive drive against the networks has largely ground to a halt .
Officials with knowledge of the investigations say this is because of pressure from government officials fearful of hurting Pakistan 's lucrative ties to Beijing .
The biggest case against traffickers has fallen apart . In October , a court in Faisalabad acquitted 31 Chinese nationals charged in connection with trafficking .
Several of the women who had initially been interviewed by police refused to testify because they were either threatened or bribed into silence , according to a court official and a police investigator familiar with the case .
The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution for speaking out .
At the same time , the government has sought to curtail investigations , putting `` immense pressure '' on officials from the Federal Investigation Agency pursuing trafficking networks , said Saleem Iqbal , a Christian activist who has helped parents rescue several young girls from China and prevented others from being sent there .
`` Some ( FIA officials ) were even transferred , '' Iqbal said in an interview . `` When we talk to Pakistani rulers , they do n't pay any attention . ''
Asked about the complaints , Pakistan 's interior and foreign ministries refused to comment .
Several senior officials familiar with the events said investigations into trafficking have slowed , the investigators are frustrated , and Pakistani media have been pushed to curb their reporting on trafficking .
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals .
`` No one is doing anything to help these girls , '' one of the officials said . `` The whole racket is continuing , and it is growing . Why ? Because they know they can get away with it . The authorities wo n't follow through , everyone is being pressured to not investigate . Trafficking is increasing now . ''
He said he was speaking out `` because I have to live with myself . Where is our humanity ? ''
China 's foreign ministry said it was unaware of the list .
`` The two governments of China and Pakistan support the formation of happy families between their people on a voluntary basis in keeping with laws and regulations , while at the same time having zero tolerance for and resolutely fighting against any person engaging in illegal cross-border marriage behavior , '' the ministry said in a statement faxed on Monday to AP 's Beijing bureau .
An AP investigation earlier this year revealed how Pakistan 's Christian minority has become a new target of brokers who pay impoverished parents to marry off their daughters , some of them teenagers , to Chinese husbands who return with them to their homeland .
Many of the brides are then isolated and abused or forced into prostitution in China , often contacting home and pleading to be brought back .
The AP spoke to police and court officials and more than a dozen brides - some of whom made it back to Pakistan , others who remained trapped in China - as well as remorseful parents , neighbours , relatives and human rights workers .
Christians are targeted because they are one of the poorest communities in Muslim-majority Pakistan . The trafficking rings are made up of Chinese and Pakistani middlemen and include Christian ministers , mostly from small evangelical churches , who receive bribes to urge their flock to sell their daughters .
Investigators have also turned up at least one Muslim scholar running a marriage bureau from his religious school .
Investigators put together the list of 629 women from Pakistan 's integrated border management system , which digitally records travel documents at the country 's airports .
The information includes the brides ' national identity numbers , their Chinese husbands ' names and the dates of their marriages .
All but a handful of the marriages took place in 2018 and up to April 2019 . One of the senior officials said it was believed all 629 were sold to grooms by their families .
It is not known how many more women and girls were trafficked since the list was put together . But the official said , `` the lucrative trade continues '' .
He spoke to the AP in an interview conducted hundreds of kilometres from his place of work to protect his identity .
`` The Chinese and Pakistani brokers make between 4 million and 10 million rupees ( $ 25,000 and $ 65,000 ) from the groom , but only about 200,000 rupees ( $ 1,500 ) , is given to the family , '' he said .
The official , with years of experience studying human trafficking in Pakistan , said many of the women who spoke to investigators told of forced fertility treatments , physical and sexual abuse and , in some cases , forced prostitution .
Although no evidence has emerged , at least one investigation report contains allegations of organs being harvested from some of the women sent to China .
In September , Pakistan 's investigation agency sent a report it labelled `` fake Chinese marriages cases '' to Prime Minister Imran Khan .
The report , a copy of which was attained by the AP , provided details of cases registered against 52 Chinese nationals and 20 of their Pakistani associates in two cities in eastern Punjab province - Faisalabad , Lahore - as well as in the capital Islamabad . The Chinese suspects included the 31 later acquitted in court .
The report said police discovered two illegal marriage bureaus in Lahore , including one operated from an Islamic centre and school - the first known report of poor Muslims also being targeted by brokers . The Muslim religious leader involved has fled .
After the acquittals , there are other cases before the courts involving one arrested Pakistani and at least another 21 Chinese suspects , according to the report sent to the prime minister in September .
But the Chinese defendants in the cases were all granted bail and left the country , say activists and a court official .
Activists and human rights workers say Pakistan has sought to keep the trafficking of brides quiet so as not to jeopardise Pakistan 's increasingly close economic relationship with China .
China has been a steadfast ally of Pakistan for decades , particularly in its testy relationship with India . Beijing has provided Islamabad with military assistance , including pre-tested nuclear devices and nuclear-capable missiles .
Today , Pakistan is receiving massive aid under China 's Belt and Road Initiative , a global endeavour aimed at reconstituting the Silk Road and linking China to all corners of Asia .
Under the $ 75bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project , Beijing has promised Islamabad a sprawling package of infrastructure development , from road construction and power plants to agriculture .
The demand for foreign brides in China is rooted in that country 's population , where there are roughly 34 million more men than women - a result of the one-child policy that ended in 2015 after 35 years , along with an overwhelming preference for boys that led to abortions of female fetuses and female infanticide .
A report released this month by Human Rights Watch , documenting trafficking in brides from Myanmar to China , said the practice is spreading .
It said Pakistan , Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos , Myanmar , Nepal , North Korea and Vietnam have `` all have become source countries for a brutal business . ''
`` One of the things that is very striking about this issue is how fast the list is growing of countries that are known to be source countries in the bride trafficking business , '' Heather Barr , the HRW report 's author , told AP .
Omar Warriach , Amnesty International 's campaigns director for South Asia , said Pakistan `` must not let its close relationship with China become a reason to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses against its own citizens '' - either in abuses of women sold as brides or the separation of Pakistani women from their husbands who come from China 's Muslim Uighur population and are sent to `` re-education camps '' to turn them away from Islam .
`` It is horrifying that women are being treated this way without any concern being shown by the authorities in either country . And it 's shocking that it 's happening on this scale , '' he said . | Qt4MPfgW0VW3vKvS | 0 | World | -1.5 | China | -1.4 | Pakistan | -1.1 | Women | 0.5 | Women's Issues | 0.5 |
technology | Scientific American | https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-nerve-growing-method-could-help-injured-soldiers-and-others/ | New Nerve-Growing Method Could Help Injured Soldiers and Others | technology | A small injury to a nerve outside the brain and spinal cord is relatively easy to repair just by stretching it , but a major gap in such a peripheral nerve poses problems . Usually , another nerve is taken from elsewhere in the body , and it causes an extra injury and returns only limited movement .
Now researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found an effective way to bridge such a gap—at least in mice and monkeys—by inserting a biodegradable tube that releases a protein called a growth factor for several months . In a study published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine , the team showed that the tube works as a guide for the nerve to grow along the proper path , and the naturally occurring protein induces the nerve to grow faster .
Kacey Marra , a professor at the university ’ s departments of plastic surgery and bioengineering , says she ’ s been working for a dozen years on the device , which she particularly hopes will help soldiers injured in combat . More than half of injured soldiers suffer nerve injuries , she says . And as the daughter and granddaughter of military men , she considers it her mission to help their successors . Combat gear does a good job of protecting a soldier ’ s chest and head , but arms and legs are often exposed , which is why peripheral nerve injuries are so common , Marra says . Car crashes and accidents involving machinery such as snowblowers can also damage nerves involved in hand , arm , leg and foot control .
In the U.S. , there are about 600,000 nerve injuries every year , she says , though she is unsure how many are severe enough to require the relocation of a second nerve because that information is not tracked yet . When the injuries are severe , the only current treatment is to take a nerve from somewhere else on the body , Marra says . But patients recover just about 50 to 60 percent of function in the damaged nerve .
“ Longer nerve grafts are always more challenging , ” says Christine Schmidt , a professor and chair of the department of biomedical engineering at the University of Florida , who was not involved with the research . “ It would be great to be able to tackle long-term nerve damage. ” She notes that the nerve the Pittsburgh team tested is relatively small in macaques . “ It will still be a challenge to scale up to larger nerves , ” she says . “ It would be nice to see a little bit larger nerve , ” which would be more relevant to patients .
The new device restored nearly 80 percent of function , the study showed . It uses glial-cell-derived neurotrophic factor ( GDNF ) , a protein that promotes nerve cell survival . Marra chose GDNF , she says , because “ if you get a nerve injury like a paper cut , the cells in your nerves are going to express this protein at high levels . And that recruits other cells to come in and repair the nerve. ” The tube is made of the same polymer as dissolvable stitches , which has already been federally approved for surgical use .
Other researchers are exploring the use of stem cells or other cells to help bridge the gap in the nerve , but Marra and her colleagues ’ approach is likely to have an easier time receiving federal approval because it does not involve cells . “ If they were to go adding stem cells or too many complexities , ” it would be harder to win a regulatory green light , Schmidt says . It is better to make advances with small steps , as the Pittsburgh researchers have , she says . “ They ’ re doing it in a very realistic way that can lead to a clinical outcome , and that ’ s really what you want , ” Schmidt adds .
Nerves can regenerate at a rate of about one millimeter per day , and there are three months ’ worth of GDNF in the tube , allowing for closing injuries of about 12 centimeters—or 4.7 inches .
In the eight-year-long study , the researchers trained rhesus macaques to eat with their forefinger and thumb—which they could only do if a repaired nerve was working properly . They used this finger maneuver rather than grabbing food with their fist , as they usually do when they eat . If they pinched the banana pellet , they got a second treat , Marra says . “ We were able to see the recovery , ” she adds . “ At that point , we knew we were ready to test in humans . ”
Marra says she and her colleagues have several pending proposals for the first clinical trials in humans , which are likely to start in 2021 and take at least three years . A start-up she launched , AxoMax Technologies , licensed the technology from the University of Pittsburgh to begin the experiments . Marra believes her device can be competitively priced , compared with moving a nerve from elsewhere in the body—and , potentially , even compared with existing repair approaches for small nerve gaps .
Her team is also beginning to study whether its method will work for facial nerves , but she thinks it is unlikely to be effective for spinal cord injuries , which are far more complex and involve more nerves . The researchers are looking at regenerating the muscles affected by injured nerves as well . “ I think [ this approach ] really could revolutionize thinking about nerve repair and the different options a patient will have , ” Marra says . | ELkTTKhUiqzGfIFs | 1 | Technology | 0.6 | Science | 0.4 | Veterans | 0.1 | null | null | null | null | |
media_bias | Politico | http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/02/press-expresses-extreme-frustration-about-having-absolutely-157233.html?hp=r1 | W.H. press corps: 'Extreme frustration' over 'having absolutely no access' to Obama | 2013-02-17 | media_bias | On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December , 2015 November , 2015 October , 2015 September , 2015 August , 2015 July , 2015 June , 2015 May , 2015 April , 2015 March , 2015 February , 2015 January , 2015
W.H . press corps : 'Extreme frustration ' over 'having absolutely no access ' to Obama
The White House press corps is expressing frustration over its lack of access this weekend to President Obama , who was on a golfing vacation in Florida .
Ed Henry , the Fox News correspondent and president of the White House Correspondents Association , released a statement Sunday evening in which he said the press corps had been given no access to the president , who was joined on his outing by star golfer Tiger Woods , and that the WHCA would fight for greater transparency in the days ahead .
`` Speaking on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association , I can say a broad cross section of our members from print , radio , online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend , '' Henry said in a statement , relayed in a White House pool report . `` There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead : transparency . ''
The White House responded to Henry 's complaint in a statement from Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest , also included in the pool report .
`` The press access granted by the White House today is entirely consistent with the press access offered for previous presidential golf outings , '' Earnest said . `` It 's also consistent with the press access promised to the White House Press Corps prior to arrival in Florida on Friday evening . ''
Reports of the President 's outing with Tiger Woods were sourced to Golf Digest senior writer Tim Rosaforte , who was at The Floridian National Golf Club Sunday morning and tweeted a few observations . | TTSAO1gss1ZgbDdW | 0 | Media Bias | -0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
isis | Townhall | http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danieldoherty/2014/08/20/rubio-isis-is-at-war-with-us-n1880922 | Rubio: It's Clear ISIS Has Already Declared War on the U.S. | 2014-08-20 | isis | The horrible barbarism of ISIS is just starting to impact and affect Americans directly . Katie wrote up the grisly news yesterday that 40-year-old American journalist , James Wright Foley , was allegedly beheaded by the terrorist group . ( I haven ’ t seen the video , nor do I intend to , but the carnage speaks for itself ) .
As of this writing , ISIS ' savage claims can not be substantiated -- but the administration is nonetheless `` appalled '' by these recent developments . Meanwhile , Al Qaeda ’ s newest ally now claims to have another American in captivity , and is threatening to kill him too if the U.S. doesn ’ t stop their ongoing and effective airstrike campaign against ISIS in northern Iraq .
Even so , former CIA Director Mike Morell argued that even if he is assassinated , “ we can not let something like this stop us ” from taking the fight to the enemy ( via Noah Rothman ) :
In fact , we should pick up the pace here . The definition of terrorism is political violence…so we should mark this date down because this is ISIS ’ first terrorist attack against the United States .
Meanwhile , Sen. Marco Rubio ( R-FL ) , a presumed presidential hopeful himself , condemned ISIS today in clear and unequivocal terms . Here is what he said :
“ The brutal execution of American journalist James Foley by ISIL is the latest example of the evil and barbarism of these terrorists . My thoughts and prayers are with the Foley family and with other Western hostages who at this hour are still being held . “ Just as Al Qaeda ’ s initial killings of Americans abroad foretold the carnage they would unleash within our borders , this barbaric beheading of a defenseless hostage is the clearest indication to date that ISIL has declared war on the United States , on the American people , and on freedom loving people everywhere . “ For more than a year , ISIL has been murdering civilians , raping women and young girls and enslaving them , and carrying out a systematic genocide of anyone who does not share their warped and extremist Islamist views . ISIL can not be reasoned with , they can ’ t be negotiated with , and their view of the world is irreconcilable with civilized society . “ I remain deeply concerned that despite the preponderance of evidence that proves ISIL is a fundamentally evil and dangerous terrorist threat to the United States , President Obama continues to appear unwilling to do what is necessary to confront ISIL and communicate clearly to the American people about the threat ISIL poses to our country and to our way of life .
The president will convene a press conference today to address the alleged beheading of James Wright Foley , and its implications . Stay tuned . | FCSJu32eLR1MaSDJ | 2 | ISIS | -1 | Marco Rubio | 0.5 | Middle East | 0 | Iraq | 0 | null | null |
civil_rights | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/10/us/south-carolina-police-shooting/index.html | South Carolina police shooting: Dash cam video released | 2015-04-10 | Police, Civil Rights | Charleston , South Carolina ( CNN ) The casket is draped with an American flag , and Walter Scott is dressed in a dark suit .
A white banner with a blue star refers to his favorite NFL team . It says : `` Tradition , the Cowboys way . ''
A few mourners trickled into the Fielding Home For Funerals in Charleston , South Carolina . Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley comes by to pay his respects and show support for the Scott family .
They are not at Friday night 's visitation , the mayor says . The stress of the past week since Scott was fatally shot in the back by a North Charleston police Officer Michael Slager is too much . They went by the funeral home earlier but they are exhausted , he says . They need their privacy now and at Saturday 's funeral and burial , he says .
`` This is a heartbreaking tragedy for everyone in our community , '' he says , adding they share the grief of their neighbors in North Charleston and with the Scott family . `` It breaks everyone 's hearts , wherever we live . ''
Meanwhile , police continue to investigate the incident in which Scott ran from his car after a traffic stop then was shot while fleeing from Slager . On Friday afternoon , police met with a man who was in Scott 's car when Slager pulled it over for a broken taillight .
The passenger 's name was n't in a police report obtained by CNN . The passenger was detained briefly after the shooting , one officer wrote in the report .
Scott family attorney Chris Stewart said the man with Scott was a co-worker and friend . But he did not identify the friend by name , nor did Thom Berry , a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesman , who confirmed Friday 's meeting .
Slager has been fired and faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted on a murder charge .
Video shot by a witness shows the officer shooting Scott in the back as he runs away . Slager had told investigators he feared for his safety after he and Scott tussled over his Taser .
His lawyer , Andy Savage , said Friday he `` has not received the cooperation from law enforcement that the media has . ''
Savage 's office said in a written statement that it has yet to receive `` any investigative documents , audio or video tapes , other than a copy of Mr. Slager 's arrest warrant . ''
The news release added that the lawyer has been advised that the police union that Slager belongs to `` is no longer involved in the case . ''
JUST WATCHED New , second dashcam video from Walter Scott shooting Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH New , second dashcam video from Walter Scott shooting 01:59
The dash cam footage shows Slager talking calmly to Scott during the traffic stop . Scott apparently says he has no insurance on the vehicle , and Slager returns to his car to do paperwork .
Moments later , Scott gets out of his car and bolts . A foot chase ensues . Scott never reappears on the dash cam video , but a witness later takes video of the officer shooting Scott several times in the back as he is running away .
`` Nothing in this video demonstrates that the officer 's life or the life of another was threatened , '' National Urban League President Marc Morial said . `` The question here is whether the use of force was excessive . ''
On Thursday , a new witness emerged in the case . Gwen Nichols told CNN 's Brian Todd that she saw a scuffle between Scott and Slager at the entrance to a vacant lot .
JUST WATCHED New witness in Walter Scott shooting speaks out Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH New witness in Walter Scott shooting speaks out 02:28
`` It was like a tussle type of thing , like , you know , like , 'What do you want ? ' or 'What did I do ? ' type of thing , '' Nichols said . `` I did n't hear Mr. Slager saying : 'Stop ! ' ``
Scott was the subject of a bench warrant over $ 18,104.43 in unpaid child support at the time of the stop , according to court records . That may be why he ran , an attorney for the family said .
Criminal defense attorney Paul Callan said he believes Slager 's defense will play up the reported scuffle in arguing that this is not a murder case .
JUST WATCHED Police report : Passenger with Walter Scott was detained Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Police report : Passenger with Walter Scott was detained 02:06
`` Defense attorneys will say this was a heat of passion shooting -- ( that ) this was something that he did suddenly after some kind of an altercation , a physical altercation with a suspect , '' Callan said . `` And that would constitute manslaughter under law , as opposed to murder , and it makes a huge difference in sentencing . ''
In South Carolina , a murder conviction requires a measure of premeditation .
JUST WATCHED Walter Scott remembered as 'outgoing ' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Walter Scott remembered as 'outgoing ' 01:38
The investigation has been turned over to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division , or SLED .
In a statement released Thursday , SLED said its investigators found troubling inconsistencies from the very start .
`` We believed early on that there was something not right about what happened in that encounter , '' SLED Chief Mark Keel said in a statement . `` The cell phone video shot by a bystander confirmed our initial suspicions . ''
Feidin Santana , who took the video of the shooting , told CNN 's Anderson Cooper that he was walking to work when he saw Slager on top of Scott , who was on the ground . He said he could hear the sound of a Taser in use .
JUST WATCHED Witness says Scott was Tased while on the ground Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Witness says Scott was Tased while on the ground 03:30
Santana said he did n't see Scott go after the Taser , as Slager initially claimed . He said he believes Scott was trying to get away .
Neither the struggle nor the use of a Taser was captured on video , because Santana started recording shortly after that .
His video shows Scott running away from Slager before the officer aims his gun . Slager fires eight shots toward Scott , striking him five times .
While the initial traffic stop may have seemed to be perfectly normal and professional , and the foot chase a reasonable choice , an analyst saw little justification for that last act .
`` I 'm not familiar with South Carolina police training , but I guarantee you that they do not teach to shoot a fleeing unarmed man in the back , '' said Jim Bueermann , president of the Police Foundation , a Washington-based nonprofit .
There are several claims in the initial police reports that are not supported in Santana 's video . And there may be more to the investigation than just whether Scott 's killing was justified , CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos said .
`` If it 's determined that multiple officers attempted to cover for the shooting officer , and it 's shown that those reports were false , this will be a devastating blow for law enforcement everywhere , '' he said . | 07cf1784a6695b83 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | New York Times - News | http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/us/politics/syria-crisis-underlines-pentagons-move-to-the-back-seat.html?ref=politics&_r=0 | Pentagon in Back Seat as Kerry Leads Charge | 2013-09-14 | white_house | Senator John McCain , the Arizona Republican , has been the most critical . Just before the current push for an attack , prompted by what American intelligence agencies say was the deaths of 1,400 people by poison gas , Mr. McCain said General Dempsey was campaigning to avoid action by describing the risks and costs of the most extreme options for intervention . The general ’ s assessments “ are beyond anything that any rational military thinker that I know would ever contemplate , ” Mr. McCain said .
Even some senior administration officials , in private conversations and in e-mails , have sniped at Mr. Hagel and General Dempsey , saying that their reserved demeanor undercut the administration ’ s arguments for action in Syria .
In one exchange before Congress , General Dempsey said that an American strike on Syria would be “ an act of war , ” prompting a rebuttal from Mr. Kerry , who said the options were nothing like the huge mobilizations and lengthy deployments of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Both statements were accurate , but the points of view reflected different assessments of the risks and benefits of intervention by the Pentagon and the State Department .
Mr. Hagel , who was wounded twice in Vietnam and opposed escalating the Iraq war in 2007 , would be expected to be more cautious about using force than his three Pentagon predecessors , Leon E. Panetta , Robert M. Gates and Mr. Rumsfeld , said Anthony H. Cordesman , a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies . Mr. Gates , a holdover from the George W. Bush administration who pushed for more troops in Afghanistan , was never afraid to stand up to the Obama White House ; Mr. Panetta , as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency , oversaw the 2011 military raid that killed Osama bin Laden .
But Mr. Hagel , though wary , is not a pacifist about military force . “ Cautious does not mean he wouldn ’ t use it , ” Mr. Cordesman said . “ And Dempsey has developed a Colin Powell-like distrust of getting orders to engage that are sufficiently fuzzy so no one can really know what they mean. ” Mr. Cordesman was referring to the former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , who enunciated a military doctrine of using overwhelming force , but for clear political ends .
Pentagon officials say that in a nation where civilians control the military , General Dempsey is also adamant that he not influence the public debate about whether to strike Syria . | iHOTBmwpKewsPajf | 0 | Pentagon | -0.3 | John Kerry | 0.2 | White House | 0.1 | Politics | 0 | null | null |
elections | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/07/politics/2016-election-viewers-guide/index.html | 7 things to watch for on election night | 2016-11-07 | Presidential Elections, Elections | Washington ( CNN ) Donald Trump is attempting to crack Hillary Clinton 's blue wall . And Clinton is hoping for a surge in Latino turnout fueled by opposition to Trump .
The two candidates are making a last-minute dash across swing states like Florida , Pennsylvania and North Carolina as the 2016 presidential race enters its final hours . They 've also gone north to Michigan and New Hampshire to states Democrats have won in recent cycles but could flip this year .
Here are the key states and signs to study as the night unfolds :
Most plausible paths to victory for Trump start with holding onto two battlegrounds that Mitt Romney won four years ago -- North Carolina and Arizona -- and flipping three states President Barack Obama carried : Florida , Ohio and Iowa .
A loss in any of the states would severely complicate Trump 's already precarious path to 270 electoral votes . Though if Trump clawed back Pennsylvania or Michigan from the Democrats , who have won both electoral-rich states six times in a row , North Carolina would be more expendable . A win in a state like Pennsylvania or Michigan would allow Trump to offset a loss in North Carolina and still have a shot at reaching 270 .
If that does n't happen , holding North Carolina and Arizona , while reclaiming Florida , Ohio and Iowa from the Democrats -- plus Maine 's 2nd District -- would only get him to 260 .
Trump would need to tack on 10 more electoral votes somehow . New Hampshire 's four and Nevada 's six would get him there . Colorado , with nine electoral votes , Michigan with 15 and Pennsylvania with 20 are also possibilities .
In his last 48 hours before Election Day , Trump has been pretty much everywhere , including Colorado , Michigan -- even Minnesota -- searching for the extra votes he needs .
The key question for Clinton is whether her `` blue wall '' of Democratic-leaning states on the Great Lakes -- Pennsylvania , Michigan and Wisconsin -- will hold .
Trump has targeted all three , but Clinton has consistently led polls in all three states . However , most voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania cast their ballots on Election Day -- which means her campaign has n't built the early voting advantage already in place elsewhere .
If Clinton can do that and pick up just one of North Carolina , Florida or Ohio , she 's all but guaranteed to win .
If she ca n't win one of those three states , she 'll need to hold Virginia , vote-by-mail Colorado , New Hampshire and Nevada -- where Democrats have already built a hefty early voting edge .
If Clinton wins , her coalition will consist of women , college-educated voters and a swell of new Latino voters .
In early voting in states like Nevada , and Florida , there 's already evidence of burgeoning Latino turnout . This is best witnessed by the over 57,000 people who voted in Nevada Friday , with pictures of long lines and extended hours at a Latino grocery store in Clark County .
Many first-time voters , polls show , are turning out to oppose Trump . And Democrats are bullish that Latinos have been under-polled through the entire 2016 election cycle .
For Reince Priebus , the Republican National Committee chairman , this is a ghost of elections past . After the 2012 race , the RNC warned that the party needed to do more to court Latino voters . A nominee who roundly rejected that advice could be the reason the party loses a third consecutive presidential race .
Just as Trump 's attacks on Mexican immigrants have alienated Latino voters , his attacks on women and allegations of sexual assault have helped Clinton to a large lead among female voters . Clinton 's campaign has highlighted Trump 's most derogatory remarks in TV ads aimed at moderate , suburban women -- a constituency that has helped Republican nominees in years past . If she succeeds , it would limit Trump 's strengths to rural areas .
Trump 's biggest strength is his overwhelming support from disaffected white voters -- particularly men , and especially those without college degrees .
His campaign has long argued that those voters -- many of them independent or Democrats who buy into Trump 's protectionist stance on trade -- will carry him on Election Day .
For this to happen , Trump will also need core Democratic voters to stay at home , as well .
Already , Trump appears poised to win Iowa , and has polled ahead of Clinton in Ohio . He 's hoping to win enough blue-collar Democrats in Pennsylvania or Michigan to win at least one of those states .
Michigan , in particular , emerged as a tempting target in the campaign 's closing days -- a state hard-hit by the trade deals Trump bemoans . Clinton 's campaign raced to play defense , dispatching the former secretary of state there , as well as President Barack Obama , for last-minute rallies .
Among Democrats ' biggest concerns has been whether African-American voters -- a reliably left-leaning constituency -- will turn out in numbers anywhere close to their support for Obama in 2008 and 2012 .
If the answer is no , it could hobble Clinton in key states -- particularly Florida and North Carolina .
Obama is helping carry Clinton 's load with black voters . In a call to Tom Joyner 's radio show , he argued that participating in this election is just as much about him as it is about Clinton .
`` And I know that there are a lot of people in barbershops and beauty salons , you know , in the neighborhoods who are saying to themselves 'We love Barack , we love -- we especially love Michelle -- and so , you know , it was exciting and now we 're not excited as much , ' '' he said . `` You know what ? I need everybody to understand that everything we 've done is dependent on me being able to pass the baton to somebody who believes in the same things I believe in . ''
Since Trump clinched the GOP nomination in May , Republican Senate and House candidates have been forced to answer for everything he has said -- from his attacks on a Gold Star family and an Indiana-born judge 's heritage to his rejection of conservative orthodoxy .
As soon as the election ends , Capitol Hill Republicans -- especially if they retain control of both the House and Senate -- will regain power .
The party will have to decide just what to do with Trump 's rejection of free trade , his calls for a decreased US role overseas and his criticism of GOP congressional leaders -- whether he wins or loses .
But adopting some of Trump 's policy planks while rejecting his political style might not help much after an election driven by the candidates ' personalities .
For a nation divided by a long , bitter contest , this could be the most important question of all : Will the loser concede -- and how will he or she do it ?
Trump and Clinton are both historically unpopular presidential nominees . Half the country thinks Clinton is a crook , and the other half thinks Trump is a racist and misogynist .
And Trump , in particular , has cast the election as rigged -- calling into question whether ballots that are mailed in will be counted , playing up inaccurate reports of voter irregularities and claiming that voter fraud is pervasive .
The loser will play a crucial role in legitimizing the victor -- or delegitimizing the winner from the outset . | 66d622a0267f00f3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | The Hill | https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/484841-obama-lawyers-to-send-cease-and-desist-letter-to-pro-trump-group-of-south | Obama demands pro-Trump group's ad be pulled in South Carolina | 2020-02-26 | elections | Former President Obama 's attorneys say they plan to file a cease-and-desist letter over a pro-Trump group 's television ad in South Carolina that attacks former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenSanders poised for big Super Tuesday 5 things to watch on Super Tuesday 5 states to watch on Super Tuesday MORE by using a portion of Obama 's book out of context .
Obama is also demanding that all South Carolina television stations immediately stop running the ad from the Committee to Defend the President , which is aimed at supporting President Trump Donald John TrumpSanders poised for big Super Tuesday 5 things to watch on Super Tuesday Congress scrambles to finalize coronavirus funding , surveillance deals MORE 's reelection bid .
`` This despicable ad is straight out of the Republican disinformation playbook , and it ’ s clearly designed to suppress turnout among minority voters in South Carolina by taking President Obama ’ s voice out of context and twisting his words to mislead viewers , '' Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill Katherine ( Katie ) Lauren HillThis week : House eyes vote on emergency coronavirus funding The 14 other key races to watch on Super Tuesday Obama warns against 'unauthorized use ' of his image to mislead voters in cease-and-desist letter MORE said in a statement .
