# News from the web #3



## Drabdr

A continuation from #2:

http://forums.techguy.org/controversial-topics/1124556-news-web-2-a.html


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## poochee

*CNN Poll: Majority of Americans say things are going well*
CNN Poll: Majority of Americans say things are going well
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
updated 6:59 PM EST, Fri November 28, 2014By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
*
VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Fifty-two percent of Americans say things are going well in the nation
> One-third of Americans say the economy is improving, an 8-point increase from last year
> The mood of the nation breaks down on geographic and gender lines





> Washington (CNN) -- For the first time since 2007, a majority of Americans think things are going well in the nation, a new CNN/ORC International poll found.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/28/politics/poll-national-mood-economy/index.html?hpt=po_c2


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## poochee

*Supreme Court could determine future of working women*
11/30/14 09:07 AMUpdated 11/30/14 12:04 PM 
By Margot Dorfman



> The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear a case on Dec. 3 that will have a monumental impact on working women, their families and the financial health of our nation. The case, Young v. UPS, involves Peggy Young, a former UPS worker who was forced into unpaid leave after she told her employer that she was pregnant.
> 
> Every American should hope the U.S. Supreme Court acts affirmatively in the upcoming Young v. UPS case to protect the jobs, earnings and healthcare of pregnant workers. The outcome of this decision will profoundly impact the financial future for all of us. The decision on Young v. UPS will not only speak to the rights and value of women workers in todays workforce; the outcome will have a profound impact on the continued growth and prosperity of the American economy.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-could-determine-future-working-women


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## poochee

*5 Crucial Pieces of Evidence Ferguson Grand Jury Saw *
Nov 25, 2014, 1:59 PM ET
By GEETIKA RUDRA
*
VIDEO*



> Evidence released by the Saint Louis County Police Department gave crucial insight into why the Ferguson grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, a black unarmed teenager.
> 
> *Here are some key pieces of evidence presented to the grand jury: *


http://abcnews.go.com/US/crucial-pieces-evidence-ferguson-grand-jury/story?id=27163048


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## poochee

November 30, 2014, 10:38 am 
*Lawyer: Browns family may sue Wilson*
By Alexander Bolton



> Daryl Parks, the attorney representing the family of Michael Brown, says they may sue Darren Wilson, the former Ferguson police officer who shot and killed the black teenager in August.
> 
> Parks suggested on Fox News Sunday that Browns family would pursue a legal settlement or, failing to reach one, file a lawsuit.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/225533-lawyer-browns-family-may-sue-darren-wilson


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## poochee

*Georgia Police Find Boy Missing For 4 Years*
Nov 29, 2014, 4:42 PM ET
By GEETIKA RUDRA
*
VIDEO*



> The boy, 13, was found early this morning at the Clayton County home of his father, Gregory Jean, 37. The boy was found hidden behind a secret panel in a closet tucked away in an insulation area in the house's garage. His mother reported him missing four years ago.





> Jean and Davis were charged with false imprisonment, cruelty to children, and obstruction of justice, according to ABC News' Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-police-find-boy-missing-years/story?id=27252614


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## poochee

*Obama buys 17 titles at independent bookstore*
Darlene Superville, Associated Press | 
November 29, 2014 | Updated: November 30, 2014 10:05am



> WASHINGTON (AP)  President Barack Obama tried to draw attention to independently owned businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a day that is increasingly being marketed as one for deal-hungry consumers to remember to patronize these mom-and-pop outlets while doing their holiday shopping.





> In recent years, the Saturday after Thanksgiving has been advertised as "Small Business Saturday." It's designed to drive foot traffic to independent businesses in between the frenzy of Black Friday sales at mass retailers and the Cyber Monday deals available online.


http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/pol...port-small-business-buys-books-5924440.php#/0


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## poochee

*Southern Democrats Urge A Return To Party Basics*

AP | By By BILL BARROW 
Posted: 11/28/2014 3:01 am EST Updated: 11/28/2014 10:59 am EST 
RICKEY COLE



> ATLANTA (AP)  Southern Democrats are joining others in the party who say that a return to advocating to lift people out of economic hardship and emphasizing spending on education and public works will re-energize black voters and attract whites as well.
> 
> "It's time to draw a line in the sand and not surrender our brand," Rickey Cole, the party chairman in Mississippi, said. He believes candidates have distanced themselves from the past half-century of Democratic principles.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/28/southern-democrats_n_6234976.html?ir=Politics


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## poochee

Nov 30, 5:40 PM EST

*Congress crams unfinished agenda into final days *
By ANDREW TAYLOR 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Like a student who waited until the night before a deadline, lawmakers resuming work Monday will try to cram two years of leftover business into two weeks, while also seeking to avoid a government shutdown.
> 
> Their to-do list includes keeping the government running into the new year, renewing expired tax breaks for individuals and businesses and approving a defense policy measure that has passed for more than 50 years in a row.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-11-30-17-40-53


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## poochee

*Ferguson mayor: Darren Wilson will not receive severance pay*
By Alex Seitz-Wald
11/30/14 05:50 PMUpdated 11/30/14 05:54 PM

*VIDEO*



> There is no severance agreement with Officer Wilson and the city of Ferguson and the city of Ferguson will not be making a severance payment to Officer Wilson, Knowles declared. Now is the time for the city of Ferguson to begin its healing process.





> At the press conference, the mayor also said that the city will create a citizen review board to provide oversight of the police force. It will include residents, representatives from the business community, and law enforcement officials who will make suggestions for reforms on a rolling basis.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ferguson-mayor-darren-wilson-will-not-receive-severance-pay


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## poochee

*Minn. GOPer Who Called Muslims 'Parasites' Resigns From Party Post*
ByCaitlin MacNealPublishedNovember 30, 2014, 3:20 PM EST



> Jack Whitley told the Associated Press on Friday that he was asked to resign from his position by GOP board members. Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey had previously condemned Whitley's comments.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/goper-resigns-muslims-parasites-frag


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## poochee

*Poll: Americans predict more gridlock in full GOP control of Congress*
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
updated 9:33 AM EST, Mon December 1, 2014

*VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> A new CNN/ORC poll finds 50 percent of Americans think GOP control of Congress will be bad for America
> Sixty-eight percent of Americans believe the GOP isn't cooperating enough with the President
> The GOP brand has begun to rebound, now only slightly lagging Democrats in terms of popularity





> Washington (CNN) -- Half of Americans believe Republican control of both chambers of Congress will be bad for the country, and a majority say it will in fact cause more gridlock in Washington, according to a new CNN/ORC nationwide poll.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/01/politics/poll-americans-gop-congress-control/index.html?hpt=po_c1


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## poochee

*Obama to hold Ferguson meetings at W.H.*

By Kendall Breitman
| 12/1/14 7:00 AM EST



> President Barack Obama is holding three meetings on Monday to discuss issues relating to unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.
> 
> According to the White House schedule, the first afternoon meeting will be a talk with members of Obamas Cabinet to discuss federal programs and funding that provide equipment to the state and local enforcement agencies. Vice President Joe Biden will also be in attendance.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/obama-ferguson-white-house-meetings-113226.html#ixzz3KfCpK0ZQ


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## poochee

*Officers sue Cleveland over 2012 police shooting*
By Kristina Sgueglia and Dana Ford, CNN
updated 9:05 AM EST, Mon December 1, 2014
CNN's Sarah Jorgensen and Lateef Mungin contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> The nine officers allege racial discrimination
> They are seeking an unspecified amount of damages
> The suit comes on the heels of another high-profile police shooting in Cleveland





> They claim the defendants have a pattern of treating non-African American officers harsher than African American officers, when it comes to officer-involved shootings of African Americans. The plaintiffs in the federal suit are not African American.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/30/us/cleveland-police-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


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## poochee

December 01, 2014, 10:24 am 
*GOP staffer resigns after criticizing Obama daughters' demeanor, dress*
By Scott Wong



> Lauten later apologized to the Obama teenagers, saying in a subsequent post: I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager.
> 
> But the damage was done, and Lauten came under a torrent of online criticism, including from top-ranking Republicans. Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer said on Twitter that children, especially the first daughters, are off limits.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...fer-resigns-after-criticizing-obama-daughters


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## poochee

*SATIRE*

November 30, 2014 
*G.O.P Aide Regrets that Attack on Obama Daughters Overshadowed Insults About Their Parents*
By Andy Borowitz

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=580037139&spReportId=NTgwMDM3MTM5S0


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## poochee

*Obama preparing executive order on police militarization*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
updated 2:09 PM EST, Mon December 1, 2014
*
VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Obama is planning an executive order on police militarization
> Concerns have been expressed about level of response to Ferguson protests
> Obama won't call for end to flow of equipment to police department





> Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama, responding to concerns over the use of military-style equipment during protests in Ferguson, Missouri over the summer, is asking aides to prepare an executive order that would better track the weapons and gear flowing from the federal government to local police departments around the nation.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/01/politics/obama-police-militarization/index.html?hpt=po_c2


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## poochee

*Obama Pushed Fullest Extent of His Powers on Immigration Plan*
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and JULIA PRESTONNOV. 28, 2014



> WASHINGTON  Months before President Obama took executive action last week to reshape the nations immigration system, Jeh C. Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, quietly convened a small group of advisers to explore the legal limits of the presidents powers.
> 
> Working in secrecy, Mr. Johnsons team huddled for hours daily under orders to use our legal authorities to the fullest extent on a new deportations policy, a senior administration official said. In five White House meetings over the summer, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Obama, both lawyers, pored over proposed changes, eventually concluding that the president had the authority to enact changes that could affect millions of people and significantly alter the way immigration laws are enforced.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/29/u...t_tnt_20141129&nlid=40272740&tntemail0=y&_r=1


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## poochee

*Ferguson Commission meets for first time*
12/01/14 02:43 PMUpdated 12/01/14 05:36 PM 
By Zachary Roth



> A high-level commission formed to address the underlying causes of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, met Monday for the first time  a week after news that a grand jury would not indict Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed local teen.
> 
> The Ferguson Commissions first formal sit-down reflects a shift in focus, as attention moves away from the legal process involving Wilson and toward addressing the economic, social, and educational issues that the controversy has brought out.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ferguson-commission-meets-first-time


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## poochee

Dec 1, 6:24 PM EST

*Bill Cosby resigns from Temple University board *
By MARYCLAIRE DALE 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Sean Carlin and Michael Sisak contributed to this report.



> PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Bill Cosby stepped down as a trustee of his beloved Temple University following renewed accusations that he had drugged and sexually assaulted a string of women over many years.
> 
> The 77-year-old entertainer has been a high-profile booster for his alma mater in Philadelphia and a board member since 1982.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-01-18-24-17


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## poochee

*Lawmakers reach breakthrough on defense bill*
By Martin Matishak - 12/01/14 06:38 PM EST



> House and Senate lawmakers have reached a compromise on a joint fiscal year 2015 defense policy bill and hope to unveil the measure Monday night or early Tuesday morning, according to one of the chief negotiators.
> 
> Well have a statement on it. If its not out already, well have a statement tomorrow morning, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told reporters late Monday.


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/225646-lawmakers-reach-breakthrough-on-defense-bill


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## poochee

*White House debated Ferguson trip*
_White House decided presidential visit would be too disruptive_.
By Jennifer Epstein and Carrie Budoff Brown
12/1/14 1:01 PM EST
Updated 12/1/14 8:07 PM EST

*VIDEO*



> The White House debated sending President Barack Obama directly into riot-torn Ferguson, Missouri, to address the racially charged aftermath of the decision not to prosecute a police officer who killed an unarmed black man.
> 
> But, according to three White House officials, the idea was dropped for now after a series of meetings, including one in the Oval Office last Tuesday with Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. A visit to Ferguson would be too messy at the moment, the officials said, with concerns about everything from choosing who would stand with the president and the neighborhood where he would speak to the police resources that would be


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/obama-ferguson-community-policing-113230.html#ixzz3KhvczIOl


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## poochee

*Meet Chuck Hagel's expected replacement as Defense Secretary*
By Jamie Crawford and Barbara Starr, CNN
updated 10:27 AM EST, Tue December 2, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> NEW: Sources said Tuesday that DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson is no longer considered
> The White House has struggled to find a successor for Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary
> The new frontrunner is Ashton Carter, a former Pentagon official with years of DOD experience





> Washington (CNN) -- Ashton Carter, the former second-in-command at the Pentagon, appears to be the top choice to replace outgoing Secretary Chuck Hagel.


 http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/01/polit...steam-as-defense-nominee/index.html?hpt=po_c2


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## poochee

*
U.S. Economic Confidence Index at 17-Month High*
by Justin McCarthy



> *Story Highlights
> *•Index reaches -8, nearing previous high of -7
> •Upper-income Americans reach new high in confidence
> •Democrats continue to be more confident than Republicans





> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index climbed to -8 in November, the highest monthly reading in nearly a year and a half. The index in November essentially matches the post-recession high of -7 in May 2013.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/179810/e...utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication


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## poochee

*'dramatic move to the left' since elections*
By Alexander Bolton



> Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says he is perplexed by President Obamas defiant attitude after a butt-kicking for Democrats in the midterm elections.
> 
> By any objective standard, the president got crushed in this election, so Ive been perplexed by the reaction since the election, the sort of in-your-face dramatic move to the left, McConnell said Tuesday at an event sponsored by The Wall Street Journal CEO Council.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/225699-mcconnell-obama-making-dramatic-move-to-the-left


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## poochee

*
Harry Reid threatens recess, Christmas*
By Burgess Everett
| 12/1/14 3:13 PM EST



> Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is using his final weeks as majority leader to threaten one of lawmakers most valuable assets: Recess.
> 
> Facing down a daunting list of tasks, ranging from funding the government past Dec. 11 to approving a number of new ambassadors, and less than two weeks to do it before Congresss target adjournment at the end of next week, the Nevada Democrat said that the lame duck Congresss work may require senators to stay in Washington for an extra week  and may even threaten Christmas.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/...ns-recess-christmas-113233.html#ixzz3KlDjSBnj


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## poochee

Dec 2, 11:50 AM EST

*House plans to vote down Obama immigration* 
By ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-led House will vote this week to undo President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, House Speaker John Boehner told lawmakers Tuesday as he sought to give outraged conservatives an outlet to vent over Obama's move without shutting down the government.
> 
> The move would be mostly symbolic, since Obama would certainly veto such legislation and the Senate might not go along with it. But GOP leaders hope it will assuage Republicans furious about Obama's two-week-old actions to shield some 4 million immigrants in this country illegally from deportation, and grant them work permits.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-02-11-28-45


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## poochee

*A History of the Obama Girls Feigning Interest in First Daughter Duties*
By Margaret Hartmann



> As one GOP staffer just learned the hard way, it's never okay to call the president's teen daughters rude and slutty just because they weren't sufficiently excited about their dad's goofy turkey-pardon jokes. But insulting the Obama girls is particularly unfair. One minute of sullen teenage behavior should not erase a lifetime of exemplary First Daughter behavior. As shown below, Malia and Sasha have quite a talent for feigning interest in their White House duties. *We think we know who they got it from.*


http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/obama-girls-feign-interest-in-white-house-duties.html


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## poochee

*By/Stephanie Condon/CBS News/December 2, 2014, 6:00 AM*
Obama renews call for cash to fight Ebola



> The United States is making progress in its efforts to combat the brutal Ebola virus abroad and to prepare for it domestically, but Congress needs to urgently pass emergency funding to keep up the efforts, President Obama plans on saying Tuesday at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
> 
> Stopping the Ebola epidemic, which in the past eight months has killed more than 5,600 people, remains a national security priority, according to the Obama administration. The president is still waiting for Congress to approve his request for $6.2 billion in emergency funding to accelerate the efforts.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-makes-progress-against-ebola-but-obama-presses-congress/


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## poochee

*Chicago to increase minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019*
12/02/14 02:41 PMUpdated 12/02/14 03:10 PM 
By Aliyah Frumin



> The measure, which passed 44-5, will take place in incremental stages over the next five years and will increase the earnings for approximately 410,000 Chicago workers. The first hike will take place next July when workers rates will increase from the statewide hourly rate of $8.25 to $10.
> 
> The wage will then increase by 50 cents in the summer of 2016 and another 50 cents in the summer of 2017. It will then increase another $1 in 2018 and then a final $1 in 2019.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/chicago-increase-minimum-wage-13-hour-2019


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## poochee

*Republicans ready to vote*
_Leaders think they can keep the government open. _
By Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan
| 12/2/14 9:47 AM EST
| Updated 12/2/14 3:39 PM EST



> The House will vote this week on a symbolic immigration bill and then take up a two-part government funding bill next week  a package Republican leaders believe will prevent a government shutdown.
> 
> Speaker John Boehner announced the plan in a closed party meeting Tuesday morning.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/house-to-oppose-immigration-action-113257.html#ixzz3KmD02Kek


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## poochee

12/02/2014 @ 1:12PM 
*ACA's Hospital Penalties Help Save 50,000 Lives, $12 Billion*
Bruce Japsen Contributor



> The Obama administration today said 50,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and $12 billion in health care costs were saved due in part to initiatives woven into the Affordable Care Act that helped reduce hospital-acquired infections from 2010 to 2013.
> 
> Many of the initiatives, such as Medicare reimbursement incentives to improve quality as well as penalties for hospitals that re-admit patients within 30 days from errors and hospital acquired infections, were part of the health law signed into law by President Obama.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceja...alties-help-save-12-billion-save-50000-lives/


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## poochee

*CVS Health Pharmacy Business Overcomes Loss Of Tobacco Sales*
11/04/2014 @ 9:28AM
Bruce Japsen Contributor



> CVS Health (CVS), which no longer sells cigarettes and other tobacco sales, is generating better than expected sales from new business across all lines including drugstores, retail clinics and its pharmacy benefit management company.
> 
> Though the loss of tobacco sales hurt sales in the front of its stores, CVS chief executive Larry Merlo said in reporting the companys third quarter results this morning that revenue increased nearly 10 percent in the period to $35 billion, which was ahead of analysts expectations by more than $250 million.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceja...acy-business-overcomes-loss-of-tobacco-sales/


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## poochee

*Man Charged With Threatening to Kill Darren Wilson*
By Andrew Blankstein
First published December 2nd 2014, 2:00 pm

*VIDEO*



> A Washington state man was charged Tuesday with threatening to kill a recently resigned Ferguson, Missouri police officer identified by federal authorities only as "D.W."





> Jaleel Tariq Abdul-Jabbaar, 46, faces three counts of making interstate threats. Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison. The complaint alleges he made repeated threats to kill "D.W.", members of the officer's family and other law enforcement officers.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/man-charged-threatening-kill-darren-wilson-n260106


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## poochee

*
Senate calls on pro sports to step up domestic violence fight*
12/02/14 06:28 PMUpdated 12/02/14 06:51 PM 
By Adam Howard

*VIDEOS*



> A Senate panel condemned major American professional sports leagues Tuesday for not adequately addressing the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault by athletes on the same day embattled ex-NFL star Ray Rice attempted to rebuild his image in a high-profile TODAY interview alongside his wife, Janay.





> Senators from both sides of the aisle called out representatives of the NFL, NBA, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball on their lack of significant investigations and discipline when it came to violence perpetrated by their star players.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-calls-pro-sports-step-fighting-domestic-violence


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## poochee

*Bill Cosby sued for sexual assault of teenager in the 70s*
12/02/14 09:38 PM 
By Maria Elena Fernandez and Andrew Blankstein



> According to the complaint, Judy Huth and a friend met Cosby at an outdoor film set at Lacy Park in 1974 and accepted an invitation to socialize with him at a tennis club the following week. When they got together, the lawsuit alleges, they played billiards and Cosby served them alcoholic beverages.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bill-cosby-sued-sexual-assault-teenager


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## poochee

Dec 3, 9:22 AM EST
*
Diplomats worldwide target Islamic State militants* 
By LARA JAKES and JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG 
Associated Press



> BRUSSELS (AP) -- A global fight against Islamic State militants will likely take years to fully succeed, but nations are prepared to engage "for as long as it takes" to defeat the bloody insurgency, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.
> 
> Nearly a year after the Islamic State overran key cities in western Iraq, diplomats from more than 60 counties and international organizations gathered in Brussels to plot a way forward against what has since become one of the world's worst terror threats.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-03-09-22-18


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## poochee

*U.S. Job Creation Index Inches Back Up in November*
by Justin McCarthy



> *Story Highlights*
> Index ticks up one point to +28 in November
> Federal government hiring reaches four-year high
> 
> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup's U.S. Job Creation Index ticked up one point in November to +28 after a three-point slip in October. The index sits just below the all-time high of +30 reached in September and is the highest reading in any November since Gallup began tracking the index in 2008.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/179852/j...utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication


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## poochee

Dec 3, 10:51 AM EST

*House plans to extend tax breaks through December *
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House is moving Wednesday to extend a massive package of expired tax breaks through the end of the year, adding about $45 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade.
> 
> The bill would enable millions of businesses and individuals to claim the tax breaks on their 2014 returns. But beyond Dec. 31, their fate would be uncertain.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-03-10-51-46


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## poochee

*Reid backs Boehner on deal to avoid government shutdown*
By Scott Wong,Rebecca Shabad and Cristina Marcos - 12/02/14 08:30 PM EST

*VIDEO *



> After two years of constant fighting, Republicans and Democrats are laying down their arms and working to strike deals in the hopes of leaving town at the end of next week.
> 
> While there are voices of dissent in both parties, congressional leaders appear to be coalescing around legislation that would fund the government through September, likely avoiding the shutdown fight that threatens to keep them working through the holidays.


http://thehill.com/news/225805-reid-backs-boehner-on-deal-to-avoid-shutdown


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## poochee

*President Obama, now in 3D thanks to printer *
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
updated 10:46 AM EST, Wed December 3, 2014

*VIDEO/PICTURES*



> Washington (CNN) -- Tourists flocking to Washington, D.C., hoping to get a glimpse of President Barack Obama might not get the chance to see him in person -- but they can now get pretty close thanks to the Smithsonian Institution.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/politics/obama-3d-bust/index.html?hpt=po_t1


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## poochee

*N.Y. cop not indicted in chokehold death*
By Ben Brumfield, Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley and Shimon Prokupecz
updated 2:39 PM EST, Wed December 3, 2014
CNN's Leigh Remizowski contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> A grand jury is expected to vote on charges against white NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo
> He put African-American Eric Garner in a chokehold in July; Garner died
> The medical examiner ruled the death of the 43-year-old a homicide
> The incident sparked anti-police protests in New York City


 http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/justice/new-york-grand-jury-chokehold/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


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## poochee

Dec 3, 4:09 PM EST

*US: Iran launches airstrikes in Iraq against IS *
By KEN DILANIAN and VIVIAN SALAMA 
Associated Press
Salama reported from Baghdad. John Thor-Dahlburg, Lori Hinnant and Lara Jakes in Brussels, Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad and Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran contributed to this story



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iranian jets have carried out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq in recent days, Pentagon officials and independent analysts say, underscoring the strange alliances generated by the war against the extremist group that has beheaded Americans and killed and terrorized Iraqi civilians.
> 
> Washington and Tehran are locked in tough negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. But the two adversaries have been fighting parallel campaigns on the same side in Iraq to defend the Shiite-dominated government - and the region's Kurds - from IS militants who seized a large section of the country.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-03-13-48-53


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## poochee

Dec 3, 6:21 PM EST

*NYC cop in videotaped death: No intent to harm *
By TOM HAYS and COLLEEN LONG 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Jonathan Lemire and Deepti Hajela contributed to the report.



> NEW YORK (AP) -- A grand jury cleared a white New York City police officer Wednesday in the videotaped chokehold death of an unarmed black man stopped for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes - a case that sparked outrage and drew comparisons to the deadly police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.
> 
> The decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo heightened tensions that have simmered in the city since the July 17 death of Eric Garner.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-03-15-51-11


----------



## poochee

*Cleveland Cop Who Killed 12-Year-Old Had 'Dismal' Handgun Performance*
ByAhiza GarciaPublishedDecember 3, 2014, 5:02 PM EST



> The Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice on Nov. 22 had "dismal" handgun performance during training, the news website Cleveland.com reported on Wednesday.
> 
> During Officer Tim Loehmann's brief tenure with the Independence Police Department, he was characterized as "distracted" and "weepy" during firearms training, according to a Nov. 29, 2012 letter obtained by Cleveland.com.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tamir-rice-tim-loehmann-handgun-performance


----------



## poochee

*Obama after Eric Garner decision: We are not going to let up*

12/03/14 05:49 PMUpdated 12/03/14 06:37 PM 
By Adam Howard

*VIDEO*



> My tradition is not to remark on cases where there may still be an investigation, Obama said while addressing the White House Tribal Conference. But he admitted that this case speaks to larger issues such as the feeling within black communities that law enforcement is not working with them and dealing with them in a fair way.
> 
> Obama said that Attorney General Eric Holder will be delivering more specific comments pertaining to the Garner case, and the Justice Department will conduct a civil rights investigation into the case.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-garner-grand-jury-decision-we-are-not-going-let


----------



## poochee

December 03, 2014, 06:33 pm 
*NYPD officer should have been indicted, says Fox judicial analyst*
By Ben Kamisar



> Conservative judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano said Wednesday that a grand jury should have indicted an officer in the death of a New York man and that the circumstances seemed different than a recent high-profile altercation with an officer that ended in death.
> 
> I think it is clearly a case for criminally negligent homicide, the Fox News commentator said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. I think that the use of deadly force, this is not Ferguson, Mo. This is not somebody wrestling for your gun, this is not where you shoot or be shot at.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ould-have-been-indicted-says-judicial-analyst


----------



## poochee

*Michael Brown's stepfather sorry for outburst in Ferguson protests*
By Jason Hanna, Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
updated 4:00 PM EST, Wed December 3, 2014
CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report. 
*
VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Michael Brown's stepfather says he's sorry for yelling "Burn this ***** down" last week
> Police are investigating whether Louis Head intended to incite riot, police chief says
> Don't expect Head to be prosecuted because it's tough to prove, law enforcement says
> "We just wish he would just shut up," law enforcement official said of Ferguson police chief





> (CNN) -- Michael Brown's stepfather says he's sorry for his emotional outburst to demonstrators after learning Officer Darren Wilson wouldn't be indicted in the teen's death. But he says he's unfairly taking heat for the rioting that followed.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/justice/ferguson-protests/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Bill Cosby postpones another show, thanks celebs for support*
12/03/14 06:41 PM
By Adam Howard



> Cosby and the Tarrytown Music Hall venue offered full refunds to ticket buyers, and according to the Journal News, as many as half of the tickets were returned prior to Dec. 6, when Cosby planned to make his first appearance. On Wednesday afternoon, ticket holders received an email saying Bill Cosby, in consultation with the promoter, has agreed to postpone the performances to a later date. As a ticket holder, you will receive a full refund.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/cosby-postpones-another-show-thanks-celebs-support


----------



## poochee

*Cruz causes headaches for GOP leaders. Again.*
By Dana Bash, CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent
updated 6:45 PM EST, Wed December 3, 2014

*VIDEO*



> Since the day Cruz was sworn in almost two years ago, he has proudly been a thorn in House Republican leaders' side -- urging them to put principle before practical politics.
> 
> Last year the government shut down thanks to a strategy pushed by Cruz to tie defunding Obamacare to funding the government.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/politics/ted-cruz-shutdown-interview/index.html?hpt=po_c1


----------



## poochee

*Cleveland boy who was shot by police laid to rest*
By Michele Richinick

*VIDEO*



> The great-uncle of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was fatally shot by a police officer earlier this month at a park in Cleveland, Ohio, called on his community and the entire country to remember his nephew by demanding changes to law enforcement policies.
> 
> Tamir can no longer speak for himself. This is why Tamir must live through us. We must now be his voice, Michael Petty said Wednesday morning during the childs funeral. Through us, Tamir will be heard from the grave. Through us, Tamir will prevent further senseless shootings  not only in Cleveland, but in this nation. He opened his speech by mentioning that his nephew will miss out on typical life events, including attending prom, driving a car, graduating from high school, entering college, and marrying a wife and having children.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/cleveland-boy-who-was-shot-police-laid-rest


----------



## poochee

*Off-duty cops protect Darren Wilson, as death threats come in *
By Ben Brumfield and Brian Todd, CNN
updated 9:30 AM EST, Wed December 3, 2014
CNN's Faith Karimi and Kevin Conlon contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> *
> STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Deadly drove the former Ferguson police officer into hiding after he shot Michael Brown
> Fraternal Order of the Police members took up his protection voluntarily
> Spokesman: Ferguson police department gave Wilson no protection
> FBI arrests Seattle man for allegedly posting multiple death threats





> (CNN) -- Darren Wilson has lived in the shadows for nearly four months, changing residence from house to house, spending spare time in dark movie theaters, in hopes he won't be spotted.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/us/ferguson-darren-wilson-protection/index.html?hpt=ju_c1


----------



## poochee

*Pete King: Eric Garner Wouldn't Have Died From Chokehold If He Weren't 'Obese'*
ByCatherine ThompsonPublishedDecember 4, 2014, 7:42 AM EST 3755 views



> While many on the right condemned a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer for placing a black man in a fatal chokehold, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) defended the officer Wednesday and said that if the victim were healthier the whole thing could have been avoided.





> The confrontation between Pantaleo and Garner was also caught on video that showed Garner repeatedly telling the officer he couldn't breathe. King said police hear that kind of thing all the time.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/peter-king-eric-garner-decision


----------



## poochee

*#CrimingWhileWhite, #ICantBreathe dominate Twitter talk in Eric Garner case*
By Wilfred Chan, CNN
updated 10:26 AM EST, Thu December 4, 2014



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> White internet users are using the hashtag #CrimingWhileWhite to confess to crimes
> #CrimingWhileWhite became Twitter's highest trending topic
> "Pushed a cop when I was drunk at a bar... told to go home and 'sleep it off,'" one says
> Evidence shows racial disparity in American law enforcement is real





> (CNN) -- If you're white, you may be able to shoplift, drive drunk, even shove a police officer -- and not suffer the same consequences a black person might, according to trending stories being shared on social media.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/04/us/criming-while-white-hashtag/index.html?hpt=ju_c1


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court hears arguments in pregnant UPS workers case*
By Robert Barnes December 3 at 7:37 PM 



> The Supreme Court on Wednesday weighed how much protection Congress meant to give pregnant workers when they ask for a change in their usual duties because of their condition.
> 
> The court tread somewhat gingerly through an hour of technical arguments in the case of Peggy Young of Lorton, a former driver for United Parcel Service (UPS). She charges that the company violated federal law when it refused to temporarily change her duties after a doctor suggested she not lift heavy packages.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...c7efed9e_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Pentagon Survey: More sexual assault cases reported*
By Eric Bradner and Barbara Starr, CNN
updated 6:49 PM EST, Wed December 3, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> Washington (CNN) -- Fewer members of the military are being sexually assaulted and more victims are coming forward, the Pentagon said in a long-awaited report obtained by CNN on Wednesday.
> 
> But 4.3 percent of the United States' active-duty women still say they were the victims of unwanted sexual contact in the last year, and most still aren't reporting those assaults. Some of those who did report their assaults faced retaliation, according to the Pentagon's findings.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/politics/military-sexual-assault-report/index.html?hpt=po_t2


----------



## poochee

*Garner decision shock waves hit Capitol Hill*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
updated 12:19 PM EST, Thu December 4, 2014
*
VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> * NEW* Speaker Boehner said American people deserve more answers in Garner's death
> Rep. Hakeem Jeffries called for "broader reforms" to appoint special prosecutors
> Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday the DOJ is investigating
> Meanwhile, New York Republicans lauded the grand jury for making a fair decision





> And it was a rare development that brought members of both parties together in calling for further investigation. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, said Thursday morning that the House should "absolutely" hold hearings to investigate Garner's death.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/04/polit...o-grand-jury-eric-garner/index.html?hpt=po_c1


----------



## poochee

*Obama cites 'deep unfairness' in how laws are enforced*
By Jennifer Epstein
| 12/4/14 12:47 PM EST
| Updated 12/4/14 1:20 PM EST



> President Barack Obama reasserted his commitment Thursday to improving relations between law enforcement agencies and the people they police, alluding to the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
> 
> Unfortunately in recent days, there have been reminders of the deep unfairness when it comes to the gap between our professed ideals and how laws are applied on a day-to-day basis, Obama said.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/obama-eric-garner-reaction-113323.html#ixzz3Kxh07Ekk


----------



## poochee

Dec 4, 2:46 PM EST

*Civil rights leaders decry decision in chokehold case *
By TOM HAYS and COLLEEN LONG 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Steve Peoples, Jake Pearson, Deepti Hajela and Bernard Vaughan contributed to this report.



> NEW YORK (AP) -- Civil rights leaders Thursday decried the grand jury decision not to charge a white police officer in the chokehold death of a black man and announced plans for a march and a summit on racial justice in Washington later this month.
> 
> National Urban League President Marc Morial said the lack of an indictment in the death of Eric Garner was "a travesty of justice." He said he and other civil rights leaders are calling for 2015 to be "a year for justice and jobs."


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-04-13-12-35


----------



## poochee

*Justice Dept.: Cleveland police have pattern of excessive force*
By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN
updated 1:34 PM EST, Thu December 4, 2014
*
VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Cleveland, feds agree to independent monitor to oversee reforms, Justice says
> City's police came under fire after fatal shooting of 12-year-old who had air gun
> Probe: Pattern of excessive force erodes public confidence in police
> Guns, Tasers, fists, "impact weapons," chemical sprays all used inappropriately, probe finds





> As a result of this "pattern ... of unreasonable and unnecessary use of force," the city and Justice Department have signed an agreement "to develop a court-enforceable consent decree that will include a requirement for an independent monitor who will oversee and ensure necessary reforms."


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/04/us/cl...t-police-excessive-force/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


----------



## poochee

December 04, 2014, 02:45 pm 
*House passes $585B defense bill*
By Kristina Wong and Cristina Marcos



> The House on Thursday passed a Defense authorization bill to equip the Pentagon with funding and programs for fiscal 2015.
> 
> It passed in a largely bipartisan vote, 300-119. The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to be approved next week before the end of the lame-duck session.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/226039-house-passes-2015-defense-authorization


----------



## poochee

December 04, 2014, 02:33 pm 
*House votes to bar Obama from limiting immigrant deportations*
By Cristina Marcos



> The House on Thursday voted to bar the executive branch from deferring the deportation of undocumented workers, taking its first direct action against President Obamas executive actions on immigration.
> 
> The 219-197 vote was largely symbolic as the measure is headed for certain death in the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he won't take up the legislation. The White House has also threatened to veto the measure.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/226035-house-vote-on-yoho-immigration


----------



## poochee

*Tamir Rice, 12, shot dead by Cleveland cop who had dismal gun skills and weepy demeanor at previous police department
*_Cleveland police never reviewed the personnel files from the suburban Independence force for Officer Tim Loehmann, 26, who agreed to resign in 2012 because of poor performance, records reveal. Loehmann fatally shot Tamir Rice on Nov. 22 at a Cleveland park as the boy wielded a fake gun._
BY Sasha Goldstein / 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / 
Thursday, December 4, 2014, 2:12 PM



> Administrators in the Cleveland police department never even reviewed the damning documents contained in Tim Loehmanns personnel file lodged at the police department in Independence, Ohio,, a town of 7,000 people some 10 miles south of Cleveland, before hiring him in March.





> Loehmann, 26, resigned from the Independence force in December 2012 amid disciplinary hearings that would have ended with his termination, the files reveal.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tamir-shot-dismal-gun-skills-previous-job-article-1.2033429


----------



## poochee

*Issa takes top spot on Internet panel*
By Julian Hattem - 12/04/14 05:40 PM EST



> The announcement on Thursday gives Issa a lower position of visibility than his previous post, which he has to give up due to Republican term limits on comittee chairmen.


http://thehill.com/policy/technology/226072-issa-takes-top-spot-on-internet-panel


----------



## poochee

*Fast food workers strike fueled by other low-wage employees, Eric Garner*
12/04/14 07:10 PMUpdated 12/04/14 07:20 PM 
By Emma Margolin

*VIDEO*



> Thousands of low-wage employees in approximately 190 cities walked off the job Thursday in what organizers are calling the largest fast food worker strike to date.
> 
> Demanding $15-an-hour pay and the right to unionize without retaliation, fast food workers across the country hit the streets for the eighth time since the movement began two years ago with about a couple hundred employees in New York City. The campaign has since gone global, with one strike in May accompanied by solidarity rallies in 32 other countries. During the last nationwide fast food workers strike, on September 4, nearly 500 striking protesters were arrested in civil disobedience actions, such as blocking traffic.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fast-food-workers-strike-fueled-other-low-wage-employees-eric-garner


----------



## poochee

*Bill Cosby Fires Back at Sexual Abuse Lawsuit*
Dec 4, 2014, 7:13 PM ET
By LUCHINA FISHER
via Good Morning America



> The 77-year-old comedian filed a lawsuit today against Judy Huth, who claims Cosby forced her to perform a sex act in 1974 at the Playboy Mansion, when she was 15.
> 
> In documents obtained by ABC News, Cosby alleges that not only is Huth lying but that she filed the lawsuit after failing to extort money from him. Cosby is asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit and is seeking monetary damages from Huth and her attorney.


http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bill-cosby-fires-back-sexual-abuse-lawsuit/story?id=27369340


----------



## poochee

Dec 5, 11:11 AM EST

*US adds 321,000 jobs, the most in nearly 3 years *
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER 
AP Economics Writer
AP Economics Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- A burst of U.S. hiring in November - the most in nearly three years - added 321,000 jobs and provided the latest evidence that the United States is outperforming other economies throughout the developed world.
> 
> In addition, the government said Friday that 44,000 more jobs were added in September and October combined than it had previously estimated. So far this year, job gains have averaged 241,000 a month, putting 2014 on track to be the strongest year for hiring since 1999.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-05-09-40-24


----------



## poochee

*Obama nominates Ashton Carter for defense secretary*
12/05/14 07:05 AMUpdated 12/05/14 10:46 AM 
By David Taintor

*VIDEO*



> Carter joined the Obama administration in 2009 as a top arms buyer, eventually rising to be the Pentagons second-in-command from 2011 to 2013. There he managed the Pentagons budget, its 2.4 million employees and rose within the ranks of the administration. The 59-year-old resigned in late 2013 after being passed up for the defense secretary job. Most recently, Carter has worked as a senior executive at the Markle Foundation, where he has focused on technology and the economy. Carter is also a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-nominates-ashton-carter-defense-secretary


----------



## poochee

*
As ACA Takes Effect, Majority OK With Personal Health Costs*
by Andrew Dugan



> *Story Highlights*
> •In U.S., as ACA takes hold, most adults OK with costs
> •The oldest Americans are most satisfied
> •Americans rate healthcare services and coverage well





> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Nearly six in 10 Americans (57%) say they are satisfied with the total cost they pay for healthcare, on par with other readings over the last five years. So far, there is little indication that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare," has affected the way Americans view their healthcare costs, either positively or negatively.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/179903/a...utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication


----------



## poochee

*Family of Tamir Rice files complaint against Cleveland, police*
12/05/14 05:39 PMUpdated 12/05/14 05:49 PM 
By Adam Howard

*VIDEO*



> The family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer on November 22 when his pellet gun was allegedly mistaken for a real weapon, filed a wrongful death and civil rights complaint against the city on Friday.
> 
> Rices death, outside the Cudell Recreation Center Park, was caught on tape and has provoked nationwide outrage in the wake of the controversial police-related deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The footage, made public by authorities after the Rice family requested it be released, shows a 911 caller sitting at a picnic table under a gazebo while a boy, later identified as Rice, walks back and forth along a sidewalk. At times, Rice points his airsoft gun and also speaks on his cell phone. The caller eventually leaves the area, and Rice appears to sit at a picnic table.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/family-tamir-rice-files-complaint-against-cleveland-police


----------



## poochee

*Michigan House passes religious freedom bill*
Kathleen Gray, Detroit Free Press 10:29 a.m. EST December 5, 2014



> LANSING, Mich.  A bill providing protections for people with sincerely held religious beliefs was put on a fast track Thursday, passing out of the House Judiciary committee and the full House of Representatives on straight party line votes Thursday.
> 
> Speaker of the House Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, who sponsored the bill, said the measure will do none of the horrible things opponents claim but will merely protect people and their beliefs and practice of religion.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/05/michigan-religious-freedom-bill/19943521/


----------



## poochee

*Job numbers soar, but Obama gets no credit*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
updated 4:21 PM EST, Fri December 5, 2014

VIDEOS



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Economy shatters expectations, pumps out 321,000 jobs in November
> But many Americans don't feel their lives are improving
> History will remember Obama for exit from Great Recession





> Washington (CNN) -- Don't look for President Barack Obama to get much political kudos for America's humming job creation engine.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/05/politics/obama-politics-economy/index.html?hpt=po_c2


----------



## poochee

*Obama condemns U.S. journalists killing during Yemen rescue mission*
By Daniella Diaz
| 12/6/14 9:58 AM EST
| Updated 12/6/14 11:18 AM EST



> President Barack Obama on Saturday condemned the barbaric murder of an American journalist held hostage in Yemen during a rescue mission he ordered against al-Qaeda terrorists.
> 
> The president said Luke Somers life was in imminent danger after captors released a video earlier this week announcing that he would be killed within 72 hours. It was the second attempt to rescue Somers, a photojournalist who was kidnapped 15 months ago.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/barack-obama-luke-somers-yemen-113361.html#ixzz3L8YuawGx


----------



## poochee

*Prince William to meet Obama, Biden at White House*
By Marianna Sotomayor, CNN
updated 2:06 PM EST, Fri December 5, 2014



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> The President will meet with Prince William on Monday
> The Duke of Cambridge will also meet with Joe and Jill Biden
> William and his wife, Kate Middleton, will be in the U.S. for three days





> The trip will mark Prince William's first visit to the nation's capitol.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/05/politics/prince-william-invited-to-white-house/index.html?hpt=po_c2


----------



## poochee

*Dems push for healthcare tax break*
By Bernie Becker - 12/06/14 10:32 AM EST



> Senate Democrats are pushing to extend a healthcare tax break for laid-off workers into the upcoming House spending bill, arguing this is an issue that cannot wait.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/226219-dems-push-for-healthcare-tax-break


----------



## poochee

December 06, 2014, 10:25 am 
*Obama makes Dec. 26 a holiday for fed workers *
By Timothy Cama



> Federal offices will be closed the day after Christmas this year and most federal workers will get the day off.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/226218-feds-to-get-dec-26-off


----------



## poochee

*Grand jury to review NYPD killing in stairwell*
Michael Winter, USA TODAY 8:42 p.m. EST December 5, 2014



> A New York City grand jury will hear evidence about a rookie police officer's killing of an unarmed black man in a darkened stairwell last month, the Brooklyn district attorney announced Friday.
> 
> Akai Gurley, 28, was shot once in the chest by Officer Peter Liang as he and his girlfriend opened an exit door into the unlighted stairway at a Brooklyn housing development Nov. 20. Residents used the stairs because the elevators often broke down, and the lights reportedly had been out for several days.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/05/nypd-stairwell-shooting-grand-jury/19975345/


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Ensuring Americans Feel the Gains of a Growing Economy*
David Hudson
December 06, 2014 
06:00 AM EST

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, the President highlighted the good news in Fridays jobs report  that American businesses added 314,000 new jobs this past month, making November the tenth month in a row that the private sector has added at least 200,000 new jobs. Even with a full month to go, 2014 has already been the best year of job creation since the 1990s. This number brings total private-sector job creation to 10.9 million over 57 consecutive months  the longest streak on record.
> 
> But even with this real, tangible evidence of our progress, there is always more that can be done. Congress needs to pass a budget and keep the government from a Christmas shutdown. We have an opportunity to work together to support the continued growth of higher-paying jobs by investing in infrastructure, reforming the business tax code, expanding markets for Americas goods and services, making common-sense reforms to the immigration system, and increasing the minimum wage.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014...t&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1262014-topper

*TRANSCRIPT:* http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...ensuring-americans-feel-gains-growing-economy


----------



## poochee

*
Cartoon Carousel: The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics*
By POLITICO STAFF

http://www.politico.com/magazine/ga...k-in-politics/002113-029966.html#.VIN1dMJ0z3h


----------



## poochee

*Obama diagnosed with heartburn after visit to Walter Reed*
By Dan Berman
| 12/6/14 3:19 PM EST
| Updated 12/6/14 4:39 PM EST



> President Barack Obama has returned to the White House after an unscheduled visit Saturday afternoon to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to undergo a CT scan after complaining of a sore throat.





> "The President's symptoms are consistent with soft tissue inflammation related to acid reflux and will be treated accordingly," Jackson said.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/...ning-of-sore-throat-113364.html#ixzz3L9lVYtAj


----------



## poochee

*Top al Qaeda leader killed in raid, Pakistan military says*
12/06/14 10:23 AM 
By Zachary Roth



> A top al Qaeda commander has been killed in Pakistan during a predawn raid Saturday by the countrys military, Pakistans army told NBC News.
> 
> Adnan el Shukrijumah was indicted in the United States in 2010 for allegedly plotting terror attacks in the U.S. and Britain, including a foiled plan to bomb the New York City subway.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/shukrijumah-al-qaeda-leader-killed-raid-pakistan


----------



## poochee

*Pastor calls for killing gays to end AIDS*
Tram Mai, KPNX-TV, Phoenix 12 p.m. EST December 6, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> PHOENIX  A recent anti-homosexual Sunday sermon by Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe has gotten tens of thousands of views on YouTube. In it, Anderson declares that no "queers" or "homos" are allowed in the church, and never will be as long as he's pastor.





> Two Phoenix-area pastors who were familiar with Anderson, say what they saw in the video was more hate than anything.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-calls-for-killing-gays-to-end-aids/19929973/


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

Today 10:51 am 
*Republicans Question Obamas Motives for Fixing Economy*
By Andy Borowitz



> When there have been so many months of job growth, it does make you wonder what hes up to, said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). You add in the rising stock market and falling gas prices, and the whole thing doesnt pass the smell test.


http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=580874355&spReportId=NTgwODc0MzU1S0


----------



## poochee

Dec 7, 10:57 AM EST

*Ohio deaths renew calls for lookalike guns action *
By DAN SEWELL and MARK GILLISPIE 
Associated Press



> CINCINNATI (AP) -- Twice in less than four months, police in Ohio have opened fire with real bullets on young people carrying lookalike guns, raising anguished questions about what could have prevented the deadly encounters.
> 
> The questions have been raised before: after the death last year of a 13-year-old California boy carrying what a sheriff's deputy thought was an AK-47 assault rifle, after the 2012 shooting in a Texas middle school hallway of a 15-year-old student holding an air gun that resembled a Glock, and after the 2006 shooting of a 15-year-old Florida student with a pellet gun that looked to police like a 9mm handgun.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-07-10-57-36


----------



## poochee

*
Guantanamo prisoners sent to Uruguay as refugees*
Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY 12:42 p.m. EST December 7, 2014



> Six men who were held for more than 12 years at Guantanamo Bay have been sent to Uruguay to be resettled as refugees, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement Sunday.
> 
> The six  four Syrians, a Tunisian and a Palestinian  were detained as suspected militants with ties to al-Qaeda but were never charged. The Pentagon statement said the U.S. worked with Uruguay's government to ensure the transfers took place.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/07/guantanamo-prisoners-uruguay/20047083/


----------



## poochee

*It took 22 people to approve a Romney tweet*
12/06/14 05:05 PMUpdated 12/06/14 05:19 PM 
By Nisha Chittal
*
VIDEO*



> Was Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign strategy undone by too much red tape? A new study finds that while the former executive boasted of his managerial competence, Romneys digital team was hamstrung by an approval process that required 22 people to sign off on all tweets prior to posting.
> 
> So whether it was a tweet, Facebook post, blog post, photo  anything you could imagine  it had to be sent around to everyone for approval, Caitlin Checkett, a Romney digital staffer, told Daniel Kreiss, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor who interviewed former Obama and Romney staffers to determine the role Twitter played in each campaigns digital efforts. Towards the end of the campaign that was 22 individuals who had to approve it.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/new-details-show-romney-campaign-struggled-social-media


----------



## poochee

*Most uplifting stories of the week*
Newser editors, Newser staff 10:36 a.m. EST December 7, 2014



> (NEWSER)  A girl's Christmas card fairytale and one amazing marriage proposal are among the week's uplifting stories:


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/07/most-uplifting-stories-newser/20049193/


----------



## poochee

Akbar Shahid Ahmed 
Donté Stallworth

*John Kerry Says Iran Deal Could Happen Sooner Than Expected*
Posted: 12/07/2014 1:28 pm EST Updated: 1 hour ago



> WASHINGTON -- The U.S. expects to achieve a deal on reining in Iran's nuclear program within three or four months, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday, suggesting an agreement could be possible months sooner than previously anticipated.
> 
> Iran and the global powers negotiating with it -- the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China -- had previously failed to reach a deal by their self-imposed deadline of Nov. 24. At that point, they extended the talks for another seven months to June 30, 2015.


http://forums.techguy.org/controversial-topics/1138344-news-web-3-a.html#post9005517


----------



## poochee

*House-Senate negotiators near spending deal*
_The goal is to have the massive measure ready by late Monday._
By David Rogers
12/7/14 4:01 PM EST
Updated 12/7/14 6:38 PM EST



> House-Senate negotiators neared agreement Sunday on the last pieces of a $1.1 trillion spending bill designed to avert any shutdown this week and put most government agencies on firm footing through next September.
> 
> Building on a long weekend of talks, the goal was to file the giant measure by late Monday and then push for quick floor action before the current funding runs out Thursday night.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/house-senate-spending-deal-113375.html#ixzz3LGR62p1F


----------



## poochee

*Survivors commemorate 73rd anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack*
By Treena Shapiro
HONOLULU Sun Dec 7, 2014 4:02pm EST 
(Editing by Victoria Cavaliere, Paul Simao and Eric Walsh)

*SLIDESHOW
*


> (Reuters) - For the fifth year in a row, Lou Conter made the trip to Honolulu from his Alta Sierra, California, home to remember his USS Arizona shipmates who died in the surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
> 
> Before the 73rd commemoration ceremony started on the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center's main lawn on Sunday morning, Conter said that he and other survivors started gathering in Honolulu in 1991, and he now plans to come every year that he's able.


 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/07/us-usa-hawaii-pearlharbor-idUSKBN0JL0E420141207


----------



## poochee

*John McCain Knocks Rand Pauls Lame-Duck Push to Declare War on ISIS*
By Humberto Sanchez	
Posted at 5:48 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2014



> It takes a lot to surprise Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has served in the chamber for nearly 30 years, but Thursdays Foreign Relations Committee water bill debate did just that.
> 
> The committee considered a surprise effort by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to try to attach a Declaration of War against the terror group known as Islamic State, ISIS or ISIL to an unrelated water bill the committee was considering.


http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/john-mccain-rand-paul-declare-war-isis-isil/


----------



## poochee

*GOP pins hopes of dismantling ObamaCare on the courts*
By Sarah Ferris - 12/07/14 02:05 PM EST

*VIDEO*



> The GOP is refocusing its attention on the courts as it searches for any way to weaken President Obamas signature healthcare law while he continues to wield a veto pen.
> 
> Twenty-five Republicans asked the Supreme Court to take on another lawsuit against ObamaCare on Thursday, this time against a controversial Medicare advisory board that the party has assailed as a death panel.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/226197-gop-pins-hopes-of-dismantling-obamacare-on-the-courts


----------



## poochee

*Sorry, Haters: Here's Another Big Way Obamacare Is Working As Planned*
ByDylan ScottPublishedDecember 8, 2014, 6:00 AM EST 10726 views



> It hasn't been at the top of the conversation about Obamacare, but new evidence suggests that yet another piece of the law is working exactly as it's supposed to.
> 
> A key provision of the Affordable Care Act that was designed to keep insurers from overspending on administrative costs or else be forced to rebate premiums to customers looks to be succeeding in not only reducing those costs but in lowering premiums.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-mlr-health-spending-slow


----------



## poochee

*
Bush and C.I.A. Ex-Officials Rebut Torture Report*
By PETER BAKERDEC. 7, 2014



> WASHINGTON - A long-awaited Senate report condemning torture by the Central Intelligence Agency has not even been made public yet, but former President George W. Bush's team has decided to link arms with former intelligence officials and challenge its conclusions.
> 
> The report is said to assert that the C.I.A. misled Mr. Bush and his White House about the nature, extent and results of brutal techniques like waterboarding, and some of his former administration officials privately suggested seizing on that to distance themselves from the controversial program, according to people involved in the discussion. But Mr. Bush and his closest advisers decided that "we're going to want to stand behind these guys," as one former official put it.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/u...a-ex-officials-rebut-torture-report.html?_r=2


----------



## poochee

*Juan Williams: Racial politics in plain sight*
By Juan Williams - 12/08/14 06:00 AM EST



> Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) asked an advocate for the policy why the response to this has been so different under this president when several other presidents have made similar use of their prosecutorial discretion to shift enforcement of immigration law.
> 
> He is the first African-American president, said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center. Matter of fact, she added: Historically every single president  Republican and Democrat since Eisenhower  has used their prosecutorial discretion.


http://thehill.com/opinion/juan-williams/226263-juan-williams-racial-politics-in-plain-sight


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Supreme Court rejects BP challenge to Gulf spill settlement
*By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON Mon Dec 8, 2014 11:36am EST 
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)



> (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected BP's challenge to its multibillion-dollar settlement agreement over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which the oil giant complained has allowed payouts to some businesses that are unable to trace their losses to the disaster.
> 
> The court's decision not to hear the London-based company's appeal is the latest setback for BP, which is trying to limit payments over a disaster that killed 11 people and triggered the largest U.S. offshore oil spill.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/08/us-usa-court-bp-idUSKBN0JM1KR20141208


----------



## poochee

*St. Louis PD Sorry For 'Kids Will Be Kids' Tweet About Tamir Rice *
Dec 4, 2014, 4:05 PM ET
By RHEANA MURRAY



> "As Chief of Police, I apologize to Tamir's family and anyone who was offended by the post," the statement continued. "While the post did not originate from the Chief's Office and I was unaware of its presence prior to its release, I realize the message was insensitive to Tamir's family and the sorrow they are currently experiencing."
> 
> St. Louis isn't the only police department getting heat on social media. Shortly after news that the white police officer who killed New York man Eric Garner would not face criminal charges, the NYPD tweeted about rebuilding public trust, using the hashtag, #WeHearYou.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/st-louis-pd-kids-kids-tweet-tamir-rice/story?id=27371892


----------



## poochee

*Mother of Cleveland Boy Shot by Police Says She's 'Looking for a Conviction'
*Dec 8, 2014, 7:36 AM ET
By MEGHAN KENEALLY
via Good Morning America



> The mother of a 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot by police after he was seen playing with a plastic gun on a Cleveland playground has spoken for the first time since burying her son.





> Samaria Rice told ABC News in an exclusive interview that her 14-year-old daughter was tackled by police when she arrived at the scene of the shooting.


 http://abcnews.go.com/US/mother-cleveland-boy-shot-police-shes-convictions/story?id=27440827


----------



## poochee

Dec 8, 2:53 PM EST
*
Afghanistan mired in war as US combat command ends *
By LYNNE O'DONNELL 
Associated Press



> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- American and NATO troops closed their operational command in Afghanistan on Monday, lowering flags in a ceremony to mark the formal end of their combat mission in a country still mired in war 13 years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime for harboring those responsible for 9/11.
> 
> The closing of the command, which oversaw the day-to-day operations of coalition combat forces, is one of the final steps in a transition to a support and training role that begins Jan. 1. But with President Barack Obama's recent move authorizing U.S. forces in Afghanistan to carry out military operations against Taliban and al-Qaida targets, America's longest war will in fact continue for at least another two years.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-08-14-53-06


----------



## poochee

*LAPD investigating Cosby sexual assault claim*
From Veronica George, CNN
updated 9:26 AM EST, Mon December 8, 2014

*VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Police: [/B]The woman is a "possible victim" of sexual assault by Cosby
> At least 21 women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct
> An ex-Playboy bunny tells CNN Cosby drugged and raped her
> Cosby has vehemently denied most of the accusations





> One of the latest accusations comes from former Playboy bunny P.J. Masten, who says there are 12 more ex-bunnies with similar stories who don't want to come forward.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/05/showb...tion/?cid=ob_articlesidebarall&iref=obnetwork


----------



## poochee

*Update: Prince William, President Obama Meet in Oval Office on Royals' U.S. Trip: Pictures*
Celebrity News 
Dec. 8, 2014 AT 11:40AM 
UPDATED Dec. 8, 2014 AT 12:35PM By Madeline Boardman and Omid Scobie .



> Quite the powerful pair! Prince William and President Obama got together in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Dec. 8.
> 
> The Duke of Cambridge, 32, made a quick stop in the nation's capital after arriving in New York City on Sunday night, and before returning to the Big Apple for an evening engagement. He spoke with President Obama, 53, in the Oval Office of the White House.


Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity...ffice-on-royals-us-trip-2014812#ixzz3LLnmrdF3 
Follow us: @usweekly on Twitter | usweekly on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

*Fox: Obama Seeks Advice on Establishing Monarchy*
By Andy Borowitz



> According to Fox, the President peppered his Oval Office guest with detailed questions about the mechanics of setting up a monarchy and was curious about the perks and powers that go along with it.


http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=581063899&spReportId=NTgxMDYzODk5S0


----------



## poochee

*Priebus seeks to make GOP history*
By Mark Preston, CNN
updated 8:28 PM EST, Mon December 8, 2014



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Reince Priebus says he's running for a third term as Republican National Committee chairman
> Priebus would be the longest-serving RNC chairman ever
> Part of his tenure has included rebuilding the party's campaign coffers and broadening the GOP base





> Priebus told RNC members of his plan to seek a third term in an email Monday night and said that 150 of the 168 party officials and political activists who make up the national organization have pledged to support him, according to a copy of the note obtained by CNN.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/08/politics/reince-priebus-rnc-chair-reelection/index.html?hpt=po_c2


----------



## poochee

*Jokes fly between Obama, celebrities at Kennedy Center Honors *
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
updated 11:01 AM EST, Mon December 8, 2014
*
VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Obama's nickname-of-choice? Apparently, it's "Sting"
> President Obama may have dished out jokes Sunday, but Michelle Obama is apparently "the most powerful and influential"
> "There she is...next to the President, which I assume means she has no future plans to run for office" Stephen Colbert joked





> Obama received the five Kennedy Center honorees at the White House before the annual gala that honored this year Tom Hanks, Sting, Al Green, Lily Tomlin and ballerina Patricia McBride.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/08/politics/obama-colbert-kennedy-center-jokes/index.html?hpt=po_t2


----------



## poochee

*Senate report: CIA misled public, Bush on use of torture*
_Obama: Interrogation techniques "did significant damage to America's standing in the world."_
By Josh Gerstein and Jennifer Epstein
12/9/14 11:17 AM EST
Updated 12/9/14 11:43 AM EST



> A long-awaited Senate report concludes that the Central Intelligence Agency repeatedly misled the public, Congress and the White House about the agency's aggressive questioning of detainees - including waterboarding, confinement in small spaces and shackling in stress positions - after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, minimizing the severity of the interrogations and exaggerating the usefulness of the information produced, including its role in setting in motion the U.S. raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
> 
> The Senate Intelligence Committee report finds that the "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" program escaped effective scrutiny by outsiders long after its inception in 2002, with CIA records showing that President George W. Bush was never briefed by the agency on specific techniques such as waterboarding until 2006. Top Bush administration officials such as Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell not told of the practices until September 2003.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/cia-torture-report-113420.html#ixzz3LQ6DC7A2


----------



## poochee

*Mayors to make Obama immigration order a reality*
12/08/14 09:21 AMUpdated 12/08/14 05:32 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma

*VIDEO*



> Mayors and senior officials from 25 cities across the country met Monday in New York to rally support and lay the groundwork for implementing President Obamas executive actions to provide relief to millions of undocumented immigrants nationwide.
> 
> Brought together by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the summit connected city officials who represent some of the largest immigrant populations in the country in a coalition currently made up exclusively of Democratic lawmakers. Cities United for Immigration Action, formed earlier this month, builds on a larger effort from municipalities to push comprehensive immigration reform in the wake of congressional inaction.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/mayors-make-obama-immigration-order-reality


----------



## poochee

*Obama fills in for Stephen Colbert*
By Dan Merica, CNN
updated 11:04 AM EST, Tue December 9, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> President Barack Obama was interviewed on "The Colbert Report" Monday
> The President made jokes about Obamacare as well as Republicans
> Stephen Colbert will take over "The Late Show" on CBS in two weeks





> Washington (CNN) -- Barack Obama may be the President of the United States, but for a few minutes on Monday, he was also Stephen Colbert, outgoing host of "The Colbert Report."


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/08/politics/obama-on-stephen-colbert-show/index.html?hpt=po_t1


----------



## poochee

*Obama Responds To CIA Torture Report: Enhanced Interrogation 'Contrary To Our Values'*
The Huffington Post | By Ashley Alman 
Posted: 12/09/2014 12:01 pm EST Updated: 5 hours ago

*VIDEO *



> President Barack Obama said the revelations bring light to a "troubling" program involving practices that were "contrary to our values" in a statement following the release.
> 
> "That is why I unequivocally banned torture when I took office, because one of our most effective tools in fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe is staying true to our ideals at home and abroad," the president said.





> *Read the president's full statement:*


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/09/obama-cia-torture-report_n_6295336.html


----------



## poochee

Dec 9, 5:19 PM EST

*Police protests draw old, young, white and black *
By ADAM GELLER 
AP National Writer
Associated Press writers Hannah Cushman in Chicago and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.



> The mostly white crowd that gathered outside Salt Lake City's federal building hoisted signs reading "Black Lives Matter," and chanted for justice before wading into downtown traffic. In the historic Boston suburb of Lexington, Massachusetts, protesters with children in tow stood alongside others in their 80s.
> 
> Across the country, protesters angered at the killing of unarmed black men by white police officers have turned out in recent days, many in cities far removed from where the most highly publicized cases have played out. They are students and grandmothers, experienced protesters as well as novices, often as many white as black.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-09-17-19-14


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

Just published 6:05 pm 
*Cheney Calls for International Ban on Torture Reports*
By Andy Borowitz



> Like many Americans, I was shocked and disgusted by the Senate Intelligence Committees publication of a torture report today, Cheney said in a prepared statement. The transparency and honesty found in this report represent a gross violation of our nations values.


http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=581203258&spReportId=NTgxMjAzMjU4S0


----------



## poochee

*Deal reached on massive $1.1 trillion spending bill*
By Ed O'Keefe December 9 at 6:48 PM 



> Congressional leaders have reached agreement on a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill that will keep most of the federal government funded through next September.
> 
> Months of protracted negotiations between Democratic and Republican leaders concluded on Tuesday night, with passage expected in the coming days, according to top aides. Final details of the legislation were still being sorted out and leaders were still mulling whether to approve a stopgap bill to give lawmakers a few more days to pass the final bill and avoid a government shutdown.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...1fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboPN


----------



## poochee

Dec 9, 3:54 PM EST

*Obama health adviser apologizes for 'glib' remarks* 
By CHARLES BABINGTON 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.



> Enduring one fierce lecture after another, Gruber said his earlier comments were uninformed, "glib, thoughtless and sometimes downright insulting." He said he was showing off before various groups, and "trying to be something, I'm not, which was a political expert."
> 
> He said the law's passage was actually transparent and heavily debated in public, despite his earlier comments. And Gruber said he was not the "architect" of the law, as some press accounts had claimed.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-09-15-54-42


----------



## poochee

Dec 10, 3:09 AM EST

*Obama confronts Bush legacy with report's release *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- For President Barack Obama, the long-delayed release of a scathing Senate report on harsh CIA interrogations underscores the degree to which the legacy of George W. Bush's national security policies has shadowed the man elected to change or end them.
> 
> While Obama banned waterboarding and other tactics upon taking office, his administration struggled for years with how to publicly reveal the scope of the program. Even as Obama claims closure in the torture debate, big chunks of Bush's national security apparatus remain in place, including the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and sweeping government surveillance programs. Obama has also thrust the U.S. back into a military conflict in Iraq and faces questions about his ability to end the Afghanistan war by the time he leaves office.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-10-03-09-56


----------



## poochee

*Budget winners? Boy Scouts. Budget losers? Michelle Obama.*

By Brian Faler
| 12/10/14 7:52 AM EST



> These are among the trade-offs embedded in the sprawling $1.1 trillion spending bill Democratic and Republican negotiators unveiled late Tuesday in an effort to keep the federal government functioning past Thursday.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/...licy-scavenger-hunt-113460.html#ixzz3LW0tw2sz


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Hispanics Back Obama Immigration Actions*
by Jeffrey M. Jones



> *Story Highlights*
> Slim majority of Americans oppose Obama immigration actions
> Hispanics, immigrants favor actions by more than 2-to-1 margins
> Republicans overwhelmingly oppose, Democrats strongly favor





> PRINCETON, N.J. -- Americans overall say they disapprove (51%) rather than approve of (41%) the executive actions President Barack Obama plans to take to deal with undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. However, Hispanics, U.S. immigrants and blacks approve of the actions by wide margins, whereas whites are oppose them


http://www.gallup.com/poll/179990/h...utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication


----------



## poochee

*Kathleen Sebelius on 'Obamacare': Change the name*
By Kendall Breitman
| 12/10/14 11:27 AM EST
| Updated 12/10/14 12:32 PM EST

*VIDEO*



> Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday suggested a simple fix to the bad brand of Obamacare  change the name.
> 
> I think we may need to call it something in the future different, but it is working, Sebelius said at POLITICOs Lessons from Leaders event.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/kathleen-sebelius-obamacare-fix-113466.html#ixzz3LWKDfvKy


----------



## poochee

*Here's what's tucked in the spending bill*
By Deirdre Walsh, CNN
updated 2:05 PM EST, Wed December 10, 2014



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Lawmakers tucked in dozens of items to the spending bill
> Items affect everything from financial regulations to white potatoes
> Congress must pass bill by Thursday to avert a shutdown





> "Understand all these provisions in the bill were worked out in a bi-partisan, bi-cameral fashion or they wouldn't be in the bill," Boehner said.
> 
> *Here is a quick list of some of the changes:*


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/10/politics/policy-riders-spending-bill/index.html?hpt=po_c1


----------



## poochee

Dec 10, 1:33 PM EST

*UN officials demand prosecutions for US torture *
By JOHN HEILPRIN 
Associated Press
Eric Tucker in Washington and Cara Anna at the United Nations contributed to this report.



> GENEVA (AP) -- All senior U.S. officials and CIA agents who authorized or carried out torture like waterboarding as part of former President George W. Bush's national security policy must be prosecuted, top U.N. officials said Wednesday.
> 
> It's not clear, however, how human rights officials think these prosecutions will take place, since the Justice Department has declined to prosecute and the U.S. is not a member of the International Criminal Court.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-10-13-33-13


----------



## poochee

*Hispanics' Support for Obama Climbs After Executive Order*
by Justin McCarthy



> *Story Highlights*
> Approval gains 12 points between pre- and post- executive order
> Among blacks and whites, approval stays about the same
> Hispanics' approval has fluctuated most since Obama took office





> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Hispanic Americans' approval of President Barack Obama's job performance is up 12 points, to 64%, since he issued an executive order protecting some immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally from deportation. Whites' and blacks' ratings of the president did not change meaningfully during this time.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/180005/h...utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication


----------



## poochee

*Chuck Todd To Larry King: 'The Collective IQ of Congress Goes Down Every 2 Years'*
The Huffington Post | By Ryan Grenoble 
Posted: 11/20/2014 3:02 pm EST Updated: 11/20/2014 3:59 pm EST

*VIDEO*



> Sometimes there's nothing more truthful than a joke.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/...s-iq-dropping-larry-king-video_n_6193556.html


----------



## poochee

*HealthCare.gov traffic spikes as deadline looms*
By Elise Viebeck - 12/10/14 02:46 PM EST

*VIDEO*



> Activity increased dramatically HealthCare.gov last week as the number of consumers submitting applications and picking plans nearly doubled.


. http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/226666-activity-picks-up-at-healthcareg


----------



## poochee

*Cheney Throws Bush Under The Bus On Torture Program*
ByCatherine ThompsonPublishedDecember 11, 2014, 8:26 AM EST 11240 views



> Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked the former vice president whether the agency deliberately kept Bush in the dark about its so-called enhanced interrogation techniques.
> 
> "Not true. Didn't happen," Cheney responded. "Read his book, he talks about it extensively in his memoirs. He was in fact an integral part of the program, he had to approve it before we went forward with it."


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dick-cheney-george-w-bush-knew-about-torture-program


----------



## poochee

Thursday, Dec 11, 2014 03:59 AM PST

*Good riddance, Darrell Issa: A wasteful blowhards humiliating history *
_The departing House investigative chairman was the king of made-up scandals. Here's why he was a gift to Democrats 
Ari Rabin-Havt 
_


> In four years at the helm of the House of Representatives primary investigative body, Darrell Issa launched major investigations into the 2012 attack in Benghazi, the IRSs alleged targeting of conservative organizations, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms failed Fast and Furious operation, the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, and the launch of Healthcare.gov. In pursuit of these scandals he was granted a budget of $25,678,100.
> 
> This figure does not account for the $14 million spent by the IRS answering voluminous and often duplicative subpoenas, the millions spent by the Department of Defense responding to inquiries about the attack in Benghazi, the budget of the Oversight Committees minority staff, nor the massive expenditure of resources by the dozens of other federal agencies that have come under the scrutiny of the Oversight Committee. By its conclusion Darrell Issas chairmanship could cost the U.S. Treasury well into the nine figures. From that astounding allocation of resources, Issa has unveiled no major corruption or gotten to the bottom of no significant scandal.


http://www.salon.com/2014/12/11/goo...ium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_article


----------



## poochee

*Only Two Presidents In Recent History Have Gained Approval During Their Time In Office*
The Huffington Post | By Ashley Alman 
Posted: 12/10/2014 4:17 pm EST Updated: 12/10/2014 4:59 pm EST 
*
CHARTS

*


> It's no secret approval ratings have a history of tanking in U.S. presidents' second terms in office. It's the reason we anticipate the president's party will take a beating when the second term midterm elections roll around -- as evidenced by the Republican wave we witnessed this November.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/10/president-approval-ratings_n_6303960.html


----------



## poochee

*John Brennan defends CIA after torture report in rare press conference 
* 
By Eric Bradner, CNN
updated 4:26 PM EST, Thu December 11, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> Washington (CNN) -- CIA Director John Brennan on Thursday defended harsh interrogation techniques as providing "useful" information to authorities, including in the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. But he said it is "unknowable" what information could specifically be attributed to those techniques.
> 
> "It is our considered view that the detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques provided information that was useful and was used in the ultimate operation to go against Bin Laden," Brennan said.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/polit...cia-after-torture-report/index.html?hpt=us_r1


----------



## poochee

*Senate panel authorizes use of force against Islamic State*
By Jen Judson
| 12/11/14 2:52 PM EST



> The Senate Foreign Relations Committee narrowly approved on Thursday a measure to authorize the use of military force in the fight against the Islamic State after some heated debate over how restrictive it should be.
> 
> The 10-8 vote was along party lines, with Democrats supporting the measure and Republicans opposing it. No floor debate is expected in the Senate, nor will the House take up the issue during the last days of this lame-duck session, leaving it for the new Republican-controlled Congress that will be seated in January.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/senate-panel-islamic-state-113507.html#ixzz3LdErpake


----------



## poochee

*
Model Beverly Johnson becomes Cosbys most high-profile accuser*
12/11/14 02:39 PMUpdated 12/11/14 03:03 PM 
By Adam Howard



> Beverly Johnson, a groundbreaking and iconic African-American former model, became the most high-profile woman to accuse comedian Bill Cosby of drugging her with the intention of sexual assault in a personal essay published Thursday by Vanity Fair.
> 
> In the piece entitled Bill Cosby Drugged Me. This is My Story, Johnson recounts a harrowing encounter with Cosby after she auditioned for a small role on his hit sitcom The Cosby Show. Johnson claims that Cosby invited her to his home in New York City to rehearse scenes of pretending to be drunk, plied her with cups of coffee which she believes were laced with drugs. Unlike other recent accusers, Johnson says the incident ended there and does not say a sexual assault took place.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/model-beverly-johnson-becomes-cosbys-most-high-profile-accuser


----------



## poochee

*With Deadline Looming, Government Funding Bill Passes House *
By Crrie Dann and Luke Russert

*VIDEO*



> With less than three hours before a government shutdown, the House narrowly passed a massive spending bill late Thursday after a drama-filled day of vote counting and lobbying from the White House and Congressional leaders.
> 
> The measure passed by a 219-206 vote. The Senate must approve the bill before 11:59 p.m. to avoid parts of the government from shutting down.


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-government-funding-bill-passes-house-n266386


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

December 11, 2014 
*Cruz: Stop Blaming Bush for Things He Did*
By Andy Borowitz



> In the aftermath of the release of the Senate Intelligence Committees report on torture, Cruz said, Democrats have been busy with their favorite game again: bringing up catastrophic things that President Bush did and then blaming him for them.


http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=581489652&spReportId=NTgxNDg5NjUyS0


----------



## poochee

*Former Virginia Governor McDonnells sentencing guidelines: 10 years at least*
By Matt Zapotosky December 12 at 10:08 AM
*
PHOTOS *



> The federal agency that will play a pivotal role in guiding the sentence of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell has recommended that the onetime Republican rising star spend at least 10 years and a month in prison and 12 years and 7 months at most, according to several people familiar with the matter.
> 
> The guidelines recommended by the U.S. probation office are preliminary ones, and even if finalized, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer is not required to follow them. But experts said Spencer typically heeds the probation offices advice, and judges in his district have imposed sentences within the recommended range more than 70 percent of the time in recent years.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...882-03cf08410beb_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboPN


----------



## poochee

*In U.S., Standard of Living Ratings Improving in 2014*
by Andrew Dugan



> *Story Highlights*
> Nationally, the economy appears strong -- many say standard of living is better
> But on a personal level, no marked change in spending habits





> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In line with a recent raft of good economic news -- including robust gross domestic product growth in the third quarter and November's strong jobs report -- nearly six in 10 Americans said in November that their standard of living was getting better (58%). This is close to the highest monthly value in the question's seven-year history (60%), and nearly double the estimates seen at the depths of the recession.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/180026/s...utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication


----------



## poochee

*On to the Senate: Spending deal heads to upper chamber*
12/12/14 08:31 AMUpdated 12/12/14 11:48 AM 
By Jane C. Timm and Benjy Sarlin
Additional reporting by Suzy Khimm.



> The blockbuster $1.1 trillion deal negotiated by House Republican and Senate Democratic leaders barely survived a rebellion from the right and left alike on Thursday. Now its on to the Senate, where its conservative and liberal critics must decide how far theyre willing to go to delay or even kill the bill.


http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/the-senate-spending-deal-heads-upper-chamber


----------



## poochee

*Cleveland police's fatal shooting of Tamir Rice ruled a homicide*
By Laura Ly and Jason Hanna, CNN
updated 3:10 PM EST, Fri December 12, 2014
CNN"s Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Tamir Rice, 12, was shot when, police say, he reached for a toy gun in his waistband last month
> Police: Boy pointed the gun outside a Cleveland recreation center; it turned out to be air gun
> The boy died from a gunshot wound to his torso, the medical examiner says





> (CNN) -- The death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was shot last month by a Cleveland police officer who authorities say mistook the child's air gun for a real firearm, has been ruled a homicide, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said Friday.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/justice/cleveland-tamir-rice/index.html?hpt=ju_c2


----------



## poochee

*On to the Senate: Spending deal heads to upper chamber*
12/12/14 08:31 AMUpdated 12/12/14 05:06 PM 
By Suzy Khimm and Benjy Sarlin



> The $1.1 trillion deal negotiated by House Republican and Senate Democratic leaders barely survived a rebellion from the right and left alike on Thursday. Now its on to the Senate, where the bill is expected to pass but still faces threats from its critics.
> 
> The House passed the spending bill by a narrow margin late Thursday, just hours before government funding was set to expire, after a frenzied day of lobbying by Speaker John Boehner and the White House. Sixty-seven Republicans and 139 Democrats ended up voting against the final bill in the House, which passed 219-206.


http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/the-senate-spending-deal-heads-upper-chamber


----------



## poochee

*Ferguson protesters win injunction to stop cops using tear gas*
12/11/14 09:56 PMUpdated 12/12/14 12:45 AM 
By Trymaine Lee
*
VIDEO*



> FERGUSON, Missouri  A federal judge ruled Thursday that police can no longer use tear gas on protesters without declaring an illegal assembly, giving them fair warning and time to vacate the area.
> 
> The temporary restraining order comes just weeks after the last rounds of heavy protest in Ferguson in response to a St. Louis County grand jurys decision not to indict the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown Jr. A group of protesters had filed the lawsuit asking for a restriction on police use of tear gas and excessive force during demonstrations.


http://forums.techguy.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=9006814


----------



## poochee

*Tea Partiers Protest At White House: 'Hang The Lying Kenyan Traitor'*
ByAhiza GarciaPublishedDecember 12, 2014, 2:08 PM EST 54219 views

*VIDEO*



> Tea partiers shouted obscene, racist chants on Wednesday while gathered outside of the White House to protest President Obama's executive actions on immigration.
> 
> Right Wing Watch reported that among the shouts, captured on video by one of the activists, protestors could be heard calling for the hanging of Obama.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tea-partiers-protest-lynch-obama


----------



## poochee

*Senate approves $585B defense bill*
By Kristina Wong and Ramsey Cox - 12/12/14 05:19 PM EST



> The Senate on Friday passed a sweeping $585 billion defense policy bill that will pay for the Pentagon's activities in fiscal 2015, and give President Obama authority to expand the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
> 
> The legislation passed 89-11, and now heads to Obamas desk to be signed into law.


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/budget-appropriations/226997-senate-approves-585b-defense-bill


----------



## poochee

*Elizabeths Warren moment*
12/12/14 01:33 PMUpdated 12/12/14 03:13 PM 
By Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*



> On the outside, major progressive groups like MoveOn.org joined the effort to try to draft Warren to run for president in 2016, and more than 300 alumni of the Obama campaign signed onto a letter urging the senator to run Friday morning. We believed in an unlikely candidate who no one thought had a chance. We worked for him, they wrote.
> 
> But for Warren, the real payoff is most likely inside the Capitol, where she can leverage the outside pressure and support to strengthen her hand as a leader of the progressive wing of the Democratic party in Congress. And this week, she started to flex that muscle unlike ever before.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/elizabeths-warren-moment


----------



## poochee

*Enough is enough: Elizabeth Warrens fiery attack comes after Congress weakens Wall Street regulations*
By Wonkblog Staff December 12 at 7:46 PM



> With Congress set to pass a government spending bill that weakens a provision of Dodd-Frank, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) took the floor of the Senate on Friday evening to lash out at her colleagues. In her remarks, she took specific aim at mega-bank Citigroup, saying it wields unusual power in government and must be reigned in. "Many Wall Street institutions have exerted extraordinary influence in Washingtons corridors of power, but Citigroup has risen above the others," she said. "Its grip over economic policymaking in the executive branch is unprecedented."
> 
> Warren, pushing her party to take a less friendly attitude toward Wall Street, called on Congress to do as much for families living paycheck to paycheck as it does for big banks. *Her prepared remarks follow:*


 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ter-congress-weakens-wall-street-regulations/


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Giving Thanks for Our Troops*

Lindsay Holst
December 13, 2014 
06:00 AM EST

*VIDEO*



> In this week's address, the President thanked the men and women in uniform who serve and sacrifice to protect the freedom, prosperity, and security that we all enjoy as Americans. On Monday the President will visit troops at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and voice his appreciation in person for their incredible service.
> 
> These troops, as well as the many who are still overseas, have met every mission they have been tasked with, from bringing a responsible end to our war in Afghanistan, to working to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, to saving lives by fighting to contain the spread of Ebola. During this holiday season, a time of blessings and gratitude, the President reminded everyone to find a way to thank and serve the members of the military who serve us every day.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014...&utm_medium=email&utm_content=12132014-topper

*TRANSCRIPT: * http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/12/13/weekly-address-giving-thanks-our-troops


----------



## poochee

*Elizabeth Warren's Searing Anti-Wall Street Speech Struck A GOP Nerve*
ByDaniel StraussPublishedDecember 13, 2014, 10:20 AM EST 5639 views



> Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) managed to get under Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) skin with a speech Friday night bashing CitiGroup's deep ties to Washington and a provision in a government spending bill rolling back part of Dodd-Frank.
> 
> Warren's speech came late Friday night as Congress struggled to pass legislation to prevent a government shutdown. Warren, in particular, called out CitiGroup and its employee's connections to Congress which, she argued, helped keep the provision in the $1.1 trillion spending bill.


 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/elizabeth-warren-lindsey-graham-citigroup-funding-bill


----------



## poochee

*Massive Senate spending bill slowed by immigration fight *
12/13/14 10:32 AMUpdated 12/13/14 11:01 AM 
By Benjy Sarlin
12/13/14 10:32 AMUpdated 12/13/14 11:01 AM

*VIDEO*



> The Senates efforts to pass a $1.1 trillion bill to fund the government hit a snag late Friday after conservative Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee threw up a procedural roadblock that scuttled a deal between Senate leaders and will keep lawmakers in town over the weekend to resolve.
> 
> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached an agreement to leave for the weekend and bring the bill up Monday afternoon, but a motion from Lee and Cruz that the Senate vote on a measure to defund President Obamas recent executive action on immigration triggered a delay. The Senate will now have to stay in session over the weekend to hold a long series of procedural votes to advance a number of presidential nominees as well as a procedural vote on the spending bill scheduled for Saturday night at 1 a.m.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/massive-senate-spending-bill-slowed-immigration-fight


----------



## poochee

*Justice for all: Thousands to march against police violence*
12/13/14 09:38 AM-Updated 12/13/14 11:24 AM 
By Trymaine Lee

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, D.C. - The growing, national protest movement against police violence is expected to lap onto the steps of the nation's capitol Saturday.
> 
> Spurred by a recent spate of killings of unarmed black men by cops who have escaped criminal prosecution, thousands are expected to join the families of many of those who have been killed in a march and rally billed as the "Justice For All" march.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/justice-all-thousands-expected-march-washington-against-police-violence


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

Today 8:49 am 
*Citigroup to Move Headquarters to U.S. Capitol Building
*By Andy Borowitz



> Explaining the rationale behind the move, Klugian told reporters, Instead of constantly flying out from New York to give members of Congress their marching orders, Citigroup executives can be right on the floor with them, handing them legislation and telling them how to vote. This is going to result in tremendous cost savings going forward.


http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=581706463&spReportId=NTgxNzA2NDYzS0


----------



## poochee

*Cruz faces GOP backlash as embattled spending bill heads to vote*
12/13/14 10:32 AMUpdated 12/13/14 04:50 PM 
By Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEOS*



> A $1.1 trillion spending bill facing intense opposition from progressives and tea partiers is headed for critical test vote in the Senate late Saturday night. At the same time, the Senate removed the immediate threat of a government shutdown by passing a short-term bill in the afternoon that will allow the government to function through December 17. The House passed the measure on Thursday and a White House official told NBC News that President Obama will sign it when it reaches his desk. Without the stopgap bill, government funding would have expired at midnight.
> 
> Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are facing a backlash of their own from Republican colleagues after scuttling a deal between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow lawmakers to leave town over the weekend and vote on the bill Monday. The agreement between the leaders required the unanimous consent of members, but an unsuccessful attempt by Lee and Cruz on Friday to force a vote on a measure to defund President Obamas recent executive action on immigration upended their plan. The move could rebound against the GOP by giving Democrats an opportunity to advance a number of key presidential appointees over Republican objections while the spending fight is resolved.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/massive-senate-spending-bill-slowed-immigration-fight


----------



## poochee

*Sandy Hook 2 years later: One senator's push for gun control*
By Ashley Codianni, CNN
updated 3:30 PM EST, Fri December 12, 2014

*VIDEO*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> The second anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre is Sunday
> Congress has not passed gun control reform in the wake of the deadly mass shooting
> Sen. Chris Murphy has tried to humanize the issue by sharing the victims' stories





> Washington (CNN) -- Sunday marks the second anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre that killed twenty children and six teachers on December 14, 2012. And though Congress hasn't passed any gun reform laws in its wake, there's one senator who's made it his mission to persistently push for changes, even when no one's listening.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/politics/sandy-hook-two-years-later-chris-murphy/index.html?hpt=po_t2


----------



## poochee

*
9 Actually Good Things That Happened This Week*
By Jessica Roy



> There's this passage in On Love by Alain de Botton where he talks about how depressed he is after a breakup, and it perfectly captures my mood at the end of this week. "I saw in happiness a violent denial of reality," he writes. "I looked commuters in the face and wondered why they were unbothered by their own meaninglessness." I hear that, buddy. *Here are nine good things that happened this week  in spite of everything.
> *


http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/truly-good-things-dec-12.html


----------



## poochee

Dec 13, 9:50 PM EST

*Senate nears approval on $1.1 trillion bill 
*By DAVID ESPO and DONNA CASSATA 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate unexpectedly cleared the way Saturday night for swift passage of a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill that highlighted fissures inside both political parties in an era of divided government.
> 
> The agreement capped a day of intrigue in which Democrats launched a drive to confirm about 20 of President Barack Obama's stalled nominees before their majority expires at year's end. Several Republicans blamed tea party-backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for creating an opening for the outgoing majority party to exploit.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-13-21-50-08


----------



## poochee

*What the $1.1 trillion spending bill contains*
By Rebecca Shabad - 12/13/14 10:25 PM EST



> The main purpose of the bill is to keep the government funded, and the so-called cromnibus includes 11 appropriations bill that will fund most of the government through September 2015.
> 
> It also includes a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 27. This is to answer GOP critics of President Obama's immigration executive actions, who had pushed to defund the agency.
> *Here's a look at some of the key riders in the bill:*


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/227062-what-the-11-trillion-spending-bill-contains


----------



## poochee

Dec 14, 11:34 AM EST
*
The $1.1T bill: School lunches, light bulbs, pot *



> The $1.1 trillion measure approved by the Senate on Saturday night and sent to President Barack Obama is mostly about spending choices, such as adding $5.4 billion to fight the Ebola virus or trimming the Environmental Protection Agency's budget by $60 million. But it's also packed with a mishmash of policy add-ons known as riders, many of which couldn't get through Congress on their own.
> 
> *Some things the bill would affect*:


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-14-11-34-08


----------



## poochee

*Cheney Seems Unfazed By Question About Innocent Detainee Who Died (VIDEO)*
ByCaitlin MacNealPublishedDecember 14, 2014, 10:51 AM EST 7592 views

*VIDEO*



> On NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney said he would use the questionable interrogation methods "again in a minute."
> 
> Host Chuck Todd asked Cheney to respond to the Senate Intelligence Committee report's account that one detainee was "chained to the wall of a cell, doused with water, froze to death in CIA custody."


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cheney-torture-report-innocent-detainee


----------



## poochee

*McCain prepared to help Obama close Guantanamo*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
updated 4:53 PM EST, Sun December 14, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Sen. John McCain says Guantanamo could still be closed
> But demands Obama administration offer clear plan
> Congress banned detainee transfers to U.S. mainland in 2010





> Washington (CNN) -- An unlikely ally is offering a glimmer of hope that President Barack Obama can make good on his vow to close Guantanamo Bay before leaving office


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/14/politics/john-mccain-guantanamo-obama/index.html?hpt=po_c2


----------



## poochee

*Bill Cosby Says He Expects 'Black Media' To Remain 'Neutral' Over Sexual Assault Allegations*
The Huffington Post | By Lauren Zupkus 
Posted: 12/14/2014 11:46 am EST Updated: 2 hours ago

VIDEO



> Let me say this. I only expect the black media to uphold the standards of excellence in journalism and when you do that you have to go in with a neutral mind, Cosby told Page Six in a phone interview on Friday.
> 
> This is not the first time the 77-year-old comedian has taken a dig at the media for its coverage of the allegations against him. In a video interview with the Associated Press on Nov. 6, Cosby initially declined to comment on the alleged sexual assaults, and then pressured the reporter not to air the footage if he wanted to maintain his "integrity."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/14/bill-cosby-media-neutral_n_6322766.html


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

Today 2:49 pm 
*Cheney to Lead Torture-Pride March*
By Andy Borowitz



> This is a chance for all of us torturers to say, Look at us, this is who we are, Cheney, who will be the Grand Marshall of the parade, said.


 http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=581836818&spReportId=NTgxODM2ODE4S0


----------



## poochee

By/Rebecca Kaplan/CBS News/December 14, 2014, 2:55 PM

*George W. Bush: "Never paint your wife or your mother"*



> Former President George W. Bush, who has taken up painting as his main hobby since leaving office in 2009, has some tips for aspiring painters: "Never paint your wife or your mother."
> 
> Apparently neither woman was especially pleased with their portrayal by Mr. Bush's brush, he said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-w-bush-never-paint-your-wife-or-mother/


----------



## poochee

*'I ask members of Congress to look those Newtown families in the eye'*
By Wayne Drash, CNN
updated 12:34 PM EST, Sat December 13, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> Rep. Tim Murphy is the only psychologist in Congress -- and on a mission
> Murphy was tapped after Newtown to reform the mental health system
> Murphy drafted a bill, but Congress refused to act
> Supporters say he is savior for the mentally ill; critics call him a bully





> While some lawmakers focused on gun laws after Newtown, including Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, this Murphy was emphatic about what drove Adam Lanza to kill 26 people, including 20 children inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. In a closed-door meeting -- what he called Psychology 101 -- with House Republicans two years ago, he told fellow lawmakers to stop turning a blind eye to mental illness.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/us/tim-murphy-mental-health-profile/index.html?hpt=po_t1


----------



## poochee

*FBI to probe death of black N.C. teen found hanged

* Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY 11:17 p.m. EST December 12, 2014
Contributing: Associated Press



> The FBI has agreed to step in and investigate the August death of a black North Carolina teen found hanging from a swingset in a predominantly white trailer park.
> 
> The agency agreed to take on the case after questions raised by the mother of 17-year-old Lennon Lacy and by the North Carolina branch of the NAACP.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/12/bladenboro-teen-handing-death/20333271/


----------



## poochee

*Tennessee Is The Latest Red State To Reach A Medicaid Expansion Deal*
ByDylan ScottPublishedDecember 15, 2014, 10:54 AM EST 973 views



> Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) has reached an agreement with the Obama administration to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tennessee-medicaid-expansion-plan--2


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court punts on abortion*
12/15/14 10:43 AMUpdated 12/15/14 10:44 AM 
By Irin Carmon
*
VIDEO*



> The Supreme Court on Monday denied the state of Arizonas request to hear an abortion case. The immediate impact is that Arizona wont be able to enforce the law, which restricts how doctors can administer abortion pills.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-punts-abortion


----------



## poochee

Dec 15, 11:54 AM EST

*Police end Sydney hostage siege after 16 hours *
By KRISTEN GELINEAU 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok, Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.



> SYDNEY (AP) -- A swarm of heavily armed police stormed a cafe in the heart of Sydney early Tuesday, ending a siege by an Iranian-born gunman who had held an unknown number of hostages for more than 16 hours.
> 
> A police spokesman confirmed "the operation is over," but would not release any other details about the fate of the gunman.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-15-11-21-15


----------



## poochee

*Spelman College severs ties with Bill Cosby*
12/15/14 11:43 AM 
By Adam Howard



> Spelman College, the historically black womens college in Atlanta, Ga., has decided to distance itself from comedian Bill Cosby in the wake of numerous allegations that he sexually assaulted and drugged women over several decades.
> 
> This move is just the latest example of an institution of higher education breaking ties with the 77-year-old icon. His alma maters Temple University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst have also recently ended their relationship with the former Cosby Show star. Cosby and his wife Camille had a long-standing endowed professorship at Spelman.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/spelman-college-severs-ties-bill-cosby


----------



## poochee

*2014 U.S. Approval of Congress Remains Near All-Time Low*
by Rebecca Riffkin



> *Story Highlights*
> •In 2014, an average of 15% of Americans approved of Congress
> •Yearly approval averages have not exceeded 20% for five years
> •The same percentage (15%) of Republicans and Democrats approved





> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' job approval rating for Congress averaged 15% in 2014, close to the record-low yearly average of 14% found last year. The highest yearly average was measured in 2001, at 56%. Yearly averages haven't exceeded 20% in the past five years, as well as in six of the past seven years.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/180113/2014-approval-congress-remains-near-time-low.aspx


----------



## poochee

*Ted Cruz Gave Obama An Early Christmas Gift Over The Weekend*
BySahil KapurPublishedDecember 15, 2014, 6:00 AM EST



> It began on Friday evening, when Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) were close to securing an agreement to quickly vote on the $1.1 trillion "CRomnibus" spending bill to avert a government shutdown. Cruz, along with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), blindsided Republican leaders by objecting and dragging out the process as they demanded a vote to defund Obama's executive actions on immigration.
> 
> What Cruz didn't count on was Reid instead seizing on the occasion  which forced the Senate to stay in session for procedural votes  to move forward with starting the confirmation vote clock on a whopping 24 Obama nominations that otherwise might have been jettisoned. The Texan's tactic angered numerous Republican colleagues.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/ted-cruz-democrats-nominations-cromnibus


----------



## poochee

* 
Senate Confirms Vivek Murthy As Surgeon General Over NRA Opposition*
Posted: 12/15/2014 6:18 pm EST Updated: 0 minutes ago 
VIVEK MURTHY



> WASHINGTON -- In a rare show of defiance of the National Rifle Association, the Senate on Monday confirmed Dr. Vivek Murthy to serve as surgeon general of the United States. Murthy's nomination had been stalled for nearly a year due to comments he made in support of stricter gun laws.
> 
> Murthy is a Harvard- and Yale-educated physician, and has identified obesity and chronic disease as areas of focus for his tenure. He will be the first Indian American to hold the position.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/15/surgeon-general-vote_n_6329884.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama says U.S. 'hammering' ISIS in speech to troops*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
updated 4:16 PM EST, Mon December 15, 2014



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> President Barack Obama traveled to Fort Dix, New Jersey, on Monday to visit troops
> Obama said the U.S. is "hammering" ISIS
> GOP Gov. Chris Christie met the Obama on the tarmac





> Fort Dix, New Jersey (CNN) -- President Barack Obama offered a bullish assessment of his war on Islamic terrorists in Syria and Iraq on Monday, even as he acknowledged small gains by ISIS would mean the U.S. engagement there will be prolonged.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/15/politics/obama-nj-troops-isis/index.html?hpt=po_c2


----------



## poochee

*Cosby's Wife Compares Rape Accusations Against Him To Rolling Stone UVA Story*
ByCaitlin MacNealPublishedDecember 15, 2014, 5:17 PM EST 2161 views



> Bill Cosby's wife on Monday defended her husband from the mounting sexual assault allegations against him and compared his situation to the Rolling Stone account of a University of Virginia student's gang rape.
> 
> "The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work. He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend," Camille Cosby said in a statement obtained by CBS News. "A different man has been portrayed in the media over the last two months."


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/camille-cosby-defends-bill-rolling-stone


----------



## poochee

*Taliban slaughter at least 141, mostly children, in Pakistan school*
By Sophia Saifi and Greg Botelho, CNN
updated 12:24 PM EST, Tue December 16, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> * NEW:* Militants shot a school office assistant and then burned her alive, police official says
> Attack was on a school mostly for soldiers' children; many of the dead between 12 and 16
> Student says the Taliban attackers climbed benches, started firing at children
> Military spokesman: Soldiers found "children ... drenched in blood, ... on top of each other"





> Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- "'God is great,'" the Taliban militants exclaimed, as they roared through the hallways of a Peshawar, Pakistan, school.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/world/asia/pakistan-peshawar-school-attack/index.html?hpt=wo_c1


----------



## poochee

*Obama condemns deadly Taliban attack*
By Justin Sink - 12/16/14 09:11 AM EST



> "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms todays horrific attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan," Obama said in a statement from the White House.
> 
> He said the terrorists had "shown their depravity" by targeting students and teachers.


http://thehill.com/policy/international/227240-us-condemns-taliban-attack-on-school


----------



## poochee

*Jeb Bush announces hes exploring a presidential run*
12/16/14 10:17 AMUpdated 12/16/14 12:22 PM 
facebook twitter 1 save share group 107 
By Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*



> Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced in Facebook post on Tuesday that he was weighing a presidential run, making him the most serious establishment candidate to toss his name into the ring. The news represents an unofficial kickoff to the 2016 Republican primaries.
> 
> While the Republican party is loaded with big names weighing a potential run, only neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a tea party favorite, has explicitly created a PAC to test the waters for a possible candidacy.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jeb-bush-explore-run-gop-presidential-nomination


----------



## poochee

*
Obama blocks Bristol Bay oil, gas development*
By Erica Martinson
| 12/16/14 5:42 PM EST



> The bay has a long history as a Native American economic engine, supports a $2 billion commercial fishing industry and produces 40 percent of the United States wild-caught seafood, Obama said in the video.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/obama-bristol-bay-oil-gas-drilling-113617.html#ixzz3M6YN01dK


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

Today 10:49 am 
*Warrens Display of Backbone Threatens Career as Democrat
*By Andy Borowitz



> Whenever youre talking about banks or Wall Street, its crucial that a Democrat sound as indistinguishable from a Republican as possible, he said. Apparently, Elizabeth Warren didnt get the memo.


http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...1&spJobID=582095358&spReportId=NTgyMDk1MzU4S0


----------



## poochee

*Obama to announce historic overhaul of relations; Cuba releases American*
By Elise Labott, CNN Global Affairs Correspondent
updated 11:21 AM EST, Wed December 17, 2014

*VIDEOS*



> *STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
> The Obama administration announces landmark deal with Cuba
> Alan Gross, arrested and held in Cuba since 2009, was freed Wednesday
> Improved relations between the U.S. and Cuba will ease travel restrictions between the two countries





> President Barack Obama spoke with Cuban President Raul Castro Tuesday in a phone call that lasted about an hour and reflected the first communication at the presidential level with Cuba since the Cuban revolution, according to White House officials. Obama is expected to announce Gross' release and the new diplomatic stance at noon in Washington. At around the same time, Cuban president Raul Castro will speak in Havana


http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/17/politics/cuba-alan-gross-deal/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


----------



## poochee

*Sony Cancels Christmas Day Release Of 'The Interview' Amid Threats*
December 17, 2014 3:23 PM ET 
Krishnadev Calamur



> Sony Pictures has canceled the Christmas Day release of The Interview, the comedy that centers on a plot to assassinate North Korea's leader. The move came after the largest U.S. movie theater chains said they won't screen the film in the wake of threats against them by a group that also allegedly hacked Sony's internal documents.
> 
> "We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public," Sony said in a statement. "We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome."


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...17&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

*
U.S. Officials Believe North Korea Was Behind Sony Hack*
December 17, 2014 7:39 PM ET 
Bill Chappell



> More details about the U.S. investigation into the hacking attack could emerge as early as Wednesday night.
> 
> Within days of the hacking attack, many began to speculate that it might have been the work of North Korea, sparked by anger over the Sony film The Interview, a spoof comedy in which James Franco and Seth Rogen attempt to assassinate Kim Jong Un.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...17&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

*History Will Be Very Kind*
_And if it's not, it will be for a highly ironic reason._
Jonathan Chait
January 11, 2015 
9:00 p.m.

*CHARTS*



> The lived reality of Obamas presidency has unfolded as almost the precise opposite of this trope. He has amassed a record of policy accomplishment far deeper than even many of his supporters give him credit for. He has also survived a dismal, and frequently terrifying, 72 months when at every moment, to go by the day-to-day media, a crisis has threatened to rock his presidency to its core. The episodes have been all-consuming: the BP oil spill, swine flu, the Christmas underwear bomber, the IRS scandal, the healthcare.org launch, the border crisis, Benghazi. Depending on how you count, upwards of 19 events have been described as Obamas Katrina.
> 
> Obamas response to these crisesor, you could say, his method of leadership  has been surprisingly consistent. He has a legendarily, almost fanatically placid temperament. He has now spent eight years, counting from the start of his first presidential campaign, keeping his head while others were losing theirs, and avoiding rhetorical overreach at the risk of underreach. A few months ago, the crisis was the Ebola outbreak, and Obama faced a familiar criticism: He had botched the putatively crucial performative aspects of his job. Six years in, BusinessWeek reported, its clear that Obamas presidency is largely about adhering to intellectual rigor  regardless of the publics emotional needs.


http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/01/obamas-legacy-chait.html


----------



## poochee

*Moving swiftly, US eases travel and trade rules on Cuba*
By Associated Press January 15 at 4:11 PM

*VIDEOS 
*


> WASHINGTON  Swiftly expanding trade ties with Cuba, the Obama administration opened the door to easier travel and a wide range of new export opportunities with the communist island starting Friday, punching the biggest hole to date in Americas half-century-old embargo.
> 
> Less than a month after the Cold War foes agreed to end their enmity, the Commerce and Treasury departments unveiled new rules Thursday permitting U.S. citizens to visit Cuba without special permits.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...3-1b56f64925f6_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop


----------



## poochee

*Pope That Makes Democrats Squirm and Republicans Wriggle*
By ALBERT R. HUNT | BLOOMBERG VIEWJAN. 11, 2015



> Todays conservatives are apprehensive about Pope Francis, who has changed the tone and culture, not the doctrines, of the Roman Catholic Church in less than two years as pontiff. He stresses, with passion and authenticity, a commitment to addressing poverty and income inequality more than the social issues that have dominated much of the Catholic debate in America.
> 
> John Carr, a former top official of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, notes that Francis message on abortion is no obsession, no retreat. The pope helped broker the recent thaw in American-Cuban relations, to the consternation of conservatives such as the Florida senator Marco Rubio. Francis now is determined to make addressing climate change a moral imperative for the worlds 1.2 billion Catholics.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/u...nd-republicans-wriggle.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*'Critical Mass' Of Rape Allegations Prompted NBC To Cancel Cosby Project
* January 16, 2015 5:22 PM ET



> Just last year, NBC said it was developing a new TV show with comedian Bill Cosby. Now, the network doesn't want anything to do with him.
> 
> NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt said "I think that's safe to say" there won't be any future projects with Cosby, who has been accused by several women of rape. Cosby starred in the network's iconic The Cosby Show.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...egations-prompted-nbc-to-cancel-cosby-project


----------



## poochee

*Muslim who hid kosher market customers to become French citizen*
By Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley and Greg Botelho, CNN
Updated 3:34 PM ET, Thu January 15, 2015

VIDEO



> Now the French government is helping out Bathily -- by making him a citizen.
> 
> The Malian native's citizenship application, which he filed in July, will be expedited, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Thursday. Cazeneuve will conduct Bathily's citizenship ceremony himself Tuesday


http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/15/europ...ticle_organicsidebar_expansion&iref=obnetwork









Hostage standoffs in Paris

02:04

Three terrorists killed; one on the run

sot nr obama paris hostage standoff comments_00011802.jpg
01:57

President Obama: U.S. stands with France

Hayat Boumeddiene is a suspect in Paris police shooting on Thursday, January 8.
02:01

Police: Paris suspect on the run

Caption:ALTERNATIVE CROP Members of the French police special forces evacuate the hostages after launching the assault at a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, on January 9, 2015 where at least two people were shot dead on January 9 during a hostage-taking drama at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris, and five people were being held, official sources told AFP. AFP PHOTO / THOMAS SAMSON (Photo credit should read THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)
01:25

Suspect in Paris grocery store standoff dead

French police surround paris terror suspects_00012728.jpg
02:34

Police surround Charlie Hebdo shooting suspects

A photo taken on January 9, 2015 shows members of the French police forces taking position by the kosher grocery store in Saint-Mande, near Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, where at least one person was injured when a gunman opened fire at the kosher grocery store and took at least five people hostage, sources told AFP. The attacker was suspected of being the same gunman who killed a policewoman in a shooting in Montrouge in southern Paris on January 8. AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG (Photo credit should read ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)
01:22

Hostage standoff at French grocery store

01:13

Police release photos of two new suspects

French hostage survivors describe ordeal

Now Playing

French hostage survivors describe ordeal

lead dnt sciutto paris hostage attack _00024303.jpg
03:10

Officials: Three terrorists killed in hostage raid

tsr dnt todd who is suspect on run_00000322.jpg
01:32

Who is female terrorist suspect on the run?

lead vo tapper hostage paris attack_00012717.jpg
01:42

Dramatic video shows raid in hostage situation

nr foreman mapping paris attack_00015009.jpg
01:50

How were the suspects able to flee from Paris?

nr sot pleitgen audio gunman speaks during paris siege_00004606.jpg
01:57

Paris gunman speaks to CNN affiliate during siege

02:04

Three terrorists killed; one on the run

sot nr obama paris hostage standoff comments_00011802.jpg
01:57

President Obama: U.S. stands with France

Hayat Boumeddiene is a suspect in Paris police shooting on Thursday, January 8.
02:01

Police: Paris suspect on the run

Caption:ALTERNATIVE CROP Members of the French police special forces evacuate the hostages after launching the assault at a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, on January 9, 2015 where at least two people were shot dead on January 9 during a hostage-taking drama at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris, and five people were being held, official sources told AFP. AFP PHOTO / THOMAS SAMSON (Photo credit should read THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)
01:25

Suspect in Paris grocery store standoff dead

French police surround paris terror suspects_00012728.jpg
02:34

Police surround Charlie Hebdo shooting suspects

A photo taken on January 9, 2015 shows members of the French police forces taking position by the kosher grocery store in Saint-Mande, near Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, where at least one person was injured when a gunman opened fire at the kosher grocery store and took at least five people hostage, sources told AFP. The attacker was suspected of being the same gunman who killed a policewoman in a shooting in Montrouge in southern Paris on January 8. AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG (Photo credit should read ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)
01:22

Hostage standoff at French grocery store

01:13

Police release photos of two new suspects

French hostage survivors describe ordeal 
02:46

French hostage survivors describe ordeal

lead dnt sciutto paris hostage attack _00024303.jpg
03:10

Officials: Three terrorists killed in hostage raid

tsr dnt todd who is suspect on run_00000322.jpg
01:32

Who is female terrorist suspect on the run?

lead vo tapper hostage paris attack_00012717.jpg
01:42

Dramatic video shows raid in hostage situation

nr foreman mapping paris attack_00015009.jpg
01:50

How were the suspects able to flee from Paris?

nr sot pleitgen audio gunman speaks during paris siege_00004606.jpg
01:57

Paris gunman speaks to CNN affiliate during siege

02:04

Three terrorists killed; one on the run 
.





Story highlights
Lassana Bathily will become a French citizen next week, government says
The Muslim hid customers of a Paris kosher market in a walk-in freezer
His actions spurred adoring headlines in France, petitions to have him honored

(CNN)Lassana Bathily risked his own life to help save others, a Muslim who protected Jews in the face of an armed terrorist.

Now the French government is helping out Bathily -- by making him a citizen.

The Malian native's citizenship application, which he filed in July, will be expedited, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Thursday. Cazeneuve will conduct Bathily's citizenship ceremony himself Tuesday.

This event will add to what has been an emotional few weeks for Bathily, starting with his heroic actions Friday, after a gunman burst in while he was working at the kosher Hyper Cacher grocery store near Paris' Porte de Vincennes.

The man took several people hostage but not the 15 whom Bathily led downstairs into a walk-in freezer. Bathily, who describes himself as a "practicing Muslim," told CNN affiliate BFMTV he switched off the freezer, turned off the lights and told everyone to stay calm.

"I'm the one (who) is going to go out," the 24-year-old reportedly told the customers. "I took the elevator and went upstairs."

Bathily: Hostages 'congratulated me'

Bathily told BFMTV that he went up after the hostage-taker -- whom authorities have identified as Amedy Coulibaly -- "asked us to all come upstairs."

Lassana Bathily

Lassana Bathily

If they didn't? "Otherwise, he would kill everyone who was downstairs," the young man said.

So Bathily did go upstairs, taking a freight elevator. But he didn't go toward Coulibaly. Instead, he ran outside. Police apprehended Bathily there, and he told them the location of the freezer and gave details about those inside.

"When (the hostages) came out, they congratulated me," Bathily told BFMTV.

That's because his actions might have saved their lives. Four people, plus the gunman, ended up being killed by the time the hostage situation ended.

Celebrated online: 'You are blessed'

French media quickly ran with the story of Bathily, with L'Express newspaper proclaiming "Lassana Bathily, Malian Muslim, hero of the hostage situation in Vincennes."

Watch this video



Hostage describes chilling ordeal 01:51

PLAY VIDEO

People around the world also cheered Bathily, with about 300,000 signing a Change.org petition asking that he be given the Legion d'Honneur, a highly prestigious award given to those who done exceptional things for France.

"Even in darkness and desolation, there's always a ray of light somewhere," wrote the petition's creator, Thiaba Bruni. "Such is the case with Lassana Bathily."

Such positive recognition was also all over Facebook, where a man who claimed to be Bathily's cousin, Abdoul Bathily, posted, "Lass Bathily, you showed courage yesterday. The rest of the world would not have done it."

Another person wrote, "I have no words to express my pride in you. You put your life in danger to save others. God saw all of it, and his mercy will be without fault. You are blessed in the eyes of humanity."

Gunman tried to justify market raid to hostages, recording apparently shows

CNN's Alanne Orjoux contributed to this report.

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----------



## poochee

*Muslim who hid kosher market customers to become French citizen*
By Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley and Greg Botelho, CNN
Updated 3:34 PM ET, Thu January 15, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Now the French government is helping out Bathily -- by making him a citizen.
> 
> The Malian native's citizenship application, which he filed in July, will be expedited, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced Thursday. Cazeneuve will conduct Bathily's citizenship ceremony himself Tuesday


http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/15/europ...ticle_organicsidebar_expansion&iref=obnetwork


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court agrees to take on same-sex marriage issue
*By Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN
Updated 4:15 PM ET, Fri January 16, 2015
*
SLIDESHOW*



> (CNN)The U.S. Supreme Court decided Friday it will tackle the issue of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, or whether states are allowed to ban gay marriage.
> 
> The nine justices are expected to hear oral arguments in April and deliver a ruling by June.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/16/politics/court-gay-marriage/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama To Propose Tax Hikes On Wealthy, Breaks For Middle Class*
Posted: 01/17/2015 7:55 pm EST Updated: 1 hour ago



> During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Barack Obama will lay out a plan to extend tax credits to the middle class by hiking taxes on wealthier Americans and big banks, according to senior administration officials.
> 
> Under the plan, the capital gains tax for couples with income over $500,000 per year would be raised from its current level of 23.8 percent up to 28. The plan would also strip a tax break, known as a "step-up," that allows heirs to avoid capital gains taxes on large inheritances.


*READ MORE:* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/17/obama-sotu-taxes_n_6493144.html


----------



## poochee

*Gunshots fired near Vice President Bidens house in Delaware*
01/18/15 11:24 AMUpdated 01/18/15 12:29 PM 
By Benjamin Landy
*
VIDEO*



> Multiple gunshots were fired outside Vice President Joe Bidens house in Delaware on Saturday night, according to federal law enforcement officials.
> 
> The vice president and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, were not at home when a car drove by the residence and several shots were fired at approximately 8:25 p.m., U.S. Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said in a statement. The shooting took place on a public road outside the perimeter established by Bidens security detail. Secret Service agents heard the gunshots and observed a vehicle speeding away.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gunshots-fired-near-vice-president-bidens-house-delaware


----------



## poochee

*President Obama is back at 50% approval. Heres how.*
By Aaron Blake January 19 at 10:32 AM



> But while other pollsters have shown Obama's approval rating getting slightly better, none have shown him recovering to the extent that this survey does. In fact, the new poll represents Obama's biggest approval bump since the mission that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. His approval rating has risen nine percentage points in the past month alone, while his disapproval has dropped by 10 points.
> 
> The gains are pretty even across the board, but the biggest are among Democrats (10 points), moderates (10), Hispanics (22), and even white evangelical Christians (10), who generally tilt heavily toward the GOP. Obama also has gained 19 points among adults younger than 30.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...9/obamas-approval-rating-bump-by-the-numbers/


----------



## poochee

*Oxfam: Richest 1% will control more wealth than world combined*
01/19/15 09:36 AMUpdated 01/19/15 09:41 AM 
By Michele Richinick



> The richest 1% of people will control more wealth than the rest of the world combined by 2016, the British anti-poverty charity Oxfam predicted in a new report.
> 
> The study suggests that, by next year, the gap between the worlds rich and poor will widen so much that those at the top will control more than half of total global wealth.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/richest-1-will-control-more-wealth-the-world-combined-2016-report


----------



## poochee

*Obama Visits Soup Kitchen On Martin Luther King Day*
AP | By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 
Posted: 01/20/2014 2:33 pm EST Updated: 03/22/2014 5:59 am EDT



> WASHINGTON (AP)  President Barack Obama honored Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of service Monday by helping a soup kitchen prepare its daily meals and a host of administration figures fanned out across the capital to appear at holiday events.
> 
> Obama took his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha to DC Central Kitchen, which is a few minutes away from the White House by presidential motorcade. They joined an assembly line that was churning out burritos. Asked what the burritos were being stuffed with, Obama said it looked like lamb. It actually was beef in a sauce, along with unidentified vegetables and cheese.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/20/obama-martin-luther-king_n_4632930.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court upholds religious rights of prisoners* 
Richard Wolf, USA TODAY 12:57 p.m. EST January 20, 2015



> WASHINGTON  A Supreme Court that has extended the reach of religion into public life in recent years ruled Tuesday that spirituality can overcome even prison security concerns.
> 
> The court came down decisively on the side of a Muslim prisoner whose beard had been deemed potentially dangerous by the Arkansas Department of Correction. Growing a beard, the justices said, was a Muslim man's religious right.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ourt-prisoner-beard-muslim-religion/19916823/


----------



## poochee

Jan 20, 10:38 PM EST
*Obama in State of the Union: Tax wealthy, help middle class *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler, Josh Lederman, Jim Kuhnhenn and Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Refusing to bend to the new Republican Congress, President Barack Obama unveiled Tuesday night an ambitious State of the Union agenda steeped in Democratic priorities, including tax increases on the wealthy, education and child care help for the middle class and a torrent of veto threats for the GOP's own plans.
> 
> In a shift from tradition, Obama's address to a joint session of Congress was less a laundry list of new proposals and more an attempt to sell a story of a national economy emerging from the "shadow of crisis." He appealed for "better politics" in Washington and pledged to work with Republicans, but he showed few signs of curtailing or tweaking his own plans to meet GOP priorities.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-20-22-20-09


----------



## poochee

*Biden and Boehner: The State of the Unions personal peanut gallery*
By Jaime Fuller January 20 at 10:17 PM

*PICTURES*



> President Obama put his prepared speech online before Tuesday's State of the Union, allowing the press to devote more time to what it wanted to do anyway: documenting Vice President Biden and House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) every move.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-state-of-the-unions-personal-peanut-gallery/


----------



## poochee

*Senate votes that climate change isnt a hoax*
01/21/15 08:29 PMUpdated 01/21/15 09:51 PM 
By Frank Thorp and Carrie Dann



> United States senators are now on the record on the question of whether climate change is a hoax. But a majority of the Senate, including 15 Republicans, are also on record stating that human activity contributes to climate change.
> 
> The Senate on Wednesday passed a measure stating that climate change is real and is not a hoax by a margin of 98-1.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-votes-climate-change-isnt-hoax


----------



## poochee

*For Encore, Obama Takes His One America Tour to Idaho and Kansas *
By JACKIE CALMESJAN. 21, 2015

*VIDEOS *



> BOISE, Idaho  President Obamas presence here Wednesday said as much as his words, which, after all, mostly reiterated the middle-class economics agenda laid out in his State of the Union address the night before.
> 
> In Tuesdays speech before Congress, the legacy-minded president had acknowledged his critics assessment that after six years, he had not delivered on the vision of one America that propelled him to national fame a decade ago. And to signal that he had not given up, Mr. Obama on Wednesday took the traditional post-speech roadshow to two of the nations most Republican states: Idaho and Kansas.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/u...me-to-idaho-and-kansas.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Jan 22, 3:49 PM EST

*Under pressure to govern, divisions emerge among House GOP *
By ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Connie Cass and Charles Babington contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a House Republican majority often driven by the most conservative lawmakers, the pragmatists are suddenly demanding to be heard.
> 
> These lawmakers defected on an immigration vote last week, and this week they forced GOP leaders to water down abortion legislation. With the new, fully Republican-led Congress three weeks old, they are serving notice they will no longer keep quiet as their more ideological colleagues push legislation to the right, demand votes on social issues, or court government shutdowns to try to block President Barack Obama.





> "There's a growing sense in the conference that we need to get things done here, not just make political statements," said Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, a freshmen lawmaker. "We should be focused on the agenda of the American people and not on taking an infinite amount of symbolic votes that aren't going to get anything done."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-22-15-49-07


----------



## poochee

*White House, Citing Israeli Election, Says Obama and Netanyahu Won't Meet
*By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISJAN. 22, 2015



> "As a matter of longstanding practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country," Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said in a statement. "Accordingly, the president will not be meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu because of the proximity to the Israeli election, which is just two weeks after his planned address to the U.S. Congress."


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Queen Elizabeth now world's oldest monarch after death of Saudi king*
Maria Puente, USA TODAY 8:08 p.m. EST January 22, 2015



> The queen is 88, and will turn 89 on April 21, although her birthday is typically celebrated in June when the weather is better.
> 
> The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, who is 93, have cut back on their long-range overseas travels in recent years, leaving it to their children and grandchildren. But not entirely.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...death-leaves-qeii-as-oldest-monarch/22186585/


----------



## poochee

Jan 23, 2:45 PM EST

*Obama heading to India, hoping to improve ties *
By JULIE PACE and MUNEEZA NAQVI 
Associated Press
Naqvi reported from New Delhi. Follow Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama arrives in India this weekend anxious to take another step in moving the world's two largest democracies beyond the deep tensions that have beset their relationship in recent years.
> 
> Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington last fall appeared to ease some of the strain, with officials in both countries praising the easy chemistry between Modi and Obama. Yet the White House says it still was caught off guard when Modi invited Obama to be the first American president to attend India's annual Republic Day festivities, which mark the day in 1950 that the country's constitution came into force.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-23-14-45-53


----------



## poochee

*Stymied by Congress, Obama turns to nation's mayors*
Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 8:15 p.m. EST January 23, 2015

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON -- With passage of his State of the Union agenda unlikely in a Republican-controlled Congress, President Obama called on the nation's mostly Democratic big-city mayors to adopt what he calls "middle class economics."
> 
> "We take our partnership with you seriously, because you're often the place where change happens fastest," Obama told more than 200 mayors at the White House Friday.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/01/23/obama-mayors-middle-class-economics/22241859/


----------



## poochee

*Obama condemns ISIS execution of Japanese hostage*
01/24/15 12:26 PMUpdated 01/24/15 03:29 PM 
By Joy Y. Wang and Arata Yamamoto



> President Barack Obama on Saturday condemned the brutal murder of Japanese national Haruna Yukawa by the terrorist organization ISIS and offered his condolences to the Japanese people.
> 
> We renew our call for the immediate release of Kenji Goto and all other remaining hostages, the president said in a statement. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally Japan and applaud its commitment to peace and development in a region far from its shores. We will work together to bring the perpetrators of these murders to justice and will continue to take decisive action to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/japan-condemns-purported-isis-execution-video


----------



## poochee

Jan 24, 2:52 PM EST

*Obama to cut short India trip to pay call on Saudi Arabia 
*By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma in New Delhi contributed to this report.



> RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) -- President Barack Obama will shorten his trip to India and divert to Saudi Arabia, paying respects after the death of King Abdullah and meeting with the oil-rich nation's new monarch, the White House said Saturday.
> 
> The scheduling shift, announced just before Obama left Washington, underscores the desert kingdom's pivotal role in U.S. policy in the Middle East, including the military campaign against the Islamic State group.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UNITED_STATES_INDIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


----------



## poochee

Cartoon Carousel

*Wuerker gallery of years best cartoons*
By POLITICO STAFF

http://www.politico.com/magazine/ga...on-2014/002120-030117.html?ml=po#.VMRl98J0z3i


----------



## poochee

*Chris Wallace, Shep Smith Criticize Netanyahu's Visit To Congress*
The Huffington Post | By Alana Horowitz 
Posted: 01/25/2015 2:47 pm EST Updated: 01/25/2015 2:59 pm EST

*VIDEO*



> "I'm shocked," Wallace said, calling the move "wicked." Wallace noted that the Israeli ambassador had met with John Kerry earlier in the week and apparently didn't mention anything about the trip.
> 
> "For Netanyahu to do something that is going to be seen as a deliberate and really pretty egregious snub of Obama when Obama is going to be in power for the next year and three quarters would seem to me to be a very risky political strategy."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/25/chris-wallace-shep-smith-netanyahu-fox-news_n_6542454.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama and Modi: Best broments
*By Emanuella Grinberg and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 2:28 PM ET, Sun January 25, 2015

*VIDEO*



> The pair have "chemistry," according to the White House and Indian officials. They've shared impromptu strolls on the National Mall and, on Sunday, a long meander through a New Delhi rose garden.





> Breaking with established protocol -- and surprising television commentators on the dozen or so local news broadcasters -- Modi showed up on the tarmac to be the first to greet Obama in India.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/25/politics/feat-india-visit-friendly-moments/index.html


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 01/26/15

*President Obama makes history in India*



> President Obama attended India's Republic Day parade in Delhi, and in doing so, he became the first U.S. head of state to do so. The president and first lady attended the parade with PM


*
VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/president-obama-makes-history-in-india-389100611567


----------



## poochee

*Why is GOP going after Social Security?*
By Paul Waldman
Updated 5:22 PM ET, Mon January 26, 2015



> (CNN)Social Security is often described as "the third rail of American politics" -- touch it and you'll get zapped.
> 
> So why do Republicans keep sidling up to it and sticking their fingers out?


http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/26/opinion/waldman-social-security/index.html


----------



## poochee

*"My Only Child": Mom Sues Target Over Son's Suicide*

_A Southern California woman's son jumped to his death from the roof of the Courtyard Marriott three days after he was fired, she says
_By Kim Baldonado 
Updated at 9:46 AM PST on Saturday, Jan 24, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Target is facing a lawsuit filed by a mother who says her son committed suicide after he was forced to take part in a humiliating disciplinary event in front of co-workers and customers.
> 
> The suit claims 22-year-old Graham A. Gentles, a former cashier at the retail chain's Pasadena store, was humiliated when he was subjected to what the family's attorney called a "walk of shame," a ritual during which the employee is paraded around the store in handcuffs.


http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Target-Faces-Lawsuit-Over-Employees-Suicide-289662711.html


----------



## DaveBurnett

They need to be really screwed over that.
Wasn't Target the subject of some notable news some time ago?


----------



## poochee

*Cuba's Fidel Castro Breaks Silence on Ties With U.S. 'Adversaries'*
- The Associated Press
First published January 27th 2015, 1:53 am

*VIDEO*



> HAVANA, Cuba  Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro ended his long silence over his country's restoration of diplomatic ties with the United States, indicating that he backs the talks even though he distrusts politics in Washington.
> 
> The comments were the first by the 88-year-old revolutionary leader on the talks with the U.S. since the historic December 17 declaration that the countries would move to restore ties broken more than a half century ago.


http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/u-...o-breaks-silence-ties-u-s-adversaries-n294281


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare To Cost Far Less Than Estimated, Budget Office Says*
Reuters 
Posted: 01/27/2015 8:52 am EST Updated: 5 hours ago



> WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Obamacare will cost 7 percent less than expected over the next decade for federal subsidies to help lower-income people pay for private health insurance, congressional researchers said on Monday.
> 
> A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said insurance coverage would cost $964 billion from 2015 to 2024, $68 billion below its April 2014 projection, due to factors including lower than expected enrollment in federal and state insurance exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/27/obamacare-cost-less-than-expected_n_6554174.html


----------



## poochee

*Gay lawmaker threatens to air colleagues affairs over opposition to same-sex marriage*
By Nia-Malika Henderson January 27 at 4:52 PM



> Things just got real in Alabama.
> 
> State Rep. Patricia Todd, the state's only openly gay legislator, has issued something of an ultimatum to colleagues: Keep talking about same-sex marriage as an affront to "family values," and I will expose your dirty laundry. As in, their extramarital affairs.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...affairs-over-opposition-to-same-sex-marriage/


----------



## poochee

*Rick Perry Request To Dismiss Charges Denied By Judge*
AP
Posted: 01/27/2015 4:44 pm EST Updated: 1 hour ago



> AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  A Texas judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a felony abuse-of-power case against former Gov. Rick Perry on constitutional grounds, rejecting the argument that Perry was acting within his rights as chief executive of America's second-most populous state when he carried out a veto threat.
> 
> The decision by District Judge Bert Richardson, who like Perry is a Republican, means the case against the possible 2016 presidential hopeful can move forward. Perry left office Jan. 20 and says he will announce as soon as May whether he will make a second run for the White House.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/27/rick-perry-charges_n_6557914.html


----------



## poochee

*Obamas Plan: Allow Drilling in Atlantic, but Limit It in Arctic*
By CORAL DAVENPORTJAN. 27, 2015



> WASHINGTON  The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a proposal to open up coastal waters from Virginia to Georgia for oil and gas drilling.
> 
> At the same time, the administration will ban drilling in Alaska in some portions of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/u...illing-in-the-atlantic.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Sarah Palin and her onetime fans on the right: Its so over*
By Karen Tumulty January 28 at 5:52 PM 



> Theyre over her.
> 
> Sarah Palins odd, rambling speech last weekend before an audience of committed conservative activists in Des Moines has many influential voices on the right saying that the time has come to acknowledge that the romance has gone cold and the marriage is dead.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...625eb8-a70b-11e4-a06b-9df2002b86a0_story.html


----------



## poochee

*How big is Mitt Romneys California house? Here, compare it to yours.*
By Philip Bump January 28 at 3:39 PM 



> One of the great things about having Mitt Romney back in the news is that we get to relive some of the more fun parts of the 2012 campaign, up to and including discussion of his houses. If I say to you, "car elevator," what comes to mind? If you were awake that year, you remember the kerfuffle over Romney's Southern California beachfront property that was reported to have included this unusual amenity.
> 
> The Boston Globe explored Romney's post-2012 real estate boom earlier this week, including a look at that house, all 11,206 square feet of it in La Jolla, Calif. It's a beautiful property, in a beautiful location, that we would not begrudge anyone for owning -- although if that owner then started railing against income inequality, we might then raise one eyebrow, just a bit.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ys-california-house-here-compare-it-to-yours/


----------



## poochee

*Jobless claims lowest since 2000, but...*
By Heather Long @byHeatherLong January 29, 2015: 12:15 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) 
_Very few Americans filed for unemployment last week._



> The jobless claims rate fell to 265,000 -- the lowest since April 2000 and a big drop from the past few weeks when over 300,000 people were filing for unemployment aid.
> 
> At first glance, it's good news for the U.S. economy. More and more people have been finding work and transitioning faster from one job to the next. Last year America had the most job growth since 1999.


http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/29/news/economy/jobless-claims-fall-lowest-since-2000/


----------



## poochee

Sam Stein 
*Obama Wants To End The Era Of Sequestration*
Posted: 01/29/2015 5:58 am EST Updated: 01/29/2015 12:59 pm EST



> WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will propose a budget on Monday that calls for an estimated 6.8 percent increase in discretionary spending -- an approach diametrically different from the last time Democrats sustained major midterm election losses.
> 
> The spending proposal will almost assuredly get strong pushback from Republicans in Congress, who now control both the House and the Senate and wield even more power than they did four years ago. For that reason alone, the budget is another sign of a president feeling unhindered in his final years of office and eager to take advantage of an improving economy.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/obama-sequestration-budget-2016_n_6567816.html


----------



## poochee

*Israeli Center-Left Alliance Looks To Unseat Netanyahu*
AP	 | By ARON HELLER 
Posted: 01/29/2015 5:41 pm EST Updated: 4 hours ago



> JERUSALEM (AP)  When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved his unwieldy coalition and called new elections last month, he appeared almost certain to be returned once more to office. But a new center-left alliance has surged past his Likud party in the polls, turning the March 17 contest into a toss-up.
> 
> After joining forces with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to create a joint grouping they call "The Zionist Camp," Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog is looking, to increasingly many Israelis, like a viable alternative to Netanyahu. He promises to reverse the country's slide toward international isolation and corrosive social inequality.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/israel-left-netanyahu_n_6574974.html


----------



## poochee

*Netanyahu Is Talking to Leading Democrats to Little Effect So Far*
By CARL HULSE and JEREMY W. PETERSJAN. 29, 2015



> WASHINGTON  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been reaching out to leading Capitol Hill Democrats to try to ease criticism over his coming address to Congress, but has made little progress.
> 
> Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Thursday that Mr. Netanyahu had called him the previous afternoon to explain why the White House had been circumvented before he was invited to speak before Congress. The prime minister has also called Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Senates No. 3 Democrat.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/u...g-democrats-to-little-effect-so-far.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*White House unveils new medical research initiative*
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 6:02 AM ET, Fri January 30, 2015



> Washington (CNN)-President Barack Obama on Friday announced the details of his "Precision Medicine Initiative," a proposal aimed at pushing the U.S. to the forefront of cutting edge medical treatments.
> 
> The initiative "will leverage advances in genomics, emerging methods for managing and analyzing large data sets" while protecting privacy, according to a fact sheet from the White House. The goal will be to create a easily searchable database of health information that will enable researchers to better pinpoint the exact form of disease a patient suffers from, and create individually-tailored treatment plans.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/30/politics/precision-medicine-initiative/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Biden: Democrats need to double down on Obamas successes*
01/30/15 03:09 PMUpdated 01/30/15 04:29 PM 
By Alex Seitz-Wald



> PHILADELPHIA  In a fiery speech during their retreat here, Vice President Joe Biden told House Democrats that they need to double down on the successes of the Obama administration and pitched himself as a middle-class warrior who will take on the elites in both parties.
> 
> The speech, which echoed President Obamas the night before, was primarily meant to rally the partys rank and file in light of strengthening economic news. But the speech was also an opportunity for Biden, who has often been overshadowed by Hillary Clinton as he contemplates a 2016 presidential run, to remind his party how he can strike a different tone from other politicians, including Clinton.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/biden-democrats-need-double-down-obama-years


----------



## poochee

Jan 31, 1:27 PM EST

*Obama budget sets up battle with GOP-controlled Congress *
By ANDREW TAYLOR 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a year of relative peace in Washington's budget battles, President Barack Obama will lay out a $4 trillion budget on Monday that needles Republicans with proposals for higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses to pay for education, public works projects and child care.
> 
> The plan, expected to be dismissed by GOP lawmakers now running Capitol Hill, rolls out as the deficit is dropping and Obama's poll numbers inch higher. Though Republicans will march ahead on their own, they ultimately must come to terms with Obama, whose signature is needed on anything that is going to become law.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-31-13-27-00


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama: Latest ISIL beheading heinous; U.S. will destroy terror group*
By Trevor Eischen
| 1/31/15 7:17 PM EST
| Updated 1/31/15 7:43 PM EST



> President Barack Obama on Saturday denounced the barbaric beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
> 
> In a White House statement, the president condemned the video, released Saturday, which reportedly shows Gotos death at the hands of an ISIL militant, as heinous.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/barack-obama-kenji-goto-isil-114794.html#ixzz3QSr5j6Z6


----------



## poochee

*Obama to propose a $478 billion road and bridge program*
The Oval 
David Jackson, USA TODAY 9:40 a.m. EST February 1, 2015



> President Obama's budget proposal Monday includes a six-year $478 billion program to build and upgrade roads, bridges, and other transit systems, to be financed by a one-time tax on overseas profits, the White House said Sunday.
> 
> "These investments will increase infrastructure funding by over a third, support hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and lay the foundations for long-term economic growth," said a White House statement.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2015/02/01/obama-budget-infrastructure-478-billion/22688801/


----------



## poochee

*Obama To Parents: 'Get Your Kids Vaccinated'*
The Huffington Post | By Igor Bobic 
Posted: 02/01/2015 9:18 pm EST Updated: 1 hour ago



> "I understand that there are families that, in some cases, are concerned about the effect of vaccinations," Obama said in a pre-Super Bowl interview with NBC's Savannah Guthrie on Sunday. "The science is, you know, pretty indisputable. Weve looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there arent reasons to not."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/01/barack-obama-kids-vaccinated-measles_n_6591452.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 2, 2:33 PM EST

*Obama sends record $4 trillion spending plan to Congress *
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER 
AP Economics Writer



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama sent Congress a record $4 trillion budget Monday that would boost taxes on higher-income Americans and corporations and eliminate tight federal spending caps to shower more money on both domestic and military programs. It would provide middle-class tax relief and fund an ambitious public works effort to rebuild aging roads and bridges.
> 
> Obama's budget, which will set off months of wrangling in Congress, proposes spending $4 trillion - $3.999 trillion before rounding - in the 2016 budget year that begins Oct. 1. That's a 6.4 percent increase over estimated spending this year, projecting that the deficit will decline to $474 billion.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-02-14-33-19


----------



## poochee

*Daily Intelligencer*
/the national interest
February 2, 2015 
8:44 a.m.

*Paul Ryans Most Shameless Lie Ever*
By Jonathan Chait 
*
CHARTS *



> What gives Ryans comments a veneer of plausibility is that income inequality has increased continuously, punctuated by a few short reversals, for more than three decades. Economists have extensively studied and debated the cause of rising inequality for years, clustering about multiple theories: the decline of labor unions, technological change, the growth of finance, and so on. None of the theories blame Obamas economic policies.
> 
> We also do not yet know at this point whether the current recovery will produce the sort of rapid growth that lifts incomes in the middle and bottom, like the economy did at the height of the 1990s boom, or whether it will fail to do so, as happened during the previous recovery. It is worth pointing out that, comparing the previous two economic cycles, the one that followed the economic policies advocated by Ryan at the time, the Bush recovery, yielded stagnant incomes for middle- and working-class Americans, while the Clinton recovery, the one that favored higher taxes on the rich, bitterly opposed by Ryan, yielded much greater success. This contrast does not prove that the Democratic agenda necessarily produces stronger growth than the Republican agenda, but it certainly undercuts Ryans belief that the opposite is true.


http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/paul-ryans-most-shameless-lie-ever.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Video Showing Apparent Execution Of Jordanian Pilot Shows ISIS's Ideology Is Bankrupt*
Posted: 02/03/2015 1:09 pm EST Updated: 31 minutes ago

*VIDEO*



> President Barack Obama spoke about a video that circulated on social media Tuesday, apparently showing the murder of a Jordanian fighter pilot by militants of the Islamic State group.
> 
> Obama said if the video is real, it would re-double the determination of a global coalition to degrade and destroy the terrorist group.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/obama-isis-execution-jordanian-pliot_n_6606002.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 3, 1:22 PM EST

*Republicans challenge Obama on all fronts *
By DAVID ESPO and ALAN FRAM 
Associated Press
AP Writers Erica Werner and Andy Taylor contributed to this story.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans newly in charge of Congress challenged President Barack Obama at both ends of the Capitol on Tuesday, lining up in the House to repeal the health care program he signed into law and struggling in the Senate to roll back the immigration policies he issued on his own.
> 
> There was a third challenge as well, as Republican leaders announced the House would vote final approval next week on legislation clearing the way for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. That would trigger Obama's threatened veto, the first in a new era of divided government.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-03-13-22-19


----------



## poochee

Feb 3, 11:58 PM EST

*Jordan executes 2 al-Qaida prisoners after IS kills pilot *
By OMA AKOUR and KARIN LAUB 
Associated Press
Laub reported from Jerusalem



> AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Islamic State militants put to death a captured Jordanian fighter pilot by burning him alive in a cage, according to a video the group released Tuesday. The kingdom, which had vowed a swift and lethal response, executed two al-Qaida prisoners by hanging early Wednesday, a government spokesman said.
> 
> The pilot's gruesome death sparked outrage and street demonstrations in Jordan, where the country's participation in the anti-IS coalition has not been popular. The video emerged after a weeklong drama over a possible prisoner exchange for a female al-Qaida operative imprisoned in Jordan who was one of the two prisoners executed.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-03-23-58-46


----------



## poochee

*Democrats might skip Benjamin Netanyahu speech*
_Joe Biden is among those not committed to attending the Israeli prime ministers address to Congress.
_By Edward-Isaac Dovere and Jake Sherman
2/3/15 8:09 PM EST
Updated 2/4/15 8:30 AM EST
John Bresnahan, Anna Palmer and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.



> Dozens of House Democrats are privately threatening to skip the March 3 address, according to lawmakers and aides, in whats become the lowest point of a relationship between the Israeli prime minister and President Barack Obama thats never been good.
> 
> Democrats have had to balance publicly supporting Israel with backing Obama, whos trying to close a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear programs over vehement opposition from Netanyahu, who has expressed concerns that the U.S. president is being naive. Negotiations are facing a deadline at the end of March for a political framework.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...in-netanyahu-speech-114891.html#ixzz3QnWQERCH


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare Sign-Ups Near 7.5 Million As Enrollment Deadline Nears*
AP 
Posted: 02/04/2015 2:18 pm EST Updated: 24 minutes ago



> WASHINGTON (AP)  The Obama administration says sign-ups continue to build under the president's health care law ahead of a Feb. 15 enrollment deadline.
> 
> Nearly 7.5 million people enrolled as of last Friday in 37 states where the federal government is running insurance markets, which offer subsidized private coverage for people who don't have a job-based plan.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/obamacare-sign-ups-enrollment-deadline_n_6615040.html


----------



## poochee

*Pentagon 2008 study claims Putin has Asperger's syndrome*
Ray Locker, USA TODAY 3:02 p.m. EST February 4, 2015



> WASHINGTON  A study from a Pentagon think tank theorizes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has Asperger's syndrome, "an autistic disorder which affects all of his decisions," according to the 2008 report obtained by USA TODAY.
> 
> Putin's "neurological development was significantly interrupted in infancy," wrote Brenda Connors, an expert in movement pattern analysis at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I. Studies of his movement, Connors wrote, reveal "that the Russian President carries a neurological abnormality."


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...n-aspergers-syndrome-study-pentagon/22855927/


----------



## poochee

Feb 5, 1:46 PM EST

*Jordan launches new airstrikes after vowing harsh war on IS* 
By KARIN LAUB 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Amman contributed to this report.



> AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Jordanian warplanes bombed Islamic State targets on Thursday, state TV said, after the country's king vowed to wage a "harsh" war against the militants who control large areas of neighboring Syria and Iraq.
> 
> The military confirmed the airstrikes, but did not provide details. Jordan TV, quoting military officials, reported that the strikes targeted Islamic State positions, but did not say in which country.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-05-13-46-43


----------



## poochee

*Renewed debate over 9/11 Commission report as new claims emerge*
By Laura Koran
Updated 2:39 PM ET, Thu February 5, 2015
CNN's Jake Tapper and Chloe Sommers contributed to this report.



> Washington (CNN)Recent allegations from a convicted al Qaeda terrorist have brought new attention to an old debate over whether the White House should release 28 still-classified pages from the 9/11 Commission Report, the majority of which was released over ten years ago.
> 
> The allegations were made by Zacarias Moussaoui in sworn statements filed as part of a legal brief in an ongoing lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its alleged role in financing the attacks.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/05/politics/sept-11-report-missing-pages/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Employers added 257,000 jobs in January* 
Paul Davidson, USA TODAY 1:12 p.m. EST February 6, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Employers added a better-than-expected 257,000 jobs in January as the resurgent labor market began 2015 on a positive note.
> 
> The unemployment rate, which is calculated from a separate survey of households, rose to 5.7% from 5.6%, the Labor Department said Friday. That's mainly because an additional 703,000 Americans, including previously discouraged workers, surged back into the labor force to look for work or take jobs.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/02/06/january-employment-report/22933289/


----------



## poochee

*Everybody hates Donald Trump*
By Aaron Blake February 6 at 6:30 AM



> If there was a master class in how not to conduct yourself as a politician, it would look a lot like Donald Trump.
> 
> Trump, who fashions himself a potential 2016 presidential candidate and ally to the tea party, has turned himself into little more than a punchline these days. Whats amazing is that he keeps getting invited to gatherings like the Iowa Freedom Summit two weeks ago  an opportunity he used to rag on Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/06/everybody-hates-donald-trump/


----------



## poochee

2:28 pm ET 
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

*Biden Expected to Miss Netanyahu Speech to Congress*



> Sorry, Mr. Prime Minister, but Im busy that day.
> 
> That appeared to be Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.s response on Friday to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli premier, whose plans for a speech to a joint meeting of Congress next month have surprised and angered the White House, which was not consulted in advance.


http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...xpected-to-miss-netanyahu-speech-to-congress/


----------



## poochee

*This week in politics: Hand-washing, vaccines and 'Downton Abbey'*
By Brenna Williams, CNN
Updated 5:08 PM ET, Fri February 6, 2015



> (CNN)It was another wild week in politics:


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/06/politics/week-in-review/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Influence *
February 4, 2015
*Wall Street Pays Bankers to Work in Government and It Doesn't Want Anyone to Know*



> Citigroup is one of three Wall Street banks attempting to keep hidden their practice of paying executives multimillion-dollar awards for entering government service. In letters delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the last month, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley seek exemption from a shareholder proposal, filed by the AFL-CIO labor coalition, which would force them to identify all executives eligible for these financial rewards, and the specific dollar amounts at stake. Critics argue these golden parachutes ensure more financial insiders in policy positions and favorable treatment toward Wall Street.
> 
> As shareholders of these banks, we want to know how much money we have promised to give away to senior executives if they take government jobs, said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a statement. Its a simple question, but the banks dont want to answer it. What are they trying to hide?


http://www.newrepublic.com/article/...s-bankers-work-government-and-wants-it-secret


----------



## poochee

February 07, 2015, 06:00 am 
*Obama touts 'middle-class' budget in address*
By Ben Kamisar 
*
VIDEO*



> President Obama is touting his fiscal 2016 budget as a blueprint for spurring middle-class growth in his first weekly address since he released the proposal.
> 
> Because while weve come a long way, weve got more work to do to make sure that our recovery reaches more Americans, not just those at the top, the president said.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/232076-obama-touts-middle-class-budget-in-address


----------



## poochee

*An Upbeat Jobs Report Narrows a Political Debate
*By JONATHAN WEISMANFEB. 6, 2015



> Do Democrats crow over good news or bash Republican congressional inaction as responsible for the challenges facing middle-class Americans? Do Republicans stick to their reliable script of blaming President Obama for a weak recovery, or do they turn to indicting him for wage stagnation? Or do they try to claim credit for themselves for any upturn since winning control of both houses of Congress?
> 
> The first jobs report of the New Year might  might  have clarified the politics of the economy, with good news so thorough that even the grumpiest Republicans were remarkably muted. But both sides will still have plenty to argue about.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/b...bate-but-doesnt-end-it.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Ruth Bader Ginsburg Has Perfect Response When Asked About Women On The Supreme Court*
The Huffington Post | By Igor Bobic 
Posted: 02/07/2015 1:20 pm EST Updated: 1 hour ago

*VIDEO*



> The 81-year-old Supreme Court justice, who has attained somewhat of a cult following for her stance on gender equality, told a gathering of law students Wednesday that people often ask her when she thinks there will be enough women on the court.
> 
> "And my answer is when there are nine," she said, as if the question even needed to be asked.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/07/ruth-bader-ginsburg-women-supreme-court_n_6636328.html


----------



## poochee

Saturday, Feb 7, 2015 05:00 AM PST

*Ronald Reagans wartime lies: The president had quite a Brian Williams problem *
_Reagan spent WW II in Hollywood. He told the Israeli prime minister he was at the liberation of Nazi death camps 
Luke Brinker_



> When it emerged that NBC News anchor Brian Williams had misled the public for years with a harrowing account of coming under enemy fire on a military helicopter during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, observers were quick to draw comparisons with other public figures caught telling tall tales about combat experiences. Some hearkened back to Hillary Clintons bogus 2008 assertion that she had landed under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia a dozen years earlier; in reality, video from the trip showed a smiling Clinton and her daughter walking calmly on the tarmac, with no sign of trouble whatsoever.
> 
> Theres another figure who merits mention in this discussion, one whose serial blurring of lines between fiction and reality was a mainstay of his public career. That figure, of course, was Ronald Reagan.


http://www.salon.com/2015/02/07/ron...president_had_quite_a_brian_williams_problem/


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Good grades for Obama on unemployment*

By Adam Sneed
2/8/15 10:38 AM EST


> Fridays strong jobs report was followed with more good news for President Barack Obama: Americans are feeling more positive about the direction of the country, the health of the economy, and about the president in general, according to a new poll.
> 
> Fifty-one percent of those surveyed say the president is handling unemployment well, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. The poll was conducted before Fridays jobs report, which showed the strongest job growth in three months since 1997 as well as a notable growth in hourly wages for the private sector.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...oyment-jobs-economy-114994.html#ixzz3RBXkBukV


----------



## poochee

February 08, 2015, 09:57 pm 
*Obama: Sexual violence has to stop*
By Kyle Balluck

*VIDEO*



> President Obama late Sunday used a message broadcast during the Grammy Awards to promote a campaign to end sexual assault.
> 
> Tonight we celebrate artists whose music and message helps shape our culture, Obama said. Together, we can change our culture for the better by ending violence against women and girls.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/232123-obama-sexual-violence-has-to-stop


----------



## poochee

*Meet the Unusual Plaintiffs Behind the Supreme Court Case That Could Destroy Obamacare*
_One has called Obama the "anti-Christ." Another didn't realize her case might wipe out health coverage for millions.
_By Stephanie Mencimer
| Mon Feb. 9, 2015 7:05 AM EST



> So who are the two men and two women that CEI handpicked to front its assault on Obamacare? What harm had they suffered as a result of the health care law? And why are they willing to put their names on a suit that could jeopardize the health coverage of millions of fellow Americans?
> 
> I set out to track down the plaintiffs to hear in their own words why they had decided to take part in the case, and it soon became evident that CEI had struggled to find suitable candidates. Three of the four plaintiffs are nearly eligible for Medicare, meaning their objections to Obamacare will soon be moot. Two of them appear to qualify for hardship exemptionsthat is, they are not forced to acquire insurance or pay fines because even with a subsidy insurance would eat up too much of their incomesso it's unclear how Obamacare had burdened them. These two plaintiffs seemed driven by their political opposition to President Obama; one has called him the "anti-Christ" and said he won election by getting "his Muslim people to vote for him." Yet most curious of all, one of the plaintiffs did not recall exactly how she'd been recruited for the case and seemed unaware of the possible consequences if she wins. Told that millions could lose their health coverage if the Supreme Court rules in her favor, she said that she didn't want this to happen.


http://www.motherjones.com/politics...eme-court-obamacare?ncid=edlinkushpmg00000088


----------



## poochee

*Consumer Protection Agency Seeks Limits on Payday Lenders*
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg	
February 8, 2015 7:31 pm February 8, 2015 7:31 pm



> In the world of consumer finance, they are chameleons: payday lenders that alter their practices and shift their products ever so slightly to work around state laws aimed at stamping out short-term loans that can come with interest rates exceeding 300 percent.





> Now, for the first time, a federal regulator is entering the fray, drafting regulations that could sharply reduce the number of unaffordable loans that lenders can make.


http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/02...s-limits-on-payday-lenders/?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 9, 6:30 PM EST

*Obama, Merkel rally behind diplomacy in Ukraine conflict *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
Associated Press writer Sylvia Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel rallied behind efforts to reach a long-shot diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine Monday, but they offered no clear path for how the West would proceed if talks this week fail.
> 
> During a joint White House news conference, Obama dangled the prospect that the U.S. could for the first time send anti-tank weapons and other defensive arms to Ukraine. While no decision has been made, the president said he had ordered his team to consider "whether there are additional things we can do to help Ukraine bolster its defenses in the face of Russian aggression."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-09-16-22-56


----------



## poochee

Feb 9, 7:17 PM EST

*Drew Peterson charged with plotting to kill prosecutor 
*By DON BABWIN 
Associated Press



> CHICAGO (AP) -- Drew Peterson, the former suburban Chicago police officer convicted of killing his third wife and suspected in the disappearance of his fourth, has been charged with trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who helped put him in state prison, authorities announced Monday.
> 
> Peterson appeared in court on charges that between September 2013 and December 2014, while behind bars, he solicited a person to find someone he could pay to kill Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow. Peterson did not enter a plea.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-09-18-12-12


----------



## poochee

*Job Openings Jump To Highest Levels Since 2001*

Bloomberg News 
7:03 AM PST 
January 13, 2015



> The number of positions waiting to be filled rose by 142,000 to 4.97 million in November, the most since January 2001, a report from the Labor Department showed today. The pace of hiring cooled and fewer Americans quit their jobs.
> 
> Gains in hiring, waning dismissals and rising confidence underscore a vibrant labor market that in 2014 marked its strongest performance since 1999. Todays data, among the gauges watched by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, will help policy makers assess the progress on employment and growth as they consider when to begin raising interest rates.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-u-s-rise-to-highest-level-in-almost-14-years


----------



## poochee

Feb 10, 1:44 PM EST

*Obama to send his new war powers request to Capitol Hill *
By DEB RIECHMANN and NEDRA PICKLER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House officials are trying to address concerns in Congress about President Barack Obama's request for authorization to use military force against the Islamic State group, setting up the first war vote in Congress in 13 years on the heels of another American hostage dying in the militants' captivity.
> 
> Presidential counsel Neil Eggleston arranged to meet with Senate Democrats as Obama prepared to formally unveil his proposed authorization, a Democratic official revealed. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the proposal should be finished this week as White House officials step up negotiations with lawmakers from both parties to finalize details. "Hopefully there will not be a significant delay in Congress acting on that legislative language," Earnest said.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-10-12-37-22


----------



## poochee

*Obama Sends Letter to Congress Seeking Authorization of ISIS Fight*
Obama Sends Letter to Congress Seeking Authorization of ISIS Fight
By PETER BAKERFEB. 11, 2015
Ashley Parker and Emmarie Huetteman contributed reporting.
*
VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON  President Obama on Wednesday formally asked Congress to authorize a three-year military campaign against the terrorist group the Islamic State that would avoid a large-scale invasion and occupation but in addition to air power could include limited ground operations by American forces to hunt down enemy leaders or rescue American personnel.
> 
> A proposal sent by the White House to Capitol Hill on Wednesday would formally give the president the power to continue the airstrikes he has been conducting since last fall against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, as well as associated persons or forces. The measure would set limits that were never imposed during the wars of the last decade in Afghanistan and Iraq by expiring in three years and withholding permission for enduring offensive ground combat operations.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/us/obama-war-authorization-congress.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

Feb 11, 8:42 PM EST
*
Congress clears Keystone XL pipeline bill, setting up veto *
By DINA CAPPIELLO 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-controlled Congress cleared a bill Wednesday to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting up a confrontation with President Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto the measure.
> 
> The House passed the bill on a 270-152 vote, endorsing changes made by the Senate that stated climate change was real and not a hoax, and oil sands should no longer be exempt from a tax used to cleanup oil spills.


.http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-11-20-42-58


----------



## poochee

Feb 12, 12:34 PM EST

*Marathon talks produce Ukraine peace deal; cease-fire Sunday 
*By YURAS KARMANAU and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV 
Associated Press
Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Peter Leonard and Balint Szlanko in Donetsk, Ukraine, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.