`` In the interest of truth in advertising , we are calling on TV stations to take this ad down and stop playing into the hands of bad actors who seek to sow division and confusion among the electorate , '' she continued .
Hill added that while Obama is not endorsing in the primary , he has `` several friends , '' including Biden , competing in it .
The ad uses excerpts from Obama 's 1995 memoir , `` Dreams from My Father , '' in an effort to get the attention of black voters in the state .
`` Joe Biden promised to help our community . It was a lie . Here 's President Obama , '' the ad says at the beginning .
It then uses a passage from Obama describing how the black community had been wrongfully treated in the past .
`` Plantation politics . Black people in the worst jobs . The worst housing . Police brutality rampant . But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time , we 'd all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket . Sell our souls for a Christmas turkey , '' Obama says in the recording .
Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates called the ad a `` despicable torrent of misinformation '' in a statement to The Washington Post .
`` Donald Trump and his allies are absolutely terrified that Joe Biden will defeat him in November . Trump even got himself impeached by trying to force another country to lie about the vice president , '' Bates said . `` This latest intervention in the Democratic primary is one of the most desperate yet , a despicable torrent of misinformation by the president 's lackeys . ''
The pro-Trump group most recently released a Spanish-language television spot in Nevada criticizing Obama and Biden on immigration .
This is not the first time Obama 's aides have condemned the use of the excerpt from his book .
Another pro-Trump group , Great America Alliance , used the excerpt in an ad ahead of Georgia 's special House election in 2017 to suggest that Democrats take black voters for granted .
`` This spot is a fraudulent use of President Obama 's voice , '' Obama senior adviser Eric Schultz told CNN at the time . `` It is a shameful , indefensible tactic that should never be heard on the public airwaves . Deceptively using President Obama 's voice to suggest people sit out of the democratic process is a form of voter suppression and it not only signals weakness , it runs counter to our American values . '' | 496ED9NDDBaontlh | 1 | Misinformation And Disinformation | -1 | Advertising | -0.7 | Joe Biden | -0.3 | Elections | -0.2 | Barack Obama | -0.1 |
nsa | NPR Online News | http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/11/190619929/as-nsa-leaker-disappears-talk-of-more-to-come-charges | As NSA Leaker Disappears, Talk Of More To Come And Charges | 2013-06-11 | nsa | As NSA Leaker Disappears , Talk Of More To Come And Charges
The latest news about 29-year-old Edward Snowden and the secrets he has revealed about the nation 's surveillance programs includes :
-- `` He appears to have vanished , '' NPR 's Dina Temple-Raston tells our Newscast Desk . Snowden , she reports , `` was in a hotel on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong until Monday . One of the journalists who interviewed him , The Guardian 's Glenn Greenwald , has said he has a general idea where Snowden has gone '' but has not been more specific .
-- There 's more to come , according to Greenwald . The Associated Press writes that `` the journalist who exposed classified U.S. surveillance programs leaked by an American defense contractor said Tuesday that there will be more 'significant revelations ' to come from the documents . 'We are going to have a lot more significant revelations that have not yet been heard over the next several weeks and months , ' said ... Greenwald . ''
-- Criminal charges are being prepared , says CBS News correspondent ( and former FBI official ) John Miller . The network reports Miller has learned that `` U.S. officials are in the process of filing charges against a government contractor [ Snowden ] after he admitted leaking secret government documents about controversial U.S. surveillance programs . ''
CBS adds : `` Although Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S. , the document has some exceptions , including for crimes deemed political . Any negotiations about his possible handover will involve Beijing , but some analysts believe China is unlikely to want to jeopardize its relationship with Washington over someone it would consider of little political interest . ''
You Face A U.S. Legal Problem . Where Should You Run ?
For Bobby Fischer , WikiLeaks & NSA Leaker , Iceland Is Haven
Also Tuesday , Morning Edition host Renee Montagne spoke with journalist and author James Bamford about the massive amount of data that the National Security Agency collects . | vln5yWf7Y4LMG5wh | 1 | NSA | -0.2 | Defense And Security | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
technology | New York Post (News) | https://nypost.com/2024/05/14/business/googles-alphabet-unveils-improved-ai-chatbot-gemini/ | Google upgrades search engine with ‘AI Overviews’ – risks revenue drain for media companies | 2024-05-15 | Technology, Media Industry, Business, Google, AI, Internet, Polarization | Google on Tuesday unveiled a major overhaul to its flagship search engine that uses AI-generated summaries to displace the links to news stories – a move that threatens to deprive traditional media companies of much-needed revenue.The new feature, “dubbed AI Overviews,” will debut in the US this week and provide answers to queries like “How to fix my toilet?” or “What is the best way to clean leather boots” — pushing down the set of links related to the search.The release at its annual I/O conference will surely rankle news outlets and other publishers who have seen their traffic – and ad revenue – crater at the expense of Google’s dominance of the internet.4 The new feature, “dubbed AI Overviews,” will debut in the US this week. Above, CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday. AP“By making this move, they’re flipping a switch to replace the open web with their own content to increase their profits – which still today are almost entirely driven by advertising,” Jason Kint, a prominent Google critic and CEO of Digital Content Next, told The Post.The Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant maintains a 90% market share in search. Its alleged monopoly led to a landmark lawsuit by the federal government against the company.Industry experts have speculated that AI Overviews could disrupt the advertising market – leading to potential annual losses for publishers of more than $2 billion.Marc McCollum, Chief Innovation Officer at media company Raptive, said the new technology will “significantly reduce creator traffic compared to their traditional search product.”“Google AI Overviews still uses copyrighted content without consent or compensation— competing directly with independent content creators,” McCollum told The Post. “This is yet another example of Big Tech making moves that devastate successful small businesses.”Ross Hudgens, CEO of search engine optimization firm Siege Media, told the Washington Post this week that some publishers could lose 20% or more of their search traffic due to Google’s changes.4 Industry experts have speculated that AI Overviews could disrupt the advertising market – leading to potential annual losses for publishers of more than $2 billion. AP“Some people are going to just get bludgeoned,” Hudgens said.The Post reached out to Google for comment.The company maintained in a blogpost that links presented within AI Overviews “will get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for that query.”“As we expand this experience, we’ll continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators,” Liz Reid, the head of Google Search, said in a blog post.More than 1 billion users will have access to AI Overviews in their search results by the end of the year.Last fall, a study published by Columbia University found that Google should pay news outlets between $10 billion and $12 billion to account for the ad revenue generated by their search traffic.4 Liz Reid, Google head of search, said ‘We’ll continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators.” APGoogle has already faced intense criticism for displaying AI-generated ripoffs prominently in its search results – in some cases ahead of the human-produced content they copied. Elsewhere, a study found that the quality of Google’s search engine results has actually “gotten worse” due to rampant spam.The tech giant could also face scrutiny over the quality of the answers after the disastrous rollout of its Gemini chatbot’s AI image generation tool, which had to be disabled after it began spitting out historically inaccurate pictures – including Black Vikings and female Popes.Google unveiled AI Overviews along with a slate of other products just one day after Microsoft-backed OpenAI wowed audiences with the release of ChatGPT-4o, an updated version of the popular chatbot capable of real-time language translation and other conversational interactions.4 Google has already faced intense criticism for displaying AI-generated ripoffs prominently in its search results – in some cases ahead of the human-produced content they copied. ZUMAPRESS.comSome analysts have cited the rise of ChatGPT and other chatbots as a threat to Google’s search empire.One alarming study conducted by research firm Gartner predicted that overall traffic to the web from search engines will plunge by 25% in 2026 due to the rise of AI chatbots.Google is leaning further into the AI race even as it faces unprecedented scrutiny from antitrust watchdogs over alleged anticompetitive behavior across its business.As The Post reported last October, some critics, including former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), have warned that the integration of AI features could further entrench Google’s monopoly over online search – unless officials take action.The federal judge in the Justice Department’s case against Google is expected to rule later this year. | d67bb57c9f437a98 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/17/background-check-setback-we-will-not-get-votes-tod/ | Background check setback: "We will not get the votes today," Manchin reveals | 2013-04-17 | gun_control_and_gun_rights | Sen. Joe Manchin III , West Virginia Democrat and one of the co-sponsors of a measure to expand gun-purchase background checks to sales online and at gun shows , said that proponents do not have the votes to pass it Wednesday .
The development is a gigantic setback for gun-control advocates , who , after the Connecticut shooting rampage , had their eyes set on much more ambitious controls , such as bans on certain types of weapons and magazines and universal background checks on all gun sales .
President Obama has made campaign-style trips to sell the administration ’ s package , crafted by Vice President Joseph R. Biden , who has been Mr. Obama ’ s point man on the issue .
“ We will not get the votes today , ” said Mr. Manchin , according to NBC ’ s Kelly O ’ Donnell .
Appearing on MSNBC ’ s “ Morning Joe , ” however , Mr. Manchin appeared to hold out hope .
“ If we just had 20 percent of our Republican colleagues — that ’ s not a heavy ask ; that ’ s not a heavy lift — only 20 percent , that ’ s nine members , nine members . This thing would be home , ” Mr. Manchin said . “ And we ’ ll see . I ’ m hoping … I can ’ t understand it . I really can ’ t . ”
And Jonathan Kott , a spokesman for the senator , said Mr. Manchin remains optimistic that if senators read the bill , they will support it .
“ So far Senator Manchin has managed to garner support from an A-rated NRA member and three Republican senators as well as 90 percent of his own party , ” Mr. Kott said . “ With a record like that , I see no reason to bet against Senator Manchin today . He will continue to explain his bill to his colleagues and anyone with concerns until the minute they vote . ”
Mr. Manchin said on the Senate floor Wednesday that he wasn ’ t sure he had the votes and that it would be close .
“ I feel good . I feel I ’ m here for this purpose , ” he said . “ Whatever happens today will happen . I feel we ’ ve done a good job , and I just ask my colleagues to consider this before we vote sometime this afternoon . ”
Prospects for the amendment , though , faded significantly Wednesday as Sen. Kelly Ayotte , New Hampshire Republican , and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp , North Dakota Democrat , both said they would not support it . Both had voted to move debate forward on the underlying legislation last week , which includes more far-reaching background-check language , stiff penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchasing , and provisions intended to bolster school safety .
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , Nevada Democrat , has scheduled votes on eight other amendments to underlying gun legislation , including bans on certain types of guns and magazines .
Sen. Chuck Grassley , Iowa Republican , and other co-sponsors unveiled a substitute amendment Wednesday morning intended to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System ( NICS ) and address mental health and school safety , among other provisions .
Sen. Tom Coburn , Oklahoma Republican , also announced his own amendment intended to replace the background-check provision from Mr. Manchin and Sen. Patrick J. Toomey , Pennsylvania Republican , that would allow people to conduct self-checks through a consumer portal , among other measures .
Mr. Coburn said the fact that it contains provisions that anger special-interest groups on both sides is a sign of its strength .
“ Groups on the left have prioritized record-keeping over safety while groups on the right are helping arm illegal aliens and criminals with their incoherent opposition to any solution that closes gaps in the law , ” he said . “ If special-interest groups want to defend a system that arms illegal aliens , pedophiles , spousal abusers , drug dealers , felons , mentally-dangerous persons and others on the ‘ do not buy list , ’ they are welcome to make that case with their members . ” | tpC6achV1uPRXvvd | 2 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | -0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
media_bias | Breitbart News | https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/06/15/white-house-reporters-hailed-as-information-heroes/ | White House Reporters Hailed as ‘Information Heroes’ | 2020-06-15 | media_bias | Paris ( AFP ) – A watchdog has hailed the White House press corps as “ information heroes ” alongside 30 journalists , whistleblowers and media outlets struggling against the odds to get the truth out about the coronavirus pandemic .
Reporters Without Frontiers praised the correspondents for their persistence in grilling U.S. President Donald Trump in a roll of honour that included Li Wenliang , the 34-year-old doctor from Wuhan Central Hospital who was questioned by police for “ spreading false rumours ” when he raised the alarm about the virus , and who later died from it .
The Paris-based organisation , known by its French initials RSF , picked out Weijia Jiang and Paula Reid of CBS , Peter Alexander of NBC and Kristin Fisher of Fox News for particular praise for their “ integrity and competence ” faced with sarcasm , scorn and insults from Trump and his aides .
It said they “ have continued week after week to question the way the president and his administration are handling the pandemic ” .
The Wuhan blogger Fang Fang , who chronicled the lockdown there in her “ Dispatches from a Quarantined City ” , was also lauded as were several journalists across the world who have been jailed , arrested , beaten , harassed and prosecuted for their revelations .
Bangladeshi cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore is facing a life sentence under what the RSF called the country ’ s “ Kafkaesque Digital Security Act ” for “ spreading rumours and misinformation about the coronavirus situation ” in the country .
His fellow countryman Salim Akash was locked up in Jordan for trying to report on the fate of Bangladeshi migrant workers there during the epidemic .
The watchdog also picked out the cases of New York Times reporter Chris Buckley who was forced to leave China last month for incurring the wrath of the authorities after spending 76 days in Wuhan at the height of the outbreak .
The Beijing-based outlet Caixin was also praised for “ defying harassment and censorship by the authorities in order to publish reports questioning their handling of the coronavirus crisis ” .
One of Equatorial Guinea ’ s most popular television programmes , “ Buenos dias Guinea ” , was suspended last month after criticising soldiers beating people in the street to enforce the lockdown .
Reporter Eugene Dube was forced to flee to neighbouring South Africa when he was roughed up by police in Eswatini ( formerly Swaziland ) for his reporting and warned he would be tried for “ high treason ” against King Mswati .
“ Some people have taken such big risks to report the reality of the pandemic that they have died as a result , while others have disappeared or have been jailed , ” said RSF director Christophe Deloire .
Thirteen journalists have died from the virus in the Ecuadorean economic capital Guayaquil alone , he said .
“ Prosecuted , attacked , insulted — many have paid a high price for defending the right to information and for combatting the rumours and disinformation that aggravate the consequences of this public health crisis , ” Deloire added . | Ln25JDDZNhRy7Z5h | 2 | Coronavirus | 2.3 | Media Bias | 1.8 | Media Watch | 0 | Media Industry | 0 | null | null |
white_house | Vanity Fair | http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/01/donald-trumps-chilling-language-and-the-power-of-words | DONALD TRUMP’S CHILLING LANGUAGE, AND THE FEARSOME POWER OF WORDS | white_house | Many of the techniques Trump uses in his speeches are timeworn propaganda maneuvers , used by demagogues across the centuries : appealing to voters ’ emotions , rather than their intellects ; constantly repeating a handful of simplistic ideas in easy-to-remember phrases ( “ Make America Great Again , ” “ America First ” ) ; using us-versus-them formulations and coded ( or not-so-coded ) language about minorities and immigrants that play to audiences ’ resentments and fears ; relentlessly assailing “ enemies ” with memorable epithets ( “ Crooked Hillary , ” “ Lyin ’ Ted ” ) .
Precise words , like facts , appear not to mean that much to Trump .
If Trump ’ s favorite form of communication , Twitter , is emblematic of his own short attention span and appetite for the verbal punch-and-jab , it ’ s also a reminder of how uncannily adapted his use of language has been to our A.D.D. , information-overloaded era in which the loudest , shrillest and most sensationalistic voices tend to be the ones heard above the din of data , and get the most clicks online , the most eyeballs on TV . His sowing of discord ( for instance , against women , against Muslims , against Mexicans ) reflects an increasingly polarized landscape in which technology has allowed people to retreat to narrow silos , talking only to like-minded folks ; just as his willful contempt for facts ( from questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States to his claim that he watched “ thousands and thousands of people ” cheering in New Jersey , “ when the World Trade Center came tumbling down ” on 9/11 ) mirrors a cultural landscape in which subjectivity and fake news are ascendant . His supporter , the political commentator Scottie Nell Hughes , has gone so far as to declare that “ there ’ s no such thing , unfortunately , anymore as facts . ”
Precise words , like facts , appear not to mean that much to Trump . He has said he sometimes fails to “ choose the right words , ” without apologizing for specific insults , or acknowledging that the content of his remarks might be offensive or utterly untrue . At times , he seems more focused on his performance than on the words issuing from his mouth . Meet the Press host Chuck Todd observed that after several of his appearances as a candidate , Trump would lean back in his chair and ask the control room to replay his appearance on a monitor—without sound : “ He wants to see what it all looked like . He will watch the whole thing on mute . ”
When it comes to Trump ’ s aides and supporters , they are often left scrambling to explain , rationalize or walk-back his more alarming statements , which can contradict previous remarks he or Cabinet members or Republican leaders have made . An adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , who met with Trump after the election , said their delegation was told by people around the then president-elect : “ We don ’ t have to take each word that Mr. Trump said publicly literally . ”
In unscripted remarks , Trump ’ s blunt promises ( about , say , building a wall ) and boasts are often embedded , as small nuggets of verbal clarity , amid yards and yards of words , strung together in tortured syntax that is the bane of translators and transcribers . He has a taste for short punchy words ( “ Sad ! ” ) and studies have variously ranked his talk at a third , fourth or sixth grade level . His sentences are stuffed full with shaggy-dog digressions , frequent narcissistic asides , false starts , odd qualifiers , and free associative ramblings .
When asked during the first debate with Hillary Clinton about the Iraq war , this was part of Trump ’ s answer : “ The record shows that I ’ m right . When I did an interview with Howard Stern , very lightly , first time anyone ’ s asked me that , I said , very lightly , I don ’ t know , maybe , who knows ? Essentially . I then did an interview with Neil Cavuto . We talked about the economy is more important . I then spoke to Sean Hannity , which everybody refuses to call Sean Hannity . I had numerous conversations with Sean Hannity at Fox . And Sean Hannity said—and he called me the other day—and I spoke to him about it—he said you were totally against the war , because he was for the war . ”
This incoherent “ word salad , ” as observers have called it , and its attendant ambiguity gives Trump a lot of room to maneuver—and gives Republican allies room to reinterpret and spin . It contributes to the chaos that frequently seems to swirl around Trump and his team , which , in turn , leads to confusion and outrage fatigue on the part of voters and the press .
In the case of foreign policy , in particular , such confusion can also have unforeseen consequences “ We ’ re just operating in this world where you can not believe the things he says , ” said Eliot Cohen , a former official with the State Department in the George W. Bush administration . “ It will have large consequences for our allies and our adversaries , and it ’ s going to greatly magnify the danger of miscalculation by all kinds of people . ”
It ’ s a somber reminder , despite Team Trump ’ s cynical and transactional use of language , that words—and the precise use of words—do matter very much . | ePzujVddi2k8Tp8O | 0 | White House | -0.1 | Donald Trump | -0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | |
middle_east | Guest Writer - Right | https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/iran-deal/559733/ | The Nuclear Deal Keeps America From Confronting Iranian Aggression | 2018-05-06 | Middle East | Once Trump is out, Washington can get serious about the regime’s misbehavior. In his latest entry in our Atlantic debate on the Iran deal, Philip Gordon appears distinctly uncomfortable with the inescapable part of American preeminence—U.S. willingness to use force fairly often to maintain the liberal world order, which the United States created after World War II. Unlike many on the left and right, Gordon actually recognizes that this order is both real and good, and we would miss it sorely if it were to vanish before the assault of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Xi Jinping’s China, and Ali Khamenei’s Iran. Contrary to what Barack Obama often suggested, the West is special, and it’s the anchor for a moral order that keeps much of the world from descending into a Hobbesian state of nature. The burdens of leading the Western alliance are large. They have sometimes pitted America against the Europeans. The scholar Bob Kagan once asked the French, who came very close to joining the United States in the Second Iraq War, to please give America another pole in their sought-after “multipolar” world. If the Europeans want to veto American foreign policy, then they should put more skin in the game. Alliances exist for a reason; they are not ends in themselves. This point has sometimes been lost in discussions of the transatlantic relationship. Many Democrats and Republicans tend to see congenial relations between Americans and Europeans as the ultimate good, more important than, say, corralling and defeating the Soviet Union; stopping a savage, aggressive, weapons-of-mass-destruction hungry tyrant in the Middle East; or thwarting the Iranian regime’s quest for the bomb. More Stories Forget the Bomb and Help Iranians Fight Their Regime Trump Delivers a Victory to Iran | 4741a84653d4a552 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | NPR Online News | http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2016/02/02/465237364/cruz-deals-trump-a-setback-in-iowa-clinton-edges-sanders | Cruz Deals Trump A Setback In Iowa; Clinton Narrowly Edges Out Sanders | 2016-02-02 | elections | Cruz Deals Trump A Setback In Iowa ; Clinton Narrowly Edges Out Sanders
Iowa has once again proved its perennial resistance to political inevitability and the power of personality .
In this year 's iteration of the Iowa caucuses , national polling leaders Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had their campaign momentum slowed in significant ways by party activists who preferred their rivals .
A big win in Iowa might have set either leader on the path to a relatively easy nomination . But that was not to be , and now both Trump and Clinton face difficult and perhaps protracted struggles to overcome rivals they had hoped to dismiss .
It was perhaps a greater shock to Trump , who has carried all before him since entering the contest last summer — including the polls in Iowa in January . Clinton had known she was in trouble for weeks , as her Iowa lead over Bernie Sanders evaporated .
The big winner on Monday night was Ted Cruz , the Texas senator beloved by conservative hardliners in the media and on the hustings . Cruz won the GOP caucuses with 28 percent of the vote , eclipsing Trump 's 24 percent .
Close behind them was Marco Rubio , the Florida senator who had risen rapidly in recent weeks . He finished only a single percentage point behind Trump .
All that contributed to a sense of deflation surrounding Trump as he delivered his concession speech . After dominating the Republican campaign for six months with his braggadocio and elaborate promises , Trump spoke only briefly Monday night and then left the stage . He told supporters he had done far better than doubters had projected last summer , but did not mention the now-discredited lead he had taken in several Iowa polls in January .
Trump will now have his first opportunity to show his mettle as a contestant in the public arena . Everyone knows Trump can throw a punch ; now we will see how well he can take one .
Cruz , meanwhile , survived a withering crossfire from Trump and Rubio , a tag team that had been attacking him for weeks . Trump called Cruz `` a total liar '' for calling him a supporter of Obamacare . Rubio aired ads parodying Cruz 's TRUSTED logo with ads labeling the Texan CALCULATED instead .
In the end , Cruz relied on the strategy that had worked for Rick Santorum in 2012 and for Mike Huckabee in 2008 , going straight at the state 's evangelical Christian voters . That group was once again estimated at 60 percent of the GOP caucus population . And Cruz was clearly their preferred entrant in a field of a dozen that included both Santorum and Huckabee .
On the Democratic side , the Iowa Democratic Party declared Clinton the winner , but her margin of victory was exquisitely narrow . The IDP said Clinton received 699.57 state delegate equivalents , to Sanders ' 695.49 . There are currently 2.28 delegate equivalents still outstanding , not enough for Sanders to make up the difference . There is no mechanism for a recount .
In a microcosm of the state , tiny Calhoun County split its vote 200 to 200 for a perfect tie .
In a move reminiscent of her husband Bill 's 1992 campaign for president , Clinton took the stage at 11:30 p.m. Iowa time , speaking of `` a great sigh of relief '' but not really claiming victory . ( That would come in a campaign statement hours later . ) Clinton also seized more attention by coming out to speak before Cruz had finished his victory speech , knocking him off television .
Sanders followed not long after with a speech of his own , also not claiming outright victory but glorying in how far his quixotic campaign had come .
Once again , Iowa 's process proved the undoing of lesser candidacies that had hoped for a miracle . Before the votes had been tallied , Martin O'Malley had announced he was suspending his bid for the Democratic nomination . The former Maryland governor had notable moments in some of the debates with Clinton and Sanders , but he never moved the needle in Iowa or nationally .
Not long thereafter , Huckabee also suspended his long-shot campaign , which at times seemed more an exercise in nostalgia than a realistic bid for office . Also on life support after anemic showings were the other candidates who have appeared in the so-called `` undercard '' portion of the Republican debates : Jim Gilmore , Rick Santorum and Carly Fiorina . Santorum promptly announced he would campaign in every county of South Carolina , and Fiorina 's campaign said she had `` a 50-state strategy . ''
Hoping to reverse their fortunes were Jeb Bush , John Kasich , Rand Paul and Chris Christie , all of whom had focused more on New Hampshire than Iowa . But at this point , all four must contend not only with each other , but with a Rubio campaign that suddenly seems the best hope of those bent on stopping Cruz and Trump .
Early in the evening , polls taken for a consortium of media organizations showed Trump and Clinton in charge . Both appeared headed toward relatively easy wins , in part because the record-high Republican turnout was thought to be driven largely by Trump and because older voters outnumbered younger ones among the Democrats .
While the early waves of entrance polls may have misdirected many observers , the characterizing of the voters did suggest a way to understand the actual results .
In the end , the unprecedented turnout among Republicans ( roughly 50 percent more than the record set in 2012 ) was driven as much by the appeal of Trump 's rivals as by Trump . But it did appear that age was the most important differentiating factor among Democrats . Sanders led Clinton by nearly 9 to 1 among voters under 30 , while Clinton got two-thirds of the votes among those 65 and older .
The Clinton-Sanders vote was so close that less than a percentage point separated them . A spokesman for the Sanders campaign said the results were suspect because many of the precincts had not been properly staffed and supervised by the Iowa Democratic Party .
The Iowa Democratic Party said it was still receiving some results in the wee hours of the morning , but that reports of missing votes or other irregularities were not accurate .
It was not clear whether that complaint would be pursued beyond caucus night . | VcIl76lM2IBacDTg | 1 | Ted Cruz | 0.8 | Donald Trump | -0.7 | Presidential Elections | 0 | Elections | 0 | null | null |
environment | Newsmax | https://www.newsmax.com/headline/trump-vehicle-emissions-rule/2019/09/17/id/933114/ | Trump to Bar California from Setting Vehicle Emission Rules | 2019-09-17 | Auto Emissions, Trump Administration, California, Environment | The Trump administration will announce as early as Wednesday it is revoking California ’ s authority to set its own greenhouse gas and vehicle fuel efficiency standards and barring all states from setting such rules , two auto industry officials said on Tuesday .
The move is sure to spark legal challenges over issues including states ' rights and climate change that administration officials say could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court .
Trump met with senior officials last Thursday and agreed to greenlight the plan to bar California from setting tailpipe emission standards or requiring zero emission vehicles , Reuters reported last week . The White House declined to comment .
The administration plans to issue separate rules rolling back Obama-era fuel economy requirements in the coming weeks . A formal announcement is tentatively set for Wednesday at the Environmental Protection Agency 's ( EPA ) headquarters and automakers and dealers have been invited to attend , industry officials said .
Government officials said the timing is still in flux and could be announced later in the week .
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler , speaking to a group of auto dealers , said Tuesday that `` in the very near future , the Trump administration will begin taking the steps necessary to establish one set of national fuel-economy standards . ''
Under Trump , federal regulators have backed freezing emissions requirements for new cars and trucks at 2020 levels through 2026 . Administration officials say its final regulation will include a modest boost in annual efficiency requirements but far less than what the Obama administration set in 2012 .
The Obama-era rules called for a fleetwide fuel efficiency average of 46.7 miles per gallon by 2025 , with average annual increases of about 5 % , compared with 37 mpg by 2026 under the Trump administration ’ s preferred option to freeze requirements .
Wheeler said the EPA would take action `` very soon '' with the U.S. Transportation Department `` to bring clarity to the proper – and improper – scope and use of the Clean Air Act preemption waiver . ''
Reuters has previously reported the administration plans to revoke the waiver California received in 2013 to set its own vehicle emissions standards that are followed by more than a dozen other states .
California wants 15.4 % of vehicle sales by 2025 to be EVs or other zero emission vehicles and 10 other states have adopted those requirements .
California has vowed to challenge the Trump administration effort , arguing that the United States has an obligation to protect the environment for future generations . `` We 'll see you in court if you stand in our way , '' California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said .
Some senior administration officials believe provoking a court battle with California gives them a historic chance to displace the state from vehicle emissions oversight and could give the Supreme Court the chance to revisit a landmark 5-4 2007 decision that found the EPA has the legal authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles .
Wheeler on Tuesday said California 's ability to address smog and other forms of air pollution caused by motor vehicles would not be affected .
`` One national standard will provide much-needed regulatory certainty to automakers , dealers , and consumers , '' he said .
To meet the Obama-era rules , automakers might have been forced to lower the price of electric vehicles and `` raise the price of other , more popular vehicles , such as SUVs and trucks , '' Wheeler added .
`` In other words , American families are paying more for SUVs and trucks so automakers can sell EVs at a cheaper price . ''
Dan Becker , director of the Safe Climate Campaign , said the attack on California and other states `` threatens to make America polluted again . It rejects cleaner , less-polluting vehicles in favor of pollution-spewing Trump-mobiles for urban cowboys hauling lattes home from Starbucks . ''
The Trump administration is battling California on several auto industry fronts .
In August , the Justice Department sent letters to four major automakers asking about their voluntary agreement with California to adopt compromise vehicle emissions requirements , antitrust chief Makan Delrahim confirmed Tuesday .
`` I 'm not out there to try to increase pollution into the air , '' Delrahim said at a Senate hearing .
Ford Motor Co , Honda Motor Co , BMW AG , and Volkswagen AG said in July they had reached a deal to adopt standards that were lower than Obama-era rules but higher than the Trump administration ’ s 2018 proposal .
The automakers were defying the Trump administration ’ s effort to strip California of the right to fight climate change by setting its own standards . | dd391f1b1d91bb05 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
immigration | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/15/politics/immigration/index.html | Obama administration to stop deporting some young illegal immigrants | 2012-06-15 | immigration | Story highlights President Obama says the new policy is `` more fair , more efficient and more just ''
Republicans criticize the change as a political move that grants amnesty
Secretary Napolitano says the change is not amnesty or immunity
They must be successful students or have served in the military , with clean records
In an election-year policy change , the Obama administration said Friday it will stop deporting young illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children if they meet certain requirements .
The shift on the politically volatile issue of immigration policy prompted immediate praise from Latino leaders who have criticized Congress and the White House for inaction , while Republicans reacted with outrage , saying the move amounts to amnesty -- a negative buzz word among conservatives -- and usurps congressional authority .
Those who might benefit from the change expressed joy and relief , with celebratory demonstrations forming outside the White House and elsewhere .
Pedro Ramirez , a student who has campaigned for such a move , said he was `` definitely speechless , '' then added : `` It 's great news . ''
In a Rose Garden address Friday afternoon , President Barack Obama said the changes caused by his executive order will make immigration policy `` more fair , more efficient and more just . ''
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`` This is not amnesty . This is not immunity . This is not a path to citizenship . It 's not a permanent fix , '' Obama said to take on conservative criticism of the step . `` This is a temporary stopgap measure . ''
Noting children of illegal immigrants `` study in our schools , play in our neighborhoods , befriend our kids , pledge allegiance to our flag , '' Obama said , `` it makes no sense to expel talented young people who are , for all intents and purposes , Americans . ''
When a reporter interrupted Obama with a hostile question , the president admonished him and declared that the policy change is `` the right thing to do . ''
Under the new policy , people younger than 30 who came to the United States before the age of 16 , pose no criminal or security threat , and were successful students or served in the military can get a two-year deferral from deportation , Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said .
It also will allow those meeting the requirements to apply for work permits , Napolitano said , adding that participants must be in the United States now and be able to prove they have been living in the country continuously for at least five years .
The change is part of a department effort to target resources at illegal immigrants who pose a greater threat , such as criminals and those trying to enter the country now , Napolitano said , adding it was `` well within the framework of existing laws . ''
The move addresses a major concern of the Hispanic community and mimics some of the provisions of a Democratic proposal called the DREAM Act that has failed to win enough Republican support to gain congressional approval .
Obama has been criticized by Hispanic-American leaders for an overall increase in deportations of illegal aliens in recent years . Last year , U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed 396,906 illegal immigrants , the largest number in the agency 's history .
Friday 's policy change is expected to potentially affect 800,000 people , an administration official told CNN on background .
Both Obama and Napolitano called for Congress to pass the DREAM Act , which would put into law similar steps for children of illegal immigrants to continue living and working in the country .
`` I 've been dealing with immigration enforcement for 20 years and the plain fact of the matter is that the law that we 're working under does n't match the economic needs of the country today and the law enforcement needs of the country today , '' Napolitano told CNN . `` But as someone who is charged with enforcing the immigration system , we 're setting good , strong , sensible priorities , and again these young people really are not the individuals that the immigration removal process was designed to focus upon . ''
Republicans who have blocked Democratic efforts on immigration reform immediately condemned the move , with some calling it an improper maneuver to skirt congressional opposition .
Rep. Steve King of Iowa , a leading GOP foe of Democratic proposals for immigration reform , threatened to file a lawsuit asking the courts to stop Obama `` from implementing his unconstitutional and unlawful policy . ''
In a Twitter post , Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the decision `` a classic Barack Obama move of choosing politics over leadership , '' while House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith , R-Texas , called the change a `` decision to grant amnesty to potentially millions of illegal immigrants . ''
`` Many illegal immigrants will falsely claim they came here as children and the federal government has no way to check whether their claims are true , '' Smith said in a statement . `` And once these illegal immigrants are granted deferred action , they can then apply for a work permit , which the administration routinely grants 90 % of the time . ''
Others complained the move will flood an already poor job market for young Americans with illegal immigrants .
However , Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois , who sponsored the DREAM Act , welcomed the announcement that he said `` will give these young immigrants their chance to come out of the shadows and be part of the only country they 've ever called home . ''
He rejected the GOP argument that Obama 's move was all about politics , noting `` there will be those who vote against him because of this decision , too . That 's what leadership is about . ''
Durbin also noted that Obama repeatedly called for Congress to pass immigration reform legislation , including the DREAM Act . Now that it is clear no progress would occur this Congress , the president acted , Durbin said .
Obama has used executive orders more frequently in recent months to launch initiatives he advocates that have been stymied by the deep partisan divide in Congress . A White House campaign of such steps involving economic programs was labeled `` We Ca n't Wait . ''
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida , who has been working on an alternative version of the DREAM Act , criticized Obama for taking a piecemeal approach Friday . He said in a statement that `` by once again ignoring the Constitution and going around Congress , this short-term policy will make it harder to find a balanced and responsible long-term one . ''
Rubio is considered a possible running mate for certain GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney , who rejected the DREAM Act in the heat of the Republican primary campaign but has since expressed willingness to consider whatever Rubio proposes .
Later Friday , Romney told reporters that the issue needs more substantive action than an executive order , which can be replaced by a subsequent president .
He said he agrees with Rubio 's statement that Obama 's move makes finding a long-term solution more difficult . As president , Romney said , he would seek to provide `` certainty and clarity for people who come into this country through no fault of their own by virtue of the actions of their parents . ''
Hispanics make up the fastest-growing immigrant population in the country , and the Latino vote is considered a crucial bloc for the November presidential election .
A spokeswoman for a major Latino group , the National Council of La Raza , hailed the administration 's move .
`` In light of the congressional inaction on immigration reform , this is the right step for the administration to take at this time , '' said NCLR spokeswoman Laura Vazquez .
Immigration lawyers also called the change a major step in the right direction . However , one immigration expert warned that the new policy does not guarantee the result sought by participants .
`` I worry that the announcement will be implemented more stingily than the administration would like , '' said Stephen Yale-Loehr , who teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School .
Meanwhile , some evangelical Christian leaders who recently met at the White House to discuss immigration issues also endorsed Friday 's move , along with the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and some Jewish groups .
For Jose Luis Zelaya , who came to the United States illegally from Honduras at age 14 to find his mother , also an illegal immigrant , the new policy means that `` maybe I will be able to work without being afraid that someone may deport me . '' | Nondu2FTpxDj1NUe | 0 | Immigration | 5.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
general_news | Snopes | https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/05/06/origins-of-mothers-day/ | The Anti-War Origins of Mother’s Day | 2021-05-09 | Holidays, Mother's Day, Family And Marriage, Culture, Coronavirus, Life During Covid-19, General News | For many people, Mother's Day may conjure up images of croissants, mimosas, and brunch on the second Sunday of May, but did you know this holiday can trace its origins back to anti-war efforts in the 1800s? Here's the story of where American Mother's Day began, how it evolved, and why its founder eventually came to disown it altogether. The origins of Mother's Day can be traced back to the 1860s, according to historian Katharine Lane Antolini, when Ann Reeves Jarvis (shown above, left) started Mother's Day Work Clubs in various Appalachian communities in an effort to combat infant mortality rates. Jarvis educated the community about diseases and sanitation and provided access to medicine. The BBC writes: Mrs Jarvis had spent her life mobilising mothers to care for their children, says historian Katharine Antolini, and she wanted mothers' work to be recognised. "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mothers' day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it," Mrs Jarvis said. She was very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, where, from 1858, she ran Mothers' Day Work Clubs to combat high infant and child mortality rates, mostly due to diseases that ravaged their community in Grafton, West Virginia. In the work clubs mothers learned about hygiene and sanitation, such as the vital importance of boiling drinking water. The organisers provided medicine and supplies to sick families and, when necessary, quarantined entire households to prevent epidemics. Jarvis' wish for an official Mother's Day to be established would eventually be fulfilled by her daughter, Anna Jarvis. But before we get to that part of the story, we have to go to Boston in the 1870s. In the years following the end of the Civil War in 1865, activist Julia Ward Howe (shown above, center) called on the mothers of the world to help bring peace to an America that had been divided by war. In 1870, Howe wrote an "Appeal to Womanhood Throughout the World," which would later be referred to as the "Mother's Day Proclamation." 07 Oct 1870, Fri The Bulletin-Journal (Independence, Iowa) Newspapers.com Howe, who is perhaps better known for penning the song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," began her efforts to establish June 2 as "Mother's Peace Day" in 1872. Howe, as well as other activists from the Universal Peace Union, held a number of Mother's Day festivals throughout the late 1800s. Here's a newspaper clipping from one such celebration in 1876: 03 Jun 1876, Sat National Republican (Washington, District of Columbia) Newspapers.com While Howe was working to establish a Mother's Peace Day, Jarvis' Mother's Day Work Clubs had also taken on a post-war conciliatory goal. The West Virginia Department of Arts, History and Culture writes that when the Civil War ended, Jarvis started organizing "Mothers' Friendship Days" that sought to bring together soldiers, neighbors, and families of differing political beliefs: Near the end of the war, the Jarvis family moved to the larger town of Grafton. Tensions increased as both Union and Confederate soldiers returned at war's end. In the summer of 1865, Ann Jarvis organized a Mothers' Friendship Day at the courthouse in Pruntytown to bring together soldiers and neighbors of all political beliefs. The event was a great success despite the fear of many that it would erupt in violence. Mothers' Friendship Day was an annual event for several years. While various events, festivals, and clubs celebrating the power of a mother's love have been celebrated in the United States since the 1860s, it wasn't until a spring day in 1908 that the holiday was celebrated to specifically honor mothers. In fact, it was largely celebrated to honor one specific mother. Anna Jarvis (shown above, right), the daughter of Ann Jarvis, held the first Mother's Day celebration on May 10, 1908, at the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. The celebration, which took place three years after Mother Jarvis died, was attended by about 400 people. Antolini, the author of "Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother’s Day," talked to Vox about the origins of the holiday: [Jarvis] selected the second Sunday in May because it marked the anniversary of her mother's death and she wanted Mother's Day to always fall on the Sabbath. Her vision of motherhood stayed constant through the years for a couple of reasons. "A lot of it is that Anna herself never marries or has children. She has no idea what motherhood means from the eye of the mother," Antolini says. "It was very much seeing motherhood through the eyes of a child." Jarvis retreated from her mother's socially conscious vision for Mother's Day in favor of one that idolized the mother's individual role. Jarvis' Mother's Day celebration soon spread to other cities. In 1914, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation to officially establish Mother's Day as a national holiday. Wilson invited the American public to display flags "on the second Sunday in May as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." In the first few years after Jarvis' 1908 Mother's Day celebration, she promoted the holiday by, for instance, lobbying florists and card companies to promote the holiday. While these efforts largely helped Jarvis achieve her goal of establishing a national holiday, she would later speak out against the commercialization of Mother's Day. History.com writes: While Jarvis had initially worked with the floral industry to help raise Mother’s Day’s profile, by 1920 she had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized. She outwardly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother’s Day flowers, cards and candies. Jarvis eventually resorted to an open campaign against Mother’s Day profiteers, speaking out against confectioners, florists and even charities. She also launched countless lawsuits against groups that had used the name “Mother’s Day,” eventually spending most of her personal wealth in legal fees. By the time of her death in 1948 Jarvis had disowned the holiday altogether, and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar. Jarvis' attempts to de-commercialize the holiday, of course, weren't all that successful. In 2018, the National Restaurant Association found that more than a third of American adults (87 million people) would dine out for Mother's Day. In 2020, the National Retail Federation estimated that more than $28.1 billion would be spent on Mother's Day, with the average person spending more than $200 on gifts, cards, flowers, or special outings. It should be noted that celebrating mothers is not exclusively an American practice. Mothers are celebrated around the world (and on different days) with a wide range of festivals and traditions. Many of these celebrations also predate America's Mother's Day holiday. The United Kingdom, for instance, has been celebrating "Mothering Sunday" on the fourth Sunday of Lent since the 16th century. In ancient Rome, the mother goddess Cybele was also celebrated during Hilaria festivals. Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes. Company Navigate Sections Account © 1995 - 2025 by Snopes Media Group Inc. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com 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 | 747e5ebf108a2252 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | Washington Times | https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/5/q-qanon-followers-gain-prominence-donald-trump-ral/ | 'Q,' followers gain prominence at Trump rallies: 'All of us are looking for truth' | 2018-08-05 | politics | Gary Brown of central Ohio is a follower of “ Q , ” the mysterious internet figure suddenly gaining prominence at President Trump ’ s campaign rallies .
Mr. Brown , a real estate agent and retired firefighter , began paying attention to the cryptic and frequently pro-Trump comments posted by the anonymous Q on message boards last year . He concluded that Q is better informed than the mainstream media about Washington and other topics .
“ I don ’ t know for a fact who Q is , ” Mr. Brown said . “ I have strong thoughts that it certainly could be someone in the administration . All I know is , when I read what is posted on the ‘ Q board , ’ it seems to be more relevant and more true than what I ’ m reading in the papers . ”
On message boards such as QAnon.pub and 8ch.net , a person or group of people identified only as Q has been posting provocative questions about the government since October .
In a typical post , Q wrote last week about election security , “ How do you safeguard the integrity of our elections from domestic & foreign criminal actors ? How do you utilize the Russia narrative to knock out decades old election corruption ? Why are D ’ s opposed to cleaning up voter rolls ? Why are D ’ s opposed to imposing VOTER ID LAWS to further safeguard our elections ? ”
Q claims to have top-level security clearance and knowledge of a worldwide criminal conspiracy involving special counsel Robert Mueller ’ s investigation . It says Mr. Mueller is looking into top Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama instead of suspected collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign .
Many of Q ’ s followers believe top Democrats and others such as Sen. John McCain , Arizona Republican , will soon be sent to prison in a development they call “ the storm. ” It is a reference to a comment by Mr. Trump last year , when he quipped during a meeting with his military chiefs that their gathering might be “ the calm before the storm . ”
Followers also have been promoting theories that certain Hollywood figures are involved in child-sex rings . Their anonymous posts often share the view that Mr. Trump will prevail over globalists and “ deep state ” operatives .
Roseanne Barr frequently has tweeted about QAnon and has shared on Twitter a phrase used by QAnon followers : “ wwg1wga , ” short for “ where we go one , we go all. ” Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has retweeted QAnon videos .
QAnon.pub has been receiving about 7 million hits per month . From the shadowy corners of the internet , Q ’ s followers burst onto the political scene last week .
At a Trump rally in Tampa , Florida , some in the crowd held up a “ We are Q ” signs in view of television cameras . Others wore T-shirts bearing the letter . Followers later were gleeful about a video that appeared to show Mr. Trump pointing from the stage at a “ Q ” cutout held aloft in the crowd .
At a Trump rally two days later in Pennsylvania , more Q signs and T-shirts appeared .
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked last week whether the president “ encouraged the support ” of rally-goers wearing Q shirts , some of whom heckled journalists at the Tampa rally .
“ The president condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence against another individual and certainly doesn ’ t support groups that would promote that type of behavior , ” Mrs. Sanders said .
Her answer was panned on message boards by Q devotees , who said she either dodged the question or was wrongly associating them with violence .
Some coverage of Q followers in the mainstream media has characterized the movement as a “ cult , ” a “ fringe group ” and even a “ virus. ” Mr. Brown said he and many other Q followers are “ just regular folks . ”
“ All of us are looking for truth , ” Mr. Brown said in an interview . “ Are there nut jobs on there ? Yeah , there are . There are goofballs on there . But that ’ s the whole world . We ’ re all about trying to separate truth from fiction . ”
Asked whether Mr. Trump ’ s constant complaints about “ fake news ” have helped create the Q phenomenon , Mr. Brown said he believes public dissatisfaction and mistrust of the media were prominent long before Mr. Trump ran for office .
“ I think there has been a great sense of distrust that has been growing for a very long time , even way before Trump , ” he said . “ I just want the media to tell us the truth without an agenda . The American public is not stupid ; we can sort things out . I don ’ t think that Trump ’ s comments have given legs to Q ; I think the legs were already there . ”
He added : “ If you get a sense that the stories that you ’ re hearing on the radio and on TV are not true , you almost want to tune it out . If you ’ re not going to tell me the truth , don ’ t bother telling me anything . The timing of Q was rather interesting . It hit at a moment when people were hungry for truth . ”
Some of the videos and posts on message boards show a “ DaVinci Code ” -like fascination with numbers and clues . Last week , Praying Medic posted a YouTube video offering explanations for recent posts by Q and highlighted Mr. Trump ’ s comment at a rally that he had visited Washington 17 times before he was elected president .
“ The president could have picked out any random number , ” Praying Medic said on the video . “ But he happened to pick out the number 17 . Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet . ”
Q claims that fewer than 10 people in government know Q ’ s identity and says more than 50 million people are tracking the movement regularly .
Even before Q followers began showing up at Trump rallies , the movement was morphing into public view . Hundreds of followers of Q demonstrated outside the Justice Department in Washington in April , and a Q follower with firearms shut down a highway near the Hoover Dam in Nevada in June while bearing a sign that said , “ Release the OIG report . ”
The sign apparently was referring to the Justice Department ’ s Office of the Inspector General report criticizing former FBI Director James B. Comey ’ s handling of the Clinton email investigation . Q has suggested that Mr. Trump possesses a second , secret inspector general report on criminal behavior by Democrats .
Matthew Wright of Henderson , Arizona , is facing terrorism charges in the highway shutdown . He has written letters to Mr. Trump and other government officials containing the “ where we go one , we go all ” slogan .
Mr. Brown said Q followers are involved in the movement to get answers about important issues of the day from other people — anonymous people — who he believes don ’ t have an agenda .
“ You have an opportunity to do your own research , ” he said . “ I think it ’ s brilliant , if this is indeed coming to bypass the normal news media , to get the real story out . It seems more trustworthy to me than it has before , and I ’ ve been following it for a long time . ”
But he acknowledged , “ If we ’ re all being taken for a ride , that would be very surprising . But I have no way to prove it . ” | X63jRJ1LpsNuTtvy | 2 | Donald Trump | 1.1 | Politics | -0.5 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | The Guardian | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/25/republican-2020-debate-joe-walsh-bill-weld-two-man-battle-for-who-hates-trump-most | Republican 2020 debate: a two-man battle for who hates Trump most | 2019-09-25 | Presidential Elections, William Weld, Debates, Joe Walsh, Elections | Former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld tried to outdo each other with slams of Trump
Things aren ’ t going well for Donald Trump . Hours after the president learned he was the focus of an impeachment inquiry on Tuesday , Trump faced a remarkable barrage of attacks : from fellow Republicans taking part in a GOP presidential debate .
Trump-Ukraine scandal : memo shows president pushed for Biden investigation – live Read more
Two of his rivals for the Republican nomination – both are almost certain to lose – decried Trump as a “ child ” , a “ dictator ” , a “ horrible human being ” , and much more besides .
There was at least some good news for Trump : one of the candidates said he would not sentence him to death .
For all the tough talk , Tuesday ’ s bellicose event was the least of Trump ’ s worries . While the Democratic presidential debates have been a grand spectacle , with millions of people watching the candidates duke it out in grand theaters and looming convention centers , the GOP debate was less of an extravaganza .
Half of the four Republican candidates didn ’ t turn up , and only 50 people came out to watch . The debate was live-streamed on Facebook , where an average of 900 people tuned in through the night .
And where the Democratic debates drew hundreds of reporters from around the globe , just 12 journalists came to observe the GOP tête-à-tête , held at Business Insider ’ s office in downtown Manhattan . Three of the 12 were students working on a university project .
The no-show by Donald Trump ( Business Insider said the president “ did not respond ” to their invite ) and former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford ( “ declined due to scheduling ” ) , left just two candidates to debate each other , in a small studio in the corner of Business Insider ’ s office .
Those two were former Illinois congressman and rightwing radio host Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld . But rather than debate each other , the night turned into a stream of full-throated attacks on Trump , who Democrats had hours earlier said was to be investigated for possible wrongdoing .
“ Let ’ s not mince words , ” Walsh said , early on . “ Donald Trump is a horrible human being . ”
That set the tone . Walsh and Weld seemed determined to outdo each other in their criticism of the president .
Weld described Trump as a “ megalomanic ” , and a “ malignant narcissist ” . Trump is “ filled with fear , filled with hatred ” , Weld continued , and has “ profound autocratic tendencies ” .
“ Trump is just a demagogue , ” Walsh said , later adding : “ He said he was going to drain the swamp . He is the swamp . He is the most corrupt president we ’ ve had in the history of this country . ”
The pile-on got so ferocious that at one point Walsh felt the need to clarify something .
“ I don ’ t want Trump hung for treason . I just want him impeached ”
The debate followed a traditional format , and in between the Trump attacks both Walsh and Weld were asked questions on serious issues .
The climate crisis , Iran , automation of skilled jobs . Walsh and Weld meandered through some talking points . Both believed coal will phase itself out ; both thought Trump had been irresponsible on Iran . Weld said he would offer government funding for manufacturing workers who lose their jobs .
Walsh ’ s common theme was for less partisanship , and for Republicans and Democrats to work together . He repeatedly suggested the need for people of different backgrounds to have “ dialogue ” . Walsh even offered an example .
“ I do a podcast back home with a black guy from Illinois . It ’ s called Uncomfortable Conversations , ” he said . “ He ’ s the black guy , I ’ m the white guy . ”
It all sounded very noble – but in his criticism of Trump ’ s racism , bigotry and small-mindedness Walsh rather glossed over his own record of engaging in all three .
As a congressman , and later as a shock-jock radio host , Walsh repeatedly engaged in racism and Islamophobia . He pushed the birther conspiracy theory – the false claim that Barack Obama was not born in the US – and as recently as 2017 Walsh was claiming , falsely , that Obama was Muslim .
“ I wouldn ’ t call myself a racist , ” Walsh told MSNBC in August . “ [ But ] I ’ ve said racist things on Twitter . ”
In the “ spin room ” following the debate , Walsh continued his criticism of Trump , saying the president is a “ bully and a coward ” .
When ███ asked Walsh if he is a bully and a coward , given his past racism , the congressman disagreed .
“ No . I classify myself as somebody who believes in this country , who wants this country to come together and that ’ s why I ’ ve been so outspoken , ” Walsh said .
When ███ asked Walsh if he was a coward when he was peddling Islamophobia and conspiracy theories , he became visibly upset .
“ Never been a bully or a coward . I say what I believe all the time , ” he said , thrusting a finger in ███ ’ s direction .
Walsh then denied he had suggested Obama was born overseas , before almost immediately accepting he had suggested Obama was born overseas . “ I was wrong to say that and I ’ ve apologized for that . ”
Quite what difference Walsh ’ s historic racism will make is unclear . And quite what purpose the debate served is anyone ’ s guess .
Trump may repulse sections of American voters – 52.1 % disapprove of the job he is doing – but his support among his own party is robust . According to Gallup , 91 % of Republicans approve of Trump .
That makes it a tall order for anyone trying to convince Republicans to ditch Trump . The fact that Business Insider ’ s Facebook livestream received just 20,000 views is unlikely to change much .
Embroiled in a deepening scandal over Ukraine , Trump gave no indication he was watching . If he was , at least Trump could cling to that one bit of good news : should it come to it , former congressman Joe Walsh won ’ t have him hanged . | 51ee55dfc7719f06 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | Vox | http://www.vox.com/2015/2/8/7993129/nss-obama-sentence | The most important line in Obama's new National Security Strategy | 2015-02-08 | white_house | On Friday , the White House released its 2015 National Security Strategy , an official document defining the administration 's approach to international politics . A lot of the document is pretty uninformative ; the ratio of substance to platitudes ( `` our economy is the largest , most open , and most innovative in the world '' ) is low . But this sentence , pretty early on in the report , is actually a pithy but insightful encapsulation of President Barack Obama 's core approach to foreign policy :
In an interconnected world , there are no global problems that can be solved without the United States , and few that can be solved by the United States alone .
This cuts to the core of what can often confuse people about Obama 's approach to the world . Though he 's constantly intervening in foreign crises — toppling Libya 's Muammar Gaddafi , bombing al-Qaeda in Pakistan , Yemen , and Somalia , and so on — he 's also deeply invested in reducing America 's involvement in major wars like Iraq and Afghanistan .
To understand this approach , you have to look at each half of the above sentence in turn . Each reflects a core tenet of the way the Obama administration approaches the world .
Let 's focus on the first half of the sentence : `` there are no global problems that can be solved without the United States . '' That 's meant pretty literally . On basically every major world crisis — containing the fallout from the global financial crisis , rolling back climate change , combating ISIS , punishing Russian expansionism , or curing Ebola — the United States has played a major role in organizing the international response .
That 's because Obama , like basically every president since the Cold War began , has bought into what 's now called the `` bipartisan consensus '' on foreign policy . To most people , the consensus is basically invisible . That 's because almost no one on either side of the aisle bothers to debate its basic premises . But nonetheless , it 's defined American foreign policy for decades . It rests on basically three ideas :
The United States should be the world 's most powerful nation . The United States should use its overwhelming military , economic , and political might to attempt to maintain global stability and prosperity . The United States should maintain a series of alliances and partnerships designed to enhance its global influence and assist its efforts to preserve the current geopolitical order .
If these statements sound banal , it 's because , for the most part , they are . Foreign policy intellectuals on both the left and the right regularly criticize these ideas , but no one with serious power in the US government does ( at least in public ) .
You see this pretty clearly in Obama 's actions . Bombing ISIS , organizing a coalition to end Libya 's civil war , and sending US troops to West Africa to help stop the spread Ebola are all premised on the assumption that the world 's problems are also America 's .
The general consensus on principles obviously does n't translate into bipartisan agreements on specific policy issues . That 's where the second part of the sentence comes in : there are `` few [ global problems ] that can be solved by the United States alone . ''
This is a pretty unmistakable reference to the Bush administration . Obama rode to power as a critic of the Iraq war ; a core part of his administration 's strategic doctrine is to avoid Bush 's aggressive , unilateral uses of American power . If Bush pushed the hawkish bounds of the bipartisan consensus , Obama is at times — though not always — somewhere on the dovish end .
In some cases , that means avoiding military action and trusting in multilateral diplomacy and deterrence to resolve conflicts ( Iran , East Asia ) . In others , it means relying on non-military means of punishing bad actors ( Iran again , Russia ) . In others still , it means marshaling global coalitions , but limiting America 's up-front military role as much as possible and consistent with the mission 's objectives ( Libya , ISIS ) .
Obama 's approach to each of these global crises is shaped by a keen desire to avoid Bush-style protracted wars . Even in cases where Obama really does act unilaterally , such as with targeted killings or the Afghanistan surge , he tries to put limits on those actions to keep them from escalating beyond control .
You might think this approach is too cautious — or , for many critics of the consensus , too aggressive still . But one thing it 's not is `` withdrawing from the world '' or `` abandoning America 's allies , '' as some critics have alleged .
By virtually every statistical measure imaginable , the United States is the world 's leading power , and deeply entangled in political conflicts around the world . Obama has done nothing to change that . His approach may or may not be to your liking on specific issues but , as the NSS reinforces , the broad strokes of his approach are pretty consistent with what America has been doing in the world for decades . | R0H9uTF9Iz5NtRAV | 0 | Politics | 0.3 | White House | 0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Breitbart News | http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/20/bernie-sanders-loses-nevada-but-wins-hispanics/ | Bernie Sanders Loses Nevada, Wins Hispanics | 2016-02-22 | Presidential Elections, Elections | With 90% of the vote in, Bernie Sanders is losing Saturday’s Nevada Caucus by a margin of more than 5 points (52.6% to 47.4%). As he musters on with a narrow loss in Iowa and a massive win in New Hampshire, one silver lining is that the 74 year-old socialist won a majority (53%) of Hispanic voters. Among all minorities under 45 years of age, Sanders beat Clinton by a margin of 68% to 28%.Hillary does better with older voters, and 70% of Nevada’s voters were 45 years-old and up.What this means going forward for Sanders is that he actually can win non-white voters, and that could be good news in a state that doesn’t skew as old as Nevada.It also means that Hispanics are not all that excited about Hillary. In fact, no one is all that excited about the Democrats, period. In all three states where votes have been taken, turnout lags behind 2008. The exact opposite is true for Republicans.One caveat: the numbers above are based on early exit polls. This means they could change once the final numbers are tallied.Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC | 1e2e16756da589d2 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
us_congress | The Hill | https://thehill.com/homenews/house/437286-reparations-bill-wins-new-momentum-in-house | Reparations bill wins new momentum in Congress | 2019-04-04 | us_congress | House legislation to form a commission to study whether black Americans should receive reparations for slavery is getting a significant boost from Democrats on the presidential campaign trail .
Rep. Karen Bass Karen Ruth BassHillicon Valley : Google buying Fitbit for .1B | US launches national security review of TikTok | Twitter shakes up fight over political ads | Dems push committee on 'revenge porn ' law Democratic lawmakers call on Judiciary Committee to advance 'revenge porn ' law Lawmakers come together to honor Cummings : 'One of the greats in our country 's history ' MORE ( D-Calif. ) , the head of the Congressional Black Caucus ( CBC ) , suggested that action on a reparations measure sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Sheila Jackson LeeConsequential GOP class of 1994 all but disappears Video of Greta Thunberg crossing paths with Trump at UN goes viral Lewandowski : House testimony shows I 'd be ' a fighter ' in the Senate MORE ( D-Texas ) is all but certain , with Democrats now in control of the lower chamber and the idea gaining prominence on the national stage .
Jackson Lee ’ s bill would form a commission to study the issue of reparations but does not call for black Americans to receive payments .