> MINSK, Belarus (AP) -- Guns would fall silent, heavy weapons would pull back from the front and Ukraine would trade broad autonomy for the east to get back control of its Russian border by the end of 2015 under a peace deal hammered out Thursday in all-night negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.
> 
> The deal was full of potential pitfalls that could derail its implementation, however. In announcing the plan, Russia and Ukraine differed over what exactly they had agreed to in the marathon 16-hour talks, including the status of Debaltseve, a key town now under rebel siege.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-12-12-34-09


----------



## poochee

*Anarchist hackers start cyber war with ISIS*
By Elise Viebeck - 02/12/15 06:00 AM EST



> The global hacker collective known as Anonymous is storming the international political scene with a brash hacking campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
> 
> The shadowy anarchist group, which is known for waging online attacks on everyone from the U.S. government to the Church of Scientology, is trying to dismantle the vast social media operation that helps ISIS recruit new followers.


http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/232583-anarchist-hackers-go-to-cyber-war-with-isis


----------



## poochee

*Senate Confirms Ashton Carter As Secretary Of Defense*
Reuters 
Posted: 02/12/2015 2:57 pm EST Updated: 2 hours ago



> WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to confirm Ashton Carter as President Barack Obama's next secretary of defense.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/12/ashton-carter-confirmed_n_6672218.html


----------



## poochee

*
Obama signs veteran suicide prevention bill*
Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 4:24 p.m. EST February 12, 2015



> WASHINGTON  President Obama signed a veteran suicide prevention bill into law Thursday, calling on all Americans to "reach out and do more with and for our veterans."
> 
> "This has to be a national mission. As a nation, we should not be satisfied, will not be satisfied until every man and woman in uniform, every veteran, gets the help that they need to stay strong and healthy," Obama said.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...clay-hunt-act-bill-signing-ceremony/23298971/


----------



## poochee

*Obama to sign executive order on sharing cybersecurity threat information
*By Katie Zezima February 12 at 9:08 PM



> SAN FRANCISCO - President Obama will sign an executive order Friday that urges companies to share cybersecurity-threat information with one another and the federal government.
> 
> The order is advisory in nature and comes as the White House will kick off its first summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University on Friday. The summit, which will focus on public-private partnerships and consumer protection, is part of a recent White House push to focus on cybersecurity.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ign-executive-order-on-cybersecurity-threats/


----------



## poochee

*Loretta Lynch's delayed vote over confirmation*
By Seung Min Kim
2/12/15 5:33 AM EST
Updated 2/12/15 12:52 PM EST



> Democrats are now increasingly slamming Republicans handling of President Barack Obamas nominee for attorney general, accusing them of slow-walking the veteran federal prosecutors confirmation. Their newest evidence: the Senate Judiciary Committees decision Thursday to postpone voting on Lynch until after next weeks recess  which means she wont get a final floor vote until March, at least five weeks after her confirmation hearing.
> 
> The confirmation pace stands in especially stark contrast to how quickly the GOP-led Senate has taken up Ash Carters nomination for defense secretary. He first appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 4, was swiftly reported out of that panel earlier this week and is headed to a Thursday confirmation vote.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...elayed-confirmation-115138.html#ixzz3Rat7aZYF


----------



## poochee

*The Rundown with Jose Diaz-Balart 02/13/15 *

*VIDEO*



> Cop arrested after encounter leaves Indian man partially paralyzed


http://www.msnbc.com/jose-diaz-balart/watch/cop-charged-with-assault-on-indian-man-398697539728


----------



## poochee

*McConnell, after his no-shutdowns pledge, quickly finds himself boxed in*
By Paul Kane February 13 at 3:00 AM 



> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, less than six weeks into unified GOP rule on Capitol Hill, is on the verge of seeing his most adamant pledge go up in smoke.
> 
> Let me make it clear: There will be no government shutdowns, McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a victory-lap news conference the day after he won reelection and a Republican rout gave his party the Senate majority.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...f36488-b2f6-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama, Holder weigh in on Chapel Hill shootings
*02/13/15 06:54 PMUpdated 02/13/15 09:54 PM 
By Erik Ortiz



> President Barack Obama called the fatal shootings of three young people in their Chapel Hill, North Carolina, home this week brutal and outrageous  and asked Americans to remember their promising lives. Local police say the victims  Deah Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19  were murdered by a neighbor over a parking dispute. But family members contend the three were targeted because they were Muslim and that they had expressed fear of the accused shooter.
> 
> The FBI said Thursday it is opening an inquiry into their deaths, although there was no immediate evidence that suspect Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, went after them because of their religion. In his statement Friday, Obama said the FBI will determine whether any federal laws were violated:


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-holder-weigh-chapel-hill-shootings


----------



## poochee

*The White House*
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release February 14, 2015

*Weekly Address:* Giving Every Child, Everywhere, a Fair Shot



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this weeks address, the President laid out his plan to ensure more children graduate from school fully prepared for college and a career. Our elementary and secondary schools are doing better, as demonstrated by the news this past week that our high school graduation rate has hit an all-time high, but there is still more that can be done to ensure every child receives a quality education. Thats why the President wants to replace No Child Left Behind with a new law that addresses the overuse of standardized tests, makes a real investment in preschool, and gives every kid a fair shot at success. He reminded everyone that when educating our kids, the future of our nation, we shouldnt accept anything less than the best.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...dress-giving-every-child-everywhere-fair-shot

*VIDEO*

http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Income Inequality *

*States Consider Increasing Taxes for the Poor and Cutting Them for the Affluent*
FEB. 13, 2015



> A number of Republican-led states are considering tax changes that in many cases would have the effect of cutting taxes on the rich and raising them on the poor.
> 
> Conservatives are known for hating taxes but particularly hate income taxes, which they say have a greater dampening effect on growth. Of the 10 or so Republican governors who have proposed tax increases, nearly all have called for increases in consumption taxes, which hit the poor and middle class harder than the rich.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/u...ing-them-on-affluent.html?abt=0002&abg=0&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Photos Of Couples Married 50 Years And More Capture The Beauty Of Longtime Love*
The Huffington Post | By Kelsey Borresen 
Posted: 02/14/2015 1:35 pm EST Updated: 4 hours ago



> When photographer Tracey Buyce's mom died in 2007, her parents had been married for 46 years. In 2011, she lost her father too.
> 
> Inspired by her parents' long marriage, the Saratoga Springs, New York-based photog embarked on an ongoing photo project in 2014. She started a contest on her blog, asking people to nominate couples who had been married 40 years or more. If chosen, the couple received a free photo session, prints and a flash drive of the images.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...56.html?cps=gravity_1599_-9177995632946611042


----------



## poochee

James Zogby 
President, Arab American Institute; author, 'Arab Voices'

*Obama: Sound Theology and Smart Politics*
Posted: 02/14/2015 9:32 am EST Updated: 02/14/2015 10:59 am EST



> President Obama's remarks, last week, at the annual National Prayer Breakfast were theologically sound and politically smart. In spite of this, his comments set off a storm of criticism from conservative critics who took him to task for both his theology and his politics. While I cannot read their hearts, their rhetoric was so predictable and so harsh, that I suspect some were prompted by a mixture of blind ideology and anti-Muslim animus, coupled with a tinge of racism. More to the point, the President's critics are just plain wrong-- theologically and politically.
> 
> What President Obama said was so profound, it bears repeating:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/obama-sound-theology-and-smart-politics_b_6683630.html


----------



## poochee

*Republican majorities struggle to get Congress working *
By Michael A. Memoli and Lisa Mascaro
February 15, 2015, 6:00 AM|WASHINGTON



> GOP faces impasse over restoring Homeland Security funding and avoiding another partial government shutdown
> Members of Congress, on 1st break since GOP took control Jan. 6, have few achievements besides Keystone
> Congressional Republicans run into old obstacles like partisan paralysis and GOP infighting





> After six weeks in session and 139 roll call votes in a House and Senate that feature some of the largest Republican majorities in generations, one of the most telling statistics from the new Congress is this: President Obama's veto threats outnumber the bills Congress has been able to send him..


http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-gop-congress-assessment-20150215-story.html#page=1


----------



## poochee

*Egypt Launches Airstrikes on ISIS Targets in Libya After Beheadings*
- Charlene Gubash, Alastair Jamieson and Jim Miklaszewski
Reuters contributed to this report
First published February 15th 2015, 10:58 pm

*VIDEO*



> CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt said Monday it had carried out dawn airstrikes against ISIS targets in Libya in revenge for the videotaped beheading of a group of Coptic Christians.
> 
> The country's Armed Forces General Command announced that its fighter jets targeted weapon stores and training camps "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers."


http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/is...s-isis-targets-libya-after-beheadings-n306841


----------



## poochee

*Man Indicted on 3 Counts of Murder in NC Deaths of Muslims
*DURHAM, N.C.  Feb 16, 2015, 3:06 PM ET
Associated Press



> A grand jury in North Carolina indicted a man Monday on three counts of murder in the shootings of three young Muslims in what authorities have said was a dispute over parking spaces.
> 
> Television stations WRAL and WTVD reported a grand jury in Durham County handed up the indictments Monday for 46-year-old Craig Hicks.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/man-indicted-counts-murder-nc-deaths-muslims-29002518


----------



## poochee

Feb 17, 9:44 AM EST

*Federal judge stalls Obama's executive action on immigration *
By JUAN A. LOZANO 
Associated Press



> HOUSTON (AP) -- The White House promised an appeal Tuesday after a federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration and gave a coalition of 26 states time to pursue a lawsuit aiming to permanently stop the orders.
> 
> U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen's decision late Monday puts on hold Obama's orders that could spare from deportation as many as five million people who are in the U.S. illegally.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-17-09-44-24


----------



## poochee

Feb 17, 12:10 PM EST

*Israel's Netanyahu facing new scandal over bloated expenses *
By ARON HELLER 
Associated Press



> The uproar jolted an election campaign in which Netanyahu's opponents have tried to portray him as enjoying a lavish lifestyle and being out of touch with the struggles of average Israelis. Netanyahu's allies angrily dismissed the allegations as part of a campaign to deflect attention from important national security issues.
> 
> In its report released Tuesday, the state comptroller, an official watchdog, cited large sums of public money spent on food, furniture, cleaning and gardening at the couple's official residence in Jerusalem and their private home in the exclusive coastal city of Caesarea. Cleaning expenses in that home alone averaged more than $2,100 a month in taxpayer's money, according to the report, even though the couple only spent the occasional weekend there. It also said they pocketed proceeds from recycling bottles that had been purchased for entertaining official guests. It said the bottle returns, and purchases of garden furniture for their private home, may have violated the law.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-17-12-10-09


----------



## poochee

*What ISIS Really Wants*
_The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Heres what that means for its strategyand for how to stop it.
_
By Graeme Wood 
March 2015



> *What is the Islamic State? *
> 
> Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic States appeal. We have not defeated the idea, he said. We do not even understand the idea. In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as not Islamic and as al-Qaedas jayvee team, statements that reflected confusion about the group, and may have contributed to significant strategic errors.


http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/


----------



## poochee

*CNN/ORC poll: Majority of Americans oppose Netanyahu invite*
Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 2:01 PM ET, Tue February 17, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> The nationwide poll, released Tuesday, shows 63% of Americans say it was a bad move for congressional leadership to extend the invitation without giving President Barack Obama a heads up that it was coming. Only 33% say it was the right thing to do.
> 
> And as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to simmer in the Middle East, the survey found that a similar majority thinks the U.S. should stay out of that fight altogether.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/polit...osition/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_politics


----------



## poochee

*White House: 11.4 million and counting signed up for Obamacare in 2015*
By Jason Millman February 17 at 7:10 PM

*VIDEO:*



__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153217474489238





> About 11.4 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance coverage through Obamacare exchanges by the official end of the law's second-ever enrollment period, the White House announced in a video Tuesday night.
> 
> The announcement indicates the Obama administration will beat its own 2015 enrollment goals after a much quieter sign-up season this year. But the announcement also comes just weeks before the Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the legality of premium subsidies provided through the nearly three dozen states relying on HealthCare.gov for enrollment.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...and-counting-signed-up-for-obamacare-in-2015/


----------



## poochee

*Administration: Millions dont want ObamaCare 'taken away'*
By Sarah Ferris - 02/18/15 12:02 PM EST



> The Obama administration is touting its better-than-expected ObamaCare enrollment period as it turns to next months pivotal Supreme Court fight over the healthcare law.
> 
> Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell argued Wednesday that the 11.4 million sign-ups show the law is now an important part of everyday lives of millions of Americans.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/233093-burwell-takes-victory-lap-on-strong-obamacare-figures


----------



## poochee

Sam Stein 
*Immigration Standoff May End With A Congressional Punt*
Posted: 02/18/2015 12:00 am EST Updated: 4 hours ago



> WASHINGTON -- A federal judge's ruling halting the president's executive actions on immigration did little to persuade either party in Congress to publicly back down from a budget standoff.
> 
> Republicans professed they remained resolved not to fund the Department of Homeland Security without provisions reversing President Barack Obama's expansion of deferred action immigration programs that would allow up to 4.7 million potential recipients to stay and receive work authorization. Democrats, meanwhile, showed no willingness to soften their insistence on "clean" DHS funding, arguing that Republicans could now pursue their case against Obama in court instead of in Congress.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/18/immigration-congress-dhs-funding_n_6702430.html


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama taps Joseph Clancy as Secret Service chief*
By Kendall Breitman
| 2/18/15 1:00 PM EST



> President Barack Obama has named Joseph Clancy as the new permanent head of the Secret Service, the White House confirmed Wednesday.
> 
> Clancy, 58, has served as the agencys acting director since October 2014 after being tapped for the position by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...et-service-director-115290.html#ixzz3S81cxl00


----------



## poochee

*Dinesh DSouza latest offensive tweet takes aim at Obama*
02/18/15 01:33 PM 
By Michele Richinick



> Conservative firebrand Dinesh DSouza is at it again. His latest tweet condemning President Barack Obama forced him to issue a quasi-apology after it triggered widespread criticism within minutes on social media. The offensive comment also had many noting that this was just another blatant attempt for the notorious right-wing figure to garner attention and buzz.
> 
> DSouza  an author, former president of Kings College and convicted felon  posted the following message to his account on Wednesday morning:


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/dinesh-dsouza-latest-offensive-tweet-takes-aim-obama


----------



## poochee

*Obama: ISIS 'aren't religious leaders, they're terrorists'*
By Martin Matishak - 02/18/15 04:42 PM EST

*VIDEO*



> President Obama on Wednesday said he doesnt describe the United States as being at war with radical Islam because he doesnt want to give undue credit to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
> 
> Theyre not religious leaders, theyre terrorists, Obama said of ISIS in remarks at the White Houses summit on countering violent extremism.


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/233146-obama-isis-arent-religious-leaders-theyre-terrorists


----------



## poochee

*Official: U.S. keeping ISIS kill list*
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
Updated 4:59 PM ET, Wed February 18, 2015

*VIDEO*



> (CNN)The United States is maintaining a list of about two dozen or so top ISIS operatives in Iraq and Syria that it hopes to target in airstrikes, according to a senior U.S. official.
> 
> The list essentially amounts to a kill list, since the United States has no troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria to capture ISIS suspects. The No. 1 target on the list is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/18/politics/us-isis-kill-list/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Walmart employees to get raises
* Hadley Malcolm, USA TODAY 1:11 p.m. EST February 19, 2015



> Walmart is raising its minimum wage this year to boost morale and ultimately attract more loyal employees and happier shoppers.
> 
> Half a million Walmart employees at both Walmart and Sam's Club stores will start making at least $9 an hour in April, at least $1.75 more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, the company announced Thursday. By next February, hourly employees will make at least $10 an hour after completing about six months of training.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/02/19/walmart-employees-raises/23666047/


----------



## poochee

*Wayne Barrett: What Rudy Giuliani knows about love  a response to his 'doesn't love America' critique of Obama*
BY Wayne Barrett / 
special to the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / 
Published: Thursday, February 19, 2015, 9:29 PM
/ Updated: Friday, February 20, 2015, 10:49 AM

*VIDEO*



> Rudy Giuliani knows a lot about love.
> 
> Ask Regina Peruggi, the second cousin he grew up with and married, who was "offended" when Rudy later engineered an annulment from the priest who was his best man on the grounds, strangely enough, that she was his cousin. Or ask Donna Hanover, the mother of his two children, who found out he wanted a separation when he left Gracie Mansion one morning and announced it at a televised press conference.
> 
> Or ask Judi Nathan, his third wife, whom he started dating while still married to Hanover and New York mayor. In two SUVs, he and an entourage of six or seven cops traveled 11 times to Judi's Hamptons getaway at a taxpayer cost of $3,000 a trip. That's love.


http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/wayne-barrett-rudy-giuliani-love-article-1.2122253


----------



## poochee

*Obama will seek to lift order against immigration plan*
David Jackson, USA TODAY 1:57 p.m. EST February 20, 2015



> Justice Department lawyers will file papers no later than Monday to stay the order that blocked plans to defer deportations for up to 5 million migrants who are in the country illegally, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ration-plan-stay-appeal-texas-order/23744345/


----------



## poochee

*Democrats Ask John Boehner To Delay Benjamin Netanyahu's Address To Congress*
The Huffington Post | By Sam Levine 
Posted: 02/19/2015 7:11 pm EST Updated: 02/19/2015 7:59 pm EST

*VIDEO*



> Netanyahu's speech, scheduled for March 3, would come as President Barack Obama has urged Congress to hold off on passing additional sanctions against Iran while the United States tries to work out a long-term nuclear deal with the country. The lawmakers said that Boehner's invitation seemed to be an attempt to gain support for new sanctions and had the "potential to harm U.S. foreign policy."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/19/john-boehner-benjamin-netanyahu_n_6717156.html?ir=Politics


----------



## poochee

Donté Stallworth

*Numbers Show Senate Women Get More Done Than Men*
Posted: 02/20/2015 1:03 pm EST Updated: 26 minutes ago



> According to an analysis by Quorum, a new startup in D.C. that offers data on legislators, Senate women have been more likely than their male colleagues over the last six years to introduce legislation. Since the 111th Congress, which was sworn in in 2009, the average female senator submitted 96.31 bills, while the average male senator only submitted 70.72.
> 
> Bills that were introduced by female senators also fared better, receiving an average of 9.10 cosponsors, while male senators received an average 5.94. Quorum also found that female senators' bills made it out of committees more often, and were successfully enacted at a higher rate than those introduced by men.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...698.html?cps=gravity_2429_2697077659129519459


----------



## poochee

*Rudy Giuliani's fall from America's Mayor*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 7:09 PM ET, Fri February 20, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Giuliani's blast, delivered in a closed door Republican dinner, and repeated in a media tour, centers on a claim that Obama was not brought up to "love" his country like most Americans.
> 
> It's a familiar charge from the conservative fringe, that Obama is somehow different and doesn't view America as an exceptional paragon but is obsessed with apologizing for its failings.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/20/politics/politics-rudy-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 20, 3:47 PM EST

*Unwelcome mat: White House tries to counter Netanyahu visit

*By MATTHEW LEE and JULIE PACE 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- In what is becoming an increasingly nasty grudge match, the White House is mulling ways to undercut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming trip to Washington and blunt his message that a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for Israel and the world.
> 
> There are limits. Administration officials have discarded the idea of President Barack Obama himself giving an Iran-related address to rebut the two speeches Netanyahu is to deliver during his early March visit. But other options remain on the table.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-20-15-47-44


----------



## poochee

*Feds sent incorrect tax information to 800,000 people on ObamaCare*
By Peter Sullivan and Sarah Ferris - 02/20/15 10:26 AM EST

*VIDEO*



> When asked Friday if the White House owed taxpayers an apologize, Earnest said the issues would be addressed promptly and people would be able to pay their taxes on time.
> 
> Certainly the American people should hold their government to a high standard and should count on these kinds of operations being implemented effectively, Earnest said. And when they're not, they should expect government officials to step forward and solve them as quickly as possible and that's exactly what they're trying to do,


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...nformation-sent-to-800000-people-on-obamacare


----------



## poochee

*Rieder: Now O'Reilly's under fire for exaggerations*
Rem Rieder, USA TODAY 3:58 p.m. EST February 20, 2015



> In the wake of the flap over NBC anchor Brian Williams exaggerating his exploits while covering combat, another prominent TV news figure has been accused of doing the same thing. This time it's Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.
> 
> Mother Jones magazine said Thursday that O'Reilly has his own "Brian Williams problem" because he has said a number of times that he covered combat on the Falkland Islands during the war between Britain and Argentina in 1982.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...reilly-embellishing-combat-coverage/23733653/


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address*: We Should Make Sure the Future Is Written by Us



> In this week's address, the President underscored the importance of continuing to grow our economy and support good-paying jobs for our workers by opening up new markets for American goods and services.
> 
> While America's businesses, ranchers, and farmers are already exporting goods at record levels, there's more room for growth with 95 percent of the world's customers living outside our borders. In order to pursue new trade agreements, the President called on Congress to pass trade promotion authority so that the U.S. -- not China -- can play a leading role in negotiating 21st century trade deals that protect our workers, support good wages, and help grow the middle class.


*VIDEO:* http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Fact Checker*

*Giulianis false claims about Obamas speeches*
By Glenn Kessler February 22 at 12:49 PM



> Does former Mayor Giuliani not listen to Obamas speeches? The president has consistently expressed love of country and extolled the virtues of the United States in many speeches, while also at times acknowledging what he considered flaws and mistakes made in the past (what critics have labeled an apology tour).
> 
> *Here are a few examples from Obama:*





> *The Pinocchio Test*
> 
> Giuliani must have muted the sound whenever Obama spoke. He certainly has every right to his opinion about the tenor of the presidents remarks. But he has no business claiming something that is so factually incorrect  or easily disproved. He earns four Pinocchios.
> 
> *Four Pinocchios*


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...giulianis-false-claims-about-obamas-speeches/


----------



## poochee

Rebecca Kaplan/Face The Nation/February 22, 2015, 11:49 AM

*DHS Secretary: Giuliani's Obama comments "not helpful"*
Last Updated Feb 22, 2015 1:21 PM EST

*VIDEO*



> In a separate interview, one of Mr. Obama's former longtime political adviser, David Axelrod, weighed on why Mr. Obama's beliefs come under question so frequently.
> 
> "I always believe that the last president kind of sets the terms of the next election and the last president was a very Manichean kind of guy, black and white, saw the world in those terms. America wanted someone who saw the grey, who saw the nuances, who understood the complexities of the world, and who made decisions...about the long-term, and not just the next step, and that is what they got in Barack Obama," Axelrod said. "I don't know why there is confusion. I think that there is nuance and there is an ability to see grey which is really important in the world in which we live."


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeh-johnson-rudy-giuliani-obama-comments-not-helpful/


----------



## poochee

*Mall of America shoppers must be careful amid threats: Johnson*
02/22/15 10:50 AMUpdated 02/22/15 01:03 PM 
By Aliyah Frumin
*
VIDEO*



> Shoppers heading to the famed Mall of America in Minnesota  one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country  need to be especially cautious this weekend, said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, responding to a terror groups call for attacks on U.S. malls.
> 
> If anyone is planning to go to the Mall of America today, theyve got to be particularly careful, Johnson said on CNNs State of the Union Sunday. There will be enhanced security there, but public vigilance, public awareness and public caution in situations like this is particularly important. On NBCs Meet The Press, Johnson elaborated, saying, Im not telling people to not go to the mall. I think that there needs to be an awareness.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/mall-america-shoppers-must-be-careful-amid-threats-johnson


----------



## poochee

Feb 22, 12:00 PM EST

*AP-GfK Poll: Most back Obama plan to raise investment taxes *
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER and EMILY SWANSON 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The rich aren't taxed enough and the middle class is taxed too much. As for your taxes, you probably think they're too high as well.
> 
> Those are the results of an Associated Press-GfK poll that found that most people in the United States support President Barack Obama's proposal to raise investment taxes on high-income families.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-22-12-00-24


----------



## poochee

*US Seeks Stay of Ruling on Obama Immigration Action
*HOUSTON  Feb 23, 2015, 11:53 AM ET
By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press



> The U.S. government asked a federal judge Monday to lift his temporary hold on President Barack Obama's action to shield millions of immigrants from deportation.
> 
> The Justice Department's motion for a stay was filed with the court of U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-seeks-stay-ruling-obama-immigration-action-29163675


----------



## poochee

Feb 23, 1:16 PM EST
*Obama to governors: DHS shutdown would hurt state economies *
By JILL COLVIN 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama warned the nation's governors Monday that a looming shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security would have a direct impact on their states' economies, as well as on security throughout the U.S.
> 
> Obama was hosting the governors at the White House days before the agency's $40 billion budget is set to run out because of a dispute over the president's immigration executive orders. Most of the department's 230,000 employees would have to keep working after the Feb. 27 deadline, but would not receive pay until Congress authorizes funding.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-23-13-16-11


----------



## poochee

Feb 23, 10:39 AM EST
*Phased US-Iran nuclear deal taking shape *
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and GEORGE JAHN 
Associated Press



> GENEVA (AP) -- The United States and Iran are working on a two-phase deal that clamps down on Tehran's nuclear program for at least a decade before providing it leeway over the remainder of the agreement to slowly ramp up activities that could be used to make weapons.
> 
> Officials from some of the six-power talks with Iran said details still needed to be agreed on, with U.S. and Iranian negotiators meeting Monday for the third straight day ahead of an end-of-March deadline for a framework agreement. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined the negotiations after arriving Sunday.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-23-10-39-31


----------



## poochee

Feb 23, 3:32 PM EST

*Historic US-Iran nuclear deal could be taking shape *
By GEORGE JAHN and BRADLEY KLAPPER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Josh Lederman in Washington contributed



> GENEVA (AP) -- Edging toward a historic compromise, the U.S. and Iran reported progress Monday on a deal that would clamp down on Tehran's nuclear activities for at least 10 years but then slowly ease restrictions on programs that could be used to make atomic arms.
> 
> Officials said there were still obstacles to overcome before a March 31 deadline, and any deal will face harsh opposition in both countries. It also would be sure to further strain already-tense U.S. relations with Israel, whose leaders oppose any agreement that doesn't end Iran's nuclear ambitions.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-23-15-32-32


----------



## poochee

Feb 23, 6:19 PM EST

*Saving for retirement: Obama proposal sets up Wall St. fight *
By JIM KUHNHENN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tapping the anxieties of aging baby boomers, President Barack Obama on Monday called for tougher standards on brokers who manage retirement savings accounts, a change that could affect the investment advice received by many Americans and aggravate tensions between the White House and Wall Street.
> 
> The Labor Department submitted a proposal to the White House Monday that would require the brokers who sell stocks, bonds, annuities and other investments to disclose to their clients any fees or other payments they receive for recommending certain investments.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-23-18-19-06


----------



## poochee

Feb 24, 12:43 PM EST

*McConnell: Strip immigration issue from Homeland budget bill *
By ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Charles Babington contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate's top Republican said Tuesday he was shifting tactics as legislation to keep the Department of Homeland Security from a partial shutdown remained stalled in Congress just days from a Friday midnight deadline.
> 
> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., moved to disentangle one of two contested immigration measures from the Homeland Security budget and debate the issues separately.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-24-12-43-09


----------



## poochee

Feb 24, 9:21 PM EST

*In a bind, Republicans offer vote on Homeland Security bill 
*By DAVID ESPO and ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Steven Ohlemacher and Chuck Babington contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- A partial agency shutdown looming, Senate Republicans offered Tuesday to permit a vote on Homeland Security funding legislation stripped of immigration provisions backed by conservatives but strongly opposed by President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats.
> 
> "We could have that vote very quickly," Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said as his party struggled to escape a political predicament of their own making involving an agency with major anti-terrorism responsibilities.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-24-12-43-09


----------



## poochee

Feb 24, 4:32 PM EST

*Defying GOP, Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill *
By JOSH LEDERMAN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defying the Republican-run Congress, President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, wielding his veto power for only the third time in his presidency.





> "The presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously," Obama said in a brief notice delivered to the Senate. "But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-24-16-32-02


----------



## poochee

*Trump says he is serious about 2016 bid, is hiring staff and delaying TV gig*
By Robert Costa February 25 at 3:19 PM



> This time, Donald J. Trump says, he really means it.
> 
> The billionaire real-estate mogul  long amounting to a one-man circus sideshow in GOP presidential politics  said in an interview Wednesday that he is more serious than ever about pursuing a run for the White House in 2016.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...9d3804-bd07-11e4-8668-4e7ba8439ca6_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama vows 'aggressive' defense of immigration actions*
By Mike Lillis - 02/25/15 09:42 PM EST



> President Obama vowed Wednesday to pull no punches in defense of his recent executive actions shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.
> 
> Participating in a town hall-style immigration forum in Miami, the president said a recent ruling against his new immigration policies by a federal judge in Texas was wrongly decided and promised to use all his legal options to ensure the new programs are ultimately adopted.


http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ows-aggressive-defense-of-immigration-actions


----------



## poochee

Matt Sledge
Christopher Mathias

*FBI Arrests 3 Brooklyn Men Suspected Of Planning To Join ISIS*
Posted: 02/25/2015 12:53 pm EST Updated: 46 minutes ago



> The starting point of the investigation was apparently an Uzbek-language jihadi website that included postings that suggested one could achieve martyrdom through killings. One posting traced by authorities to a Brooklyn address read in part: "I am in USA now but we don't have any arms. But is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here? What I'm saying is, to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of the infidels."
> 
> When federal agents arrived at the address, they encountered Juraboev, who quickly confessed that he had posted the messages to the site, that he believed in the Islamic State's agenda, and that he would harm President Barack Obama "if he had the opportunity to do so," according to the affidavit.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/brooklyn-isis-arrests_n_6753034.html


----------



## poochee

*T.J. Maxx and Marshalls hike wages*
02/25/15 05:36 PMUpdated 02/25/15 05:49 PM 
By Suzy Khimm



> On the heels of Wal-Marts recent wage increase, the parent company of retailers T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls unveiled its own plans to raise its workers pay.
> 
> TJX Companies Inc. said it would raise its U.S. workers wages to at least $9 per hour in June and $10 per hour next year for workers who have been employed at the company for at least six months.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/tj-maxx-and-marshalls-hike-wages


----------



## poochee

Feb 26, 1:25 PM EST

*'Jihadi John' raised in UK, studied computers, reports say *
By JILL LAWLESS 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Raphael Satter and Danica Kirka contributed to this report.



> LONDON (AP) -- The world knows him as "Jihadi John," the masked, knife-wielding militant in videos showing Western hostages being beheaded by the Islamic State group. A growing body of evidence suggests he is a London-raised university graduate, described by one man who knew him as kind, gentle and humble.
> 
> The Washington Post and the BBC on Thursday identified the British-accented militant from the chilling videos as Mohammed Emwazi, a man in his mid-20s who was born in Kuwait and raised in a modest, mixed-income area of West London.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-26-13-25-54


----------



## poochee

*FCC passes net neutrality rules*
02/26/15 01:26 PM 
By Julianne Pepitone, NBC News



> The new rules treat broadband providers as "common carriers" under Title II of the Telecommunications Act - the same category as utility companies that provide gas, electricity, etc. - in which all customers have equal access to service.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fcc-passes-net-neutrality-rules


----------



## poochee

By/Stephanie Condon/CBS News/February 27, 2015, 11:58 AM
*DHS funding bill clears the Senate as lawmakers work to avert shutdown*



> Hours before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is slated to shut down, the Senate Friday morning approved a bill to fund the agency through the end of September. The bill passed by a vote of 68 to 31.
> 
> It's unclear, however, how the full Congress will work out its differences to keep the agency running. The Senate bill does not include language to roll back President Obama's executive actions on immigration, as Republicans had hoped for, so the negotiations continue.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-funding-bill-clears-the-senate-but-shutdown-threat-still-looms/


----------



## poochee

Feb 27, 9:34 PM EST
*Prominent Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov shot dead 
*By LAURA MILLS and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV 
Associated Press



> MOSCOW (AP) -- Boris Nemtsov, a charismatic Russian opposition leader and sharp critic of President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down Saturday near the Kremlin, just a day before a planned protest against the government.
> 
> The death of Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister, ignited a fury among opposition figures who assailed the Kremlin for creating an atmosphere of intolerance of any dissent and called the killing an assassination. Putin quickly offered his condolences and called the murder a provocation.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-27-21-34-33


----------



## poochee

Feb 27, 9:40 PM EST

*Congress tries 1-week bill to keep Homeland Security open 
*By DAVID ESPO and ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress struggled late into the night Friday to avoid a partial shutdown of the Homeland Security Department, as leaders in both political parties worked to outmaneuver House conservatives furious that the legislation left President Barack Obama's immigration policy intact.
> 
> "You have made a mess," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said at one point to Republicans, as recriminations filled the House chamber and a midnight deadline neared for a partial agency shutdown.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-27-21-40-47


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Ensuring Hardworking Americans Retire with Dignity*

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, the President reiterated his commitment to middle-class economics, and to ensuring that all hardworking Americans get the secure and dignified retirement they deserve.
> 
> While most financial advisers prioritize their clients futures, there are some who direct their clients towards bad investments in return for back-door payments and hidden fees. Thats why, earlier this week, the President announced that he is calling on the Department of Labor to update rules to protect families from conflicts of interest by requiring financial advisers to put their clients best interest before their own profits.
> 
> The President emphasized his promise to keep fighting for this policy and for others that benefit millions of working and middle-class Americans.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*TRANSCRIPT:* http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...ensuring-hardworking-americans-retire-dignity


----------



## poochee

*Boris Nemtsov Joins List of Dead Vladimir Putin Critics*
LONDON  Feb 28, 2015, 12:08 PM ET
By TERRY MORAN
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

*VIDEO*



> Russias top investigative body says it is looking for a motive in the slaying of prominent opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who joins at least six other critics of Vladimir Putin who have died since his first term as president.
> 
> Nemtsov, 55, was shot several times in the back as he walked by a bridge near the Kremlin late Friday night, according to Russias Investigative Committee. Russia's top investigate body said in a statement Saturday that it was considering several possible motives, including an attempt to destabilize the country, Islamic extremism, the conflict in Ukraine, and Nemtsov's personal life, according to The Associated Press.


http://abcnews.go.com/International...dead-vladimir-putin-critics/story?id=29292143


----------



## poochee

Arthur Delaney 
Alissa Scheller

*Who Gets Food Stamps? White People, Mostly*
 Posted: 02/28/2015 7:30 am EST Updated: 2 hours ago

*CHARTS 
* 


> WASHINGTON -- Gene Alday, a Republican member of the Mississippi state legislature, apologized last week for telling a reporter that all the African-Americans in his hometown of Walls, Mississippi, are unemployed and on food stamps.





> Nationally, most of the people who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are white. According to 2013 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, 40.2 percent of SNAP recipients are white, 25.7 percent are black, 10.3 percent are Hispanic, 2.1 percent are Asian and 1.2 percent are Native American.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/28/food-stamp-demographics_n_6771938.html


----------



## DaveBurnett

Those figures only mean anything if they are compared with the relevant percentages of the total pupulation


----------



## poochee

Feb 28, 12:41 PM EST

*Obama, Netanyahu on collision course 6 years in the making 
*By JULIE PACE and MATTHEW LEE 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- For six years, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions, a high-stakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies.
> 
> The coming weeks will put the relationship between their countries, which otherwise remain stalwart allies, to one of its toughest tests.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-28-12-41-57


----------



## poochee

Mar 1, 12:38 PM EST

*Thousands march in Russia to mourn Putin critic Nemtsov 
*By LAURA MILLS and LYNN BERRY 
Associated Press
Irina Titova in St. Petersburg, Russia, contributed to this report.



> MOSCOW (AP) -- Carrying flowers, portraits and signs that said "I am not afraid," tens of thousands of people somberly marched Sunday in Moscow to mourn opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, whose slaying on the streets of the capital has shaken Russia's beleaguered opposition.
> 
> The mourners marched to the bridge near the Kremlin where Nemtsov was gunned down shortly before midnight Friday. Chanting "we'll not forget, we'll not forgive" and waving Russian flags, the crowd filled the road along the Moscow River embankment. Many tied black ribbons to railings along the way.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-01-12-38-26


----------



## poochee

*Pentagon bans foreign-made flags*
By Tim Devaney - 03/01/15 12:43 PM EST



> American flags made overseas will be prohibited at U.S. military bases around the world under new rules from the Department of Defense.
> 
> The Defense Department is moving to purchase only American-made flags for use by the military in response to congressional requirements.


http://thehill.com/regulation/defense/234257-pentagon-bans-foreign-made-flags


----------



## poochee

Mar 2, 2:49 PM EST
*Boehner leaves open possible vote on Dem-backed DHS bill 
*By DAVID ESPO 
AP Special Correspondent



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Speaker John Boehner left open the possibility Monday of passage of long-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security without immigration provisions attached, as his alternatives dwindled for avoiding a capitulation to the White House and Democrats.
> 
> Boehner declined to say over the weekend if he would permit a vote on the Senate-passed measure, and his spokesman similarly sidestepped the question on Monday. Officials in both parties predict it would pass, and end the recurring threat of a partial agency shutdown.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-02-14-49-25


----------



## poochee

Mar 3, 12:43 PM EST

*GOP: House to vote on Homeland bill without conditions *
By ERICA WERNER and DAVID ESPO 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a major victory for President Barack Obama, the Republican-led House relented on Tuesday and will back legislation to fund the Homeland Security Department through the end of the budget year, without restrictions on immigration.
> 
> House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, outlined the dwindling options for his deeply divided GOP caucus on Tuesday morning after the Senate left the House with little choice. Boehner pointed out that the issue is now in the hands of the courts.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-03-12-43-32


----------



## poochee

By/Rebecca Kaplan/CBS News/March 3, 2015, 11:12 AM

*Netanyahu slams Iran negotiations as a "very bad deal" before Congress*
Last Updated Mar 3, 2015 12:43 PM EST

*VIDEO*



> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Congress to reject the Obama administration's negotiations with five other world powers and Iran that would allow the regime to have a nuclear program for peaceful reasons.





> Netanyahu is a staunch opponent of the ongoing negotiations, fearing that it will allow Iranian leaders to continue secretly building a nuclear bomb that could pose a major threat to Israel's security. But the nature of his speech - two weeks before the Israeli elections, and at the sole invitation of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio - has injected his appearance with a degree of partisanship and caused some friction in the U.S.-Israeli relationship.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/netanyahu-lobbies-against-iran-talks-in-speech-to-congress/


----------



## poochee

*House passes clean bill to fund Department of Homeland Security*
03/03/15 10:07 AMUpdated 03/03/15 04:03 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma

*VIDEO*



> Rather than risk shutting down critical operations at the Department of Homeland Security, House Republicans threw in the towel Tuesday afternoon and passed a clean bill to keep the agency running  no strings attached.
> 
> The final 257-167 vote marked an end to congressional Republican efforts to use DHS funding as leverage against President Obamas executive actions on immigration. The bill now heads to Obamas desk, and he is expected to sign the measure.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/boehner-call-vote-clean-dhs-funding-bill


----------



## poochee

March 03, 2015, 02:29 pm 
*Obama pans Bibi speech as 'nothing new'*
By David McCabe
*
VIDEO*



> There was nothing new in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama told reporters Tuesday in an 11-minute rebuttal from the Oval Office.
> 
> While the president said he missed the speech due to a call with European leaders, he criticized the address as lacking a "viable alternative" to his pursuit of a nuclear accord with Iran.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/234463-obama-pans-bibi-speech-as-nothing-new


----------



## poochee

*Would Bibis plan work?*
_Experts doubt harder line could change Irans nuclear equation.

_By Michael Crowley
3/3/15 8:14 PM EST



> Many experts who closely track the Iran nuclear negotiations agreed that imposing major new demands or extending economic sanctions on Iran  the course advocated by Netanyahu  carries its own risks.





> Theres no guarantee that additional pressure on Iran at this time would lead to a better deal, or to Tehran giving up more of its nuclear infrastructure, said Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the nonpartisan Washington-based Arms Control Association. What it risks doing is pushing Iran away from the negotiations and killing the prospects for a good deal that blocks Irans pathways to a nuclear weapon.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/benjamin-netanyahus-flawed-vision-115735.html#ixzz3TOGtI9ck


----------



## poochee

*Sen. Lindsey Graham apologizes for Pelosi 'surgeries' comment*
03/03/15 08:29 PM-Updated 03/03/15 10:49 PM 
By Frank Thorp



> According to a Bloomberg report, Graham said the following of Pelosi at a private fund-raiser after the address: "Did you see Nancy Pelosi on the [House] floor? Complete disgust. If you can get through all the surgeries, there's disgust."


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sen-lindsey-graham-apologizes-pelosi-surgeries-comment


----------



## poochee

Mar 4, 1:38 PM EST

*US clears officer in Ferguson case, criticizes police force 
*By ERIC TUCKER 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department won't prosecute a former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black 18-year-old, but in a scathing report released Wednesday faulted the city and its law enforcement for racial bias and unconstitutional practices.
> 
> Federal officials concluded there was no evidence to disprove former officer Darren Wilson's testimony that he feared for his safety, nor were there reliable witness accounts to establish that Michael Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-04-12-56-41


----------



## poochee

Mar 4, 1:20 PM EST

*Justices sharply divided over health care law subsidies *
By MARK SHERMAN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court was sharply divided Wednesday in the latest challenge to President Barack Obama's health overhaul, this time over the tax subsidies that make insurance affordable for millions of Americans.
> 
> The justices aggressively questioned lawyers on both sides of what Justice Elena Kagan called "this never-ending saga," the latest politically charged fight over the Affordable Care Act.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-04-13-20-09


----------



## poochee

*For the first time since 1984, unemployment fell in every state and D.C. last year*
By Niraj Chokshi March 4 at 12:30 PM

*CHARTS*



> For the first time in three decades, unemployment fell in every state and the District of Columbia last year.
> 
> The last time that happened, in 1984, Apple was unveiling the original Macintosh. Nearly half the nation  24 states  saw the unemployment rate drop by one percentage point or more last year. Illinois saw the biggest decline, of 2 percentage points. Colorado, North Carolina and Ohio each saw a 1.8 point decline. North Dakota and Alaska saw the smallest declines of 0.1 percentage points.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...oyment-fell-in-every-state-and-d-c-last-year/


----------



## poochee

*Senate Fails to Override Obama's Veto of Pipeline Bill
*WASHINGTON  Mar 4, 2015, 3:52 PM ET
By DINA CAPPIELLO Associated Press



> The Senate on Wednesday failed to override President Barack Obama's veto of a bill to construct the Keystone XL pipeline, the first of many confrontations between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House this year over energy policy.
> 
> The 62-37 vote is expected to be one of many veto showdowns between Republicans and Obama in his final term. Already, the White House has issued more than a dozen veto threats on legislation.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/senate-fails-override-obamas-veto-pipeline-bill-29389611


----------



## poochee

March 04, 2015, 03:34 pm 
*Obama signs funding bill for Homeland Security*
By Ben Kamisar



> President Obama on Wednesday signed a bill on Wednesday that fully funds the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/234624-obama-signs-funding-bill-for-homeland-security


----------



## poochee

*Bipartisan bill aims to close gun loophole*
03/04/15 03:44 PMUpdated 03/04/15 04:41 PM 
By Michele Richinick



> A bipartisan group of legislators reintroduced a gun control bill Wednesday, nearly two years after the U.S. Senate failed to pass a measure that would have closed the federal loophole in the background checks system.
> 
> The four Republicans and four Democrats who are co-sponsoring the measure are seeking to expand background checks to prevent criminals and people with severe mental illnesses from buying guns during every commercial sale. A loophole in the federal system currently allows people to buy firearms sold online and at gun shows without first passing a background check.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bipartisan-legislation-aims-close-gun-loophole


----------



## poochee

*McConnell tells states to blow off EPA*
03/05/15 10:59 AM 
By Jane C. Timm



> Sen. Mitch McConnell encouraged states to defy federal environmental regulations by simply ignoring them in an op-ed published in Wednesdays Lexington Herald-Leader.
> 
> The Republican Senate Majority leader is protesting the Environmental Protection Agencys attempts to slash greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants; once the agency finalizes their rules this summer, theyll ask states to submit a plan detailing their plans to implement the regulation.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/mcconnell-tells-states-blow-off-epa


----------



## poochee

*US economy creates 295,000 jobs in February*
03/06/15 08:35 AMUpdated 03/06/15 09:09 AM 
By Suzy Khimm

*VIDEO*



> The U.S. economy created 295,000 jobs in February, defying expectations that the bitter winter weather in the Northeast might significantly depress job growth, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5%.
> 
> February jobs report marks the 12th consecutive month that the economy has added more than 200,000 jobs per month, indicating that the pace of the recovery has gained steam and that the economy is in a robust period of economic expansion.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/us-economy-creates-295000-jobs-february


----------



## poochee

*Rep. Don Young: Wolves would solve homelessness*
By Colby Itkowitz March 5 at 3:17 PM
*
VIDEO*



> The strange comment was made during a halting five-minute exchange with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on her agencys budget. He accused her and her department of making decisions without consulting the states theyd affect.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...would-solve-homelessness/?tid=pm_politics_pop


----------



## poochee

*On Selma's 50th anniversary, Obama will look to the future *
By Christi Parsons 
March 6, 2015, 5:00 AM|Reporting from WASHINGTON



> *SHARELINES*
> 
> t▼
> Obama at Selma this weekend, an event laden with historical significance
> 
> t▼
> Obama is laying out plans, friends say, for a busy post-presidential period focusing on socioeconomic issues
> 
> t▼
> In Selma, President Obama will address an audience roiled by injustices of its own time





> President Obama will mark the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march in Selma, Ala., on Saturday, but he will be focused less on the past than on the future, particularly the agenda he hopes to carry out beyond his time in office..


http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-obama-selma-post-presidency-20150306-story.html#page=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama Condemns Ferguson Police For 'Oppressive And Abusive' Tactics*
Reuters 
Posted: 03/06/2015 5:20 pm EST Updated: 22 minutes ago 
By Carey Gillam and Julia Edwards



> March 6 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama condemned the Missouri city of Ferguson on Friday for "oppressive and abusive" actions against African-Americans that were laid bare in a U.S. Justice Department report accusing police and court officials of racial bias.
> 
> The president's comments came as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday dismantling the city's police department was a possibility.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/06/obama-ferguson-police_n_6819850.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 6, 10:25 PM EST

*Ohio terrorism suspect says he would've shot President Obama* 
By LISA CORNWELL and MITCH STACY 
Associated Press



> WXIX-TV in Cincinnati said Christopher Lee Cornell called it from the Kentucky jail where he's being held, confessed to being a supporter of the Islamic State group and said he planned to kill government officials in retaliation for U.S. strikes on the militant organization.
> 
> Cornell, asked by the interviewer what he would have done had he not been arrested in January, said he would have taken one of his guns, "I would have put it to Obama's head, I would have pulled the trigger, then I would unleash more bullets on the Senate and House of Representative members, and I would have attacked the Israeli embassy and various other buildings."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-06-22-25-45


----------



## poochee

Mar 7, 12:36 PM EST

*Thousands gather to commemorate Bloody Sunday anniversary 
*By JAY REEVES 
Associated Press
Associated Press reporter Darlene Superville contributed from Washington.



> SELMA, Ala. (AP) -- Thousands of people gathered in Selma, Alabama on Saturday morning ahead of a speech by President Barack Obama at the 50th anniversary of a landmark event of the civil rights movement.
> 
> Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and about 100 members of Congress are converging on the town of roughly 20,000 to commemorate "Bloody Sunday," the day in 1965 when police attacked marchers demonstrating for voting rights.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-07-12-36-11


----------



## poochee

*Menendez expected to face criminal corruption charges*
By Sari Horwitz, Carol D. Leonnig and Sean Sullivan March 6 at 4:19 PM 
*
VIDEO*



> The Department of Justice is planning to bring criminal corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a U.S. official confirmed Friday, casting renewed attention on the question of whether the senator used his powers to improperly benefit a close ally and political donor.
> 
> The charges, which the Justice Department could unveil within weeks, are expected to stem from an investigation involving Menendez and Salomon Melgen, a Florida-based ophthalmologist who has donated to Menendez and other Democrats and is a close friend of the senator's.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...expected-to-face-criminal-corruption-charges/


----------



## poochee

*GOP braces for ObamaCare win*
By Sarah Ferris - 03/07/15 11:45 AM EST



> Republicans are under pressure to prove they can avert a massive healthcare meltdown if the party wins its latest ObamaCare battle in the Supreme Court this spring.
> 
> Some of that pressure is being brought to bear, at least implicitly, by the justices themselves, who appear concerned over whether Congress can create a fully baked alternative plan if the court strikes down ObamaCare subsidies for 8 million people.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/234941-even-if-scotus-rules-its-way-gop-faces-obamacare-dilemma


----------



## poochee

*A single photo that tells the powerful story of the 50th anniversary of Selma
* By Chris Cillizza March 7 at 4:09 PM

*VIDEO*



> President Obama delivered a stirring address this afternoon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" marches in Selma, Alabama, a day that fundamentally transformed the fight for civil rights in America.
> 
> The speech, which I've put in full below, was Obama at his absolute best: the address functioned as a reflection on the sacrifices of the past, the gains of the present and the challenges of the future.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...erful-story-of-the-50th-anniversary-of-selma/


----------



## poochee

*
Tens of thousands fill Rabin Square for anti-Netanyahu rally*
_Ex-Mossad chief Dagan intensifies attack on PM as demonstrators pour into central Tel Aviv for Israel wants change event
_By Times of Israel staff March 7, 2015, 8:16 pm



> An estimated 40,000 demonstrators poured into Tel Avivs Rabin Square Saturday evening to take part in a rally calling for a change in government.





> Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan headlined the speakers who took to the podium to address the teeming crowd. Having unleashed harsh criticism of the Netanyahu administration in an interview aired Friday, Dagan again attacked the prime minister, saying we have a leader who fights only one campaign  the campaign for his own political survival.


http://www.timesofisrael.com/tens-of-thousands-fill-rabin-square-for-anti-netanyahu-rally/


----------



## poochee

By/Rebecca Kaplan/*Face The Nation*/March 8, 2015, 10:34 AM
*Obama on Iran: If there's no deal, then we walk away*



> "If we cannot verify that they are not going to obtain a nuclear weapon, that there's a breakout period so that even if they cheated we would be able to have enough time to take action. If we don't have that kind of deal, then we're not going to take it," Mr. Obama said.
> 
> The administration and five other world powers have until March 24 to reach an agreement with Iran. The U.S. wants to see Iran abandon its ambitions for a nuclear weapon, but would still allow the country to enrich plutonium for peaceful purposes.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-on-iran-if-theres-no-deal-then-we-walk-away/


----------



## poochee

_Candid Conversations On How Successful Women Do All That They Do_ 
Moira Forbes Forbes Staff
ForbesWoman 3/06/2015 @ 1:33PM

*5 Reasons For Optimism This International Women's Day*



> While women clearly still face significant obstacles in achieving the gender parity we all hope for, this shouldnt completely overshadow the huge strides women are making as leaders, innovators, and money-earners. In fact, we are breaking new ground in every industry and closing, albeit slowly, the infamous wage gap every year.
> 
> As we celebrate the 107th annual International Womens Day this Sunday, March 8th, here are some examples of the notable progress women have made and how women are changing the face of power and wielding influence to positively impact all aspects of our globally-connected world.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/moirafo...s-for-optimism-this-international-womens-day/


----------



## poochee

*Thousands flood the streets in Selma on 'Bloody Sunday'*
03/08/15 03:26 PM-Updated 03/08/15 05:11 PM 
By Trymaine Lee
*
VIDEO*



> SELMA, Alabama - One day after President Barack Obama gave a momentous speech at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where he urged Americans to fight for racial equality, thousands of people filled the streets of Selma on Sunday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 voting rights campaign.





> The march will continue Monday morning from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, following the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr. on his journey to make voting possible for African-Americans in the South.


 http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/selma-jeh-johnson-family-connection-church


----------



## poochee

*GOP senators warn Iranian leaders on deal*
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 1:10 PM ET, Mon March 9, 2015
*
VIDEOS*



> Washington (CNN)Nearly every Senate Republican has signed on to an open letter to Iran's leaders warning that without their approval, any Iran nuclear deal signed by President Barack Obama will be null and void after he leaves office.





> The warning could have the added effect of further complicating already delicate talks between the two nations aimed at reigning in Iran's nuclear program. And Democrats on Monday accused Republicans of attempting to do just that, with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin calling it a "cynical effort by Republican Senators to undermine sensitive international negotiations."


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/politics/gop-senators-letter-to-iran/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Islamic State appears to be fraying from within*
By Liz Sly March 8 at 8:34 PM
Hussam al-Rifaie and Mustafa Salim contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> BEIRUT  The Islamic State *appears to be starting to fray from within, as dissent, defections and setbacks on the battlefield sap the groups strength and erode its aura of invincibility among those living under its despotic rule.
> 
> Reports of rising tensions between foreign and local fighters, aggressive and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to recruit local citizens for the front lines, and a growing incidence of guerrilla attacks against Islamic State targets suggest the militants are struggling to sustain their carefully cultivated image as a fearsome fighting force drawing Muslims together under the umbrella of a utopian Islamic state.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...276-11e4-a188-8e4971d37a8d_story.html?hpid=z1


----------



## poochee

*Joe Biden: GOP senators Iran letter offends me*
03/09/15 10:47 PMUpdated 03/09/15 11:29 PM 
By Adam Howard
Additional reporting by Michele Richinick

*VIDEOS*



> In thirty-six years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which Senators wrote directly to advise another country-much less a longtime foreign adversary  that the president does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them, Biden wrote. This letter sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that that our Commander-in-Chief cannot deliver on Americas commitments-a message that is as false as it is dangerous.
> 
> He added: The decision to undercut our president and circumvent our constitutional system offends me as a matter of principle. As a matter of policy, the letter and its authors have also offered no viable alternative to the diplomatic resolution with Iran that their letter seeks to undermine.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/joe-biden-gop-senators-iran-letter-offends-me


----------



## poochee

*Ferguson judge resigns, state supreme court to take all municipal cases*
03/09/15 07:43 PMUpdated 03/09/15 08:17 PM 
By Rachel Kleinman
*
VIDEO*



> On the heels of a scathing Justice Department report, the fraught city of Ferguson, Missouri, is already seeing some significant changes.
> 
> After Ferguson municipal judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer declared his resignation on Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court announced that starting next week and until further notice, all Ferguson municipal court cases will be reassigned to the circuit court to help restore public trust and confidence in the Ferguson municipal court division, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/state-supreme-court-takes-over-ferguson-municipal-court-cases


----------



## poochee

*
GOP dissenters: Iran letter could backfire*
_Republicans could alienate Democrats whose votes are needed to override an Iran sanctions veto._
By Burgess Everett and Michael Crowley
3/9/15 10:45 PM EDT



> Not every Senate Republican signed on to Sen. Tom Cottons extraordinary letter to Irans leaders, and several of those who didnt are fuming about the freshman senators Monday-morning foray into nuclear diplomacy.
> 
> Some of the seven dissenters told POLITICO they have doubts about Cottons move, saying there are more effective means to force President Barack Obama to address Congress concerns about the deal.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...-gop-dissenters-say-115922.html#ixzz3U0WlvcNP


----------



## poochee

*Oklahoma fraternity faces more racism allegations*
03/10/15 11:45 AMUpdated 03/10/15 01:09 PM 
By Jane C. Timm
*
VIDEOS*



> The University of Oklahoma expelled two students on Tuesday for playing a leadership role in racially-charged chants on a school bus during a Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity event, according to a university release.





> The expulsions come as new allegations of racism within SAE emerged on Monday, fueling the outrage and the ongoing investigation into the fraternitys discriminatory behavior.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/oklahoma-fraternity-faces-more-racism-allegations


----------



## poochee

March 10, 2015, 05:24 pm 
*Clinton team provides Q-and-A detailing how emails were turned over
* By David McCabe



> The document from the Clinton team was the latest attempt to put out the growing firestorm over Clinton's use of a private email account while she worked at the State Department. It arrived in journalists' inboxes after Clinton spoke to reporters about the controversy publicly for the first time.





> The State department has said its own review of the emails will take "several months" and that the documents will be posted online once that process is complete.


*Read the full document here:* http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...reveals-how-they-selected-emails-to-turn-over


----------



## poochee

Amanda Terkel 
*Hawkish Republican Congressman Uneasy With GOP Senators' Letter To Iran*
Posted: 03/10/2015 11:42 am EDT Updated: 3 hours ago

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON -- Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a frequent critic of President Barack Obama's foreign policies, expressed his disapproval Tuesday of a letter that GOP senators sent to Iran trying to undermine the president's nuclear negotiations.





> "I believe in a strong presidency. I don't know if I would have signed the letter. I don't trust the president on this, quite frankly, though I don't know if I'd go public with it to a foreign government," he said, adding that it sets the wrong "precedent" to publicly go to a foreign government to undermine the president of the United States while he or she is dealing with that country.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/peter-king-iran_n_6839324.html


----------



## poochee

*Bon voyage, Rush Limbaugh*

*VIDEO*



> Five years ago, Rush Limbaugh promised that if the ACA is completely implemented and working by today, hed leave the country. Well, its time to make good on that promise.


http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/bon-voyage--rush-limbaugh-411307587686


----------



## poochee

*Ferguson City Manager John Shaw resigns after scathing DOJ report
*03/10/15 09:08 PMUpdated 03/10/15 11:54 PM 
By Benjamin Landy
*
VIDEO*



> The shakeup continues.
> 
> Ferguson City Manager John Shaw resigned Tuesday night, the latest in a series of resignations and firings that have taken place in the wake of a scathing Justice Department report that condemned the Missouri city for repeated constitutional and civil rights violations against black residents by its police department and courts.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ferguson-city-manager-john-shaw-resigns


----------



## poochee

*Backfired: Lawmakers sour on Iran letter*
03/11/15 10:18 AMUpdated 03/11/15 01:45 PM 
By Jane C. Timm

*VIDEOS*



> It was ill-advised. It was sophomoric in many ways and I think it gave comfort to our enemies and pause to our allies, Democratic Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer said on Wednesdays Morning Joe.
> 
> Were in the last throes of negotiations and 47 senators interject themselves into this in a totally inappropriate, unprecedented way, he said.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lawmakers-sour-iran-letter-tom-cotton


----------



## poochee

*Ferguson Police Chief Resigns a Week After Justice Department Report*
Mar 11, 2015, 4:57 PM ET
By MEGHAN KENEALLY
*
VIDEO*



> Embattled Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson resigned today from his post in the wake of the Justice Department's report on widespread racial bias in the Missouri city's government, according to a city spokesman.
> 
> Jackson's resignation, which was announced this afternoon by city spokesman Jeff Small, makes him the sixth person who has been fired or forced to resign since the report was released March 4 detailing what it described as rampant racial bias in policing in the St. Louis suburb.


 http://abcnews.go.com/US/ferguson-p...k-justice-department-report/story?id=29560538


----------



## poochee

*Secret Service agents investigated for driving car into White House barrier*
By Carol D. Leonnig March 11 at 5:35 PM
 Julie Tate contributed to this report.



> The administration is investigating allegations that two senior Secret Service agents, including a top member of President Obamas protective detail, drove a government car into White House security barricades after drinking at a late-night party last week, an agency official said Wednesday.
> 
> Officers on duty who witnessed the March 4 incident wanted to arrest the agents and conduct sobriety tests, according to a current and a former government official familiar with the incident. But the officers were ordered by a supervisor on duty that night to let the agents go home, said these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal matter.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...853906-c7ff-11e4-a199-6cb5e63819d2_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Madeleine Albright: Senate Iran letter 'outrageous'*
Susan Page, USA TODAY 11:33 p.m. EDT March 11, 2015

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON  Former secretary of State Madeleine Albright decried the open letter to Iranian leaders signed by 47 Republican senators as "unprecedented and fairly outrageous," weakening the U.S. negotiating position and imperiling ongoing nuclear talks.
> 
> "It's as if somebody had written, a group of members of Congress had written a letter to [Soviet leader Nikita] Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis and prevented some agreement to be made," she told Capital Download on Wednesday. "I'm surprised it's even legal, frankly."


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/11/capital-download-madeleine-albright/70154166/


----------



## poochee

Ryan J. Reilly 
*Eric Holder Condemns 'Heinous' Shooting Of Police Officers In Ferguson*
Posted: 03/12/2015 10:49 am EDT Updated: 41 minutes ago 
*
VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> The officers were shot early Thursday morning just as protests were winding down at the Ferguson Police Department following the resignation of the city's police chief.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/12/eric-holder-ferguson-shooting_n_6855156.html


----------



## DaveBurnett

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that that shot came from a supporter of either the (ex)Mayor or the police.


----------



## poochee

Jessica Schulberg 
Ryan Grim 
*Bibi Using Congressional Address In New Campaign Ad, Just As Critics Warned*
Posted: 03/12/2015 1:38 pm EDT Updated: 8 minutes ago
Additional reporting by Yishai Schwartz.

*VIDEO *



> The United States has a policy of not meeting with foreign leaders in advance of elections, so as not to appear to be tilting the electoral balance. But Netanyahu insisted that his motivations had nothing to do with the election, and that the timing of the speech was demanded by the urgency of the Iran nuclear negotiations. There was simply no time to waste.
> 
> Already, however, Netanyahu is using his speech as a prop in a campaign commercial back in Israel, where the prime minister is shown basking in the applause of members of Congress who did not boycott his speech.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/12/bibi-campaign-ad_n_6856826.html


----------



## poochee

*Kerry, Ayatollah denounce GOP letter to Iran *
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 11:52 AM ET, Thu March 12, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Khamenei dismissed the letter as "part of their ploys and tricks," according to Iran's official state outlet, Press TV. The senators, who are highly critical of the deal being worked out, wrote the Islamic Republic to warn its leaders of Congress's role in approving and implementing any agreement.
> 
> Khamenei's comments came the day after Secretary of State John Kerry slammed the letter in a Senate hearing and said his reaction to it had been "utter disbelief." President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other senior administration figures have also taken strong exception to the GOP move.


 http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/11/politics/john-kerry-iran-letter-hearing/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Ted Cruz meets the sound of silence*
03/12/15 02:55 PMUpdated 03/12/15 06:59 PM 
By Steve Benen
*
VIDEO*



> Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has only been in the Senate for a couple of years, but hes been a popular fixture on the Republican speaking circuit. In fact, the far-right Texan has become quite an accomplished orator, delivering polished, red-meat speeches, without notes or a teleprompter, complete with predetermined pauses for applause.
> 
> But what happens when Cruz strays from the Republican bubble and delivers the same remarks to less partisan audiences that dont applaud the applause lines? Dave Weigel reported this week on the senators appearance at International Association of Firefighters bipartisan summit.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/ted-cruz-meets-the-sound-silence


----------



## poochee

*Obama to visit Phoenix VA months after scandal*
Kevin Liptak, CNN White House producer
Updated 8:46 AM ET, Fri March 13, 2015



> At the Phoenix VA Medical Center, Obama will meet with the new VA Secretary Bob McDonald, veterans and VA employees to hear directly about the agency's progress toward correcting the errors that drew widespread anger last year.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/politics/obama-va/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Giuliani to Obama: Be more like Bill Cosby*
03/13/15 08:44 AM 
By Jane C. Timm



> Just a month after causing an uproar by questioning President Barack Obamas patriotism, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is back on his favorite talking point: the president.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/giuliani-obama-be-more-bill-cosby


----------



## poochee

*Tom Cotton picked apart by Army general over mutinous Iran letter*
By Jonathan Capehart March 13 at 10:29 AM



> What Senator Cotton did is a gross breach of discipline, and especially as a veteran of the Army, he should know better, Eaton told me. I have no issue with Senator Cotton, or others, voicing their opinion in opposition to any deal to halt Irans nuclear progress. Speaking out on these issues is clearly part of his job. But to directly engage a foreign entity, in this way, undermining the strategy and work of our diplomats and our Commander in Chief, strains the very discipline and structure that our foreign relations depend on, to succeed. The consequences of Cottons missive were plainly apparent to Eaton. The breach of discipline is extremely dangerous, because undermining our diplomatic efforts, at this moment, brings us another step closer to a very costly and perilous war with Iran, he said.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ver-mutinous-iran-letter/?tid=pm_opinions_pop


----------



## poochee

*Israeli Opposition Party Takes Solid Lead In Last Polls Before Election*
Reuters | By Luke Baker 
Posted: 03/13/2015 3:31 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago



> JERUSALEM, March 13 (Reuters) - Israel's center-left opposition is poised for an upset victory in national elections next week, with the last opinion polls before the March 17 vote giving it a solid lead over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party.
> 
> Polls in two of Israel's leading newspapers predicted the Zionist Union would secure 25 or 26 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, against 21 or 22 for Likud. All polls in the past three days have given the same margin of victory.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/israeli-election-opposition-lead_n_6865892.html


----------



## poochee

*What Happened To Putin?*
Reuters 
Posted: 03/13/2015 12:57 pm EDT Updated: 03/13/2015 3:59 pm EDT
(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin, Denis Pinchuk, Ludmila Zaramenskikh, Polina Devitt, Ludmila Danilova, Anton Derbenev, Alessandra Prentice, Ralph Boulton and Thomas Grove; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
*
VIDEOS*



> MOSCOW, March 13 (Reuters) - A wave of savage mockery broke over President Vladimir Putin across the Internet on Friday, sparked by days of absence from public view, despite official insistence it was business as usual in the Kremlin.
> 
> State television footage of Putin working at his residence failed to quell the tide of fantastical theories circulating online that the 62-year-old Kremlin leader had died, been deposed, or traveled to Switzerland to watch his girlfriend give birth.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/what-happened-to-putin_n_6864750.html


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: A Student Aid Bill of Rights*

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, President Obama laid out his vision for quality, affordable higher education for all Americans.
> 
> Today, a college degree is the surest ticket to the middle class and beyond, but it has also never been more expensive. Everyone, from elected officials to universities to business leaders, has a part to play in making college affordable for all students. The President has already made historic investments in college education affordability, and earlier this week, he announced a Student Aid Bill of Rights  a set of guiding principles behind his vision for affordable education.
> 
> In his address the President urged everyone to visit WhiteHouse.gov/CollegeOpportunity and sign this declaration, because together we can ensure students who work hard for a college degree do not graduate saddled with debt.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*TRANSCRIPT: * https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/03/13/weekly-address-student-aid-bill-rights


----------



## poochee

*Pro-ObamaCare groups make late-enrollment push*
By Peter Sullivan - 03/14/15 10:57 AM EDT



> The Obama administration and health reform advocates are gearing up for a new push to sign people up for the Affordable Care Act as enrollment reopens on Sunday for a limited time.
> 
> The so-called special enrollment period begins Sunday and ends on April 30. It is designed to fall around tax-filing season, giving people a chance to sign up if they realize only while filing their taxes that they have to pay a penalty for not having insurance.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/235725-pro-obamacare-groups-make-late-enrollment-push


----------



## poochee

Mar 15, 12:21 AM EDT

*White House warns Senate anew on Iran legislation *
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 
Associated Press
The Huffington Post first reported on McDonough's letter.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House delivered a fresh warning to the Senate late Saturday to stay out of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, asserting that pending legislation would likely have a "profoundly negative impact" on the ongoing talks.
> 
> President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker in a letter that legislation sponsored by the Tennessee Republican would go far beyond ensuring a role for Congress in any deal with Iran.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-15-00-21-19


----------



## poochee

*John Kerry lashes out: 'I'm not going to apologize'*
03/15/15 11:21 AM-Updated 03/15/15 12:14 PM 
By Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*



> Asked if he'd take responsibility for the letter Arkansas' Sen. Tom Cotton wrote to Iran opposing the nuclear deal the country and the U.S. are trying to negotiate, Kerry said "not on your life."
> 
> "I'm not going to apologize for the unconstitutional, un-thought-out action by somebody who's been in the United States Senate for 60-something days," Kerry said on CBS' "Face the Nation," pointed at Cotton. "That's just inappropriate."


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/john-kerry-lashes-out-im-not-going-apologize


----------



## poochee

Mar 15, 11:40 AM EDT
AP
Kerry asserts obstacles to Iran nuke pact mostly 'political'



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry, returning to talks with Iran on its nuclear program, said Sunday that most of the differences still barring an agreement are political rather than technical.
> 
> Kerry was to meet in Switzerland with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. The two sides are working to get a deal by the end of March.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-15-11-40-56


----------



## poochee

*St. Louis PD: Arrest made in Ferguson police shooting
*03/15/15 01:53 PMUpdated 03/15/15 03:59 PM 
By Anna Brand and Jane C. Timm
*
VIDEO*



> Williams acknowledged his participation in the shooting, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said, but says that he was trying to shoot someone else when he fired a 40 mm handgun. Were not sure we completely buy that part of it, McCulloch said Sunday afternoon at a press conference, but said the investigation would determine whether that was true or if he Williams was targeting the police. Either way, it is still a Class A felony, he added.
> 
> Williams, who is African-American, was a member of the Ferguson protests, McCulloch noted, and had been at the rally as a demonstrator earlier in the night. His arrest was a direct result of tips from the community, information that proved invaluable in the investigation.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/st-louis-pd-arrest-made-ferguson-police-shootings


----------



## DaveBurnett

Now THAT I want to see - someone firing a 40mm handgun. I hope they mean a .40 calibre.......


----------



## poochee

*Obama's 7 best zingers at D.C. insiders' annual dinner*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 2:41 PM ET, Sun March 15, 2015



> Washington (CNN)It's not every year President Barack Obama addresses Washington's annual Gridiron Club dinner, an event that brings together some of the city's most prominent journalists and the government officials they cover.





> Here are the top seven moments from Obama's joke-filled address to the crowd of insiders:


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/15/politics/barack-obama-jokes-gridiron/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Netanyahu Implores Voters To Prevent A 'Left-Wing' Government In Israel
* Reuters 
Posted: 03/16/2015 10:12 am EDT Updated: 1 hour ago 
By Maayan Lubell
(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)



> HAR HOMA, West Bank, March 16 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, trailing in opinion polls, used a strategic Jewish settlement he helped found as the backdrop on Monday for an election eve bid to win back right-wing votes.
> 
> His main challenger, Isaac Herzog, leader of the Zionist Union, said on Facebook that "Israel will be stuck with Bibi" unless voters turned out on Tuesday for the center-left alliance, which polls predict will take 24 to 26 seats in the 120-member parliament, compared with 20 to 22 for Likud.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/16/netanyahu-israel-election_n_6877636.html


----------



## poochee

*Outlook: A Week of Partisan Votes and Bad Blood*
_A human trafficking bill that could've been bipartisan is stuck, and so is an expected tight confirmation vote for Loretta Lynch.
_By Fawn Johnson



> It wasn't supposed to be this way. There was a widely supported bill on the floor, and lawmakers were busy prepping for an intense budget debate set to begin in both chambers next week. But now, the trafficking bill holdup has thrown into question the timing for a nail-biter of a vote to confirm Loretta Lynch, President Obama's nominee for attorney general, with a fresh crop of bad feelings over the trafficking bill.
> 
> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said he expected to bring Lynch up for a vote this week. But on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, McConnell cast doubt on whether that would happen.


http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/outlook-a-week-of-partisan-votes-and-bad-blood-20150315


----------



## poochee

*Administration: 16M gained health coverage under ObamaCare*
By Peter Sullivan - 03/16/15 01:53 PM EDT



> Since the law's major provisions took effect in 2013, the uninsured rate has fallen from 20.3 to 13.2 percent, the Department of Health and Human Services analysis, based on Gallup survey data, finds.
> The 16.4 million total includes 14.1 million adults and 2.3 million aged 19-25 who were able to stay on their parents' plans and get insurance under the law.
> 
> The administration says it is the largest drop in the uninsured in four decades.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...n-16-million-people-gained-obamacare-coverage


----------



## poochee

*Conservatives scramble to downplay ACA news*
03/17/15 08:00 AMUpdated 03/17/15 08:23 AM 
By Steve Benen



> Americans learned yesterday that the Affordable Care Act has extended health care coverage to 16.4 million people, slashing the nations uninsured rate by over a third, against the backdrop of related system-wide good news. This puts Obamacare critics in an unenviable position: trying to characterize a law thats working as a horrible failure, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/conservatives-scramble-downplay-aca-news


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama blasts GOP's budget proposal*
By David Nather
| 3/17/15 1:52 PM EDT



> "Unfortunately, what we're seeing right now is a failure to invest in education, infrastructure, research and national defense. All the things that we need to grow, need to create jobs, to stay at the forefront of innovation and to keep our country safe," Obama told reporters at the White House as he met with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/gop-house-budget-obama-reaction-116151.html#ixzz3UfWHHFkS


----------



## poochee

*Rep. Aaron Schock resigning amid cloud of ethics questions*
03/17/15 02:20 PM-Updated 03/17/15 03:43 PM 
By Adam Howard

*VIDEOS*



> Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, the 33-year-old Republican once viewed as a rising star in the party, announced on Tuesday he plans to resign from Congress at the end of the month amid a cloud of ethics questions.
> 
> Schock has been bombarded in recent weeks with a torrent of bad publicity, which began last month after the Washington Post revealed he had spent thousands of taxpayer dollars to redecorate his office in the style of the popular PBS series "Downton Abbey." But the trouble did not end there for Schock. Recent reports have called into question his use of campaign funds to invest in real estate and to pay for a podium that was a replica of President Obama's.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/rep-aaron-schock-resigns-amid-cloud-ethics-questions


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP/March 17, 2015, 10:11 PM
*​Envelope sent to White House tentatively tests positive for cyanide*



> In a statement Tuesday night, Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said the envelope was received at an off-site mail screening facility Monday.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/envelope-sent-to-white-house-tentatively-tests-positive-for-cyanide/[/url]


----------



## poochee

*Five ways victory for Israel's Netanyahu matters*
Owen Ullmann, USATODAY 12:37 p.m. EDT March 18, 2015

*VIDEO*



> 1. Iran nuclear talks. The Israeli leader has been a strident critic of U.S. talks with Iran on curbing that country's nuclear program. Back in power, he may work with fellow critics in the Republican-controlled Congress to undermine any agreement the U.S. reaches with Iran on the grounds that Iran can't be trusted to halt a program that could produce nuclear weapons.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ction-five-ways-his-victory-matters/24946159/


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Iran negotiations popular*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 6:00 AM ET, Tue March 17, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Secretary of State John Kerry has been meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Switzerland in an attempt to reach an agreement that would loosen sanctions on Iran in exchange for greater transparency around their nuclear programs.
> 
> Direct diplomatic negotiations with Iran are broadly popular, 68% favor them, while 29% oppose them. That support cuts across party lines, with 77% of Democrats, 65% of Republicans and 64% of independents in favor of diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran in an attempt to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/politics/iran-negotiations-gop-letter-poll/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump moving from sideshow to actual candidate*
03/18/15 10:13 AMUpdated 03/18/15 12:57 PM 
By Jane C. Timm



> If Trump does run, hes got a steep incline ahead of him: a poll from earlier this month found that whopping 74% of Republican primary voters couldnt see themselves supporting him in 2016.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-exploratory-committee-2016-candidate


----------



## poochee

*Obama redefines the lame duck presidency*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:52 AM ET, Wed March 18, 2015

*SLIDESHOW*



> Washington (CNN)At the time in his tenure when most presidents fret over their waning clout, Barack Obama is redefining the concept of the lame duck.
> 
> His administration has been energized by his aggressive use of executive power. Some of the most hard-won achievements of his early years in office are beginning to pay off. And his political luck seems to be turning. With a term and a half behind him, Obama's prospects are brighter than they have been for years.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/politics/obama-politics-white-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama takes credit for economy*
By Jordan Fabian - 03/18/15 04:33 PM EDT



> CLEVELAND  President Obama on Wednesday slammed House Republicans for offering a budget that is a path to prosperity for those who have already prospered.
> 
> One day after House Republicans offered a budget plan that would slash $5.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years while cutting healthcare and domestic programs, the president traveled to Cleveland, a manufacturing stronghold located in an important battleground state.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/236165-obama-takes-credit-for-economy


----------



## poochee

*
Obama orders cuts to governments greenhouse gas emissions*

03/19/15 11:51 AMUpdated 03/19/15 12:33 PM 
By Michele Richinick

*VIDEO*



> In his ongoing effort to combat climate change both at home and abroad, President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Thursday to reduce the federal governments greenhouse gas emissions by 40%.
> 
> Although the government contributes only a small percentage of total emissions, the cuts are expected to keep 26 million metric tons of greenhouse gases out of the air by 2025  equal to taking about 5.5 million cars off the road for a year. The order also directs the government, which is the single largest U.S. consumer of energy, to increase its use of renewable energy to 30% of its consumption, giving a further boost to green industries.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-orders-cuts-governments-greenhouse-gas-emissions


----------



## poochee

*Netanyahu Back To Barely Pretending He Supports A Two-State Solution*
By Igor Bobic 
Posted: 03/19/2015 12:25 pm EDT Updated: 31 minutes ago

*VIDEO*



> Fresh off his party's victory in this week's parliamentary election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday walked back a statement from earlier this week in which he had ruled out a "two-state" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
> 
> "I haven't changed my policy," Netanyahu said Thursday in an interview with NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/19/benjamin-netanyahu-two-state-solution_n_6902666.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls to congratulate Netanyahu *
By Jordan Fabian - 03/19/15 05:15 PM EDT



> President Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon to congratulate him on winning reelection, the White House said.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/236352-obama-calls-to-congratulate-netanyahu

*Netanyahu has 'great respect' for Obama*
By The Hill Staff - 03/02/15 04:47 PM EST



> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Washington audience on Monday that he has "great respect" for President Obama.


http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/234353-netanyahu-has-great-respect-for-obama


----------



## poochee

Mar 19, 6:03 PM EDT

*Obama drives ahead on climate with government emissions cuts *
By JOSH LEDERMAN 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama ordered the federal government on Thursday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half over the next decade, driving his climate change agenda forward despite percolating challenges from Republican-led states.
> 
> By curtailing pollution within the U.S. government, Obama sought to increase political pressure on other nations to deal seriously with climate change. The U.S. and other nations will soon announce how much they're willing to cut their national emissions as part of a global climate treaty to be finalized in December; scientists warn that if those pledges are too lax, the treaty could be too weak to stop the worst effects of global warming.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-19-17-07-50


----------



## poochee

*Obama, Prince Charles confer at White House*
David Jackson, USA TODAY 3:16 p.m. EDT March 19, 2015



> WASHINGTON  President Obama welcomed Prince Charles to the White House on Thursday, the two of them sharing some chit-chat before discussing issues of mutual interest.





> The White House schedule said he and the prince planed to discuss topics such as climate change, creating opportunities for young people, and encouraging corporate social responsibility.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/19/obama-prince-charles-camilla/25024871/


----------



## poochee

Mar 19, 8:11 PM EDT

*AP Exclusive: Draft agreement cuts Iran's nuclear hardware *
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and GEORGE JAHN 
Associated Press



> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- The United States and Iran are drafting elements of a nuclear deal that commits Tehran to a 40 percent cut in the number of machines it could use to make an atomic bomb, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. In return, the Iranians would get quick relief from some crippling economic sanctions and a partial lift of a U.N. embargo on conventional arms.
> 
> Agreement on Iran's uranium enrichment program could signal a breakthrough for a larger deal aimed at containing the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-19-20-11-32


----------



## poochee

*Eric Holder: Attorney General for life?*
By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Reporter
Updated 7:30 AM ET, Fri March 20, 2015
CNN's Wes Bruer contributed to this report

*PHOTOS*



> Nowadays the issue keeping Holder in office has nothing to do with him, or Loretta Lynch, the Brooklyn U.S. attorney President Barack Obama picked to succeed him.
> 
> Instead it's a partisan fight over an abortion measure that is tucked into legislation aimed to thwart human trafficking. It's a bill that -- absent the abortion add-on -- enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/20/politics/eric-holder-attorney-general-for-life/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama cracks down on fracking*
By Timothy Cama - 03/20/15 11:36 AM EDT



> The Obama administration is setting new standards for the controversial hydraulic fracturing process, the first major federal effort to crack down on the practice that has largely been behind the nation's oil and natural gas boom.
> 
> The fracking standards only apply to drilling on leased federal land and land owned by American Indian tribes, which account for less than a quarter of the countrys oil production and 17 percent of its gas. The vast majority of fracking happens off federal land, regulators said.


http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/236421-obama-cracks-down-on-fracking


----------



## poochee

*FBI, DOJ probe Mississippi mans hanging death*
03/19/15 10:31 PMUpdated 03/20/15 11:33 AM 
By Joy-Ann Reid
*
VIDEO*



> The FBI is investigating the death of a 54-year-old Mississippi man found hanging less than a half-mile from his home in rural Claiborne County.
> 
> Otis Byrd was last seen on March 2, being dropped off by a friend near a casino in Vicksburg. He was reported missing by his family on March 8, and the sheriffs office reported Byrd missing to the Mississippi FBI office on March 13th.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fbi-doj-probe-mississippi-mans-hanging-death-otis-byrd


----------



## poochee

Mar 20, 1:26 PM EDT

*World powers, Iran face make-or-break nuke talks next week *
By GEORGE JAHN and BRADLEY KLAPPER 
Associated Press



> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- The United States and Iran broke off nuclear negotiations ahead of schedule Friday, setting up make-or-break talks next week for a deal providing long-term assurance to the world that the Iranians cannot develop nuclear weapons. The sides were close to an agreement, a top Russian official said.
> 
> The session in the Swiss city of Lausanne was interrupted on its sixth day so members of the Iranian delegation could attend the funeral of their president's mother. Those departing included Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the main negotiating partner of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and Hossein Fereydoon, a brother of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Diplomats didn't promise a breakthrough this week, but strove to make as much progress as possible with a March 31 deadline for a framework accord looming.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-19-11-42-26


----------



## poochee

For Immediate Release March 21, 2015

*Weekly Address: Its Time To Confirm Loretta Lynch*



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this weeks address, the President called on Republicans in Congress to stop playing politics with law enforcement and national security and confirm Loretta Lynch as Attorney General of the United States. Loretta is an independent, career prosecutor who deserves to be confirmed as soon as possible. She has proven herself time and again throughout her 30-year career, yet come Monday, the amount of time her nomination will have languished on the floor of the Senate will total more than that of the past seven Attorney General nominees combined. In his address the President asked Republicans in Congress to stop denying a vote on the nomination of Loretta Lynch and end the longest confirmation process for an Attorney General in three decades.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...eekly-address-it-s-time-confirm-loretta-lynch

*VIDEO:* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Mar 21, 1:22 PM EDT

*US, Iran cite progress in nuke talks, though deal is unclear *
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and GEORGE JAHN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran contributed to this report.



> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- With 10 days to a nuclear deal deadline, top U.S and Iranian officials spoke Saturday of substantial headway, and Iran's president proclaimed that agreement was within reach. But America's top diplomat said it was up to Tehran to make the decisions needed to get there.
> 
> Iranian President Hassan Rohani said "achieving a deal is possible" by a March 31 target date for a preliminary accord that is meant to lead to a final deal by the end of June that would crimp Tehran's nuclear programs in exchange for sanctions.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-21-13-22-45


----------



## poochee

*New Senate is just like the old Senate*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:53 AM ET, Sat March 21, 2015
Ted Barrett and Deidre Walsh contributed to this report.

*VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> Claiming the majority he had long craved in the mid-term elections, the wily GOP leader promised to turn the polarized, gridlocked Senate back into a chamber in which both sides get a say and pass meaningful legislation.





> But two months into the Republican majority, the new Senate looks an awful lot like the old Senate.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/20/politics/us-senate-mcconnell/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sam Stein 
*Obama Details His Disappointment With Netanyahu In First Post-Election Comments*
Posted: 03/21/2015 5:16 pm EDT Updated: 22 minutes ago

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is operating under the assumption that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not support the creation of a Palestinian state, despite the Israeli leader's post-election efforts to recast himself as amenable to a two-state solution.
> 
> "We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn't happen during his prime ministership, and so that's why we've got to evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don't see a chaotic situation in the region," the president said in an interview with The Huffington Post on Friday.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/21/obama-iran-deal_n_6905634.html


----------



## poochee

*Sen. Ted Cruz will announce White House bid at Liberty University*
By Robert Costa and Katie Zezima March 22 at 12:14 PM
Hunter Schwarz contributed to this report.

*VIDEO *



> Sen. Ted Cruz, the combative conservative who has made liberty the clarion call of his politics, will announce his intention to pursue a presidential bid Monday morning at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., according to a campaign adviser.
> 
> The announcement by Cruz (R-Tex.) will make him the first major 2016 contender to formally declare a presidential bid.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...81fa00-d064-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Columba Bushs painful, unlikely road from Mexico toward the White House*
By Karen Tumulty and Mary Jordan March 21 at 8:29 PM 
Alice Crites contributed to this report.

*PHOTOS*



> LEÓN, Mexico  The story of Columba and Jeb Bush began by happenstance in 1971, on the elegant, sun-washed central plaza of this city in the heart of Mexico.
> 
> Columba Garnica Gallo was a shy high-schooler, tagging along for a drive with her sister and a new boyfriend from the States. John Ellis Bush was an aimless yanqui blue blood, in Mexico for a couple of months on a program through his New England prep school. He was captivated by the doe-eyed beauty he spotted in the car with his friend.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...18fe20-c7fd-11e4-a199-6cb5e63819d2_story.html


----------



## poochee

March 21, 2015, 03:35 pm 
*20 Republicans who are gearing up to run for president*
By Jonathan Easley



> Get ready for the largest GOP presidential field in recent history.
> 
> As many as 20 Republicans are taking a serious look at running for the White House in 2016. A handful of candidates have moved aggressively into the field, and others are expected to ramp up in the coming weeks, with several announcements expected in April.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/236476-20-republicans-wholl-run-for-president


----------



## poochee

*Confronting Past, Mississippi Town Erects Emmett Till Museum 60 Years After His Killing*
Reuters | By Bryn Stole 
Posted: 03/22/2015 12:01 pm EDT Updated: 2 hours ago 
(Reporting by Bryn Stole; Editing by Jonathan Kaminsky and Paul Tait)



> (Reuters) - Six decades after the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy, the small Mississippi Delta town where two white men were acquitted of his murder is dedicating a museum to the event credited with helping spark the U.S. civil rights movement.
> 
> The opening in Sumner on Saturday of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center is timed to coincide with the reopening across the town square of the refurbished Tallahatchie County Courthouse, where an all-white jury set Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan free after deliberating for one hour.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/22/emmett-till-museum-missis_n_6918914.html


----------



## poochee

*On anniversary, Obama tells ObamaCare critics to embrace reality*
By Kyle Balluck - 03/22/15 07:07 PM EDT



> President Obama late Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act while slamming the proposed House GOP budget and calling on critics to embrace reality.
> 
> The Affordable Care Act has been the subject of more scrutiny, more rumor, more attempts to dismantle and undermine it than just about any law in recent history, Obama said in a statement. Its time to embrace reality.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...ma-tells-obamacare-critics-to-embrace-reality


----------



## poochee

*Benjamin Netanyahu Says He Regrets Warning About Israeli Arabs Voting*
The Huffington Post | By Samantha Lachman 
Posted: 03/23/2015 1:47 pm EDT Updated: 2 minutes ago

*VIDEO*



> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he regrets issuing a warning to his supporters ahead of the country's elections last week that Arab voters were heading to the polls "in droves."





> The comment further inflamed tensions with President Barack Obama's administration, which was already upset by Netanyahu's promise in an interview with a right-wing Hebrew-language website that a state for the Palestinians wouldn't be established were he to form the next government.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/benjamin-netanyahu-arabs-_n_6924784.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 23, 11:41 AM EDT

*At Pentagon, Afghan president thanks US troops *
By ROBERT BURNS 
Associated Press
AP Radio correspondent Sagar Meghani contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Afghanistan's president thanked U.S. troops and taxpayers for their sacrifices in nearly 14 years of war, kicking off his visit to Washington with a stop at the Pentagon. He pledged that his impoverished country will not remain a burden to the West.
> 
> "We do not now ask what the United States can do for us," Ashraf Ghani said in remarks meant to bolster the Obama administration's conviction that Ghani is a reliable partner worth supporting over the long term.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-23-11-41-48


----------



## poochee

*HHS: Hospitals saved billions under ObamaCare*
By Sarah Ferris - 03/23/15 11:09 AM EDT



> A massive expansion of insurance programs like Medicaid and a drop in emergency room visits saved hospitals at least $7.4 billion over the last year, the Obama administration announced Monday.
> 
> With millions more people covered under ObamaCare last year, hospitals faced fewer bills from patients who lacked insurance and were unable to pay. Hospitals also saw fewer emergency room visits, which rack up far higher costs and often leave hospitals with the tab.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/236603-hhs-hospitals-saved-billions-under-obamacare


----------



## poochee

March 23, 2015, 04:17 pm 
*Trump brings birther charge against Cruz*
By Ben Kamisar



> Real estate tycoon Donald Trump cast doubt Monday on whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) can run for president, because Cruz was born in Canada.





> "He was born in Canada. If you know and when we all studied our history lessons, you are supposed to be born in this country, so I just don't know how the courts will rule on this."


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/236651-trump-cruz-faces-hurdle-for-canadian-birthplace


----------



## poochee

*Israel Spied on Iran Nuclear Talks With U.S.*
_Allys snooping upset White House because information was used to lobby Congress to try to sink a deal_
By Adam Entous 
March 23, 2015 10:30 p.m. ET

*VIDEO *



> The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.
> 
> The espionage didnt upset the White House as much as Israels sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Irans nuclear program, current and former officials said.


http://www.wsj.com/article_email/israel-spied-on-iran-talks-1427164201-lMyQjAxMTA1MTI0MzIyNDM0Wjhttp://www.wsj.com/article_email/israel-spied-on-iran-talks-1427164201-lMyQjAxMTA1MTI0MzIyNDM0Wj


----------



## poochee

*Arab Leaders In Israel Turn Down Netanyahu's Apology*
AP | By DANIEL ESTRIN 
Posted: 03/24/2015 11:00 am EDT Updated: 3 hours ago



> JERUSALEM (AP)  Arab political leaders in Israel on Tuesday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's apology for comments he made in last week's national elections that offended members of the Arab community and said his words made him unsuitable to return for a third consecutive term on the job.
> 
> The spat has touched on longstanding claims of discrimination by Israel's Arab minority, which makes up 20 percent of the Jewish state, and signaled that the rift will not be healed anytime soon. An Arab advocacy center in Israel said the country's national elections brought an "unprecedented level of racist incitement" against the minority community.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/24/arab-leaders-netanyahu-apology_n_6931466.html


----------



## poochee

*Veterans unemployment rate drops to lowest point since 2008*
By Josh Hicks March 24 at 9:38 AM



> Recently released numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that 5.3 percent of veterans were jobless last year, representing a decrease of 1.3 percentage points compared to 2013 and the fourth consecutive year of improvement.





> President Obama signed an executive order in 2009 requiring federal agencies to focus on recruiting and hiring more former troops for work with the U.S. government.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...oyment-rate-drops-to-lowest-point-since-2008/


----------



## poochee

*
10 Reactions to Ted Cruz Announcing He's Running for President*
By Napp Nazworth , Christian Post Reporter
March 23, 2015|4:24 pm

http://www.christianpost.com/news/1...-announcing-hes-running-for-president-136198/


----------



## poochee

*Obama agrees to slow U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan*
By Greg Jaffe and David Nakamura March 24 at 9:28 PM

*VIDEO* 



> Obama announced that he would slow the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops after a White House meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The decision to keep more U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year was driven by the administrations confidence in Ghani, whom Obama praised repeatedly. Relations between Ghanis predecessor, Hamid Karzai, and the U.S. government had been steadily deteriorating for years. Obama lauded Ghani, who took office in September, for taking on the mantle of commander in chief in a way that we have not seen in the past from an Afghan president.





> But Obama also made it clear that he wouldnt depart from his current plan to close the remaining U.S. bases in Afghanistan and consolidate the remaining U.S. forces in Kabul by the end of 2016.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...cd4834-d247-11e4-a62f-ee745911a4ff_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Ted Cruz is signing up for Obamacare*
03/24/15 05:17 PMUpdated 03/24/15 09:25 PM 
By Benjamin Landy
*
VIDEO*



> Just one day after Ted Cruz launched his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination with another attack on President Obamas signature health care law, the Texas senator made a second, more surprising announcement: Hes signing up for Obamacare.





> Cruz struck an egalitarian tone when asked how it feels to be relying on the program, which he has spent years railing against. Well it is written in the law that members will be on the exchanges without subsidies just like millions of Americans so thats  I think the same rules should apply to all of us, Cruz told the Register. Members of Congress should not be exempt.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ted-cruz-signing-obamacare


----------



## poochee

*
Obama takes an Affordable Care Act victory lap five years later*
03/25/15 12:21 PM 
By Joy Y. Wang

*VIDEO*



> President Barack Obama took a victory lap on Wednesday in celebrating the fifth anniversary of passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
> 
> The president strongly pushed back at the repeated accusations from Republican critics that the legislation would cost small business, kill jobs, and tank the economy.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-takes-aca-victory-lap-five-years-later


----------



## poochee

*Afghan president says his nation won't be 'lazy Uncle Joe' *
By DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday thanked Congress for the billions of American taxpayer dollars, but vowed his country will be self-reliant within this decade. "We're not going to be the lazy uncle Joe," he said.
> 
> In a speech to a joint meeting of Congress, Ghani tried to repair U.S.-Afghan relations that had become strained under former President Hamid Karzai.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-25-12-34-43


----------



## poochee

*Germanwings Pilot Was Locked Out of Cockpit Before Crash in France*
By NICOLA CLARK and DAN BILEFSKYMARCH 25, 2015

*VIDEO*



> A senior military official involved in the investigation described very smooth, very cool conversation between the pilots during the early part of the flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany. Then the audio indicated that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not re-enter.
> 
> The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer, the investigator said. And then he hits the door stronger, and no answer. There is never an answer.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/w...t-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*US pounds ISIS in Tikrit, Iraq*
03/25/15 06:36 PMUpdated 03/25/15 08:02 PM 
By Phil Helsel

*VIDEO*



> U.S. warplanes are now conducting airstrikes in support of Iraqi efforts to take the city of Tikrit from the terror group ISIS, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
> 
> The airstrikes are ongoing, according to a defense Department official. The U.S. military got involved in the offensive to take control of Saddam Husseins hometown at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, the military said in a statement.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/us-led-coalition-iraqis-pound-islamic-state-tikrit


----------



## poochee

Mar 26, 1:47 PM EDT

*Alone at controls, co-pilot 'intentionally' destroyed plane* 
By LORI HINNANT and DAVID McHUGH 
Associated Press
McHugh reported from Montabaur, Germany. David Rising in Berlin; Kirsten Grieshaber in Cologne, Germany; Alan Clendenning in Madrid; Danica Kirka in London; Sylvie Corbet, Philippe Sotto and Angela Charlton in Paris; and Greg Keller in Vernet, France, contributed to this report.



> PARIS (AP) -- The co-pilot of the Germanwings jet barricaded himself in the cockpit and intentionally rammed the plane full speed into the French Alps, ignoring the captain's frantic pounding on the door and the screams of terror from passengers, a prosecutor said Thursday.





> Andreas Lubitz's "intention (was) to destroy this plane," Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said, laying out the horrifying conclusions French investigators reached after listening to the last minutes of Tuesday's Flight 9525 from the plane's black box voice data recorder.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-26-13-12-43


----------



## poochee

*House Passes Bill Changing Medicare Fee Formula and Extending Childrens Insurance*
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and ROBERT PEARMARCH 26, 2015



> The House overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes to the Medicare system on Thursday, in the most significant bipartisan policy legislation to pass through that chamber since the Republicans regained a majority in 2011.
> 
> The measure, which would establish a new formula for paying doctors and end a problem that has bedeviled the nations health care system for more than a decade, has already been blessed by President Obama, and awaits a vote in the Senate. The bill would also increase premiums for some higher income beneficiaries and extend a popular health insurance program for children.


 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

March 26, 2015, 05:32 pm 
*Senators march through grueling budget 'vote-a-rama'
* By Rebecca Shabad and Jordain Carney



> The Senate is marching toward approval of the Republican budget by speeding through dozens of amendments in a vote-a-rama expected to end early Friday morning.
> 
> Republican leaders are expressing confidence that their blueprint will be approved, though they have a tight margin. The GOP can only afford to lose three Republican votes and pass its budget.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-acti...e-marches-through-grueling-budget-vote-a-rama


----------



## poochee

*
Senate passes budget after lengthy, politically charged Vote-a-rama*
By Sean Sullivan March 27 at 9:45 AM



> The Senate passed a budget proposal early Friday morning after a marathon voting session in which both parties looked to set themselves up to score political points for the 2016 election.
> 
> During Vote-a-rama, as its been dubbed, senators worked for hours through dozens of amendments to the Republican budget proposal, staying in the Capitol late Thursday into Friday. With their amendments on Iran, defense spending, benefits for same-sex married couples and paid sick time, among other things, senators sought to draw attention to favored political causes, force others to weigh in on big debates and cause headaches for the other party.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...8d3970-d3f6-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Harry Reid to Retire From Senate in 2016
*By CARL HULSEMARCH 27, 2015 
*
VIDEO* (Retirement message)



> WASHINGTON  Senator Harry Reid, the tough tactician who has led Senate Democrats since 2005, will not seek re-election next year, bringing an end to a three-decade congressional career that culminated with his push of President Obamas ambitious agenda against fierce Republican resistance.





> Mr. Reid said he had seen one important change for the better in the Senate: an influx of female senators.
> 
> This place is so much better because of women, he said. Men and women are different, and they have changed the dynamic of the Senate.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Germanwings Co-Pilot Lubitz Who Crashed Plane Had 18 Months of Psychiatric Treatment for 'Severe Depressive Episode'*

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter
March 27, 2015|8:10 am



> German media reports have revealed that Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 who deliberately crashed the plane and killed all 150 people on board, suffered from depression. Lubitz's flight training was interrupted due to a "severe depressive episode'" six years ago, which required treatment for a year and a half.
> 
> The German newspaper Bild cited medical records shared by police and airline sources that showed that in 2009, Lubitz's flight training was put on hold after a "severe depressive episode." The pilot required 18 months of psychiatric treatment before he was allowed to continue his training.


http://www.christianpost.com/news/g...eatment-for-severe-depressive-episode-136460/


----------



## poochee

*Lynch confirmation continues to drag on as the Senate goes on break*
03/27/15 01:15 PMUpdated 03/27/15 04:14 PM 
By Trymaine Lee

*VIDEO*



> Friday marks 139 days since President Barack Obama nominated Loretta Lynch to be the next attorney general  and the clock will only keep ticking down this historic delay as the Senate begins its Easter recess on Saturday.
> 
> Lynchs Senate confirmation to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder now represents the longest wait for a designate in modern history. It has been longer than the previous seven nominees put together.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lynch-confirmation-continues-drag-the-senate-goes-break


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Protecting Working Americans Paychecks*

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, the President highlighted the progress made protecting American consumers since he signed Wall Street reform into law five years ago, including an important new step taken by the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this week toward preventing abuses in payday lending.
> 
> The President emphasized his commitment to fighting to advance middle-class economics and ensure everybody who works hard can get ahead, while opposing attempts by Republicans both to weaken the CFPB and give large tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle class.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

TRAVSCRIPT: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...ddress-protecting-working-americans-paychecks


----------



## poochee

World | Sat Mar 28, 2015 2:21pm EDT

*Iran and powers close in on 2-3 page nuclear deal, success uncertain*
LAUSANNE, Switzerland | By Louis Charbonneau, Parisa Hafezi and John Irish



> Reuters) - The foreign ministers of France and Germany joined the top U.S. and Iranian diplomats on Saturday to help break an impasse in nuclear negotiations as major powers and Iran closed in on a 2- or 3-page accord that could form the basis of a long-term deal.
> 
> The negotiations, in progress for nearly 18 months, aim to hammer out an accord whereby Iran halts sensitive nuclear work in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, with the ultimate aim of reducing the risk of a war in the Middle East.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/28/us-iran-nuclear-idUSKBN0MN1KU20150328


----------



## poochee

*Germanwings Pilot Andreas Lubitz Sought Treatment for Vision Problems Before Crash, Authorities Say*
By MELISSA EDDY, NICHOLAS KULISH and NICOLA CLARKMARCH 28, 2015 
Melissa Eddy and Nicholas Kulish reported from Düsseldorf, and Nicola Clark from Paris. Jack Ewing contributed reporting from Montabaur, Germany.

*PICTURES*



> DÜSSELDORF, Germany  Andreas Lubitz, who was flying the Germanwings jetliner that slammed into a mountain in the French Alps on Tuesday, sought treatment for vision problems that may have jeopardized his ability to continue working as a pilot, two officials with knowledge of the investigation said Saturday.
> 
> The revelation of the possible trouble with his eyes added a new element to the emerging portrait of the 27-year-old German pilot, who the authorities say was also being treated for psychological issues and had hidden aspects of his medical condition from his employer.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/w...p-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## DaveBurnett

Sounds very much to me like the Airline coming up with everything they can to reduce the compensation they will have to pay.

Let's create doubt. There's no proof, and it can't be disputed, but it will be remembered when the case arises.

Don't air staff have to have regular medicals by company doctors?


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP/March 28, 2015, 11:49 AM

*Ex-girlfriend of Germanwings co-pilot speaks out*



> A woman identifying herself as the ex-girlfriend of the man accused of crashing Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps told Germany's leading tabloid that he said one day he would "do something" and then "everyone will know my name."
> 
> "I didn't know what he meant by that at the time, but now it's obvious," the 26-year-old flight attendant told the German newspaper Bild.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/germanw...andreas-lubitz-ex-girlfriend-germany-tabloid/


----------



## poochee

*
Carly Fiorina on chances shell run in 2016: higher than 90%*
03/29/15 02:13 PM 
By Daniel Berger

*VIDEO*



> Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said on Fox News Sunday that the probability shell seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016 is higher than 90% and said she expects to announce her decision on whether to run in late April or early May.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/carly-fiorina-chances-run-2016-higher-90-percent


----------



## poochee

*Andreas Lubitz: Germanwings flight's last minutes revealed in chilling black box transcript *
The Telegraph
By Alex Wellman
9 hrs ago



> Revealed in the German newspaper Bild, the recordings then show the tragic captain chatting with Lubitz for the next 20 minutes.
> 
> According to the paper, the killer co-pilot then tells Mr Sondheimer he can go to the toilet at any time  noting that he had not relieved himself at the airport in Barcelona.


http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other...d-in-chilling-black-box-transcript/ar-AAa9YJu


----------



## Bush Lady

Quote:

German media reports have revealed that Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 who deliberately crashed the plane and killed all 150 people on board, suffered from depression. Lubitz's flight training was interrupted due to a "severe depressive episode'" six years ago, which required treatment for a year and a half.

The German newspaper Bild cited medical records shared by police and airline sources that showed that in 2009, Lubitz's flight training was put on hold after a "severe depressive episode." The pilot required 18 months of psychiatric treatment before he was allowed to continue his training. 


I think I can be blunt here. If Andreas Lubitz is tired of life, then he didn't have to take 149 people with him. There are many different ways to end it. But I think that he wanted to make head lines and this was it. He sure did that. If


----------



## poochee

Mar 30, 3:27 PM EDT

*Iran nuclear talks near deadline; differences remain *
By GEORGE JAHN and MATTHEW LEE 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.



> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program reached a critical phase Monday with diplomats struggling to overcome substantial differences just a day before a deadline for the outline of an agreement.
> 
> With Tuesday's target date for a framework accord just hours away, the top diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany were meeting with Iran to try to bridge remaining gaps and hammer out an understanding that would serve as the basis for a final accord to be reached by the end of June.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-30-15-27-34


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obamas passport details shared in privacy mix-up: Report*
03/30/15 01:15 PM 
By Cassandra Vinograd



> President Barack Obamas passport number and personal details were accidentally revealed  along with those of other world leaders  by Australias immigration agency, according to The Guardian newspaper.
> 
> The Guardian reported Monday that an immigration department officer inadvertently sent the personal details of leaders attending last Novembers G-20 summit to organizers of the Asian Cup football tournament. The immigration department then recommended against informing those affected about the privacy breach, according to the newspaper.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/barack-obamas-passport-details-shared-privacy-mix-report


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court declines to hear ObamaCare 'death panel' challenge*
By Peter Sullivan - 03/30/15 11:31 AM EDT



> The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to ObamaCare that argued a cost-cutting board set up by the law was unconstitutional.
> 
> The case dealt with the law's Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which critics of ObamaCare have labeled a death panel. The board is charged with recommending ways to cut Medicare spending if it rises above a certain threshold.


 http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...-declines-to-hear-another-obamacare-challenge


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court asks Virginia panel to reexamine redistricting decision*
By Jenna Portnoy and Robert Barnes March 30 at 5:00 PM 



> The Supreme Court on Monday told a federal judicial panel in Virginia to take another look at its decision that lawmakers improperly packed minority voters into one congressional district.
> 
> The court sent the case back to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia without comment, following its decision last week in a similar case from Alabama.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...461ec0-d6de-11e4-b3f2-607bd612aeac_story.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 30, 11:12 PM EDT
*
Indiana lawmakers try to quiet firestorm surrounding new law *
By TOM DAVIES 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Lauryn Schroeder and Jeni O'Malley contributed to this report.



> INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Gov. Mike Pence called off public appearances Monday and sports officials planned an "Indy Welcomes All" campaign ahead of this weekend's NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis as lawmakers scrambled to quiet the firestorm over a new law that has much of the country portraying Indiana as a state of intolerance.
> 
> Republican legislative leaders said they are working on adding language to the religious-objections law to make it clear that the measure does not allow discrimination against gays and lesbians. As signed by Pence last week, the measure prohibits state laws that "substantially burden" a person's ability to follow his or her religious beliefs. The definition of "person" includes religious institutions, businesses and associations.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-30-23-12-26


----------



## poochee

March 31, 2015, 11:36 am 
*Indiana governor backs down, calls for fix to religious law*
By Ben Kamisar 
*
VIDEO*



> Pence, who signed the bill into law last week, insisted it was not intended to allow businesses to discriminate against gay people.
> 
> But in the face of a growing firestorm and economic boycotts of his state, he argued state lawmakers should act immediately to quell concerns over the measure.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...-calls-for-immediate-fix-to-controversial-law


----------



## poochee

*Germanwings Co-Pilot Lubitz Told Flight School Of Depressive Episode: Lufthansa*
AP | By GEIR MOULSON and JAMEY KEATEN 
Posted: 03/31/2015 1:14 pm EDT Updated: 6 minutes ago
Moulson reported from Berlin. Lori Hinnant in Le Vernet, France contributed to this report.



> BERLIN (AP)  Lufthansa knew six years ago that the co-pilot of the passenger plane that crashed in the French Alps last week had suffered from a "serious depressive episode," the German airline said Tuesday.
> 
> The airline said that as part of its internal research it found emails that Andreas Lubitz sent to the Lufthansa flight school in Bremen when he resumed his training there in 2009 after an interruption of several months.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/31/lubitz-depressive-episode_n_6978448.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 31, 3:12 PM EDT

*Iran nuke talks drag past deadline* 
By GEORGE JAHN and MATTHEW LEE 
Associated Press
White House Correspondents Julie Pace and Darlene Superville contributed to this story.



> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers will pass the negotiators' self-imposed Tuesday night deadline to produce the outline of an agreement and will be extended by at least a day, the United States said.
> 
> State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said enough progress had been made to warrant an extension, although there still were "several difficult issues" to bridge. Secretary of State John Kerry who had planned to leave the talks on Tuesday will remain until Wednesday, she said.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-31-15-12-22


----------



## poochee

March 20, 2015, 01:37 pm 
*DOJ defends Clinton from email subpoena*
By Ben Kamisar

*VIDEO*



> The Justice Department is defending former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from a motion to subpoena her private emails under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
> 
> Such action is unnecessary and inappropriate under FOIA, DOJ officials wrote in a legal briefing filed Thursday. Officials were responding to a case launched by Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative watchdog group Freedom Watch.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/236439-doj-defends-clinton-from-email-subpoena


----------



## poochee

*US Official: Kerry Extends Stay At Iran Nuclear Talks For Another Day*
Posted: 04/01/2015 2:42 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago



> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP)  Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program are heading into double overtime, with the United States saying enough progress has been made to extend the talks into Thursday.
> 
> State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf says Secretary of State John Kerry will stay at least until then to continue negotiating.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/01/iran-nuke-talks_n_6987144.html


----------



## poochee

*Sen. Bob Menendez indicted on federal corruption charges*
04/01/15 04:00 PMUpdated 04/01/15 04:17 PM 
By Jonathan Dienst



> New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez has been indicted on federal corruption charges in connection with an ongoing investigation into his business dealings with a Florida doctor, according to a district court clerk familiar with the case.
> 
> Menendez, a Democrat, has held office since 2006. Specific charges in the grand jury indictment werent immediately available and Menendezs office couldnt immediately be reached for comment.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sen-bob-menendez-indicted-federal-corruption-charges


----------



## poochee

*Why Obama chose the Iran talks to take one of his presidencys biggest risks*
By Greg Jaffe April 1 
 Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> Much of President Obamas foreign policy agenda has been foisted upon him during his six years in office. He inherited two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, neither of which hes been able to end. Hes had to react to chaos in the Middle East and a Russian incursion in Ukraine.
> 
> The negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program are a different matter. They are Obamas choice, and hes fought to keep them moving since the beginning of his presidency despite setbacks and second-guessing from Republicans, fellow Democrats and longtime foreign allies.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...3b7a06-d7af-11e4-ba28-f2a685dc7f89_story.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 2, 1:20 PM EDT

*Plane crash co-pilot eyed suicide methods, cockpit security *
By GEIR MOULSON 
Associated Press
Frank Jordans in Berlin and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.



> BERLIN (AP) -- The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 appears to have researched suicide methods and cockpit door security in the days before he crashed the plane into the French Alps, killing everyone aboard, German prosecutors said Thursday.
> 
> Search terms found on a tablet computer at co-pilot Andreas Lubitz's apartment in Duesseldorf provided the first evidence that his actions may have been premeditated.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-02-13-20-35


----------



## poochee

*World leaders reach framework on Iran deal*
04/02/15 01:36 PMUpdated 04/02/15 02:04 PM 
By Erin McClam

*VIDEO*



> World leaders reached a framework Thursday for a final deal on the future of the Iranian nuclear program.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/world-leaders-reach-framework-iran-deal


----------



## poochee

Apr 2, 3:30 PM EDT
*
Nuke deal: World powers, Iran reach crucial framework *
By GEORGE JAHN and MATTHEW LEE 
Associated Press
AP writers Julie Pace and Bradley Klapper contributed to this report from Washington.



> LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- After marathon negotiations, the United States, Iran and five other world powers announced an agreement Thursday outlining limits on Iran's nuclear program to block it from developing atomic weapons and directing negotiators toward a final accord this summer.
> 
> The United States and Iran each hailed the framework, reached by weary but upbeat diplomats after a week of intense diplomacy in Switzerland that capped 18 months of negotiations. Speaking from the White House, President Barack Obama called it a "good deal" that would address concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...E&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-02-15-30-04]


----------



## poochee

*A Promising Nuclear Deal With Iran
*By THE EDITORIAL BOARD APRIL 2, 2015



> The preliminary agreement between Iran and the major powers is a significant achievement that makes it more likely Iran will never be a nuclear threat. President Obama said it would cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon.
> 
> Officials said some important issues have not been resolved, like the possible lifting of a United Nations arms embargo, and writing the technical sections could also cause problems before the deals finalization, expected by June 30. Even so, the agreement announced on Thursday after eight days of negotiations appears more specific and comprehensive than expected.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/o...n-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Obama ties legacy to Iran nuclear deal*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:23 PM ET, Fri April 3, 2015

*VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> With a framework deal to halt Tehran's nuclear program, Obama moved closer to the kind of staggering diplomatic breakthrough with the Islamic Republic that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
> 
> If the political agreement reached in Switzerland turns into a genuine pact honored by both sides, Obama will be entitled to a place in history as the leader who defused an intensely bitter estrangement with Iran.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/politics/iran-nuclear-deal-obama-legacy/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*

*Weekly Address: Reaching a Comprehensive and Long-Term Deal on Irans Nuclear Program*

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, the President described the historic understanding the United States -- with our allies and partners -- reached with Iran, which, if fully implemented, will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and will make our country, our allies, and our world safer. The deal, announced on Thursday, meets our core objectives of cutting off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon.
> 
> It is both comprehensive and long-term, and includes robust and intrusive inspections of the countrys nuclear program. The President reiterated that the deal is not yet done -- and if there is backsliding from Iran in the months to come, there will be no deal. He echoed his belief that a diplomatic resolution is by far the best option, and promised to continue to fully brief Congress and the American people on the substance and progress of the negotiations in the months to come.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*Transcript:* https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...prehensive-and-long-term-deal-iran-s-nuclear-

.


----------



## poochee

*Zbigniew Brzezinski: Alternative to Iran deal 'a policy of self-destruction'*

04/03/15 03:36 PM-Updated 04/03/15 05:14 PM 
By Benjamin Land
_Zbigniew Brzezinski served as counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. In 1981, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his role in the normalization of U.S.-China relations. On Friday, April 3, he spoke by phone with MSNBC to discuss the framework nuclear agreement the U.S. reached with Iran on Thursday. _

*VIDEO*


> *
> MSNBC:* The United States and Iran, along with five major world powers, just reached an historic agreement to begin steps to limit Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some economic sanctions. Plenty of details still need to be resolved, and we're not expecting a final agreement until June 30. But let me ask you, is this a good deal? Is this a deal you would have made?
> *
> Brzezinski:* On the whole, yes. I think the alternative is far worse.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/zbigniew-brzezinski-alternative-iran-deal-policy-self-destruction


----------



## poochee

*Obama family worships at historic Baptist church in Virginia *
By STACY A. ANDERSON
Apr. 5, 2015 1:45 PM EDT 
*
VIDEO*



> ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)  President Barack Obama and his family attended Easter service at the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, whose history dates back almost 200 years to when Thomas Jefferson was in the White House.
> 
> Obama along with wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia were welcomed to the historic church by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, who noted that like the first lady, he is a native of Chicago's South Side.


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e0fb...ily-worships-historic-baptist-church-virginia


----------



## poochee

Apr 5, 11:19 AM EDT

*Pope, thousands brave rain for Easter in St. Peter's Square *
By FRANCES D'EMILIO 
Associated Press



> VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sunday praised the framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.
> 
> Cautious hope ran through Francis' `'Urbi et Orbi" Easter message, a kind of papal commentary on the state of the world's affairs, which he delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Square.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-05-11-19-31


----------



## poochee

Amanda Terkel 
*Dianne Feinstein: Iran Deal Does Not Threaten Israel's Survival*
Posted: 04/05/2015 10:22 am EDT Updated: 1 hour ago



> WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Sunday that the new nuclear accord with Iran will not threaten the survival of Israel, criticizing the stance taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.





> Feinstein has been a frequent critic of Netanyahu. When the prime minister spoke to the U.S. Congress last month about the potential Iran deal -- at the invitation of Republicans and without coordinating with the White House -- Feinstein called his speech "humiliating, embarrassing, and very arrogant."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/05/dianne-feinstein-iran_n_7006592.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama makes his sales pitch for Iran nuclear deal*
By Juliet Eilperin April 5 at 10:43 PM 
Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Carol Morello contributed to this report.



> President Obama made a detailed case Sunday for a new framework agreement on Irans nuclear program, calling it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see whether or not we can at least take the nuclear issue off the table and potentially bring regional stability to the Middle East.
> 
> Obamas comments were part of a major sales pitch launched by the administration Sunday in an effort to marshal public support for the tentative pact, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congressional Republicans took to the airwaves to blast the accord.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...ec8fbc-dbac-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Iran and the Obama Doctrine*
Date April 5, 2015. 
Thomas L. Friedman

*VIDEO*



> We are powerful enough to be able to test these propositions without putting ourselves at risk. And thats the thing ... people dont seem to understand, the president said. You take a country like Cuba. For us to test the possibility that engagement leads to a better outcome for the Cuban people, there arent that many risks for us. Its a tiny little country. Its not one that threatens our core security interests, and so [theres no reason not] to test the proposition. And if it turns out that it doesnt lead to better outcomes, we can adjust our policies. The same is true with respect to Iran, a larger country, a dangerous country, one that has engaged in activities that resulted in the death of U.S. citizens, but the truth of the matter is: Irans defense budget is $30 billion. Our defense budget is closer to $600 billion. Iran understands that they cannot fight us. ... You asked about an Obama doctrine. The doctrine is: We will engage, but we preserve all our capabilities.





> On Congresss role, Obama said he insists on preserving the presidential prerogative to enter into binding agreements with foreign powers without congressional approval. However, he added, I do think that [Tennessee Republican] Senator Corker, the head of the Foreign Relations Committee, is somebody who is sincerely concerned about this issue and is a good and decent man, and my hope is that we can find something that allows Congress to express itself but does not encroach on traditional presidential prerogatives  and ensures that, if in fact we get a good deal, that we can go ahead and implement it.


http://forums.techguy.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=9061075


----------



## poochee

Apr 6, 1:55 PM EDT

*Energy secretary calls Iran nuke deal a "forever agreement" *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
Associated Press writers Hope Yen, Connie Cass and Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Giving a scientific defense of the emerging nuclear deal with Iran, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz called the plan a "forever agreement" that would block all pathways to a nuclear weapon and set up tough international inspections with no end date.
> 
> Moniz, a nuclear physicist, spoke at the White House on Monday as the Obama administration ramped up its campaign for a framework deal with Iran that has drawn criticism from congressional Republicans, the Israeli government and skeptical Arab allies of the U.S.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-06-12-58-45


----------



## poochee

*Maximum Wage! How much CEOs earn an hour*
By: Matt Krantz	April 6, 2015 6:30 am

*CHART*



> Getting paid $10-an-hour is a welcome lift for Walmart (WMT) and McDonalds (MCD) workers. But compare that with what the average restaurant and retail CEOs earn.
> 
> The 13 CEOs of a group of well-known retailers and restaurants haul in an average $5,859 an hour according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ. Putting that another way: It would take an employee making $10 a hour more than two months working each day to earn as much as the average CEO in the industry makes in a single hour. The analysis assumes a 40-hour-a-week schedule and uses total reported pay by the companies in the most recent proxy statements, which for some companies is 2014, but for some others is still 2013. Total pay includes salary but also stocks awards and bonuses.


 http://americasmarkets.usatoday.com/2015/04/06/how-much-ceos-earn-per-hour/


----------



## poochee

*Billionaire donors climate group plans to punish GOP in 2016*
04/06/15 05:11 PMUpdated 04/06/15 06:19 PM 
By Benjy Sarlin

*PHOTO ESSAY*



> NextGen Climate, the environmental super PAC founded by billionaire Tom Steyer, announced plans on Monday to punish Republican presidential candidates who reject the scientific consensus on climate change.
> 
> The group spent over $70 million in the 2014 midterms attacking Republican candidates in a number of high-profile Senate races, but were unable to stem the tide in what was ultimately a strong GOP year. On a call with reporters on Monday, NGC chief strategist Chris Lehane declined to provide a specific dollar pledge for the 2016 race, but said that Steyer and his allies would spend what it takes to make climate a damaging campaign issue for Republicans.


----------



## poochee

Apr 7, 12:46 PM EDT
*
Kentucky's Rand Paul: 'I am running for president' *
By PHILIP ELLIOTT and ADAM BEAM 
Associated Press



> LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Sen. Rand Paul launched his 2016 presidential campaign Tuesday with a combative message against both Washington and his fellow Republicans, declaring that "we have come to take our country back."
> 
> The fiery message, delivered in his home state of Kentucky before he jetted to four early-nominating states, was set to motivate legions of supporters from his father's two earlier unsuccessful bids for the Republicans' presidential nomination, as well as broaden his appeal outside of the typical GOP coalition.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-07-12-46-45


----------



## poochee

*South Carolina Officer Is Charged With Murder in Black Mans Death*
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and MATT APUZZO APRIL 7, 2015 
*
VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON  A white police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was charged with murder on Tuesday after a video surfaced showing him shooting in the back and killing an apparently unarmed black man while the man ran away.
> 
> The officer, Michael T. Slager, 33, said he had feared for his life because the man had taken his stun gun in a scuffle after a traffic stop on Saturday. A video, however, shows the officer firing eight times as the man, Walter L. Scott, 50, fled. The North Charleston mayor announced the state charges at a news conference Tuesday evening.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/u...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## Phantom010

Incredible! A real live execution! Will be hard to get away with it from that video. Without the video though, I'm sure everything would have been done to cover it up. The Taser was dropped near the victim by the officer, after the murder. Horrible senseless death!


----------



## DaveBurnett

Just imagine how many cases ARE set up by the police when they try that when they are on camera!


----------



## poochee

*Obama's war on tax cheats gains ground*
By Bernie Becker and Peter Schroeder - 04/08/15 06:00 AM EDT



> The Obama administration is gaining ground in its war against tax cheats, racking up victories in a global crackdown that has made it harder to escape the Internal Revenue Service.
> 
> President Obamas battle against offshore tax evaders hasnt gotten the publicity of some of his other priorities but under his tenure the IRS has amassed a string of victories  perhaps none larger than undercutting the Swiss banking sectors status as the gold standard for secrecy.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/238157-obama-makes-gains-in-war-on-tax-cheats


----------



## poochee

*Rand Pauls problem with female interviewers just cropped up again*
By Chris Cillizza April 8 at 11:05 AM 

*VIDEO*



> "Today" host Savannah Guthrie began by asking Paul a question about the criticism leveled by some that he has changed his positions on a variety of issues -- from Israel to defense spending. It's a perfectly fair question and one that is central to Paul's challenge in the race: Can he, an avowed libertarian, find a way to shift enough in his views to appeal to more mainstream conservative voters?
> 
> But before Guthrie even gets halfway through the question, Paul begins to interrupt her. "Before we we go ... before we go ... before we go through a litany," he says, repeatedly talking over Guthrie.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...th-female-interviewers-just-cropped-up-again/


----------



## poochee

*How the U.S. thinks Russians hacked the White House*
By Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 12:30 PM ET, Wed April 8, 2015
Wesley Bruer contributed to this report

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)-Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.
> 
> While the White House has said the breach only affected an unclassified system, that description belies the seriousness of the intrusion. The hackers had access to sensitive information such as real-time non-public details of the president's schedule. While such information is not classified, it is still highly sensitive and prized by foreign intelligence agencies, U.S. officials say.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/politics/how-russians-hacked-the-wh/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Dzhokhar Tsarnaev found guilty in Boston bombing, could face death penalty*
04/08/15 01:35 PMUpdated 04/08/15 02:35 PM 
By Tom Winter
*
VIDEO*



> Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been convicted for his role in the April 15, 2013 bombings of the Boston Marathon, ending the first phase of a terror trial that will now continue with a penalty phase to determine whether he will be executed.
> 
> A jury of seven women and five men who had deliberated for two days delivered guilty verdicts in at least 29 of the 30 criminal counts against Tsarnaev, who was 19 when twin blasts rocked the races finish line. Three people died and 260 were injured in the worst terror attacks on American soil since 9/11.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jury-reaches-verdict-boston-marathon-bombing-trial


----------



## poochee

*
Meckler: Jeb Bush is loathed by the tea party*
04/08/15 02:17 PMUpdated 04/08/15 02:49 PM
By Aliyah Frumin
*
VIDEO*



> Jeb Bush has a tea party problem.
> 
> Mark Meckler, an influential voice of the tea party movement, told msnbc on Wednesday that the all-but-likely Republican presidential candidate is rarely mentioned in his circle  and when he is, thats when the vitriol flows.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/meckler-jeb-bush-loathed-the-tea-party


----------



## Phantom010

DaveBurnett said:


> Just imagine how many cases ARE set up by the police when they try that when they are on camera!


Is it just me or the guy with the cell phone is awfully close to the scene? He's either very stupid, or the cop is blind, and stupid... Something just doesn't feel right...

Let's hope that ex-cop never gets out of jail!


----------



## DaveBurnett

Blind. He was so involved with what he was doing, knowing it was wrong, that he just didn't see the consequences of being watched.


----------



## Phantom010

DaveBurnett said:


> Blind. He was so involved with what he was doing, knowing it was wrong, that he just didn't see the consequences of being watched.


Yeah, but he did try to make it look like self-defense by dropping the Taser near the victim. How he missed the guy just on the other side of the fence is beyond me.

The guy with the cell phone surely was white or else he'd probably be dead as well...


----------



## poochee

*MSNBC*

All In with Chris Hayes 4/8/15 
*
Exclusive: Extended interview with witness to SC shooting*

*VIDEO*



> An eyewitness to the shooting death of 50-year-old Walter Scott by a white police officer speaks out about what he saw and what he recorded on his cell phone after that video was made public


http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/extended-interview-with-witness-to-sc-shooting-425199683867


----------



## poochee

*The irony of Cheneys latest anti-Obama broadside*
04/08/15 04:38 PMUpdated 04/08/15 06:12 PM 
By Steve Benen



> The cycle has become rather tiresome: Dick Cheney pops up, talks about how much he hates President Obama, makes a few headlines, waits a few days, and then starts the cycle anew. It stopped being interesting quite a while ago.
> 
> That said, the failed former vice president has become a little more unhinged than usual lately, and this morning he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the president is about to give [Iran] nuclear weapons.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-irony-cheneys-latest-anti-obama-broadside


----------



## Phantom010

poochee said:


> *MSNBC*
> 
> All In with Chris Hayes 4/8/15
> *
> Exclusive: Extended interview with witness to SC shooting*
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/extended-interview-with-witness-to-sc-shooting-425199683867


The man with the cell phone, Feidin Santana, showed a lot of courage, knowing he had been seen, to continue shooting that video 'till the end. A hero. :up:


----------



## poochee

*HUMOROUS*

*Surprise! Utah man dons polo shirt, ends at table with Obama*
Associated Press 
By KELLY CATALFAMO 
5 hours ago



> SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Last week, 26-year-old Lance Futch donned a white polo shirt and drove to Hill Air Force Base for what he believed was a chance to be in the audience during a news conference with a "senior White House official."
> 
> Instead, he found himself sitting at a small table just one seat away from President Barack Obama.


http://news.yahoo.com/utah-man-surprised-meeting-president-obama-232945998.html


----------



## poochee

NewsNation with Tamron Hall 4/9/15

*VIDEO *



> The State Department has recommended to Pres. Obama that Cuba be removed from the governments terrorism list. NBCs Chris Jansing reports the latest from Panama City where the president will attend the Summit of the Americas


http://www.msnbc.com/newsnation/watch/us-weighs-removing-cuba-from-terror-list-425556035975


----------



## poochee

*NBC News*

- The Associated Press
First published April 9th 2015, 3:34 am

*Mississippi Women to Be Sentenced in Slaying of Black Man*



> Two young white women, part of a group who repeatedly searched Mississippi's capital city for black people to attack, were scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.





> Both Graves and Richards were riding in a truck driven by Deryl Paul Dedmon that ran over James Craig Anderson in June 2011. Anderson died after being beaten and run over.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-c...ntenced-searching-black-people-attack-n338251


----------



## Wino

Phantom010 said:


> The man with the cell phone, Feidin Santana, showed a lot of courage, knowing he had been seen, to continue shooting that video 'till the end. A hero. :up:


Texas doesn't want people videoing cops.

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/04/new-texas-bill-would-prevent-bystanders


----------



## Phantom010

Wino said:


> Texas doesn't want people videoing cops.
> 
> http://crooksandliars.com/2015/04/new-texas-bill-would-prevent-bystanders





> Illegal for private citizens to record police within 25 feet.


How convenient... 

A citizen could always argue that he didn't have his tape measure with him...


----------



## poochee

*South Carolina Residents Say Police Shooting Reflects Racist Pattern*
Reuters | By Harriet McLeod 
Posted: 04/09/2015 8:56 am EDT Updated: 3 hours ago



> "This is not an isolated incident," said Muhiyidin Moye D'Baha, an organizer with the activist group Black Lives Matter. "This is something that exists within a system down here."
> 
> It is a point of view that has been echoed in predominantly African-American neighborhoods across the country, where the more aggressive tactics police have employed to curb crime have stirred deep resentment.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/09/south-carolina-racist-atm_n_7032318.html


----------



## poochee

*South Carolina police shooting: Authorities release dash cam video*
By Ashley 
Updated 5:31 PM ET, Thu April 9, 2015
(CNN)-[Breaking news, posted at 5:25 p.m. ET]
*
VIDEO*



> The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has released several dash cam videos in connection with the fatal shooting of Walter Scott. None shows the actual shooting, a spokesman said.
> 
> The video from Michael Slager shows the officer approaching Scott's car. They speak, and then Slager returns to his patrol car. Scott then exits the vehicle, briefly, and Slager tells him to stay in the car. Scott then gets out of the car, again, and runs away, out of the area the camera could see.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/09/us/south-carolina-police-shooting/index.html


----------



## DaveBurnett

And I thought that the scenes from "The Dukes of Hazzard" involving the police were fiction.


----------



## poochee

DaveBurnett said:


> And I thought that the scenes from "The Dukes of Hazzard" involving the police were fiction.


----------



## poochee

*South Carolina Police Officer's Mom Speaks Out in Tearful Interview*
Apr 9, 2015, 6:43 PM ET
By MEGHAN KENEALLY

*VIDEO*



> Officer Michael Slager's Mother: 'Life Will 'Never Be the Same'


http://abcnews.go.com/US/south-caro...om-speaks-tearful-interview/story?id=30207558


----------



## poochee

Jonathan Cohn 
*One More Reason To Feel (Pretty) Good About Obamacare*
Posted: 04/10/2015 10:59 am EDT Updated: 2 hours ago



> Millions of additional people now have health insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act and the historic expansion of coverage it has made possible. But the nations total spending on medical care hasnt exploded, as legions of Obamacare critics predicted it would.
> 
> In fact, Americas health care bill is turning out to be a lot smaller than economists thought it would be by this point.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/health-care-costs_n_7040230.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 10, 1:54 PM EDT

*Obama, Castro to meet Saturday amid bid to restore Cuba ties *
By JOSH LEDERMAN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Andrea Rodriguez, Joshua Goodman and Jim Kuhnhenn in Panama City and AP Airlines Writer Scott Mayerowitz in New York contributed to this report.



> PANAMA CITY (AP) -- President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro plan their first substantial, in-person discussion Saturday, a historic encounter as they work to restore diplomatic ties after more than half a century of estrangement between their countries.
> 
> Details of their meeting were still being worked out Friday, said Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes. The two leaders spoke by phone Wednesday for only the second time, ahead of their arrival in Panama City only minutes apart Thursday evening for the Summit of the Americas.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-10-11-33-00


----------



## poochee

*From the mouth of babes, Biden steals pacifier from Bloomberg grandchild*
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 11:16 AM ET, Fri April 10, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Best of the vice president's 'Bidenisms' 01:35


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/10/politics/joe-biden-pacifier-bloomberg-grandson/index.html


----------



## Phantom010

*Sheriff Orders Immediate Internal Investigation Into Arrest Seen on "Disturbing" Video*



> He then appeared to be stunned with a Taser by a sheriff's deputy and fall to the ground with his arms outstretched. Two deputies immediately descended on him and appeared to punch him in the head and knee him in the groin, according to the footage, reviewed several times by NBC4.
> The group surrounding the man grew to 11 sheriff's deputies.
> 
> In the two minutes after the man was stunned with a Taser, it appeared deputies kicked him 17 times, punched him 37 times and struck him with batons four times. Thirteen blows appeared to be to the head. The horse stood idly nearby.


Do you need to beat a guy who just got tased twice?

What is it with cops!?! Is it open season for bashing suspects? 

They haven't learned anything from the other recent incident in South Carolina........? 

When they give them a badge, they should also issue a brain with it. Man, what idiots!


----------



## DaveBurnett

Surely they could hear the 'copter??

Are the police over there being fed some sort of suicide pill?? or is it mob mania affecting them?

As I said earlier, what really should frighten people is that this is how they behave when they are being filmed. What do they behave like when there is no-one around watching??


----------



## Phantom010

I know some will disagree with me, but street cops are trigger-happy thugs. That's why they're not detectives, but in the streets with the other thugs... 

This stupid brotherhood protection of them will have to stop. They'll have to face justice just like everybody else who commit such heinous crimes.

We'll soon have to take away their guns and tasers so they can be forced to use their brain instead, like in Britain...


----------



## DaveBurnett

Not all cops are as bad, and it is not unknown for the British police to go mob happy on occasions - and truncheons are worse than fists, though not as bad as guns.


----------



## Phantom010

DaveBurnett said:


> Not all cops are as bad


Maybe not all of them, but certainly a large proportion.

We've seen so many disturbing scenes of abusive behavior in riots and arrests. Like you said, imagine what happens when they're not filmed...


----------



## poochee

*Prosecutors dismiss cases linked to racist ex-Fort Lauderdale cops *
By Mike Clary and Tonya Alanez 
Sun Sentinel
April 10, 2015, 1:41 AM
Staff writer Erika Pesantes contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> The latest fallout tied to four Fort Lauderdale police officers who lost their jobs because of racist text messages and a homemade video is the dismissal of nearly three dozen criminal cases the cops were linked to as arresting officers..
> 
> Nearly 20 more dismissals are in the works, prosecutors said. As of Thursday, the Broward State Attorney's Office had dropped 12 felony and 19 criminal misdemeanor cases and one juvenile case in which one or more of the four officers were involved.


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-racist-cops-case-dismissals-20150409-story.html


----------



## Phantom010

> San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told NBC4 he was launching an internal investigation into the actions of the deputies.
> 
> "I'm not sure if there was a struggle with the suspect," McMahon said. "It appears there was in the early parts of the video. What happens afterwards, I'm not sure of, but we will investigate it thoroughly."


http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/l...ned-by-Sheriffs-Deputies-in-IE-299250951.html

It's there in plain sight!

You don't need a stupid investigation to charge those deputies and suspend them! Again, it's cops trying to protect cops, no matter what they did.


----------



## Wino

I learned at a youthful age there are some things you do not do when stopped by a policeman - don't smart off and don't run - not saying the current spate of cop beatings, killings and shootings wouldn't have happened, but I suspect would have been cut in half or more without resisting arrest. I'm by no means suggesting what has happened is the fault of the victims, but they surely did not help the matter at hand and police have been given the authority over us peons, like it or not.

I know one thing for sure - I wouldn't want to be a police officer in this day and age. Several of my high school chums became officers - I watched them change from idealist to hardened cynics over the years. Most never made it to full retirement - just burned out.


----------



## Phantom010

Yeah, the message is now quite clear. Run, and be shot or beaten to death...


----------



## poochee

Zach Carter 
*General Electric Hands Dodd-Frank Its Biggest Victory Yet*
Posted: 04/10/2015 1:08 pm EDT Updated: 43 minutes ago



> WASHINGTON --General Electric said Friday it will sell off most of its banking operations, an acknowledgment that the company needs to transform itself in the face of Wall Street reforms passed five years ago.
> 
> The move marks the most dramatic reshaping of the American financial system to occur as a direct result of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which required regulators to take a hard look at financial companies deemed too big to fail.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/ge-dodd-frank_n_7041662.html


----------



## poochee

April 10, 2015, 02:48 pm 
*White House: Iran 'cannot change the facts' of nuclear deal*
By Jordan Fabian



> The test of whether or not that framework can be memorialized in a deal is not going to be a comment on any given day by a particular Iranian leader, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters.
> 
> Whether a final deal is reached will depend on the ability of negotiators from the U.S., Iran and five other world powers to produce a document by the end of June that meets our core objectives of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, Rhodes said.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...-iran-cannot-change-the-facts-of-nuclear-deal


----------



## poochee

Apr 10, 9:06 PM EDT

*Man shot by police had much to celebrate in recent months *
By RUSS BYNUM 
Associated Press
Associated Press Writer Bruce Smith contributed to this report.



> NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Less than two months before he was killed, Walter Lamer Scott turned 50 and wanted everyone around him to join in the celebration.
> 
> It was February, and Scott's family had taken him to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. As waiters and other staff gathered around to sing "Happy Birthday," Scott jumped up on the table and started dancing.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-10-21-06-09


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Tuition-Free Community College*



> In this weeks address, the Vice President laid out his and the Presidents plan to make two years of community college free for responsible students.
> 
> Access to higher education has a tangible impact on a students success: Those with an associates degree earn 25% more than folks who graduated high school, and those with a four-year degree make 70% more. Not only that, but a better educated citizenry is necessary to ensure that the United States continues to out-compete the rest of the world.
> 
> Making two years of community college free is good for workers, good for companies, and good for our economy. And this proposal is part of the Presidents broader vision for middle-class economics: that everybody who works hard deserves their fair shot and the chance to get ahead.


*VIDEO*

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*TRANSCRIPT:* https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/04/10/weekly-address-tuition-free-community-college


----------



## poochee

Apr 11, 1:20 PM EDT

*Obama, Castro vow to pursue new future for US and Cuba *
By JOSH LEDERMAN and JIM KUHNHENN 
Associated Press

*VIDEO*



> PANAMA CITY (AP) -- President Barack Obama declared his refusal to refight the Cold War battles of the past on Saturday while Cuban President Raul Castro rallied to his defense, absolving Obama of fault for the U.S. blockade in a stunning reversal of more than 50 years of animosity between the United States and Cuba.
> 
> Castro, in a meandering, nearly hour-long speech to the Summit of the Americas, ran through an exhaustive history of perceived Cuban grievances against the U.S. dating back more than a century - a vivid display of how raw passions remain over American attempts to undermine Cuba's government.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-11-13-20-31


----------



## poochee

*When Cops Cry Wolf*
_Police have been setting up suspects with false testimony for decades. Is anyone going to believe them now when they tell the truth?
_By FRANK SERPICO
_Frank Serpico is a former New York City police detective_.
April 10, 2015



> I call it testi-lying. It has been a regular practice in police forces across the United States, at least since I served on the NYPD: official testimony that is made part of a police after-action report but is a pure lie, an invention. In the old days police would carry a drop gun or a drop knifean inexpensive weapon cops would bring along on patrol to drop onto or next to a suspect they had taken out so they could say he had threatened them. Today you dont even need to do that; all you have to do to justify the use of deadly force if you are a police officer is to say that you feared for your life, for whatever reason. If the victim dies, that just means there will be one less witness around to contradict the testi-lie.





> Ive been saying this for a long time, ever since I spoke before the Knapp Commission investigating corruption in the NYPD more than 40 years ago: Unless we create an atmosphere where the crooked cop fears the honest cop, and not the other way around, the system will never change. Unless honesty is rewarded more often than corruption, the police will lose credibility altogether. I wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton in 1994 addressing this very issue, saying that honest cops have never been rewarded, and maybe there ought to be a medal for them. He wrote back, but nothing changed.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/north-charleston-shooting-116871.html#ixzz3X1kyXgwZ


----------



## poochee

*Hedge-Fund Magnate Robert Mercer Emerges as a Generous Backer of Cruz*
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and ALEXANDRA STEVENSON APRIL 10, 2015



> WASHINGTON  The two men share a passion for unbridled markets, concerns about the Internal Revenue Service and a skeptical view of climate change.
> 
> Now the two  Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Robert Mercer, a Wall Street hedge-fund magnate  share another bond that could link them through November 2016: Both want to see Mr. Cruz elected president.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/u...es-as-a-generous-backer-of-ted-cruz.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama Meets Raúl Castro, Making History*
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLDAPRIL 11, 2015

*VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> PANAMA - President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba met here Saturday in the first face-to-face discussion between the leaders of the two countries in a half-century.
> 
> Seated beside Mr. Castro in a small room in the convention center downtown where the Summit of the Americas was being held, Mr. Obama called it a "historic meeting."


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/w...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0


----------



## poochee

April 11, 2015, 07:14 pm 
*Obama: Partisanship on Iran has 'crossed boundaries'*
By Mark Hensch



> President Obama on Saturday said Republican critics of his tentative nuclear arms deal with Iran had gone too far in their efforts to rip the agreement.
> 
> I dont understand why everyone is working so hard to anticipate how we can fail, Obama said at the seventh Summit of Americas in Panama City.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...a-partisanship-on-iran-has-crossed-boundaries


----------



## poochee

*
Video shows final moments of New Jersey man who died in police custody *
04/11/15 08:11 PMUpdated 04/11/15 08:11 PM 
By Benjamin Landy



> Two police officers from Vineland, New Jersey, are being investigated after Philip White, a 32-year-old black man, died in custody following an attack by a police dog.
> 
> In recently-obtained cell phone video showing the March 31 arrest, White can be seen on the ground as police officers instruct the dog to get em.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/video-shows-final-moments-new-jersey-man-who-died-police-custody

*
Video Leaks Of Deputy Accidentally Shooting Suspect He Allegedly Meant To Taser*
The Huffington Post | By Alana Horowitz 
Posted: 04/12/2015 9:42 am EDT Updated: 3 hours ago



> Tulsa police released a video on Friday of a sheriff's deputy fatally shooting a suspect he says he meant to taser.
> 
> Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, who used to be a police officer, shouted "taser, taser," before firing his gun at Eric Harris, 44, on April 2nd.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/12/eric-harris-shooting-taser_n_7049382.html


----------



## poochee

*IRS declares victory on ObamaCare*
By Bernie Becker - 04/12/15 06:00 AM EDT



> The IRS is claiming victory as ObamaCares first tax filing season appears to be wrapping up with only a few hiccups.
> 
> John Koskinen, the agencys commissioner, said recently that the current filing season has gone swimmingly despite the extra burdens of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and cutbacks to the IRS budget.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/238512-irs-declares-victory-on-obamacare


----------



## poochee

*How Americas Relationship With Cuba Will Change*
By ALICIA PARLAPIANO	DEC. 17, 2014



> President Obama announced in 2014 the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba and a series of actions aimed at easing travel and trade restrictions rooted in a 1963 law.
> 
> On April 11, 2015, Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba met in the first face-to-face discussion between leaders of the two countries in a half-century.
> 
> *Related Article:*


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Ready for Hillary 2.0
*04/12/15 03:10 PMUpdated 04/12/15 05:51 PM 
By Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*



> Its official.
> 
> After a months-long buildup, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Sunday shes running for president again, and promises things will be different this time. Welcome to Clinton 2.0.
> 
> The former secretary of state, senator, and first lady declared in a video posted to her new website Sunday afternoon, Im getting ready to do something, too  Im running for president.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-president-2016-announcement


----------



## poochee

*GOP rivals take aim at Clinton*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 4:21 PM ET, Sun April 12, 2015

*VIDEOS*



> Washington (CNN)Republican White House contenders are doing their best to capitalize on Hillary Clinton's big day.
> 
> As she made her bid for the Democratic nomination official Sunday, GOP presidential contenders who have long made her a target were hard at work lambasting her candidacy.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/12/politics/jeb-bush-hillary-clinton-gop-attack/index.html


----------



## poochee

CNNMoney (New York) April 13, 2015: 8:27 AM ET

*Nearly 90 percent of Americans have health coverage*
_Nearly nine out of 10 Americans now have health insurance, a sharp improvement from two years ago before Obamacare was put in place._

*VIDEO*



> A poll by Gallup found that the uninsured rate among U.S adults declined to 11.9% in the first quarter, down one percentage point from the end of last year and an improvement from the 18% without insurance in the fall of 2013, when the Americans were first were able to sign up for coverage at state and federal exchanges.


----------



## poochee

*Jodi Arias sentenced to natural life in prison*
Michael Kiefer, The Arizona Republic 1:44 p.m. EDT April 13, 2015

*SLIDESHOWS*



> PHOENIX  Jodi Arias, who was convicted in 2013 for the 2008 murder of her lover, Travis Alexander, was sentenced Monday to natural life in prison after two juries could not reach an unanimous decision on whether to sentence her to death.
> 
> Monday's ruling ended one of the more dramatic and notorious murder trials in recent history.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/jodi-arias-sentencing/25691575/


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton: 12 Moments That Define the Woman Who Wants to Be President*
Apr 13, 2015, 12:06 PM ET
By LIZ KREUTZ and ERIN DOOLEY

*VIDEOS/PICTURES*



> Now, at the height of her global recognition, Clinton is embarking on a second run for the White House, with the possibility of making history as the first woman president of the United States. But how did the young girl from the Chicago suburbs become the woman she is today?
> 
> From her role as one-half of a political power couple to her years defending herself amid scandal, here are twelve defining moments that have shaped Clinton's life:


http://forums.techguy.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=9066913


----------



## poochee

April 14, 2015, 08:59 am 
*Senate deal sets up Iran vote*
By David McCabe and Alexander Bolton 
*
VIDEO*



> Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee said they had a deal Tuesday that could lead to a bipartisan vote in favor of giving Congress a vote to approve or disapprove a nuclear deal with Iran.
> 
> "We have reached an agreement that absolutely keeps the integrity of the process in place," Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the panel, said on Bloomberg TV.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ker-hopeful-that-iran-bill-will-be-successful


----------



## poochee

April 14, 2015, 01:22 pm 
*White House cautious on new Iran bill*
By David McCabe 
*
VIDEO*



> White House press secretary Josh Earnest would not say Tuesday whether the president planned to veto a new version of a bill that would allow Congress to review any deal the administration strikes over Iran's nuclear program.
> 
> He said there was "some reason" to believe that changes to the bill may have addressed the White House's initial concerns, but that he could not say what the administration's position would be until after it was marked up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday afternoon.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/238758-white-house-cautious-on-new-iran-bill


----------



## poochee

*Viral Video Shows Another Side of Interacting With Police Officers*
Apr 14, 2015, 1:24 PM ET
By MEGHAN KENEALLY
* 
VIDEO*



> Will Stack, a 22-year-old identified by local media as a National Guardsman, posted a video of himself to Facebook explaining an interaction he had with a police officer.
> 
> Stack, who is African American, calls on people of all races to interact civilly with police officers.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/viral-video-shows-side-interacting-police-officers/story?id=30310913


----------



## poochee

*
Obama removes Cuba from state sponsor of terror list*
04/14/15 03:16 PMUpdated 04/14/15 03:18 PM 
By Julie Pace, Associated Press



> The White House says on Twitter that Obama has submitted to Congress required reports and certifications indicating his intent to take Cuba off the list.
> 
> Obama made the final decision following a State Department review of Cubas presence on the list.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-removes-cuba-state-sponsor-terror-list


----------



## poochee

Apr 14, 4:38 PM EDT

*White House indicates Obama will sign compromise Iran bill *
By DEB RIECHMANN and LAURIE KELLMAN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Josh Lederman and Alan Fram contributed to this report.



> The White House conveyed the president's decision shortly before Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved a compromise version of the measure on a 19-0 vote. It was a sign that Congress would not back down on its insistence that lawmakers must have a say if any final deal with Iran involves the eventual lifting of crippling economic sanctions that Congress levied on Tehran.
> 
> The bill is now likely to clear both houses in the Republican-controlled Congress.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-14-16-38-19


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> *
> Obama removes Cuba from state sponsor of terror list*
> 04/14/15 03:16 PMUpdated 04/14/15 03:18 PM
> By Julie Pace, Associated Press
> 
> http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-removes-cuba-state-sponsor-terror-list


Probably needs to add to the terror list - Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. They'll do more damage than the Castro's and buddy Che ever did.


----------



## poochee

*Senate overwhelmingly approves House 'doc fix' bill*
By Peter Sullivan and Sarah Ferris - 04/14/15 09:45 PM EDT 
Jordain Carney contributed.
- Updated at 10:40 p.m.



> The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a $200 billion Medicare reform package that will end a two-decade-old headache for Congress known as the "doc fix."
> 
> The rare bipartisan bill, which passed 92-8, marks one of the biggest achievements yet from the newly GOP-controlled Congress. It will now head to President Obama, who has promised to sign the bill.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/238871-senate-overwhelmingly-approves-house-doc-fix-bill


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 4/15/15

*CEO cuts pay to give higher salary to workers*
*
VIDEO*



> Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price announced that all employees at his payment processing center would earn at least $70,000 to be rolled out over three years. Price cited income inequality as one of the reasons behind the move, and he joins Morning Joe to discuss.


 http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/ceo-cuts-pay-to-give-higer-salary-to-workers-428365379728


----------



## poochee

*Prominent black judge tapped to preside over Walter Scott case*
04/15/15 12:45 PMUpdated 04/15/15 01:04 PM 
By Trymaine Lee



> The South Carolina Supreme Court has appointed a prominent African-American judge to preside over the case of former North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager, who is charged with murder in the April 4 shooting death of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man.





> I think the African-American community will have some comfort that one of only five African-American judges in South Carolina will be presiding over this case, said Pete Strom, a former U.S. Attorney in South Carolina. Also I think the law enforcement community, to the extent that there is some concern form that constituency, they know Judge Newmans reputation as a prosecutor as being honest and straight up.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/prominent-black-judge-tapped-preside-over-walter-scott-case


----------



## poochee

CBS News/April 15, 2015, 10:07 AM

*Texas mom gives birth to all-girl quintuplets*



> In addition to being the first all-girl quints ever born in the U.S., the hospital says the Busby girls are the first anywhere in the world since 1969.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-mom-gives-birth-to-all-girl-quintuplets/


----------



## poochee

April 15, 2015, 06:59 pm 
*White House expected to add steel spikes to fence*
By Ben Kamisar



> The White House is expected to add half-inch steel spikes to its perimeter fence as a protective measure against potential jumpers, NBC Washington reports.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...e-house-expected-to-add-steel-spikes-to-fence


----------



## poochee

*Tulsa Authorities Ordered Robert Bates' Training Record Falsified: Report*
The Huffington Post | By Andres Jauregui 
Posted: 04/16/2015 11:00 am EDT Updated: 2 hours ago



> The Tulsa County Sheriff's office ordered supervisors to falsify the training record of the reserve deputy who fatally shot a suspect after mistaking his revolver for his Taser, sources told the Tulsa World.
> 
> Reserve deputy Robert C. Bates, 73, faces manslaughter charges after he allegedly mistook this revolver for a Taser and fatally shot a suspect in an undercover operation April 2.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/robert-bates-training-record-false_n_7078084.html


----------



## poochee

*Why a U.S. senator is trying to put a womans face on the $20 bill*
By Abby Ohlheiser April 16 at 1:50 PM



> A months-long push to change the portrait on the $20 from Andrew Jackson to that of an important woman from American history became a bill in the Senate this week. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who introduced the measure, told The Washington Post that she believes the change, if implemented, would help to "remind people how much we have benefited from so many men and women" throughout American history.
> 
> Shahehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/04/16/why-a-u-s-senator-is-trying-to-put-a-womans-face-on-the-20-bill/en's bill is inspired by a separate campaign  known as the Women on 20s project  that asked supporters to vote for the woman they believe should replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Right now, the campaign is asking supporters to choose between four "finalists:" Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation. The campaign, which has collected more than 200,000 votes in total for the four finalists, plans to take the results to the White House.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...s-trying-to-put-a-womans-face-on-the-20-bill/


----------



## poochee

*Lawmakers reach deal to move Obama trade agenda*
By Vicki Needham - 04/16/15 10:40 AM EDT



> Congressional leaders announced Thursday they had reached a deal on legislation that, if approved, would speed consideration of President Obama's trade agenda.
> 
> The fast-track legislation, formally known as trade promotion authority, would make it easier for the administration to negotiate trade deals by preventing Congress from amending them.


 http://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/239058-senate-leaders-nearing-trade-deal


----------



## poochee

Jesse Rifkin 
Michael McAuliff
*House Votes To Repeal Tax On Richest 0.2 Percent Of Americans*
Posted: 04/16/2015 1:24 pm EDT Updated: 19 minutes ago



> WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives voted Thursday to give a tax break worth $269 billion to the richest few thousand estates in the country, and add that cost to the federal debt.
> 
> Called the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015, the bill would end the nearly 100-year-old federal estate tax. All but three Republicans voted in favor, while all but seven Democrats voted against. The legislation passed 239 to 179.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/16/estate-tax-house_n_7079744.html


----------



## poochee

*Sen. Harry Reid threatens to force vote on Loretta Lynch nomination*
04/16
By Irin Carmon
Frank Thorp contributed reporting to this story.

*VIDEO*



> Weve put up with this for too long. And were going to need to have a vote on her very soon thats created by Mitch McConnell, or Ill create one, Reid said in an interview with msnbcs Rachel Maddow, airing Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern. I can still do that. I know parliamentary procedure around here and were going to put up with this for a little while longer but not much.





> At the White House press briefing today, spokesman Josh Earnest made the White Houses frustrations clear, accusing Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of an an outstanding display of duplicity. Asked if such comments only fan the flames, Earnest responded, Being nice has gotten us a 160 day delay. Maybe after they look up duplicitous in the dictionary we will get a different result.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/harry-reid-says-he-can-force-vote-loretta-lynch-nomination


----------



## poochee

*Rubio-backed insurance market covers 80 people*
Obamacare, which Rubio wants to repeal, covers 1.6 million in Florida alone.
By Rachana Pradhan
4/17/15 5:45 AM EDT



> Florida Health Choices, which finally opened last year, now covers 80 people.
> 
> Obamacare, which Rubio wants to repeal, covers 1.6 million in Florida alone. And 93 percent of them are subsidized.


http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/marco-rubio-florida-insurance-market-117055.html?ml=m_po


----------



## poochee

*
Snopes.com has been debunking Clinton rumors since the Clinton years*
By Philip Bump April 17 at 1:25 PM 



> With the resurgence of The Family Clinton comes a resurgence of the long, thick compilation of Clinton Rumors. We're seeing a lot of classics pulled from the shelves and dusted off, involving Whitewater and Troopergate and everything else. And there to greet those rumors is the same site that greeted them the last time around: Snopes.com.
> 
> Youngsters today might not realize this, but rumors and political insults on the Internet predate social media by a healthy margin. Viral garbage now replicates in the warm, moist hosts of Facebook and Twitter. In the First Clinton Era, they spread (as they still do now), over e-mail. Those emails would get FWD: FWD: FWD:'d over and over. And many grandparents probably received responses from their grandkids that consisted simply of a link to Snopes.com, which was to debunking rumors what Google is to searching the web.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...nking-clinton-rumors-since-the-clinton-years/


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Iran bill won't derail talks*
By Jordan Fabian - 04/17/15 03:07 PM EDT



> President Obama said Friday he would sign a bill allowing Congress to review any Iran nuclear deal because it would not derail negotiations.
> 
> The president called the deal brokered by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) a reasonable compromise that would not impede negotiators from reaching a final deal by the end of June.


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/239252-obama-iran-bill-wont-derail-talks


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Climate Change Can No Longer Be Ignored*
April 18, 2015

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, the President spoke about his commitment to combatting the threat of climate change and to keeping ourselves and future generations safe. The effects of climate change can no longer be denied or ignored  2014 was the planets warmest year recorded, and 14 of the 15 hottest years on record have happened this century.
> 
> Climate change poses risks to our national security, our economy, and our public health. The President has already taken historic steps to address climate change, but theres more that the United States and the international community can do. Thats why next Wednesday, on Earth Day, in the latest part of his effort to call attention to and act on the threat of climate change, the President will visit the Florida Everglades and speak about the threat that climate change poses to our economy and to the world.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address
*
TRANSCRIPT: *https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...ess-climate-change-can-no-longer-be-ignored-0


----------



## poochee

*Don't Look Now, But Congress Is Actually Doing Its Job*
AP | By By ERICA WERNER 
Posted: 04/18/2015 8:34 am EDT Updated: 1 hour ago



> WASHINGTON (AP)  Suddenly, bipartisanship has broken out on Capitol Hill.
> 
> On Iran, Medicare, education and trade, Republicans and Democrats have come together to make deals, and that's something rarely seen lately.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...-bipartisanship-medicare-trade_n_7091978.html


----------



## poochee

*A crucial test for Obama's executive action*
04/17/15 04:05 PM-Updated 04/17/15 06:34 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma

*VIDEOS*



> NEW ORLEANS, Lousiana - The Obama administration faced stiff odds Friday in swaying a conservative-leaning appeals court to lift the freeze placed on the president's sweeping executive actions on immigration.
> 
> It was a critical test for President Obama's Nov. 20 unilateral measures, which are imperiled by a lawsuit brought by Texas and 25 other states.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/crucial-test-obamas-executive-action


----------



## poochee

*Obama rips Senate over Lynch nomination: 'This is embarrassing'*
By John Verhovek
Updated 5:14 PM ET, Fri April 17, 2015
CNN's Dana Bash, Athena Jones and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

*
VIDEOS*



> "Enough. Enough. Call Loretta Lynch for a vote, get her confirmed, let her do her job. This is embarrassing," Obama told reporters during a joint White House press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
> 
> "There are times where the dysfunction in the Senate just goes too far," the President added. "This is an example of it."