“ I don ’ t think there needs to be pressure , we ’ re in charge , ” Bass said . “ It ’ s being discussed , I ’ m sure we ’ re going to get there . ”
2020 hopefuls including Sens . Cory Booker Cory Anthony BookerGOP senator blasts Dem bills on 'opportunity zones ' Booker on Erdoğan : We should not be 'rolling out the red carpet for a ruthless authoritarian ' ███ 's Morning Report - Diplomats kick off public evidence about Trump , Ukraine MORE ( D-N.J. ) and Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann WarrenWarren goes local in race to build 2020 movement 2020 Democrats make play for veterans ' votes 2020 Dems put focus on stemming veteran suicides MORE ( D-Mass . ) are backing the legislation . Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi GabbardThe Hill 's Morning Report - Diplomats kick off public evidence about Trump , Ukraine Outsider candidates outpoll insider candidates Krystal Ball : Tulsi Gabbard surges , is she the most electable ? MORE ( D-Hawaii ) , another presidential candidate , is a co-sponsor .
And on Wednesday , former Rep. Beto O ’ Rourke ( D-Texas ) endorsed the idea , a pivot from his earlier statement of opposition to reparations payments .
“ Absolutely I would sign that into law , ” O ’ Rourke said of Jackson Lee ’ s bill during an interview with the Rev . Al Sharpton at his National Action Network convention in New York .
The support from presidential candidates highlights how the idea of reparations is spiking in popularity in Democratic circles — particularly as a large field of candidates jockeys for support from African-American voters .
Former Rep. John Conyers John James ConyersThe Hill 's 12:30 Report : Dems release first transcripts from impeachment probe witnesses Hispanic Caucus dedicates Day of the Dead altar to migrants who died in US custody Today On Rising : The media beclowns themselves on Baghdadi MORE Jr. ( D-Mich. ) had introduced a reparations bill in every Congress since 1989 , but the legislation was given little notice even with the nation ’ s first black president , Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaThe Memo : Democrats confront prospect of long primary George Conway : 'If Barack Obama had done this ' Republicans would be 'out for blood ' George Conway to take part in MSNBC impeachment hearing coverage MORE , in office .
Jackson Lee , who took up the mantle from Conyers , said she ’ s been talking with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler Jerrold ( Jerry ) Lewis NadlerHouse to vote on bill to ensure citizenship for children of overseas service members As impeachment goes public , forget 'conventional wisdom ' What this 'impeachment ' is really about — and it 's not the Constitution MORE ( D-N.Y. ) about holding a hearing on her bill . Nadler is also a co-sponsor , and Speaker 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. ) has put her considerable voice behind the effort . An aide said Wednesday that , if acted upon , the bill would move first through Nadler ’ s committee before reaching the floor .
“ We tried to posture this legislation at the highest level of thought and seriousness . There is no humor . There is no request in the bill for a check or a pot of gold , ” Jackson Lee told ███ as she headed to a CBC meeting in the Capitol .
“ I do think it has traction . People are not hesitating to openly support it and push for it . I think we have a very good chance of having a hearing some point . ”
Rep. Bennie Thompson Bennie Gordon ThompsonChad Wolf becomes acting DHS secretary Senators urge Trump to fill vacancies at DHS Hillicon Valley : TikTok faces lawmaker anger over China ties | FCC formally approves T-Mobile-Sprint merger | Silicon Valley lawmakers introduce tough privacy bill | AT & T in M settlement with FTC MORE ( D-Miss . ) , a prominent member of the CBC and a co-sponsor of the bill , characterized reparations as a commonsense way for the country to make amends for the historical injustices against African-Americans . The prominence of the issue among 2020 contenders has lent momentum to the effort , he said , “ but it ’ s also a recognition that Africans who were brought here in bondage — that should not have occurred . ”
“ This country owes a lot [ to the descendants of those Africans ] . … As to what the remedy is , we need to look at it , ” Thompson said , comparing the issue to the Japanese internments of World War II . Congress , decades later , passed legislation offering a formal apology — and $ 20,000 — to each of the surviving victims of that campaign .
“ Obviously , slavery was a greater internment , and so it ’ s something that has to be looked at , absolutely , ” Thompson said .
The issue is divisive , and ahead of an election where Republicans and Democrats will be battling over the Rust Belt states of Michigan , Wisconsin , Pennsylvania and Ohio , it has the potential to split Democrats from white working-class votes .
In the presidential race , Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders2020 Democrats make play for veterans ' votes 2020 Dems put focus on stemming veteran suicides The Memo : Democrats confront prospect of long primary MORE ( I-Vt. ) has said he does not believe direct payments are the best way to address the needs of “ distressed communities . ”
“ I think what we have got to do is pay attention to distressed communities — black communities , Latino communities and white communities — and as president , I pledge to do that , ” Sanders said in interview with “ The View . ”
Rep. James Clyburn ( S.C. ) , a CBC member and the third-ranking House Democrat , has long fought to eliminate racial disparities on jobs , wages , housing and wealth . But he ’ s repeatedly argued against reparations in the form of cash payments , saying it would simply be too difficult to implement .
“ You ’ ve got to satisfy two problems , one of which is the legality of it and the other is the practicality of it , ” Clyburn said in an interview last month .
Clyburn highlighted just one of the thorny questions a reparations panel would have to resolve , noting that mixed-raced people , following the Civil War , had access to certain schooling that black former slaves did not .
“ Are mulattoes descendants of slaves ? Yes , they are . But they got a leg up , ” he said . “ So I don ’ t know how you can fairly deal with that . That ’ s the practicality part . ”
Clyburn is instead pushing for direct investments in the nation ’ s poorest regions . Known as the 10-20-30 plan , Clyburn ’ s model operates under the simple premise that federal development dollars are best spent in the areas of greatest need . Under his formula , federal programs must direct at least 10 percent of their funds to communities where at least 20 percent of the population has lived below the poverty line for at least the last 30 years .
On Wednesday , Clyburn and Booker introduced legislation that would expand that model , which already governs parts of federal spending , to a larger swath of programs .
“ While genius is spread equally across ZIP codes , opportunity is not , ” Booker said .
Jackson Lee ’ s bill has the same number adopted by Conyers : H.R . 40 . That ’ s a nod to “ 40 acres and a mule , ” the unfulfilled promise that Union leaders made to newly freed slaves in 1865 .
She pushed back on the suggestion that disagreements in the Democratic caucus were delaying her legislation .
“ There ’ s no hold up . You don ’ t move legislation overnight . I would never say there is a hold up , ” Jackson Lee said . “ The Judiciary Committee has been working on this . And we are very excited of the Speaker taking note of H.R . 40 . ”
The proposal would establish a committee charged with studying the institution of slavery in the U.S. — from its inception until the end of the Civil War in 1865 — and recommend ways to compensate living descendants .
CBC members pointed out that the idea of reparations is being discussed on the 2020 campaign trail because grass-roots activists are pressing candidates and congressional leaders to take up the issue .
In one example , Clyburn was pressed last month by an activist representing the group American Descendants of Slavery .
“ Tell Nancy Pelosi to cut the check , ” the activist said , in a video posted to Twitter .
Rep. Cedric Richmond Cedric Levon RichmondTwo former Congressional Black Caucus chairmen back Biden Election security funds caught in crosshairs of spending debate Lawmakers weigh responses to rash of ransomware attacks MORE ( D-La . ) , the immediate past chairman of the CBC , is a supporter of reparations and the idea of establishing a commission .
“ I think it ’ s a good idea , especially if it ’ s in the form of education or tuition or something like that . But sometimes you let the experts tell you what they think it should be , ” he said . “ I think the commission is good because we need to see what the experts say would be the correct remedy . ” | dIaXwVq7nUYQXhny | 1 | Reparations | 1.8 | US Congress | 1.3 | Politics | 0.6 | null | null | null | null |
elections | Guest Writer - Right | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/7/stephen-moore-experience-pushes-governors-out-of-p/ | OPINION: Experience pushes governors out of presidential contest | 2016-02-07 | elections | The Iowa caucuses may have only muddied the waters in the presidential race , but they almost definitively decided one thing : the next president will not be a governor . That ’ s an amazing revelation because just one year ago all the smart money was betting that the next president would be a Republican governor .
And why not ? The governors were supposed to be the GOP ’ s talent pool .
If the nominee wasn ’ t going to be Jeb Bush , the former two term Florida CEO with a sterling job performance , voters would surely look to Wisconsin ’ s Scott Walker , the conservative warrior for financial sanity and labor reform , or the policy wizard Bobby Jindal of Louisiana .
If none of these candidates panned out , a second tier of popular and talented governors like Ohio ’ s John Kasich , Texan Rick Perry , and New Jersey ’ s Chris Christie stood in the ready position — as did former Arkansas gov . Mike Huckabee . Mr. Perry had an amazing story to tell : from 2007-13 , while he was governor , the Lone Star State created more jobs than all the other 49 states . He was the only Republican or Democratic candidate who served in the military . What was not to like ?
But like the blizzard snow in Washington , Mr. Perry and the rest of the state CEOs have melted away . Scott Walker — poof , gone . Mr. Jindal — bye bye . Mike Huckabee , adios amigos .
The three remaining wannabes , Mr. Bush , Mr. Kasich and Mr. Christie collected about as many votes combined in Iowa as surgeon Ben Carson — who finished in 4th place . They were nonentities even though Mr. Bush spent millions in the state . These three are the walking dead of the race and are all pinning their hopes on a win , place or show performance in New Hampshire . Only Mr. Kasich of Ohio appears to have a shot .
What happened ? In a year when politicians are despised , their experience became a liability . Even their successes were dismissed . The more John Kasich boasted of how he balanced budgets in the 1990s and for five years as governor — extraordinarily impressive feats — the more conservatives concluded : he ’ s been around too long .
I don ’ t have a horse in this race ( though I helped Sen. Rand Paul with his tax and economic program ) . But the demise of the governors should be deeply disappointing to conservatives , because these executives have actually walked the walk . They have cut taxes . They have balanced budgets . They have taken on unions and reformed welfare . When and why did conservatives stop believing that actions speak louder than words — i.e. , the bluster on the Senate floor or a reality TV show ? Many of the governors won election and policy victories in blue or purple states — states like Florida and Ohio that the GOP must win in November .
Let ’ s be honest : Jeb Bush was easily the most qualified for the Oval Office having masterfully run the fourth largest state with more people than most nations . When voters whine that he isn ’ t conservative enough , it always makes me wince . Wait . A governor who cut taxes five times , who instituted the most advanced school choice program in the country , who oversaw an enormous growth spurt in Florida , a fearless free trader , and someone who fought for the right to life unfailingly isn ’ t reliably conservative ?
Granted , these governors ran lousy campaigns and sounded tone deaf to voter rage . Jeb was his own worst enemy because he obsessed with raising $ 100 million , while failing to reintroduce himself to voters and assure them that we weren ’ t going to get a fourth Bush term .
Mr. Kasich seemed to go out of his way to irritate conservatives by grabbing the carrot of Medicaid dollars from Obamacare and rationalizing the money grab by saying Jesus made me do it . Mr. Jindal was too wonkish . Mr. Walker came across as not ready for prime time . Mr. Huckabee was too preachy . Mr. Perry never had a chance because he was a governor from Texas — and we just did that .
Still , governing effectively isn ’ t a sin , it ’ s a skill . The art of politics is figuring out when to reach across the aisle , get 70 percent of what you want , and find ways to bring the other team along . Ronald Reagan was a steadfast conservative with unshakable convictions , but he made deals — and mostly good ones for the country and the cause of freedom . When he got the top tax rate down to 28 percent , he won 97-3 in the Senate and even persuaded the likes of Ted Kennedy to vote for it . The ultimate victory is getting the other side to vote with you .
One reason compromise has become a dirty word is because Republicans in Washington are so bad at it . I was as livid as any tea partyer over the deal Republicans struck on the spendthrift budget last year . This wasn ’ t a negotiation , it was an unconditional surrender . In Washington the GOP hasn ’ t learned “ the Art of the Deal , ” as Mr. Trump puts it .
I have mostly admiration for the three men left standing : Mr. Trump , Mr. Cruz , and Mr. Rubio . But it ’ s slightly disconcerting that none have ever governed . Warning : Mr. Obama tried to learn on the job and it was a giant fiasco from day one . One of these three last survivors is likely to be the next president . Once he wins the nomination , here ’ s hoping that he taps a governor as the veep . There are plenty of stars to choose from in the state capitals . The talent pool runs deep .
• Stephen Moore is an economic consultant with Freedom Works and a Fox News contributor . | v6db1IKTKGCKMDh8 | 2 | Presidential Elections | 0.1 | Elections | 0.1 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
national_security | CNN (Web News) | https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/12/politics/donald-trump-democrats-government-shutdown-history/index.html | Record shutdown is a massive Washington failure | 2019-01-12 | national_security | Now he 's got another historic notch on his belt , the longest-ever government shutdown — an impasse that marks a new low for Washington dysfunction .
The dispute triggered by Trump 's demands for billions of dollars to finally make good on an unfulfilled campaign promise — to build a border wall — began so long ago that Republicans had a monopoly on Washington power . The Democratic takeover of the House has deepened the disconnect , and with neither side willing to fold , nearly 22 days in , there is still no end in sight .
Since Trump crowed he would be `` proud '' to shutter the government over the wall , he gets to shoulder much of the blame for a crisis that is the inevitable result when the nation 's political polarization is institutionalized in Washington .
The last three weeks have exposed the lack of empathy of a billionaire President who shrugs off the struggles of federal workers who work paycheck to paycheck . Trump is clearly more concerned about a pet political project than his constitutional role of providing governance to all Americans .
But he is not alone in his dereliction of duty . The Republican-led Senate is doing nothing to offer its President a face saving way out . And while House Democrats are going through the motions of passing bills to reopen government , they do n't seem to be doing much else to break the logjam . Before Trump was President , party leaders had seemed at least open to funding a barrier on the border as part of wider immigration legislation .
Trump urged party leaders Friday to return to Washington and vote for a wall , a barrier or whatever they want to call it -- even `` peaches . ''
`` This is where I ask the Democrats to come back to Washington and to vote for money for the wall , the barrier , whatever you want to call it , it 's OK with me , '' the President said during a White House roundtable on immigration .
`` They can name it whatever . They can name it 'peaches . ' I do n't care what they name it . But we need money for that barrier , '' he added .
The stalemate represents a crucial first fight between Trump and his Democratic enemies in Washington 's new era of divided government .
But every battle has victims . And right now it 's 800,000 government workers who feel insulted , forgotten and anxious about rent , mortgage , car payment and medical bills piling up .
While they fret , nothing is happening in Washington this weekend . In fact , members of Congress , who are getting paid , are off until Monday .
They might notice as they fly home that the nation 's transportation system is under strain . Many of those TSA agents who keep travelers safe are working without pay . An airport in Tampa is opening a food bank for employees . And some food inspections are on hold with government shut down .
`` I would beg both Houses of Congress , I would beg the American people to please look around and understand that federal workers , we have a face — we have families , '' Jacqueline Maloney , a federal worker whose paycheck did n't arrive on Friday , told CNN 's Brooke Baldwin in an emotional interview .
`` We might be a neighbor , your best friend , your best friend 's mom , your aunt , your cousin . We are everywhere . ''
Government shutdowns usually end when the political leaders caught in the standoff calculate that the political damage sustained by standing firm begins to outweigh the embarrassment of a climbdown .
With tales of anger and deprivation of government workers stuck in a terrible situation beyond their control now dominating news coverage , that point may be coming closer .
Neither side however is showing any sign of cracking yet .
But for Trump , there would have been no shutdown . The President , apparently fearing a backlash in conservative media , refused to keep the government open before Christmas unless he got wall funding .
In the last week , Trump has tried a variety of political stunts to try to shift the blame . He gave an Oval Office address . He stormed out of talks with Democratic leaders . He flew Air Force One to the border to paint an inaccurate picture of hordes of criminals and killers pouring into the country .
`` The only way you will stop it is with a very powerful wall or steel barrier , '' Trump said at the White House on Friday .
Now , as he seeks taxpayer cash to build a wall that he promised Mexico would pay for , the President is offering the fact-bending claims that America 's neighbor has already settled up -- in a yet to be ratified new trade deal .
By any conventional measure , Trump is guilty of putting his own political ego above the interests of the Americans he leads . For all the power of his campaign trail rhetoric among supporters , he 's not shifted the political needle at all . He seems oblivious that in divided government , a President ca n't just demand what he wants .
Trump 's supporters argue that there is a genuine crisis on the border and brand as `` fake news '' any argument that a wall along the frontier with Mexico may not be the best way to tackle drug trafficking and ballooning asylum claims .
In fact , the wall has become such an emotional center of Trump 's relationship with his political base — and such a symbol of antipathy towards the President for those who oppose him — that it 's become an insoluble issue .
`` The bottom line is there is no excuse for the political stunt just because the President had made a commitment when he ran for office and afterwards , '' said Michael Bloomberg , the former New York mayor , in a CNN interview .
`` He can not get it done and deliver for his constituency . He should just stand up and say I tried and let 's get on with the next thing , '' said Bloomberg , a possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidate . `` There 's no one issue or one constituency . The President has not been elected to be the representative of a party , or of a small group , he 's supposed to be representative of a whole country . ''
So far , Trump has held off on his threat to declare a national emergency and reprogram Pentagon funds — possibly from disaster relief projects in Puerto Rico and Texas — to finance his wall .
Such a step might allow him to declare a victory that most people will believe to be hollow . He might be able to sell his supporters on a battle in the courts after an almost certain legal challenge and reap political capital .
But it would also represent a fundamental flouting of constitutional governance , since a future president , thwarted by Congress fulfilling its core task of deciding how taxpayer money is spent , could choose to go ahead with a favorite political project regardless .
The failure of Congress to unpick the deadlock has disgusted some of its most venerable members .
`` How can we resolve this ? We owe it to the American people . This is like a circus , '' Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama said earlier in the week .
McConnell has refused to act on Democratic House bills to open various government agencies , since Trump will not agree to sign them .
For now , McConnell has no desire to open cracks in the Republican coalition by breaking with a President who has leveraged his devoted base to punish any dissidents in his party .
There could come a time , however , when clear discomfort among some GOP members , like Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner , Alaska 's Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine 's Sen. Susan Collins , begins to make life uncomfortable for McConnell .
The bitterness of shutdown politics has also revealed a seam of hypocrisy that festers on both sides of the aisle in this fractured political age .
In 2016 , Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham signed on to an amicus brief in a Supreme Court case challenging President Barack Obama 's use of executive power to shield recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program from deportation .
The document complained that Obama 's move was an attempt to supplant Congress ' power and a threat to the constitutional principle of separation of powers . Those norms seem less important to the South Carolinian now Trump is in the White House .
`` Mr. President , Declare a national emergency NOW . Build a wall NOW , '' Graham tweeted on Friday after meeting Trump .
Part of Graham 's frustration stems from his belief that Democrats are hypocrites for refusing to contemplate immigration enforcement policies that they have favored in the past .
Early last year , Democrats and the White House appeared close to a deal that would have given Trump $ 25 billion in border security in return for a path to citizenship for DACA recipients — undocumented migrants brought to the US illegally as children .
The idea of border fencing , or a wall in some areas , has not been so radioactive for Democrats in the past .
In 2006 , Democrats including now-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and then-Sens . Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama voted to authorize a secure fence along about 700 miles of the US-Mexico border .
The project was far from the concrete or steel wall envisioned by Trump .
But given the symbolic potency of the idea of a wall , it 's not clear Democrats — who do not want their first act in the majority in the House to be a concession to Trump , would contemplate any such plan today . | 1qzNylznzddDGmRG | 0 | National Security | 0 | Defense And Security | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | BBC News | http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42716443 | Trump's medical sparks online 'girther' movement | 2018-01-17 | White House, Donald Trump, Politics | US presidents regularly undergo physical examinations . It is not remarkable . However , the results of Donald Trump 's recent medical check-up have sparked an online conspiracy theory - the girther movement .
According to the official medical report , released by the White House on 16 January , President Trump stands at 75 inches ( 6ft 3in ; 1.9m ) and weighs 239lb ( 17st 1lb ; 108kg ) .
But the girther movement , propelled mainly by critics of the president , posits that Mr Trump is shorter and heavier than the report suggests .
This particular presidential physical has received increased interest after questions were raised over Mr Trump 's mental health and supposed unhealthy diet .
There have been more than 56,000 tweets about the girther movement since late on 16 January , with one of the first tweets to use the term posted by political commentator Chris Hayes .
One of the most popular girther tweets claims to show a photograph of Mr Trump 's driving licence listing the president as 6ft 2in ( 74in ; 1.88m ) , an inch shorter than reported by the White House physician .
An image of his driving licence appeared in a 2016 article on news website Politico .
A number of social media users posted photos of Mr Trump standing next to well-known figures in a bid to compare their heights .
Others have been sharing photographs of professional athletes with a similar height and weight to the president , pointing out the disparity in their appearance .
However , many have highlighted that muscle is heavier than fat , which may make comparisons unfair .
Others online have questioned the independence of the doctor overseeing the medical examination . Dr Ronny L Jackson is the current Physician to the President and oversaw two of former President Obama 's medical examinations .
Dr Jackson said in a press conference that Mr Trump has `` incredible genes '' and if he had a healthier diet over past 20 years `` he might live to be 200 '' .
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn used the # girther hashtag to offer to donate $ 100,000 ( £72,470 ) to charity if the president agreed to be re-weighed by a different doctor .
While much of the discussion online was sceptical of the claims made in the president 's medical report , some defended Mr Trump and slammed the girther movement .
Referring to previous calls for the president to release his tax returns , one twitter user questioned if Mr Trump 's critics would ever be satisfied with the evidence produced by the current administration .
Some suggested the girther movement was hypocritical for fat-shaming the president .
And former director of the US Office of Government Ethics , Walter Shaub Jr , asked whether people should be making jibes about President Trump 's physical attributes .
The term girther is an apparent nod to the well-established `` birther ' movement '' , made up mainly of right-wing activists who opposed President Obama , with Mr Trump as its most public face .
Birthers questioned the former president 's place of birth and his eligibility to hold high office .
The birther theory was pushed hard by Mr Trump , and resulted in Mr Obama releasing his birth certificate to the public in 2011 . | f74dceed400955e5 | 1 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
us_congress | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/19/politics/trump-shrug-shutdown-analysis/index.html | Why no one knows anything as the government nears a shutdown | 2018-01-19 | Government Shutdown, US Congress, Politics | ( CNN ) The federal government will run out of money and shut down at midnight . And , right now , no one in Washington has the slightest clue how to stop that from happening .
That might seem glib -- but it 's also the truth . Once the House-passed bill fails -- and it 's virtually impossible to see how it does n't -- then two things will be true : There will be fewer than 12 hours before the government shuts down , and no one really has any idea where things go from here . As CNN 's Manu Raju reported Friday , Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Democratic counterpart , Chuck Schumer , are not talking about any sort of plan B at the moment .
There are several options likely to emerge from the wreckage of the House bill .
The most obvious is a very short-term continuing resolution -- like , less than a week -- that staves off a government shutdown for the weekend and does what Congress does best : buys itself a little more time .
The problem with that `` solution '' is that it changes next to nothing . Democrats have been largely united in their demands to address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in any legislation that continues to fund the government . ( DACA shelters the undocumented children of immigrants from deportation . ) Republicans -- led by President Donald Trump -- are steadfast in refusing to couple DACA and a bill to avoid the shutdown . Moving the goalposts five days makes very , very little difference in that dynamic .
Given that , the most likely outcome at this point is a government shutdown -- the first time that will have happened since 2013 .
Some of that is pure logistics . When the House bill fails this morning , the Senate -- and , therefore , the House -- start from scratch . Any new package would not only have its own new set of detractors and doubters but also would face a real time crunch to simply pass it through the House and the Senate before midnight .
Democrats are not in the compromising mood for a few reasons . One is that this is their one piece of leverage in Washington right now , and they want to use it to protect the DACA recipients . They also believe they will win the politics of the blame game because Republicans control the House , Senate and White House . The average American , Democrats believe , will look at total GOP control of Washington and wonder why Republicans ca n't keep their own house in order . ( I think that logic is largely right -- based on past shutdowns . ) Third , Democrats -- especially those with an eye on running for president in 2020 -- know that it is impossible to be too anti-Trump for their liberal party base . The base wants opposition at all times and in all places -- up to and including a government shutdown .
Republicans -- led by McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan -- are in a more compromising mood , largely because they know that the history of shutdowns does n't look good for their side if Friday 's deadline comes and goes without a deal .
The strategy for Republican congressional leaders is also complicated by Trump , who seems to be veering back and forth on whether a deal should be made and what should be in the deal . The unpredictability of Trump -- as expressed most purely via his Twitter feed -- makes the job of cutting a deal ( or even figuring out what should be in the deal ) that much more difficult . `` I 'm looking for something that President Trump supports , '' McConnell said on Wednesday . `` And he 's not yet indicated what measure he 's willing to sign . ''
The realities of how Washington works is that with every passing minute , the focus of both parties will turn from finding a solution to avert a shutdown to preparing for the political fallout from a shutdown .
`` Government Funding Bill past last night in the House of Representatives . Now Democrats are needed if it is to pass in the Senate - but they want illegal immigration and weak borders . Shutdown coming ? We need more Republican victories in 2018 ! ''
The White House 's decision to hold a press briefing -- featuring Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney -- on Friday also suggests it has pivoted toward positioning for a likely shutdown .
Momentum matters in last-minute crises like these . At the moment , all the momentum is on the side of a shutdown . And there 's no obvious solution -- or much interest in finding a solution -- on either side of the aisle . | 00fd6c30260bec7a | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Vox | http://www.vox.com/2015/7/17/8989489/donald-trump-troll-video | Donald Trump is showing a side of the GOP that party leaders don't want you to see | 2015-07-18 | Presidential Elections, Elections | There’s an overwhelming amount of news, but not enough context. At Vox, we do things differently. We’re not focused on being the first to break stories — we’re focused on helping you understand what actually matters. We report urgently on the most important issues shaping our world, and dedicate time to the issues that the rest of the media often neglects. But we can’t do it alone. We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today? by Jonathan Allen and Christophe Haubursin Donald Trump’s very loud entrance into the presidential race exposed an ugly truth about the party: anti-Hispanic bigotry plays well with the Republican primary electorate. That could be a big problem: For more on Trump's epic trolling, Jon Allen has more here. Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day, compiled by news editor Sean Collins. This tool might just change movies forever. A practical guide to your bird flu fears. A new AI tool says it can detect similarities in fingerprints that humans can’t. The science isn’t so straightforward. Did you vote? Think of the video as a kind of emotional palate cleanser before the new year. © 2025 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved As a valued user, we are providing you the ability to opt-out from the sharing of your personal information to advertisers and social media companies at any time across business platform, services, businesses and devices. You can opt-out of the sharing of your personal information by using this toggle switch. For more information on your rights and options see our privacy notice. | 3145930062ed20b0 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
world | New York Post (News) | https://nypost.com/2022/09/23/moscow-held-regions-of-ukraine-in-sham-vote-to-join-russia/ | Moscow-held regions of Ukraine in ‘sham’ vote to join Russia | 2022-09-23 | World, Ukraine War, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin | Russia’s sham elections began in occupied Ukrainian territory Friday — long predicted “referendums” as to whether the pieces of sovereign Ukraine should be considered Moscow’s.The votes — orchestrated by the Kremlin as Russia loses territory on the battlefield — are the first steps in an expected annexation of Ukrainian territory, and have widely been denounced as frauds by Kyiv and the West.Voting began Friday in the occupied provinces of Luhansk and Kherson, as well as in the portions of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia provinces that are under Russian control.“Voting has started in the referendum on Zaporizhzhia region becoming a part of Russia as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation!” said Vladimir Rogov, an official in Moscow’s puppet regime in the province. “We are coming home!”Meanwhile, Ukraine’s exiled leaders from the occupied regions expressed concern for their citizens ahead of the vote.8 The votes are being held in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.8 The vote is certain to go Moscow’s way.8 A young boy holds a flag outside the voting station.“Today, the best thing for the people of Kherson would be not to open their doors,” said Yuriy Sobolevsky, an exiled Ukrainian leader from the Kherson province.In the Luhansk city of Starobilsk, 30 miles northeast of Severodonetsk, Russians were forcing residents out of their homes to vote, according to Serhiy Gaidai, the Ukrainian head of that province.Closer to the Russian border in Bilovodsk, one businessman reportedly told employees anyone who failed to vote would be fired and reported to occupation security services.8 A woman votes.8 A service member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic stands guard at a polling station in Donetsk, Ukraine on Sept. 22, 2022. REUTERS8 A bust of Lenin overlooks the line for voting.Gaidai called the votes “elections without elections,” and said occupying troops were forcing the votes in residents homes or yards without privacy.“The mood of the Russians is panicky because they were not ready to carry out so quickly this so-called referendum, there is no support, there’s not enough people,” Sobolevsky said.The forced votes come after the majority of the peacetime population has fled the occupied regions, and amid reports of the torture and imprisonment of suspected Kyiv loyalists.The votes, which are expected to go Russia’s way, have been denounced as shams.8 A woman casts her vote in the sham election.8 The referendums come on the heels of Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization order. REUTERSThe Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors regional elections, has declared the elections meaningless, saying they conform to neither Ukrainian law nor international election standards.A similar referendum was used in 2014 as a pretext for Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, which the international community still regards as part of Ukraine.Following that annexation, sham referenda were held in smaller regions of Luhansk and Donetsk to declare independent “people’s republics” around those provinces’ eponymous capital cities.Russia formally recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the opening hours of February’s invasion.The votes are seen as a prelude to another round of annexation, which would in turn allow Moscow to claim its unprovoked invasion is a war in defense of Russian nationals.“Encroachment onto Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the forces of self-defense,” Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s security council, said on social media earlier this week. | bebcc23176e9e92e | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
business | New York Post (News) | https://nypost.com/2022/11/16/amazon-cutting-jobs-at-devices-services-units/ | Alexa, cut costs! Amazon begins layoffs at devices, services units | 2022-11-16 | Business, Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Big Tech, Recession, Technology, Meta, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Economy And Jobs | Amazon on Wednesday said it has laid off some employees in its devices group as a person familiar with the company said it still targeted around 10,000 job cuts, including in its retail division and human resources. The announcement, Amazon’s first since media outlets including Reuters reported its layoff plans on Monday, heralded a dramatic shift for a company known for its job creation and added shape to the latest dismissals befalling the technology sector. Amazon executive Dave Limp in a blog post said the company had decided to consolidate teams in its devices unit, which popularized speakers that consumers command through speech. It notified the employees it cut on Tuesday. “We continue to face an unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment,” he said. “In light of this, we’ve been working over the last few months to further prioritize what matters most to our customers and the business.” Plans, still in flux, to eliminate around 10,000 roles through reductions in more units would amount to about a 3% cut in Amazon’s roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce. For years, the online retailer once aimed to make Alexa, its voice assistant that powers the devices, ubiquitous and present to place any shopping order, even though it was unclear how widely users have embraced it for more complex tasks than checking the news or weather. A project inspired by a talking computer in science fiction show “Star Trek,” Alexa had garnered headcount that grew to 10,000 people by 2019. At the time, Amazon touted sales of more than 100 million Alexa devices, a figure it has not since refreshed publicly. Founder Jeff Bezos later said the company often sold Alexa devices at a discount and sometimes below cost. While Amazon toiled to encode intelligent answers to any question Alexa might expect from users, Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI have had breakthroughs in chatbots that could respond like a human without any hand-holding. Unknown | 8cf44cefbdd19c0c | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Washington Times | https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/apr/25/joe-biden-shakes-up-the-democratic-primary/ | 'Sleepy Joe' shakes up the Geezer Primary | 2019-04-25 | elections | The Democrats are the gift that never quits giving . Twenty-five Democrats ( depending on who ’ s counting ) think they ’ re capable of running the country and Thursday the party that can ’ t shoot straight gave us a presidential primary within a presidential primary .