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/17/politics/obama-loretta-lynch-embarrassing/index.html


----------



## poochee

*NBCNEWS*

*Ohio Cop Refuses to Resort to Deadly Force: 'I Wanted to Be Absolutely Sure'*
By Elizabeth Chuck
7:01 AM - 18 Apr 2015

*VIDEO *



> "For him to make the judgment call that he did shows great restraint and maturity," New Richmond Police Chief Randy Harvey told WLWT about Kidder, who's been on the force for a year. "This video footage, it eliminated all doubt that this officer would have been justified if in fact it came to a shooting."
> 
> Kidder, who did two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine and is a Purple Heart recipient, told WLWT that a relative had given him a body camera to use at work after the Ferguson shooting.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-c...dly-force-i-wanted-be-absolutely-sure-n344011


----------



## poochee

*Germanwings Crash Exposes History of Denial on Risk of Pilot Suicide*
By NICHOLAS KULISH and NICOLA CLARKAPRIL 18, 2015
_Nicholas Kulish reported from Düsseldorf and Bremen, Germany, and Nicola Clark from Paris. Reporting was contributed by Andrew W. Lehren from New York; Jack Ewing from Montabaur, Germany; Melissa Eddy from Düsseldorf; Alison Smale from Berlin; Silvia Taulés from Barcelona; and Serge F. Kovaleski from Phoenix. Susan Beachy and Alain Delaquérière contributed research from New York.
_


> DÜSSELDORF, Germany  When Andreas Lubitz sent an email in 2009 seeking reinstatement to Lufthansas flight-training program after a monthslong absence, he appended what in retrospect was a clear warning signal about his fitness to fly passenger jetliners: an acknowledgment that he had suffered from severe depression.
> 
> Lufthansa put the young German back through its standard applicant-screening process and medical tests. But it did not, from everything known about the case so far, pursue any plan to assure that he was getting appropriate treatment. Nor did it impose special monitoring of his condition beyond that required for any pilot who had a flagged health issue.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/w...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare repeal falls off Republicans' to-do list as law takes hold *
By Noam N. Levey 
April 18, 2015, 3:00 AM|Reporting from Washington



> GOP congressional leaders, unable to roll back the law while President Obama remains in office and unwilling to again threaten a government shutdown to pressure him, are focused on other issues, including trade and tax reform.
> 
> Less noted, senior Republican lawmakers have quietly incorporated many of the law's key protections into their own proposals, including guaranteeing coverage and providing government assistance to help consumers purchase


http://www.latimes.com/business/healthcare/la-na-obamacare-republicans-20150418-story.html#page=1


----------



## poochee

Apr 19, 1:01 PM EDT
*Reagan shooter finds rejection, indifference in future home *
By JESSICA GRESKO 
Associated Press



> WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) -- The last man to shoot an American president now spends most of the year in a house overlooking the 13th hole of a golf course in a gated community.
> 
> He takes long walks along tree-lined paths, plays guitar and paints, grabs fast food at Wendy's. He drives around town in a silver Toyota Avalon, a car that wouldn't attract a second glance. Often, as if to avoid detection, he puts on a hat or visor before going out.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-19-13-01-45


----------



## poochee

*Clinton supporter: Benghazi probe a political exercise*
By Kyle Balluck - 04/19/15 09:38 AM EDT



> Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Sunday said the congressional investigation into the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, has turned into a political exercise.
> 
> Benghazi has had more hearings, more documents produced, more investigative effort than the entire Iraq War, the senator added on ABCs This Week.


http://thehill.com/policy/international/239332-clinton-supporter-benghazi-probe-a-political-exercise


----------



## poochee

*Obama plays Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the Hill*
_The president has a strategy for dealing with the GOP Congress. Or is it two strategies?_
By David Nather
4/19/15 7:46 AM EDT
Updated 4/19/15 3:53 PM EDT



> The White House is road testing a two-track technique for dealing with a Republican Congress: Work through Democrats to find bipartisan compromises where they can be found, and whack the Republicans on everything else.
> 
> That dual approach was on display last week, as President Barack Obama reached breakthroughs on two of his top priorities  Iran and trade  while wagging his finger at Republicans for refusing to schedule a vote on a new attorney general.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/obama-white-congress-jekyll-hyde-117113.html#ixzz3XoiJMqIG


----------



## poochee

Apr 19, 12:29 PM EDT

*Almonds get roasted in debate over California water use *
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER 
Associated Press
Associated Press Writer Ian Mader in Beijing contributed to this story.



> SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California almonds are becoming one of the world's favorite snacks and creating a multibillion-dollar bonanza for agricultural investors. But the crop extracts a staggering price from the land, consuming more water than all the showering, dish-washing and other indoor household water use of California's 39 million people.
> 
> As California enters its fourth year of drought and imposes the first mandatory statewide water cutbacks on cities and towns, the $6.5 billion almond crop is helping drive a sharp debate about water use, agricultural interests and how both affect the state's giant economy.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-19-12-29-26


----------



## joe957

*Tulsa Roommates Stab Each Other Over Debate Between iPhone & Android*

_Posted: Apr 17, 2015 3:39 AM CST _ _Updated: Apr 17, 2015 5:31 AM CST _ Posted by: Ana Lastr



> Two men are hospitalized after an alcohol-fueled argument began over which phone is better: iPhone or Android.
> Tulsa police say a woman found a man covered in blood, stumbling around the parking lot of the Evergreen Apartments around 1 a.m


http://www.ktul.com/story/28827848/...each-other-over-debate-between-iphone-samsung


----------



## poochee

*Benjamin Netanyahu granted two-week extension on forming government*
By Adam B. Lerner
4/20/15 12:29 PM EDT



> Four weeks ago, Netanyahu and his Likud Party experienced resounding electoral success, winning the largest number of seats of any party and securing a mandate from President Reuven Rivlin to form the next governing coalition. But in 28 days of negotiations, Netanyahu has been unable to reach an agreement with his so-called natural allies on the right - two ultra-Orthodox parties, two far-right parties, and the center-right party, Kulanu.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...-forming-government-117146.html#ixzz3XsL9BeYT


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore police: Suspect who died had been arrested 'without force'*
John Bacon, USA TODAY 1:34 p.m. EDT April 20, 2015

*VIDEO*



> A Baltimore man who died a week after being critically injured during his arrest a week earlier had been taken into custody "without force or incident," according to a police report.
> 
> Freddie Gray, 25, suffered a nearly severed spine after his arrest April 12, according to a lawyer for his family. Video taken by a bystander does not show the injury take place, but does show police officers dragging Gray to a police van. Gray is heard crying out in pain.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/20/baltimore-video-arrest-death/26064623/


----------



## poochee

*Flat tax makes 2016 comeback*
By Bernie Becker - 04/20/15 06:00 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/239303-flat-tax-makes-2016-comeback


----------



## poochee

*U.S. warships to monitor ships traveling from Iran*
By Jim Sciutto and Jamie Crawford, CNN
Updated 8:15 PM ET, Mon April 20, 2015
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen and Theodore Schleifer contributed to this report.

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*



> "We are closely monitoring all maritime activity in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden," Commander Kevin Stephens of the Fifth Fleet told CNN. "We not going discuss the number and types of vessels we are monitoring or speculate about the possible destination or cargo of those vessels."
> 
> U.S. warships from the carrier group of the USS Theodore Roosevelt are joining allied vessels from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other partner nations prepared to intercept a convoy of 7-9 Iranian vessels believed headed for Yemen. The allies are prepared to board Iranian vessels if they proceed into Yemeni territorial waters.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/20/politics/iran-united-states-warships-monitoring/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Officer charged in beating of man, Floyd Dent, during traffic stop*
04/20/15 02:24 PMUpdated 04/20/15 03:45 PM 
By Elisha Fieldstadt

*VIDEOS*



> A suburban Detroit police officer who was seen on dash-cam video dragging a black man from his car before kicking and punching him repeatedly will be charged with two felony counts, a county prosecutor said Monday.
> 
> A drug possession charge against the man, Floyd Dent, 57, will be dropped, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. Dents treatment by Inkster police during a Jan. 28 traffic stop sparked outrage after the video was released by NBC affiliate WDIV.


----------



## poochee

*Senate reaches deal to vote on AG nominee Loretta Lynch*
By Alexander Bolton - 04/21/15 10:16 AM EDT
This report was updated at 1:00 p.m.
Jordan Fabian contributed to this story.



> Senate leaders on Tuesday morning announced a deal on a long-stalled anti-human-trafficking bill, setting up a vote to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general later this week.
> 
> Im glad we can say there is a bipartisan proposal that will allow us to complete action on this legislation so we can provide help to the victims who desperately need it, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on the Senate floor.


http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/239502-senate-reaches-deal-to-vote-on-ag-nominee-loretta-lynch


----------



## poochee

*
Robert Bates pleads not guilty in Tulsa fatal shooting*
04/21/15 12:54 PM 
By Michele Richinick
*
VIDEO*



> A lawyer for the Harris family, Dan Smolen, told reporters on Tuesday that he wasnt surprised by Bates decision to plead not guilty, but he didnt expect the judge to allow for his vacation.
> 
> Whether intended or not, Mr. Bates vacationing in the Bahamas at this time sends a message of apathy with respect to the shooting and Erics life, Smolen said. At a time when we are still mourning the death of a loved one that he shot down in the street, Mr. Bates will be relaxing and enjoying his wealth and privilege.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/robert-bates-pleads-not-guilty-tulsa-fatal-shooting


----------



## poochee

April 21, 2015, 08:02 am 
*Obamas approval numbers rise; Americans optimistic on economy*
By Ben Kamisar



> Americans also have their most optimistic views of future economic conditions since 2012: 60 percent of Americans said they believed economic conditions would be positive in another year.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...-rating-rises-americans-optimistic-on-economy


----------



## poochee

*DOJ opens probe of police custody death of Freddie Gray
*04/21/15 02:01 PMUpdated 04/21/15 04:22 PM 
By Trymaine Lee
*
VIDEO*



> The Department of Justice on Tuesday opened a civil rights investigation into the death of Freddie Gray, the man who was arrested last week and later died as a result of extensive injuries to his spine.
> 
> The Department of Justice has been monitoring the developments in Baltimore, MD, regarding the death of Freddie Gray. Based on preliminary information, the Department of Justice has officially opened this matter and is gathering information to determine whether any prosecutable civil rights violation occurred, a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/baltimore-cops-freddie-gray-death-custody-case-identified


----------



## joe957

*Colorado man cited for 'killing' uncooperative computer with handgun*

DENVER (Reuters)



> Police in Colorado have cited a 37-year-old man for carrying his computer into an alley then shooting it eight times with a handgun after what authorities said had been a long battle with the uncooperative machine.


http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-man-cited-killing-uncooperative-computer-handgun-191856963.html


----------



## poochee

*
Barack Obama proposes $3.5 billion gas pipeline overhaul*
_But Republicans are skeptical about providing the money._
By Andrew Restuccia and Elana Schor
| 4/21/15 2:15 PM EDT
| Updated 4/21/15 9:59 PM EDT
Darren Goode contributed to this report.



> The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed spending as much as $3.5 billion to replace aging natural gas pipelines nationwide  a move that comes just as POLITICO published a lengthy investigation of the public safety threat posed by pipelines and the numerous problems plaguing the federal agency that regulates them.
> 
> The announcement, included in a 348-page government report examining how to upgrade a vast array of the countrys energy infrastructure, is aimed at addressing the dangers to both public safety and the climate from pipelines that leak or rupture.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...erhaul-barack-obama-117191.html#ixzz3Y47D17DN


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP/April 21, 2015, 10:02 AM

*Woman, 70, arrested at JFK with 4 pounds of cocaine in underwear*



> CBS New York reports that authorities said Monday that 70-year-old Olive Fowler seemed nervous when she arrived in New York from Georgetown, Guyana on April 12. Customs and Border Protection officers escorted her to a private room at the airport and found the cocaine while they were searching her.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-70-arrested-at-jfk-with-4-pounds-of-cocaine-in-underwear/


----------



## poochee

The Rundown with Jose Diaz-Balart 4/23/15

*Obama: I profoundly regret the US operation that killed al-Qaida hostages*

*VIDEO*



> In a statement Thursday morning, President Obama addressed the U.S. operation that accidentally killed American and Italian hostages held by al-Qaida. I profoundly regret what happened, Obama said, adding he takes full responsibility for the operation ...


http://www.msnbc.com/jose-diaz-bala...esponsibility-for-hostage-deaths-432869955827


----------



## poochee

*
Michael Brown's family files wrongful death lawsuit*

By Adam B. Lerner
| 4/23/15 1:19 PM EDT



> The family of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager killed by a white Ferguson police officer last August, has filed a wrongful death suit against the city of Ferguson, its former police chief, and Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown.
> 
> Anthony Gray, an attorney representing Browns parents, announced the suit at a press conference Thursday in Clayton, Missouri. The family is seeking unspecified damages and legal fees.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...ce-ferguson-lawsuit-117283.html#ixzz3Y9evP8Ij


----------



## poochee

*Senate confirms Loretta Lynch as attorney general after historic delay*
04/23/15 02:03 PMUpdated 04/23/15 02:25 PM 
By Joy Y. Wang
*
VIDEO*



> After an unprecedented delay of more than 160 days, the Senate on Thursday finally voted to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. attorney general. She makes history as the first African-American female to serve as the nations top law enforcement officer.
> 
> The Senate confirmed Lynch in a 56-43 vote on Thursday, after a historic delay caused in part by partisan wrangling over an anti-human trafficking bill. Democrats objected to anti-abortion language in the legislation, and it languished in the Senate for weeks. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would not call a vote on Lynch until the trafficking bill was resolved. On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed the bill, teeing up a confirmation vote for Lynch.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-confirms-loretta-lynch-attorney-general-after-historic-delay


----------



## poochee

*David Petraeus sentenced to 2 years of probation, $100K fine*
Karma Allen	| @iam_karma 
42 Mins Ago
The Associated Press contributed to this report.



> Former CIA Director David Petraeus was sentenced on Thursday for leaking classified material to his former mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell.
> 
> Pertraeus, a retired four-star U.S. general, managed to avoid prison time, but he must serve two years of probation and pay a $100,000 fine.


http://www.cnbc.com/id/102614995


----------



## poochee

*Rough Ride? Lawyer Says Fatally Injured Arrestee Lacked Belt*
BALTIMORE  Apr 23, 2015, 9:54 PM ET
By JULIET LINDERMAN and CURT ANDERSON Associated Press



> But a troubling detail emerged as hundreds of protesters converged on City Hall again Thursday: He was not only handcuffed and put in leg irons, but left without a seat belt during his trip to the station.
> 
> Unbelted detainees have been paralyzed and even killed by rough rides in what used to be called "paddy wagons." It even has a name: "nickel rides," referring to cheap amusement park thrills.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-seatbelt-policy-freddie-gray-30534588


----------



## poochee

*House panel approves Obama trade powers bill*
By Vicki Needham - 04/23/15 07:48 PM EDT



> House Republicans on Thursday put their weight behind White House-backed trade legislation that would pave the way for passage of sweeping global agreements.
> 
> The House Ways and Means Committee approved a trade promotion authority (TPA) measure  25-13  with only two Democrats lending their support to the divisive bill, highlighting the difficulty President Obama is having courting members of his own party.


 http://thehill.com/policy/finance/239940-house-panel-approves-obama-trade-powers-bill


----------



## poochee

*Statue of Liberty evacuated on report of suspicious package*
Laura Petrecca and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 2:05 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015



> NEW YORK  The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island were evacuated Friday while police responded to a report of a suspicious package, according to the U.S. Park Police.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...iberty-evacuated-suspicious-package/26307625/


----------



## poochee

*ACA scores big on customer satisfaction*
04/24/15 10:40 AMUpdated 04/24/15 11:14 AM 
By Steve Benen



> When the Affordable Care Acts Republican critics were making all kinds of dire predictions about the inevitable failures of Obamacare, one of the charges was that American consumers will end up hating the coverage they receive through the reform law.
> 
> And for those ACA detractors looking for something, anything, to bolster their contempt for the law, Im afraid I have more bad news: Americans who received coverage through Obamacare tend to be quite pleased with the results.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/aca-scores-big-customer-satisfaction


----------



## poochee

CBS News/April 24, 2015, 6:54 AM

*Hostages apparently used to shield senior Qaeda leader
*Last Updated Apr 24, 2015 11:20 AM EDT

*VIDEO*



> It now appears American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, the hostages the White House announced Thursday were accidentally killed in a drone strike, were being used to safeguard an al Qaeda senior leader, CBS News' David Martin reports.
> 
> Intelligence analysts never detected any sign of the hostages but did see evidence of a senior al Qaeda operative. That seemed to make it even more unlikely hostages were in the compound since there were no previous cases in which hostages had been held in close proximity to al Qaeda leaders. It now appears the hostages were used as shields for the senior leader, who apparently thought that as long as the hostages were nearby, he was safe from drone strikes.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hostages-killed-drone-strike-may-have-been-used-shield-al-qaeda-leader/


----------



## poochee

*Sheriff Arpaio admits hiring PI to investigate wife of federal judge*
04/24/15 10:59 AMUpdated 04/24/15 11:40 AM 
By Amanda Sakuma



> Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio admitted under oath Thursday that his attorneys hired a private detective to investigate the wife of the federal judge who had ruled that Arpaios office engaged in systematic racial profiling. It gets worse: That same judge is currently deciding whether to hold Arpaio in contempt of court for deliberately ignoring a 2011 court order.
> 
> The bombshell dropped during the third day of Arpaios contempt-of-court hearing when U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow took a break from delving into the potential consequences for Arpaios decision to defy court orders to no longer target Latinos during patrols. Instead of the hearing being all business, things turned personal.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sheriff-arpaio-admits-hiring-pi-investigate-wife-federal-judge


----------



## poochee

*Holder bids farewell to Justice Department*
By JOSH GERSTEIN | 4/24/15 6:38 PM EDT



> Attorney General Eric Holder said goodbye to the Justice Department on Friday, proclaiming that the agency had undergone a renaissance during his tenure after suffering for years with low morale and political meddling.
> 
> "This department is restored. It's restored to what it always was and certainly was when I got here and what it must always be: free of politicization, focused on mission and making sure that justice is done without any kind of political interference from outsiders," Holder told a crowd of current and former officials gathered in the Great Hall at Justice Department headquarters.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/under...ll-to-justice-department-206100.html?hp=lc2_4


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Most want Cuba off terror list*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 1:27 PM ET, Fri April 24, 2015



> Washington (CNN)Only a quarter of Americans say they see Cuba as a serious threat to the United States, and most approve of the Obama administration's decision to remove Cuba from the government's list of state sponsors of terror.
> 
> A new CNN/ORC poll finds 27% describe Cuba as a very or moderately serious threat to the U.S., including just 6% who call it a "very serious" threat. That's well below the share who rate ISIS (68%), Iran (39%), North Korea (32%), Russia (25%) or China (18%) a big threat. In fact, a majority, 52%, say they see Cuba as no threat at all to the United States.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/24/politics/poll-cuba-threat-united-states/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*

*Weekly Address: Fighting for Trade Deals that Put American Workers First*
April 24, 2015.

*VIDEO *
.


> In this weeks address, the President laid out why new, high-standards trade agreements are important for our economy, our businesses, our workers, and our values. These new trade deals are vital to middle-class economics -- the idea that this country does best when everybody gets their fair shot, everybody does their fair share, and everybody plays by the same set of rules. The President has been clear -- any deal he signs will be the most progressive trade agreement in our history with strong provisions for both workers and the environment. It would also level the playing field -- and when the playing field is level, American workers always win.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address
*
TRANSCRIPT*: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...ghting-trade-deals-put-american-workers-first


----------



## poochee

April 25, 2015, 03:07 pm 
*White House promises earthquake aid to Nepal*
By Peter Schroeder



> The United States is sending funds and experts to Nepal to help the nation recover from a hugely damaging earthquake.
> 
> The Obama administration is sending a team of disaster response experts to Nepal, as well as an initial $1 million in relief aid, according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/240078-white-house-promises-earthquake-aid-to-nepal


----------



## poochee

msnbc Live 4/25/15

*Obama pokes fun at GOP critics, Hillary's emails, and Indiana religious freedom law*

*VIDEO*



> Watch President Obamas full speech at the 2015 White House Correspondents Dinner.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/pres-obamas-full-whcd-speech-434496067941


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> msnbc Live 4/25/15
> 
> *Obama pokes fun at GOP critics, Hillary's emails, and Indiana religious freedom law*
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/pres-obamas-full-whcd-speech-434496067941


Absolutely awesome!! Thanks for posting.:up:


----------



## poochee

*Photojournalists 'taken down,' detained by police in Baltimore protests *
Kevin Rector 
The Baltimore Sun
April 26, 2015, 4:23 PM
*
VIDEO*



> The incidents occurred near the Western District police station, the journalists said, as they were covering a particularly tense standoff between protesters, who were throwing rocks, and helmeted police officers, who wielded shields and batons.
> 
> J.M. Giordano, the photo editor at City Paper, said he was hit in the head with multiple police shields had his "face pretty much smushed down on the ground," and sustained multiple bruises after several officers rushed at him as he shot pictures.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...bs-md-protest-journalists-20150426-story.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 27, 12:11 PM EDT

*Kerry, Zarif set for nuke talks in NY as Senate weighs move* 
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press
*
VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration moved on two fronts Monday to advance its nuclear diplomacy with Iran, with talks between top U.S. and Iranian diplomats and an aggressive effort to sell the emerging deal to skeptical American lawmakers and constituencies.
> 
> U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were to meet Monday in New York for the first time since world powers and Iran sealed a framework agreement on April 2 that would limit Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon. They now have little more than two months to meet their own deadline of June 30 for a comprehensive accord.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-27-12-11-21


----------



## poochee

*Lynch sworn in as attorney general*
By Tim Devaney and David McCabe - 04/27/15 11:39 AM EDT



> Loretta Lynch was sworn in Monday as attorney general, taking the place of Eric Holder in President Obamas Cabinet.
> 
> Lynch, a former federal prosecutor, went through a long Senate confirmation battle that spanned more than 160 days. She was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday by a vote of 56-43, with 10 Republicans backing her.


http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/240159-lynch-sworn-in-as-attorney-general


----------



## poochee

NBC News

*Eric Harris Shooting: Sheriff's Official Tim Albin Resigns *
First published April 27th 2015, 8:52 am



> A top sheriff's official resigned on Monday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where an unarmed man was shot and killed earlier this month by a volunteer reserve deputy who says he mistook his gun for his Taser.
> 
> Sheriff Stanley Glanz announced the resignation of Tim Albin, the undersheriff. A 2009 internal review obtained by NBC News found that Albin had asked employees to modify reviews and training documentation for the volunteer deputy, Robert Bates.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/eric-harris-shooting-sheriffs-official-tim-albin-resigns-n349011


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore police say gangs 'teaming up' to take out officers *
By Justin Fenton 
The Baltimore Sun
April 27, 2015, 12:19 PM



> Police said in a statement that they have received information that members of "various gangs"  including the Black Guerrilla Family, the Bloods and the Crips  have "entered into a partnership" to harm police.





> "Law enforcement agencies should take appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of their officers," police said.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...-freddie-gray-gang-threat-20150427-story.html


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore protests turn violent after Freddie Gray funeral*
04/27/15 04:40 PMUpdated 04/27/15 05:00 PM 
By Rachel Kleinman
Additional reporting by NBC News Elisha Fieldstadt.
*
VIDEO*



> We have seven officers who were injured, Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said outside police headquarters Monday afternoon. Some have broken bones, he added, One of them is unresponsive.
> 
> We will find the people responsible and we will put them in jail, Kowalczyk said.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/baltimore-protests-turn-violent-after-freddie-gray-funeral


----------



## poochee

*UPDATE*

*Maryland governor declares state of emergency amid Baltimore violence*
04/27/15 04:40 PM-Updated 04/27/15 08:28 PM 
By Rachel Kleinman

*VIDEO*



> Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard late Monday "to address the growing violence and unrest in Baltimore City," according to a statement from the governor's office.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/baltimore-protests-turn-violent-after-freddie-gray-funeral


----------



## poochee

*President Obama: no excuse for Baltimore riots*
By Nick Gass
| 4/28/15 8:22 AM EDT
| Updated 4/28/15 1:10 PM EDT

*VIDEO*



> President Barack Obama on Tuesday said theres no excuse for the violence that consumed Baltimore overnight in reaction to the death of a 25-year-old black man injured in police custody.
> 
> It is not a protest. It is not a statement, Obama said during a press conference. Its a handful of people taking advantage of the situation for their own purposes, and they need to be treated as criminals.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/baltimore-riots-larry-hogan-117414.html#ixzz3Ycp4uUUT


----------



## poochee

*Trump thinks he can fix Baltimore fast*
04/28/15 10:50 AMUpdated 04/28/15 11:07 AM 
By Steve Benen



> The violence in Baltimore, in many instances, has brought out some peoples best instincts. There was no shortage of locals last night trying to maintain some semblance of stability, just as there were many residents on the streets this morning, engaged in a clean-up effort, literally sweeping up the ashes after a night of unrest.
> 
> But in the world of politics, developments in Baltimore have, in at least a few instances, also put some unfortunate instincts on display. Media Matters, for example, flagged some conservative television personalities who, during last nights violence, were quick to blame President Obama and his administration for the riots.


 http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-thinks-he-can-fix-baltimore-fast


----------



## poochee

NBC News 
*President Obama sounds off on a recent wave of incidents involving force by police in communities across America. *
Published April 28th 2015, 10:18 am
*
VIDEO*

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ba...mmunities-need-do-some-soul-searching-n349741


----------



## poochee

CBS News/April 28, 2015, 11:54 AM

*VIDEO*

*Baltimore mom caught smacking rioting son draws praise*
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/baltimore-mom-caught-beating-rioting-son-draws-praise/


----------



## poochee

*Officials: Saudi Arabia Thwarted Suicide Bombing Attack on US Embassy*
Apr 28, 2015, 10:40 AM ET
By MOLLY HUNTER, NASSER ATTA and JUSTIN FISHEL
The Associated Press contributed to this report.



> The Saudi Arabian government and U.S. intelligence officials said today that the Middle East nation has arrested nearly 100 alleged terror plotters who planned a series of attacks, including one aimed at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh.
> 
> In an announcement carried by the Saudi Press Agency today, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said authorities uncovered the plot by a militant cell involving at least two Syrian citizens and a Saudi citizen to attack the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh in mid-March.


http://abcnews.go.com/International...e-bombing-attack-us-embassy/story?id=30642609


----------



## poochee

*Protester Schools MSNBC Anchor About Media Coverage Of Baltimore Riots*
The Huffington Post | By Nick Wing 
Posted: 04/28/2015 6:50 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago

*VIDEO*



> After admitting that looting and rioting were not the best ways to represent the community and to seek answers, protester Danielle Williams asked Roberts a question of her own.
> 
> "My question to you is, when we were out here protesting all last week for six days straight peacefully, there were no news cameras, there were no helicopters, there was no riot gear, and nobody heard us," Williams said. "So now that we've burned down buildings and set businesses on fire and looted buildings, now all of the sudden everybody wants to hear us."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...ter-media-coverage_n_7166018.html?ir=Politics


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama: Baltimore rioting 'hurts communities that are already suffering'*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 8:57 AM ET, Wed April 29, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama again condemned the Baltimore riots in an interview that aired Wednesday morning, but focused on the need to broaden the conversation and address the root causes of tensions between police and urban, predominantly African-American communities.
> 
> Obama tied neglected and impoverished communities as both the source of frustrations that drew rioters into the streets and "part of the reason police have a tough job," urging a broader focus to address those root causes in an interview on "The Steve Harvey Morning Show."


http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/29/politics/barck-obama-baltimore-riots-interview/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore today: Schools open, protest peaceful*
Yamiche Alcindor, Donna Leinwand Leger and John Bacon, USA TODAY 1:57 p.m. EDT April 29, 2015
*
VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> BALTIMORE -- Peaceful protests, open schools and a free concert on a sunny day provided encouraging signs Wednesday as the city continued to right itself after Monday's devastating violence and chaos.
> 
> Dozens of protesters and clergy gathered outside the office of the State's Attorney on Wednesday, calmly chanting for justice for Freddie Gray.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/29/baltimore-calm-curfew/26557245/


----------



## poochee

*New ACA lawsuit makes matters worse in Florida*
04/29/15 09:15 AM 
By Steve Benen



> In theory, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) finds himself in a pretty good position. He somehow won a second term last fall, and the far-right Republican governor is governing alongside a state legislature run by his own party. Putting aside whether his agenda has merit, Scott should find it easy to do as he pleases.
> 
> Its just not working out that way.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-aca-lawsuit-makes-matters-worse-florida


----------



## poochee

Apr 30, 2:12 PM EDT

*Baltimore police hand report on Gray death to prosecutor *
By AMANDA LEE MYERS and DAVID DISHNEAU 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols, Juliet Linderman, Matthew Barakat, Tom Foreman Jr., Jessica Gresko, Brian Witte and Jeff Horwitz contributed to this report.
*
VIDEO*



> BALTIMORE (AP) -- Police completed their investigation into the death of Freddie Gray a day earlier than planned Thursday and delivered it to the chief prosecutor in Baltimore, who pleaded for patience and peace while she decides whether to bring charges.
> 
> The deputy commissioner also revealed a new detail that raises still more questions about what the officers involved have told investigators: The van carrying Gray to the police station made a previously undisclosed stop that was captured on a "privately owned camera."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-30-13-24-54


----------



## poochee

*Video: Inmate thrown on ground, attacked by dog, stomped on by Iberia Parish deputy in shocking surveillance footage *
Sheriff says deputy since fired; tape subpoenaed as part of federal probe
April 30, 2015 
Staff writers Jim Mustian and Richard Burgess contributed to this story.

*VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> It was Dec. 6, 2012, and Marcus Robicheaux, like the other inmates at the Iberia Parish Jail, was standing with his hands on his head and his nose pressed against the wall of the recreation yard as correctional officers ran a contraband sweep.
> 
> Suddenly, one deputy pulled Robicheaux from the wall and threw him to the ground. The deputy's dog then attacked Robicheaux, biting his legs, arms and torso, and the deputy joined in, stomping and kicking the prone inmate. The whole three-minute incident was captured on video from the jail's surveillance cameras.


----------



## poochee

Apr 30, 1:07 PM EDT

*House committee approves defense bill *
By DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House Armed Services Committee passed a nearly $612 billion defense policy bill early Thursday that seeks to change military retirement benefits and challenges President Barack Obama's policies on Guantanamo Bay, Ukraine and Iraq.
> 
> The vote was 60 to 2. The measure will be taken up by the full House next month.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-30-13-07-22


----------



## poochee

The Ed Show 4/30/15

*Conflicting witness reports in Freddie Gray case*



> New reports contradict the notion that Freddie Gray suffered from self-inflicted injuries adding layers of skepticism to what exactly happened. Ed Schultz, WBAL's Jayne Miller and Trymaine Lee discuss the latest


*VIDEO*http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/conflicting-witness-reports-437216323950


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby: Officers charged in death of Freddie Gray*
05/01/15 10:55 AMUpdated 05/01/15 12:55 PM 
By Trymaine Lee and David Taintor
*
VIDEO*



> BALTIMORE  The six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray face criminal charges ranging from murder to manslaughter to assault, Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Friday  a significant new development in a case that has provoked days of widespread protests in the highly segregated city.
> 
> Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died April 19 following a severe spinal cord injury suffered while in police custody. He was arrested on April 12, apparently for possession of a switchblade. Mosby, at a press conference, said the knife was not a switchblade and was legal under Maryland law, making Grays arrest illegal.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/marilyn-mosby-officers-charged-death-freddie-gray


----------



## poochee

May 01, 2015, 12:34 pm 
*Obama: 'Justice needs to be served' in Freddie Gray case*
By Jordan Fabian



> President Obama on Friday made his first comments after six police officers were charged in the death of Freddie Gray, saying it is absolutely vital that the truth comes out.
> 
> Obama declined to comment on the legal process because the officers who were charged are entitled to due process. But he said it is critical for all the evidence to be presented in the case.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...stice-needs-to-be-served-in-freddie-gray-case


----------



## poochee

*Marilyn Mosby, Prosecutor in Freddie Gray Case, Seen as Tough on Police Misconduct*
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERGMAY 1, 2015



> BALTIMORE  Marilyn J. Mosby, the prosecutor who on Friday announced criminal charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, took office only four months ago, elected here with the backing of community activists who viewed her as aggressive in taking on police misconduct.





> Ms. Mosby comes from a long line of law enforcement officers. Her father, mother and grandfather were police officers, and her grandfather, she said, was a founding member of the first association for black police officers in Massachusetts  a point she underscored on Friday in comments directed at the Baltimore force.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/02/u...-seen-as-tough-on-police-misconduct.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Obama team will fund police body camera project*
David Jackson, USA TODAY 12:21 p.m. EDT May 1, 2015



> Amid tense police-community relations, the Obama administration began a program Friday to assess the effectiveness of having officers wear body cameras that can record interactions with the public.
> 
> The Justice Department announced it is providing $20 million to police departments for body cameras, the first installment in a three-year program budgeted at $75 million.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...body-cameras-josh-earnest-baltimore/26696517/


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore police officer in Freddie Gray arrest once hospitalized over mental health *
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS / 
Published: Thursday, April 30, 2015, 6:25 PM
/ Updated: Thursday, April 30, 2015, 6:25 PM
*
GALLERY*



> BALTIMORE  The highest-ranking Baltimore police officer in the arrest that led to Freddie Gray's death was hospitalized in April 2012 over mental health concerns for an unknown duration and had his guns confiscated by local sheriff's deputies, according to records from the sheriff's office and court obtained by The Associated Press.
> 
> Lt. Brian Rice, who initially pursued Gray on a Baltimore street when Gray fled after Rice made eye contact April 12, declared three years ago that he "could not continue to go on like this" and threatened to commit an act that was censored in the public version of a report obtained by the AP from the Carroll County, Maryland, Sheriff's Office.


 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/freddie-gray-arrest-mental-health-issues-article-1.2205747


----------



## poochee

*What we know so far about the charged Baltimore cops*
05/01/15 
By David Taintor

*VIDEO*



> Six Baltimore police officers were charged Friday in the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died while in police custody after suffering a severe spinal cord injury. Five of the six officers have been taken into custody, according to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
> 
> Here's what we know so far about the six indicted officers.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-we-know-about-the-six-baltimore-pd-officers


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address:* *Ensuring Every Child Gets a Great Education*

*VIDEO*



> Earlier this week, the President announced two new efforts that, building on the progress already made by his ConnectED initiative, will do just that: a challenge to mayors, libraries, and school leaders to help every student get a library card; and commitments from libraries and major publishers to provide more than $250 million in free e-Books for low-income students. In his address, the President also previewed his upcoming commencement speech at Lake Area Tech, in Watertown, South Dakota, where he will discuss his plan to make two years of community college as free and universal for every American as high school is today.
> 
> The President is working to ensure every child has the access to the education and resources they need to be successful.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*Transcript: * https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...ess-ensuring-every-child-gets-great-education


----------



## poochee

*Almost 12 million gained Medicaid coverage under ObamaCare*
By Peter Sullivan - 05/01/15 05:22 PM EDT



> The new report from the Obama administration shows that as of the end of February, there were over 11.7 million more people enrolled in the programs compared to the period before October 2013, when ObamaCares coverage expansion went into effect.
> 
> The numbers come on top of another 11.7 million people who signed up for private insurance through the laws marketplaces.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...lion-gained-medicaid-coverage-under-obamacare


----------



## poochee

All In with Chris Hayes 5/1/15

*Whistleblower cop on problems with Baltimore P.D.*

*VIDEO*



> Former Baltimore P.D. Detective Joe Crystal was labeled a rat after turning in a fellow officer who beat a handcuffed suspect. He joined Chris Hayes to weigh in on the charging of six Baltimore officers in the death of Freddie Gray.


http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/whistleblower-cop-on-problems-with-baltimore-p.d.-438043203548


----------



## poochee

*Ted Cruz reached out to the Pentagon about martial law conspiracy theory*
05/02/15 05:26 PM 
By Emma Margolin



> Depending on whom you ask, Jade Helm 15 is either a domestic military training exercise or a covert operation for the federal government to take over the state of Texas  and 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz just became the latest Republican to fan the flames of the latter theory.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ted-cruz-reached-out-the-pentagon-about-martial-law-conspiracy-theory


----------



## poochee

May 02, 2015, 02:39 pm 
*Sanders calls minimum wage a 'starvation wage'*
By Mark Hensch



> That is a starvation wage, Sanders said of the $7.25 federal hourly minimum wage at an AFL-CIO event in North Conway, N.H.
> 
> Anyone who works 40 hours in a week in America should not be in poverty, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate added. Thats the simple reality.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...-sanders-calls-minimum-wage-a-starvation-wage


----------



## poochee

*William and Kate's Baby Girl Gets First Royal Visitors*
May 3, 2015, 12:54 PM ET
By EMILY SHAPIRO via Good Morning America

*VIDEO*



> Prince William and Kate Middleton's newborn princess has already received her first royal visitors.


http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/william-kates-baby-girl-royal-visitors/story?id=30770537


----------



## poochee

*What we know so far about the charged Baltimore cops*
05/01/15 05:30 PMUpdated 05/02/15 09:53 AM 
By David Taintor
*
VIDEO*



> Six Baltimore police officers were charged Friday in the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died while in police custody after suffering a severe spinal cord injury. All six officers were taken into custody on Friday and posted bond later that day, according to NBCs Baltimore affiliate WBAL.
> 
> Heres what we know so far about the six indicted officers.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-we-know-about-the-six-baltimore-pd-officers


----------



## poochee

*2 Gunmen Killed Outside Community Center Hosting 'Draw the Prophet' Show*
May 3, 2015, 9:00 PM ET
By DEAN SCHABNER



> Two people were fatally shot today outside a Garland, Texas, community center that was hosting an show of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, and the center was put on lockdown, SWAT officials said.
> 
> The two suspects drove up in a car and opened fire on the Curtis Culwell Center, which is owned by the Garland school district, and a security officer of the Garland ISD was hit, according to a statement from the city of Garland.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/shot-community-center-hosting-draw-prophet-show/story?id=30777312


----------



## poochee

*Boehner struggles with his failed ACA predictions*
05/04/15 09:20 AMUpdated 05/04/15 11:13 AM 
By Steve Benen



> House Speaker John Boehner sat down with NBCs Chuck Todd on Meet the Press yesterday, and the host asked a good question about the Republican leaders failed predictions about the Affordable Care Act. Regrettably, the Speaker couldnt respond with an equally good answer.
> 
> TODD: You made some dire predictions about health care. 2014 you said fewer people would have health insurance. According to plenty of surveys, more people have health insurance today than they did before it went down from  the uninsured rate went down 17 percent to just under 12 percent. You said it would destroy jobs. The first year it was implemented, the country added 3 million jobs. Why


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/boehner-struggles-his-failed-aca-predictions


----------



## poochee

*Brother's Keeper enters new phase amid Baltimore tension*
By Sunlen Serfaty, CNN
Updated 1:19 PM ET, Mon May 4, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)From the campus of Lehman College in the Bronx New York today, President Obama will announce a spin-off of his already-existing "My Brother's Keeper" initiative into a new, non-profit foundation -- a clue into what work the president will take on in his post-presidency years.
> 
> The president's initiative was first created in 2014 by the White House the wake of Trayvon Martin's killing to address the lack of opportunity that young minority boys face across in often-poor neighborhoods across the country.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/04/politics/president-barack-obama-brothers-keeper/index.html


----------



## poochee

*New little princess is named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana*
Maria Puente, USA TODAY 3:13 p.m. EDT May 4, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Introducing HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge


.http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...-is-named-charlotte-elizabeth-diana/26772675/


----------



## poochee

May 04, 2015, 03:45 pm 
*Reid pushes to end debate on Iran bill*
By Jordain Carney



> Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday said its time for McConnell to file for cloture on the bill and shelve the dozens of pending amendments, including one that would link the nuclear deal to Irans recognition of Israel.
> 
> "The majority leader should file cloture now to preserve this legislation. Destructive members within his own party have forced his hand," Reid said. "I support the majority leader in taking this step because it's the only path forward."


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/240978-reid-pushes-to-end-debate-on-iran-bill


----------



## poochee

*Clinton lawyer: Shell testify before Benghazi committee  but just once*
05/04/15 05:09 PM 
By NBC News
*
VIDEO*



> In a letter to the committee released by the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Clintons attorney says she is ready and willing to testify publicly as soon as the week of May 18.
> 
> She will stay as long as necessary to answer the Committees questions, but will not prolong the Committees efforts further by appearing on two separate occasions when one will suffice, he added.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-lawyer-testify-benghazi-committee


----------



## poochee

*Unacceptable: An unintentional child shooting every 36 hours*
05/04/15 11:24 AM 
By Shannon Watts

*VIDEO*



> Mothers Day is a time-honored tradition for many Americans: a day set aside just for mothers to be recognized and thanked for their unconditional love and support. But, this coming Mothers Day, instead of being smothered with attention from their children, many American moms will instead be dealing with the death or injury of a child due to an unintentional shooting.
> 
> This may seem dramatic, but the reality is the problem of children finding unsecured guns is happening nationwide  from toddlers in Texas to our most hallowed halls of power, as we saw recently when a child found a loaded gun in Speaker Boehners office.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/unacceptable-unintentional-child-shooting-every-36-hours


----------



## poochee

May 4, 8:06 PM EDT

*'Exceptional' NYPD officer dies from gunshot wound to head* 
By MICHAEL BALSAMO 
Associated Press

*VIDEO*



> NEW YORK (AP) -- A 25-year-old police officer shot in the head while attempting to stop a man suspected of carrying a handgun died Monday from his injuries, the third New York City officer slain on duty in five months.
> 
> Brian Moore, who was in a coma after undergoing brain surgery following the Saturday evening shooting, was pronounced dead at a Queens hospital with his family, including his police officer father, uncle and cousin, at his bedside.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-04-20-06-43


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 5/5/15

*Obama numbers rise to highest since 2013*

*VIDEO*



> President Obama's approval numbers have risen to 48 percent, the highest since May 2013, according to the latest NBC News/WSJ poll.


http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/obama-numbers-rise-to-highest-since-2013-439855683521


----------



## poochee

May 05, 2015, 09:21 am 
*Lynch to travel to Baltimore*
By Ben Kamisar



> "It's a listening session," a Justice Department official told The Hill, adding that the DOJ will also be sharing its efforts to improve relations between the community and local police. Lynch and the DOJ officials are expected to meet with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the city's police officials, community leaders, and the Gray family.


 http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/241043-lynch-to-travel-to-baltimore


----------



## poochee

May 5, 11:20 AM EDT

*Oldest complete copy of Ten Commandments displayed in Israel *
By DANIEL ESTRIN 
Associated Press



> JERUSALEM (AP) -- The world's oldest complete copy of the Ten Commandments is going on rare display at Israel's leading museum in an exhibit tracing civilization's most pivotal moments.
> 
> The 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scroll, from a collection of the world's most ancient biblical manuscripts discovered near the Dead Sea east of Jerusalem, has never before been publicly displayed in Israel and has only been shown in brief exhibits abroad, said Pnina Shor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-05-11-20-42


----------



## poochee

*No, Pentagon says: Were not plotting the military takeover of Texas*
By Nick Gass
| 5/5/15 12:07 PM EDT



> The Pentagon wants to make it clear: No one is messing with you, Texas.
> 
> Defense officials are swatting down Internet-fueled rumors about a training exercise planned for this summer in the Southwest U.S. involving four branches of the military. According to the Pentagon, the exercise  called Operation Jade Helm 15 is meant to simulate covert military operations in hostile territory in Texas, Utah and part of southern California.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...takeover-conspiracy-117636.html#ixzz3ZI4rJvZp


----------



## Cheeseball81

poochee said:


> May 4, 8:06 PM EDT
> 
> *'Exceptional' NYPD officer dies from gunshot wound to head*
> By MICHAEL BALSAMO
> Associated Press
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-04-20-06-43


Him and his father live about 2 blocks over from me. The block has been swarmed with news vans and cops for days.

The community held a candelight vigil at his high school last night - trees, poles, front doors are holding blue bows in honor of the fallen officer.

So young. So sad.


----------



## poochee

Cheeseball81 said:


> Him and his father live about 2 blocks over from me. The block has been swarmed with news vans and cops for days.
> 
> The community held a candelight vigil at his high school last night - trees, poles, front doors are holding blue bows in honor of the fallen officer.
> 
> So young. So sad.


Yes, sad.


----------



## poochee

*McConnell praises Obama for a change*
By Alexander Bolton - 05/05/15 04:04 PM EDT



> At the risk of having some of you literally faint, I want to compliment the president for the way hes handling the trade issue, he said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.





> McConnell famously said in 2010 the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.


http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/241108-mcconnell-praises-obama-for-a-change


----------



## poochee

*Republicans pass a budget, flexing power of majority*
By Rebecca Shabad - 05/05/15 05:59 PM EDT



> The 51-48 vote capped weeks of work by Republican leaders in the House and Senate, who shepherded the blueprint through a messy debate over defense spending that at times threatened to split their conferences.





> "The president has made clear that he will not accept a budget that locks in sequestration going forward, nor one that reverses sequestration for defense  whether explicitly or through backdoor gimmicks  without also reversing sequestration for non-defense, the White House said.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/241120-republicans-pass-a-budget-flexing-power-of-majority


----------



## poochee

*Fact check: Huckabee repeats discredited claims*
Eugene Kiely, FactCheck.org 6:34 p.m. EDT May 5, 2015



> Mike Huckabee, an unsuccessful 2008 presidential candidate, announced he is running for president once again and, in doing so, repeated some old, discredited lines on the economy, health care and tax cuts.
> 
> The former Republican governor of Arkansas spoke for about a half hour on May 5 in his birthplace of Hope, Ark. Among his claims:


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ckabee-economy-health-care-tax-cuts/26937865/


----------



## poochee

*First on CNN: 'We are part of the problem,' Baltimore police commissioner says*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 6:14 PM ET, Tue May 5, 2015

*VIDEOS*



> In his first interview after Gray's death, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts told CNN's Evan Perez that the community lacks trust in law enforcement, and police must acknowledge that "we are part of the problem."
> 
> "The community needs to hear that," he said. "The community needs to hear from us that we haven't been part of the solution, and now we have to evolve. Now we have to change."


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/05/politics/anthony-batts-baltimore-police-riots-problem/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 6, 9:56 AM EDT

*Germanwings co-pilot tried slow descent hours before crash *
By JAMEY KEATEN 
Associated Press
Angela Charlton in Paris, David Rising in Berlin and Scott Mayerowitz contributed to this report.



> This latest development about an earlier flight appears to support the assumption that the crash was not only deliberate but also premeditated, and raises questions about all of the flights where Lubitz was in the cockpit.
> 
> Lubitz seemed to be toying with the plane's settings on a March 24 flight from Duesseldorf to Barcelona, programming it for sharp descent multiple times in a 4 1/2-minute period while the pilot was out of the cockpit before resetting the controls, France's BEA investigation agency said in an interim report on the crash.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-06-09-56-58


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore mayor requests DOJ investigation into policing practices*
By Adam B. Lerner
| 5/6/15 11:13 AM EDT
| Updated 5/6/15 11:36 AM EDT



> Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Wednesday that she has requested a Department of Justice pattern or practice investigation into her citys police department.
> 
> The investigation, which would be conducted by the DOJs Civil Rights Division under the leadership of Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, would examine whether Baltimore police have consistently violated the civil rights of local citizens.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...tment-investigation-117685.html#ixzz3ZNeNY7cw


----------



## poochee

May 6, 4:43 PM EDT

*Israel's Netanyahu completes formation of government *
By JOSEF FEDERMAN 
Associated Press



> JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday completed the formation of a new coalition government, reaching a last-minute deal with a nationalist party just before a midnight deadline.
> 
> The late-night deal saved Netanyahu from the unthinkable scenario of being forced from office. But it set the stage for the formation of a narrow coalition dominated by hard-line and religious parties that appears to be on a collision course with the U.S. and other allies.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-06-16-43-58


----------



## poochee

May 7, 1:15 PM EDT

*US appeals court: NSA phone record collection is illegal *
By LARRY NEUMEISTER and KEN DILANIAN 
Associated Press
Dilanian reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.



> NEW YORK (AP) -- The unprecedented and unwarranted bulk collection of Americans' phone records by the government is illegal because it wasn't authorized by Congress, a federal appeals court said Thursday as it asked legislators to decide how to balance national security and privacy interests.
> 
> A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted the National Security Agency program to continue temporarily as it exists, but all but pleaded for Congress to better define where boundaries exist.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-07-13-15-54


----------



## poochee

May 7, 4:24 PM EDT

*Senate OKs bill giving Congress review of Iran nuclear deal *
By DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate muscled its way into President Barack Obama's talks to curb Iran's nuclear program, overwhelmingly backing legislation Thursday that would let Congress review and possibly reject any final deal with Tehran.
> 
> The vote was 98-1 for the bipartisan bill that would give Congress a say on what could be a historic accord that the United States and five other nations are trying to finalize with Iran. Under the agreement, Iran would roll back its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling economy penalties.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-07-16-24-30


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Economy Added 223,000 Jobs in April; Unemployment Rate at 5.4%*
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZMAY 8, 2015



> The American job market rebounded in April, the government said Friday, as employers added 223,000 positions and the unemployment rate decreased to 5.4 percent.
> 
> The figures from the Labor Department should alleviate worries that the economy was on the brink of another stall. Other recent reports have revealed a disappointing start to 2015, including new numbers out this week suggesting that the economy might have actually shrunk in the first quarter. The initial jobs report for March showed a disappointing 126,000 gain, which was revised down on Friday to 85,000.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/b...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama will hit 50-state mark with visit to South Dakota*
05/08/15 10:36 AMUpdated 05/08/15 12:49 PM 
By Olivia Kestin and Adam Howard

*Photo Essay*



> President Barack Obama is about to join just three other presidents by hitting a remarkable milestone on Friday.
> 
> When Obama visits Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown, South Dakota, to deliver a commencement address, he will have visited all 50 states during his two terms in office. The only other presidents to accomplish this feat are Richard Nixon, and two of his more recent predecessors George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-will-hit-50-state-mark-visit-south-dakota


----------



## poochee

May 8, 4:52 PM EDT

*US launches its own investigation of Baltimore police* 
By ERIC TUCKER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Juliet Linderman in Baltimore and David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Maryland, contributed to this report.
*
VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department waded anew Friday into fraught big city police-community relations, with new Attorney General Loretta Lynch declaring the subject "one of the most challenging issues of our time." She announced a wide-ranging investigation into Baltimore's police.
> 
> The federal civil rights investigation, which city officials requested following the death last month of a man in police custody, will search for discriminatory policing practices and examine allegations that Baltimore officers too often use excessive force and make unconstitutional searches and arrests.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-08-16-52-26


----------



## poochee

*
Nations richest congressman: U.S. poor are envy of the world*
05/08/15 12:46 PMUpdated 05/08/15 01:02 PM 
By Steve Benen



> When members of Congress are ranked by wealth, one lawmaker usually stands out, even among the rich. Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican, has a net worth of at least $350 million  which gives him a comfortable lead over his next closest rivals in the race for the top spot.
> 
> This isnt criticism, of course, and theres nothing wrong with someone having great financial success. But given Issas riches, he should probably avoid the kind of rhetoric he used with CNN yesterday.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/nations-richest-congressman-us-poor-are-envy-the-world


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Honoring the 70th Anniversary of V-E Day*

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, the President honored the 70th anniversary of V-E Day. On this occasion, we commemorate the Allied victory in Europe during World War II. It is a day to pay tribute to the men and women who decades ago served and sacrificed for the cause of freedom. This was the generation that, by ending the war, literally saved the world, laying a foundation for peace.
> 
> The President asked that in addition to commemorating this important anniversary, we honor the men and women in uniform who currently serve our country, and recommit ourselves to the values we share with our allies in Europe and beyond: freedom, security, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law around the world.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*TRANSCRIPT:* https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...kly-address-honoring-70th-anniversary-v-e-day


----------



## poochee

May 9, 10:49 AM EDT

*AP-GfK Poll: Can Supreme Court be fair in health law case? *
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and EMILY SWANSON 
Associated Press



> The Associated Press-GfK poll finds only 1 person in 10 is highly confident that the justices will rely on objective interpretations of the law rather than their personal opinions. Nearly half, 48 percent, are not confident of the court's impartiality.
> 
> "That lawsuit should have never made it this far," said Hal Lewis, a retiree from Scranton, Pennsylvania.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-09-10-49-44


----------



## poochee

*With Obama on hand, Nike announces it might make shoes in the U.S. again*
By Mike DeBonis May 8 at 1:25 PM

VIDEO



> BEAVERTON, Ore.  President Obama made a forceful new case for global trade Friday at the headquarters of footwear giant Nike, for decades a symbol of outsourcing, eroding corporate labor standards and the dark side of globalization.
> 
> Obama, whose deputies are now negotiating the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, promised to deliver a "different kind of trade deal" -- one, he said, that would raise labor standards around the globe and create American jobs.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...nounces-it-might-make-shoes-in-america-again/


----------



## poochee

*Michelle Obama says she was held to different standard in '08 campaign due to her race*
By Allie Malloy and Sunlen Serfaty, CNN
Updated 5:15 PM ET, Sat May 9, 2015

*VIDEO*



> (CNN)-Michelle Obama gave an impassioned and personal commencement speech Saturday on the trials she's faced as the first African-American first lady of the United States, saying she was held to a different standard than other candidates' wives during the 2008 campaign because of her race.
> 
> Speaking at Tuskegee University in Alabama, Obama told the audience that when her husband was running for office in 2008, she faced questions which she said were not typical for other candidates' wives.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/09/politics/michelle-obama-commencement-tuskegee-university/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Swiss bank enters tax evasion program*
By Bernie Becker - 05/09/15 12:29 AM EDT



> Another Swiss bank has signed up for a voluntary Justice Department program aimed at cracking down on offshore tax evasion.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/241533-swiss-bank-enters-tax-evasion-program


----------



## poochee

*
Happy Mothers Day! Here are 10 great political moms.*
By Hunter Schwarz May 10 at 7:00 AM 



> The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world Senate Armed Services Committees. This Mother's Day, the politicians of America will share photos of their beloved mothers to remind their constituents that, yes, they are in fact humans you can relate to with mothers who love them dearly -- and also, that's just how we celebrate Mother's Day in 2015.
> 
> Here are 10 well-known politicians' moms. And even if you post a photo of your mom on social media, don't forget to call.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...mothers-day-here-are-10-great-political-moms/


----------



## poochee

NBC News

*President Obama Gives Moms Call for Mother's Day*
8:25 AM - 10 May 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Breakfast in bed, a bouquet of flowers, a Hallmark card, and... a call from the president?
> 
> Three moms who had written President Barack Obama letters got an additional Mother's Day gift this year when he called them to thank them for the hard work they do day in and day out.


 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/president-obama-gives-moms-call-mothers-day-n356791


----------



## poochee

*Mississippi Police Shooting: Four Suspects Charged After Two Cops Fatally Shot*
First published May 9th 2015, 9:18 pm 
 Matthew Grimson and Elisha Fieldstadt

*VIDEO*



> Three men and a woman have been charged in the fatal shooting of two police officers during a traffic stop in the southern Mississippi city of Hattiesburg, authorities said Sunday.
> 
> The officers, Benjamin J. Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, were gunned down Saturday night after Deen pulled over a Hyundai for a speeding violation and called for back up, officials said.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-mississippi-police-officers-killed-search-suspects-n356641


----------



## poochee

*Lynch condemns Miss. police shootings*
By Tim Devaney - 05/11/15 12:56 PM EDT



> Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday condemned two police killings that occurred over the weekend in Mississippi.
> 
> Officers Benjamin Deen and Liquori Tate were shot to death Saturday night after a routine traffic stop.


http://thehill.com/regulation/241621-lynch-condemns-police-shootings


----------



## poochee

*Police: George Zimmerman involved in Florida shooting*
By Mariano Castillo and AnneClaire Stapleton, CNN
Updated 3:33 PM ET, Mon May 11, 2015

*VIDEOS*



> CNN)George Zimmerman -- acquitted by a Florida jury in the death of Trayvon Martin -- was involved in a shooting in Lake Mary, Florida, on Monday, police spokeswoman Bianca Gillett said.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/11/us/florida-george-zimmerman-shooting/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Report: Baltimore jails reject thousands due to severe injuries*
05/11/15 12:27 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma

*VIDEO*



> Thousands of people were rejected from Baltimore city jails due to the severity of their injuries while in police custody, with medical issues ranging from broken bones to facial trauma and more than 100 reported visible head injuries, newly released public records show.
> 
> The records, obtained by The Baltimore Sun, describe a pattern of injuries of such severity among those apprehended by police that correctional officers at the Baltimore City Detention Center turned away nearly 2,600 detainees over a three year period. According to records provided to The Sun through a Maryland Public Information Act, visible head injuries were the third highest medical issue reported by intake officers in Central Booking between June 2012 and April 2015.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/report-baltimore-jails-reject-thousands-due-severe-injuries


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration approves Arctic drilling plan*
Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 5:37 p.m. EDT May 11, 2015



> WASHINGTON  Environmental groups deplored the Obama administration's decision to allow Arctic oil drilling, after the Interior Department granted conditional approval Monday for Shell Gulf of Mexico's plan to drill six wells off the coast of Alaska.
> 
> The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's approval of the drilling plan is just one step to allow drilling, and there are still 16 conditions that Shell must meet. The company must apply for and receive permits from the three other federal agencies and the state of Alaska to drill each well.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nistration-approves-arctic-drilling/27130859/


----------



## poochee

*Dems to GOP: Were ready to fix ObamaCare, why arent you?*
By Sarah Ferris - 05/11/15 06:00 AM EDT



> More than a half-dozen proposed changes to the law have approval from at least some Democrats, including legislation to repeal a controversial cost-cutting board for Medicare that gained its 218th co-sponsor this week.
> 
> None of the ObamaCare proposals has been taken up by Republican leaders, angering Democrats who say important fixes are being bottled up by the GOP's fixation on full repeal.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/241524-dems-to-gop-were-ready-to-fix-obamacare-why-arent-you


----------



## poochee

*USA about to get Cuba's lung cancer vaccine*
Rob Quinn, Newser staff 10:26 a.m. EDT May 12, 2015



> (NEWSER)  Closer American ties with one of the world's major cigar exporters could actually be good news in the fight against lung cancer. Cuba has developed Cimavax, an effective lung cancer vaccine, and American researchers can now finally get their hands on it, reports Wired.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/05/12/lung-cancer-vaccine-cimavax-cuba/27168559/


----------



## poochee

*
Obama presidential library goes to Chicago*
_A University of Chicago bid, where Obama taught constitutional law, beat out rival proposals._
By Sarah Wheaton
| 5/12/15 6:00 AM EDT
| Updated 5/12/15 10:40 AM EDT
Edward-Isaac Dovere contributed to this report.

*VIDEO*



> The Barack Obama presidential library will be built in his adopted hometown of Chicago, the Barack Obama Foundation announced in a video message posted online Tuesday.
> 
> A bid by the University of Chicago, where Obama taught constitutional law before turning to politics, beat out rival proposals from Hawaii and New York to host the location of Obama's presidential archives and museum.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/obama-presidential-library-chicago-117836.html#ixzz3Zx47rccd


----------



## poochee

*Reid offers plan to break trade impasse*
_Senators strategy follows the rejection of Obamas initiative by Democrats._
By Burgess Everett and Manu Raju
5/12/15 10:32 AM EDT
Updated 5/12/15 8:49 PM EDT



> After President Barack Obamas own party slammed the brakes on the centerpiece of his trade agenda  also a top priority for the GOP  there were early signs Democrats were considering concessions to revive the fast-track bill.
> 
> Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who rallied his caucus to reject the fast-track measure on a procedural vote, has already floated a plan to find a way out of the impasse by offering to drop a customs bill, which includes anti-currency manipulation language, from his partys list of demands.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/trade-vote-senate-mitch-mcconnell-117850.html#ixzz3Zz8PbBX8


----------



## poochee

*Obama talks race, class and Obamaphones*
By Juliet Eilperin May 12 at 2:40 PM

*VIDEO*



> President Obama said Tuesday the racial segregation that once marked American society has been replaced by class segregation, a division that members of both parties need to address urgently.
> 
> Speaking on a panel at Georgetown University, Obama said Americans are at a moment -- in part because of what's happened in Baltimore and Ferguson and other places, but in part because a growing awareness of inequality in our society -- where it may be possible not only to refocus attention on the issue of poverty, but also maybe to bridge some of the gaps that have existed and the ideological divides that have prevented us from making progress."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...05/12/obama-talks-race-class-and-obamaphones/


----------



## poochee

*Obama, in summit lead-off, calls Saudis 'extraordinary' allies*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 12:57 PM ET, Wed May 13, 2015



> Washington (CNN)-President Barack Obama, without revealing any of the underlying tension between the United States and Saudi Arabia, welcomed two officials from the Gulf kingdom on Wednesday to the White House, declaring the relationship between the two countries strong.





> He said he planned to discuss with the Saudi officials the ongoing unrest in Yemen, where a brief ceasefire appears to be holding after violence erupted between Shi'ite rebels and pro-government forces. Saudi Arabia led an air campaign to beat back the Houthi rebels, which are believed to be controlled partly by Iran, Saudi's regional rival.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/politics/obama-saudi-gcc/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 13, 12:00 PM EDT

*Vatican recognizes state of Palestine in new *treaty 
By NICOLE WINFIELD 
Associated Press
AP writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank contributed.



> VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, immediately sparking Israeli ire and accusations that the move hurt peace prospects.
> 
> The treaty, which concerns the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-13-12-00-15


----------



## poochee

*Derailed New York-bound Amtrak likely topped 100 mph*
05/13/15 07:19 AM-Updated 05/13/15 01:59 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma and Aliyah Frumin
*
VIDEO*



> The Amtrak train that jumped the tracks late Tuesday evening was likely traveling at a speed topping 100 miles per hour, two sources close to the investigation told NBC News.
> 
> The development is the latest clue in the events leading to the derailment that has left seven dead and at least 200 injured along the busiest rail corridor in the country. Passengers remained unaccounted for on Wednesday morning as authorities worked to find answers from the train's event data recorder, which was recovered in the wreckage.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amtrak-derailment-new-york-washington-dc-deadly-northeast-corrider


----------



## poochee

*Obama 'shocked' by fatal Amtrak crash*
By Jordan Fabian - 05/13/15 11:39 AM EDT 
Ben Kamisar contributed.
This story was updated at 1:32 p.m.



> President Obama said Wednesday he was shocked and deeply saddened by a deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia.





> The derailment is under federal investigation. The train was reportedly traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour in a 50-mile-per hour zone.


http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/241911-obama-shocked-by-fatal-amtrak-crash


----------



## poochee

*Senate reaches deal on trade*
By Alexander Bolton - 05/13/15 08:33 PM EDT

*VIDEO*



> Senate leaders struck a deal on Wednesday to revive President Obamas suddenly beleaguered trade agenda.





> Under the new agreement, senators will vote on two controversial bills favored by Democrats before moving to a wide-open debate on granting Obama fast-track authority to negotiate future trade deals.


http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/241950-senate-nears-deal-on-trade


----------



## poochee

The Rachel Maddow Show 5/13/15 
*Train crash risks higher with slow safety rollout, lax governance*



> Rachel Maddow reports on how lessons from previous train crashes led to the development of the "positive train control" safety feature, which could have prevented the Amtrak 188 crash were it not for indolent governance of the U.S. rail system.


*VIDEO*http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/crash-risks-higher-with-slow-safety-rollout-445160003931


----------



## poochee

May 14, 12:41 PM EDT

*Obama convenes Camp David summit with Gulf state leaders *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Dubai contributed to this report.
*
VIDEO*



> CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) -- President Barack Obama and leaders from six Gulf nations gathered at Camp David Thursday in an effort to work through tensions sparked by the U.S. bid for a nuclear deal with Iran, which has put regional partners on edge.
> 
> Obama is seeking to reassure the Gulf leaders that U.S. overtures to Iran will not come at the expense of commitments to their security. He is expected to offer them more military assistance, including increased joint exercises and coordination on ballistic missile systems.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-14-12-41-34


----------



## poochee

*Jeb Bush attempts to clarify Iraq remarks  again*
05/14/15 01:34 PMUpdated 05/14/15 02:44 PM

*VIDEO*



> After days of equivocation, Jeb Bush on Thursday declared: Knowing what we know now, what would we have done, I would not have engaged. I would not have gone into Iraq.
> 
> Bushs comments came during a town hall meeting in Tempe, Ariz., where he was speaking ahead of an appearance at a Republican National Committee meeting.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jeb-bush-attempts-clarify-iraq-comment-again


----------



## poochee

May 14, 2015, 02:18 pm 
*Senate votes to start trade debate*
By Alexander Bolton and Jordain Carney



> The Senate voted Thursday to advance a motion to begin debate on the core of President Obamas trade agenda, putting it back on track after a week of deadlock.
> 
> In a 65-33 vote, the Senate agreed to proceed to a package that would empower Obama to negotiate future trade deals with minimal interference from Congress and assist U.S. workers displaced by foreign competition.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/242093-senate-votes-to-start-trade-debate


----------



## poochee

May 14, 2015, 04:12 pm 
*House sends Iran review bill to Obama*
By Cristina Marcos



> Passage came easily on a vote of 400-25. Only six Democrats and 19 Republicans opposed the measure.





> The carefully negotiated bill, which President Obama is expected to sign, gives Congress the power to approve or disapprove of a nuclear agreement with Iran during a 30-day period when economic sanctions could not be lifted.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/242117-house-approves-iran-review-power


----------



## poochee

*U.S., Cuba schedule meetings to discuss reopening embassies *
By Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 9:40 PM ET, Thu May 14, 2015

*VIDEO*



> CNN)-U.S. and Cuban officials will meet next week with the goal of hammering out an agreement to reopen embassies each other's capitals as part of efforts to restore diplomatic ties, the State Department announced Thursday.
> 
> The talks, to be led by Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson and her Cuban counterpart Josefina Vidal, are meant to discuss measures needed to reopen the embassies in Washington and Havana.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/politics/cuba-embassy-us-meeting-opening/index.html


----------



## poochee

*House approves defense policy bill*
By Austin Wright
5/15/15 11:10 AM EDT



> The National Defense Authorization Act, which normally sails through each year with a bipartisan support, was approved in a closer-than-usual vote, 269 to 151, after Democratic leaders took the rare step of following the White House in opposing the measure.
> 
> There were enough votes against the measure to potentially sustain a threatened presidential veto  giving the administration more leverage in its larger fight with Republicans over the proper size of the government.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/defense-bill-house-passes-117991.html#ixzz3aEFz1Oqk


----------



## poochee

May 15, 12:21 PM EDT

*Obama calls for healing of rifts between police, communities *
By NEDRA PICKLER 
Associated Press



> Obama offered his gratitude for the sacrifices of police during an annual memorial service for fallen police on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. He said the law enforcement deaths are a too common reminder that of the risk inherent in their jobs.
> 
> "We cannot erase every darkness or danger from the duty that you've chosen," he said. "We can offer you the support you need to be safe. We can make the communities you care about and protect safer as well. We can make sure that you have the resources you need to do your job. We can do everything we have to do to combat the poverty that plagues too many communities in which you have served. We can work harder as a nation to heal rifts that exist some places between law enforcement and the people you risk your lives to protect."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-15-12-21-15


----------



## poochee

*
Bill Cosby Responds To Rape Allegations In 'GMA' Interview With Near Gibberish*
The Huffington Post | By Jessica Goodman 
Posted: 05/15/2015 8:36 am EDT Updated: 1 hour ago

*VIDEO*



> Bill Cosby almost responded to the rape allegations against him in a new interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday. The interview, conducted by Linsey Davis, received little promotion. When Davis asked him about allegations that he drugged and raped many women, Cosby dodged the question.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/15/bill-cosby-gma-interview_n_7290686.html


----------



## poochee

*16 Miami Beach cops probed over 'disgusting' racist, sexist email*
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 1:25 p.m. EDT May 15, 2015



> An internal affairs probe in Miami Beach found that two high-level former police officers sent hundreds of crude, racist and pornographic emails to fellow cops over a two-year period, the state's attorney and police officials say.





> Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said the city is reviewing some 540 cases in which the officers were witnesses to see if their testimony was racially biased. She said some charges could be dropped as a result or prisoners freed from jail.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ach-police-cops-racist-emails-porno/27367461/


----------



## poochee

*Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sentenced to death for Boston Marathon bombing*
05/15/15 02:46 PMUpdated 05/15/15 03:43 PM 
By David Taintor

*VIDEO*



> A jury on Friday sentenced convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for his role in the deadly attacks.
> 
> The jury earlier found Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 criminal counts and handed down the death penalty on six separate counts. Tsarnaev said and did nothing while the verdict was read. He sat in his chair and swallowed. As Judge George OToole thanked the jury for their service, multiple jurors cried, including the forewoman. The jury deliberated for 15 hours on the penalty phase of the trial.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jury-reaches-verdict-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-penalty-phase


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*

*Weekly Address: Creating Opportunity for All*

*VIDEO*



> In this week's address, the President highlighted the importance of expanding opportunity for all Americans -- a principle that has guided his work throughout the past six years. This past week, the President attended a summit at Georgetown University where he discussed issues like poverty and inequality, and what we can do to ensure everyone gets a fair shot.
> 
> We've seen real results in this area, but there is still more that can be done. And lack of opportunity is not the only barrier to success. That's why, on Monday, the President will travel to Camden, New Jersey to visit with local law enforcement, meet with young people, and hear directly about efforts to build trust between the police and the community in a city that has faced one of the highest crime rates in America.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*Transcript *https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/15/weekly-address-creating-opportunity-all


----------



## poochee

*Arabs weigh 'rapid response' force with U.S. blessing*
_A buried line in a Camp David statement is the first clear indication of potential U.S. support for a pan-Arab militia_.
By Michael Crowley and Nahal Toosi
5/15/15 6:43 PM EDT



> Following a summit with Gulf Arabs the ended with no apparent breakthroughs, a buried line in a joint statement hinted at a potentially major development: possible American support for a new pan-Arab rapid reaction military force.
> 
> The language stood out to some foreign policy observers, in part because a number of Obama administration officials have reservations about the potentially destabilizing effect of creating a large standing force dominated by mostly Sunni Arab nations.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...ce-with-us-blessing-118006.html#ixzz3aK8Nk9jC


----------



## poochee

May 16, 2015, 08:42 am 
*US raid kills senior ISIS leader, captures wife*
By David McCabe



> U.S. Special Operations forces killed a senior ISIS leader and captured his wife in a raid in Syria on Saturday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement.
> 
> "The operation represents another significant blow to ISIL, and it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe haven to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends and allies," Carter said.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...s-raid-kills-senior-isis-leader-captures-wife


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Regulators Order Amtrak To Improve Safety Of Northeast Corridor Route*
Reuters 
Posted: 05/16/2015 1:35 pm EDT Updated: 38 minutes ago

*VIDEO*



> (Adds details of FRA order, background)
> 
> WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have ordered passenger railroad Amtrak to immediately take actions to improve the safety of its heavily traveled Northeast Corridor route following Tuesday's derailment in Philadelphia that killed eight people, the Federal Railroad Administration said on Saturday.
> 
> "The actions we have instructed Amtrak to take are aimed at improving safety on this corridor immediately, but we won't hesitate to require the railroad to do more to improve safety as the accident's causes become clearer," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in the news release.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/16/fra-amtrak-safety_n_7297972.html


----------



## poochee

May 15, 2015, 05:30 pm 
*Jeb Bush, the new Dan Quayle?*
By Brent Budowsky, columnist, The Hill



> On the other hand, after the week from hell that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has just created for himself, I am convinced that there is a great analogy between the Jeb Bush that runs for president in 2016 and the Dan Quayle that ran for vice president in 1988. Quayle was fundamentally a good guy, and a reasonably decent senator  more than was given credit for (even though I usually disagreed with him).
> 
> Bush, like Quayle, comes from a high-level family pedigree and was a respectable governor in the same way Quayle was a respectable senator. There are many matters that Bush has substantive knowledge of, but how to run for president is not among them.


http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/242267-jeb-bush-the-new-dan-quayle


----------



## poochee

*This New Yorker cartoon is full of political wisdom*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...w-yorker-cartoon-is-full-of-political-wisdom/


----------



## poochee

May 17, 10:48 AM EDT

*Pope canonizes 2 saints from 19th-century Palestine *
By NICOLE WINFIELD 
Associated Press



> VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis canonized two nuns from what was 19th-century Palestine on Sunday in hope of encouraging Christians across the Middle East who are facing a wave of persecution from Islamic extremists.
> 
> Sisters Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas were among four nuns who were made saints Sunday at a Mass in a sun-soaked St. Peter's Square. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and an estimated 2,000 pilgrims from the region, some waving Palestinian flags, were on hand for the canonization of the first saints from the Holy Land since the early years of Christianity.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-17-10-48-43


----------



## poochee

*Obama trip mends a broken heart*
By Jason Kravarik, CNN
Updated 1:27 PM ET, Sat May 16, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Watertown, South Dakota (CNN)President Barack Obama has walked plenty of diplomatic tight ropes during his two terms in office, but it's safe to say none involved the emotions of an 11-year-old girl -- until now.
> 
> "I wanted to put my sad feelings into a letter," said Rebecca Kelley of Vermillion, South Dakota, who wrote the President after learning he'd visited every other state while in office, except the one she calls home.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/16/politics/obama-south-dakota-broken-heart-50th-state/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Top Dem: Trade bill not for big business*
By Kyle Balluck - 05/17/15 11:44 AM EDT



> I do support the trade bill and I'll tell you why: I'm a born-and-raised Californian on the rim of the largest trading basin the world. Nothing is going to decrease the trade between countries along the Pacific Ocean. It surpassed the Atlantic several years ago, Feinstein said on ABCs This Week.
> 
> Therefore the kind of trade, free trade, the ability to have enforcement mechanisms to prevent anti-dumping, to protect copyright, to prevent forced labor, child labor is very important, she added. And that's what this will do.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/242328-top-dem-trade-bill-not-for-big-business


----------



## poochee

May 18, 2:12 PM EDT

*Push to write new war powers for Obama stalls in Congress *
By DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- A move to write new war powers to authorize the Obama administration's 9-month-old battle against Islamic State militants has stalled in Congress. It might even be dead.
> 
> President Barack Obama doesn't seem to mind. And while lawmakers say they don't want to give up their check on a commander-in-chief's authority to use military might, they have little interest in having what would be the first war vote in Congress in 13 years.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-18-14-12-32


----------



## poochee

May 18, 2:12 PM EDT

*Obama puts stricter controls on military-style for police *
By NEDRA PICKLER 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nine months after police in riot gear dispelled racially charged protests, President Barack Obama is prohibiting the federal government from providing some military-style equipment to local departments and putting stricter controls on other weapons and gear distributed to law enforcement.
> 
> The surprise announcement comes after the White House suggested last year that Obama would maintain programs that provide the type of military-style equipment used to respond to demonstrators last summer in Ferguson, Missouri, because of their broader contribution to public safety. But an interagency group found "substantial risk of misusing or overusing" items like tracked armored vehicles, high-powered firearms and camouflage could undermine trust in police.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-18-14-12-32


----------



## poochee

*McConnell vows to pass trade bill*
By Vicki Needham and Jordain Carney - 05/18/15 08:36 PM EDT



> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday vowed to pass fast-track trade legislation before the Memorial Day recess, brushing aside calls for a prolonged floor debate on amendments.
> 
> I want to be very clear  the Senate will finish its work on trade this week, and we will remain in session as long as it takes to do so, the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/242462-mcconnell-vows-to-pass-trade-bill


----------



## poochee

Andrea Mitchell Reports 5/19/15

*Breaking silence, Hillary Clinton answers questions on campaign trail*

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchel...-clinton-takes-questions-in-iowa-447685699884


----------



## poochee

May 19, 2015, 12:08 pm 
*Obama signs bill creating Blue Alert system*



> President Obama on Tuesday signed a bill that would create a national alert system to help authorities find people who kill, injure or make imminent threats against police.
> 
> The bipartisan measure is named after Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, two New York Police Department officers who were shot and killed in their squad car in December.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ill-creating-national-police-protection-alert


----------



## poochee

*Cancer charities accused of using donations for cruises, dating sites*
By Lydia Wheeler - 05/19/15 12:42 PM EDT
This story was updated at 1:23 p.m.



> The Federal Trade Commission has charged four major cancer charities and their operators with bilking $187 million from donors.
> 
> The FTC and law enforcement partners from every state and the District of Columbia have filed court complaints against the Cancer Fund of America Inc., Cancer Support Services Inc., Childrens Cancer Fund of America Inc., The Breast Cancer Society Inc. and their executives.


http://thehill.com/regulation/admin...accused-of-using-donations-for-luxury-cruises


----------



## poochee

*Los Angeles raises minimum wage to $15 per hour*
05/19/15 05:25 PMUpdated 05/19/15 05:52 PM 
By Zachary Roth
*
VIDEOS*



> In a major win for the movement to boost wages for low-paid workers, Los Angeles voted Tuesday to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.
> 
> The nations second-largest city joins Seattle, San Francisco, and Oakland, among others, in going to the $15-per-hour level being demanded by an increasingly confident labor-backed low-wage worker campaign.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/los-angeles-raises-minimum-wage-15-hour


----------



## poochee

*
On #WacoThugs, Biker Gangs, and White-on-White Crime *
by Dan Solomon 
Mon May 18, 2015 1:18 pm



> Those who are interested in the historyrecent and otherwiseof outlaw biker gangs in Texas would do well to read Skip Hollandsworths 2007 profile of the Bandidos, one of the two gangs identified by law enforcement as being involved in the gunfight in Waco. But when it comes to discussing the events that occurred outside Twin Peaks, theres another entity that isnt getting off the hook: namely, the media and police culture, which, its being argued, treat incidents of violent crime committed by white people very differently than they do incidents of violence involving black people.
> 
> On Twitter, much of this was explored using the hashtag #WacoThugs, where cultural commentators and critics including some of the sharpest working today, like Ta-Nehisi Coates, saw an opportunity to consider how the playbook for a violent incident involving white bikers diverges from the one that the media and police use when the violence involves people whose skin tones are darker.


http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/wacothugs-biker-gangs-and-white-white-crime


----------



## poochee

May 19, 2015, 02:11 pm 
*House sends human trafficking bill to Obama*
By Cristina Marcos



> The House sent legislation to combat human trafficking to President Obama's desk on Tuesday after a protracted debate in the Senate over abortion.





> The legislation would create a designated fund for victims of sex trafficking and includes the language of ten bills passed by the House earlier this year. Provisions incorporated from the House bills include imposing a penalty on individuals who sell advertisements to exploit trafficking victims and giving states preference for federal grants if they establish "safe harbor" laws for trafficked children.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/242529-house-sends-human-trafficking-bill-to-obama


----------



## poochee

May 20, 1:15 PM EDT

*Banks fined more than $5B, to plead guilty to market rigging *
By KEN SWEET and ERIC TUCKER 
The Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Four global banks agreed Wednesday to pay more than $5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to rigging the world's currency market, the first time in more than two decades that major players in the financial industry have admitted to criminal wrongdoing on such a scale.
> 
> Traders at JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland conspired among themselves to fix exchange rates on U.S. dollars and euros, according to a resolution announced by the banks and the Justice Department. The currency traders, who called themselves "The Cartel," allegedly shared customer orders through chat rooms and used that information to profit at their clients' expense.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-20-12-57-30


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare critic gets sick, changes his mind*
05/20/15 10:01 AM 
By Steve Benen



> Last year, for example, we were introduced to a Philadelphia-area man who was convinced he wanted no part of the ACA, based on coverage hed seen on Fox News. But when the man ran into health trouble, a friend convinced him to give Obamacare a try, and he soon after had life-saving valve-replacement heart surgery. Had he not changed his mind, the man later said, he probably would have ended up falling over dead.
> 
> There are plenty of similar examples elsewhere, but Luis Lang seems to be a special case. The South Carolina man gained quite a bit of notoriety online after Lang refused to get health insurance, discovered hed suffered several mini-strokes, began to lose his eyesight, and found himself unable to work.


 http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obamacare-critic-gets-sick-changes-his-mind


----------



## poochee

*Suspect named in quadruple homicide in D.C.*
Bruce Leshan, WUSA-TV, Washington, D.C. 11:11 p.m. EDT May 20, 2015

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON  Metropolitan Police have identified a suspect in a quadruple homicide and fire that killed three family members and a housekeeper in the District last Thursday.
> 
> Daron Dylon Wint, 34, of Maryland is wanted on a D.C. Superior Court arrest warrant charging him with first-degree murder while armed.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...t-named-in-quadruple-homicide-in-dc/27692653/


----------



## poochee

May 20, 2015, 11:59 pm 
*Paul's filibuster wraps up after more than 10 hours*
By Jordain Carney



> Paul took over the Senate floor around approximately 1:18 p.m. on Wednesday, in what his staff called a filibuster of extending the Patriot Act.
> 
> The Senate is currently debating fast-track trade legislation, with a procedural vote expected later Thursday. Paul's move blocked his Senate colleagues from offering, debating and voting on amendments to that bill  something Democrats were quick to highlight.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/242778-pauls-filibuster-wraps-up-after-10-hours


----------



## poochee

*Senate votes to consider fast track trade bill*
05/21/15 12:37 PM 
By Frank Thorp V and Halimah Abdullah



> A vital component of President Barack Obamas trade agenda and his economic legacy passed a critical hurdle after the measure garnered enough Democratic support to move forward in the Senate.
> 
> The Senate voted 62-38 to move forward on a bill that would give Obama fast track authority to negotiate, without the threat of congressional filibusters or added amendments, a massive 12-nation trade pact known as the Trans Pacific Partnership. The vote almost failed as a result of opposition from pro-trade Democrats who wanted amendment votes on unrelated provisions that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, would not allow.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-votes-consider-fast-track-trade-bill


----------



## poochee

*'Look ... It's My Name on This': Obama Defends the Iran Nuclear Deal*
_In an interview, the U.S. president ties his legacy to a pact with Tehran, argues ISIS is not winning, warns Saudi Arabia not to pursue a nuclear-weapons program, and anguishes about Israel._
Jeffrey Goldberg
11:29 AM ET



> On Tuesday afternoon, as President Obama was bringing an occasionally contentious but often illuminating hour-long conversation about the Middle East to an end, I brought up a persistent worry. A majority of American Jews want to support the Iran deal, I said, but a lot of people are anxiety-ridden about this, as am I. Like many Jewsand also, by the way, many non-JewsI believe that it is prudent to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of anti-Semitic regimes. Obama, who earlier in the discussion had explicitly labeled the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an anti-Semite, responded with an argument I had not heard him make before.
> 
> Look, 20 years from now, Im still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, its my name on this, he said, referring to the apparently almost-finished nuclear agreement between Iran and a group of world powers led by the United States. I think its fair to say that in addition to our profound national-security interests, I have a personal interest in locking this down.


http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/05/obama-interview-iran-isis-israel/393782/


----------



## poochee

*
Whats inside the first batch of Clinton emails made public?*
05/21/15 10:46 AMUpdated 05/21/15 02:12 PM 
By Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*



> Hillary Clinton had sensitive but unclassified information in the private email account she used as secretary of state, and distributed internally several memos on the Benghazi attack from a friend whose closeness to Clinton has become controversial.
> 
> Those are among the revelations from the first batch of Clintons emails from her private server made public, after being obtained by The New York Times Thursday morning. The State Department will soon start making batches of the emails public on a rolling basis, but it could take months for all of her emails to be released.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-emails-inside-first-batch-made-public


----------



## poochee

*Medical cures bill unanimously passes House panel*
By Peter Sullivan - 05/21/15 07:32 AM EDT



> The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a medical cures bill shortly after reaching a bipartisan $13 billion deal to pay for the legislation.
> 
> That is an amazing accomplishment, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), said, noting that he had been on the committee for 28 years and had never before seen a major bill pass without a single nay vote.
> The 21st Century Cures measure, which passed 51-0, is aimed at streamlining the Food and Drug Administrations approval process for new drugs. It received bipartisan support in the Energy and Commerce Committee, easily passing a subpanel last week on a voice vote. The committees chairman, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), worked with Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) on the bill for over a year.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...ers-announce-13-billion-deal-on-medical-cures


----------



## poochee

*Survey finds 3 out of 4 satisfied with their ObamaCare plans*
By Sarah Ferris - 05/21/15 09:51 AM EDT



> People overwhelmingly said they felt positively about their choices of doctors and hospitals and their copays for appointments and prescriptions, delivering good news for the Obama administration one year into the law's rollout.
> 
> More surprisingly, that satisfaction also extended to peoples monthly premiums and annual deductibles, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...e-satisfied-with-obamacare-plans-survey-finds


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR*

*Letterman signs off with roast from nearly every living president*
By Nick Gass
5/21/15 6:13 AM EDT
*
VIDEO*



> David Letterman bade farewell to the late-night scene on Wednesday night, but not before nearly every living president paid tribute to the comedian at the end of his 22-year run as host of The Late Show.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...ow-presidents-obama-118169.html#ixzz3anb0U8PX


----------



## poochee

*Grand Jury Indicts Six Officers In Freddie Gray Case*
The Huffington Post | By Andy Campbell 
Posted: 05/21/2015 5:18 pm EDT Updated: 1 minute ago
*
VIDEO*



> In a press conference Thursday, Mosby announced that the grand jury charged all six officers in connection to Gray's death. Officers Edward Nero, Garrett Miller, Caesar Goodson, William Porter, and Sgt. Alicia White and Lt. Brian Rice were handed down a slew of charges ranging from misdemeanor negligent assault and misconduct to involuntary manslaughter, intentional assault and murder.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/21/officers-indicted-grand-jury-freddie-gray_n_7415934.html


----------



## poochee

May 21, 2015, 06:13 pm 
*McConnell: Senate staying in session until work is done* 
By Jordain Carney



> The Senate is quickly approaching a week-long Memorial Day recess, but it still has to finish work on a "fast-track" trade proposal, expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and highway legislation.
> 
> "I want to remind everybody we're going to finish this bill before we leave," he told senators on the floor. "We're going to deal with FISA and we're going to deal with highways."


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/242899-mcconnell-doubles-down-on-senate-schedule


----------



## poochee

*Source: Suspect in DC quadruple homicide, arson arrested*
By Pamela Brown, Joe Johns, Alexandra Jaffe and Kevin Conlon, CNN
Updated 12:04 AM ET, Fri May 22, 2015

*VIDEO*



> *Story highlights*
> He was suspect in killing of three members of the Savopoulos family, housekeeper
> Wint's DNA was recovered from pizza delivered to the Savopoulos home





> Lanier sought to reassure the public by saying the killings were likely not a random crime. Wint apparently used to work at American Iron Works, where Savvas Savopoulos was CEO and president. It was unclear whether Wint had been fired.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/21/us/dc-house-fire-money-motive/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Republicans' Josh Duggar problem*
By Amber Phillips May 22 at 12:11 PM

*VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> From former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, nearly every 2016 presidential candidate courting the social conservative vote has been happy to pose for a photo with the high-profile member of the Duggar family from TLC's reality-TV series "19 Kids and Counting."





> But that relationship is bound to change after news Thursday that the 27-year-old Duggar is stepping down from his leadership position of the conservative lobbying group Family Research Council amid a tabloid report he molested several underage girls over a decade ago.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/05/22/republicans-josh-duggar-problem/


----------



## poochee

May 22, 1:33 PM EDT
*
Clinton got now-classified Benghazi info on private email *
By LISA LERER and MATTHEW LEE 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that has now been classified.
> 
> The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff, Jake Sullivan, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-22-13-33-51


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Obama popularity on the upswing*
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
Updated 11:35 AM ET, Fri May 22, 2015



> Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama's popularity with the public is on the upswing, according to a new Gallup poll that found him enjoying his strongest approval rating in nearly two years.
> 
> He's now seen favorably by 53% of Americans, a four-point increase since March and the best number he's seen since September 2013, when 58% of Americans viewed him favorably.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/22/politics/obama-gallup-popularity/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 22, 11:07 PM EDT

*Senate clears White House-backed trade* *bill 
*By DAVID ESPO and CHARLES BABINGTON 
Associated Press
Associated Press reporter Ken Dilanian contributed to this story.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Senate passed bipartisan legislation Friday night to strengthen the administration's hand in global trade talks, clearing the way for a highly unpredictable summer showdown in the House.
> 
> The vote was 62-37 to give Obama authority to complete trade deals that Congress could approve or reject, but not change. A total of 48 Republicans supported the measure, but only 14 the Senate's 44 Democrats backed a president of their own party on legislation near the top of his second-term agenda.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-22-23-07-46


----------



## poochee

*@POTUS, Obama's Twitter Debut, Faces Racist Backlash*
By Halimah Abdullah
First published May 22nd 2015, 9:24 am

*VIDEO*



> It didn't take long for President Barack Obama's joyous inaugural post about joining the Twitterverse to attract vitriolic, profane, lewd and racist posts filled with slurs and threats.





> Earlier in the week, the White House said in a blog post that the new account "will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him. President Obama is committed to making his Administration the most open and participatory in history, and will give Americans a new venue to engage on the issues that matter most to them."


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/potus-obamas-twitter-debut-faces-hate-filled-backlash-n363226


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Honoring Our Fallen Heroes this Memorial Day*

*VIDEO*



> In this weeks address, the President commemorated Memorial Day by paying tribute to the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in service to our country.
> 
> The President will spend the first Memorial Day since the end of the war in Afghanistan at Arlington Cemetery, remembering the more than 2,200 American patriots who gave their lives in that conflict, as well as all of our fallen soldiers. The President asked that all Americans spend Monday honoring the memory and sacrifice of those heroes, and remain committed to the cause of freedom and the country for which they fought.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

TRANSCRIPT: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...dress-honoring-our-fallen-heroes-memorial-day


----------



## poochee

*Senate adjourns with no clear path forward on Patriot Act*
Julian Hattem - 05/23/15 12:35 AM EDT



> The Senate failed to move forward on legislation to reform the National Security Agency or renew the Patriot Act early on Saturday morning, making it almost a sure bet that portions of the Patriot Act expire at the end of the month.
> 
> After a frenzied series of votes that were repeatedly knocked down, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ordered lawmakers to return home for the Memorial Day weekend and return at noon on May 31 for a rare Sunday session and one more opportunity to act responsibly.


http://thehill.com/policy/national-...egislation-reforming-us-surveillance-programs


----------



## poochee

*
Ireland becomes first country to legalize gay marriage by popular vote*
05/23/15 09:09 AMUpdated 05/23/15 02:24 PM 
By Lisa McNally
The Associated Press contributed to this report, which originally appeared on NBCNews.com.



> DUBLIN  Ireland became the first country in the world to vote in favor of legalizing gay marriage Saturday after a resounding victory for Yes campaigners.
> 
> At final count, 62% voted in favor of legalizaing gay marriage in the country, while 38% voted against it.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ireland-saying-yes-gay-marriage


----------



## poochee

*Sgt. James Brown, 26, Survived Two Tours in Iraq Only to Die Begging for His Life in Texas Jail *
Thursday, 21 May 2015 00:00 
By Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now! | Video Interview

*VIDEO*



> Newly released video has revealed the dying moments of an African-American active-duty soldier who checked himself into the El Paso, Texas, county jail for a two-day sentence for driving under the influence, and died while in custody in 2012. Authorities claimed Sgt. James Brown died due to a pre-existing medical condition, but shocking new video from inside the jail raises new questions about what happened.


 http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/...nly-to-die-begging-for-his-life-in-texas-jail


----------



## poochee

*Anti-Obama trolls fuel questions about online hate, racism*
By David McCabe - 05/23/15 05:10 PM EDT



> The kind of harassment we are worried about happens when Internet users attract the attention of the wrong group or individual, and find themselves enduring extreme levels of targeted hostility, often accompanied by the exposure of their private lives, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a major privacy group, said in a statement. And such online harassment can escalate to offline stalking, physical assault, and more.
> 
> Whereas Obama has the protection of the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies, a member of the general public is more reliant on the people who run social networks to deal with threatening messages. But that hasnt always delivered results, as some leading executives acknowledge.


http://thehill.com/policy/technology/243013-anti-obama-trolls-fuel-questions-about-online-hate


----------



## poochee

*Defense Secretary Carter: Iraqs forces showed no will to fight Islamic State*
By Vanessa Williams May 24 at 10:49 AM



> Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Iraqi forces "showed no will to fight" as the Islamic State militant group captured the city of Ramadi, and he rejected calls by Republican lawmakers to commit ground troops to the conflict.
> 
> "What apparently happened was that the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight," Carter said in a CNN interview that aired Sunday. "They were not outnumbered. In fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force, and yet they failed to fight. They withdrew from the site, and that says to me, and I think to most of us, that we have an issue with the will of the Iraqis to fight ISIL and defend themselves." The Islamic State is also known as ISIS or ISIL.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...forces-showed-no-will-to-fight-islamic-state/


----------



## poochee

*More people able to pay medical bills under ObamaCare*
By Peter Sullivan - 05/22/15 09:16 AM EDT



> The study from the Urban Institute finds that the number of adults having trouble paying bills declined from 22 percent in September 2013, before ObamaCare took effect, to 17 percent in March 2015.
> 
> That means about 9.4 million people who previously had trouble paying their bills are now able to do so.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/242922-study-9-million-fewer-people-cant-pay-medical-bills

*Calif. ObamaCare exchange caps patient drug costs*
By Peter Sullivan - 05/22/15 01:13 PM EDT



> Californias ObamaCare exchange is announcing a cap on patients costs for high-priced specialty drugs, the first state in the country to do so.
> 
> The announcement, which comes after a unanimous vote by the exchanges board Thursday, would cap the cost for most enrollees on the insurance exchange at $250 per prescription per month.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/242951-calif-obamacare-exchange-caps-patient-drug-costs


----------



## poochee

msnbc Live 5/25/15

*Obama on the 'honor, courage' of the military*

*VIDEO*



> President Barack Obama makes remarks on Memorial Day saying while the nature of war has changed over the past 147 years, the values of those who serve the country remain constant.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-live/watch/obama-on-honor--courage-of-the-military-450850371862


----------



## poochee

*Memorial Day 2015: Vice President Joe Biden Takes Selfies With Vets *
May 25, 2015, 1:41 PM ET
By MICHELLE MANZIONE



> Vice President Joe Biden spent his Memorial Day morning taking selfies with veterans before sending them off on their annual Ride 2 Recovery bike ride.
> 
> Over 200 wounded war vets gathered at the VPs house this morning, along with Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, for a meet-n-greet and to take pictures before the vets embarked on the UnitedHeathcare Ride 2 Recovery Memorial Day Challenge; a five-day, 360-mile rehabilitative ride from Washington, DC to Virginia Beach.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/memorial-day-2015-vice-president-joe-biden-takes/story?id=31291572


----------



## poochee

*To get around Congress, Obama turns to city halls
* Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 8:34 a.m. EDT May 26, 2015



> WASHINGTON  President Obama has quietly racked up a series of legislative victories during the past few months as lawmakers have enthusiastically embraced his calls for a higher minimum wage, paid sick leave and universal pre-kindergarten.
> 
> Instead of Capitol Hill, those victories happened in city halls, state houses and county buildings far from Washington.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/05/25/obama-state-and-local-strategy/27602149/


----------



## poochee

*Community outpouring for Omaha cop killed in the line of duty*
05/26/15 10:46 AMUpdated 05/26/15 12:04 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma



> An outpouring of public support from a half a world away is centered in Nebraska Tuesday where the community of Omaha police officer Kerrie Orozco is putting their loved one to rest after she was killed in the line of duty hours before she was supposed to go on maternity leave.
> 
> Thousands of notes of condolences from as far away as Europe have flooded into the Omaha Police Department via social media as family, friends and colleagues prepare to say goodbye to 29-year-old Orozco at her funeral Tuesday. Flags will fly at half-staff throughout Nebraska and in Iowa, Orozcos home state, to honor the day.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/omaha-cop-killed-the-line-duty-community-outpouring-poem


----------



## poochee

*Islamic State from Anbar *
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN 
Associated Press



> BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq on Tuesday announced the launch of a major military operation to drive the Islamic State from the western Anbar province and retake the Sunni heartland where the extremist group captured the provincial capital, Ramadi, earlier this month.
> 
> The operation is backed by Shiite militias and Sunni pro-government fighters, the Iraqi state TV reported, without providing further details. There was no indication of any immediate movements on the ground following the announcement.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-26-09-50-47


----------



## poochee

*Feds unveil long-awaited overhaul of Medicaid managed care*
By Sarah Ferris - 05/26/15 05:03 PM EDT



> The federal government on Tuesday unveiled a long-awaited regulatory package that sets national standards for managed care under Medicaid, marking the biggest changes to the growing program in more than a decade.
> 
> The nearly 700-page rule, described by some groups as an uber rule, contains instructions about what state Medicaid programs must do when hiring private health plans to handle long-term care for the elderly and disabled  also known as managed care.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...waited-uber-rule-for-state-medicaid-contracts


----------



## poochee

*Appeals court rules against Obama on immigration*
By David Nakamura May 26 at 5:01 PM 



> A federal judicial panel in New Orleans on Tuesday denied the Obama administrations request to lift an injunction on President Obamas expanded deferred action program for illegal immigrants, throwing into doubt whether the program will begin before the president leaves office.
> 
> In a split 2-to-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that the restrictions imposed by a federal judge in Texas in February would remain in place as he considers a lawsuit from 26 states over the constitutionality of Obamas executive actions on immigration.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...46832a-03d9-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html


----------



## poochee

May 27, 1:20 PM EDT

*EPA issues final rules protecting drinking water, streams *
By MARY CLARE JALONICK 
Associated Press



> The White House said the rules would provide much-needed clarity for landowners, but some Republicans and farm groups said they go much too far. House Speaker John Boehner declared they would send "landowners, small businesses, farmers, and manufacturers on the road to a regulatory and economic hell."
> 
> The rules, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are designed to clarify which smaller waterways fall under federal protection after two Supreme Court rulings had left the reach of the Clean Water Act uncertain. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said the waters affected would be those with a "direct and significant" connection to larger bodies of water downstream that are already protected.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-27-13-20-12


----------



## poochee

*Republicans expose their jugulars*
_Simon says: The Republican Party suffers from an embarrassment of riches._
By Roger Simon
5/27/15 5:14 AM EDT



> The Republican Party suffers from an embarrassment of riches. It has too many really swell candidates for president.
> 
> It has so many candidates, those who have announced and those still stacked up in a holding pattern, that the TV networks do not know how to squeeze them all onto the same stage for the debates.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...epublicans-jugulars-118296.html#ixzz3bMWMqq1N


----------



## poochee

*Obama holds off on immigration appeal to the Supreme Court*
By Jordan Fabian - 05/27/15 04:29 PM EDT



> The Department of Justice on Wednesday said it will not make an emergency request to the Supreme Court to lift an order blocking President Obama's executive action on immigration.
> 
> Instead, the administration will focus on the appeal of the injunction itself at the 5th Circuit, which is expected to proceed in July.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/243253-justice-dept-wont-seek-stay-for-immigration-ruling


----------



## poochee

May 27, 2:01 PM EDT

*Health law court case winner could be political loser *
By ALAN FRAM 
Associated Press



> If the Republican-backed challenge to the law's subsidies for lower-earning Americans prevails, the GOP would have achieved a paramount goal of severely damaging "Obamacare." But Republican lawmakers would be pressured to help the millions of Americans who could suddenly find government-mandated medical coverage unaffordable - and they'd face blame from many voters if they failed to provide assistance.





> Should the Obama administration win, relieved Democrats would crow that Obama's foremost domestic achievement had stood unscathed. But some say they'd have lost a potentially powerful cudgel for the 2016 campaigns: Being able to accuse Republicans of ending the assistance and disrupting health coverage for many.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-27-14-01-35


----------



## poochee

*6 Baltimore Officers Charged In Freddie Gray Death Seek Trial Move*
AP | By JULIET LINDERMAN 
Posted: 05/27/2015 6:43 pm EDT Updated: 19 minutes ago



> BALTIMORE (AP)  Attorneys for six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray are asking a judge to move their case out of Baltimore, arguing it will be impossible to select an impartial jury and receive a fair trial.
> 
> The officers face charges ranging from assault to second-degree "depraved-heart" murder.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/27/baltimore-officers-freddi_n_7455874.html


----------



## poochee

*Disgraced Chicago cops posed with black suspect wearing antlers*
Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY 7:08 p.m. EDT May 27, 2015



> CHICAGO  Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday sought to distance the Chicago Police Department from two ex-Chicago police officers who posed more than a decade ago for a racially-charged photo with a African-American man lying on his stomach with deer antlers on his head.





> Earlier this month, the city council approved an unprecedented reparations package to the mostly African-American victims who were tortured by police officers under the control of former police commander Jon Burge.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...e-pose-over-suspect-wearing-antlers/28026851/


----------



## poochee

*Global soccer corruption case deeply rooted in USA*
Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 6:37 p.m. EDT May 27, 2015



> WASHINGTON  The Justice Department's corruption inquiry into organized soccer has deep roots in the USA. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday that suspects in the $150 million bribery scheme met in this country often to plan their illicit activities and used U.S. banking institutions and domestic wire transfers to distribute giant bribe payments.
> 
> Describing the alleged wrongdoing as "rampant, systemic,'' Lynch said the actions spanned two generations of soccer officials abroad and in the USA who "abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.''


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/27/corruption-soccer-us/28016251/


----------



## poochee

May 28, 1:52 PM EDT

*Obama says TX, OK storms a reminder to prep for disasters *
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 
Associated Press



> MIAMI (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday the deadly flooding in Texas and Oklahoma should serve as a reminder of the need to make the nation more resilient to the impact of natural disasters, adding that climate change is affecting both the pace and intensity of storms.
> 
> Making the first visit of his presidency to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Obama said that while the nation is better prepared than ever for the storms of today, "the best scientists in the world are telling us that extreme weather events, like hurricanes, are likely to become more powerful."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-28-13-29-22


----------



## poochee

*Cuba-US Expect to Announce Embassy Openings Next Week *
May 27, 2015, 4:12 PM ET
By SERENA MARSHALL and JIM AVILA

*VIDEO*



> Cuba and the United States are expected to formally announce the re-opening of embassies in Havana and D.C. next week, ABC News has been told by two sources close to negotiations.
> 
> The announcement is expected to come from their respective capitals, following Fridays anticipated announcement of Cubas removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cuba-us-expect-announce-embassy-openings-week/story?id=31345385


----------



## poochee

*FCC looks to subsidize low-income Americans' Internet access*
By Mario Trujillo - 05/28/15 12:51 PM EDT



> The Federal Communications Commission is proposing to expand its Lifeline program to help subsidize Internet service for low-income Americans.
> 
> The plan floated Thursday by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler could face resistance from some Republicans who point to lingering waste and inefficiencies in the $1.7 billion program, which helps low-income individuals pay for phone service.


http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/243325-fcc-looks-to-subsidize-low-income-internet-service


----------



## poochee

*Court sets July hearing on Obama's immigration actions *
By Jordan Fabian - 05/28/15 12:49 PM EDT



> A federal appeals court said Wednesday it has set a date to hear an expedited appeal of a lower court order that put President Obamas deportation relief programs on hold.
> 
> The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on July 10 in New Orleans in the Obama administrations attempt to lift a preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas, which blocked several executive actions from taking effect.


http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ts-july-hearing-on-obamas-immigration-actions


----------



## poochee

May 28, 4:55 PM EDT
*Bush earned millions in juggling act as corporate adviser* 
By RONNIE GREENE 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Washington, Thomas Beaumont in Lansing, Michigan, and Tony Winton in Miami contributed to this story.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- During his transition from Florida governor to likely presidential candidate, Jeb Bush served on the boards of or as an adviser to at least 15 companies and nonprofits, a dizzying array of corporate connections that earned him millions of dollars and occasional headaches.
> 
> Bush returned to corporate America after leaving the governor's mansion in early 2007, and his industry portfolio expanded steadily until he began shedding ties late last year to prepare a run for president.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-28-16-55-00


----------



## poochee

*Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert indicted for cash withdrawal scheme*
05/28/15 06:06 PMUpdated 05/28/15 06:50 PM 
By Benjamin Landy



> Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who led the Republican majority in Congress from 1999 to 2007, was indicted Thursday by the Justice Department for illegally structuring cash withdrawals to evade bank reporting requirements and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
> 
> According to the Chicago U.S. Attorneys Office, the indictment alleges Hastert agreed to pay out $3.5 million to an individual in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct. Hastert is accused of purposefully structuring the payments in increments, beginning in 2012, in order to avoid triggering bank reports to the IRS that are required for cash withdrawals over $10,000.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/former-house-speaker-dennis-hastert-indicted-cash-withdrawal-scheme


----------



## poochee

*Putin, on Guard for 2018 World Cup in Russia, Denounces FIFA Arrests*
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ANDREW ROTHMAY 28, 2015

*VIDEO*



> MOSCOW  President Vladimir V. Putin sought to transform the burgeoning scandal over corruption in soccers international governing body into an extension of the confrontation between Russia and the West on Thursday, accusing the United States of global overreach while invoking the fates of Edward J. Snowden and Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder.
> 
> Most world leaders remained mum, apparently waiting for more details to emerge, but Mr. Putin went on the offensive immediately.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/s...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

May 29, 12:48 PM EDT

*Cuba removed from US terror list *
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ and MATTHEW LEE 
Associated Press
AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee reported from Washington. AP writer Anne-Marie Garcia contributed from Havana.



> HAVANA (AP) -- The Obama administration on Friday formally removed Cuba from a U.S. terrorism blacklist, a decision hailed in Cuba as the healing of a decades-old wound and an important step toward normalizing relations between the Cold War foes.
> 
> Secretary of State John Kerry signed off on rescinding Cuba's "state sponsor of terrorism" designation exactly 45 days after the Obama administration informed Congress of its intent to do so on April 14. Lawmakers had that amount of time to weigh in and try to block the move, but did not do so.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-29-12-48-03


----------



## poochee

*What you need to know about the anthrax blunder*
05/29/15 12:56 PM 
By Maggie Fox



> U.S. military and health officials are trying to figure out how anthrax from a batch containing live spores got sent to labs in nine states, Australia and South Korea. Heres what you need to know about the blunder:
> 
> Is anyone going to get infected?


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-you-need-know-about-the-anthrax-blunder


----------



## DaveBurnett

*



What you need to know about the anthrax blunder

Click to expand...

We are not to be trusted??
*


----------



## poochee

May 29, 2015, 03:00 pm 
*Obama will win ObamaCare showdown*
By Brent Budowsky, columnist, The Hill



> With a favorable ObamaCare ruling by the court, enrollments that have already been dramatically greater than opponents predicted will skyrocket even further, and premiums that have been lower than opponents falsely predicted will remain lower than expected because of the competition and choices created by ObamaCare.
> 
> Conversely, if the court rules against the subsidies, the immediate crisis caused by the ruling will bring havoc to healthcare. Republicans and the right will be deluged by devastating news stories about Americans losing their insurance, about citizens with preexisting conditions losing their coverage, about children being thrown off insurance plans because they could no longer be covered by their parent's policies, and about insurance premiums skyrocketing because of Republican policies and a negative Supreme Court ruling.


http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/243462-obama-will-win-obamacare-showdown


----------



## poochee

May 29, 4:59 PM EDT
*Hastert rose to speakership among the scandals of others *
By ANDREW TAYLOR 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Ronnie Greene and Erica Werner contributed.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dennis Hastert's career as House speaker both arose and ended amid the sex-related scandals of others.
> 
> Now, eight years after leaving Congress, Hastert's own legacy is threatened by an indictment charging financial misdeeds - and cryptically referring to "misconduct" against an unnamed person.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-29-16-29-34


----------



## poochee

May 29, 2015, 07:02 pm 
*Obama signs anti-trafficking bill into law*
By Jesse Byrnes



> President Obama on Friday signed anti-human trafficking legislation that emerged from Congress after being the subject of a bitter battle on Capitol Hill earlier this year.
> 
> Obama signed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, White House press secretary Josh Earnest announced in a statement late in the evening.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/243519-obama-signs-anti-trafficking-law

*Obama signs short-term highway funding extension*
By Jesse Byrnes - 05/29/15 07:32 PM EDT



> President Obama on Friday signed a two-month extension of highway funding into law, the White House announced in an evening statement.
> 
> The measure, dubbed the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015, extends several aspects of infrastructure funding through the end of July.


http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/243521-obama-signs-short-term-highway-funding-extension


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Pass the USA Freedom Act*

*VIDEO*



> In this week's address, the President addressed critical pieces of national security business that remained unfinished when the Senate left town. This Sunday at midnight, key tools used to protect against terrorist threats are set to expire. The USA Freedom Act strikes a balance between security and privacy, reauthorizing important measures that give our national security professionals the authorities they use to keep us safe, while also implementing reforms that enhance the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens. But currently, a small group of senators is standing in its way.
> 
> The President asked Americans to speak with one voice to the Senate to put politics aside, put the safety of the American people first, and pass the USA Freedom Act now.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*Transcript:* https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/29/weekly-address-pass-usa-freedom-act


----------



## poochee

*Obama warns of grave consequences without NSA resolution*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 6:32 PM ET, Fri May 29, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)Speaking two days before major provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire, President Barack Obama on Friday warned that without the data collection and surveillance programs, a terrorist could slip past U.S. intelligence.
> 
> "I don't want us to be in a situation in which, for a certain period of time, those authorities go away, and suddenly we're dark," Obama said at the conclusion of meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/29/politics/obama-nsa-battle/index.html


----------



## poochee

*WATCH: GOP Candidates Can't Answer 'Just One Question': Would You Have Invaded Iraq?*
The HuffPost Show 
Posted: 05/29/2015 10:41 pm EDT Updated: 05/29/2015 10:59 pm EDT
*
VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...n-presidential-candidates-iraq_n_7470008.html


----------



## poochee

*White House Taking No Pleasure in Hastert Indictment*
*
VIDEO*

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vide...ng-pleasure-indictment-31399140?lightbox=true


----------



## poochee

*Paul Krugman | Lies, Not Mistakes, Led to Invasion of Iraq *
Tuesday, 26 May 2015 00:00 
By Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co. | Op-Ed



> Jeb Bush definitely did us a favor: In attempting not to talk about the past, he ended up bringing back the discussion of the Iraq war, which many political and media figures have been trying to avoid. And of course they're still trying to avoid it - they want to make sure this just about the horse race, or about the hypothetical question of "if you knew what we know now."


http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/30992-lies-not-mistakes-led-to-invasion-of-iraq


----------



## poochee

*Vice President Joe Bidens son Beau dies after battle with brain cancer*
05/30/15 10:11 PMUpdated 05/30/15 10:44 PM 
By Phil Helsel



> Vice President Joe Bidens son, Beau Biden, died Saturday after a battle with brain cancer, the vice president said in a statement.
> 
> The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beaus spirit will live on in all of us-especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children, Natalie and Hunter, Joe Biden said in a statement Saturday.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/vice-president-joe-bidens-son-beau-dies-after-battle-brain-cancer


----------



## poochee

*How one grieving parent is taking on the gun lobby*
05/30/15 05:19 PMUpdated 05/30/15 05:29 PM 
By Richard Martinez



> A year ago last weekend, my son Christopher was killed in the Isla Vista shooting near the UCSB campus, where he was a sophomore. Chris was the kind of kid parents dream of  he was an amazing writer and had a smile that lit up the room. After he was killed, I said the only thing that made sense to me: Not one more family should ever have to endure the pain that comes from having a loved one killed by senseless gun violence. In the year thats passed since Christophers death, Ive taken that message on the road all across the country. Ive visited small towns and big cities. Ive spoken at house parties and rallies, schools, and state houses.
> 
> I have chosen to make this my lifes work. In choosing to do so, I was aware that the path to changing laws and minds would be challenging. I was still surprised to see how entrenched the gun lobby is with certain state legislators and the dangerous degree to which it pushes bills that endanger public safety.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-one-grieving-parent-taking-the-gun-lobby


----------



## poochee

*Beau Biden Once Called His Father Joe 'The Best Coach I Could Have Asked For'*
The Huffington Post | By Paige Lavender 
Posted: 05/30/2015 11:10 pm EDT Updated: 10 minutes ago

*VIDEO/TWEETS/SLIDESHOW*



> On the VP's birthday last year, Beau Biden tweeted a #TBT photo of himself as a young boy with his father, both wearing baseball caps and serious looks of concentration:


http://forums.techguy.org/controversial-topics/1138344-news-web-3-a.html#post9089484


----------



## poochee

May 31, 12:02 PM EDT

*Kerry breaks leg in bicycle crash; ends overseas trip early *
By BRADLEY KLAPPER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.



> GENEVA (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg in a bicycle crash Sunday after striking a curb, and scrapped the rest of a four-nation trip that included an international conference on combating the Islamic State group.
> 
> Kerry was in stable condition and in good spirits as he prepared to return to Boston for further treatment with the doctor who previously operated on his hip, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. He said X-rays at a Swiss hospital confirmed that Kerry fractured his right femur.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-31-12-02-12


----------



## poochee

*Exclusive: Rand Paul: 'I will force the expiration' of the PATRIOT Act*
_In a statement to POLITICO, Paul warns that he would not consent to any efforts to pass either an extension of current law or the USA Freedom Act.
_By Manu Raju
5/30/15 10:09 AM EDT



> Rand Paul plans to force the expiration of the PATRIOT Act Sunday by refusing to allow Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to expedite debate on a key surveillance bill.
> 
> In a statement to POLITICO Saturday, Paul warned that he would not consent to any efforts to pass either an extension of current law or the USA Freedom Act, a reform bill passed overwhelmingly by the House earlier this month.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...-of-the-patriot-act-118443.html#ixzz3bjjFCDqH


----------



## poochee

*Surveillance bill supporters say delay in vote would pose national security threat*
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee May 31 at 12:04 PM



> Supporters of a compromise bill on bulk surveillance by the National Security Agency said that there are enough votes in the Senate to pass the legislation and that efforts to block its passage at Sundays Senate session would pose a threat to national security.
> 
> At this point, I think the question is not really about whether well get this passed but when, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), sponsor of the USA Freedom Act, said Sunday on CNNs "State of the Union." "This is a good day for the American people, whose rights will be protected, whose Fourth Amendment and privacy interests will be defended. At the same time, their national security interests will also be protected and preserved."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-in-vote-would-pose-national-security-threat/


----------



## poochee

May 31, 5:07 PM EDT

*Qatar extends travel ban on ex-Gitmo inmates; talks continue *
By MATTHEW LEE 
AP Diplomatic Writer



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Qatar has agreed to temporarily extend travel bans on five senior Taliban leaders released last year from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.
> 
> The official said the ban would remain in place until diplomatic talks for a longer-term solution are completed. The restrictions had been due to expire on Monday under a May 2014 exchange for Bergdahl. U.S. officials said Friday the Obama administration was closing in on an agreement with Qatar to extend the restrictions for six months that could be announced this weekend. It was not immediately clear why that agreement had not been finalized.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-31-17-07-23


----------



## poochee

Jun 1, 12:18 AM EDT

*Surveillance powers lapse with no deal in Senate *
By ERICA WERNER and KEN DILANIAN 
Associated Press


> But that program and several other post-Sept. 11 counter-terror measures look likely to be revived in a matter of days. With no other options, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an about-face, reluctantly embraced a House-passed bill that would extend the anti-terror provisions, while also remaking the bulk phone collections program.
> 
> Although the lapse in the programs may be brief, intelligence officials warned that it could jeopardize Americans' safety and amount to a win for terrorists. But civil liberties groups applauded as Paul, who is running for president, forced the expiration of the once-secret program made public by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which critics say is an unconstitutional intrusion into Americans' privacy.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-01-00-01-39


----------



## poochee

*Obamas pay their respects with visit to the Bidens*
By Steven Mufson May 31 at 4:30 PM 
Robert Samuels contributed to this report.



> President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama paid a condolence call Sunday on the Biden family at the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory to express their sorrow about the death of Biden's son, Beau, from brain cancer.





> Out of respect for Biden's family, the White House also canceled a reception for Ford's Theatre that the president and first lady had planned to host at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the Blue Room.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...5/05/31/obama-vists-with-the-grieving-bidens/


----------



## poochee

*Paul: I was exaggerating on my terror attack claim*
06/01/15 12:14 PM 
By Aliyah Frumin and Anthony Terrell

*VIDEO*



> Sen. Rand Paul is backtracking on a controversial suggestion he made over the weekend: that his opponents secretly want a terrorist attack on the U.S. so they can pin the blame on the Kentucky lawmaker and Republican presidential candidate.
> 
> When Paul was asked during a Monday morning appearance on Fox News who he was referring to when he made the comment on the Senate floor Sunday, the senator said, Sometimes in the heat of a battle, hyperbole can get the better of anyone, and that may be the problem there. He added, The point I was trying to make is that I think people do use fear to try to get us to give up our liberty.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/rand-paul-exaggerating-my-terror-attack-claim


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Military action won't stop Iran's nuclear program*
By Jordan Fabian - 06/01/15 04:21 PM EDT



> A verifiable, tough agreement is the best way to block the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Obama said in an interview with Israels Channel 2 television network that will air Tuesday.
> 
> "I can, I think, demonstrate, not based on any hope, but on facts and evidence and analysis, that the best way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon is a verifiable, tough agreement, Obama said in the interview, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Monday.


http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...litary-action-wont-stop-irans-nuclear-program


----------



## poochee

*Shocking TSA failures lead to agency shakeup*
06/01/15 10:41 PMUpdated 06/01/15 11:06 PM 
By Joy Y. Wang



> In 67 out of 70 attempts, undercover agents were able to smuggle fake weapons, fake bombs or contraband through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints at some of the nations busiest airports, according to a recent internal investigation made public Monday by the Department of Homeland Security. That represents a 95% failure rate.
> 
> The alarming finding led to the immediate reassignment of TSA head Melvin Carraway, the acting administrator for the TSA. He will be replaced by Acting Deputy Director Mark Hatfield until a new acting administrator is appointed. Carraway, an 11-year TSA veteran, has been moved to Homeland Security headquarters, where he will work to coordinate federal programs with local law enforcement agencies.


 http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/shocking-tsa-failures-lead-agency-shakeup


----------



## poochee

Jun 1, 5:17 PM EDT

*Either way, no more NSA collection of US phone records* 
By KEN DILANIAN 
AP Intelligence Writer



> The NSA had stopped gathering the records from phone companies hours before the deadline. And other post-9/11 surveillance provisions considered more effective than the phone-call collection program also lapsed, leading intelligence officials to warn of critical gaps.
> 
> The legislation now before the Senate, known as the USA Freedom Act, would reauthorize the surveillance but would phase out NSA phone records collection over time. It passed the House overwhelmingly and is backed by President Barack Obama. Sen. Rand Paul, who doesn't believe it goes far enough in restricting the government, objected anew on Monday, but he can't stop a vote to end debate scheduled for Tuesday morning.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-01-17-17-02


----------



## poochee

Jun 2, 12:21 PM EDT

*NSA phone collection bill clears Senate hurdle *
By KEN DILANIAN 
AP Intelligence Writer
Associated Press reporter Erica Werner contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate sped toward passage Tuesday of legislation to end the National Security Agency's collection of Americans' calling records while preserving other surveillance authorities. But House leaders warned their Senate counterparts not to proceed with planned changes to a House version.
> 
> Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, said amendments contemplated by the Senate "would bring real challenges" in getting the House to go along.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-02-12-21-03


----------



## poochee

*FIFA President Sepp Blatter announces resignation amid scandal*
06/02/15 01:06 PMUpdated 06/02/15 01:23 PM 
By Erin McClam

*VIDEO*



> Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA and the most powerful man in world soccer, abruptly announced his resignation on Tuesday, less than a week after his organization was engulfed by a corruption scandal.
> 
> FIFA needs a profound restructuring, he said at a quickly called news conference in Zurich.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fifa-sepp-blatter-resignation


----------



## poochee

*Obama awards Medal of Honor to slighted WWI soldiers*
Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 1:35 p.m. EDT June 2, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON  Army Sgt. William Shemin and Private Henry Johnson demonstrated conspicuous gallantry during World War I, but were overlooked for the nation's highest military honor for nearly a century.
> 
> Shemin was Jewish. Johnson was African American.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/02/obama-medal-of-honor-shemin-johnson/28348029/


----------



## poochee

Jun 1, 5:25 PM EDT
*
IS revamps recruitment, with savvy, professional broadcasts* 
By LORI HINNANT 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels contributed to this report



> PARIS (AP) -- The announcer with an American accent offers an upbeat roundup of the day's main headlines: Islamic State fighters seized control of a crucial Syrian city, extremists repelled Kurdish fighters despite coalition airstrikes, and two suicide bombers successfully carried out their missions.
> 
> The tone is National Public Radio in the United States. But this is Al-Bayan, the Islamic State radio targeting European recruits by touting recent triumphs in the campaign to carve out a Caliphate, and it represents a major headache for Western powers trying to curtail the IS influence.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-01-16-38-22


----------



## poochee

*Senate approves measure to reform NSA surveillance*
06/02/15 04:45 PMUpdated 06/02/15 06:23 PM 
By Frank Thorp V

*VIDEO*



> The Senate passed the USA Freedom Act, a bill aimed at moving the storage of bulk telephony metadata used by the National Security Agency to being held by telecom companies rather than the government on Tuesday.
> 
> The vote was 67-32. The bill goes directly to President Barack Obamas desk for his signature.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-approves-usa-freedom-act-nsa-surveillance


----------



## poochee

*Congress turns away from post-9/11 law, retooling U.S. surveillance powers*
By Mike DeBonis June 2 at 8:31 PM

*VIDEO*



> Congress on Tuesday rejected some of the sweeping intelligence-gathering powers it granted national security officials after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the Senate voting to end the governments bulk collection of private telephone records and to reform other surveillance policies.





> President Obama, who signed the bill into law Tuesday night, said in a statement earlier that he was gratified that Congress has finally moved forward with this sensible reform legislation. But he also denounced the needless delay and inexcusable lapse in important national security authorities that preceded its passage.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...f5e1ce-092d-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html


----------



## poochee

Kim Bellware 
*
New Bill Says It's Time To Track The Data On Police Shootings*
Posted: 06/03/2015 1:14 pm EDT Updated: 11 minutes ago



> Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Tuesday introduced the Police Reporting of Information, Data and Evidence Act (PRIDE), which would require states to report to the Justice Department any time a law enforcement officer is involved in a shooting and any instance where an officer or a civilian is seriously hurt or killed as a result of the use of force. States would also have to report details like the age, race and location of any victims; whether or not the civilians present were armed; and how many civilians and officers were involved.
> 
> "Too many members of the public and police officers are being killed, and we don't have reliable statistics to track these tragic incidents," Boxer said in a statement Tuesday. "This bill will ensure that we know the full extent of the problem so we can save lives on all sides."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/03/number-police-killings_n_7501532.html


----------



## poochee

*Santorum to Pope Francis: Leave science to the scientists*
06/03/15 09:16 AMUpdated 06/03/15 01:42 PM 
By Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*



> Presidential candidate Rick Santorum rebuked Pope Francis this week, saying the pope should leave science to the scientists with regard to the pontiffs remarks on climate change.
> 
> Pope Francis  who has a degree in chemistry  has said causing climate change is a sin because the Earth is Gods creation and should be protected. Safeguard Creation, he said in a speech last month. Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/santorum-pope-francis-leave-science-the-scientists


----------



## poochee

Jun 3, 8:49 PM EDT

*FIFA executive committee member Blazer admitted bribes *
By RONALD BLUM 
AP Sports Writer



> NEW YORK (AP) -- Former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer told a U.S. federal judge that he and others on the governing body's ruling panel agreed to receive bribes in the votes for the hosts of the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.
> 
> Prosecutors unsealed a 40-page transcript Wednesday of the hearing in U.S. District Court on Nov. 25, 2013, when Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-03-20-49-22


----------



## ekim68

Why is Santorum even in the News? Is the Major News Media finally reduced to such lows in order to capture, anyone's, attention?


----------



## poochee

*Ikea makes billion-dollar commitment to fight climate change*
06/04/15 12:09 PM 
By Aliyah Frumin
*
VIDEO*



> Ikea, the worlds largest furniture company, announced on Thursday that it will spend one billion euros (1.13 billion dollars) over the next five years to address climate change  more than what some countries are pledging to tackle the issue.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ikea-makes-billion-dollar-commitment-fight-climate-change


----------



## poochee

*Beau Biden honored as son of Delaware at memorial*
Jonathan Starkey, Cris Barrish and Esteban Parra, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal 3:27 p.m. EDT June 4, 2015

*VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> DOVER, Del. - Looking down over former Delaware attorney general Beau Biden's flag-draped casket in the Delaware Senate chambers Thursday, Gov. Jack Markell and other state leaders praised Vice President Biden's oldest son at an unprecedented memorial service.
> 
> "Beau made Delaware a better place for us all," Markell told a gathering that included Joe Biden's wife, Jill, Beau's widow Hallie, children Natalie and Hunter. Beau's brother, Hunter, and sister, Ashley. "The Biden family is Delaware's family. Know that we grieve with you."


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/04/beau-biden-services/28467153/


----------



## poochee

Ryan J. Reilly 
*Hillary Clinton Calls For Automatic, Universal Voter Registration*
Posted: 06/04/2015 4:12 pm EDT Updated: 18 minutes ago

*VIDEO/SLIDESHOW*



> WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton in a speech on Thursday called for universal, automatic voter registration, saying every citizen in the country should be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18, unless they opt-out.
> 
> Clinton spoke at Texas Southern University in Houston, where she was receiving the Barbara Jordan Public-Private Leadership Award. She also said Republican-led efforts in several states to further regulate voting and voter registration disproportionately harm both underrepresented communities and young people, adding that Republicans need to "stop fear mongering" about the "phantom epidemic" of voter fraud.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/04/hillary-clinton-voting-rights_n_7513858.html


----------



## poochee

*Strong Job Growth Data Eases Concerns After Winter Dip in Economy*
By PATRICIA COHENJUNE 5, 2015
*
CHARTS*



> Blunting worries about the American economys momentum after a stretch of lackluster growth, the government reported on Friday that employers added a hefty 280,000 jobs in May, well above the average monthly totals logged over the last year.
> 
> The official unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 5.5 percent from 5.4 percent, as more Americans dived back into the labor pool and started actively looking for work. Higher hourly wages, which rose 0.3 percent last month, may have helped lure back some sidelined workers while providing those already on the job with some long-awaited gains.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/b...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Jennifer Bendery 
*Mitch McConnell Says Obama's Circuit Court Nominees Won't Be Confirmed Anymore*
Posted: 06/04/2015 10:03 pm EDT Updated: 32 minutes ago

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans have been slow-walking President Barack Obama's judicial nominees all year. It looks like things are about to get even less productive.
> 
> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he doesn't expect to confirm any of Obama's circuit court nominees for the remainder of his time in office, a blow to White House efforts to fill empty federal court seats despite working with a Republican-controlled Senate.


http://forums.techguy.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=9089895


----------



## poochee

*
Westboro church to picket Beau Biden's funeral*
Esteban Parra and Cris Barrish , The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal 11:44 a.m. EDT June 5, 2015
Contributing: Mary Bowerman, USA TODAY Network; Kelly Lawler and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY.



> The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., according to its website godhatesfags.com, will picket outside Wilmington's St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
> 
> Biden's funeral Mass starts at 10:30 a.m. at St. Anthony. President Obama will give the eulogy.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...den-funeral-westboro-church-protest/28535815/


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Celebrating Immigrant Heritage *Month

*VIDEO*



> In this week's address, the President recognized Immigrant Heritage Month, an occasion that allows us to celebrate our origins as a nation of immigrants. The basic idea of welcoming people to our shores is central to our ancestry and our way of life. Thats why the President asked everyone to visit whitehouse.gov/NewAmericans and share stories of making it to America.
> 
> And as we celebrate our heritage and our diversity, the President promised to continue to fight to fix our current broken immigration system and make it more just and more fair, strengthening America in the process.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

*Transcript:* https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...-address-celebrating-immigrant-heritage-month


----------



## poochee

*Obama eulogizes Beau Biden: He was an original*
06/06/15 12:45 PMUpdated 06/06/15 01:36 PM 
By Adam Howard

*VIDEO/PHOTO ESSAY*



> President Barack Obama on Saturday paid tribute to Beau Biden as a true original in a stirring eulogy for the elder son of Vice President Joe Biden.
> 
> Beau Biden, an Iraq War veteran who also served two terms as attorney general of Delaware, died May 30th after a long battle with brain cancer. A bronze star recipient and father of two, Biden was thought to have bright political future and had explored a possible run for governor of Delaware in 2016.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-eulogizes-beau-biden-he-was-original


----------



## poochee

*Rubios on the Road Have Drawn Unwanted Attention*
9:15 am ET 
By Alan Rappeport and Steve Eder
Kitty Bennett contributed research.



> But politics is not the only area where Mr. Rubio, a Republican from Florida, has an affinity for the fast track. He and his wife, Jeanette, have also shown a tendency to be in a rush on the road.
> 
> According to a search of the Miami-Dade and Duval County court dockets, the Rubios have been cited for numerous infractions over the years for incidents that included speeding, driving through red lights and careless driving. A review of records dating back to 1997 shows that the couple had a combined 17 citations: Mr. Rubio with four and his wife with 13. On four separate occasions they agreed to attend remedial driving school after a violation.


http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...ited-17-times-for-traffic-infractions-2/?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Obama, Merkel push G-7 to keep sanctions on Russia*
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY 12:59 p.m. EDT June 7, 2015

*VIDEO*



> GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany  World leaders holding talks in Germany said Sunday they would push for economic sanctions on Russia to remain in place until a peace plan for Ukraine is fully implemented.
> 
> President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the issue as the two-day Group of Seven, or G-7, summit, got underway in Bavaria.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/06/07/g7-summit-germany/28638255/


----------



## poochee

*Lindsey Graham wants Caitlyn Jenners vote*
06/07/15 12:11 PM 
By Anna Brand



> Sen. Lindsey Graham said if Caitlyn Jenner wants to be a Republican, she is welcome in his party, suggesting that Jenners safety would be secure should he become president.
> 
> If Caitlyn Jenner wants to be safe and have a prosperous economy, vote for me, the 2016 Republican candidate said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNNs State of the Union.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lindsey-graham-wants-caitlyn-jenner-vote-2016


----------



## poochee

*In mourning Beau, Obama and Biden share bond deeper than politics*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 8:00 PM ET, Sat June 6, 2015
Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/06/politics/obama-biden-bond-beau-biden-funeral/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Rumsfeld: George W. Bush was wrong about Iraq*
06/08/15 01:59 PMUpdated 06/08/15 03:48 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma



> President George W. Bush was wrong to try to build democracy in Iraq, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in a recent interview, marking a striking admission from a key player behind the 2003 U.S. invasion.
> 
> In an interview with British newspaper The Times, Rumsfeld said that efforts to oust Saddam Hussein and replace his tyrannical regime with democracy were unworkable, and that he had concerns about the plan from the beginning.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-rumsfeld-george-w-bush-was-wrong-about-iraq


----------



## poochee

Jun 8, 3:32 PM EDT

*Obama: Court shouldn't have considered health law challenge *
By JIM KUHNHENN and NEDRA PICKLER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Mark Sherman contributed to this article. Kuhnhenn reported from Washington.



> ELMAU, Germany (AP) -- With a crucial legal decision looming, President Barack Obama said Monday the Supreme Court should not even have considered the latest challenge to his signature health care law but he voiced confidence the justices "will play it straight" - and leave the law intact.
> 
> Obama weighed in on the merits of the case against the five-year-old Affordable Care Act as the high court prepares to announce a decision sometime later this month that could wipe out health insurance for millions of people.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-08-15-32-43


----------



## poochee

June 08, 2015, 04:51 pm 
*Hastert hires veteran defense attorney*
By Jesse Byrnes



> Green will head up Hastert's defense. ABC News noted that another veteran D.C. attorney, Barry Levine, appeared on Hastert's notice of arraignment.
> 
> The online biography for Green notes he has represented members of Congress and other public officials linked to scandals, such as Watergate, Whitewater, Iran-Contra and the Senate Ethics Committees inquiry into Charles Keating.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/244338-hastert-hires-veteran-defense-attorney


----------



## poochee

*
Texas police officer in pool party video identified*
Lauren Zakalik, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth 2:35 p.m. EDT June 8, 2015
Contributing: Jason Whitely, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth; Russell Motley, USA TODAY.
*
VIDEOS*



> McKINNEY, Texas  The organizer of a pool party in Texas where a police officer's interactions with a 15-year-old girl were caught on video, said Sunday the police officer had "no reason" to act the way he did.
> 
> The seven-minute YouTube video shows Cpl. Eric Casebolt using profanity and aggressively throwing a 15-year-old girl in a bathing suit to the ground, face down. He then appeared to pin her down with his knees.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-police-officer-reaction-pool-party/28673177/


----------



## poochee

*Poll: 6 in 10 back renewal of NSA data collection*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 1:00 PM ET, Mon June 1, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)Americans overwhelmingly want to see Congress renew the law enabling the government to collect data on the public's telephone calls in bulk, though they are split on whether allowing that law to expire increases the risk of terrorism in the U.S.
> 
> With the provisions of the Patriot Act which allow the National Security Administration to collect data on Americans' phone calls newly expired, a new CNN/ORC poll finds 61% of Americans think the law ought to be renewed, including majorities across party lines, while 36% say it should not be reinstated.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/01/politics/poll-nsa-data-collection-cnn-orc/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court Backs White House on Jerusalem Passport Dispute*
By ADAM LIPTAKJUNE 8, 2015 
Jodi Rudoren contributed reporting from Jerusalem.



> WASHINGTON  In an important separation-of-powers case, the Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law that would have allowed American parents of children born in Jerusalem to obtain passports saying the children were born in Israel. The president, rather than Congress, must determine national policy on the status of Jerusalem, the majority said.
> 
> The decision came against the backdrop of generations of conflict in the Middle East and longstanding tensions between Congress and presidents on the conduct of foreign policy there. The vote was 6 to 3, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissenting.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Ex-South Carolina Officer Is Indicted in Shooting Death of Black Man*
By ALAN BLINDER and TIMOTHY WILLIAMS JUNE 8, 2015

*VIDEO*



> A former police officer in North Charleston, S.C., was indicted Monday by a grand jury on a murder charge in connection with the April shooting death of Walter L. Scott, which was recorded by a passer-by and became a resonating symbol in the national debate about police behavior.
> 
> The former officer, Michael T. Slager, had been jailed on a murder charge since April 7, when the video became public. Mr. Slagers lawyers have so far made no request for bail, and his indictment in Charleston County had been widely expected.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/u...cer-is-indicted-in-death-of-walter-scott.html


----------



## poochee

*Congress awaits 'monumental' police reform as mandatory kill count advances *
_Democratic members of Senate and House cite Guardian database as wind at our back after months of stalled efforts to hold law enforcement accountable
_
Jon Swaine and Oliver Laughland in New York
Saturday 6 June 2015 07.30 EDT
Additional reporting by Lauren Gambino and Tom McCarthy



> Washington lawmakers have credited a Guardian investigation to count killings by police with building momentum on long-stalled law-enforcement reform and renewed efforts to force the US government to establish a comprehensive database of officers lethal use of force.
> 
> As members of Congress sought to turn a patchwork of proposals into a progressive agenda for action, authors of Democratic proposals in both the Senate and House to demand an official US record of police-involved fatalities said the journalistic project had been valuable in filling a void of governmental accountability  and in advancing new legislation.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/06/congress-police-reform-mandatory-killing-database


----------



## poochee

*Job openings in US hit highest level on record*
By Rebecca Shabad - 06/09/15 01:12 PM EDT



> The number of job openings in the United States rose to the highest level on record in April, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
> 
> By the end of April, there were 5.4 million job openings, more than the 5 million recorded in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/244419-job-openings-in-us-reach-highest-level-on-record


----------



## poochee

*President decries 'endless partisan' attacks on ObamaCare*
By Sarah Ferris - 06/09/15 12:58 PM EDT

*VIDEO*



> In a half-hour speech to the Catholic Health Association on Tuesday, Obama expressed deep disappointment in the many legal and political attacks against the law, which he described as ceaseless, endless partisan attempts to roll back progress.
> 
> It seems so cynical to want to take coverage away from millions of people, to punish millions with higher costs of care and unravel whats now become part of the fabric of America, he told the crowd of ObamaCare supporters.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/244414-president-decries-endless-partisan-attacks-on-obamacare


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Embracing a New Approach on Battling ISIS in Iraq*
By MICHAEL R. GORDONJUNE 9, 2015
Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.



> WASHINGTON  In a major shift of focus in the battle against the Islamic State, the Obama administration is planning to establish a new military base in Anbar Province and send 400 American military trainers to help Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi.
> 
> Although a final decision by the White House has yet to be announced, the plan follows months of behind-the-scenes debate about how prominently plans to retake another Iraqi city, Mosul, which fell to the Islamic State last year, should figure in the early phase of the military campaign against the group.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/w...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Texas officer who pulled gun on teens at pool party resigns*
06/09/15 07:01 PMUpdated 06/09/15 10:04 PM 
By Erik Ortiz and Joy Y. Wang
*
VIDEO*



> The suburban Dallas police officer placed on leave after drawing a gun on teenagers at a pool party has resigned.
> 
> Cpl. Eric Casebolt of the McKinney Police Department turned in his badge amid an ongoing internal investigation of Fridays escalating incident, which was caught on camera.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/texas-officer-who-pulled-gun-teens-pool-party-resigns


----------



## poochee

*Top Senate Dem warns GOP: Deal now on spending limits or face shutdown*
By Rebecca Shabad - 06/10/15 12:07 PM EDT



> Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Wednesday will warn Republicans that if they dont reach another bipartisan deal to lift spending ceilings, they risk causing another government shutdown this fall.
> 
> So Republicans have a choice, and its the same choice they faced in 2013. They can either work with us early on a bipartisan budget deal that will set the topline budget levels and allow the Appropriations Committee to work on bills that can be signed into law, Murray says in prepared remarks Wednesday afternoon at a legislative seminar hosted by law firm BakerHostetler.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/244542-murray-to-gop-deal-now-or-face-looming-government-shutdown


----------



## poochee

*Reports: Prison seamstress linked to escaped killers*
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 12:51 p.m. EDT June 10, 2015



> A married prison seamstress allegedly linked to the daring escape by two killers from a New York state prison was hospitalized for a "panic attack" at the time the pair climbed to freedom through a manhole, according to media reports.
> 
> Citing unidentified sources, CNN reported that 51-year-old Joyce "Tillie" Mitchell allegedly intended to be the men's getaway driver but got cold feet and failed to show up at a rendezvous point near the maximum security prison in the small upstate New York community of Dannemora.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...rk-prison-escape-seamstress-killers/71000228/


----------



## poochee

*$15-an-hour minimum wage passed in L.A.*
By Matt Krantz June 10, 2015 3:47 pm



> LOS ANGELES  The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a 66% hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a widely watched move by companies already fearing a upward trend in labor costs.
> 
> Los Angeles is following movements to push wages up to $15-an-hour over time in both Seattle and San Francisco. But the move by the nations seconds largest city has enormous potential ramifications for companies that do business here  and helps set a national message.


http://americasmarkets.usatoday.com/2015/06/10/10-an-hour-minimum-wage-passed-in-la/


----------



## poochee

*Prison guards arrested in beating death of Rikers inmate*
06/10/15 02:34 PMUpdated 06/10/15 02:36 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma



> Two New York corrections officers were arrested Wednesday morning for beating a prisoner to death at Rikers Island and trying to cover it up, according to federal authorities.
> 
> FBI agents arrested former officers Brian Coll and Byron Taylor for the 2012 death of Ronald Spear, a 52-year-old man who suffered from kidney disease and walked with a cane. Spears, a burglary suspect, was awaiting trial at the time of the beating.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/prison-guards-arrested-beating-death-rikers-inmate


----------



## poochee

*Judge backs charges against Cleveland officers in killing of Tamir Rice
*06/11/15 05:27 PMUpdated 06/11/15 05:52 PM 
By M. Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*



> Acting under a rarely used provision of Ohio state law, a judge found probable cause Thursday to charge Cleveland police Officer Timothy Loehmann with murder in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year.
> 
> Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine also found cause to support negligent homicide charges against Officer Frank Garmback, Loehmanns partner, who is accused of standing by after Loehmann shot Tamir in November at a recreation center, where Tamir was playing with a pellet gun.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/tamir-rice-judge-backs-charges-against-cleveland-cops


----------



## poochee

June 11, 2015, 05:00 pm 
*Statehood movement for Puerto Rico is growing everywhere*
By Jose Aponte Hernandez



> Puerto Ricos path towards statehood is stronger than ever. In fact, we can state that the almost 3.6 million American citizens in this United States Territory are living their final days of this, immoral colonial status. Thats a fact, not an opinion.
> 
> The statehood movement, both on the Island, as well as in the States, has grown exponentially during the past 30 years. The evidence is overwhelming. The facts are there for everyone to observe.


http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...ovement-for-puerto-rico-is-growing-everywhere


----------



## poochee

Jun 11, 7:40 PM EDT

*General: New US hub in Iraq could be model *
By ROBERT BURNS 
National Security Writer
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.



> NAPLES, Italy (AP) -- The Pentagon's top general said Thursday the U.S. military's reach could extend even further into Iraq if the anti-Islamic State campaign gains momentum, and he held out the possibility of eventually recommending to President Barack Obama that U.S. troops take on the riskier role of calling in airstrikes.
> 
> Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the White House's announcement Wednesday that up to 450 more U.S. troops would be sent to Iraq to invigorate its flagging campaign against the Islamic State is a natural extension of U.S. assistance. He said the support hub the troops will set up will not produce instant results but may serve as a model to be replicated elsewhere in Iraq, possibly requiring even more U.S. troops.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-11-19-40-53


----------



## poochee

*U.S., Europe ready new sanctions to deter Putin on Ukraine*
By Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 1:16 PM ET, Fri June 12, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)The United States and the European Union are finalizing further sanctions against Russia that could be imposed if Moscow takes additional military action in Ukraine, senior U.S. administration officials and European diplomats said Thursday.
> 
> The sources stressed that no decisions have been made yet to put additional measures in place. This week's renewed fighting triggered a discussion of additional sanctions, they said, but the fighting ended before a decision to act was made.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/12/politics/ukraine-russia-sanctions-us-eu/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 12, 1:59 PM EDT

*House rejects Obama on trade authority *
By ERICA WERNER and CHARLES BABINGTON 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers David Espo, Darlene Superville, Jim Kuhnhenn, Alan Fram, Laurie Kellman and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House sidetracked a high-profile White House-backed trade bill on Friday, a humiliating defeat for President Barack Obama inflicted by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and dozens of rank-and-file lawmakers from his own party.
> 
> The 302-126 vote came a few hours after Obama journeyed to the Capitol to deliver a last-minute personal plea to fellow Democrats to support the measure, which would allow him to negotiate global trade deals that Congress could approve or reject but not change.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-12-13-59-43


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*
June 13, 2015

*Weekly Address: Stand Up for American Workers and Pass TAA
*
*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this week's address, the President reiterated that his top priority is to grow the American economy and ensure that every hardworking American has a fair shot at success. Its because of this commitment that the President has worked to enact smart new trade agreements that level the playing field for our workers, open new markets for our businesses, and hold other countries to the kinds of high standards that Americans are proud to hold ourselves to here at home. On Friday, Republicans and Democrats in the House took an important step by voting to help the United States negotiate and enforce high-standard trade deals. But they also failed to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance, despite the fact that it provides vital support to about 100,000 workers, and passed the Senate with bipartisan support. The President urged the House to pass TAA without delay so that more middle-class workers can earn the chance to participate and succeed in our global economy.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jun 13, 5:57 PM EDT

*Clinton kicks off 2016 bid, embracing chance to make history *
By LISA LERER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, Iowa, and Kathleen Ronayne in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.



> NEW YORK (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton formally kicked off her presidential campaign on Saturday with an enthusiastic embrace of her potential to become the first woman to win the White House, asking supporters gathered at an outdoor rally to join her in building an America "where we don't leave anyone out, or anyone behind."
> 
> With the downtown New York skyline and new World Trade Center over her shoulder, Clinton offered herself as a fierce advocate for those still struggling from the Great Recession.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-13-17-57-22


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Poised to Put Heavy Weaponry in East Europe*
By ERIC SCHMITT and STEVEN LEE MYERS JUNE 13, 2015 
Eric Schmitt reported from Riga, Latvia, and Vilnius, Lithuania, and Steven Lee Myers from Washington.



> RIGA, Latvia  In a significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries, American and allied officials say.
> 
> The proposal, if approved, would represent the first time since the end of the Cold War that the United States has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member nations in Eastern Europe that had once been part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Russias annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have caused alarm and prompted new military planning in NATO capitals.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/w...o-put-heavy-weaponry-in-east-europe.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

Jun 14, 11:59 PM EDT

*Clinton: Obama should use trade fight to his advantage *
By KEN THOMAS 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey in Burlington, Iowa, contributed to this report.



> DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that President Barack Obama should use a setback in Congress to seek the best possible trade agreement with 11 other Pacific Rim nations, pointing to the stumbles over the pact as an opportunity to address Democrats' concerns about job protections and wages.
> 
> "Let's take the lemons and turn it into lemonade," Clinton told more than 700 supporters at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, addressing the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership trade proposal that has splintered Obama from House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and rank-and-file Democrats.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-14-23-59-42


----------



## poochee

*Google testing the waters in Cuba*
By Nancy Scola
6/13/15 3:12 PM EDT



> A Google executive is headed to Cuba this weekend to explore bringing better Internet access to the island, and the search giant has made a related proposal to the Cuban government, according to a State Department official.
> 
> Its the latest sign that U.S. tech companies are testing the seriousness of Cubas interest in opening up to outside investment after President Barack Obamas announcement of a historic thaw in relations and the Raúl Castro-led governments recent pledge to bring Internet access to all Cubans by 2020.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/google-testing-the-waters-in-cuba-118974.html#ixzz3d6ml7KZF


----------



## poochee

*Rich Californians balk at limits: Were not all equal when it comes to water*
By Rob Kuznia June 13



> People should not be forced to live on property with brown lawns, golf on brown courses or apologize for wanting their gardens to be beautiful, Yuhas fumed recently on social media. We pay significant property taxes based on where we live, he added in an interview. And, no, were not all equal when it comes to water.





> But a moment of truth is at hand for Yuhas and his neighbors, and all of California will be watching: On July 1, for the first time in its 92-year history, Rancho Santa Fe will be subject to water rationing.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...e39-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html?hpid=z5


----------



## poochee

*UKs David Cameron fact-checks Scott Walker*
06/15/15 08:40 AMUpdated 06/15/15 11:04 AM 
By Steve Benen



> If true, this would be a break with diplomatic protocol and a legitimately big deal. Its unpersuasive when GOP leaders run around telling voters, Lots of foreign leaders dont like Obama; we just cant actually name any. But heres Walker saying the British prime minister personally told him that hes unsatisfied with Obamas leadership.
> 
> The problem, not surprisingly, is that Cameron quickly pushed back, suggesting the Wisconsinite, whos repeatedly struggled with foreign policy, has no idea what hes talking about.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/uks-david-cameron-fact-checks-scott-walker


----------



## poochee

Jun 15, 8:14 PM EDT

*Jeb Bush has optimistic message, faces challenges in '16 bid *
By STEVE PEOPLES and BRENDAN FARRINGTON 
Associated Press
Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Lexington, S.C. contributed to this report.



> MIAMI (AP) -- Vowing to win the Republican presidential nomination on his own merits, Jeb Bush launched a White House bid months in the making Monday with a promise to stay true to his beliefs - easier said than done in a bristling primary contest where his conservative credentials will be sharply challenged.
> 
> "Not a one of us deserves the job by right of resume, party, seniority, family, or family narrative. It's nobody's turn," Bush said, confronting critics who suggest he simply seeks to inherit the office already held by his father and brother. "It's everybody's test, and it's wide open - exactly as a contest for president should be."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-15-20-14-22


----------



## poochee

Jun 23, 1:21 PM EDT

*Trade bill clears Senate hurdle, at brink of final passage* 
By CHARLES BABINGTON 
Associated Press



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate pushed bipartisan trade legislation to the brink of final approval Tuesday in a combined effort by President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders to rescue a measure that appeared all but dead less than two weeks ago.
> 
> The legislation cleared a key hurdle on a 60-37 vote, precisely the number needed.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-23-13-21-22


----------



## poochee

Jeffrey Young 
*Obamacare's First Year Brought Health Insurance To Millions, Official Survey Says*
Posted: 06/23/2015 12:01 am EDT Updated: 2 hours ago



> WASHINGTON -- Millions of people gained health insurance last year as Affordable Care Act benefits took effect, according to the first official accounting by the federal government.
> 
> In 2014, 36 million U.S. residents, or 11.5 percent of the population, were uninsured on the day they were surveyed, a decline of 8.8 million people and 2.9 percentage points from the year before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health Interview Survey.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/23/uninsured-2014-obamacare_n_7639424.html


----------



## poochee

*Amazon, eBay join other retailers to pull Confederate flag*
Gregg Zoroya and Hadley Malcolm , USA TODAY 4:30 p.m. EDT June 23, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Momentum to eradicate public displays of the Confederate flag continued to build Tuesday as more retailers and online marketplaces, including Amazon and eBay, joined Walmart to remove rebel-flagged items from their shelves and websites.
> 
> After Walmart and its 11,000 stores led the way Monday night by sweeping from shelves any product bearing the Confederate battle flag, retail giants Sears, Amazon and eBay followed suit Tuesday.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/23/confederate-flag-walmart-roof-emanuel/29153957/


----------



## poochee

Jun 24, 1:20 PM EDT

*Obama clears the way for hostages' families to pay ransom *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Bradley Klapper and Erica Werner in Washington and David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Maryland, contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the U.S. government had let down the families of Americans held hostage by terrorists, and he outlined new policies that could make it easier for those families to pay ransom to help free their loved ones.
> 
> "These families have already suffered enough and they should never feel ignored or victimized by their own government," Obama said as he detailed the results of a six-month review of U.S. hostage policy.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-24-13-20-12


----------



## poochee

Zach Carter 
Michael McAuliff

*Senate Gives Obama Huge Win On Trade*
Posted: 06/23/2015 11:37 am EDT Updated: 06/23/2015 10:59 pm EDT

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Tuesday handed President Barack Obama the biggest legislative victory of his second term, with a dramatic vote clearing the way for major trade agreements with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union.
> 
> The 60-37 vote all but ensures the passage of legislation that will allow Obama to "fast-track" his negotiated trade pacts through Congress, preventing filibusters or amendments. Liberals have long assailed Obama's trade agenda, but Republicans successfully wooed a bloc of Democrats led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to secure enough votes to overcome a filibuster.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/..._7645348.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics


----------



## poochee

*Protesters to chant 'Take it down' as S.C. legislators meet over flag*
By Ben Brumfield and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 3:32 PM ET, Tue June 23, 2015
| Video Source: CNN
*
VIDEO*



> Charleston, South Carolina (CNN)The battle may at last be over for the Confederate battle flag.
> 
> Just over 150 years after the Civil War ended, and less than a week after the massacre of innocents in a Charleston church by a man who venerates the flag, voices from all parts of the political spectrum are rising in unison to say the flag must no longer fly over public buildings.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/23/us/charleston-church-shooting-main/


----------



## poochee

*Alabama Governor Removes Confederate Flags From State Capitol*
The Huffington Post | By Amanda Terkel 
Posted: 06/24/2015 10:44 am EDT Updated: 1 hour ago

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/alabama-confederate-flag_n_7654056.html

June 24, 2015, 10:43 am 
*Mississippi GOP senator: Home state's Confederate flag belongs in museum* 
By Tim Devaney

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ssissippi-senator-drop-confederate-image-from


----------



## poochee

*First the Flag, Now What About the Gun*?
By Francis X. Clines	
June 24, 2015 5:33 pm



> The sudden abandonment of the Confederate flag by Southern politicians has raised the question of whether the Charleston gun massacre of nine churchgoers might also prompt action on gun safety. The early answer is dont count on it.
> 
> Gov. Scott Walker went ahead today with his previously announced plan to sign a new Wisconsin law that expands gun rights by eliminating what has been a two-day waiting period before a gun buyer can take possession of a weapon. The wait was designed to head off impulsive behavior, particularly in situations of rage, potential suicide or family violence. Governor Walker, who has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association, did not hesitate to sign as he campaigns for the gun lobbys agenda in seeking the Republican presidential nomination.


http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com...-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*President: ObamaCare 'here to stay'*
By Jordan Fabian - 06/25/15 11:40 AM EDT 
*
VIDEO
*


> After multiple challenges before the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay, he said during a statement in the Rose Garden.
> 
> If the challenge had succeeded, Obama said insurance would have become unaffordable for millions of Americans.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/246128-president-obamacare-here-to-stay


----------



## poochee

June 25, 2015, 11:00 am 
*GOP pledges to fight 'tooth and nail' to repeal ObamaCare*
*
VIDEO*



> Senate Republicans quickly pledged Thursday to fight to repeal ObamaCare in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling upholding the law's federal subsidies.
> 
> The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that 6.4 million people can continue to receive subsidies that allow them to purchase healthcare plans, handing a victory to the Obama administration.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/246120-gop-pledge-to-continue-obamacare-repeal-fight


----------



## poochee

*Univision drops Miss Universe over Trumps insulting immigration remarks*
06/25/15 11:48 AMUpdated 06/25/15 12:44 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma
*
VIDEO*



> Univision is dropping its partnership with the Miss Universe Organization over part-owner Donald Trumps insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants made during his presidential campaign announcement earlier this month.
> 
> At Univision we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country, the company said in a statement. We will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or working on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/univision-drops-miss-universe-over-trumps-insulting-immigration-remarks


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court upholds housing discrimination law
* Richard Wolf and Brad Heath, USA TODAY 5:52 p.m. EDT June 25, 2015



> WASHINGTON  A deeply divided Supreme Court delivered an unexpected reprieve to civil rights groups Thursday, ruling that housing discrimination need not be intentional in order to be illegal.
> 
> The justices said people objecting to lending, zoning, sales and rental practices can base their legal claim on the disparate impact those practices have on blacks or other minorities.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/25/supreme-court-housing-discrimination/26097319/


----------



## poochee

*Americans Are Googling 'Gun Control' Instead Of 'Gun Shop' Post-Charleston* 
The Huffington Post | By Alexandra Ma 
Posted: 06/25/2015 9:36 am EDT Updated: 06/25/2015 9:59 am EDT



> After a gunman killed nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week, many Americans turned to Google for information. And a lot of them wanted to know about gun control.
> 
> Google has released data on how Search users reacted to the violence on June 17. Its newly revamped Trends tool has a rundown of the kinds of topics people queried the search engine about in the days after the tragedy. One of the most interesting things the data shows is that searches for "gun control" surpassed those for "gun shop" across the United States.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/...658.html?cps=gravity_2425_1628317633618306125


----------



## poochee

*Hooray for Obamacare*
JUNE 25, 2015 
Paul Krugman



> Was I on the edge of my seat, waiting for the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare subsidies? No  I was pacing the room, too nervous to sit, worried that the court would use one sloppily worded sentence to deprive millions of health insurance, condemn tens of thousands to financial ruin, and send thousands to premature death.
> 
> It didnt. And that means that the big distractions  the teething problems of the website, the objectively ludicrous but nonetheless menacing attempts at legal sabotage  are behind us, and we can focus on the reality of health reform. The Affordable Care Act is now in its second year of full operation; hows it doing?