This one is the Geezer Primary , and the collective age of the two front-runners is 153 . Closing in on 80 may be a little north of what a homecoming queen expects in an escort to the ball , but if beauty is in the eye of the beholder , perhaps “ spry ” is a judgment we can measure for ourselves . Both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden look like they could get around the floor for at least one last dance with the queen . Joe for one seems to have a way with the ladies .
Besides , an excess of years will be the least of what good ol ’ Joe has to fret about . He picked a fight with Donald Trump in his announcement Thursday but no matter what he can think of to hint what he thinks of the Donald , he ’ s getting into that competition a little late . Is there anyone in America at this late hour who hasn ’ t made up his mind about the president ? What is there left to say ?
The president coined a new name for good ol ’ Joe to welcome him to the race . “ Sleepy Joe ” is memorable enough , though the president might come up with something snappier , like “ Creepy Joe , ” for his hands-on approach to women . But the president doesn ’ t want to invite comparisons in that department . Fortunately , Sleepy Joe ’ s age , 76 , is a disadvantage he shares with Bernie Sanders , 77 . The president they both hope to replace has an almost identical disadvantage of age , and it hasn ’ t been fatal to him .
Ronald Reagan set the standard for dealing with the issue . In a debate with Walter Mondale , he promised “ not to exploit , for political purposes , my opponent ’ s youth and inexperience. ” Mr. Mondale joined the laughter . But that was in a different age , when , as Mr. Dooley said , Democrats carried brass knuckles to a unity meeting . But none would carry a beheading knife . Mr. Biden , who carries his age well , has to avoid trying to look as young as Beto , Mayor Pete or one of the ladies .
One Senate primary I recall from the long ago featured a rich but aging candidate who tried to run everywhere to demonstrate his undiminished ( or so he thought ) physical prowess . One summer ’ s night on the trail , with the crickets singing in the Johnson grass to compete with Roy Acuff , Minnie Pearl and a troupe from the Grand Ole Opry , the old geezer leaped from the platform on a dead run and couldn ’ t stop running before crashing into the front row and into a tumble of women . He never lived it down .
Joe is the long-awaited grown-up in the race , but is there a sufficient audience of Democrats for a grown-up ? Must he endorse the absurd Green New Deal , as other candidates have , and what about Bernie ’ s free-stuff platform , Medicare for All , a free college education , and enabling killers like the Boston Marathon slayer to vote from prison ? Should Joe shun big-money donors , as Bernie has , and should he choose a younger running mate before the nominating conventions , as others , including Ronald Reagan , have done ? ( It didn ’ t work for the Gipper . )
Joe ’ s wise men floated the idea of choosing a running mate now and proposed that she should be Stacey Abrams , a black woman who lost a close race for governor of Georgia only last year . Ms. Abrams scotched that idea . “ You don ’ t run for second place , ” she said , and besides , she ’ s thinking about running for president herself . Why not ? Everybody else is .
Joe understands that vice presidents must establish themselves as capable of surviving the equivalent of schoolyard fights without help . He even told Barack Obama to butt out . Love me , he said , but no wet kisses . Joe has a record to defend , too , often a record of doing the right thing , which makes him a particular target because the only right thing in our sordid era is a perfect score as judged by ignorant nitpickers and millennial dimwits .
The man from Delaware can be a gaffe machine , and the early evidence is that he will be willing to renounce every good thing he has done in 36 years in the U.S. Senate and eight in the White House to make himself acceptable to the party , once defined by the politically incorrect courage of Jefferson , Jackson and FDR , and now renounces itself . Joe has a strong resume and more experience than any other Democrat . But who needs experience and a strong resume ? Watching the Geezer Primary may be fun , but the winner is likely to be a loser .
• Wesley Pruden is editor in chief emeritus of The Times . | DDdorMiR0JTKzgy7 | 2 | Presidential Elections | -1.2 | Politics | -0.7 | Joe Biden | -0.2 | Elections | 0 | null | null |
federal_budget | CNN (Web News) | http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/05/news/economy/budget-fight/index.html?hpt=po_c2 | Budget fight: Just the facts | 2013-08-05 | federal_budget | Treasury Secretary Jack Lew just put a rush on looming fiscal fights this fall .
Lew said Monday that Congress must raise the country 's debt ceiling before mid-October , which is when Treasury estimates it will have exhausted the extraordinary measures it has taken to keep a U.S. default at bay .
That new deadline is at least a month earlier than outside observers had been assuming .
Treasury 's forecasts may change based on several variables , including tax receipts .
But a mid-October deadline means the debt ceiling negotiations are likely to run square into the fight over federal funding for 2014 . To avoid a government shutdown , lawmakers must pass something by Sept. 30 .
Problem is the two parties ca n't agree on a level of spending going forward , and there is disagreement even among Republicans as well . Plus , there 's no consensus over whether to preserve or replace the automatic spending cuts that went into effect this year and will deepen next year .
Experts still expect that deals can be struck by key deadlines , but that 's hardly guaranteed as no one can confidently predict the end games -- particularly on the debt ceiling .
What 's the first thing lawmakers must do ? Fund the government past Sept. 30 , which marks the last day of fiscal year 2013 .
Given the serious differences between the House and Senate on spending , there 's no chance they will pass a real budget for fiscal year 2014 .
So lawmakers will at least have to pass a temporary funding bill known as a `` continuing resolution , '' or CR , before Oct. 1 .
And if it 's very short term , Congress will have to pass another one -- or several -- before Dec. 31 .
Are they likely to pass a funding bill ? Probably , but a lot could complicate the effort .
Normally when Congress passes a CR , it does so at current spending levels . Think of it like this : We ca n't agree on what to do , so let 's keep on keepin ' on until we can agree .
But that would be risky this time around because the law calls for lower spending caps to take effect in fiscal year 2014 .
So approving temporary funding at this year 's higher level means federal agencies would need to make abrupt cuts later to stay under the caps . By law , those cuts would need to occur 15 days after Congress adjourns for 2013 in a process known as sequestration .
Right now , Democrats and Republicans ca n't even agree on whether to keep those spending caps in place . And some conservative Republicans have threatened to vote against any funding bill that includes money for Obamacare .
What happens if Congress does n't pass funding by Oct. 1 ? Much of the federal government will shut down .
What does a government shutdown mean ? Hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed without pay . And most federal government offices , programs , museums and parks would be shuttered .
Essential services that protect human life and property would continue to operate . That includes air traffic control , national security , the handling of hazardous waste , food inspections and disaster assistance .
Federal employees needed to preserve `` essential '' elements of the money and banking systems would not be furloughed . Mail would still be delivered .
And President Obama and Congress would keep coming to work .
What 's more , an analysis by the Congressional Research Service concludes that the implementation of Obamacare is also likely to continue in the event of a shutdown .
How long would a shutdown last ? As long as it takes Congress to agree on spending levels and pass bills that fund agencies at those levels . The longest shutdown lasted 21 days starting at the end of 1995 .
Is a shutdown the worst that can happen ? Sadly , no . The ramifications of not raising the country 's debt ceiling in time would be much worse .
The country 's legal borrowing limit is currently set at $ 16.699 trillion .
That level was reached in mid-May . And the Treasury Department began its official juggling act , employing `` extraordinary measures '' to keep the country from breaching the ceiling . But Treasury does n't expect those measures to last beyond the middle of October .
Why does it need to be raised at all ? Both parties in Congress have approved permanent tax cuts and spending increases over the years .
By doing so , they add to future deficits and increase the country 's borrowing needs . Raising the ceiling simply lets Treasury continue to pay all the country 's obligations that Congress has already approved -- whether it 's a payment to a federal contractor , a Social Security check to a senior , or interest on the debt to a bond investor .
What 's more , the aging population means there will be more spending on Medicare and Social Security with each passing year .
That 's why raising the debt ceiling is not a `` license to spend more , '' as some Republicans assert . And it 's why the debt ceiling always needs to be raised periodically . Over the past two decades , it 's been raised about 15 times .
What happens if the debt ceiling is n't raised ? Uncle Sam would still have revenue coming in to pay for government services and agencies . Just not enough to pay for everything . And the longer the debt ceiling crisis lasts , the harder it would be to keep government operations running .
`` After two weeks you 'd have absolute paralysis , '' said Steve Bell , economic policy director at the Bipartisan Policy Center .
More problematic : The country could no longer pay all of its bills in full and on time . Treasury then would have to make legally murky decisions about who to pay and who to stiff .
Even if bond investors continue to be paid on time , the country could still be perceived as in default if it fails to pay its other legal obligations .
And if the full faith and credit of the United States is called into question , that could be disastrous for markets and interest rates -- which would harm the U.S. economy and Americans ' financial well being . | ulYDQsqF8QIODC4J | 0 | Debt Ceiling | -0.2 | Federal Budget | 0 | Economy And Jobs | 0 | null | null | null | null |
elections | Fox Online News | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-biden-leads-nomination-race-tops-trump-by-12-points-in-matchup | Fox News Poll: Biden leads nomination race, tops Trump by 12 points in matchup | elections | Democratic primary voters increasingly feel the need to nominate a candidate who can beat President Trump in 2020 , and more think Joe Biden can do that than any of the other top Democratic hopefuls . In addition , while most Democratic primary voters are satisfied with their field , more than a quarter wish they had other options , according to a new Fox News Poll .
Biden leads the nomination race with the backing of 31 percent of Democratic primary voters , followed by Elizabeth Warren at 21 percent , Bernie Sanders at 19 percent , and Pete Buttigieg at 7 percent . In early October , Biden was at 32 percent , Warren 22 , Sanders 17 , and Buttigieg 4 .
Kamala Harris and Andrew Yang receive 3 percent apiece , followed by Cory Booker , Tulsi Gabbard , and Amy Klobuchar each at 2 percent , and Tom Steyer at 1 percent .
Compared to March , the first Fox News Poll on the race , Biden ’ s support is unchanged , while Warren has gained 17 points , Buttigieg is up 6 and Sanders is down 4 .
Biden is helped by a large majority of Democratic primary voters ( 80 percent ) saying it is extremely important their nominee can beat Trump -- and more ( 68 percent ) think he can do that than feel that way about Warren ( 57 percent ) , Sanders ( 54 percent ) , or Buttigieg ( 30 percent ) .
Far fewer , 42 percent , feel it is extremely important their candidate shares their views on major issues . However , more Democratic primary voters also say Biden shares their views ( 72 percent ) than say the same of Sanders ( 68 percent ) , Warren ( 62 percent ) , or Buttigieg ( 43 percent ) .
Since May , the number of Democratic primary voters saying it is extremely important their nominee can defeat Trump has gone up 7 points ( from 73 to 80 percent ) , and the portion saying it is extremely important their candidate shares their views has dropped 9 ( 51 vs 42 percent ) .
The poll , released Sunday , finds that despite having umpteen candidates to choose from , more than one in four Democratic primary voters wish they had other options ( 28 percent ) . That includes 26 percent of Biden supporters and 27 percent of Warren supporters .
Seventy-eight percent of GOP primary voters want to keep Trump as their nominee , while 69 percent of Democratic primary voters are satisfied with their field .
“ If Hillary Clinton were to enter the race , she ’ d likely do so near the top of the pack , ” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson , who conducts the Fox News Poll with Republican Daron Shaw . `` And Michelle Obama could probably clear the field . ”
Twenty-seven percent of Democratic primary voters would definitely vote for Clinton , including one-third of those backing Biden and one-quarter supporting Warren .
The numbers are rosier for former first lady Michelle Obama : 50 percent would definitely vote for her , including nearly 5 in 10 of Biden ’ s and 4 in 10 of Warren ’ s supporters .
Few , 6 percent , would definitely back former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg .
Thirty-two percent would never vote for Bloomberg , 30 percent Clinton , and 8 percent Obama .
While health concerns about Sanders aren ’ t an issue for over half of Democratic primary voters ( 53 percent ) , 28 percent say these concerns make them less likely to support the Vermont senator ( 14 percent more likely ) . Sanders suffered a heart attack October 3 .
On the other hand , nearly twice as many say they are more likely ( 21 percent ) rather than less likely ( 11 percent ) to back Biden given Trump ’ s claims about the former vice president and his son ’ s business dealings in Ukraine and China . About two-thirds say the allegations make no difference ( 65 percent ) .
One year out from the 2020 election , Trump ties or trails the Democrat in each of the possible head-to-head matchups tested .
Biden performs best against Trump ( 51-39 percent ) . He leads by 12 points , garners over 50 percent and keeps Trump below 40 percent . In early October , Biden led by 10 ( 50-40 percent ) .
More Democrats ( 91 percent ) back Biden than Republicans ( 86 percent ) support Trump , and 88 percent of 2016 Trump voters would stick with him , while 91 percent of Clinton voters would support Biden .
Sanders has an 8-point lead ( 49-41 percent ) . Warren ’ s 5-point advantage over the president ( 46-41 percent ) is within the poll ’ s margin of sampling error , and Buttigieg and Trump tie ( 41-41 percent ) . In a 2016 rematch , Clinton has a 2-point edge ( 43-41 percent ) .
Between 10-17 percent of voters are undecided or backing third-party candidates .
“ Trump ’ s support in these early ballot tests is consistently around 40 percent , ” says Shaw . “ He ’ ll need to shore up his support among a few wavering Republicans and pull some independents and Democrats away from the other side if he ’ s going to win another term . ”
Slim majorities of voters say health care ( 53 percent ) and the economy ( 52 percent ) will be extremely important to their vote for president in November 2020 . That ’ s more than feel that way about guns ( 44 percent ) , immigration ( 43 percent ) , terrorism ( 42 percent ) , taxes ( 41 percent ) , abortion ( 36 percent ) , foreign policy ( 36 percent ) , Supreme Court nominations ( 36 percent ) , and climate change ( 34 percent ) .
The top issues among Democrats are health care ( 62 percent extremely important ) , climate change and guns ( both 48 percent ) , and the economy ( 46 percent ) . For Republicans , it ’ s the economy ( 60 percent ) , terrorism ( 55 percent ) , and immigration ( 54 percent ) .
“ Trump ’ s lowest approval rating is on health care , so Democrats have a big opening there , ” says Anderson . “ But the size of that opening will depend hugely on the ultimate nominee ’ s position on Medicare expansion . ”
By a 69-21 percent margin , voters favor giving everyone the option to buy into Medicare .
Voters split 47-47 percent over getting rid of private health insurance and moving to a government-run health care system for everyone . Among Democratic primary voters , 80 percent favor allowing everyone to buy into Medicare and 65 percent favor a government-run system .
Even though the general election is 12 months away , interest is already remarkably high with 60 percent extremely interested . That matches the record high from November 2008 , and is nearly double the 32 percent who were extremely interested in November 2015 , a year before the 2016 presidential election .
Sixty-three percent of Democrats and 61 percent of Republicans are extremely interested .
Conducted October 27-30 , 2019 under the joint direction of Beacon Research ( D ) and Shaw & Company ( R ) , this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,040 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones . The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all registered voters and 4.5 points for Democratic primary voters ( 471 ) . | cAMvAXtPz3kSt0Uo | 2 | 2020 Election | 0.1 | Donald Trump | 0 | Joe Biden | 0 | Presidential Elections | 0 | Democratic Party | 0 | |
general_news | Washington Times | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/6/bruce-containing-the-facts-about-ebola/ | OPINION: Containing the facts about Ebola | 2014-10-06 | general_news | As the Ebola crisis unfolds here in the United States , it ’ s becoming painfully obvious why the American people can ’ t trust their own government . Mind you , any federal government isn ’ t exactly an entity anyone should trust completely , yet Americans understand that while politics will always unleash certain shenanigans , in general there had been a sense that people in Washington and our various agencies at least had our best interests in mind .
On Sept. 16 , President Obama had a news conference about Ebola at the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) in Atlanta . After the president noted , “ We have to act fast . We can ’ t dawdle on this one ” ( So , he ’ s dawdled on some other crises involving life and death ? ) , he declared the Ebola situation in West Africa was “ spiraling out of control ” and then assured us the chances of Ebola coming to America was “ extremely low . ”
Well , apparently not so extremely low . On Sept. 20 , Liberian Ebola carrier Thomas Eric Duncan arrived in the United States , just four days after the president ’ s comments that it would likely not happen .
Being honest with the American people includes admitting when there may be a problem in the future that is unavoidable . Mr. Obama ’ s refusal to suspend flights into the United States from Ebola-infected countries also made it likely the virus would arrive here .
Delivering platitudes and patronizing reassurances about life-and-death issues reveals a systemic culture that prefers to treat the average citizen as an infant , and certainly not worth treating as an equal .
Like so many other events during his presidency , in grasping Mr. Obama ’ s approach with Ebola , we have two options : Either he and his team deliberately chose to mislead the American public about a dangerous situation , or he is actually clueless . Either option tells the American people that endeavoring to believe what we ’ re told by those in charge of this nation is a fool ’ s errand .
The moment it was revealed the United States had its first diagnosed Ebola case , the main message from various officials centered on the insistence that we are not to panic or become hysterical . Information was limited to repeating the narrative that Ebola could only be transmitted if you were in direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids with someone , according to the CDC guidelines , “ who is very sick. ” This meme was repeated over and over again by officials at the CDC and many in the mainstream media . Until it began to unravel .
The CDC ’ s Ebola happy talk , usually delivered by Director Tom Frieden , was finally exposed on CNN . Dr. Frieden was speaking with CNN ’ s Sanjay Gupta , also a physician , once again to reassure everyone that everything was A-OK. A news anchor asked the doctor to reassure viewers that Ebola wasn ’ t “ highly contagious ” so as to help the American people “ back away from the panic . ”
Dr. Frieden happily complied , “ It ’ s not like the flu , not like the common cold , it requires direct physical contact. ” Then the anchor chimes in and says , “ If he sneezes on you , it ’ s a different story. ” With that one statement , Dr. Frieden was compelled to admit existing CDC guidelines do warn simply standing within a three-foot radius of someone with Ebola poses a risk of infection .
If these reporters had not forced the discussion , Dr. Frieden would have stuck with his misleading description of the how the virus is communicated .
Now we can put “ You must be in direct personal contact with bodily fluids ” in the same file as “ You can keep your insurance , doctor and hospital ” and “ It was a YouTube video . ”
Viewers were not only seeing a federal official exposed on live TV as not being completely honest , but they also saw what ’ s possible when reporters actually do their job . For the past six years , the news media have been incurious about whether or not what the federal officials say is true , or even if they ’ re getting the whole story . This is likely not so much a lack of interest by reporters , but a reflection of their own fears over what the truth is about their various liberal heroes .
There is a natural revulsion to being insulted by “ officials ” who use the smear that we ’ ll panic as an excuse to not tell us the truth . Americans have been through a great deal since the Founding itself . Whether it be world wars , debilitating viruses , AIDS , Sept. 11 or terrorism , Americans come together , face reality and defeat the enemy .
Politicians do , however , have another reason to keep information from us : Each failure of the system exposes their incompetence . The many scandals of the Obama presidency all could do with a healthy dose of light brought by curious reporters who are still interested in investigating and finding the truth , regardless of which politicians it exposes .
Tammy Bruce is a radio talk-show host , author and Fox News contributor . | wxOfskSRqbjabNl3 | 2 | Ebola | -1.2 | General News | 0.3 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | Guest Writer - Right | https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2019/08/13/everyone-needs-to-calm-down-n2551517 | Everyone Needs To Calm Down | 2019-08-13 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com .
If this one thing doesn ’ t happen , our country is finished . If this law isn ’ t passed , people will die . If this policy isn ’ t ended , the economy will collapse . Our very democracy teeters on the edge of the abyss , and lives are at stake ! To listen to the news these days , it ’ s over , everything . The only thing we don ’ t know is the manner of our destruction . Will it be a trade war , some white supremacist , a movie , or the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man ?
Of course , the thing about life is , no matter what you throw at it , it goes on . Even without you .
Every death is a tragedy , and economic hard times are never easy , but our species has endured much , much worse than anything being dangled like a string in front of a doomsday cat now by politicians and journalists hoping to motivate you through fear .
While it may seem like mass shootings are happening with an alarming regularity ( one is too many ) , and anti-Second Amendment groups and their media allies are touting absurd stats like there are more of them than days in the year , we are safer than we ’ ve ever been . People telling you otherwise are selling something . They ’ re selling you security at the price of liberty . Just a little piece of it , they only ever want a little piece of it . But it ’ s a little piece you ’ ll never get back , and they ’ ll be back for another soon enough .
Fear is one hell of a motivator . The Detroit Free Press declared , “ mass shooting loom any time , anywhere. ” Politicians know that , which is why they traffic in it in a way that makes Columbian drug lords seem only passively interested in money . But it ’ s not just politicians .
Outrage used to be something that would increase gradually , a dimmer switch that was turned up sparingly when warranted . Now it ’ s a toggle switch stuck in the “ on ” position and every perceived slight is a shot of nitrous oxide to the engine .
Though it mostly is , it ’ s not just the left . The movie “ The Hunt ” was in the headlines last week , until it was pulled from distribution over the weekend . The stories about it were that is was a movie about liberals hunting down Trump supporters , or “ deplorables , ” because someone saw a script with a line using that word in it . Conservative media played it up for clicks and views because that ’ s what they all do .
We ’ ve seen this movie before – the bad guy puts the good guy in peril because they ’ re evil , then the good guy wins in the end . It ’ s formulaic garbage that has been done dozens of times ( think “ The Running Man ” in a different setting ) . Remove the emotion and think about it for a second – does anyone really believe Hollywood would fund a movie about liberals hunting conservatives and the conservatives win in the end ?
The hunted have to win in the end , at least one of them , or it ’ s just a snuff film . If anything , it ’ s a movie where the rich snobs hunting people are portrayed as gun-nut conservatives trying to kill liberals . One word can easily be redefined in the world of the movie .
Either way , it ’ s just a movie , one that sounds stupid either way it ’ s framed . It would have likely been released and faded quickly were it not for the political mood in the country that thrives on manufacturing outrage .
No one is being hunted , in reality or in movies . You ’ re being played . Headlines are written to get clicks , cable news segments are concocted to keep you watching , any actual , factual information is conveyed now by accident , not design .
Every shooting is horrible , but you ’ re more likely to die in the shower than be a victim of one . The risk is never zero , but perspective is important .
The Washington Post compiled a list of everyone who has died in a mass shooting since 1966 in an attempt to sell papers and get attention . They listed 1,196 people who should not have been killed over those 54 years in 165 mass shootings . Putting aside what constitutes a mass shooting and how different groups come up with different numbers based on their agenda , what the Post exposed was , on average , 22 people have been killed each year in a mass shooting , and there is an average of 3 per year .
That doesn ’ t tell the whole story , of course , but it does give perspective . An average of 51 people are killed by lightning in the United States every year , for example . In Chicago , just this year , more than 1,600 people have been shot .
None of this is to cheapen tragedy , it ’ s to calm artificial fears . Be alert , obviously , but live your life . We ’ re living in a time that would be unrecognizable to anyone who lived before us . Their daily lives were a struggle to survive , to get enough food to make it through the day so they could do it again tomorrow . People were drafted into wars by leaders they ’ d never heard of to fight countries they didn ’ t know existed , and a simple cut could get infected and kill you .
We don ’ t realize how good we have it because those in power get more mileage out of scaring the hell out of us . Don ’ t let them get away with it .
Derek is the host of a free daily podcast ( subscribe ! ) and author of the book , Outrage , INC. , which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses . | 65237177a0123a08 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
elections | Fox News Digital | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/22/trump-disputes-russian-interference-in-2016-election.html | Trump disputes Russian interference in 2016 election | 2017-06-24 | Presidential Elections, Elections | Deputy attorney general's role overseeing the special counsel probe of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign comes into question; John Roberts reports from the White House President Donald Trump questions why the Obama administration didn't try to stop Russian interference in the 2016 election. The president's tweet Thursday appears to cast doubt on the assessment of 17 intelligence agencies that blame Russia for election meddling. The president tweeted: "By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn't they stop them?" Trump also claimed former Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson "is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia." However, Johnson didn't say that in testimony Wednesday before the House intelligence committee; Johnson said was he wasn't aware of efforts by Trump or his campaign to collude with Russia beyond what the intelligence community already knows. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. Subscribed You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! | c7cab448f74d07b9 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
supreme_court | The Daily Caller | http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/31/president-trumps-supreme-court-pick-is-in/ | President Trump’s Supreme Court Pick Is IN | 2017-01-31 | Neil Gorsuch, Supreme Court | President Donald Trump has selected Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 10th U.S . Circuit Court of Appeals to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court .
A conservative stalwart who has served on the federal bench for over decade , Gorsuch became the frontrunner for the appointment among court-watchers in the waning days of the search .
At 49 , he could conceivably serve on the Court for over 30 years if confirmed .
A stuffy credentialism has pervaded the judicial selection process of late . Each member of the current court attended either Harvard or Yale Law School , and all , with the exception of Justice Elena Kagan , served as federal appeals judges prior to their appointment . Several were clerks to former justices .
In many ways , Gorsuch fits this archetype . He holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and a doctorate in legal history from Oxford , where he was a Marshall Scholar . He held prestigious clerkships , first for Judge David Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C . Circuit , then for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court .
Gorsuch is also the author of two books . His first book , “ The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia , ” was published by Princeton University Press in 2006 . He contributed to a second book last year , “ The Law of Judicial Precedent , ” a treatise on the doctrine of precedent assembled by Black ’ s Law Dictionary editor Bryan Garner . He is consistently identified as one of the finest writers on the federal bench given his elegant yet unpretentious prose .
“ He writes opinions in a unique style that has more verve and vitality than any other judges I study on a regular basis , ” District Judge John Kane , a President Jimmy Carter-appointee , told Adam Liptak of The New York Times .
Given his scholarly profile and decade of experience on the 10th Circuit , Gorsuch possesses the intellectual and professional sheen typical of recent nominees .
A panel of legal scholars identified Gorsuch as one of the potential nominees most likely to emulate Scalia scholastically and stylistically . The four-member group produced a paper called “ Searching for Justice Scalia : Measuring The ‘ Scalia-ness ’ of the Next Potential Member of the U.S. Supreme Court , ” which surveyed key characteristics to determine which candidates are most likely to emulate Scalia ’ s jurisprudence and style .
The study measured “ Scalia-ness ” in three ways : How much the candidate engages with or promotes originalism , Scalia ’ s preferred interpretive theory , in their opinions ; how often they cite Scalia ’ s non-judicial writings ; and how often they write separate opinions . The authors use these metrics to establish a “ Scalia Index Score ” ( SIS ) to evaluate each nominee .
Gorsuch received the second highest SIS of the 21 candidates put forward by Trump as potential nominees during the campaign . He was second only to Utah Supreme Court Justice Thomas Lee . He scored particularly well on the originalism metric , but falls in the average range on the other two measures .
His opinion in U.S. v. Games-Perez , in particular , flagged at SCOTUSblog , suggests Gorsuch is a thorough-going Scalia-ite . The opinion channels the late justice to the extent that it looks askance at both judicial reliance on legislative history , and vague guidelines that subvert clear standards , while urging a close and prudential readings of texts .
Gorsuch participated in a high-profile religious liberty case reviewed by the Supreme Court . He wrote a concurring opinion in the en banc 10th Circuit ’ s review of Hobby Lobby Stores v. Sebelius , which asked the court to decide if the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act allows a closely held for-profit company to deny its employees contraceptive coverage based on religious objections .
His concurring opinion tracked the problem of complicity , and argued the lower court had given insufficient ( and statutorily required ) credence to the fact the company ’ s owners felt any sort of participation in a contraception regime violated their religious beliefs .
“ And as we have seen , it is not for secular courts to rewrite the religious complaint of a faithful adherent , or to decide whether a religious teaching about complicity imposes ‘ too much ’ moral disapproval on those only ‘ indirectly ’ assisting wrongful conduct . Whether an act of complicity is or isn ’ t ‘ too attenuated ’ from the underlying wrong is sometimes itself a matter of faith we must respect . ”
His opinion was largely vindicated when the Supreme Court found for Hobby Lobby in a 5-4 ruling .
He has also written two dissents criticizing the “ reasonable observer ” test applied in establishment clause cases , formulated by Justice Sandra Day O ’ Connor . The purpose of the test is to determine if a government action leaves the average observer with the perception that government is endorsing or disparaging religion .
“ Our court has now repeatedly misapplied the ‘ reasonable observer ’ test , and it is apparently destined to continue doing so until we are told to stop . Justice O ’ Connor instructed that the reasonable observer should not be seen as ‘ any ordinary individual , who might occasionally do unreasonable things , but . . . rather [ as ] a personification of a community ideal of reasonable behavior. ’ Yet , our observer continues to be biased , replete with foibles , and prone to mistake . ”
The “ reasonable observer ” and “ reasonable man ” tests were favorite targets of Scalia , who saw them as useless for lawyer ’ s work .
His support for religious accommodations in the context of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act is similarly capacious . He sided with a Native American prisoner seeking access to a sweat lodge in Yellowbear v. Lambert in 2014 .
The dormant commerce clause will find no ally in Gorsuch . The theory argues that the Constitution ’ s explicit grant of authority over interstate commerce to Congress restricts the ability of states to regulate the same , even in the absence of an explicit restriction from Congress . The doctrine has the effect of entrenching federal power over commerce ( a vast wellspring of political authority ) over and against the states . Dormant commerce clause jurisprudence has been firmly established by the Supreme Court and is prevalent throughout the federal courts .
Though he never expressly contravenes the theory — as it would probably be inappropriate for a circuit judge to do so — he does seem dubious of the idea . For example , in Energy and Environmental Institute v. Epel , he writes :
“ Employing what ’ s sometimes called ‘ dormant ’ or ‘ negative ’ commerce clause jurisprudence , judges have claimed the authority to strike down state laws that , in their judgment , unduly interfere with interstate commerce . Detractors find dormant commerce clause doctrine absent from the Constitution ’ s text and incompatible with its structure . ”
Gorsuch wrote a concurring opinion in a complex immigration case in August 2015 , which thoroughly repudiated the Chevron doctrine , which requires courts to submit to a federal agency ’ s interpretation of an ambiguous statute as long as that interpretation is reasonable . The opinion quickly became something of a cause celebre among critics of the administrative state , who charge that Chevron and its progeny shield vast swaths of agency action from judicial review .
“ There ’ s an elephant in the room with us today . We have studiously attempted to work our way around it and even left it unremarked . But the fact is Chevron…permit [ s ] executive bureaucracies to swallow huge amounts of core judicial and legislative power and concentrate federal power in a way that seems more than a little difficult to square with the Constitution of the framers ’ design . Maybe the time has come to face the behemoth . ”
He added that Chevron was “ no less than a judge-made doctrine for the abdication of the judicial duty . ”
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley told reporters Monday that he will filibuster any nominee put forward by Trump , except Judge Merrick Garland . Senate Republicans successfully stymied Garland ’ s nomination for nearly 10 months , after former President Barack Obama selected him to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia . Merkley claims most of the Democratic caucus will join him in the effort .
“ This is a stolen seat . This is the first time a Senate majority has stolen a seat , ” Merkley said . “ We will use every lever in our power to stop this . ”
“ A very large number of my colleagues will be opposed , ” he added .
Gorsuch was not considered a controversial nominee when elevated to the 10th Circuit . He was confirmed on a voice vote with the support of many of the same Democrats who now pledge to stop him . | 9f9cf33707b7b889 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
culture | Guest Writer - Right | https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/03/jussie-smollett-case-prosecutors-drop-charges/ | OPINION: The Jussie Smollett Disgrace | 2019-03-27 | Jussie Smollett, Culture | National Review The Horror of Philadelphia’s Tranq Crisis There Is No Such National Holiday as Presidents Day The Deep-Blue County Defying the Nation’s Rightward Turn Mike Madigan Is Finally Gone. Illinois Remains, Suffering from His Legacy Pro-Life Means Pro-Baby and Pro-Mother, in Tennessee and Elsewhere Rarely do we find ourselves nodding vigorously in agreement with Rahm Emanuel or David Axelrod, but both onetime Obama lieutenants expressed needful levels of disbelief and disgust at the surprise outcome of L’Affaire Jussie Smollett. “Hate crimes are loathsome. Faking them is insidious and shouldn’t be excused,” Axelrod wrote on Twitter after the Cook County State’s Attorney dropped all charges against Smollett for faking the supposed January 29 attack on him by a raging pair of Trump supporters. “Despite Smollett’s denials,” Axelrod added, “nothing the prosecutor said in dismissing the case supports that. If prosecutors have evidence that contradicts the indictment THEY brought, they should share it today.” Emanuel, in perhaps his finest public performance ever, called the disposition of the case “a whitewash” and asked “Is there no decency in this man? A grand jury saw the evidence (and) realized this was a hoax — a hoax on the city, a hoax on hate crimes, a hoax on people of good values who actually were empathetic at first. And he used that empathy for only one reason . . . himself.” Axelrod deftly summarized the moral hazard in another tweet: “You can contrive a hate crime, make it a national news, get caught and-if you are a well-connected celebrity-get off for $10K and have your record expunged and files sealed.” Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said, “I think this city is still owed an apology” because “at the end of the day, it’s Mr. Smollett who committed this hoax.” Prosecutors hastened to clarify that they were not dropping the case for lack of evidence, or because any exculpatory evidence had emerged to back up Smollett’s claims of innocence, but because they believed a brief term of community service and the forfeit of a $10,000 bond constituted condign punishment. Smollett, who had earlier pleaded not guilty, seized the opportunity to claim vindication and insisted he had told nothing but the truth all along, saying, “I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I’ve been accused of.” Perhaps further developments will shed light on what happened behind the scenes — Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had already recused herself from the case for nebulous reasons — but what is already evident is that Smollett is the laughing beneficiary of a breathtaking miscarriage of justice. Chicago police detectives spent more than two weeks investigating Smollett’s claims, following the trail of evidence so diligently that they turned up video of Smollett’s acquaintances Ola and Abel Osundairo, who they believed staged the phony attack, buying a red hat and two ski masks the day before the supposed ambush. Smollett’s staging was obviously intended to disparage his avowed political enemy Donald Trump and Trump supporters, and he even said on Good Morning America that he believed his “attackers” were motivated by his public anti-Trump stance. Sharing his priors about the deplorables, far too many Americans who should have known better believed Smollett’s tall tale. A guilty plea from Smollett and robust punishment would have provided the closure America needed. Yet the colossal error in judgment by the Cook County prosecutors has foreclosed both opportunities. The rancor and ill-will connected with this sordid case will continue, and we will all be forced to breathe the toxic atmosphere. Meanwhile prospective hate-crime grifters will smile. If you enjoyed this article, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS. Members get all of our content (including the magazine), no paywalls or content meters, an advertising-minimal experience, and unique access to our writers and editors (through conference calls, social media groups, and more). And importantly, NRPLUS members help keep NR going. Republicans expect a competitive GOP primary race to fill his seat in 2026. The Catholic Church has long opposed IVF methods, as hundreds of thousands of embryos are frozen, discarded, or donated to medical research annually. A memo from the DNC chairman makes clear there will be no course correction. Allness washed over me . . . What’s passable as Standard English — spoken and written — and what’s not? If I’m the umpire, here are my balls and strikes. If a novel is a mirror carried along a road, there is enough scenery to make Emma immediately compelling. Rereading discloses the motion behind the scenery. © 2025 National Review Newsletters © 2025 National Review | 5da843dac21efcc5 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
foreign_policy | New York Times (News) | https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/us/politics/biden-kishida-japan.html | Biden and Kishida to Bolster U.S.-Japan Alliance Amid China’s Growing Power | 2023-01-13 | Foreign Policy, Joe Biden, World, Japan, China, Asia, Foreign Affairs, Defense And Security | WASHINGTON — President Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan vowed Friday to work together to transform Japan into a potent military power to help counterbalance China and to bolster the alliance between the two nations so that it becomes the linchpin for their security interests in Asia.“We’re modernizing our military alliance, building on Japan’s historic increase in defense spending and new national security strategy,” Mr. Biden said as the two leaders sat in the White House Oval Office in front of a fireplace with a roaring blaze. “Let me be crystal clear: The United States is fully, thoroughly, completely committed to the alliance.”Mr. Kishida was making his first trip to Washington since his election in October 2021, and one month after his government announced plans to strengthen its military capabilities and significantly increase military spending in the face of China’s rising power and repeated missile tests by North Korea.Japan was infuriated by China’s lobbing of missiles around Taiwan in August, five of which landed in waters by Japan, the first time this had happened. And Japan is increasingly anxious over greater maritime activity by the Chinese military in the East China Sea and around the Senkaku Islands, which is disputed territory between the two governments. | 86be16ed2f9f3ddb | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
terrorism | Fox News | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/11/trump-presides-over-911-ceremonies-vows-america-does-not-bend.html | Trump presides over 9/11 ceremonies, vows 'America does not bend' | 2017-09-11 | terrorism | President Trump commemorated the Sept. 11 attacks for the first time as commander-in-chief on Monday , leading a moment of silence and sharing words of strength on the 16th anniversary of that tragic day .
“ We can never erase your pain , but we can honor their sacrifice by pledging our resolve to do whatever we must to keep our people safe , ” Trump said , speaking to hundreds of family members gathered at the Pentagon .
The president , a New Yorker , was joined by first lady Melania Trump to observe a moment of silence first at the White House in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 American lives lost in the attacks -- when hijackers led by Usama Bin Laden crashed airplanes into New York City ’ s World Trade Center , the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville , Pa .
The moment of silence at 8:45 a.m. commemorates the moment the first plane , American Flight 11 , struck the north tower of the World Trade Center . The second plane , United Flight 175 , struck the south Twin Tower at 9:03 a.m. 16 years ago .
The president and first lady then visited the Pentagon to observe another moment of silence led by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford . The president laid a wreath at the Pentagon to honor the victims .
“ We never asked for this fight but we are steadfastly committed to seeing it through , ” Mattis said at the Pentagon . “ We Americans are not made of cotton candy . We ’ re not seaweed drifting in the current . We are not intimidated by our enemies . ”
Trump took the podium following Mattis ’ remarks , honoring the families and the lives lost , and the heroism that day .
“ The horror and anguish of that dark day were seared into our national memory forever . Innocent men , women , and children whose lives were taken so needlessly , ” Trump said .
The president honored “ each family , ” ensuring that “ no force on earth can ever take away your memories , diminish your love or break your will to endure , and carry on and go forward . ”
“ On that day , not only did the world change , but we all changed . Our eyes were open to the depths of the evil that we face , ” he said .
The president added : “ In that hour of darkness , we also came together with renewed purpose . Our differences never looked so small . ”
Trump went on to honor the “ nearly 5 million ” men and women who have joined the ranks in the last 16 years to defend the United States of America . Since 9/11 , nearly 7,000 service members have died . The president ’ s remarks come after the administration announced a renewed Afghanistan policy late last month . A senior U.S. official confirmed to ███ that the president signed off on sending an additional 4,000 troops to Afghanistan , after apparently listening to appeals from his generals .
“ We ’ re ensuring that they [ terrorists ] never again have a safe haven to launch attacks against our country , ” Trump said . “ We are making claim to these savage killers that there is no dark corner beyond our reach , no sanctuary beyond our grasp , and nowhere to hide–anywhere—on this very large earth . ”
The president thanked members of the military for their service and said , “ America does not bend . We do not waver . And we will never , ever yield . ”
Meanwhile , Vice President Pence led the ceremony in Shanksville , where Flight 93 crashed into an open field at 10:03 a.m. 16 years ago . Many believe the passengers on that flight prevented a larger attack by fighting back .
In his remarks , an emotional vice president recalled being on Capitol Hill on 9/11 during what was his first year in Congress . Pence remembered the heroes on Flight 93 that prayed with a phone operator before plummeting to the ground , and assured the family members gathered at the memorial that this was “ personal . ”
“ Among the many lives that were saved by their selfless courage , they might well have saved my own life that day , 16 years ago , ” the vice president said , thanking the audience for the “ privilege ” of speaking . “ I will always believe that I and many others in our nation ’ s Capitol were able to go home that day to hug our families because of the courage and selflessness of the heroes on Flight 93 . For me , it ’ s personal . ”
He added : `` We will drive the cancer of terrorism from the face of the earth . ''
As the ceremonies took place in Washington D.C. , and Pennsylvania , hundreds gathered at Ground Zero in Manhattan for reading of the names of those who lost their lives 16 years ago . | kPCtUsYgIHiMRxbJ | 2 | Donald Trump | 0.1 | 9/11 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | Fox Online News | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/01/secret-service-director-resigns/ | Secret Service director resigns after security failures | 2014-10-01 | white_house | Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigned Wednesday , after a security breach at the White House and other high-profile incidents raised widespread concerns about the safety of the president and his family .
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced the resignation in a written statement , and the White House confirmed her decision shortly afterward . President Obama `` concluded new leadership of that agency was required , '' White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said .
Johnson said : `` Today Julia Pierson , the Director of the United States Secret Service , offered her resignation , and I accepted it . I salute her 30 years of distinguished service to the Secret Service and the Nation . ''
A source familiar with the situation told Fox News that Johnson told Pierson the resignation would be effective immediately , after she offered .
The resignation comes just days after the Sept. 19 incident where an intruder jumped over the White House fence and darted past several layers of security to enter the White House itself . He was able to make it to the East Room before being apprehended .
Pierson 's departure , though , marked a sharp turnaround from a day earlier , when despite her rocky performance during congressional testimony the White House voiced support for her leadership . Asked Tuesday whether Obama had confidence in the director , Earnest said `` absolutely . ''
But on Wednesday , the director was facing bipartisan calls to step down . Rep. Elijah Cummings , top Democrat on the committee that grilled Pierson , notably told NPR she is `` not the person to lead that agency '' -- though he later clarified he thinks she should go if she ca n't restore public trust .
Asked what had changed to lead to her resignation , Earnest said foremost that Pierson had offered her resignation .
But he also said Wednesday that `` recent and accumulating reports '' raised `` legitimate questions '' about the agency . Earnest said Obama agrees that Pierson 's resignation is in the best interest of the agency .
Among those reports was the revelation that on Sept. 16 , a security contractor armed with a gun who had previously been arrested for assault rode on an elevator with Obama and his security detail at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta , violating Secret Service protocol . Earnest said the president only learned about that incident on Tuesday .
New and alarming details also emerged -- seemingly by the day -- about the multiple security failures in the Sept. 19 intrusion . Not until late Monday was it reported that he made it into the East Room , a detail that was confirmed by Pierson during her testimony .
Johnson said that he now agrees that a `` panel of independent experts '' should review the Sept. 19 incident -- something that had been called for by lawmakers . He said such a panel will submit its assessment and recommendations by Dec. 15 .
`` I will also request that the panel advise me about whether it believes , given the series of recent events , there should be a review of broader issues concerning the Secret Service . The security of the White House compound should be the panel 's primary and immediate priority , '' he said .
He said a separate internal review will be completed by Nov. 1 .
Johnson said he 's appointing Joseph Clancy , a former special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division who retired in 2011 , as interim director .
The Sept. 19 incident involving a Texas Army veteran who jumped the White House fence and was able to make it deep into the Executive Mansion before being stopped is now just one of several embarrassing disclosures about lapses in presidential security involving the Secret Service .
Despite more than three hours of questioning by House lawmakers on Tuesday , Pierson neglected to mention the incident in Atlanta . Her failure to do so prompted Rep. Jason Chaffetz , R-Utah , to call for Pierson 's resignation -- or firing -- in an interview with Fox News Tuesday night . In a statement on Wednesday , Chaffetz welcomed the decision to step down and urged the president to fill the post with `` new leadership from outside the Secret Service for a fresh start . ''
At Tuesday 's hearing , Pierson said she was the one who briefs Obama on threats to his personal security and said she had briefed him only once this year , `` for the Sept. 19 incident . '' She also disclosed that shortly before the alleged intruder , Omar J. Gonzalez , scaled the fence at least two of her uniformed officers recognized him from an earlier troubling encounter but did not approach him or report his presence to superiors .
Lawmakers were aghast , too , about a four-day delay in 2011 before the Secret Service realized a man had fired a high-powered rifle at the White House , as reported by the Washington Post on Sunday .
Pierson told the hearing the security plan for protecting the White House was not `` properly executed '' on Sept. 19 . The Secret Service 's story about the extent of that breach changed late Monday night after the Washington Post first reported that Gonzalez got well past the front door of the White House . Previously it had said Gonzalez had been stopped just inside the front door . After hours of questioning Tuesday , it remained unclear what and when Pierson and Johnson knew about the incident . The Secret Service is part of the Homeland Security Department .
The Sept. 19 breach was the latest black eye for the agency . Pierson was originally brought in early last year after the 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia .
Gonzalez was indicted Tuesday and pleaded not guilty on Wednesday before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson in U.S. District Court . | XVJWzeVI7Sqn40sj | 2 | Politics | -1.3 | White House | -0.7 | Secret Service | -0.3 | null | null | null | null |
world | The Hill | https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/599542-us-announces-sanctions-on-russian-lawmakers-defense-companies | US announces sanctions on Russian lawmakers, defense companies | 2022-03-24 | World, Ukraine, Ukraine War, Russia, Refugees, Sanctions | The Biden administration on Thursday announced sanctions on more than 300 Russian lawmakers and dozens of state-owned companies that are connected to the war effort in the invasion of Ukraine. The announcement came as President Biden met with NATO allies and Group of Seven (G-7) leaders in Brussels to discuss how to respond to the invasion as it stretches into its second month. “I’m announcing additional sanctions on over 400 Russian elites, lawmakers, and defense companies in response to Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine. They personally gain from the Kremlin’s policies, and they should share in the pain,” Biden tweeted. The sanctions target 328 members of the Duma, Russia’s legislative body, as well as the Duma itself as an entity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had raised sanctioning Duma members during his address to Congress last week. The U.S. is also sanctioning 17 board members of Sovcombank, one of the largest Russian financial institutions, as well as 48 Russian defense enterprises that have been producing equipment for the war effort, including helicopters and tactical missiles. The administration also announced sanctions on Herman Gref, who is the head of Sberbank, Russia’s largest financial institution, and Gennady Timchenko, a wealthy businessman and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In addition to the new sanctions rolled out by the Biden administration, the U.S. and its European allies rolled out an initiative intended to better enforce existing sanctions on Russia. The White House said the G-7 and European Union will also work to prevent Russia from using its international reserves, including gold, to prop up its economy in the face of sanctions that have crippled Russian financial markets and diminished the value of the ruble. “As long as President Putin continues this war, the United States and allies and partners are committed to ensuring the Russian government feels the compounding effects of our current and future economic actions,” the White House said in a statement. Thursday’s announcement builds on weeks of escalatory actions the U.S. has taken in coordination with allies to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. and European leaders have sanctioned dozens of Russian oligarchs who benefit from Kremlin policies, major Russian financial institutions, Putin and members of his inner circle and Russian exports. Still, Russian attacks on Ukraine have grown more intense, destroying swaths of major cities and killing hundreds of civilians. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday the U.S. had determined Russian forces had committed war crimes. This story was updated at 9:58 a.m. Get notified of breaking news THE HILL 400 N CAPITOL STREET NW, SUITE 650 WASHINGTON DC 20002 © 1998 - 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. 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elections | Daily Beast | http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/08/hillary-clinton-gets-away-with-email-debacle-good-now-will-she-learn.html | Hillary Clinton Gets Away With Email Debacle. Good! Now Will She Learn? | 2016-07-08 | elections | It looks as if Hillary Clinton is going to try to skate past the email saga by essentially arguing that Donald Trump is a lot worse .
That is manifestly true . He ’ s infinitely worse , as he insisted on showing us again Wednesday night with that bilious tirade defending his anti-Semitic tweet . The only circumstance under which he belongs anywhere near the White House is when he ’ s being chauffeured down Pennsylvania Avenue , and even then they should fumigate the place after he goes by .
And it ’ s not solely that he ’ s worse . She is , in many ways—ways the media don ’ t like to recognize—an admirable woman . Critics carry on about how she ’ s never accomplished anything big and is an archetypal sail-trimmer , and there ’ s some truth in these critiques . But you don ’ t get to the cusp of the presidency , especially as a woman , by being a mediocrity . There may be no Marshall Plan she can point to as secretary of state or Dodd-Frank-ish piece of legislation she notched as senator , but she ’ s accomplished a lot , and had a very consequential career . And while she may end up being a disappointing president , assuming she wins , I think that she also has it in her to be a great one .
But she has this blind spot , and it just has to change before she gets to the White House . I write as one who is on her side , as I ’ m sure most of you know . Although you may not know my full history on that . Briefly : I wasn ’ t a Clinton fan in 1992 , just on ideological grounds ; wasn ’ t crazy about the New Democrat stuff . It was only in 1998 , after the Lewinsky scandal broke , that I saw that all the things my friends Joe Conason and Gene Lyons had been writing about the plot to nail the Clintons was true and then some . And that ’ s when I became , in the unflattering parlance of our trade , a Clinton defender .
So now the email scandal is behind her , officially . FBI Director James Comey found no grounds for indictment , and Republicans are incredulous , but in real life , there ’ s often space between bad judgment , even spectacularly bad judgment , and illegality . You only have to watch Law & Order to know that being offended by someone ’ s behavior is one thing and proving a case is quite another .
Here ’ s a hypothetical question I haven ’ t seen anyone ask : What if Comey had sought an indictment , and then Clinton were acquitted two years from now ? All Comey would have accomplished would have been to rake an innocent person over the legal coals and in the process hand the country to President Trump .
And speaking of bad judgment , Comey showed some of his own Monday . In his Washington Post column , Matthew Miller laid out a blistering case that Comey ’ s very decision to call this press conference constituted an abuse of power . I wouldn ’ t go that far—given that this matter involves a presidential election , the most consequential event on our national political calendar , I think an explanation to the public about Comey ’ s findings and reasoning was warranted . And it was inevitable that he ’ d take some shots at her . He is a Republican who ’ s been on her tail since the Whitewater days , and this is politics .
But it now seems apparent that he exaggerated or twisted some things . And he had no business whatsoever trotting out speculation that her server might have been hacked into without a shred of evidence to support the claim . That was pure innuendo , and he should in fact be reprimanded , if there ’ s anyone out there who can reprimand him , for saying that .
But back to Hillary : The saga is now officially over , but it won ’ t be unofficially over for a while yet . Is there anything she can do to make it fade away a little faster ? Yes , but I have zero confidence that she ’ ll do it .
In Clintonland , when they ’ re in besieged mode as they so often are , they tend to think , from Bill and Hillary on down , about how their reactions will look to their enemies , and whether their responses hand their attackers and the media any fodder . But they ought to think once in a while about how their responses to look to their supporters . You won ’ t be surprised to hear that I know many of them . A few are with her 100 percent down the line and give no quarter and admit no error . But most think she showed terrible judgment here . In refusing to use a state.gov email address for official business , she let her distrust of her political attackers ( Judicial Watch and so on ) take precedence over her basic commitment to the public she was serving . And she owes them—us , since this group includes me—an explanation .
“ I ’ m sorry , I made a mistake , it won ’ t happen again ” isn ’ t enough . Think about when someone in your life lets you down . Those few perfunctory words don ’ t fix things . For real reassurance , you need to know why it won ’ t happen again—what they learned . As I wrote the other day , she should speak with specificity about all this . Joan Walsh of The Nation , another defender , thinks so , too .
And Clinton should spell out—again , with real specificity—what steps she ’ d take as president to ensure that something like this doesn ’ t happen and to show she would run a clean administration more generally . As I ’ ve written before , this needs to include a specific explanation about what the Clintons plan to do about the Foundation if they return to the White House . He can ’ t be running that thing out of the White House , can he ? At least not in the way he has been .
Speaking like this would help her . It would reach two groups—those who support her but were disappointed by this episode , who want to see that she ’ s learned something ; and those who have mixed feelings about her but rate her low on trust , most of whom will award her a point or two for facing up to things .
But she won ’ t . She just doesn ’ t seem capable of acknowledging error at a length greater than one grudging sentence . Since “ intent ” is one of the words of the week , I don ’ t think her intent in not doing this is to take her supporters ’ support for granted . But that ’ s the effect , and it ’ s going to catch up with her . As president , she must do better . | U6HOFqKGJDRVE3GH | 0 | Hillary Clinton | 0.6 | Presidential Elections | 0 | Elections | 0 | null | null | null | null |
us_military | Business Insider | https://www.businessinsider.com/us-sending-more-marines-after-protests-at-embassy-in-baghdad-2019-12 | The US is sending roughly 100 more Marines to defend the embassy in Baghdad after violent protesters stormed the gate | 2019-12-31 | us_military | Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced on Tuesday that the US was `` sending additional forces to support our personnel '' at the US Embassy in Baghdad after violent protesters stormed the gate .
US Central Command told Insider that `` around 100 '' additional Marines would be sent to provide security for the diplomatic outpost .
The protests on Tuesday followed US airstrikes targeting an Iran-backed militia , a response to a rocket attack last Friday that killed a US civilian contractor and injured several American service members .
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that the US would send in additional forces to defend the US Embassy in Baghdad after violent protesters stormed the gates earlier in the day .
The protests followed US airstrikes targeting an Iran-backed Iraqi militia , carried out in retaliation for a rocket attack on a local base on Friday that killed a US civilian contractor and wounded several others .
`` We have taken appropriate force protection actions to ensure the safety of American citizens , military personnel and diplomats in country , and to ensure our right of self-defense , '' Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced in a statement on Tuesday . `` We are sending additional forces to support our personnel at the Embassy . ''
Esper added that the US continued to `` rely on the host nation forces to assist in the protection of our personnel . ''
In a tweet earlier Tuesday , President Donald Trump blamed Iran for the attack on the embassy and urged Iraq to defend US personnel in the country .
Esper did not say how many additional troops would be sent to protect the embassy . US Central Command officials , however , told Insider that `` around 100 '' more Marines would be sent to provide additional security for the diplomatic outpost .
The Marines are assigned to the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force — Crisis Response — Central Command and will deploy from Kuwait , CENTCOM said , adding that this force is `` designed to move with speed and precision to support operations throughout the Middle East . ''
US Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force — Crisis Response —Central Command 19.2 prepare to deploy from Kuwait on Tuesday . U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt . Robert Gavaldon
These Marines are , according to Military.com , part of a special crisis-response unit — one of several created after the 2012 attack on a US outpost in Benghazi , Libya — and trained to deal with a variety of emergency situations .
In addition to the decision to send in more troops for added security , the US flew Apache helicopters over the embassy as a show of force .
—OIR Spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III ( @ OIRSpox ) December 31 , 2019
The situation at the embassy follows a series of clashes between US personnel and local militias .
Last Friday , a US civilian contractor was killed and several American service members were wounded in a rocket attack on an Iraqi base in Kirkuk that the US believes was carried out by an Iran-backed militia called Kataib Hezbollah . On Sunday , the US conducted five airstrikes targeting Kataib Hezbollah positions , killing more than two dozen fighters .
The retaliatory strikes sparked violent protests on Tuesday , when demonstrators stormed the main gate of the US Embassy in Baghdad and torched a security post .