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/o...-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court rules in favor of marriage equality*
06/26/15 10:06 AMUpdated 06/26/15 12:28 PM 
By Emma Margolin

*VIDEO*



> The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the U.S. Constitution requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages, making marriage equality officially the law of the land.
> 
> No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-rules-favor-marriage-equality


----------



## poochee

*Obama's Charleston eulogy: 'Amazing Grace'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 4:15 PM ET, Fri June 26, 2015
| Video Source: CNN
*
VIDEO
*


> Washington (CNN)President Obama delivered a touching eulogy, a rousing political speech and a thoughtful meditation on race in America when he traveled to Charleston South Carolina to speak at the funeral of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was gunned down last week by a racist terrorist during bible study.
> 
> But the President's speech will be remembered for a moment at the end when the he launched into a solo of "Amazing Grace," that at first stunned the mourners and then brought them to their feet as they joined him in song.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/obama-charleston-eulogy-pastor/index.html


----------



## poochee

*
Donald Trump bump terrifies GOP*
By Jonathan Topaz and Daniel Strauss
6/26/15 5:13 AM EDT
Updated 6/26/15 12:19 PM EDT



> All jokes aside, the Republican Party is officially afraid of Donald Trump.
> 
> He has virtually zero chance of winning the presidential nomination. But insiders worry that the loud-mouthed mogul is more than just a minor comedic nuisance on cable news; they fret that hes a loose cannon whose rants about Mexicans and scorched-earth attacks on his rivals will damage the eventual nominee and hurt a party struggling to connect with women and minorities and desperate to win.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/trump-bump-terrifies-gop-119449.html#ixzz3eCaVTErq


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> *Supreme Court upholds housing discrimination law
> * Richard Wolf and Brad Heath, USA TODAY 5:52 p.m. EDT June 25, 2015
> 
> http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/25/supreme-court-housing-discrimination/26097319/





poochee said:


> *Hooray for Obamacare*
> JUNE 25, 2015
> Paul Krugman
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/o...-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1





poochee said:


> *Supreme Court rules in favor of marriage equality*
> 06/26/15 10:06 AMUpdated 06/26/15 12:28 PM
> By Emma Margolin
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-rules-favor-marriage-equality


Right wing heads are exploding all over the place. This SCOTUS has simply amazed me with some of their irrational and rational rulings under Roberts.


----------



## Littlefield

When the risk corridor provisions expire, premiums are going to spike since insurers will have to charge true market value.
Congress will not do anything so uninsured rates go up in big mess. 
I LMAO at Huck saying Court can be changed from gay marriage remember how they did it with slaves.


----------



## Wino

Littlefield said:


> When the risk corridor provisions expire, premiums are going to spike since insurers will have to charge true market value.
> Congress will not do anything so uninsured rates go up in big mess.
> I LMAO at Huck saying Court can be changed from gay marriage remember how they did it with slaves.


Won't make any difference - by then we will have universal health care or Medicare for all - and the insurance companies can go pound sand!

Ole Huck is good for a laugh a minute.


----------



## ekim68

For years, nay decades, Insurance Corporations have been robbing the people blind in this Country for their own Greed and all in the name of doing Business. The USA is number one in Medical Technology in the World yet number 36th in the World in affordable care for the majority of people. Well the Insurance Corporations are rich enough and it's time for the USA to go to a Single Payer system to provide for the People rather than CEOs....:up:


----------



## poochee

June 27, 2015

*WEEKLY ADDRESS: The Affordable Care Act is Here to Stay*

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this week's address, the President called the Supreme Courts decision on the Affordable Care Act a victory for hardworking Americans across the country, whose lives are more secure because of this law. The Affordable Care Act is working, and it is here to stay. So far more than 16 million uninsured Americans have gained coverage. Nearly one in three Americans who was uninsured a few years ago is insured today. The uninsured rate in America is the lowest since we began to keep such records. With this case behind us, the President reaffirmed his commitment to getting more people covered and making health care in America even better and more affordable.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Bobby Jindal: Lets just get rid of the court*
06/27/15 12:56 PMUpdated 06/27/15 01:29 PM 
By Adam Howard



> In the wake of Fridays historic Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, Republicans did not hold back their rage  but few politicians went as far as 2016 candidate Gov. Bobby Jindal.
> 
> The Louisiana Republican, who launched a longshot bid for the presidency last week, suggested that the 5-4 ruling, which made same-sex marriage legal throughout the nation, was cause for disbanding the entire Supreme Court.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bobby-jindal-lets-just-get-rid-the-court


----------



## poochee

Jun 28, 1:15 PM EDT

*SpaceX launch ends in failure, rocket erupts *
By MARCIA DUNN 
AP Aerospace Writer
AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed from Washington DC. AP writer Alex Sanz contributed from Atlanta.



> An unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying supplies and a first-of-its-kind docking port to the International Space Station broke apart Sunday shortly after liftoff. It was a severe blow to NASA, still reeling from previous failed shipments.
> 
> The accident happened about 2 1/2 minutes into the flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A billowing white cloud emerged in the sky, growing bigger and bigger, then fiery plumes shot out of where the rocket was supposed to be, and pieces could be seen falling into the Atlantic. More than 5,200 pounds of space station cargo were on board, including the first docking port designed for future commercial crew capsules.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-28-13-15-32


----------



## poochee

Jun 28, 4:48 PM EDT

*2nd escaped murderer is shot, captured after other killed *
By MICHAEL BALSAMO 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York, contributed to this report.



> MALONE, N.Y. (AP) -- The second of two convicted murderers who staged a brazen escape three weeks ago from a maximum-security prison in northern New York was shot and captured near the Canadian border on Sunday, two days after his fellow inmate was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement officers, a sheriff said.
> 
> Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill said David Sweat was shot Sunday afternoon in the town of Constable, about 2 miles south of the Canadian border, and was taken to a hospital in Malone. Mulverhill said he had no information on Sweat's condition. Fellow inmate Richard Matt was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement officers Friday afternoon.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-28-16-48-05


----------



## poochee

*How Nikki Haley went from tea party star to a leader of the New South*
By Abby Phillip June 28 at 8:46 PM



> Sitting on a chaise lounge in her statehouse office in Columbia last week, Haley reflected on her sudden role as an Indian American woman serving as the face of a Southern states reckoning with its past.
> 
> It marks a remarkable evolution for a politician who first ran for governor as a state lawmaker waving the tea party banner, but who was also subjected to ethnic slurs from her own side. Once in office, she initially struggled to cope with South Carolinas white, male-dominated establishment  often reluctant to insert herself into racial politics  only to emerge now as a prominent and confident leader of the New South.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...6e5b3a-1c1e-11e5-93b7-5eddc056ad8a_story.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 29, 5:50 PM EDT

*Supreme Court upholds use of controversial execution drug* 
By MARK SHERMAN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko and Sam Hananel in Washington and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Trading sharp words, a deeply divided Supreme Court upheld the use of a controversial drug in lethal-injection executions Monday, even as two dissenting justices said for the first time they think it's "highly likely" the death penalty itself is unconstitutional.
> 
> On their last day together until the fall, the justices voted 5-4 in a case from Oklahoma that the sedative midazolam can be used in executions without violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-29-17-50-03


----------



## poochee

*NBC cuts business ties with Donald Trump over immigration remarks*
06/29/15 02:47 PMUpdated 06/29/15 04:28 PM 
By NBC News



> At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values, NBC said in a statement. Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.
> 
> The network will no longer air the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants that were part of a joint venture with Trump, the statement added. Its relationship with Celebrity Apprentice will continue, as Trump ceased his involvement with the reality show during his presidential bid.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/nbc-cuts-business-ties-donald-trump-over-immigration-remarks


----------



## poochee

*Obama plans to extend overtime to more salaried workers*
By Greg Jaffe June 29 at 10:45 PM 



> President Obama said Monday that he wants to require overtime pay for salaried workers who make up to $50,400 a year, a proposal that the White House estimates will cover nearly 5 million workers.
> 
> The changes would go into effect in 2016 and would replace current overtime regulations which require overtime pay for salaried workers making less than $23,660 a year. Right now too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve, Obama wrote in a Huffington Post op-ed announcing the proposal. Thats partly because weve failed to update overtime regulations for years.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...f52582-1ecb-11e5-aeb9-a411a84c9d55_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama on Iran: 'I will walk away' from bad deal*
By Jordan Fabian - 06/30/15 12:55 PM EDT



> President Obama on Tuesday warned Iran that he is prepared to walk away from nuclear talks if Tehran does not submit to rigorous inspections of its nuclear sites.
> 
> I will walk away from the negotiations if, in fact, it is a bad deal, Obama said.


http://thehill.com/policy/international/246547-obama-on-iran-i-will-walk-away-from-bad-deal


----------



## poochee

*Confident Obama not satisfied with his 'best week ever'*
By Jordan Fabian - 06/30/15 02:37 PM EDT



> Obama said he plans to harness momentum from wins at the Supreme Court and in Congress to complete the unfinished business left on his agenda.
> 
> The list is long, Obama said during a press conference with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. We are going to squeeze every last ounce of progress that we can make as long as I have the privilege of holding this office.


http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...t-obama-not-satisfied-with-his-best-week-ever


----------



## poochee

Jun 30, 6:14 PM EDT

*AP source: US, Cuba to announce plan to open embassies *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will announce Wednesday that the U.S. and Cuba have finalized an agreement to reopen embassies in each other's capitals, a major step in ending hostilities between the Cold War foes, a senior administration official said.
> 
> The U.S. and Cuba have been negotiating the reestablishment of embassies following the historic December announcement that they would move to restore ties after a half-century of animosity.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-30-18-14-36


----------



## poochee

Jun 30, 7:51 PM EDT

*Trump's pageant woes mount with TV and contestant drop-outs *
By FRAZIER MOORE 
AP Television Writer
Associated Press reporters Mae Anderson, Katherine Corcoran and Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.



> NEW YORK (AP) -- Fallout from outspoken Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's remarks about immigrants from Mexico continued to dog him Tuesday as a TV company backed by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said it was scrapping a project in development with him and Mexico announced it won't be sending a contestant to the Miss Universe contest, which he partly owns.
> 
> Meanwhile, the backlash threatened to extend beyond Trump's media interests.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-30-19-51-09


----------



## poochee

Jul 1, 3:25 PM EDT

*US probing possible airline collusion that kept fares high *
By DAVID KOENIG, SCOTT MAYEROWITZ and ERIC TUCKER 
Associated Press
Koenig reported from Dallas, Mayerowitz from New York.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government is investigating possible collusion among major airlines to limit available seats, which keeps airfares high, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.
> 
> The civil antitrust investigation by the Justice Department appears to focus on whether airlines illegally signaled to each other how quickly they would add new flights, routes and extra seats.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-01-15-25-43


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama pushes for-profit colleges to the brink*
_An Education Department 'gainful employment' rule that takes effect Wednesday is the latest blow to the industry._
By Allie Grasgreen
7/1/15 5:17 AM EDT



> On Wednesday, the Obama administration will begin choking off the financial lifeline of for-profit colleges whose graduates can't find well-paying jobs - and the move is likely to accelerate a wave of shutdowns for an industry taking assaults from all sides.
> 
> Reining in the multibillion-dollar industry has been the administration's goal for most of President Barack Obama's term in office, fueled by complaints that for-profit colleges lure students with misleading promises, then saddle them with debts they can't pay back despite their newly granted degrees. Its latest tool is the Education Department's long-debated "gainful employment" rule, which requires colleges to track their graduates' performance in the workforce and eventually will cut off funding for career training programs that fall short


.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...lleges-to-the-brink-119613.html#ixzz3egH3B2tY


----------



## poochee

Hardball with Chris Matthews 7/1/15

*Clinton emails leave GOP lacking 'smoking gun'*

The release of those emails from Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State doesn't contain the smoking gun Republicans have been looking for, but it does show how desperate Reince Priebus is to bring her down.
*
VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/clinton-emails-leave-gop-lacking-smoking-gun-474585155806


----------



## poochee

Jul 1, 6:06 PM EDT

*New warden, security measures after New York prison escape *
By MICHAEL VIRTANEN 
Associated Press
Associated Press video journalist Bonny Ghosh contributed to this report.



> ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A range of new security measures is being put in place at a maximum-security prison to close gaps exploited by two inmates who escaped last month.
> 
> The state correction department said Wednesday that includes stepped-up searches of inmates' cells, staffing changes to ensure bed checks are more effective and installation of security gates in the facility's tunnels.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-01-18-06-24


----------



## poochee

Jul 2, 11:21 AM EDT

*Solid hiring, lower US unemployment rate, but wages flat 
*By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER 
AP Economics Writer
AP Economics Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. employers added jobs at a solid pace in June, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent, a seven-year low. But wages failed to budge, and other barometers of the job market painted a mixed picture.
> 
> The economy gained 223,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate fell from 5.5 percent in May, the Labor Department said Thursday. But the rate fell mainly because many people out of work gave up on their job searches and were no longer counted as unemployed, which may reflect rising discouragement.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-02-11-21-15


----------



## poochee

*Wisconsin man allegedly threatens to kill President Barack Obama*
David Wright, Joe Sutton and Kristen Holmes, CNN
Updated 1:10 PM ET, Fri July 3, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)A criminal complaint and arrest warrant were issued Thursday against a 55-year-old Tomah, Wisconsin man accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama.
> 
> Brian D. Dutcher, 55, allegedly told a security guard at a La Crosse library, "the usurper is here and if I get a chance I'll take him out and I'll take the shot," referring to Obama, who was in Wisconsin promoting his proposal for overtime pay reform.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/03/politics/wisconsin-man-threatens-to-kill-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 3, 11:51 AM EDT

*Hispanic leaders want GOP field to condemn Trump's 'idiocy' *
By STEVE PEOPLES 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Ken Thomas in Washington, Hillel Italie in New York and Jill Colvin in Ashland, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hispanic leaders are bristling at the largely tepid response by Republican presidential candidates to Donald Trump's characterization of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.
> 
> Several 2016 contenders have brushed off Trump's comments while others have ignored them. Marco Rubio, a Florida senator who is Hispanic, denounced them as "not just offensive and inaccurate, but also divisive," after declining for two weeks to address the matter directly. Another Hispanic in the race, Ted Cruz, said Trump is "terrific," "brash" and "speaks the truth."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-03-11-51-53


----------



## poochee

July 03, 2015, 01:47 pm 
*Now boarding: JetBlue begins NYC-to-Cuba direct flights*
By Mark Hensch



> The Queens-based company made its first trip straight to the island nation at noon, according to NBC New York.
> 
> The maiden voyage launched from New Yorks Kennedy Airport, landing in Havanas Jose Marti International Airport. Passengers flew aboard an Airbus 150-seat A320.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ing-jetblue-begins-nyc-to-cuba-direct-flights


----------



## poochee

*Obama to meet with leader of Vietnams Communist Party at the White House*
By David Nakamura July 3 at 9:45 AM



> President Obama on Tuesday will meet with the general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, the first such visit at the White House since the two countries normalized relations two decades ago.
> 
> Obama and Nguyen Phu Trong are expected to discuss a range of issues, including the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade accord, bilateral defense cooperation and human rights, the White House said in a statement.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-vietnams-communist-party-at-the-white-house/


----------



## poochee

*A Sensible Question for Gun Owners *
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDJULY 3, 2015



> California has some of the nations strongest gun safety laws, but one that requires citizens to supply a good cause for why they should be granted a license to carry concealed weapons in public is under challenge.
> 
> The packing of concealed weapons by citizens is all the rage in the gun rights movement, as more statehouses yield to the gun lobby on this issue, imposing fewer and fewer qualifications when they do. While California has resisted this trend, the fate of its law allowing county officials to set conditions on the issuance of gun permits was debated last month before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/o...-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1


----------



## poochee

July 04, 2015

*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Have a Safe and Happy Fourth of July*

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this week's address, the President wished everyone a happy Fourth of July. He honored the individuals who, throughout the history of America, have struggled and sacrificed to make this country a better place, from our Founding Fathers, to the men and women in uniform serving at home and overseas. The President asked that on this most American of holidays we remember the words of our founders, when they declared our independence and that all are created equal, and that we continue to protect that creed and make sure it applies to every single American. And finally, he wished good luck to the U.S. Womens National Team competing in the World Cup Final this weekend. The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, July 4, 2015.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Experts reach tentative agreement on Iran sanctions relief*
By Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 10:59 AM ET, Sat July 4, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> (CNN)Experts from the countries involved in the Iran nuclear negotiations have reached a tentative agreement on language dealing with sanctions relief, a source familiar with the talks told CNN on Saturday.
> 
> This is the first noticeable sign of progress in these discussions, which have been slow-going. However, the source said there is a lot of work to do and this language still has to be presented to the foreign ministers of the countries involved in the talks, meaning this is far from complete.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/04/politics/iran-sanctions-nuclear-negotiations/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Putin congratulates Obama on Independence Day*
By Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 11:24 AM ET, Sat July 4, 2015



> *Story highlights*
> In the message, Putin noted that while there are differences between Russia and the United States, "Russian-American relations remain the most important factor of international stability and security."
> 
> This marks the second correspondence between the two leaders in as many weeks.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/04/politics/putin-obama-independence-day/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 4, 2:47 PM EDT

*Draft accords of sanctions relief at Iran nuke talks in hand*
By GEORGE JAHN and BRADLEY KLAPPER 
Associated Press
Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.



> VIENNA (AP) -- World powers and Iran have drawn up a draft document on the pace and timing of sanctions relief for the Islamic republic in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, advancing on one of the most contentious issues at their negotiations, diplomats told The Associated Press on Saturday.
> 
> Written by technical experts, the document still must be approved by senior officials of the seven nations at the table, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the foreign ministers of the five other countries expected to join Kerry and Zarif in Vienna this weekend for a push to meet a July 7 deadline.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-04-14-47-53


----------



## poochee

Jul 5, 12:35 PM EDT

*Back at work: Congress facing busy agenda, funding deadline *
By ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman and Joan Lowy contributed to this report



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- After July Fourth fireworks and parades, members of Congress return to work Tuesday facing a daunting summer workload and a pending deadline to fund the government or risk a shutdown in the fall.
> 
> The funding fight is shaping up as a major partisan brawl against the backdrop of an intensifying campaign season. Republicans are eager to avoid another Capitol Hill mess as they struggle to hang onto control of Congress and try to take back the White House next year.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-05-12-35-23


----------



## poochee

*Puerto Rican debt crisis sets off fresh fight in Congress*
By Peter Schroeder - 07/05/15 12:09 PM EDT



> A looming debt crisis in Puerto Rico is setting off a fresh fight in Congress, where lawmakers are debating a statutory fix that could allow the island territory to declare bankruptcy.
> 
> Advocates of the change say it would resolve a technical oversight from a decades-old bankruptcy law, while skeptics warn that it could throw into question billions of dollars in debt now owned by investors across the country.


http://thehill.com/policy/finance/246820-puerto-rican-debt-crisis-hits-congress


----------



## poochee

Jul 6, 3:44 PM EDT

*South Carolina lawmakers begin debate over Confederate flag *
By JEFFREY COLLINS 
Associated Press
Associated Press Writer Seanna Adcox contributed to this report.



> COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina lawmakers on Monday began debating whether to bring the Confederate flag down outside the Capitol, starting with a pair of senators - one white, one black - whose families arrived in the state before the Civil War.
> 
> The white senator, who for decades fought off attempts to remove the flag from Statehouse grounds, has come to the same conclusion that his black colleague arrived at long ago - that the rebel flag no longer represents the valor of Southern soldiers but the racism that led the South to separate from the United States more than 150 years ago.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-06-15-44-23


----------



## poochee

*Cummings: Benghazi panel leaking lies*
By Martin Matishak - 07/06/15 11:06 AM EDT



> The top Democrat on the House panel on Benghazi says someone connected to the panel leaked false information to the media to attack Hillary Clinton.
> 
> Documents released recently by the Benghazi Select Committee demonstrate that a Member of the Committee, a staffer on the Committee, or someone who has been given access to the Committees documents inaccurately described to the press email exchanges obtained by the Committee in a way that appeared to further a political attack against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said Monday in a letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.).


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/246924-cummings-benghazi-panel-leaking-lies


----------



## poochee

*South Carolina Senate votes to remove Confederate flag*
07/06/15 07:40 AMUpdated 07/06/15 04:43 PM 
By Joy-Ann Reid

*VIDEO*



> The South Carolina Senate voted Monday to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the Capitol, setting up a debate in the state House, where the bill must next be approved by a two-thirds majority before it can be signed by Gov. Nikki Haley. The Republican has said she intends to sign the bill to take down the flag, which became the center of national debate after a white gunman massacred nine black parishioners at a church in downtown Charleston last month.
> 
> The 37-3 vote came 154 years after South Carolina troops raised the Confederate flag in place of the United States flag in Charleston harbor on the day of President Abraham Lincolns inauguration  a month before those same troops fired the first shots at Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War; and 53 years after it was hoisted over the statehouse in a gesture of defiance against federal court-ordered desegregation.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/south-carolina-set-debate-the-confederate-flag


----------



## poochee

*Obama on ISIS: 'This is a long-term campaign'*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 6:31 PM ET, Mon July 6, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama offered an update on the military mission against ISIS on Monday, emphasizing the long-term nature of the effort and the importance of local forces and stable governments as keys to stopping the terror group's rise.
> 
> Obama pointed to the more than 5,000 air strikes against ISIS in Iraq, Syria and new regions like North Africa, and the efforts of a "galvanized" Iraqi government in the wake of the fall of Ramadi, as signs of stepped-up efforts against the terrorist group.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/06/politics/obama-isis-pentagon/index.html


----------



## poochee

News

Jul 6 2015, 6:39 pm ET 
* Bill Cosby Said He Gave Quaaludes to Women: Court Documents*
by Tom Winter and Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*



> Bill Cosby said in a 2005 legal deposition that he obtained prescriptions of a powerful sedative to give to women he wanted to have sex with, according to documents released Monday in a Pennsylvania court.
> 
> The comedian's testimony was part of a civil suit involving a woman who accused him of drugging her and sexually assaulting her.


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bill-cosby-said-he-gave-sedative-women-document-n387671


----------



## poochee

News

*Charleston Church Shooting *
Jul 7 2015, 1:24 pm ET 
*Dylann Roof Indicted for Murder in Charleston Church Massacre*
by Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*



> A South Carolina grand jury has indicted Dylann Roof on nine counts of murder for the massacre at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston last month. He was also charged with one count of weapons possession and three counts of attempted murder in connection with church members who survived the attack.





> Roof, 21, who is being held without bail, is also the subject of a federal hate-crime probe. All of his victims at the historically African-American church were black, and his friends have said he wanted to start a race war.


http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ch...-roof-indicted-murder-church-massacre-n388066


----------



## poochee

*US oil output on track for 45-year high*
By Timothy Cama - 07/07/15 02:50 PM EDT



> The United States is on track to see its most productive year for crude oil in 45 years.
> 
> The Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast Tuesday that production will average 9.5 million barrels per day by the end of the year, after seeing 9.6 million barrels a day in the first half.


http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/247080-us-oil-output-on-track-for-45-year-high


----------



## DaveBurnett

And it is good news that non-renewable resources are being used at a record rate??


----------



## poochee

Jul 8, 3:36 PM EDT

*Cosby's first known accuser was no aspiring starlet *
By MARYCLAIRE DALE 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report



> PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Bill Cosby has painted many of his accusers as star-struck gold-diggers - aspiring models and actresses trying to shake him down to get ahead in Hollywood.
> 
> Yet the first woman known to have told police she was drugged and violated by the comedian was a college athletic administrator in Philadelphia who initially asked only for an apology from the man she said she regarded as her mentor and friend.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-08-15-36-15


----------



## poochee

*NYSE, United glitches highlight precarious tech dependence*
Marco della Cava, Jessica Guynn and Jon Swartz, USA TODAY 5:18 p.m. EDT July 8, 2015



> SAN FRANCISCO  Regardless of whether Wednesday's computer glitches at the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines were due to hackers or bugs, the incidents shine a stark light on the world's tenuous dependence on technology.
> 
> Within instants, these tech troubles shut the NYSE for more than three hours with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 261 points, while 800 United flights were delayed as a result of a two-hour halt in operations.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...nal-computer-glitch-tech-dependence/29868701/


----------



## poochee

July 08, 2015, 06:53 pm 
*House narrowly votes to renew No Child Left Behind*
By Cristina Marcos



> The House on Wednesday voted to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law, resurrecting a bill that Republican leaders were forced to pull from the floor earlier this year due to conservative opposition.
> 
> Passage fell narrowly along party lines on a vote of 218-213, with 27 Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition to nearly derail it on the floor.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/247297-house-votes-to-renew-no-child-left-behind


----------



## poochee

*Contraception changes lead to big savings*
07/08/15 09:18 AMUpdated 07/08/15 10:51 AM 
By Steve Benen



> It wasnt expected to be overly controversial, but the Affordable Care Act guarantees Americans access to preventive care without a copay. In practical terms, it means millions of women now have access to birth control at effectively no cost, much to the consternation of Republicans who remain fiercely opposed to the policy,





> Out-of-pocket spending on most major birth control methods fell sharply in the months after the Affordable Care Act began requiring insurance plans to cover contraception at no cost to women, a new study has found. Spending on the pill, the most popular form of prescription birth control, dropped by about half in the first six months of 2013, compared with the same period in 2012, before the mandate took effect.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/contraception-changes-lead-big-savings


----------



## poochee

Jul 8, 6:48 PM EDT

*Bipartisan plan would overhaul business taxes, fund highways *
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Alan Fram and Jon Lowy contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senators unveiled a bipartisan framework Wednesday aimed at making business taxes more competitive while generating much-needed funding to repair the nation's roads and bridges.
> 
> Many of the details need to be worked out, and huge hurdles remain. But if successful, it would be the kind of bipartisan compromise on taxes that has long eluded Republicans and Democrats in Washington.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-08-18-48-23


----------



## poochee

*GOP leaders fear damage to partys image as Donald Trump doubles down*
By Karen Tumulty, Philip Rucker and Robert Costa July 8 at 10:32 PM

*VIDEO*



> The head of the Republican National Committee, responding to demands from increasingly worried party leaders, spent nearly an hour Wednesday on the phone with Donald Trump, urging the presidential candidate to tone down his inflammatory comments about immigration that have infuriated a key election constituency.
> 
> The call from chairman Reince Priebus, described by donors and consultants briefed on the conversation and confirmed by the RNC, underscores the extent to which Trump has gone from an embarrassment to a cause for serious alarm among top Republicans in Washington and nationwide.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...c75b4c-25ab-11e5-b72c-2b7d516e1e0e_story.html


----------



## poochee

*House bars Confederate flag sales at grave sites *
Updated 4:24 PM ET, Wed July 8, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)The House of Representatives approved two measures late on Tuesday that would remove Confederate flags and merchandise featuring the flag's image from some federal sites.
> 
> Both amendments, which passed with voice votes, were attached to the annual spending bill funding the Interior Department so they were limited to issues related to that agency. One amendment bars federal grave sites controlled by the Interior Department from displaying Confederate flags and the other directs gift shops at National Park Service facilities to stop selling any merchandise that shows the flag's image.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/08/politics/confederate-flag-house-vote/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 9, 12:16 PM EDT

*South Carolina's Confederate flag will be removed Friday 
*By JEFFREY COLLINS 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.



> COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- More than 50 years after South Carolina raised a Confederate flag at its Statehouse to protest the civil rights movement, the rebel banner will be removed Friday in a state where such a reversal seemed unthinkable a month ago.
> 
> The flag will be pulled down from the Capitol's front lawn and the flagpole it flies on during a ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday, said Chaney Adams, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Nikki Haley. Then, the banner will be taken to the Confederate Relic Room for display.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-09-12-16-36


----------



## poochee

*
Republicans Back Down on Confederate Flags at U.S. Cemeteries*
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and JONATHAN WEISMANJULY 9, 2015



> WASHINGTON  Republican leaders on Thursday abruptly yanked an environmental spending bill from the House floor before a final vote amid a storm of protest over an amendment that would have allowed Confederate flags at federal cemeteries. The action came hours after South Carolina lawmakers voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from the State Capitols grounds.
> 
> Only the day before, Republicans had assented to Democratic amendments to an appropriations bill that would remove the flag from federal sites and gift shops.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake fires Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts *
By Yvonne Wenger 
The Baltimore Sun
July 8, 2015, 9:31 PM

*VIDEO*

SHARELINES



> t▼
> "We need a change," Rawlings-Blake said of decision to replace police Commissioner Batts.
> 
> t▼
> Rawlings-Blake said Baltimore's recent surge in violence prompted her to replace police Commissioner Batts.
> July 8, 2015, 9:31 PM


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...-md-ci-batts-fired-20150708-story.html#page=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 9, 9:53 PM EDT

*Plea by Jefferson Davis descendant spurs SC flag vote *
By MEG KINNARD 
Associated Press



> "I have heard enough about heritage," Horne said, her tearful voice rising to a shout. "I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, OK? But that does not matter. It's not about Jenny Horne. It's about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off of the Statehouse grounds."
> 
> The debate seemed to turn after that. By early Thursday, representatives approved the same bill that already passed the Senate, enabling Gov. Nikki Haley's office to announce that the flag would come down on Friday.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-09-21-53-04


----------



## poochee

Jul 10, 1:06 PM EDT

*US personnel chief resigns in wake of massive data breach *
By JOSH LEDERMAN and JACK GILLUM 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head of the U.S. government's personnel office resigned abruptly on Friday, bowing to bipartisan calls for her to step down following a massive government data breach on her watch.
> 
> Katherine Archuleta, director of the federal Office of Personnel Management, submitted her resignation to President Barack Obama on Friday morning, the White House said. She'll be replaced on a temporary basis by the agency's deputy director, Beth Cobert, who will step into the role on Saturday.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-10-13-06-53


----------



## poochee

*Feds set final rules for birth control mandate*
By Sarah Ferris - 07/10/15 12:04 PM EDT



> The Obama administration on Friday took the final step toward ensuring that women can keep their birth control coverage even if their employer refuses to provide it on religious grounds.
> 
> Final regulations released Friday allow women to receive contraceptive services without co-payments over the objections of their employer. The much-anticipated rules also expand the definition of businesses that can seek exemptions from the controversial ObamaCare mandate.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/247507-feds-tweak-obamacare-birth-control-mandate


----------



## poochee

*House approves medical cures bill in 344-77 vote*
By Peter Sullivan and Sarah Ferris - 07/10/15 11:24 AM EDT



> The House voted Friday to overwhelmingly approve a multi-billion dollar medical cures bill that supporters say will speed up new treatments for patients.
> 
> The 21st Century Cures Act passed 344-77.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/247500-house-approves-medical-cures-bill


----------



## poochee

*ACA pushes uninsured rate to record low*
07/10/15 08:47 AM 
By Steve Benen
*
CHART*



> The uninsured rate among U.S. adults aged 18 and older was 11.4% in the second quarter of 2015, down from 11.9% in the first quarter. The uninsured rate has dropped nearly six percentage points since the fourth quarter of 2013, just before the requirement for Americans to carry health insurance took effect. The latest quarterly uninsured rate is the lowest Gallup and Healthways have recorded since daily tracking of this metric began in 2008.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/aca-pushes-uninsured-rate-record-low


----------



## poochee

Jul 10, 10:35 AM EDT

*Iran talks at impasse amid bickering, extended for 3rd time* 
By GEORGE JAHN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, and AP video journalist Philipp Jenne in Vienna contributed to this report.



> VIENNA (AP) -- The Iran nuclear talks shifted Friday to a blame game, as Iran's foreign minister accused the United States of shifting its demands and dismissed a warning that the U.S. was ready to quit the negotiations.
> 
> Hours after his comments, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met again with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for another attempt at resolving the differences standing in the way a landmark deal that offers Iran sanctions relief in exchange for long-term, verifiable curbs on nuclear programs that Tehran could use to make weapons.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-10-10-35-36


----------



## poochee

*Obama to visit federal prison in push for criminal justice reform*
By Jordan Fabian - 07/10/15 02:36 PM EDT



> President Obama will visit a federal prison in Oklahoma next Thursday as part of his push to overhaul the countrys criminal-justice system.
> 
> Obama will travel to the El Reno Correctional Institution outside of Oklahoma City, becoming the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, White House press secretary Josh Earnest announced Friday.


http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...al-prison-in-push-for-criminal-justice-reform


----------



## poochee

July 11, 2015

*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Making Our Communities Stronger through Fair Housing*

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this week's address, the President discussed a new rule announced by his Administration earlier this week to make it easier for communities to implement the Fair Housing Act. For nearly 50 years the Fair Housing Act has prohibited landlords from turning away tenants because of race, religion, sex, national origin, or disability, and has made a big difference in this country. This week the Administration announced new steps to provide communities with the tools they need to ensure that housing is fair, and that no Americans destiny is determined by a zipcode.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Sam Stein 
*Clinton's Big Economic Speech Will Go Heavy On Middle Class Wages*
Posted: 07/11/2015 1:02 pm EDT Updated: 3 hours ago



> WASHINGTON -- In her first major economic policy speech on Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faces dual tasks: contrasting her agenda with the leading Republican presidential candidates and embracing -- while still drawing distinctions from -- the president she hopes to succeed.
> 
> The former will come quite easily. The latter requires a deft touch.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/.../07/11/clinton-economic-speech_n_7776036.html


----------



## poochee

*American Federation of Teachers endorses Hillary Clinton*
07/11/By David Taintor

*VIDEO*



> The American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on Saturday.
> 
> AFT, which boasts 1.6 million members, said it was the first major union to endorse a Democratic candidate in the 2016 election cycle. AFT is the second largest teachers union in the country.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/american-federation-teachers-endorses-hillary-clinton


----------



## poochee

*Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Allegations Prompt Exodus Of Allies*
AP | By By The Associated Press 
Posted: 07/11/2015 12:11 pm EDT Updated: 4 hours ago



> The sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby had already severely damaged his career even before The Associated Press revealed this week that he admitted under oath in 2005 to obtaining quaaludes to give to young women he wanted to have sex with. But now even the hangers-on are walking away.
> 
> A look at the efforts to erase Cosby, and who's sticking with him:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/11/bill-cosby-sexual-assault-allegations_n_7776348.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 12, 12:15 PM EDT

*APNewsBreak: Diplomats: Iran announcement planned Monday *
By GEORGE JAHN and MATTHEW LEE 
Associated Press



> VIENNA (AP) -- Negotiators at the Iran nuclear talks plan to announce Monday that they've reached a historic deal capping nearly a decade of diplomacy that would curb the country's atomic program in return for sanctions relief, two diplomats told The Associated Press on Sunday.
> 
> The envoys said a provisional agreement may be reached even earlier - by late Sunday. But they cautioned that final details of the pact were still being worked out. Once it is complete, a formal, final agreement would be open to review by officials in the capitals of Iran and the six world powers at the talks, they said.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-12-12-15-23


----------



## poochee

*The End of the 2016 Election Is Closer Than You Think*
_The campaign might be lost even before the GOP picks a nominee._

By DOUG SOSNIK
July 12, 2015



> The end of the 2016 presidential election is actually much closer than you might think.
> 
> In every game there are decisive moments that determine the ultimate outcome. We like to think that presidential elections are dramatic fall campaigns pitting party against party, but the truth is that the most decisive moments often occur long before the general election kicks off. If history is any guide, the outcome of next years presidential campaign will likely be determined before the Republican Party has even selected their nominee. That uncomfortable fact means that the longer and more divisive the Republican primary, the less likely the party will be to win back the White House in 2016.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/st...oser-than-you-think-119947.html#ixzz3fhmWWXD8


----------



## poochee

*
The massive flip-floppery of Donald Trump, explained in 113 seconds*
By Chris Cillizza July 12 at 11:21 AM

*VIDEO*



> The clip comes from today's "Meet the Press" and tells, as only video can, the story of the ideological, um, evolution of Donald J. Trump, presidential candidate. It's a remarkable four minutes that speaks to why the idea of Trump as a tea party conservative is sort of hard to believe.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ery-of-donald-trump-explained-in-238-seconds/


----------



## poochee

*Letterman regrets retirement now that Trump is running for president*
07/12/15 03:41 PM 
By Andrea Beasley

*VIDEO*



> I was complacent, I was satisfied, I was content, and then a couple of days ago Donald Trump said he was running for president. Ive made the biggest mistake of my life ladies and gentleman, Letterman joked.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/letterman-regrets-retirement-now-trump-running-president


----------



## poochee

Jul 13, 12:52 PM EDT
*
Greece reaches deal with creditors, avoids euro exit *
By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG and PAN PYLAS 
Associated Press
Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; Raf Casert and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Brussels and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this story.



> BRUSSELS (AP) -- After grueling, often angry negotiations that tested the limits of European unity, Greece on Monday won a preliminary deal that averts financial catastrophe but also guarantees years more of hardship and sacrifice for its people.
> 
> Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras flew home to sell the plan to skeptical lawmakers and political allies, some of whom accused him of putting Greece at the mercy of its foreign creditors.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-13-10-21-46


----------



## poochee

*U.S. officials angry over Chapo escape in Mexico*
By Evan Perez and Josh Gaynor, CNN
Updated 6:17 PM ET, Sun July 12, 2015
CNN's Ed Payne and Don Melvin contributed to this report

*VIDEO*



> (CNN)-The escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman aroused anger among U.S. officials and suspicions of inside help from corrupt Mexican prison employees, U.S. law enforcement officials said Sunday.
> 
> The fear of an escape is one reason why U.S. officials had pushed the Mexican government, since his Guzman's capture last year, to extradite him to face charges in the U.S., where multiple indictments are filed for his role in Sinaloa trafficking schemes.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/12/politics/el-chapo-escape-us-officials-angry/index.html


----------



## poochee

*President Barack Obama commutes sentences of 46 drug offenders *
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 4:18 PM ET, Mon July 13, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)-President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentences of 46 drug offenders, saying in a video posted online Monday that the men and women were not "hardened criminals" and their punishments didn't match the crimes they committed.
> 
> Obama said the move was part of his larger attempt to reform the criminal justice system, including reviewing sentencing laws and reducing punishments for non-violent crimes. With Monday's announcement, Obama has commuted more sentences than any president since Lyndon B. Johnson.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/13/politics/obama-commutes-sentences-drug-offenders/index.html


----------



## poochee

*NYC Settles With Family Of Eric Garner For $5.9 Million*
July 13, 2015 9:02 PM ET 
Dana Farrington 
Updated at 9:12 p.m. ET.



> The family of Eric Garner has reached a settlement with New York City over Garner's death in police custody last June, the family's attorney confirms to NPR's Hansi Lo Wang.





> Garner died last July in Staten Island, N.Y., after being placed in a chokehold by an officer police as Garner was being arrested for selling loose cigarettes. Cellphone video captured officers wrestling Garner, 43, to the ground. The New York Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide.


http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...es-with-family-of-eric-garner-for-5-9-million


----------



## poochee

*White House reaches historic nuclear deal with Iran*
By Kyle Balluck - 07/14/15 06:01 AM EDT

*VIDEO*



> The deal is a significant victory for President Obama, who since his 2008 election has pushed for negotiations with Iran to end its nuclear program against stiff criticism from congressional Republicans, some Democrats and the government of Israel.
> 
> This deal demonstrates that American diplomacy can bring about real and meaningful change," Obama said in remarks just after 7 a.m. from the White House. "Change that makes our country and the world more safe and secure."


http://thehill.com/policy/international/247785-iranian-nuclear-deal-reached


----------



## poochee

*Not bad for a lame duck*
07/14/15 10:25 AM 
By Steve Benen



> I started sketching out some of Obamas successes from the last nine months, and it quickly dawned on me how long the list is. Obviously, the nuclear agreement with Iran is foremost on everyones mind today, but since November 2014, its not the only foreign policy accomplishment. Obama also reached a climate agreement with China  a breakthrough few thought possible  and overhauled U.S. relations with Cuba, reversing decades of failure.
> 
> As if that werent enough, he also continued to shrink the prison population at Guantanamo Bay and freed American prisoners in North Korea.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/not-bad-lame-duck


----------



## poochee

*Congress to Start Review of Iran Nuclear Deal*
By JONATHAN WEISMAN and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISJULY 14, 2015



> WASHINGTON  Congress will soon begin reviewing the Iran nuclear deal, the outlines of which have already deeply divided Republican leaders and left many Democrats skeptical but willing to hear out President Obamas pitch.
> 
> Under the terms of legislation passed in May, Congress has 60 days to scrutinize the accord between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany, and then to vote to accept or reject it  or to do nothing. The president can veto any resolution of disapproval. Congress needs a two-thirds majority in each house to override the veto, so to put the deal into force, Mr. Obama only needs one-third of one of the houses to stand with him.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/15/w...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls for criminal justice system reform*
By Jesse Byrnes - 07/14/15 06:18 PM EDT

*VIDEO *



> President Obama made the case for swift reforms to the countrys criminal justice system on Tuesday, calling on Congress to pass legislation to improve the nations sentencing laws, particularly those affecting minorities.
> 
> In so many cases, the punishment simply does not fit the crime, Obama said at the NAACPs annual national convention in Philadelphia, noting the government spends billions on unwanted incarcerations.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/247926-obama-calls-for-criminal-justice-reform


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump: 'Basta! Enough!'*
WASHINGTON  Jul 13, 2015, 6:25 PM ET
By RYAN STRUYK

*VIDEO*



> Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump today over immigration in a passionate address to an influential Hispanic advocacy organization.
> 
> I have just one word for Mr. Trump: Basta! Enough! she said, referencing comments about Mexican immigrants from the Republican candidates announcement speech.


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-basta/story?id=32426306


----------



## poochee

*Albright on 'historic' Iran deal: Read it before you slam it*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 9:48 AM ET, Wed July 15, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Wednesday hailed the nuclear deal with Iran as "historic" and said critics should take the time to study the deal before slamming the accord.
> 
> "I think it's very very important to study it and for people to just flat out say it doesn't work or they're going to derail it in our congress, I hope people don't mean it," Albright, who served as secretary of state in President Bill Clinton's administration, said on CNN's "New Day."


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/politics/iran-nuclear-deal-madeleine-albright/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama pushing broadband for low-income households*
By David McCabe - 07/15/15 09:00 AM EDT
This report was updated at 11:58 a.m.

*VIDEO*



> The plan will bring broadband Internet service and training to close to 200,000 low-income children, the administration said.
> 
> While many middle-class U.S. students go home to Internet access, allowing them to do research, write papers, and communicate digitally with their teachers and other students, too many lower-income children go unplugged every afternoon when school ends, the White House said.


http://thehill.com/policy/technolog...rnet-access-program-for-low-income-households


----------



## poochee

*Obama Urges Congress to Approve Iran Nuclear Deal*
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISJULY 15, 2015

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON  President Obama on Wednesday urged lawmakers to support the nuclear deal reached with Iran, saying that failure to put it in to effect would increase the likelihood of war in the Middle East and accelerate a nuclear arms race in the region that would threaten the safety of the United States.
> 
> Thats the choice that we face, Mr. Obama said in opening comments at a news conference in the East Room of the White House. If we dont choose wisely, I believe future generations will judge us harshly, for letting this moment slip away.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/w...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Bill Clinton admits his crime law made mass incarceration worse*
07/15/15 02:12 PMUpdated 07/15/15 02:20 PM 
By Eric Levitz



> One day after President Obama decried mass incarceration in a speech before the NAACP convention, Bill Clinton owned up to his role in expanding the population of Americas prisons.
> 
> Yesterday, the president spoke a long time and very well on criminal justice reform, the former president said. But I want to say a few words about it. Because I signed a bill that made the problem worse and I want to admit it.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/clinton-admits-his-crime-bill-made-mass-incarceration-worse


----------



## poochee

*House approves $8 billion highway funding extension*
By Keith Laing - 07/15/15 04:25 PM EDT



> The House voted Wednesday to approve an $8 billion bill to extend federal transportation funding until December.
> 
> The bill passed in a 312-119 vote. It now goes to the Senate, which is considering a funding bill that could also include an extension of the Export-
> Import Banks charter.


http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/248060-house-approves-8-billion-highway-patch


----------



## poochee

*WH dispatches Joe Biden to lock down Iran deal on Capitol Hill*
By Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 7:55 PM ET, Wed July 15, 2015

*VIDEO
*


> *Story highlights*
> 
> Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Capitol Hill Wednesday to sell House Democrats on the Iran nuclear deal
> Democratic lawmakers said Biden was convincing and answered a lot of questions


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/politics/iran-deal-white-house-democrats-congress/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama, in Oklahoma, Takes Message of Reform Behind Prison Walls*
By PETER BAKER JULY 16, 2015



> Accompanied by aides, correctional officials and a phalanx of security agents, Mr. Obama crossed through multiple layers of metal gates and fences topped by concertina wire to tour the El Reno prison, and to talk with some of the nonviolent drug offenders he argues should not be serving such long sentences.
> 
> In becoming the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, Mr. Obama came here to showcase  and prod along  an emerging bipartisan drive to overhaul Americas criminal justice system in a way none of his predecessors have tried, at least not in modern times. Where other presidents worked to make life less pleasant for criminals, Mr. Obama wants to make their conditions better.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*
Women open wallets for Hillary Clinton*
07/15/15 07:51 PM 
By Alex Seitz-Wald



> Women made it rain for Hillary Clinton in the first three months of her presidential campaign  representing more than 60% of the donors who supported the former secretary of state.
> 
> The campaign had already announced that it raised $45 million for the Democratic primary as of June 30, but a new campaign finance report made public Wednesday evening sheds new light on the campaigns haul.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/women-open-wallets-hillary-clinton


----------



## poochee

The Ed Show 7/16/15

*VIDEO*

*
Obama promises 'thorough, prompt' investigation into TN shooting*



> President Obama offered his condolences to the families of the 4 Marines killed in a shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Thursday, and said a full investigation is underway into the attack.


http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/pres.-obama--tn-shooting-is-heartbreaking-485710915559


----------



## poochee

Jul 16, 6:24 PM EDT

*Jury finds Colorado theater shooter guilty of murder *
By SADIE GURMAN 
Associated Press



> CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) -- Jurors convicted Colorado theater shooter James Holmes on Thursday in the chilling 2012 attack on defenseless moviegoers at a midnight Batman premiere, rejecting defense arguments that the former graduate student was insane and driven to murder by delusions.
> 
> The 27-year-old Holmes, who had been working toward his Ph.D. in neuroscience, could get the death penalty for the massacre that left 12 people dead and dozens of others wounded.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-16-18-24-50


----------



## poochee

*Benghazi committee goes off the rails*
07/16/15 08:41 AM 
By Steve Benen



> The existence of the House Select Committee on Benghazi has always been hard to explain, even for those who support it enthusiastically. Its only now that the panels purpose is coming into sharper focus.
> 
> The trouble, of course, is that the committee is wholly unnecessary. Over the course of two years, the deadly 2012 terrorist attack in Libya was investigated by the independent State Department Accountability Review Board, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. None of these probes uncovered evidence to substantiate right-wing conspiracy theories.


 http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/benghazi-committee-goes-the-rails


----------



## RT

poochee said:


> The Ed Show 7/16/15
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> *
> Obama promises 'thorough, prompt' investigation into TN shooting*
> 
> http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/pres.-obama--tn-shooting-is-heartbreaking-485710915559


Hiya poochee! 
A truly shocking and tragic event that happened so close to home...can't tell ya how many times I've driven by that same Lee Hiway location..in fact, dotty999 and I were shopping and dining not more a mile or two from that very location (some years ago.) It's just one of those terrible things that you think won't happen near you, but there enough crazies in the world for anything to happen, anytime. Prayers to the families that have so suddenly lost loved ones in this manner...


----------



## poochee

RT said:


> Hiya poochee!
> A truly shocking and tragic event that happened so close to home...can't tell ya how many times I've driven by that same Lee Hiway location..in fact, dotty999 and I were shopping and dining not more a mile or two from that very location (some years ago.) It's just one of those terrible things that you think won't happen near you, but there enough crazies in the world for anything to happen, anytime. Prayers to the families that have so suddenly lost loved ones in this manner...


 It is very sad.


----------



## poochee

July 17, 2015, 07:30 am 
*The 'battle flag' finally comes down*
By Joanne M. Braxton and Michael Sainato, contributors



> Designed by William Porcher Miles, a former mayor of Charleston and staunch supporter of slavery who believed the slave trade should have been reopened, what is commonly referred to today as the Confederate flag is a variant of this flag designed by Miles and adopted by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. Later, this same "battle flag" was resurrected by white supremacists, including the Ku Klux Klan, as a symbol of resistance to integration and to black civil rights, especially the right to vote.
> 
> Then-Sen. Strom Thurmond's (S.C.) use of the flag in his 1948 presidential campaign underscored his pledge to keep blacks in a position of subservience. In 2014, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law a bill prohibiting the sale or display of the Confederate flag and banning the flag from state property. And only a few weeks ago, State Sen. Paul Thurmond (R), Strom's son, spoke out against the Confederate battle flag in the South Carolina legislature, saying, "I am not proud of this heritage." And so, with the help of daring flagpole climber and New York University Tisch School of the Arts-educated performing artist Bree Newsome, and a cohort of racially and politically diverse and sometimes unwitting collaborators, the flag came down.


http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/civil-rights/248145-the-battle-flag-finally-comes-down


----------



## poochee

July 17, 2015, 12:10 pm 
*Former House GOP lawmaker Grimm gets 8 months in prison*
By Ben Kamisar



> Former Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) was sentenced Friday to 8 months in prison for federal tax fraud, according to reports.
> 
> Federal prosecutors had hit Grimm with a 20-count indictment earlier this year on a slew of fraud allegations related to a restaurant he managed. He had pleaded guilty on one count in a deal to keep the rest of the case from going to trial.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/248323-former-rep-grimm-sentenced-to-8-months-in-prison


----------



## poochee

*
Huffington Post to cover Trump as an entertainer, not a politician*
By Tom Kludt

*VIDEO*



> The Huffington Post will continue to cover Donald Trump, but the popular news site is done treating him like a legitimate presidential candidate.
> 
> In a note to readers on Friday, two top editors for HuffPost said that coverage of the brash billionaire's campaign will be a part of the site's entertainment section.


http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/17/media/huffington-post-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Protesters demand answers after death of Sandra Bland in police custody*
07/17/15 11:15 AMUpdated 07/17/15 09:07 PM 
By Trymaine Lee and Benjamin Landy

*VIDEO*



> WALLER COUNTY, Texas  Months ago, civil rights activist Sandra Bland took to social media to lament the deaths of African-Americans in the custody of police. Now shes one of them.
> 
> As many as one hundred protesters gathered in the sweltering heat Friday afternoon in the parking lot outside the jail where the 28-year-old Chicago native was found dead in her cell Monday, just days after she was arrested by police following a routine traffic stop. A growing legion of supporters is calling for answers after authorities ruled her death a suicide by hanging, a conclusion her family has called unfathomable. Led by members of the New Black Panther Party, the demonstrators rallied in front of the jail before marching several blocks to Waller City Hall, chanting no justice, no peace!


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/protesters-demand-answers-after-sandra-bland-dies-police-custody


----------



## poochee

July 18, 2015

*WEEKLY ADDRESS: A Comprehensive, Long-Term Deal with Iran*

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this week's address, the President explained the comprehensive, long-term deal announced earlier this week that will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. This agreement cuts off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon, implements unprecedented monitoring and inspections of Irans key nuclear facilities, and ensures that if Iran violates these terms, the strict sanctions previously imposed on the country will snap back into place. This is a good deal that demonstrates that American diplomacy can bring about real and meaningful change that makes our country, and the world, safer and more secure.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trump attacks McCain: 'I like people who weren't captured'*
By Ben Schreckinger
7/18/15 12:22 PM EDT



> Appearing on Saturday at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the real estate mogul took his running feud with Arizona Sen. John McCain to a new level.
> 
> Hes not a war hero, said Trump. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured.


http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...eople-who-werent-captured-120317.html?hp=l1_3


----------



## poochee

*If Guns Make Us Safer, Why Not Let Them Into the U.S. Capitol?*
By JOSH ZEITZ
July 18, 2015



> But if these Second Amendment-purists really think that guns make places safer, if they really think that guns are an important check on government and safeguard of liberty, then why do so many of them keep their workplacethe U.S. Capitolfree of firearms?
> 
> For almost two centuries and until very recently, ordinary citizens had free run of the Capitol. Ironically, as Congress has become less hospitable to gun safety laws, and as conservative Republican legislators have grown more strident in their desire to see citizens carry open and concealed weapons everywherein churches and schools, on college campuses, at bars and restaurantsthe one venue that has grown more gun-free, more secure and more restrictive is the building they work in.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/gun-control-us-capitol-120310.html#ixzz3gGcbK2xP


----------



## poochee

Jul 18, 6:40 PM EDT

*Bonding time for Obama, teenage daughters during NYC getaway *
By NANCY BENAC 
Associated Press



> NEW YORK (AP) -- It's inevitable: At some point, teenage kids just aren't that into their parents anymore.
> 
> Parent Barack Obama, who happens to be president, set out to combat that trend by hanging out with his teenage girls on a New York overnighter.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-18-18-40-24


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump evades specifics on his draft deferment*
_His vague account of a critical period in 1968 and 1969 raises questions about his explanation of why he did not serve in Vietnam.
_
By David Rogers
7/19/15 10:59 AM EDT



> Whod have guessed it, but the Vietnam War draft could become a political issue again given the pattern of evasive answers by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.





> This is not a new controversy for the wealthy New Yorker. But this weekend, Trump made himself more of a target with his attacks on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a Navy veteran who spent years as a POW in Hanoi. And much as Trump insists that the decisive factor was his high number in the December 1969 draft lottery, the real question is how he stayed out of the draft for the nearly 18 months before.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...his-draft-deferment-120330.html#ixzz3gMVZHMcW


----------



## poochee

Jul 19, 1:33 PM EDT
*
Ex-President George H.W. Bush leaves hospital after fall *



> KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) -- Former President George H.W. Bush was released from a Maine hospital on Sunday, four days after the 91-year-old fell at his summer home and broke a bone in his neck.
> 
> Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said that "a very grateful" Bush returned home to Kennebunkport from Maine Medical Center after treatment for a fractured vertebra.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-19-13-33-06


----------



## poochee

Jul 20, 12:54 AM EDT

*US, Cuba restore full diplomatic ties after 5 decades *
By MATTHEW LEE and PETER ORSI 
Associated Press
Orsi reported from Havana.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than a half century of Cold War and lingering enmity came to an abrupt but quiet end on Monday as the United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations.
> 
> The new era began with little fanfare when an agreement between the two nations to resume normal ties on July 20 came into force just after midnight Sunday and the diplomatic missions of each country were upgraded from interests sections to embassies. When clocks struck 12:00 in Washington and Havana, they tolled a knell for policy approaches spawned and hardened over the five decades since President John F. Kennedy first tangled with youthful revolutionary Fidel Castro over Soviet expansion in the Americas.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-20-00-54-43


----------



## poochee

Jul 20, 1:33 PM EDT

*UN endorses Iran nuclear deal with 6 world powers *
By EDITH M. LEDERER 
Associated Press



> UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously endorsed the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and authorized a series of measures leading to the end of U.N. sanctions that have hurt Iran's economy.
> 
> But the measure also provides a mechanism for U.N. sanctions to "snap back" in place if Iran fails to meet its obligations.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-20-13-33-23


----------



## poochee

*Mayor de Blasio: No more Trump deals in NYC future*
By Nicholas Yeap 
CNNMoney (New York) July 20, 2015: 6:18 PM ET

*VIDEO*



> New York City's mayor has had enough Trump, thank you.
> 
> During a press conference on Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that while he's uncertain whether the city can break several existing contracts with the Republican presidential hopeful, one thing is clear: There will be no future deals between the Big Apple and Trump.


http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/20/news/trump-de-blasio-new-york-city-contracts/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Senate Reaches Deal On Multiyear Highway Bill*
Laura Barron-Lopez
Congressional Reporter, The Huffington Post 
Posted: 07/21/2015 | Edited: 16 minutes ago

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON -- With a little over one week left before funding for the nation's transportation infrastructure dries up, the Senate reached a deal on a multiyear bill, parting ways with the House.
> 
> Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the deal, which he had been negotiating with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), on Tuesday, saying it "provides three years of guaranteed funding" for the Highway Trust Fund. Details on how the Senate plans to pay for the extension are still emerging.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...tiyear-highway-bill_55ae7084e4b08f57d5d291f8?


----------



## poochee

*Obama eulogizes Chattanooga victims*
By Julian Hattem - 07/21/15 12:36 PM EDT



> President Obama on Tuesday offered a stirring eulogy for each of the five dead service members killed by a gunman in Chattanooga, Tenn., last week.
> 
> While declining to pin the shooting on any organized terror group, Obama linked the attack to threats against the U.S., and especially against members of the military.


http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/248644-obama-eulogizes-five-dead-in-chattanooga


----------



## poochee

*Report: New York prison escapee spent months carving, finding his way out *
By Holly Yan and Rob Frehse, CNN
Updated 2:09 PM ET, Tue July 21, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> (CNN)Convicted killer David Sweat escaped from his prison cell not once, not twice, but almost every night for several months, a source briefed on the investigation told CNN.
> 
> And during those nightly jaunts, Sweat learned his way through the maze of tunnels and pipes in the bowels of the Clinton Correctional Facility -- eventually devising the escape route that he and fellow inmate Richard Matt used to break out of the maximum security prison, he told investigators.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/us/ne...iid=ob_article_topstories_pool&iref=obnetwork


----------



## joe957

> The police said there was "no evidence of foul play or suicide.
> 
> Grooveshark, a streaming music website that allowed users to upload their own music files, shut down at the end of April. Greenberg launched Grooveshark in 2007, along with of his two classmates at the University of Florida


http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/20/technology/josh-greenberg-death-grooveshark/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Senate highway bill faces many obstacles*
By Alexander Bolton - 07/21/15 08:08 PM EDT 
Jordain Carney and Cristina Marcos contributed.



> A six-year highway bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was in limbo Tuesday after lawmakers rejected a motion to move forward with the measure in a 41-56 vote.





> The Senate is expected to try again on Wednesday after Democrats discuss the bill in conference, and Boxer voiced optimism that the next vote will be positive.


http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/248751-senate-highway-bill-faces-many-obstacles


----------



## poochee

By/ Jake Miller/ CBS News/ July 22, 2015, 2:22 PM
*Lindsey Graham offers tutorial on how to destroy a cell phone*

*VIDEO*



> "Or if all else fails, you can always give your number to 'The Donald,'" Graham suggests at the end. "This is for all the veterans," he adds before throwing the phone off-screen.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lindsey-graham-offers-tutorial-on-how-to-destroy-a-cell-phone/


----------



## poochee

*GOP vows to free Wall Street of safeguards, accountability*
07/22/15 09:41 AMUpdated 07/22/15 01:05 PM 
By Steve Benen
*
VIDEO*



> It didnt get too much attention, but Citibank received some pretty awful news yesterday. The banking powerhouse was accused of pushing dubious credit card services, presented to millions of consumers in unfortunate ways (charging consumers during free 30-day trial periods, for example).
> 
> The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which exists thanks to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the Dodd-Frank reform law, noticed the Citibank practices and went after the banking giant, accusing it of deceptive marketing, unfair billing, and other unlawful practices. Yesterday, Citibank cried uncle  it will pay $700 million to affected consumers, on top of $35 million in penalties.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-vows-free-wall-street-safeguards-accountability


----------



## poochee

News 
Michael Brown Shooting 
Jul 22 2015, 1:07 pm ET

*Andre Anderson Tapped as Interim Ferguson, Missouri, Police Chief*
by Erik Ortiz



> Andre Anderson  a former amateur boxer, Army alum and 24-year veteran of the Glendale, Arizona, force  is tasked with reforming Ferguson's scandal-scarred police department. He will also have to rebuild confidence in a community ripped apart by last summer's racial unrest.
> 
> "There's a lot of work to be done," Anderson, dressed in a crisp white uniform, told reporters on Wednesday. "I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work."


http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mi...nterim-ferguson-missouri-police-chief-n396586


----------



## poochee

*
Roof charged with federal hate crimes*
Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 6:27 p.m. EDT July 22, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced federal hate crime charges Wednesday against the 21-year-old suspect in the Charleston church massacre, alleging that Dylann Roof sought to ignite racial tensions across the country by targeting Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church because of its local and historical significance.
> 
> The 33-count indictment charges Roof with nine murders, three attempted murders and multiple firearms offenses as part of a long-planned assault in which Roof allegedly singled out victims "because of their race and in order to interfere with their exercise of their religion.''


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/22/roof-hate-crimes-charges/30514237/


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP/ July 22, 2015, 6:17 PM
*
​Sheriff: Sandra Bland mentioned previous suicide attempt*

*VIDEO*



> DALLAS -- A woman whose death in a Texas jail has raised suspicions about the official conclusion that she hanged herself told a guard during the booking process that she had tried to kill herself in the past, the sheriff said Wednesday.
> 
> Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith told The Associated Press that Sandra Bland told a jailer about the previous suicide attempt sometime after her arrest on July 10.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sheriff-sandra-bland-mentioned-previous-suicide-attempt/


----------



## poochee

July 22, 2015, 08:07 pm 
*Senate votes to proceed with highway bill*
By Jordain Carney



> A six-year highway bill overcame its first hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday, a day after Democrats blocked the proposal because they wanted more time to read it.
> 
> Senators voted 62-36 on ending debate on a motion to proceed to a House-passed bill that the Senate is using as its vehicle for the infrastructure legislation.


 http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/248908-highway-bill-overcomes-hurdle


----------



## poochee

Jul 23, 1:50 PM EDT

*Border agents cancel meeting with Trump and he's not happy *
By JILL COLVIN and SETH ROBBINS 
Associated Press



> Patrol agents had planned to accompany Trump to the border and hold a meeting with him but canceled after consultations with their national union, the National Border Patrol Council, said Hector Garza, president of Local 2455.
> 
> The Trump campaign said in a statement he would go to the border anyway in the afternoon, "despite the great danger," and blamed the snub on the union's superiors "who do not want people to know how bad it is on the border - every bit as bad as Mr. Trump has been saying."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-23-13-50-25


----------



## poochee

*For Obama, historic return to Kenya comes after long wait*
By Jim Acosta and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 10:52 AM ET, Thu July 23, 2015

*VIDEO*



> On Thursday, as President Barack Obama travels to his paternal homeland for the first time as commander-in-chief, his visit comes imbued with complexities for the nation's first African-American president, who's spoken in deeply personal terms about exploring his ancestry and growing up without his father.
> 
> He's made three previous visits to Kenya, all before being elected president. His first visit, in 1987, became the basis for his memoir "Dreams from my Father."


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/politics/obama-kenya-visit-historic/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Sandra Bland death ruled a suicide by hanging, Texas prosecutor says*
07/23/15 03:56 PMUpdated 07/23/15 05:00 PM 
By Erin McClam

*VIDEO*



> Medical examiners ruled the death of Sandra Bland a suicide by hanging, and the autopsy uncovered no evidence of a violent struggle, a Texas prosecutor said Thursday.
> 
> Warren Diepraam, the first assistant district attorney of Waller County, released the findings at a press conference.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sandra-bland-death-ruled-suicide-hanging-texas-prosecutor-says


----------



## poochee

Jul 23, 7:47 PM EDT

*Turkey allows US to use key air base to strike Islamic State *
By JOSH LEDERMAN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Desmond Butler in Istanbul and Suzan Frazer in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Turkey has agreed to let the U.S. military launch airstrikes against the Islamic State from a key air base near the Syrian border, senior U.S. officials said Thursday, giving a boost to the U.S.-led coalition while drawing Turkey deeper into the conflict.
> 
> President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan finalized the deal in a phone call Wednesday, officials said, following months of U.S. appeals and delicate negotiations over the use of Incirlik and other bases in Turkey. Frustrated by Obama's focus on fighting IS instead of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Turkey's government had resisted the move, but in recent days a surge in Islamic State activity in Turkey has brought concerns about the militant group to the forefront.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-23-19-47-13


----------



## poochee

*Obama Discusses The 'Greatest Frustration' Of His Presidency*
_"It is not something that I intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months."_
Paige Lavender
Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post 
Posted: 07/23/2015 | Edited: 5 hours ago

*VIDEO*



> "If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I've been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which, we do not have sufficient common-sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings," Obama said. "If you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it's less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it's in the tens of thousands."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...n-of-his-presidency_55b1607be4b0074ba5a3ec72?


----------



## poochee

*3 killed, 9 wounded in Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater shooting*
07/23/15 09:55 PMUpdated 07/24/15 11:26 AM 
By Alastair Jamieson
*
VIDEO*



> A gunman killed two people and wounded nine others after standing up and opening fire about 20 minutes into a movie in Lafayette, Louisiana, police said.
> 
> Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said the 58-year-old man used a handgun and took his own life when officers arrived at the scene within about a minute.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/three-dead-lafayette-louisiana-movie-theater-shooting


----------



## poochee

Jul 24, 1:34 PM EDT

*Theater gunman's family called him mentally ill, violent *
By MELINDA DESLATTE and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN 
Associated Press



> LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) -- The man who killed two people and wounded nine others at a movie theater was so mentally ill and violent that years ago, his wife hid his guns and his family had him hospitalized against his will before obtaining a court order to keep him away.
> 
> John Russel Houser, 59, stood up about 20 minutes into the "Trainwreck" movie and fired first at two people sitting in front of him, then aimed his handgun at others. Police said Friday they found 13 shell casings.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-24-13-34-19


----------



## poochee

*
Poll: Republican Party approval ratings lowest in decades*
By Paul Singer 1 hour ago



> The already raucous Republican presidential campaign may be hurting the partys brand.
> 
> Only 32% of respondents said they had a favorable opinion on the Republican Party in a new Pew Research Center poll published Thursday  the lowest number Pew has reported at any point since 1992, though there have been a couple of 33% ratings during that time. The party is viewed unfavorably by 60% of respondents, again the partys worst score.


http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2015/07/24/poll-republican-party-approval-ratings-lowest-in-decades/


----------



## poochee

*5 Thorny Topics President Obama Faces in Kenya and Ethiopia*
NAIROBI, Kenya - Jul 24, 2015, 8:05 AM ET
By ARLETTE SAENZ and CONOR FINNEGAN
via Good Morning America

*VIDEO*



> With a trip to Africa this weekend, President Obama becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit Kenya and Ethiopia. While much of his schedule is official business, it will be a highly personal visit for Obama, whose father was Kenyan, and a moment of pride for the Kenyan people, who have been clamoring for a presidential visit since 2009.
> 
> But it won't be all pomp and pageantry.
> 
> Obama will confront several thorny issues throughout this trip, from gay rights to defending unmet expectations for his grand U.S.-African initiatives. Here's a look at five:


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/thorny-topics-president-obama-faces-kenya-ethiopia/story?id=32645039


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Earns All-Important Dennis Rodman Endorsement*
Travis Waldron
Sports Reporter, The Huffington Post 
Posted: 07/24/2015



> Donald Trump has picked up one of the 2016 election's earliest celebrity endorsements ... from NBA Hall of Famer and publicity stunt expert Dennis Rodman.
> 
> Rodman tweeted his support for The Donald's sideshow presidential campaign Friday, not long after he defended pro wrestler Hulk Hogan -- who, like Trump, has been embroiled in controversy over racist remarks.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...-rodman-endorsement_55b29877e4b0a13f9d188e3f?


----------



## poochee

July 25, 2015

*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Wall Street Reform is Working*

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, DC  In this week's address, the President spoke to the progress we have made in making our financial system stronger, safer, and more fair in the years since financial crisis. Five years ago this week our country enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, rules that have substantially reduced recklessness and abuse in our financial system that predated the crisis. As a result of Wall Street reform, our banks are less reliant on unstable funding and less likely to engage in risky behavior, the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau works to protect American consumers, and our financial system is significantly better-regulated. Dodd-Frank is working, and the President emphasized that he will continue to fight any challenges to the law and veto any effort to unravel the new rules governing Wall Street.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton agrees to testify before Benghazi committee in October*
07/25/15 11:49 AMUpdated 07/25/15 01:26 PM 
By Alex Seitz-Wald
*
VIDEO*



> Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify publicly in October before the Republican-led congressional committee investigating the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound n Benghazi, Libya, Clinton spokesperson Nick Merrill said Saturday.
> 
> The former secretary of state has said she wanted to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi months ago, but tussled with the committees GOP chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-testify-benghazi-committee-october


----------



## poochee

*Newly released photos show Cheney, Bush in tense moments after 9/11 attacks*
07/25/15 03:03 PM 
By NBC News

*PICTURES*



> Newly-released photos show Cheney, President Bush and other members of the administration reacting on the day of the attacks. The photos were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and were taken by Cheneys staff photographer.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/newly-released-photos-show-white-house-response-sept-11-attacks


----------



## poochee

Jul 26, 8:12 AM EDT

*2016 Republicans use Trump, TV to make debate cut *
By THOMAS BEAUMONT and NICHOLAS RICCARDI 
Associated Press



> AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Rick Perry is attacking Donald Trump's credibility and branding the billionaire businessman "a cancer on conservatism." Rick Santorum, a conservative stalwart, popped up on a TV program popular with liberals. Lindsey Graham set his cellphone on fire.
> 
> With the first debate of the Republican presidential campaign approaching, the White House hopefuls are trying everything they can to improve their polling position. A candidate needs to place in the top 10 in an average of national polls to meet the criteria Fox News Channel has set to take the stage Aug. 6 in Cleveland.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-26-08-12-06


----------



## poochee

Jul 26, 12:40 PM EDT

*Obama: Kenya at 'crossroads' between peril and promise *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
AP writers Darlene Superville, Christopher Torchia and Tom Odula contributed to this report.



> NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Declaring Kenya at a "crossroads" between promise and peril, President Barack Obama on Sunday pressed the nation of his father's birth to root out corruption, treat women and minorities as equal citizens, and take responsibility for its future.
> 
> Closing his historic visit with an address to the Kenyan people, Obama traced the arc of the country's evolution from colonialism to independence, as well as his own family's history here. Today, Obama said, young Kenyans are no longer constrained by the limited options of his grandfather, a cook for the country's former British rulers, or his father, who left to seek an education in America.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-26-12-40-24


----------



## poochee

Jul 26, 9:17 PM EDT

*Senior Republicans rebuke Cruz over his attacks on McConnell *
By ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Joan Lowy contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senior Senate Republicans lined up Sunday to rebuke Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for harshly criticizing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, an extraordinary display of intraparty division played out live on the Senate floor.
> 
> As the Senate met for a rare Sunday session, Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and John Cornyn of Texas each rose to counter a stunning floor speech Cruz gave on Friday accusing McConnell, R-Ky., of lying.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-26-21-17-44


----------



## poochee

Jul 27, 12:54 PM EDT

*Obama chides 2016 candidates for 'ridiculous,' 'sad' remarks *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent
Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report.



> ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Insisting that Americans deserve better, President Barack Obama chided Republicans Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz on Monday for a series of campaign-trail attacks that he said would be "ridiculous if it weren't so sad."
> 
> In some of his first commentary on the budding race to replace him, Obama accused the candidates of violating a time-honored American tradition of not playing "fast and loose" on topics of grave concern like foreign policy. And he said that regardless of which party wins the White House, he wants to ensure he's turning over the keys to someone capable of seriousness and honesty.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-27-12-54-33


----------



## poochee

*Jewish groups react to Mike Huckabee's 'oven' remarks
* 07/27/15 10:06 AM-Updated 07/27/15 11:02 AM 
By Anna Brand
*
VIDEO*



> Jewish groups across the country reacted to Mike Huckabee's comments, in which the GOP presidential candidate this weekend likened the Iran deal to the Holocaust, with one organization saying the remarks "may be the most inexcusable we've encountered in recent memory."





> The National Jewish Democratic Council immediately called on members of the Republican Party to denounce Huckabee's comments, saying it is "not only disgustingly offensive to the President and the White House, but shows utter, callous disregard for the millions of lives lost in the Shoah and to the pain felt by their descendants today."


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jewish-groups-react-mike-huckabees-oven-remarks


----------



## poochee

Way Too Early 7/27/15 
*Cosby accusers all appear on magazine cover*



> The latest cover of New York Magazine features the images of 35 women, all who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault. The cover also includes one empty chair.


*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/way-too-early/watch/cosby-accusers-all-appear-on-magazine-cover-491735619793


----------



## poochee

Jul 25, 1:57 PM EDT

*25 years on, disabilities act has changed lives of millions *
By DAVID CRARY 
AP National Writer



> "For those first couple of years, I was really dependent on family or friends," said Maahs. "Back then, people with disabilities were primarily kept at home."
> 
> Were that diving accident to happen now, the campus and workplace would be accessible - with ramps, curb cuts, elevators, designated parking spots. A blind or deaf person, or anyone with a host of other disabilities, also would find accommodations enhancing their independence and engagement - all of this the legacy of the sweeping Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law 25 years ago, on July 26, 1990.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-25-13-57-43


----------



## poochee

*
Honore: America's in denial about gun culture*
Greg Hilburn, The (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser 9:32 p.m. EDT July 27, 2015



> Retired U.S. Army Gen. Russel Honore, Louisiana's most well-known 21st century military hero, said America is mired in a state of denial about its gun culture and that's harming the country.
> 
> "As a country we're in a state of denial because we've confused the right to bear arms with the right to carry arms all the time anywhere or anyplace you want," Honore told Gannett Louisiana on Monday. "We have to have a different kind of conversation in America and be prepared to speak about the politically unspeakable."


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/27/honore-americas-denial-gun-culture/30764255/


----------



## DaveBurnett

Isn't it amazing how the use of the slightly wrong word in a document can have such long lasting consequences.
That is an indication as to why diplomatic discussions take so much of an effort - and by diplomatic I include personal diplomacy as well.

I know full well that if I use a word with the wrong connotations to my wife I am never going to hear the end of it <grin>


----------



## poochee

Jul 28, 5:30 PM EDT

*New York prison worker pleads guilty in escape of 2 killers *
By MICHAEL HILL 
Associated Press



> PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) -- A prison worker who was "in over her head" with two inmates convicted of murder tearfully pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of aiding them by smuggling hacksaw blades and other tools to the pair, who broke out and spent three weeks on the run.
> 
> Joyce Mitchell, an instructor in the tailor shop at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, wore shackles and prison stripes as she entered the pleas in a barely audible voice.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-28-12-44-03


----------



## poochee

*Newly released Sandra Bland video shows her alive at Texas jail before death*
Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY 7:32 p.m. EDT July 28, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Waller County, Texas, officials have released three days worth of video of arrestee Sandra Bland that they say will dispel rumors that the black woman found dead in jail earlier this month was impaired or harmed when brought to the Waller County Jail.
> 
> In the video released during a press conference Tuesday with Waller County Judge Trey Duhon, Bland is seen exiting a trooper vehicle, hands cuffed behind her back, walking into the jail, and also walking into the intake room in the jail, hands cuffed. In both segments, she appears physically well, though in the intake room, she appears to place her forehead in her hand a few times and wipes her eyes. She also appears frustrated or exasperated in her mannerisms as she seems to ask questions of a police officer assisting with her intake.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/07/28/sandra-bland-waller-county-texas-jail-vdeo/30801271/


----------



## poochee

*
Washington, D.C. is sinking into the sea*
07/29/15 09:54 AMUpdated 07/29/15 11:41 AM 
By Tony Dokoupil

*VIDEO*



> With Americans approval of Congress lingering near record lows and about half the country unsatisfied with the White House, perhaps this will come as good news: Washington, D.C. is sinking into the sea.
> 
> Is the big slide some kind of karmic comeuppance? A matter of unchecked climate change? A side effect of excessive groundwater pumping? Nope, not this time, according to the researchers who confirmed Washingtons watery destiny in a new study.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/washington-dc-sinking-the-sea


----------



## poochee

*Chaka Fattah indicted in racketeering scheme*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:06 PM ET, Wed July 29, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)Rep. Chaka Fattah was indicted Wednesday on racketeering charges tied to a host of public corruption schemes, the Department of Justice said.
> 
> The Philadelphia Democrat, who was first elected to Congress in 1994 and served on the influential House Appropriations Committee, faces 29 charges, many stemming from his 2007 campaign for mayor.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/29/politics/congressman-chaka-fattah-indicted-racketeering/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 29, 11:29 AM EDT

*House, Senate move toward short-term highway bill *
By JOAN LOWY 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House and Senate are moving toward passage of a three-month patch to keep federal highway and transit aid flowing to states while lawmakers seek the right mix of policy and revenue to achieve a long-term transportation deal.
> 
> The House is expected to take up the short-term, $8 billion bill on Wednesday before leaving town for Congress' August recess. The Senate plans to take up the House bill later in the week, but before a midnight Friday deadline when authority for the Department of Transportation to process aid payments to states will expire.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-29-11-29-48


----------



## poochee

*House passes three-month highway bill*
By Keith Laing - 07/29/15 05:34 PM EDT



> The House voted Wednesday to approve an $8 billion bill that would extend federal transportation funding until the end of October, sending it to the Senate with just two days to go before the nation's road and transit spending expires.
> 
> The bill passed in a 385-34 vote, with Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) voting present. Senators are expected to accept the patch to prevent an interruption in the nation's infrastructure spending during the busy summer construction season.


http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/249685-house-approves-three-month-highway-bill


----------



## poochee

*Police officer charged with murder for fatally shooting black man in the head*
07/29/15 01:41 PMUpdated 07/29/15 10:55 PM 
By Amanda Sakuma
*
VIDEO*



> A Cincinnati grand jury indicted University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing in the July 19 death of 43-year-old Samuel DuBose, who was pulled over for not having a front license plate on his car, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph T. Deters said in a press conference Wednesday.
> 
> This is without question a murder, Deters said.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/cincinna...ed-murder-fatally-shooting-black-man-the-head


----------



## poochee

*Congress faces fall from hell*
_A crush of thorny, must-solve issues will greet lawmakers after the August recess - a major test for the GOP Congress._
By Jake Sherman and Burgess Everett
7/29/15 5:17 AM EDT



> In fact, lawmakers have teed up a hellish final few months of 2015, as a series of high-stakes deadlines looms on everything from keeping the government open to doling out money for roads and then, for good measure, raising the federal government's borrowing limit. It promises to be a major test of the Republican Party's ability to govern as the GOP prepares to ask voters to continue one-party control of Congress.
> 
> The crush was largely brought on by lawmakers themselves - the breakdown of the appropriations process this spring and failure to deal with highway funding have only added to the backlog of thorny, must-solve issues on Congress' plate when it returns from its summer in September.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/congress-faces-fall-from-hell-120753.html#ixzz3hLJ340H2


----------



## poochee

*Senate approves six-year highway bill*
By Jordain Carney - 07/30/15 12:36 PM EDT



> The Senate passed its long-term highway bill Thursday, though their work on federal infrastructure funding isnt over.
> 
> Senators voted 65-34 to approve the six-year bill, which funds federal highway and infrastructure projects for three years.


http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/249785-senate-approves-six-year-highway-bill


----------



## poochee

*Obama gets personal with Dems on Iran*
_This is the most intense Ive ever seen him, one lawmaker says of POTUS sales pitch at the White House this week._
By Lauren French
7/30/15 3:18 PM EDT
Updated 7/30/15 3:49 PM EDT



> It was a side of President Barack Obama many of the 20 House Democrats who gathered in the White Houses Blue Room Wednesday night hadnt seen before: engaged, direct, even a little bit personal.
> 
> Obama dived into his pitch on the Iran nuclear deal, demonstrating his command of the nuances as lawmakers peppered him with questions. But the president who has infamously shied away from hardball politics when it comes to selling his policies also made abundantly clear hes making an exception to secure what would be the biggest foreign policy triumph of his two terms.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...s-iran-nuclear-deal-120824.html#ixzz3hUU4683p


----------



## poochee

Jul 31, 12:55 PM EDT

*Suspected Jewish extremists burn Palestinian child to death *
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH and TIA GOLDENBERG 
Associated Press
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.



> DUMA, West Bank (AP) -- Suspected Jewish assailants set fire to a West Bank home on Friday and burned a sleeping Palestinian toddler to death in an attack that drew Palestinian rage and widespread Israeli condemnation. The attack, which threatens to set off another violent escalation, shines a light on the growing lawlessness of extremist Jewish settlers that Israel is either unable or unwilling to contain.
> 
> The extremists have for years staged attacks against Palestinian property, as well as mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases. The attacks, known as "price tags" because they exact a price for Israeli steps seen as favorable to the Palestinians, have stirred fear in Palestinians and frustration among critics who say Israel has not done enough to quell the assaults.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-07-31-12-55-14


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Achilles Heel*
By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent, and Will Mullery, CNN
Updated 12:34 PM ET, Fri July 31, 2015

*CHARTS*



> Donald Trump is at the top of recent polls of GOP voters. And he's also the most popular among GOP women. He got 15% support to Jeb Bush's 15% support in the CNN / ORC poll released July 26th. http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/26/politics/cnn-orc-poll-data/index.html





> But broadening out to the general electorate in that most recent CNN / ORC national poll, more than six in 10 women view Donald Trump unfavorably. It's a significant factor in why, among women voters, Hillary Clinton beats Trump by a whopping 28 points in the national poll. (That's nearly twice her 15 point edge of Jeb Bush among women).


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/politics/donald-trump-voter-numbers/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Californians cut water use 27 percent*
By Timothy Cama - 07/31/15 03:35 PM EDT



> It is the second month in a row in which Californias residential water use declined more than 25 percent compared with the same month in 2013, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
> 
> It is especially impressive given that it was the hottest June on record for the state, which would usually cause an increase in water use.


http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/249948-californians-cut-water-use-27-percent


----------



## poochee

July 31, 2015, 05:26 pm 
*Huckabee on using troops to stop abortions: 'We'll see'*
By Neetzan Zimmerman



> Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told supporters Thursday he would take extreme measures to stop abortions in the United States, including defying the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, and potentially deploying federal forces and the FBI.
> 
> Speaking at two public venues in Iowa, Huckabee, a Republican presidential candidate, responded to several question on his plans to prevent abortions from taking place if elected.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ee-on-using-troops-to-stop-abortions-well-see


----------



## poochee

*Florida rejects mother's complaint about baby's death after heart surgery*
By Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent
Updated 7:07 PM ET, Fri July 31, 2015

*VIDEO*



> *Story highlights*
> CNN uncovered a high mortality rate for pediatric open-heart surgeries at a hospital from 2011 to 2013
> Amelia Campbell was one of the babies who died after heart surgery at St. Mary's
> The state of Florida has declined to investigate a complaint from Amelia's mother


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/healt...iid=ob_article_topstories_pool&iref=obnetwork


----------



## poochee

August 01, 2015 
*Weekly Address: Celebrating Fifty Years of Medicare and Medicaid*

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President celebrated the fiftieth birthdays of Medicare and Medicaid, which together have allowed millions to live longer and better lives. These programs are a promise that if we work hard, and play by the rules, we'll be rewarded with a basic measure of dignity, security, and the freedom to live our lives as we want. Every American deserves the sense of safety and security that comes with health insurance. That's why the President signed the Affordable Care Act, and that's why he will continue to work to ensure that Medicare and Medicaid, programs that are fundamental to our way of life, stay strong.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Empire Sought Visas For At Least 1,100 Foreign Workers*
_While touting his hardline on immigration on the campaign trail for the GOP presidential nomination, Trump's companies have been recruiting foreign workers._
Reuters
Posted: 07/31/2015 10:31 PM EDT | Edited: 07/31/2015 10:36 PM EDT



> Donald Trump is staking his run for U.S. president in part on a vow to protect American jobs. But this month, one of his companies, the elite Mar-a-Lago Club resort in Florida, applied to import 70 foreign workers to serve as cooks, wait staff and cleaners.
> 
> A Reuters analysis of U.S. government data reveals that this is business as usual in the New York property magnate's empire.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...1100-foreign-workers_55bc2c8ee4b06363d5a2615f


----------



## poochee

Aug 1, 12:06 PM EDT

*Suicide spike boosts oversight of California women's prison *
By DON THOMPSON 
Associated Press



> SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A spike in suicides and attempted suicides has prompted corrections officials to step up oversight at a California women's prison as inspectors try to pinpoint the cause of the troubling increase.
> 
> Four women have killed themselves at California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County in the last 18 months, according to state records. The suicide rate at the facility is more than eight times the national rate for female inmates and more than five times the rate for the entire California prison system.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-01-12-06-53


----------



## poochee

*Grand Jury Indicts Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, on Felony Charges*
By MANNY FERNANDEZAUG. 1, 2015



> HOUSTON  Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas and a former state legislator, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of securities fraud and of failing to register with the state securities board, officials said.
> 
> The grand jury in the northern Dallas suburb of McKinney handed up a three-count indictment against Mr. Paxton on Tuesday, the officials said. The indictment is to be unsealed on Monday, when Mr. Paxton is expected to turn himself in to the authorities at the Collin County Jail.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Democrats Take Advantage Of The GOP's Epic Month Of Dysfunction
*Michael McAuliff
Senior Congressional Reporter
Christine Conetta
Producer for HuffPost Live and HuffPost Politics 
Posted: 08/01/2015 09:02 AM EDT



> WASHINGTON -- Maybe congressional Democrats should just send their GOP colleagues a thank-you note.
> 
> After a month during which Congress failed to make any progress on funding the government, an attempt to protect the Confederate flag killed an appropriations bill and hard-line Republicans in both the House (Rep. Mark Meadows) and Senate (Sen. Ted Cruz) openly challenged their leaders' integrity and ability, Democrats didn't have to work hard to portray themselves as the responsible ones as lawmakers headed into their summer break.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-gop-dysfunction-congress_55bb9bf0e4b0d4f33a0289e9?


----------



## poochee

*Obama, allies tout climate rule ahead of Monday launch*
_The White House hopes to secure his legacy on climate change by mandating cuts in power plants greenhouse gas pollution.
_By Alex Guillén
8/1/15 11:50 AM EDT
Updated 8/2/15 12:41 PM EDT



> President Barack Obama and his allies made pleas Sunday for the nations most ambitious environmental regulation in decades  a crackdown on power plants greenhouse gas emissions that he will unveil Monday, in hopes of putting the U.S. in striking distance of achieving a global agreement to combat climate change.
> 
> The administration is describing the rule as even more aggressive than the drafts it had issued in 2013 and last summer, even though it is expected to ease up on some of the most controversial provisions from those earlier versions. Overall, it will require power plants to put out an average of 32 percent less carbon dioxide in 2030 than they had in 2005  slightly steeper than the 30-percent cuts that last years draft had called for.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...e-rule-nears-launch-120884.html#ixzz3hgSeMB6c


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump and the mob*
Chris Frates, CNN Investigative Correspondent 
Updated 12:37 PM ET, Fri July 31, 2015



> *Story highlights*
> Reports going back decades tie Trump to NY, Philly mob families
> "Little Nicky," "Chicken Man" and "Crazy Phil"





> (CNN)Donald Trump's glittering empire of New York skyscrapers and Atlantic City casinos have long had a darker side, allegations that the mob helped build them.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/politics/trump-mob-mafia/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Texas Attorney General Booked On Fraud Charges*
Reuters
By Jon Herskovitz
Posted: 08/03/2015 10:49 AM EDT | Edited: 1 hour ago



> AUSTIN, Texas, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Tea Party Republican, turned himself in on Monday and was booked on three felony charges involving suspected securities fraud, officials said.
> 
> Paxton appeared for processing and posed for a mug shot in Collin County, near Dallas. The contents of a sealed three-count indictment will soon be released, the Dallas Morning News and other media outlets reported.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ken-paxton-fraud_55bf7e89e4b06363d5a2ac2b?


----------



## poochee

*Manhunt intensifies for accused Memphis cop killer*
John Bacon and Greg Toppo, USATODAY 11:08 a.m. EDT August 3, 2015

*VIDEO*



> The emotional manhunt for a man suspected of fatally shooting a Memphis police officer stretched into Monday as the city and police department mourned the violent death of an officer for the third time in four years.
> 
> Tremain Wilbourn, 29, is accused of killing Officer Sean Bolton, 33, during what started out as a simple traffic stop Saturday night, according to Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong. Armstrong said Bolton had stopped to examine a vehicle parked illegally in a South Memphis neighborhood but apparently interrupted a drug deal. Wilbourn was in the passenger seat and, after "some type of physical altercation," he drew a gun and shot Bolton, Armstrong said.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ensifies-accused-memphis-cop-killer/31047365/


----------



## poochee

*Obama unveils biggest step weve ever taken on climate*
08/02/15 04:10 PMUpdated 08/03/15 03:06 PM 
By Tony Dokoupil and Eric Levitz

*VIDEOS*



> President Barack Obama announced on Monday that the U.S. will take a giant stride in the race to prevent catastrophic climate change, limiting  for the first time ever  the amount of carbon power plants can pump into the atmosphere.
> 
> If the proposed Clean Power Plan survives legal and legislative challenges, it would shutter hundreds of existing coal-fired power plants, prevent construction of new ones and boost renewable energy to heights not previously seen. It could also fundamentally rewrite Obamas mixed legacy on global warming, making good on his 2008 inaugural promise to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-unveils-biggest-step-weve-ever-taken-climate


----------



## poochee

*Memphis cop killing suspect surrenders
* John Bacon and Greg Toppo, USATODAY 8:53 p.m. EDT August 3, 2015

*VIDEO*



> The emotional manhunt for a paroled bank robber suspected of fatally shooting a Memphis police officer ended Monday evening when the suspect surrendered to the U.S. Marshal's office, local and federal authorities announced.
> 
> Tremain Wilbourn, 29, was accompanied by his family when he arrived at the federal building in Memphis, the U.S. attorney's office said shortly after the Shelby, Tenn., sheriff tweeted that he was in custody.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ensifies-accused-memphis-cop-killer/31047365/


----------



## poochee

*Democrats Block Vote On Planned Parenthood Defunding*
_Republicans fell short of the 60 votes they needed to debate the legislation._
Laura Bassett, Senior Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post 
Posted: 08/03/2015 06:03 PM EDT | Edited: 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*



> Senate Democrats blocked a vote on a bill Monday that would have stripped federal funds from Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest family planning provider.





> Ahead of the vote, Democrats decried the bill as an ideological attack on women's health care and abortion rights.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...arenthood-defunding_55bfa708e4b06363d5a2dd89?


----------



## poochee

*President Obama turns 54. See past POTUS birthday celebrations.
* 08/04/15 12:11 PM 
By Olivia Kestin and Adam Howard
*
PICTURES*



> President Barack Obama celebrated his 54th birthday on Tuesday, his seventh since he became the 44th commander-in-chief. There has been a lot of attention paid to the evolution of the president's appearance since he took office. Sure, Obama has lost some of his youthful glow and gained a head of mostly gray hair - but he hasn't lost his trademark sense of humor, especially when it comes to the aging process.





> As a nation we don't get to see our presidents have fun and relax too often, but their birthdays are an exception to the rule. Looking back at images of our country's leaders commemorating their special day is a reminder that they are still human and appreciate taking a moment to bask in a more collegial spotlight.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/president-obama-turns-54-see-past-potus-birthday-celebrations


----------



## poochee

*Obama's day: A busy birthday schedule*
The Oval 
David Jackson, USA TODAY 6:49 a.m. EDT August 4, 2015



> President Obama marks his 54th birthday Tuesday with a busy schedule that covers United Nations policy, his vice president, entrepreneurship, and the Iran nuclear deal.
> 
> In the morning, Obama welcomes United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Oval Office, with an agenda likely to range from Iran to climate change. The president addresses the U.N. General Assembly next month.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/theov...oe-biden-demo-day-iran-nuclear-deal/31093731/


----------



## poochee

*
Fox News announces 10 candidates for Thursdays prime-time debate*
08/04/15 06:06 PMUpdated 08/04/15 06:36 PM 
By Carrie Dann and Rachel Kleinman

*VIDEO*



> The first prime-time debate of the Republican primary race on Thursday will include 10 candidates, according to Fox News:





> Fox, which is hosting the debate in Cleveland, Ohio, announced the list of candidates on air at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fox-news-announces-gop-candidates-participate-first-debate


----------



## poochee

Aug 4, 7:24 PM EDT
*Obama, Netanyahu make dueling appeals on Iran to US Jews *
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made dueling appeals to the American Jewish community Tuesday as they sought to rally support for their opposing positions on the Iranian nuclear deal.





> Obama held a private meeting at the White House later Tuesday with Jewish leaders - some who support the deal, some who oppose it, and others whose organizations are undecided. The White House said Obama emphasized that the deal would allow the world to verify that Iran wasn't acquiring a nuclear weapon and affirmed his support for Israel's security.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-04-19-24-34


----------



## poochee

*Israel ex-security chiefs urge Netanyahu to accept Iran deal*
AFP 
August 3, 2015 11:42 AM



> Jerusalem (AFP) - Many Israeli ex-generals and former security chiefs have signed a petition urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran, which he strongly opposes.
> 
> A petition signed by the former officials and made public Monday calls the July 14 accord a "fait accompli".


 http://news.yahoo.com/israel-ex-security-chiefs-urge-netanyahu-accept-iran-154215121.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama draws comparison between Iraq War, Iran vote*
By Jordan Fabian - 08/05/15 12:31 PM EDT



> President Obama on Wednesday made a forceful case for congressional approval of his nuclear deal with Iran, arguing a vote on the agreement is the most consequential foreign policy decision for lawmakers since the Iraq War.
> 
> Obama, who ran for president in 2008 opposing the unpopular war, used a sweeping address to dismiss politicians who oppose the Iran deal as the same people who authorized the conflict in Iraq.


http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/250316-obama-draws-comparison-between-iraq-war-iran-vote


----------



## poochee

*Pope: We need to treat remarried Catholics better*
08/05/15 11:32 AMUpdated 08/05/15 11:33 AM 
By Aliyah Frumin



> Pope Francis broke again from traditional Catholic teachings, declaring on Wednesday that the church should do more to embrace those who follow the religion but decide to divorce then remarry.
> 
> According to existing Catholic doctrine, divorced Catholics who decide to tie the knot again are living in sin and cannot receive communion.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/pope-we-need-treat-remarried-catholics-better


----------



## poochee

*Gunman killed in police shootout after opening fire at Antioch, Tennessee, theater*
08/05/15 03:09 PMUpdated 08/05/15 04:46 PM 
By Benjamin Landy and Joy Y. Wang

*VIDEO*



> A man armed with a gun and a hatchet opened fire Wednesday in a movie theater outside Nashville, Tennessee, police said. The attacker was killed after exchanging fire with SWAT officers, police said. Authorities said he was a 51-year-old local man but have not yet released his identity.
> 
> There were no serious injuries related to the incident, Nashville Fire Department Public Information Officer Brian Haas said in a press briefing, adding that there were no plans to transport the victims to the hospital. Police said the assailant unleashed pepper spray throughout the theater. Three people were injured from exposure to an irritant believed to be pepper spray, Haas said. The first patient was a 58-year-old male who suffered a shoulder wound that appeared to be from a hatchet, and the two other victims treated for pepper spray exposure were women, he added.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/police-respond-report-gunman-antioch-tennessee-theater


----------



## poochee

*Cop resigns after tossing food at handcuffed homeless man*
WTSP-TV, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. 1:31 a.m. EDT August 5, 2015
*
VIDEO*



> SARASOTA, Fla.  A Florida police officer caught on video tossing food to a suspect at the Sarasota County jail resigned Tuesday.
> 
> Officer Andrew Halpin announced his resignation just moments before his scheduled interview with internal affairs investigators regarding the jail incident.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/peanut-throwing-cop-resigns/31142469/


----------



## poochee

August 05, 2015, 05:26 pm 
*Election model predicts Dem will win
* By Vicki Needham



> Moodys Analytics is predicting that the Democratic presidential nominee will capture 270 electoral votes in 2016, edging out the Republican nominees total of 268.
> 
> The model from Moody's, a group that analyzes economic trends, has a perfect track record, accurately predicting every presidential election since 1980; it nailed the number of electoral votes in President Obama's 2012 victory.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...67-election-model-predicts-nail-biter-in-2016


----------



## poochee

*Judge Orders Bill Cosby To Give Sworn Deposition In Lawsuit*
_Cosby will submit to questions under oath from the lawyer of his accuser, Judy Huth._
Reuters
By Steve Gorman
Posted: 08/05/2015 08:43 PM EDT | Edited: 35 minutes ago



> LOS ANGELES, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Bill Cosby has been ordered to give a sworn deposition in a lawsuit brought by a woman accusing the comedian of plying her with alcohol and sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles when she was 15 years old.
> 
> It marks the first time Cosby, 78, has been directed to testify under oath in response to a complaint of sexual misconduct against him since a deposition he gave in a separate Pennsylvania case he settled out of court nine years ago.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...5c2a7dce4b0d9b743dadaf6?kvcommref=mostpopular


----------



## poochee

August 05, 2015, 08:31 pm 
*Senate adjourns for five-week break*
By Jordain Carney



> Senators are heading out of Washington for a five-week recess, punting a handful of issues until they return in September.
> 
> The Senate is effectively closed for business until Sept. 8, after paving the way to start work on a resolution of disapproval on the Iran nuclear deal as soon as they come back into session.


http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/250384-senate-adjourns-for-five-week-break


----------



## poochee

*SEC Finally Approves Rule On CEO Pay
*
_Elizabeth Warren scores another win._
Zach Carter
Senior Posted: 08/05/2015 01:03 PM EDT | Edited: 08/05/2015 05:44 PM EDT



> WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved a rule requiring companies to the reveal the discrepancy between what their top executive gets paid and what their ordinary workers take home.
> 
> The CEO pay rule comes more than five years after Congress ordered the agency to write it under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Companies will now have to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the compensation of a typical employee -- defined as the median pay level of all workers at the firm.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sec-ceo-pay-rule_55c2250ae4b0f7f0bebb12e6?kvcommref=mostpopular


----------



## poochee

*Israeli President Rivlin: Netanyahu's Anti-Iran Drive Isolates Israel*
_"I have told him, and I'm telling him again, that struggles, even those that are just, can ultimately come at Israel's expense."
_Reuters
Posted: 08/06/2015 09:50 AM EDT | Edited: 08/06/2015 02:59 PM EDT



> JERUSALEM, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Israel's president suggested on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been overzealous in opposing the Iran nuclear deal, opening a "battlefront" with Washington and isolating his country.
> 
> Reuven Rivlin, who holds the largely ceremonial head of state post, argued in three separate newspaper interviews that Netanyahu's vigorous campaign against last month's nuclear deal between world powers and Iran could ultimately hurt Israel.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...5c362b6e4b0f1cbf1e3cff1?kvcommref=mostpopular


----------



## poochee

Politics 
* Aug 6 2015, 2:15 pm ET 
Democrats Announce 2016 Primary Debate Schedule *
by Carrie Dann



> After the October debate in Nevada, which will be hosted by CNN, the next Democratic debates are: November 14 in Des Moines, IA (hosted by CBS, KCCI and the Des Moines Register); December 19 in Manchester, NH (hosted by ABC and WMUR); and January 17 in Charleston, SC (hosted by NBC News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute).
> 
> Debates are also scheduled to be held in February or March in both Miami and Wisconsin, with dates to be announced.


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...announce-2016-primary-debate-schedule-n405161


----------



## poochee

Aug 7, 10:00 AM EDT

*FACT CHECK:* Truth vs exaggeration in GOP presidential debate 
By JOSH LEDERMAN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Alicia A. Caldwell, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Deb Riechmann, Christopher S. Rugaber, Lisa Lerer and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.



> WASHINGTON (AP) -- The 10 Republican presidential hopefuls who took to the stage for their first debate in Cleveland faced a daunting task in distinguishing themselves among a sprawling field of candidates. Along the way, they puffed up their own records in office and public life and veered occasionally from the truth.
> 
> A look at some of the claims in the debate and how they compare with the facts:


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-07-03-21-44


----------



## poochee

Aug 7, 10:10 AM EDT
*A year after Michael Brown's death, Ferguson has changed *
By JIM SALTER and JIM SUHR 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Sharon Cohen and Alex Sanz contributed to this report from Ferguson.



> FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- A year ago, Ferguson, Missouri, was a mostly quiet working-class suburban town. The uneasy relationship between its growing black population and its mostly white police force barely registered in local headlines.
> 
> Everything changed on Aug. 9, 2014, when a white police officer named Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old. The street confrontation on that sultry day launched the "Black Lives Matter" movement.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-07-01-27-23


----------



## poochee

Aug 7, 5:49 PM EDT

*Thousands of Iraqis protest against government corruption *
By VIVIAN SALAMA 
Associated Press



> BAGHDAD (AP) -- Thousands of Iraqis braved the scorching summer heat to stage a huge protest in central Baghdad on Friday, calling on the prime minister to dissolve the parliament and sack corrupt government officials.
> 
> Security forces and riot police sealed off Iraq's iconic Tahrir Square and searched anyone who entered the area, but tens of thousands of men, women and children thronged the sprawling square, waving Iraqi flags.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-07-17-48-44


----------



## poochee

*Obama leaves DC for Martha's Vineyard vacation*
By Jordan Fabian - 08/07/15 04:51 PM EDT



> President Obama left Washington on Friday for his familys annual vacation on Marthas Vineyard, Mass., hoping for a brief respite after one of the most eventful stretches of his presidency.
> 
> After a nuclear accord with Iran, Supreme Court victories on same-sex marriage and healthcare, and a win in Congress on trade, Obama will escape to a rented seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home that sits just off Vineyard Sound.


http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/250613-obama-leave-dc-for-marthas-vineyard-vacation


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is having a meltdown after Megyn Kelly and Fox News cut him to pieces during the debate*
Brett Aug. 7, 2015, 7:36 AM
*
VIDEO*



> Real-estate magnate Donald Trump reamed Fox News moderators and associates during a lengthy Twitter rant early Friday morning, hours after the first Republican presidential debate.
> 
> Trump went off on moderator Megyn Kelly, who he said "bombed." Kelly had perhaps the most contentious exchange of the night with Trump when she asked him about a slew of past offensive comments toward women.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dona...kelly-frank-luntz-debate-2015-8#ixzz3iAdmcGOo

*A Fox News focus group just torched Donald Trump after the debate*
Maxwell Tani and Brett LoGiurato
Aug. 6, 2015, 11:58 PM



> A Fox News panel of Republican voters had harsh sentiments for real-estate magnate Donald Trump's performance Thursday night during the first Republican presidential debate.
> 
> After the debate, Fox's panel of 23 Republican voters voiced their overwhelming disapproval with Trump, citing his "mean" personality and veiled threat to run as a third-party candidate.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dona...group-debate-frank-luntz-2015-8#ixzz3iAemhTg5


----------



## poochee

Aug 8, 12:08 AM EDT

*At end of epic Colorado theater shooting trial, a surprise *
By SADIE GURMAN 
Associated Press



> But when it came time to decide whether to sentence him to death on Friday, at least one juror balked.
> 
> As a result, James Holmes will be sentenced to life in prison for the 2012 attack that killed 12 and injured 70 during the midnight screening of a Batman movie. Nine jurors wanted to execute Holmes, but one was steadfastly opposed and two others wavering, a juror told reporters after the verdict was announced.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-07-22-02-23


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump disinvited from conservative gathering over Megyn Kelly comments*
08/08/15 08:34 AMUpdated 08/08/15 11:07 AM 
By Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*



> ATLANTA  Organizers at the conservative RedState Gathering have disinvited Donald Trump to their event in response to the billionaire presidential candidates ugly feud with Fox News host Megyn Kelly.
> 
> The move by RedState editor-in-chief Erick Erickson, came after Trump complained that Kelly was too tough on him while moderating Thursdays debate, telling CNN there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. Kelly had questioned Trump on his rhetoric towards women, quoting instances in which he called female critics a dog or fat.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-disinvited-conservative-gathering-over-megyn-kelly-comments


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump disinvited to speak at RedState event; Megyn Kelly invited*
By Robert Costa August 8 at 10:30 AM

*VIDEO*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...nt-megyn-kelly-invited/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*29 U.S. Scientists Praise Iran Nuclear Deal in Letter to Obama*
By WILLIAM J. BROADAUG. 8, 2015



> Twenty-nine of the nations top scientists  including Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms and former White House science advisers  wrote to President Obama on Saturday to praise the Iran deal, calling it innovative and stringent.
> 
> The letter, from some of the worlds most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control, arrives as Mr. Obama is lobbying Congress, the American public and the nations allies to support the agreement.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/w...ran-nuclear-deal-in-letter-to-obama.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama: U.S. credibility on the line in Iran nuclear deal*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:51 PM ET, Sun August 9, 2015

*VIDEO*



> Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama says the United States' credibility -- beyond just the specifics of the negotiations and his tenure in the White House -- is on the line as Congress votes on the Iran nuclear deal.
> 
> In an interview aired Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Obama said the United States' role in global politics could be affected by the deal.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/politics/obama-iran-nuclear-deal-us-credibility-zakaria/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Which 2016 candidate was the most effective legislator?*
By Philip Bump August 9 at 7:30 AM

*CHARTS *



> "I have a track record in Washington, D.C., of getting things done," former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum said during the pre-show debate Thursday night, by way of establishing his credentials. And he does. Among the 11 (!) 2016 candidates who at one point served in Congress, Santorum's record of getting legislation passed is impressive.
> 
> How does the field compare overall? Before we answer that, we will dispatch with the inevitable response from some quarters: "But it is good for Congress not to pass laws!" If that is your view, so be it; we've addressed that before on the grand scale. We aren't talking about Congress, though. We're talking about legislators. And if you support, say, Rand Paul, you probably want bills he has sponsored to pass, no?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-candidate-was-the-most-effective-legislator/


----------



## poochee

*Gallup finds Americas uninsured rate continues to fall*
08/10/15 11:31 AM 
By Eric Levitz

*VIDEO*



> A year and half after the Affordable Care Act went into effect, the percentage of Americans who lack any form of health insurance continues to decline, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. The poll found that the uninsured rate in the U.S. fell from 17.3% in 2013 to 11.7% in the first half of 2015.
> 
> But the survey results also show that reductions in the ranks of the uninsured have been greatest in the states that fully enacted the laws recommendations. The 22 states that chose to expand Medicaid and set up their own state exchanges or partnerships in the health insurance marketplace saw their uninsured rates decline by a collective 7.1 percentage points since the end of 2013, according to the poll. The 28 states that failed to implement one or both of those measures saw only a 5.3 point collective decline.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gallup-finds-americas-uninsured-rate-continues-fall


----------



## poochee

August 10, 2015, 10:39 am 
*Attorney general condemns violence in Ferguson*
By Jordan Fabian



> "I strongly condemn the violence against the community, including police officers, in Ferguson," she said at the Fraternal Order of Police National Conference and Exposition in Pittsburgh.
> 
> "As we have seen over the recent months and years, not only does violence obscure any message of peaceful protest, it places the community, as well as the officers who seek to protect it, in harm's way," she added.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/250712-attorney-general-condemns-violence-in-ferguson


----------



## poochee

August 10, 2015, 09:49 pm 
*Megyn Kelly: I will not apologize to Trump*
By Jonathan Easley

*VIDEO*



> Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly said on Monday night that she would not apologize to Republican presidential contender Donald Trump for questioning him at last week's presidential debate on past comments he had made concerning women.
> 
> "I certainly will not apologize for doing good journalism," she said on her program.


http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...797-megyn-kelly-i-will-not-apologize-to-trump


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton starts taking some risks  and landing some punches*
By Anne Gearan August 9 
Karen Tumulty contributed to this report.

*PHOTOS/VIDEO*



> After months of remaining largely above the partisan fray  and often appearing cautious to a fault  Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun taking more risks and landing some punches against Republicans.
> 
> The more aggressive posture comes as Clinton has suffered an erosion in her public image, with more potential voters saying they view her unfavorably than at any point since she entered the 2016 race and fewer people saying they find her trustworthy.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...447744-3ca9-11e5-9c2d-ed991d848c48_story.html


----------



## poochee

*
Father Lets Daughter Drown to Avoid 'Dishonor'*

_He didn't want male lifeguards to touch her, Dubai cop says_
By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff 
Posted Aug 11, 2015 3:31 AM CDT



> Newser)  A search and rescue official in Dubai says it was one of the most disturbing cases of his career. The father of a 20-year-old woman let her drown rather than have her "dishonored" by being touched by male lifeguards,


http://www.newser.com/story/211122/...rce=part&utm_medium=usatoday&utm_campaign=syn


----------



## DaveBurnett

> It's not clear exactly when the incident happened (one report suggests it might have actually happened in 1996)


----------



## poochee

Thanks.


----------



## DaveBurnett

You're welcome. I wondered if you'd got emotive (its what the article was designed to do) and failed to read it through.


----------



## poochee

*Dozens of retired generals, admirals back Iran nuclear deal*
By Karen DeYoung August 11 at 3:09 PM

*VIDEO*



> Three dozen retired generals and admirals released an open letter Tuesday supporting the Iran nuclear deal and urging Congress to do the same.
> 
> Calling the agreement the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the letter said that gaining international support for military action against Iran, should that ever become necessary, would only be possible if we have first given the diplomatic path a chance.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...26f6ae-4045-11e5-bfe3-ff1d8549bfd2_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Nine in 10 Americans have health insurance, survey finds*
08/12/15 11:40 AM 
By Maggie Fox
*
VIDEO*



> More than 7 million people who didnt have health insurance last year got coverage this year, a new government survey finds.
> 
> Its the latest in a series of reports showing the Affordable Care Act is expanding the availability of coverage. Each report takes a slightly different approach. This one, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, compares the first three months of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obamacare-nine-10-americans-have-health-insurance-survey-finds


----------



## poochee

*
U.S. Congress and Its Leaders Suffer Public Discontent*
by Andrew Dugan
August 12, 2015
*
CHARTS*



> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Now on August recess, members of Congress returning to their districts may receive a skeptical reception from constituents, as 14% of U.S. adults approve of the job Congress is doing, down slightly from 17% in July.
> 
> These results come from a Gallup poll conducted Aug. 5-9. Congressional leaders can point to a slightly more productive session than was true for the previous two Congresses, such as passing "fast-track authority" -- which grants the president enhanced authority to negotiate free-trade agreements -- as well as the USA Freedom Act, which significantly revised some provisions of the Patriot Act.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/184556/c...litics&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_campaign=tiles


----------



## poochee

Aug 12, 1:18 PM EDT

*Group behind anti-abortion videos is something of a mystery *
By JULIA HOROWITZ 
Associated Press



> SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- It calls itself the Center for Medical Progress, and its name has been all over the news in the past few weeks after it began releasing hidden-camera videos that set off an uproar over the use of tissue from aborted fetuses in medical research.
> 
> But a review of the group and the small number of people associated with it in public filings suggests there is little to support the lofty sound of its title. The addresses it lists are postal drops in Sacramento and Irvine, and it employs no scientists or physicians engaged in advancing medical treatments.


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-12-13-18-23


----------



## poochee

*Jimmy Carter: Liver surgery revealed cancer 'in other parts of my body'*
08/12/15 04:47 PM-Updated 08/12/15 06:48 PM 
By Adam Howard
Additional reporting by Maggie Fox.

*VIDEO*



> "Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body. I will be re-arranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment by physicians at Emory Healthcare. A more complete public statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week," the 90-year-old Democrat said.
> 
> President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wished Carter "a fast and full recovery," on Wednesday. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Rosalynn [Carter] and the entire Carter family as they face this challenge with the same grace and determination that they have shown so many times before. Jimmy, you're as resilient as they come, and along with the rest of America, we are rooting for you," Obama said in an official statement.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jimmy-carter-liver-surgery-revealed-cancer-other-parts-my-body


----------



## poochee

Aug 12, 4:45 PM EDT

*As anniversary and protests fade, Ferguson looks ahead 
*By JIM SUHR 
Associated Press



> FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- By Wednesday, police outnumbered protesters in the St. Louis suburb that launched the "Black Lives Matter" movement, signaling that the nightly demonstrations could be fading after the anniversary of Michael Brown's death. But Ferguson, and the issues that elevated it to national prominence, are sure to be closely watched in the months to come. A look at what's ahead:
> 
> ACTIVISTS KEEP GOING


 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-12-16-45-06


----------



## poochee

*Carson defends his own fetal tissue research*
By Sarah Ferris - 08/13/15 11:32 AM EDT



> "You have to look at the intent," Carson told The Washington Post before a campaign event in New Hampshire. "To willfully ignore evidence that you have for some ideological reason is wrong. If youre killing babies and taking the tissue, thats a very different thing than taking a dead specimen and keeping a record of it."
> 
> Carson has blasted the use of fetal tissue by Planned Parenthood after anti-abortion groups released undercover videos claiming that workers received payment for the donated tissue and that some tissue was used without consent.


http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/251034-carson-defends-his-research-of-fetal-tissue


----------



## poochee

*Ohio woman who died in custody may have been improperly medicated*
08/13/15 09:08 AM 
By Erin Calabrese



> An Ohio woman whose death in police custody is being investigated, may have been improperly medicated by authorities, newly released documents show.
> 
> Ralkina Jones, 37, was found dead in a jail cell on July 26 after being arrested by the Cleveland Heights Police Department two days earlier following a fight with her ex-husband outside of a bar.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ohio-woman-who-died-custody-may-have-been-improperly-medicated


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare Safety Net Catching People Who Lose Health Insurance*
_Obamacare isn't just for people who are uninsured today. It's also for people who lose their insurance tomorrow.
_Jeffrey Young
Health Care Reporter, The Huffington Post 
Posted: 08/13/2015 01:01 PM EDT | Edited: 3 hours ago

*CHARTS*



> WASHINGTON -- The Obamacare health insurance exchanges appear to be doing a good job when it comes to one of their most important yet underappreciated functions: offering a fallback option to people who lose their health coverage during the year.
> 
> Already this year, almost half a million people have taken advantage of that safety net, a new government report shows.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...5ccbc2ae4b0898c4886b3ef?kvcommref=mostpopular


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP/ August 13, 2015, 2:04 PM
​*Donald Trump officially fired from "The Celebrity Apprentice"*



> NBC's entertainment chairman, Bob Greenblatt, announced Thursday while at the Television Critics Association Press Tour that the show would not be back next season, but will return in the future with a new host.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-officially-fired-from-the-celebrity-apprentice/


----------



## poochee

*California Bans Use Of Grand Juries In Police Shooting Cases*
_The panels will no longer decide whether law enforcement should face criminal charges in use-of-force cases_.
Mollie Reilly
Deputy Politics Editor, The Huffington Post 
Posted: 08/12/2015 10:23 AM EDT | Edited: 08/12/2015 12:26 PM EDT



> SB 227, authored by state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), makes California the first state to ban the use of grand juries to decide whether law enforcement should face criminal charges in use-of-force cases. The ban, which will go into effect next year, comes after grand juries failed to indict police officers who killed unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, last year, heightening scrutiny of the process.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-grand-juries-police_55cb517ee4b0923c12bebda7


----------



## poochee

Aug 14, 4:29 PM EDT
*Kerry calls for democracy as US flag is raised in Cuba *
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Anne-Marie Garcia and Andrea Rodriguez in Havana contributed to this report.



> HAVANA (AP) -- Jubilant crowds waved American flags and chanted "Long live the United States!" as the Stars and Stripes rose over the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Cuba on Friday after a half-century of often-hostile relations. Secretary of State John Kerry celebrated the day but also made an extraordinary, nationally broadcast call for democratic change on the island.
> 
> Hundreds of Cubans mixed with American tourists outside the former U.S. Interests Section, newly emblazoned with the letters "Embassy of the United States of America." They cheered as Kerry spoke, the United States Army Brass Quintet played "The Star-Spangled Banner" and U.S. Marines raised the flag alongside the building overlooking the famous Malecon seaside promenade.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-14-16-29-43


----------



## poochee

*Jenna Bush Hager welcomes second daughter  named after George H.W.*
08/14/15 03:43 PMUpdated 08/14/15 03:44 PM 
By Eun Kyung Kim
*
PHOTOS*



> The Bush family just got a little bigger.
> 
> TODAY correspondent Jenna Bush Hager gave birth Thursday, Aug. 13, to a girl, Poppy Louise Hager, who weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. This is her second daughter with husband Henry Hager.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jenna-bush-hager-welcomes-second-daughter-named-after-george-hw-0


----------



## poochee

*Pentagon assessing US options for Guantanamo detainees*
08/14/15 05:45 PMUpdated 08/14/15 05:56 PM 
By Associated Press

*VIDEO*



> WASHINGTON  Defense Department personnel are taking another look at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Navy Brig in Charleston, South Carolina, in a renewed effort to evaluate a number of potential U.S. facilities where detainees from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be transferred.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/pentagon-assessing-us-options-guantanamo-detainees


----------



## poochee

poochee said:


> *CNN Poll: Majority of Americans say things are going well*
> CNN Poll: Majority of Americans say things are going well
> By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
> updated 6:59 PM EST, Fri November 28, 2014By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
> *
> VIDEOS*
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/28/politics/poll-national-mood-economy/index.html?hpt=po_c2


----------



## poochee

test


----------



## poochee

Thanks, I having problems. LOL


----------



## poochee

Aug 18, 5:27 PM EDT
Obama's Iran deal may well survive on Capitol Hill
By ERICA WERNER and DAVID PORTER 
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The fiercely contested Iran nuclear deal will likely survive in Congress despite unified GOP opposition and some Democratic defections, the top Senate Republican says. That would mean a major foreign policy win for President Barack Obama.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-18-17-27-33


----------



## ekim68

It sure Ticks off the Military Industrial Complex though....


----------



## pyritechips

ekim68 said:


> It sure Ticks off the Military Industrial Complex though....


Yes, it reduces the number of bad guys they can pick on and fear-monger to congress for a budget increase. The defense contractors must be pulling their old grey hairs out.


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's immigration tab: $166 billion*

The mogul's plan has galvanized the right, but he doesn't mention that deporting illegal immigrants would cost a pretty penny.
By Seung Min Kim
8/19/15 5:22 AM EDT
Updated 8/19/15 9:16 AM EDT

Donald Trump's immigration plan is huge in every aspect - including its price tag.

Think $166 billion. And that's on the low end.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-trumps-immigration-tab-166-billion-121500.html?hp=t3_r


----------



## poochee

*Jimmy Carter reveals cancer found on his brain*
08/20/15 10:23 AM-Updated 08/20/15 12:20 PM
By Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*

Former President Jimmy Carter, 90, said Thursday that doctors had found cancerous spots on his brain, and he will receive his first radiation treatment later in the afternoon.

"I feel good," he said in an optimistic press conference where the former president answered many questions from reporters. "I haven't felt any weakness yet and the pain has been slight."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jimmy-carter-reveals-cancer-found-his-brain


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton's email: 10 questions*
_Some of the issues revolve around what is, was or should be classified._
By Josh Gerstein and Rachael Bade
8/20/15 5:06 AM EDT

The steady "drip, drip, drip" of the Hillary Clinton email flap - combined with aggressive spin launched this week by the Clinton campaign - creates confusion about the underlying facts. Is the email controversy a real risk for the Democratic Party front-runner? Or as her campaign suggests, is it part of another well-orchestrated attack by her Republican enemies? Here's a rundown of 10 key issues.

*1) Hillary Clinton insisted she did not send or receive classified messages. Has that changed?*
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/10-email-questions-hillary-clinton-benghazi-state-121552.html#ixzz3jO8KTtLj


----------



## poochee

*Court backs Obama on minimum wage, overtime for home health aid*
By Lydia Wheeler - 08/21/15 11:30 AM EDT

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit handed a victory to the Obama administration on Friday, ruling that the Department of Labor can make home-care providers eligible for the minimum wage and overtime pay.

The three-judge panel on the federal court of appeals reversed the decision of a lower court, stating that the administration's move was within the powers of the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA).

http://thehill.com/regulation/court...dispute-over-wage-rights-for-home-health-aids


----------



## poochee

*Anti-abortion video showed stillborn baby - not fetus *

By Sarah Ferris - 08/21/15 11:42 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

The Center for Medical Progress posted a new link on its video late Thursday, adding that one of the images was actually a baby named Walter Fretz, born prematurely at 19 weeks.

Planned Parenthood is seizing on the clarification, arguing that it is new proof the videos are deceptively edited in an attempt to take down the organization.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...sed-photo-of-stillborn-baby-not-aborted-fetus


----------



## poochee

*GOP insiders to Trump: Enough already*

_Seven out of 10 early-state Republicans want the Donald to move on from his immigration plan and his tough talk about ending birthright citizenship._
By Katie Glueck
8/21/15 5:12 AM EDT
Updated 8/21/15 9:58 AM EDT

Donald Trump may have the whole Republican field talking about immigration, but early-state insiders wish he would just stop.

Seven in 10 Republicans said they've heard more than enough about Trump's plan, which includes a controversial call to end birthright citizenship, according to this week's POLITICO Caucus, our weekly bipartisan survey of the top operatives, activists and strategists in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/insiders-to-trump-enough-already-121586.html#ixzz3jUo8e9ob


----------



## poochee

*Obama wins over Jewish Democrat Nadler on Iran*
By Burgess Everett
8/21/15 10:27 AM EDT

President Barack Obama is looking pretty confident about the fate of his Iran nuclear deal in Congress next month.

The president, seeking to reassure a Democratic congressman who represents the most Jewish district in the nation, this week called the nuclear agreement he negotiated with Iran a "very good deal," even as he pointedly refused to rule out military intervention if Tehran pursues a nuclear weapon.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/iran-deal-jerrold-nadler-supports-121597.html#ixzz3jUomfkRo


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*
August 22, 2015

*VIDEO*

*Weekly Address: It's Time for Congress To Pass a Responsible Budget*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President spoke to the economic progress that our country has made, from 13 million new jobs created over the past five and a half years, to 17 states raising the minimum wage. Congress needs to do its part to continue to help grow the economy, but instead left town last month with a great deal undone. Congress failed to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, which enjoys bipartisan support and is tasked solely with creating American jobs by growing exports. And most pressingly, the Republican Congress failed to uphold their most basic responsibility to fund the government, leaving them only a few weeks once they return to pass a budget, or shut down the government for the second time in two years. The President made clear that Congress needs to get to work on behalf of the American people and reach a budget agreement that relieves the harmful sequester cuts and keeps our economy growing.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Three Americans hailed as heroes for stopping train attack*
08/22/15 10:13 AM-Updated 08/22/15 12:28 PM
By Elizabeth Chuck and Phil Helsel

*VIDEO*

Three Americans, including two servicemen, who tackled a gunman aboard a train from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday are being praised as heroes for thwarting what might have been a massacre.

Airman First Class Spencer Stone, Oregon National Guard Specialist Alek Skarlatos and college senior Anthony Sadler, all friends from childhood, were traveling on the high-speed train when they heard a gunshot and the sound of glass shattering.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/two-members-us-military-rushed-france-train-attacker


----------



## poochee

*Obama phones wounded train 'hero,' hails his courage*
 Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 4:31 p.m. EDT August 22, 2015

*VIDEO*

Air Force serviceman Spencer Stone, the first of three Americans to rush and subdue an armed gunman on a Paris-bound train, was released from the hospital Saturday and received a call from President Obama praising his courage and heroism.

The president also phoned the other two Americans, all childhood friends of Stone, Anthony Sadler, a senior at Sacramento State University, and Alek Skarlatos, a National Guardsman from Roseburg, Ore.,

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...raveled-syria-spanish-officials-say/32188943/


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Has No Idea How To Fix Immigration, So He'll Hire 'Great People' Who Know How*
*"George, it's called management."*








Marina FangAssociate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Posted: 08/23/2015 11:19 AM EDT | Edited: 1 hour ago

VIDEO

Business mogul Donald Trump has repeatedly bemoaned the supposed influx of undocumented immigrants migrating across the border, calling them "rapists" and "criminals" and last week, advocating for an end to birthright citizenship. But on Sunday, when pressed by ABC's George Stephanopoulos on how he would address the problem, the Republican presidential hopeful struggled to give a definitive answer and instead claimed he would just hire "great people" who know how.

The full transcript of the exchange, in all of its glory (emphasis ours):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...5d9d16ee4b0a40aa3ab37e4?kvcommref=mostpopular


----------



## poochee

Aug 24, 2:58 PM EDT

*Tardy tax filers risk loss of health care subsidies*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sign-up season for President Barack Obama's health care law doesn't start for another couple of months, but the next few days are crucial for hundreds of thousands of customers at risk of losing financial aid when they renew coverage for 2016.

Call them tardy tax filers: an estimated 1.8 million households that got subsidies for their premiums last year but failed to file a 2014 tax return as required by the law, or left out key IRS paperwork.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-24-14-58-13


----------



## poochee

*Louisiana trooper dies after being shot, taunted*
 John Bacon, USA TODAY 3:27 p.m. EDT August 24, 2015

*VIDEO*

A Louisiana state trooper died Monday after authorities say he was shot in the head and then taunted when he stopped to provide aid to a man whose truck was stuck in a ditch.

Col. Mike Edmonson, head of the State Police, said Kevin Daigle shot Senior Trooper Steven Vincent, then said, "You're lucky, you are going to die soon."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nman-shot-taunted-louisiana-trooper/32254917/


----------



## poochee

*Stabenow sides with Obama on Iran
By Karoun Demirjian August 24 at 1:47 PM
*
"I have determined that the imminent threat of Iran having a nuclear weapon outweighs any flaws I see in the international agreement," the Michigan Democrat said in a statement on Monday.

Her decision puts Republicans opposed to the deal precariously close to losing their fight to block the Iran deal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/08/24/stabenow-sides-with-obama-on-iran/


----------



## poochee

*Roger Ailes: Donald Trump should apologize to Megyn Kelly*
By HADAS GOLD
8/25/15 1:04 PM EDT

On Tuesday, Fox News Chief Roger Ailes said in a statement Donald Trump should apologize for a tirade of tweets aimed at Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

"Donald Trump's surprise and unprovoked attack on Megyn Kelly during her show last night is as unacceptable as it is disturbing. Megyn Kelly represents the very best of American journalism and all of us at Fox News Channel reject the crude and irresponsible attempts to suggest otherwise," Ailes statement reads. "I could not be more proud of Megyn for her professionalism and class in the face of all of Mr. Trump's verbal assaults. Her questioning of Mr. Trump at the debate was tough but fair, and I fully support her as she continues to ask the probing and challenging questions that all presidential candidates may find difficult to answer," Ailes said. "Donald Trump rarely apologizes, although in this case, he should. We have never been deterred by politicians or anyone else attacking us for doing our job, much less allowed ourselves to be bullied by anyone and we're certainly not going to start now. All of our journalists will continue to report in the fair and balanced way that has made FOX News Channel the number one news network in the industry."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media...should-apologize-to-megyn-212934.html?hp=l2_4


----------



## poochee

Aug 25, 6:02 PM EDT

*Budget report sees shrinking deficits, but only for now*
By ALAN FRAM 
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An unforeseen flood of revenue is shrinking federal deficits to the lowest level of President Barack Obama's tenure, Congress' nonpartisan budget adviser said Tuesday. But in a report that will fuel both parties in their autumn clash over spending, the analysts also warned that perilously high shortfalls will roar back unless lawmakers act.

Two weeks before Congress returns from recess, the Congressional Budget Office said it expects this year's federal deficit to fall to $426 billion. That's $60 billion less than it expected in March, thanks to greater-than-expected individual and corporate income tax collections, and less than a third of the record $1.4 trillion gap of 2009 as the government tried fighting off the Great Recession.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-25-18-02-44


----------



## poochee

*Judge formally sentences James Holmes to life in prison*
08/26/15 01:22 PM
By Sadie Gurman, Associated Press

*VIDEO*

*CENTENNIAL, Colorado -* Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was formally sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday, more than three years after he carefully planned and executed a merciless attack on hundreds of defenseless moviegoers who were watching a midnight Batman premiere.

Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. had no other sentencing option after a jury earlier this month did not unanimously agree that Holmes should get the death penalty. The judge issued his sentence after two days of testimony from survivors of the attack, including first responders.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/judge-formally-sentences-james-holmes-life-prison


----------



## poochee

*Reporter and photographer killed during live broadcast*
08/26/15 09:17 AM-Updated 08/26/15 01:59 PM
By Anna Brand

VIDEO

A suspect believed to be responsible for the shooting deaths of a Roanoke, Virginia, television news reporter and photographer is in extremely critical condition after shooting himself, state police said Wednesday. Earlier unconfirmed reports suggested the suspect had already died.

WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and news photographer Adam Ward, 27 were shot and killed Wednesday morning during a live broadcast after the suspected gunman,identified as Vester Flanagan II, opened fire. Flanagan had been an employee of the station, and reported under the name Bryce Williams.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/reporter-and-cameraman-killed-during-live-broadcast


----------



## poochee

*White House Calls On Congress, Again, To Do Something About Guns*
*Obama has said that failure to pass gun control legislation was the greatest frustration of his presidency.*








Sam LevineAssociate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

*VIDEOS*

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest renewed the Obama administration's call for Congress to take action on gun control after a gunman shot and killed a reporter and cameraman during a live television broadcast on Wednesday.

"This is another example of gun violence that is becoming all too common in communities large and small all across the United States," Earnest said. "And while there is no piece of legislation that will end all violence in this country, there are some common sense things that only Congress can do that we know would have a tangible impact in reducing gun violence in this country. Congress could take those steps in a way that would not infringe on the constitutional rights of law abiding Americans."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-gun-control_55ddfdffe4b04ae497056c70?kvcommref=mostpopular


----------



## poochee

*Police: Bryce Williams fatally shoots self after killing journalists on air*
By Eliott C. McLaughlin and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 10:17 PM ET, Wed August 26, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEOS*

*Story highlights*

The gunman had a confrontation with one victim the day he was fired, documents say
"You want a race war? ... BRING IT," a fax from the gunman said, according to ABC
The shooter was declared dead from self-inflicted gunshot wound, police say
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/26/us/virginia-shooting-wdbj/


----------



## poochee

*US economy grew 3.7 percent in last quarter
By Peter Schroeder - 08/27/15 09:06 AM EDT

The U.S. economy grew more quickly than originally thought in the second quarter of the year, providing some good news amid a shaky stretch for U.S. financial markets.

After initially believing the economy grew just 2.3 percent, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday that it now estimates the economy grew 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015. Thursday's estimate was the second of three the government will provide for that time period ending in June.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/252080-us-economy-grew-37-percent-in-second-quarter
*


----------



## poochee

Aug 27, 11:36 AM EDT
*Obama says New Orleans is 'moving forward' after hurricane*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 
Associated Press


AP Photo/Susan Walsh

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says New Orleans is "moving forward" a decade after Hurricane Katrina dealt it a devastating blow, and has become an example of what can happen when people rally around each other to build a better future out of the despair of tragedy.

Obama was marking the storm's 10th anniversary by meeting Thursday with residents who continue to rebuild their lives and communities. He was also delivering remarks at a newly opened community center in the Lower 9th Ward, a largely African-American neighborhood that was one of the hardest hit by the storm. It is still struggling to recover.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-27-11-36-25


----------



## poochee

*Wages see biggest increase since November
By Rebecca Shabad - 08/28/15 11:33 AM EDT*

Wages and salaries saw their biggest increase in July since last November, the Commerce Department reported on Friday.

They increased by 0.5 percent in July, or by $35.8 billion last month. That's compared to the much lower $14.3 billion increase in June.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/252184-wages-make-biggest-increase-since-november


----------



## poochee

*Gunman in TV killings remembered as 'professional victim'*
By ALAN SUDERMAN and ADAM GELLER
Associated Press

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) -- Vester Flanagan constantly saw himself as the target in his conflicts with WDBJ-TV colleagues, leading his former boss to describe him as a "professional victim."

When the station tried to persuade Flanagan to get along better with his co-workers, he accused them of discrimination.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-28-06-46-04


----------



## poochee

*Jeb Bush's new Trump strategy: Fight back*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 12:42 PM ET, Fri August 28, 2015

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Jeb Bush used to say he didn't want to get into a food fight with Donald Trump. Now he's the one doing the slinging.

Trump's relentless verbal attacks on Jeb Bush aren't bouncing off the former Florida governor as cleanly as they once did.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/28/politics/jeb-bush-donald-trump-strategy/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 28, 6:16 PM EDT
*Prep school scandal: Former student convicted of sex charges*
By LYNNE TUOHY
Associated Press

The scandal cast a harsh light on the 159-year-old boarding school that has long been a training ground for America's elite. Its alumni include Secretary of State John Kerry, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau, at least 13 U.S. ambassadors, three Pulitzer Prize winners, and sons of the Astor and Kennedy families. Students pay $53,810 a year in tuition, room and board.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-28-18-16-29


----------



## poochee

*Obama orders pay raise for military, fed workers
By **Rebecca Shabad** - 08/28/15 04:52 PM EDT 
*
President Obama on Friday ordered a 1 percent across-the-board base pay increase for federal civilian workers and a 1.3 percent raise for members of the military in 2016.

For federal civilian workers, the president said he would decide by Nov. 30 whether to tack on locality payments that could potentially increase their pay raise to 1.3 percent.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/252223-obama-orders-pay-raise-for-federal-workers-military


----------



## poochee

August 29, 2015
*Weekly Address: Meeting the Global Threat of Climate Change *

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President spoke about his upcoming trip to Alaska, during which he will view the effects of climate change firsthand. Alaskans are already living with the impact of climate change, with glaciers melting faster, and temperatures projected to rise between six and twelve degrees by the end of the century. In his address, the President spoke to ways in which we can address these challenges, including the transition away from fossil fuels to more renewable energy sources like wind and solar, an effort in which America is already leading. And he stressed that while our economy still has to rely on oil and gas during that transition, we should rely more on domestic production than importing from foreign counties who do not have the same environmental or safety standards as the United States. The President looked forward to his upcoming trip, and promised that while he is in office, America will lead the world to meet the threat of climate change before it's too late.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Aug 29, 12:08 PM EDT

*Residents across Gulf remember Katrina's might, recovery*
By REBECCA SANTANA and KEVIN MCGILL 
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- With prayer and the somber ringing of church bells, residents in Mississippi and Louisiana gathered Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of the day that Hurricane Katrina slammed into their states - causing deadly and costly havoc.

Addressing dignitaries at New Orleans' memorial to the unclaimed and unidentified dead, Mayor Mitch Landrieu spoke of the dark days after the monstrous storm and how the city's residents leaned on each other for support.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-29-12-08-24


----------



## poochee

August 29, 2015, 10:36 am
*Church says Trump isn't an 'active member*
By Rebecca Shabad

"Donald Trump has had a longstanding history with Marble Collegiate Church, where his parents were for years active members and one of his children was baptized. However, as he indicates, he is a Presbyterian, and is not an active member of Marble," the church said in a statement to CNN.

In an interview with Sarah Palin on Friday night, Trump defended his decision not to name a favorite Bible verse when pressed by an interviewer.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...trump-claims-to-attend-says-hes-not-an-active


----------



## poochee

*#TrumpBible re-imagines the Bible according to Trump*
By Ana Johnson, CNN
Updated 3:20 PM ET, Sat August 29, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Using popular Trump phrases, people are coming up with their own versions of the gospel according to Trump. And, they're having fun with it. #TrumpBible is still going strong at over 10,000 tweets and counting.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/29/politics/donald-trump-bible-twitter-feat/index.html


----------



## poochee

*AP*

Aug 30, 12:54 PM EDT
*Police investigate motive in ambush of Houston area deputy*

HOUSTON (AP) -- The man charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a uniformed suburban Houston sheriff's deputy will be arraigned this week, jail records show.

Shannon J. Miles, who has a criminal history that includes convictions for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm, is due in court Monday. Court and jail records did not list an attorney for the 30-year-old Houston resident.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-30-12-54-33


----------



## poochee

*Slain Virginia reporter's father vows to fight for gun control*
By Eric Bradner and Ashley Fantz, CNN
Updated 12:33 PM ET, Sun August 30, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Andy Parker, the father of slain reporter Alison Parker, says he'll fight for gun control
Parker said Sunday he's heard from several influential gun control advocates already
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/30/politics/andy-parker-virginia-shooting-gun-control/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama seeks to cement climate change legacy*
08/30/15 09:34 AM-Updated 08/30/15 09:57 AM
By Halimah Abdullah and Kristin Donnelly

*VIDEO*

Over the next few days, President Barack Obama will tread gingerly on a receding glacier in the Alaskan Arctic, talk to coastal villagers whose homes are threatened by eroding shorelines and salmon fishermen whose livelihoods are endangered - all in an aggressive and high profile effort to highlight the impact of global climate change.

The trip to the Alaskan Arctic - the first by a sitting president - is the culmination of an increasingly forceful climate change policy push over the past two years by the Obama administration.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-seeks-cement-climate-change-legacy


----------



## poochee

*Scott Walker: U.S.-Canada wall a 'legitimate' idea*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:31 PM ET, Sun August 30, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_It's not just the southern border: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says it's "legitimate" to discuss building a wall separating the United States from Canada, as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/30/politics/scott-walker-northern-border-immigration-2016/


----------



## poochee

*Merkley backs Iran nuclear deal*
By Nick Gass 
08/30/15, 10:56 AM EDT

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley on Sunday announced his support for the Iran nuclear deal, becoming the 31st Democratic senator to back President Barack Obama on the issue.

Just two Senate Democrats have come out against the deal - New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez. Just three more senators are needed to sustain any veto of a resolution of disapproval.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/jeff-merkley-iran-nuclear-deal-213170#ixzz3kLZM0oh5


----------



## poochee

Aug 31, 12:45 PM EDT

*Legal experts see no criminal trouble for Clinton thus far*
By KEN DILANIAN 
AP Intelligence Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Experts in government secrecy law see almost no possibility of criminal action against Hillary Clinton or her top aides in connection with now-classified information sent over unsecure email while she was secretary of state, based on the public evidence thus far.

Some Republicans, including leading GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, have called Clinton's actions criminal and compared her situation to that of David Petraeus, the former CIA director who was prosecuted for giving top secret information to his paramour. Others have cited the case of another past CIA chief, John Deutch, who took highly classified material home.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-08-31-12-45-44


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration renames Mount McKinley to Denali*
 Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 11:55 a.m. EDT August 31, 2015

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Obama's three-day trip to Alaska this week will literally change the map of the nation's 49th state.

Mount McKinley - the 20,237-foot mountain and the tallest in North America - has been renamed Denali, as it was originally known by Alaska Natives before it was renamed to honor President William McKinley.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ama-rename-nations-tallest-mountain/71426656/


----------



## poochee

*As His Term Wanes, Obama Champions Workers' Rights*
By NOAM SCHEIBERAUG. 31, 2015

In the last two months alone, the administration has introduced a series of regulatory changes. Among them: a rule that would make millions more Americans eligible for extra overtime pay, and guidelines suggesting that many employers are misclassifying workers as contractors and therefore depriving them of basic workplace protections. That is an issue central to the growth of so-called gig economy companies like Uber.

A little more than a week ago, a federal appeals panel affirmed an earlier regulation granting nearly two million previously exempted home care workers minimum wage and overtime protections. And on Thursday, President Obama's appointees to the National Labor Relations Board pushed through an important ruling that makes it easier for employees of contractors and franchises to bargain collectively with the corporations that have sway over their operations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/b...wanes-obama-restores-workers-rights.html?_r=2


----------



## poochee

Sep 1, 2:07 PM EDT
*Supporters of Iran deal near key vote total to back up Obama*
By ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supporters of the Iran nuclear deal are nearing the 34 Senate votes needed to keep the deal alive, preparing to deal President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory despite intense opposition.

Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania on Tuesday became the 32nd Democratic or independent senator to announce his support for the deal, and an announcement from Democratic Sen. Chris ***** was expected shortly.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-01-13-37-05


----------



## poochee

Sep 1, 12:14 PM EDT
*Pope: Priests in Holy Year can absolve 'sin of abortion'*
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis declared on Tuesday he is allowing all priests in the church's upcoming Year of Mercy to absolve women of the "sin of abortion" if they repent with a "contrite heart," saying he is acutely aware some feel they have no choice but to abort.

Reflecting his papacy's central theme of mercy, Francis said in letter published by the Vatican that he has met many women bearing "the scar of this agonizing" decision to abort. He said God's forgiveness cannot be denied to those who repent, and therefore he is giving all priests the power to absolve the sin in the Holy Year of Mercy, which runs Dec. 8, 2015 until Nov. 20, 2016.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-01-12-14-33


----------



## poochee

Sep 1, 11:30 PM EDT
*In climate bid, Obama stares down melting Alaska glacier*
By JOSH LEDERMAN 
Associated Press
AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

SEWARD, Alaska (AP) -- President Barack Obama stared down a melting glacier in Alaska on Tuesday in a dramatic use of his presidential pulpit to sound the alarm on climate change.

From a distance, Exit Glacier appears as a river of white and blue flowing down through the mountains toward lower terrain. In fact, it's just the opposite. The 2-mile-long chock of solid ice has been retreating at a faster and faster pace in recent years - more than 800 feet since 2008, satellite tracking shows.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-01-23-30-34


----------



## poochee

*McConnell: Defunding Planned Parenthood must wait for new president*
By Peter Sullivan - 09/01/15 09:17 AM EDT

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says that defunding Planned Parenthood will have to wait for a new commander in chief in 2017.

"The president's made it very clear he's not going to sign any bill that includes defunding of Planned Parenthood, so that's another issue that awaits a new president, hopefully with a different point of view about Planned Parenthood," McConnell said Monday on the Kentucky station WYMT's "Issues and Answers."

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...lanned-parenthood-must-wait-for-new-president


----------



## poochee

*Obama secures Iran nuclear deal with Barbara Mikulski vote*
By Ted Barrett, Jeremy Diamond, Elise Labott and Laura Koran, CNN
Updated 12:54 PM ET, Wed September 2, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Barbara Mikulski of Maryland became the 34th senator to back Obama's Iran nuclear deal
That gives Obama a veto-proof coalition to protect the deal from being blocked by Congress
Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for more support of the deal in a speech Thursday
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/politics/iran-nuclear-deal-votes-sustain-veto/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Haters for Trump*
_Meet the people who despise Donald Trump so much that they plan to vote for him - just to send America a message._
By Ben Schreckinger 
09/02/15, 05:09 AM EDT

HANOVER, N.H. - They think Donald Trump's ideas are "disgusting." They think he is making a mockery of the American political system and that even he doesn't take his own candidacy seriously. And that is exactly why they say they plan to vote for him.

Like many sincere Trump supporters, they believe the system is totally screwed up. But instead of viewing Trump as the solution, they view him as the embodiment of the problem. And they say they're prepared to vote for him to prove it.

Meet Trump's protest voters.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-2016-protest-campaign-disdain-213247


----------



## poochee

Baltimore Unrest
Sep 2 2015, 4:53 pm ET
*Six Cops in the Freddie Gray Case To Be Tried Separately*
by Katie Wall

The six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray will be tried separately, a Baltimore judge ruled Wednesday.

Gray sustained neck injuries following an April 12 foot chase with police which ended with his being charged with possession of a switchblade and placed into a police van. He sustained neck injuries while riding in the van, and died a week later.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ba...-acts-questioned-freddie-gray-hearing-n420341


----------



## poochee

*Kentucky clerk ordered to jail for failing to issue same-sex marriage licenses*
By Eliott C. McLaughlin, Sonia Moghe and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 1:40 PM ET, Thu September 3, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Ashland, Kentucky (CNN)Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis couldn't be swayed to heed a U.S. Supreme Court order legalizing same-sex marriage, so on Thursday a federal judge held her in contempt and remanded her to custody.

In a federal courthouse in Ashland, Kentucky, attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the clerk should be fined.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/03/politics/kentucky-clerk-same-sex-marriage-kim-davis/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 3, 2:22 PM EDT
*Trump signs pledge to back GOP's 2016 presidential nominee*
By STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press
*







*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Presidential candidate Donald Trump ruled out the prospect of a third-party White House bid Thursday and vowed to support the Republican Party's next presidential nominee - whoever it may be.

The billionaire businessman announced his decision in a raucous new conference at Trump Tower, the gold-hued skyscraper in midtown Manhattan where he launched his surging and front-running campaign for president.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-03-14-22-24


----------



## poochee

Sep 3 2015, 3:13 pm ET
*Dylann Roof, Charleston Church Shooting Suspect, to Face Death Penalty: Prosecutors*
by The Associated Press

The white man accused of killing nine black churchgoers during a Bible study will face the death penalty, according to court documents filed Thursday.

The documents said prosecutors would pursue the death penalty against Dylann Roof, 21, because more than two people were killed, and that others' lives were put at risk.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ch...uspect-face-death-penalty-prosecutors-n421172


----------



## poochee

September 03, 2015, 10:04 pm
*Biden: Family will be the key factor in 2016 decision*
By Elliot Smilowitz

Speaking at an Atlanta synagogue, the vice president said he's still deciding whether to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I will have the emotional energy to run," Biden said, according to AJC.com.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...amily-will-be-the-key-factor-in-2016-decision


----------



## poochee

*US created 173K jobs in August; unemployment rate at 5.1%*
09/04/15 08:37 AM-Updated 09/04/15 11:09 AM
By Associated Press

*VIDEO*

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low in August as employers added a modest 173,000 jobs, a key piece of evidence for the Federal Reserve in deciding whether to raise interest rates from record lows later this month.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate fell to 5.1% from 5.3%, the lowest since April 2008.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/us-created-173k-jobs-august-unemployment-rate-51


----------



## poochee

*Trump rips into Hugh Hewitt after terror gaffe*
_True to form, the real estate mogul tries to turn the tables by going on the attack._
By Nick Gass 
09/04/15, 07:36 AM EDT
Updated 09/04/15, 12:45 PM EDT

Donald Trump tore into radio host Hugh Hewitt as a "third-rate radio announcer" on Friday after the Republican presidential candidate struggled to answer a question about the leaders of major terrorist groups the previous day.

The move followed a familiar script for the real estate mogul who has unexpectedly soared to the top of the Republican presidential polls: When backed into a corner, go on the attack and change the headlines.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-2016-hugh-hewitt-fight-213338#ixzz3kn4BC14o


----------



## poochee

Sep 5, 2:32 PM EDT
*Congress returns to weighty list of unfinished business*
By ANDREW TAYLOR and ALAN FRAM 
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress returns on Tuesday with a critical need for a characteristic rarely evident through a contentious spring and summer - cooperation between Republicans and President Barack Obama.

Lawmakers face a weighty list of unfinished business and looming deadlines, including a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open beyond Sept. 30. The most intractable issues - a solution to a yearlong battle over agency budgets and a deal on a long-sought highway bill - have been kicked to the fall.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-05-14-32-24


----------



## poochee

*Fox News Embarrasses Dick Cheney On Iraq And Iran*
_The former vice president waved off numbers that showed Iran's nuclear capacity grew rapidly under the Bush administration._
Zach CarterSenior Political Economy Reporter, The Huffington Post Posted: 09/06/2015 11:04 AM EDT | Edited: 2 hours ago

Fox News host Chris Wallace pointed out to Cheney that Iran had no uranium enrichment centrifuges prior to the Iraq War, but had 5,000 of them by the time Bush and Cheney left office.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fox-news-dick-cheney-iran-iraq_55ec450de4b093be51bbb96f


----------



## poochee

*Colin Powell: Iran deal a 'pretty good deal'*
09/06/15 10:16 AM-Updated 09/06/15 10:19 AM
By Alexandra Jaffe

*VIDEO
*
Powell's comments come days before former Vice President Dick Cheney will speak out strongly against the Iran deal at the American Enterprise Institute. Cheney's speech on Sept. 8 will warn of "consequences for the security interests of the United States and its allies in the Middle East."

Critics concerned that the deal will expedite Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon, Powell added, are "forgetting the reality that [Iranian leaders] have been on a superhighway, for the last 10 years, to create a nuclear weapon or a nuclear weapons program, with no speed limit."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/colin-powell-iran-deal-pretty-good-deal


----------



## poochee

Sep 7, 12:42 PM EDT
*Courting unions on Labor Day, Obama pushes paid sick leave*
By JOSH LEDERMAN 
Associated Press


AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

BOSTON (AP) -- Courting unions on Labor Day, President Barack Obama denounced Republicans for a "constant attack on working Americans" and said he was using his executive power to force federal contractors to give paid sick leave to their employees.

Obama was met with resounding applause at a major union rally and breakfast in Boston on Monday when he said he had signed the executive order aboard Air Force One as he flew in to mark Labor Day. He said Republicans who claim the mantle of middle-class protectors are talking big, but they "have to walk the walk."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-07-12-42-57


----------



## poochee

Sep 7, 12:15 PM EDT
Across much of US, a serious shortage of psychiatrists
By DAVID CRARY 
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- It is an irony that troubles health care providers and policymakers nationwide: Even as public awareness of mental illness increases, a shortage of psychiatrists worsens.

In vast swaths of America, patients face lengthy drives to reach the nearest psychiatrist, if they can even find one willing to see them. Some states are promoting wider use of long-distance telepsychiatry to fill the gaps in care. In Texas, which faces a severe shortage, lawmakers recently voted to pay the student loans of psychiatrists willing to work in underserved areas. A bill in Congress would forgive student loans for child psychiatrists.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-07-12-15-38


----------



## poochee

Sep 7, 4:17 PM EDT
*Clinton says no email apology: 'What I did was allowed'*
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she does not need to apologize for using a private email account and server while at the State Department because "what I did was allowed."

In an interview with The Associated Press during a Labor Day campaign swing through Iowa, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination also said the lingering questions about her email practices while serving as President Barack Obama's first secretary of state have not damaged her campaign.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-07-16-17-44


----------



## poochee

*Dems tally enough support to block Iran vote*
Erin Kelly, USA TODAY 1:46 p.m. EDT September 8, 2015

WASHINGTON - Democrats now have the 41 senators they need to block a vote to reject the Iran nuclear deal.

Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Gary Peters of Michigan and Ron Wyden of Oregon announced Tuesday that they will support the deal, denying Republicans the 60 votes they needed to move forward with a resolution disapproving the deal.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nthal-wyden-peters-iran-senate-vote/71878448/


----------



## poochee

Sep 8, 2:52 PM EDT
*Freddie Gray's family settles with city for $6.4M*
By JULIET LINDERMAN
Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The parents of Freddie Gray reached a tentative $6.4 million settlement with the city of Baltimore, nearly five months after their 25-year-old son was critically injured in police custody, sparking days of protests and rioting.

The deal, announced Tuesday, appeared to be among the largest settlements in police death cases in recent years and happened just days before a judge is set to decide whether to move a trial for six officers charged in Gray's death.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-08-14-52-57


----------



## poochee

*Congress Is Back to Work: Everything You Need To Know*
Sep 8, 2015, 3:02 PM ET
By ALI WEINBERG and BENJAMIN SIEGEL

Congress is back to work today and is rushing headfirst into a series of critical votes and treacherous deadlines, including the Iran agreement, another possible government shutdown and a bill to keep highway projects from stalling.

Here's a look at what's ahead:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/congress-back-work/story?id=33608433


----------



## poochee

*Kentucky clerk Kim Davis released from jail*
09/08/15 12:00 PM-Updated 09/08/15 05:42 PM
By Emma Margolin

*VIDEO*

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis walked out of a Kentucky detention center to massive applause Tuesday after spending five days behind bars for defying a federal order that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But her attorney said that Davis would continue to abide by her conscience, which cannot condone same-sex nuptials, and that all licenses issued since her incarceration were not valid.

The defiant stand seems likely to land Davis right back in jail, from where she emerged Tuesday afternoon alongside her attorney, Mat Staver, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who was hosting a rally in her honor. Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, told reporters outside the detention center he'd be willing to go to jail in her place should a federal judge find she's violated the conditions of her release.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/huckabee-and-cruz-visit-jailed-kentucky-clerk


----------



## poochee

All In with Chris Hayes 9/8/15
*Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Dick Cheney lost his mind*
Colin Powell's former chief of staff says insanity is the only explanation for Cheney's paranoid stance against the nuclear deal with Iran, which ignores the Bush administration's role in strengthening the regime.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/col.-wilkerson--dick-cheney-lost-his-mind-521590339820


----------



## poochee

Sep 9, 2:15 PM EDT
*House GOP divisions threaten plans on Iran deal*
By DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Divisions among House Republicans threw scheduled votes against the Iran nuclear accord into disarray Wednesday as other foes, including presidential contender Donald Trump, rallied outside the Capitol. Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the deal in a speech not far away.

The drama unfolded on a day when the presidential campaign was colliding head-on with the congressional debate on the Iran deal, which is strongly backed by the Obama administration and other world powers. It aims to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from international economic sanctions.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-09-14-15-28


----------



## poochee

*Protesters sue Trump after violent encounter with security*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 1:47 PM ET, Wed September 9, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Five men who describe themselves in a complaint as "human rights activists of Mexican origin" filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Trump
The lawsuit stems from a physical confrontation between protesters outside a Trump event and a member of Trump's security team
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/09/politics/donald-trump-protesters-lawsuit/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 9, 7:19 PM EDT

*Presidential candidates duel on Iran; House GOP in turmoil*
By ERICA WERNER and DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher, Matthew Daly and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Debate on the Iran nuclear deal morphed into full-blown political spectacle Wednesday as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz held a rally to denounce it, Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech to praise it and congressional Republicans turned on each other angrily as they grasped for a last-ditch play to stop it.

The maneuvering and speechifying did little to change the reality: Barring unlikely success of an eleventh-hour gambit by the House, the international accord aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions will move ahead. Even if Congress succeeds in passing legislation aimed at undermining it by next week's deadline, President Barack Obama would veto such a measure and minority Democrats command enough votes to sustain him.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-09-19-19-05


----------



## poochee

*New Justice Dept. policy aims to get tough on Wall Street fraud*
 Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 10:59 p.m. EDT September 9, 2015

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department issued a new policy Wednesday that made the prosecution of Wall Street executives involved in financial fraud a major priority, all but acknowledging nagging criticism that powerful corporate figures have escaped criminal charges in favor of giant monetary penalties.

"Effective immediately, we have revised our policy guidance to require that if a company wants any credit for cooperation, any credit at all, it must identify all individuals involved in the wrongdoing, regardless of their position, status or seniority in the company, and provide all relevant facts about their misconduct,'' according to Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates' prepared remarks for a Thursday speech at New York University Law School.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...ustice-department-wall-street-fraud/71983152/


----------



## poochee

September 09, 2015, 08:25 pm
*Trump mocks Fiorina's physical appearance: 'Look at that face!'*
By Neetzan Zimmerman

*VIDEO*

The GOP front-runner added to his ever-expanding laundry list of questionable comments aimed at women with a knock at Carly Fiorina's physical appearance made during a recent interview with _Rolling Stone_ magazine.

"Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Trump reportedly bellowed while watching his Republican presidential rival on the news. "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...iorinas-physical-appearance-look-at-that-face


----------



## poochee

Sep 10, 1:27 PM EDT

*Key Iran vote set in Senate, Democrats on track to prevail*
By DEB RIECHMANN and ERICA WERNER 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher, Matthew Daly and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate pushed toward a critical vote Thursday on the international nuclear accord with Iran, with Democrats intent on handing a major victory to President Barack Obama.

House Republicans launched last-ditch maneuvers to derail the deal, but their efforts appeared unlikely to deny Obama a win on his top foreign policy priority.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-10-13-27-25


----------



## poochee

Sep 10, 5:35 PM EDT
*Iran nuclear deal survives: Democrats block disapproval vote*
By ERICA WERNER and DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Nancy Benac, Alan Fram and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats voted to uphold the hard-fought nuclear accord with Iran on Thursday, overcoming ferocious GOP opposition and delivering President Barack Obama a legacy-making victory on his top foreign policy priority.

As a result the nuclear deal will move forward unchecked by Congress, an improbable win by Obama in the face of unanimous opposition from Republicans who control Capitol Hill, GOP candidates seeking to replace him in the Oval Office and the state of Israel and its allied lobbyists in the U.S.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-10-17-35-05


----------



## poochee

*U.S. to take at least 10,000 more Syrian refugees *
By Laura Koran, Elise Labott, Jim Acosta and Deirdre Walsh, CNN
Updated 5:32 PM ET, Thu September 10, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Proposal to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees will occur under quota, but the cap may be raised
The announcement comes amidst growing pressure for the U.S. to increase the number of refugees it accepts.
The U.S. plans to resettle 1,800 Syrian refugees by Oct. 1. Human rights groups want the U.S. to take 65,000 through next year.
*
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/politics/u-s-take-10000-syrian-refugees/index.html*


----------



## poochee

*Obama holds moment of silence at White House to mark 9/11 anniversary*
By David Nakamura September 11 at 9:01 AM

*VIDEO
*
The American flag flew at half-staff over the White House on Friday, as President Obama and the first lady held a moment of silence on the South Lawn to mark the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The president, wearing a dark suit and a flag lapel, bowed his head alongside Michelle Obama as a bell tolled three times at 8:46 a.m., the time the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center complex in New York City. More than 200 guests were assembled on the lawn, including Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...lence-at-white-house-to-mark-911-anniversary/


----------



## poochee

September 11, 2015, 02:19 pm
*Obama dismisses House Iran vote*
By Jordan Fabian

The House on Friday voted 162-269 to reject a resolution to approve the Iran nuclear deal. The vote was largely a symbolic rebuke of Obama, who has made the nuclear pact the centerpiece of his foreign policy legacy.

The vote will not prevent the nuclear agreement from taking effect. The Senate, which failed to advance a disapproval resolution on Thursday, is not expected to take up the House measure.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/253390-obama-dismisses-house-iran-vote


----------



## poochee

*Rick Perry drops out of 2016 race *
09/11/15 05:22 PM-Updated 09/11/15 06:29 PM
By David Taintor

*VIDEO*

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry ended his 2016 presidential bid on Friday.

Perry exits a crowded Republican field, in which the former governor has struggled to gain traction. Perry was the first candidate in the race to drop out, leaving 16 other Republicans to vie for the nomination.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/rick-perry-drops-out-2016-race


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump takes the bait, rages at Bobby Jindal*
09/11/15 06:14 PM-Updated 09/11/15 06:15 PM
By Jane C. Timm

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is getting exactly what he wanted: A really angry Donald Trump.

After Jindal delivered a speech designed entirely to bait Trump, the Republican front-runner fired off a series of angry tweets Wednesday and Thursday. Trump first said he didn't want to respond to Jindal because he barely registered in the polls - and then he did just that.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-takes-the-bait-rages-bobby-jindal


----------



## poochee

*Right-To-Die Bill Passes In California*
_The bill, inspired by Brittany Maynard, passed in the state Senate Friday._
Mollie Reilly Deputy Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Posted: 09/11/2015 06:56 PM EDT

The "death with dignity" movement marked a victory in California Friday when the state Senate passed a bill allowing terminally ill patients to end their own lives with the help of a physician.

The End of Life Option Act, which passed in the state Assembly Wednesday, would allow patients to seek aid-in-dying options so long as they are given six months or less to live by two doctors, submit a written request and two oral requests at least 15 days apart and possess the mental capacity to make their own health care decisions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-right-to-die_55f1fbbae4b002d5c078cd6b


----------



## poochee

September 12, 2015
*Weekly Address: A New College Scorecard*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President announced the launch of a new College Scorecard, meant to help students and parents identify which schools provide the biggest bang for your buck. Designed with input from those who will use it most, the Scorecard offers reliable data on factors important to prospective students, such as how much graduates earn, and how much debt they have when they graduate. In an economy where some higher education is still the surest ticket to the middle class, the choices that Americans make when searching for and selecting a college have never been more important. That's why the President is committed to making sure there exists reliable information that helps students find the college that best fits their needs so that they can succeed.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Another college dumps Cosby's name*
AP 5:15 p.m. EDT September 11, 2015

WILBERFORCE, Ohio (AP) - A historically black college in southwest Ohio says it is permanently removing the name of comedian Bill Cosby from its communications building.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...rsity-renames-communications-center/72091502/


----------



## poochee

*McConnell aims to split abortion from shutdown debate*
By Manu Raju and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 6:31 PM ET, Thu September 10, 2015

*Story highlights*

Mitch McConnell is moving to separate abortion politics from a spending fight that threatens to shut down the government
Conservatives are demanding that the must-pass spending bill should prohibit federal funding from flowing to Planned Parenthood

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/politics/mitch-mcconnell-abortion-government-shutdown/index.html


----------



## poochee

*General: US making 'remarkable progress' against ISIS*

By Peter Schroeder - 09/13/15 12:12 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

A top general leading efforts against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) said the U.S. has made "remarkable progress" in the last year.

Gen. John Allen said Sunday that he was not sure a year ago if Iraq would survive the rise of ISIS. While there is significant work still to be done, he said the U.S. and its allies have had some "real successes" in its efforts.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/253511-general-us-making-remarkable-progress-against-isis


----------



## poochee

Up With Steve Kornacki 9/13/15
*Poll shows Clinton holds majority Dem support*
A new poll shows that despite recent controversy 75% of Democrats surveilled feel positively about Hillary Clinton and only 18% of Latinos said they felt positively about Bernie Sanders. Lee Miringoff, Director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion and NPR's Jessica Taylor join to discuss.

*VIDEO

http://www.msnbc.com/up-with-steve-...inton-holds-majority-dem-support-524570179889*


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Public wants to avoid shutdown over Planned Parenthood*
By Peter Sullivan - 09/14/15 10:16 AM EDT

A huge majority wants Congress to keep the government open, regardless of whether that means providing funding to Planned Parenthood, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Monday.

The poll finds that 71 percent of adults say it is more important for Congress to approve a spending bill to keep the government open, compared to 22 percent who say it is more important to eliminate all federal funds for Planned Parenthood.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...nts-to-avoid-shutdown-over-planned-parenthood


----------



## poochee

*Delta State Shooting: Cops Hunt for Gunman After Professor Ethan Schmidt Killed on Campus*
by Elisha Fieldstadt

A professor was shot to death at Mississippi's Delta State University on Monday - and the campus remained on lockdown as police searched for a "person of interest" who is also a professor at the school.

Authorities were searching for Shannon Lamb, 45, after Dr. Ethan Schmidt was found fatally shot in his office at Delta State Monday morning, said Cleveland Police Department Chief Charles Bingham. No students were injured, according to police.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ter-mississippis-delta-college-campus-n427036


----------



## poochee

*Ky. clerk Kim Davis doesn't interfere as marriage license issued*
Mike Wynn, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal 2:09 p.m. EDT September 14, 2015

*VIDEO*

Kim Davis is back at work several days after being released from jail. The embattled Kentucky county clerk says she still refuses to authorize marriage licenses, but will not stop her deputies from issuing them. VPC

Wording on the license issued Monday was altered to remove any mention of Davis or her office. Instead, a section of the license now states that it was issued pursuant to a federal court order rather than the county clerk.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ntucky-clerk-kim-davis-returns-work/72242438/


----------



## poochee

*Obama: 'Right now I'm going to try to stay out of campaign season'*
By Sarah Ferris - 09/14/15 05:58 PM EDT

President Obama on Monday turned down a chance to hurl attacks at the 2016 presidential field during a trip to Iowa, the first state in the nominating process.

"Right now I'm going to try to stay out of campaign season, partly because I can't keep track of all the candidates," Obama joked with a crowd at an Iowa high school. "I'll wait until it's winnowed down a little until I have an opinion."

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...m-going-to-try-to-stay-out-of-campaign-season


----------



## poochee

*What's at stake for 2016ers on debate night*
By Maeve Reston and Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 7:55 PM ET, Mon September 14, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/14/politics/2016-cnn-republican-debate/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 15, 9:14 AM EDT

*Senate to hold new vote on Iran nuclear deal, Dems to block*
By DEB RIECHMANN 
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans will try a second time on Tuesday to move ahead on a resolution rejecting the Iran nuclear deal, and the outcome is expected to be the same: Democrats are poised to block the measure and preserve President Barack Obama's foreign policy win.

Last week, Senate Democrats blocked GOP attempts to get a disapproval resolution to Obama's desk and House Republicans settled for passing two related measures that are never expected to get out of Congress.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-15-09-14-24


----------



## poochee

*Club For Growth attacks Trump as 'the worst kind of politician'*
09/15/15 12:23 PM
By Emma Margolin

Donald Trump may still be surging in the polls among likely Republican primary voters. But there's one powerful group of GOP donors that has yet to be dazzled by the real estate mogul's "tremendous energy."

The Club for Growth, a conservative political advocacy group, announced the release of a $1 million ad buy on Tuesday that will attack Trump's record of supporting higher taxes, single-payer health care and eminent domain, among other economic policies. The campaign marks the first effort by an outside GOP group to knock down the party's presidential front-runner.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/club-growth-attacks-trump-the-worst-kind-politician


----------



## poochee

Sep 15, 4:45 PM EDT

*Police: College shooting suspect left note of apology*
By JEFF AMY and KEVIN McGILL 
Associated Press
Amy reported from Cleveland, Mississippi. Emily Wagster Pettus in Greenville, Mississippi; Rebecca Santana in New Orleans; and Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kansas, contributed to this report.

GAUTIER, Miss. (AP) -- A university instructor told police he killed his girlfriend at a home they shared and investigators found a note there that said "I am so sorry I wish I could take it back" - but there was no hint he was headed a few hundred miles north to kill a colleague, police said Tuesday.

Shannon Lamb called 911 on Monday, telling a dispatcher he had killed 41-year-old Amy Prentiss at the home they shared in Gautier along the Gulf coast. In the call, Lamb refuses to give his name but says that family contact information can be found on Prentiss' phone. He says that their dog is still in the house, and "he's a sweet dog and he's not going to bother anybody but I'm sure he's upset."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-15-16-45-36


----------



## poochee

*How the Republican race has become a total circus, explained in 1 picture*
By Chris Cillizza September 16 at 11:18 AM

*PHOTO
*
After delivering a 13-minute "foreign policy" speech in which he touched only briefly on anything approaching foreign policy, Donald Trump began to throw his signature - and highly sought after - "Make America Great Again" hats into the California crowd.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ican-race-in-1-picture/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*Obama on debate: Nothing patriotic 'about talking down America'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:20 PM ET, Wed September 16, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
"Despite the perennial doom and gloom that I guess is inevitably part of a presidential campaign, America is winning right now," Obama said at a meeting of the Business Roundtable in Washington. "America is great right now. We can do even better."

He cited job creation, the rising stock market and millions of Americans who now have health insurance as examples of a successful presidential run.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/polit...-barack-obama-doom-gloom-patriotic/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 17, 12:07 AM EDT
*Issues, too: GOP candidates debate more than Trump this time*
By JULIE PACE and STEVE PEOPLES 
Associated Press
Julie Pace reported from Washington.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- Amid the back-and-forth bickering over Donald Trump, the Republican presidential contest took a substantive and serious turn in Wednesday's prime-time debate, with candidates wrangling over immigration, gay marriage and foreign affairs.

The policy shift quieted Trump, the brash billionaire who has roiled the GOP field, for long stretches during the debate that stretched past three hours and it appeared to come as a relief to other candidates who have struggled to break through.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-17-00-07-02


----------



## poochee

*Carly Fiorina distinguishes herself on debate stage*
By Manu Raju
Updated 11:54 PM ET, Wed September 16, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
Carly Fiorina, responding to a question about Donald Trump's now-infamous crack about her appearance, responded with a direct jab that left the bombastic billionaire almost speechless.

"I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said," Fiorina said, prompting one of the loudest cheers of the night.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/16/politics/republican-debate-carly-fiorina/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Fact checking the second GOP presidential debates*
By Glenn Kessler September 16 at 11:49 PM

CNN aired two GOP presidential debates Wednesday: a prime-time event starring 11 candidates and an earlier debate featuring four second-tier contenders.

The following are some of the most notable claims, culled from a lengthier list, available online, and fact-checked with my colleague Michelle Ye Hee Lee.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...f07eda-5cbc-11e5-8e9e-dce8a2a2a679_story.html


----------



## poochee

*The winners and losers from last night's GOP debate*
09/17/15 10:59 AM-Updated 09/17/15 12:54 PM
By Chuck Todd and Mark Murray

*Winners and losers from last night's debate: Too tired after last night's three-hour-plus debate?*

Too many candidates to keep track off? Too many zingers and back-and-forths? Have no fear: Our list of winners and losers is here.

First the winners:

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-winners-and-losers-last-nights-gop-debate


----------



## poochee

September 17, 2015, 11:44 am
*Dems block amendment linking Iran deal to Israel*
By Jordain Carney

Democrats on Thursday blocked a last-ditch effort from Republicans to stop the Iran nuclear deal by linking the agreement to Israel and American prisoners.

Senators voted 53-45 on an amendment from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would have prevented President Obama from lifting sanctions on Iran until the country releases American prisoners and publicly recognizes Israel's right to exist. Sixty votes were needed to move forward.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/254020-dems-block-amendment-linking-iran-deal-to-israel


----------



## poochee

*Fed Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged*
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUMSEPT. 17, 2015

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve announced on Thursday, after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee, that it would keep interest rates near zero as officials assess the impact of tighter financial conditions and slower global growth on the domestic economy.

"The recovery from the Great Recession has advanced sufficiently far and domestic spending has been sufficiently robust that an argument can be made for a rise in interest rates at this time," Ms. Yellen said. But "heightened uncertainness abroad" and slow inflation persuaded the committee to wait for more evidence, including continued job growth, "to bolster its confidence."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/business/economy/fed-leaves-interest-rates-unchanged.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

September 18, 2015, 02:04 pm
*Clinton denounces Trump over birther*
By Ben Kamisar

Hillary Clinton on Friday harshly criticized fellow presidential candidate Donald Trump's failure to shoot down a supporter's claim that President Obama is not American and is a Muslim, saying she found it appalling.

Trump has come under a flurry of criticism from Republicans and Democrats over the issue, and Clinton's quick entry into the debate signals that she believes it could help her own presidential campaign.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/254205-clinton-denounces-trump-over-birther


----------



## poochee

September 18, 2015, 12:34 pm
*Trump drops out of Heritage event after birther backlash*
By Mark Hensch

Donald Trump canceled his appearance Friday evening at a major campaign stop for the GOP presidential field in South Carolina as he faces criticism from both Republican and Democratic candidates over his failure to address claims that President Obama is a Muslim and "not even an American."

Trump's campaign announced in a statement Friday he no longer plans to speak at the Heritage Action Presidential Forum at the Bon Secours Arena in Greenville.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/254187-trump-ditches-conservative-sc-forum


----------



## poochee

Sep 18, 2:24 PM EDT

*House OKs Republican bill blocking Planned Parenthood funds*
By ALAN FRAM and ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A divided House voted Friday to block Planned Parenthood's federal funds for a year, as Republican leaders tried to keep GOP outrage over abortion from spiraling into an impasse with President Barack Obama that could shut down the government.

The House voted 241-187 for the legislation, with just three Republicans and two Democrats defecting from their party lines. The measure stands little chance of enactment, since Senate Democrats have enough votes to block it and for good measure the White House has promised a veto.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-18-13-15-44


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*
September 19, 2015

*VIDEO
*
WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President discussed the significant progress we have made in our economy since the financial crisis seven years ago this week, and the steps we can take to build on that momentum and strengthen the economy for the long term. Thanks to the hard work and resilience of folks around the country, our businesses have created over 13 million jobs over the past 66 straight months, housing is bouncing back, manufacturing is growing again, and the unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in over seven years. We've come a long way from the darkest days of the financial crisis, but there is still more to be done. To keep our economy growing, we must avoid self-inflicted wounds and damaging brinksmanship: that starts with Congress passing a responsible budget before the end of the month. The President has called on Republicans in Congress to stop playing games with our economic progress and instead do its job and pass a budget that reverses the harmful cuts known as the sequester and avoids shutting down the federal government.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Judge: Anti-Planned Parenthood group must turn over evidence*
By Sarah Ferris - 09/18/15 04:39 PM EDT

The move is good news for the National Abortion Federation, a group of providers that includes Planned Parenthood clinics, which had filed the lawsuit.

"It's telling that the defendants have been very vocal in the media saying that they have nothing to hide, yet in Federal court they want to plead the Fifth," Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, wrote in a statement. "We are pleased with the results of today's hearing, and are eager to move forward with the discovery process."

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...ned-parenthood-videos-must-turn-over-evidence


----------



## poochee

*Obama, Castro speak by phone to discuss normalizing relations*
By Kristen Holmes, CNN White House Producer
Updated 9:16 PM ET, Fri September 18, 2015

*Story highlights*

The conversation came one day before Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive in Cuba before heading to the United States
Obama and Castro also discussed the importance of reopening embassies in Washington and Havana
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/politics/obama-raul-castro-cuba/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump finds religion*
_Under pressure from GOP rivals, the front-runner tells evangelicals he is with them._
By Katie Glueck 
09/19/15, 08:49 PM E
Updated 09/19/15, 10:30 PM EDT

Struggling to find his footing after a grueling Republican debate, Donald Trump has turned to religion.

The weakened GOP pack leader on Saturday night went to greater length than ever before to convince an evangelical audience in Iowa that he is a God-fearing and forgiveness-seeking Christian.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/donald-trump-iowa-evangelicals-213853#ixzz3mFDqAyxk


----------



## poochee

Sep 20, 12:26 PM EDT
*Kerry: US to accept 85,000 refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017*
By KEN DILANIAN
AP Intelligence Writer

BERLIN (AP) -- Trying to address the Syrian refugee crisis, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday that the United States would significantly increase the number of worldwide refugees it takes in over the next two years, though not by nearly the amount many activists and former officials have urged.

The U.S. will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next year, up from 70,000, and that total would rise to 100,000 in 2017, Kerry said at news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after the two discussed the mass migration of Syrians fleeing their civil war.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-20-12-26-24


----------



## poochee

Sep 20, 12:37 PM EDT
*Pope urges Cubans to care for others without judgment* 
By NICOLE WINFIELD and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN 
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) -- Pope Francis urged thousands of Cubans in Havana's evocative Revolution Plaza to care for one another, and not judge each other, as he opened his visit to the country amid great hopes that the key role he played in bringing about detente with the U.S. will result in changes on the island.

Believers and non-believers alike streamed into the square before dawn for Francis' Mass, and they erupted in cheers when history's first Latin American pope spun through the crowd in his open-sided popemobile. Francis didn't disappoint, winding his way slowly through the masses and stopping to kiss children held up to him.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-20-12-37-58


----------



## poochee

By Rebecca Kaplan CBS News September 21, 2015, 11:11 AM
*Biden: Decision on 2016 may not come in time*

Vice President Joe Biden said that he may not decide whether or not to run for president until it's too late to jump into the 2016 race.

"I just have to be comfortable that this will be good for the family," he said in an interview with America magazine ahead of Pope Francis' visit. "It's not quite there yet, and it might not get there in time to make it feasible to be able to run and succeed, because there are certain windows that will close. But if that's it, that's it. But it's not like I can rush it."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-decision-on-2016-may-not-come-in-time/


----------



## poochee

*'Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage'*
_In an exclusive interview, House Speaker John Boehner says he's resigned himself to trying to make Washington work - and raise lots of money for his party._
By Jake Sherman
09/20/15, 08:53 PM EDT
Updated 09/20/15, 09:29 PM EDT

John Boehner spends his weeks in Washington getting bashed by House conservatives, some of whom are itching to try to oust him from the speakership. Then, on the weekends, he darts around the country to raise money for a Republican majority that can be described charitably as inefficient, but in reality is closer to unmanageable.

"Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners, all right?" Boehner said in a phone interview this weekend from Seattle during a fundraising trip to the Pacific Northwest, referring especially to the grind of constant travel. "You can teach yourself to do anything, especially if you're committed to a cause. I came to Washington to fight for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/john-boehner-congress-house-interview-213867#ixzz3mOyJ8uan


----------



## poochee

*Scott Walker drops out of 2016 presidential race*
By Eric Bradner, John King, Dana Bash and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 6:22 PM ET, Mon September 21, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
Washington (CNN)Scott Walker announced Monday he is dropping out of the GOP presidential race.

The Wisconsin governor entered the primary in July as a front-runner in Iowa and a darling of both the conservative base and powerful donors after winning battles against public unions in his left-leaning home state. But that promising start was quickly dashed after poor debate performances dried up support from donors.

*http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/politics/scott-walker-drops-out-2016-election/index.html*


----------



## poochee

*ObamaCare sign-ups swell to 17.6 million*
By Sarah Ferris - 09/22/15 09:50 AM EDT

A total of 17.6 million people have gained coverage under ObamaCare, according to a revised government estimate released Tuesday.

The newest figure, which is based on national survey data, shows that 1.2 million more people had signed up for healthcare over the last five years than previously thought.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/254476-obamacare-sign-ups-swell-to-176m


----------



## poochee

Sep 22, 1:40 PM EDT

*Pope Francis heads for US and a deeply divided Washington*
By NICOLE WINFIELD and RACHEL ZOLL 
Associated Press

Pope Francis headed for Washington on Tuesday for the first visit of his life to the United States, bringing his "church of the poor" to the world's wealthiest superpower and a country polarized over issues closest to his heart: immigration, social injustice and economic inequality.

President Barack Obama planned to greet Francis on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base upon his arrival from Cuba, according a rare honor to the pontiff. Presidents usually make important visitors come to them at the White House.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-22-13-40-54


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton to take on drug companies*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 3:40 PM ET, Tue September 22, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton's plan, previewed to CNN by campaign aides, would reform the way drug companies do business
Later Tuesday, Bernie Sanders rolled out his own prescription
drug plan

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/22/politics/hillary-clinton-drug-companies-obamacare/


----------



## poochee

*China's president to seek better U.S. ties during visit with Obama*
Hannah Gardner, Special for USA TODAY 8:23 a.m. EDT September 21, 2015

*VIDEO*

BEIJING - When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives Tuesday on his first state visit to the USA, he will struggle with two seemingly contradictory objectives.

One is the need to project an image of China as a major world power that doesn't kowtow to America. The other is a desire to get relations with the United States back on a more positive footing.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...k-better-us-ties-during-visit-obama/72501586/


----------



## poochee

*President Obama, Pope Francis Exchange Gifts At White House*
By Arlette Saenz
Sep 23, 2015, 11:43 AM ET

*VIDEO
*
President Obama and Pope Francis privately engaged in the traditional diplomatic gift exchange as they marked the pontiff's first visit to the White House.

The president presented the pope with a one-of-a-kind sculpture of an ascending dove, which serves as an international symbol of peace as well as the Christian symbol for the Holy Spirit, a White House official said.

*http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-pope-francis-exchange-gifts-white-house/story?id=33976627*


----------



## poochee

Business
Sep 23 2015, 6:43 am ET
*Drug CEO Will Lower Price of Daraprim After Hike Sparked Outrage*
by Andrea Mitchell and Phil Helsel

*VIDEO
*
The pharmaceutical company boss under fire for increasing the price of the drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent said Tuesday he will lower the cost of the life-saving medication.

Martin Shkreli did not say what the new price would be, but expected a determination to be made over the next few weeks.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/drug-ceo-will-lower-price-daraprim-after-outrage-n431926


----------



## poochee

Sep 23, 3:20 PM EDT

*Volkswagen CEO steps down, takes responsibility for scandal*
By GEIR MOULSON and PAN PYLAS 
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) -- Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday, days after admitting that the world's top-selling carmaker had rigged diesel emissions to pass U.S. tests during his tenure.

No replacement was announced, and VW still has no easy exit from a scandal that has suddenly dented a reputation for trustworthiness that took decades to build. The smog-test trickery has wiped out billions in VW's market value and raised the specter of criminal investigations and billions more in fines.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-23-15-20-44


----------



## poochee

*Pope and Obama are all smiles at White House*
By Niall Stanage - 09/23/15 08:45 PM EDT

Wishing an estimated 11,000 guests on the South Lawn of the White House a good morning, he noted how "as the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families."

The remark was met with applause by the thousands assembled in the September sunshine - and by a beaming Obama, who wore a broad smile throughout much of the ceremony.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/254749-pope-and-obama-are-all-smiles-at-white-house


----------



## poochee

*Trump cries 'foul' on Fox News*
09/23/15 10:56 PM
By Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO
*
Despite vowing not to appear on Fox News, it seems Donald Trump is still watching the network.

During Thursday's episode of "The Kelly File," Fox News contributor and _National Review_ editor Rich Lowry suggested Carly Fiorina's debate performance castrated Trump. Moments later, the GOP front-runner went predictably apoplectic, tweeting calls for government intervention and an apology.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-cries-foul-fox-news


----------



## poochee

*Pope Francis calls on Congress to bring 'hope and healing' to the world*
09/24/15 09:34 AM-Updated 09/24/15 12:19 PM
By Erin McClam

*VIDEO
*
With Supreme Court justices, diplomats and members of the Cabinet joining lawmakers in rapt attention - and with tens of thousands of joyous fans waiting to welcome him outside - Francis delivered a message of hope and tolerance.

Speaking in English, he called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty because "every life is sacred," and he said the world must meet fundamentalism and strife with "hope and healing."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/pope-francis-address-congress-under-high-security


----------



## poochee

September 24, 2015, 12:42 pm
*White House extends condolences to Mecca stampede victims*
By Jordan Fabian

The White House on Thursday offered condolences for the "tragic loss" of pilgrims killed in a stampede near Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

"The United States expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the hundreds of Hajj pilgrims killed and hundreds more injured in the heartbreaking stampede," said Ned Price, a National Security Council spokesman.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...extends-condolences-to-mecca-stampede-victims


----------



## poochee

Sep 24, 6:02 PM EDT
*Pope, after historic speech to Congress, arrives in New York*
By NICOLE WINFIELD and ERICA WERNER
Associated Press
Werner reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Matthew Daly, Alan Fram, Stephen Ohlemacher, Andrew Taylor, Mary Clare Jalonick, Ben Nuckols, Jessica Gresko and Jennifer Peltz contributed.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Pope Francis, who on Thursday urged Congress and the nation to abolish the death penalty, fight global warming and embrace immigrants, arrived to a warm welcome on his first visit to New York, where he planned sunset evening prayers at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

On Friday, Francis' schedule includes addressing world leaders at the United Nations, participating in an interfaith service at the Sept. 11 memorial museum at ground zero, visiting a school and taking a processional drive through Central Park. He also will celebrate Mass at the Madison Square Garden arena.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-24-17-33-34


----------



## poochee

*House Speaker John Boehner: 'I decided today is the day'*
By Dana Bash, Manu Raju, Deirdre Walsh and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 1:40 PM ET, Fri September 25, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
Washington (CNN)John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who steered his party to an overwhelming House majority in 2010, said in a news conference Friday afternoon he had decided only that morning to announce his plans to resign from Congress.

"Last night I started thinking about this and this morning I woke up and I said my prayers -- as I always do -- and I decided today's the day I'm going to do this. As simple as that."I decided today is the day I'm going to do this, simple as that," Boehner said during an emotional Capitol Hill press conference.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/25/politics/john-boehner-resigning-as-speaker/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 25, 1:26 PM EDT

*Obama issues new China sanctions threat over cybertheft*
By JULIE PACE 
AP White House Correspondent

The president, in a Rose Garden news conference with Xi, was clear that he'll be wary until the Chinese follow through on promised efforts to stop cyberespionage, saying, "The question now is: Are words followed by action?"

Overall, Obama said, the two leaders' state visit had yielded "an extremely productive meeting," adding that their candid conversations on areas of disagreement "help us to understand each other better."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-25-13-26-26


----------



## poochee

Sep 25, 1:34 PM EDT

*Pope decries environmental damage, then visits ground zero*
By NICOLE WINFIELD and JENNIFER PELTZ 
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- In a day of both forceful words and eloquent silence, Pope Francis stood before the United Nations on Friday to decry the destruction of the environment through the "selfish and boundless thirst" for profit, then paid tribute to the victims of 9/11 with a prayer service at ground zero.

Francis' agenda for his first full day in New York was packed with contrasts befitting a head of state dubbed the "slum pope."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-25-12-09-15


----------



## poochee

*Pope praises Iran deal before UN
By **Julian Hattem** - 09/25/15 11:21 AM EDT 
*
Pope Francis offered his clearest praise yet for the international nuclear deal with Iran, in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly.

The deal "is proof of the potential of political good will and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience and constancy," the pope said before a gathering of hundreds of global diplomats, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/254934-pope-praises-iran-deal-before-un
*
*


----------



## poochee

*Obamas Welcome Chinese President And His Wife At State Dinner*








By Nancy Benac and Darlene Superville
Posted: 09/25/2015 07:52 PM EDT | Edited: 3 hours ago

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*

WASHINGTON (AP) - A powerhouse lineup mixing Hollywood, diplomacy and corporate America streamed into the White House for President Barack Obama's lavish state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.

From "Empire" creator Lee Daniels to Disney CEO Bob Iger, from diplo-eminence Henry Kissinger to uber-philanthropist David Rubenstein, the attendees represented the Obamas' effort to bring together an A-team of luminaries for Xi at the culminating event of Friday's daylong state visit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obamas-xi-jinping-state-dinner_5605dc7ce4b0768126fdb1fd


----------



## poochee

*Obama signs bill to boost airport security after TSA shooting
By **Keith Laing** - 09/25/15 02:33 PM EDT 
*
President Obama has signed a bill intended to boost airport security after the shooting of a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee at Los Angeles International Airport in 2013.

The measure, which is named after the TSA worker killed in the shooting, requires the agency to "verify that all airports and high-risk surface transportation hubs have an appropriate security response plan in place to effectively train for and respond to security incidents when they occur," according to the sponsors of the legislation.

http://thehill.com/policy/transport...-to-boost-airport-security-after-tsa-shooting


----------



## poochee

*Lawmakers spar over auto safety fixes*
By Keith Laing - 09/25/15 04:00 PM EDT

Republicans offered a pair of bills in a House hearing on Friday that are intended to address concerns that have been raised by a series of auto recalls that have occurred recently at companies such as General Motors and auto manufacturer Takata.

Democrats countered that the GOP bills are too lax on automakers and said their proposals offer a more comprehensive overhaul of federal auto oversight.

http://thehill.com/policy/transport...d-for-unacceptable-recall-notification-delays


----------



## poochee

Sep 26, 1:19 PM EDT
*Pope comes to Philadelphia, pays tribute women in the church*
By NICOLE WINFIELD and MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Rachel Zoll in New York and Kathy Matheson and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Pope Francis arrived in the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday for the final leg of his U.S. visit - a festive weekend devoted to celebrating Catholic families - and immediately called for the church to place greater value on women.

The pontiff's plane touched down at the Philadelphia airport after takeoff from New York, bringing him to a city of blocked-off streets, sidewalks lined with portable potties, and checkpoints manned by police, National Guardsmen and border agents.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-26-13-19-54


----------



## poochee

Sep 26, 7:41 PM EDT

*Pope visits Philadelphia, extols America's founding ideals* 
By NICOLE WINFIELD and MICHAEL R. SISAK 
Associated Press
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Rachel Zoll in New York and Kathy Matheson and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- He spoke at Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. He stood at the very lectern Abraham Lincoln used to deliver the Gettysburg Address. And he stepped forward to the stirring strains of "Fanfare for the Common Man."

In a scene rich with historical symbolism, Pope Francis arrived in the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday, offering warm and affectionate words of welcome to immigrants and extolling America's founding ideals of liberty and equality.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-26-19-41-23


----------



## poochee

September 26, 2015
*Weekly Address: Dispose of Your Expired and Unwanted Prescription Drugs*

*VIDEO*

In this week's address, on "National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day," the President spoke about the importance of preventing and treating substance use disorders. Overdoses from prescription pain medications kill thousands of Americans every year, and more often than not, those drugs come from the family medicine cabinet. In addition, many heroin users started out by misusing prescription drugs. That's why it's important to take advantage of the DEA's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day and safely, conveniently, and responsibly dispose of expired and unwanted prescription drugs at collection sites throughout your community-no questions asked. Drug disposal programs are part of the President's 2011 Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan, which also included increasing education for prescribers, expanding Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, and pursuing Smart on Crime enforcement. In his address, the President called on us all to continue to work to reduce substance use disorders through evidence-based treatment, prevention, and recovery.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Sep 27, 11:42 AM EDT

*Obama, Russia address UN summit as Syria war draws spotlight*
By CARA ANNA 
Associated Press
Associated Press writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- President Barack Obama and the leaders of some of America's closest allies are addressing a major United Nations summit on its last day Sunday as Syria's conflict threatens to push the stated topic, global development, onto the sidelines.

The global meeting is focused on fixing some of the world's greatest problems through a 15-year road map to eliminate poverty and hunger. Endorsed by the U.N.'s 193 members, the plan includes fighting climate change.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-27-11-42-25


----------



## poochee

Sep 27, 8:17 PM EDT
*Pope Francis wraps up joyful US visit with big open-air Mass*
By NICOLE WINFIELD and RACHEL ZOLL 
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Maryclaire Dale and Kathy Matheson contributed to this report.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Pope Francis urged hundreds of thousands of the faithful gathered Sunday for the biggest event of his U.S. visit to be open to "miracles of love," closing out his joyful six-day trip with a message of hope for families, consolation for victims of child sexual abuse and a warning to America's bishops.

The wide Benjamin Franklin Parkway overflowed with the jubilant, who stood in line for hours and endured airport-style security checks to see history's first pope from the Americas celebrate an open-air Mass in the birthplace of the United States.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-27-20-17-23


----------



## poochee

*Samantha Power: Obama Believes Skipping Putin Meeting 'Irresponsible' Given Stakes*
By Benjamin Bell
Sep 27, 2015, 12:19 PM ET

VIDEO

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, defended President Obama's plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that the president believes that neglecting to meet with the Russian leader while the pair are in the same city would be "irresponsible" given the high stakes.

She said the meeting between the two leaders scheduled for Monday is not an indication the U.S. strategy of isolating Putin has failed.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sama...putin-meeting-irresponsible/story?id=34065218


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls for 'cooperation over conflict' at UN General Assembly*
09/28/15 11:57 AM-Updated 09/28/15 11:58 AM
By David Taintor

*VIDEO*

"For two years, the U.S. and our partners - including Russia, including China - stuck together in complex negotiations. The result is a lasting comprehensive deal that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama told the international gathering.

If the deal is upheld, Obama added, "a potential war is averted. Our world is safer."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-calls-cooperation-over-conflict-un-general-assembly


----------



## poochee

*Missouri Attorney General Finds No Evidence Planned Parenthood Mishandled Fetal Tissue*
_The investigation found that all tissue from abortions was examined at a pathology lab then incinerated._








By Fiona Ortiz
Posted: 09/28/2015 12:19 PM EDT | Edited: 53 minutes ago

Sept 28 (Reuters) - An investigation in Missouri found no evidence that Planned Parenthood's St. Louis clinic mishandled fetal tissue or engaged in unlawful activity, Attorney General Chris Koster's office said on Monday.

Koster's office had launched an investigation after an anti-abortion group released videos over the summer alleging that Planned Parenthood in other states illegally sold fetal tissue.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/missouri-planned-parenthood_56096738e4b0768126fe4143


----------



## poochee

*Poll: 7 in 10 oppose shutdown over Planned Parenthood funds
By **Sarah Ferris** - 09/28/15 09:03 AM EDT 
*
Nearly 70 percent of voters say they would oppose a government shutdown in an effort to defund Planned Parenthood, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

While support for Planned Parenthood is split among party lines, fewer than one-quarter of all voters say they would support a shutdown if it meant defunding the group, according to the poll released Monday. 

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...oppose-shutdown-over-planned-parenthood-funds


----------



## poochee

*Obama: U.S. cannot solve the world's problems alone*
David Jackson, USA TODAY 12:52 p.m. EDT September 28, 2015

*VIDEO*

President Obama told the United Nations on Monday that they must all work together on an array of challenges - from Syria to Ukraine, from poverty to climate change - because "the United States cannot solve the world's problems alone."

While making a largely thematic address to the U.N. General Assembly about the need for global cooperation, Obama also had harsh words for Russia just hours ahead of a tense meeting with President Vladimir Putin later on Monday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/09/28/obama-united-nations-general-assembly/72965402/


----------



## poochee

*Obama, Putin share tense UN showdown*
By Jordan Fabian and Julian Hattem - 09/28/15 06:46 PM EDT 

President Obama and Vladimir Putin gave dueling addresses to the United Nations General Assembly on Monday as they each sought to win global opinion over how best to deal with the Syrian civil war.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russian leaders were on full display before they sat down for a rare meeting Monday evening to discuss the bloody conflict in Syria, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and sparked a worldwide refugee crisis.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/255209-obama-putin-share-tense-un-showdown


----------



## poochee

*Obama says fight against Islamic State group will take time*
By ZEINA KARAM 
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged all possible tools - military, intelligence and economic - to defeat the Islamic State group, but acknowledged the extremist group has taken root in Syria and Iraq, is resilient and continues to expand.

Obama spoke as chairman of a U.N. gathering of world leaders working to expand the battle against terrorism, a day after he and the leaders of Russia, China and Iran addressed the General Assembly on its 70th anniversary. The fight against terrorism, particularly in Syria, has seized the attention of top officials, but there has been no overall agreement on how to end the conflict there.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-29-13-06-48


----------



## poochee

*Castro to Obama: Return Guantanamo, lift embargo*
09/29/15 03:09 PM-Updated 09/29/15 05:10 PM
2 share group 10
By Halimah Abdullah

*VIDEO*

Cuban President Raul Castro told President Barack Obama that normalizing relations between the two countries could best be achieved by returning land currently occupied by the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay and lifting economic sanctions, Cuban officials said on Tuesday.

The Cuban president reiterated that the "embargo that has caused damages and hardships to the Cuban people and affects the interests of American citizens must be lifted and the territory occupied by the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo should be returned to Cuba," Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla told reporters.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/castro-obama-return-guantanamo-lift-embargo


----------



## poochee

Sep 30, 8:32 AM EDT
*Only woman on Georgia's death row executed; 1st in 70 years*
By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) -- The only woman on Georgia's death row was executed early Wednesday, making her the first woman put to death by the state in seven decades.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner was pronounced dead by injection of pentobarbital at 12:21 a.m. at the state prison in Jackson. She was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband after she conspired with her lover, who stabbed Douglas Gissendaner to death.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-30-08-32-59


----------



## poochee

*Senate passes bill to avoid shutdown - for now*
09/30/15 10:58 AM-Updated 09/30/15 11:48 AM
By Aliyah Frumin

*VIDEO
*
On Wednesday morning, the upper chamber of Congress passed a short-term spending bill, which will now be moved to the House. Legislators there must act before midnight, when the government loses its legal authority to spend money and would consequently have to suspend services for some federal agencies.

The bill, however, only keeps the government funded until Dec. 11, around the time when the Treasury Department is expected to hit the debt ceiling and run out of borrowing authority. But the legislation does include funding for Planned Parenthood, which has been a major source of contention for some lawmakers on the far right.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-passes-bill-avoid-shutdown-now


----------



## poochee

*Congress passes bill to avert government shutdown*
09/30/15 10:58 AM-Updated 09/30/15 05:31 PM
By Aliyah Frumin

VIDEO

The House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon passed a short-term spending plan by a 277-151 vote margin. The legislation heads to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law before the midnight deadline.

The bill, however, only keeps the government funded until Dec. 11, around the time when the Treasury Department is expected to hit the debt ceiling and run out of borrowing authority. But the legislation does include funding for Planned Parenthood, which has been a major source of contention for some lawmakers on the right.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-passes-bill-avoid-shutdown-now


----------



## poochee

All In with Chris Hayes 9/30/15
*Oops! The truth of Benghazi Committee exposed*

A top Republican has admitted what Democrats have long known: That the interminable House Benghazi Committee is all about taking down Hillary Clinton.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/oops--the-truth-of-benghazi-committee-exposed-535655491717


----------



## poochee

*House Republicans repudiate McCarthy comments on Benghazi probe*
By Manu Raju, Deirdre Walsh and Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 1:49 PM ET, Thu October 1, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_House Republicans on Wednesday sharply repudiated Rep. Kevin McCarthy's comments that suggested the Benghazi oversight committee had succeeded by tarnishing Hillary Clinton, saying it undermined their party's messaging on a key issue and raised questions about his ability to be the GOP's top communicator.

"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?" McCarthy said on Fox News. "But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/politics/kevin-mccarthy-benghazi-committee-speaker/index.html


----------



## poochee

BREAKING
News
Oct 1 2015, 5:18 pm ET
*13 Killed in Shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College: Officials*
by Erik Ortiz, M. Alex Johnson and Tom Winter

*VIDEO *

At least 13 people were dead and more than 20 others were injured after a gunman opened fire Thursday morning on the campus of Umpqua Community College in southwest Oregon, authorities told NBC News.

The gunman was killed in a firefight with Douglas County sheriff's deputies, Sheriff John Hanlin said. State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum told NBC News that 13 people were dead after the events near Roseburg, where the shootings were called in at 10:38 a.m. (1:38 p.m. ET).

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/deadly-shooting-umpqua-community-college-oregon


----------



## poochee

*Oregon college shooting shakes Washington, 2016 campaign trail*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 7:53 PM ET, Thu October 1, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)News of Thursday's deadly shooting at a college in Roseburg, Oregon, quickly reverberated through Congress, the 2016 campaign trail and the White House, with President Barack Obama making his fifteenth statement of his presidency addressing gun violence.

Obama said Thursday that "thoughts and prayers" are no longer enough to prevent another mass shooting, citing the deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/01/polit...mmunity-college-lawmakers-senators/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama Condemns 'Routine' of Mass Shootings, Says U.S. Has Become Numb*
By GARDINER HARRIS and MICHAEL D. SHEAROCT. 1, 2015

*VIDEO
*
WASHINGTON - President Obama's rage about gun massacres, building for years, spilled out Thursday night as he acknowledged his own powerlessness to prevent another tragedy and pleaded with voters to force change themselves.

"So tonight, as those of us who are lucky enough to hug our kids a little closer are thinking about the families who aren't so fortunate," the president said in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, named for a man severely wounded by a would-be assassin's bullet, "I'd ask the American people to think about how they can get our government to change these laws, and to save these lives and let these people grow up."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/u...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Chris Mercer, Oregon Gunman, Hinted of Anger and Loneliness*
By IAN LOVETT and LIAM STACKOCT. 2, 2015

*VIDEO*

TORRANCE, Calif. - Chris Harper Mercer, the man identified as the gunman in the deadly rampage at Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Thursday, was a withdrawn young man who neighbors said wore the same outfit every day - combat boots, green Army pants and a white T-shirt - and was close to his mother, who fiercely protected him.

In both Winchester, Ore., and Torrance, Calif., where Mr. Mercer, 26, lived with his mother, Laurel Harper, neighbors remember a reclusive and seemingly fragile young man with a shaved head and dark glasses who appeared to recoil from social interaction.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/u...e-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*The statistics surrounding gun violence in the US*
10/02/15 01:42 PM
By Aliyah Frumin

In the aftermath of Thursday's mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, which left at least 10 people dead and seven others wounded, President Obama and others condemned the routine nature of such violence.

They're right about the frequency. In fact, according to _The_ Washington Post, a full calendar week has yet to pass without a mass shooting during the president's second term in office. As the country comes to grips with the latest tragedy - and as some lawmakers renew their call for tougher gun control laws - here's a closer look at gun violence in the U.S.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/statistics-surrounding-gun-violence-the-us


----------



## poochee

News
Oregon College Shooting
Oct 2 2015, 5:53 pm ET
*Obama Urges Public to Become 'Single Issue' Voters on Gun Control Reform*
by Halimah Abdullah

*VIDEO*

For the second time since a deadly shooting rampage that left 10 people dead at an Oregon community college, President Barack Obama on Friday expressed frustration that politics has gotten in the way of meaningful gun control reform.

The president urged Americans to become "single issue voters" and cast ballots based on the gun control issue - even if it means voting against politicians who they normally support. He went singled out the National Rifle Association as particularly effective in using this tactic to influence lawmakers.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/or...ingle-issue-voters-gun-control-reform-n437891


----------



## poochee

Oct 2, 6:11 PM EDT

*Obama: No more temporary spending bills, budget deal needed*
ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Friday he won't sign another temporary government funding bill after the current one expires Dec. 11, insisting that congressional Republicans and Democrats work out a long-term budget deal with the White House.

Obama said such a deal should lift a freeze on the budgets of both the Pentagon and domestic agencies. Speaking at a White House news conference, he said he "won't sign another shortsighted spending bill" and asserted that the U.S. can't cut its way to prosperity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-02-17-41-58

* 
*


----------



## poochee

*Clinton, Dems slam Alabama decision to close driver's license offices*
By Athena Jones, CNN
Updated 6:12 PM ET, Fri October 2, 2015

"I strongly oppose Alabama's decision to close driver's license offices across the state, especially in counties that have a significant majority of African-Americans," Clinton said in a statement, adding that several of the affected counties are more than two-thirds black. "Just a few years ago, Alabama passed a law requiring citizens to have a photo ID to vote. Now they're shutting down places where people get those photo IDs. This is only going to make it harder for people to vote. It's a blast from the Jim Crow past."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/02/politics/alabama-dmv-drivers-license-hillary-clinton/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How They Got Their Guns*
By LARRY BUCHANAN, JOSH KELLER, RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and DANIEL VICTOR OCT. 3, 2015
_Criminal histories and documented mental health problems did not prevent at least eight of the gunmen in 14 recent mass shootings from obtaining their weapons, after federal background checks led to approval of the purchases of the guns used._

Oct. 1, 2015
Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, where he was a student. He was armed with six guns, including a Glock pistol, a Smith & Wesson pistol, a Taurus pistol and a Del-Ton assault rifle, according to The Associated Press.

Aug. 26, 2015
Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, shot and killed a Roanoke, Va., television reporter and a cameraman with a Glock handgun while they were reporting a story live.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

October 03, 2015
*Weekly Address: Congress Should Do its Job and Pass a Serious Budget*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President emphasized that we need to do everything we can to strengthen economic growth and job creation. This week, despite the fact that more than half of Republicans in Congress voted to shut down the government for the second time in two years, Congress managed to pass a last-minute bill to keep the government open for another ten weeks. That means that in December, we could face yet another Republican threat to shut down the government. The President emphasized that Congress needs to stop kicking the can down the road and do its job. He stressed that Republicans and Democrats need to work together to pass a budget that fully funds the government and reverses the harmful sequestration cuts, and vowed that he would not sign another shortsighted spending bill like the one Congress sent him this past week.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

The Rachel Maddow Show 10/2/15
*Racial pattern in Alabama DMV closings suggests dirty trick*

Rachel Maddow reports on the closing of DMV offices in Alabama, ostensibly due to budget problems, but the closures are in predominantly African-American counties, and a driver's license is the most common form of ID used to comply with the state's new voter ID law.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-...cial-pattern-in-alabama-closings-537741891606


----------



## poochee

*Negotiators reach Pacific trade deal in major Obama victory
By **Vicki Needham** - 10/05/15 08:13 AM EDT *

U.S. trade negotiators reached a historic agreement with 11 other nations on a sweeping trans-Pacific trade deal, marking a major victory for President Obama.

Trade ministers announced Monday morning that they have hammered out a deal resolving the final complex and thorny issues of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after nearly six years of talks.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/255889-negotiators-reach-major-trade-deal


----------



## poochee

*Five big questions facing the Supreme Court*
10/05/15 07:01 AM
By Ari Melber

This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court nationalized marriage equality, upheld Obamacare, and rejected challenges to civil rights protections. And when the high court begins its new term on Monday, it's poised to tackle several more major controversies in American life.

*Here are five big questions facing the court this fall:
*
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-new-term-questions


----------



## poochee

*Alabama DMV closings draw call for federal voting rights probe*
10/05/15 02:00 PM-Updated 10/05/15 02:23 PM
By Zachary Roth

An Alabama congresswoman has formally asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the state's shuttering of driver's license offices in several heavily black counties, warning that the closures throw up another obstacle to voting. The call for a federal probe comes as opposition to the state's decision, announced last Wednesday, continues to mount.

"These closures will potentially disenfranchise Alabama's poor, elderly, disabled, and black communities," wrote Rep. Terri Sewell in a letter sent Monday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. "To restrict the ability of any citizen to vote is an assault on the rights of all Americans to equally participate in the electoral process."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/alabama-dmv-closings-draw-call-federal-voting-rights-probe


----------



## poochee

*Terminally ill Californians gain 'right to die' after Gov. Brown signs bill* 
10/05/15 04:31 PM-Updated 10/05/15 05:06 PM
By Jon Schuppe and Associated Press

California on Monday became the fifth state to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives using doctor-prescribed drugs, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a controversial bill that was pushed through the state legislature during a special session.

Gov. Jerry Brown, a lifelong Catholic, had not given any indication how he'd side on this issue until his final decision was announced.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/terminally-ill-californians-gain-right-die-after-gov-brown-signs-bill


----------



## poochee

*Democrats up ante with Benghazi leak*
By Julian Hattem - 10/05/15 08:11 PM EDT

Upping the ante further, the committee's five Democrats threatened to release the full transcript of Mills's closed-door testimony, which lasted for nine hours, unless Gowdy gives them a reason not to.

"We believe it is time to begin releasing the transcripts of interviews conducted by the Select Committee in order to correct the public record after numerous inaccurate Republican leaks, and we plan to begin this process by releasing the full transcript of Ms. Mills' interview," the panel's five Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to Gowdy.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/255985-democrats-up-ante-with-benghazi-leak


----------



## poochee

*Obama apologizes to Doctors Without Borders for U.S. bombing of hospital*
 Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 2:04 p.m. EDT October 7, 2015
_Contributing: David Jackson_

President Obama called Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of its hospital in Afghanistan and to promise changes to procedures if necessary, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday.

The news came hours after the medical aid group called for an independent investigation of the attack under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. Doctors Without Borders has condemned the airstrike on the hospital in Kunduz as a possible "war crime."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...s-international-probe-us-air-strike/73503106/


----------



## poochee

*Senate Democrats preparing gun control legislation*
By Kelsey Snell October 7 at 8:33 PM

Senate Democrats plan to unveil a list of gun control principles on Thursday that they plan to use as the foundation for sweeping gun control legislation.

The three-part proposal - spearheaded by Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center Chairman Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) - includes closing background check loopholes for Internet and gun show sales, expanding the background check database and cracking down on the illegal gun market, according to a letter to Senate colleagues obtained by The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-democrats-preparing-gun-control-legislation/


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare. What Happened Next Will Amaze You.*
_Turns out, Republicans in Congress can make Obamacare better when they want to._
Jeffrey Young
Posted: 10/07/2015 08:40 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama signed a bill into law Wednesday, which is pretty boring in and of itself. The legislation is kind of boring, too. But what made the moment significant is it's the first time in four years that Congress has sent the president a bill expressly intended to make Obamacare work better, not ruin it.

Obama did not hold a signing ceremony or pass out pens to beaming lawmakers when turning a bill into a law that eases health insurance regulations for small employers, but this simple event deserves commemoration because it was such a departure from the normally ugly politics of health care reform. This time, lawmakers identified a problem and worked together to pass legislation to deal with it, and then the president signed it. Just like they teach in social studies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...-to-change-obamacare_5612af43e4b076812702b75f


----------



## poochee

*Kevin McCarthy Drops Out of House Speaker Race *
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and DAVID M. HERSZENHORNOCT. 8, 2015

WASHINGTON - Representative Kevin McCarthy on Thursday abruptly took himself out of the race to succeed John A. Boehner as House speaker, apparently undone by the same forces that drove Mr. Boehner to resign.

"I have the deepest respect and regard for each member of the conference and our team as a whole," Mr. McCarthy said in a prepared statement shortly after a meeting in which he told Republicans of his decision. "It is imperative for us to unite and work together on the challenges facing our country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/u...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*GOP Probe Into Planned Parenthood Funding Comes Up Empty*
_Jason Chaffetz says he's found no evidence of wrongdoing by the family planning provider._
Jennifer BenderyWhite House & Congressional Reporter, The Huffington Post

"Did I look at the finances and have a hearing specifically as to the revenue portion and how they spend? Yes. Was there any wrongdoing? I didn't find any," he said during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the family planning provider.

Chaffetz, a candidate for House speaker, grilled Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards during a five-hour hearing last week. He questioned her salary, asked about the organization's expenses and revenues, and pressed Richards on why the group had revenue of $127 million last year if it's a nonprofit. (Nonprofits put their revenues back into their programs.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...d-parenthood-funding_5616ed01e4b0dbb8000de134


----------



## poochee

*Obama weighs expanding background checks through executive authority
By **Juliet Eilperin** October 8 at 8:46 PM 
*
In response to the latest mass shooting during his presidency, President Obama is seriously considering circumventing Congress with his executive authority and imposing new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers.

Under the proposed rule change, dealers who exceed a certain number of sales each year would be required to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and perform background checks on potential buyers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e59f5e244f92_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*Obama meets with families of Ore. shooting victims in low-key visit*
By Greg Jaffe October 9 at 8:28 PM

ROSEBURG, Ore. - At an unassuming brick high school here, President Obama on Friday took part in what has become one of the grimmest rituals of his presidency: He met privately with the families of the nine people killed in the country's latest mass shooting, at Umpqua Community College.

Obama emerged from an hour-long private meeting with the families here and, speaking softly, delivered brief remarks that seemed to acknowledge both his personal frustration and the broader rancor that divides the country on the gun issue. "I've got some very strong feelings about this, because when you talk to these families, you're reminded that this could be happening to your child, or your mom, or your dad, or your relative, or your friend," Obama said. He added that at some point the nation would have to "come together" to figure out a way to prevent such tragedies from occurring with such regularity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...1a5f6e-6ebd-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Defamation Suit Against Bill Cosby Will Go Forward in Massachusetts*
By GRAHAM BOWLEY and SYDNEY EMBEROCT. 9, 2015

A Massachusetts federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a lawsuit by three women who say Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them and then later defamed them by allowing his representatives to brand their accounts as fiction.

Also on Friday, Mr. Cosby was to answer questions under oath in a separate California civil case brought by a woman, Judy Huth, who says the entertainer forced her to perform a sex act on him when she was 15.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/b...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

October 10, 2015
*Weekly Address: Writing the Rules for a Global Economy*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President spoke to the merits of the high-standards trade agreement reached this past week. The Trans-Pacific Partnership helps level the playing field for American workers and businesses, so we can export more Made-in-America products all over the world, supporting higher-paying American jobs here at home. The President acknowledged that past trade agreements have not always lived up to expectations, but emphasized that this is a good deal, with the strongest commitments on labor and environment of any trade agreement in history. It reflects America's values and gives our workers the fair shot at success they deserve. The President encouraged everyone to read the agreement, which will be available online well before he signs it, and looked forward to working with lawmakers from both parties as they consider and approve this deal.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Oct 10, 12:12 PM EDT
*House Republicans ask: Can anyone lead us?*
ERICA WERNER
Associated Press

After two tumultuous weeks that saw the current speaker announce his resignation and his heir apparent abruptly pull out of the running, House Republicans are in disarray as they confront a leadership vacuum. And the only person widely deemed fit to fill it is a lawmaker who says he doesn't want to, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the party's 2012 vice presidential nominee.

Even as they plead with Ryan to reconsider, Republicans are left asking themselves whether anyone can lead them. And even if Ryan does yield to their entreaties, some question whether even he could tame a House GOP that seems fractured beyond repair, with a "hell no" caucus ready to risk crises and government shutdowns to achieve its goals and establishment-minded lawmakers seemingly powerless to do anything about it.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-10-12-12-26


----------



## poochee

Oct 10, 8:20 AM EDT

*John Boehner's here to stay, for now, with nothing to lose*
ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Speaker John Boehner wants out. He really does.

But the Ohio House Republican is staying put, for now - and that could improve the chances for a debt limit increase by early next month to avoid a market-shattering government default. His continued presence also might help lawmakers reach a bipartisan budget deal to head off a government shutdown in December.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-10-08-20-43


----------



## poochee

*Suit Over Firing Exposes Strife Within Benghazi Panel*
By NOAM SCHEIBER, ERIC LIPTON and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTOCT. 10, 2015

A former investigator for the Republicans on the House Select Committee on Benghazi plans to file a complaint in federal court next month alleging that he was fired unlawfully in part because his superiors opposed his efforts to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic mission in the Libyan city rather than focus primarily on the role of the State Department and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The former investigator, Bradley F. Podliska, a major in the Air Force Reserve who is on active duty in Germany, also claims that the committee's majority staff retaliated against him for taking leave for several weeks to go on active duty. If true, the retaliation would violate the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, which Major Podliska plans to invoke in his complaint, according to a draft that was made available to The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/u...igator-says-he-was-fired-unlawfully.html?_r=2


----------



## poochee

*California set to automatically register millions of voters*
10/10/15 06:10 PM-Updated 10/10/15 06:13 PM

In the aftermath of record-low voter turnout in California's most recent midterm election, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed a landmark measure into law on Saturday that would allow all eligible citizens of the state to be automatically registered to vote when they go to the Department of Motor Vehicles' office to obtain or renew a driver's license.

The "New Motor Voter Act' would allow Californians to out of registering to vote. In the November 2014 election, just 42% of registered voters cast ballots. According to Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who sponsored the bill, nearly seven million Californians were eligible but not registered to vote.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/california-set-automatically-register-millions-voters


----------



## poochee

*When Hill Met Bill: Celebrating the Clintons' 40th Anniversary*

By PAOLA CHAVEZ
VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
Oct 11, 2015, 6:29 AM ET
*PICTURES*

Just days before the first Democratic debate, the Clintons will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.

Bill and Hillary met in 1970 at Yale University after multiple encounters in the school's library. A few days after meeting, the couple went on their first date.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hill-met-bill-celebrating-clintons-40th-anniversary/story?id=34378617


----------



## poochee

*California schools barred from using 'Redskins' as team name or mascot*
*Melanie Mason**Contact Reporter*
OCTOBER 11, 2015 2:08 PM
REPORTING FROM SACRAMENTO

California became the first state in the nation to pass a law prohibiting public schools from using the term "Redskins" as a team name or mascot.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday approved the measure barring the use of the term that many Native Americans find offensive but vetoed a separate measure that would have barred public properties from being named after individuals associated with the Confederacy.

*http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-me-pc-redskins-mascot-banned-20151011-story.html*


----------



## poochee

*Debate Podium Awaits Joe Biden, With or Without Him*
By Jordyn Phelps
Oct 12, 2015, 11:59 AM ET

*VIDEO
*
Joe Biden does not plan to participate in the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night, but the invitation remains open to the vice president should he make a last-minute decision to jump in the race and join his would-be Democratic rivals on the debate stage.

The debate hosts have even gone so far as to set aside an extra podium for the VP.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/debate-podium-awaits-joe-biden/story?id=34415988


----------



## poochee

*7 questions for the first Democratic debate*
10/13/15 07:07 AM-Updated 10/13/15 03:46 PM
By Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO
*
LAS VEGAS - Almost three years after a super PAC formed to try to draft Hillary Clinton into the 2016 presidential race, the former secretary of state will finally face off against her Democratic opponents in the party's first presidential debate here Tuesday night.

Clinton enters the race weaker than many expected she would be not long ago, trailing insurgent Sen. Bernie Sanders in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire and with the looming threat of Vice President Joe Biden jumping in the race.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/7-questions-the-first-democratic-debate

*

*


----------



## poochee

*Poll: 70 percent of US residents want more road funding*
By Keith Laing - 10/13/15 09:35 AM EDT

Seventy percent of U.S. residents want Congress to increase the amount of money it spends on transportation projects, according to a new poll released on Tuesday by the AAA auto club.

The finding comes as lawmakers are facing an Oct. 29 deadline for renewing federal infrastructure spending.

http://thehill.com/policy/transport...ercent-of-us-residents-want-more-road-funding


----------



## Phantom010

poochee said:


> *Obama meets with families of Ore. shooting victims in low-key visit*
> By Greg Jaffe October 9 at 8:28 PM
> 
> ROSEBURG, Ore. - At an unassuming brick high school here, President Obama on Friday took part in what has become one of the grimmest rituals of his presidency: He met privately with the families of the nine people killed in the country's latest mass shooting, at Umpqua Community College.
> 
> Obama emerged from an hour-long private meeting with the families here and, speaking softly, delivered brief remarks that seemed to acknowledge both his personal frustration and the broader rancor that divides the country on the gun issue. "I've got some very strong feelings about this, because when you talk to these families, you're reminded that this could be happening to your child, or your mom, or your dad, or your relative, or your friend," Obama said. He added that at some point the nation would have to "come together" to figure out a way to prevent such tragedies from occurring with such regularity.
> 
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...1a5f6e-6ebd-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html





> "Gun free zones are for sitting ducks," read one protest sign.
> 
> Rosie Hall, like many others on the motorcade route, held a pink sign that read, "We support our sheriff." This was a reference to Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, who before and after the shootings has been an outspoken opponent of any changes to the nation's gun laws.
> 
> Hall, 57, said she supported Obama's decision to visit the victims. "The president has two daughters. I'm sure he loves them very much and has some empathy for the families and what they're going through," she said.
> 
> But like many in this rural part of Oregon, Hall worries that changes in U.S. gun laws would leave law-abiding citizens vulnerable to the kind of violence that hit her town last week. "It's an awful feeling," she said.


A friend of mine saw this on Facebook and sent me the following video since I don't have a Facebook account. After reading stuff like the above, and knowing what that sheriff believes, I can't resist... Almost laughable, even if it ain't...  






Gun Bless America!

http://www.gunblessameri.ca/


----------



## poochee

Good one.


----------



## poochee

*7 memorable Democratic debate moments *
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 12:48 PM ET, Wed October 14, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

From the Hillary Clinton email scandal, to Planned Parenthood, to the Black Lives Matter movement, their responses generated plenty of buzzed-about moments. Among the field featuring Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb, it was clearly Clinton and Sanders who stood out.

Here are the *top seven moments* from CNN's Democratic debate.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/14/polit...-2015-best-moments-clinton-sanders/index.html


----------



## poochee

*DOJ creates new post to oversee domestic terror cases
By **Julian Hattem** - 10/14/15 12:20 PM EDT 
*
The Justice Department this week created a new office to coordinate investigations into domestic terrorism, a top official said on Wednesday, following a wave of violent shootings that have incited new fears about homegrown terror.

The new domestic terrorism counsel will serve "as our main point of contact for U.S. attorneys working on domestic terrorism matters," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said during an event at George Washington University, according to prepared remarks.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-...-new-post-to-streamline-domestic-terror-cases


----------



## poochee

*Second GOP Congressman Admits Benghazi Panel Was "Designed" To Target Clinton
*October 14, 2015 9:51 PM EDT ››› KATIE SULLIVAN

On September 29, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy boasted that the Benghazi panel had been intended to and succeeded in hurting Clinton's poll numbers in the presidential race. A former Benghazi committee staffer corroborated the claim, saying the "partisan investigation" had shifted its focus almost exclusively to Clinton. In light of the admission, the _New York Times_ editorial board called on Republicans to "shut down the Benghazi Committee," which it deemed a "charade" and a "laughable crusade."

Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) admitted in a radio interview on New York's _Keeler in the Morning_ that Clinton was a target of the Benghazi panel and that McCarthy "had it right to begin with," as Think Progress reported. Hanna explained, "I think that there was a big part of this investigation that was designed to go after people and an individual, Hillary Clinton." *From the October 14 report:
*
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/10/14/second-gop-congressman-admits-benghazi-panel-wa/206170


----------



## poochee

*Obama Announces Halt of U.S. Troop Withdrawal in Afghanistan*
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG and MICHAEL D. SHEAROCT. 15, 2015

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The United States will halt its military withdrawal from Afghanistan and instead keep thousands of troops in the country through the end of his term in 2017, President Obama announced on Thursday, prolonging the American role in a war that has now stretched on for 14 years.

In a brief statement from the Roosevelt Room in the White House, Mr. Obama said he did not support the idea of "endless war" but was convinced that a prolonged American presence in Afghanistan was vital to that country's future and to the national security of the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/w...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama gives $14.5M for coal country development*
By Timothy Cama - 10/15/15 01:40 PM EDT

The Obama administration is giving $14.5 million to 36 programs designed to help coal country communities cope with the economic hardships from the coal industry's decline.

The grants come from the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative, a program led by the Commerce Department with the goal of spurring economic development and workforce training to bring coal communities into the 21st century and away from coal reliance.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/257038-obama-gives-145m-for-coal-country-development


----------



## poochee

*Obama: U.S., Russia agree on just one thing in Syria*
By Nicole Duran (@Duranni1) • 10/16/15 4:20 PM

The only thing President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agree on in Syria is making sure their respective militaries don't run into each other, Obama said on Friday.

"With respect to Russia, the only understanding that we have arrived at is, how do we de-conflict in the event that our planes and their planes might be occupying similar space over Syrian skies?" Obama said during a joint White House appearance with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...ing-in-syria/article/2574312?custom_click=rss


----------



## poochee

October 17, 2015
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Working for Meaningful Criminal Justice Reform*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President highlighted the problems in our criminal justice system. Our country faces a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration that traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. There are 2.2 million people behind bars in America today, compared to 500,000 just 30 years ago. This topic isn't new - the President has talked about the unfairness of much of the criminal justice system since his time in the Senate. And while we've taken steps to address this issue, members of both parties agree that we can do more. Over the next few weeks, the President will travel the country and meet with Americans who are working to fix the criminal justice system, from law enforcement officials working to lower the crime and incarceration rates, to former prisoners who are earning their second chance. And he promised to continue to work with Congress to pass meaningful criminal justice reform that makes the system cost-effective, fairer, and smarter, while enhancing the ability of law enforcement to keep our communities safe.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Oct 18, 1:21 PM EDT
*Iran nuclear deal hits milestone aimed at sanctions relief*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. expects Iran will take months to live up to its end of a seven-nation nuclear pact that could eventually provide the country relief from international sanctions.

The deal formally took effect Sunday, opening the way for Iran to make major changes to an underground nuclear facility, a heavy water reactor and a site for enriching uranium. The changes will not happen immediately, and Iran must further constrain its nuclear program before relief from sanctions will occur.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-18-11-30-10


----------



## poochee

*Kerry to meet with Netanyahu, Abbas*
 Jane Onyanga-Omara and  John Bacon, USA TODAY 1:31 p.m. EDT October 18, 2015

*VIDEO*

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this week in an effort to quell a wave of deadly violence that has swept across Israel in recent weeks.

Kerry, speaking at a luncheon in Paris, said he will meet with Netanyahu in Germany and then with Abbas and King Abdullah in Jordan.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...tary-removes-jewish-worshipers-tomb/74169144/


----------



## poochee

Oct 18, 10:14 AM EDT
*Democrats welcome the gun debate to the campaign*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After 15 years of a virtual gag order on guns in presidential politics, Democrats are talking again.

President Barack Obama is considering more executive action on gun control. The front-runner in the Democratic race to replace him says she "will not be silenced" on guns. At the Democrats' first debate in the presidential season, candidates jockeyed for bragging rights over who had the lowest rating from the National Rifle Association.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-18-10-14-17


----------



## poochee

*More Americans favor stricter gun laws: Gallup*
10/19/15 12:35 PM
By Ashley Mungiguerra

The percentage of Americans in favor of tighter laws around guns sales has risen sharply, according to new polling by Gallup.

The new polling shows 55% of respondents agree that laws regarding the sale of guns should be stricter - a spike of 8 points from last year.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/more-americans-favor-stricter-gun-laws-gallup


----------



## poochee

Oct 19, 11:50 AM EDT
*Democrats: Benghazi testimony debunks GOP claims*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats on the House committee investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, issued a report Monday disputing what they say are unsubstantiated claims about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by some Republican members of Congress and GOP presidential candidates.

The 124-page report summarizes the results of 54 interviews and depositions conducted by the committee and includes some unclassified testimony from several top Clinton aides, including her chief of staff, Cheryl Mills.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_BENGHAZI?


----------



## poochee

*Feds award grants for new mental health clinics
By **Peter Sullivan** - 10/20/15 01:37 PM EDT 
*
The Obama administration is awarding $22.9 million in new grants to states to improve mental healthcare as part of a bipartisan bill passed last year.

The planning grants give funds to 24 states to prepare applications for a two-year trial program for community mental health clinics.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...ew-grants-under-bipartisan-mental-health-bill


----------



## poochee

*Lew holds hard line on debt limit*
By Alexander Bolton - 10/20/15 02:06 PM EDT

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that President Obama will not negotiate entitlement reforms in order to raise the debt ceiling.

Lew warned the powerful panel, which has jurisdiction over Social Security, Medicare and tax law, that Obama will only accept a clean bill to extend the nation's borrowing authority.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/257460-lew-holds-hard-line-on-debt-limit


----------



## poochee

Oct 20, 8:59 PM EDT

*Russia, US agree on Syria; Iraqis won't seek Russian strikes*
By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. and Russia on Tuesday put into practice new rules designed to minimize the risk of air collisions between military aircraft over Syria, while Iraqi leaders pledged they would not invite Russian airpower over their nation.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Iraqis promised they will not request any Russian airstrikes or support for the fight against Islamic State militants.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UNITED_STATES_RUSSIA?


----------



## poochee

*Joe Biden won't run for president*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 1:02 PM ET, Wed October 21, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Vice President Joe Biden ended months of intense speculation about his political future on Wednesday by announcing he wouldn't seek the presidency, abandoning a dream he's harbored for decades and putting Hillary Clinton in a stronger position to capture the Democratic nomination.

With his wife, Jill, and President Barack Obama at his side in the White House Rose Garden, Biden said the window for a successful campaign "has closed," noting his family's grief following the death of his son, Beau.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/21/politics/joe-biden-not-running-2016-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 21, 2:38 PM EDT
*Obama to announce federal push to fight heroin use*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Heading to a region grappling with the scourge of drug abuse, President Barack Obama was announcing new steps to improve doctor training and ease access to drug treatment as part of an effort to help communities battling "epidemic" heroin and prescription painkiller abuse, White House officials said Wednesday.

Obama planned to detail the moves, along with a new public awareness campaign, on a visit to Charleston, West Virginia. He was due to meet with law enforcement officials, drug counselors and advocates at a community center to show "a sense of urgency that we at the federal level can do more to address this issue," Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told reporters.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_DRUG_ABUSE?


----------



## poochee

*Obama Administration Approves Plan To Make Prison Phone Calls More Affordable*
_"Today's vote will never make up for the inactions of the past, but it is my hope that the order will finally bring relief to those that have waited for so long."_
Dana LiebelsonStaff Reporter, The Huffington Post Posted: 10/22/2015 11:23 AM EDT | Edited: 31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on Thursday to cap the rates and fees that companies can charge for phone service in prisons and jails.

Right now, providers can bill inmates and their families hundreds of dollars per month to make phone calls, tacking on exorbitant fees for transactions, account maintenance and other services. Inmates who can't afford these costs don't have other options, because providers monopolize service.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/prison-phone-costs-fcc-obama_5628f5f0e4b0443bb562d907


----------



## poochee

Oct 22, 6:33 PM EDT
*Obama vetoes $612 billion defense bill in rebuke to GOP*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama vetoed a sweeping $612 billion defense policy bill Thursday in a rebuke to congressional Republicans, and insisted they send him a better version that doesn't tie his hands on some of his top priorities.

In an unusual Oval Office ceremony, Obama praised the bill for ensuring the military stays funded and making improvements on armed forces retirement and cybersecurity. Yet he pointedly accused Republicans of resorting to "gimmicks" and prohibiting other changes needed to address modern security threats.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-22-16-28-23


----------



## poochee

*Republicans Fail To Take Down Hillary Clinton After 11-Hour Benghazi Hearing*
_"It is time now for the Republicans to end this taxpayer-funded fishing expedition."_
Amanda TerkelSenior Political Reporter, The Huffington Post
Posted: 10/22/2015 02:34 PM EDT | Edited: 45 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

Despite the long hours, Republicans failed to catch Clinton off her guard or come up with significant new revelations to argue that she was negligent in her duties that led to the death of four Americans in Libya.

Her appearance is likely to give her a boost with the base, especially coming off from a strong performance after the first Democratic debate last week. Republicans weren't able to score any major hits and knock her off her feet, and Clinton showed she had the stamina to withstand the GOP attacks -- a fact that Republican lawmakers grudgingly seemed to acknowledge.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/benghazi-committee-hillary_56292597e4b0aac0b8fc14ef?ziu23xr


----------



## poochee

The Rachel Maddow Show 10/23/15 
*What does a person do after 11 hours of testimony?*
*
VIDEO

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/clinton-holds-out-hope-for-gop-cooperation-550873155511*


----------



## poochee

*House Democrats won't abandon Benghazi panel*
By Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 3:40 PM ET, Fri October 23, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
There was chatter that after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's testimony Thursday, the committee's Democrats would leave the panel. But in a statement Friday to CNN, members said they do not want to lose the ability to keep tabs on the inquiry.

The committee is a "taxpayer-funded fishing expedition to derail Secretary Clinton's presidential campaign," the Democrats said.

*http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/politics/benghazi-committee-house-democrats/index.html*


----------



## poochee

October 24, 2015
*Weekly Address: Protecting our Planet for Future Generations*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President laid out the importance of serving as good stewards of the environment and maintaining the planet for generations to come. Since taking office the President has prioritized protecting the places that make America special. He has repeatedly said that no challenge poses a greater threat to our future than a changing climate, which is why he's taken bold actions at home and encouraged historic action abroad on the issue. In his address, he encouraged Congress to reauthorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund which has protected more than 5 million acres of land for more than half a century, without costing taxpayers a dime. Republicans in Congress let the fund expire despite strong bipartisan support. And he reminded us that we all have to do our part to address climate change, promote clean energy and energy efficiency, and ensure a cleaner, more stable environment for future generations.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Boehner gets ready for goodbye
By **Scott Wong** - 10/24/15 09:02 AM EDT 
*
Speaker John Boehner doesn't leave office until Friday, but the moving boxes are already piling up at his suite just off the Capitol rotunda.

Dozens of the Ohio Republican's staffers have begun packing up their belongings, uncertain of whether they'll be asked to stay on board with Boehner's expected successor, Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), or be forced to seek other work on the Hill or on K Street.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/257975-boehner-gets-ready-for-goodbye


----------



## poochee

*Pope Francis Ends Synod By Excoriating Bishops With 'Closed Hearts' And 'Heads In The Sand'*
_The synod had "laid bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the Church's teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge._








By Philip Pullella
Posted: 10/24/2015 05:06 PM EDT | Edited: 10/24/2015 05:19 PM EDT

Pope Francis, ending a contentious bishops' meeting on family issues, on Saturday excoriated immovable Church leaders who "bury their heads in the sand" and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer.

The pope spoke at the end of a three-week gathering, known as a synod, where the bishops agreed to a qualified opening toward divorcees who have remarried outside the Church but rejected calls for more welcoming language toward homosexuals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-francis-synod_562bf006e4b0aac0b8fd21f1


----------



## poochee

*Pope Francis Ends Synod By Excoriating Bishops With 'Closed Hearts' And 'Heads In The Sand'*
*The synod had "laid bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the Church's teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge.*








By Philip Pullella
Posted: 10/24/2015 05:06 PM EDT | Edited: 10/24/2015 05:19 PM EDT

Pope Francis, ending a contentious bishops' meeting on family issues, on Saturday excoriated immovable Church leaders who "bury their heads in the sand" and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer.

The pope spoke at the end of a three-week gathering, known as a synod, where the bishops agreed to a qualified opening toward divorcees who have remarried outside the Church but rejected calls for more welcoming language toward homosexuals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-francis-synod_562bf006e4b0aac0b8fd21f1


----------



## poochee

*How Republicans saved Hillary Clinton. Again.
By **Chris Cillizza** October 25 at 11:45 AM 
*
For months, Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign labored listlessly under a cloud of doubt after revelations that she had a private e-mail server during her time as secretary of state.

Then Republicans, as they have so often do, overreached on their Clinton attacks and, in so doing, handed the Democratic front-runner a message and momentum that she had struggled mightily to build on her own.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...927fd8634498_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*Gloria Steinem: Trump looks better with hat over 'weave'*
By Judy Kurtz - 10/23/15 12:49 PM EDT 

*VIDEO
*
Gloria Steinem is critical of Donald Trump, but offered the GOP presidential candidate some dubious praise, saying, "He had the intelligence to put a baseball cap over his weave, which makes him look a little better."

"He said Heidi Klum was no longer a '10,' " Steinem said, referring to remarks Trump made to The New York Times in August. "Why did nobody bother to say he hasn't ever been a '1? ' " the political and feminist activist tells Yahoo News's Katie Couric in a preview clip from an upcoming interview.

http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/257891-gloria-steinem-trump-looks-better-with-hat-over-weave


----------



## poochee

*White House, GOP near two-year budget deal*
By Alexander Bolton - 10/26/15 12:35 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

Senior White House officials and congressional leaders are nearing a deal to raise the debt limit and set the federal budget for the next two years, say sources familiar with the talks.

The agreement is not yet final, as negotiators still need to settle a dispute over controversial policy riders, but congressional leaders hope to announce something Monday evening, according to a Senate source. The deal would cover the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/258091-white-house-gop-near-two-year-budget-deal


----------



## poochee

Politics
October 26, 2015

*In U.S., Support for Tea Party Drops to New Low*
by Jim Norman

*Story Highlights*

_17% say they consider themselves Tea Party supporters_
_54%, highest ever, neither support nor oppose the movement_
_Major drop in support from independents who lean toward GOP_
_http://www.gallup.com/poll/186338/s...e=Politics&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles_


----------



## poochee

*Congress and White House Reach Tentative Budget Deal*
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORNOCT. 27, 2015

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - After five years of bitter clashes, Republican congressional leaders and President Obama on Monday night appeared to settle their last budget fight by reaching a tentative deal that would modestly increase spending over the next two years, cut some social programs, and raise the federal borrowing limit.

The accord, which must be approved by the House and the Senate, would avert a potentially cataclysmic default on the government's debt and dispenses with perhaps the most divisive issue in the capital just before Speaker John A. Boehner is expected to turn over his gavel to Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/u...ck&contentCollection=Home Page&pgtype=article


----------



## poochee

Oct 27, 1:43 PM EDT
*Obama says police often scapegoated for society's failings*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is defending police officers who have come under intense scrutiny amid a breakdown in relations between law enforcement and minority communities, and says police can't be expected to contain problems the rest of society refuses to face.

Obama was traveling Tuesday to Chicago to address the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which is meeting in the president's hometown. In excerpts of his prepared remarks released by the White House, Obama said society expects police to control societal ills stemming from unemployment, substandard education, inadequate drug treatment programs and lenient gun laws.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-10-27-13-43-59


----------



## poochee

October 27, 2015, 05:37 pm
*Obama: I'm not going to 'take everyone's guns away'*
By Jordan Fabian

President Obama on Tuesday dismissed the notion that he is seeking to take away people's firearms as he delivered his latest call for stronger gun laws.

Speaking to police chiefs in Chicago, Obama sought to rebut the argument made by conservatives, which he said is designed to stoke fear.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...bama-im-not-going-to-take-everyones-guns-away


----------



## poochee

*Senate passes cybersecurity bill despite privacy concerns*
10/27/15 09:45 PM
By Reuters, Associated Press and NBC News

The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that intends to improve cybersecurity by encouraging companies and the government to share information about hacking threats.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) passed by a 74-21 vote Tuesday despite concerns about privacy and transparency from some senators and technology companies, such as Apple and Yelp.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/senate-passes-cybersecurity-bill-despite-privacy-concerns


----------



## poochee

*Ex-speaker Dennis Hastert pleads guilty in hush money case*
 Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY 2:32 p.m. EDT October 28, 2015

CHICAGO - Former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty Wednesday to making dozens of illegally structured bank withdrawals as part of an effort to pay hush money to someone from his past for decades-old misconduct.

Hastert pleaded guilty to one count in the indictment, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. Under the plea agreement, federal prosecutor Steven Block recommended that Hastert, the longest serving GOP speaker in history, be sentenced to zero to six months in federal prison. A judge will make the final decision on the terms of the sentence and may reject the prosecutor's recommendation. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 29.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...rt-pleads-guilty-in-hush-money-case/74728194/


----------



## poochee

*House Republicans choose Paul Ryan to be speaker*
Erin Kelly, USA TODAY 2:32 p.m. EDT October 28, 2015

WASHINGTON - Paul Ryan's election as House speaker was all but assured Wednesday as the GOP conference voted in a closed-door meeting to nominate the 45-year-old Wisconsin Republican as their top leader.

The nine-term congressman still must be elected Thursday in a public vote by the full House. But he cleared the biggest hurdle Wednesday when the fractious, 247-member Republican conference united behind him. If he is elected, Ryan will be one of the youngest speakers in history.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/10/28/house-republicans-choose-paul-ryan-speaker/74737170/


----------



## poochee

*SC Sheriff: Officer Ben Fields fired, 'disrespectful' student to blame*
10/28/15 12:30 PM-Updated 10/28/15 01:24 PM
By Craig Melvin and Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

The school resource officer who was caught on camera violently flipping a South Carolina high school student at her desk has been fired, Richland County authorities announced Wednesday.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said an internal investigation over the Monday incident at Spring Valley High School in Columbia focused on whether Senior Deputy Ben Fields had violated the department's policies.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sc-sheriff-officer-ben-fields-fired-disrespectful-student-blame


----------



## poochee

*House passes sweeping two-year bipartisan budget deal*
10/28/15 05:26 PM-Updated 10/28/15 05:31 PM
By Alex Moe

After years of gridlock and frequent threats of government shutdowns over funding levels, the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a two-year bipartisan budget deal cut between congressional leadership and the White House.

Seventy-eight Republicans joined every House Democrat in passing the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which extends the nation's debt limit through 2017 and also sets spending levels through September of that year. It also raises the spending caps set in place in 2011 providing for $80 billion in sequester relief.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/house-passes-budget-deal


----------



## poochee

October 28, 2015, 05:41 pm
*Prince Harry visits Obama in Oval Office*
By Jordan Fabian

President Obama hosted Great Britain's Prince Harry - and his famous beard - in the Oval Office on Thursday.

Prince Harry's visit to the nation's capital was intended to promote the Invictus Games, a sports tournament for wounded and injured veterans. But the prince's facial hair is what caught the attention of reporters covering his White House visit.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/258438-prince-harry-visits-obama-in-oval-office


----------



## DaveBurnett

These redheads are popping up everywhere recently!
It was nice to see how relaxed they were together and not in an "arranged" situation just for the press.


----------



## poochee

DaveBurnett said:


> These redheads are popping up everywhere recently!
> It was nice to see how relaxed they were together and not in an "arranged" situation just for the press.


----------



## poochee

*John Boehner Gavels Out As House Speaker, Paul Ryan Voted In*
*Ryan easily surpassed the 218 votes he needed.*
Michael McAuliffSenior Congressional Reporter, The Huffington Post Posted: 10/29/2015 10:23 AM EDT | Edited: 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON -- John Boehner, a House Speaker who was relieved to quit his job, gave up his gavel Thursday, offering tears and chuckles as he cleared the way for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to take over.

Boehner, an emotive 65-year-old from Ohio, kept a box of tissues at his side as he began proceedings and bade farewell to Congress, saying he did so with pride and gratitude.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...out-as-house-speaker_56321b19e4b0c66bae5b1de6


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
*Fact-checking the third round of GOP debates*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee October 28 at 11:25 PM

*VIDEO*

CNBC aired two GOP presidential debates Wednesday: a prime-time event starring 11 candidates and an earlier debate featuring four second-tier contenders, based on an average of recent polls.

Not every candidate uttered facts that are easily fact checked, but following is a list of 14 suspicious or interesting claims. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...d-round-of-gop-debates/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

October 29, 2015, 04:15 pm
*Senate headed for late-night budget vote *
By Jordain Carney

The Senate appears to be headed toward a late night dealing with the budget agreement, potentially paving the way for final passage in the early hours of Friday morning.

"If nothing else happens, then we will vote about 1 o'clock - start voting about 1 o'clock," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters. "But that means all the speakers will be speaking post cloture, in the middle of the night, to nobody."

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/258586-senate-headed-toward-late-night-on-budget-deal


----------



## poochee

*Senate passes two-year budget deal*
By Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 8:45 AM ET, Fri October 30, 2015

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The bill now goes to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it
The budget would increase federal spending on defense and domestic programs over $80 billion for the next two years
The budget would increase federal spending on defense and domestic programs over $80 billion for the next two years
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/30/politics/senate-budget-agreement-rand-paul/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Syria: Obama authorizes boots on ground to fight ISIS*
By Barbara Starr and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 1:50 PM ET, Fri October 30, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The United States is set to deploy troops on the ground in Syria for the first time to advise and assist rebel forces combating ISIS, the White House said Friday.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the U.S. would be deploying "less than 50" Special Operations forces, who will be sent to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. The American troops will help local Kurdish and Arab forces fighting ISIS with logistics and are planning to bolster their efforts.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/30/politics/syria-troops-special-operations-forces/index.html


----------



## poochee

*We Mapped the Uninsured. You'll Notice a Pattern.*
By QUOCTRUNG BUI and MARGOT SANGER-KATZ OCT. 30, 2015 
_They tend to live in the South, and they tend to be poor._

*MAPS *

Two years into Obamacare, clear regional patterns are emerging about who has health insurance in America and who still doesn't.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1


----------



## DaveBurnett

As always, the people who need it most are the ones that cannot? afford it.
Thank God for our NHS - though that needs controls nowadays as it is being heavily abused by the rest of the EU


----------



## poochee

_Every week, the President sits down to speak directly to the American people in a weekly address that goes live on Saturday morning._

*Your Weekly Address

VIDEO

October 31, 2015 
*
*Weekly Address: It's Time To Reform our Criminal Justice System*
*
*WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President spoke to the need for meaningful criminal justice reform in America. America faces a cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration that traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. The President believes that we can disrupt the pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails, and make our criminal justice system smarter, fairer, and more effective. That's why in recent weeks, he has been traveling the country and meeting with Americans who are working to improve the criminal justice system, from law enforcement officials working to lower the crime and incarceration rates, to former prisoners who are earning their second chance. And on Monday, the President will travel to Newark, New Jersey to highlight efforts to help Americans who've paid their debt to society rejoin their communities.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trick-Or-Treaters Take Over The White House*

Mollie ReillyDeputy Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Posted: 10/30/2015 06:27 PM EDT | Edited: 10/30/2015 10:54 PM EDT

*PICTURES*

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the children of military families as well as students from local schools in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. According to the White House, the festivities include "mystical woodland creatures, vibrant colors, and acrobatic performers on flying trapeze and sway poles."

Obama was particularly taken with a young child dressed as the pope -- complete with his own homemade Popemobile. The baby pope ended up winning the top prize in the White House's costume contest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-halloween_5633e0fbe4b0c66bae5c8a45


----------



## poochee

Nov 1, 9:46 AM EST
*Speaker Ryan on mission to clean house, from the ground up
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When new Speaker Paul Ryan says he's ready to clean house, he really means it.

And a good place to start is the speaker's office, just vacated by cigarette-smoker John Boehner.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-01-09-46-01
*
*


----------



## poochee

November 01, 2015, 09:35 am
*As Speaker, Ryan to sleep in DC office*
By Scott Wong

*VIDEO*

Speaker Paul Ryan may now be second in line to the presidency, but he'll still continue sleeping in his office on Capitol Hill.

"I just work here. I don't live here," the Wisconsin Republican said Sunday in an interview on CNN's State of the Union." "I'm just a normal guy."

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/258777-as-speaker-ryan-to-sleep-in-dc-office


----------



## poochee

Nov 2, 1:27 PM EST
*Obama signs 2-year budget, debt deal before default deadline*
KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Monday signed into law a bipartisan budget bill that avoids a catastrophic U.S. default and puts off the next round of fighting over federal spending and debt until after next year's presidential and congressional elections.

Obama praised the rare bipartisan cooperation behind the deal, saying that 2-year agreement that funds the government through the 2017 fiscal year puts the government on a responsible path.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-02-13-27-20


----------



## poochee

Nov 2, 8:23 PM EST

*Obama says special ops in Syria are just more of the same*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press


NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the U.S. is not putting its troops on the front lines in Syria to fight the Islamic State, despite his decision to deploy special operations troops on the ground.

In his first comments since the deployment was announced, Obama says it's merely an extension of what the U.S. was already doing. He's noting that the U.S. had run special operations missions in Syria previously.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-02-20-23-26


----------



## poochee

*TransCanada asks Obama to suspend review of Keystone XL pipeline*
By Timothy Cama - 11/02/15 07:14 PM EST

Most Democrats and environmentalists say the pipeline would be destructive to the environment and the climate, and encourage use of some of the most carbon-intensive oil on the planet.

Greens said Obama should not grant TransCanada's pause, since it would allow a future president to approve the pipeline. Instead, Obama should reject it now, they argued.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/258907-keystone-builder-asks-obama-to-pause-review


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Slams Marco Rubio As 'Overrated' And Less Attractive Than Him*
"I don't mean to be insulting, but I do describe people somehow well."
Lydia O'ConnorGeneral Assignment Reporter
Posted: 11/02/2015 08:23 PM EST

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-marco-rubio-insults_5637f60ee4b00a4d2e0ba16e


----------



## poochee

*Obama will decide on Keystone pipeline before he leaves office*
By Juliet Eilperin November 3 at 4:36 PM

White House officials said Tuesday that President Obama intends to decide the fate of the Keystone XL oil pipeline during his tenure, rather than suspend the federal review process at the request of the project's sponsor.

Speaking to reporters, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president "would like to have this determination be completed before he leaves office" and was not inclined to extend the seven-year review process even longer just because one section of the route is still awaiting approval in Nebraska.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4904f4-7f10-11e5-b575-d8dcfedb4ea1_story.html


----------



## poochee

Nov 4, 12:43 PM EST
*Top US diplomats defend Obama's policy in Syria*
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

The two answered criticism from both Democratic and Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who claimed the current U.S. policy is too limited.

The hearing follows the White House's announcement last week that it was deploying as many as 50 special operations forces to Syria and Secretary of State John Kerry's recent meetings in Vienna to chart a political transition to the conflict, which has killed 225,000 Syrians and caused more than 4 million to become refugees.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-04-12-43-36


----------



## poochee

*President warns of 'misinformation' during ObamaCare enrollment
By Jordan Fabian - 11/04/15 05:04 PM EST 
*
President Obama on Wednesday urged volunteers helping to sign up people for ObamaCare coverage to combat "misinformation" spread by opponents of the law.

The president suggested the raucous political debate surrounding the Affordable Care Act has scared off millions of uninsured Americans from purchasing coverage under the law's exchanges.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/259172-obama-urges-volunteers-to-fight-obamacare-misinformation


----------



## poochee

*WH: Executive action possible on closing Gitmo*
By Jim Acosta and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 4:12 PM ET, Wed November 4, 2015

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The White House on Wednesday refused to rule out executive action to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, saying past refusal from Congress to take steps to shutter the facility have led to little optimism that a legislative solution is possible.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, asked about the possibility that President Barack Obama could take unilateral moves to transfer detainees to the United States, said all options remain in play.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/04/politics/guantanamo-bay-executive-action/index.html


----------



## poochee

*House passes $325B highway bill*
By Keith Laing - 11/05/15 11:24 AM EST

*VIDEO
*
The House approved a bill to spend up to $325 billion on transportation projects on Thursday after a weeklong vote-a-rama and an intense debate about federal gas taxes.

The measure also includes a reauthorization of the controversial Export-Import Bank's charter, which has been held up in Congress since it expired in June. The extension, which was included in the Senate's highway bill and left unchanged by the House, reauthorizes the bank's expired charter until 2019.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/259246-house-approves-325b-highway-bill


----------



## poochee

*Uninsured rate at new low under Obamacare*
By Peter Sullivan - 11/05/15 03:58 PM EST

The uninsured rate has fallen to a new low of 9 percent, marking 16.3 million more people with health insurance since ObamaCare's coverage expansion took effect in 2013, according to data released Thursday.

The survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that the uninsured rate was 9 percent in the first six months of the year, corresponding to 28.5 million people, ticking down from 9.2 percent in the first three months of the year.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...e-falls-to-new-low-under-obamacare-poll-finds


----------



## poochee

*Senate Democrats block defense bill for third time*
By Jordain Carney - 11/05/15 11:37 AM EST 

Democrats blocked a defense spending bill for a third time on Thursday as they pushed for a deal on how to move funding legislation through the Senate.

Senators voted 51-44 in a procedural vote on taking up the $579 billion House-passed bill. Sixty votes were needed to move forward.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/259250-dems-block-defense-spending-bill-for-third-time


----------



## poochee

*Strong hiring drives unemployment rate to 5*%
By Patrick Gillespie @CNNMoney
CNNMoney (New York) November 6, 2015: 9:59 AM ET

*VIDEO*

The U.S. economy added 271,000 jobs in October, far better than sluggish gains in September and any forecasts and the best monthly gain of 2015.

The unemployment rate also fell to 5%, its lowest level since 2008 and half of the 10% rate in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/06/news/economy/jobs-report-october/index.html?iid=hp-toplead-dom


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration rejects Keystone pipeline proposal*
11/06/15 12:47 PM-Updated 11/06/15 02:02 PM
By Tony Dokoupil

*VIDEO*

After more than a half-decade of controversy, the Obama administration on Friday rejected a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline, a $8 billion steel straw that would have doubled the flow of oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

The president tried to downplay the decision, claiming that the pipeline had taken on an "overinflated role" in American politics and environmental activism alike. "This pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster proclaimed by others," Obama said in an announcement at the White House.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-administration-rejects-keystone-pipeline-proposal


----------



## poochee

November 07, 2015
*Weekly Address: If You Haven't Gotten Covered, Now's Your Chance*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President discussed the importance of reducing the number of people without health insurance. Because of the Affordable Care Act, more people now have the security of health insurance than ever before. As the law's coverage provisions have taken effect, 17.6 million Americans have gained coverage, and the nation's uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever. The ACA is working, making health care more affordable, accessible, and of higher quality for millions of people. But there are still Americans around the country who are eligible for Marketplace coverage yet remain uninsured. The President encouraged those who do not have health insurance at this point, especially those whose communities are part of the Healthy Communities Challenge, to go online, take advantage of the open enrollment period that began this past weekend, and sign up for health care coverage.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*3 big takeaways from MSNBC's Democratic forum*
11/07/15 09:59 AM-Updated 11/07/15 10:57 AM
By Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

*ROCK HILL, South Carolina -* MSNBC's First in the South Democratic Forum Friday provided each of the three candidates a moment to highlight their strengths and address some of their biggest weaknesses, and it gave hints at how the race is changing as we head into a new phase of the campaign.

Here are three moments from Friday's forum, hosted by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, that help explain where each candidate wants to go from here.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/3-big-takeaways-msnbcs-democratic-forum


----------



## poochee

*Pentagon's Plan To Close Guantanamo Expected In Coming Week*
*Any decision to select a U.S. facility would require congressional approval - something U.S. lawmakers say is unlikely.*








By LOLITA C. BALDOR & KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Posted: 11/08/2015 12:30 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon's plan outlining the long-stalled effort to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, expected in the coming week, includes details suggesting that the Centennial Correctional Facility in Colorado is one suitable site to send detainees whom officials believe should never be released, administration officials said.

The plan represents a last-gasp effort by the Obama administration to convince staunch opponents in Congress that dangerous detainees who can't be transferred safely to other countries should be housed in a U.S.-based prison.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pentagon-plan-close-guantanamo_563f8442e4b0b24aee4aa757


----------



## poochee

*Reset - or at least repair - on agenda for Obama-Netanyahu meeting*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 2:35 AM ET, Sat November 7, 2015

*PHOTOS*

*Story highlights*

White House sees indications the Israeli leader is working to mend fences in U.S.
All sides are hopeful the visit will be less contentious than Netanyahu's March trip
Prime Minister then publicly lobbied against Iran deal in address to Congress
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/06/politics/obama-netanyahu-visit/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama, Netanyahu stress areas of agreement*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:19 PM ET, Mon November 9, 2015

*VIDEOS/PHOTOS*

*Story highlights*

After their sharp disagreement over the deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program, both men appeared ready to find common ground
Obama backed Netanyahu in the latest crisis facing Israel, speaking out against recent attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians
The Israeli leader went out of his way to say that he had not given up hope for a final settlement with the Palestinians.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/politics/benjamin-netanyahu-obama-meeting/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama and Netanyahu lay down the gloves (for now)*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 8:24 PM ET, Mon November 9, 2015

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

It was their first meeting in more than a year -- and their first meeting since the conclusion of the Iranian nuclear deal
The White House doesn't deny that the two men aren't close, but it wants to hand a functional relationship onto Obama's successor
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/politics/benjamin-netanyahu-obama-make-nice/index.html


----------



## poochee

November 10, 2015, 11:34 am
*Obama to seek Supreme Court ruling on immigration actions*
By Jordan Fabian

The Obama administration announced Tuesday it plans to file an appeal to the Supreme Court of a ruling that blocks the president's executive actions on immigration.

The decision comes less than one day after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to keep an injunction in place that has prevented the programs from taking effect.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ppeal-immigration-ruling-to-the-supreme-court


----------



## poochee

*Senate sends revised defense bill to Obama*
By Jordain Carney - 11/10/15 12:10 PM EST

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a revised annual defense policy bill on Tuesday, sending the measure to President Obama's desk for a second time.

The Senate voted 91-3 on the $607 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which lays out broad defense policy requirements and restrictions.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/259660-senate-sends-revised-defense-bill-to-obamas-desk


----------



## poochee

Nov 10, 10:04 PM EST
*The Latest: GOP presidential candidates meet for 4th debate*

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The Republican presidential candidates are debating for the fourth time in the 2016 nomination contest, this time in Milwaukee, as they compete to narrow down the wide-open contest.

Here are the latest developments (all times local):

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-10-22-04-01


----------



## poochee

*Three major takeaways from the GOP debate*
11/11/15 01:07 AM-Updated 11/11/15 11:40 AM
By Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

After the fireworks at the last debate, Tuesday's meeting was a friendly walk through the park. Fewer candidates meant more speaking time and more substantive exchanges, but there was no debate-defining moment and no obvious winner. Still, there were the seeds of some larger stories that will follow the field on the trail the next few weeks. Here were three takeaways.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/three-major-takeaways-the-gop-debate


----------



## poochee

Nov 11, 12:58 PM EST
*Obama visits Arlington National Cemetery to honor veterans
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama urged the nation to keep veterans in their thoughts long after Veterans Day and ensure that they receive the care and benefits they've earned.

Participating in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, the president said the nation is boosting funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs and making progress on longstanding problems such as veteran homelessness and in reducing a backlog of disability claims. But other problems must still be addressed.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-11-12-58-04


----------



## poochee

*Democrats hint they are ready for Obama to shut down Gitmo alone*
By Karoun Demirjian November 11 at 2:33 PM

As Congress awaits the administration's plans to close Guantanamo Bay, Democrats are suggesting it might not be a bad thing if President Obama shutters the facility unilaterally.

While Democratic leaders are being careful not to implore Obama directly to cut Congress out of his decision-making process, they are giving the president ample political cover to use executive authority to shutter the controversial detention facility.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ut-down-gitmo-alone/?postshare=71447277092960


----------



## poochee

Nov 12, 11:53 AM EST

*Obama awards Medal of Honor to Army captain*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday that a young Army captain who is the newest Medal of Honor recipient had the instincts and the courage to tackle a suicide bomber in Afghanistan during a moment of selfless bravery, saving the lives of many comrades.

Four people were still killed, and Florent Groberg suffered a leg injury so severe that he needed 33 surgeries to save it.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-12-11-53-03


----------



## poochee

*'Jihadi John' Believed Killed in 'Flawless' US Airstrike, Official Says*
By James Gordon Meek
Nov 13, 2015, 7:21 AM ET

*VIDEO*

As the U.S. government is working today to confirm the death of "Jihadi John", a U.S. official appeared confident the notorious ISIS executioner was taken out in what he called a "flawless" American airstrike.

"He walked out of a building and got in the car. We struck it right after with zero collateral damage," a counter-terrorism official told ABC News late Thursday. "The vehicle was on fire. It was a 100 percent flawless, direct hit."

http://abcnews.go.com/International...wless-us-airstrike-official/story?id=35173891


----------



## poochee

*How many people actually saw Donald Trump's bizarre Iowa speech, anyway?*
*By Philip Bump November 13 at 12:31 PM

VIDEO*

Donald Trump's bizarre performance at a rally in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Thursday night - insulting his opponents, swearing, inviting someone to try to stab him - has prompted a new round of "has he gone too far" questioning. (Which is somewhat unusual: The media, which asked that question repeatedly in July and August, is now much more timid about speculating on Trump's political demise for obvious reasons.) It is perfectly possible that he has Gone Too Far™, at long last - perhaps because his tone was noticeably different (as Jeff B. of the conservative blog Ace of Spades notes).

But for this to be Trump's "gone too far" moment, people needed to have seen it or heard about it. Which raises an interesting question in an age of fragmented media: How many people will actually watch or hear about Trump's speech?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rre-iowa-speech-anyway/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*Time for GOP panic? Establishment worried Carson or Trump might win.*
By Philip Rucker and Robert Costa November 13 at 7:18 AM

*PHOTOS/VIDEO*

Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them.

Party leaders and donors fear that nominating either man would have negative ramifications for the GOP ticket up and down the ballot, virtually ensuring a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidency and increasing the odds that the Senate falls into Democratic hands.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ea88a6-895b-11e5-be8b-1ae2e4f50f76_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama: 'Heartbreaking' Paris Terror Is Attack 'On All of Humanity'*
By BENJAMIN SIEGEL
Nov 13, 2015, 6:39 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The series of terror attacks unfolding in Paris today are attacks "on all of humanity," President Obama said.

Obama, who said he did not yet have all the details on the attacks, said the United States will do "whatever it takes to work with the French people and nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-heartbreaking-paris-terror-attack-humanity/story?id=35186169


----------



## poochee

*Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Deadly Paris Attacks*
*The militant group also redistributed a video threatening to attack France if bombings continue.*








By Eric Knecht
Posted: 11/14/2015 05:57 AM EST | Edited: 5 hours ago

The attacks, described by France's president as an act of war, were designed to show the country would remain in danger as long as it continued its current policies, Islamic State said in a statement.

"To teach France, and all nations following its path, that they will remain at the top of Islamic State's list of targets, and that the smell of death won't leave their noses as long as they partake in their crusader campaign," said the group.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/islamic-state-video-paris-attacks_564710e0e4b0603773492fc3


----------



## poochee

Nov 14, 3:31 PM EST

*Obama heads to G-20 with new urgency following Paris attacks*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The global anxiety sparked by a series of deadly attacks in Paris by the Islamic State group has given new urgency to President Barack Obama's upcoming talks with world leaders.

In remarks from the White House shortly after the attacks, Obama said, "We're going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice, and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-14-15-31-35


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address
November 14, 2015 *
Weekly Address: Giving Veterans their Chance

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama honored our nation's veterans, who have served and sacrificed in defense of our country. This past week, Americans came together on Veterans Day to pay tribute to those men and women in uniform who have risked their lives to protect our freedom. In recent years we've worked to reduce the veterans' unemployment rate to 3.9 percent and slash the disability claims backlog at the VA by nearly 90 percent from its peak. But there is still more that can be done. Since day one of his Administration, the President has remained committed to serving the brave men and women who have served us. And in his address, he reminded us that we all have a role to play in ensuring that veterans have the opportunities and support they deserve.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Clinton fends off attacks in second debate*
_The front-runner was taken to task for her record on foreign policy, guns and Wall Street, but emerges largely unscathed._
By Eli Stokols 
11/14/15 07:49 PM EST
Updated 11/14/15 11:51 PM EST

Hillary Clinton, after coasting through the first Democratic debate, spent two hours during the second showdown on Saturday night fending off a barrage of attacks, as her rivals criticized her foreign policy record, her ties to Wall Street, and her shifting positions on gun control.

But the unrelenting criticism from Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley did little to weaken her standing as the clear front-runner, even though Clinton's closing statement indicated the degree to which she felt the heat on the stage.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/2016-democrat-debate-paris-attacks-215844#ixzz3rXJ5DXVR


----------



## poochee

*Obama Vows Efforts To Eliminate Islamic State At G20 Summit*
*Obama also urged Russia to join renewed fight against ISIS.*








By Matt Spetalnick, Dasha Afanasieva
Posted: 11/15/2015 10:37 AM EST | Edited: 11/15/2015 03:16 PM EST

*VIDEO*

BELEK, Turkey, Nov 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Sunday to step up efforts to eliminate Islamic State and prevent more attacks like those in Paris, while urging Russia's Vladimir Putin to focus on combating the jihadist group in Syria.

A White House official said Obama and Putin agreed in a 35-minute meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Turkey on the need for a political transition in Syria, saying events in Paris had made it all the more urgent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-g20-islamic-state-putin-syria_5648a154e4b08cda348934ed


----------



## poochee

*'Massive' French airstrikes hit Islamic State to retaliate for attacks*
 Greg Toppo, USATODAY 6:35 p.m. EST November 15, 2015

*VIDEO*

France's military launched "massive" retaliatory airstrikes against Islamic State sites in Syria on Sunday night, saying French aircraft struck a command center and training camp at Raqqa.

The French Air Force posted videos on its Facebook page of the planes embarking on the raid of the extremist group's de facto capital. The strikes come two days after the worst attacks in Paris since World War II. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks at six sites that killed 132 people and wounded hundreds more.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/11/15/paris-terrorist-attacks-airstrikes/75837088/


----------



## poochee

Nov 16, 12:36 PM EST

*World leaders vow to step up anti-terror efforts after Paris*
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) -- World leaders vowed Monday to boost intelligence-sharing, cut off terrorist funding and strengthen border security in Europe, as they sought to show resolve and unity following the Islamic State's deadly terror attacks in Paris.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the militant group was "the face of evil" and urged other nations to do more to combat the threat it poses. Still, he resisted calls to escalate U.S. military action and open a large-scale ground war, saying he would instead intensify the American-led airstrike campaign, as well as efforts to train and equip moderate rebels.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-16-12-36-13


----------



## poochee

*Islamic State Threatens To Attack Washington*








Posted: 11/16/2015 08:24 AM EST | Edited: 2 hours ago

VIDEO

CAIRO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Islamic State warned in a new video on Monday that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and threatened to attack in Washington.

The message to countries involved in what it called the "crusader campaign" was delivered by a man dressed in fatigues and a turban, and identified in subtitles as Al Ghareeb the Algerian.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...to-attack-washington_5649d815e4b08cda34898214


----------



## poochee

*Refugee Screenings Are More Intensive Than Some Politicians Would Have You Think*
_The Obama administration is pushing back on claims it doesn't vet refugees._
Elise FoleyImmigration & Politics Reporter, The Huffington PosPosted: 11/17/2015 04:10 PM EST | Edited: 11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON -- Republicans in Congress and half of the nation's governors have said the U.S. shouldn't accept Syrian refugees in light of terrorist attacks on Paris last week, based on what they see as an inadequate or inexistent screening process.

Now the Obama administration is doing damage control. Senior administration officials said Tuesday they're working quickly to educate the public and politicians, as members of Congress plan totry to block the U.S. from resettling Syrian refugees and more than half of governors say they won't accept them into their states.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/refugee-screening-process-syrians_564b55ece4b045bf3df0ece7


----------



## poochee

*Senate votes to strike down Obama's climate rules*
By Timothy Cama - 11/17/15 06:36 PM EST

The votes approving resolutions under the Congressional Review Act come less than two weeks before Obama and other world leaders meet in Paris to agree to a worldwide pact to fight global warming.

The votes are symbolic, since Obama would veto the resolutions and supporters do not have the two-thirds majority needed in both chambers to override the vetoes.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/260507-senate-votes-to-strike-down-obamas-climate-rules


----------



## DaveBurnett

Some of these people need to be in mental asylums rather than positions of power.!!


----------



## poochee

*Feds fight to end phone secrecy after Paris attacks*
By Katie Bo Williams - 11/18/15 06:00 AM EST

Pressure is rising on Apple, Google and other technology companies to allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies access to encrypted phones and other devices.

In the wake of the coordinated terrorist attacks on Paris, CIA Director John Brennan, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and other critics are amplifying their arguments against Silicon Valley.

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/260537-feds-fight-to-end-phone-secrecy-after-paris-attacks


----------



## poochee

Nov 18, 4:00 PM EST

*House panel approves bill to overhaul sentencing laws*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress is moving swiftly on a sweeping overhaul of U.S. sentencing laws that has the rare backing of both Republicans and Democrats and President Barack Obama.

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow judges discretion to give lesser sentences than federal mandatory minimums, reducing prison time for some nonviolent drug offenders.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-18-12-38-40


----------



## ekim68

poochee said:


> *Feds fight to end phone secrecy after Paris attacks*
> By Katie Bo Williams - 11/18/15 06:00 AM EST
> 
> Pressure is rising on Apple, Google and other technology companies to allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies access to encrypted phones and other devices.
> 
> In the wake of the coordinated terrorist attacks on Paris, CIA Director John Brennan, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and other critics are amplifying their arguments against Silicon Valley.
> 
> http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/260537-feds-fight-to-end-phone-secrecy-after-paris-attacks


According to the NY Times, those involved in the Paris attacks used unsecured devices....(So maybe the Feds don't need to invade all of our privacies..)


----------



## poochee

*Another half-million people sign up for Obamacare*
By Sarah Ferris - 11/18/15 03:13 PM EST

About 535,000 people applied for coverage, just shy of last week's figure of 540,000 - a sign that people are still seeking out coverage even after attention on the new enrollment period has faded.

The steady pace of sign-ups is good news for the administration

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...n-people-sign-up-for-obamacare-in-second-week


----------



## poochee

*Bobby Jindal announces he is ending presidential campaign*
By Tom LoBianco and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 7:51 PM ET, Tue November 17, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Tuesday announced he was ending his campaign for president
"This is not my time," Jindal told Fox News' Bret Baier
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/polit...he-is-ending-presidential-campaign/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Abdelhamid Abaaoud killed in Saint-Denis raid*
11/19/15 07:52 AM-Updated 11/19/15 12:40 PM
By Nancy Ing and Jake Cigainero

*VIDEO*

*PARIS -* The Belgian jihadi suspected of being the ringleader of the Paris terrorist attacks was killed during a raid on a suburban apartment, officials said Thursday.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/abdelhamid-abaaoud-killed-saint-denis-raid-officials


----------



## poochee

November 19, 2015, 01:17 pm
*Study: More Mexicans leaving than entering US*
By Kyle Balluck

The report, published Thursday by the Pew Research Center, said a sluggish economy and a desire to be reunited with family are causing Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal, to go back to their native country.

Pew found that more than 1 million Mexican immigrants and their families, including American-born children, left the U.S. for Mexico from 2009 to 2014. Over that same span, 870,000 Mexicans entered the U.S.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/260781-study-more-mexicans-leaving-than-entering-us


----------



## poochee

*House passes GOP bill restricting Syrian refugees*
11/19/15 02:37 PM-Updated 11/19/15 03:10 PM
By Aliyah Frumin

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed legislation on Thursday that essentially halts Syrian refugees from coming into the United States, despite President Barack Obama's promise to veto the bill.

The legislation, proposed in response to last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, passed by a 289 to 137 vote with overwhelming support from Republicans. Forty-seven Democrats voted in favor of the measure, while just two Republicans voted against it along with 135 Democrats.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/house-passes-gop-bill-restricting-syrian-refugees


----------



## poochee

*The biggest immigration case ever is one step closer to the Supreme Court*
11/20/15 11:41 AM
By Amanda Sakuma

Administration officials on Friday petitioned for the Supreme Court to take up a major case challenging President Obama's sweeping executive measures to protect millions of undocumented families currently living in the United States.

The request for Supreme Court review is a major development in the Department of Justice's drive to save Obama's immigration plan and see the programs enacted before he leaves office. It was made all the more poignant Friday as Nov. 20 marked exactly one year since Obama unveiled the unprecedented actions, which would extend a temporary status and shield as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-biggest-immigration-case-ever-one-step-closer-the-supreme-court


----------



## poochee

12:16 pm ET12:16 pm ET
By  Alan Rappeport 

*Terrorism and Refugees Dominate Week in Presidential Race*
12:16 pm ET12:16 pm ET
Alan Rappeport

Heightened fears about terrorism and a growing refugee crisis have put presidential candidates on the spot this week, requiring them to come up with harried, and sometimes radical, proposals on how they would handle the new threats facing America. The following is a handy recap of where the leading candidates stand:

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...gees-dominate-week-in-presidential-race/?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*GOP operative prepares anti-Trump 'guerilla campaign'*
By Jesse Byrnes - 11/20/15 04:20 PM EST

Mair, a former online communications director at the Republican National Committee who also worked on behalf of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's presidential campaign earlier this year, has formed Trump Card LLC "to defeat and destroy" Trump's candidacy, according to the report.

"The stark reality is that unless something dramatic and unconventional is done, Trump will be the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton will become president."

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/260961-gop-operative-set-to-unveil-anti-trump-guerilla-campaign


----------



## poochee

November 21, 2015
*Weekly Address: In the Face of Terror, We Stand as One *

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the Vice President spoke to his and the President's commitment to protecting our country from terrorists, while also providing refuge to some of the world's most vulnerable people. He emphasized that he and the President consider the safety of the American people to be their first priority. But slamming the door in the face of refugees fleeing precisely the type of senseless violence that occurred in Paris last week would be a betrayal of our values. The vast majority of Syrian refugees are women, children, and orphans; survivors of torture; and people desperately in need of medical help. And all refugees undergo the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States. The Vice President reminded us that ISIL wants us to turn our backs on Muslims victimized by terrorism. We win by prioritizing our security while refusing to compromise our fundamental American values of freedom, openness, and tolerance.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Major insurers Anthem, Aetna standing behind ObamaCare plans*
By Sarah Ferris - 11/20/15 02:37 PM EST 

Health insurance giants Anthem and Aetna are standing behind their ObamaCare plans one day after a top competitor warned it might pull out of the exchanges.

In a statement on Friday, both companies backed their 2015 forecasts and said they remained committed to the exchanges.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/260935-anthem-aetna-stand-behind-obamacare-plans


----------



## poochee

Nov 21, 5:02 AM EST
*Pentagon pressing allies for more help against Islamic State*
By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is pressing European and Arab allies to provide more troops and support for the war against the Islamic State group, hoping that the horror of the Paris attacks - and the fear more are coming - will compel them to get more deeply involved.

The call for help is driven by a hope to build on what the Obama administration sees as the beginnings of battlefield momentum in Iraq and Syria. It may also reflect a sense in the Pentagon that the campaign against the Islamic State group has advanced too slowly and requires more urgent and decisive military moves.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-21-05-02-57


----------



## poochee

*Obama: We won't relent against ISIS, Paris attacks will not be 'new normal'*
11/22/15 10:14 AM
By Cassandra Vinograd

He said the international coalition against ISIS "will not relent" and that "we will not accept" the idea of terror attacks on restaurants, theaters and hotels as "the new normal."

When it comes to defeating ISIS, Obama said, "we're going to get it done."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-we-wont-relent-against-isis-paris-attacks-will-not-be-new-normal


----------



## poochee

Nov 23, 11:07 AM EST
*Kerry: US trying to speed up efforts to defeat Islamic State*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The United States is seeking new military, counterterrorism and diplomatic ideas to destroy the Islamic State group faster, Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, acknowledging the difficulty in eliminating extremists who've exploited four years of chaos in the Middle East to become a global threat. He said greater military cooperation with Russia was possible under the right circumstances.

Kerry spoke between meetings with senior Arab officials in the United Arab Emirates, and as the Belgian capital of Brussels was in virtual lockdown over terror threats a continent away. President Barack Obama's administration faces pressure at home and abroad to step up the fight against the Islamic State after its Nov. 13 attack in Paris killed 130 people. Obama meets French President Francois Hollande in Washington on Tuesday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-23-11-07-28


----------



## poochee

Nov 24, 1:28 PM EST

*Obama, Hollande pledge solidarity against ISIS*
By JULIE PACE and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pledging solidarity after the Paris attacks, President Barack Obama promised Tuesday to work with France and other allies to intensify the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State, saying America would not be cowed by the scourge of terrorism. To this point, Obama said, Russia is an "outlier" in the fight.

"We cannot succumb to fear," Obama said, standing alongside French President Francois Hollande after they met at the White House to discuss the anti-ISIS mission. "Make no mistake, we will win, and groups like ISIL will lose."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-24-13-28-14


----------



## poochee

*President Obama: No specific threat to the homeland over the holiday*
11/25/15 12:14 PM-Updated 11/25/15 01:36 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

President Obama tried to reassure nervous Americans on Wednesday that the nation's security services were ready for anything terrorists might throw at them.

Speaking on the eve of Thanksgiving, Obama said law enforcement officials have received no credible reports of "a plot on the homeland" like the horrific Nov. 13 massacre in Paris.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/president-obama-no-specific-threat-the-homeland-over-the-holiday


----------



## poochee

*Your guide to surviving your Thanksgiving political conversations*
11/25/15 11:36 AM-Updated 11/25/15 01:03 PM
By MSNBC staff

Thanksgiving is one of the most wonderful times of the year, filled with family, friends, delicious food - and, inevitably, political debates around the dinner table.

So what happens when this year's biggest news stories come up at your Thanksgiving celebration? We've got you covered! MSNBC has put together a guide detailing what you need to know about some of the biggest news stories this year. So when Uncle Joe wants to talk about Syrian refugees, you'll have all the facts at your fingertips. 

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/your-guide-surviving-your-thanksgiving-political-conversations


----------



## poochee

*Obama honors 'extraordinary' Medal of Freedom recipients*
David Jackson, USA TODAY 6:53 a.m. EST November 25, 2015

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year are "extraordinary people" who have left their mark on politics, entertainment, athletics and the United States itself, President Obama said Tuesday.

From singer-actress Barbra Streisand to NASA mathematician Katherine G. Johnson to filmmaker Steven Spielberg to recently deceased baseball star Yogi Berra, Obama paid tribute to American originals with the nation's highest civilian honor during a White House ceremony.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...eedom-yogi-berra-barbara-streisdand/76330534/


----------



## poochee

Nov 25, 4:34 PM EST
*Obama signs defense bill despite Guantanamo provisions
*
In a statement, Obama said the bill "includes vital benefits for military personnel and their families, authorities to facilitate ongoing operations around the globe, and important reforms to the military retirement system" as well as other measures.

He added, however, that he is "deeply disappointed that the Congress has again failed to take productive action toward closing the detention facility at Guantanamo." Keeping the prison open, Obama said, "is not consistent with our interests as a Nation and undermines our standing in the world."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-25-16-34-28


----------



## poochee

*Here's Evidence The Chicago PD Is Worse Than You Thought*
_The city's police department has a long history of failing to hold its officers accountable._
Mollie ReillyDeputy Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Posted: 11/25/2015 04:20 PM EST | Edited: 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

The release of a video showing the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald -- whom Chicago police Officer Jason Van **** fatally shot 16 times in October 2014, as the teen was walking away from him -- has made the city's police department an object of national scrutiny, with questions arising about its policies, its practices and its troubled history with the city's communities of color.

Here are some facts and statistics that highlight just how bad things are at the Chicago Police Department:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chicago-police-statistics_56560822e4b079b2818a0c6d


----------



## 2twenty2

poochee said:


> The release of a video showing the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald -- whom Chicago police Officer Jason Van **** fatally shot 16 times in October 2014, as the teen was walking away from him


I just don't know how anyone can justify shooting a unarmed teenager 16 times!


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls troops, offers refugees welcome on Thanksgiving *
By Deena Zaru, CNN
Updated 1:18 PM ET, Thu November 26, 2015

*VIDEOS*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama issued a Thanksgiving address welcoming refugees on Thursday and spent part of his holiday calling troops to thank them for their service.

"In 1620, a small band of pilgrims came to this continent, refugees who had fled persecution and violence in their native land," Obama said. "Nearly 400 years later, we remember their part in the American story -- and we honor the men and women who helped them in their time of need."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/26/politics/obama-thanksgiving-troops-refugees/index.html


----------



## poochee

Nov 27, 11:32 AM EST

*Reporter mocked by Trump says the 2 knew each other well








*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump said he couldn't have been making fun of a reporter's disability because he doesn't know the man. Not so, says the reporter.

Serge Kovaleski of The New York Times says he has met Trump repeatedly, interviewing him in his office and talking to him at news conferences, when he worked for the New York Daily News in the late 1980s. "Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years," he said in a Times story about the Republican presidential candidate's behavior at a rally in South Carolina last week.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-27-11-32-51


----------



## poochee

*Sources: Ringleader Of Paris Attacks Planned More Strikes*









PARIS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The ringleader behind the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris had plans to strike Jewish targets and to disrupt schools and the transport system in France, according to sourcesclose to the investigation.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national of Moroccan origin, also boasted of the ease with which he had re-entered Europe from Syria via Greece two months earlier, exploiting the confusion of the migrant crisis and the continent's passport-free Schengen system, the sources said on Friday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...planned-more-strikes_5658a3afe4b08e945feb3a6e


----------



## poochee

*Obama on Colorado Planned Parenthood shooting: 'Enough is enough'*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 11:20 AM ET, Sat November 28, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_Responding to another high-profile episode of gun violence, President Barack Obama told the American people on Saturday that "we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them."

Obama's statement talked up gun control efforts a day after a shooting at a Planned Parenthood building in Colorado Springs killed three people.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/28/politics/colorado-shooting-planned-parenthood-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

November 28, 2015, 10:34 am
*Black religious leaders tell colleagues: Think twice before supporting Trump*
By Bradford Richardson

In an EBONY magazine op-ed Friday, more than 100 black pastors, professors and activists denounced those in the community who are expected to give their support to Trump's White House bid.

"Mr. Trump routinely uses overtly divisive and racist language on the campaign trail," the op-ed says.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...us-leaders-tell-colleagues-think-twice-before


----------



## poochee

The Fix
*Donald Trump's dangerously circular logic*
By Chris Cillizza November 29 at 10:39 AM

There was a remarkable -- and telling -- exchange Sunday morning between NBC's Chuck Todd and Donald Trump over the Republican presidential frontrunner's much-debunked claims about "thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

*Here it is -- in close to its entirety:
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...the-dangerous-circular-logic-of-donald-trump/


----------



## poochee

Nov 29, 11:56 AM EST

*Obama: US leadership helping global fight on climate change*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

Obama was joining more than 150 leaders for the opening days of a two-week conference where countries are trying to negotiate an agreement aimed at avoiding a calamitous increase in global temperatures.

"What makes this gathering different is that more than 180 nations have already submitted plans to reduce the harmful emissions that help cause climate change, and America's leadership is helping to drive this progress," Obama said in a Facebook posting hours before his scheduled late-night arrival in the French capital.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-29-11-56-02


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Climate summit a 'rejection' of terror*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 12:38 PM ET, Mon November 30, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

President Barack Obama spoke Monday at the COP21 conference held outside the French capital
"We have come to Paris to show our resolve," he said, speaking both of climate change and the threat of terror.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/politics/obama-climate-summit-a-rejection-of-terror/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Former Military Chief: Iraq War Was A 'Failure' That Helped Create ISIS*
_"We strategically marched in the wrong direction."_
Matt FernerNational Reporter, The Huffington Post
Posted: 11/30/2015 03:19 PM EST | Edited: 1 hour ago

"It was a huge error," Flynn said about the Iraq war in a detailed interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel published Sunday.

"As brutal as Saddam Hussein was, it was a mistake to just eliminate him," Flynn went on to say. "The same is true for Moammar Gadhafi and for Libya, which is now a failed state. The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iraq-war-isis-michael-flynn_565c83a9e4b079b2818af89c


----------



## poochee

*Obama names new ISIS adviser, counter-terror measures*
By Kristen Holmes, CNN White House Producer
Updated 4:32 PM ET, Mon November 30, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The White House announced new steps in its counter terror campaign on Monday
The announcement included measures that will tighten the security in the visa waiver program.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/politics/white-house-counter-terrorism-campaign/index.html


----------



## poochee

*White House presses GOP on ISIS*
By Devin Henry - 11/30/15 02:17 PM EST

Speaking in Paris, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that Congress needs to implement a series or proposals rather than engage in politically motivated posturing that is "wrong, dangerous and falls far short of what the America people deserve."

Earnest said Congress should also fully fund an aviation security proposal in a budget deal, confirm a counterterrorism financing chief for the Treasury Department and institute a law banning people on the no-fly list from buying guns.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/261506-white-house-presses-gop-on-isis


----------



## poochee

*Chicago cop who fatally shot teen makes bail*
 Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY 9:40 p.m. EST November 30, 2015

*VIDEO*

CHICAGO - A Chicago police officer facing a first-degree murder charge for shooting a teen 16 times was released from county jail Monday evening, hours after a judge set bond at $1.5 million.

Officer Jason Van **** had been in jail since Tuesday after prosecutors charged him with the Oct. 20, 2014, shooting of Laquan McDonald. Also on Tuesday, the city released dashcam video that shows the teen, who is black, being shot by Van ****, who is white.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...who-shot-laquan-mcdonald-back-court/76555986/


----------



## poochee

Dec 1, 5:13 PM EST

*Congress reaches deal on 5-year transportation bill*
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House and Senate have reached agreement on a 5-year, $281 billion transportation bill that would increase spending to address the nation's aging and congested highways and transit systems - a legislative feat that lawmakers and President Barack Obama have struggled throughout his administration to achieve.

The bill, unveiled Tuesday, would also put an end to the cycle of temporary extensions and threatened shutdowns of transportation programs that have bedeviled Congress for the past seven years, making it difficult for states to plan long-term projects.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-01-17-13-47


----------



## poochee

Dec 1, 4:56 PM EST

*US sending new special ops force to fight Islamic State*
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. military will deploy a new special operations force to Iraq to step up the fight against Islamic State militants unleashing violence in Iraq and Syria and determined to hold territory they have seized across the Middle East, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress on Tuesday.

Carter, who testified alongside Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, faced skeptical lawmakers who argued that the U.S. needs to be more forceful in countering the threat from IS, credited with attacks in Paris and Beirut and the downing of a Russian airliner.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-01-16-56-48


----------



## poochee

November 03, 2015, 02:09 pm
*DNC chief to Trump: 'Just keep talking'*
By Mark Hensch

*VIDEO*

The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday urged GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump to keep talking, saying the outspoken billionaire's comments are a godsend heading into the 2016 election.

"I'm happy to have Donald Trump just be talking and demonstrate that because he's right at the top, or at least No. 2, it shows you where the Republican Party is today," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) told host Thomas Roberts on "MSNBC Live."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...chief-trump-is-helping-a-democrat-win-in-2016


----------



## poochee

*Chicago police superintendent fired after Laquan McDonald video released*
12/01/15 12:19 PM-Updated 12/01/15 12:27 PM
By NBC Chicago

*VIDEO*

The announcement came during an 11 a.m. press conference announcing Mayor Rahm Emanuel's new task force on police accountability. Emanuel has said the task force was created in an effort to "strengthen the fabric of trust between the Chicago Police Department and the communities it protects."

Emanuel and McCarthy have faced mounting criticism over the handling of the Laquan McDonald case, with many citing the 13 months it took to charge the officer involved and others questioning McCarthy's leadership and credibility.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/chicago-...hy-fired-after-laquan-mcdonald-video-released


----------



## poochee

*Trump, for good of America, get out of race*
By Jennifer Granholm
Updated 10:42 AM ET, Wed December 2, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Jennifer Granholm: Donald Trump's rhetoric is causing irreparable damage to United States
Democracy doesn't need candidate who intentionally stokes jingoism, she says

Jennifer Granholm is the former governor and former attorney general of Michigan. She's currently a senior research fellow at UC Berkeley. She also serves as senior advisor to Correct The Record, a super-PAC supporting Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/01/opinions/granholm-trump-exit-presidential-race/index.html
*
*


----------



## poochee

December 02, 2015, 04:19 pm
*White House, Senate Dems huddle on ISIS*
By Jordain Carney

A top administration official huddled with Senate Democrats Wednesday on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as the administration prepares to increase its military efforts against the terrorist group.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), said White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough gave lawmakers an "update as to the status of [the] fight against ISIL," using an alternate acronym for the group, including efforts to "degrade and destroy" the organization.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/261845-white-house-senate-dems-huddle-on-isis-strategy


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls for gun reforms in wake of San Bernardino shooting*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 6:48 PM ET, Wed December 2, 2015

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama called for "common sense gun safety laws" in the wake of the shooting
"We should never think that this is just something that just happens," Obama said
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/02/politics/san-bernardino-shooting-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The San Bernardino shooting is the second mass shooting today and the 355th this year*
_355 mass shootings in 336 days ... and counting._
Nick WingSenior Viral Editor, The Huffington Post

*VIDEO *

Americans were exposed to the terror of mass gun violence again on Wednesday, this time at a social services center in San Bernardino, California. The initial reports revealed a distressingly familiar pattern: A heavily armed active shooter or shooters, at least 14 people dead and more injured, harrowing images of law enforcement and first responders rushing to get the area under control, and stunned people -- some of them wounded and bleeding -- streaming out of the facility.

It seems like we've seen this time and time again. But mass shootings occur even more frequently than many people realize, because most of them don't make the national news.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-mass-shootings_565f58cfe4b08e945fedd47d


----------



## poochee

*Obama says FBI taking over San Bernardino shooting investigation*
12/03/15 11:36 AM-Updated 12/03/15 01:25 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

"At this stage we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred," Obama said. "It is possible this was terrorist-related … it is possible this was workplace-related."

But, the president said, "at this point, this is now a FBI investigation."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-says-fbi-taking-over-san-bernardino-shooting-investigation


----------



## poochee

*House approves five-year, $305B highway bill*
By Keith Laing and Cristina Marcos - 12/03/15 01:27 PM EST

The House overwhelmingly approved a five-year, $305 billion highway bill Thursday, advancing the first long-term national transportation spending package in a decade and cementing an early legislative achievement in the Speaker Paul Ryan era.

The White House has said that President Obama is planning to sign the bill.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/261958-house-approves-305b-highway-bill


----------



## poochee

*The real reason for the Obamacare repeal*

The Senate's passage of repeal carefully laid the groundwork for dismantling the law if Republicans capture the White House in 2017.
By Jennifer Haberkorn 
12/03/15 05:39 PM EST
Updated 12/03/15 08:59 PM EST

Republicans on Capitol Hill are sending their long-sought Obamacare repeal on a kamikaze mission to the president's desk. The GOP has big reasons to move ahead with a doomed mission: to force the president to veto the bill, to fulfill a promise to its base and to lay the groundwork to truly repeal Obamacare under a Republican president in 2017.It's not just optics. Republicans are carefully constructing a legislative strategy, based on Senate rules and precedents, to make it easier to unravel the health law in 2017 if a Republican wins the White House.

The Senate on Thursday approved legislation, 52-47, to repeal the most significant parts of the Affordable Care Act under special budget rules, called reconciliation. Democrats couldn't filibuster reconciliation under the rules, and it only needed 51 votes to pass.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/obamacare-repeal-real-reason-216409#ixzz3tJo9tpQn

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/obamacare-repeal-real-reason-216409#ixzz3tJnsLsJY


----------



## poochee

US | Thu Dec 3, 2015 7:45pm EST
Related: U.S.
*Obama lights national tree, remembers California victims*
WASHINGTON | By Alana Wise

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama and his family led the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on Thursday, with charity, thanks, and a moment of reflection for the victims of Wednesday's shooting.

"Five, four, three, two, one. Merry Christmas, everybody!" Obama said as the national tree took sparkle for the 93rd year

Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/04/us-christmas-season-whitehouse-idUSKBN0TN01H20151204#WzQKVch5yDMICWHu.99


----------



## poochee

*Robust Jobs Report All but Guarantees Fed Will Raise Rates*
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZDEC. 4, 2015

American employers expanded their payrolls at a robust pace in November, the government reported Friday, all but guaranteeing policy makers at the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade when they meet later this month.

In addition to 211,000 new hires last month - a bit more than Wall Street had expected - the Labor Department also revised upward its earlier estimate of job creation in September and October by a total of 26,000. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/b...report-hiring-unemployment-november.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

December 05, 2015
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: We Will Not Be Terrorized*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President offered his condolences to the families and community of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting. He recognized the possibility that the two attackers may have been radicalized, a reminder to all of us that we need to work together to prevent people from falling victim to attempts by extremist organizations to encourage violence. The President called on Congress to close the loophole that allows people on the No-Fly list to purchase guns, a simple and logical step that would make it harder for potential terrorists to acquire weapons. And he reminded us that we cannot accept mass shootings like this one as routine in our country, and emphasized that above all else, his priority is the safety and security of the American people.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*President Obama to address nation over terror threats*
By David Mark, CNN
Updated 7:12 PM ET, Sat December 5, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

President Barack Obama on Sunday night will deliver a rare Oval Office address
The president is expected to provide an update on the San Bernardino shootings investigation

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/05/politics/obama-to-discuss-terror-threats/index.html


----------



## poochee

The Opinion Pages | Editorial
*End the Gun Epidemic in America*
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDDEC. 4, 2015

It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America's elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let's be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.

Opponents of gun control are saying, as they do after every killing, that no law can unfailingly forestall a specific criminal. That is true. They are talking, many with sincerity, about the constitutional challenges to effective gun regulation. Those challenges exist. They point out that determined killers obtained weapons illegally in places like France, England and Norway that have strict gun laws. Yes, they did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/opinion/end-the-gun-epidemic-in-america.html?ref=opinion&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Presidential Candidates on Gun Violence*
By THOMAS KAPLAN and WILSON ANDREWS DEC. 4, 2015

Democratic and Republican candidates are split in their approach to addressing gun violence. All of the Democratic candidates want new gun laws, while nearly all Republicans are against additional restrictions they see as harmful to Second Amendment rights.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...idates-on-gun-violence.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama addresses war on terror: 'Freedom is more powerful than fear'*
12/06/15 08:17 PM-Updated 12/06/15 09:01 PM
By Andrea Mitchell and M. Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

In only his third address to the nation from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama reassured Americans that the United States is equipped to meet the dangerous and "evolving" threat of terrorism.

As U.S. and other Western responses have gained ground against organized, wide-scale terrorist attacks, ISIS and other groups are undertaking "growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds" of home-grown attackers like the couple who killed 14 people last week in San Bernardino, California, the president said.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-addresses-war-terror-freedom-more-powerful-fear


----------



## poochee

*Homeland Security secretary unveils new terror alert system*
By Evan Perez and Wesley Bruer, CNN
Updated 4:30 PM ET, Mon December 7, 2015

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday his department will unveil a new national alert system in the coming days to reflect the "new phase" of the terror threat.

Johnson said his department will move to a new system that will include an intermediate terror threat. Johnson said the new alert system will reflect the current security environment when "not having a specific credible piece of intelligence specifying a plot isn't the end of the story."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/07/politics/jeh-johnson-homeland-security-terror-alert-system/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court won't hear assault weapons case
By Lydia Wheeler - 12/07/15 10:19 AM EST 
*
The Supreme Court declined Monday to weigh in on whether cities and states can ban assault weapons, sidestepping a charged debate rekindled by a series of mass shootings around the country.

In refusing to take the case known as Friedman v. Highland Park, the court - at least for now - lets stand a lower court's ruling in favor of the Illinois city's prohibition and, by extension, several similar bans in place in municipalities around the country.

http://thehill.com/regulation/court...ects-challenge-to-illinois-assault-weapon-ban


----------



## poochee

Dec 7, 4:18 PM EST

*Republicans assail Obama on ISIS _ despite similarities*
By STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Minutes after a solemn President Barack Obama spelled out his plans to protect Americans from terrorism, Marco Rubio declared that he "may have made things worse." Jeb Bush called the president "weak" and his approach "business as usual." And Donald Trump declared on Twitter, "We need a new President - FAST!"

Yet beneath their harsh rhetoric lies a fundamental political reality: Few in the Republican Party's 2016 class would break significantly with the Democratic president's approach to combating the Islamic State group. The avalanche of Republican criticism that continued Monday focused on the president's tone, his word choice and the fine points of his plans - not in most cases the specific policy prescriptions he presented in his address from the Oval Office Sunday night.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-07-16-18-19


----------



## poochee

*White House says Trump's anti-Muslim policy 'disqualifies him from serving as president'*
By Juliet Eilperin and Greg Jaffe December 8 at 1:27 PM

Earnest's condemnation of the Republican 2016 front-runner, which marked his sharpest criticism yet of the New York businessman, included a description of Trump comparing him to "a carnival barker" who engages in ""vacuous sloganeering" and sports "fake hair."

"What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president," Earnest said."The question now is about the rest of the Republican Party, and whether they'll be dragged into the dustbin history with him."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...y-disqualifies-him-from-serving-as-president/


----------



## poochee

December 08, 2015, 05:22 pm
*House votes overwhelmingly to restrict visa waivers for travelers*
By Cristina Marcos

The House vote comes after the Obama administration last week moved to expand security checks for the visa-waiver program, such as determining whether travelers had visited countries with significant terror activity.

President Obama called on Congress to go even further to secure the program during his prime time Oval Office address on Sunday night.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-acti...mingly-to-restrict-visa-waivers-for-travelers


----------



## poochee

Dec 9, 2:27 PM EST
*Senate clears major new education bill, sends it to Obama*
By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The way the nation's public schools are evaluated - teachers, students and the schools themselves - is headed for a major makeover, with a sweeping shift from federal to state control over school accountability and student testing.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 85-12 to approve legislation rewriting the landmark No Child Left Behind education law of 2002, now widely unpopular and criticized as unworkable and unrealistic. The White House said President Barack Obama would sign it Thursday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-09-14-27-15


----------



## poochee

Dec 9, 6:37 PM EST

*Billionaire Bush donor begins personal anti-Trump campaign*
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A billionaire who is backing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has launched a personal campaign against fellow billionaire Donald Trump, calling him an insecure, narcissistic bully who needs to be stopped.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-09-18-37-13


----------



## poochee

Dec 10, 12:31 PM EST
*Gun sales: White House to seek expanded background checks
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's advisers are finalizing a proposal that would expand background checks on gun sales without congressional approval.

White House adviser Valerie Jarrett says the president has asked his team to complete a proposal and submit it for his review "in short order." She says the recommendations will include measures to expand background checks.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-10-12-31-01


----------



## poochee

December 10, 2015, 02:26 pm
*Suspicious powder triggers evacuation of Islamic council's DC offices *
By Jesse Byrnes

The Capitol Hill headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was evacuated Thursday after the discovery of an envelope with suspicious powder.

CAIR's executive director, Nahad Awad, tweeted the evacuation came "after receiving envelope with suspicious powdered substance w/ hate message."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...gers-evacuation-of-islamic-councis-dc-offices


----------



## poochee

December 10, 2015, 02:38 pm
*Senate approves short-term funding bill*
By Jordain Carney

The House is expected to pass the short-term spending bill on Friday.

Lawmakers were under a tight deadline to pass legislation funding the government to avoid a shutdown. The legislation will give lawmakers until Wednesday, Dec. 16., to pass a larger "omnibus" bill.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/262818-senate-approves-short-term-funding-bill


----------



## poochee

Dec 10, 6:39 PM EST

*House GOP blocks latest Dem effort to force gun curb vote*
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

By a near-party line vote of 242-173, the House turned aside an effort by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to hold an immediate vote on the legislation. The bill is sponsored by one of the few GOP lawmakers who support gun restrictions, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

Thursday's vote was no surprise. Congressional Republicans heavily oppose gun curbs, and with the backing of the National Rifle Association have resisted Democrat attempts to force what amount to symbolic votes on the issue

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-10-18-39-11


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare foe Marco Rubio insured under Affordable Care Act*
12/10/15 09:53 PM-Updated 12/10/15 10:03 PM
By Alex Jaffe

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio boasts of being the only Republican presidential candidate to have dealt a blow to Obamacare - but he's also insured under the law.

Rubio's campaign confirmed to NBC News that the GOP presidential candidate and his family remain insured under the law, through the D.C. exchange. He first signed up in 2013, at which point spokeswoman Brooke Sammon told the _Tampa Bay Times_ that Rubio "spent time looking at all the options and decided to enroll through the D.C. exchange for coverage for him and his family."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obamacare-foe-marco-rubio-insured-under-affordable-care-act


----------



## poochee

*U.S. and Cuba to resume direct mail service*
 Alan Gomez, USA TODAY 1:30 p.m. EST December 11, 2015

MIAMI - The U.S. and Cuba took another step toward normalizing relations Friday by agreeing to test direct mail service between the two countries for the first time in more than 50 years.

The announcement comes less than a week before the first anniversary of the historic Dec. 17 announcement by President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro that the Cold War foes would begin reestablishing diplomatic relations.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/12/11/cuba-us-establish-direct-mail-service/77153358/


----------



## poochee

*Fired Officer's Convictions a Rare Triumph for Rape Victims*
By matt sedensky and sean murphy, associated press
OKLAHOMA CITY - Dec 11, 2015, 5:43 PM ET

*VIDEO
*
The rape convictions that could put a fired Oklahoma City police officer behind bars for life are vindication for some of the women he targeted, and also a reminder of how difficult it is to achieve justice in such cases.

Most victims never report sexual assaults, and those who accused ex-officer Daniel Holtzclaw were even more vulnerable as poor black women, many with checkered histories of crime and addiction.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oklahoma-cops-rape-conviction-symbol-national-problem-35708284


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President praised our country's resilience in the face of terrorism, and discussed how we will keep America safe. Our military has been stepping up its campaign to destroy ISIL, and our airstrikes are hitting ISIL harder than ever before. The President emphasized that we will continue to move forward on all fronts, which is why this week he will go to the Pentagon to review our military campaign, and to the National Counterterrorism center to review our efforts to prevent attacks. And he reminded us that we all have a part to play in the fight against terrorism - potential terrorist attacks have been prevented over the years because someone saw something and said something. Americans should not turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam, which is what ISIL wants and only serves to undermine our national security. The President praised Americans across the country who have come together to reaffirm our core values and stand up, forcefully, for freedom of religion.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Obama's Take On The Landmark Climate Agreement: 'This Is Huge'*
_The climate change agreement comes after two weeks of negotiations._








12/12/2015 02:26 pm ET

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama called the landmark accord on climate reached in Paris on Saturday "huge" and touted U.S. leadership in reaching the agreement on Twitter.

"This is huge: Almost every country in the world just signed on to the #ParisAgreement on climate change-thanks to American leadership," he tweeted.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-climate-agreement_566c732be4b0fccee16ed32b


----------



## poochee

Dec 13, 10:14 AM EST
*Obama aims to allay concerns about terror-fighting strategy*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fears of terrorism are hanging over America's holiday season, so President Barack Obama is planning a series of events this week aimed at trying to allay concerns about his strategy for stopping the Islamic State group abroad and its sympathizers at home.

Obama's visits to the Pentagon and the National Counterterrorism Center are part of a push to further explain his terrorism-fighting strategy, White House officials said, after a prime-time Oval Office address last Sunday that critics said failed to do much to reassure the public. Another goal is to draw a contrast with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his inflammatory remarks about Muslims. The Obama administration has warned Trump's rhetoric emboldens extremists looking to pull the U.S. into a war with Islam.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-13-10-14-38


----------



## poochee

*President Obama: 'We are hitting ISIL harder than ever'*
12/14/15 01:07 PM-Updated 12/14/15 02:21 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO
*
President Obama dispatched his defense secretary to Iraq on Monday to review the ongoing fight against ISIS - and insisted coalition forces were hitting the murderous militants "harder than ever."

"ISIS leaders cannot hide, and our message to them is simple: you are next," Obama said, using the government's acronym for ISIS. "Since this summer, ISIL has not had a single successful major offensive operation on the ground in either Syria or Iraq."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/president-obama-we-are-hitting-isil-harder-ever


----------



## poochee

*Poll: 71% say shooting violence now normal part of American life*
12/14/15 01:12 PM
By Mark Murray

A whopping 71 percent of Americans believe that the shootings and random acts of violence that have taken place this year are now a permanent part of American life, according to results from a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

That's compared with just 21 percent of Americans who think the violence this year - from Charleston, S.C., and Oregon, to the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino, Calif. - has been unusual and won't happen as often in the future.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/poll-71-say-shooting-violence-now-normal-part-american-life


----------



## poochee

*Here's A List Of All The Gun Control Laws Congress Has Passed Since Newtown*
_Prepare yourself for some light reading_

*Nick Wing* Senior Viral Editor, The Huffington Pos12/14/2015 12:26 pm ET |
Updated 7 hours ago

After years of inaction thanks in part to powerful gun lobby interests, there was finally a promising push in Congress to address the gun violence that rips through the U.S. at rates far higher than any other developed nation. Three years and many mass shootings later, the effort on Capitol Hill has culminated in this truly remarkable list of legislative achievements.

Oh, never mind. Congress hasn't passed a single piece of gun control legislation, beyond voting in 2013 to renew an expiring ban on plastic firearms, which could potentially bypass security checkpoints at airports and other locations. Most recently, Senate lawmakers worked to block a package of gun violence legislation, including a measure to bar individuals on terror watch lists from purchasing firearms.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gun-control-congress_566ec8dce4b011b83a6bc0cd


----------



## poochee

Dec 14, 5:56 PM EST
*US looking at ways to better screen would-be immigrants*
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL and TAMI ABDOLLAH
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is reviewing procedures for vetting would-be immigrants, with an eye toward examining applicants' online presence, to close security gaps in the U.S. visa system, the White House said Monday.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Homeland Security and State departments have been asked to review the process for screening people who apply for visas and to return with specific recommendations.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-14-17-56-28


----------



## poochee

*Daily Intelligencer* / the national interest
December 14, 2015 9:35 a.m.
*The Paris Climate Deal Is President Obama's Biggest Accomplishment*
By  Jonathan Chait 

This weekend, leaders from 196 countries approved the first global agreement to limit greenhouse-gas emissions in human history. The pact is a triumph of international diplomacy shared by diplomats across the planet. It also represents the culmination of a patient strategy by the Obama administration that unfolded over years, and which even many sympathetic journalists long dismissed as fanciful.

1. *Climate change is different from other issues.* The Obama administration has enacted important reforms to prevent a Great Depression, reform health care, overhaul the financial system and education, and craft important breakthroughs with Iran and Cuba. But climate change occupies a category of its own. The damage from climate change is irreversible. Melted glaciers cannot be easily refrozen; extinct species cannot be reborn; flooded coastal cities are unlikely to be rebuilt. Action to mitigate climate change has an urgency nothing else can match.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/12/climate-deal-is-obamas-biggest-accomplishment.html#


----------



## poochee

'Unprecedented' demand for ObamaCare on key deadline day
By Sarah Ferris - 12/15/15 04:13 PM EST

Federal health officials say they are seeing an "unprecedented" demand on the ObamaCare marketplace on the final day for people to get insured and avoid hundreds of dollars in fees.

Traffic on the federal marketplace website HealthCare.gov spiked to an "all-time high" of 185,000 simultaneous customers Monday night, and demand continued to soar Tuesday morning, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/263293-unprecedented-demand-for-obamacare-on-key-deadline-day


----------



## poochee

Dec 15, 1:57 PM EST
*Obama says immigrants renew America, US a welcoming nation*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama described immigration on Tuesday as the nation's oldest tradition and part of what makes the country exceptional, as he sought to draw a contrast with those who would seal the borders to people seeking to escape hardships or persecution.

"We can never say it often or loudly enough: Immigrants and refugees revitalize and renew America," Obama said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-15-13-57-21


----------



## poochee

*Congress reaches year-end deal on taxes and spending
By Kelsey Snell and Mike DeBonis December 15 at 11:15 PM
*
Congressional leaders on Tuesday night reached agreement on a year-end spending and tax deal that would prevent a government shutdown and extend a series of tax breaks that benefit businesses and individuals, according to lawmakers.

The House and Senate are expected to pass the legislation by the end of the week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-reaches-year-end-deal-on-taxes-and-spending/


----------



## poochee

*Fact Check: The Fifth Republican Debate*
The New York Times will be checking assertions made throughout the 2016 presidential campaign.

*Read here:*

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/fact-check.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama meets with Bloomberg to talk guns*
By Jordan Fabian - 12/16/15 07:51 PM EST

President Obama on Wednesday met with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ally of the White House on gun control.