State Department officials said on Tuesday there the embassy compound had not been breached and that all personnel were safe . They advised Americans to stay away from the embassy . | nlnqFl2XLYy3jMcK | 1 | US Military | 0.1 | Foreign Policy | -0.1 | Marine Corps | 0 | Iraq | 0 | Baghdad | 0 |
2024_presidential_election | ABC News (Online) | https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nikki-haley-police-guns-drawn-parents-after-swatting/story?id=106748709 | Nikki Haley says police had 'guns drawn' on her parents after 'swatting' incident | 2024-01-30 | 2024 Presidential Election, Politics, Violence In America, Nikki Haley, Police | "It put the law enforcement officers in danger, it put my family in danger." Nikki Haley's parents were home when she was targeted by a "swatting" hoax in December at her home on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, she said on Sunday. It was one of two such incidents in recent weeks, according to law enforcement records obtained by ABC News. The 2024 Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor commented on the swatting during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" when she said that officers had "guns drawn" and pointed at her parents, who were with a caregiver, after police were reportedly falsely directed to her residence on suspicion of a crime in late December. Haley and her son were not home at the time of what she called an "awful situation," which was first reported by Reuters. Haley's husband, Michael, was also not present as he is currently deployed overseas with the South Carolina National Guard. According to an email referencing comments from Kiawah Island Public Safety Director Craig Harris to other town officials, obtained by Reuters, the first incident occurred on Dec. 30 after a man called 911 and "claimed to have shot his girlfriend and threatened to harm himself while at the residence of Nikki Haley," Harris said. "It put the law enforcement officers in danger, it put my family in danger and, you know, it was not a safe situation," Haley said on Sunday, adding that the threat was not the only one made against her so far during the 2024 campaign cycle. "That's what happens when you run for president," Haley said. "What I don't want is for my kids to live like this." She added that she feels the incident is evidence of the "chaos surrounding our country right now." ABC News has obtained two incident reports from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office related to the two attempted "swatting" incidents that occurred at Haley's home in Kiawah Island. According to a statement circulated and sent to ABC News by the sheriff's office, their SWAT team did not respond to either incident and the patrol unit was dispatched to both calls. Both cases have been administratively closed, without known arrests, and were reported to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the statewide investigative agency. Haley, who also served as the United States ambassador to the U.N. before her run for president, is one of several high-profile political figures to recently be targeted in various ways. Last month, a New Hampshire man was arrested and indicted after allegedly sending a series of threatening text messages about three presidential candidates -- including threats to kill then-Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The other two candidates allegedly threatened were not identified by the Department of Justice. Attorney General Merrick Garland made note of the environment last month, citing a "deeply disturbing spike" in threats to public officials. "In just the final months of 2023, the department investigated and charged individuals with making violent threats against FBI agents, federal judges, including a Supreme Court justice, presidential candidates, members of Congress, members of the military and election workers," Garland said in remarks at a Department of Justice roundtable. "These threats are unacceptable," he said. "They threaten the fabric of our democracy." ABC News' Abby Cruz and Alexander Mallin contributed to this report. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events | 9e72c9ddaf95f7f6 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
gun_control_and_gun_rights | Fox News | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/19/some-gun-dealers-report-brisk-sales-ahead-grand-jury-decision-in-ferguson/ | Gun dealers report brisk sales ahead of Ferguson grand jury decision | 2014-11-19 | gun_control_and_gun_rights | Gun dealers in parts of the St. Louis suburbs have reported brisk sales , especially among first-time buyers , as local residents wait for a grand jury decision on whether to indict the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot teenager Michael Brown this past August .
One shop , Metro Shooting Supplies , located in an area near the city 's main airport , reported selling two to three times more weapons than usual in recent weeks — an average of 30 to 50 guns each day .
`` We 're selling everything that 's not nailed down , '' owner Steven King told the Associated Press . `` Police are n't going to be able to protect every single individual . If you do n't prepare yourself and get ready for the worst , you have no one to blame but yourself . ''
The store 's waiting list for private lessons and concealed-carry training classes extends into 2015 .
Protest leaders say they are preparing for non-violent demonstrations after the grand jury 's decision is announced , but they also acknowledge the risk of more unrest if the panel decides not to issue criminal charges against Darren Wilson , the white officer who shot Brown , who was black and unarmed .
Other gun dealers say their sales spikes are comparable to the increases seen soon after Brown 's death on Aug. 9 .
`` I 've probably sold more guns this past month than all of last year , '' said County Guns owner Adam Weinstein , who fended off looters last summer at his former storefront on West Florissant Avenue , the roadway that was the scene of many nightly protests . Weinstein stood guard over his business with an assault rifle and pistol .
The store has since moved out of Ferguson — in part because of concerns about the potential for further violence .
First-time gun owners account for about 60 percent of his recent customers , King said . Among them is Dave Benne , who on Saturday purchased a Smith & Wesson handgun as shoppers swarmed the 8,600-square-foot showroom .
Benne said he 's considered buying a gun for some time , but the events in Ferguson , a town that borders his community of Florissant and shares a school district with its neighbor , were the decisive factor .
`` Everyone else has one , '' he said . `` I figured I 'd better too . ''
The St. Louis County Police Department reports a sharp increase in the number of concealed-carry permits issued since Brown 's death compared with a year ago .
From May through July , the county issued fewer permits compared with the same period in 2013 , records show . But from Aug. 1 through Nov. 12 , officials issued 600 more permits , including more than twice as many in October as a year earlier . Fifty-three more permits were issued in the first eight business days of November than in all of November 2013 .
Police spokesman Brian Schellman said `` it would be naive '' to say the increase has not been driven by concern over the grand jury decision .
The purchases are not limited to residents . The owner of an online business that sells tactical gear to law-enforcement agencies said his warehouse in the suburb of Chesterfield has been visited by Missouri state troopers and officers from the Department of Homeland Security assigned to help state and local police .
`` None of us has ever seen anything quite like this before , '' said Chad Weinman of Cat5 Commerce , which operates the website TacticalGear.com . `` There is an uncertainty in the air that has my entire staff on edge . To say that St. Louis residents are concerned about what will transpire in the coming days is an understatement . ''
At the Ferguson Wal-Mart , one of more than a dozen stores attacked the night after Brown 's death , managers have removed ammunition from shelves as a precaution .
The move to make the ammo less visible apparently did not deter customers . A manager said Monday that the store had sold most of its supply of bullets . | VNZezaYn9Lk8xMGC | 2 | Ferguson | -1.9 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | 0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
marijuana_legalization | Politico | http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/marijuana-2016-elections-gop-102186.html?hp=t1_s#.UtahaWRdU5s | The Pot Primary | 2014-01-14 | marijuana_legalization | Reid Cherlin is a writer in New York and a former White House spokesman in the Obama administration .
And you thought pot-smokers were lazy . While Washington has convulsed in gridlock and dysfunction , marijuana advocates have won ballot initiatives to legalize recreational use in Colorado and Washington , swung public opinion in favor of full legalization for the first time and begun knocking on the door in at least four other states . Alaska , California , Oregon and Nevada are all mulling decriminalization campaigns in 2014 or 2016 , and they may be joined by others .
That success has also set up a vexing legal paradox : If marijuana , long illegal under federal law , is permitted by a state , smoking pot in that state—or buying it , or selling it—is both legal and illegal at once . And although the Justice Department and its law-enforcement authorities have allowed state laws to take effect this month as planned , there is every reason to believe the truce to be tenuous . “ You can ’ t have a stable policy regime when the laws are at odds , ” a former Obama official who worked on marijuana regulation told me .
President Obama himself , the first president to admit openly that he both smoked and inhaled marijuana , told Barbara Walters late last year that he ’ s “ got bigger fish to fry ” than going after users in states where pot is legal—and anyway , almost all low-level busts are made by local authorities in accordance with local law . But the Constitution ’ s Supremacy Clause—which says that federal laws trump those in the states—is a stubborn thing , and federal prosecutors and law-enforcement agents based in the states have recently undergone a good deal of whipsawing on this issue . What ’ s to be done about legal dispensaries that run afoul of regulations and sell too laxly ? What about marijuana crossing state lines ?
Holding all of the contrary rules in temporary equilibrium is the fact that our justice system runs on prosecutorial discretion , a bow to the reality that finite law-enforcement resources must be targeted where they ’ re most needed . Prosecutors look to the Department of Justice for guidance , and the Justice Department in turn looks to the president . So while legalization has of late been a battle waged state by state , the near-term future of pot in America could well be decided by the 2016 presidential election—and the new chief executive ’ s choice of an attorney general . Mark Kleiman , a drug policy expert at UCLA and a prominent reform advocate who helped Washington State put together the regulations for its new marketplace , put it this way : “ You could reappoint John Ashcroft as attorney general and people could be going to prison for long terms for things that they ’ re doing right now . ”
It ’ s not clear yet what a marijuana debate within the GOP would look like : While it might be good politics to get behind an issue that most Americans support , only 37 percent of Republican voters favor legalization , compared with 58 percent overall . Republicans have traditionally stood for law and order , and against the kind of social decay that pot-smoking so handily represents—yet they also stand for states ’ rights , minimal government and personal liberty . All of which means that with the next round of states considering legalization initiatives in the next two cycles , candidates , who until now have been able to laugh off questions about legalization , are going to find that they have to talk about it .
The pot problem was supposed to have been solved by now , one way or the other . As far back as 1971 , Richard Nixon promised that “ the final question is not whether we will conquer drug abuse , but how soon , ” touching off an escalating investment in getting drugs off of American streets . Conversely , legalization advocates in the Carter era were predicting that marijuana would be fully legal by the early 1980s .
Yet here we are : It ’ s 2014 , and the debate over what to do about pot rages on . In October , Gallup registered its first-ever majority in favor of legalization , with 58 percent in support—an increase of 10 points over the previous year . And with the dawning of the new year , Colorado and Washington are beginning the messy process of creating the legal marijuana marketplaces their citizens voted to enact .
But—and it ’ s a big but—the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 still classifies pot as a highly dangerous Schedule I drug ; in the eyes of Uncle Sam it has “ no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. ” Clearly , the many , many users of marijuana in the United States tend to disagree with both of those claims . And while the 2012 initiatives out west marked a historic first , those two states were already among the 20 ( plus Washington , D.C. ) that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes—in some cases more or less indistinguishably from a legal recreational market . As Kleiman noted , medical marijuana is already “ an open racket ” in places like California . “ The vast bulk of the cannabis is being sold to healthy 20-year-olds . ” | oIGsJOcDOE7Re6vY | 0 | Marijuana Legalization | 0.6 | Public Health | 0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
national_security | USA TODAY | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/20/trump-blames-hillary-clinton-north-korea-nuclear-weapons-program/684183001/ | Trump blames Hillary Clinton for North Korea nuclear weapons program | 2017-09-20 | national_security | NEW YORK CITY – President Trump on Wednesday urged world leaders at the United Nations to thwart the `` enormous security threat '' from North Korea – even as he blamed his predecessors and previous political rival Hillary Clinton for Pyongyang 's nuclear weapons program .
A day after he threatened to `` totally destroy '' North Korea if the U.S. was forced to defend itself or its Asian allies , Trump again called for tougher economic sanctions to tighten the financial pressure .
`` We must all stand together and be accountable for implementing U.N. sanctions and resolutions in response to North Korea ’ s hostile and menacing actions , '' Trump said during a lunch meeting with African leaders .
In his speech Tuesday to the 193-member United Nations General Assembly , Trump denounced Pyongyang 's `` reckless '' pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles , and taunted North Korea leader Kim Jong Un with a campaign-style nickname . `` Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime , '' he said .
After criticism from former Obama administration officials for his aggressive rhetoric , Trump took a shot at his Democratic challenger in the 2016 presidential election and her husband , former president Bill Clinton , for `` allowing '' North Korea to expand its nuclear program .
`` After allowing North Korea to research and build Nukes while Secretary of State ( Bill C also ) , Crooked Hillary now criticizes , '' Trump tweeted Wednesday morning .
In an early morning tweet storm , Trump also retweeted another critic of Clinton and his predecessor Barack Obama . `` It is the height of hypocrisy . Obama and Clinton in effect gave nuclear weapons to North Korea by their policy of appeasement , '' that tweet said .
More : At United Nations , Trump threatens to 'totally destroy North Korea ' if it continues on nuclear path
More : Analysis : At U.N. , Trump calls for a 'great reawakening of nations ' to confront evil
Trump 's tweets came after Clinton and political analysts expressed concern Trump 's rhetoric in the U.N. speech will make a diplomatic solution to North Korea more difficult . Speaking on CBS ' Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday , Clinton described the speech as `` very dark , dangerous , not the kind of message that the leader of the free world should be delivering . ''
John Kerry , who succeeded Clinton as secretary of State , told MSNBC that Trump 's `` childish '' rhetoric pushes away potential diplomatic allies . `` You have to ask yourself , is America safer because of 'Rocket Man ' ? ' '' Kerry said . `` Did we bring anybody to the table as a consequence of that language ? You do n't give a speech at the United Nations to talk to your base . ''
What 's more , the North Korea nuclear program stretches back to the 1950s , and began in earnest after the 1989 collapse of the communist nation 's major economic patron , the Soviet Union . Over the last two decades , it has grown despite the efforts of presidents from both parties – Clinton , Republican George W. Bush , and Obama – to lobby other countries to pressure the North Koreans to give up nuclear weapons development .
As his predecessors did , Trump has lobbied China to rein in the nuclear ambitions of its neighbor North Korea .
Nikki Haley , Trump 's ambassador to the United Nations , defended his speech on Wednesday , telling ABC 's Good Morning America it making North Korea 's threats a major topic of conversation at the international meeting .
`` I was talking to a president of an African country yesterday and he actually cited 'Rocket Man ' back to me , '' she said . `` This is a way of getting people to talk about ( Kim Jong-un ) , but every other international community now is referring to him as 'Rocket Man . ' ''
Yet North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho , speaking with reporters Wednesday after arriving at the United Nations , likened Trump 's speech to `` the sound of a dog barking . ''
`` If he was thinking he could scare us with the sound of a dog barking , that 's really a dog dream , '' Ri said .
As for the `` Rocket Man '' comment , he said , `` I feel sorry for his ( Trump 's ) aides . '' | W9S080ySwcnukpue | 1 | North Korea | -1.9 | Hillary Clinton | -1.1 | Donald Trump | 0.3 | National Security | 0.1 | Defense And Security | 0.1 |
russia | New York Times (News) | https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/world/europe/aleksei-navalny-funeral-moscow-russia.html | Thousands Turn Out for Navalny’s Funeral in Moscow | 2024-03-01 | Russia, World, Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Moscow, Ukraine War | Thousands of people crowded a neighborhood on Moscow’s outskirts on Friday — some bearing flowers and chanting, “No to war!” — as they tried to catch a glimpse of the funeral for Aleksei A. Navalny. The outpouring turned the opposition leader’s last rites into a striking display of dissent in Russia at a time of deep repression.The service took place under tight monitoring from the Russian authorities, who have arrested hundreds of mourners at memorial sites since Mr. Navalny died. The police presence was heavy around the church where funeral services began shortly after 2 p.m. local time.After a procession to the cemetery, Mr. Navalny’s coffin was placed next to his freshly dug grave. Video live streamed from the site showed his family members and then other mourners kissing him goodbye for the last time. Then his face was covered with a white cloth and the coffin was lowered to the Frank Sinatra song “My Way” and then the final song from “Terminator 2,” which Mr. Navalny considered “the best film on Earth.” Mourners slowly passed by, each taking a handful of dirt and tossing it into the grave.People had chanted Mr. Navalny’s last name earlier as his coffin was taken into the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, a Russian Orthodox church in southern Moscow. Images on social media showed attendees lining up, but also security cameras that the local news media reported had been recently installed, and signs forbidding mourners to take pictures or video in the church. | b9f37a0851ea3c9a | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | The Hill | http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/347594-the-memo-seven-takeaways-from-trumps-arizona-speech | Seven takeaways from Trump’s Arizona speech | 2017-08-23 | politics | 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 traveled to Arizona Tuesday for a campaign-style rally that drew a near-capacity crowd to the Phoenix Convention Center and brought protesters onto the streets outside .
The occasion was sharply different from Trump ’ s speech the previous evening announcing that the United States would not be withdrawing from Afghanistan anytime soon .
This was the president back to his usual self : unscripted , unrestrained and unfiltered .
The reaction in the arena was ecstatic . Among pundits , it was not . CNN anchor Don Lemon called the address “ unhinged ” and “ embarrassing ” within seconds of its conclusion .
Trump attacked the media at length for their coverage of his reaction to the fatal violence in Charlottesville , Va. , earlier this month .
His speech at other times resembled a “ greatest hits ” package from his presidential campaign . He pledged to boost the economy ; crack down on illegal immigration , in part by building a southern border wall ; and drain the Washington swamp . He also said that his administration would “ end up probably terminating NAFTA . ”
The tone in which his remarks were delivered was as notable as the substance . This was clearly a president with a lot of frustration to get off his chest . His supporters will empathize . His critics will deride his volatility .
For all the rhetorical fireworks , however , it was tough to see how Trump changed anyone ’ s opinion of him — for better or for worse .
The furor over Charlottesville had begun to subside this week as criticism of Trump from high-profile Republicans faded from the headlines and his speech about Afghanistan took up much of the media oxygen .
That being so , the president ’ s decision to relitigate the controversy will strike even many Republicans as peculiar .
The president produced a sheet of paper and re-read several of his comments about the clashes between white supremacists and protesters that left 32-year-old Heather Heyer dead . Heyer was hit by a car allegedly driven by a man who harbored far-right views .
Trump ’ s argument was that he had been misrepresented by the media and that he had in fact condemned the far-right clearly .
But the strongest criticism of Trump had focused upon his initial assertion that there had been violence “ on many sides ” and his later insistence that there were “ very fine people on both sides. ” He did not mention either of those comments in Phoenix .
Media critic Howard Kurtz noted on Fox News that Trump had likely given the story new life “ for 48 hours at least . ”
No names — but clear jabs at McCain and Flake
Much of the pre-speech drama concerned what Trump might say about the state ’ s two Republican senators , 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 and Jeff Flake Jeffrey ( Jeff ) Lane FlakeLindsey Graham basks in the impeachment spotlight Kelly , McSally virtually tied in Arizona Senate race : poll ███ 's 12:30 Report — Presented by Nareit — White House cheers Republicans for storming impeachment hearing MORE .
Both men are among Trump ’ s toughest GOP critics and neither attended his address . McCain is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor that was discovered in mid-July .
Trump avoided mentioning either man by name , but his message was clear .
He repeatedly mentioned that Senate legislation aimed at hollowing out the Affordable Care Act , also known as ObamaCare , had failed by one vote . It was clear that he was placing the blame on McCain , who sank the legislation with a dramatic downturn of a thumb on the Senate floor late last month .
“ One vote away ! I will not mention any names . Very presidential , isn ’ t it ? ” Trump asked .
He added , “ Nobody wants me to talk about your other senator ” — Flake — “ who is weak on border [ security ] , weak on crime . ”
Trump had previously tweeted praise for Kelli Ward , a Republican who is challenging Flake from the right in the GOP Senate primary next year .
His attacks came amid worsening relations with Republicans on Capitol Hill .
Sen. Bob Corker Robert ( Bob ) Phillips CorkerLindsey Graham basks in the impeachment spotlight ███ 's 12:30 Report — Presented by Nareit — White House cheers Republicans for storming impeachment hearing GOP senators frustrated with Romney jabs at Trump MORE ( R-Tenn. ) called Trump ’ s “ stability ” and “ competence ” into question late last week .
Shortly before Trump took to the stage in Phoenix , The New York Times published a story on tensions between the president and 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. ) .
McConnell , the newspaper reported , had expressed doubts that Trump “ will be able to salvage his administration . ”
One of the most startling of Trump ’ s claims came in a single sentence about the border wall . “ Believe me , if we have to close down our government , we ’ re building that wall , ” he said .
Andrea Mitchell of NBC News tweeted “ debt ceiling threat ? ” Others interpreted it as an attempt to pressure reluctant lawmakers to provide funding for the wall if a government shutdown is to be averted before the Sept. 30 deadline .
The remark will resonate on Capitol Hill and beyond . Business network CNBC reported that the price of two “ safe havens ” for investors — gold and the Japanese yen — edged higher after Trump ’ s comment .
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had told reporters on board Air Force One earlier in the day that there would be “ no discussion ” of a preemptive pardon for Joe Arpaio , the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County , Ariz .
Arpaio , praised by supporters for his hard-line stance on illegal immigration and reviled as an anti-Latino bigot by detractors , was recently convicted of criminal contempt of court .
Trump did not issue a pardon — but his sympathies were obvious .
“ Was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job ? ” he asked , before going on to promise that “ he ’ s going to be just fine , okay ? ”
Apparently alluding to a pardon , Trump added , “ I won ’ t do it tonight because I don ’ t want to cause any controversy . But Sheriff Joe should feel good . ”
He suggested that CNN was turning its cameras off during his harangue of the media . The network did not do so .
PolitiFact judged his assertion that “ wages haven ’ t gone up in a long time ” to be false , stating that they have been rising for “ the past three to five years depending on the measurement you use . ”
Trump ’ s claim that Republicans had been only one vote away from repealing ObamaCare was also debatable . Even if the legislation in question had passed the Senate , fraught negotiations with the House would likely have followed , with no guarantee of ultimate repeal .
Of course , fact-checkers ’ verdicts can themselves be controversial . The president said that gross domestic product growth in the second quarter of this year “ surged ” to 2.6 percent .
FactCheck.org implicitly pushed back on that , noting that growth has been higher than 2.6 percent during 8 of the past 18 quarters .
But the 2.6 percent figure does represent a near-doubling of the 1.4 percent GDP growth achieved in the first quarter of this year .
Trump ’ s detractors underestimate at their peril the strength of his connection to his supporters .
Even while the president has seen his approval ratings slip to historic lows , his base remains resilient .
Trump once again sounded themes of emphatic support for law enforcement , reverence for traditional culture and an ardor for old-school patriotism . Those calls resonate with a large swathe of the population even as they are viewed skeptically by many upscale urbanites .
“ Classic @ realDonaldTrump tonight -- in your face and unabashedly pro-American , ” radio talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted . “ This is absolutely RIVETING and HILARIOUS . ”
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage , primarily focused on Donald Trump ’ s presidency . | jX4N7mkA6GEmRoRC | 1 | Arizona | 0.2 | Politics | -0.1 | Donald Trump | -0.1 | null | null | null | null |
media_bias | New York Times - News | http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/05/15/george-stephanopoulos-apologizes-to-viewers-on-clinton-donations/ | George Stephanopoulos Apologizes to Viewers on Clinton Donations | 2015-05-15 | media_bias | George Stephanopoulos , the ABC News chief news anchor , told “ Good Morning America ” viewers on Friday that it was a “ mistake ” for him to donate $ 75,000 over the last three years to the Bill , Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation , and he apologized for not disclosing the contribution .
On Thursday , Mr. Stephanopoulos said he had given the foundation three $ 25,000 donations from 2012 to 2014 . The “ Good Morning America ” co-host addressed viewers for a little more than 30 seconds on Friday morning .
“ Now I want to address some news you may have seen about me , ” he said , looking directly into the camera . “ Over the last several years I ’ ve made substantial donations to dozens of charities , including the Clinton Global Foundation . Those donations were a matter of public record but I should have made additional disclosures on air when we covered the foundation . And I now believe that directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake . ”
He continued : “ Even though I made them strictly to support work done to stop the spread of AIDS , help children , and protect the environment in poor countries , I should have gone the extra mile to avoid even the appearance of a conflict . I apologize to all of you for failing to do that . ”
“ Good Morning America ” then continued with its usual weather news .
Mr. Stephanopoulos is a former strategist for Bill Clinton , and news of the donations Thursday brought renewed claims of bias from some Republican lawmakers , who view the news anchor as sympathetic to the Clintons .
The network said Thursday that Mr. Stephanopoulos had its support but added that he had violated ABC News rules for not disclosing a charitable donation that would present a conflict of interest .
“ The issue here wasn ’ t the charitable giving , ” an ABC spokeswoman said . “ It was failing to disclose it when covering the recent reports about the foundation . ”
Mr. Stephanopoulos is the face of ABC News , and hosts both “ Good Morning America ” and the Sunday morning program , “ This Week. ” He was appointed chief anchor last year . “ Good Morning America ” is the top-rated morning news program and a major profit center for the network . | v4zXoCvblaUfnZGM | 0 | George Stephanopoulos | 0.3 | Clinton Foundation | -0.3 | Media Bias | 0 | null | null | null | null |
politics | USA TODAY | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/17/trump-blames-d-c-government-parade-delay-despite-high-cost/1017161002/ | Donald Trump blames D.C. government for parade delay (though U.S. costs are higher) | 2018-08-17 | politics | WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump blamed the Washington , D.C. , government Friday for his decision to cancel a proposed military parade – though Washington officials denied his claim and many federal agencies also raised concerns about the cost and logistics .
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Friday via Twitter that the District 's cost estimate was only $ 21.6 million , closer to the administration 's $ 12 million projection from February . On Thursday , Pentagon officials told CNN the actual costs would be $ 92 million , or $ 80 million more than the original estimate .
`` The local politicians who run Washington , D.C. ( poorly ) know a windfall when they see it , '' Trump tweeted . `` When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade , they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it . Never let someone hold you up ! ''
Trump also announced he would attend a smaller parade already scheduled for Joint Base Andrews , as well as a Nov. 11 parade in Paris to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I .
`` Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN , '' Trump tweeted . `` Now we can buy some more jet fighters ! ''
More : Pentagon says Trump 's military parade postponed until 2019 amid reports costs jumped 666 %
Bowser said the proposed parade carried significant concerns for taxpayers , and she mocked Trump for his complaints .
`` Yup , I ’ m Muriel Bowser , mayor of Washington DC , the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities ( $ 21.6M ) of parades/events/demonstrations in Trump America ( sad ) , '' she said in a sub-tweet .
John J. Falcicchio , chief of staff to Bowser , took issue with Trump 's claim that the city is `` poorly '' run , calling it `` fake news . '' He cited a newly earned AAA bond rating .
`` When they go low , we go high ... Like our bond rating , '' Falcicchio said in sub-tweeting Trump .
Trump 's attendance at a Paris military parade last year inspired him to call for an American version .
U.S. officials on Thursday cited expenses for aircraft , equipment , personnel and security , not charges from the Washington , D.C. , government as claimed by Trump .
In a statement , the Pentagon said `` the Department of Defense and White House have been planning a parade to honor America 's military veterans and commemorate the centennial of World War I . We originally targeted November 10 , 2018 for this event but have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019 . ''
`` The parade money would be better spent fully funding the Department of Veterans Affairs and giving our troops and their families the best care possible , '' the American Legion said . | npbSQgGNunsWnJXd | 1 | Politics | -0.2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
us_congress | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/19/politics/michele-bachmann-exit-interview-with-dana-bash/index.html?hpt=po_c2 | Michele Bachmann's not so quiet exit | 2014-12-19 | US Congress, Michele Bachmann, Politics | Story highlights Rep. Michele Bachmann is retiring after eight years in Congress
The Minnesota Republican was a divisive conservative figure in both political parties
Statuary Hall inside the Capitol is the storied site of many key moments in U.S. history -- from heated debates about slavery to inaugural lunches with presidents .
But Statuary Hall has almost surely never hosted a departing lawmaker rapping for national TV -- that is until Michele Bachmann gave us her now famous rendition of the hip-hop song `` Thrift Shop '' by Macklemore .
`` I look incredible . I wear your granddad 's clothes . I got twenty dollars in my pocket , and I 'm going to the thrift shop down the road , '' Bachmann , rapped , moving her body to the beat for effect .
It is hard to believe this is the same Bachmann who sprung onto the political scene shaking her fist in the air on the Capitol steps , rallying tea party protesters against President Barack Obama 's policies .
`` I was n't politically correct , and I was n't as worried about my own political career , '' she said . `` I was really worried about the issues of the country . And what I was doing , I think , was just giving voice to what I would do if I was a mom back home . ''
This is Bachmann unplugged , as she exits stage right after four terms in Congress , eager to show that she can lighten up while still sticking to conservative principles .
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`` Nobody has to worry about competition from me , I 'll tell you that ! '' Bachmann jokes about her rapping , which she said she learned from her 27-year-old son Harrison during a family trip last spring .
Bachmann has been one of the most polarizing politicians of the last five years -- and few news organizations have held her feet to the fire about controversial comments more than CNN . Anderson Cooper 's `` Keeping Them Honest '' segment had its hands full with Bachmann statements to fact check .
We personally spent many a long day walking the Capitol hallways trying to find Bachmann to ask her tough questions -- most famously about her comments about frivolous presidential spending , like on a dog walker , that turned out not to be true .
But now that she is on her way out of politics , we thought it would be interesting to get to know Bachmann beyond her big political persona .
It is hard to believe Bachmann has only been in Congress for eight years . But she made national headlines sooner than most backbenchers by embracing the tea party movement and becoming a de facto leader during the financial crisis .
`` When I first came in , one of the first things that I did is I took on the president of my own party , George W. Bush , because George Bush wanted to pass a $ 700 billion bailout for Wall Street , '' she recalled explaining her `` no '' vote for the bill . `` We were in a completely different realm that does n't even make sense anymore , these numbers that we 're talking about . $ 700 billion is a lot of money ! And so I asked the question , where did you get that figure from ? And number two , what are you going to use it for ? And I could n't get good answers . ''
She jokes that she does n't know who is more excited to see her go , Democrats or her fellow GOP leaders .
`` I do n't know who 's going to miss me more when I leave Congress -- Nancy Pelosi or John Boehner -- I have no idea ! I 've been a thorn , I think , in both of their sides , '' Bachmann said .
Bachmann is eager to note that she was the only GOP woman to run for president in 2012 , and says sexism is still very prevalent in politics .
`` I 'll be frank with you -- the way that I see it is that I think that when women speak , I do n't think that we 're listened to the same way that a man does . I know that I -- I 'm in a lot of venues where I 'm the only woman . The only woman . ''
`` One thing that I notice is that when I walk into the room , the men are talking to each other -- when I arrive -- they 'll talk to each other when I 'm leaving , and I 'll go up to them to try and get into the group and talk with them , but it 's different . It 's just different , '' she admitted .
In her final days in office , Bachmann took her family to a place in Washington Republicans do n't visit : the White House . She scrounged around the capitol for extra tickets from colleagues not planning to attend the annual Christmas party , so that she could bring all five of her children to see President Obama for the holidays .
Not surprisingly , she advised her kids to make their moments with the President count .
`` I told them , look , you only get about a second with him , '' she recalled .
`` Make sure whatever you say is exactly what 's in your mind . ''
Her initial political experience was not working for Ronald Reagan , as one would think , but on Jimmy Carter 's campaign .
`` The first time I ever came to this city was to dance at the inaugural ball for Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale ! Which is kind of hard to believe . But then I saw how their policies worked out , they were a complete and utter failure , and then that 's why I became a Republican , and I never looked back , '' Bachmann said .
In a lighthearted lightening round of questions , Bachmann said her theme song is `` Takin ' Care Of Business '' by Bachmann-Turner Overdrive , naturally .