"The two discussed ways to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have access to them and what more could be done at the state and local level to help address gun violence in America," the White House added.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/263543-obama-meets-with-bloomberg-to-talk-guns


----------



## poochee

*Obama: We will defend our nation*
12/17/15 01:25 PM-Updated 12/17/15 01:34 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

President Obama said Thursday that administration officials are reviewing the so-called "fiancé" visa that enabled one of the San Bernardino shooters to emigrate to the U.S.

Obama revealed they were taking a fresh look at the K-1 visa after a meeting with his national security team at the National Counterterrorism Center outside Washington.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-we-will-defend-our-nation


----------



## poochee

Dec 17, 2:27 PM EST
*Obama says no specific, credible terror threat over holidays
*
McLEAN, Va. (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday that U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials have received no specific, credible information suggesting a potential terrorist attack against the United States. He said Americans must be vigilant this holiday season.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-17-13-51-27


----------



## poochee

*House passes tax bill*
By Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh, CNN
Updated 2:00 PM ET, Thu December 17, 2015

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Congress took the first step in clearing a package of government spending and tax bills Thursday when the House approved a $620 billion tax measure. The bill freezes a controversial Obamacare tax and locks in dozens of popular tax breaks for businesses and low-income families that were set to expire.

It passed 318-109, mostly with Republican votes. But 77 Democrats -- more than expected -- also backed the measure.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/politics/house-tax-bill/index.html


----------



## poochee

Dec 17, 7:53 PM EST
*Senate approves bill to overhaul chemical regulation*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A bill to set safety standards for tens of thousands of chemicals that now are unregulated is one step closer to becoming law.

The bill - the first update of regulations governing harmful chemicals in nearly 40 years - would offer new protections for people such as pregnant women, children and workers who are vulnerable to the effects of chemicals. It also would set deadlines for the Environmental Protection Agency to act.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-17-19-53-27


----------



## poochee

*Carter approves 17 more Gitmo transfers*
By Jamie Crawford, National Security Producer
Updated 7:30 PM ET, Thu December 17, 2015

*PHOTOS*

Washington (CNN)Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has approved the transfer of 17 more detainees held in Guantanamo Bay as the Obama administration attempts to whittle down the population at the facility, a U.S. defense official told CNN on Thursday.

The official said the 17 won't be released right away because they are still within a 30-day time period during which Congress is notified. Once these 17 are released, the number of those eligible for transfer would drop from 48 to 31, while the facility's total population would drop to 90.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/politics/gitmo-guantanamo-bay-ash-carter/index.html


----------



## poochee

*President Obama commutes sentences of 95 drug offenders*
By Sari Horwitz December 18 at 1:19 PM

President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 drug offenders Friday, more than double the number of commutations he granted earlier this year in July, in an effort to reduce prison crowding and give relief to drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nation's war on drugs.

It is the third time this year that the president has used his unique clemency power to release federal drug offenders, whose harsh sentences have contributed to the phenomenon of mass incarceration. Obama granted clemency to 22 drug offenders in March and another 46 in July.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Obama promises active final year, defends ISIS strategy*
By Stephen Collinson and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 3:03 PM ET, Fri December 18, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The end-of-the-year press conference is a time-honored task for Obama
Obama touted progress against against ISIS, saying the group has lost 40% of the area it once held in Iraq and is losing ground in Syria
He took a jab at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he had predicted that the Russian operation in Syria would not change the shape of the battlefield between Moscow-backed President Bashar al-Assad and his internal foes
Obama acknowledged that the government could not stop all potential strikes in advance and said Americans need to remain vigilant
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/politics/obama-press-conference-isis-terrorism/index.html


----------



## poochee

Dec 18, 4:41 PM EST

*Agreeing at last: Congress sends tax, spending bill to Obama*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress ended its chaotic year on a surprising note of bipartisan unity and productivity Friday, overwhelmingly approving a massive 2016 tax and spending package and sending it to President Barack Obama, who promptly signed it.

Obama welcomed the sprawling legislation, a rare compromise product of the divided government. It includes something for nearly everyone, from parents and teachers to Big Oil and small business, from 9/11 first responders to cybersecurity hawks and more.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-18-16-41-35


----------



## poochee

*Obama meets with families of San Bernardino attack victims*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) -- President Barack Obama opened his Christmas vacation on a somber note: meeting with families of the 14 people who were killed in the San Bernardino shootings.

Obama stopped in California en route to Hawaii on Friday for his annual holiday getaway.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-18-23-22-40


----------



## poochee

December 19, 2015
*Weekly Address: Top 10 Things that Happened in 2015*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President celebrated the end of the year tradition of list-making with a year-in-review list of his own. The President offered his roundup of the top 10 things that happened in 2015, all of which should make us optimistic about the prospects for 2016. This past year has been one where we've seen unprecedented progress in areas ranging from the Iran deal to marriage equality to concluding a historic trade agreement. The year 2015 brought economic growth, with our unemployment rate dropping to five percent; the normalization of our relations with Cuba and a newly opened U.S. Embassy in Havana; and a historic agreement in Paris to take real action on climate change. The President acknowledged the significant progress of the past year, and looked forward to 2016 and all we have yet to accomplish.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Obama vetoes GOP push to kill climate rules*
By Timothy Cama - 12/19/15 08:35 AM EST

President Obama has vetoed a pair of measures by congressional Republicans that would have overturned the main pillars of his landmark climate change rules for power plants.

The decision was widely expected, and Obama and his staff had repeatedly threatened the action as a way to protect a top priority and major part of his legacy.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/263805-obama-vetoes-gop-attempts-to-kill-climate-rules


----------



## poochee

*Obama finalizes 1.3 percent raise for federal employees*
By Eric Yoder December 19 at 1:16 PM

President Obama has finalized a pay raise for federal employees in January, the last step in a year-long process that started and ended at the same number, 1.3 percent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...izes-1-3-percent-raise-for-federal-employees/


----------



## poochee

*Sanders apologizes to Clinton, supporters for data breach*
12/19/15 09:06 PM-Updated 12/19/15 09:18 PM
By Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Saying that his staff "did the wrong thing," Bernie Sanders on Saturday apologized to Hillary Clinton and to his own supporters after his aides improperly accessed proprietary voter lists created by Clinton's campaign. But the Vermont senator also suggested that the issue should have been handled without a public spat between the campaigns and the Democratic National Committee.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sanders-apologizes-clinton-supporters-data-breach


----------



## poochee

*Fact checking the third Democratic debate*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee December 20 at 12:31 AM
*
VIDEO*

ABC aired the third Democratic presidential debate Saturday featuring three candidates: former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Not every statement could be easily fact checked, but following is a list of 10 suspicious or interesting claims. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...20/fact-checking-the-third-democratic-debate/


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Trump is 'exploiting' anger and fear over economic insecurities*
By David Nakamura December 21 at 9:58 AM

*VIDEO*

President Obama accused Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump in an interview aired Monday of "exploiting" anger and fear over economic insecurities among working class men to propel his presidential campaign.

In an interview with NPR, the president said that structural changes to the American economy through technology and the 2008 financial crisis have meant stagnant wages for some sectors, especially blue-collar workers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ng-anger-and-fear-over-economic-insecurities/


----------



## poochee

December 21, 2015, 12:39 pm
*PolitiFact: Trump wins 'Lie of the Year'*
By Jesse Byrnes

Fact-checking website PolitiFact has administered its "Lie of the Year" title to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential candidate's "various statements" throughout his 2016 campaign.

"When it comes to inaccurate statements, the Donald was on fire," Politifact said Monday in announcing the title.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/263920-politifact-trump-wins-lie-of-the-year


----------



## poochee

*OSHA revives controversial safety rules*
By Tim Devaney - 12/21/15 04:55 PM EST

The Obama administration is moving forward with long-delayed rules intended to protect workers from exposure to harmful silica dust.

The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed Monday that it has sent the rules to the White House for final approval, a step that comes after years of delays.

http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/263956-osha-revives-long-delayed-silica-protections


----------



## poochee

*Fla. city renames Old Dixie highway President Barack Obama highway
By **Kellan Howell** - The Washington Times - Saturday, *December 19, 2015

A Florida town has renamed its Old Dixie Highway and will now call the road President Barack Obama Highway.

The city of Riviera Beach swapped out the old highway signs for new ones with the president's name at a ceremony Thursday after city officials voted to do away with the old name that referenced the slave-holding South, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/19/fla-city-renames-old-dixie-highway-president-barac/


----------



## poochee

Dec 21, 2:56 PM EST

*US moves to protect lions from big-game trophy hunters*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. will protect lions in Africa under the Endangered Species Act, the Obama administration announced Monday, a move that would make it harder for American big-game hunters to bring a lion head or hide into the country.

The effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comes five months after the killing of "Cecil," a lion in Zimbabwe, by a Minnesota dentist caused an international uproar and shed a spotlight on trophy hunting. The agency had been working on the new rules long before the incident, and officials said that classifying the two breeds of African lions as threatened or endangered will encourage African countries to improve conversation efforts.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-21-14-56-44


----------



## 2twenty2




----------



## poochee

*Amid rancor over accepting Syrians, Obama announces major refugee summit*
By Greg Jaffe December 21 at 11:24 PM

President Obama will host a major summit at next year's United Nation's General Assembly to press countries to do more to help more than 60 million refugees displaced by war and other crises, his U.N. ambassador said on Monday.

Prior to the planned summit, scheduled for September, the United States and its partners will press countries through the United Nations to do more to assist refugees by pledging aid and more opportunities for resettlement. "Every session we have in the chamber we are told that the U.N. appeal is filled usually at under 50 percent," Power said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...syrians-obama-announces-major-refugee-summit/


----------



## poochee

9:20 am ET9:20 am ET
By  Michael Barbaro 

*Donald Trump Goes Vulgar in Swipe at Hillary Clinton*

Donald J. Trump on Monday night mocked Hillary Clinton for using the bathroom during last weekend's Democratic presidential debate and employed a vulgar term to describe her defeat to Barack Obama in the 2008 primary.

Mr. Trump is no stranger to vulgarity on the campaign trail. But his word choice at a rally on Monday in Michigan found new linguistic territory for a businessman who has tested every boundary in modern politics.

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...rump-goes-vulgar-in-swipe-at-hillary-clinton/


----------



## poochee

Poll: Half of voters say they'd feel embarrassed by Trump presidency
12/22/15 08:21 AM
By Carrie Dann

The survey shows that 28 percent of Republicans back Trump as the party's nominee, with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas close behind at 24 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio comes in third at 12 percent, while Dr. Ben Carson captures 10 percent support.

But asked whether they would be proud or embarrassed if Trump is elected, fully 50 percent of all registered voters suggested that they would feel ashamed. That includes 20 percent of Republicans, 47 percent of independents and 82 percent of Democrats.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/poll-half-voters-embarrassed-trump-presidency


----------



## poochee

December 22, 2015, 07:53 pm
*Obama celebrates five-year anniversary of 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal*
By Elliot Smilowitz

President Obama on Tuesday marked the five-year anniversary of the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell," touting "the power to change" and pledging to continue working "to move our country even closer to our founding ideals."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...s-five-year-anniversary-of-dont-ask-dont-tell


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton Seizes on Donald Trump's Remarks to Galvanize Women*
By AMY CHOZICK and MAGGIE HABERMANDEC. 23, 2015

After Hillary Clinton attacked Donald J. Trump for proposing to bar Muslims from entering the United States, calling him "ISIS' best friend," Mr. Trump's response Monday night was angry and vulgar. He said her bathroom break during Saturday's debate was "disgusting," and he used a crude sexual reference to describe her defeat by Barack Obama in the 2008 primary.

Mrs. Clinton's aides could barely believe their good fortune. Mr. Trump had just given them new fodder to galvanize women behind her candidacy - and they used it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/u...onald-trump-women-isis.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

For Immediate Release
December 23, 2015
*Statement by the President on Persecuted Christians at Christmas*
During this season of Advent, Christians in the United States and around the world are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. At this time, those of us fortunate enough to live in countries that honor the birthright of all people to practice their faith freely give thanks for that blessing. Michelle and I are also ever-mindful that many of our fellow Christians do not enjoy that right, and hold especially close to our hearts and minds those who have been driven from their ancient homelands by unspeakable violence and persecution.

In some areas of the Middle East where church bells have rung for centuries on Christmas Day, this year they will be silent; this silence bears tragic witness to the brutal atrocities committed against these communities by ISIL.

We join with people around the world in praying for God's protection for persecuted Christians and those of other faiths, as well as for those brave men and women engaged in our military, diplomatic, and humanitarian efforts to alleviate their suffering and restore stability, security, and hope to their nations. As the old Christmas carol reminds us:

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...ent-president-persecuted-christians-christmas


----------



## poochee

*Hikers Flip Out As Obama Climbs Up Grueling Hawaii Trail*
*Even on vacation, POTUS puts in work.*
12/23/2015 05:25 am ET | *Updated* 21 hours ago *Carla Herreria*Associate Editor, HuffPost Hawaii

*VIDEO/PICTURES*

Some people vacation in Hawaii to sip Mai Tais on the beach and indulge in well-deserved R&R. But not President Barack Obama.

When he visits the Aloha State, he puts in work.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-koko-head-stairs-hawaii_5679f680e4b06fa6887f6636


----------



## poochee

*

Here are the best political gaffes of 2015*
12/24/15 07:53 AM-Updated 12/24/15 10:12 AM
By Nicole Brown

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/here-are-the-best-political-gaffes-2015

*AND

The greatest political GIFs of 2015*
By Brenna Williams and Casey Capachi, CNN
Updated 12:49 PM ET, Wed December 23, 2015

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/23/politics/best-political-gifs-2015/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama thanks troops and poses for a few hundred photos*
By Greg Jaffe December 25 at 11:02 PM

*VIDEO*

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii - President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama spent part of their Christmas Day at this Marine base thanking U.S. troops for their work and posing for a few hundred photographs.

The event, which has become an annual tradition for the Obamas, came less than a week after six U.S. airmen were killed in a suicide bombing while on patrol outside of Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ks-troops-and-poses-for-a-few-hundred-photos/


----------



## poochee

*ObamaCare's hold growing stronger*
By Sarah Ferris - 12/26/15 09:22 AM EST

ObamaCare is entering the pivotal year of 2016 on a stronger footing, with healthcare officials touting stronger-than-expected demand so far in this year's sign-up season.

Over the past year, the Obama administration has driven the uninsured rate to record lows and beat back its last major Supreme Court challenge, helping to soften the often-sharp politics of the healthcare law ahead of a presidential election year.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/264149-obamacares-hold-growing-stronger


----------



## poochee

*Minimum Wage Going Up In 14 States At Start Of 2016*
*Happy New Year!*
12/23/2015 08:43 am ET
*Dave Jamieson*Labor Reporter, The Huffington Post

*CHART*

If you're among the country's lowest earners, you may be ringing in the new year with a pay hike.

Fourteen states will be raising their minimum wages with the arrival of 2016, according to an analysis of state laws by Yannet Lathrop of the National Employment Law Project. The raises will range from a nickel an hour in South Dakota to a full dollar in California and Massachusetts. The latter states will be the first in the nation with a $10 wage floor.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...e4b06fa6887f4276?ir=Politics&section=politics


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
*The most popular fact checks of 2015*
By Glenn Kessler December 28 at 3:00 AM

Once again, we present a list of our 10 most popular fact checks of the past year.

The most widely read column of the year was the Four Pinocchios given to Donald Trump for false claim that he watched television images of "thousands and thousands" of New Jersey Muslims celebrating the 9/11 attacks. In fact, this is the most popular column in the history of The Fact Checker-proving that althought Trump may be bad at sticking to the facts, but he is certainly good for fact checking.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/12/28/the-most-popular-fact-checks-of-2015/


----------



## poochee

*Clinton and Obama Top U.S. Poll on Most Admired People*
By DANIEL VICTOR
DEC. 28, 2015

The sitting president is typically selected in the annual poll as the most admired man, and Mr. Obama, who was named as the first or second choice 17 percent of the time, was atop the list for the eighth year in a row. Mrs. Clinton, who was named 13 percent of the time, has been the top woman in the poll in each of the last 14 years and 20 times over all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/u...st-admired-gallup-poll.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*George Pataki Drops Out of 2016 Presidential Race *

By ALANA ABRAMSON
BRAD MIELKE 
Dec 29, 2015, 6:34 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Former New York Governor George Pataki suspended his presidential campaign tonight, he announced in a 2-minute ad airing on several local NBC stations.

"He said it was because of a lack of resources that he terminated the campaign," David Currier, a former State Senator and member of Pataki's steering committee, told ABC News. "He said you gotta be realistic about the lack of resources and where you're going with this campaign."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-pataki-drop-2016-presidential-race/story?id=35998222


----------



## poochee

*ObamaCare sign-ups climb to 8.5 million*
By Peter Sullivan - 12/30/15 02:40 PM EST

ObamaCare sign-ups have climbed to just over 8.5 million people, according to new data released by the administration on Wednesday. 
The number ticked up from the roughly 8.3 million who had signed up when the administration last released an update last week.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/264452-obamacare-sign-ups-climb-to-85m


----------



## poochee

*Bill Cosby criminally charged in 2004 sex-assault case, freed on $1M bail *
12/30/15 10:23 AM-Updated 12/30/15 03:50 PM
By Erik Ortiz and Tom Winter

*VIDEO*

Embattled comedian Bill Cosby was free on bail Wednesday on a felony sexual assault charge - facing the first criminal charge against him after a series of rape accusations began mounting last year.

Cosby appeared in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom and was ordered to surrender his passport after posting 10 percent in cash of a $1 million bond.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bill-cosby-criminally-charged-2004-sex-assault-case


----------



## poochee

*The increasing uselessness of speaking on the House or Senate floor*
By Amber Phillips December 30 at 1:09 PM

That's the problem with floor speeches in an era of cable news interviews and social media and disaffected voters. Long gone are the days when lawmakers would wax passionately to a full chamber and packed galleries in hopes of swaying their colleagues and the public.

In the modern era, delivering a speech on the House or Senate floor is mostly a formality that has little actual impact.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...g-uselessness-of-speaking-on-the-house-floor/


----------



## poochee

*Where the Candidates Stand
on 2016's Biggest Issues*
By WILSON ANDREWS and THOMAS KAPLAN DEC. 15, 2015

Republican presidential candidates rarely agree with Democratic candidates, but the American people are less easily pigeonholed. We compared adults' responses in recent polls to candidates' statements on gun control, immigration and more.

*CHARTS*

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/candidates-on-the-issues.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

The White House1 day ago8 min read

*Behind the Lens: 2015 Year in Photographs*
*By Pete Souza, Chief Official White House Photographer*

One of the best and most challenging aspects of my job is whittling down a year's worth of photographs to the final selections for my annual Year in Photographs. Every year, I attempt to keep it less than 100 photos - and every year I fail in that goal. But I am excited once again to present this gallery for the seventh consecutive year.

https://medium.com/@WhiteHouse/behind-the-lens-2015-year-in-photographs-b5064a44df4a#.hf25zgy0x


----------



## poochee

*All the people Donald Trump insulted in 2015

VIDEO
*
December 30, 2015 7:35 PM EST - Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has publicly insulted at least 68 people or groups in 2015, many of them multiple times. Here is a comprehensive list. (Gillian Brockell,Thomas LeGro,Julio Negron / The Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/vide...5364ee-af57-11e5-b281-43c0b56f61fa_video.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama set to unveil curbs on gun sellers*
_Executive actions expected next week will be part of the president's new year push to make progress on long-stalled problems before the 2016 presidential election heats up._
By Sarah Wheaton and Edward-Isaac Dovere
12/31/15 05:59 AM EST

President Barack Obama's bid to assert himself in his final year will begin with long-awaited executive actions on gun control, expected to be released next week, shortly after he returns to Washington.

The White House is putting finishing touches on several measures in an effort to make progress on curbing gun violence, an issue the president and close aides have found frustratingly intractable, before the race to replace him enters prime time.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/obama-guns-gun-control-217234#ixzz3vwVmbeUg


----------



## poochee

January 01, 2016
*Weekly Address: Making America Safer for Our Children*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President reflected on the progress of the past year, and looked forward to working on unfinished business in the coming year, particularly when it comes to the epidemic of gun violence. As he has many times before, the President reminded us that Congress has repeatedly failed to take action and pass laws that would reduce gun violence. That's why the President a few months ago tasked his White House team with identifying new actions he can take to help reduce gun violence, and on Monday will meet with the Attorney General to discuss the options. In his address, the President called on everyone to join him in the fight to reduce gun violence, because it's going to take all of us to make America safer for our children.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Obama to impose new gun control curbs next week*
By Juliet Eilperin January 1 at 6:00 AM

White House officials declined to comment on Obama's plans beyond releasing his weekly radio address on Friday, a day earlier than usual. But according to those familiar with the proposal, who asked for anonymity because it was not yet public, the president will expand new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers.

The president will also use his executive authority in several other areas, these individuals said, but the overall package has not yet been finalized.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rol-curbs-next-week/?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*New Year's Day: Hundreds of new laws across the country go into effect*
01/01/16 08:45 AM-Updated 01/01/16 09:31 AM
By Pete Williams

The beginning of the new year means hundreds of new laws go into effect starting Friday - from the rules governing smoking and carrying guns in public to regulations for getting wine in the mail.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/new-laws-take-effect-2016


----------



## poochee

Dec 31, 3:37 AM EST
*AP-NORC Poll: Online surveillance is OK for most*
By EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A majority of Americans say they support warrantless government surveillance of the Internet communications of U.S. citizens, according to a new poll by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

It's at least somewhat important for the government to sacrifice freedoms to ensure safety, most say in the survey.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-31-03-37-50


----------



## poochee

*Skywriters have message for Trump at Rose Parade*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 9:11 PM ET, Fri January 1, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Skywriters stole the show at the 127th Rose Parade in California on Friday, dashing out a message for Donald Trump just as the last float left the gate.

"America is great! Trump is disgusting," were the words dotted clearly across the sky on what appeared to be a mostly cloudless morning.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/01/politics/donald-trump-skywriting-rose-bowl-parade/index.html


----------



## poochee

December 31, 2015, 03:00 pm
*A Christmas present for the climate from Congress*
By Susan Stephenson

The surprisingly speedily passed FY16 omnibus appropriations bill contained a well-hidden but significant Christmas present for the climate and those on the front lines of climate change in the developing world: a clear path to deliver the first installment of Obama's promised $3 billion in climate aid to developing nations.

This present was not exactly gift-wrapped and tied with a bow - it was actually the lack of blocking language that clears the administration to move its originally requested $500 million to the program, called the Green Climate Fund, from other discretionary budget streams. And in this Congress, especially on something like climate, that's called a major victory.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...ristmas-present-for-the-climate-from-congress


----------



## poochee

*Al-Shabaab recruit video with Trump excerpt: U.S. is racist, anti-Muslim*
By Tiffany Ap, CNN
Updated 11:10 AM ET, Sat January 2, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

VIDEO

_(CNN)_An al Qaeda affiliate has apparently released a new recruitment video, telling Muslims in America that the country has a long history of racism and discrimination and will turn on its Muslim community.

The video purportedly by Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab uses historic civil rights era footage of firebrand Malcolm X and audio of 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump to label the United States a racist society.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/02/middleeast/al-shabaab-video-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

January 02, 2016, 02:18 pm
*Reid lists minimum wage, visa program as goals for 2016*
By Rebecca Kheel

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) goals for his final year in office include raising the minimum wage, revisiting the visa waiver program and finding funding for transportation projects.

He listed those among a number of items he hopes to accomplish in 2016 in a Saturday interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Reid announced in March he would not run for re-election, making 2016 his last year in office.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-acti...s-minimum-wage-visa-program-as-goals-for-2016


----------



## poochee

*Obama To Participate In Town Hall On Guns*
_The president is reportedly readying executive actions to help curb gun violence._
01/03/2016 11:00 am ET
*Igor Bobic*Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Pos

President Barack Obama will sit down for a live one-hour town hall on guns hosted by CNN on Thursday.

The event, titled "Guns in America," will air at 8 p.m. EST. It also falls a day before the fifth anniversary of the shooting of former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords (D) at a constituent meeting outside a supermarket in Tucson.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-town-hall-guns_568938b1e4b0b958f65be825


----------



## poochee

*Saudi Arabia Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Iran, Foreign Minister Says*
_The announcement comes after increased tensions following the execution of a prominent cleric._
01/03/2016 03:32 pm ET | *Updated* 47 minutes ago

* VIDEO*

DUBAI/RIYADH, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday, responding to the storming of its embassy in Tehran in an escalating row between the rival Middle East powers over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the envoy of Shi'ite Iran had been asked to quit Saudi Arabia within 48 hours. The kingdom, he said, would not allow the Islamic republic to undermine its security.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iran-saudi-diplomatic-ties_5689819ee4b0b958f65bf365?ekmd9529


----------



## poochee

Jan 4, 1:50 PM EST
*US treads warily amid Iran-Saudi tensions*
By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

The White House said Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, while the official Saudi Press Agency reported that Kerry had spoken on Monday with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

U.S. officials said the administration is loath to insert itself into the row between Riyadh and Tehran but wants to ensure the viability of the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, nascent attempts to end Syria's civil war and the Iran nuclear deal.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-04-13-50-38


----------



## poochee

*Oregon Militants Vow To 'Kill And Be Killed If Necessary,' But FBI Isn't Biting*
_The feds are taking a calculated approach to the ongoing standoff in Oregon._
01/04/2016 11:44 am ET | *Updated* 2 hours ago

*Dana Liebelson*Staff Reporter, The Huffington Post

*Ryan J. Reilly*Justice Reporter, The Huffington Post

*Nick Baumann*Senior Enterprise Editor, The Huffington Post
BURNS, Ore. -- The gunmen who have occupied a federal building here for three days will resist with force any attempt to remove them, Ammon Bundy, a leader of the militants, said Sunday. But federal authorities have no immediate plans to rush in to retake the remote building, a federal law enforcement source told The Huffington Post.

The FBI is working closely with state police, and FBI officials are busy establishing a public information office in Burns. But due to a number of factors -- the crisis is unfolding in a remote part of Oregon; it doesn't appear to be a life-or-death situation; and there are no hostages involved -- law enforcement officials want to avoid unnecessarily escalating the standoff, the source said. The FBI instead hopes to get a better handle on the situation over the next few days.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oregon-militia-fbi_568a831ae4b0b958f65c1bfa?ir=Politics%3Fncid%3Dnewsltushpmg00000003


----------



## poochee

Jan 4, 2:58 PM EST
*Medicare is changing: What's new for beneficiaries*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Whether it's coverage for end-of-life counseling or an experimental payment scheme for common surgeries, Medicare in 2016 is undergoing some of the biggest changes in its 50 years.

Grandma's Medicare usually just paid the bills as they came in. Today, the nation's flagship health-care program is seeking better ways to balance cost, quality and access.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-04-11-53-49


----------



## poochee

*Obama details executive action on gun restrictions*
By David Nakamura and Juliet Eilperin January 4 at 7:37 PM

The Obama administration on Monday unveiled a series of new executive actions aimed at reducing gun violence and making some political headway on one of the most frustrating policy areas of President Obama's tenure.

The package, which Obama plans to announce Tuesday, includes 10 separate provisions, White House officials said. One key provision would require more gun sellers - especially those who do business on the Internet and at gun shows - to be licensed and would force them to conduct background checks on potential buyers. Obama would devote $500 million more in federal funds to treating mental illness - a move that could require congressional approval - and require that firearms lost in transit between a manufacturer and a seller be reported to federal authorities.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*President Obama's amazingly emotional speech on gun control
By Chris Cillizza January 5 at 1:01 PM

VIDEO*

_President Obama delivered a __deeply personal and emotional appeal to the country to help curb gun violence__ on Tuesday at the White House. For Obama, who is often criticized for his overly clinical approach to heated issues, his tone -- sad and mad in relatively equal measure -- was remarkable. Toward the end of his remarks, remembering the first graders who were the victims of a mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Obama even wept briefly -- a remarkable concession to emotion from this president. The speech was memorable one for reasons beyond Obama's emotion. I annotated it using __Genius__; __sign up and join me__. I'd love your thoughts on the address. It begins with Obama thanking Mark Barden, the father of one of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, who introduced him.

*SPEECH:*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ly-emotional-speech-on-gun-control-annotated/_


----------



## poochee

*Parliament to debate banning Donald Trump from UK*
By Joshua Berlinger and Vasco Cotovio, CNN
Updated 5:34 PM ET, Tue January 5, 2016
_500k sign petition to ban Donald Trump from UK 02:30_

*VIDEO*

London (CNN)London's calling, Donald Trump, but you may not like what Westminster has to say.

The quixotic but popular push to ban the Republican presidential candidate from the United Kingdom is set to be debated in Parliament, a spokeswoman for the House of Commons told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/politics/donald-trump-uk-ban-debate/index.html


----------



## poochee

*10 ways the SAT will change in 2016*
By Ryan Hickey, Petersons & EssayEdge January 4, 2016 1:00 pm

The College Board will be launching a revamped SAT test in March, with promises to strengthen the test's predictive validity and more closely reflect the skills that college students really need. While many of the changes make sense-and some even remind us of previous iterations of the assessment-others have left experts scratching their heads.

Ready to get to know the new SAT? Here's what's changed, what hasn't and why it matters for students today.

*What has Changed?*

http://college.usatoday.com/2016/01/04/sat-changes-2016/


----------



## poochee

*Congress sends health care repeal to Obama, setting up certain veto*
By Mike DeBonis January 6 at 5:54 PM

*VIDEO*

Congressional Republicans made good Wednesday on a central campaign pledge from the 2014 midterms, delivering a bill repealing the health care reform law they loathe to President Obama's desk, forcing a certain veto.

The bill passed 240 to 181, with one House Democrat supporting the bill and three Republicans opposing it, after passing the Senate 52 to 47 last month. Neither margin is large enough to override a veto.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...amacare-repeal-vote/?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*Obama releases video teasing State of the Union address*
By Kristen Holmes, CNN White House Producer
Updated 7:21 PM ET, Wed January 6, 2016

*VIDEO*

Casually perched on the edge of his Oval Office desk, the President said his speech would not just focus on his administration's accomplishments or his goals heading into the last year, but instead on what America "needs to do in the years to come. The big things that guarantee an even stronger ... more prosperous America."

The President will deliver a "non-traditional" speech this year, senior administration officials said last month, and as evidenced by this video teaser, social media is likely to play a large role.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/06/politics/obama-state-of-the-union-2016/index.html


----------



## poochee

January 06, 2016, 07:00 am
*The Fed finally raises short-term interest rates*
By Debo Ayeni

Although this increase had been universally expected and is also so small that many Fed watchers will characterize it as trifling, it is still hard to downplay the significance of the Fed's decision. This is because it is the first time that the Fed has raised interest rates in nearly a decade and perhaps even more importantly, it crystalizes the Fed's belief that after years of frustratingly slow growth and multiple fits and starts, the economy has finally improved to the point where zero percent interest rates are no longer needed to ward off the threat of another recession. Knowing a global audience would be eager to hear the reasoning behind the central bank's decision, Fed Chairman Janet Yellen promptly held a press conference to explain the Fed's rationale for raising interest rates.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...-fed-finally-raises-short-term-interest-rates


----------



## poochee

*Gun control in America: How we got here*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 11:38 AM ET, Thu January 7, 2016

*PHOTOS*

*Story highlights*

On at least six occasions in the last 100 years lawmakers have passed gun reform laws
Conservative icon President Ronald Reagan also signed a compromised gun control reform law
_Watch "Guns in America," CNN's town hall meeting with President Obama on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET_

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/07/politics/gun-control-america-history-timeline/index.html


----------



## poochee

*11 Million Sign Up For Obamacare With Weeks To Go Before Deadline*
_The open enrollment period ends on Jan. 31._

01/07/2016 03:20 pm ET | *Updated* 35 minutes ago
*Jeffrey Young* Health Care Reporter, The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Obamacare growth continues to outpace last year's sign-ups, with almost 11.3 million people enrolling into private health insurance plans via the exchange marketplaces through the last week of December, the Department of Health and Human Services disclosed Thursday.

The open enrollment period on the exchanges lasts until Jan. 31, and the tally of enrollees has already exceeded the department's projection of 10 million for the full year. Although this total likely will come down in the coming months as some consumers drop their coverage or fail to pay their premiums, these findings suggest these marketplaces are performing above expectations so far. During the comparable period a year ago, 9.5 million had enrolled nationwide.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/11-million-obamacare_568ea495e4b0a2b6fb6f0fb5


----------



## poochee

*Planned Parenthood will make unprecedented primary endorsement of Hillary Clinton*
By Abby Phillip January 7 at 3:54 PM

PASADENA, CALIF. -- The political arm of Planned Parenthood will endorse Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire on Sunday, a Clinton campaign official confirmed.

The endorsement marks the first time in the organization's 100-year history that Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a candidate in a primary. The endorsement was first reported by CBS News.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ent-of-hillary-clinton/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*Kerry blasts Senate delays in confirming nominees
By **Julian Hattem** - 01/07/16 03:16 PM EST 
*
Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday launched fierce barbs at his former colleagues in the Senate, who he said are weakening American security by failing to approve a handful of presidential nominees.

"It hurts our country to do what the Senate has allowed to happen over the course of the last couple of years, and that is to leave open - sometimes for more than a year - important positions for our nation," Kerry said at the State Department.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-...asts-senate-over-delay-in-confirming-nominees


----------



## poochee

*At Televised Town Hall Event, Obama Pleads for Stricter Gun Laws*
By MICHAEL D. SHEARJAN. 7, 2016

*GRAPHICS*

Moderated by Anderson Cooper of CNN, the live question-and-answer session, with about 100 people in the audience, was billed by the network as a forum for advocates and opponents of gun rights. The session was held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., a suburb of Washington.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Obama urged firearm owners, hunters and gun rights activists to join him in support of tougher laws that would target criminals while preserving Second Amendment rights for law-abiding citizens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/us/politics/obama-gun-control-town-hall-cnn.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*President Obama vetoes health care repeal bill*
01/08/16 01:29 PM
By NBC News

"This legislation would not only repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, but would reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America," the president wrote members of the House in a letter.

"Republicans in the Congress have attempted to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act over 50 times. Rather than refighting old political battles by once again voting to repeal basic protections that provide security for the middle class, members of Congress should be working together to grow the economy, strengthen middle-class families, and create new jobs," the letter continued. "Because of the harm this bill would cause to the health and financial security of millions of Americans, it has earned my veto."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/president-obama-vetoes-health-care-repeal-bill


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Americans supportive but skeptical on Obama's gun action*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 6:14 AM ET, Fri January 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

A new CNN/ORC Poll finds 67% of Americans say they favor the changes Obama announced related to guns
The poll finds Obama's approval rating for handling gun policy on the rise in the days following the announcement of the new rules Tuesday
But dissatisfaction with Obama's handling of gun laws remains larger than satisfaction
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/07/politics/poll-obama-gun-action/index.html


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Economy Adds 292,000 Jobs In December, Unemployment Steady At 5%*
01/08/2016 08:43 am ET | *Updated* 7 hours ago








Christopher S. Rugaber

WASHINGTON (AP) - American employers added a strong 292,000 jobs in December, suggesting that the U.S. economy is so far defying global trends and growing at a solid pace.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate remained 5 percent for a third straight month. More Americans started looking for work, and most found jobs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-jobs-report_568fbbfbe4b0cad15e64580c


----------



## poochee

*North Dakota man arrested after saying he planned to abduct Obama dog Bo*
01/08/16 12:57 PM
By Pete Williams and Erik Ortiz
A North Dakota man was arrested after Washington, D.C., police investigated him on a tip that he traveled to the nation's capital to abduct Bo, one of the Obamas' two dogs, authorities said.

An officer responding to a tip from the Secret Service tracked down Stockert at the downtown D.C. hotel. He admitted that he had a shotgun and a rifle in his pickup truck, both unloaded, along with ammunition for the weapons, according to a police report.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/north-dakota-man-arrested-after-saying-he-planned-abduct-obama-dog-bo


----------



## Phantom010

> Court documents, however, don't specify why he allegedly wanted to dognap 7-year-old Bo, the elder of the first family's two Portuguese water dogs. Bo holds the title of the First Dog of the United States.


Maybe he wanted to take it hostage so Obama wouldn't go through with his executive actions on gun control?


----------



## poochee

...


----------



## poochee

*White House sees child porn efforts as model for fighting terrorism*
By Mario Trujillo - 01/08/16 03:18 PM EST

The White House believes the government's partnership with technology companies to limit the spread of child pornography could be a model to help blunt the effect of terrorist groups online.

Top government officials traveled to San Jose, Calif., on Friday to meet with some of the most well-known U.S. technology companies to solicit their help in the battle against extremist propaganda.

http://thehill.com/policy/technolog...-porn-efforts-as-model-for-fighting-terrorism


----------



## poochee

January 09, 2016
*Weekly Address: America Can Do Anything*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President remarked on the incredible progress that has been made in the American auto industry. Just seven years ago, the industry was on the brink of collapse, with plants closing and hundreds of thousands of workers getting laid off. The President made a decision in his first couple of months in office to place hisbet on American workers and American manufacturing, implementing a strategy to bring the American auto industry back. Since then, Detroit-area unemployment has been cut by more than half, and automakers have added more than 640,000 new jobs. On January 20, the President will visit the Detroit Auto Show to see this progress firsthand. Because the story of the auto industry is an apt illustration of all that America has accomplished in the past seven years, and all that it can do.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jan 9, 10:25 AM EST

*In final State of Union, Obama aims to define his presidency*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Out of time to push a new legislative agenda, President Barack Obama will look past Congress and to the American people in his final State of the Union address, aiming to define his presidency and his legacy before others can do it for him.

For his seventh address, Obama plans to skip the traditional list of grand proposals, new policies and presidential appeals for new laws in favor of a broad overview of what he has accomplished since 2009 and what is undone in his final year in office. Aides said the president on Tuesday night will give his assessment of what the country looks like in 2016 and the direction he hopes it will take in the future.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-09-10-25-42


----------



## poochee

*Here's Who The Obamas Invited To The State Of The Union Address*
*The president will deliver his final address to Congress on Tuesday.*
01/10/2016 11:59 am ET | *Updated* 1 hour ago
*Igor Bobic* Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

The White House on Sunday announced the guests who will be joining Michelle Obama in the first lady's box as President Barack Obama delivers his final State of the Union address to Congress.

Among the lucky few are a businessman who helps low-income residents afford solar panels, an opioid reform advocate from West Virginia, a famed plaintiff in last year's landmark marriage equality case, a once-homeless veteran from Las Vegas, a Syrian refugee and the woman Obama credits with coining the "Fired up! Ready to go!" chant popularized by both of his campaigns for the presidency.

Read the full list below, via the White House:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/state-of-the-union-guests_569280b6e4b0a2b6fb707a42?


----------



## poochee

*White House renews pledge to close Gitmo*
By Bradford Richardson - 01/10/16 11:14 AM EST

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough on Sunday reiterated the long-held goal to close Guantanamo Bay before the end of President Obama's second term.

"The president has said from the beginning of this administration that we will close Gitmo because it's bad for our national security and because it's too costly," McDonough said on "Fox News Sunday."

http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/265366-white-house-renews-pledge-to-close-gitmo


----------



## poochee

*Gabby Giffords Endorses Hillary Clinton For President*
_She called Clinton the only candidate who "has the determination and toughness to stand up to the corporate gun lobby."_
01/10/2016 12:19 pm ET | *Updated* 5 hours ago
*Igor Bobic*Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

Former Arizona congresswoman and gun control advocate Gabby Giffords (D) is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, a spokeswoman confirmed to The Huffington Post.

Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, will also back Clinton. The endorsement is a personal one, however, separate from the couple's political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions, which is dedicated to curbing gun violence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...e4b0cad15e652fa6?ir=Politics&section=politics


----------



## poochee

*Nation He Built*
_A POLITICO review of Barack Obama's domestic policy legacy-and the changes he made while nobody was paying attention._
By Michael Grunwald
Vol. 3, No. 2
1/06/2016

Over the past seven years, Americans have heard an awful lot about Barack Obama and his presidency, but the actual substance of his domestic policies and their impact on the country remain poorly understood. He has engineered quite a few quiet revolutions-and some of his louder revolutions are shaking up the status quo in quiet ways. Obama is often dinged for failing to deliver on the hope-and-change rhetoric that inspired so many voters during his ascent to the presidency. But a review of his record shows that the Obama era has produced much more sweeping change than most of his supporters or detractors realize.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/obama-biggest-achievements-213487


----------



## poochee

*Medicare expands coordinated care for 8.9M beneficiaries*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Medicare is expanding a major experiment that strives to keep seniors healthier by coordinating basic medical care to prevent common problems that often lead to hospitalization, the agency said on Monday.

Officials announced 121 new "accountable care organizations," networks of doctors and hospitals that collaborate to better serve patients with chronic medical conditions. A limited number will be able to directly recruit patients.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-11-13-49-30


----------



## poochee

By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 10:26 PM ET, Mon January 11, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
Washington (CNN)As his eldest son faced the prospect of resigning as Delaware's attorney general amid health concerns, Vice President Joe Biden received an offer that floored him: financial support from his boss, President Barack Obama.

In the never been told before story, Biden recalled how concerned Obama had been.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/politics/joe-biden-barack-obama-financial-help/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 11, 5:22 PM EST

*Obama takes this year's State of Union to YouTube, Snapchat*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wired up, and ready to go.

President Barack Obama is trying to offset dwindling viewership of the State of the Union by pushing Tuesday's address further into cyberspace, hoping to reach Americans increasingly glued to their smartphones and other digital devices. Name your favorite social media site, and chances are the White House is already plugged in.

"Obama will always be known as that president that opened the floodgates of social media," said Erna Alfred Liousas, an analyst at Forrester Research. "If the next presidency doesn't uphold it, they will definitely hear about it."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-11-17-22-26


----------



## poochee

*Trump - The Incoherent Demagogue*
Joe Klein @JoeKleinTIME Jan. 10, 2016 
_Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of seven books, most recently Charlie Mike: A True Story of Heroes who Brought their Mission Home. His weekly TIME column, "In the Arena," covers national and international affairs._

*Trump has nothing of substance to say*

*VIDEO*

http://time.com/4174328/donald-trump-thoughts-politician/?xid=homepage


----------



## poochee

Jan 12, 3:32 PM EST

*Watching Obama speech? Check out political dynamics*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is promising a nontraditional address for President Barack Obama's final State of the Union. But, no, don't look for him to slow-jam Tuesday's speech or rap it.

Nontraditional is more likely to simply mean a shorter list of policy proposals and more attention to the president's broader vision for the country.

What else is there to watch for? Plenty. The president's speech promises all sorts of election-year dynamics, a new face, an empty chair and a dollop of nostalgia.

Some things to watch:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-12-15-32-49


----------



## poochee

*In State of the Union, Obama Confronts Americans' Fears*
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and MICHAEL D. SHEAR
JAN. 12, 2016

*SLIDE SHOW/VIDEOS*

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Tuesday tried to reconcile an optimistic assessment of the nation's progress with the anxieties he conceded have gripped Americans during his tenure, using his final State of the Union address to try to burnish his record and frame the campaign to succeed him.

In a prime-time televised speech that was more a broad statement of vision than a policy prescription, Mr. Obama sought to present an ambitious portrait of the nation after seven years of his leadership, with a resurgent economy and better standing in the world despite continuing challenges of inequality at home and terrorism abroad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/13/us/politics/obama-state-of-the-union.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Why there was an empty seat at Obama's final State of the Union*
01/12/16 10:50 PM-Updated 01/12/16 10:52 PM
By Trymaine Lee

It wasn't for an attendee who'd misplaced their ticket. Or some straggler kept at bay by the prolonged security measures in place for Obama's State of the Union finale. But as empty and quiet as that seat remained through the president's rousing address to the nation, its symbolism rang loud and clear.

Obama left that chair unfilled as a tribute to victims of gun violence, a group Obama has said is too often rendered voiceless.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/why-there-was-empty-seat-obamas-final-state-the-union


----------



## poochee

*President Obama's 2016 State of the Union Address

VIDEO
&
TRANSCRIPT

https://medium.com/@WhiteHouse/pres...-of-the-union-address-7c06300f9726#.33qy8ksgj
*


----------



## poochee

*10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran freed*
By Barbara Starr, Tom LoBianco, Holly Yan and Jim Sciutto, CNN
Updated 12:27 PM ET, Wed January 13, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

U.S. official: Iranian boats escorted the sailors to a rendezvous point in international waters
The sailors then boarded the USS Anzio, the source says
Military analyst: The Iran nuclear deal may be why the U.S. sailors were held for only one day

(CNN)Secretary of State John Kerry credited diplomatic strength and newly developed ties with Iran in helping secure the quick and safe release of 10 American sailors Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/politics/iran-us-sailors/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 13, 11:53 AM EST

*Officials: Iran to satisfy nuke deal by as early as Friday*
By MATTHEW LEE and BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran could comply with last summer's nuclear deal as early as Friday or this weekend, officials said, requiring the United States and other nations to immediately suspend billions of dollars' worth of economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Secretary of State John Kerry predicted Wednesday the achievement "within the next coming days."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-13-11-53-22


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump ejects man who called him boring*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 2:04 PM ET, Mon January 11, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/politics/donald-trump-boring-protester-interruption/
______________________________________________
*Trump Gets Angry With 'Terrible, Stupid' Microphone During Rally*
By JOHN SANTUCCI

*VIDEO
*
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-angry-terrible-stupid-microphone-rally/story?id=36279072


----------



## poochee

Obama praises Louisiana's expansion of Medicaid under ACA
By Steven Mufson January 14 at 1:15 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. -- President Obama gave a pat on the back of Louisiana's new Democratic governor for John Bel Edwards's move to accept federal funds for expanded Medicaid coverage, a key part of the president's health care reform efforts. And the White House said it would seek to continue that funding to win over governors still opposed to expansion.

Obama, who came to the state capital here as part of a post-State of the Union address campaign to reach out directly to voters, said at a town hall-style meeting Thursday that Edwards had "already delivered" by taking "the bold and wise step to expand Medicaid."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2016/01/14/b5b40286-baca-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Transfer of 10 detainees brings Guantanamo Bay population under 100*
 Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 2:20 p.m. EST January 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon announced Thursday that it had transferred 10 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to the Arabian nation of Oman.

The transfers bring the number of detainees remaining at the military prison to 93, as President Obama continues to try to make good on his campaign promise to close the facility - or at least vastly reduce the number of detainees.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...guantanamo-bay-population-under-100/78792580/


----------



## poochee

January 14, 2016, 08:00 am
*10 reasons why 2015 was a year of progress for gun violence prevention*
By Monte Frank, contributor

In light of the mass shootings, urban gun violence and negligent homicides and suicides that occurred all too often last year, many Americans feel like nothing was done in 2015 to combat the gun violence epidemic in the United States. To the contrary, the gun violence prevention movement made significant strides in 2015, laying the groundwork for more progress in 2016. Here's why:

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-bl...-2015-was-a-year-of-progress-for-gun-violence


----------



## poochee

*Administration pushes $220M electric grid upgrade program*
By Devin Henry - 01/14/16 04:14 PM EST

Administration pushes $220M electric grid upgrade program
"This public-private partnership … will help us further strengthen our ongoing efforts to improve our electrical infrastructure so that it is prepared to respond to the nation's energy needs for decades to come," Moniz said in a statement.

Updating the energy grid has been a major priority for the Obama administration, and it was a key plank of the first "Quadrennial Energy Review" the Energy Department released in April.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...ation-pushes-220-million-grid-upgrade-program


----------



## poochee

Jan 14, 4:47 PM EST

*IRS chief sets April 18 filing date; promises better service*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Taxpayers nationwide will get a few days' grace this year to file their returns thanks to a little-known holiday in the nation's capital. And the head of the IRS promises 1,000 more customer services representatives will be available to ease waiting times on information lines.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Thursday that taxpayers will have until Monday, April 18 to file their returns. That's because Friday, April 15 is Emancipation Day, a public holiday in Washington D.C. Taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts will have an additional day because of Patriot's Day.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-14-16-47-49


----------



## poochee

*At Republican Debate, Taunts and Quips as Rivals Battle*
By JONATHAN MARTIN and PATRICK HEALYJAN. 14, 2016

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas sharply attacked each other on Thursday night over the Canadian-born Mr. Cruz's eligibility to be president and Mr. Trump's "New York values," shedding any semblance of cordiality as they dominated a Republican debate less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

Their cutting exchanges showcased the intense and unpredictable new phase of the race as polls tighten and 11 candidates jockey for political advantage and for breakout moments - not only over issues like imposing tariffs on Chinese goods and fighting the Islamic State, but also over matters of character and integrity that drew some of the hardest punches of the race so far.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/u...ts-quips-rivals-battle.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*6 takeaways from the Republican presidential debate*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 10:38 AM ET, Fri January 15, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Ted Cruz and Donald Trump fought over Cruz's eligibility to be President and his citation of "New York Values"
Marco Rubio had a late rally with a hit on Cruz over immigration and his Senate voting record
Rand Paul, invited to the early debate, skipped the proceedings altogether in favor of a media blitz
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/15/politics/republican-debate-2016-recap/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How Obama plans to change how most of the country is powered*
01/15/16 02:29 PM
By Tony Dokoupil

Flip a switch and there's a good chance you're burning it: coal.

The shiny black rock produces 40 percent of the country's electricity, overall, and more than 90 percent of the power in states like Kentucky and West Virginia. It's also a political symbol of traditional work and masculine virtue, a source of community pride in huge parts of Appalachia and the Mountain West.

But it comes at a cost: Coal is the single biggest source of global warming pollution, which is likely to have made 2015 the hottest year in recorded history. And that's why the Obama administration's decision on Friday to stop new coal mining on federal land is such a big deal.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/coal-obama-plans-change-how-most-the-country-powered


----------



## poochee

January 16, 2016
*Weekly Address: Improving Economic Security by Strengthening and Modernizing the Unemployment Insurance System*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President spoke about the steps we need to take to modernize our unemployment insurance system. Our country has come a long way in the past seven years, with more than 14 million jobs created, and the unemployment rate cut in half. But, as our economy continues to change, there are still steps we need to take to ensure all Americans have the security and opportunity they deserve. In his address, the President laid out his plan to help more hardworking Americans get unemployment insurance, find a new job, and have some assurance that even if a new job pays less than their old one they will have some help paying the bills. These ideas are part of the President's broader belief that everybody who works hard deserves their fair shot and the chance to get ahead.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jan 16, 1:21 PM EST
*Iran releases US journalist Rezaian, 3 others in swap*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press

VIENNA (AP) -- Iran will release four detained Americans in exchange for seven Iranians held or charged in the United States, U.S. and Iranian officials said Saturday in a major diplomatic breakthrough announced as implementation of a landmark nuclear deal appeared imminent. A fifth American detained in Iran, a student, was released in a move unrelated to the swap, U.S. officials said.

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, pastor Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, whose name had not been previously made public, were to be flown from Iran to Switzerland aboard a Swiss aircraft and then transported to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for medical treatment, U.S. officials said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-16-13-21-20


----------



## poochee

*The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics*

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

By POLITICO Staff
01/15/16 05:19 AM EST

Read more: http://www.politico.com/gallery/2016/01/the-nations-cartoonists-on-the-week-in-politics-002173#ixzz3xR78OBtO


----------



## poochee

*U.S. lifts sanctions against Iran, says nuclear deal obligations have been met*
By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times - Updated: 6:01 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2016

In a statement, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the sanctions termination provisions of Iran's landmark nuclear agreement are now in effect.

Mr. Obama signed the orders Saturday afternoon, saying Iran's compliance with the deal "marks a fundamental shift in circumstances with respect to Iran's nuclear program."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/16/iaea-un-nuclear-watchdog-says-iran-has-met-its-com/


----------



## poochee

*Flint, Michigan, water crisis: Obama signs emergency declaration*
01/16/16 06:12 PM
By Elisha Fieldstadt

President Barack Obama on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Flint, Michigan, where officials allegedly ignored the detriments of a water source that exposed nearly everyone in the city to lead poisoning and other contaminants.

The White House issued a release calling for the Federal Emergency Management Agency "to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Genesee County," where residents have been warned not to drink unfiltered tap water.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/flint-michigan-water-crisis-obama-signs-emergency-declaration


----------



## poochee

Jan 17, 12:55 PM EST
*Obama cites Americans' release as win for 'smart' diplomacy*
By JULIE PACE and KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press


AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Sunday heralded the release of Americans held prisoner in Iran and the full implementation of a historic nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic, holding both up as a victory for "smart" diplomacy and fulfillment of his pledge to deal directly with enemies of the United States.

"This is a good day," Obama said in a statement from the White House. "When Americans are freed and returned to their families, that's something we can all celebrate."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-17-12-55-07


----------



## poochee

Jan 17, 10:48 AM EST
*US imposes new Iran sanctions for ballistic missile testing
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States on Sunday imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program as a result of Tehran's firing of a medium-range ballistic missile, a new punishment one day after the Obama administration lifted economic penalties against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

The missile program "poses a significant threat to regional and global security, and it will continue to be subject to international sanctions," said Adam J. Szubin, the Treasury's acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence in a statement.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-17-10-48-41


----------



## poochee

*Happy 52nd Birthday Michelle Obama! Here's Why You're Incredible*
_Unfortunately, President Barack Obama said she's never running for office._
01/17/2016 09:06 am ET
*Amber Ferguson*Associate Politics Video Editor, The Huffington Post

*VIDEO*

*First lady Michelle Obama turned 52 on Sunday.*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michelle-obama-52nd-birthday_569a885fe4b0778f46f98c15


----------



## poochee

By Reena Flores CBS News January 16, 2016, 5:42 PM
*"El Chapo" lawyers cited Donald Trump in extradition defense*

With authorities fighting tooth and nail to extradite Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States after his dramatic capture last week, the drug lord's legal team is expected to launch a strong case against handing him over to U.S. officials.

One reason his lawyers are citing: Donald Trump.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-chapo-guzman-lawyers-cited-donald-trump-in-extradition-defense/


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jan 17 2016, 9:39 pm ET
*Highlights, News and Analysis from the NBC News-YouTube Democratic Debate*
by NBC News

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley gathered in Charleston, South Carolina for the NBC News-YouTube Democratic presidential candidates' debate Sunday, hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute.

The NBC News politics team live-blogged the debate, read the highlights and analysis:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/nbc-news-youtube-democratic-candidates-debate-n496666


----------



## poochee

1/18/16
*The Obamas perform community service in memory of Martin...*

As part of Monday's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama helped fill bags with books and school supplies for needy children at Leckie Elementary School in Washington, D.C. descriptionLimit">... more

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/ob...-day-of-service-603955267818?icid=rr-tab-text


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton Celebrates Confederate Flag's Removal At MLK Day Ceremony*
*"That flag always belonged in a museum, not at the statehouse."*
01/18/2016 01:38 pm ET | *Updated* 3 hours ago
*Mollie Reilly*Deputy Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

Monday's "King Day at the Dome" celebration marked the first time the state has officially honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day without the racist symbol flying above the crowd. Civil rights activists had previously used the holiday to call for the flag's removal

"How wonderful it is to be here together without the Confederate flag overhead," Clinton said. "That flag always belonged in a museum, not at the statehouse."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-confederate-flag-mlk-day_us_569d1a05e4b0778f46fa238a?ir=Politics%3Fncid%3Dnewsltushpmg00000003


----------



## poochee

*Banned in Britain? Parliament debates keeping Trump out*
 John Bacon, USA TODAY 6:25 p.m. EST January 18, 2016

*VIDEO*

Britain's Parliament held a boisterous debate Monday on a proposal to ban Donald Trump from the country in a rebuke of his call to block Muslims from entering the United States.

The topic drew plenty of support from the British lawmakers, who don't actually have the power to ban anyone. The debate did allow members of Parliament to vent their frustrations about Trump's comments.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...arliament-debates-keeping-trump-out/78958338/


----------



## poochee

*The One Weird Trait That Predicts Whether You're a Trump Supporter*
_And it's not gender, age, income, race or religion._
By Matthew MacWilliams
1/17/2016

In fact, I've found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump-and it's not race, income or education levels: It's authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism is not a new, untested concept in the American electorate. Since the rise of Nazi Germany, it has been one of the most widely studied ideas in social science. While its causes are still debated, the political behavior of authoritarians is not. Authoritarians obey. They rally to and follow strong leaders. And they respond aggressively to outsiders, especially when they feel threatened. From pledging to "make America great again" by building a wall on the border to promising to close mosques and ban Muslims from visiting the United States, Trump is playing directly to authoritarian inclinations.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533#ixzz3xfJjalk3


----------



## poochee

*Obama to meet with Flint mayor at White House*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:59 PM ET, Tue January 19, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Flint Mayor Karen Weaver is expected to meet with President Barack Obama later Tuesday over the Michigan city's water crisis, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/19/politics/obama-to-meet-with-flint-mayor-at-white-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Jan 19 2016, 9:39 am ET
*Supreme Court to Consider Obama Immigration Rules*
by Pete Williams

*VIDEO*

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up the Obama administration's proposed new immigration plan that could shield more than four million people from deportation.

If the court rules by this spring in favor of the White House, President Obama could begin putting the changes into effect during his final months in office. But if the administration loses, court battles could keep the program on hold for several more years.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-consider-obama-immigration-rules-n497356


----------



## poochee

Jan 19, 3:55 PM EST

*Obama touts Australia's contribution to Islamic State fight*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday thanked Australia for its "steadfast" alliance and key contributions in the fight against Islamic State group, as he welcomed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to the White House for his first visit to Washington since taking office in September.

Opening a meeting in the Oval Office, Obama said the leaders planned to discuss the anti-Islamic State operation, as well as broader counterterrorism efforts in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The president noted Australia is a key contributor to the coalition, with the second-largest force of ground troops in Iraq behind the United States.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-19-15-55-55


----------



## poochee

Jan 19, 7:44 PM EST
*Obama vetoes legislation scrapping smaller stream regulation*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama vetoed on Tuesday legislation that would have nullified a federal rule designed to protect smaller streams, tributaries and wetlands from pollution.

In his veto message, Obama defended the rule. He said pollution from upstream sources ends up in the rivers, lakes and coastal waters near where most Americans live. He also said the rule would clarify the scope of the Clean Water Act and protect those resources.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-19-19-44-23


----------



## poochee

News
Jan 19 2016, 8:54 pm ET
*Sarah Palin's Son Track Arrested on Domestic Violence Charges on Eve of Trump Endorsement*
by Erin Calabrese

Less than 24 hours before she endorsed Donald Trump, Sarah Palin's son was arrested on domestic violence charges, police in Wasilla, Alaska, said Tuesday.

Track Palin, the former governor and vice president candidate's 26-year-old son, was arrested and charged with interfering with the report of a domestic violence, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and assault on his girlfriend, which are all misdemeanors, police said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...rrested-domestic-violence-charges-eve-n499976


----------



## poochee

.
Jan 20, 1:10 PM EST

*Attorney General defends executive actions on guns as legal*
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

"I have complete confidence that the common sense steps announced by the president are lawful," Lynch told the Senate Appropriations Committee panel that oversees the Justice Department. Early in an election year in which both parties seem ready to make guns a political issue, Lynch called Obama's moves "well-reasoned measures, well within existing legal authorities, built on work that's already underway."

The modest steps Obama announced two weeks ago were immediately attacked by a top Republican, who said the measures were the latest of the president's actions infringing on the constitutional right to own guns and exceeding his executive branch powers


----------



## poochee

*Obama visits Michigan amid Flint water scandal, Detroit school crisis*
By Allie Malloy and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 10:17 AM ET, Wed January 20, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
Detroit (CNN)President Barack Obama will visit Detroit on Wednesday to highlight a resurgence in the auto industry, but all eyes will be on how he addresses the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and Detroit's education funding problems.

Obama plans to have lunch with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, where it's likely the pair will discuss the city's school closures, and larger funding problems, according to the White House.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/20/politics/obama-detroit-schools-flint-water-michigan/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Jan 20 2016, 6:17 pm ET
*Vets: Don't Blame Obama for Track Palin's Behavior*
by Corky Siemaszko

"It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD," said Paul Rieckhoff, who heads Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). "PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular."

Rieckhoff weighed in after Palin said her son Track's arrest on domestic violence charges this week stemmed from the PTSD he contracted after serving with the Army in Iraq - and because of Obama's supposed lack of "respect" for veterans.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/veterans/vets-don-t-blame-obama-track-palin-s-behavior-n500716


----------



## poochee

*Obama on Flint: U.S. shouldn't 'accept' unsafe drinking water*
By Kevin Liptak and Michelle Kosinski, CNN
Updated 7:00 PM ET, Thu January 21, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

President Barack Obama spoke about Flint, Michigan, during a reception of mayors at the White House
The President said $80 million in new funding would be available to Michigan next week
Soon after Obama spoke, his administration announced the regional Environmental Protection Agency boss for Flint was resigning amid scrutiny of the agency's role in the lead contamination crisis.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politics/obama-flint-water-funding-poisoning/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Rules to protect smaller waterways survive*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New federal rules to protect smaller streams, tributaries and wetlands have survived the latest Republican effort to block them.

Congress last week sent President Barack Obama a "resolution of disapproval" that would scrap the rules, a measure he promptly vetoed. On Thursday, the Senate voted 52-40, falling short of the three-fifths threshold to vote on a veto override.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-21-11-40-50


----------



## poochee

*Police officer convicted of serial sexual assault gets 263 years*
01/21/16 05:02 PM
By Irin Carmon

*VIDEO*

Daniel Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City cop who wasfound guilty of 18 counts of rape and sexual assault, and whose victims were all black women, has been sentenced to 263 years, served consecutively rather than concurrently. It is effectively a life sentence for the 29-year-old former football player.

Women's rights activists packed the Oklahoma City courtroom in support of the 13 women who came forward to say that Holtzclaw had preyed on them. Prosecutors argued that Holtzclaw targeted "women he could count on not telling what he was doing," some of them drug users or with past criminal records, using the power of his badge to terrify them into silence.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/police-officer-convicted-serial-sexual-assault-gets-263-years


----------



## poochee

Jan 22, 6:37 PM EST
*Obama enlists Pentagon to overhaul security clearance system*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration asked the Pentagon on Friday to help overhaul the federal security clearance system, aiming to turn the page on a devastating data breach that exposed a major vulnerability for U.S. national security.

A new government office, called the National Background Investigations Bureau, will take over the job of running background checks on all federal employees, contractors and others. But the Defense Department will design, build and operate the computer system that houses and processes people's personal information, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-22-18-37-02


----------



## poochee

*National Review, conservative thinkers stand against Trump*
By Dylan Byers
Updated 11:03 AM ET, Fri January 22, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The leading conservative magazine editorializes to stop Trump
22 writers have penned anti-Trump articles for the upcoming issues
Los Angeles (CNN)National Review, the conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley, published a special issue on Friday

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/politics/national-review-magazine-opposes-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

January 23, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Affordable Care Act is Making a Difference for Millions of Americans*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President discussed the progress we've made because of the Affordable Care Act. As the law's coverage provisions have taken effect, 17.6 million Americans have gained coverage, and the nation's uninsured rate now stands at its lowest level ever. The deadline to sign up for 2016 health coverage on the Marketplace is quickly approaching on January 31, and the President encouraged even more Americans to join the more than 11 million people who have already signed up so far this year - and who are enjoying the financial security and peace of mind that comes with knowing you have affordable, portable health coverage.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*White House bid*
01/23/16 11:37 AM-Updated 01/23/16 03:08 PM
By Kristen Welker and David Taintor

*VIDEO*

The 2016 presidential field could get a little more crowded.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering launching a third-party bid for the White House, NBC News confirmed Saturday. Bloomberg would likely only run if either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz was the Republican nominee and Bernie Sanders the Democratic nominee, according to a source familiar with Bloomberg's thinking.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/michael-bloomberg-mulls-2016-white-house-bid


----------



## poochee

*Trump says he could 'shoot somebody' and still maintain support*
01/23/16 02:53 PM-Updated 01/23/16 03:10 PM
By Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-still-maintain-support

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January 23, 2016, 06:21 pm
*Fox tells Trump: Kelly will be debate moderator*
By Caitlin Yilek

Fox News is not bowing to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's calls to remove Megyn Kelly as host of the next GOP debate.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...lls-trump-that-kelly-will-be-debate-moderator


----------



## 2twenty2

poochee said:


> Trump says he could 'shoot somebody' and still maintain support


...


----------



## poochee

Jan 24, 2:23 PM EST
*Obama says he doesn't yearn for third term*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he wouldn't run for a third term even if he could. He says the presidency takes a toll on family life, and the office "should be continually renewed by new energy and new ideas."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-24-14-23-54


----------



## poochee

*First on CNN: Obama to push to clear leftover Vietnam-era bombs*
By Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 5:49 PM ET, Sun January 24, 2016

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Laos on Sunday ahead of a major push by the Obama administration to fix a decades-old wrong: clearing up leftover Vietnam-era U.S. bombs
Kerry's visit will help usher in a new partnership with a former

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/24/politics/john-kerry-laos-secret-war/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 24, 4:18 PM EST
*Trump in Iowa church: Hymns, readings and a children's choir*
By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

The service, which Trump's campaign invited several reporters to observe, included hymns, readings and a performance by the children's choir. Cream-colored stained glass in the window cast a golden glow.

At one point, Trump shared a prayer book with Debra Whitaker, an Iowa supporter seated to his right. She put her hand gently around Trump's waist as the congregation sang Hymn 409, "God is Here!" Trump could be seen by some mouthing along.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-24-16-18-58


----------



## poochee

Jan 25, 11:24 AM EST

*Justices extend bar on automatic life terms for teenagers*
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that people serving life terms for murders they committed as teenagers must have a chance to seek their freedom, a decision that could affect more than 1,000 inmates.

The justices voted 6-3 to extend a ruling from 2012 that struck down automatic life terms with no chance of parole for teenage killers. Now, even those who were convicted long ago must be considered for parole or given a new sentence.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-25-11-24-37


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court backs federal authority in power saving rule*
By Darius Dixon
01/25/16 10:12 AM EST

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to an administration-supported rule on Monday that promotes electricity conservation, handing a big victory to environmentalists and federal power regulators.

The 6-2 decision overturned a federal appeals panel ruling and affirmed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's authority to offer incentives to reducepower consumption during peak demand periods by paying large users to curb their electricityuse, policies that green groups say help open the power grid up to more renewable sources like wind and solar.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/supreme-court-backs-electricity-saving-rule-218182#ixzz3yI1iru8X


----------



## poochee

*Zika's likely to spread across Americas, World Health Organization says*
01/25/16 02:28 PM-Updated 01/25/16 03:20 PM
By Maggie Fox

The Zika virus that has doctors worried about birth defects is likely to spread to most countries in the Americas, the World Health Organization said Monday. But that doesn't necessarily mean all or even very much of the United States.

Zika's already taken hold in 21 countries and territories of the Americas, and the mosquito-borne virus will almost certainly spread further, WHO's western hemisphere branch, the Pan American Health Organization, said in an update.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/zikas-likely-spread-across-americas-world-health-organization-says


----------



## 2twenty2

...


----------



## poochee

*Texas grand jury indicts two in probe of anti-abortion videos*
01/25/16 06:20 PM-Updated 01/25/16 07:41 PM
By Tim Stelloh

A Houston grand jury indicted two anti-abortion activists Monday in connection with undercover videos shot in Texas that allegedly showed fetal organ sales inside a Planned Parenthood clinic.

The suit, filed in San Francisco, alleges that she, Daleiden and several other "anti-abortion extremists" executed a "complex criminal enterprise" that involved "fake companies, fake identities and large-scale illegal taping" meant to "demonize" Planned Parenthood and interrupt its operations.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/texas-grand-jury-indicts-two-probe-anti-abortion-videos


----------



## poochee

Jan 25, 9:33 PM EST

*Obama bans solitary confinement for juveniles in fed prisons*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Monday he will ban the use of solitary confinement for juvenile and low-level offenders in federal prisons, citing the potential for "devastating, lasting psychological consequences" from the use of the isolation as punishment.

"It has been linked to depression, alienation, withdrawal, a reduced ability to interact with others and the potential for violent behavior," Obama wrote in an op-ed posted Monday evening on The Washington Post's website. "Some studies indicate that it can worsen existing mental illnesses and even trigger new ones. Prisoners in solitary are more likely to commit suicide, especially juveniles and people with mental illnesses."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-25-21-33-15


----------



## poochee

January 25, 2016, 03:41 pm
*Obama visits wounded soldier*
By Jordan Fabian

The weekend's historic blizzard in the nation's capital didn't stop President Obama on Monday from visiting with wounded military service members.

Obama flew on Marine One to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., avoiding Washington's snow-clogged streets. The president typically takes his helicopter to the hospital, which is nine miles north of the White House.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/266932-obama-visits-wounded-soldiers


----------



## poochee

*5 takeaways from the Democratic town hall*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:18 PM ET, Tue January 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton, Sanders and O'Malley made their closing arguments to Iowa voters Monday night during a CNN televised town hall hosted by Drake University and the Iowa Democratic Party
Des Moines, Iowa (CNN)Hillary Clinton says she's a "proven fighter." Bernie Sanders says that while experience is important, "it is not the only thing" that Democratic voters should weigh. And Martin O'Malley took off his jacket.

Here are five takeaways from the event:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/politics/democratic-town-hall-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

Obama eases more restrictions on Cuban travel, trade
By Lydia Wheeler - 01/26/16 11:35 AM EST

Starting Wednesday, the Treasury and Commerce departments said U.S. airlines will be authorized to engage with Cuban ones to facilitate trade; restrictions on payment and financing terms for authorized exports and re-exports to Cuba will be removed; a case-by-case licensing policy for exports and re-exports will be established; and certain types of travel will be added to existing authorized travel categories.

Tourist activities, however, remain prohibited, a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday.

http://thehill.com/regulation/admin...rther-ease-cuba-travel-and-trade-restrictions


----------



## poochee

*Lynch defends Obama's gun actions
By **Tim Devaney** - 01/20/16 12:22 PM EST 
*
Attorney General Loretta Lynch defended President Obama's recent executive actions on guns Wednesday in the face of fierce Republican criticism.

"As the list of tragedies involving firearms has grown, so has the American people's belief that we must do more to stem the tide of gun violence," Lynch told a group of Senate Republicans.

http://thehill.com/regulation/administration/266447-lynch-defends-obamas-gun-orders


----------



## poochee

Jan 26, 2:17 PM EST
*Obama, Reid, Pelosi meet, discuss legislative priorities*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and the top two Democrats in the Republican-led Congress are comparing notes on what they want to get done this year before lawmakers pivot to campaigning full-time for re-election.

White House spokeswoman Jen Friedman says Obama, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid met at the White House to discuss several areas for bipartisan action, including building on last year's budget agreement.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-26-14-17-38


----------



## poochee

Jan 26, 4:05 PM EST

*Trump now bills himself as uniter as Cruz and others attack*
By STEVE PEOPLES and JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Republican Donald Trump is breaking from his reputation as a flame-throwing outsider with just days to go before Iowa's leadoff caucuses, highlighting his willingness to work with Democrats in Congress as part of a closing argument with a distinctly bipartisan tone.

The billionaire businessman's promise to get things done in Washington is a direct contrast to leading GOP rival Ted Cruz, the Texas senator whose brief Washington career has been defined in part by his inability to get along with his own party. Trump's can-do message comes as adversaries begin pouring money into tough ads questioning his commitment to conservative values - attacks that some in the GOP's establishment wing have long awaited.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-26-16-05-41


----------



## poochee

6:49 pm ET6:49 pm ET

*Donald Trump's Campaign Says He'll Skip Debate*
6:49 pm ET6:49 pm ET
Nick Corasaniti and Maggie Haberman

"Let's see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me," Mr. Trump said at a news conference here, where he continued to attack Megyn Kelly and the crew at Fox News, with whom he sparred at an earlier debate.

Just after Mr. Trump started speaking, his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, confirmed that he would skip Thursday's event, saying, "He will not be participating in the Fox News debate on Thursday" and that "it's not under negotiation."

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...-republican-debate-his-campaign-manager-says/


----------



## poochee

Jan 26, 9:31 PM EST

*The Latest: Megyn Kelly says Trump can't control the media
*
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Here are the latest developments from the 2016 race for president, one week out from the Iowa caucuses. All times local.

8:15 p.m.

Fox News anchor and debate moderator Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump is used to getting his way but can't control the media.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-26-21-31-25


----------



## poochee

BREAKING News
Jan 26 2016, 10:14 pm ET
*Oregon Occupation Leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy Arrested, One Dead*
by Alex Johnson and Andrew Blankstein

Ammon and Ryan Bundy, the brothers leading anti-government protesters occupying Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, and four other people were arrested Tuesday in a confrontation with authorities, the FBI said. One person was dead, the FBI said.

Shots were fired about 4:25 p.m. (7:25 p.m. ET) when the FBI and Oregon State Police began an "enforcement action" at the wildlife refuge, the FBI said. It didn't identify the victim.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...undy-arrested-law-enforcement-sources-n504911


----------



## poochee

*After meeting, Sanders says Obama 'even-handed' in assessments of 2016 race*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 2:03 PM ET, Wed January 27, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Emerging from the White House after meeting with Obama for more than an hour, Sanders said he wasn't bothered by a recent interview in which Obama appeared to be tilting toward his former secretary of state.

"I think he and the vice president have tried to be fair and even-handed in the process, and I expect they will continue to do that," Sanders said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/politics/obama-bernie-sanders-to-meet/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How to throw shade like Donald Trump

VIDEO
*
Even in silence, The Donald is loud. When he's not making provocative statements, Donald Trump's vivid facial expressions speak for him. That skill is perhaps most visibly on display during presidential debates, when he shares the stage with competitors and is silent for long stretches.

*Footage by Vincent Laforet for CNN*

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016...ndex.html?sr=twCNN012616trumpshade0636PMStory


----------



## poochee

*Veterans group to Trump: Keep your donations*
By Tami Luhby, CNN
Updated 6:28 PM ET, Wed January 27, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Trump said he would skip Thursday's Fox News debate and instead hold a competing event to raise money for veterans and wounded warriors
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America founder Paul Rieckhoff, however, tweeted Wednesday that he would decline
Two other veterans' groups also distanced themselves from Trump's announcement.

Meanwhile, VoteVets.org, which calls itself the nation's largest progressive veterans group, issued a statement titled: "Don't hide from Megyn Kelly behind us."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/politics/donald-trump-veterans-fox-news-debate/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 27, 11:10 PM EST

*Obama honors 4 who protected Jews during Holocaust*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

*VIDEO
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As he honored four people on Wednesday for risking their lives to protect Jews, President Barack Obama warned that anti-Semitism is on the rise and that an attack on any faith is an attack on all faiths.

Obama spoke Wednesday evening at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, the first sitting president to speak at the embassy. He was introduced at the event by Steven Spielberg, the Oscar-winning director of the Holocaust film "Schindler's List" and the founder of a Holocaust history foundation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-27-23-10-51


----------



## poochee

*Obama launches cancer-fight 'moonshot' with Biden in charge*
By Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 10:08 AM ET, Thu January 28, 2016

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

President Barack Obama signs presidential memorandum establishing White House Task Force on cancer
Goal is to double rate of progress in the fight against cancer
Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama signed a presidential memorandum Thursday establishing a White House Task Force on cancer, placing Vice President Joe Biden in charge.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/28/politics/obama-biden-cancer-task-force/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 28, 1:31 PM EST

*Pick to lead Afghanistan forces says situation is worsening*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's nominee to be the next U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Thursday the security situation in the war-torn country is deteriorating and assured senators he will do a thorough review of American troop levels needed to stabilize the nation.

Army Lt. Gen. John W. "Mick" Nicholson, Jr., told the Senate Armed Services Committee he will have a better sense of conditions in Afghanistan within a few months if he is confirmed by the Senate.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-27-14-39-16


----------



## poochee

*Note to Networks: Bump Trump, Cover Debate*
01/28/2016 08:01 am ET | *Updated* 2 hours ago
Michael Golden
_Author of Unlock Congress and cofounder of One Million Degrees.

But Thursday night's debate offers the national media -- especially the cable television outlets -- a shot at partial redemption. They can decide to ignore Trump's choreographed sideshow altogether (Trump is scheduling his event at precisely the same time as the debate begins). The networks can cover the debate and discuss what the candidates say about each other, about the issues, and about Trump. They can insist, in unison, that they will not be nakedly manipulated on at least this one night.
_
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-golden/note-to-networks-bump-trump_b_9093622.html


----------



## poochee

*Will Detroit be the next Flint?*
01/28/16 01:06 PM
By Joy-Ann Reid

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will take public comments Thursday night on an application from an oil company to release more sulfur dioxide into the air over southwest Detroit. If the MDEQ approves, city officials will be powerless to stop it.

"The buzz is that DEQ is on the verge of approving Marathon's request," one city official said on condition of anonymity. "This area has the highest concentration of children with asthma in the state.
People here have high rates of bronchitis, and Marathon has not exactly been a good corporate citizen. They received huge tax abatements to build their plant and have not even hired Detroiters. They have a big plant right off the freeway and you can smell the chemicals in the air. Now they're saying, 'Trust us, we're going to bring our overall emissions down.' Well prove it. Loop us into your requests."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/will-detroit-be-the-next-flint


----------



## poochee

*Top 10 moments of the GOP debate *

By Kyle Cheney
01/28/16 09:52 PM EST
Updated 01/28/16 11:02 PM EST

There was a Donald Trump-sized void in the Republican debate lineup tonight. The New York billionaire and Republican front-runner followed through on his boycott of the event, sponsored by Fox News, and held his own rally nearby.

Without him there, the sparring was gentler and even, at times, friendly. Here's a rundown of the most memorable exchanges:

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/republican-presidential-debate-top-moments-218356#ixzz3ybdD3dfr


----------



## poochee

*Transcript of the Main Republican Presidential Debate*
By THE NEW YORK TIMESJAN. 28, 2016

_*Following is a transcript of the main Republican *__*debate*__*, as transcribed by the Federal News Service.*_

_http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/u...tial-debate-transcript.html?ref=politics&_r=0_


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate: CNN's Reality Check team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 12:41 AM ET, Fri January 29, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

* VIDEO

Story highlights*

CNN's Reality Check team spent the night putting the GOP candidates' statements and assertions to the test
The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN selected key statements and rated them: True; Mostly True; True, but Misleading; False; or It's Complicated
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/28/politics/republican-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 29, 3:03 PM EST

*Obama: More to do to close the pay gap for women, minorities*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama sought to showcase progress on his watch on closing the pay gap for women while keeping up the pressure on business, Congress and individuals to tackle an issue he said was still far from being solved.

Marking the seventh anniversary of signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Obama said more must be done to get women into high-paying jobs, including those in science, technology, math and engineering. In recent years, the pay disparity has narrowed slightly, but a woman in the U.S. still makes 79 cents to a man's dollar, the White House said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-29-15-03-48


----------



## poochee

January 30, 2016
*Weekly Address: Giving Every Student an Opportunity to Learn Through Computer Science For All*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC -In this week's address, the President discussed his plan to give all students across the country the chance to learn computer science (CS) in school. The President noted that our economy is rapidly shifting, and that educators and business leaders are increasingly recognizing that CS is a "new basic" skill necessary for economic opportunity. The President referenced his Computer Science for All Initiative, which provides $4 billion in funding for states and $100 million directly for districts in his upcoming budget; and invests more than $135 million beginning this year by the National Science Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service to support and train CS teachers. The President called on even more Governors, Mayors, education leaders, CEOs, philanthropists, creative media and technology professionals, and others to get involved in the efforts.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

January 30, 2016, 12:47 pm
*Obama to visit mosque for first time as president*
By Harper Neidig

President Obama next week will make his first visit to a mosque during his time in office, White House announced Saturday.

"On Wednesday, February 3rd, the President will travel to Maryland to visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque to celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life," a White House official said in a statement.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/267610-obama-to-visit-mosque-for-first-time-as-president


----------



## poochee

*State Department will not release 22 'top secret' Clinton emails*
By Laura Koran, CNN
Updated 8:49 AM ET, Sat January 30, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The State Department announced Friday that it will not release 22 emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because they contain "top secret" information
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the documents, totaling 37 pages, were not marked classified at the time they were sent
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/29/politics/state-department-to-release-clinton-emails/index.html


----------



## poochee

1:51 pm ET1:51 pm ET
By Matt Flegenheimer

*Uncomfortable Question for Ted Cruz on Obamacare Silences the Room*

HUBBARD, Iowa - Senator Ted Cruz is often asked about doing away with President Obama's health care law. He is rarely pressed by voters on what will replace it.

But at a middle school cafeteria here, a man, Mike Valde, presented him with a tragic tale. His brother-in-law Mark was a barber - "a small-business man," he said. He had never had a paid vacation day. He received health insurance at last because of the Affordable Care Act. He began to feel sick and went to a doctor.

"He had never been to a doctor for years," Mr. Valde, 63, of Coralville, Iowa, said. "Multiple tumors behind his heart, his liver, his pancreas. And they said, 'We're sorry, sir, there's nothing we can do for you.' "

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...-for-ted-cruz-on-obamacare-silences-the-room/


----------



## poochee

*Feds in final ObamaCare push*
By Peter Sullivan - 01/30/16 09:08 AM EST

The Obama administration is making a final push to boost ObamaCare enrollment ahead of Sunday's deadline to enroll.

The effort comes at the end of the health law's third year of sign-ups, which officials said from the start would be the hardest yet because the people most eager to sign up already have.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/267552-feds-in-final-obamacare-push


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Art of the Fail*
_Even if he loses at the polls, Trump will call it a win. It's what he's always done._ 
By Michael Kruse
1/31/2016

Over these last 40 lime-lighted years, Trump has won a lot, but he has lost a lot, too-four corporate bankruptcies, two failed marriages and a vast array of money-squandering business ventures. He lost his signature Trump Shuttle airline to his lenders. His self-branded casinos in Atlantic City struggled consistently to turn profits. In each case, though, he has heeded a form of the advice he gave that day to Sprague: Never acknowledge failure. Never admit defeat.

On Monday, after months of denouncing rivals and critics as "losers," the man who has promised "so much winning" America "will get bored with winning" and who has broken every conventional campaign rule on his improbable rise to the top of the GOP field will face his first real electoral test. Finally, there will be quantifiable results. Though the latest polls suggest otherwise, Trump might lose. And if it doesn't happen in Iowa, maybe it will in New Hampshire, or South Carolina, or Nevada, or in any of the many primaries to come over the next frenzied few months. And if that happens?

*Read more: *http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trumps-art-of-the-fail-213578#ixzz3yr1xYFww


----------



## poochee

*Cartoonists Take on the Iowa Caucuses*
_POLITICO's Matt Wuerker handpicks his favorite caucus-themed cartoons._
1/30/2016

*Read more: *http://www.politico.com/magazine/gallery/2016/01/cartoonists-take-on-the-iowa-caucuses-000607#ixzz3yssq1YCj


----------



## poochee

*Candidates swarm Iowa in final moments before caucuses*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:17 AM ET, Mon February 1, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

With one day before the Iowa caucuses, candidates are swarming the state making that last-minute pitch for votes
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz continue their negative attacks
Hillary Clinton looks to hold off Bernie Sanders' insurgent campaign
(CNN)The race to win Iowa turned even more sharply combative in the final hours before caucusing begins as candidates desperate for an edge dashed through a frenzied final day of campaigning.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/31/politics/iowa-caucus-2016-trump-cruz-sanders-clinton-rubio/index.html


----------



## poochee

February 01, 2016, 10:00 am
*To defeat ISIS, listen to the women*
By Tara Sonenshine, contributor

In a world inundated with news, information and entertainment, it is easy to miss something important or to forget about it. We hear about the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on a near-daily basis because its media operation is sophisticated and omnipresent. We see the terror organization's soldiers, guns, bullets, bombs and beheadings. We see its victims.

But a new, positive trend is on the horizon: the role of women, not just as victims of ISIS, but as powerful change agents to reverse the tide of terrorism

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/267703-to-defeat-isis-listen-to-the-women


----------



## poochee

*Iowa caucus: Cruz tops Trump, while Clinton and Sanders are in virtual tie*
By Jose A. DelReal, Juliet Eilperin and David Nakamura February 2 at 12:20 AM

*VIDEO*

DES MOINES - Sen. Ted Cruz scored a hard-fought upset win over businessman Donald Trump in the Iowa Republican caucuses Monday night, while former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders were locked in a virtual tie on the Democratic side with most of the votes counted.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Feb 2, 2:15 PM EST

*Clinton takes Iowa, beating back Sanders' strong challenge*
By SCOTT MCFETRIDGE
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Hillary Clinton narrowly won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa, outpacing a surprisingly strong challenge from Bernie Sanders to claim the first victory in the 2016 race for president.

The former secretary of state, senator from New York and first lady edged past the Vermont senator in a race the Iowa Democratic Party called the closest in its caucus history.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-02-14-15-04


----------



## poochee

*FBI Joins Investigation Of Flint Water Crisis*
It's the latest of four agencies to join the investigation into the poisoning of the city.
02/02/2016 08:21 am ET








http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...lint-water-crisis_us_56b0ab51e4b0655877f70aad


----------



## poochee

News
Feb 2 2016, 1:19 pm ET
*Here's What the World Thinks of the U.S. Presidential Race*
by NBC News

The Iowa caucuses and U.S. presidential race are being watched around the world with a mixture of amusement, hope and fear. Here's a look at how U.S. politics are playing to an international audience.
_
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/here-s-what-world-thinks-u-s-presidential-race-n508481_


----------



## poochee

*Punxsutawney Phil: Friend or foe? A Groundhog Day investigation*
By Lisa Rose, CNN
Updated 9:35 AM ET, Tue February 2, 2016

*SLIDESHOW*

*Story highlights*

Punxsutawney Phil has "predicted" an early spring in 2016
Legend has it that groundhogs come out of hibernation on February 2 to test the weather
Their foray into the cold is less about forecasting and more about mating, say experts
Groundhogs are a pest to some gardeners and farmers, who take extreme measures to be rid of them
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/living/groundhog-day-punxsutawney-phil-feat/


----------



## poochee

*Overnight Healthcare: House GOP fails to override veto of ObamaCare repeal*
By Sarah Ferris and Peter Sullivan - 02/02/16 06:57 PM EST

The House on Tuesday failed to override President Obama's veto of legislation that would have repealed much of ObamaCare and defunded Planned Parenthood.

The result was expected, given that an override would have required Democratic support to succeed, but Republicans praised the vote as showing what could happen next year if their party wins back the White House.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...se-fails-to-override-veto-of-obamacare-repeal


----------



## poochee

*Caucusing for Clinton at 102 years old *
By Chris Moody, video by Jeremy Moorhead and Alex Lee
Updated 8:05 PM ET, Tue February 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

Pleasant Hill, Iowa (CNN)A cold front and possible snowstorm was bearing down on central Iowa Monday night, but it would take more than weather to stop 102-year-old Ruline Steininger from caucusing.

Steininger, who was born seven years before women were granted the right to vote, has participated in twenty presidential elections, and has always supported Democrats. And with the possibility that Hillary Clinton could become the first woman in the White House, Steininger is making certain she does what she can to help.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/02/politics/iowa-caucus-hillary-clinton-ruline-steininger/index.html

*Hillary Clinton Just Made History*
_She won what no woman had won before in Iowa._
02/02/2016 03:25 pm ET | *Updated* 3 hours ago
Emily Peck Executive Business & Technology Editor, The Huffington Post

Hillary Clinton is the first woman ever to win the Iowa caucus, the moment when the voters finally jump into America's presidential selection process. That's not something to ignore.

Yet it seemed weirdly overlooked on Tuesday, as political observers argued over why men who came in second and third actually "won" the contest.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-history-iowa-caucus_us_56b0dcaae4b0655877f7360b


----------



## poochee

*Obama rebuts anti-Muslim rhetoric in first U.S. mosque visit*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 2:54 PM ET, Wed February 3, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

President Barack Obama has visited mosques in the past, but never inside the United States
On Wednesday, the President visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore
The move is aimed to respond to election cycle rhetoric that has attacked Muslim Americans
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/03/politics/obama-mosque-visit-muslim-rhetoric/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 3, 4:48 PM EST
*Trump calls for Iowa election do-over*
BY JILL COLVIN and BILL BARROW
Associated Press

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is accusing rival Ted Cruz of stealing the Iowa caucuses and is demanding a do-over.

"Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified," Trump tweeted Wednesday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-03-16-48-07


----------



## poochee

*Bill Cosby case: Judge says prosecution can go forward*
By Aaron Cooper, Jason Hanna and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 6:36 PM ET, Wed February 3, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Judge denies Bill Cosby's motion to dismiss case
Prosecutor Kevin Steele also allowed to stay on case
Cosby's attorneys say decision not to prosecute in 2005 precludes current charges
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/03/us/bill-cosby-andrea-constand-sex-assault-charges/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Clinton and Sanders Open up About Spirituality *
By Liz Kreutz
DERRY, NEW HAMPSHIRE - Feb 3, 2016, 11:54 PM ET

It wasn't an official debate, but it was close.

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton took the stage separately Wednesday night in a "presidential town hall" forum on CNN. Moderator Anderson Cooper and New Hampshire voters peppered them with questions ranging from the political to the personal. Each candidate got an hour to themselves, dedicating much of their time to outlining their respective visions -- but neither shied away from taking swipes at their rival backstage.

Here are the moments that stood out:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-sanders-open-spirituality/story?id=36703705


----------



## poochee

*In the Democratic Debate, Here's What to Look For*
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
FEB. 4, 2016

_Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will debate on Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern, just days after the two fought to a virtual draw in the Iowa caucuses. _

_It will be the fifth face-off between the two, but their first one-on-one contest, after former Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland dropped out of the race on Monday. _

_We asked New York Times political reporters what they would be looking for in the last Democratic debate before New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday._

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/u...heres-what-to-look-for.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 4, 11:51 AM EST
*Prayer breakfast: Obama says faith is 'great cure' for fear*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press









WASHINGTON (AP) -- Delivering his last annual sermon to Washington's elite, President Barack Obama on Thursday warned of the corrosive impact of fear in public life and urged a bipartisan group of powerbrokers to abide by their faith "even when no one is watching."

"Fear does funny things. Fear can lead us to lash out against those who are different. Or lead us to try to get some sinister other under control," Obama said at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. "Faith is the great cure for fear. Jesus is a good cure for fear."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-04-11-51-51


----------



## poochee

*Smirking drug CEO antagonizes lawmakers after pleading the Fifth*
By Sarah Ferris - 02/04/16 09:47 AM EST

*VIDEO*

Embattled drug executive Martin Shkreli antagonized lawmakers on Thursday by smirking and posing for pictures during his first appearance on Capitol Hill even as he refused to answer questions about drug prices.

Shkreli, who was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, repeatedly provoked lawmakers from both parties during his brief - and mostly silent - appearance.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/268190-martin-shkreli-pleads-fifth-in-first-appearance-on-hill


----------



## poochee

*Democratic debate: CNN's Reality Check team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 11:21 PM ET, Thu February 4, 2016 | Video Source: MSNBC

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders met in New Hampshire Thursday for the fifth Democratic debate
The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the debate and selected key statements, rating them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated
(CNN)The Democratic candidates for president gathered in New Hampshire Thursday for their fifth debate, and CNN's Reality Check team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/politics/democratic-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*GOP strategist threatens Trump with lawsuit*
_Trump claims Cheri Jacobus begged his team for a job, but she says they first reached out to her._
By Ben Schreckinger
02/04/16 04:19 PM EST

The script has been flipped on Donald Trump.

Trump and his team are well known for threatening lawsuits, but on Thursday, the celebrity mogul and his campaign manager were the ones on the receiving end of a legal threat.

Story Continued Below

https://forums.techguy.org/threads/news-from-the-web-3.1138344/page-106


----------



## poochee

*The big winner in the fiery New Hampshire debate? Democrats*
02/05/16 08:00 AM-Updated 02/05/16 01:59 PM
By Steve Benen

"The real winners were Democratic voters," Goddard wrote overnight. "Anyone who watched learned a lot. It made the Republican debates look like over-produced game shows."

I think that's both true and important. I don't doubt that Clinton's and Sanders' backers can make spirited cases why their candidate prevailed, but I hope they won't miss the forest for the trees: for two hours, Americans saw two very capable candidates engage in a deeply substantive, engrossing discussion that mattered.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-big-winner-the-fiery-new-hampshire-debate-democrats


----------



## poochee

*The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics
*
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/gallery/2016/02/the-nations-cartoonists-on-the-week-in-politics-002195#ixzz3zK3kMqpC


----------



## poochee

*Obama: New Jobs Report Inconvenient for GOP 'Doom and Despair Tour' in New Hampshire*
By BENJAMIN SIEGEL
Feb 5, 2016, 12:53 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Employers added 151,000 new jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent -- the first time the jobless rate has dipped below 5 percent since February 2008.

Speaking briefly to reporters today, Obama said the U.S. economy is the "strongest in the world" and that "Americans were working and getting bigger paychecks."

"We should feel good about the progress we've made," he said, before noting that more can be done to boost the economy.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obam...-downplays-doom-despair-gop/story?id=36741063


----------



## poochee

*Trump's unwelcome support: White supremacists*
By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, CNN Investigations
Updated 8:04 PM ET, Fri February 5, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

A group of white supremacists is giving Donald Trump some unwanted help
They are placing robocalls on behalf of the presidential candidate even though he has said he doesn't want the support
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/donald-trump-white-supremacists-new-hampshire/


----------



## poochee

February 05, 2016, 03:13 pm
*Obama huddles with key Republicans on criminal justice reform*
By Jordan Fabian

President Obama huddled with two top Republican lawmakers on Thursday in an effort to keep criminal justice reform legislation alive in Congress, the White House said Friday.

The White House powwow comes at a time when the bipartisan effort to overhaul the nation's sentencing laws faces serious hurdles on Capitol Hill.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...n/268427-obama-met-with-grassley-goodlatte-on


----------



## poochee

*What to watch for in Saturday's New Hampshire GOP debate*
02/06/16 09:44 AM-Updated 02/06/16 09:58 AM
By Benjy Sarlin

The ABC News Republican debate in New Hampshire on Saturday has the potential to be a pivotal moment in the race. With the Iowa caucus in the books, top-three finishers Sen. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio are the clear front-runners, and the remaining candidates could easily bow out of the race next week if they can't revive their campaigns in the Granite State. Here's what to expect from the final debate before the Feb. 9 primary.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-watch-saturdays-new-hampshire-gop-debate


----------



## poochee

*Michigan ISIS supporter 'tried to shoot up' 6,000-member church, FBI says*
02/06/16 12:21 PM-Updated 02/06/16 12:25 PM
By Elizabeth Chuck

Federal authorities have arrested a Michigan man they say is an ISIS supporter who wanted to carry out an attack on a 6,000-member Detroit church.

Khalil Abu-Rayyan, 21, of Dearborn Heights, allegedly had guns and a large knife and told an undercover FBI agent that he "tried to shoot up a church one day."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/michigan-isis-supporter-tried-shoot-6000-member-church-fbi-says


----------



## poochee

*Twitter suspends more than 125K accounts for promoting terrorism*
By Mario Trujillo - 02/05/16 03:22 PM EST

Twitter has suspended more than 125,000 accounts for promoting or threatening terrorism since the middle of last year, the company said in a blog post Friday.

The announcement comes at a time when Twitter and other social media companies are under intense pressure from Washington to blunt the online influence of terror organizations like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/268428-twitter-suspends-125k-accounts-for-promoting-terrorism


----------



## poochee

Feb 6, 11:57 PM EST

*AP FACT CHECK: Skewed GOP claims on taxes, health insurance*
By JOSH BOAK and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Viewers of the latest Republican presidential debate didn't get a straight story from the candidates on U.S. taxes vs. the world, the state of the health insurance marketplace under "Obamacare" or what might happen if that law is taken away.

Among other fumbles:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-06-23-57-24


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate: CNN's Reality Check Team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 12:37 AM ET, Sun February 7, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The Republican candidates for president gathered Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire, for their eighth debate, and CNN's Reality Check Team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN selected key statements and rated them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/06/politics/republican-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*In their own words: How these five candidates say the 2016 race changed them*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 2:53 PM ET, Sun February 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)When CNN's Jake Tapper sat down individually with five White House candidates for Sunday's "State of the Union," he asked each of them how the 2016 race has changed them.

Here's how they responded:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/07/politics/tapper-2016-candidates-race-change-clinton-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Poll: 4-way GOP fight for second in New Hampshire*
By Theodoric Meyer
02/07/16 12:54 PM EST

Trump commands 30 percent support from likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, the poll found. John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz were virtually tied for second place, with 14 percent support for Kasich, 13 percent each for Rubio and Bush and 12 percent for Cruz.

Other candidates were far behind. Chris Christie had 6 percent support, Carly Fiorina had 5 percent and Ben Carson had 4 percent.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/new-hampshire-donald-trump-republicans-218904#ixzz3zWLY8WgL


----------



## poochee

February 07, 2016, 02:46 pm
*Clinton: 'What happened in Flint is immoral'*
By Rebecca Savransky

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday afternoon vowed to fight for the residents and children of Flint, Mich., now in the middle of a water contamination crisis, "no matter how long it takes."

"I want you to understand that this is for me a personal commitment. I will stand with you every step of the way. I will not for one minute forget about you or forget about your children," she said Sunday at a community meeting in Flint.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...573-clinton-what-happened-in-flint-is-immoral


----------



## poochee

*Bernie Sanders On 'SNL' Is Everything We Hoped It Would Be*
*Amazing.*
02/07/2016 12:08 am ET | *Updated* 7 hours ago 
Paige LavenderSenior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

*VIDEOS*

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders made his debut on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," alongside his look-alike and host of Saturday's show, comedian Larry David.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...08069c7a79249?ir=Politics&section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

*Saudi official says kingdom ready to send troops to Syria *
*Feb. 4, 2016 3:25 PM EST
*
CAIRO (AP) - A Saudi military spokesman said Thursday the kingdom is ready to send ground troops to Syria to fight Islamic State group provided coalition leaders agree during an upcoming meeting in Brussels.

Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri told The Associated Press that Saudi Arabia has taken part in coalition airstrikes against IS since the U.S.-led campaign began in September 2014, but could now provide ground troops.

The United States is scheduled to convene a meeting of defense ministers from countries fighting IS in Brussels this month.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7012...official-says-kingdom-ready-send-troops-syria


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton on shakeup rumors: 'We're going to take stock'*
By Jeff Zeleny, Gloria Borger, Joe Johns and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 7:09 PM ET, Mon February 8, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Clinton, facing a tougher than anticipated challenge for the Democratic presidential nomination from Bernie Sanders, is preparing to take a new look at her campaign structure, she said Monday.

Several people close to the campaign, particularly in Bill Clinton's orbit and among donors, acknowledged discontent within the operation and feel the campaign was too slow to recognize and deal with the threat posed by the Vermont senator.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/politics/clinton-shakeup-rumors-take-stock/index.html


----------



## poochee

*TIME*
*Michael Bloomberg Confirms He's Looking Into White House Run*
Sarah Begley @SCBegley 
4:27 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Bloomberg told the _Financial Times_ he was "looking at all the options" in his first statement on the matter since the New York _Times_ reported last month that his team was investigating the possibility of running as an Independent. "I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters," he said, arguing that the American public deserves "a lot better."

http://time.com/4212847/bloomberg-white-house-presidential-election/?xid=homepage


----------



## poochee

*Obama unveils $4.1T election-year budget proposal*
By Sarah Ferris and Jordan Fabian - 02/09/16 11:00 AM EST

President Obama on Tuesday unveiled the last budget of his presidency, a $4.1 trillion plan that reflects his desire to set the agenda for his final months in office and beyond.

The 182-page wish list includes longtime goals such as cutting carbon pollution, universal preschool and criminal justice reform as well as billions of dollars in new investments in cybersecurity and clean energy.

It would also step up the policing of Wall Street, with $1.8 billion to double the budgets of market watchdogs in the Securities and Exchange Commission, and create new grants to entice the 19 states that haven't to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/268737-obama-unveils-41t-election-year-budget


----------



## poochee

Feb 9, 10:05 AM EST
*Gov't report: 8 states had significant drop in uninsured*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eight states saw a significant drop last year in the number of residents going without health insurance, according to a government report out Tuesday that has implications for the presidential campaign.

All but Florida had accepted a Medicaid expansion that is one of two major pathways to coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law. The law's other coverage route is subsidized private insurance, available in all 50 states.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-09-10-05-51


----------



## poochee

*In cybersecurity bid, Obama wants to retire outdated government systems*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:11 PM ET, Tue February 9, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The White House says it's working to increase the security of the federal government's computer and data systems after high-profile hacks at various agencies, including a recent breach at the Justice Department.

President Barack Obama Tuesday signed an executive order establishing a federal privacy council to ensure all of the administration's branches are using the best, most secure practices when safeguarding individual employees' information, as well as government data.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/polit...?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial&iref=obinsite


----------



## poochee

*Top intelligence official: ISIS to attempt U.S. attacks this year*
By Ryan Browne, CNN
Updated 2:39 PM ET, Tue February 9, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Top U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday that ISIS was likely to attempt direct attacks on the U.S. in the coming year and that the group was infiltrating refugees escaping from Iraq and Syria to move across borders.

ISIS "will probably attempt to conduct additional attacks in Europe, and attempt to direct attacks on the U.S. homeland in 2016," Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/politics/james-clapper-isis-syrian-refugees/index.html


----------



## poochee

*New Hampshire primary: Trump, Sanders win; Kasich takes second*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:26 PM ET, Tue February 9, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders cruised to early victories in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich is projected to finish second in the GOP race.

Multiple Republicans, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, are now battling for a third-place finish.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/politics/new-hampshire-primary-highlights/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court blocks Obama climate change rules*
By Ariane de Vogue and Dan Berman, CNN
Updated 9:07 PM ET, Tue February 9, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The Supreme Court on Tuesday dealt President Barack Obama a blow by moving to temporarily block his administration's rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Reacting to a lawsuit from 29 states, as well as the energy industry, justices blocked the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan from going forward while the rule is challenged in court.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/politics/supreme-court-obama-epa-climate-change/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The five biggest surprises coming out of the New Hampshire primary*
02/10/16 10:26 AM-Updated 02/10/16 10:35 AM
By Adam Howard

By any standard, the results in New Hampshire have shaken up the 2016 race and raised serious questions about the direction in which both major parties are going. And the burning question remains: If Sanders and Trump emerge as their party's nominees, will former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg make good on the buzz that he will mount a third-party challenge for the White House?

As the race pivots to Nevada for the Democrats and South Carolina for the Republicans - where the demographics represent a much more diverse swath of the the American electorate than seen in Iowa or New Hampshire - here are five takeaways political watchers are focusing on today:

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/election-2016-biggest-surprises-coming-out-new-hampshire


----------



## poochee

*Chris Christie Suspends His Presidential Campaign*
He was hoping for a strong showing in New Hampshire.
02/10/2016 12:42 pm ET | *Updated* 39 minutes ago 
Paige Lavender Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chris-christie-drops-out-2016-race_us_560c3cbfe4b0768127006bc1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Carly Fiorina Suspends Her Presidential Campaign*
She was the only woman running in the GOP field.
02/10/2016 03:11 pm ET
Nick VisserReporter, The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/carly-fiorina-suspends-campaign_us_563c326ae4b0411d30708c05


----------



## poochee

*Obama returns to where it all began with speech in Springfield, Ill.*
02/10/16 06:00 PM
By Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

Returning to the place where his political career - and his first presidential campaign - began, President Obama visited the Illinois capital Wednesday, renewing his call for healing the nation's partisan discord and building a better electoral system.

Bemoaning a "poisonous political climate" that made citizens cynical and disillusioned and leaders unable to achieve great goals, Obama posed the challenge: "What can we do all of us together to try to make our politics better?"


----------



## poochee

*5 things to watch: Thursday's Democratic debate*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 4:51 PM ET, Thu February 11, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton built one of the best-organized campaigns in history -- and so far, she has one narrow win and one blowout loss to show for it.

Now that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has proven he's a serious threat to Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, the race could get even thornier Thursday night when the two meet for their next debate in Milwaukee.

Here are five things to watch:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/11/politics/democratic-debate-things-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 11, 5:37 PM EST

*Obama administration opening 2-front campaign on Syria*
By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer
Feb 11, 5:37 PM EST

*VIDEO*

MUNICH (AP) -- The Obama administration opened a two-front campaign on Syria on Thursday with a push to end one war there and step up another.

The United States, Russia and more than a dozen other nations with interests in the Syria conflict, including Iran, gathered to try to agree on a ceasefire in the civil war that might resuscitate stalled peace talks.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-11-13-18-19


----------



## poochee

*FBI Arrests Cliven Bundy*
_The Nevada rancher was charged in federal court with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer and obstruction of justice._
02/10/2016 10:29 pm ET | *Updated* 24 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was charged in federal court on Thursday with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer and obstruction of justice in connection with the 2014 standoff on federal land near his ranch.

Bundy was arrested on Wednesday night in Portland, Oregon, near the site of another standoff that previously included his sons.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oregon-standoff_us_56bbfe12e4b0c3c5505019b9


----------



## poochee

Op-Ed Columnist
*The G.O.P. Created Donald Trump*
Nicholas Kristof FEB. 11, 2016

He's less a true-believer conservative than an opportunist, though, for he has supported single-payer health insurance, abortion rights and tighter gun measures. Lindsey Graham says he's "crazy," Jeb Bush says he would be worse than President Obama, and the conservative National Review warned that he is a "menace to American conservatism."

It's Donald Trump, of course. He's smarter than critics believe - he understood the political mood better than we pundits did - but I can't think of any national politician I've met over the decades who was so ill informed on the issues, or so evasive, or who so elegantly and dangerously melded bombast and vapidity.

So how did we get to this stage where the leading Republican candidate is loathed by the Republican establishment?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/opinion/the-gop-created-donald-trump.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 11 2016, 11:20 pm ET
*World Powers Agree to Syria Ceasefire, Kerry Says*
by Phil Helsel, Abigail Williams and The Associated Press

*VIDEOS*

Major world powers have reached an agreement on a nationwide "cessation of hostilities" in Syria and diplomatic talks aimed at ending the years-long conflict there.

The deal announced in Munich in the early morning on Friday, local time, follows marathon talks with Russia and more than a dozen other countries. It also calls for the swift expansion of humanitarian aid and the resumption of peace talks in Geneva as soon as possible.

The ceasefire does not apply to military force against terror groups like ISIS or al-Nusra Front. The U.S. and Russia are among the countries conducting air campaigns against ISIS in Syria.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sy...wers-agree-syria-ceasefire-kerry-says-n517006


----------



## poochee

*The 8 most important moments of the Democratic debate *
By Kyle Cheney
February 11, 2016
Updated February 11, 2016

*VIDEO*

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton met on a Democratic debate stage in Wisconsin on completely different trajectories. Sanders, two days removed from a dominant win in the New Hampshire primary, has been oozing confidence and raking in donations. Clinton, on the other hand, is presiding over a sprawling but shaken campaign operation searching for a rebound in Nevada or South Carolina.

The debate is a chance for Clinton to try and reclaim momentum. For Sanders, the aim is to make inroads with minority voters who have so far strongly preferred Clinton and could make the difference in the next two contests. Here are the most significant moments from tonight's debate:

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/democratic-debate-2016-top-moments-219169#ixzz3zvZhsIit


----------



## poochee

Feb 12, 1:37 PM EST

*House sends NKorea sanctions bill to president for signature*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

The Obama administration said it wouldn't oppose the bill, but officials declined to say whether or when President Barack Obama would sign it. The sanctions from Congress come at the same time that the U.S. and China are in delicate negotiations over a U.N. Security Council resolution on new sanctions, with China raising concerns about measures that could devastate North Korea's economy.

The expanded sanctions are intended to deny North Korea the money it needs for the development of miniaturized nuclear warheads and the long-range missiles required to deliver them.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-12-13-16-41


----------



## poochee

*Volcanic spires and Joshua trees: Obama protects 1.8 million acres in California's desert*
Louis SahagunContact Reporter

*PHOTOS*

President Obama designated three new national monuments in the California desert Thursday, expanding federal protection to 1.8 million acres of landscapes that have retained their natural beauty despite decades of heavy mining, cattle ranching and off-roading.

The designation was requested by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who for a decade has sought to protect land that wasn't included in the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. That measure covered nearly 7.6 million acres, elevated Death Valley and Joshua Tree to national park status and created the Mojave National Preserve.

http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-monuments-20160212-story.html


----------



## poochee

*U.S. to restore commercial flights to Cuba*
By Rene Marsh, CNN
Updated 3:37 PM ET, Fri February 12, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

U.S. carriers will have 15 days to submit applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation for routes they'd like to fly between the U.S and Cuba.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and staff from the U.S. Department of State will fly from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., to Cuba 
"You know it's usually significant when the President made this announcement of re-establishing diplomatic relations more than a year ago," Foxx told CNN. "It really means a great deal to the people of both countries. Leaving aside the political differences, there's so many cultural connections between the two countries, in some cases family connections, the ability to have educational exchanges and things that happen as a result of resumption of this service, is really, really significant."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/12/politics/u-s-to-restore-commercial-flights-to-cuba/index.html


----------



## poochee

February 13, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: The State of American Politics *

*VIDEO*

SPRINGFIELD, IL - In this week's address, the President spoke from the place where his political career first began in the Illinois State Senate. Building on his State of the Union, the President discussed his time in the State Senate working in good faith across party lines with Democrats, Republicans and Independents to effectively govern as an example of proof that a better politics doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. The President also built on his call to make it easier to vote, as well as the need to address the way we draw our congressional districts. Nine years after Barack Obama chose the steps of the Old State Capitol - where Abraham Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together - he returned to ask Americans to join him in the unfinished business of perfecting our union. Because in the final year of his Presidency, it's clear that he's followed through and that, together, we've made real progress building a better future for the next generation.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate: 5 things to watch*
By MJ Lee, CNN Politics Reporter
Updated 9:09 AM ET, Sat February 13, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are fighting for the outsider vote
Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Marco Rubio are vying for the establishment lane
The GOP debate is Saturday night; the South Carolina primary is February 20
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/13/politics/republican-debate-things-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's potty mouth meets mannerly South Caroli*
_There are signs the X-rated language, which he's now forsworn, isn't playing well._
By Burgess Everett and Rachael Bade
02/12/16 04:50 PM EST

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Donald Trump's potty mouth could be a problem here.

The real estate mogul has risen to political prominence with a blunt speaking style that's set him apart from the field - to put it mildly - and that many of his fans find deeply refreshing. But there are signs Trump's foul mouth isn't sitting as well in this conservative, deeply religious state, which, according to one (albeit unscientific) study a few years back, has been ranked the nation's most polite.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/donald-trump-south-carolina-2016-swearing-219204#ixzz404gkZsPP


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dies at 79*
*By Robert Barnes February 13 at 5:33 PM
*
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the intellectual cornerstone of the court's modern conservative wing, whose elegant and acidic opinions inspired a movement of legal thinkers and ignited liberal critics, died Feb. 13 on a ranch near San Antonio. He was 79.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...fe8184-a62f-11e3-a5fa-55f0c77bf39c_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Scalia's death plunges court, national politics into turmoil*
By Robert Barnes February 13 at 7:08 PM

"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president," McConnell said.

But the battle lines were immediately apparent. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid followed McConnell's statement with one of his own:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Feb 13, 9:08 PM EST
*Obama to nominate Scalia successor 'in due time'*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and DONNA CASSATA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama declared Saturday night he would seek to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, charging into a heated and likely prolonged election-year fight with Republicans in Congress. Obama said a nomination was "bigger than any one party."

With a half-dozen or more major cases before the court, Obama said he pIanned "to fulfill my constitutional responsibility to nominate a successor in due time."

The Senate should have "plenty of time ... to give that person a fair hearing and timely vote," he said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-13-21-08-49


----------



## poochee

Feb 13, 11:25 PM EST

*Debate Takeaways: Civil court discussion gives way to brawl*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Saturday's Republican presidential debate was the perfect spot for GOP candidates to try and project legal gravitas after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

That was a fairly civil discussion.

Then came the brawls:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-13-23-25-23


----------



## poochee

*President Obama visits Ellen DeGeneres, recites love poem for first lady*
02/12/16 12:56 PM-Updated 02/12/16 01:08 PM
By Eun Kyung Kim

*VIDEO*

The Obamas will spend Valentine's Day apart this year, with the president staying the weekend in California to prepare for a meeting Monday of Southeast Asian leaders. So with the help of DeGeneres, he recorded a virtual valentine in an area of the stage that featured a red velvet backdrop and rose petals strewn across the floor.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-recites-love-poem-wife-national-television


----------



## poochee

Feb 14, 1:25 PM EST

*AP FACT CHECK: Trump on Iraq war*
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press








WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump delivered a ferocious putdown of George W. Bush from the debate stage, central to his effort to convince voters that they don't want another Bush deciding when to take the country to war. But were his key facts right?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-14-13-25-57


----------



## poochee

Feb 15, 4:41 AM EST
*Things to know about Obama's summit with SE Asian leaders*
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama hosts Southeast Asian leaders at an unprecedented summit in California starting Monday as he looks to deepen ties with the region's fast-growing economies. But a nation not invited - neighboring power China - will be the proverbial elephant in the room as the leaders grapple with sensitive territorial disputes.

As part of Obama's so-called pivot in U.S. foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific, he has made a point of traveling to the region each fall to meet with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-13-03-07-11


----------



## poochee

*SCOTUS analyst: Loretta Lynch 'most likely candidate' to replace Scalia*
02/15/16 12:36 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

A leading Supreme Court analyst thinks Attorney General Loretta Lynch is the "most likely candidate" to replace the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Tom Goldstein, who runs the influential SCOTUSblog, had earlier predicted Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford would make the top of President Obama's short list. But in a revised blog post, Goldstein said he now believes Lynch is the leading contender.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/scotus-analyst-loretta-lynch-most-likely-candidate-replace-scalia


----------



## poochee

*Inside Obama's process for replacing Antonin Scalia*
By Evan Perez, Kevin Liptak, Manu Raju and Ariane de Vogue, CNN
Updated 9:40 PM ET, Mon February 15, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The White House has a small list of potential nominees because they were previously finalists for the Supreme Court or top administration posts
Most planning at the White House was for replacing a liberal justice, not a conservative like Antonin Scalia
Options for Obama include picking a 'sacrificial lamb' meant to galvanize Democrats
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/15/politics/obama-scalia-replacement-options/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Republicans stand down for FBI investigation of Clinton server
By Cory Bennett and Julian Hattem - 02/15/16 02:30 PM EST*

Republicans are refusing to use the Benghazi playbook to go after Hillary Clinton's private email server.

Instead of launching formal investigations or propping up a new special committee to investigate the emails - as they did with the 2012 Libya terror attack - House Republicans have gone out of their way to avoid formal inquiries into allegations that classified information was mishandled on Clinton's personal machine.

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecu...-down-for-fbi-investigation-of-clinton-server


----------



## poochee

*Battle over Scalia's replacement already spilling into Senate races
By Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin February 15 at 8:34 PM

VIDEO
*
Conservative and liberal advocacy groups are gearing up for a ferocious political brawl over President Obama's pick to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the weekend death of Justice Antonin Scalia, and already the battle is spilling from the presidential campaign into some of the nation's most hotly contested Senate races.

White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz repeated Monday that the president intends to "fulfill his constitutional responsibility" by nominating a new justice and predicted that Senate Republicans, despite their current loud opposition, will ultimately hold a confirmation hearing and vote for the nominee.

"This is not the first time the Republicans have come out with a lot of bluster only to have reality sink in," Schultz said. "We need a fully staffed Supreme Court."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...6c9972-d414-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama to sign Paris climate pact despite SCOTUS stay*
By Timothy Cama - 02/16/16 11:56 AM EST

The Obama administration will officially sign last year's international climate change pact despite its central policy being put on ice by the Supreme Court.

Todd Stern, the State Department's top climate diplomat and negotiator for last year's agreement in Paris, said Tuesday that the Supreme Court's order to delay the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Power Plan - called a "stay" in legal terminology- doesn't change the administration's plans.
*
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/269528-obama-to-sign-paris-climate-pact

*


----------



## poochee

*Obama on SCOTUS pick: 'The Constitution is pretty clear'*
02/16/16 05:31 PM-Updated 02/16/16 07:00 PM
By Phil Helsel

*VIDEO*

Many Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said the next president should nominate Scalia's successor, and some have vowed to block hearings for any Obama nominee.

But "the Constitution is pretty clear about what is supposed to happen now," Obama said Tuesday at a press conference following the U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Rancho Mirage, California. "When there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the president of the United States is to nominate someone, the Senate is to consider that nomination, and either they disapprove of the nominee or that nominee is elevated to the Supreme Court."

"Historically, this has not been viewed as a question," Obama said.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-scotus-pick-the-constitution-pretty-clear


----------



## poochee

*Kentucky lawmaker responds to anti-choice law with bill restricting access to Viagra*
02/16/16 03:32 PM-Updated 02/16/16 03:35 PM
By Emma Margolin

When her colleagues in the Kentucky legislature decided to pass legislation requiring women to see a doctor 24 hours before having an abortion, Democratic state Rep. Mary Lou Marzian decided to give the bill's male supporters a taste of their own medicine. So she introduced a measure she thought equally invasive from their perspective - a bill requiring men to jump through hoops before they can receive drugs for erectile dysfunction.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/kentucky-lawmaker-responds-anti-choice-law-bill-restricting-access-viagra


----------



## poochee

*Campaigns secretly prep for brokered GOP convention*

Candidates, outside groups and party officials are quietly maneuvering for a nomination fight that goes all the way to the bitter end.
By Ben Schreckinger
02/16/16 05:19 AM EST

Mysterious outside groups are asking state parties for personal data on potential delegates, Republican campaigns are drawing up plans to send loyal representatives to obscure local conventions, and party officials are dusting off rule books to brush up on a process that hasn't mattered for decades.

As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz divide up the first primaries and center-right Republicans tear one another apart in a race to be the mainstream alternative, Republicans are waging a shadow primary for control of delegates in anticipation of what one senior party official called "the white whale of politics": a contested national convention.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/brokered-republican-convention-cleveland-219306#ixzz40OnEFfVF


----------



## poochee

*Obama will pay respects to Scalia at court*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:40 PM ET, Wed February 17, 2016

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama will travel to the Supreme Court on Friday to pay his respects to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whose death last weekend has sparked a bitter political fight.

The White House said Obama and the first lady would visit the court as Scalia's body lies in repose.

The next day, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife will attend a funeral Mass for Scalia at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/obama-antonin-scalia-pay-respects/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Surprise: Trump falls behind Cruz in national NBC/WSJ poll*
02/17/16 04:59 PM-Updated 02/17/16 06:37 PM
By Mark Murray

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has fallen behind Ted Cruz in the national GOP horserace, according to a brand-new NBC News/_Wall Street Journal_ poll.

In the poll, Cruz is the first choice of 28 percent of Republican primary voters, while Trump gets 26 percent. They're followed by Marco Rubio at 17 percent, John Kasich at 11 percent, Ben Carson at 10 percent and Jeb Bush at 4 percent.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/surprise-trump-falls-behind-cruz-national-nbcwsj-poll


----------



## poochee

*Top quotes from the GOP town hall*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 11:43 PM ET, Wed February 17, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

VIDEO

_(CNN)_The six remaining Republican presidential candidates are delivering their closing arguments to South Carolina voters via a pair of CNN town hall events in Greenville and Columbia in the days before Saturday's potentially pivotal primary.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz -- in that order -- came up first, taking questions on Wednesday night at a forum hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Here are their most memorable lines.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/best-quotes-republican-town-hall-south-carolina/index.html


----------



## poochee

*GOP town hall: What to watch for*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 10:38 AM ET, Thu February 18, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Republican presidential contenders are set for one last nationally televised chance to make their cases before Saturday's crucial South Carolina primary.

The pair of town halls, which start at 8 p.m. on both Wednesday and Thursday nights, will be moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper. The first night features Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and the second night's lineup is Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Donald Trump.

Here are five things to watch:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/republican-town-hall-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 18, 1:05 PM EST

*Pope on Trump: Anyone who wants border walls isn't Christian*
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

*Here is the full question and answer aboard the papal plane:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-18-13-05-40


----------



## poochee

*The Obamas to make historic trip to Cuba, Argentina next month*
By Juliet Eilperin and Karen DeYoung February 18 at 12:40 PM

President Obama and the first lady will make a historic trip to Cuba next month, the White House announced Thursday, before stopping off in Argentina to meet with its recently elected president.

The president and Michelle Obama will journey to the island nation on March 21 and 22, according to a statement from White House press secretary Josh Earnest, and will then stay in Argentina for two additional days. The move will mark the first visit to Cuba by a sitting U.S. president in the 88 years since a trip by President Calvin Coolidge. In a statement, Earnest described Obama's visit as one aimed at helping foster democratization and economic liberalization in Cuba, as well as hailing the recent progress made by Argentina.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...e-historic-trip-to-cuba-argentina-next-month/


----------



## poochee

Feb 18, 12:53 PM EST
*Obama meeting with civil rights leaders at the White House*









WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama meets with civil rights leaders on Thursday afternoon to discuss issues such as criminal justice and building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-18-12-53-04


----------



## poochee

Feb 18, 4:16 PM EST
*Obama OKs new sanctions against NKorea over nuclear program*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama slapped North Korea with more stringent sanctions Thursday for defying the world and pushing forward with its nuclear weapons program, weeks after it launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space and conducted its fourth underground nuclear test.

Both actions led to worldwide condemnation of the reclusive country and fueled fears that it continues to move toward building an atomic arsenal.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-18-16-16-20


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Lizard Brain*
Joe Klein @JoeKleinTIME 
10:00 AM ET

First of all, the lizard brain is an actual part of our brain, the amygdala-the most primitive part of the brain, governing fight or flight impulses, sexual impulses and our involuntary nervous system (breathing, heart beat, etc.)

We all have a lizard brain, including me and Joe Scarborough. But we also have a frontal cortex, which is the site of thinking and reason. I would argue that Trump's appeal is not to reason, but to more primordial impulses-like fear (especially when it comes to fighting or fleeing).

http://time.com/4228885/donald-trump-lizard-brain/?xid=homepage


----------



## poochee

*Republican Town Hall: CNN's Reality Check Team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 10:54 PM ET, Thu February 18, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump gathered in South Carolina for CNN's Republican Town Hall on Thursday, and CNN's Reality Check team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the event and selected key statements, rating them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/18/politics/republican-town-hall-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Republican Town Hall: CNN's Reality Check Team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 6:34 AM ET, Fri February 19, 2016

Part 2 of CNN's GOP town hall in 90 seconds 01:29

VIDEO

Washington (CNN)John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump gathered in South Carolina for CNN's Republican Town Hall on Thursday, and CNN's Reality Check team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the event and selected key statements, rating them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/18/politics/republican-town-hall-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Antonin Scalia lies in repose at Supreme Court *
By Ariane de Vogue, Tom LoBianco and Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:50 PM ET, Fri February 19, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The body of late Justice Antonin Scalia is lying in repose Friday morning inside the Supreme Court building where he built a legacy as as a conservative legal icon.

Hundreds of mourners -- including members of Congress -- began streaming by to view Scalia's casket as the court opened its doors to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/19/politics/supreme-court-antonin-scalia-memorial/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 19, 11:13 AM EST
*Pentagon: US warplanes strike IS training camp in Libya*
By ROBERT BURNS and MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press








WASHINGTON (AP) -- American warplanes struck an Islamic State training camp in Libya near the Tunisian border Friday, and a Tunisian described as a key extremist operative probably was killed, the Pentagon announced. In Libya, local officials estimated that more than 40 people were killed with more wounded, some critically.

The strike did not appear to mark the start of a sustained U.S. air campaign against the extremist group in Libya, where it has made inroads even as it faces pressure from U.S.-led coalition bombing in Syria and Iraq. The Obama administration has said it would support international military support for counter-IS efforts in Libya once the country assembles a unity government, but it also has vowed to strike key targets when opportunities arise.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-19-11-13-53


----------



## poochee

Cartoon Carousel 
*The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics*
By POLITICO Staff
02/19/16 06:51 AM EST

Read more: http://www.politico.com/gallery/2016/02/the-nations-cartoonists-on-the-week-in-politics-002203#ixzz40euaYkLj


----------



## poochee

*The 199 People, Places and Things Donald
Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List*
By JASMINE C. LEE and KEVIN QUEALY UPDATED February 19, 2016 Related Article

In the seven months since declaring his candidacy for president, Donald Trump has used Twitter to lob insults at presidential candidates, journalists, news organizations, nations, a Neil Young song and even a lectern in the Oval Office. We know this because we've read, tagged and quoted them all. Below, a directory of sorts, with links to the original tweets. Insults within the last two weeks are highlighted.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-trump-twitter-insults.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

February 20, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: A New Chapter with Cuba*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed his upcoming trip to Cuba, a visit that will further advance the progress we've made since he announced the new chapter of U.S. - Cuba relations more than a year ago. This will be the first visit of a U.S. President to Cuba in nearly 90 years. President Obama believes the best way to promote American interests and values, and help improve the lives of the Cuban people, is through engagement. During his trip, the President will meet with President Raul Castro to discuss the progress we've made in the ongoing process of normalizing relations, and reaffirm our support of universal values like freedom of speech, assembly, and religion. The President will also meet with members of civil society and Cuban entrepreneurs, and speak directly to the Cuban people about our shared beliefs and continued support as they build the future they want. The President acknowledges the serious differences we have with the Cuban government, and although the transformation of this new relationship will take time, the President noted that his visit to Cuba will advance the goals that guide us - promoting American interests and values, and assisting efforts to build a future of more freedom and more opportunity for the Cuban people.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Feb 20, 7:15 PM EST

*Clinton edges out Sanders to win Nevada caucuses*
By LISA LERER and KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Hillary Clinton seized the momentum in the fierce fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, turning back a challenge from Bernie Sanders in Nevada's caucuses on Saturday and pushing toward even friendlier primaries in the South.

"The future that we want is within our grasp," the former secretary of state, first lady and senator told cheering supporters after her Nevada win.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-20-18-22-49


----------



## poochee

*Antonin Scalia's funeral reflects the justice's life of faith*
By Robert Barnes February 20 at 6:25 PM

Justice Antonin Scalia was prayerfully offered up by his son Paul and the nation's political and legal elite Saturday in an ageless funeral Mass that set aside Washington's usual lessons of power and celebrated devout Christian faith.

Vice President Biden, all of the living Supreme Court justices with whom Scalia served save one, congressional leaders and members of the legal establishment were among the thousands who attended a ceremony that Scalia himself might have designed in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The occasion put aside - momentarily - the partisan battle over the court that Scalia's death has occasioned and was remarkably free of the encomiums that usually mark the send-offs of Washington's political class.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...12290c-d778-11e5-b195-2e29a4e13425_story.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 20, 10:48 PM EST

*Trump wins South Carolina; Jeb Bush ends White House bid*
By JILL COLVIN and THOMAS BEAUMONT
Associated Press


AP Photo/Paul Sancya









SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) -- Donald Trump tightened his grip on the mantle of Republican presidential front-runner on Saturday as South Carolina voters seething about Washington and career politicians propelled the billionaire businessman to a comfortable primary win.

One of Trump's favorite targets, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, finally threw in the towel, suspending his campaign after a dismal finish. "Thank you for the opportunity to run for the greatest office on the face of the earth," an emotional Bush told his supporters.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-20-22-48-04


----------



## poochee

*5 takeaways from the CNN Republican town hall*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:32 PM ET, Fri February 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

Part 2 of CNN's GOP town hall in 90 seconds

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/19/politics/republican-town-hall-recap/index.html


----------



## poochee

*McConnell faces Supreme Court test like no other*
_Democrats charge the Kentucky Republican with hypocrisy and obstruction on a mega-scale._
By John Bresnahan
02/21/16 04:19 PM EST

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been been involved in Supreme Court nomination fights going back to when Richard Nixon was still in the White House.

But the 74-year-old Kentucky Republican now faces a nomination struggle unlike any he has taken part in before, and the stakes couldn't be higher - for him, the Senate, the White House and the Supreme Court. McConnell is trying to prevent a sitting president with 334 days left in office from naming a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, an unprecedented assertion of authority by the Senate and one that could alter the balance of power between the White House and Capitol Hill.

McConnell also wants to leave a Supreme Court seat vacant for at least a year - potentially as long as 15 months or more - an extraordinary move that would leave the panel with only eight justices for the longest period since the Nixon era.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/mcconnell-faces-supreme-court-test-like-no-other-219530#ixzz40rdqJ8Je


----------



## poochee

Feb 22, 1:20 PM EST
*New US-Russia plan sets Syria cease-fire for Saturday*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press








WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States and Russia agreed Monday on a new cease-fire for Syria that will take effect Saturday. However, major questions over enforcing and responding to violations of the truce were left unresolved, and where in Syria the fighting must stop and where counterterrorism operations can continue also must still be addressed.

The new timeline for the hoped-for breakthrough comes after the two former Cold War foes, which back opposing sides in Syria's civil war, agreed on terms for the "cessation of hostilities" between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and armed opposition groups. Those sides must accept the deal by Friday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-22-13-20-46


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Economy Still on the Rise, White House Report Finds*
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISFEB. 22, 2016

WASHINGTON - The United States economy continued a strong rebound last year, with unemployment falling by half since the depths of the 2008 recession, growing wages and consumer confidence at its highest point in a dozen years, the White House said on Monday. But a slowdown overseas and persistent income inequality at home threaten to sap some of those gains in the years to come.

The release of the Economic Report of the President was President Obama's latest opportunity to claim credit for dragging the United States economy out of the recession and initiating a better-than-expected revival, a direct retort to the dire diagnoses of Republican presidential candidates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/u...ite-house-report-finds.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama to unveil Guantanamo Bay closure plan *
By Kevin Liptak, Elise Labott, Ryan Browne and Barbara Starr, CNN
Updated 6:35 PM ET, Mon February 22, 2016

*PHOTOS*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama said he would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as one of his first acts in office. Seven years later, stymied by a hostile Congress and skepticism in his own party, he'll present a plan on how he'd go about it during his remaining days as president.

The White House will submit the plan to Congress Tuesday outlining the administration's strategy for closing the detention facility for enemy combatants. Disclosure of the plan, mandated by Congress, is bound to meet stiff resistance from Republicans.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/22/politics/guantanamo-bay-closure-plan-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

*What's next in the upcoming fight over shape of Supreme Court?*
02/22/16 03:59 PM
By Luke Russert

*VIDEO*

Consider today the opening salvo in what will be the defining congressional issue of 2016 - the fight over President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court to replace Antonin Scalia.

Democrats are saying that it's imperative an Obama nominee be seated on the Supreme Court. They claim that, since there are over 300 days left in the Obama administration, the court should not be vacated for such a long time. They say that anything less is GOP obstruction.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/whats-next-the-upcoming-fight-over-shape-supreme-court


----------



## poochee

*Inside the Pentagon Plan for Closing Guantanamo Detention Center*
By Luis Martinez 
Feb 23, 2016, 10:57 AM ET

*VIDEO*

The Obama Administration's plan for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, which he presented to Congress today, anticipates that between 30 and 60 detainees could be transferred to a detention facility in the United States later this year. But moving those detainees from Cuba is not allowed under existing law and it is unclear how receptive Congress will be to changing the law in a presidential election year.

The plan laid out by the administration provides four main elements that are consistent with President Obama's goals of closing the facility at Guantanamo that houses 91 detainees.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/insi...guantanamo-detention-center/story?id=37134210


----------



## poochee

Feb 23, 2:27 PM EST

*GOP Senators: No hearing, no vote for Obama Court pick*
By ANDREW TAYLOR and MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

Top Judiciary Committee Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said the GOP's promised obstruction was unprecedented.

"During my time on the committee, we have never refused to send a Supreme Court nominee to the full Senate for a confirmation vote, even when the majority of the committee opposed the nomination," Leahy said. "And once reported to the full Senate, every Supreme Court nominee has received an up or down confirmation vote during my more than four decades in the Senate."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-23-14-27-51


----------



## poochee

*4 Takeaways From the GOP Nevada Caucuses*
By JULIA JACOBO
Feb 24, 2016, 12:42 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's triumph in Tuesday's Nevada caucuses solidified his status as the front-runner for the Republican party. The results will also likely shed light on how the rest of the election contests will roll out.

Here are the four biggest takeaways from the Nevada caucuses:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/takeaways-gop-nevada-caucuses/story?id=37160268


----------



## poochee

*Senate reaches deal on $250M Flint aid package*
By Timothy Cama - 02/24/16 01:06 PM EST

The $250 million agreement, which the Senate is expected to vote on as soon as next week, would provide aid to Flint and other parts of the country with contaminated drinking water.

But it would not provide any help that is specific to Flint, where a citywide lead contamination drew national attention and put scrutiny on state and federal officials. Instead, the measure focuses on fixing drinking water contamination across the nation.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/270606-senate-to-vote-on-flint-aid-package


----------



## poochee

News
Feb 24 2016, 1:46 pm ET
*Colin Powell Says Closing Guantanamo Bay in America's 'Best Interest'*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is siding with President Barack Obama when it comes to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center, arguing Wednesday that shutting it down is in the "best interest" of the nation.

"Do we really need to keep this place open for 50 remaining detainees who we can easily move to a secure facility in the United States?" Powell asked on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...uantanamo-bay-america-s-best-interest-n525041


----------



## poochee

*How Obama, Dems plan to win fight on high court*
By Alexander Bolton and Jordan Fabian
02/25/16 06:00 AM EST

Their strategy is to portray the Senate Republican majority as obstructionist on every level, and Democrats are certain they have the advantage.

"This is not a judge fight; it's so much more. It's about Obama being denied the common courtesy given to every president before," said a senior Democratic aide. "The options are unlimited. We just have to not screw it up."

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/270687-how-obama-dems-plan-to-win-fight-on-high-court


----------



## poochee

Feb 25, 1:40 PM EST
*NIH taking first steps on huge precision medicine project*
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama held out the promise of medical breakthroughs Thursday as his administration moved ahead with a major project to learn how to better tailor treatments and preventive care to people's genes, environment and lifestyle.

"This is an extraordinarily exciting time," Obama told a White House summit to highlight progress on his Precision Medicine Initiative. "We may be able to accelerate the process of discovering cures in ways that we've never seen before."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-25-13-40-18


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate: 5 things to watch*
By MJ Lee, CNN Politics Reporter
Updated 1:54 PM ET, Thu February 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump has won the last 3 states in a row. Will he go for the kill?
Can Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz stop fighting each other long enough to hit Trump?
Here are five things to watch at Thursday's debate:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/politics/republican-debate-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 25, 6:25 PM EST
*Obama bans US imports of slave-produced goods*
By MARTHA MENDOZA
Associated Press

The Tariff Act of 1930, which gave Customs and Border Protection the authority to seize shipments where forced labor was suspected and block further imports, was last used in 2000, and has been used only 39 times all together largely because of two words: "consumptive demand" - if there was not sufficient supply to meet domestic demand, imports were allowed regardless of how they were produced.

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act signed by Obama on Wednesday eliminated that language, allowing stiffer enforcement. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske and agency leaders are planning a briefing Friday to explain how they'll be implementing the new law.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-25-14-11-58


----------



## poochee

*Dems call racism in Supreme Court fight*
By Mike Lillis - 02/25/16 06:00 AM EST

"I have never ever seen, in my lifetime - before I was in the Congress [or] in the Congress - a president treated as uncivilly as this president," said Rep. Bill Pascrell, a 79-year-old New Jersey Democrat.

"I think much of it has to do with his politics. Much of it [is] because they never thought he would be elected, for whatever reason, and some of it is a downright reflection of what some constituents feel about the color of his skin."

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/270684-dems-call-racism-in-supreme-court-fight


----------



## poochee

*Harry Reid makes it official, backs Hillary Clinton*
02/24/16 01:33 PM-Updated 02/24/16 05:32 PM
By Carrie Dann and Frank Thorp V

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/harry-reid-makes-it-official-backs-hillary-Clinton

--------------------------------------------------------------------

*Congressional Hispanic Caucus PAC to endorse Clinton
By Kelsey Snell February 25 at 7:38 PM
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-to-endorse-clinton/?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate: CNN's Reality Check Team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 11:51 PM ET, Thu February 25, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The Republican candidates for president gathered in Houston on Thursday for their last debate before Super Tuesday, and CNN's Reality Check Team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN selected key statements and rated them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/politics/republican-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president*
By Jose A. DelReal February 26 at 2:00 PM
*
VIDEO
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...christie-endorses-donald-trump-for-president/


----------



## poochee

*US economy showing signs of life in the new year*
By Vicki Needham - 02/26/16 12:20 PM EST

The U.S. economy is showing signs of strengthening that may allay fears about the chances of a recession.

Economic growth was better than first reported at the end of last year, and consumers picked up their spending in January, brightening the nation's otherwise wobbly performance in late
2015.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/270920-us-economy-showing-signs-of-life-in-the-new-year


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
*Why the Clinton email scandal and Petraeus leak are not really alike*
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee February 24

*VIDEO*

*The Pinocchio Test*

But there clearly are fundamental differences between the two cases that make it an illogical comparison, based on what we know of the Clinton case so far. At the most basic level, there is dispute over whether Clinton's emails contained "classified" information. An array of experts we consulted all told us that as long as the dispute exists, it will be difficult to bring the same charge of mishandling classified information to which Petraeus pleaded guilty.

We can't predict what will happen in the Clinton case - and neither can politicians or pundits. But this broad-brushed comparison lacks context, and overlooks the factual and legal differences between the two.

*Two Pinocchios*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...k-are-not-really-alike/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_fact


----------



## poochee

*Obama Visits Florida Company Helped by Stimulus Plan*
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISFEB. 26, 2016

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - President Obama on Friday visited a high-technology battery plant in Florida as proof that the hundreds of billions of dollars in federal subsidies he signed into law during his first days in office bolstered the economy, transformed the nation's energy sector and positioned the United States for a strong rebound.

Mr. Obama took a tour and spoke at the Saft America factory here, which opened in 2011 after a $95.5 million investment from the Department of Energy, part of a grant program in the president's $787 billion economic stimulus measure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/us/politics/obama-stimulus-plan.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

February 26, 2016, 05:32 pm
*Anti-Trump onslaught begins*
By Jonathan Swan

Senior-level people in conservative organizations across Washington are firing with both barrels in an attempt to stop Trump's march to the GOP presidential nomination, multiple sources tell The Hill.

One conservative nonprofit is launching a multimillion-dollar campaign of raw attack ads against the front-running candidate ahead of next week's Super Tuesday contests.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/campaign-ads/270995-anti-trump-onslaught-begins


----------



## poochee

*Your Weekly Address*

February 27, 2016 
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Degrading and Destroying ISIL*
*
VIDEO
*
WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed the global campaign to degrade and destroy ISIL. The President stated that our coalition of 66 partners continues to grow stronger and is making vital progress in the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. President Obama also noted that at home we will continue to stay vigilant. At the same time, we'll keep working to build partnerships of trust and respect with communities to help them stay strong and resilient. The President reiterated that although the fight against ISIL will remain difficult, we will prevail - and ultimately destroy ISIL.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

February 26, 2016, 12:34 pm
*DCCC chairman endorses Clinton*
By Harper Neidig

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/270921-dccc-chair-endorses-clinton


----------



## poochee

*Buffett, in Annual Letter, Rejects Candidates' Message of U.S. Decline*
By LESLIE PICKERFEB. 27, 2016

Warren E. Buffett took aim on Saturday at the "negative drumbeat" of this year's presidential campaign, saying that the view that children today would not live as well as their parents was "dead wrong."

annual letter to shareholders, the billionaire investor - who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president - wrote that "the babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/b...-message-of-us-decline.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump: Feeding the 'Monster'*
02/27/2016 09:02 am ET | *Updated* 1 hour ago
James ZogbyPresident, Arab American Institute; author, 'Arab Voices

Donald Trump's candidacy is American politics reduced to the absurd. It is theater in its most stripped down form--a show where the content is not as important as the event and the raw emotion it evokes.

From the earliest days of his candidacy, pundits have failed to understand Trump. His appeal is not issue-based, since, as his critics have correctly observed, he has taken wildly contradictory positions on most core Republican concerns--abortion, immigration, and Obamacare, to name a few. Trying, as some attempted, to find the hidden logic in his bizarre mish-mash of words is, at best, a fool's errand.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/trump-feeding-the-monster_b_9333212.html


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton: 'Tomorrow, this campaign goes national'*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 9:40 PM ET, Sat February 27, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton has won the South Carolina Democratic primary by a massive margin, proving the strength of her diverse Southern firewall and restoring her position as the undisputed front-runner in her party's race for the White House heading into Super Tuesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/27/politics/south-carolina-primary-highlights/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Clinton takes on Trump: 'America never stopped being great'*
By Nick Gass
02/27/16 08:06 PM EST

Less than an hour after her commanding win in South Carolina, Hillary Clinton took the stage and declared the presidential race is going national. And that meant going directly after Donald Trump.

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers," Clinton said.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-...02/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-slogan-219908

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/02/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-slogan-219908#ixzz41UYrXKQG


----------



## poochee

*Obama launches 'take your child to the lab' week*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

It's part of Obama's effort to encourage young people, especially girls and minorities, to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

More than 50 national labs in 20 states are opening their doors this coming week to approximately 5,000 elementary, middle and high school students to help spark interest by exposing them to the scientists, engineers and lab employees who carry out important work and research at facilities in their communities.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-28-09-26-16


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump stumbles on David Duke, KKK*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 2:16 PM ET, Sun February 28, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump deflected questions about disavowing David Duke, saying 'I just don't know anything about him'
Duke and other white supremacists are largely backing Trump's GOP presidential bid
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/28/politics/donald-trump-white-supremacists/index.html


----------



## poochee

*First on CNN: Rubio prepares for contested convention*
By MJ Lee, CNN Politics Reporter
Updated 12:34 PM ET, Fri February 26, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Marco Rubio's campaign is preparing for a contested Republican Convention as one option to take the GOP nomination away from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz
He outlined the plans to a closed-door meeting of GOP donors in New York
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/politics/rubio-republican-convention/?iref=obinsite


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is remarkably dangerous to the Republican Party. Here's why.*
By Chris Cillizza February 28 at 11:21 AM

*VIDEO*

As it's become more and more clear that Donald Trump is the odds-on favorite to be the Republican presidential nominee, there's been considerable speculation about what he could mean for the broader GOP, particularly as the party tries to hold its Senate majority and consolidate its House margins in the 2016 election.

The answer: Nothing good - and perhaps something very bad.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...remarkably-dangerous-to-the-republican-party/


----------



## poochee

Feb 29, 1:30 PM EST
*Navy SEAL receives Medal of Honor at White House ceremony*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press


AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama shined a spotlight on a "special breed of warrior" as he awarded the nation's highest military honor Monday to a Navy SEAL who participated in a daring 2012 raid that rescued an American hostage in Afghanistan.

Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Byers Jr. is the first living, active duty member of the Navy to receive the Medal of Honor in four decades.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-29-13-30-39


----------



## poochee

Feb 29, 12:32 PM EST
*Justice Thomas poses questions, stuns Supreme Court crowd*
By SAM HANANEL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Justice Clarence Thomas broke 10 years of silence and provoked audible gasps at the Supreme Court on Monday when he posed questions from the bench during an oral argument.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-29-12-32-33


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's history of talking about David Duke and white* *supremacists*
02/29/16 12:50 PM-Updated 02/29/16 12:59 PM
By Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*

On Sunday, Donald Trump dodged repeated questions about the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, who endorsed him last week. Today, Trump's blaming an earpiece and insisting he still doesn't know much about the country's most infamous white supremacist.

Amid a presidential bid marked by the candidate's racially charged statements about blacks and Latinos - not to mention Trump's promise to ban Muslims from entering the country - his refusal to condemn Duke has sparked outrage and condemnation. And despite Trump's assertion that he doesn't know anything about white supremacists and Duke, he's been asked again and again about Duke and other white supremacists for months. Further, he's been talking about Duke for years.

Here's a look at everything he's said about the Klan, David Duke and those who find inspiration in messages of white supremacy.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trumps-history-talking-about-david-duke-and-white-supremacists


----------



## poochee

*The Republican Party's implosion over Donald Trump's candidacy has arrived*
By Philip Rucker and Robert Costa February 28 at 10:47 PM

MADISON, Ala. - The implosion over Donald Trump's candidacy that Republicans had hoped to avoid arrived so virulently this weekend that many party leaders vowed never to back the billionaire and openly questioned whether the GOP could come together this election year.

At a moment when Republicans had hoped to begin taking on Hillary Clinton - who is seemingly on her way to wrapping up the Democratic nomination - the GOP has instead become consumed by a crisis over its identity and core values that is almost certain to last through the July party convention, if not the rest of the year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...b16010-de3a-11e5-8d98-4b3d9215ade1_story.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 1 2016, 5:56 am ET
*State Department Releases Final Batch of Hillary Clinton's Emails*
by The Associated Press

*VIDEOS*

WASHINGTON - The State Department on Monday released the 14th and final batch of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private server, bringing the total to more than 52,000 including 2,100 that were censored or withheld completely for containing information now deemed classified.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/hil...clinton-s-emails-n528661?cid=eml_pol_20160301


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Super Tuesday: What to Watch For*
By JONATHAN MARTIN and NATE COHNMARCH 1, 2016

*SLIDE SHOW*

_Voters in 12 states go to the polls on Tuesday as __Donald J. Trump__ and __Hillary Clinton__, who have had the most success in the early nominating contests, look to extend their delegate leads over their nearest rivals. Here are some of the things we will be watching.
_
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/us/politics/super-tuesday.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama meets with McConnell, others on Supreme Court nomination*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:54 PM ET, Tue March 1, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama confronted Republican Senate leaders in the Oval Office Tuesday over their insistence that no Supreme Court nominee will be given consideration in the coming year.

But less than an hour after the session's start, there was little evidence of progress toward reconciling the deeply entrenched positions on the vacancy.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/obama-mitch-mcconnell-supreme-court-nomination/index.html


----------



## poochee

Post Politics
*Jerry Falwell Jr.'s Trump endorsement draws objections from his late father's confidant*
By Philip Rucker March 1 at 2:02 PM

*VIDEO*

Mark DeMoss, who for many years served as chief of staff to Falwell Sr. and considered the televangelist a second father, said in an interview that it was a mistake for Falwell Jr. to endorse Trump. He said the Republican front-runner's insult-laden campaign has been a flagrant rejection of the values Falwell Sr. espoused and Liberty promotes on its campus.

"Donald Trump is the only candidate who has dealt almost exclusively in the politics of personal insult," DeMoss said. "The bullying tactics of personal insult have no defense - and certainly not for anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ. That's what's disturbing to so many people. It's not Christ-like behavior that Liberty has spent 40 years promoting with its students."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ns-from-his-late-fathers-confidant/?tid=sm_tw


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
*Donald Trump's misleading claim that he's 'won most of' lawsuits over Trump University*
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee February 27

*The Pinocchio Test*
In true Trump fashion, he boasts that he "won much of" or "most of" the lawsuits against him over Trump University. But all three lawsuits are pending. Trump can claim some court rulings favorable to himself, but so can the plaintiffs.

Trump also creates a misleading characterization of the plaintiffs filing the lawsuit against him, saying they signed an evaluation praising the program but are suing them just to get their money back. The charges in the lawsuit originate from attendees' complaints that they were misled into paying tens of thousands of dollars for a mentoring and training program that didn't deliver what it advertised.

*Three Pinocchios*










https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-won-most-of-lawsuits-over-trump-university/


----------



## poochee

Mar 1, 10:02 PM EST

*Clinton, Trump claim big Super Tuesday victories*
By JULIE PACE and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton swept through the South on Super Tuesday - front-runners claiming victory in their parties' primaries in delegate-rich Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia. The two appeared ever more likely to end up in a general election showdown.

On the Republican side, Ted Cruz won his home state of Texas, as well as neighboring Oklahoma. Democrat Bernie Sanders picked up a home-state win as well, in Vermont, and won in Oklahoma, too.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-01-21-24-29


----------



## poochee

*First on CNN: U.S. Special Ops team captures first ISIS operative*
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
Updated 8:13 PM ET, Tue March 1, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The detainee is being interrogated by the U.S. and is expected to be turned over to Iraqi officials
The force captured the operative after spending several weeks on the ground developing intelligence
Washington (CNN)U.S. Special Operations forces have captured their first suspected ISIS operative in Northern Iraq as part of a highly secretive targeting team led by the Army's elite Delta Force, CNN has learned.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/special-ops-captures-isis-detainee-iraq/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration bans e-cigarette use on all flights*
By Lydia Wheeler - 03/02/16 12:55 PM EST

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) finalized a rule Wednesday banning electronic cigarettes on all commercial flights.

http://thehill.com/regulation/pending-regs/271495-dot-final-rule-bans-e-cig-use-on-all-flights


----------



## poochee

*6 takeaways from Super Tuesday*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 8:01 AM ET, Wed March 2, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

_(CNN)_Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton didn't win their parties' nominations on Super Tuesday -- but they both became much harder to beat.

Here are six takeaways from the biggest day in the 2016 presidential race so far:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/02/politics/super-tuesday-results-recap/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Wants You To Forget The Awful Things He Said. Don't Let Him.*
_*See, he's actually a "unifier."*_
03/02/2016 01:24 am ET | *Updated* 23 minutes ago

Nobody knows that better than Trump. It was evident on Tuesday night, when he used an unconventional primary night setting -- a press conference, rather than a rally -- to offer a preview of his intended strategy for the general election. It will include more attacks on Hillary Clinton, and a sharper focus on the supposed failures of President Barack Obama over the last eight years. But Trump will also try to reposition himself -- to disown, or at least downplay, the most outrageous and offensive statements he made during the general election.

The big question is whether the American people will let Trump get away with it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-campaign_us_56d677fbe4b03260bf789fd1


----------



## poochee

*#FreeChristie: Governor's appearance with Trump inspires hashtag*
03/02/16 08:03 AM-Updated 03/02/16 01:18 PM
By Adam Howard

*VIDEO
*
Christie, who has taken heat from many of his Republican colleagues since endorsing Trump last week, becoming the businessman's most prominent supporter in the so-called GOP establishment. He introduced Trump on Tuesday night at the opulent Mar-a-Lago Club, then proceeded to deliver what _The Washington Post_ described as a "wordless scream."

His apparently troubled, some would say "glazed" expression, led some social media users to create the hashtag #FreeChristie, which quickly began trending. With that, a new 2016 campaign meme was born:

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/freechristie-governors-awkward-appearance-trump-inspires-hashtag


----------



## poochee

Mar 2, 3:40 PM EST
*Obama praises Oregon's new landmark minimum wage law*
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon's governor on Wednesday signed trailblazing legislation that will raise the minimum wage to nearly $15 in six years and do so through a three-tiered system that has not been tried anywhere else in the country.

"I commend the Oregon Legislature and Governor Kate Brown for taking action to raise their state's minimum wage," Obama said in a statement. The president said 18 states and the District of Columbia have acted since he first called on Congress to increase the federal standard in 2013.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-02-15-40-58


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls astronaut who spent year in space* 
By Jordan Fabian - 03/02/16 05:27 PM EST

President Obama on Wednesday phoned NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who returned to Earth on Tuesday after spending a record-breaking year in space.

Obama thanked Kelly for his service and said that his mission could provide critical research about what it will take to allow astronauts to make even longer journeys in space, according to the White House.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/271555-obama-calls-astronaut-who-spent-year-in-space


----------



## poochee

Mar 2, 7:26 PM EST
*Ben Carson says 'no path forward' in his bid for White House*
By BILL BARROW
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said he is effectively ending his bid for the White House Wednesday, concluding a roller-coaster campaign that briefly took him to the top of a chaotic GOP field but ended with a Super Tuesday whimper.

"I do not see a political path forward," Carson said in a statement posted on his campaign website, though he added, "I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America" and promised to offer details of his future when he speaks Friday at a conservative conference in Washington.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-02-19-26-40


----------



## poochee

Mar 2, 5:19 PM EST
*Rattled Republicans seek a last-ditch strategy to stop Trump*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and JULIE PACE
Associated Press

Sensing a window closing fast, GOP leaders and elder statesmen toggled through a menu of scenarios but landed on none. Some amplified calls to rally around a Trump alternative, even if that alternative is Ted Cruz, a prickly conservative with few friends in the party.

Others laid out still-hazy plans for a brokered national convention, an option likely to smack of the backroom dealing Trump fans despise. Some floated more extreme measures, talking of breaking from the party and starting anew.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-02-17-19-56


----------



## poochee

Mar 3, 1:30 PM EST

*Romney says safe future 'greatly diminished' with Trump*
By STEVE PEOPLES and BRADY McCOMBS
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- In an extraordinary display of Republican division, the Republican Party's 2012 presidential ticket took on its 2016 front-runner on Thursday as Mitt Romney joined the escalating charge to stop Donald Trump.

Romney, the GOP's presidential nominee four years ago, unleashed a public plea in the strongest terms for Republican voters to shun the former reality television star for the good of country and party. And as the former GOP nominee spoke in Utah, his 2012 running mate, House Speaker Paul Ryan, charged during a Capitol Hill press conference that "conservatism is being disfigured" by some of Trump's ideas and statements.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-03-13-30-28

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Transcript: Mitt Romney's takedown of Donald Trump*
By Washington Post Staff March 3 at 12:32 PM

_On Thursday, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney __slammed Donald Trump as "a phony, a fraud."__ He spoke at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics. Here is a complete transcript of his remarks._

*VIDEO*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...script-mitt-romneys-takedown-of-donald-trump/


----------



## poochee

*Upcoming Obama biopics prove there's still an audience for his story*
03/03/16 11:54 AM
By Adam Howard

*VIDEO*

Although President Barack Obama's tenure in the White House is far from over and his legacy is still being subject to debate, two new scripted films looking back on his early life are headed to a theater near you.