Who does she want to play her in a biopic ? `` Kristin Wiig , '' who played Bachmann in Saturday Night Live skits .
If she could ask her musical idol Johnny Cash one question what would it be ? `` Ah , would you please sing at my next birthday party ! That 's what I would say -- not gon na happen ! -- but I do love him . ''
`` My favorite thing is landscaping . I love landscaping . And so what I 'll do is , mostly I put language into search engines , and if I want to look , like , at tulip gardens , or , like , Georgian gardens , '' she said sheepishly . `` I love English gardens , how they 're laid out . Japanese gardens , Asian gardens . So , I 'm kind of a frustrated landscaper . ''
JUST WATCHED Bachmann dodges questions on WH claims Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Bachmann dodges questions on WH claims 02:54
Bachmann admits she `` made mistakes '' during her time on Capitol Hill . No doubt repeating some erroneous facts in conservative media about the cost of presidential trips , or ties Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin 's family had to Al Qaeda .
Some of those comments drew attention from reporters like yours truly , who tried to walk as fast as she could in heels to ask questions .
`` That is one of the things I really like -- I run stairs here . When we go , like , from the basement up , I 'll be in high heels and I 'll run the stairs because , the good thing is -- you actually do get a workout , cause you can walk seven miles a day here , plus do the stairs , ''
`` Oh , of course I will , '' she said with a knowing laugh .
Though she may be leaving Congress , there is no way she going far from the political spotlight , whatever her next act may be .
`` Well I 'll be involved in 2016 one way or another , '' she said shermanesquely . `` I am not looking at being a candidate , but I fully intend to be involved . This is a huge election where now we are tee 'd up , both in the House and in the Senate , for the repeal of Obamacare . ''
`` When I ran for president in 2012 , that was my motivation - I wanted to repeal Obamacare ... I think that there will be a lot of momentum for that in 2016 , and I want to be a part of that voice to help that happen , '' she said . | 81c90eb393ca5654 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
technology | Fox Online News | http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/08/11/uber-lyft-dc-restaurants-to-ban-unite-right-rally-participants-twitter-suspends-numerous-far-right-accounts.html | Uber, Lyft, DC restaurants to ban 'Unite the Right' rally participants; Twitter suspends numerous far-Right accounts | 2018-08-11 | technology | White supremacists and white nationalists heading to Washington , D.C. , for Sunday ’ s second Unite the Right rally may have trouble finding a way to get there or a place to eat , according to reports .
The rally comes on the one year anniversary of white supremacist violence in Charlottesville , Virginia , where on Saturday , police blocked off streets and mobilized hundreds of officers downtown as a precaution .
Early Saturday afternoon , a group of 20 Antifa protestors with fists in the air marched through downtown Charlottsville holding a flag saying “ Antifascist action . ”
Meanwhile , in preparation for the rally near the White House , Uber and Lyft told drivers they have a right to kick a passenger out of car if they are harassed or threatened , The Washington Post reported .
At the same time , the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington sent out a toolkit informing restaurateurs of their legal rights to refuse service to white nationalists and other political fringe groups , The Washingtonian reported .
Meantime , Twitter suspended numerous accounts associated with the Proud Boys , a controversial group of right-wing chauvinists on Friday on the eve of the anniversary of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville , the Guardian reported .
Previously , Airbnb threatened to ban users who participate in the rally , Fox News reported .
`` When we identify and determine that there are those who would be pursuing behavior on the Airbnb platform that would be antithetical to the Airbnb Community Commitment , we seek to take appropriate action , which may include removing them from the platform , '' the company confirmed in a statement shared with Fox News .
Rally organizer , Jason Kessler , obtained a permit for Lafayette Park across from the White House . He expects 400 supporters to show up .
The first `` Unite The Right '' rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12 , 2017 , resulted in violent clashes between white supremacists and counter protesters . One person was killed when a white supremacist drove into a crowd of counter protesters .
Uber recently sent a message to its drivers in the Washington region , reminding them of community guidelines — and eject a fare who is harassing or threatening , The Post reported .
“ Regardless of event , drivers are advised to follow all local laws but have the right to refuse service to riders who are disrespectful or who make them feel unsafe , ” the message from Uber said .
The Washingtonian interviewed several restaurant owners who said they are threatening to refuse service to those participating in the rally -- or planning to close altogether .
“ Our mentality is we ’ re going to protect each other . This is our city . Our house . Our people , ” Founding Farmers owner Dan Simons told the magazine .
“ There are times when a guest can be rude to an employee and you swap out the server . We ’ ve told our team : this isn ’ t what that is . You don ’ t have to be in a room with someone who ’ s advocating for your death and enslavement , '' he added .
AIRBNB THREATENS TO BAN USERS PARTICIPATING IN 'UNITE THE RIGHT ' RALLY
Ellen Kassoff Gray , owner of Equinox restaurant near the White House , also said she would refuse to serve those who espouse hate .
“ I ’ ll proudly stay open and serve those who ’ re respectful and kind . But being a Jewish restaurant owner and having a pro-Nazi group come to town , would I refuse service ? Yes , I would , ” Kassoff Gray told The Washingtonian .
Alan Popovsky , owner of Lincoln restaurant , said the restaurant will be open for Sunday brunch then close for dinner altogether , according to the magazine .
As far as the Proud Boys , verified accounts belonging to the group and its founder , Gavin McInnes , were suspended for violating Twitter ’ s policy against “ violent extremist groups , ” according to the Guardian .
A number of non-verified accounts for various Proud Boys chapters were also suspended , the paper reported . | rezkQTLHto7DE57C | 2 | White Nationalism | -0.3 | Technology | 0 | Uber | 0 | Lyft | 0 | Twitter | 0 |
elections | Guest Writer | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/29/paul-mero-the-difference-between-a-leader-and-a-ma/ | OPINION: The difference between a leader and a manager | 2015-12-29 | elections | Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is weighing in on the presidential race in a profound way , calling for a “ bipartisan screening committee that vets presidential candidates like we do anyone else applying for a job and recommends the best candidates possible. ” Mr. Pickens has never flirted with running for president himself , but he has been known to influence the outcome in previous elections .
Perhaps he sees the success of his fellow billionaire Donald Trump as a threat to the process . When Mr. Trump was asked how he proposed to register Muslims in the United States , citizen and non-citizen alike , in a national database to track their every move , his response was “ effective management. ” We can surmise this also is his answer for how he foresees rounding up and herding millions of people across the Mexican border .
Every successful businessman knows the importance of effective management . And it ’ s not surprising that a businessman would approach government problems the same way .
When you are a hammer everything looks like a nail . In fact , the conservative mantra over the past 50 years has been that governments ought to run like businesses — a good point given all of the inefficiencies inside government programs .
But government is not a business , and management is not leadership . Though a keen managerial eye might be important for our nation ’ s top executive — pushing to rid government programs of waste and fraud — leadership is the primary role of the American presidency and its commander in chief .
So Mr. Pickens raises a valid point . Let ’ s vet these potential presidents the same way a company would vet its next chief executive .
Mr. Pickens knows that large companies , like the ones he has run , have plenty of managers , but they can only have one true leader . He should know that , right now , there is a way for voters to determine — based on proven criteria and evaluated by highly credentialed and accomplished individuals — who among the presidential candidates is the most principled leader .
It ’ s the process conducted by the Leadership Project for America ( LPA ) . The organization has an exhaustive process for examining and grading the candidates , and includes experts from a wide variety of policy disciplines whose names are kept private so they can grade and evaluate independently . How does Donald Trump score on that scale ? He gets an F .
Mr. Pickens ’ critique of the GOP primary race is correct : “ Right now we have a process that emphasizes accusation and innuendo , ” he notes . “ Fact-checking is done after the fact . And just like reality TV , there is too much of an emphasis on the inconsequential and the irrelevant . Such a vetting process could alleviate much of that . ”
Solid American political leadership is about inspiration , not desperation . It ’ s about seeing around corners in an increasingly dangerous world , not simply about managing crises or cleaning up messes after the fact .
Beyond inspiration , effective political leaders display three primary qualities : Principles , character and effectiveness . Whether left or right of the political spectrum , principles matter . Among Republican contenders , principles of free markets , a strong national defense and American exceptionalism should be most important . Those priorities are not management principles . Those are leadership principles .
Character , too , is a matter of leadership , not management . When Americans think of character in their political leaders , they think of consistency , ethics and moral compass . Do they keep their promises ? Do their actions match their words ?
If they must compromise , can they do so with principle ? What about their integrity ? Are they “ dealmakers ” or drivers of bold ideas ? Managers make the trains run on time . Leaders address the “ why , ” not the “ how . ”
Both good managers and great leaders must be effective . Do they unite or divide people ?
The most principled politician might not be very effective . Several candidates may , indeed , be principled , but they rarely accomplish great things . Likewise , political accomplishments alone are not the gold standard of effectiveness . A principled and effective political leader moves bold ideas with political skill within key strategic coalitions and then communicates those ideas with clarity and simplicity .
With a little more than a month to go before the first votes are cast in Iowa , and still a dozen or so candidates to sift through , we encourage voters to avail themselves of a vetting process created with them specifically in mind . The 2016 presidential campaign cycle is providing them with new opportunities to gauge candidates on the most important criteria for the next commander in chief : principled leadership . The results may not mirror Washington ’ s conventional wisdom but then again , look how far that ’ s gotten us .
• Paul Mero is CEO of Leadership Project for America . | 9rayfxUw2VC1V5fD | 1 | Presidential Elections | -0.4 | Elections | -0.4 | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | Fox Online News | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/02/jail-trump-slams-crooked-hillary-aide-huma-calls-on-deep-state-doj-to-act.html | 'Jail!' Trump slams 'crooked' Hillary aide Huma, calls on 'Deep State' DOJ to act | 2018-01-02 | white_house | President Trump went after `` Crooked '' Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin on Tuesday , appearing to call on the “ Deep State ” Justice Department to look at potential security issues in her handling of classified material after a recent email dump .
“ Crooked Hillary Clinton ’ s top aide , Huma Abedin , has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols . She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents . Remember sailors pictures on the submarine ? Jail ! ” Trump tweeted early Tuesday . “ Deep State Justice Dept must finally act ? Also on Comey & others . ”
Trump was referring to U.S. Navy Sailor Kristian Saucier , who was put in prison for taking unauthorized photos inside a nuclear submarine . He seemed to suggest a double standard is at play , compared with the lack of punishment for Clinton and her aides .
The president ’ s tweet comes after the State Department , in a Friday news dump , released a batch of emails from Abedin ’ s account that were discovered by the FBI on a laptop belonging to her estranged husband , Anthony Weiner . At least four of the documents were marked “ classified . ”
STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASES HUMA ABEDIN EMAILS FOUND ON ANTHONY WEINER 'S LAPTOP
Abedin also forwarded sensitive State Department emails to her personal Yahoo email account before every Yahoo account was hacked , first reported by the Daily Caller . Abedin also sent passwords for her government laptop to her Yahoo account on Aug. 24 , 2009 .
In 2013 , Yahoo was hacked , and the company said in a statement that “ all Yahoo user accounts were affected ” by the theft .
Former FBI Director James Comey , who led the Clinton email investigation , said during a congressional hearing last year that he believed Abedin forwarded emails to Weiner for him to print out so that she could give them to Clinton .
Abedin ’ s emails shook the 2016 presidential race , as Comey told Congress on Oct. 28 , 2016 , just days before the election , that the FBI had found more of Clinton ’ s messages on Weiner ’ s laptop as they investigated a sexting case against him .
The discovery of those records reopened the case against Clinton , several months after Comey said he wasn ’ t recommending any charges be filed in the case . Comey at the time said Clinton was “ extremely careless ” in her handling of classified emails on her private server . | SNLpWvpYEwDl0ZnV | 2 | Justice Department | -0.7 | White House | 0.2 | Politics | 0.2 | null | null | null | null |
fiscal_cliff | NPR Online News | http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/12/19/167649225/nation-may-be-focused-on-sandy-hook-but-washington-distracted-by-fiscal-cliff | With Nation's Eyes On Newtown, Washington Distracted By Fiscal Cliff | 2012-12-19 | fiscal_cliff | With Nation 's Eyes On Newtown , Washington Distracted By Fiscal Cliff
Anyone hoping that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre might change dynamics in the nation 's capital when it comes to the issue of guns met some level of Washington reality on Wednesday .
President Obama held a news conference to announce his response to the Connecticut killings of 26 grade-schoolers and educators , including his naming of Vice President Joe Biden to head a team that will recommend in a month actions that might help prevent future Sandy Hooks .
But when Obama began taking questions , the White House press corps did n't ask about gun violence . Instead , journalists focused on fiscal cliff negotiations . And the president accommodated them with the kind of lengthy , discursive answers he is famous for , which cause many a listener 's mind to wander ( and perhaps on Wednesday , wonder if the session would end before someone could follow up with a gun violence question ) .
This did not go unnoticed by some in the mainstream media and others on social media .
Journalists eventually did get around to asking the president follow-up questions about his gun announcement , including ABC News ' Jake Tapper , who asked the president a question that has been on many minds , namely , `` Where have you been '' the past four years on the issue of gun violence ?
To which the president essentially said he was busy on other matters , like rescuing the U.S. economy .
Obama 's news conference was followed by an appearance by House Speaker John Boehner , advertised by his office as a `` media availability . '' As it turned out , the speaker was n't all that available .
He stood before the mics and cameras for all of 51 seconds to chide the president for allegedly being unserious in the fiscal cliff negotiations , then disappeared back into his office . Reporters did n't have a chance to ask him about guns .
A group of House Democrats , meanwhile , held a news conference to call on the Republicans who control the House to schedule a vote by Saturday on legislation by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York and Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado that would ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines .
But there are no signs that a vote will be scheduled for the legislation — which was drafted months before the Newtown massacre .
In a sign of just how little the prevailing partisan atmosphere has been changed by the Newtown tragedy , DeGette said that since House members returned to work Monday , `` in just over 24 hours we 've picked up 21 co-sponsors , and we believe we 'll have even more by the end of today .
`` Sadly , none of those co-sponsors are Republicans , and we have approached many of our Republican friends and colleagues . Some of them say they 're thinking about it , '' said DeGette . `` And we hope they think hard about it . '' | DzIWvIv45oCCBzN5 | 1 | Gun Control And Gun Rights | -0.8 | Fiscal Cliff | -0.6 | Barack Obama | 0.3 | null | null | null | null |
elections | Washington Examiner | https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trumps-conservative-critics-including-george-conway-launch-pac-to-fight-reelection | ‘Empty faith led by a bogus prophet’: George Conway leads Never Trumpers denouncing president | 2019-12-17 | Presidential Elections, Election 2020, George Conway, Donald Trump, Republican Party, GOP, Elections | A group of President Trump’s staunchest critics, including White House counselor Kellyanne Conway’s husband, is starting a super PAC in hopes of stopping his reelection. The organization, dubbed the Lincoln Project, is led by a seven-person advisory council, including conservative lawyer George Conway, former John McCain adviser Steve Schmidt, former John Kasich adviser John Weaver, veteran Republican operative Rick Wilson, political strategist Reed Galen, former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican Party Jennifer Horn, and former political director of the California Republican Party Mike Madrid. Their efforts launched Tuesday, and the group published an opinion piece in the New York Times describing their mission. “Patriotism and the survival of our nation in the face of the crimes, corruption and corrosive nature of Donald Trump are a higher calling than mere politics. 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 | cfac4897ac83fcd3 | 2 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
nsa | CNN (Web News) | http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/11/opinion/ghitis-spying-secrets/index.html?hpt=op_t1 | Your biggest secrets are up for grabs | 2013-06-11 | NSA, Defense And Security | Story highlights Frida Ghitis says it 's noteworthy that even the NSA could n't keep its secrets secret
Passwords , privacy settings and restricted friends ' lists wo n't protect our secrets either , she says
Ghitis : Everything about us is online , waiting for someone to reveal it
Eric Schmidt is wrong to say you should n't do anything you do n't want world to know , she says
The great irony of the government spying controversy is that even America 's state-of-the-art spy agency could not keep secret the fact that it might be spying on our secrets .
Nobody 's secrets are safe . Not spies , not corporations , and certainly not the rest of us regular people , with our clever little passwords , our privacy settings and our restricted friends ' lists .
The danger is not just from government intelligence agents using sophisticated computer algorithms . Our privacy is vulnerable on many fronts . A 29-year-old technician can personally decide to reveal the existence of Prism , a surveillance program that James Clapper , the director of National Intelligence , says has brought `` among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence '' the United States has gathered and its release will cause `` long-lasting and irreversible harm '' to U.S. security .
When the government is the one doing the snooping , as Edward Snowden , the former National Security Agency contractor accuses the NSA of doing , it raises unique issues . America was founded on ideals that emphasized restraining the power of government and empowering the individual .
If the government is indeed engaging in wholesale spying with practically no restrictions on what it can record and read -- something President Obama denies -- this is an affront to the constitution , and it demands action from Congress . And the breach of government secrets demands attention as well .
If we pull the thread on Snowden 's allegations we may just find details of our own lives unspooling .
Everything about us is online , waiting for a corporation or a hacker or a spy to reveal it .
JUST WATCHED Snowden 's path to top secret clearance Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Snowden 's path to top secret clearance 02:18
JUST WATCHED See where Edward Snowden hid out Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH See where Edward Snowden hid out 02:53
JUST WATCHED Snowden 's life prior to leak Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Snowden 's life prior to leak 03:06
JUST WATCHED President Obama open to NSA changes Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Obama open to NSA changes 02:31
Snowden claims that the NSA and the FBI have direct access to the servers of the biggest Internet service providers in the world , as well as the biggest social media companies and the most popular search engines , mapping applications , and Internet telephony firms .
The companies all deny this . Google , Microsoft , Yahoo , Facebook , AOL , Skype , YouTube , Apple , and PalTalk -- all say the government has no direct access .
Before we find out where the truth lies , we should pause to consider what exactly those companies ' servers contain , because that information exists , whether the government looks at it or not . It is detailed information about everyone who uses the Internet .
Think about this : If the NSA could not safeguard its information , how do we expect anyone to do it ?
Let 's review , from those `` privacy policies '' we always approve without reading because the alternative has become too burdensome . Yes , the companies provide enormously valuable products and -- in theory -- we have the option of not using them .
Google 's servers store much more than your Gmail e-mails . They contain the words you have looked up , the illnesses you have tried to learn about . It knows what high school sweetheart you 've tracked down , it knows what pictures you 've looked at online . It knows what phone calls you 've made on Google Voice , and it knows where you have been when you made searches , over which cell tower or Wi-Fi network .
Facebook admits that even after we delete material from our page , it is not permanently deleted from its servers unless we delete the entire account .
Eric Schmidt , the executive chairman of Google , famously said , `` If you have something that you do n't want anyone to know , maybe you should n't be doing it in the first place . '' But that dismissive attitude assumes that if you want privacy you must have done something wrong , which is patently incorrect . It disregards the idea that we have a right to not have parts of our lives exposed without our consent .
Some argue the loss of privacy is `` the cost of admission '' to our new world , and see no problem with that . But the problems will come . There will be misunderstandings , insinuations and accusations . We wo n't be there to explain why we looked something up . Why we talked to a certain person . Why we went somewhere . Jobs will be lost , relationships damaged , lives destroyed .
Will these firms sell our information ? Of course . Will they give it to the government ? Google 's Schmidt said yes , `` It is possible that the information could be made available to authorities . ''
The important part to remember is that what we do online , what we post , what we search , what we store , what we write , what we put into words or pictures , is not protected , not even if its corporate guardians promise they will keep it safe .
If someone in Hawaii can decide to reveal government secrets , it means another government contractor at the NSA or the CIA or the FBI , or an employee at Google or Microsoft or Facebook , or a hacker in China or California , could get his or her hands on the digital threads of our lives and make them public for fun or for profit .
In the old days of the Soviet KGB , people would go to places like Moscow 's Gorky Park if they wanted a private conversation . There is no Gorky Park online . We may need to revert to face-to-face meetings for assured privacy , but that is simply not practical in today 's world .
The debate over NSA surveillance should extend to other areas of privacy . It 's time Internet companies stopped holding on to our information without much more explicit permission . Much more should be discarded without discussion . But even if progress is made in this area , we must know that we have entered a new age of greatly diminished control over our personal information .
The NSA is no doubt enduring what countless victims of hackings have experienced , frantically trying to fix and explain and prevent more damage from the unwanted exposure . The data hunter has fallen prey . Nobody is safe . | 73400a77fb9b02e4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
politics | New York Times (News) | https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/06/us/trump-election-certification | Congress Is Set to Certify Trump’s Victory as Memory of Riot Looms | 2025-01-06 | Politics, US Congress, Election Certification, Donald Trump, Electoral College, Elections, 2024 Presidential Election, Capitol Hill | Rudolph Giuliani has said in testimony that he has been unable to locate some of the items he was ordered to turn over.A federal judge on Monday held Rudolph W. Giuliani in contempt of court for failing to cooperate in the handover of $11 million of his personal assets to Georgia poll workers he falsely accused of helping to steal the 2020 presidential election.Mr. Giuliani, 80, the former mayor of New York City, has so far failed to turn over the bulk of his personal assets as a down payment on the $148 million judgment the poll workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, won in a defamation lawsuit.The judge, Lewis J. Liman of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, has yet to detail what specific sanctions Mr. Giuliani faces. But being held in contempt could possibly hinder the former mayor’s attempts to hang onto his Palm Beach, Fla., condo, which has been valued at $3.5 million.Mr. Giuliani’s assets include a 10-room apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; a 1980 Mercedes-Benz convertible; a collection of 26 designer watches; and rare Yankees collectibles, the most valuable of which might be a signed and framed Joe DiMaggio jersey. (The jersey is missing.)He is due back in federal court in Manhattan on Jan. 16 for a civil trial in which he is expected to argue that his Palm Beach condo should be exempt from the seizure under Florida law, because it is his primary residence. But Mr. Giuliani has failed repeatedly to answer questions that could prove his residency.The court ruled that Mr. Giuliani had obstructed the election workers’ attempts to determine Mr. Giuliani’s real primary residence, which for years had been the cooperative apartment on East 66th Street in Manhattan.Judge Liman, who has appeared frustrated at Mr. Giuliani’s shifting rationale for the omissions, ruled that his failure to comply will permit the court to draw negative conclusions about his Florida residency status, which could hobble his defense.“The defendant has been attempting to run out the clock,” Judge Liman said, adding that he was unmoved by the former mayor’s argument that he was overwhelmed with court requests, including charges in two criminal cases and several other civil actions. “The fact that he is a busy person and relied on others is not an excuse,” he said.The contempt charges on Monday pertained specifically to Mr. Giuliani’s failure to cooperate with the discovery process related to his condo. He could also be held in contempt for his failure to hand over other valuables, some of which remain tied up in legal limbo. After being grilled on the stand for several hours on Friday, Mr. Giuliani said he had made progress in obtaining the title to the convertible that he must hand over to the women. But they have yet to receive that title.Mr. Giuliani was allowed to attend the hearing on Monday via video conference, after citing health problems. He was seated at a desk in a dark blue suit, in front of a flat-screen monitor projecting a giant American flag.Judge Liman, sounding peeved, asked for the background to be removed. It was one of a number of testy exchanges.Talking over his lawyer, Mr. Giuliani asked if he could reveal what progress he’s made on the overdue handover of his property.“I want you to play witness and not lawyer,” Judge Liman interjected.Mr. Giuliani did not rejoin the hearing after the lunch recess.The court appearance focused on whether Mr. Giuliani had been forthcoming with requests from the election workers’ lawyers seeking emails and other communications that might clarify his residency. They also requested a list of legal, financial and medical professionals he has consulted with since the start of 2020.Over several weeks, Mr. Giuliani failed to answer the questions, at times arguing that the requests were “monstrously overbroad,” and other times citing security issues, because the period overlapped with his tenure as Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer.The initial deadline to turn over the property was more than two months ago. But Mr. Giuliani insisted that he has largely complied with requests for information about the assets, despite his delayed responses.At one point, Mr. Giuliani held up a gold pocket watch that matched the description of a timepiece that he inherited from his grandfather. It is one of a number of watches that he has yet to hand over, despite court orders, but he said he was now willing to transfer it to the plaintiffs.In his latest response to an overdue request in December, he included a list of his doctors’ names — but only their last names, without the address of their offices.“I never purposely tried to hide or leave out a document,” Mr. Giuliani said.Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for the women, argued that Mr. Giuliani was relying on “cherry-picked” documents that did not provide a full picture ahead of the condo trial.Judge Liman broadly agreed with the plaintiffs, and ruled that Mr. Giuliani “willfully violated a clear and unambiguous order of the court.” He was still considering what sanctions Mr. Giuliani might face, which could include fines or jail time.In a statement, Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Mr. Giuliani, called the decision politically motivated.The women’s lawyers “might be happy to fight to take away Mayor Giuliani’s most cherished personal belongings, including his signed baseball jersey of his childhood hero and his grandfather’s pocket watch,” he said. “But they can never take away his extraordinary record of public service.”Lawyers for the election workers declined to comment.The ruling marks a new low point in the fallout from Mr. Giuliani’s defamation case. In November, Mr. Giuliani’s original lawyers withdrew from the case, citing an undisclosed professional ethics concern.In a recently unsealed letter explaining their departure, one of the lawyers, Kenneth Caruso, a longtime friend of Mr. Giuliani, said his client was not cooperating in the discovery process related to the Florida condo, and was withholding access to his electronic devices.Mr. Giuliani could also face separate contempt charges on Friday in a Washington, D.C., court. He is accused of violating an order to stop repeating false claims about the women.Eileen Sullivan contributed reporting. | e61bce5f44146fe1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null |
white_house | Fox Online News | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/27/big-week-in-washington-stoked-talk-clinton-biden-running-in-2016/ | Big week in Washington stoked talk of Clinton, Biden running in 2016 | 2013-01-27 | white_house | Two of Washington ’ s biggest events last week -- the presidential inauguration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ’ s testimony on Benghazi -- also turned out to be early-but-critical moments for two top potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidates .
Vice President Biden moved across Washington -- even breaking into a jog along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route -- like a man clearly excited about 2016 possibilities .
His private swearing-in ceremony was attended by New Hampshire Gov . Maggie Hassan , who would be a key ally in the state 's first-in-the-nation primary . And he attended the State Society Inaugural Ball for Iowa , whose caucus results can kick-start a presidential run .
Meanwhile , Clinton ’ s long-awaited Capitol Hill testimony on the Sept. 11 , 2012 , deaths of four Americans at a U.S. outpost in Benghazi , Libya , essentially put the issue to rest for supporters but agitated critics who would be certain to revive the debate should Clinton run in four years .
“ We do n't know why the president and the secretary of state ignored the warnings , ” Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain told ABC ’ s “ This Week. ” “ There are so many questions that are unanswered . ”
Biden ’ s demeanor last week and over the past few months prompted a Democrat close to the White House to tell Politico that the vice president is “ intoxicated by the idea . ”
Political observers have said the Democratic field would be instantly cleared should Clinton , who has insisted she is exhausted and finished with public office , decide to run . The former first lady and New York senator would return as a more experienced politician than the one who lost to Obama in 2008 . And her approval rating late last year was as high as 75 percent , according to one poll .
However , the recent emergence of Biden , whose middle-class appeal helped Obama get re-elected , has sparked debate about who the president would support and who might or might not step aside .
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney tried Wednesday to tamp down speculation , two days after the public inauguration , by saying : “ For the sake and sanity of all involved , it 's worth taking a bit of a break from presidential election year politics . ''
Biden will be nearly 74 on Election Day 2016 . But he is well aware of how campaigns work and the energy that is needed , after unsuccessful bids in 1988 and 2008 .
In addition , the former Delaware senator has compiled a list domestic and foreign policy achievements in Washington , even as his occasional off-script moments have become fodder for Republican critics . In fact , Biden helped reach a deal several weeks ago with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to avert the fiscal crisis .
`` There 's a whole lot of reasons why I would n't run , '' Biden told CNN before the inauguration . `` I do n't have to make that decision for a while . In the meantime , there 's one thing I know I have to do , no matter what I do . I have to help this president move this country to the next stage . ''
Biden also has good , fresh contacts with members of the Democratic ground game in such key states as Florida , Iowa , Ohio and New Hampshire . And he has a decent approval rating -- 49 percent according to the most recent New York Times/CBS poll .
`` It seems obvious that he 's going to keep that option open for himself and do the right things , '' said Mike Gronstal , the Democratic leader of the Iowa state Senate .
Prior to the recent Biden talk , young Democratic Govs . Andrew Cuomo , New York , and Martin O ’ Malley , Maryland , each appeared to have a clear path toward a potential nomination .
Though they now might have to wait , both are pushing ahead with a legislative agenda like the one voters supported in re-electing Obama .
What issues might emerge during the next presidential election cycle remains unclear .
But Cuomo has already gotten the state legislature to pass his proposal for tougher gun laws , in the wake of the shootings last month inside a Connecticut elementary school in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed .
He has also proposed a “ Reproductive Health Act '' as part of a 10-point plan to advance `` women 's equality '' that is expected to include language that would allow abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy if it is `` necessary to protect a woman 's health . ''
O ’ Malley , who was a frequent advocate for Obama through the 2012 election cycle , must leave the Maryland state house because of term limits . But last year he started a federal Political Action Committee that allows him to raise money for future office .
He also already this year has renewed efforts to bring offshore wind energy to Maryland , called for more early voting on Election Day and wants to restricts mental-health patients ' access to firearms as part of his gun-control plan . | A0j5dmGPWnu8hbOT | 2 | White House | 0.3 | Joe Biden | 0.1 | Hillary Clinton | 0 | null | null | null | null |
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