The first, "Southside With You," recreates the president's first date with first lady Michelle Obama in 1989. It's received strong reviews since it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and has already been purchased for wider distribution by Roadside Attractions and Miramax. The second, which is still in the early planning stages, entitled "Barry," will focus on Obama's formative years as a college student at Columbia University in the early 1980s.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/upcoming-obama-biopics-proves-theres-still-audience-his-story


----------



## poochee

*Everything You Need to Know About Tonight's Fox News GOP Debate*
_Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier & Chris Wallace will moderate._ 

Fox News Channel will present a crucial Republican presidential debate on Thursday - live from Detroit's Fox Theater - just days before Michigan voters make their choice.

http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/03/...debate-detroit-march-3-megyn-kelly-bret-baier


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate: CNN's Reality Check Team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 11:19 PM ET, Thu March 3, 2016 | Video Source: Fox News

Washington (CNN)The Republican candidates for president gathered in Detroit on Thursday for their 11th debate, and CNN's Reality Check Team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN selected key statements and rated them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/03/politics/republican-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Chief justice rejects plea to block air pollution rule*
*By **Timothy Cama** - 03/03/16 10:35 AM EST 
*
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a plea Thursday to block a contentious air pollution rule for power plants in a big victory for the Obama administration.

Roberts's order came despite his court's 5-4 decision last year ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulation, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, is illegal.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...tice-rejects-plea-to-block-air-pollution-rule


----------



## poochee

Mar 3, 5:50 PM EST
*Military beginning to recruit women for combat jobs*
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The military services are already beginning to recruit women for combat jobs, including as Navy SEALs, and could see them serving in previously male-only Army and Marine Corps infantry units by this fall, according to new plans endorsed by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and obtained by The Associated Press.

Some of the services predict that only small numbers of women will volunteer or get through training courses, details of the plans show. The Marine Corps estimates 200 women a year will move into ground combat jobs. And U.S. Special Operations Command said it anticipates a "small number" of volunteers for its commando jobs.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WOMEN_IN_COMBAT?


----------



## poochee

Meet the Press
Mar 4 2016, 11:45 am ET
*First Read: How Trump's Rivals Undermined the 'Stop Trump' Push*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEOS*

Yesterday began with the last Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, charging that Donald Trump would hurt America's future, ridiculing Trump's knowledge of foreign policy, and criticizing his temperament. Those tough critiques continued into last night's debate, with Marco Rubio saying that Trump is unserious and with Ted Cruz pointing out Trump's past support of Democratic candidates. And then what happened at the debate's end? Trump's three remaining rivals said they would support him if he becomes the GOP nominee.

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-pre...-stop-trump-push-n531756?cid=eml_pol_20160304


----------



## poochee

*Knife reportedly found on former O.J. Simpson property is being tested by LAPD*
Richard Winton and Joseph SernaContact Reporters

*VIDEO*

In another twist in the long-running O.J. Simpson saga, Los Angeles police are investigating and testing a knife that was reportedly recovered on the Brentwood property once owned by the former football star.

The elite Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating a knife now in the possession of the Los Angeles Police Department.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...erty-being-tested-by-lapd-20160304-story.html


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
*Fact-checking the 11th GOP debate*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee March 4 at 12:03 AM

*VIDEO*

Fox News aired the 11th GOP presidential debate on March 3, a prime-time event starring the four remaining aspirants for the Republican nomination.

Not every candidate uttered statements that are easily fact checked, but the following is a list of 14 suspicious or interesting claims. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/04/fact-checking-the-11th-gop-debate/


----------



## poochee

*Ben Carson ends campaign, will lead Christian voter group*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 6:48 PM ET, Fri March 4, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Ben Carson on Friday officially ended his presidential campaign and revealed his next move: chairing a group focused on getting out the Christian vote in November.

"Even though I might be leaving the campaign trail, you know there's a lot of people who love me. They just won't vote for me," Carson told the Conservative Political Action Conference gathering in National Harbor, Maryland. "But it's OK. It's not a problem. I will still continue to be heavily involved in trying to save our nation."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/politics/ben-carson-new-role-my-faith-votes-cpac/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 5, 3:08 AM EST
*Things we learned from 50,000-plus pages of Clinton emails*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton's work-related emails from her private account are now public, more than 52,000 pages detailing her tenure as secretary of state but failing to resolve questions about how she and her closest aides handled classified information.

Several investigations continue into her exclusive use of a nongovernment email account and homebrew server while she was in government, an issue that has dogged her presidential campaign, even though she seems well-positioned to capture the Democratic nomination.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-05-03-08-12


----------



## poochee

Mar 5, 3:04 AM EST
*AP News Guide: 5 states shape 2016 race on weekend*
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's an odd moment in the 2016 campaign: Not even half the states have voted for the party nominees and no candidate has half the delegates needed to win, yet the sense is spreading that it's practically game over.

This weekend, voters in five states and one territory are taking their turn. They possess the power to make Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump closer to unstoppable or to give the conventional wisdom about one or both front-runners a shake.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-05-03-04-07


----------



## poochee

March 05, 2016
*Weekly Address: The American Spirit of Innovation*
*
VIDEO*

In this week's address, the President discussed his upcoming visit to the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, where he will participate in a conversation about civic engagement in the 21st century and how we can use technology to tackle our toughest challenges. The President noted that we've made significant progress over the past few years in using creative ideas and technology to improve the lives of Americans, recruiting some of the sharpest minds to re-imagine outdated systems and better deliver services. That's why the President is going to South by Southwest - to build on that progress and ask some of our most creative thinkers and entrepreneurs from across the country to help us continue to solve problems and update our government to the standards of the 21st century.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trump asks backers to swear their support, vows to broaden torture laws*
By Jeremy Diamond and Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 6:43 PM ET, Sat March 5, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump on Saturday led a mass rally in taking a pledge affirming their commitment to voting for him
Trump once again opened the door to ordering the torture of captured suspected terrorists, just one day after vowing that he would not order military officials to violate international laws
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/05/politics/donald-trump-florida-pledge-torture/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Ted Cruz wins CPAC straw poll*
03/05/16 05:32 PM

*VIDEO*

Ted Cruz has won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC.

Four in 10 activists at the conference, known as CPAC, picked Cruz as their preferred candidate, while Marco Rubio won 30 percent support, Donald Trump won 15 percent and John Kasich won 8 percent.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ted-cruz-wins-cpac-straw-poll


----------



## poochee

Mar 5, 9:11 AM EST

*Seeds of GOP splinter in opposition to all things Obama*
By DONNA CASSATA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans can blame their united stand against President Barack Obama for their party's splintering.

Conservatives' gut-level resistance to all things Obama - the man, his authority, his policies - gave birth to the tea party movement that powered the GOP to political success in multiple states and historic congressional majorities. Yet contained in the movement and its triumphs were the seeds of destruction, evident now in the party's fracture over presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-05-09-11-29


----------



## poochee

*Cruz, Sanders, Clinton and Trump Score Wins on 'Super Saturday'*
By JONATHAN MARTIN MARCH 5, 2016

Mr. Trump contained Mr. Cruz's advances by winning the Louisiana and Kentucky primaries. But the Texas senator's wins were sure to energize the anti-Trump forces who are desperately trying to stop Mr. Trump's march to the nomination, and they left little doubt that Mr. Cruz, who has now captured six states, is their best hope.

In Democratic contests, Hillary Clinton scored a commanding victory in Louisiana, the state with the most delegates in play on Saturday, while Senator Bernie Sanders won the Nebraska and Kansas caucuses, according to The Associated Press. The results were not likely to alter the broader contours of a race in which Mrs. Clinton maintains a significant delegate lead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/us/politics/primary-elections.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Jobs Report Shows Brisk U.S. Hiring in February*
By PATRICIA COHENMARCH 4, 2016

Four years ago, at this point in the last presidential election cycle, the jobless rate was 8.3 percent and the economic recovery was in a relatively early stage. Then, worries centered on rising gas prices, deep consumer debt and government layoffs.

Now, the recovery is in its seventh year, the unemployment rate has dropped sharply to 4.9 percent and the private sector has chalked up 72 months of uninterrupted job gains, the longest streak on record. Oil prices may still be causing ulcers, but this time it is primarily producers who are feeling the pain, because prices have plunged.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/business/economy/jobs-report-unemployment-wages.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

Mar 6, 11:18 AM EST

*Echoing Republican split, evangelicals divide over Trump*
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- The list of prominent evangelicals denouncing Donald Trump is growing, but is anyone in the flock listening? The bloc of voters powering the real estate mogul through the Republican primaries is significantly weighted with white born-again Christians.

As Trump's ascendancy forces the GOP establishment to confront how it lost touch with so many conservative voters, top evangelicals are facing their own dark night, wondering what has drawn so many Christians to a twice-divorced, profane casino magnate with a muddled record on abortion and gay marriage.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-06-11-18-20


----------



## poochee

March 06, 2016, 02:03 pm
*Obamas mourn Nancy Reagan*
By David McCabe

"Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House," they said in a statement. "She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice."

They said Reagan "redefined" the role of first lady and praised her for her advocacy for those, like her husband, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/271982-obamas-mourn-nancy-reagan


----------



## poochee

*Democratic debate: Clinton, Sanders spar over fracking, gun control, trade and jobs*
By Anne Gearan, Abby Phillip and Elahe Izadi March 6 at 10:05 PM

*VIDEO*

FLINT, Mich. - Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate here focused heavily on the lead crisis in this majority African American city, as well as differences between the candidates on issues of trade, jobs, guns and fracking.

There were also points of agreement on policy - former secretary of state Hillary Clinton joined Sen. Bernie Sanders in his previous call for Michigan's Republican governor to resign in the midst of Flint's water crisis - and few mentions of the emerging GOP field, including front-runner Donald Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...3b67b4-e17b-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Democratic debate: CNN's Reality Check Team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 11:29 AM ET, Mon March 7, 2016

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders met in Flint, Michigan, on Sunday, and CNN's Reality Check Team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test
The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN selected key statements and rated them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/06/politics/democratic-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Nancy Reagan's children pay tribute; White House flag lowered to half-staff*
President Obama ordered the American flag at the White House to be lowered to half-staff.
By Andrew V. Pestano 







| March 7, 2016 at 1:34 PM

WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- The children of Nancy Reagan -- Ron Reagan and Patti Davis -- on Monday paid tribute to their mother one day after the former first lady's death.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2016...use-flag-lowered-to-half-staff/4511457369715/


----------



## poochee

Politics | Mon Mar 7, 2016 1:44pm EST
*Foreign diplomats voicing alarm to U.S. officials about Trump*
WASHINGTON | By Mark Hosenball, Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick

Foreign diplomats are expressing alarm to U.S. government officials about what they say are inflammatory and insulting public statements by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, according to senior U.S. officials.

Officials from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia have complained in recent private conversations, mostly about the xenophobic nature of Trump's statements, said three U.S. officials, who all declined to be identified.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-foreign-idUSMTZSAPEC37O1O8W3


----------



## poochee

*This Donald Trump Rally Looks Like A Scene From Nazi Germany*
*It is getting way too scary.*
03/05/2016 06:24 pm ET | *Updated* 1 day ago

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's ascent to the top of the Republican presidential candidate heap has been increasingly likened to the rise of Adolf Hitler, as both men have used racist rhetoric and blamed select groups of minorities for many of the country's problems.

On Saturday, that comparison became even more apparent when footage surfaced of Trump at a rally in Orlando, Florida, that was eerily reminiscent of 1930s Nazi rallies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...03a405678e27a?ir=Politics&section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

*Michael Bloomberg decides against run for president*
by Dylan Byers @CNNMoney March 7, 2016: 6:50 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The former New York City mayor reached his decision, he said Monday, after concluding that a three-way race would benefit Donald Trump and therefore threaten the domestic stability and national security of the United States.

Trump's proposals "would divide us at home and compromise our moral leadership around the world," Bloomberg wrote in a column on Bloomberg View, his opinion site. "The end result would be to embolden our enemies, threaten the security of our allies, and put our own men and women in uniform at greater risk.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/07/media/michael-bloomberg-not-running/index.html


----------



## poochee

*More Latinos Seek Citizenship to Vote Against Trump*
By JULIA PRESTONMARCH 7, 2016

Over all, naturalization applications increased by 11 percent in the 2015 fiscal year over the year before, and jumped 14 percent during the six months ending in January, according to federal figures. The pace is picking up by the week, advocates say, and they estimate applications could approach one million in 2016, about 200,000 more than the average in recent years.

While naturalizations generally rise during presidential election years, Mr. Trump provided an extra boost this year. He began his campaign in June describing Mexicans as drug-traffickers and rapists. His pledge to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it has been a regular applause line. He has vowed to create a deportation force to expel the estimated 11 million immigrants here illegally, evoking mass roundups of the 1950s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/u...s-to-naturalize-to-vote-against-him.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*What to watch on Super Tuesday 2*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 7:52 AM ET, Tue March 8, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are looking to pad their delegate leads Tuesday
Michigan is the big prize; Democrats and Republicans also vote in Mississippi
Republicans vote in Hawaii and Idaho
(CNN)The two presidential front-runners are both eyeing Super Tuesday 2 as a chance to build on their momentum and pad their leads as they look to put the races away by the end of the month.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/08/politics/primary-election-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The GOP vulgarians*
By E.J. Dionne Jr. Opinion writer March 6

It was William J. Bennett, education secretary in the Reagan years and the Republican Party's premier moralist, who embedded a phrase in the American consciousness when he bemoaned the fact that "our elites presided over an unprecedented coarsening of our culture."

Well, to borrow another famous phrase, it is Bennett's party and two of its presidential candidates in particular, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, who are merrily defining our politics, our discourse and the American presidency down. The 2016 Republican primary campaign is now on track to be the crudest, most vulgar and most thoroughly disgusting in our nation's history.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...bc1b0a-e25a-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571_story.html


----------



## poochee

*International Women's Day 2013*
Alan Taylor
Mar 8, 2013
*38 Photos*
In Focus

Today is International Women's Day, a day set aside to celebrate women and their economic, political, and social achievements around the world. It is also a time to focus on places and situations where women's rights, equality, health, and safety still have a long way to go. Collected below are images of women around the world -- powerful and poor, young and old -- on International Women's Day.

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/03/international-womens-day-2013/100470/


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's failed business ventures are back in the spotlight*
03/08/16 11:21 AM-Updated 03/08/16 02:13 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

Donald Trump's business savvy came under fire last week - and the Republican presidential front-runner was none too pleased.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trumps-failed-business-ventures-are-back-the-spotlight


----------



## poochee

*Statement by Better Business Bureau Serving Metropolitan New York and Council of Better Business Bureaus*
March 08, 2016

Over the past week, Better Business Bureau has provided several statements in response to public inquiries about the BBB Business Review for Trump Entrepreneur Initiative (formerly Trump University). These statements remain available on our website. We are issuing a further statement today, in response to a number of inaccurate reports that continue to be repeated.

For purposes of this statement, we will refer to Trump University, which is how it is most often referred to in news stories. There is only one BBB Business Review for Trump University, and we noted the name change to Trump Entrepreneur Initiative when it was brought to our attention by the company.

http://www.bbb.org/council/news-eve...-york-and-council-of-better-business-bureaus/


----------



## poochee

Mar 9, 12:17 AM EST
*Sanders is surprise victor in Michigan; Trump keeps winning*
By JULIE PACE and DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Bernie Sanders breathed new life into his longshot White House bid with a crucial win in Michigan's primary Tuesday night, chipping away at Hillary Clinton's dominance in the Democratic presidential race. Republican Donald Trump swept to victory in both Michigan and Mississippi, overcoming fierce efforts to blunt his momentum.

Even with Sanders' win, Clinton and Trump moved closer to a general election face-off. Clinton breezed to an easy victory in Mississippi, propelled by overwhelming support from black voters, and she now has more than half the delegates she needs to clinch the Democratic nomination. Trump, too, padded his lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who carried the Idaho primary.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-09-00-17-11


----------



## poochee

Mar 9, 1:52 PM EST
*3 days of mourning for former first lady Nancy Reagan begin*
By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press

*







*LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Three days of formal mourning for former first lady Nancy Reagan began Wednesday with a private service before her casket was taken in a police-escorted motorcade up an empty freeway for a public viewing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-09-13-52-47


----------



## poochee

*With news conferences, Trump seeks presidential optics*
By Dylan Byers, CNN
Updated 10:54 PM ET, Tue March 8, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The election night news conferences are part of Trump's strategic effort to pivot toward the general election and appear presidential, political strategists say
The news conferences also take place in front of a crowd of supporters
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/08/politics/donald-trump-press-conferences-victory-speeches/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Democratic debate in Miami: Clinton, Sanders face off after Michigan surprise*
By David A. Fahrenthold March 9 at 3:34 PM

*VIDEO
*
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders will meet for their fourth one-on-one debate Wednesday evening in Miami - one night after Sanders won an upset victory in Michigan, reshaping the Democratic Party's presidential race as Clinton seemed close to clinching it.

The debate, sponsored by The Washington Post and the Spanish-language network Univision, will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...b73322-e601-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Winners and losers from the Washington Post/Univision Democratic debate*
By Aaron Blake March 9 at 10:59 PM
*
VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed in a debate sponsored by The Washington Post and Univision on Wednesday night, the day after a win in the Michigan primary breathed new life into Sanders's underdog campaign.

The duel in Miami was the final one on the schedule (for now, at least) and gave the candidates their last, best chance to set a course for the rest of the race with a national audience watching.

How did they do? Below are our winners and losers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...he-washington-postunivision-demoratic-debate/


----------



## poochee

*Trudeau, Obama Developing 'Special Relationship': White House*
CP Politics | By Alexander Panetta
Posted: 03/08/2016 11:53 am EST Updated: 03/08/2016 5:59 pm EST

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The White House says a special relationship is developing with Canada's new prime minister - a bond that will be reinforced this week with a series of bilateral agreements, champagne toasts, and a rare black-tie dinner.

Justin Trudeau arrives Wednesday for a three-day visit to the U.S. capital - a place he's already unusually well-known for a Canadian politician - with the first prime ministerial state dinner in 19 years as its centerpiece.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/0...ment-at-state-dinner-says-dion_n_9408506.html


----------



## poochee

*Senate passes bill to combat heroin, painkiller abuse*
By Karoun Demirjian March 10 at 1:28 PM

The Senate on Thursday passed legislation to combat the growing epidemic of painkiller and heroin abuse, queuing up an accomplishment many members will take straight to the campaign trail.

Drug abuse has been in the spotlight this political season, with presidential candidates recalling personal stories about relatives and friends who struggled with addiction and lawmakers from states dealing with the crisis highlighting their efforts to address the problem legislatively.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...combat-opioid-abuse/?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate in Miami: What to watch*
By MJ Lee, CNN Politics Reporter
Updated 12:12 PM ET, Thu March 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

Miami (CNN)Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio will face off at CNN's presidential debate on Thursday night in a state that could make one of the four men virtually unstoppable -- and spell doom for another.

Thursday's debate here comes just five days ahead of the next week's "Super Tuesday 3," when there are more than 350 delegates up for grabs, including in winner-take-all contests in Florida and Ohio.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/10/politics/republican-debate-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 10, 1:25 PM EST
*Obama says GOP leaders to blame for party 'crackup'*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Years of Republican hardline politics and divisive rhetoric have spawned Donald Trump and the "crackup" of the GOP, President Barack Obama said Thursday, scoffing at the notion that his actions or policies were to blame for the charged political climate.

At a Rose Garden press conference, Obama laid the responsibility on Republican leaders, who tolerated "maximalist," uncompromising politics and created an environment where "somebody like Donald Trump can thrive." The president said conservative leaders should reflect on the policies that landed the party in its current turmoil.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-10-13-25-29


----------



## poochee

Mar 10 2016, 8:23 am ET
*President Obama, Frustrated With Allies, Calls Out the 'Free Riders'*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama is frustrated with America's allies who turn to the United States for assistance but don't always want to help shoulder the burden - financial or otherwise - of dealing with urgent global threats.

In some of his bluntest comments yet on the subject of foreign policy, Obama told The Atlantic that he warned Great Britain that it would no longer have a "special relationship" with the U.S. if it did not start spending at least 2 percent of its GDP on defense.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bar...ustrated-allies-calls-out-free-riders-n535751


----------



## poochee

Mar 10, 1:22 PM EST
*Obama signals Supreme Court announcement could come soon*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

"I think it's important for me to nominate a Supreme Court nominee quickly because I think it's important for the Supreme Court to have its full complement of justices," he said during a White House news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Obama said he wants an "outstanding jurist" with "impeccable legal credentials, who, by historical standards, would not even be questioned as qualified for the court."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-10-13-22-48


----------



## poochee

*Obama's approval climbs as his would-be successors line up*
03/10/16 02:08 PM-Updated 03/10/16 04:03 PM
By Steve Benen

As if Republicans aren't having enough problems, several new polls indicate an additional one - an upswing in the public standing of President Obama.

The popularity of the incumbent president often has had a measurable impact on how elections turn out. If Americans have a more favorable image of the current occupant of the Oval Office, they're more likely to keep his party in power.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/obamas-approval-climbs-his-would-be-successors-line#


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump rallies are turning violent*
by Dylan Byers @CNNMoney March 10, 2016: 4:38 PM ET
_Observers have been worrying about heightened tensions at __Donald Trump__ rallies for while, and now they're turning violent.
_
*VIDEO*

Such violence, which is unprecedented in the history of modern presidential campaigns, is the inevitable result of the charged anti-protester and anti-media rhetoric coming out of the mouth of the candidate himself, reporters and observers say.

Nearly every day for the last three months, Trump has stood before crowds of thousands and encouraged his fans to heckle protesters and reporters.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/10/media/donald-trump-rallies-violence/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 10 2016, 9:10 pm ET
*Final Four GOP Candidates Hold Low-Key, High-Stakes Debate*
by NBC News

The final four remaining Republican presidential candidates met Thursday night in what could be the last debate before the field narrows after next week's primaries.

Compared to the raucous debate a week ago, Thursday's affair was low-key and remained mostly focused on a range of issues, from the economy to ISIS, Middle East peace and the complicated delegate math in the GOP contest. But for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio, the stakes are high in next Tuesday's contests in five states with 350 delegates at stake.

For all the news and analysis of tonight's debate, see the recap of our live blog below:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ur-gop-candidates-face-florida-debate-n535986


----------



## poochee

*Republican debate: CNN's Reality Check Team inspects the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 12:07 AM ET, Fri March 11, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The Republican candidates for president gathered in Miami on Thursday, and CNN's Reality Check Team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN selected key statements and rated them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/10/politics/republican-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Fact Checks of the 12th GO.P. Debate*
The New York Times is checking assertions made throughout the 2016
presidential campaign, including from Thursday's Republican debate. Follow NYT Politics on Facebook and Twitter to get fact check updates.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/fact-check.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Cartoonists Overseas Take on Donald Trump*
Politico's Matt Wuerker chooses his favorite foreign Trump cartoons.
By Matt Wuerker
03/10/16 05:31 PM EST

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/gallery/2016/03/foreign-cartoonists-trump-000621#ixzz42dgXjC6R
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*President Obama reportedly is down to three finalists for Supreme Court vacancy*
By Sari Horwitz, Robert Barnes and Jerry Markon March 11 at 8:10 PM

*VIDEO*

The three under consideration are Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; Sri Srinivasan, a judge on the same court; and Paul Watford, a judge on the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Obama said this week that he wanted to make a decision quickly, and his announcement could come as early as next week, the sources said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...3a5b41910_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

March 12, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: The Legacy of Nancy Reagan*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed the life and legacy of former First Lady Nancy Reagan. From redefining the role of First Lady of the United States to becoming a staunch advocate for stem cell research and research on Alzheimer's disease, a disease that afflicted her husband, Nancy Reagan was an inspiration to the American people. During his Administration, President Obama has signed an order to resume federal stem cell research, announced the Precision Medicine Initiative to enhance our ability to tailor health care and treat diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's, and launched the BRAIN initiative to increase our understanding of how the human brain works. President Obama noted that because of the efforts of people like Nancy Reagan, we continue to get closer to the day when every patient can get the care they deserve, and finding a cure for devastating diseases like Alzheimer's.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*President Obama's brutal assessment of the rise of Donald Trump*
By Niraj Chokshi March 12 at 11:28 AM

*VIDEO*

Pundits thought he would flame out early; he has done things that could have ended other campaigns; and his statements are erratic and even sometimes contradictory. Yet, he remains the leading Republican presidential contender.

Many have tried to explain Trump's rise in the nine months since he entered the race, and now President Obama can be counted among them: He offered up his analysis of Trump and the broader fight for the Republican presidential nomination during a speech Friday afternoon at a Democratic National Committee event at Texas's Austin Music Hall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rutal-assessment-of-the-rise-of-donald-trump/


----------



## poochee

Mar 12, 2:23 PM EST
*GOP rivals questioning whether they'd back Trump as nominee*
By JULIE PACE and DAN SEWELL
Associated Press

VANDALIA, Ohio (AP) -- Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and John Kasich suggested Saturday they may not support Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee, as violence at the front-runner's rallies deepened the party's chaotic chasm.

Tensions ran high at Trump's latest rally, when Secret Service agents briefly formed a protective ring around the presidential candidate, then left the stage and allowed him to continue speaking at an airport hangar outside Dayton, Ohio.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-12-13-24-38


----------



## poochee

March 11, 2016, 10:13 pm
*Police say they didn't advise Trump to cancel rally: report*
By Evelyn Rupert

That runs contrary to what Trump has said in interviews since massive protests engulfed his event and supporters clashed with demonstrators after the cancellation announcement.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/272760-police-say-they-didnt-advise-trump-to-cancel-rally-ap


----------



## poochee

*Campaign 2016 is on a dangerous descent
By Dan Balz March 12 at 2:50 PM

VIDEO*

VANDALIA, Ohio - Friday was an ugly day on the campaign trail, perhaps the worst of the year. What erupted in St. Louis and fully boiled over later in Chicago, however, was no aberration. Donald Trump has built his candidacy on long-festering resentment and grievance. It is a poisonous combination, for the Republican Party and for the country.

Trump's slogan is Make America Great Again, but his campaign for president continues to call out dark forces that divide a polarized America. Fueled by acrimonious rhetoric, he has sparked an angry movement that has now created an angry backlash. Campaign 2016 is on a downward and dangerous descent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

*Cruz Takes Delegates in Wyoming, and Rubio Wins in Washington, D.C.*
By JASON HOROWITZMARCH 12, 2016

Senator Ted Cruz won the most delegates awarded in the Wyoming Republican conventions on Saturday, while Senator Marco Rubio narrowly beat Gov. John Kasich in Washington, D.C., on the last day of voting before Tuesday's make-or-break primaries in five large states.

Hillary Clinton prevailed in the Northern Mariana Islands, the only Democratic contest of the day. In Guam, Republicans chose nine delegates for the party's July convention, but the delegates were officially unpledged to any candidate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/us/politics/election-results.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump can't keep blaming other people for the anger of his campaign*
By Chris Cillizza March 13 at 11:49 AM

*VIDEO*

Know that old cliche "Where there's smoke, there's fire?"

That has been running through my head for the past couple of days, watching violence flare on the campaign trail in and around Donald Trump's rallies. Trump, for his part, insists that he is blameless. "I don't accept responsibility," he told NBC's Chuck Todd Sunday morning when asked about the tenor of his rallies and the skirmishes between protesters and supporters that have become increasingly commonplace.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...g-other-people-for-the-anger-of-his-campaign/


----------



## poochee

*The U.S. Is Pumping All This Oil, So Where Are The Benefits? *
March 12, 20165:00 PM ET
 Greg Myre 

*Listen to the Story*

More importantly, oil analysts confidently predicted that a tide of benefits would flow as freely as the oil now coming out of the ground.

First, the U.S. economy would get a boost that would include a renaissance in manufacturing. Second, the U.S. would be far less dependent on the vagaries of foreign energy producers. And third, America could shrink its footprint in the volatile Middle East.

Yet none of this has happened. Why not?

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...umping-all-this-oil-so-where-are-the-benefits


----------



## poochee

*Bernie Sanders Accuses Donald Trump of 'Lying Again,' Defends His Supporters*
By NICKI ROSSOLL
Mar 13, 2016, 11:07 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Bernie Sanders defended his supporters Sunday from Donald Trump, and accused Trump of lying when he blamed Sanders for recent protests at his campaign events.

"I think anybody who understands Mr. Trump's campaign knows that he tells the truth very, very rarely," Sanders said on ABC's "This WeekWeek with George Stephanopoulos." "I'm afraid that on this occasion, he's lying again."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bern...mp-lying-defends-supporters/story?id=37600893


----------



## poochee

*6 takeaways from the Democratic town hall*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:25 PM ET, Mon March 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both criticized Donald Trump after a string of violent incidents at his rallies and discussed their strategies for defeating him.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/politics/democratic-town-hall-analysis-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Democratic Town Hall: CNN's Reality Check Team vets the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 10:41 AM ET, Mon March 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Reality Check Team rates Sanders statements true on prisons, wealth inequality, factories closing
Clinton statements on Iran rated part false, part true; statement on poverty rated true
Both Democrats' statements on Donald Trump rally incident are rated true
Washington (CNN)Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met at The Ohio State University on Sunday for a Democratic town hall hosted by CNN and TV One.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/politics/democratic-town-hall-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

March 14, 2016, 01:57 pm
*New anti-Trump ad slams his language on women*
By Rebecca Savransky

*VIDEO*

Our Principles PAC, a group trying to prevent Trump from winning the GOP nomination, released a new ad in which women read real quotes from Trump.

The ad starts out by using names Trump has called women, including "bimbo" and "fat pig."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...ad-rips-trump-using-his-past-remarks-on-women


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Week of Errors, Exaggerations and Flat-out Falsehoods*
_POLITICO Magazine subjected the GOP front-runner to our fact-checking process. This is the result._
By Daniel Lippman, Darren Samuelsohn and Isaac Arnsdorf 
March 13, 2016

With the GOP front-runner scooping up delegates in a march toward the Republican nomination, POLITICO subjected a week's worth of his words to our magazine's fact-checking process. We chronicled 4.6 hours of stump speeches and press conferences, from a rally in Concord, N.C., on Monday to a rally on Friday in St. Louis.

The result: more than five dozen statements deemed mischaracterizations, exaggerations, or simply false - the kind of stuff that would have been stripped from one of our stories, or made the whole thing worthy of the spike. It equates to roughly one misstatement every five minutes on average.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/trump-fact-check-errors-exaggerations-falsehoods-213730#ixzz42uoHArTr 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Mar 14, 7:00 PM EDT
*Senate votes to confirm King to head Education Department*
By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press

The vote was 49-40. King has served as acting secretary at the Education Department since Arne Duncan stepped down in December.

As secretary, King will oversee the department as it puts in place a bipartisan education law passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in December. The measure revamps the widely criticized No Child Left Behind Act and substantially limits the federal government's role in public schools.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-14-19-00-49


----------



## poochee

Mar 14, 7:23 PM EDT
*White House: Obama and Putin talk 'next steps' in Syria*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As peace talks opened in Geneva, President Barack Obama on Monday spoke with President Vladimir Putin about the Russian leader's decision to begin withdrawing forces from war-ravaged Syria, and discussed "next steps" in upholding the fragile truce that has quieted the country's civil war, the White House said.

In a statement about the phone call, the White House said Obama told Putin he welcomed the "much-needed reduction in violence" since the cease-fire took effect late last month. But the president also noted the Syrian regime's continued "offensive actions" threaten to break the deal and could undermine plans for a United Nations-led political process.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-14-19-23-57


----------



## poochee

*Your guide to Super Tuesday 3*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 6:35 AM ET, Tue March 15, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Columbus, Ohio (CNN)For Republicans dead set on stopping Donald Trump, Tuesday represents a final chance to seriously impede his path to the party's presidential nomination.

On the Democratic side, it'll be yet another test of Hillary Clinton's organizational strength and backing among party loyalists against Bernie Sanders' ability to expand the electorate and win in diverse states.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/14/politics/super-tuesday-march-15-guide-florida-illinois-ohio/index.html


----------



## poochee

March 15, 2016, 12:24 pm
*Jerry Springer: GOP race too much for me*
By Jesse Byrnes

*VIDEO*

Television personality Jerry Springer, known for his raucous TV show, on Tuesday suggested that the wild Republican presidential race is too much for him to handle.

"When I first started watching the Republican debates I said that, you know, if they're going to do my show, they should start paying me," Springer said in an interview with Steve Kornacki on MSNBC.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/273053-jerry-springer-gop-race-too-much-for-me


----------



## poochee

*Obama knocks 'vulgar and divisive' presidential campaign*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:27 PM ET, Tue March 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama lamented a "vulgar and divisive" presidential campaign Tuesday, saying that GOP presidential candidates were setting bad examples for children and tarnishing the United States' reputation abroad.

"In America, there is no law that says we have to be nice to each other, or courteous, or treat each other with respect. But there are norms.
There are customs. There are values that our parents taught us and that we try to teach to our children to try to treat others the way we want to be treated," Obama said during a St. Patrick's Day luncheon on Capitol Hill.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/15/politics/obama-donald-trump-violence-rhetoric/index.html


----------



## poochee

March 14, 2016, 07:09 pm
*House votes to label ISIS attacks as genocide*
By Cristina Marcos

Passed easily on a vote of 393-0, the resolution expresses the sense of Congress that crimes perpetrated by the Islamic State against Christians, Yazidis and other religious and ethnic minorities should be considered genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The House also passed a resolution on Monday by a vote of 392-3 to condemn the Syrian government for perpetrating violence against civilians. The measure would further call on the president to direct the United Nations ambassador to promote establishing a Syrian war crimes tribunal.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/272976-house-votes-to-label-isis-attacks-as-genocide


----------



## poochee

Mar 15, 5:14 PM EDT
*Obama abolishes last major restrictions on US travel to Cuba*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama sent an unmistakable message to Americans on Tuesday ahead of his historic trip to Havana: Cuba is open for business

Punching fresh holes in the generations-old U.S. embargo, Obama's administration removed the last meaningful restrictions on travel, putting a Cuba vacation within reach for millions of Americans over the coming years. The sweeping changes also clear a path for Cuban athletes to one day play Major League Baseball and other professional sports.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-15-17-14-18


----------



## poochee

*Obama Administration Will Not Allow Atlantic Offshore Drilling*
March 15, 20165:22 PM ET
 Merrit Kennedy 

The Obama administration is reversing a plan to oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, after an uproar from local communities over environmental concerns.

"We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ion-will-not-allow-atlantic-offshore-drilling


----------



## poochee

Mar 15, 10:29 PM EDT
*Clinton sweeps Ohio, Florida; Trump, Kasich split; Rubio out*
By JULIE PACE and THOMAS BEAUMONT
Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Hillary Clinton triumphed Tuesday in the Florida, Ohio and North Carolina presidential primaries, putting her in a commanding position to become the first woman in U.S. history to win a major party nomination. Donald Trump strengthened his hand in the Republican race with a big win in Florida but fell in Ohio to that state's governor, John Kasich.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio ended his once-promising campaign after his devastating home-state loss, so the GOP primary is now down to three candidates: Trump, Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-15-22-29-17


----------



## poochee

Mar 16, 1:54 PM EDT
*Trump: GOP leaders should embrace "fervor" for his candidacy*
By NANCY BENAC and JULIE PACE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An emboldened Donald Trump offered himself Wednesday as the inevitable Republican presidential nominee and called on balky GOP leaders to embrace the voters' "tremendous fervor" for his candidacy. But the billionaire businessman's latest wins didn't stop anti-Trump Republicans from seeking scenarios to deny him the GOP nomination.

Trump, who padded his delegate lead in the latest round of voting, predicted he'd amass enough support to snag the nomination outright before the Republican convention - without much difficulty. And he served notice that if GOP leaders try to deny him the nomination at a contested convention when he is leading the delegate count, "You'd have riots."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-16-12-43-44


----------



## poochee

*Stop Trump campaign plans to push forward in hopes of denying him the nomination*
By Matea Gold March 16 at 12:10 PM

The super PAC that has been leading the charge against Donald Trump aims to keep up the pressure on the Republican presidential front-runner, hoping to prevent him from securing enough delegates needed for the nomination before this summer's convention.

"You're not the nominee until you get 1,237 delegates, and I don't see how Trump gets there," Katie Packer, the GOP strategist helping lead Our Principles PAC, said in an interview Tuesday night.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rward-in-hopes-of-denying-him-the-nomination/


----------



## poochee

*Obama nominates Merrick Garland to Supreme Court*
By Stephen Collinson, Kevin Liptak, Ariane de Vogue and Manu Raju, CNN
Updated 1:26 PM ET, Wed March 16, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland, who is respected across political lines, to the Supreme Court Wednesday, in an epic power play targeting the resolve of Republicans who have vowed to block any replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia until a new president takes office.

GOP leaders, caught in the undertow of an election in which the conservative grass-roots are already in revolt, immediately renewed their refusal to consider Garland, 63, saying their reservations were not personal but motivated by a desire for the American people to weigh in on Scalia's replacement. The showdown is even more fraught than most Supreme Court fights, since Obama's choice could tilt the ideological balance of the court away from conservatives -- possibly for years.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/16/politics/obama-supreme-court-announcement/index.html


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> Mar 15, 5:14 PM EDT
> *Obama abolishes last major restrictions on US travel to Cuba*
> By JOSH LEDERMAN and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
> Associated Press
> 
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama sent an unmistakable message to Americans on Tuesday ahead of his historic trip to Havana: Cuba is open for business
> 
> Punching fresh holes in the generations-old U.S. embargo, Obama's administration removed the last meaningful restrictions on travel, putting a Cuba vacation within reach for millions of Americans over the coming years. The sweeping changes also clear a path for Cuban athletes to one day play Major League Baseball and other professional sports.
> 
> http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-15-17-14-18


Long past due!! Should have been done 30+ years ago. Better yet, never have happened.


----------



## poochee

March 16, 2016, 04:22 pm
*Obama tightens sanctions on North Korea*
By Harper Neidig

President Obama on Wednesday signed an executive order tightening sanctions on North Korea, the White House announced.

The order came in response to the rogue nation's nuclear test in January and a missile launch it conducted in February.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/273295-obama-tightens-sanctions-on-north-korea


----------



## poochee

Wino said:


> Long past due!! Should have been done 30+ years ago. Better yet, never have happened.


I agree............


----------



## poochee

International
*Pope Francis Sets Canonization Date For Mother Teresa: Sept. 4*
*Updated *March 15, 201612:13 PM ET
*Published *March 15, 20167:33 AM ET

Making official what was set in motion back in December, Pope Francis has approved the canonization of five new saints, including Mother Teresa. Hundreds of Mother Teresa's followers are expected to visit Rome when she's canonized on Sept. 4.

In addition to Mother Teresa, who was famously a tireless advocate for the poor, Francis approved final canonization plans for four other saints Tuesday. Here are there names, along with the Vatican's brief description of their lives and their canonization date:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ts-canonization-date-for-mother-teresa-sept-4


----------



## poochee

*Presidential Proclamation -- Women's History Month, 2016*
*

WOMEN'S* *HISTORY MONTH, 2016*

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Throughout history, women have driven humanity forward on the path to a more equal and just society, contributing in innumerable ways to our character and progress as a people. In the face of discrimination and undue hardship, they have never given up on the promise of America: that with hard work and determination, nothing is out of reach. During Women's History Month, we remember the trailblazers of the past, including the women who are not recorded in our history books, and we honor their legacies by carrying forward the valuable lessons learned from the powerful examples they set.

For too long, women were formally excluded from full participation in our society and our democracy. Because of the courage of so many bold women who dared to transcend preconceived expectations and prove they were capable of doing all that a man could do and more, advances were made, discoveries were revealed, barriers were broken, and progress triumphed. Whether serving in elected positions across America, leading groundbreaking civil rights movements, venturing into unknown frontiers, or programming revolutionary technologies, generations of women that knew their gender was no obstacle to what they could accomplish have long stirred new ideas and opened new doors, having a profound and positive impact on our Nation. Through hardship and strife and in every realm of life, women have spurred change in communities around the world, steadfastly joining together to overcome adversity and lead the charge for a fairer, more inclusive, and more progressive society.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...ential-proclamation-womens-history-month-2016


----------



## poochee

*John Kerry: ISIS Is Carrying Out 'Genocide'*
*Updated *March 17, 20161:17 PM ET 
*Published *March 17, 201611:07 AM ET

Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that the United States has determined that the Islamic State is carrying out genocide against Christians and other religious groups in the Middle East.

It was not immediately clear whether the declaration would result in any change in U.S. policy, including the American bombing campaign against the radical Islamist group.

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/17/470801112/john-kerry-isis-is-carrying-out-genocide


----------



## poochee

Mar 17, 12:29 PM EDT
*Before Obama trip, US eases security for ships visiting Cuba*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States removed Cuba on Thursday from its list of countries deemed to have insufficient security in their ports, eliminating a major impediment to free flow of ships in the Florida Straits. The move marks one more step toward normalized relations ahead of President Barack Obama's historic trip to Cuba.

The shift clears the way for U.S. cruise ships, cargo vessels and even ferries to travel back and forth with much less hassle. No longer will all ships have to wait to be boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard for inspections, though the Coast Guard still can conduct random inspections.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-17-12-29-37


----------



## poochee

*Conservative leaders gather to plot against Donald Trump*
By Gloria Borger and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 12:57 PM ET, Thu March 17, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Conservatives and Republicans gathered Thursday in Washington to plot how to stop Donald Trump's presidential bid
The real estate mogul is the party's front-runner in the delegate count
A source at the meeting said one option is considering backing a conservative third-party option
(CNN)Conservatives at a meeting in Washington on Thursday had "absolute consensus" on trying to stop Republican front-runner Donald Trump from getting enough delegates to clinch the party's presidential nomination, according to a source familiar with the discussion.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/politics/donald-trump-hill-republicans-conservatives/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Half Of U.S. Women Have A 'Very Unfavorable' View Of Trump*
*This is up from the 40 percent who felt that way in October.*
03/17/2016 09:52 am ET | *Updated* 2 hours ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Real estate billionaire Donald Trump's coarse rhetoric has won him some fans, but there's at least one large group in America that is increasingly unimpressed: women.

Half of U.S. women say they have a "very unfavorable" view of the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, up from the 40 percent who felt that way in October. The survey was taken from March 1-15, and included 5,400 respondents.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ble-view-of-trump_us_56eab46ae4b065e2e3d88d63


----------



## poochee

*Rabbis to Boycott Donald Trump Speech at Pro-Israel Conference*
Julia Zorthian @jzorth 
2:25 PM ET

Boycott organizers at this year's meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said they did not want Trump's participation in the annual conference to lend him any legitimacy, the Washington _Post_ reports.

Some seemed uncomfortable with Trump's sometimes abrasive rhetoric about immigrants and minority groups. "Jewish history teaches that when hatred is unleashed, it takes on a life of its own," organizing Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin told the _Post__.

http://time.com/4262924/rabbis-protest-donald-trump/_


----------



## poochee

Mar 17, 7:41 PM EDT
*Sanders concedes Missouri Democratic primary; Clinton wins*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bernie Sanders said Thursday he will not seek a recount of results in Missouri's Democratic presidential primary, conceding defeat to Hillary Clinton.

"I think it's unlikely the results will impact at all the number of delegates the candidate gets and I would prefer to save the taxpayers of Missouri some money," Sanders said in an interview with The Associated Press.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-17-18-26-09


----------



## poochee

*What people across the globe think of Donald Trump*
By Jessica King and Wes Little, CNN
Updated 8:45 AM ET, Fri March 18, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

CNN asked people across the globe what they think of the Republican candidate. Here are three things we learned.
Just how would the world react to a Trump White House? Most people we asked say they're scared.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/politics/world-reacts-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Rabbis, Jewish leaders plan boycott of Donald Trump at AIPAC*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 9:01 AM ET, Fri March 18, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Paskin has organized a group of more than 300 rabbis, cantors and Jewish voters and professionals who plan to signal their distaste for Trump on Monday. He estimated that almost all of those individuals will be at AIPAC.

AIPAC is a pro-Israel lobbying group focused on energizing Americans around strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship and encouraging members of Congress to support its agenda. The annual conference is a key stop for politicians seeking an audience with the influential group and is the largest pro-Israel policy gathering of the year.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/polit...cott-protest-rabbis-jewish-leaders/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Woman Nominated To Head A Combatant Command For First Time*
*Updated *March 18, 20161:09 PM ET *Published *March 18, 201610:04 AM ET
 Camila Domonoske

Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson has been nominated as the next head of U.S. Northern Command, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Friday. If approved, she would be the first female head of a combatant command.

The U.S. military divides the world into geographic regions that are each overseen by a four-star general or admiral directing military operations across the branches of service. None of those combatant commanders has ever been a woman.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ed-to-head-a-combatant-command-for-first-time


----------



## poochee

*Obama warns of Supreme Court consequences*
By Nick Gass
03/18/16 06:28 AM EDT

If the Senate does not act to consider his Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland, the decision could set a dangerous new precedent for senators who seek to hold up the confirmation process as never before, President Barack Obama warned in an interview with NPR published Friday, adding that any opposition to his nominee would be "raw politics" and it could seriously damage the "collegiality" of the highest court.

"At that point the judiciary becomes a pure extension of politics. And that damages people's faith in the judiciary," Obama told NPR's Nina Totenberg.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/obama-warns-of-supreme-court-consequences-220956#ixzz43JVCmoVK 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Mar 18, 8:59 PM EDT
*Fox: Trump has 'extreme, sick obsession' with Megyn Kelly*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fox News is slamming GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump for his repeated Twitter tirades against anchor Megyn Kelly.

"Donald Trump's vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land," the network said in a statement Friday evening.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-18-20-59-03


----------



## poochee

March 19, 2016
*Weekly Address: President Obama's Supreme Court Nomination*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President discussed his decision to nominate Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court of the United States. Chief Judge Garland has earned the respect of both Democrats and Republicans through his years of public service. The President made clear that even though we are in the midst of a volatile political season, we should treat the appointment of a Supreme Court justice seriously. The President repeated his call for Republicans in the United States Senate to give Chief Judge Garland a fair hearing and a vote. The President did his job. Now Senators should do theirs and quickly move to consider the President's nominee.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Pope Francis posts first Instagram photo*
By Elliot Smilowitz - 03/19/16 07:46 AM EDT

Pope Francis is extending his social media reach.

The pontiff on Saturday shared his first Instagram photo. The image shows Francis praying, and is captioned "pray for me" in a variety of languages. His username is @franciscus.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/273640-pope-francis-posts-first-instagram-photo


----------



## poochee

*Sen. Mark Kirk: Republicans should 'man up' and vote on SCOTUS nominee*
03/18/16 04:40 PM
By Khorri Atkinson

Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk took shot at his Republican colleagues on Friday for refusing to hold a Senate hearing and vote on President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

Kirk, one of the few GOP senators who said they would at least meet with Garland, urged Senate Republicans to "go through the process the Constitution has already laid out. The president has already laid out a nominee. For me, I'm open to see him, talk to him and ask for his views on the Constitution."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/sen-mark-kirk-republicans-should-man-and-vote-scotus-nominee


----------



## poochee

*Obama plans to campaign hard, with legacy on his mind*
By Athena Jones, CNN
Updated 8:35 AM ET, Sat March 19, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Expect to see a whole lot of President Barack Obama this campaign season as he works to spell out what he sees as the stakes in the 2016 election and tries to defend his legacy.

As he approaches the end of his term in the midst of an election year that has been defined by heated, often controversial rhetoric coming from the leading Republican candidates, like GOP front-runner Donald Trump, the President is vowing to do all he can to make sure a Democrat replaces him at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He also wants to retake the Senate and win more seats in the House of Representatives.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/19/polit...linton-bernie-sanders-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*After Reaching Out His Hand, President Obama Will Step Foot In Cuba*
March 19, 20165:00 AM ET
 Scott Horsley 

"We very much want to make the process of normalization irreversible," said Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, who played a key role in secret talks that led up to the opening.

During his two-day trip to Cuba, the president will meet with Castro as well as Cuban dissidents. He'll deliver a televised address to the Cuban people. And he'll take in an exhibition baseball game between the Cuban national team and the Tampa Bay Rays. First Lady Michelle Obama is joining her husband on the trip, along with their daughters, Sasha and Malia.

http://www.npr.org/2016/03/19/47100...s-hand-president-obama-will-step-foot-in-cuba


----------



## poochee

*Republican Leaders Map a Strategy to Derail Donald Trump*
By ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTINMARCH 19, 2016

Republican leaders adamantly opposed to Donald J. Trump's candidacy are preparing a 100-day campaign to deny him the presidential nomination, starting with an aggressive battle in Wisconsin's April 5 primary and extending into the summer, with a delegate-by-delegate lobbying effort that would cast Mr. Trump as a calamitous choice for the general election.

Recognizing that Mr. Trump has seized a formidable advantage in the race, they say that an effort to block him would rely on an array of desperation measures, the political equivalent of guerrilla fighting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-party.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

Mar 19, 4:37 PM EDT
*Trump's appeal with Mormons to be tested in Utah*
By BRADY McCOMBS
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is set to find out whether his brash demeanor will plague him in another Western state with a culture rooted in the Mormon faith that places a high value on manners and amiability.

The billionaire businessman lost to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Mormon-heavy Idaho this month, and indications are he may be headed for trouble in Utah where the religion predominates and where Trump-basher Mitt Romney is revered.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-19-16-37-02


----------



## poochee

March 19, 2016, 02:28 pm
*Congressman moves to block porn on federal computers*
By Jessie Hellmann

Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican, is leading a crusade to stop federal employees from watching and downloading porn on government equipment while at work.

"We are over $19 trillion in debt, and taxpayers are paying for federal employees to waste time at work surfing porn," Jones said in a press release. "This is a well-documented, government-wide problem. It's time to put a stop to it."

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-acti...sman-moves-to-block-porn-on-federal-computers


----------



## poochee

*Anti-Defamation League sends $56,000 in Trump contributions to anti-bias efforts*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:24 AM ET, Sun March 20, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*Story highlights*

The Anti-Defamation League is diverting $56,000 in Donald Trump's contributions to anti-bias efforts
The organization blasted Trump's Republican presidential campaign in a statement Sunday
The move comes the day before Trump speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's policy conference in Washington.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/20/politics/adl-trump-contributions-anti-bias/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How Trump Dog-Whistles the Business Establishment*

He cleverly woos the GOP base on issues like trade, but this working-class hero is actually a willing agent of the 1 percenters. 
By William Greider
March 18, 2016 

Trump delivered this message during his victory speech in Florida on Tuesday, but it was couched in evasive and deceitful terms that only insiders were likely to understand. Business and financial leaders will certainly get it, because they're lobbying intensely for the same deal: massive tax reductions for gold-plated names like Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and scores of other globalized American corporations.

The companies have $2.1 trillion in overseas profits parked offshore and untaxed, and they won't bring the money home until Congress agrees to give them another "tax holiday" and permanently reduces the corporate tax rate.

http://www.thenation.com/article/how-trump-dog-whistles-the-business-establishment/


----------



## poochee

*Obama meets Castro after historic arrival in Cuba*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 12:29 PM ET, Mon March 21, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*

The meeting provides Obama and his aides another reality check on their mission to extract reforms from Castro. Until this point, there have been few signs that the government here is willing to work as quickly as the Obama administration hoped in opening the state-run economy and improving human rights.

"Change is going to happen here and I think that Raul Castro understands that," Obama said in an interview with ABC News taped Sunday night.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/21/politics/obama-cuban-raul-castro/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Concern for environmental issues rises ahead of 2016 election*
03/21/16 12:26 PM
By Christina Coleburn

New polls indicate that concern for environmental issues has risen ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Americans are taking global warming more seriously now than at any period in the last eight years, according to Gallup's annual environment survey. Sixty-four percent of Americans said that they are either worried a "great deal" or "fair amount" about global warming. At this time in 2015, only 55 percent of Americans said they felt this way.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/concern-environmental-issues-rises-ahead-2016-election


----------



## poochee

Mar 21, 12:58 PM EDT
*Health insurance gains due to Obama's law, not economy*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's growing evidence that most of the dramatic gain in the number of Americans with health care coverage is due to President Barack Obama's law, and not the gradual recovery of the nation's economy.

That could pose a political risk for Republicans running against "Obamacare" in the GOP primaries as they shift to the general election later this year. While the health care law remains highly unpopular in the party, the prospect of taking away health care coverage from millions of people could trigger a backlash if the eventual GOP nominee's plan to replace it is seen as coming up short.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-21-12-58-58


----------



## poochee

*Obama tells Raul Castro: Cuban embargo is going to end*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 5:54 PM ET, Mon March 21, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Havana (CNN)U.S. President Barack Obama put the authoritarian government in Havana on the spot Monday, taking questions from reporters and insisting that his Cuban counterpart also deliver answers to pointed queries on human rights, political prisoners and economic reforms.

Though they both acknowledged deep disagreements on these issues, the two leaders found common ground on the topic of the economic embargo on Cuba, which both want lifted. Obama went so far as to declare that "the embargo's going to end," though he couldn't say when.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/21/politics/obama-cuban-raul-castro/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump breaks his own rule, uses teleprompter*
By Z. Byron Wolf, CNN
Updated 8:22 PM ET, Mon March 21, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump did something new -- and relied on the much-maligned crutch of the modern American politician for his speech to a pro-Israel group in Washington on Monday.

Earlier in the day, he said Hillary Clinton was "all talk" on foreign policy and "just reading it off a teleprompter."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/21/politics/trump-teleprompter-aipac-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama vows to help bring Brussels attackers to justice*
By Jordan Fabian - 03/22/16 10:26 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

During a speech in Cuba, Obama said the U.S. would do "whatever is necessary" to assist Belgian authorities in bringing the suspects to justice.

"This is yet another reminder the world must unite. We must be together, regardless of nationality or race or faith, in fighting against the scourge of terrorism," Obama said.

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...s-to-help-bring-brussels-attackers-to-justice


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls for change and freedom in Cuba*
Nicole Gaouette
Updated 12:26 PM ET, Tue March 22, 2016

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*

_(CNN)_President Barack Obama called for the U.S. embargo against Cuba to be lifted and for Cubans themselves to embrace change in a historic address from Havana.

"It's time to lift the embargo," Obama told Cuban officials and dignitaries gathered at the Grad Teatro de la Havana Alicia Alonso, including President Raul Castro. "But even if we lifted the embargo tomorrow, Cubans would not realize their potential without continued change here in Cuba."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/22/politics/obama-cuba-change-speech-embargo/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Belgian Police Release Photo Of Brussels Suspects*
_They're asking the public for help in identifying one of the men._
03/22/2016 01:43 pm ET | *Updated* 50 minutes ago
Lydia O'ConnorReporter, The Huffington Post

*PHOTO*

The three unidentified men in the photo are pushing baggage carts with suitcases past the airport's check-in area. Two of the men are wearing black clothing and black gloves on their left hands. The other man is wearing light clothing and a dark hat.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brussels-attack-suspects-photo_us_56f16bc3e4b084c672218840


----------



## poochee

*5 things to watch on Western Tuesday*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 3:08 PM ET, Tue March 22, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

"Western Tuesday" sees Republicans voting in Arizona's primaries and Utah's caucuses, and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders squaring off in those two states as well as Idaho's caucuses.

Here are 5 things to watch:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/22/politics/western-tuesday-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 22, 4:30 PM EDT
*The Latest: Castro goes to airport to send Obama off
AP*

President Barack Obama says he didn't consider skipping an exhibition baseball game in Cuba because of the deadly terrorist attack in Belgium.

Obama says the premise of terrorism is disrupting ordinary's people lives and he's not giving in to their mentality.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-22-16-30-46


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court deadlocked for first time since Scalia's death*
By Peter Schroeder - 03/22/16 12:33 PM EDT

Tuesday's tie was the first since Scalia's sudden death in February left the high court with eight justices. Democrats have been warning of such a scenario as they argue that the Senate needs to act quickly on a Scalia replacement to avoid a string of ties.

But it also means the Supreme Court did not resolve pair of conflicting lower court rulings on the matter. A decision from the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled directly on this case, conflicted with a prior ruling from the 6th Circuit on a similar issue.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/273895-supreme-court-issues-first-4-4-tie-since-scalias-death


----------



## poochee

Mar 22, 6:01 PM EDT
*Experts see little chance of charges in Clinton email case*
By ERIC TUCKER and MICHAEL BIESECKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Asked earlier this month whether she'd be indicted over her use of a private email server as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton responded, "It's not going to happen."

Though Republicans characterized her response as hubris, several legal experts interviewed by The Associated Press agreed with the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-22-18-01-24


----------



## poochee

*Primary results: Front-runners score key Western victories*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:30 PM ET, Wed March 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The Arizona victories handed enough delegates to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to help them maintain their leads in the delegate count despite victories from their primary competitors
Bernie Sanders won morale-boosting Democratic victories in Utah and Idaho while Ted Cruz came out on top in the Utah Republican caucuses
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/22/polit...daho-primaries-caucuses-highlights/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama looks for fresh start with Argentina*
By Marilia Brocchetto and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 1:22 PM ET, Wed March 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

Buenos Aires (CNN)President Barack Obama aimed to capitalize on renewed goodwill in Latin America during a stop in Argentina on Wednesday for talks with a new leader more amenable to the United States.

While not as historic as his visit to Cuba earlier in the week, Obama's stop in Argentina is seen by administration officials as symbolic of a thawing in the region prompted by opening ties to Havana. And the centrist government that recently took power

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/obama-argentina-visit-new-relationship/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama goes after Cruz for urging patrols of Muslim neighborhoods*
By Jordan Fabian - 03/23/16 12:56 PM EDT
*
VIDEO*

President Obama on Wednesday delivered a sharply personal rebuke of GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz

During a press conference in Argentina, Obama called such a proposal "wrong and un-American" and said it would undermine the U.S. campaign against Islamic extremists.

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...uz-for-urging-patrols-of-muslim-neighborhoods


----------



## poochee

*Obama: We will go after ISIS until it's 'finally destroyed'*
By Nicole Gaouette and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 4:40 PM ET, Wed March 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

The United States will "continue to go after ISIL aggressively until it's removed from Syria and from Iraq and finally destroyed," Obama said, using another name for ISIS.

"The world has to be united against terrorism," Obama said, adding that "that's a top priority of ours." He added that "we can and we will" defeat terrorism.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/obama-argentina-brussels-attacks/index.html


----------



## poochee

*US and Argentina sign trade, security agreements*
By Rafael Bernal - 03/23/16 03:11 PM EDT

The United States and Argentina signed agreements on trade, security and narcotics Tuesday, before Presidents Barack Obamaand Argentine President Mauricio Macri held a joint news conference.

"These agreements show a new path of joint work and imply an important change in the way we relate to each other," said Argentina Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, as reported by Buenos Aires daily Clarín.

http://thehill.com/policy/international/274079-us-and-argentina-sign-trade-security-agreements


----------



## poochee

Mar 24, 1:17 PM EDT
*Obama dances tango in Argentina, comes under criticism*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

Obama didn't initiate his brief tango Wednesday evening at a state dinner in his honor. In fact, he declined several invitations by the sashaying female dancer before politely giving in. And attending the exhibition game in Havana between Cuba's national team and Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays was itself an act of diplomacy with a nation that until recently had been estranged from the U.S. for decades.

White House officials said Obama can do anything from the road that he could do from the White House, echoing an argument Obama has made frequently after other incidents interrupted his travel. After IS extremists attacked Paris last year, Obama went forward with a trip to Turkey and Asia, and used his meetings there to coordinate with world leaders on ramping up the fight against the militant group.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-24-13-17-22


----------



## poochee

*Vocal Trump critics in GOP open to supporting Clinton*
By Kristina Wong - 03/24/16 06:00 AM EDT

Members of the GOP foreign policy establishment are open to supporting Ted CruzR or even Hillary Clinton for president if that's what it takes to prevent Donald Trump from becoming commander in chief.

In interviews with The Hill, prominent Republicans who signed a scathing open letter denouncing Trump said they aren't wavering from their opposition to him.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/274145-vocal-trump-critics-in-gop-open-to-supporting-clinton


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump can't stop saying nasty things about women. It could cost him.*
By Jose A. DelReal and Jenna Johnson March 24 at 7:59 PM

*VIDEO*

A nasty feud that escalated Thursday between Donald Trump and his chief Republican rival over their wives set off a new wave of alarm among establishment Republicans, who fear that the GOP front-runner would drive away female voters in a general-election fight with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump's gender problem flared again this week as he and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas traded insults while Cruz's wife, Heidi, became the target of vitriol on social media from Trump and his supporters. At one point, the real estate mogul retweeted an unflattering image contrasting Heidi Cruz's appearance with his wife, Melania, a retired model.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...2132cf446d0a_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

Mar 25, 12:40 PM EDT
*Pentagon moving to increase US troop numbers in Iraq soon*
By LOLITA C. BALDOR and ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon said Friday it was moving to increase the number of American forces in Iraq and announced that U.S. forces have killed the Islamic State's finance minister. "We are systematically eliminating ISIL's cabinet," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recommendations on ways to increase U.S. support for Iraq's ground fight against IS are going to be discussed with President Barack Obama soon.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-25-12-40-36


----------



## poochee

*Skies darken for GOP budget*
By Sarah Ferris - 03/25/16 06:31 AM EDT

House Republicans departed Washington on Wednesday for a two-week recess without moving any closer to a consensus on how to resolve their months-long budget battle.

Speaker Paul RyanPaul  will now have just four days to bridge wide gaps within the GOP on a trillion-dollar spending blueprint when members return in mid-April. An agreement on the budget has remained elusive for months, with GOP lawmakers refusing to give up on their own competing proposals.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/274263-skies-darken-for-gop-budget


----------



## poochee

*Trump faces daunting gender gap*
By Ben Kamisar - 03/25/16 06:00 AM EDT

A new CNN poll released Thursday, taken before the spat with rival over his wife, found that 73 percent of registered female voters in the United States had an unfavorable view of Trump. That's in line with a Reuters poll from last week that found more than half of American women hold a "very unfavorable" view of the billionaire.

Opposition to Trump among women also extends to the GOP. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 47 percent of Republican women could not see themselves supporting Trump, a number significantly higher than for any other GOP candidate.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/274260-trump-faces-daunting-gender-gap


----------



## poochee

*Thousands trace Jesus' footsteps on Good Friday in Jerusalem*
By Associated Press
Published: 12:24 EST, 25 March 2016 | Updated: 12:24 EST, 25 March 2016

*PHOTOS *

JERUSALEM (AP) - Thousands of Catholics and Protestants are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by following the path in Jerusalem's Old City where, according to tradition, he walked on the way to the cross.

The Good Friday procession passes along the Way of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa, the route believed to have been walked by Jesus to his crucifixion.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3509185/Thousands-trace-Jesus-footsteps-Good-Friday-Jerusalem.html#ixzz43wJY2NhM 
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Feeling G.O.P. Peril, Muslims Try to Get Out Vote *
ALAN RAPPEPORT MARCH 24, 2016

WASHINGTON - American Muslims are watching in growing horror as Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz battle for the Republican presidential nomination, outdoing each other with provocative proposals that have included Muslim registries, immigration bans and fleets of police patrolling their neighborhoods.

With round tables, summit meetings and news releases falling on deaf ears, national advocacy groups are planning to fend off policies they consider hostile to Muslims with a more proactive strategy: driving up the Muslim vote.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/u...&gwh=6EDDF4BD8719B363243B0468D4819182&gwt=pay


----------



## poochee

March 26, 2016
*Weekly Address: Defeating ISIL*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to the people of Belgium and to families of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Brussels, including at least two Americans. He reiterated our support of Belgium as a close friend and ally of the United States, especially in the fight against terrorism. The President emphasized that defeating ISIL remains our top military, intelligence, and national security priority. He reminded us that as we move forward in this fight, we must use the power of our example as a Nation that is open to refugees escaping ISIL's violence, refuses ISIL's hateful and violent propaganda, and rejects any attempt to stigmatize Muslim-Americans. Together, we will not abandon our values and way of life - we will succeed and the terrorists will fail.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*5 things to watch in Saturday's Democratic contests*
By Chris Moody, CNN Senior Digital Correspondent
Updated 2:19 PM ET, Sat March 26, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The Democratic primary race heads west this weekend
Democrats will hold presidential contests in Hawaii, Alaska and Washington state
Here's what to watch:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/26/politics/election-results-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Rolling Stones Rock Cuba*
*Updated *March 26, 20161:00 PM ET *Published *March 26, 201612:53 PM ET
James Doubek

Historians hailed U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba as the beginning of a new relationship between the two countries. But for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, the real thrill this week was the visit of some prominent Brits: The Rolling Stones.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/26/471972883/the-rolling-stones-rock-cuba

--------------------------------------------------------------------

*Meet Cuba's All-Female Orchestra*
*Updated *March 26, 20162:35 PM ET 
*Published *March 26, 20165:38 AM ET 
Anastasia Tsioulcas

*VIDEO*

Cuba is famous for its music. A lot of people have heard of artists like the Buena Vista Social Club and Celia Cruz. But the country also has a long history of cultivating classical composers and performers. On a recent trip to Cuba, I met one group that stands out.

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2016/03/26/469944530/meet-cubas-all-female-orchestra


----------



## poochee

*Brussels terror attacks reopen airport security debate*
03/26/16 11:38 AM
By Alastair Jamieson

*VIDEO*

*LONDON -* The deadly suicide attack at Brussels Airport has reignited debate over whether aviation security should extend beyond the departure gates to include public areas, providing more safeguards at the expense of freedom and convenience.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/brussels-terror-attacks-reopen-airport-security-debate


----------



## poochee

March 26, 2016, 05:11 pm
*Man sentenced to prison for threatening to kill Obama*
By Harper Neidig

A man who threatened to kill President Obama was sentenced to three years in prison by a federal judge on Friday, according to *Reuters*.

U.S. District Court Judge William Conley also sentenced the Wisconsin man, Brian Dutcher, to three years of supervised release and recommended that he receive a full mental health evaluation.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...enced-to-prison-for-threatening-to-kill-obama


----------



## poochee

*Meet Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president*
03/26/16 12:41 PM-Updated 03/26/16 12:42 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president, has proposed a "Green New Deal" that would create 20 million living wage jobs, wants to drive big money out of politics, and wants the U.S. to immediately stop sending weapons to the Middle East.

She's also feeling the Bern - so much so that Stein has offered "to establish a collaboration" with Bernie Sanders as he fights Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/meet-jill-stein-the-green-party-candidate-president


----------



## poochee

*After 3 Big Wins out West, Bernie Sanders Sees 'Path Toward Victory'*
By MOLLY NAGLE
Mar 27, 2016, 10:53 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says don't count him out of the presidential race just yet.

Sanders scored three more victories against Hillary Clinton on Saturday, winning caucuses in Alaska, Washington state and Hawaii. He earned at least 70 percent of the votes in each contest.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/big-wins-west-bernie-sanders-sees-path-victory/story?id=37949647


----------



## poochee

*Obama and Family Attend Easter Service at Historic VA Church*
By kevin freking, associated press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Mar 27, 2016, 12:37 PM ET

President Barack Obama and the first family attended Easter service at a historic black church that traces its origins to when Thomas Jefferson was president.

The Rev. Howard-John Wesley, the pastor at Alfred Street Baptist Church, welcomed back the Obamas, whom he described as "the gorgeous family." The Obamas also visited the church last Easter.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wire...nd-easter-service-historic-va-church-37962812


----------



## poochee

*Lawmakers, Unions Reach Deal To Raise California's Minimum Wage To $15*
March 27, 201611:15 AM ET
 Camila Domonoske

The tentative agreement would end a lengthy dispute between California Gov. Jerry Brown and unions, Danielle Karson reports for NPR.

Under the new deal - which still needs to go before the state legislature - the minimum wage would increase gradually over the next six years.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-deal-to-raise-californias-minimum-wage-to-15


----------



## poochee

*Open carry at the Republican National Convention?*
03/27/16 12:34 PM-Updated 03/27/16 01:42 PM
12 share group 701
By Christina Coleburn

A petition for the open carry of firearms at the Republican National Convention has amassed over 32,000 signatures as of Sunday morning.

The convention is scheduled to take place in Cleveland from July 18 to 21 at the Quicken Loans Arena, which bans all weapons on property. While Ohio allows open-carry, the venue's ban is permitted by state law.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/open-carry-the-republican-national-convention


----------



## poochee

*Bird Visits Bernie Sanders Rally, Sparks Delight On Twitter*
*Updated *March 26, 20164:14 PM ET
*Published *March 26, 20168:41 AM ET
 Camila Domonoske

*VIDEO*

At a rally in Portland, Ore., on Friday morning, Bernie Sanders had an unexpected visitor.

And the crowd went wild.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ernie-sanders-rally-sparks-delight-on-twitter


----------



## poochee

*PHOTOS: Obamas host bittersweet Easter Egg Roll at the White House*
03/28/16 02:11 PM
By MSNBC staff and Associated Press

*PHOTOS*

WASHINGTON (AP) - Calling the moment bittersweet, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed thousands of children to the South Lawn of the White House Monday morning for the annual Easter Egg Roll.

The egg rolling began in 1878. Now the event includes storytelling, musical performances and tips from professional athletes on how to play basketball, tennis and other sports. There are even cooking demonstrations and yoga. This year, the first lady added a fun run to the mix.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/photos-obamas-host-bittersweet-easter-egg-roll-the-white-house


----------



## poochee

*Secret Service: No guns inside GOP convention*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 3:11 PM ET, Mon March 28, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Attendees of the Republican National Convention won't be able to bring guns inside the arena
That despite Ohio's open-carry law
The agency said Monday it won't allow any firearms past a perimeter and into the convention hall, despite the urging of pro-gun activists who called for Ohio's open-carry laws to extend into the arena.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/28/politics/guns-gop-convention-petition/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Why some Republicans are feeling shame*
By Sean Sullivan March 27 at 5:23 PM

Back in the fall, when Donald Trump dubbed Jeb Bush "low-energy," Carlos Gimenez grew a little concerned. By last month, when Marco Rubio and Trump engaged in childish name-calling, the Republican mayor of Miami-Dade County thought the GOP presidential race had gotten "out of hand." Now, after a tawdry week that has focused on the wives of Trump and Ted Cruz, Gimenez is certain that the race has moved totally "out of bounds."

"Politics is a contact sport," Gimenez said, "but there should be contact in other ways."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e0ac00-f2de-11e5-85a6-2132cf446d0a_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court Deadlocks On Challenge To Union Fees*
*March 29, 201611:31 AM ET *
Nina Totenberg

The U.S. Supreme Court has deadlocked on a 4-4 vote in a major labor case. The court, without further comment, announced the tie vote Tuesday. The result is that union opponents have failed, for now, to reverse a long-standing decision that allows states to mandate "fair share" fees from nonunion workers.

The tie vote is the second since Justice Antonin Scalia died, leaving a vacant seat on the court. It is certain to give further ammunition to Democrats seeking to break the GOP Senate blockade of President Obama's nominee to fill the open seat.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...me-court-deadlocks-on-challenge-to-union-fees


----------



## poochee

*What to watch at CNN's GOP town hall*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 7:34 AM ET, Tue March 29, 2016

Washington (CNN)This time, it's personal.

Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will air their increasingly acrimonious differences in a town hall Tuesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, airing on CNN and moderated by Anderson Cooper. Ohio Gov. John Kasich will also participate, rounding out the Republican presidential field.

The event comes one week before the state's April 5 primary, a critical test of the candidates' strength before the campaign heads to eastern states later in the month.

Here are five things to watch:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/politics/town-hall-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

March 29, 2016, 11:16 am
*Trump campaign manager charged with battery*
By Harper Neidig and Jesse Byrnes

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has been charged with battery for allegedly grabbing former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, local police said Tuesday morning.

The Jupiter, Fla., Police Department said Lewandowski has been charged with one count of simple battery for "intentionally" touching Fields.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/274553-trump-campaign-manager-charged-with-battery

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Trump surprised by radio host's #NeverTrump pledge*
By Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 9:58 PM ET, Mon March 28, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

"Mr. Trump, before you called into my show, did you know that I'm a #NeverTrump guy?" Sykes asked the GOP front-runner on Monday morning.

"That I didn't know," Trump replied.

Sykes last week endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's closest rival, and Sykes has been widely quoted in the press on his disdain for Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/28/politics/donald-trump-charlie-sykes-radio-interview/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 29, 6:22 PM EDT
*Obama crystallizes criticism of 2016 campaign coverage*
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

Obama's challenge to reporters to be more probing comes at a time the media is facing two seemingly contradictory strains of criticism for its treatment of Republican front-runner Donald Trump: that it has covered him too much, or not done enough to look into his background and promises.

Obama, speaking Monday night at a Syracuse University awards ceremony honoring the late political journalist Robin Toner, said he's not the only one dismayed by the tone of the campaign to succeed him. "I was going to call it a 'carnival atmosphere,' but that implies fun," he said. He said he always believed there was a price to pay if a politician said one thing and did another and wondered "in the current atmosphere, is that still true?"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-29-18-22-43


----------



## poochee

Mar 29 2016, 1:54 pm ET 
*Feds Charge 13 Detroit Public School Principals in $900K Kickback Scheme*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

Over a dozen current and former principals in the Detroit public school system have been charged in a conspiracy scheme involving more than $900,000 in kickbacks and bribes, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

At least 13 principals are named in the federal complaints - including the principal of a school that was featured on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and received $500,000 in donations because conditions there were so poor.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...chool-principals-900k-kickback-scheme-n547341


----------



## poochee

*Takeaways from the GOP town hall*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 10:41 AM ET, Wed March 30, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Top quotes from the GOP town hall in Wisconsin

Here are six takeaways from the town hall, which aired on CNN and was moderated by Anderson Cooper:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/30/politics/republican-town-hall-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 30, 1:54 PM EDT
*Obama shortens prison sentences for 61 drug offenders*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentences of 61 drug offenders on Wednesday including more than a third serving life sentences, working to give new energy to calls for overhauling the U.S. criminal justice system.

All of the inmates are serving time for drug possession, intent to sell or related crimes. Most are nonviolent offenders, although a few were also charged with firearms violations. Obama's commutation shortens their sentences, with most of the inmates set to be released on July 28.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-30-13-54-50


----------



## poochee

*Trump advocates abortion ban, 'some form of punishment' for women*
03/30/16 02:47 PM-Updated 03/30/16 04:32 PM
By Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

*GREEN BAY, Wisconsin -* Donald Trump believes that there should be punishment for women who undergo abortions if the procedure was outlawed, but indicated he has yet to determine what that punishment should be.

In an exclusive interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, the GOP front-runner described himself multiple times as "pro-life" but struggled to define what the legal ramifications of that position should be. When continually pressed for what the answer is regarding punishing women who would break any theoretical ban, Trump said the "answer is that there has to be some form of punishment, yeah."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-advocates-abortion-ban-some-form-punishment-women


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump was a nightmare landlord in the 1980s *
by Jose Pagliery March 28, 2016: 11:25 AM ET

*VIDEO
*
His plan was to tear down the building and replace it with luxury condos. But first he needed a small band of rent-stabilized tenants out of there.

To succeed, Trump played rough, according to lawsuits filed by the tenants. Renters said he cut heat and hot water, and he imposed tough building rules. Trump even proposed sheltering homeless people in the building.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/28/new...rtment-tenants0304PMStoryLink&linkId=22780276


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's abortion comments prove (again) why he could be a disaster for Republicans*
By Chris Cillizza March 30 at 5:06 PM

The prospect of Donald Trump leading the GOP ticket this November is enough to send many Republicans into a defensive crouch/cower. Fears are growing that Trump might not only lose the presidential race and cost Republicans their Senate majority, but he also might endanger the once-impregnable GOP majority in the House.

Trump's comments on abortion during a taped townhall with MSNBC's Chris Mathews Wednesday explain why. Here's the exchange:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...n-why-he-could-be-a-disaster-for-republicans/


----------



## poochee

Mar 31, 1:34 PM EDT
*US joins with South Korea, Japan in bid to deter North Korea*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States pledged Thursday to deepen cooperation with allies South Korea and Japan on deterring the North Korean nuclear threat, working to ramp up pressure following worrying provocations. Leaders of the three countries urged the world community to vigilantly enforce new U.N. sanctions.

President Barack Obama didn't disclose what further steps the countries might take as he met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit. But he said the countries had directed their teams to work together to help bring about a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-31-13-34-15


----------



## poochee

*John Kasich Calls Donald Trump 'Not Prepared to Be President'*
10:55 am ET10:55 am ET
By Thomas Kaplan

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who has generally refrained from criticizing his rivals, took on Donald J. Trump in a blunt manner on Thursday, declaring him "not prepared to be president."

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/fir...ls-donald-trump-not-prepared-to-be-president/


----------



## poochee

*FDA move could radically transform abortion access*
03/30/16 01:00 PM-Updated 03/30/16 01:52 PM
By Irin Carmon

Advocates for abortion rights don't get a lot of good news, but Wednesday brought some. The federal Food and Drug Administration has made a major change in how it labels medication that induces abortion, robbing anti-abortion lawmakers of a key tool they have had to limit access.

"We are delighted," said Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation, the major professional association for abortion providers. The new move, she said, "brings the label for mifepristone in-line with scientific research and evidence-based practice."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fda-move-could-radically-transform-abortion-access


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump has had too much media coverage, 75% of Americans say*
by Dylan Byers @CNNMoney March 31, 2016: 3:24 PM ET

Three out of every four Americans believe the media has given too much coverage to Donald Trump, a new survey from the Pew Research Center says.
*
VIDEO
*
http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/31/media/trump-media-pew-survey/index.html


----------



## poochee

April 01, 2016, 08:38 am
*Economy adds 215K jobs in March*
By Vicki Needham

The unemployment rate ticked up to 5 percent from 4.9, holding around the lowest level in eight years, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

Steady jobs growth is a sign that the economy is in good shape despite early-year turmoil in the stock market. In the past three months, job gains have averaged 209,000 per month.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/274879-economy-adds-215k-jobs-in-march


----------



## poochee

Apr 1, 12:54 PM EDT
*Obama says nuclear terrorist attack would 'change our world'*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama urged global leaders Friday not to be complacent in the face of an evolving threat from terrorists who he said are eager to unleash a devastating nuclear attack. "It would change our world," he declared.

Hosting his last nuclear security summit, Obama said the world has measurably reduced the risk of nuclear terrorism by taking "concrete, tangible steps." He said no terrorists have thus far obtained nuclear material, and he praised recent moves by Argentina, Switzerland and Uzbekistan to eliminate their stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

Still, Obama said, the prospect of the Islamic State group or other extremists getting a weapon remains "one of the greatest threats to global security." He pointed out that the IS group had already used chemical weapons and that al-Qaida has long sought nuclear material

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-01-12-54-20


----------



## poochee

*Megyn Kelly has a theory about why Donald Trump hates her. And it makes lots of sense.*
By Callum Borchers April 1 at 12:01 PM
*
VIDEO*

Donald Trump's rhetorical blitzkrieg against Fox News Channel star Megyn Kelly is one of the most-talked-about subplots of the 2016 presidential campaign. But there is a basic question that hasn't been sufficiently answered: why her?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...d-trump-hates-her-and-it-makes-lots-of-sense/


----------



## poochee

*How Donald Trump sees himself*
Story by Scott Glover, Maeve Reston Video by Brenna Williams, CNN
Updated 1:24 PM ET, Fri April 1, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

CNN looked at Trump's writing, speeches and interviews over 30 years
His outlook: 'I always get even'
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/01/politics/how-donald-trump-sees-himself/index.html


----------



## poochee

April 02, 2016
*Weekly Address: Securing the World from Nuclear Terrorism*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President spoke from the Nuclear Security Summit on one of the greatest threats to global security-terrorists getting their hands on a weapon of mass destruction, such as a nuclear weapon. He discussed the global effort we have been leading to secure the world's nuclear materials and highlighted the fact that working with other nations, we have removed or secured enough nuclear material for more than 150 nuclear weapons-material that will now never fall into the hands of terrorists. The President also reiterated his commitment to making sure the world remains united and focused on destroying ISIL. He emphasized that defeating ISIL remains our top priority, and during the summit, he focused on ways to step up our efforts to disrupt terrorist attacks. Because of the progress of this week's summit, and over recent years, more of the world's nuclear material is secure, and the President will continue to do everything in his power to keep our nation safe and strong and free.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Trump 'doesn't know much about foreign policy'*
By Nicole Gaouette
Updated 8:52 PM ET, Fri April 1, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama said Donald Trump's suggestion that Japan and South Korea should consider obtaining nuclear weapons demonstrates the Republican presidential front-runner's lack of understanding about foreign policy and the world at large.

"The person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally," Obama said at a news conference at the close of the Nuclear Security Summit.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/01/politics/obama-nuclear-summit-isis/index.html


----------



## poochee

*White House fence jumper arrested*
By Allie Malloy and Peter Morris, CNN
Updated 12:57 PM ET, Sat April 2, 2016

Washington (CNN)A man was arrested Friday night after he jumped the north fence of the White House, authorities said.

The individual was taken into custody immediately after throwing a backpack over the fence before jumping over himself shortly before midnight, the Secret Service said in a statement Saturday morning. A law enforcement source said the suspect was a man.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/02/politics/white-house-fence-jumper/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 3, 7:54 AM EDT
*GOP Congress' incomplete: Stalled bills, no court nominee*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress increasingly is being defined by what it's not doing this election year.

The Senate returns this week with a strong majority of Republicans saying no to any consideration of President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court. No hearings, no vote and, for some lawmakers, not even a meeting with federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-03-07-54-17


----------



## poochee

April 03, 2016, 12:40 pm
*Megyn Kelly: There have been threats against my life since Trump questioning*
By Jessie Hellmann

*VIDEO*

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly said in an interview broadcast Sunday that there have been threats against her life since her hard-lined questioning of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

"It's how he gins up anger among so many. So it manifests in my life in several ways," Kelly said during an interview with Charlie Rose on "CBS Sunday Morning." "It's not that I'm worried someone's actually going to come shoot me down. But I do worry someone's going to try to hurt me in the presence of my children."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...have-been-threats-against-my-life-since-trump


----------



## poochee

*In a revealing interview, Trump predicts a 'massive recession' but intends to eliminate the national debt in 8 years*
By Bob Woodward and Robert Costa April 2 at 6:51 PM
*
VIDEO*

The New York billionaire dismissed concern that his comments - which are exceedingly unusual, if not unprecedented, for a major party front-runner - could potentially affect financial markets.

Trump's go-it-alone instincts were a consistent refrain - "I'm the Lone Ranger," he said at one point - during a 96-minute interview Thursday in which he talked candidly about his aggressive style of campaigning and offered new details about what he would do as president.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...0619b6-f8d6-11e5-a3ce-f06b5ba21f33_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Arianna Huffington compares Donald Trump to Kim Jong Un*
By Ali Breland
04/03/16 04:18 PM EDT

Arianna Huffington compared to Donald Trump to Kim Jong Un on Sunday, saying that he, like Jong Un, was both "a buffoon," and "dangerous."

Huffington made the comparison of the 2016 Republican front-runner to the North Korean dictator Sunday morning in an interview on CNN's "Reliable Sources" and used it to launch into a justification for the Huffington Post's decision, for a time, to feature coverage of the real-estate mogul in its entertainment section.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/arianna-huffington-donald-trump-kim-jong-un-221514

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/arianna-huffington-donald-trump-kim-jong-un-221514#ixzz44nqhqraR
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*California enacts highest statewide minimum wage in US*
04/04/16 01:41 PM
By Associated Press

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law Monday giving California the nation's highest statewide minimum wage of $15 an hour by 2022.

That and a similar effort in New York mark the most ambitious moves yet to close the national divide between rich and poor. Experts say other states may follow, given Congress' reluctance to act despite entreaties from President Barack Obama.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/california-enacts-highest-statewide-minimum-wage-us


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To 'One Person, One Vote'*
April 4, 201611:58 AM ET
 Ron Elving 

The U.S. Constitution says that "We the People" are the source of political authority in America. But just who are "the people"? That's a big and basic political question, and today the Supreme Court gave its answer - in a unanimous decision.

The court ruled that the total population as defined by the Census Bureau should be used when counting people for political purposes. That means all persons residing in a particular state or district are to be counted, not just those who are eligible to vote.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ourt-rejects-challenge-to-one-person-one-vote


----------



## poochee

Apr 4, 1:22 PM EDT
*Obama says NATO alliance remains key to collective security*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Monday called NATO "the linchpin" of U.S. security policy and a critical ally in the fight against terrorism, indirectly countering Republican Donald Trump's recent claims that the 67-year-old alliance is obsolete.

Speaking after an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Obama praised the alliance's contributions to the fight against the Islamic State group, its partnership in Afghanistan and assistance in the refugee crisis in southern Europe.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-04-13-22-22


----------



## poochee

*Trump looks to pass commander-in-chief test as rivals see weakness*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 1:02 PM ET, Mon April 4, 2016

*Story highlights*

In a CNN/ORC poll, 55% said Hillary Clinton would be a better commander in chief while 36% chose Donald Trump
It is not only Democrats who are trumpeting alarm at Trump running the White House
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump is suddenly confronted with a test faced by every candidate with serious designs on the White House: He must prove he's fit and ready to be commander in chief.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/04/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-nuclear-policy/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How the Supreme Court has changed since Antonin Scalia died*
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 5:17 PM ET, Mon April 4, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Justice Antonin Scalia's death means the Supreme Court may have only eight justices through mid-2017
The court has already tied, 4-4, on two major cases, meaning it rules but sets no legal precedent
Scalia's towering personality has been missed in the court, possibly impacting oral arguments on a key abortion case
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/04/politics/supreme-court-scalia-eight-justices/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 4, 6:27 PM EDT
*Senate passes legislation to protect trade secrets*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Monday passed a bill taking aim at those who steal trade secrets from other businesses.

The bipartisan measure passed the chamber by a unanimous 87-0 vote and goes to the House, where companion legislation has yet to get going but enjoys supports from both liberal Democrats and GOP conservatives. The White House also supports the bill.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-04-18-27-29


----------



## poochee

Apr 5, 1:12 PM EDT
*Obama praises Treasury steps to deter 'tax inversions'*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday championed federal steps to deter a corporate financial practice known as "tax inversions" and called on Congress to close the loophole "for good."

Obama called it "one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there" because it shortchanges the country. He said less tax revenue means the government can't fully spend on schools, transportation networks and other things to keep the economy strong. He said the practice also hurts middle-class Americans because "that lost revenue has to be made up somewhere."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-05-13-12-20


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Trump, Cruz foreign policy 'not thought through'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:57 PM ET, Tue April 5, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama said Tuesday that campaign trail rhetoric from leading GOP candidates is damaging the U.S. in the eyes of foreign leaders.

He said he receives questions "constantly" from fellow officials about the "wackier suggestions that are being made" in the race to secure the Republican nomination.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/05/politics/obama-donald-trump-ted-cruz-foreign-policy/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's strategy may not work in Wisconsin*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:03 PM ET, Tue April 5, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is leading Donald Trump in the Badger State's polls. And a Bernie Sanders win would mark his sixth victory over Hillary Clinton in the last seven states to vote.

It's the last big test until April 19, and each candidate has a lot to win - or lose.

*Here are five things to watch Tuesday:
*
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/05/politics/election-results-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Wisconsin Primaries*
*April 5, 2016*

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries/2016-04-05


----------



## poochee

*Wisconsin primary: 5 takeaways*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:09 AM ET, Wed April 6, 2016 | Video Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Cruz's win over Trump means a contested GOP convention may be probable
Bernie Sanders scored another big win over Hillary Clinton
The race shifts to New York, where Clinton and Trump will be favored
*Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's contests:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/06/politics/wisconsin-primary-election-2016-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

*7 things you need to know about a contested convention*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 10:08 AM ET, Wed April 6, 2016

*Story highlights*

Ted Cruz's Wisconsin victory increases the probability of a GOP deadlock
There hasn't been a 'brokered' Republican convention since 1948
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/16/politics/contested-convention-how-it-works-questions/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump shows new vulnerabilities - and has only himself to blame*
By Karen Tumulty, Jose A. DelReal and Robert Costa
April 5 at 10:09 PM

As recently as three weeks ago, it was looking as though none of the laws of political physics applied to the phenomenon that is Donald Trump.

But the days since his strong showing in the March 15 round of primaries have seen the GOP front-runner make a series of stumbles over his own feet. No longer does he appear to be invulnerable to gaffes and mistakes that would have destroyed a more conventional candidate before the Iowa caucuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...6f-a037dba38301_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

*Pfizer pulls $160B merger after Treasury introduces new tax rules* 
04/06/16 10:29 AM
By Reuters

U.S. drug maker Pfizer agreed to terminate its $160 billion agreement to acquire Botox maker Allergan, in a major victory to President Barack Obama's drive to stop tax-dodging corporate mergers.

Announced on Tuesday, the decision to end the biggest tax "inversion" ever attempted, which would have seen Pfizer slash its tax bill by redomiciling to Ireland where Allergan is registered, came a day after the U.S. Treasury unveiled new rules to curb inversions.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/pfizer-pulls-160b-merger-after-treasury-introduces-new-tax-rules


----------



## poochee

*New York Just Passed America's Best Paid Family Leave Law*
*The state raised the bar for the whole country.*
04/04/2016 03:15 pm ET | *Updated* 1 day ago
Emily Peck Executive Business Editor, The Huffington Post

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday signed into law the most generous paid family leave policy in the United States: up to 12 weeks paid time off for new parents, as well as for those who need to take care of a family member with a serious medical condition or to handle responsibilities if someone is called to active military service.

The policy was part of the state's latest budget deal, which passed last week with bipartisan support.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...0daf53af042b7?ir=Politics&section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

April 06, 2016, 03:03 pm
*Dems tweak Trump for 'tantrum'*
By Jesse Byrnes

*VIDEO*

Democrats are needling Donald Trump over his loss in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, which has reinvigorated Republican rivals' hopes at defeating the presidential front-runner.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/275380-dems-tweak-trump-for-having-a-tantrum


----------



## poochee

Apr 6, 3:01 PM EDT
*Kerry breaks record for miles traveled by secretary of state*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) -- John Kerry is now the most traveled secretary of state in U.S. history, breaking the record as he arrived in the Middle East kingdom of Bahrain on Wednesday.

Kerry will raise human rights concerns when he meets top officials from Bahrain and the Persian Gulf region's other Sunni monarchies countries Thursday. But the focus will be on battling the Islamic State and shared concerns over Iran.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-06-15-01-40


----------



## poochee

Apr 7, 1:04 PM EDT
*At law school, Obama to press case for Garland nomination*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The stalled nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court is giving President Barack Obama a chance to do what he says he's missed: go back to school.

Obama was returning Thursday to the University of Chicago Law School, where he taught for more than a decade, to press his case for why the Senate should give Garland a seat on the nation's most powerful court.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-07-13-04-58


----------



## poochee

*Obama to appear on Fox News for first time since 2014*
by Brian Stelter 
April 6, 2016: 3:56 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Fox said in a press release Wednesday morning that "the interview will cover an array of topics, including the pending Supreme Court nomination, the 2016 election and Obama's presidential legacy."

Wallace has interviewed Obama three times before, including twice as president. But Fox is viewed inside the White House as a kind of hostile territory, so this week's booking is newsworthy.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/06/media/president-obama-fox-news/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Settled a Real Estate Lawsuit, and a Criminal Case Was Closed*
By MIKE McINTIRE
APRIL 5, 2016

Mr. Trump's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination rests on the notion, relentlessly promoted by the candidate himself, that his record of business deals has prepared him better than his rivals for running the country. An examination of Trump SoHo provides a window into his handling of one such deal and finds that decisions on important matters like whom to become partners with and how to market the project led him into a thicket of litigation and controversy.

Trump SoHo is one of several instances in which Mr. Trump's boastfulness - a hallmark of his career and his campaign - has been accused of crossing the line into fraud. Other lawsuits have charged that he peddled worthless real estate sales courses and misled investors into thinking he had built hotels when in fact he had only licensed his name to them. He has won several cases at trial and is continuing to fight others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/u...residential Election 2016&pgtype=article&_r=0


----------



## poochee

Apr 8, 2:39 PM EDT
*Kerry backs Iraqi leader, no planned increase in US troops*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry backed Iraq's prime minister on Friday in his efforts to resolve a mounting political crisis, underlining the importance of securing a "unified and functioning government" in the fight against the Islamic State. Kerry also pledged $155 million in new U.S. aid to Iraq.

Making an unannounced visit to Baghdad, his first in two years, Kerry held discussions with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as well as with Iraq's foreign minister, the Sunni speaker of parliament and a Kurdish regional leader in what was designed as a show of support for the Iraqi government as it struggles with ongoing security, economic and political challenges. He described al-Abadi's effort to reshuffle his cabinet as an internal matter, but said all sides in Iraq must put sectarian or personal interests aside for the sake of the nation's future.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-08-14-39-38


----------



## poochee

*Pope Francis draws praise for 'beautiful' affirmation of family*
By Bradford Richardson - The Washington Times - Friday, April 8, 2016

Pope Francis released Friday his long-awaited treatise on family life, emphasizing the Church's need for compassion and humility for those who fail to adhere to the standard of marriage extolled in the Bible.

Although the pope reaffirmed Church teaching on marriage and family life in the 260-page treatise, he urged pastors to apply the doctrine with love rather than judgment.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/8/pope-francis-praised-beautiful-affirmation-family/


----------



## poochee

*Big weekend on tap for Republicans in Colorado, Michigan*
By Maeve Reston, Tom LoBianco and Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 4:27 PM ET, Fri April 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Cruz is dominating the behind-the-scenes race for delegates at state conventions like the recent one in North Dakota
Colorado's delegates could be an especially valuable prize at the convention this year if the nomination is contested
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/08/politics/republican-colorado-michigan-convention/index.html


----------



## poochee

April 09, 2016
*Weekly Address: Playing by the Same Rules*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President highlighted two specific steps the Administration took this week to make sure everyone plays by the same rules. First, in order to help more Americans retire with the security they have earned, the Department of Labor finalized a rule that will ensure retirement advisers compete based on the quality of advice they give rather than acting in their own financial interests. In addition, the Treasury Department took action this week to crack down on corporations that take advantage of inversions, a loophole that allows some businesses to avoid paying their fair share in taxes here at home. These actions underscore the President's belief that we should continue to build an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Apr 9, 10:40 AM EDT
*AP-GfK Poll: Improved economic outlook boosts Obama approval*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As many in the United States hold their noses in the search for the next president, they're increasingly warming to the president they already have.

Buoyed by some good economic news and a surge of goodwill from his base of supporters, President Barack Obama is seeing his approval rating rise. That puts Obama, who leaves office in January, in a position to remain a force in the political debate at a point in his final term when some others faded into the background.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-09-10-40-11


----------



## poochee

Apr 9, 11:06 PM EDT
*Cruz picks up all delegates in Colo.; Sanders win in Wyo.*
By NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Ted Cruz completed his sweep of Colorado's 34 delegates on Saturday while rival Donald Trump angled for favor a half-continent away in New York's all-important April 19 primary. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders picked up another win in Wyoming - but it did nothing to help him gain ground in the delegate chase.

Cruz netted 13 more delegates at Colorado's state GOP convention. The Texas Senator already had locked up the support of 21 Colorado delegates and visited the state to try to pad his numbers there.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-09-23-06-33


----------



## poochee

*Exclusive: President Barack Obama on 'Fox News Sunday'*
Published April 10, 2016
FoxNews.com

*VIDEO*

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Chris Wallace.

Barack Obama sits down with "Fox News Sunday" for the first time since he became president.

http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2016/04/10/exclusive-president-barack-obama-on-fox-news-sunday/


----------



## poochee

April 8, 2016
*Trump's Convention Strategy: "The Fix Is In"*
*By Evan Osnos*
*
VIDEO*

More than three months before any ballots have been cast at the Republican convention, Roger Stone, Donald Trump's on-again, off-again consigliere, has delivered the campaign equivalent of a severed horse head to delegates who might consider denying Trump the nomination. Trump's supporters will find you in your sleep, he merrily informed them this week. He did not mean it metaphorically.

"We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal," Stone said Monday, on Freedomain Radio. "If you're from Pennsylvania, we'll tell you who the culprits are. We urge you to visit their hotel and find them. You have a right to discuss this, if you voted in the Pennsylvania primary, for example, and your votes are being disallowed," Stone said.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trumps-convention-strategy-the-fix-is-in


----------



## poochee

Apr 11, 1:04 PM EDT
*US, Goldman Sachs reach $5B settlement over risky mortgages*
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department on Monday announced a roughly $5 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs over the sale of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The government accused the bank of misleading investors about the quality of its loans.

The $5.06 billion deal resolves state and federal probes into the sale of shoddy mortgages in the run-up to the housing bubble and subsequent economic meltdown.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-11-13-04-57


----------



## poochee

Apr 11, 9:39 AM EDT
*AP-GfK Poll: Clinton has edge over Trump on range of issues*
By JULIE PACE and EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a stark warning for Donald Trump as he eyes a possible general election showdown with Hillary Clinton, Americans trust the Democratic front-runner more than the Republican businessman to handle a wide range of issues - from immigration to health care to nominating Supreme Court justices.

Even when asked which of the two candidates would be best at "making American great" - the central promise of Trump's campaign - Americans are slightly more likely to side with Clinton, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-11-09-39-51


----------



## poochee

Apr 12, 12:53 PM EDT
*With new monument, Obama and Dems seize on Equal Pay Day*
By ERICA WERNER and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and other Democrats on Tuesday seized on Equal Pay Day - a symbolic event dramatizing how much longer it takes a woman to earn as much as a man - to court women voters and call out Republicans for inaction on the issue.

Obama dedicated a new national monument to women's equality and pushed Congress to pass legislation. He suggested he's encouraged by movement toward full gender equality in many arenas - including corporate boardrooms, professional sports and presidential politics.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-12-12-53-35


----------



## poochee

*HHS report: Dire warnings of ObamaCare price spikes wrong*
By Peter Sullivan - 04/12/16 12:03 PM EDT

A new report from the Obama administration finds that ObamaCare premiums rose 8 percent last year, pushing back on warnings of larger price hikes.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report released Tuesday finds that ObamaCare premiums rose 8 percent on average - from $356 a month to $386 a month - from 2015 to 2016.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...pushes-back-on-talk-of-obamacare-price-spikes


----------



## poochee

*Barrage of Attack Ads Threatens to Undermine Donald Trump*
By NICK CORASANITI and MAGGIE HABERMAN APRIL 11, 2016

More than half of the record spending on negative advertising during the 2016 presidential primary has been directed at a single candidate, Donald J. Trump, a barrage that threatens to undermine his candidacy even as he continues to march toward the Republican nomination.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/us/politics/donald-trump-negative-ads.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump: Rules 'stacked against me'*
By MJ Lee, CNN Politics Reporter
Updated 11:22 PM ET, Tue April 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump appeared with family members at CNN's town hall on Tuesday
John Kasich and Ted Cruz and their families are also featured this week
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/12/politics/donald-trump-family-town-hall/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 13, 1:33 PM EDT
*World Bank pledges $2.5 billion for teenage girls' education*
AP

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama praised the initiative. "When we invest in girls' education, when we embrace women in our workforce, that just doesn't benefit them, it benefits all of us," she said at the event. "If we are looking to promote development, then we need to educate and empower women."

Obama is campaigning for educating girls as part of Let Girls Learn initiative that she launched last year together with President Barack Obama.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-13-13-06-03


----------



## poochee

News
Apr 13 2016, 1:46 pm ET
*Judge Imposes 720 Days of Jail on 'Affluenza' Teen Ethan Couch*
by Elizabeth Chuck

*VIDEOS*

A judge on Wednesday imposed four consecutive 180-day jail terms on infamous "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch.

"You're not getting out of jail today," State District Judge Wayne Salvant told the Texas teen, sentencing him to 720 days - one 180-day sentence for each of the four victims he killed in a June 2013 drunk-driving accident.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-you-re-not-getting-out-n555366


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump now at war with GOP*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 12:10 PM ET, Wed April 13, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump is openly feuding with the chairman of the Republican National Committee
The relationship is strained over the delegate awarding process to become the GOP presidential nominee
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/13/politics/donald-trump-reince-priebus-rnc/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama visits CIA HQ and talks next steps in ISIS fight *
04/13/16 07:04 PM
By Halimah Abdullah and Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

The president's remarks, which come as the administration considers its next steps in fighting ISIS, followed a rare trip to CIA headquarters to meet with his National Security Council to discuss the campaign against the terrorist group and the situation in Syria.

The meeting also comes a week before the president's planned meeting with Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia next week to discuss the destabilizing threat ISIS poses.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-visits-cia-hq-and-talks-next-steps-isis-fight


----------



## poochee

*What to watch at CNN's key Clinton-Sanders debate in New York*
By MJ Lee and Chris Moody, CNN
Updated 11:29 AM ET, Thu April 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

Both candidates are also insistent that they are best equipped to take on Republican front-runner Donald Trump -- another New Yorker.
Here is to watch when the two square off:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/14/politics/democratic-debate-brooklyn-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Democratic Party and Clinton campaign to sue Arizona over voting rights*
By Sari Horwitz April 14 at 12:32 PM

The Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign will sue the state of Arizona over voter access to the polls after the state's presidential primary last month left thousands of residents waiting as long as five hours to vote.

The lawsuit, which will be filed on Friday, focuses on Maricopa County, the state's most populous county, where voters faced the longest lines three weeks ago during the Democratic and Republican primaries after the county cut the number of polling places by 85 percent since 2008.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-party-and-clinton-campaign-to-sue-arizona-over-voting-rights/2016/04/14/dadc4708-0188-11e6-b823-707c79ce3504_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Democratic debate: CNN's Reality Check team vets the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 11:50 PM ET, Thu April 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders met in Brooklyn for their last debate before New York's primary
CNN's Reality Check team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/14/politics/democratic-debate-fact-check/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Waiting for a Clinton indictment? Don't hold your breath*
04/11/16 04:19 PM
By Steve Benen

The fact remains, however, that such a scenario is pretty far-fetched. _Politico_'s Josh Gerstein took a closer look today at the legal circumstances, and the reasons Clinton's foes shouldn't hold their breaths.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-...hold-your-breath?icid=rr-tab-thumbs-landscape


----------



## poochee

Apr 15, 12:11 PM EDT
*AP Poll: Dude, that's rude: More say GOP is discourteous*
By LAURIE KELLMAN and EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

When it comes to rudeness in 2016 politics, the Republican presidential contest wins in a landslide, a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has found. The survey shows that 78 percent of Americans, including most Republicans, see the GOP race as discourteous. Only about half as many - 41 percent - say the same about the Democratic campaign.

Eight in 10 people say remarks about race or gender and sexuality are unacceptable in public places, and that political leaders should be held to a higher standard of behavior than other people.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-15-12-11-38


----------



## poochee

*Trump earns second most unfavorable rating in poll's history*
04/14/16 09:48 AM-Updated 04/14/16 12:26 PM
By Anna Merod

Donald Trump and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke have something in common - their unfavorable ratings among Americans.

For the first time in more than 30 years of the ABC News/_Washington Post_ poll's history, Trump earned the highest unfavorable rating among Americans as a front-running candidate in a presidential election, just barely falling behind the unfavorable rating of Duke during the 1992 election.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-earns-second-most-unfavorable-rating-polls-history


----------



## poochee

*New York Republicans ignore Ted Cruz at GOP gala*
04/14/16 11:55 PM-Updated 04/15/16 04:02 PM
By Vaughn Hillyard

*NEW YORK - *A stunningly distracted crowd of hundreds of Republicans almost entirely ignored Ted Cruz's speech at the New York City GOP gala on Thursday night, instead chattering at their dinner tables, standing and taking selfies. Several casually left the dinner altogether.

The crowd's stark disregard for Cruz's remarks followed months of controversy over Cruz's suggestion in January that Donald Trump has "New York values."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/new-york-republicans-ignore-ted-cruz-gop-gala


----------



## poochee

April 16, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Ensuring Our Free Market Works for Everyone*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President discussed important steps the Administration has taken to encourage competition - the most essential ingredient in a healthy free market. Right now, too many companies are engaging in behaviors that stifle competition, stacking the deck against consumers, workers, and small businesses. The President emphasized that this isn't fair - and that's why he is doing everything he can to reverse this trend and to promote more competition. The President said that's also why his Administration is encouraging the FCC to open up set-top cable boxes to competition, which will allow for companies to create new, innovative, higher-quality, lower-cost products - because it's good for workers, businesses, and our economy.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Nine Guantanamo Bay detainees transferred to Saudi Arabia: Pentagon*
04/16/16 04:39 PM-Updated 04/16/16 04:40 PM
By Jim Miklaszewski and Shawna T Thomas

*VIDEO*

The Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a "comprehensive review" of the detainees and approved them for transfer after examining "a number of factors, including security issues," according to a Pentagon news release.

"The United States is grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the release said. "The United States coordinated with government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/nine-guantanamo-bay-detainees-transferred-saudi-arabia-pentagon


----------



## poochee

*Arianna Huffington: Donald Trump Shows All The Symptoms Of Being Sleep Deprived*
_"He is unable to process even simple information," she said on "Real Time with Bill Maher."_
04/16/2016 04:56 am ET | *Updated* 7 hours ago
Lee MoranTrends Editor, The Huffington Post

*VIDEO*

Mood swings? Check. Outbursts of anger? Check. Lack of judgment? Check.

Trump's inability to process even simple information, his repetition of incomprehensible pablum and false memories were also all indicators, she added.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/arianna-huffington-bill-maher-show_us_5711e947e4b06f35cb6fbde0


----------



## poochee

Apr 17, 12:19 AM EDT
*Cruz wins all 14 Wyoming Republican delegates*
By BEN NEARY
Associated Press

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -- Painstaking organization and in-person campaigning paid off again for Ted Cruz on Saturday as he nailed down all 14 delegates up for grabs at the Republican Party convention in Wyoming. The result leaves Donald Trump facing yet another loss in a string of defeats in Western states.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-16-19-32-47


----------



## poochee

Apr 17, 8:39 AM EDT
*Medicare's 'Innovation Center' rebalancing quality and cost*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- They work for the government and even their closest relatives have no idea what they do. It's not because they're spies or nuclear scientists, but because their jobs are so arcane: trying to reinvent Medicare to improve it, and maybe save taxpayers money.

In a sprawling, nondescript office park near Baltimore, some 360 people at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation are trying to change the health care system, using the government's premier insurance program as leverage. If they prevail, the U.S. may no longer have the worst of both worlds: unsustainable spending and unenviable results.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-17-08-39-21


----------



## poochee

Apr 17, 8:54 AM EDT
*We all lie, scientists say, but politicians even more so*
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- This is the season of lies.

We watch with fascination as candidates for the world's most powerful job trade falsehoods and allegations of dishonesty.

"I feel more worried about lying in public life (specifically by politicians, and in particular, Trump) than I ever have before," psychology researcher Bella DePaulo at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said in an email. When lies succeed, they make it "more tempting to lie. Lies can stick. They can have a lingering effect, even if they are debunked. "

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-17-08-54-29


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton: Trump's insults not even worth a response*
By Colin Wilhelm
04/17/16 12:21 PM EDT

"I don't respond to Donald Trump and his string of insults against me. I can take care of myself. I look forward to running against him if he's the Republican nominee if I am the Democratic nominee," the Democratic presidential front-runner said on ABC's "This Week."

"What I am concerned about is how he goes after everybody else," Clinton said. "He goes after women. He goes after Muslims. He goes after immigrants. He goes after people with disabilities. He is hurting our unity at home. He is undermining the values that we stand for in New York and across America, and he's hurting us around the world."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/clinton-trump-insults-222061#ixzz467ZIgVKj


----------



## poochee

*Secret 28 pages of 9/11 report under new scrutiny*
04/17/16 10:07 AM-Updated 04/17/16 10:07 AM
By Kristin Donnelly

When the president leaves for a trip to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday an unresolved issue will go with him: did the Saudis play some role in supporting the hijackers responsible for the attacks on September 11th?

The question is being raised in the wake of a renewed push to declassify 28 pages of a 838-page congressional report on the worst terror attack on American soil.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/secret-28-pages-911-report-under-new-scrutiny


----------



## poochee

*U.S. to send 200 more troops to beat ISIS in Iraq, Ashton Carter says*
04/18/16 10:56 AM-Updated 04/18/16 10:57 AM
By Courtney Kube and Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

The United States will send 217 more troops, including additional special operations forces, to Iraq to expand a train-and-advise effort there to help government forces fight ISIS, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday morning.

The financially strapped Iraqis have also accepted America's offer of Apache attack helicopters and an additional HIMAR rocket system as they prepare to try to retake the city of Mosul from the terror group, Carter said.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/us-send-200-more-troops-beat-isis-iraq-ashton-carter-says


----------



## poochee

April 18, 2016, 11:22 am
*Hillary on Trump: 'He does scare me'*
By Jesse Byrnes

"He does scare me, because what he's saying that he would do is wrong for our country," Clinton said during an interview broadcast Monday on "The Breakfast Club," a New York-based radio show.

"It's not only offensive to people and kind of makes you cringe; it's dangerous. I mean, he's setting people against each other. He's inciting violence," Clinton continued.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/276660-hillary-on-trump-he-does-scare-me


----------



## poochee

*Election 2016 What to Know About the Presidential Race Today*
UPDATED 6:32 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/election-2016.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump mixes up '9/11' with '7/11'*
By Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 9:00 PM ET, Mon April 18, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump accidentally referred to 9/11 on Monday as 7/11
Trump didn't correct himself
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump, who has made his advocacy for New York City after the 9/11 attacks central to his candidacy, accidentally referred to it on Monday as 7/11 -- the ubiquitous convenience store.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/18/politics/donald-trump-9-11-7-11-mix-buffalo/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 18, 7:24 PM EDT
*Obama's first farewell tour starts with damage control*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama sets out this week on his first in a series of international farewell tours, a sometimes wistful tradition for presidents in legacy mode. But in a reminder of this president's uneven ties to allies, Obama's first stop will involve more damage control than nostalgia, more friction than fondness.

When Obama lands in Riyadh on Wednesday for a Persian Gulf summit, he'll be met by leaders roiled by his recent public complaints about global "free riders" and harboring deep distrust of his dealings with Iran and his posture in Syria. Before heading on to what will likely be valedictory visits to Great Britain and Germany, the White House will be tasked with providing some measure of reassurance to a set of allies that remain critical of U.S. counterterrorism goals - even as they increasingly look to his successor.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-18-16-30-26


----------



## poochee

*Senate passes bill that would boost airport security*
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate approved a bipartisan aviation policy bill Tuesday that would boost airport security, extend new protections to airline passengers and help speed the introduction of package-delivery drones.

The bill, passed on a vote of 95-3, would also extend the Federal Aviation Administration's programs and powers through Oct. 1, 2017. That authority is due to expire July 15.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AVIATION_BILL_SENATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-19-14-33-10


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton win big in New York*
By MJ Lee, CNN Politics Reporter
Updated 11:09 PM ET, Tue April 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

New York (CNN)Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton notched huge wins in New York Tuesday night, resoundingly answering questions about their command of the race as the front-runners moved much closer to their nominations.

For Trump, the win means he could sweep the state's 95 delegates and potentially position himself to win the GOP nomination without going through a contested convention in July. Clinton's win, meanwhile, could blunt Bernie Sanders' momentum once and for all.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/19/politics/new-york-primary-results-recap/index.html


----------



## poochee

*New York primary: 5 takeaways*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:24 AM ET, Wed April 20, 2016

*PHOTOS*

The victories pushed both candidates much closer to their parties' nominations, leaving their opponents no room for error if either is to be stopped.

Here are five takeaways from New York's primary:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/20/politics/new-york-primary-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

April 20, 2016, 12:00 pm
*Obama to talk terrorism with European leaders*
By Jordan Fabian

President Obama will participate in a counterterrorism strategy session on Monday with European leaders in Germany, the White House announced Wednesday.

French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will join Obama at the April 25 meeting.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/276991-obama-to-talk-terrorism-with-european-leaders


----------



## poochee

*Senate panel approves identity-theft bill*
By Naomi Jagoda - 04/20/16 03:03 PM EDT

The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a bipartisan bill aimed at preventing identity theft and tax refund fraud.

The bill passed by voice vote, though it has not been officially reported out of committee since the mark-up is in recess.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/277023-senate-panel-approves-identity-theft-bill


----------



## poochee

*Harriet Tubman to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill* 
04/20/16 12:50 PM-Updated 04/20/16 04:46 PM
By Halimah Abdullah and Tom Costello

The long-awaited decision keeps Alexander Hamilton, one of the U.S. founding fathers, on the front of the $10 bill - though suffragists who fought to give women the right to vote will be added to the back of the bill, the Treasury Department confirmed.

"I'm very excited by it and I think it's much bigger than just honoring one woman," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told NBC News. "This is about saying that our money is going to tell a much bigger part of our story."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/harriet-tubman-replace-former-president-andrew-jackson-the-20-bill


----------



## poochee

Apr 20, 4:42 PM EDT
*Senate OKs bill to promote wide variety of energy sources*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press








WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate overwhelmingly approved a far-reaching energy bill Wednesday that reflects significant changes in U.S. oil and natural gas production over the past decade and boosts alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power.

The bill also would speed federal approval of projects to export liquefied natural gas to Europe and Asia, where prices are higher than in the U.S. following a yearlong boom in domestic gas production.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-20-16-42-18


----------



## poochee

Apr 20, 3:32 PM EDT

*Obama pushes Saudis, Gulf allies to step up Iraq aid*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, LOLITA C. BALDOR and ADAM SCHRECK
Associated Press

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- With fresh friction wearing on an old alliance, President Barack Obama pressed Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf nations on Wednesday to step up efforts to defeat the Islamic State group and help rebuild war-torn Iraq.

Obama huddled privately with Saudi King Salman at Erga Palace as Defense Secretary Ash Carter appealed to other Gulf nations for more economic and political support for Iraq, echoing themes Obama planned to emphasize personally in talks with Gulf leaders at a regional summit. In addition to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar are participating.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-20-15-32-04


----------



## poochee

April 21, 2016, 01:50 pm
*Minnesota lawmakers mourn Prince*
By Devin Henry

Klobuchar added in a statement: "He made 'Purple Rain' a household name, First Avenue a landmark, and brought international fame to Minnesota's music scene. I was always so proud to say 'Prince, he is from Minnesota.' We grieve his loss today."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/277145-minnesota-lawmakers-mourn-prince


----------



## poochee

*Queen Elizabeth turns 90: A look at memorable visits with U.S. presidents

PHOTOS*

Read more: http://www.politico.com/gallery/2016/04/queen-elizabeth-birthday-presidents-photos-002246#ixzz46UQLJFXu 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Apr 22, 12:59 PM EDT
*Obama, Cameron meet as Britain debates European Union exit*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) -- Lending political backup to a struggling friend, President Barack Obama made an impassioned plea to Britons to heed Prime Minister David Cameron's call to stay in the European Union and dismissed critics who accused the U.S. president of meddling in British affairs.

Speaking at a press conference at 10 Downing Street, Obama told reporters that Britain's power is amplified by its membership in the 28-nation union, not diminished. He made an almost sentimental appeal to the "special relationship" between the two countries. And he said cast a grim picture of the economic stakes -saying flatly the U.S. would not rush to write a free trade deal with a newly independent Great Britain.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-22-12-59-26


----------



## poochee

*Personal greeting, royal chauffeur kick off Obama's visit to Windsor*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 9:46 AM ET, Fri April 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

London (CNN)He may not have been toting a cupcake with a candle, but President Barack Obama nonetheless made a showy entrance to Windsor Castle on Friday for a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday.

Not letting the rotor wash of Obama's Marine One helicopter deter her from offering a warm welcome, the Queen strode out onto the grass alongside husband Prince Philip to offer a handshake. Under gray skies, the monarch wore a floral silk scarf to protect her from the wind as she greeted Obama and the first lady with a smile.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/22/politics/obama-queen-britain-visit/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump to Reshape Image, New Campaign Chief Tells G.O.P.*
By JONATHAN MARTIN and JEREMY W. PETERSAPRIL 21, 2016

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Donald J. Trump's newly installed campaign chief sought to assure members of the Republican National Committee on Thursday night that Mr. Trump recognized the need to reshape his persona and that his campaign would begin working with the political establishment that he has scorned to great effect.

Addressing about 100 committee members at the spring meeting here, many of them deeply skeptical about Mr. Trump's candidacy, the campaign chief, Paul Manafort, bluntly suggested the candidate's incendiary style amounted to an act.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/u...mpaign-chief-tells-gop.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*The 210 People, Places and Things Donald
Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List*
By JASMINE C. LEE and KEVIN QUEALY UPDATED April 4, 2016 Related Article

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-trump-twitter-insults.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

Apr 22, 5:54 PM EDT
*Kerry: US won't block foreign business deals under nuke deal*
By MATTHEW LEE

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Obama administration moved Friday to try to address Iranian complaints that U.S. financial regulations are denying Iran the sanctions relief it deserves under last year's landmark nuclear deal.

Meeting with Iran's foreign minister, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would not stand in the way of foreign banks or firms doing business with Iranian companies that are no longer subject to U.S. sanctions.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-22-17-00-10


----------



## poochee

April 22, 2016, 01:45 pm
*Not enough American kids trained in computer sciences*
By Brian McNicoll

It was the craziest thing.

I would be in a meeting with conservative activists in D.C., and there would be representatives of major U.S. tech firms there discussing various issues. No matter what they were for or against on any particular day, their presentation almost ended the same way - with a recruiting pitch for computer-science types to join their firms.

"Hey guys, if you know of anybody … Anybody who is qualified for these jobs … please send them our way."

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...gh-american-kids-trained-in-computer-sciences


----------



## poochee

*OMG President Obama Met Prince George And It Was The Cutest*
*Look at those cheeks!*
04/22/2016 04:19 pm ET

*PHOTOS*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...0d912d5fea53c?ir=Politics&section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

*Reince Priebus Calls on G.O.P. to Back Nominee, Even if It's You-Know-Who*
By JONATHAN MARTINAPRIL 22, 2016

"Now I know our candidates are going to say some things to attract attention," Mr. Priebus said, in a barely veiled reference to Mr. Trump's attacks on what he has called "a rigged" and "corrupt" nominating process.

"That's part of politics," Mr. Priebus said. "But we all need to get behind the nominee."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/u...en-if-its-you-know-who.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Overseas, Obama Begins the Long Goodbye*
By kathleen hennessey, associated press
LONDON - Apr 23, 2016, 8:30 PM ET

Back home, President Barack Obama has eight months, a dogfight over the Supreme Court and scores of campaign speeches for a successor ahead of him. But overseas, the president already has begun a long, slow goodbye.

As Obama wrapped up his valedictory trip to London on Saturday, he looked very much like a president on his way out the door, reflecting on his tenure and eager to shape how he is remembered. At a town hall with young people, he was asked to look back far more than forward - and he readily obliged. He offered advice for the next president, whoever that is. And then he carved out an afternoon to get out on the links with Prime Minister David Cameron, one of the few world leaders he's made a point of describing as a close friend.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/obama-royals-world-affairs-shakespeare-38616342


----------



## poochee

Apr 24, 12:56 PM EDT
*White House poised to release secret pages from 9/11 inquiry*
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration will likely soon release at least part of a 28-page secret chapter from a congressional inquiry into 9/11 that may shed light on possible Saudi connections to the attackers.

The documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into "specific sources of foreign support for some of the Sept. 11 hijackers while they were in the United States."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-24-12-56-34


----------



## poochee

Apr 24, 4:05 PM EDT
*Obama pushes for global trade deals in face of opposition*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

HANNOVER, Germany (AP) -- President Barack Obama mounted a strong defense of international trade deals Sunday in the face of domestic and foreign opposition, saying it's "indisputable" that such agreements strengthen the economy and make U.S. businesses more competitive worldwide. But he acknowledged that the clock is ticking on his faltering trade agenda.

Obama, on a farewell visit to Germany as president, is trying to light a fire under stalled talks about a trans-Atlantic trade deal, a massive pact that would rewrite the rules for the billions in trade and investment between the European Union and the U.S. At a press conference, a trade show and a private dinner with chief executives, Obama tried to counter public skepticism about the unfinished deal with Europe, while also brushing off opposition from the 2016 presidential candidates to a pending Asia-Pacific trade pact.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-24-16-05-12


----------



## poochee

*For Trump, Tubman on $20 bill illustrates broader American problem*
04/24/16 10:18 AM-Updated 04/24/16 10:18 AM

Donald Trump's take on the decision to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the $20 bill as "pure political correctness" is symbolic of a style of politics he's displayed throughout this campaign: at times wary of changes to long-standing American customs and institutions and showing a willingness to take controversial stands on issues that affect women and minorities.

"I think Harriet Tubman is fantastic," Trump said in an interview on NBC's Today Show on Thursday. "I would love to - I would love to leave Andrew Jackson and see if we can maybe come up with another denomination. Maybe we do the $2 bill or we do another bill."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-tubman-20-bill-illustrates-broader-american-problem


----------



## poochee

Apr 24, 7:11 PM EDT
*Administration: Up to 250 military personnel headed to Syria*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

AERZEN, Germany (AP) -- President Barack Obama will send an additional 250 military personnel to Syria to help local forces fighting the Islamic State group, increasing to 300 the number of U.S. forces battling extremists in the war-torn country, administration officials confirmed Sunday.

The move will significantly increase the U.S. presence in Syria and comes a week after Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the deployment of a similar number of troops to Iraq, where Islamic State militants also control territory.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-24-18-07-42


----------



## poochee

*Ted Cruz and John Kasich to Coordinate Against Donald Trump*
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER and JONATHAN MARTINAPRIL 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

Senator Ted Cruz and Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio have agreed to coordinate in future primary contests in a last-ditch effort to deny Donald J. Trump the Republican presidential nomination, with each candidate standing aside in certain states amid growing concerns that Mr. Trump cannot otherwise be stopped.

In a statement late Sunday night, Mr. Cruz's campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said that the campaign would "focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Governor Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/u...hn-kasich-donald-trump.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Apr 25, 5:36 PM EDT
*Feds issue new standards for Medicaid insurance plans*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration Monday set new standards for Medicaid private insurance plans, which in recent years have become the main source of coverage for low-income people.

The rules apply to insurers operating as Medicaid middlemen in 39 states and Washington, DC. Each state runs its own program, although the federal government pays most of the cost. Private insurers now provide coverage to about two-thirds of the more than 70 million Medicaid recipients, and the rules had not been updated for more than 10 years.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-25-17-36-17


----------



## poochee

*Trump on looking presidential: 'How handsome am I?'*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 5:37 PM ET, Mon April 25, 2016

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump asked a crowd in Pennsylvania on Monday, "How handsome am I, right?"
His comments come amid efforts to make the GOP front-runner sound and look more presidential
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/25/politics/donald-trump-how-handsome-am-i/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Apr 25 2016, 5:16 pm ET
*Saudi Arabia Announces Reform Plan to Cure Economy's 'Addiction to Oil'*
by The Associated Press

Saudi Arabia unveiled a bold reform plan on Monday aimed at weaning the country off its "addiction" to oil in a bid to prepare the next generation of Saudi leaders for the domestic pressures of youth unemployment and revenues eroded by lower oil prices.

The project, which includes plans to float a stake in the world's largest oil company, Aramco, and set up one of the world's biggest government investment funds, is meant to provide a blueprint for sweeping reforms to steer the OPEC kingdom away from its decades-long reliance on cheap-to-produce oil.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/s...orm-plan-cure-economy-s-addiction-oil-n561966


----------



## poochee

*What to watch on Super Tuesday*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:53 PM ET, Tue April 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump can't lock up the Republican nomination Tuesday -- but he can counter his two opponents' divide-and-conquer strategy and reassert his dominance in the race by running the table in five states.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, could finally start to see the finish line. If she's able to handily defeat Bernie Sanders, she could leave the Vermont senator with no real path to the Democratic nomination. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/politics/election-2016-pennsylvania-connecticut-primary/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 26, 1:17 PM EDT
*Senators again reach deal on Flint water crisis aid*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the second time in two months, the Senate has reached a bipartisan deal to address a water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where lead-contaminated pipes have resulted in an ongoing public health emergency.

Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan said an agreement reached Tuesday with Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma would authorize $170 million in grants and loans to replace the city's lead-contaminated pipes and other infrastructure. It includes $50 million to bolster lead-prevention programs nationwide.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-26-13-17-40


----------



## poochee

*









How the military is preparing for the possibility of a very different kind of Commander in Chief*.
Story By Andy Kroll

When Donald Trump launched his bid for the White House, one of his earliest initiatives was a promise to help Americans who had gone to war for their country. Or, as his campaign put it, to take care of "all Veteran complaints very quickly and efficiently like a world-class business man can do, but a politician has no clue." Last summer, about a month after declaring his candidacy, Trump unveiled a hotline for veterans to share ideas about how to overhaul the bureaucracy that served them. A campaign aide said that Trump himself would personally respond to some of the messages. "I love all veterans and will help them finally lead the kind of lives that they should be leading," Trump declared at the time.

Many of the veterans who called the hotline-855-VETS-352-say they were sent to an automated voicemail message telling them to email the campaign. Those who reached a live human were similarly instructed to send an email, or to mail their medical records to campaign headquarters at Trump Tower. It soon became evident that Trump had no actual plan in place to help anyone who contacted him through the hotline. Calling it a "publicity stunt," one veteran wrote on PopularMilitary.com, "We are not sure what the estimated wait time is, but it is probably safe to say you should hold on to your [Veterans Affairs] card for now."

http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/trump-at-war/


----------



## poochee

*Trump, Clinton score major victories*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:12 PM ET, Tue April 26, 2016

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Trump sweeps GOP races; Clinton wins 4 races; Sanders takes Rhode Island
172 GOP delegates up for grabs; 384 pledged delegates at stake for Democrats
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton scored huge victories Tuesday that bring them closer to a monumental duel for the White House in the fall.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/politics/primary-results-highlights/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Super Tuesday: 5 takeaways *
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:41 PM ET, Wed April 27, 2016

*VIDEO*

Trump swept the Republican primaries in five East Coast states on Tuesday, while Clinton won in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware, dropping only Rhode Island to Bernie Sanders.

It's still only April, and their opponents swear they're not going anywhere. But Trump and Clinton both used their victory speeches to pivot towards the general election, giving a preview of the clash we might see between them over the next five months.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night's contests:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/primary-results-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert sentenced to 15 months in prison*
04/27/16 10:21 AM-Updated 04/27/16 01:05 PM
By Stephanie Gosk, Hannah Rappleye and Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in federal prison for illegal cash withdrawals he made for payoffs to cover up sex-abuse allegations - after the judge called him a "serial child molester." The judge also sentenced Hastert to two years supervised release.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ex-house-speaker-dennis-hastert-arrives-sentencing-wheelchair


----------



## poochee

*Trump University lawsuit will go to trial, NY judge rules*
04/26/16 08:17 PM
By Erik Ortiz

The lawsuit against Donald Trump's self-styled "university" accusing it of scamming hundreds of students can head to trial, a New York judge decided Tuesday.

Eric Schneiderman, New York state's attorney general, filed a $40 million civil suit against Trump University - an online program for would-be real estate investors - in 2013. He claimed the school used fraud and false advertising techniques to lure students with the promise that they could get rich - just like Trump.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-university-lawsuit-will-go-trial-ny-judge-rules


----------



## poochee

*Obama to visit Flint to survey water crisis*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 12:45 PM ET, Wed April 27, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

President Barack Obama will visit Flint, Michigan, next month to take a first-hand look at the city's water crisis
Obama made the announcement in a letter to an 8-year-old girl
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/politics/obama-flint-michigan-water-crisis/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Ted Cruz Will Name Carly Fiorina As His Vice Presidential Pick *
April 27, 20162:28 PM ET
 Jessica Taylor

Ted Cruz will announce Tuesday he is picking former rival Carly Fiorina as his running mate, NPR's Sarah McCammon confirms.

The "major announcement" Cruz has teased at 4 p.m. is an unprecedented, last-ditch move designed to shake up the GOP primary race, one in which he badly trails front-runner Donald Trump.

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/27/47589...ll-name-fiorina-as-his-vice-presidential-pick


----------



## poochee

Apr 27, 10:25 PM EDT

*AP FACT CHECK: 'Truthful hyperbole' on foreign policy*
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press
Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Christopher S. Rugaber, Deb Riechmann and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

*EDITOR'S NOTE* - A look at political claims that take shortcuts with the facts or don't tell the full story

WASHINGTON (AP) -- By his own admission years ago, Donald Trump likes to speak with "truthful hyperbole" at times. Here's what that mix of reality and exaggeration looked like in the Republican presidential contender's foreign policy pronouncements on Wednesday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-27-22-25-04


----------



## poochee

April 27, 2016, 06:53 pm
*Senate passes resolution honoring Prince*
By Jordain Carney

"For Minnesotans, Prince was our superstar next door. He made 'Purple Rain' a household name, First Avenue a landmark, and brought international fame to Minnesota's music scene," she said in a statement.

The resolution comes after Klobuchar and Franken took to the Senate floor last week to praise Prince as part of a steady stream of remembrances from politicians in the wake of his death.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/277950-senate-passes-resolution-honoring-prince


----------



## poochee

Apr 28, 11:20 AM EDT
*Senate committee OKs millions to aid Flint in water crisis*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate committee on Thursday approved a $220 million aid package for Flint, Michigan, as the city struggles to deal with a water crisis and public health emergency from lead-contaminated pipes.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee backed the bipartisan deal as part of a broader, $4.8 billion bill that authorizes water-related projects across the country for flood control, harbor deepening and other steps.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-28-11-20-42


----------



## poochee

*3 Connected to San Bernardino shooter arrested*
04/28/16 01:4
By NBC News

*VIDEO*

Federal officials say warrants were issued on Thursday in relation to the deadly San Bernardino mass shooting and that the new charges are not terrorism related.

According to the U.S. Attorney's California office, three people with family connections to Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the shooters in the deadly terrorist attack at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center in December were arrested this morning on federal conspiracy, marriage fraud and false statement charges.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/3-connected-san-bernardino-shooter-arrested


----------



## poochee

*Trump's 'woman's card' comment escalates the campaign's gender wars
By Anne Gearan and Katie Zezima
Politics*
April 27 at 7:44 PM

Donald Trump's accusation that Hillary Clinton is playing the "woman's card" and would be a failed candidate if she were a man touched off a contentious debate about gender politics and sexism that seems likely to define the presidential election as much as any issue.

While celebrating sweeping victories in five Republican primaries Tuesday night, Trump mocked the qualifications of the Democratic front-runner, saying she would be a bad president who lacks "strength." The remarks seemed a preview of a general-election strategy to use Clinton's potential to be the first female president against her.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e4c67a-0c2b-11e6-8ab8-9ad050f76d7d_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton's five-step plan to beat Trump's personal attacks*
04/27/16 08:07 PM-Updated 04/28/16 10:00 AM

If this is the way Donald Trump wants to play, Hillary Clinton's campaign says bring it on.

With the party nominations now mostly locked in, Trump decided to aim his first salvo of the general election campaign squarely at Clinton's gender. How Clinton's campaign dealt with attack is a microcosm of how they plan to deal with, and ultimately defeat, Trump in November.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clintons-five-step-plan-beat-trumps-personal-attacks


----------



## poochee

Apr 28, 8:36 PM EDT
*Senate confirms Obama's pick to be ambassador to Mexico*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press









WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Barack Obama's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico, clearing the way for the first woman to hold what is considered to be one of the country's most important diplomatic posts.

Roberta Jacobson was confirmed by voice vote nine months after her nomination. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., had been blocking her confirmation, objecting to her role in negotiating the normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba. At the time he was seeking the Republican nomination for president.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-28-20-36-18


----------



## poochee

Apr 28, 8:05 PM EDT
*Obama: US can meet goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the U.S. can meet his goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees by Sept. 30, the end of the federal budget year.

Obama says the goal he set last year has been challenging, partly because of the need to assure the U.S. public that refugees are being thoroughly checked out.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-28-20-05-03


----------



## poochee

Apr 29, 12:12 PM EDT
*Clinton endorses all-boys public schools in high-crime areas*
By RACHELLE BLIDNER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hillary Clinton says she wants a network of all-boys public schools in high-crime areas to "spread across America."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-29-12-12-40


----------



## poochee

Apr 29, 2:16 PM EDT
*Senior Pentagon official criticizes House Benghazi probe*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior Pentagon official criticized the House Republican-led investigation into the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, saying the panel has made a "crescendo" of costly, duplicative and unnecessary requests, including some based on claims made on Facebook or talk radio.

Stephen C. Hedger, an assistant secretary of defense, expressed frustration with the Benghazi panel's potentially futile calls for witnesses and information, including some that were later withdrawn. Hedger also challenged a line of questioning of current and former military officials that focused on hypotheticals suggested by committee members or staff.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-29-14-16-44


----------



## poochee

*Trump Rally In Southern California Is Scene Of Large Counterprotest, Arrests*
April 29, 20168:56 AM ET 
 Bill Chappell

Inside the rally, people chanted "Build that wall." Outside, others chanted "Don't vote Trump" - and before the night was over, the two sides had a tense confrontation on a street in Costa Mesa, Calif., where Donald Trump gave a speech Thursday.

Police say no major injuries were reported - but that they also arrested around 20 people. Before the night was over, demonstrators attacked at least one police car, shattering its windows.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...nia-is-scene-of-large-counter-protest-arrests


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton: I have experience with men 'off the reservation' like Donald Trump*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 1:29 PM ET, Fri April 29, 2016

*Story highlights*

Jake Tapper questioned Hillary Clinton about Donald Trump's attacks on her, including nicknaming her "Crooked Hillary"
Clinton said she had no intention to respond
_Washington (CNN)_Hillary Clinton on Friday brushed off Donald Trump's sometimes personal attacks against her as him being "off the reservation" -- something she said she has experience with.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/29/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-off-the-reservation/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 29, 6:04 PM EDT
*Obama announces new steps to curb gun violence*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama announced new steps Friday to help curb gun violence, including by identifying the requirements that "smart guns" would have to meet for law enforcement agencies to buy and use them as well as sharing mental health records with the federal background check system.

Smart guns use various technologies to prevent an accidental shooting or help track down a missing gun.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-29-18-04-08


----------



## poochee

*Mocking Critics, Donald Trump Says He Can Win Without Republican Unity*
By JONATHAN MARTIN and ADAM NAGOURNEYAPRIL 29, 2016
Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting.

*VIDEO*

BURLINGAME, Calif. - Donald J. Trump got a taste on Friday of what his next month of campaigning in California could be like. He was forced to exit his motorcade and walk through a field, climbing an embankment with Secret Service agents helping him, to avoid angry demonstrators on the street.

"We went under a fence and through a fence, and oh, boy, it felt like I was crossing the border, actually," Mr. Trump said when he finally made it to a ballroom to speak at California's Republican Party convention.

For the next 25 minutes, though, Mr. Trump spoke little of California or its June 7 primary. Rather, he wrestled with whether he wanted to begin healing the fractured party he was seeking to lead. Mr. Trump, the Republican front-runner in the presidential race, mocked his conservative critics and his current and former rivals as dumb, "disgusting" and losers. He claimed at least twice that he could win even if the party did not come together. And with some conservatives still uneasy about his beliefs, he breezily dismissed questions about his principles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/us/politics/trump-campaign.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

April 30, 2016
*Weekly Address: It's Time for the Senate To Do Its Job*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President repeated his call for Republicans in the United States Senate to give Chief Judge Merrick Garland a fair hearing and a vote. It has been 45 days since President Obama nominated Judge Garland to the Supreme Court. The President highlighted that Senate Republicans have said that Judge Garland is a man of experience, integrity and impeccable qualifications. Despite this, most Senate Republicans refused to do their job and give Judge Garland the consideration he deserves. The President made clear that the Supreme Court must remain above partisan politics, and that's why the President did his job in nominating Merrick Garland. Now, it's time for the Senate to do its job.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Apr 30, 10:41 AM EDT
*President Barack Obama's last chance to zing Washington*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will get one more chance on Saturday to poke fun at fellow politicians, the press and himself as he attends his final White House Correspondents' Dinner.

The dinner comes amid a fierce presidential campaign that should provide Obama and this year's entertainer, Larry Wilmore, plenty of material.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-30-10-41-34


----------



## poochee

Apr 30 2016, 1:46 pm ET
*Baghdad in State of Emergency After Supporters of al Sadr Storm Green Zone*
by Mo Abbas, F. Brinley Bruton and Elizabeth Chuck

Iraqi officials declared a state of emergency for all of Baghdad on Saturday after protesters loyal to popular Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr breached the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to government buildings and foreign embassies, including the American one.

"Iraq security authorities have declared a state of emergency in Baghdad," said Brig. Gen. Saad Mann, a spokesman for the Iraqi military. "All gates that lead to Baghdad are closed. No one is allowed to enter into Baghdad, only those who want to leave Baghdad can do so."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ir...r-supporters-al-sadr-storm-green-zone-n565266


----------



## poochee

Photo Gallery

*The White House Correspondents' Dinner pre-parties*

Read more: http://www.politico.com/gallery/2016/04/white-house-correspondents-dinner-parties-photos-002252#ixzz47LqOeBbL
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Elizabeth Warren: 'Asking If Trump Is Sexist Is Like Asking If He Has Bad Hair'*
"He wears the sexism out front for everyone to see."
04/30/2016 04:48 pm ET

Warren called the Republican presidential candidate out this week for being obviously sexist, after Trump accused Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton of "playing the gender card." He also claimed that the former Secretary of State wouldn't have as much support if she were a man. Clinton didn't blink at the comment and has even raised money for her campaign off it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-donald-trump_us_57250a50e4b01a5ebde5d1b3


----------



## poochee

*Satanists Snub Comparison of Cruz to Lucifer*
By Ben Gittleson
INDIANAPOLIS - Apr 30, 2016, 11:42 AM ET

Prominent Satanists want to be clear: Ted Cruz need not apply.

After former House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday called the current Republican presidential candidate "Lucifer in the flesh," saying he found it difficult to work with him, staunch Satanists decried the comparison.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/satanists-snub-comparison-cruz-lucifer/story?id=38785064


----------



## poochee

*President Obama Has His Last Laughs At 2016 White House Correspondents' Dinner*
May 1, 201610:08 AM ET 
Emma Bowman

*VIDEO*

If the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner is "nerd prom," Mr. President is the class clown.

In his final run as comedian in chief at the event on Saturday evening, President Obama closed his speech with "Obama out," and a mic drop before receiving a standing ovation from Washington's bigwigs and Hollywood.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...d-white-house-correspondents-dinner-nerd-prom


----------



## poochee

May 01, 2016, 10:30 am
*Former Pentagon chief rips Trump's foreign policy*
By Rebecca Savransky

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Sunday criticized Donald TrumpDonald TrumpRove: 'The race is effectively over' if Trump wins in IndianaCruz confronts Trump supporterThe Hill's 12:30 ReportMORE's foreign policy after the Republican presidential front-runner outlined his "America first" model.

"I think, based on the speech, you'd have somebody who doesn't understand the difference between a business negotiation and a negotiation with sovereign powers," Gates said on ABC's "This Week."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...cretary-of-defense-rips-trumps-foreign-policy


----------



## poochee

May 2 2016, 11:59 am ET 
*No Water, No Teachers: Behind Detroit's Surge, Old Problems Stubbornly Persist*
by Alex Johnson

Restaurants, hotels, offices and housing are going up at a rapid pace in Detroit - part of a post-bankruptcy resurgence that makes Detroit potentially one of the hottest investment markets in the country, the nonprofit Brookings Institution said last week.

And yet, despite the revival fueled by what Brookings called historic cooperation among nonprofits, business and government, Detroit is still struggling to provide some of the most basic services to its residents.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-water-no-teachers-behind-detroit-s-surge-old-problems-n565591


----------



## poochee

May 2, 5:25 PM EDT
*Advocates: High court signals it won't stop $15 minimum wage*
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in for the first time Monday on a $15-an-hour minimum wage, signaling it does not plan to stop the movement that is spreading across the nation, worker advocates say.

The justices refused to hear a challenge to Seattle's law, which franchise owners said discriminates against them by treating them as large businesses. It comes as several other cities and a group of states, including California and New York, have started to phase in a $15 minimum wage in recent months as the cost of living keeps rising.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-02-17-25-25


----------



## poochee

*Obama on the future of terrorism after bin Laden raid*
By Nicole Gaouette
Updated 8:56 PM ET, Mon May 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Coordination between military, law enforcement, intelligence has "hardened the homeland," Obama says
Osama bin Laden may be dead, but his ideology lives on, Obama says
Obama says future terror fight will require working with partner countries
Washington (CNN)On the fifth anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, President Barack Obama sharply defended his targeted approached to fighting terror -- and said the next president would most likely follow his lead rather than his predecessor's.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/02/politics/obama-terror-doctrine-bin-laden-raid/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 3, 11:51 AM EDT
*Trump repeats unsubstantiated claim Cruz dad has Oswald ties*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

Trump has a history of repeating unproven and unsubstantiated stories, many from the National Enquirer, which has endorsed his candidacy. After the tabloid printed a story without evidence that claimed Cruz was having an extramarital affair, Trump praised the publication for having a "very good" record of accuracy.

On the campaign trial, the celebrity businessman frequently trots out a discredited tale about Gen. John Pershing, whom Trump has repeatedly claimed helped to quell Muslim extremists in the Philippines by shooting them with bullets dipped in pigs' blood.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-03-11-51-55


----------



## poochee

*Cruz unloads with epic takedown of 'pathological liar,' 'narcissist' Donald Trump*
By David Wright, Tal Kopan and Julia Manchester, CNN
Updated 1:55 PM ET, Tue May 3, 2016

*VIDEOS*

*Story highlights*

"This man is a pathological liar," Cruz said
Trump connects Rafael Cruz to Lee Harvey Oswald
(CNN)Ted Cruz on Tuesday unloaded on Donald Trump, accusing him during a news conference of being a "pathological liar," "utterly amoral," "a narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen" and "a serial philanderer."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/politics/donald-trump-rafael-cruz-indiana/


----------



## poochee

*What to watch in Indiana's primary*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 9:42 AM ET, Tue May 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

Indianapolis, Indiana (CNN)Donald Trump has defeated his Republican rivals in six straight contests. In Indiana, he could demoralize them.

Trump will try to win a primary Tuesday that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has set up as do-or-die for his own campaign. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, will attempt to reclaim the momentum that Hillary Clinton has firmly seized.

*Here are five things to watch in Indiana's primary:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/politics/indiana-primary-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

*President Obama Says Donald Trump Is Not Equipped to Be President *
By Jordyn Phelps
May 2, 2016, 7:44 PM ET

*VIDEO*

"I think that he is not somebody who even within the Republican Party can be considered as equipped to deal with the problems of this office, but look, we live in a democracy," President Obama said in an interview Monday with WMUR, an ABC affiliate in New Hampshire.

"If in fact the Republicans nominate Mr. Trump, then it's going to be an interesting fall season," he said. "I'm confident that ultimately the Democrat in that circumstance will win."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-donald-trump-equipped-president/story?id=38828409


----------



## poochee

May 3, 10:33 PM EDT
*Trump virtually clinches Republican presidential nomination*
By JULIE PACE and SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- In a stunning triumph for a political outsider, Donald Trump all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a resounding victory in Indiana that knocked rival Ted Cruz out of the race and cleared Trump's path to a likely November face-off with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Trump still needs about 200 delegates to formally secure the nomination, but Cruz's decision to end his campaign removed his last major obstacle.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-03-22-33-53


----------



## poochee

*John Kasich exiting the presidential race, leaving Trump as presumptive nominee*
By David A. Fahrenthold, David Weigel and Philip Rucker
Politics
May 4 at 1:57 PM

*PHOTOS*

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) - who ran as a sunny, center-right "Prince of Light and Hope," but won only his home-state primary - will bow out of the Republican presidential race on Wednesday after a defeat in Indiana, his senior campaign advisers said.

The departure, which Kasich will announce at 5 p.m. in Columbus, fully clears the field for front-runner Donald Trump as the GOP nominee. Another rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), ended his bid Tuesday night.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-kasich-exiting-the-presidential-race-leaving-trump-as-presumptive-nominee/2016/05/04/8137c520-1163-11e6-93ae-50921721165d_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*5 takeaways from the Indiana primary*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:58 AM ET, Wed May 4, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump won Indiana and Ted Cruz dropped out, making the billionaire the presumptive GOP nominee
Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton, but the delegate math is nearly impossible for him
The big question: Will Republicans rally around Trump?
*Here are five takeaways from Indiana's history-making night*:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/03/politics/primary-results-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Flint Water Crisis
May 4 2016, 7:52 pm ET
*Obama in Michigan: 'Turn This Into An Opportunity to Rebuild Flint'*
by Elizabeth Chuck and Perry Bacon Jr.

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama made a long-awaited visit to Flint, Michigan, Wednesday, seeking to bring unity to a crisis over lead-contaminated water that has left residents furious with local, state and federal leaders - and taking sips of filtered water to show it is safe to drink.

Inspired to visit by a letter from an 8-year-old Flint girl, Obama told an audience of about 1,000 that he came to listen to their concerns about a water-contamination crisis.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fl...chigan-turn-opportunity-rebuild-flint-n568086


----------



## poochee

*Trump to meet with top Hill Republicans soon*
By Deirdre Walsh, CNN Senior Congressional Producer
Updated 1:43 PM ET, Thu May 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump will soon meet with GOP congressional leaders
The presumptive Republican nominee now only has a small group of Capitol Hill supporters
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/05/politics/donald-trump-hill-republicans/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 5, 9:47 PM EDT
*Trump strains to unite GOP behind him; Ryan says no, for now*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump is struggling in his efforts to unify the Republican Party behind his presidential campaign, the difficulty immediately underscored Thursday by a startling exchange of negative comments with GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan who said he was not ready to support him.

Although Trump is now the party's presumptive nominee, Ryan said Thursday: "I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now." Still, he added: "I hope to. And I want to," in comments on CNN's "The Lead."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-05-21-47-54


----------



## poochee

May 5, 8:45 PM EDT
*Obama commutes sentences for 58 federal prisoners*
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than a decade ago, a judge bemoaned that the life sentence she was about to impose on Charles C. Brown was overly harsh. This week, relief finally came to Brown, along with 57 other offenders.

President Barack Obama on Thursday commuted their prison terms as part of a broader push to revamp the criminal justice system and ease punishments for nonviolent drug convicts.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-05-20-45-15


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Economy Gains 160,000 Jobs In April; Unemployment Rate Holds Steady*
May 6, 20168:46 AM ET
 Merrit Kennedy 

The U.S. economy added 160,000 jobs in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly report. That's significantly fewer than analysts had projected.

The unemployment rate last month held steady at 5 percent, Friday's report says.

As NPR's Chris Arnold told our Newscast unit ahead of the release: "Analysts are predicting a gain of about 200,000 jobs for April. The economy's been averaging some 250,000 more jobs a month over the past 6 months."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-jobs-in-april-unemployment-rate-holds-steady


----------



## poochee

May 6, 4:51 PM EDT
*Obama on Trump: This is not a reality show*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

"What I'm concerned about is the degree to which reporting and information starts emphasizing the spectacle and the circus," Obama said, simultaneously acknowledging the GOP nominee is a spectacle and placing partial blame on the media for creating him.

"That's not something we can afford. And the American people, they've got good judgment; they've got good instincts, as long as they get good information."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-06-16-51-53


----------



## poochee

*Trump's new right-hand man has history of controversial clients and deals* 
Paul Manafort's track record may create new headaches for a campaign that has criticized for weak foreign policy credentials and controversial stances
_Peter Stone
Wednesday 27 April 2016 14.21 EDT

For almost four decades, Donald Trump's newly installed senior campaign adviser, Paul Manafort, has managed to juggle two different worlds: well known during US election season as a shrewd and tough political operative, he also boasts a hefty résumé as a consultant to or lobbyist for controversial foreign leaders and oligarchs with unsavory reputations.

The controversial clients Manafort has represented have paid him and his firms millions of dollars and form a who's who of authoritarian leaders and scandal-plagued businessmen in Ukraine, Russia, the Philippines and more. On some occasions, Manafort has become involved in business deals that have sparked litigation and allegations of impropriety.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/27/paul-manafort-donald-trump-campaign-past-clients_


----------



## poochee

May 6, 6:27 PM EDT
*More big-name Republicans abandon Trump; he just shrugs*
By ERICA WERNER and STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Big-name GOP leaders piled on Friday against Donald Trump in an extraordinary show of Republican-vs.-Republican discontent over his winning the party's presidential nomination. Trump just shrugged it off, declaring they didn't really matter when compared to all the voters who turned out to vote for him in this year's primary elections.

Trump grudgingly agreed to meet next week with Paul Ryan, the Republican House speaker whose statement a day earlier - he said he was not ready to embrace Trump's nomination - set off the intraparty fireworks. Trump said he had "no idea" if they would patch things up and it wasn't all that important anyway.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-06-18-27-10


----------



## poochee

May 07, 2016
*Weekly Address: Happy Mother's Day From President Obama*

VIDEO

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama recognized all mothers in celebration of this upcoming Mother's Day, including First Lady Michelle Obama. The President emphasized that we should give all parents the support they need by providing paid maternity and paternity leave, sick leave, accommodations for workers who are pregnant, good health care, affordable child care, flexibility at work, equal pay, and a decent minimum wage. Underscoring the importance of these issues, the President called on Congress to give meaning to Mother's Day by taking action on these items.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*The GOP's 24-hour meltdown*
*Trump's promise to unify the Republican Party is in tatters, as an all-out civil war grips the*
By Nolan D. McCaskill
05/06/16 07:07 PM EDT

Friday brought another day of incredible division and revolt with Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham falling in line not behind Trump, but behind House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said a day earlier that he cannot yet support the brash real estate mogul as his party's standard-bearer.

Trump, instead of trying to make peace, lashed out.

Then he laced into both of his former rivals during his rally in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is continuing to campaign ahead of Tuesday's primary, despite having vanquished the rest of the GOP field.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/the-gops-24-hour-meltdown-222921#ixzz480QOF4E7
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP May 6, 2016, 10:14 PM

*Trial date set in Trump University lawsuit*
*SAN DIEGO --* Donald Trump will go to trial in a class-action lawsuit against him and his now-defunct Trump University after the presidential election but before the inauguration, setting the stage for a president-elect to take the witness stand if he wins the White House.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel on Friday scheduled trial for Nov. 28 in the suit that alleges people who paid up to $35,000 for real estate seminars got defrauded. The likely Republican nominee planned to attend most, if not all, of the trial and would testify, Trump attorney Daniel Petrocelli said.

The lawsuit is one of three that accuse Trump University of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach secrets of success in real estate.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/campaign-2016-donald-trump-trial-date-set-in-trump-university-lawsuit/


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama's last campaign*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 10:45 AM ET, Sat May 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

CNN/ORC poll published Friday found Obama's approval rating at 51%
Obama's popularity could help Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail
The late-term boost in popularity is good news for a President whose achievements have often come at a heavy political price in a deeply partisan age. But it could be even better news for Hillary Clinton, who is preparing for a fierce general election clash with Donald Trump and may need to deploy a popular Obama to the campaign trail to drive up Democratic enthusiasm.

"There is no question that the President will be rolling up his sleeves and be out there quite a bit on the campaign trail in the summer and the fall," said White House Communications Director Jen Psaki. "He has already done quite a bit of fundraising. I think people can expect that he will get some holes in his shoes from the amount of campaigning he will do."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/07/politics/obama-hillary-clinton-last-campaign/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama makes Mother's Day plea to address 'diaper gap'*
05/08/16 01:02 PM
By Christina Coleburn

President Barack Obama commemorated Mother's Day with a Medium post explaining his plan to help families that have difficulty affording diapers.

"Last December, a young mother from Illinois wrote to me with a plea for help," Obama wrote. "Even after dropping out of school and taking a part-time job to provide for her family, she still struggled to make ends meet, in part because of the cost of diapers for her newborn baby."

The president then discussed his plans to address the "diaper gap." Nearly 1 in 3 American families struggle to afford enough diapers, according to the White House.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-makes-mothers-day-plea-address-diaper-gap


----------



## poochee

May 8, 8:29 AM EDT
*UK treasury chief sees Clinton as winner, calls Trump 'odd'
*
In an unusual diplomatic departure, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne offered his coy take Sunday on the race between leading Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and the Republicans' sole campaign survivor, Donald Trump.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-08-08-29-45


----------



## poochee

*Why Hillary Clinton Is Uniquely Suited To Take On Donald Trump*
_The king of branding is going to have a hard time changing voters' perceptions of Clinton._
05/06/2016 11:53 am ET | *Updated* 2 days ago
Sam Stein Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

Presidential campaigns are not literal battlefields. And voters are not Army intelligence analysts. But as the 2016 general election comes into focus, the same behavioral patterns observed in this study will play a significant role in determining the next president.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...016f378957726?ir=Politics&section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

Politics
*'There's nobody left': Evangelicals feel abandoned by GOP after Trump's ascent*
By Katie Zezima
May 8 at 11:23 PM

*VIDEO*

Fuller and other conservatives whose voting decisions are guided by their Christian faith find themselves dismayed and adrift now that Trump has wrested control of the Republican Party. It is a sentiment that reaches from the small, aluminum-sided church with a large white cross on its front that Fuller and his wife built on the Nebraska plains to the highest levels of American religious life. Even progressive Christians - evangelicals and Catholics, among others - who don't necessarily vote Republican are alarmed that Trump is attracting many voters who call themselves religious. A coalition of nearly 60 Christian leaders - many progressive and some conservative - published an open letter last week asking voters of faith to reject Trump and his "vulgar racial and religious demagoguery," warning that the nation faces a "moral threat" from the candidate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...33991e-130f-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html


----------



## poochee

Op-Ed Columnist
*The Making of an Ignoramus*
Paul Krugman MAY 9, 2016

Truly, Donald Trump knows nothing. He is more ignorant about policy than you can possibly imagine, even when you take into account the fact that he is more ignorant than you can possibly imagine. But his ignorance isn't as unique as it may seem: In many ways, he's just doing a clumsy job of channeling nonsense widely popular in his party, and to some extent in the chattering classes more generally.

Last week the presumptive Republican presidential nominee - hard to believe, but there it is - finally revealed his plan to make America great again. Basically, it involves running the country like a failing casino: he could, he asserted, "make a deal" with creditors that would reduce the debt burden if his outlandish promises of economic growth don't work out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/opinion/the-making-of-an-ignoramus.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump's tax plan changed (again and again)*
05/09/16 11:44 AM-Updated 05/09/16 01:37 PM
By Jane C. Timm

Donald Trump can't seem to decide whether he's for raising taxes on the wealthy or cutting them, based on interviews he's given over the last two days. It's the latest and perhaps most eye-popping example of Trump's tendency to edit or adjust his policy proposals, depending on the moment.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee appeared on CNN Monday to refute his own assertion - made in interviews on NBC's "Meet the Press" and ABC's "This Week" Sunday - that the wealthy would likely see a tax hike if he is elected president.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trumps-tax-plan-changed-again-and-again


----------



## poochee

May 9, 6:44 PM EDT
*Anxiety over Trump cuts into House Republicans' support*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Anxiety over Donald Trump spread among congressional Republicans Monday, pushing several to follow House Speaker Paul Ryan's lead and withhold their support from the divisive billionaire. Ryan himself declared there's no point in trying to "fake" party unity.

"If we go forward pretending that we're unified, then we are going to be at half-strength this fall," Ryan told The Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin, defending his stunning decision last week to refuse to endorse his party's presumptive presidential nominee.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-09-18-44-28


----------



## poochee

May 9, 8:18 PM EDT
*Treasury Secretary hopes to jump-start help for Puerto Rico*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

The Obama administration hopes to jump-start congressional efforts to aid the U.S. territory, and Lew's one-day trip focused attention on how the 3.5 million U.S. citizens living on the island are struggling with the worsening financial situation.

At a brief news conference after a private tour of San Juan's Centro Medico hospital, Lew said Puerto Rico's problems were a human crisis as well as financial. He said infants who needed dialysis were unable to get it while children could only get cancer medicine if it were paid for in advance with cash.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-09-20-18-44


----------



## poochee

May 9, 3:50 PM EDT
*Obama signs into law new restrictions on Syrian antiquities*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States on Monday stepped up efforts to stop the Islamic State's trade in looted antiquities as President Barack Obama signed into law new import restrictions on Syrian cultural artifacts.

The bill passed the House and Senate last month. Its proponents argue that Islamic State and other militants have made millions of dollars selling irreplaceable artifacts on the black market, with buyers in America part of the market for the stolen goods. The profits have helped fund violence.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-09-15-50-49


----------



## poochee

*Obama to make historic visit to Hiroshima*
David Nakamura
Post Politics
May 10 at 9:00 AM

*VIDEO*

President Obama will make a historic trip to Hiroshima, Japan, on May 27, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site of the world's first atomic bombing.

The White House formally announced the visit Tuesday after weeks of speculation that Obama would stop in the city after attending the Group of 7 economic summit in Ise-Shima. The president is expected to deliver a speech on nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will join Obama on the visit, where the president will "highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," the White House said in a statement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hima/?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*5 takeaways from West Virginia and Nebraska*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 11:14 PM ET, Tue May 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in West Virginia Tuesday night, keeping his long-shot bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination alive for now.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, captured two states -- West Virginia and Nebraska -- as voters continue to flock to the New York billionaire. Exit polls in both states painted a picture of conservative voters eager for outsiders in Washington.

*Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night's primaries:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/10/politics/primary-results-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Prince investigation: Warrant names doctor treating star before death*
05/10/16 06:47 PM
By Tracy Connor and Chris Francescani

*VIDEO*

Minnesota police investigating the death of Prince served a search warrant on a doctor who had seen him twice, prescribed him medication and showed up at Paisley Park to deliver test results only to learn the singer was dead, according to court documents.

The papers do not say why the 57-year-old star was seeing Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, what drugs he was prescribed or whether he ever picked them up at Walgreen's. Prince was reportedly seen at a local Walgreen's in the days before his death, but the drug giant has declined comment.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/prince-investigation-warrant-names-doctor-treating-star-death


----------



## poochee

*Trump resists calls to disclose his tax returns*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 12:53 PM ET, Wed May 11, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump continues to resist calls to release his tax returns.
The presumptive Republican nominee told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday "there's nothing to learn from them."

Still, Trump has also refused to release his tax returns from previous years, which are no longer under IRS audit.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/11/politics/donald-trump-tax-returns/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump needs cash, but GOP donors not opening their wallets*
By MJ Lee and Sara Murray, CNN
Updated 12:26 PM ET, Wed May 11, 2016

_(CNN)_As the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump now faces a monumental obstacle: Hillary Clinton's money machine.

There's just one problem: Trump has spent the last year railing against his party's powerful donors.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/10/politics/donald-trump-gop-donors/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
May 11 2016, 11:54 am ET
*America's Oldest Veteran Richard Overton Celebrates 110th Birthday*
by Elizabeth Chuck

A man believed to be America's oldest veteran is celebrating his 110th birthday on Wednesday.

Richard Overton, of Austin, Texas, fought in the 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion in World War II, and served as a corporal in Hawaii, Guam and Iwo Jima.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ard-overton-celebrates-110th-birthday-n572146


----------



## poochee

May 12, 1:29 PM EDT
*Trump, Ryan, pledge to work together; endorsement may come*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan pledged to work together despite their differences after a meeting Thursday aimed unifying a party torn over Trump's rise to the cusp of the Republican presidential nomination. The speaker stopped short of a full-throated endorsement but appeared closer to one.

Trump and Ryan issued a statement describing their meeting as a "very positive step toward unification" that recognized "many important areas of common ground" as well as areas where they disagree. Ryan stunned Republicans by withholding his endorsement a week ago when it became clear Trump was on a firm path to the nomination.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-12-13-29-03


----------



## poochee

*Judge rules in favor of Republicans in Obamacare challenge*
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 1:40 PM ET, Thu May 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)A federal judge ruled Thursday against the administration in a challenge to a portion of the Affordable Care Act brought by the House of Representatives.

At issue is the "cost sharing" provision in the law that requires insurance companies offering health plans through the law to reduce out-of-pocket costs for policy holders who qualify. The government offsets the added costs to insurance companies by reimbursing them.

The Obama administration is expected to appeal the decision.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/12/politics/obamacare-court-challenge-republicans/index.html


----------



## poochee

*George Zimmerman Auctioning Off Gun*
May 12, 20168:20 AM ET
 Camila Domonoske 

George Zimmerman, who fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012 and was acquitted of all charges in the case, is auctioning off the gun that he says he used in that incident.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...g-off-gun-with-which-he-killed-trayvon-martin


----------



## poochee

*Former S.C. Police Officer Indicted On Civil Rights Charges In Death Of Black Man*
May 11, 20161:43 PM ET
 Merrit Kennedy 

In South Carolina, a federal grand jury has indicted a white, former police officer on civil rights charges over the shooting death of an unarmed black man last April.

The killing of Walter Scott garnered national attention after the release of a cellphone video showing then-Officer Michael Slager repeatedly firing his weapon as Scott ran through a field in North Charleston, S.C. As the Two-Way has reported, the 50-year-old father of four fled after a traffic stop.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...on-civil-rights-charges-in-death-of-black-man


----------



## poochee

May 11, 10:16 AM EDT
*Senate OKs bill to allow female pilots' ashes at Arlington*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

By voice vote Tuesday, senators approved the bill, which has won support from Republicans and Democrats.

The WASPs served in a unit called Women Airforce Service Pilots. They flew noncombat missions to free up male pilots for combat.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-11-10-16-23


----------



## poochee

May 12, 11:35 PM EDT
*US gives directive to schools on transgender bathroom access*
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina.

The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-12-23-35-17


----------



## poochee

May 12, 7:10 PM EDT
*Secret Service to investigate Trump's former butler*
By JILL COLVIN and ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's former butler has drawn the attention of Secret Service for threats online he's made against President Barack Obama.

Anthony Senecal, who served the presumptive Republican nominee at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, has a Facebook page filled with incendiary comments. Many of the posts are directed at the president and his family. The posts were first reported by Mother Jones

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-12-19-10-57


----------



## poochee

*Pope Francis Says He's Open To Studying Whether Women Can Be Deacons*
May 12, 20163:58 PM ET
Merrit Kennedy

Pope Francis told a gathering of about 900 heads of women's religious orders that he supports studying whether women can become deacons. The step is seen as a possible turning point for the Roman Catholic Church, which does not allow women to serve in ordained ministry.

At Thursday's meeting of the International Union of Superiors General, Francis was asked why women are not allowed to be deacons and whether he would form an official commission to look into the issue. He responded, "I accept; it would be useful for the church to clarify this question. I agree."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...open-to-studying-whether-women-can-be-deacons


----------



## poochee

May 13, 12:58 PM EDT
*Security clearance background checks to include social media*
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper signed a policy directive announced Friday that allows investigators to collect publicly available social media information pertaining to the person whose background is being checked. Unless there is a national security concern or the need to report a crime, any information pertaining to people who appear in the subject's social media will not be investigated or pursued, the directive says.

"It defied common sense for the government to overlook social media data available to anyone with an Internet connection," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Committee. He said he was glad the intelligence community was taking the step to fix "such a glaring lapse in our security clearance process."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-13-12-58-40


----------



## poochee

*Obama to world: Be more like the Nordics*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

He joked: "Why don't we just put all these small countries in charge for a while?"

The remark in some ways encapsulated a White House summit with the leaders of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark. The discussions covered a slate of issues weighing heavily on the region - including concerns about Russian aggression, managing refugee flows in Europe and fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria - but little disagreement among nations that largely see eye-to-eye.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-13-13-27-56


----------



## poochee

May 13, 1:42 PM EDT
*'Self-funded' Donald Trump preparing to seek big-donor money*
By JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competition for relying on political donors now wants their money - and lots of it.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently hired a national finance chairman, scheduled his first fundraiser and is on the cusp of signing a deal with the Republican Party that would enable him to solicit donations of more than $300,000 apiece from supporters.

Trump's dilemma: By asking for money, he could anger supporters who love his assertion that he's different from most politicians because he isn't beholden to donors.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-13-13-42-37


----------



## poochee

*Four Pinocchios*

*Trump's false claim that 'there's nothing to learn' from his tax returns*
*By Glenn Kessler 
Fact Checker
May 12
*
Donald Trump has a history of promising to release his tax returns - and then not doing so.

In 2011, when Trump was spearheading the movement questioning whether President Obama was born in the United States, Trump told ABC News that he would release his tax returns if Obama released his long-form birth certificate. "I'd love to give my tax returns," he said.

But once Obama released his birth certificate, Trump hedged. "At the appropriate time I'm going to do it," he said. The appropriate time never came.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...theres-nothing-to-learn-from-his-tax-returns/


----------



## poochee

*Washington Post assigns army of 20 to dig into 'every phase' of Trump's life*
By Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) • 5/11/16 11:51 AM

*VIDEO*

The Washington Post has built a sizable army of reporters to dig into every facet of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's life, urged on by new owner Jeff Bezos to reveal everything about the potential nominees.

Post Associate Editor Bob Woodward revealed Wednesday that the Post has assigned 20 staffers to Trump. In addition the paper plans a book.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/w...trump-every-phase-of-his-life/article/2591021


----------



## poochee

*Crossing the Line: How*
*Donald Trump Behaved*
*With Women in Private*
_Interviews reveal unwelcome advances, a shrewd reliance on ambition, and unsettling workplace conduct over decades._
By MICHAEL BARBARO and MEGAN TWOHEYMAY 14, 2016

The New York Times interviewed dozens of women who had worked with or for Mr. Trump over the past four decades, in the worlds of real estate, modeling and pageants; women who had dated him or interacted with him socially; and women and men who had closely observed his conduct since his adolescence. In all, more than 50 interviews were conducted over the course of six weeks.

Their accounts - many relayed here in their own words - reveal unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct, according to the interviews, as well as court records and written recollections. The interactions occurred in his offices at Trump Tower, at his homes, at construction sites and backstage at beauty pageants. They appeared to be fleeting, unimportant moments to him, but they left lasting impressions on the women who experienced them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

May 14, 2016
*Weekly Address: A Conversation About Addiction*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore joined President Obama to discuss a disease that affects far too many Americans: addiction. Macklemore opened up about his own experience, his life in recovery, and the loss of a friend who overdosed on prescription drugs at a young age - emphasizing that substance use disorder affects people from all walks of life. To underscore the importance of Macklemore's story, the President noted that we can help those suffering in private by making the conversation public, and we should do everything we can to make treatment available to everyone who needs it. The President noted that while the House of Representatives passed several bills on opioids this week, without more funding to expand treatment, these bills will not be enough to provide Americans the help they need. President Obama said there is hope, and that when we treat substance use disorder as the public health problem it is, more people will get the help they need. If you are looking for treatment in your area, call 1-800-662-HELP.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

May 15, 1:27 PM EDT
*Obama urges 2016 graduates to shun fear, seek innovation*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

He says progress in America has been bumpy and fitful, but members of the Class of 2016 are well-positioned to lead the U.S. toward a brighter future.

Obama is delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University in New Jersey. It's the second of three commencement speeches Obama will give this year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-15-13-27-09


----------



## poochee

*First female combatant commander takes charge*
By Gregg Birnbaum and Ryan Browne, CNN
Updated 4:43 PM ET, Fri May 13, 2016
_(CNN)_

Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson was appointed Friday to lead U.S. Northern Command, becoming the nation's first female combatant commander.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Robinson, a four-star general, was tapped because she was the most qualified for the post and called her a "superb officer."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/13/politics/first-woman-combatant-commander-lori-robinson/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court sends Obamacare contraception case back to lower courts*
By Robert Barnes
Courts & Law
May 16 at 11:40 AM

*VIDEO *

A short-handed Supreme Court declined Monday to decide challenges to an Affordable Care Act requirement about providing contraceptive coverage, saying that there was a possibility of compromise between religious objectors and the government.

The court punted the issue back to lower courts, and said its unanimous ruling "expresses no view on the merits of the cases."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e5d6da-1b72-11e6-9c81-4be1c14fb8c8_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama Swipes at Trump, but Doesn't Name Him, in Speech at Rutgers*
By GARDINER HARRISMAY 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

President Obama took several sharp swipes at Donald J. Trump on Sunday during a commencement address that could be the beginning of a forceful effort to help elect a Democratic successor as president.

Addressing Rutgers University's class of 2016 at the school's 250th anniversary commencement, Mr. Obama never mentioned Mr. Trump by name. But his target was clear, and his assessments earned raucous cheers from the graduates.

"The world is more interconnected than ever before, and it's becoming more connected every day," Mr. Obama told the graduates. "Building walls won't change that."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/u...m-in-speech-at-rutgers.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Six things to watch in Kentucky and Oregon primaries*
05/17/16 09:57 AM
By Perry Bacon Jr.

Hillary Clinton continues to move ever closer to clinching the Democratic nomination with each successive primary contest but Bernie Sanders could get more victories in his column on Tuesday when voters in Kentucky and Oregon head to the polls.

Here are some key things to watch for Tuesday:

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/six-things-watch-kentucky-and-oregon-primaries


----------



## poochee

*4 Things To Know About Hillary Clinton's Approach To Foreign Policy*
May 17, 201610:47 AM ET
Scott Horsley 

As a former senator and secretary of state, Hillary Clinton has a long foreign policy track record. That record suggests she'd be more hawkish than President Obama - and many of her fellow Democrats. But don't expect her to go overboard. She knows all too well the political price that can come with military intervention.

Here are four things to know about Clinton's approach to foreign policy:

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/17/47836...t-hillary-clintons-approach-to-foreign-policy


----------



## poochee

*Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump*
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger Politics
May 17 at 12:14 PM

But Sater and his business partners had an idea: They would build Trump towers in U.S. cities and across the former Soviet bloc. Sater pitched it to Trump, who gave Sater's company rights to explore projects in Moscow as well as Florida and New York.

"Anybody can come in and build a tower," Sater told potential investors, according to testimony in a 2008 court case. "I can build a Trump Tower, because of my relationship with Trump."

Sater's "Trump card," as he called it, didn't work everywhere. The Moscow deal fell apart. But their relationship continued - though just how close they were is now in dispute.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...c6c2c6-16d3-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Boston Men Jailed For Trump-Inspired Hate Crime Attack*
_The men told police they targeted their victim because they believed he was an illegal immigrant._
05/17/2016 09:03 am ET

BOSTON (Reuters) - Two Boston brothers accused of urinating on and beating a homeless Mexican man and telling police "Donald Trump was right: All these illegals need to be deported," were sentenced to prison on Monday, prosecutors said.

Scott Leader, 38, and Steve Leader, 30, had previously pleaded guilty to indictments charging them with causing bodily injury while committing a civil rights violation, as well as assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, among other charges.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-hate-crime_us_573b15a0e4b077d4d6f3fa3d


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Economy Could Be Poised For Stronger Growth*
May 17, 201612:16 PM ET

A couple of indicators just out suggest the U.S. economy might be getting ready to shift into a higher gear.

"Most models that try to predict who's going to win the presidency take into account some measure of how the economy is doing. That's because generally if it's going strong in the six months or so before the election, history suggests the party currently in the White House will win. If it stinks, the party not in the White House takes over."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...s-economy-could-be-poised-for-stronger-growth


----------



## poochee

May 16, 5:11 PM EDT
*Low-income high schoolers to get grants for college courses*
By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time, thousands of low-income high-school students in nearly two dozen states will soon be able to get federal grants to take college courses for credit, part of a program the Obama administration plans to begin this summer.

The experimental program allows high school students to apply for federal Pell grant money to pay for college courses. The "dual enrollment" program is designed to help students from lower-income backgrounds.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-16-17-11-35


----------



## poochee

*Eric Fanning, first openly gay Army secretary, confirmed by U.S. Senate*
05/17/16 06:03 PM-Updated 05/17/16 06:15 PM
By Halimah Abdullah and Courtney Kube

In another historical moment for the Obama administration, the Senate on Tuesday evening confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary.

Fanning thus becomes the first openly gay leader of any U.S. military service.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/eric-fanning-first-openly-gay-army-secretary-confirmed-us-senate


----------



## poochee

By Kate Gibson MoneyWatch May 17, 2016, 8:00 PM
*Obama extends overtime pay to 4.2 million Americans*

The Department of Labor on Wednesday will finalize a rule extending overtime protections to 4.2 million more Americans currently not eligible under federal law, boosting wages by $12 billion over the next 10 years, the White House said Tuesday evening.

The updated rule, which takes effect Dec. 1 and doubles the salary threshold below which workers automatically qualify for time-and-a-half wages to $47,476 from $23,660 a year, or from $455 to $913 a week. Hourly workers are generally guaranteed overtime pay regardless of what they make.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-extends-overtime-pay-to-4-2-million-americans/


----------



## poochee

May 21, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Expanding Overtime Pay*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed one of the single most important steps to help grow middle-class wages - expanding the number of workers who are eligible for the overtime that they have earned. Every week, millions of Americans work more than 40 hours but do not receive the overtime pay they deserve. This week, the Department of Labor finalized a rule to extend overtime protections to 4.2 million more Americans, which will boost wages for working Americans by $12 billion over the next 10 years. This action will not only mean a better life for more American families, but will also strengthen our economy across the board. The President emphasized that he will continue to build an economy where everyone gets a fair shot to get ahead.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Suspect shot near White House, in custody*
By Kevin Liptak, Peter Morris, Shimon Prokupecz and Joe Johns, CNN
Updated 9:20 PM ET, Fri May 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The suspect was shot in the abdomen, according to two sources
President Barack Obama was not at the White House at the time of the incident
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/politics/u-s-park-police-shooting-near-white-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 21, 1:44 PM EDT
*Obama is off to Asia to boost trade, cooperation*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama departed Saturday on a weeklong, 16,000-mile trip to Asia, part of his effort to pay more attention to the region and boost economic and security cooperation.

He'll spend three days in Vietnam, with stops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, for meetings with leaders, a speech on U.S.-Vietnam relations, visits to cultural treasures and sessions with civic leaders and entrepreneurs. From Vietnam, he heads to Japan for a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and a historic visit to Hiroshima.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-21-13-44-00


----------



## poochee

May 21, 1:05 PM EDT
*In swing state suburbs, white women are skeptical of Trump*
By BILL BARROW and JULIE PACE
Associated Press

"I'm just disappointed, really disappointed," she said while standing in her arts and crafts shop. She and her circle of friends are "still in shock" over Trump's success and wonder who's voting for him, "because we don't know any of them."

Emery's negative impression of Trump was shared by most of the dozens of white, suburban women from politically important states who were interviewed by The Associated Press this spring. Their views are reflected in opinion polls, such as a recent AP-GfK survey that found 70 percent of women have unfavorable opinions of Trump.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-21-13-05-58


----------



## poochee

*President Obama arrives in Vietnam for historic Asia trip*
05/22/16 01:22 PM-Updated 05/22/16 04:10 PM
By Kristin Donnelly

Obama began his trip in Vietnam on Sunday - his first visit to the country sharing a complicated political and military history with the United States.

But this is no apology tour, the White House is quick to point out. The trip is designed to highlight the president's continued pivot to Asia, specifically economic, trade and security cooperation, and cement the president's legacy as his second term winds down.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/president-obama-arrives-vietnam-historic-asia-trip


----------



## poochee

May 22, 8:35 AM EDT
*Clinton shrugs, sees benefits in Trump's personal attacks*
By LISA LERER and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton has a message for Donald Trump: keep on talking.

She's just weeks away from wrapping up the Democratic presidential nomination, and friends, aides and supporters describe a candidate who isn't particularly rattled by what she expects will be Trump's increasingly direct attacks on her marriage and husband's personal indiscretions.

In fact, Clinton believes that she can turn Trump's deeply personal assaults to her benefit, they say, particularly among suburban women who could be crucial to her hopes in the fall. Her plan is never to engage in any back-and-forth over the scandals. Instead, she'll merely cast him as a bully and talk about policy.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-22-08-35-32


----------



## poochee

May 23, 2:10 PM EDT
*Obama signs bill striking offensive terms from US laws*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal laws will no longer include outdated and offensive terms used to describe minority groups.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-23-14-10-26


----------



## poochee

*U.S. To Completely Lift Vietnam Arms Embargo*
_However, the sale of arms will depend on Vietnam's human rights commitments._
05/23/2016 02:48 am ET | *Updated* 3 hours ago

*VIDEO*

HANOI (Reuters) - The United States announced an end to its embargo on sales of lethal arms toVietnam on Monday, an historic step that draws a line under the two countries' old enmity and underscores their shared concerns about Beijing's growing military clout.

The move came during President Barack Obama's first visit to Hanoi, which his welcoming hosts described as the arrival of a warm spring and a new chapter in relations between two countries that were at war four decades ago.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vietnam-arms-embargo-ends_us_5742a6c4e4b0613b512aa262


----------



## poochee

*Trump in 2007: 'I'm excited' for housing market crash*
05/23/16 01:22 PM
By Alexandra Jaffe

Donald Trump counseled Trump University students to take advantage of the housing bubble as an investment opportunity and said, just a year before it burst, that he was "excited" for it to end because of the money he'd make.

"People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I'm excited if it is,' he told the Globe and Mail in March of 2007. "I've always made more money in bad markets than in good markets."

But those comments are just one of many that could come back to haunt him as he heads into a general election showdown with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-2007-im-excited-housing-market-crash


----------



## poochee

May 23, 1:36 PM EDT
*Trump proposes wall to protect golf resort from rising seas*
By MICHAEL BIESECKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump wants to build another huge wall, this time to keep out the rising seas threatening to swamp his luxury golf resort in Ireland.

The Republican presidential candidate has called climate change a "con job" and a "hoax." But in an application filed this month in County Clare, Ireland, the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel cites the threat of global warming in seeking a permit to build a nearly two-mile-long stone wall between it and the Atlantic Ocean. The beach in front of the 18th green is disappearing at a rate of about a yard each year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-23-13-36-50


----------



## poochee

May 24, 11:37 PM EDT
AP
*Clinton wins Democratic primary in Washington state*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic presidential primary in Washington state, but it won't get her any delegates.

Clinton is just 78 delegates short of clinching the Democratic nomination for president. She is on track to do so in early June, even if she loses all the remaining contests.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-24-23-37-07


----------



## poochee

May 24, 11:34 PM EDT
*Obama to wrap up trip to Vietnam by talking to young leaders*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press


AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster









HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) -- President Barack Obama is completing a three-day trip to Vietnam with a town hall Wednesday involving about 800 young adults participating in efforts to strengthen ties between the United States and Southeast Asia.

Obama often incorporates a question-and-answer session with young leaders into his foreign trips. He is meeting with participants in the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative. The initiative targets adults under the age of 35 in a variety of educational and cultural exchanges.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-24-23-34-33


----------



## poochee

May 24, 6:13 PM EDT
*House approves bill to regulate toxic chemicals*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Tuesday easily approved a bipartisan bill that would for the first time regulate tens of thousands of toxic chemicals in everyday products from household cleaners to clothing and furniture.

Supporters said the bill would clear up a hodgepodge of state rules and update and improve a toxic-chemicals law that has remained unchanged for 40 years.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-24-18-13-47


----------



## poochee

*Bill Cosby to face trial in sex assault case: Judge*
05/24/16 09:20 AM-Updated 05/24/16 01:50 PM
By Tom Winter and Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

The sexual assault case against legendary comedian Bill Cosby will go to trial, a judge decided Tuesday, after finding enough evidence in a preliminary hearing to proceed.

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Judge Elizabeth McHugh found probable cause after portions of the police statement from accuser Andrea Constand were read in court. Constand was not required to testify.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/bill-cos...hearing-sex-assault-case?cid=eml_mda_20160524


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump wins Washington primary*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:23 AM ET, Wed May 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump is less than 10 delegates shy of clinching the Republican presidential nomination following a win Tuesday in the Washington state primary.

The victory -- winning at least 40 of Washington's delegates -- means Trump now has 1,229 of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination, according to CNN estinates. Four more Washington delegates are still to be decided, potentially bumping Trump's total even higher.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/24/politics/washington-republican-primary-results-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Watchdog: Hillary Clinton Violated State Dept. Policies By Using Private Email*
May 25, 20161:09 PM ET 
 Eyder Peralta 

 
During her tenure as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton violated department policies when she used a personal email account to conduct official business, a new report from the Office of the Inspector General for the State Department found.

Speaking to reporters on background because the report was leaked ahead of time, a senior State Department official said that "some of the most useful guidance were not issued until 2013." The official said the department also did not do a "good job" making sure that "people understood them and had the tools to implement them."

"This has been a historic and systemic challenge," the official said, adding that they are looking toward the future and are not planning to discipline any current employees.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...nton-violated-policies-by-using-private-email


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump keeps attacking fellow Republicans*
By Jose A. DelReal and Jenna Johnson
Politics
May 25 at 6:28 PM

Donald Trump keeps attacking fellow Republicans
Now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump had been expected by many political strategists and party leaders to extend olive branches to his foes and vanquished opponents, many of whom could be crucial allies in the general election against the Democratic nominee, most likely Hillary Clinton.

Yet the real estate mogul does not always appear to be interested in doing so. The revived feuding this week has only added to the concerns of holdouts such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who reiterated Wednesday that he was not ready to endorse Trump and remained opposed to some of his core policies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ab3c4e-2291-11e6-aa84-42391ba52c91_story.html


----------



## poochee

May 24, 6:21 PM EDT
*Stephen King among writers signing Trump protest letter*

Stephen King, Junot Diaz and Jennifer Egan are among more than 400 authors who added their names this week to an online letter that condemns the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for his "appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society."

The petition "unequivocally" opposes Trump's election. Others supporting it include Amy Tan, Cheryl Strayed, Michael Chabon and "Lemony Snicket" author Daniel Handler.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-24-18-21-34


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Clinches GOP Nomination*
May 26, 201610:37 AM ET
Amita Kelly 

Donald Trump now has the support of 1,238 delegates - just a hair above the 1,237 threshold needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, according to The Associated Press.

Trump was able to reach that number Thursday after 29 unbound Republican delegates told the AP that they would support him at the party's July convention. Fifteen of those unbound delegates came from North Dakota, seven from Pennsylvania, two each from West Virginia and Nevada and one each from Colorado, New Hampshire and Oklahoma (the unbound delegate who announced her support for Trump in this state is GOP chairwoman Pam Pollard).

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/26/47958...26&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

May 26 2016, 11:16 am ET
*Obama: Trump Candidacy Has 'Rattled' World Leaders*
by Cassandra Vinograd

*VIDEOS*

During a press conference in Japan, Obama said the American presidential election is being "very" closely watched oversees. He told reporters that "it's fair to say" world leaders are "surprised" Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.

"They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements but they're rattled by him - and for good reason, because a lot of the proposals that he's made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude," Obama added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ed-world-leaders-n580706?cid=eml_pol_20160526


----------



## poochee

*Baylor University Removes Kenneth Starr As President*
*The football coach will also be terminated amid a sexual assault scandal.*
05/26/2016 01:28 pm ET

In the past several months, Baylor, the world's largest Baptist college, has been criticized for not thoroughly investigating reports of rapes of female students by its male athletes.

Starr, the former independent counsel charged with investigating Bill Clinton during his presidency, will move to the role of chancellor and remain a professor at Baylor University Law School. Briles is suspended with intent to terminate, the college said in a statement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/baylor-kenneth-starr-art-briles_us_57472fbce4b055bb11717bbb


----------



## poochee

*Key House spending bill fails over LGBT controversy*
By Deirdre Walsh, CNN Senior Congressional Producer
Updated 3:51 PM ET, Thu May 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)In an embarrassing blow for Speaker Paul Ryan, the House on Thursday failed to pass its annual spending bill funding water and energy programs after a contentious debate over rights for LGBT federal workers.

Republicans came under pressure after a bipartisan amendment was attached to the bill that protected federal workers from being fired on the basis of sexual discrimination or gender identity.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/politics/paul-ryan-house-gop-lgbt-spending-bill/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 27, 2:33 PM EDT
*Congress' grade so far? Incomplete at best*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress is racing toward its summer break, but like a procrastinating college kid it has tons of work to catch up on to avoid a report card laden with grades of incomplete or even worse.

An abbreviated work period this month produced mixed results at best - Congress exited Washington without acting on funding the battle against the Zika virus, for starters - and a full plate awaits when lawmakers return next month for a six-week sprint to political convention season and the traditional August recess.

*Some signs are promising; others, not so much:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-27-14-33-26


----------



## poochee

May 27, 3:00 PM EDT
*Obama uses Hiroshima visit as opportunity to urge no nukes*
By NANCY BENAC and FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) -- With an unflinching look back at a painful history, President Barack Obama stood on the hallowed ground of Hiroshima on Friday and declared it a fitting place to summon people everywhere to embrace the vision of a world without nuclear weapons.

As the first American president to visit the city where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb, Obama came to acknowledge - but not apologize for - an act many Americans see as a justified end to a brutal war that Japan started with a sneak attack at Pearl Harbor.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-27-08-54-56


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Campaign Stumbles*
By ASHLEY PARKER and MAGGIE HABERMANMAY 27, 2016

BISMARCK, N.D. - A constant stream of changes and scuffles are roiling Donald J. Trump's campaign team, including the abrupt dismissal this week of his national political director.

A sense of paranoia is growing among his campaign staff members, including some who have told associates they believe that their Trump Tower offices may be bugged.

And there is confusion among his donors, who want to give money to a "super PAC" supporting Mr. Trump, but have received conflicting signals from top aides about which one to support.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/us/politics/donald-trump-campaign.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

May 28, 2016
*Weekly Address: Remembering Our Fallen Heroes*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama solemnly reflected on the meaning of Memorial Day and recognized the sacrifices made by the American warriors who never made it back home. Though the President stressed that citizens should thank active-duty troops and veterans every day of the year, he emphasized that Memorial Day is reserved for remembering the unselfish men and women who gave their lives in defense of the nation. In addition to reflecting on the unpayable debt owed to fallen servicemembers, Americans should also make an effort to offer support to the families of their countrymen who gave everything. Whether it's hiring a veteran, reaching out to a grieving family member, or simply pausing for a moment of silent thanks, the President wants the country to join him in an act of remembrance during the Memorial weekend.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

May 28, 9:27 AM EDT

*AP-NORC Poll finds bare confidence in government, elections*
By EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Few Americans have much confidence in the U.S. political system, the government in general, or in either political party.

Most say they're interested in the 2016 presidential election, but they also feel frustrated, helpless and even angry with the way the election is going, a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-28-09-27-19


----------



## poochee

*Six numbers that show why Clinton is still the favorite in 2016*
05/28/16 09:34 AM
By Carrie Dann

The 2016 general election race is now a virtual tie. Hillary Clinton is reeling from more negative headlines about her use of a private email server, while Donald Trump careens from news cycle to news cycle as fact-checkers scramble to sift through his claims.

And the big question on everyone's lips for the next 160-some days will be: So, who's gonna win?

The most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls shows Clinton clinging to a narrow lead.

Some things to know about Americans' opinions on their government and the political system from the AP-NORC poll:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-28-09-27-19


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's rapidly changing policy positions*
03/30/16 07:03 AM-Updated 05/24/16 12:59 PM
By Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*

Trump's shifting stances aren't just challenging for reporters tasked with covering him (like the day when Trump offered up three different views on abortion in a matter of hours) they're also a source of consternation for his party as more than a few of his stated policies directly contradict the GOP platform. Consider the debt flip: a desire to rapidly pay down the debt is one of the only issues the divided Republican Party can agree on, but their presumptive nominee has made a bold argument for prioritizing infrastructure investment over the debt.

To understand and track Trump's views, we've compiled a list of his past and present positions on issues since the billionaire real estate mogul announced his candidacy, along with any explanation the candidate has offered on the changes.

*CLIMATE CHANGE*

*1.* *I don't believe in it*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trumps-rapidly-changing-policy-positions

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trumps-rapidly-changing-policy-positions


----------



## poochee

May 29, 5:05 PM EDT
*Libertarians pick ex-New Mexico Gov. Johnson for president*
By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- The Libertarian Party again nominated former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as its presidential candidate Sunday, believing he can challenge presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton because of their poor showing in popularity polls.

Johnson, 63, won the nomination on the second ballot at the party's convention in Orlando, Florida, defeating Austin Petersen, the founder of The Libertarian Republic magazine; and anti-computer virus company founder John McAfee. The delegates selected former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld to be his vice presidential running mate.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-29-17-05-07


----------



## poochee

*Obama marks last Memorial Day in office*
By Laura Koran, CNN
Updated 12:47 PM ET, Mon May 30, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Barack Obama marked his final Memorial Day as president by paying tribute to fallen U.S. soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.

"Whether they stood up in times of war, signed up in times of peace or were called up by a draft board," Obama said. "They embodied the best of America."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/30/politics/obama-memorial-day-arlington-cemetery/index.html


----------



## poochee

*White House Placed On Lockdown Because Of Suspicious Package*
05/30/2016 01:51 pm ET | *Updated* 26 minutes ago









The north side of the White House was placed on a security lockdown on Monday because of a suspicious package, a Secret Service official said.

The partial lockdown on the Memorial Day holiday occurred while President Barack Obama was home.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...laced-on-lockdown_us_574c7ce6e4b055bb11728861


----------



## poochee

*White House Lockdown Lifted After Suspicious Object Thrown Over Fence*
05/30/2016 01:51 pm ET | *Updated* 2 hours ago

The White House has returned to "normal operations" after a partial lockdown triggered when an individual threw a metal object over the fence, a U.S. Secret Service spokesman said on Monday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...laced-on-lockdown_us_574c7ce6e4b055bb11728861


----------



## poochee

*2016 finally had a contested convention, thanks to the Libertarian Party*
05/29/16 06:44 PM-Updated 05/29/16 06:55 PM
By Jane C. Timm

*ORLANDO, Fla. -* The Libertarian Party nominated former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld to run for president on Sunday, as the small party attempts to elevate itself into the mainstream during an election that's given it unprecedented opportunity.

The pair - both two-term governors - have more executive experience than any other candidate in the race and will offer an alternative to two historically unpopular candidates, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/2016-finally-had-contested-convention-thanks-the-libertarian-party


----------



## poochee

May 31, 10:14 AM EDT
*California Gov. Jerry Brown endorses Clinton before primary
*
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- California Gov. Jerry Brown is endorsing Hillary Clinton just a week before the state's June 7 primary.

In an open letter tweeted Tuesday, Brown writes that Clinton has the best shot at stopping Republican Donald Trump, whose candidacy he calls "dangerous."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-31-10-14-39


----------



## poochee

May 31, 9:48 AM EDT
*AP-NORC poll: Americans want nomination system changed*
By CATHERINE LUCEY and EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Bernie Sanders' pitch for changing the way presidential candidates are chosen appears to have broad public support.

As the tortured primary season concludes, Americans say in a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that they have little faith in the Democratic or Republican system for selecting a presidential candidate. They prefer open primaries to those that are closed to all but party members, like primaries instead of caucuses and oppose the party insiders known as superdelegates, who have a substantial say in the Democratic race.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-31-09-48-27


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's 'sleaze' attack on reporter hits new level of media animosity*
by Dylan Byers and Jeremy Diamond @CNNMoney 
May 31, 2016: 5:05 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Trump's objective here is clear, several campaign strategists and political reporters observed: To discredit the people who call attention to his lies, his contradictions, his lack of transparency and the less seemly aspects of his history.

"Why attack media?" asked Michael Barbaro of The New York Times. "So you can keep saying they are 'discredited' when tough stories come out. It's deliberate attempt at inoculation."

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/31/media/donald-trump-reporter-sleaze/index.html


----------



## poochee

*First on CNN: Clinton campaign's plans to subvert Trump's veterans press conference*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 10:13 AM ET, Tue May 31, 2016

New York (CNN)Hillary Clinton's campaign on Tuesday will launch a multi-pronged communications effort to trash Donald Trump's record on veterans' issues and undermine the billionaire's news conference touting the money he's raised for veterans' causes in recent months.

The campaign will host a national press call, release statements and unleash surrogates in key battleground states armed with talking points and opposition research to highlight Trump's past disparaging remarks about veterans, his Veterans Administration reform plans, and his months-long refusal to fully account for the funds he raised in January for veterans' charities, according to plans the Clinton campaign shared with CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/31/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-veterans-criticism/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Former Trump University Workers Call the School a 'Lie' and a 'Scheme' in Testimony*
By MICHAEL BARBARO and STEVE EDERMAY 31, 2016

In blunt testimony revealed on Tuesday, former managers of Trump University, the for-profit school started by Donald J. Trump, portray it as an unscrupulous business that relied on high-pressure sales tactics, employed unqualified instructors, made deceptive claims and exploited vulnerable students willing to pay tens of thousands for Mr. Trump's insights.

One sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, recounted how he was reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35,000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. He watched with disgust, he said, as a fellow Trump University

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/us/politics/donald-trump-university.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*First Read: Trump's temperament problem*
06/01/16 09:36 AM
By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*Trump's Temperament Problem*

For all of the attention on Hillary Clinton's honesty and trustworthiness, Donald Trump has maybe even a bigger problem - temperament. According to the April NBC/WSJ poll, only 19% of all registered voters gave Clinton good marks for being honest and straightforward, while 48% gave her a "very poor" rating on this attribute. But Trump's numbers on whether he has the right temperament to be president were even worse in the poll: Just 12% gave him high marks here, versus 60% who gave him a "very poor" score. And Trump's temperament - of lack thereof - was on fully display at his news conference yesterday.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/first-read-trumps-temperament-problem?cid=eml_mda_20160601


----------



## poochee

Jun 1, 12:55 PM EDT

*Animated by 2016 race, Obama to take victory lap in Indiana*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seven years ago, newly elected President Barack Obama came to a blighted stretch of northern Indiana and predicted a tough but certain recovery - if the country embraced his approach to re-juicing the economy. He returns Wednesday seeking credit for having lifted the U.S. out of the doldrums with policies Democrats are now rallying behind as they work to elect his replacement.

Obama's appearance - his eighth in Indiana since being elected - could be viewed as an early foray into the 2016 campaign. In excerpts of his remarks released before his speech, Obama cast the election as a choice between the paths that Democrats and Republicans want to take on the economy.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-01-12-55-26


----------



## poochee

*Clinton blasts Trump University, calls GOP rival a 'fraud'*
By Eric Bradner and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 5:40 PM ET, Wed June 1, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The attacks Clinton unleashed against Trump are among her sharpest of the campaign
Her aides say she plans to focus more on the now-defunct, scandal-plagued business
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/01/politics/hillary-clinton-trump-university/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama Urges Social Security Increase in Preview of Campaign Role*
June 1, 2016 - 2:13 PM PDT Updated on June 1, 2016 - 4:13 PM PDT

The president's comments mark a reversal after he sought a bipartisan deal five years ago that would have cut Social Security and moves the Democratic party toward a unified stance on the nation's cornerstone retirement program.

"It is time we finally made Social Security more generous and increase the benefits so that today's retirees and future generations get the dignified retirement that they have earned," Obama said in Elkhart, Indiana, during a speech in which he spoke against Republican economic policies.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...xpanding-social-security-benefits-for-elderly


----------



## poochee

*'I Can Watch It on TV': Excuses for Republicans Skipping a Donald Trump Convention*
By JEREMY W. PETERSJUNE 1, 2016

A wave of prominent Republicans have announced their intention to skip the party's national convention in Cleveland this summer, the latest sign that Donald J. Trump, who last week secured the delegates needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, continues to struggle in his effort to unite the party behind his candidacy.

The list of those who have sent regrets includes governors and United States senators - almost all facing tough re-election fights this year - and lifelong party devotees who have attended every convention for decades. Some are renouncing their seats like conscientious objectors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/02/u...-republican-convention.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump attacks Clinton: She has 'no natural talent' to be president*
06/02/16 09:33 AM-Updated 06/02/16 10:08 AM
By Ali Vitali

With Clinton due to deliver an aggressive policy speech Thursday that will attempt to spell out why he is unfit for the presidency, the Republican candidate issued a preemptive strike.

Trump told a sweltering California crowd in 90-degree heat Wednesday night that he had seen an advance copy of Clinton's remarks and alleged her soon-to-come statements on his foreign policy plans were "lies."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-at...ural-talent-be-president?cid=eml_mda_20160602


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton to deliver policy speech aimed at Donald Trump*
06/02/16 12:54 AM-Updated 06/02/16 01:23 PM
By Monica Alba

The speech, which kicks off a five-day swing through California ahead of next week's primary, will be an extension of the argument Clinton often makes on the trail: A Trump presidency would cause unrest and be dangerous for Americans.

Clinton will also spell out why Trump "is unlike any presidential nominee we've seen in modern times and he is fundamentally unfit for the job," Sullivan said.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-deliver-policy-speech-aimed-donald-trump


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton: Trump is 'temperamentally unfit' to be president*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 5:24 PM ET, Thu June 2, 2016

VIDEO

San Diego (CNN)Hillary Clinton unleashed blistering criticism of Donald Trump Thursday in a fiery foreign policy address that cast the presumptive Republican nominee as an unstable lightweight "temperamentally unfit" to be president.

"Donald Trump's ideas aren't just different -- they are dangerously incoherent," Clinton said. "They're not even really ideas -- just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies."

"This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes," she declared, claiming Trump could start a war just because somebody "got under his very thin skin."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/02/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-foreign-policy-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 2 2016, 2:46 pm ET
*Prince Died of Accidental Overdose of Painkiller Fentanyl*
by Stephanie Gosk, Chris Francescani and Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

Music legend Prince was killed by an overdose of the powerful painkiller fentanyl, Minnesota health officials said Thursday.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine that is used for severe pain such as advanced cancer, according the Centers for Disease Control. Although it can be obtained by prescription, many overdoses are linked to illegally made versions of the drug, officials say.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says it's more dangerous than heroin and taking too much can cause respiratory depression. Some 700 deaths between late 2013 and early 2015 were tied to fentanyl and its variations.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ainkillers-medical-examiner-s-officer-n584766


----------



## poochee

*New Rules To Ban Payday Lending 'Debt Traps'*
June 2, 2016 12:01 AM ET 
Heard on Morning Edition
 Scott Horsley 
Chris Arnold 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday is proposing new regulations to protect consumers from predatory lending practices that the CFPB's top regulator calls "debt traps."

Americans are being "set up to fail" by payday and auto-title lenders, Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, tells NPR.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...86/new-rules-to-ban-payday-lending-debt-traps


----------



## poochee

*NY Attorney General Slams Trump University as 'Fraud From Beginning to End'*
By VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
Jun 2, 2016, 8:10 AM ET

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is confident that his state's case against Donald Trump and Trump University will prove that the real estate mogul pocketed millions of dollars from the now defunct program.

"He keeps saying he's going to win the case, but he keeps losing motions" in court, Schneiderman said today on ABC News' "Good Morning America."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ny-a...-university-fraud-beginning/story?id=39552689


----------



## poochee

*Clinton: Trump deserves some blame for violence outside events*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 4:16 PM ET, Fri June 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump is partly to blame for protests around his events, including violent clashes that broke out in San Jose on Thursday night.

Clinton told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" Friday that while she condemns "all violence in our political arena," it is up to Trump to also condemn violence and set a standard that both his supporters and those protesting against him should follow.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/politics/hillary-clinton-jake-tapper-the-lead/


----------



## poochee

Jun 3, 1:03 PM EDT
*Paper urges readers to write-in Ronald Reagan over Trump*
AP Photo/Scott Stewart

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The San Diego Union-Tribune is urging its Republican readers to write in late former President Ronald Reagan's name at the polls during Tuesday's California primary to send a message to Donald Trump.

The newspaper explains in an editorial that it can't endorse the presumptive GOP nominee, it can't recommend voters don't vote and it can't suggest voting for another candidate "because it accomplishes nothing."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-03-13-03-34


----------



## poochee

June 04, 2016
*Weekly Address: Building on America's Economic Recovery*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, the President discussed his return to Elkhart, Indiana, the first town he visited as President and one that was among the hardest-hit by the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. Seven years later, unemployment in Elkhart has fallen from a high of nearly 20 percent to around four percent; more families are back on sturdy ground; more are covered by health insurance; and more students are graduating from high school. Elkhart is symbolic of America's recovery, and that progress is due to the sacrifices of hardworking Americans and a series of smart decisions the President made early in his presidency, such as rescuing the auto industry, helping families refinance their homes, and investing in job training, high-tech manufacturing, clean energy, and the infrastructure that creates good new jobs. The President emphasized that we must continue to come together around common economic goals and push back against policies that protect powerful interests instead of working Americans. That's the choice America will make this year, and the President believes the future will be brighter if this country works together to build on the progress this country has made in the months and years ahead.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jun 3, 8:38 PM EDT
*Obama calls on Democrats to develop sense of urgency*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) -- Wooing Democratic donors Friday in South Florida, President Barack Obama said the coming election is taking place in a "fascinating media environment" in which "strange things can happen" because celebrity and fame drive so much of the news coverage.

Obama said he generally just watches sports on television, but his staff told him presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump generated 70 percent of recent news coverage. He called on Democrats to develop a sense of urgency.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-03-20-38-33


----------



## poochee

*Since clinching the GOP nomination, Trump has gone off stride, off message*

By Dan Balz
Politics
June 4 at 12:50 PM

It's been almost five weeks since Donald Trump's victory in Indiana made him the presumptive Republican nominee.

Here's what's happened since: He's wasted time, proven to be a sore winner and veered sharply off message. He's put a higher premium on settling scores than finding a script that will appeal to a wider, general election audience. Will it cost him?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4dcc6a-29d4-11e6-ae4a-3cdd5fe74204_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Politicians react to passing of Muhammad Ali*
By Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 5:00 PM ET, Sat June 4, 2016

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Ali was known not only for his boxing prowess but for his outspokenness on political issues
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama said Ali "shook up the world"
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/04/politics/politicians-react-muhammad-ali-death/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 5, 1:13 PM EDT
*GOP to Trump: Move on from Judge Curiel's Mexican heritage*
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A pair of powerful Senate Republicans on Sunday warned Donald Trump to drop his attacks on a Latino judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University, joining the widespread rejection of their presumptive presidential nominee's treatment of the federal jurist. A third prominent Republican who also supports Trump urged the candidate to start acting like "a potential leader of the United States."

"We're all behind him now," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned, adding that it's time for unifying the party, not "settling scores and grudges." "I hope he'll change his direction."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-05-13-13-56


----------



## poochee

Jun 5, 9:02 AM EDT
*Obama administration rushing to shrink ranks at Guantanamo*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and BEN FOX
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration is running out of time and options to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, so officials are scrambling to release as many prisoners as possible and considering novel legal strategies that include allowing some men to strike plea deals by video-teleconference and sending others to foreign countries to be prosecuted.

But it looks to be little, too late to close the prison before President Barack Obama leaves office in January, denying him the chance to fulfill a campaign pledge.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-05-09-02-24


----------



## poochee

Jun 5, 10:03 PM EDT
*Clinton wins Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential* primary
By DANICA COTO and LISA LERER
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Hillary Clinton overwhelmed Bernie Sanders in Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, putting her within striking distance of capturing her party's nomination.

After a blowout victory Saturday in the U.S. Virgin Islands and a decisive win in the U.S. territory, Clinton is now less than 30 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to an Associated Press count.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-05-22-03-14


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court will weigh in on whether Va. districts are racially gerrymandered*
By Robert Barnes
June 6 at 10:01 AM

The Supreme Court next term will review whether Virginia's legislative districts were racially gerrymandered and accepted two death penalty cases from Texas.

The court announced it will hear a third case in which an African American was sentenced to death after an expert testified that black people were more likely to commit violence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-will-weigh-in-on-whether-va-districts-are-racially-gerrymandered/2016/06/06/c0366e3c-2beb-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Blocal-politics%2Blocal-all


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump does not have a campaign*
06/06/16 09:02 AM-Updated 06/06/16 02:15 PM
By Benjy Sarlin, Katy Tur and Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump is a candidate without a campaign - and it's becoming a serious problem.

Republicans working to elect Trump describe a bare-bones effort debilitated by infighting, a lack of staff to carry out basic functions, minimal coordination with allies and a message that's prisoner to Trump's momentary whims.

"Bottom line, you can hire all the top people in the world, but to what end? Trump does what he wants," a source close to the campaign said.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-does-not-have-campaign?cid=eml_mda_20160606


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton makes history*
06/06/16 10:15 PM-Updated 06/06/16 10:49 PM
By Alex Seitz-Wald and Irin Carmon

*VIDEO*

Almost eight years to the day after ending her first presidential bid while celebrating the 18 million cracks her supporters put in the "highest, hardest glass ceiling," Hillary Clinton took a major step towards breaking through that final barrier Monday evening, and towards becoming the country's first woman president.

Clinton surpassed the "magic number" of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic Party's nomination, according to NBC News projections, to become the first woman in America's 240 year history to be selected as the nominee of a major political party.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-makes-history


----------



## poochee

*Recall effort launched against judge Aaron Persky in Stanford rape case*
06/06/16 05:04 PM-Updated 06/06/16 05:14 PM
By Corky Siemaszko

A move is underway to oust the California judge who sparked outrage after he sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer to just six months in jail for raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster outside a campus frat party.

The sentence Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky imposed on Brock Turner, 20, has been blasted by the victim as a "mockery of the seriousness of his assault" and called a "slap on the wrist" by the San Jose Mercury News

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/recall-effort-launched-against-judge-aaron-persky-stanford-rape-case


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR*

*Borowitz Report *
*Trump: Mexicans Swarming Across Border, Enrolling in Law School, and Becoming Biased Judges*
*By Andy Borowitz*, June 6, 2016

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA (The Borowitz Report)-Unless the United States builds a wall, Mexicans will swarm across the border, enroll in law school en masse, and eventually become biased judges, Donald J. Trump warned supporters on Monday.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...0&spJobID=940533334&spReportId=OTQwNTMzMzM0S0


----------



## poochee

Jun 7, 12:04 PM EDT
*Senate GOP drops push to 'defund Obamacare'*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans controlling the Senate are abandoning an effort to use their power over the federal purse strings to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The more pragmatic approach came Tuesday on a huge $164 billion spending measure and reflects a hope by top Republicans like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to remove veto bait from must-pass spending bills in hopes of advancing them more easily with Democratic support.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-07-12-04-14


----------



## poochee

*Under heavy criticism, Trump says he won't talk about judge in Trump University case any longer
By Sean Sullivan **Post Politics*
June 7 at 4:26 PM

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, under a torrent of criticism for repeatedly saying that a federal judge overseeing lawsuits against Trump University should have recused himself because of his ethnic background, said Tuesday that he no longer plans to talk about the matter.

In a lengthy written statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Trump made no apology for his remarks. He said it is "unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ut-judge-in-trump-university-case-any-longer/


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton: 'We've reached a milestone'*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:19 PM ET, Tue June 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton extends olive branch to Sanders, slams Trump
Trump's speech strikes conventional note amid controversy
(CNN)Hillary Clinton embraced her place in history Tuesday as the first woman to become the presidential nominee of a major political party while showing an eagerness to take on Donald Trump in the fall.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/07/politics/primary-results-highlights/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump follows the political playbook in victory speech*
06/07/16 10:54 PM-Updated 06/07/16 10:57 PM
By Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

Topping off a chaotic day of Republican infighting that stemmed from Trump's racially-charged comments about Trump University Judge Curiel, Donald Trump did what his advisers said he was capable of all along: he acted presidential.

At least, for about fifteen minutes on the final night of the primaries.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-follows-the-political-playbook-victory-speech


----------



## poochee

Jun 8, 2:32 PM EDT
*Indian PM hails cooperation with US in speech to Congress*
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Congress Wednesday that his nation and the U.S. have overcome "the hesitations of history" and called for ever-stronger economic and defense ties between the two countries.

"Let us work together to convert shared ideals into practical cooperation," Modi said in a speech that lauded both nations' common democratic principles and hailed two heroes of nonviolence, India's Mahatma Gandhi and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-08-14-32-41


----------



## poochee

Jun 6, 9:41 AM EDT
*Obama administration designates 9 new promise zones*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration has added nine communities to its effort to ease access to federal aid and cut red tape for areas beset by joblessness, hunger, crime and poor housing.

The newly selected so-called Promise Zones include neighborhoods in Nashville, south Los Angeles, the west side of Atlanta, parts of Evansville, Indiana; San Diego, eastern Puerto Rico and southwest Florida. The Spokane Indian Reservation and communities near Spokane, Washington, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and their communities around Rolette County, North Dakota also were selected.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-06-09-41-40


----------



## poochee

*Some Republicans discuss anti-Trump convention coup*
06/08/16 03:20 PM
By Vaughn Hillyard

After nearly a week-long firestorm surrounding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his attacks on a federal judge because of his Mexican heritage, which led to harsh criticism from his supporters and even one un-endorsement, some Republicans are raising the specter that a new nominee could replace Trump.

Bob Vander Plaats, a supporter and campaign co-chair of former candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, suggested that a convention coup at next month's Republican nominating convention in Cleveland is possible.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/some-republicans-discuss-anti-trump-convention-coup


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 8 2016, 6:00 pm ET
*Clinton: I Won't Go Insult-for-Insult With Trump*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton told NBC News' Lester Holt on Wednesday that she will not go insult-for-insult with Donald Trump in what has already been a nasty general election campaign.

"He can run a campaign of insults. I'm running a campaign of issues that are going to produce results for the American people," Clinton said in an interview airing on NBC Nightly News on Wednesday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-i-won-t-go-insult-insult-trump-n588506


----------



## poochee

*California raises smoking age starting Thursday*
 Allana Akhtar, USA TODAY 5:59 p.m. EDT June 8, 2016

A new California law that takes another bold step to limit smoking goes into effect Thursday, raising the age limit to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21.

Another new law bans e-cigarettes from public places such as schools, restaurants and hospitals.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2016/06/08/california-raise-smoking-age/85615116/


----------



## poochee

*Sanders pledges to work with Clinton to defeat Trump*
By MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 1:20 PM ET, Thu June 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Sanders met with Obama for the second time this primary season
He will also meet with Harry Reid
"I look forward to meeting with (Clinton) in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent," Sanders told reporters after an Oval Office meeting that lasted more than one hour.

The senator thanked both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for showing "impartiality" during the course of the Democratic campaign.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/09/politics/bernie-sanders-washington/index.html


----------



## poochee

*President Barack Obama endorses Hillary Clinton in video*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 2:38 PM ET, Thu June 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

"I want those of you who have been with me since the beginning of this incredible journey to be the first to know that I'm with her," Obama continued. "I am fired up. And I can't wait to get out there and campaign with Hillary."

Obama will campaign with Clinton next week in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
"It's probably the first of many campaign events between now

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/09/politics/president-barack-obama-endorses-hillary-clinton-in-video/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 9, 9:16 PM EDT

*Warren on attack against Trump as she gets behind Clinton*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw her support behind Democrat Hillary Clinton for president Thursday, following President Barack Obama in sending a signal to progressive voters now backing Bernie Sanders that it's time to unite around the presumptive Democratic nominee.

"I am ready to get in this fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States and to make sure that Donald Trump never gets anyplace close to the White House," the Massachusetts senator said on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-09-21-16-21


----------



## poochee

*Joe Biden Writes An Open Letter To Stanford Surviv*
_The vice president, in an open letter sent to BuzzFeed News, said "a lot of people failed" the Stanford sexual assault survivor and that she will "save lives" thanks to the powerful message she read to her assailant in court._
posted on Jun. 9, 2016, at 10:16 a.m.
Tom Namako
BuzzFeed News Reporter

Vice President Joe Biden penned an open letter to the Stanford sexual assault survivor who read a powerful message to her assailant in court detailing the effects of his actions on her.

Her letter has since been read by millions of people and has drawn attention to the judge's six-month sentence for Brock Turner - the champion swimmer who was convicted of three counts of sexual assault - even though he faced up to 14 years in prison.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomnamako/...nford-survivor?utm_term=.dxXjYqpBd#.anV0PY6Ml


----------



## poochee

Jun 10, 4:00 PM EDT
*Obama widens US Afghan role in final months in office*
By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Far from ending the two wars he inherited from the Bush administration, Barack Obama is wrestling with an expanded set of conflicts in the final months of his presidency, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Libya and Syria, with no end in sight. In Afghanistan, where a Taliban resurgence has upset Washington's "exit strategy," Obama is giving the U.S. military wider latitude to support Afghan forces, both in the air and on the ground.

The White House says U.S. forces are not taking on a new mission in Afghanistan but rather will "more proactively support" government forces. That amounts to an acknowledgement that the Afghans need more help than the Pentagon had anticipated last year, and it is a signal to allies not to abandon the U.S.-led coalition. Defense Secretary Ash Carter will be discussing this next week in talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...E&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-10-09-03-36#


----------



## poochee

*At Malia Obama's high school graduation, the commander in chief is 'just a total dad*
Krissah Thompson
Lifestyle
June 10 at 3:32 PM

When Sidwell Friends School asked the president whether he would like to speak at his elder daughter's graduation this spring, he declined.

"I'm going to be wearing dark glasses," he told a group of lunch companions during a visit to Detroit earlier this year. "I'm going to cry."

Barack Obama was true to his word Friday. He did not speak at Malia Obama's commencement ceremony, which he and the first lady attended, along with family and friends of other graduates of the private school in Northwest Washington.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...ccec3a-cc61-4c17-9114-f6fc5a3058ad_story.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 10 2016, 1:51 pm ET
*Clinton: Trump Will Reverse Progress for Women *
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton laid out a forceful case for why a Donald Trump presidency would set progress back decades for women in a speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund on Friday.

"Instead of working to continue the progress we've made, Republicans, led by Donald Trump, are working to reverse it," Clinton said. "When Donald Trump says, 'Let's make America great again,' that is code for 'Let's take America backwards.'"

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-trump-will-reverse-progress-women-n589866


----------



## poochee

*Romney says Trump will change America with 'trickle-down racism'*
By Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 10:18 PM ET, Fri June 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

The 2012 Republican nominee, who has openly opposed Trump's candidacy, went further than he has before in outlining to CNN's Wolf Blitzer how the country's character would suffer in a Trump White House. Trump's rhetoric has caused even some other Republicans to label him a racist, and Romney said he would not be able to paper over his incendiary remarks.

"I don't want to see trickle-down racism," Romney said in an interview here in a suite overlooking the Wasatch Mountains, where he is hosting his yearly ideas conference. "I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following. Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/10/politics/mitt-romney-donald-trump-racism/index.html


----------



## poochee

June 11, 2016
*Weekly Address: Addressing Puerto Rico's Economic Crisis*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed the crippling economic crisis harming 3.5 million Americans in Puerto Rico. Today, the island is spending over a third of its tax revenue on debt payments - and on July 1, Puerto Rico is facing another $2 billion in debt payments that it cannot make. The President said the only way for Puerto Rico to overcome this crisis is by restructuring its debt and finding a sustainable path toward growth and opportunity for its people. But this requires help from Congress in order to give Puerto Rico the tools it needs to restructure its debt. The President commended the House of Representatives, which overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill to address the crisis, and called on the Senate to quickly follow suit.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Post Politics
*Hillary Clinton picks up another big endorsement*
By Max Ehrenfreund
Post Politics
June 11 at 4:15 PM

The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced his support for Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a Saturday afternoon news conference with reporters in Chicago.

Jackson recalled meeting Clinton in the Mississippi Delta, calling her a "wonderful woman." He cited her work with the Children's Defense Fund and, later, in the White House for a comprehensive health-care system.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ary-clinton-picks-up-another-big-endorsement/


----------



## poochee

*David Petraeus, Mark Kelly launch gun control group*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 5:13 PM ET, Fri June 10, 2016

Washington (CNN)Retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, who has long resisted calls to run for political office, is teaming up with retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly to create a new group urging greater gun control.

The two announced on Friday that they were launching Veterans Coalition for Common Sense to encourage elected leaders to "do more to prevent gun tragedies." The group will feature veterans from every branch of the military who are urging lawmakers to toughen gun laws, the organization said in a news release.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/10/politics/david-petraeus-mark-kelly-gun-control/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions*
By RUSS BUETTNER and CHARLES V. BAGLIJUNE 11, 2016

On the presidential campaign trail, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, often boasts of his success in Atlantic City, of how he outwitted the Wall Street firms that financed his casinos and rode the value of his name to riches. A central argument of his candidacy is that he would bring the same business prowess to the Oval Office, doing for America what he did for his companies.

"Atlantic City fueled a lot of growth for me," Mr. Trump said in an interview in May, summing up his 25-year history here. "The money I took out of there was incredible."

His audacious personality and opulent properties brought attention - and countless players - to Atlantic City as it sought to overtake Las Vegas as the country's gambling capital. But a close examination of regulatory reviews, court records and security filings by The New York Times leaves little doubt that Mr. Trump's casino business was a protracted failure. Though he now says his casinos were overtaken by the same tidal wave that eventually slammed this seaside city's gambling industry, in reality he was failing in Atlantic City long before Atlantic City itself was failing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html?


----------



## poochee

*Mass Shooting At Orlando Gay Nightclub: What We Know*

June 12, 20165:23 AM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy 
Emma Bowman

*VIDEO*

A gunman carrying a handgun and an assault-style weapon opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., early Sunday, killing at least 50 people and wounding at least 53 others.

It is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The death toll far exceeds initial estimates. Orlando Police Chief John Mina initially said "around 20" people succumbed to gunshot wounds inside the Pulse Orlando nightclub, but later said police found far more victims once they gained full access to the scene. He said the suspected gunman is also dead.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...12&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

*President Obama on the Tragic Shooting in Orlando*
June 12, 2016 at 12:23 PM ET by Melanie Garunay

*Watch President Obama's statement:

VIDEO

Statement from Press Secretary Josh Earnest:
*
The President was briefed this morning by Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, on the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims. The President asked to receive regular updates as the FBI, and other federal officials, work with the Orlando Police to gather more information, and directed that the federal government provide any assistance necessary to pursue the investigation and support the community.
*
Statement from Vice President Joe Biden's spokesperson:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/06/12/president-obama-tragic-shooting-orlando

*


----------



## poochee

Jun 12 2016, 1:58 pm ET
*Orlando Nightclub Shooter Called 911 to Pledge Allegiance to ISIS: Sources*
by Pete Williams, Tracy Connor and Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

Shooter Omar Mateen, 29, appeared to be a follower of ISIS propaganda and referenced the Tsarnaev brothers, who carried out the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, at the scene, sources said

But as investigators try to determine the radicalization that apparently motivated Mateen to attack the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, his family believes he was pushed over the edge by pure hate against the LGBT community.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/or...t-motivated-orlando-nightclub-shooter-n590496


----------



## Phantom010

A near miss...

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-gay-pride-la-weapons-20160612-snap-story.html



> Authorities in Santa Monica found possible explosives as well as weapons and ammunition Sunday in the car of a man who told them he was in town for the L.A. Pride festival in West Hollywood, a law enforcement source said.


----------



## poochee

Phantom010 said:


> A near miss...
> 
> http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-gay-pride-la-weapons-20160612-snap-story.html


----------



## poochee

*Orlando shooting exposes Donald Trump's biggest weakness: A total lack of empathy*
By Chris Cillizza The Fix
June 12 at 2:08 PM
*
VIDEO*

Trump's tweet speaks to the single largest problem facing his presidential campaign: While he's mastered the role of tough and unapologetic leader, he simply cannot seem to understand that at times a president needs to be an empathetic consoler in chief, too.

The job of president is a deeply complex one. You must be able to play both roles. Increasingly, given the number of mass shootings happening in the United States, President Obama has found himself in the consoler in chief role - the person who acknowledges the fear, anxiety and hurt but also insists that this is not who we are.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-trumps-biggest-weakness-his-lack-of-empathy/


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 12 2016, 2:02 am ET
*Mitt Romney Reflects on How Donald Trump's Comments Are 'Breaking My Heart'*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

PARK CITY, Utah - Mitt Romney once again espoused harsh words for Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, associating him with racism, misogyny, xenophobia and violence.

At his annual Experts and Enthusiasts, or E2 Summit, on Saturday, Romney spared no insult at Trump, who he said he cannot support because of the "example" he sends, adding that Trump's antics are breaking his heart.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...-donald-trump-s-comments-are-breaking-n590286


----------



## poochee

*After Nightclub Massacre, Obama Expresses Outrage and a Familiar Lament*
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
JUNE 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

Mr. Obama vowed to respond forcefully to what he called a devastating "act of terror and an act of hate." This time, it was a tragedy that combined gun violence, a hatred of gays and ties to Islamist terrorism.

In his remarks, Mr. Obama said it was still unclear to the authorities whether there was a direct link between the gunman and international terrorist groups. But in the hours after he spoke, law enforcement officials said that the gunman had pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State, and they acknowledged that he had twice been investigated for terrorism connections.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/u...-massacre-at-nightclub.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Jun 13, 3:48 PM EDT
*Clinton, Trump at odds over tackling terrorism, guns*
By JULIE PACE, Jill COLVIN and LISA LERER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In both style and substance, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton offered drastically different proposals Monday for stemming the threat of terrorism and gun violence that have Americans on edge following the deadly weekend attacks at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-13-14-18-34


----------



## poochee

Orlando Nightclub Massacre
Jun 13 2016, 8:51 am ET
*Trump's Tweets After Tragedy Often Strike Self-Congratulatory Notes*
by Katy Tur

Trump's real-time Twitter reaction to tragedy offers a rare and telling glimpse into the mind of the candidate. Tragedy after tragedy, Trump has quickly pivoted from the appearance of mourning to self-aggrandizement or petty attacks.

Below is a summary of Trump's tweets after the Bataclan, Brussels, San Bernardino, and the Charleston church shootings.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/or...often-strike-self-congratulatory-note-n590971


----------



## poochee

*Why President Obama Won't Use the Term 'Radical Islam'*
By Jordyn Phelps
Jun 13, 2016, 11:17 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump is blasting President Barack Obama for not using the words "radical Islam" in connection with the shooting in Orlando, Florida, calling on the president to resign for not using the two words.

While Obama has labeled the weekend attack, which killed at least 49 people, an "act of terror and an act of hate," a look at his past comments surrounding terrorism indicates that he avoids the term "radical Islamic terrorism" and isn't likely to change course because of Trump's demand.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-term-radical-islam/story?id=39815449


----------



## poochee

Jun 13, 9:21 PM EDT
*Obama to go to Orlando to pay respects to victims Thursday*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

Press Secretary Josh Earnest did not provide more details about the trip. Obama had canceled what was to be his first campaign event with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the wake of the shooting at a gay nightclub that killed 49 and wounded dozens more. That event was scheduled for Wednesday.

The role of consoler-in-chief is not a new one for Obama, who has traveled to Newtown, Connecticut, Charleston, South Carolina, and among other places to meet with families who have lost loved ones to gun violence.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-13-21-21-21


----------



## poochee

Jun 14, 1:52 PM EDT
*Obama issues scathing rebuke of Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

Speaking to reporters after a briefing on the Orlando shooting, Obama said Trump's call for tougher talk on terrorism and a strict ban on Muslim immigration would make Muslim Americans feel betrayed by their government and would undermine American values.

"If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect." Obama said. "And then the terrorists would have won and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen."

The president's remarks were his first reaction to Trump's speech Monday after Sunday's mass shooting - and perhaps his strongest yet on the threat he sees the businessman candidate poses to the U.S. politics and security.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-14-13-52-18


----------



## poochee

Jun 14, 2:08 PM EDT
*Clinton says Trump's Orlando response merely 'bizarre rants'*
By LISA LERER
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Hillary Clinton fired back at Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying the presumptive Republican nominee is offering voters little more than "outright lies," ''bizarre rants" and "nonsensical" words in the wake of the country's most deadly mass shootings.

"He is the Republican nominee for president," she said, almost incredulously. "We don't need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations. We need leadership and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-14-14-08-53


----------



## poochee

Jun 14, 5:18 PM EDT
*'Highly offensive:' GOP lawmakers distance selves from Trump*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dismayed Republicans scrambled for cover Tuesday from Donald Trump's inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre, while President Barack Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton delivered fiery denunciations that underscored the potential peril for the GOP.

Republican hopes are fading for a new, "more presidential" Trump as the party's divisions around him grow ever more acute.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-14-17-18-29


----------



## poochee

Jun 14, 5:21 PM EDT

*Obama: Women helped by his policies, but more to accomplish*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Tuesday that women and girls have made great strides in the nearly eight years he's held office, but asserted that they can claim even more progress if society would cast aside long-held stereotypes about the way men and women should behave.

He also urged consumers to patronize more than two dozen U.S. corporations that pledged to close gender pay gaps.

"Women are leading America at every level of society, from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, from the C-suite to the federal bench to the Federal Reserve," Obama said in remarks at a daylong, White House-organized summit on the state of women.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-14-17-21-51


----------



## poochee

Jun 14, 11:27 PM EDT
*Hillary Clinton wins DC primary, as she meets with Sanders*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton brought a close to the presidential primary season with a win Tuesday in the nation's capital and a meeting with dispatched rival Bernie Sanders, hoping to set a tone of Democratic unity heading into next month's party convention in Philadelphia.

In virtually identical statements released after meeting for more than 90 minutes, the Clinton and Sanders campaigns said the two rivals discussed their primary campaign, "unifying the party and ... the dangerous threat that Donald Trump poses to our nation." Neither spoke to reporters after the session at a Washington, D.C., hotel a few blocks from the White House.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-14-23-27-58


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 14 2016, 9:57 pm ET
*Trump's Lawyers Urge Judge Curiel to Keep Deposition Video Secret*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEOS*

Donald Trump is asking the judge whom he has spent months bashing to do him a favor.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, whom Trump has publicly denounced as a "hater," will decide whether to release videos of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's testifying in a lawsuit against Trump University.

Lawyers for Trump filed a motion this week in U.S. District Court in San Diego seeking to prevent the videos - from Trump's deposition late last year and early this year in a class-action lawsuit accusing him of fraud - from entering the public court record.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...e-curiel-keep-deposition-video-secret-n592601


----------



## poochee

News
Jun 15 2016, 3:45 pm ET
*'No Question' 2-Year-Old Dragged Into Water by Alligator Near Disney Is Dead: Sheriff*
by Phil Helsel, Elizabeth Chuck and Shamar Walters

*VIDEO*

A 2-year-old attacked by an alligator while on vacation with his family at a Disney resort is almost certainly dead, a Florida sheriff said Wednesday.

The toddler was playing in the water on a beach area near Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at 9:16 p.m. Tuesday when the alligator snatched him and dragged him underwater in front of his horrified parents. The father tried to get his son back, but wasn't able to, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ed-water-alligator-near-disney-resort-n592641


----------



## poochee

*Top Republicans join Obama in condemning Trump's words*
By Sean Sullivan and Mike DeBonis
Politics
June 14 at 7:21 PM

Top Republicans joined with President Obama and other Democrats Tuesday in sharply condemning Donald Trump's reaction to the nightclub massacre in Orlando, decrying his anti-Muslim rhetoric and his questioning of Obama's allegiances as divisive and out of step with America's values.

Trump - who just a week ago signaled an intent to snap his campaign into a more measured tone for the general election - showed no sign of backing down from his suggestions that Obama was somehow connected to or sympathetic with terrorists, telling the Associated Press that the president "continues to prioritize our enemy" over Americans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...1619c0-325e-11e6-95c0-2a6873031302_story.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 15, 2:32 PM EDT
*The Latest: Trump says he's happy to go it alone*

Republican Donald Trump has a message to his fellow Republicans: I'm happy to go it alone.

The presumptive GOP nominee told a rally crowd in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday afternoon that Republicans can "either stick together or let me just do it by myself."

And he predicted that he can do it "very nicely' alone.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-15-14-32-48


----------



## poochee

*Obama's Defining Attack on Trump and Trumpism*
By John Cassidy, June 14, 2016

Whether Obama intended to deliver such a consequential address, I'm not entirely sure. At times, he appeared to be ad-libbing. But his remarks, which were delivered from a podium in the Treasury Department, where he had met with his national-security staff, turned into perhaps the most important address he has given this year. Indeed, historians may look back on it as one of the defining speeches of his Presidency.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/obamas-defining-attack-on-trump-and-trumpism?mbid=nl_TNY Template - With Photo (52)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=9062788&spUserID=MTEzNjQ4MzgzODA1S0&spJobID=941477436&spReportId=OTQxNDc3NDM2S0


----------



## poochee

*Democratic senator launches filibuster over guns*
By Deirdre Walsh, CNN Senior Congressional Producer
Updated 3:23 PM ET, Wed June 15, 2016

*Story highlights*

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy is filibustering Wednesday on the Senate floor calling for gun control reform
When he was in the House, Murphy represented the district that includes Newtown, Connecticut
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/politics/gun-filibuster-senate-democrat/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
Orlando Nightclub Massacre
Jun 16 2016, 7:52 am ET
*Filibuster Ends After GOP Agrees to Allow Gun Control Votes: Senator*
by Phil Helsel and Richie Duchon

*VIDEO*

Senate Democrats ended a nearly 15-hour filibuster early Thursday after Republican Party leaders reportedly agreed to allow votes on two proposed gun control measures.

Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said that a compromise had been reached. Votes would be held on whether to ban people on the government's terrorist watch list from obtaining gun licenses and whether to expand background checks to gun shows and internet sales, he added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/or...ol-votes-senator-n593396?cid=eml_pol_20160616


----------



## poochee

Jun 16, 4:16 PM EDT
*In Orlando, Obama calls for healing, meets with families*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday that a military campaign against terrorism abroad won't be enough to prevent "lone wolf" attacks like Sunday's nightclub shooting in Orlando, as he offered condolences and support to families of the victims.

"We're going to have to do more to prevent these kinds of events from occurring. It's going to take more than just our military," Obama said, an apparent reference to proposals for stricter gun-control laws. That was after he laid flowers at a makeshift memorial during an afternoon visit to the grieving city.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-16-15-48-10


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 16 2016, 12:30 pm ET
*Tensions Growing as Trump Campaign Brushes Off RNC Advice*
by Katy Tur and Hallie Jackson

*VIDEO*

Tensions are growing between Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee as the presumptive GOP nominee's operation proves sluggish to adopt suggestions from party leaders, NBC News has learned.

Six sources -- granted anonymity in order to speak freely -- detailed to NBC News how trust between the two camps has steadily deteriorated as the Trump campaign seems to brush off RNC advice on personnel, messaging and what it will take to win a national election come November.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ing-trump-campaign-brushes-rnc-advice-n593776


----------



## poochee

June 16, 2016, 04:21 pm
*McCain backtracks after blaming Obama for shooting in Orlando*
By Rebecca Savransky

Sen. John McCainJohn McCainMcCain backtracks after blaming Obama for shooting in OrlandoMcCain: Obama 'directly responsible' for Orlando shootingClinton campaign: One year of Trump is enoughMORE (R-Ariz.) on Thursday walked back comments that President Obama was "directly responsible" for the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 people dead and 53 more wounded.

"I misspoke," McCain said in a statement.

"I did not mean to imply that the President was personally responsible. I was referring to President Obama's national security decisions, not the President himself."

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283807-mccain-on-obama-remarks-i-misspoke


----------



## poochee

POLITICS
*Hillary Clinton Secures Organized Labor's Prize Endorsement*
_Now Clinton's battle with Bernie Sanders is all but over, expect the AFL-CIO to go to war against Trump._
06/16/2016 11:38 am ET | *Updated* 5 hours ago

WASHINGTON - The country's largest federation of labor unions formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on Thursday, assuring that organized labor would devote its considerable resources to keeping a Democrat in the White House for another four years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...prize-endorsement_us_575f245fe4b0e4fe51436da2


----------



## poochee

*Senate panel approves lifting Cuba travel ban*
By Melanie Zanona - 06/16/16 02:34 PM EDT

A Senate panel easily approved a spending bill amendment on Thursday that would lift a travel ban preventing American tourists from flying to Cuba.

Prior to advancing the fiscal 2017 spending bill for financial services and general government, the Senate Appropriations Committee adopted four separate amendments related to travel and trade with Cuba.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/283784-senate-panel-approves-lifting-cuba-travel-ban


----------



## poochee

News
Orlando Nightclub Massacre
Jun 16 2016, 6:26 pm ET
*Senate to Vote Monday on Four Gun Control Measures*
by Alex Moe, Alex Johnson and Hallie Jackson

*VIDEOS*

The Senate will vote on four gun control measures Monday after being prodded by a 15-hour filibuster in the wake of the shooting massacre at a Florida nightclub.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, filed cloture motions Thursday on four gun-related amendments to a spending bill, a day after Democrats ended their filibuster to force some sort of action on gun restrictions.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/or...vote-monday-four-gun-control-measures-n594006


----------



## poochee

POLITICS
*This Is Probably What's In The GOP Obamacare 'Replacement'*
_Seven years after the Obamacare fight started, the House GOP will issue some talking points pretty soon._
06/17/2016 11:36 am ET | *Updated* 6 hours ago
*Jeffrey Young*  Health Care Reporter, The Huffington Post
*Jonathan Cohn*  Senior National Correspondent, The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON - House Republicans are going to reveal to the public next week what kind of health care reform they want instead of Obamacare. In anticipation, we thought a preview of conservative health policy ideas was in order.

Before anyone gets too excited, the House GOP task force handpicked by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to tackle the thorny issue of "replacing" Obamacare isn't going to introduce legislation or anything like that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-obamacare-replacement_us_57630f3fe4b015db1bc8c045


----------



## poochee

*Democrats see opportunity to seize national security narrative*
By Dana Bash, MJ Lee and Abigail Crutchfield, CNN
Updated 9:55 AM ET, Thu June 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Democrats plan to hammer Donald Trump on national security during the general election
The foreign policy focus won't be limited to the presidential race

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/polit...urity-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/index.html


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR*
*Donald Trump Chooses Michael Bay as Running Mate*
*By Janani Sreenivasan*, 12:03 P.M.

Donald Trump's Vice-Presidential short list was recently narrowed down to one unlikely name: the blockbuster-movie director Michael Bay. Trump is reported to have spent between two and a half and three hours, with bathroom breaks, interviewing the filmmaker behind "Pearl Harbor," "Armageddon," "The Rock," and the "Transformers" franchise before making his final decision.

"The role I see for Michael in my Administration is, ah, it's very off-the-map, out-of-this-world, out-of-this-universe, really," Trump said in an exclusive interview. "At first I saw him in a different role, maybe in my Cabinet, maybe as my Secretary of Visual Effects. But then I thought, why not V.P.? I considered some other public figures, too, like Oprah, but my gut told me to go with a director."

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/donald-trump-chooses-michael-bay-as-running-mate?mbid=nl_TNY Template - With Photo (54)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=9075943&spUserID=MTEzNjQ4MzgzODA1S0&spJobID=941713854&spReportId=OTQxNzEzODU0S0


----------



## poochee

*RNC delegates launch 'Anybody but Trump' drive*
By Tom LoBianco and Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 5:32 PM ET, Fri June 17, 2016

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_A coalition of Republican delegates is mounting a last-ditch effort to block Donald Trump from obtaining the GOP nomination by pushing for a "conscience clause" that would allow delegates to vote against the presumptive nominee.

Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate, organized a call with dozens of other delegates Thursday night to discuss ways to block Trump at the convention. The group, Unruh says, marks the coalescing of disparate "pockets of resistance" -- including backers of Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- which had been opposing Trump with little success.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/politics/delegate-unbinding-effort-organized/index.html


----------



## poochee

EXCLUSIVE
News
Jun 16 2016, 2:24 pm ET
*Family of AR-15 Inventor Eugene Stoner: He Didn't Intend It for Civilians*
by Tony Dokoupil

*VIDEO*

The AR-15 is the most talked about gun in America.

But the AR-15's creator died before the weapon became a popular hit and his family has never spoken out.

*Until now.*

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-ar-15-inventor-speaks-out-n593356


----------



## poochee

*Oakland police chief resigns following multiple officer misconduct cases*

Misconduct cases include a high-profile sex scandal
Departure follows that of San Francisco police chief less than a month ago
Sam Levin in Oakland, California 
Friday 10 June 2016 14.30 EDT

The police chief in Oakland, California, has resigned following multiple officer misconduct cases, including a high-profile sex scandal, making him the latest top cop of a major US city to step down in the face of growing backlash.

Less than a month after the forced resignation of the San Francisco police chief, the city of Oakland abruptly announced the departure of chief Sean Whent saying the decision was a "personal choice". However his resignation came several weeks after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct by numerous officers.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/10/oakland-police-chief-officer-resigns-sean-whent


----------



## poochee

June 18, 2016
*Weekly Address: Standing with Orlando*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama reflected on his visit with the families of the victims of the Orlando terrorist attack. He reiterated that we will always stand with those impacted by the Orlando attack - and we will do everything in our power to stop homegrown terrorism attacks and ultimately destroy ISIL. With Father's Day coming up, the President emphasized the responsibilities we have to each other - particularly to our children. Too often, events like these have been followed by silence and inaction. President Obama said in order for us to raise our children in a more loving, safer world, we must speak up for it. Whether it's speaking up about the risks guns pose to our communities, or why tolerance and equality matter, our children need to hear us respond to these events and lead our lives with love.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jun 18, 1:30 PM EDT
*Warren relishes role as attack dog against Donald Trump*
By KATHLEEN RONAYNE
Associated Press

BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) -- Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is tearing into Donald Trump, calling the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a "small, insecure money grubber" and "thin-skinned racist bully."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-18-13-30-52


----------



## poochee

*Chelsea Clinton gives birth to a baby boy, her second child*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 1:11 PM ET, Sat June 18, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Hillary and Bill Clinton, gave birth to a son on Saturday, according to her Twitter and Facebook accounts.
"Marc and I are overwhelmed with gratitude and love as we celebrate the birth of our son, Aidan Clinton Mezvinsky," the former first daughter tweeted on Saturday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/18/politics/chelsea-clinton-son-aidan-clinton-mezvinsky/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 19, 12:41 PM EDT
*Attorney general: Silent on Clinton email case with Obama*

"We've got career agents and lawyers looking at that. They will follow the facts and follow the evidence wherever it leads and come to a conclusion," she said.

Lynch said she has never spoken about the investigation with Obama or "really with anyone" at the White House.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-19-12-41-23


----------



## poochee

Jun 19 2016, 1:17 pm ET
*Sen. Chris Murphy: We Must Avoid Trap of Inaction on Gun Policy*
by Christina Coleburn

Sen. Chris Murphy argued against inaction on gun policy in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

The Connecticut lawmaker defended his proposed reforms, contending that they could avert a mass shooting in the future even if they would not have necessarily prevented the Orlando nightclub massacre.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sen-chris-murphy-we-must-avoid-trap-inaction-gun-policy-n595221


----------



## poochee

*Trump just squandered a critical six weeks of the general-election campaign*
By Chris Cillizza
Politics
June 19 at 10:38 AM

Donald Trump effectively secured the Republican presidential nomination on May 3. That was 47 days ago.

Today, Trump is no closer to uniting the Republican Party or pivoting to the general election than he was seven weeks ago. And that is, at a minimum, a massive waste of a critical period in the campaign and, at worst, a mistake that could severely jeopardize his chances of winning the White House in November.

Although the fight over Curiel has drawn the most attention, it is far from an isolated incident in the story of "Donald Trump, Republican nominee." *A partial list:*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...888db2-3623-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html


----------



## poochee

Meet the Press
Jun 19 2016, 12:10 pm ET
*Why Is Obama Campaigning So Hard Against Trump? *
by Perry Bacon Jr.

*VIDEOS*

"We are in serious times and this is a really serious job. This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States," Obama said last month. "And what that means is that every candidate, every nominee needs to be subject to exacting standards and genuine scrutiny."

He added, "One thing that I'm going to really be looking for over the next six months is that the American people are effectively informed about where candidates stand on the issues, what they believe, making sure that their numbers add up, making sure that their policies have been vetted and that candidates are held to what they've said in the past."

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/why-obama-campaigning-so-hard-against-trump-n593111


----------



## poochee

*Apple, Uneasy Over Donald Trump, Won't Support Republican Convention*
By MAGGIE HABERMAN and VINDU GOELJUNE 19, 2016

The tech giant Apple will withhold its support from the Republican National Convention in July because of its discomfort with comments by Donald J. Trump, two people briefed on the company's decision said on Saturday.

Apple is the latest in a string of companies dropping out as sponsors of the Republican convention. Few have attributed their decisions directly to Mr. Trump, the party's presumptive presidential nominee, but some have privately expressed worries about having their products associated with the candidate and his ideas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/u...-wont-support-republican-convention.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 2:41 PM EDT
*Rebuking Trump, Biden warns against backsliding on democracy*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Warning of a potential surge in anti-Americanism, Vice President Joe Biden tore into Donald Trump's views on foreign policy on Monday, urging the country not to follow the presumptive Republican nominee down a path of isolationism and bigotry.

Though Biden framed his speech to the Center for New American Security speech as advice for the next president, his remarks amounted to a point-by-point rebuttal of Trump on immigration, terrorism and relations with Russia. Biden cautioned against policies, embraced by Trump, that the vice president said would make the U.S. and its neighborhood poorer, less democratic and less secure.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-20-14-41-00


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 2:41 PM EDT
*Rebuking Trump, Biden warns against backsliding on democracy*
By JOSH
_Poll: Gun control support spikes after shooting_
By Jennifer Agiesta and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 4:28 PM ET, Mon June 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Warning of a potential surge in anti-Americanism, Vice President Joe Biden tore into Donald Trump's views on foreign policy on Monday, urging the country not to follow the presumptive Republican nominee down a path of isolationism and bigotry.

Though Biden framed his speech to the Center for New American Security speech as advice for the next president, his remarks amounted to a point-by-point rebuttal of Trump on immigration, terrorism and relations with Russia. Biden cautioned against policies, embraced by Trump, that the vice president said would make the U.S. and its neighborhood poorer, less democratic and less secure.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-20-14-41-00


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 4:40 PM EDT
*Trump fires his campaign manager in dramatic shake-up*
By JILL COLVIN and STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump abruptly fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski on Monday in a dramatic shake-up designed to calm panicked Republican leaders and end an internal power struggle plaguing the billionaire businessman's unconventional White House bid.

In dismissing his longtime campaign chief - just a month before the party's national convention, Trump signaled, at least for a day, a departure from the seat-of-the-pants style that has fueled his unlikely rise in Republican politics. Perhaps more than anyone else in Trump's inner circle, the ousted aide has preached a simple mantra: "Let Trump be Trump."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-20-14-49-57


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 4:09 PM EDT
*The Latest: Moody's: Trump's economic plan means fewer jobs*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on Campaign 2016. All times EDT:

4:04 p.m.

A new economic analysis finds that Donald Trump's economic plans would produce a lengthy recession and millions of job losses.

The study by Moody's Analytics, an economic research service, predicts there would be 3.5 million fewer jobs and unemployment rate as high as 7 percent at the end of Trump's four-year term - if all of his stated policies become law.

The rate is currently below 5 percent.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-20-16-09-06


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 6:15 PM EDT
*Secret Service: Man at rally said he wanted to kill Trump*
By MICHELLE RINDELS
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A man arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas told authorities he tried to grab an officer's gun so he could kill the candidate, the Secret Service said.

Sandford told officers he had been planning an assassination for about a year and was convinced he would die in the attempt. He said he also reserved a ticket for a Trump rally in Phoenix, scheduled for later in the day, as a backup.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-20-18-15-36


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 6:58 PM EDT
*A divided Senate answers Orlando with gridlock on gun curbs*
By ALAN FRAM and MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A divided Senate blocked rival election-year plans to curb guns on Monday, eight days after the horror of Orlando's mass shooting intensified pressure on lawmakers to act but knotted them in gridlock anyway - even over restricting firearms for terrorists.

In largely party-line votes, rejected were one proposal from each side to keep extremists from acquiring guns and another shoring up the government's existing system of required background checks for many firearms purchases.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-20-18-58-52


----------



## poochee

Jun 21, 5:00 PM EDT
*Obama visits a dozen wounded and ill at military hospital*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has concluded a private visit with a dozen wounded or ill service members receiving treatment at a military hospital near the nation's capital.

Obama spent about an hour making the rounds Tuesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-21-17-00-53


----------



## poochee

*Trump: 'We don't know anything about Hillary in terms of religion'*
By Ashley Killough, CNN
Updated 5:15 PM ET, Tue June 21, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump was addressing a small group of high-profile evangelicals
Clinton she has had a number of public interactions with people where they discussed her faith
New York (CNN)Donald Trump argued Tuesday that the American public knows very little about Hillary Clinton's religion, raising questions about how it will impact her leadership should she become president.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/21/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-religion/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Clinton Stings Trump On Economy: 'We Can't Let Him Bankrupt America'*
June 21, 20161:58 PM ET 
Scott Horsley 

Hillary Clinton delivered a stinging indictment Tuesday of both Donald Trump's business record and his economic policy prescriptions, an early effort to undermine what the business mogul has billed as one of his chief qualifications for the White House.

"We can't let him bankrupt America like we are one of his failed casinos," Clinton told supporters at an alternative high school in Columbus, Ohio. "We can't let him roll the dice with our children's futures."

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/21/48295...p-on-economy-we-cant-let-him-bankrupt-america


----------



## poochee

*President Obama Blasts Senate After Failed Votes on Gun Control Measures*
By John Parkinson
Jun 21, 2016, 12:11 PM ET

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama blasted the Senate for blocking four votes on gun control measures, considered in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre, in which a shooter killed 49 people and injured 53 others.

In a tweet, Obama expressed his frustration.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pres...te-failed-votes-gun-control/story?id=40017828


----------



## poochee

Jun 21, 7:11 PM EDT
*President Obama to award Vietnam veteran Medal of Honor*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some five decades after he led a platoon credited with rescuing dozens of soldiers pinned down by enemy fire, a Vietnam War veteran will be awarded the nation's highest military honor for valor, the White House announced on Tuesday.

In May 1967, Army Maj. Charles Kettles led several helicopter trips to help evacuate wounded soldiers near the district of Duc Pho. He returned to the landing zone without additional aerial support to rescue stranded soldiers pinned down by enemy fire. The White House says Kettles helped save the lives of 40 soldiers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-21-19-11-36


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 21 2016, 8:37 pm ET
*Donald Trump's History of Questioning Others' Religion*
by Emma Margolin

*VIDEO*

Clinton is, in fact, a practicing Methodist who knows her Bible well and speaks often about the important role faith plays in her life. In her books, and occasionally on the campaign trail, Clinton has talked openly of how she turned to faith in times of hardship, including during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the death of her best friend, Diane Blair, in 2000.

Trump, on the other hand, identifies as a Presbyterian but has struggled to demonstrate basic Biblical literacy this election cycle. Last year, Trump's Manhattan church, Marble Collegiate, released a statement saying the twice-divorced real estate developer was not an "active member." Earlier this year Trump mispronounced a book of the Bible and cursed -- twice -- during an address at Liberty University, the world's largest Christian college.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...s-history-questioning-others-religion-n596666


----------



## poochee

*United In Purpose Evangelicals Still Unsure About Trump*
Tue, Jun 21

*VIDEO*

Religious group United in Purpose met with Donald Trump on Tuesday but none of the panel would say if they were willing to endorse him.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/united-in-purpose-evangelicals-still-unsure-about-trump-709970499601


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 22 2016, 12:16 pm ET
*Fact-Checking Trump's Speech*
by Carrie Dann, Mark Murray , Vaughn Hillyard, Alex Seitz-Wald,
Andrea Mitchell and Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump delivered a speech Wednesday billed as a broadside attack on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's foreign policy and economic record. Trump called the address an opportunity to "discuss the failed policies and bad judgment of Crooked Hillary Clinton."

NBC's political and investigative teams fact-checked some of the claims in Donald Trump's speech. This post will be updated as our team researches more of Trump's claims.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/fact-checking-trump-s-speech-n597051


----------



## poochee

Jun 22, 1:00 PM EDT
*Rebellious Democrats disrupt House, stage protest*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rebellious Democrats disrupted the House's legislative work on Wednesday, staging a sit-in on the House floor and refusing to leave until they secured a vote on gun control measures. Exasperated Republicans were forced to recess while cutting off the C-Span cameras that showed the protest.

"No bill, no break," shouted Democrats, who demanded that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., keep the House in session through its planned weeklong recess next week to debate and vote on gun legislation.

Lewis said action on gun violence is long overdue.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-22-13-00-31


----------



## poochee

Jun 22, 12:37 PM EDT
*Obama signs major overhaul of toxic chemicals rules into law*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama signed the first major overhaul of toxic chemicals rules in 40 years into law on Wednesday, calling it proof that Washington can function despite intense polarization.

In a White House signing ceremony, Obama praised both chemicals industry groups and environmentalists alike for finding consensus despite their usual differences of opinion. He was joined by a diverse group of U.S. lawmakers who helped pass the legislation, including House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-22-12-37-03


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202*
*The Daily 202: Reagan White House viewed Trump and his 'large ego' warily*
By James Hohmann June 22 at 8:25 AM

-- Over the past year, Trump has routinely compared himself to Reagan and embellished his ties to the GOP icon. The Donatelli memo is one of several pieces of evidence in the archives at the Reagan presidential library here that show no meaningful relationship ever existed between the two men.

Trump was a registered Republican, but he maxed out to Jimmy Carter in 1980 and contributed to Walter Mondale ahead of 1984. (Covering his bases, Trump also cut a $1,000 check to Reagan's reelection campaign.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...e3981b92a22d278fa5/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Clinton: Trump responding with 'outlandish lies and conspiracy theories'*
By Dan Merica and MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 6:57 PM ET, Wed June 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday fired back following Donald Trump's blistering speech from earlier in the day
Clinton called Trump a candidate of "reckless ideas" during a campaign rally in Raleigh
She said Trump was going after her personally because he "has no answers on the substance"
"I guess my speech yesterday must have gotten under his skin because right away he lashed out on Twitter with outlandish lies and conspiracy theories and he did the same in his speech today," Clinton said at a campaign rally here in Raleigh.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-lies/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Inside Trump's Most Valuable Tower: Felons, Dictators and Girl Scouts*
By Zeke Faux and Max Abelson
June 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

"Iconic and wonderful," Donald J. Trump said at a South Carolina town hall event last year, praising the 86-year-old Art Deco tower as one of his great possessions. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee also told fans in Maine that critics who mock his failed companies should focus instead on the Manhattan skyscraper. "They don't want to talk about 40 Wall Street," he said.

But the 72-story building has housed frauds, thieves, boiler rooms and penny-stock schemers since Trump took it over in 1995 in what may be the best deal of his career. No single property in his portfolio is more valuable than 40 Wall St., according to a Bloomberg valuation of his assets last year. And no U.S. address has been home to more of the unregistered brokerages that investors complain about, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission's current public alert list.

http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2...ium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=


----------



## poochee

*Democrats sit-in on House floor to force gun-control votes continues late into the night*
By Karoun Demirjian June 22 at 11:02 PM
*
VIDEO
*
Democrats took over the House floor on Wednesday in an attempt to force votes on gun-control proposals, holding their sit-in well into the evening almost 12 hours after it began.

Many House Democrats said they plan to stay in the chamber all night - even if Republicans decide to shut off the lights and the air conditioning - to call for congressional action following the recent mass shooting in Orlando.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-on-house-floor-to-force-gun-control-votes/


----------



## poochee

*Almost 26 Hours Later, House Democrats End Gun Control Sit-In *
June 23, 20167:51 AM ET 
 Camila Domonoske 
 
Jessica Taylor 

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., ended the daylong protest surrounded by his Democratic colleagues. The civil rights leader proclaimed that this "is a struggle, but we're going to win this struggle."

He pledged to come back on July 5 after the congressional recess "more determined than ever before" to push for reforms in the wake of yet another mass shooting last week at an Orlando gay nightclub.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...9/house-democrats-continue-gun-control-sit-in


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court Upholds University Of Texas' Affirmative Action Program *
June 23, 201610:18 AM ET 
 Eyder Peralta 

In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States has upheld the University of Texas' affirmative action program.

"The race-conscious admissions program in use at the time of petitioner's application is lawful under the Equal Protection Clause," the court held.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...niversity-of-texas-affirmative-action-program


----------



## poochee

*After Supreme Court Defeat, Obama Says Immigration Question Now Up To Voters *
June 23, 201612:32 PM ET 
 Eyder Peralta 

Obama says the high court's 4-4 split does not change his deportation priorities, but he admitted that his administration will not be able to move forward with the programs put on hold by the 5th Circuit and he doesn't believe he will issue any more executive actions.

Obama said that the Supreme Court's inability to reach a decision was "unfortunate" and "takes us further from the country that we aspire to be."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ma-says-immigration-question-now-up-to-voters


----------



## poochee

*5 takeaways from CNN's Libertarian Party town hall*
By Chris Moody, CNN Senior Digital Correspondent
Updated 10:46 AM ET, Thu June 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Opposition to Donald Trump among Republicans and distaste for Hillary Clinton among Bernie Sanders supporters could create an opportunity for the Libertarian Party, which has general election ballot access in a majority of states.

On Wednesday, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, made their case at a CNN town hall hosted by Chris Cuomo.

*Here are 5 takeaways from the CNN Libertarian Party town hall:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/gary-johnson-bill-weld-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Jun 23 2016, 6:41 pm ET
*In Trump U. Lawsuit Deposition, Trump Can't Remember 'World's Greatest Memory' Boast*
by Charlie Gile

VIDEO

Donald Trump claims to have a world-class memory, but it certainly wasn't on display during his deposition for a lawsuit over Trump University.

"I don't remember," Trump told lawyers 35 times during his December testimony, which was released on Wednesday.

His inability to recall covered a wide range of subjects - including whether he had told NBC News' Katy Tur just a month earlier that he had the "world's Greatest memory."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-u-lawsuit-deposition-trump-can-t-remember-world-s-n597986


----------



## poochee

*5 reasons why Americans should care about Brexit*
By Doug Criss, CNN
Updated 1:06 PM ET, Fri June 24, 2016

*Story highlights*

Brexit isn't just a big deal for Europe: it affects America too
It might be a threat to the U.S. economy
*VIDEO*

(CNN)Britain's stunning vote to leave the European Union is both historic and world-changing. But what does it really mean for folks living on the other side of the Atlantic? Potentially, everything -- the economy, national security, even the race for president. *Here are five ways Brexit will affect Americans:
*
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/politics/brexit-what-this-means-us/index.html


----------



## poochee

MSNBC Live 6/24/16
*Obama releases statement on Brexit*
President Obama releases a statement involving the Brexit vote.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/obama-releases-statement-on-brexit-712122947802


----------



## poochee

*Trump's top example of foreign experience: A Scottish golf course losing millions*
By Jenna Johnson
Politics
June 22

But to many people in Scotland, his course here has been a failure. Over the past decade, Trump has battled with homeowners, elbowed his way through the planning process, shattered relationships with elected leaders and sued the Scottish government. On top of that, he has yet to fulfill the lofty promises he made.

Trump has also reported to Scottish authorities that he lost millions of dollars on the project - even as he claims on U.S. presidential disclosure forms that the course has been highly profitable.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ae9cb0-1883-11e6-9e16-2e5a123aac62_story.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 23, 5:52 PM EDT
*Senators reach deal on GMO labeling*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senators have a bipartisan deal to require labeling of genetically modified ingredients nationally, a week before a labeling law in Vermont goes into effect.

The deal announced Thursday by the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee would require the nationwide labeling of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, in packaged foods for the first time. But it would be more lenient than Vermont's law, allowing food companies to use a text label, a symbol or electronic label accessed by smartphone. Vermont's law would require items to be labeled "produced with genetic engineering."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-23-17-52-22


----------



## poochee

*Stonewall Inn's journey to becoming a national monument*
05/16/16 10:30 AM-Updated 06/24/16 01:33 PM
1 share group 56
By Emma Margolin

*VIDEO*

*NEW YORK - *President Obama on Friday officially designated the Stonewall Inn a national monument, making it the first in the country to honor LGBT equality.

Obama made the announcement in a YouTube video, saying "our national parks should reflect the full story of our country - the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us."

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/stonewall-inns-journey-becoming-national-monument


----------



## poochee

*Sanders: I'll vote for Clinton and 'do everything' to defeat Trump*
By David Weigel and John Wagner Post Politics
June 24 at 8:11 AM

*VIDEO*

Bernie Sanders told the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that he will vote for Hillary Clinton for president, the latest in a series of tacit admissions that he has lost the primaries - and his latest refusal to actually concede.

"Yes," the senator from Vermont said when asked if he would vote for the former secretary of state. "I think the issue right here is I'm gonna do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...or-clinton-and-do-everything-to-defeat-trump/


----------



## poochee

*CNN/ORC poll: Obama's approval rating up to 52%*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 9:46 AM ET, Fri June 24, 2016

*PHOTOS*

*Story highlights*

This survey marks the third straight CNN/ORC poll with majority approval for the President
Obama's positive approval ratings and personal image could prove a boost to Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency
It's not just Obama's approval ratings that are on the rise -- his favorability has also climbed and stands at 53% now, up from 48% in December.

That figure means that at this stage of his presidency, Obama ranks as the most positively-viewed recent second term president. Both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan were viewed favorably by just under half of adults in the spring or summer of their final years in office, while George W. Bush's favorability rating stood at 38% in summer 2008.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/politics/obama-approval-rating-presidency-cnn-orc-poll/index.html


----------



## poochee

June 25, 2016
*Weekly Address: Designating Stonewall National Monument*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - On Friday, June 24, President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument - the first national monument dedicated to telling the story of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community's struggle for equal rights. In this week's address, the President talked about the importance of preserving and sharing this significant part of the American story. Although we have seen true progress over the years, the President acknowledged that the LGBT community still faces discrimination to this day. With that in mind, the President emphasized that as a country, we must continue to push for equality, acceptance and tolerance - because that's what makes our country the greatest nation on earth.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Obama previews stump speech: No time for 'charlatans'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 8:38 AM ET, Sat June 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

_Seattle (CNN)_Delayed from hitting the presidential campaign trail, President Barack Obama previewed his 2016 stump speech Friday for an incumbent governor instead, using a fundraiser here to hit Republicans for dividing the country and lambasting "charlatans" who seek personal gain from exploiting fears.

Declaring GOP rhetoric a detriment to progress, Obama even borrowed Hillary Clinton's campaign slogan of "stronger together" to argue for unity in the country.

"We don't have time for charlatans and we don't have time for bigotry and we didn't have time for film-flam and we don't have the luxury of just popping off and saying whatever comes to the tops of our heads," Obama said during the Friday evening event, held for 3,000 supporters of Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/politics/obama-seattle-trump-charlatans/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Jun 24 2016, 5:54 pm ET
*Officials: Pentagon to Lift Ban on Transgender Service Members Soon*
by Courtney Kube and Halimah Abdullah

The Department of Defense is expected to announce within weeks that transgender men and women will be allowed to openly serve in the military, several Pentagon officials tell NBC News.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter could make the announcement as early as next week and he will call for full implementation one year from now.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-ban-transgender-service-members-soon-n598701


----------



## poochee

*Clinton leads Trump, pair of polls show*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:11 AM ET, Sun June 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race, two new polls of registered voters show -- but they differ on the size of her advantage.

A Washington Post/ABC News survey shows Clinton ahead by 12 points, 51% to 39%.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, meanwhile, pegs Clinton's lead at 5 points, 46% to 41%.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/26/politics/hillary-clinton-leads-donald-trump-polls/index.html


----------



## poochee

*WORLDPOST*
*More Than 3 Million Britons Are Demanding A Second EU Referendum*
_A petition calls for the U.K. government to act because Thursday's winning margin to leave the union was so slim._

06/25/2016 06:55 am ET | *Updated* 10 hours ago
*Lee Moran*  Trends Editor, The Huffington Post

Calls for the United Kingdom to hold a second referendum on its membership of the European Union are growing.

A petition demanding a rerun of Thursday's vote which resulted in the British exit, dubbed a "Brexit," after the "leave" campaign won 51.9 percent to Remain's 48.1 percent, had garnered more than 3 million signatures by early Sunday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...gnatures_us_576e58ebe4b0dbb1bbbab919?section=


----------



## poochee

*Clinton marches in New York pride parade*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 2:56 PM ET, Sun June 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

Clinton was joined by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Actress Cynthia Nixon, known for her role on "Sex in the City," joined Clinton, as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/26/politics/hillary-clinton-new-york-pride-parade/index.html


----------



## poochee

*George Will: Trump's judge comments prompted exit from GOP*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 4:04 PM ET, Sun June 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

Trump attacked Will on Twitter over his decision to leave the GOP Sunday morning, writing: "George Will, one of the most overrated political pundits (who lost his way long ago), has left the Republican Party. He's made many bad calls."

Will responded on "Fox News Sunday," saying: "He has an advantage on me, because he can say everything he knows about any subject in 140 characters and I can't."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/25/polit...-leaving-republican-party-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 26 2016, 6:18 pm ET
*Clinton Says 'We Will Bounce Back' From U.K.'s Brexit Vote, Bashes Trump*
by Elisha Fieldstadt and Monica Alba

INDIANAPOLIS - In her first on-camera response to the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, Hillary Clinton on Sunday said America "will bounce back from this" economically - and knocked Donald Trump's response to the vote without mentioning him by name.

The country needs leaders "who understand that bombastic comments in turbulent times can actually cause more turbulence and who put the interests of the American people ahead of their personal business interests," Clinton said, without specifically referencing her Republican rival for the presidency.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-says-we-will-bounce-back-u-k-s-brexit-n599311


----------



## poochee

Sunday, Jun 26, 2016 01:45 AM PDT
* Kerry to visit Brussels, London for talks on UK's EU exit*

ROME (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will rush to Brussels and London on Monday to meet the top British and European Union diplomats, as the world grapples with the implications of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union.

The trip began Sunday in Rome, where Kerry has scheduled talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will also meet Italian government officials.

http://www.salon.com/2016/06/26/kerry_to_visit_brussels_london_for_talks_on_uks_eu_exit/


----------



## poochee

*Democrats' Benghazi report: Clinton not at fault*
 Mary Troyan, USA Today 1:06 p.m. EDT June 27, 2016

WASHINGTON - The Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi issued their minority report today, absolving then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of blame in the 2012 terror attacks in which four Americans were killed.

The Democrat-only report, issued after more than two years of a Republican-led investigation that took place mostly in secret, concludes that the U.S. military was not ordered to delay its response on the night of the attacks that began on Sept. 11, 2012.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...crats-say-no-blame-clinton-benghazi/86425430/


----------



## poochee

Jun 27, 12:31 PM EDT
*Supreme Court strikes down Texas restrictions on abortions*
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court struck down Texas' widely replicated regulation of abortion clinics Monday in the court's biggest abortion case in nearly a quarter century.

The justices voted 5-3 in favor of Texas clinics that had argued the regulations were only a veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions in the nation's second-most populous state.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-27-12-31-50


----------



## poochee

Jun 27, 10:05 AM EDT
*Court upholds reach of US gun ban for domestic violence*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court is upholding the broad reach of a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns.

The justices on Monday rejected arguments that the law covers only intentional acts of abuse and not those committed in the heat of an argument.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-27-10-05-11


----------



## poochee

Politics | Mon Jun 27, 2016 11:51am EDT
Related: Election 2016,  Politics,  Elizabeth Warren
*White House hopeful Clinton teams up with liberal Warren for Ohio event*
By Amanda Becker

CINCINNATI, Ohio - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren campaigned together for the first time on Monday in Ohio, bringing a populist economic message to a swing state that could be vital in November's White House showdown with Republican Donald Trump.

Warren, a leader of the party's progressive wing and a potential vice presidential pick for Clinton, is a fiery critic of Wall Street who has also aggressively attacked the wealthy Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

In a potential preview of a Clinton-Warren campaign team, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts said Clinton had spent her career fighting for progressive values while Trump was in the campaign to bolster his financial bottom line.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-idUSKCN0ZD13X


----------



## poochee

Jun 28 2016, 11:45 am ET 
*Obama on Brexit: I Don't Expect 'Major Cataclysmic Changes'*
by Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

Everybody relax.

That was the message from President Obama on Tuesday as he tried to reassure nervous U.S. allies in the wake of Britain's vote to exit from the European Union.

"There's been a little bit of hysteria post-Brexit vote, as if somehow NATO's gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner," Obama told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast Tuesday. "That's not what's happening."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/br...on-t-expect-major-cataclysmic-changes-n600356


----------



## poochee

*Zika funding stalls in the Senate amid partisan rift*
By Kelsey Snell and Mike DeBonis June 28 at 12:50 PM

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a $1.1 billion Zika-virus funding package drafted by congressional Republicans, citing politically motivated language aimed at Planned Parenthood and environmental regulations.

The partisan clash casts serious doubt on whether Congress will be able to heed increasingly dire warnings from public health officials and provide new funds to combat the virus before lawmakers leave Washington.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...nate/?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*2016 Election Polls*
Updated June 28, 2016

*National Polling Average
*
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/polls.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Benghazi Committee Faults Military Response To 2012 Attack* 
June 28, 201610:29 AM ET 
 Brian Naylor 

The House Benghazi Committee has released its findings on the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya.

The 800-page report found that despite President Obama and then Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's "clear orders," the military failed to immediately send a force to Benghazi and that nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed - almost eight hours after the attacks began.

The most damaging aspect of the investigation for Clinton may have been the discovery that she used a private email server while she was secretary of state.

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/28/48383...lts-military-response-to-2012-attack-in-libya


----------



## poochee

*Explosions Rock Istanbul Airport, Multiple Deaths Reported*
by Aziz Akyavas , Richard Engel, Robert Windrem, Alex Johnson and Erik Ortiz

ISTANBUL - At least two explosions rocked Turkey's largest airport Tuesday night, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

Authorities and witnesses said terrorists opened fire at the entrance of the international arrivals area at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul before explosives were detonated.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/is...ul-airport-multiple-injuries-reported-n600561


----------



## poochee

Jun 28, 4:51 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump's vision improbably resembles past*
By JOSH BOAK and CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump laid out an economic future Tuesday that improbably resembles the past, declaring "it will be American steel" that once again builds gleaming skyscrapers and fortifies the bridges and American factories that broadly revive a manufacturing economy long gone.

In Trump's nostalgia-tinted vision, the complex and diverse U.S. economy can be fixed by tariffs, factory jobs and forcing foreign partners back to the bargaining table.

But to achieve it, he would have to reverse not only globalization, but automation, a changing workforce and other seismic shifts of a U.S. economy that has become more dependent on educated workers and the low prices made possible by international trade.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-28-16-51-51


----------



## poochee

Jun 28, 10:34 PM EDT
*The Latest: Clinton: Understands fear of foreign trade
AP
*
The former secretary of state has told a crowd of young digital content creators at a town hall-style meeting in Hollywood, California, on Tuesday that more must be done to create jobs and improve the economy.

She says she understands why some people are upset or fearful about foreign trade or illegal immigration.

But Clinton says she's looking for solutions and warns about "misleading promises" and a Trump agenda that she says would take the country backward.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-28-22-34-38


----------



## poochee

Jun 29, 1:11 PM EDT
*The Latest: Obama: Mexican Americans help shape US*

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) -- The Latest on U.S. President Barack Obama's summit Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (all times local):

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-29-13-11-34


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 29 2016, 11:12 am ET
*McCain Hits Back at Trump on Waterboarding*
by Aliyah Frumin

Republican Sen. John McCain is hitting back at Donald Trump's renewed calls for torture in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack at the Istanbul airport in Turkey.

"It's not the United States of America. It's not what we are all about. It's not what we are," the Arizona lawmaker and former prisoner of war in North Vietnam said to applause at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington on Wednesday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/mccain-hits-back-trump-waterboarding-n601026


----------



## poochee

*Amb. Stevens' sister: Don't blame Clinton for Benghazi*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 9:34 AM ET, Wed June 29, 2016

*VIDEO
*
_(CNN)_The sister of the U.S. ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi said she doesn't blame Hillary Clinton for Chris Stevens' death, instead pointing to Congress for under-budgeting the State Department
.
"I do not blame Hillary Clinton or Leon Panetta (for Stevens' death). They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world," Dr. Anne Stevens, who has acted as a spokesperson for the family, said in an interview with the New Yorker published Tuesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/29/polit...azi-interview/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*The unlikely godfather of the Islamic State*
By Thom Patterson, CNN
Updated 6:55 AM ET, Wed June 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_ISIS, perhaps the most feared terrorist group in the world, traces its short history to a man who was a prison gang leader, a high school dropout and an alleged teenage pimp.

His name: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Zarqawi was "Hitler-like" and "incredibly brutal," said Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, a retired former director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/29/middl...ather-of-isis/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

Jun 29, 8:02 PM EDT
*Congress clears Puerto Rico rescue bill, sends to president*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress delivered relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico on Wednesday, sending President Barack Obama a last-minute financial rescue package to help the U.S. territory of 3.5 million Americans.

The Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan 68-30 vote, three weeks after the House overwhelmingly backed the measure. The vote came two days before the island is supposed to make a $2 billion payment to creditors.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-29-20-02-33


----------



## poochee

*Pew poll: Trump at 9% with Europeans *
By Rachel Chason and Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 12:57 PM ET, Wed June 29, 2016

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton is at 59% confidence from EU respondents
Global opinions on Obama and America are high as term draws to a close
*VIDEO*

(CNN)Good thing for Donald Trump that he isn't running for office in Europe.

Just 9% of Europeans surveyed have confidence in the presumptive Republican nominee to do the right thing in world affairs, according to a new Pew Research Center poll Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/29/politics/pew-poll-obama-trump-clinton/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Pentagon Says Transgender Troops Can Now Serve Openly* 
June 30, 20162:07 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy 

 
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter says the military is lifting a ban on transgender service members.

"Effective immediately, transgender Americans may serve openly, and they can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military just for being transgender," he told reporters today at the Pentagon.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...30&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

*Move over, 'Trump U,' the new scandal is the 'Trump Institute'*
06/29/16 04:13 PM-Updated 06/29/16 05:16 PM
By Steve Benen

The scandal surrounding "Trump University" is already an albatross for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The entire enterprise has been accused of being a con job, ripping off "students" who trusted the developer's name.

But as it turns out, there's a new, related controversy surrounding the "Trump Institute," which is something else. The _New York Times_ reports today that the Republican candidate "lent his name, and his credibility" to this seminar business, which offered Trump's "wealth-creating secrets and strategies" for up to $2,000.

The truth was something else altogether.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/move-over-trump-u-the-new-scandal-the-trump-institute


----------



## poochee

By Rebecca Shabad CBS News June 30, 2016, 12:48 PM
*Hillary Clinton opens up lead in Fox News poll*

The poll found Clinton leads Trump 44 percent to 38 percent, which comes after she only had a three-point edge earlier this month. In May, a similar poll found Trump was leading Clinton 45 percent to 42 percent.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-opens-up-lead-in-fox-news-poll/


----------



## poochee

Jun 30, 5:53 PM EDT
*Obama quickly signs Puerto Rico financial rescue bill*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama signed a rescue package on Thursday for financially strapped Puerto Rico, which is facing more than $70 billion in debt and a major payment due Friday.

Obama signed the bill hours after it won final Senate passage Wednesday night. Obama said there is still tough work to do to get Puerto Rico out of the hole.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-06-30-17-53-23


----------



## poochee

News
Jun 30 2016, 1:56 pm ET
*House GOP to Move on Measures to Block Terrorists From Buying Guns*
by Luke Russert and Alex Moe

The House will move next week on an anti-terrorism package that will have a provision to stop suspected terrorists from buying guns, a source who participated in a House GOP conference call on Thursday morning tells NBC News.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/house-gop-move-measures-block-terrorists-buying-guns-n601761


----------



## poochee

Jul 1, 12:42 PM EDT
*Lynch: I'll accept findings of lawyers in Clinton email case*
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Loretta Lynch acknowledged Friday that her impromptu meeting with Bill Clinton "cast a shadow" on public perception of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email. She hastened to add that she would follow the recommendations of career prosecutors on whether to file criminal charges against the former secretary of state.

Lynch said she understood that her private meeting with Clinton aboard her plane in Phoenix might be seen as compromising the neutrality of the investigation, even though she said the probe of Hillary Clinton was not discussed. "I certainly wouldn't do it again," she said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-01-12-42-45


----------



## poochee

NBC OUT
Jun 30 2016, 2:45 pm ET
*With Transgender Military Ban Lifted, Obama Cements Historic LGBT Rights Legacy*
by Emma Margolin

*VIDEO*

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced an end to the military's longstanding ban on openly transgender service members on Thursday, fulfilling a key piece of the Obama administration's historic legacy on LGBT rights.

The move, which will take a year to fully implement, will undoubtedly have an enormous impact on the armed services as a whole and especially on the thousands of transgender troops currently serving in silence. But it will also mark an important - and likely, final - milestone in the remarkable LGBT rights record of the current commander-in-chief.

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-...a-cements-historic-lgbt-rights-legacy-n600541


----------



## poochee

*WP*
Fact Checker
*The Truth Behind The Rhetoric* | By Glenn Kessler

*The most popular fact checks of June*
We take a look at the five most popular fact checks of June.

Michelle Ye Hee Lee·

2016 Candidates·

10 hours ago

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/?wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 1, 7:26 PM EDT
*California governor signs stringent gun bills, vetoes others*
By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed six stringent gun-control measures Friday that will require people to turn in high-capacity magazines and mandate background checks for ammunition sales, as California Democrats seek to strengthen gun laws that are already among the strictest in the nation.

Brown vetoed five other bills, including a requirement to report lost or stolen weapons to authorities and a limit of one gun purchase per person per month.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-01-19-26-16


----------



## poochee

July 02, 2016
*Weekly Address: Serving our Military Families This Fourth of July*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama wished everyone a happy Fourth of July, and recognized our service members, veterans and their families for their service to our country. The President commended First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden on the most recent milestone of their Joining Forces initiative. This week, the First Lady and Dr. Biden announced that all fifty states have acted to streamline professional licensing for military spouses, who often move across state lines and need to re-certify for a job they are already qualified for. Although more work needs to be done, today, many military spouses no longer have to worry about putting their career on hold just because their loved ones have chosen to serve this country. That's what this initiative is all about - serving our troops as well as they have served us. This holiday weekend, visit JoiningForces.gov to find out how you can serve service members, veterans and military families in your community.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Clinton questioned by FBI as part of email probe*
By Dan Berman, CNN
Updated 2:23 PM ET, Sat July 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

An aide said the interview occurred at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The meeting indicates the investigation could be entering its final phase
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/02/politics/clinton-meets-with-fbi-as-part-of-email-probe/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump looks to unlikely speakers for convention help*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 2:26 PM ET, Sat July 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

_Denver (CNN)_Donald Trump is turning to his family, sports figures and business leaders to fill speaking slots at the Republican National Convention later this month as scores of prominent Republican leaders continue to refuse to line up behind their controversial nominee-to-be.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/01/politics/donald-trump-convention-children-speakers/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 2, 6:03 AM EDT
*First lady: All states easing licensing for military spouses*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A White House campaign to help military families has hit a new milestone: All 50 states have eased the requirements for military spouses whose careers require a professional license.

Michelle Obama said just three states accepted licenses from other states when she and Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, launched a broader initiative in 2011 to help military families.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-02-06-03-59


----------



## poochee

Jul 2, 2:13 PM EDT
*Clinton's choice for first event with Obama: North Carolina*
By KEN THOMAS and LISA LERER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign together next week for the first time this year, and their decision to meet up in Charlotte says a lot about how her campaign views her path to replace him in the White House.

Democrats see North Carolina as a prime place to expand into Republican territory against Donald Trump, building upon one of Obama's biggest triumphs in 2008 and his narrow loss four years ago.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-02-14-13-39


----------



## poochee

*Gary Johnson: Trump says 'racist' things and should be disqualified from presidency*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 9:37 AM ET, Sun July 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson said Donald Trump says "racist" things and should be disqualified from becoming president for saying that he is "looking at" replacing employees of the Transportation Security Administration who are Muslim and wear hijabs.

"He has said 100 things that would disqualify anyone else from running for president but doesn't seem to affect him," he told CNN's Brianna Keilar in an interview aired Sunday on "State of the Union." "It's racist."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/03/polit...n-cnn-state-of-the-union-interview/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
*The Obama Years: Views On A Presidency, Across America*
July 1, 2016 3:41 PM ET
Steve Inskeep

How has America changed after eight tumultuous years under President Obama?

We put that big question to scores of people in seven states. We chose places where the president delivered speeches about his vision for America. What we collected is not the "inside story" of Obama's administration. It is the outside story. By design, we questioned night shift workers, food servers, business owners and sometimes people we encountered at random. What emerged is an unfiltered look at a nation after years of political and economic struggle.

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/01/482943749/the-obama-years-views-on-a-presidency-across-america


----------



## poochee

Politics
*The Most 'Unprecedented' Election Ever? 65 Ways It Has Been*
July 3, 20166:00 AM ET 
Danielle Kurtzleben 

Every presidential election manages to feel new somehow. Even amid the wall-to-wall cable coverage and poll frenzies and day-before-the-election, man-on-the-street interviews with still-undecided voters and shock (shock!) when a candidate flip-flops, every four years, there's a sense that this time - _this time - _is different. (Remember that whole recount thing?)

*And then there's* *2016.*

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/03/484214413/the-most-unprecedented-election-ever-65-ways-it-has-been


----------



## poochee

*Islamic State Car Bomb in Iraqi Capital Kills 115*
By murtada faraj and sinan salaheddin, associated press
BAGHDAD - Jul 3, 2016, 1:31 PM ET

A suicide truck bomb in downtown Baghdad killed 115 people and wounded nearly 200 others who were out shopping and celebrating early Sunday ahead of the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, security and medical officials said.

The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, was the deadliest in months in the Iraqi capital, and came despite a series of recent gains against the extremists, including the capture of Fallujah, which was believed to have been a source of such attacks.

http://abcnews.go.com/International...death-toll-claimed-car-bombing-iraqi-40310217


----------



## poochee

Jul 2, 8:16 PM EDT
*Man accused of planning terrorism acts in Phoenix, Tucson*

PHOENIX (AP) -- A Tucson man has been arrested by the FBI and the Arizona Attorney General's Office for threatening to commit acts of terrorism on Arizona government buildings.

The Attorney General's Office says 18-year-old Mahin Khan appeared before a Phoenix judge Saturday morning.

He was ordered held without bond in Maricopa County Jail.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-02-20-16-54


----------



## poochee

*11,000 failed attempts to change America*
By Chris Moody and Gabe Ramirez, CNN
Updated 11:50 AM ET, Sun July 3, 2016

VIDEO

_(CNN)_In the two centuries since our nation's founders wrote of their goal to "form a more perfect union" in the U.S. Constitution, Americans have made more than 11,000 attempts to change it.

Most, however, failed miserably. Among the many attempts to add amendments to the Constitution, only 27 have succeeded in passing the rigorous process to ratification.

*With help from the U.S. National Archives, here are just some of the ways Americans have tried to change the nation. *

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/03/politics/failed-constitutional-amendments/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Republican women organize to support Clinton *
By Chris Moody, CNN Senior Digital Correspondent
Updated 2:59 PM ET, Sun July 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

This is the post-primary Never Trump movement in action
National opinion polls show Clinton leading Trump among several demographic groups, notably women voters
_(CNN)_Huddled around a corner table during happy hour at the swanky St. Regis Hotel bar in downtown Washington, five young Republicans busily brainstormed how they could help Hillary Clinton become the next president of the United States.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/02/politics/republican-women-organize-to-support-clinton/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Emirates Advises Citizens Not To Wear Traditional Dress While Traveling *
July 3, 20163:52 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy

*VIDEO*

The government of the United Arab Emirates is advising its citizens to avoid wearing the country's traditional dress while traveling abroad.

It came after an Emirati man wearing the country's flowing white robe, called a _kandura_, a headscarf and a headband was mistaken for a member of ISIS while traveling in the United States. He was handcuffed by the police and later hospitalized in Avon, Ohio, on Wednesday. The incident was widely reported in Emirati media.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...not-to-wear-traditional-dress-while-traveling


----------



## poochee

News
ISIS Terror
Jul 4 2016, 2:16 pm ET
*Baghdad Bomb Toll Hits 200; Iraqis Take Out Anger on PM Al-Abadi*
by NBC News

*VIDEO*

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/is...toll-hits-200-iraqi-take-out-anger-pm-n603401


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Obama After Dark: The Precious Hours Alone*
By MICHAEL D. SHEARJULY 2, 2016

WASHINGTON - "Are you up?"

The emails arrive late, often after 1 a.m., tapped out on a secure BlackBerry from an email address known only to a few. The weary recipients know that once again, the boss has not yet gone to bed.

Mr. Obama calls himself a "night guy," and as president, he has come to consider the long, solitary hours after dark as essential as his time in the Oval Office. Almost every night that he is in the White House, Mr. Obama has dinner at 6:30 with his wife and daughters and then withdraws to the Treaty Room, his private office down the hall from his bedroom on the second floor of the White House residence.

There, his closest aides say, he spends four or five hours largely by himself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/u...e-precious-hours-alone.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*President Obama Celebrates His Last Fourth Of July At The White House*
_Every year, he and first lady Michelle Obama honor military veterans and their families._
07/04/2016 11:21 am ET | *Updated* 39 minutes ago

In an annual tradition, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama spend July Fourth honoring military veterans and their families by hosting a celebration on the White House's South Lawn, featuring a barbecue, concert and, of course, fireworks.

According to the White House, this year's event, the last one before Obama leaves office, was canceled due to rain. However, the Obamas will still hold an event in the White House's East Room that will include performances from Janelle Monáe and Kendrick Lamar.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-fourth-of-july_us_577a6263e4b09b4c43c0dc53


----------



## poochee

*Vladimir Putin writes Independence Day message to Obama*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 1:49 PM ET, Mon July 4, 2016

Washington (CNN)Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to President Barack Obama in honor of Independence Day, the Kremlin government said Monday.

In the message, Putin signaled he wanted the U.S. and Russia to resume a positive relationship.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/04/politics/vladimir-putin-russia-july-4-barack-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How Trump overshadowed Clinton's bad weekend*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 9:14 PM ET, Mon July 4, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Saturday tweet drew immediate backlash for evoking anti-Semitic imagery
Trump's prolific Twitter habit is forcing Republicans to confront questions about his temperament
_(CNN)_In any normal presidential election, it would be hard to overshadow news that the FBI interviewed one of the candidates for three and a half hours about potential criminal behavior.

But in 2016, Donald Trump seems to be able to seize any news cycle -- intentionally or otherwise.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/04/politics/donald-trump-tweet/index.html


----------



## poochee

*FBI Recommends No Charges For Hillary Clinton In Email Server Case* 
July 5, 201611:32 AM ET 
 Camila Domonoske 

Hillary Clinton and her staff were "extremely careless" in handling classified data over a private email server while she was secretary of state, FBI Director James Comey said Tuesday - but the FBI is recommending that no charges be brought against her.

But Comey said their evidence points to carelessness instead of intentional violations - and given that, they do not suggest criminal charges.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/05/484785586/fbi-recommends-no-charges-for-hillary-clinton-in-email-server-case?


----------



## poochee

July 11 & 18, 2016 Issue 
*Trump, the Man and the Image*
*His words increasingly signify his confusion about who he is and what he has got himself into.*
By Mark Singer

The presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party-let's call him Donald Trump, though "Donald Trump" is more like it-has a way with words, after a fashion. The mouth moves and stuff comes out. ("That could be a Mexican plane up there. They're getting ready to attack.") Except when he reads from a teleprompter, the words paradoxically seem both calculated and careless. Trusting a G.P.S. all his own, Trump is most at ease wandering syntactically all over the map until he spots an off-ramp: "Lyin' Ted," "Crooked Hillary," "Goofy Elizabeth Warren," "Build a Wall." The result ain't oratory. Still, the words entertain, wound, outrage, delight, bemuse, stupefy. More than a year into Trump's candidacy, they also signify the speaker's confusion about who he is and what he has got himself into.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...0&spJobID=960349219&spReportId=OTYwMzQ5MjE5S0


----------



## poochee

Jul 5, 6:10 PM EDT
*'Ready to pass the baton:' Obama campaigns with Clinton*
By JULIE PACE and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- President Barack Obama vigorously vouched for Hillary Clinton's trustworthiness and dedication on Tuesday, making his first outing on the campaign stump for his former secretary of state just hours after his FBI director blasted her handling of classified material.

Shirt sleeves rolled up in campaign form, Obama declared, "I'm ready to pass the baton."

"I'm here today because I believe in Hillary Clinton," he said. "I have had a front-row seat to her judgment and her commitment."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-05-17-30-25


----------



## poochee

*BREAKING: Barack Obama is still a very, very good candidate*
By Chris Cillizza
The Fix
July 5 at 4:30 PM

We can debate from now until the day the Sweet Meteor O' Death strikes the Earth whether or not Barack Obama is a good or effective president. What is beyond debate: He is one hell of a naturally-gifted campaigner.

Obama reminded me of that fact on Tuesday when he jetted to Charlotte, N.C., to campaign alongside presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for the first time in the 2016 campaign. He did it in a different way than we're used to seeing him - as cheerleader in chief. But he did it very, very well.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ck-obama-is-still-a-very-very-good-candidate/


----------



## poochee

Jul 6, 12:56 PM EDT
*US punishing North Korean leader for human rights abuses*
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. imposed sanctions Wednesday on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and 10 other top officials for human rights abuses in an escalation of Washington's effort to isolate the authoritarian government.

Although North Korea is already sanctioned to the hilt because of its nuclear weapons program, it is the first time that Kim and other top officials implicated in abuses, such as running the nation's notorious gulag, have been personally blacklisted.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-06-12-56-03


----------



## poochee

*Obama Slows Afghan Withdrawal Again, Keeping 8,400 Troops Through His Term* 
July 6, 201610:44 AM ET 
 Eyder Peralta

"It is in our national security interest ... that we give our Afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed," Obama said.

The mission of the troops will not change, Obama said. They will not be engaged in combat; instead, they are in the country to train, advise and support Afghan troops in counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...06&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton trashes Donald Trump's business record in Atlantic City, Chris Christie *
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 1:27 PM ET, Wed July 6, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton attacked Donald Trump's "fraudulent business history" during a campaign stop in New Jersey
Trump has filed four business bankruptcies in the last 30 years that relate to his casino holdings in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey (CNN)Hillary Clinton used the backdrop of Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday to slam Donald Trump and one of his most high-profile surrogates, the state's governor, Chris Christie.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/politics/clinton-trump-business-record-atlantic-city/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics | Tue Jul 5, 2016 8:32pm EDT
Related: Election 2016,  Politics
*Trump takes potential VP running mates for test drives*
WASHINGTON | By Steve Holland

Donald Trump is taking some of his potential vice presidential running mates out for a test drive this week, meeting in private and trotting them out in public as he seeks to make his choice before the Republican National Convention less than two weeks away.

Republicans close to the campaign say Trump and his team are considering announcing his running mate pick next week ahead of the convention, to be held July 18-21 in Cleveland, to try to get maximum media buzz from the decision.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-vicepresident-idUSKCN0ZL1QT?il=0


----------



## poochee

*Gretchen Carlson is the latest female journalist to allege harassment at Fox News*
By Callum Borchers
The Fix
July 6 at 12:34 PM

Gretchen Carlson tweeted Wednesday morning that she is no longer at Fox News. She didn't say why. But there is an explosive backstory behind Carlson's departure - she is suing Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes for alleged sexual harassment.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New Jersey Superior Court, Carlson alleges that Ailes fired her last month after she rebuffed his advances.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-journalist-to-allege-harassment-at-fox-news/


----------



## poochee

*As contenders quit, Trump's challenge is finding a willing VP*
07/06/16 04:08 PM-Updated 07/06/16 04:37 PM
By Steve Benen

In 12 days, the Republican National Convention will get underway, and before the festivities begin, we'll probably know who Donald Trump has chosen as his running mate. Between now and then, all the presumptive GOP has to do is choose a partner - and hope he or she is amenable.

That last part may be easier said than done. A variety of prominent Republicans have already said they're simply not interested, including Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Today, as the _Washington Post_ reported, the list got a little longer.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/contenders-quit-trumps-challenge-finding-willing-vp


----------



## poochee

*House passes mental health bil*
By Peter Sullivan - 07/06/16 04:17 PM EDT

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a long-delayed mental health bill that Republicans have cast as their response to recent mass shootings.

The measure from Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), which passed 422-2, had been stalled and mired in controversy for years, but lawmakers in recent months dropped or scaled back many of the most contentious, sweeping measures.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/286705-house-passes-mental-health-bill


----------



## poochee

*Joni Ernst's big RNC moment likely won't be as VP*
By Betsy Klein, CNN
Updated 5:30 PM ET, Wed July 6, 2016

*VIDEO*

Shorter Ernst: Thanks for the interest, bless your heart, but I'll pass. (An aide confirmed to CNN her focus on Iowa was Ernst's way of saying she wasn't interested.) Fellow Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee also let Trump know this week he would decline the offer as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/politics/joni-ernst-donald-trump-convention/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Justice Department closes Clinton email probe without charges
By **Matt Zapotosky* 
*National Security*
*July 6 at 6:12 PM 
*
U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Wednesday confirmed that the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state will be closed without criminal charges.

The announcement brings to a formal end a probe that for months dogged the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's campaign, though it is not particularly surprising.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...d8feda-43c2-11e6-88d0-6adee48be8bc_story.html


----------



## poochee

Washington Post-ABC News poll June 20-23, 2016
*Clinton leads as Dems unite, Trump weathers criticism*
Published: June 30

https://www.washingtonpost.com/page...d=p5pFMDudEeaeFkzwGkHeyw&wpisrc=nl_fix&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*New video emerges of Alton Sterling being shot*
 Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 5:58 p.m. EDT July 6, 2016

*VIDEOS*

With local authorities and community leaders calling for calm, the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights division took over the investigation Wednesday of a fatal shooting - captured on at least two graphic videos - of a black man by two Baton Rouge police officers.

The move came only hours after leaders of Baton Rouge's black community joined family members of the victim, Alton Sterling, 37, at a news conference to call for more protests and for the inquiry to be turned over to state and federal authorities.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...e-fatal-shooting-baton-rouge-police/86745562/


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jul 6 2016, 9:26 pm ET
*As AG Clears Clinton, Trump Talks About Almost Everything Else*
by Ali Vitali and Shaquille Brewster

*VIDEOS*

What began as a point-by-point take down of the inconsistencies in the former secretary of state's statements about her server versus what was found by the FBI quickly devolved into a loop-the-loop of tangents, grievances and alternative headlines.

Addressing for the first time since tweeting, and then replacing, a graphic that featured a six point symbol resembling a Jewish Star of David, Trump characteristically doubled down. The GOP presumptive nominee continued to maintain that it "could've been a star for anything" and even lamented that it was taken down by his campaign staff.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...mp-talks-about-almost-everything-else-n604991


----------



## poochee

Jul 6, 8:13 PM EDT
*Bill to boost airport security, ease lines gets green light*
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House and Senate lawmakers announced an agreement Wednesday on an aviation bill to boost airport security, reduce screening lines and require airlines to refund fees to passengers whose bags are lost or delayed.

The bill would also extend the Federal Aviation Administration's programs and policies through Sept. 30, 2017. The FAA's current operating authority is set to expire July 15.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-06-20-13-29


----------



## poochee

Jul 7, 2:06 PM EDT
*No double standard in Clinton probe, FBI director says*
By ERIC TUCKER and MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Summoned before Congress and aggressively questioned by Republicans, FBI Director James Comey on Thursday strongly defended the government's decision to not prosecute Hillary Clinton over her private email setup. He said there was no evidence that she knew that anything she was doing was against the law or had lied to federal investigators.

Comey gave his most detailed explanation to date about why the Justice Department concluded without charges a yearlong investigation that had dogged Clinton's presidential campaign and raised questions for voters about her trustworthiness.

"Our folks did it in an apolitical and a professional way," Comey said of the FBI's handling of the investigation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-07-11-59-15


----------



## poochee

*Trump, seeking GOP unity, has tense meeting with Senate Republicans*
By Sean Sullivan and Philip Rucker July 7 at 1:43 PM

Donald Trump's private meeting Thursday with Senate Republicans - designed to foster greater party unity ahead of the national convention in Cleveland - grew combative as the presumptive presidential nominee admonished three senators who have been critical of his candidacy and predicted they would lose their reelection bids, according to two Republican officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges.

Trump's most tense exchange was with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who has been vocal in his concerns about the business mogul's candidacy, especially his rhetoric and policies on immigration that the senator argues alienate many Latino voters and others in Arizona.

When Flake stood up and introduced himself, Trump told him, "You've been very critical of me."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ntroversy-over-star-of-david-tweet-continues/


----------



## poochee

Jul 7, 2:07 PM EDT
*Obama heads to Europe amid British referendum's aftershocks*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama embarked Thursday on a five-day, two-country mission to buck up a beleaguered Europe and brush back an aggressive Moscow on what is expected to be his last presidential visit to the continent.

Obama departed mid-morning on his way to a summit of NATO allies in Warsaw, before moving on to Seville and Madrid for his first presidential visit to Spain. In both corners of the continent, he'll be surrounded by leaders still reeling from Britain's decision to pull out of the European Union and sorting through uncertainty about the future of the decades-old experiment in international cooperation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-07-10-53-15


----------



## poochee

Jul 7, 1:04 PM EDT
*US gives tentative OK to flights to Cuba from 10 US cities*
By JOAN LOWY and SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. government on Thursday tentatively approved scheduled commercial airline service to Havana from 10 American cities, further bridging the gulf between countries as close as 90 miles and an hour flight but long kept at a greater distance by the Cold War.

The decision is another long stride in President Barack Obama's effort to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-07-11-33-07


----------



## poochee

*Woman streams aftermath of fatal officer-involved shooting*
By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN
Updated 2:18 PM ET, Thu July 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama "deeply disturbed" by shooting; governor promises justice
"I wanted everybody in the world to see what the police do," she says 
(CNN)As Philando Castile's head slumps backward while he lies dying next to her, Diamond Reynolds looks directly into the camera and explains that a Minnesota police officer just shot her fiancé four times.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/us/falcon-heights-shooting-minnesota/


----------



## poochee

*Obama on police shootings: 'This is not just a black issue'*
By Kevin Liptak and Athena Jones, CNN
Updated 7:03 PM ET, Thu July 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"We've seen such tragedies far too many times," Obama wrote
The President's comments following fatal shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota
Warsaw, Poland (CNN)President Barack Obama said early Friday that while recent police-involved shooting incidents in the U.S. are "symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system," it's a concern that should trouble all Americans.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/politics/philando-castile-alton-sterling-josh-earnest/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 7, 4:17 PM EDT
*Obama administration sets rules for future Arctic drilling*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With no new drilling planned in the Arctic waters off Alaska, the Obama administration is setting rules to ensure that any future energy exploration in that area meets safety and environmental standards.

The Interior Department said rules issued Thursday do not authorize any Arctic offshore drilling either now or in the future, but they set minimum standards for operations if and when leasing is approved. A five-year offshoring leasing plan that includes the Arctic is expected later this year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-07-16-17-33


----------



## poochee

Jul 7, 7:19 PM EDT
*State Department reopens Clinton emails probe*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department is reopening an internal investigation of possible mishandling of classified information by Hillary Clinton and top aides.

Spokesman John Kirby says the emails probe is restarting now that the Justice Department isn't pursuing a criminal prosecution. The State Department suspended its review in April to avoid interfering with the FBI's inquiry.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-07-18-59-17


----------



## poochee

DEVELOPING
News
Jul 8 2016, 12:30 am ET
*11 Dallas Officers Shot, 4 Dead in Shooting as Protest Ended*
by Phil Helsel

*VIDEOS*

Eleven Dallas law enforcement officers were shot, four fatally, on Thursday by what is believed to be two snipers who opened fire during a demonstration downtown over recent police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana, the Dallas police chief said.

The snipers fired from an elevated positions on police officers minutes before 9 p.m. CT, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown.

"We believe that these suspects were positioning themselves in a way to triangulate on these officers from two different perches in garages in the downtown area, and planned to injure and kill as many law enforcement officers as they could," Brown said at a news conference - noting that some were shot in the back.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...cross-u-s-over-police-shootings-black-n605686


----------



## poochee

Jul 8, 12:35 PM EDT
*Obama says America is horrified over Dallas attack*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press


AP Photo/Susan Walsh









WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Friday that America is "horrified" by a targeted shooting of police officers in Dallas, and he said there is no justification for the violence.

"We still don't know all the facts. What we do know is that there has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement," Obama said in a brief statement to reporters.

The president called the shooters' motives "twisted" and vowed that "justice will be done."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-08-12-35-35


----------



## poochee

*Dallas Police Officers Killed In Sniper Attack: What We Know Friday* 
July 8, 20168:15 AM ET 
 Bill Chappell 
 Elise Hu 

 
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...fficers-killed-by-snipers-what-we-know-friday


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jul 8 2016, 8:45 am ET
*Clinton, Trump Call Off Campaign Events in Wake of Dallas Shootings*
by Carrie Dann

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both called off scheduled campaign events Friday in the wake of the sniper shootings in Dallas that left five law enforcement officers dead.

Hillary Clinton postponed a planned joint rally with Vice President Joe Biden in Pennsylvania, while Trump cancelled a planned trip to Florida.

Both candidates tweeted condolences to the victims Friday morning.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...vents-wake-dallas-shootings-n605856?cid=sm_tw


----------



## poochee

Post Politics
*The Daily Trail: In the wake of tragedy, some politicians surprise*
By Rebecca Sinderbrand
Post Politics
July 8 at 9:42 PM

There was more depressing deja vu in the political realm. "Who's to blame for Dallas?" asked Philip Bump, who noted that for some, the answer appeared to be "whomever you already disliked." In the immediate aftermath of the attack, some politicians pointed to political rivals, or to people who held different positions on related issues. Some highlighted policies they wanted to strengthen, like gun control; others to policies they'd like to eliminate, like the War on Drugs.

But there were surprises, too - political figures who reacted with unusual sensitivity, or in unexpected ways.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...oliticians-surprise/57802c2e981b92a22d6560c9/


----------



## poochee

News
Dallas Police Ambush
Jul 8 2016, 7:52 pm ET
*Obama to Cut Short European Trip, Will Visit Dallas*
by Phil Helsel

President Barack Obama will cut short a European trip and will visit Dallas early next week, the White House said Friday.

Obama will travel to Spain Saturday as scheduled but will return to Washington Sunday night and then visit Dallas, where 12 police officers were shot in an ambush Thursday. Five officers died.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/da...short-european-trip-will-visit-dallas-n606311


----------



## poochee

July 09, 2016
*Weekly Address: Standing Together to Stop the Violence *

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, Vice President Joe Biden commemorated the lives of the five police officers who were killed and the seven people who were wounded in Dallas. The police officers were providing safety to those who were peacefully marching against racial injustices in the criminal justice system - and the shocking images of the lives lost in St. Paul and Baton Rouge. Echoing the remarks of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and Police Chief David Brown, the Vice President called on the American people to act with unity and to stop the violence. He emphasized that it is the responsibility of everyone to speak out against disparities within the criminal justice system, just as much as it is the responsibility of everyone to stand up for the police who protect us every day. Because together, we as a nation will persevere and overcome.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jul 9, 5:18 PM EDT
*Obama asks Americans not to fear a return to a dark past*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Saturday rejected any notion that the past week's stunning violence signals a return to racial brutality of a dark past, saying that as painful as the killings of police and black men were, "America is not as divided as some have suggested."

With five Dallas police officers dead at the hands of a sniper and two black men dead at the hands of police, Obama appealed to Americans not to be overwhelmed by fear of a return to 1960s-style chaos and to understand the progress that has been made in racial relations since that time.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-09-17-18-27


----------



## poochee

*A Week of Gun Violence Does Nothing to Change the N.R.A.'s Message*
*By Evan Osnos*, July 8, 2016

The N.R.A.'s explicit call for a more armed society reveals the lie behind its homage to "coexistence." By directing rage against the government, by preventing politicians from heeding the overwhelming demands of their constituents for broader background checks, by endorsing Donald Trump's plan for mass deportations and bans on Muslim immigration, the N.R.A. has assembled a volatile case against the idea of coexistence-and then disavows the result when it explodes.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...0&spJobID=960696633&spReportId=OTYwNjk2NjMzS0


----------



## poochee

*Here's What We Know About The Victims Of The Dallas Shooting*

July 8, 201612:31 PM ET 
 Colin Dwyer

All five of those killed Thursday night at the Dallas protest were law enforcement officers - four of whom served with the Dallas Police Department, and a fifth who worked for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, or DART. That DART officer has been identified by the department as Brent Thompson.

*Here are the names of those who lost their lives in the Dallas shooting - and their stories.*

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...know-about-the-victims-of-the-dallas-shooting


----------



## poochee

News
Dallas Police Ambush
Jul 9 2016, 12:04 pm ET
*Dallas Shooter Micah Johnson Was Army Veteran and 'Loner'*
by William Arkin, Tracy Connor and Jim Miklaszewski

The sniper who shot a dozen Dallas police officers, killing five, is an Army veteran and a "loner" who had no criminal record but a pile of weapons and bomb-making materials in his house, officials said.

Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, left the Army Reserve in 2015, nine months after returning from a deployment to Afghanistan. He was working as an aide for mentally challenged children and adults before Thursday's mass shooting, according to an employment application obtained by NBC News.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/da...micah-xavier-johnson-was-army-veteran-n606101


----------



## poochee

*Six More Women Allege That Roger Ailes Sexually Harassed Them*
By Gabriel Sherman 
July 9, 2016 11:00 a.m.

And it appears she won't be the last, either. In recent days, more than a dozen women have contacted Carlson's New Jersey-based attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, and made detailed allegations of sexual harassment by Ailes over a 25-year period dating back to the 1960s when he was a producer on _The Mike Douglas Show_. "These are women who have never told these stories until now," Smith told me. "Some are in lot of pain." Taken together, these stories portray Ailes as a boss who spoke openly of expecting women to perform sexual favors in exchange for job opportunities. "He said that's how all these men in media and politics work - everyone's got their _friend_," recalled Kellie Boyle, who says Ailes propositioned her in 1989, shortly after he helped George H.W. Bush become president, serving as his chief media strategist.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...-ailes-sexual-harassment.html?mid=nymag_press


----------



## poochee

Jul 8 2016, 11:31 pm ET
*Democrats Add $15 Minimum Wage to Platform*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

"Democrats believe that the current minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be increased to a living wage," the new plank reads. "We should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over time and index it, give all Americans the ability to join a union regardless of where they work, and create new ways for workers to have power in the economy so every worker can earn at least $15 an hour."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/democrats-add-15-minimum-wage-platform-n606351


----------



## poochee

Jul 10, 3:37 PM EDT
*Obama urges greater respect, understanding after shootings*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

"I'd like all sides to listen to each other," Obama said in response to a reporter's question after he met with Spain's acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, during an abbreviated first visit to Spain as president.

Obama's appeal for greater understanding from opposing sides of the emotionally charged debate over police tactics followed the weekend arrests of scores of people in Louisiana and Minnesota who protested the shooting deaths by police of black men in both states last week.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-10-15-37-06


----------



## poochee

Jul 10 2016, 3:53 pm ET
*Dallas Police Chief: Sniper Left Ominous Message Written in Blood, Planned Explosions*
by Hasani Gittens

*VIDEOS*

The suspect had enough explosives to do damage "throughout the north Texas area" - and left a final message written in his own blood mysteriously saying "RB."

Dallas Police Chief David Brown on Sunday said that a search of Johnson's home in Mesquite, Texas, lead them to believe "based on evidence of bomb making materials and a journal that this suspect had been practicing explosive detonations and the materials were such that it was large enough to have devastating effects throughout our city and our north Texas area."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/da...ominous-message-written-blood-planned-n606671


----------



## poochee

*Trump is making a real mess of his campaign*
By Chris Cillizza
Politics
July 10 at 11:28 AM

*VIDEO/PICTURES*

You can love Donald Trump. You can hate him. But what you cannot dispute is that the way he has run his campaign since sealing the Republican nomination two months ago has been absolutely disastrous.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...cf0d62-46ad-11e6-ae8d-93aef685158e_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama to speak Tuesday at Dallas memorial service*
By Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 1:37 PM ET, Sun July 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

Madrid, Spain (CNN)President Barack Obama on Tuesday will travel to Dallas and speak at an interfaith memorial service for five police officers slain late last week.

The President will visit the Texas city at the request of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. The service will take place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/10/politics/obama-police-shootings-spain/


----------



## poochee

Jul 11, 12:51 PM EDT
Hillary Clinton to speak at NAACP convention in Cincinnati
By DAN SEWELL
Associated Press

Hillary Clinton to speak at NAACP convention in Cincinnati
In nod to Sanders, Clinton offers new health care proposals
In nod to Sanders, Clintons offers new health care proposals
GOP to Clinton: Email investigations will go on
Conservative law group seeks to question Clinton under oath.

The organization says presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has also been invited to speak. His campaign didn't respond immediately Monday when asked whether he will.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-11-12-51-57


----------



## poochee

News
Jul 11 2016, 9:06 am ET
*U.S. to Deploy 560 More Troops to Iraq, Defense Secretary Ash Carter Says*
by Courtney Kube

BAGHDAD - The U.S. will deploy an additional 560 troops to Iraq within the next few weeks, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday.

Carter made the announcement during an unannounced visit to Baghdad, saying the troops will deploy for infrastructure and logistical support at Qayara airfield south of Mosul. The troops have already received their warning orders to deploy.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-deploy-560-more-troops-iraq-defense-secretary-ash-n607086


----------



## poochee

*Students From Donald Trump's Alma Mater: 'You Do Not Represent Us'*
Some 1,400 students and alumni from the Wharton School condemned the GOP candidate's "prejudice and intolerance."
07/10/2016 12:40 pm ET | *Updated* 2 hours ago

Donald Trump is constantly reminding people he attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It's evidence of his "very good brain."

But nearly 1,400 students and alumni from the Wharton school published an open letter on Friday to let Trump know they in no way support him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-wharton-school_us_57826326e4b0c590f7e9c072


----------



## poochee

*5 takeaways from Paul Ryan's CNN town hall*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:03 PM ET, Tue July 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Paul Ryan defended his support for GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump
But he declined to contradict a questioner who called Trump "openly racist"
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/12/politics/paul-ryan-highlights-town-hall/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Bernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton*
By MJ Lee, Dan Merica and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 4:02 PM ET, Tue July 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

Portsmouth, New Hampshire (CNN)Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders formally declared an end to their political rivalry Tuesday, joining forces to take on a shared enemy: Donald Trump.

"I have come here to make it as clear as possible why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton and why she must become our next president," Sanders said at a joint rally here. "Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nomination and I congratulate her for that."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/11/politics/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Top Republicans criticize Ruth Bader Ginsburg but don't back Trump's call for her to resign*
By Manu Raju and Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 2:12 PM ET, Wed July 13, 2016

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_Donald Trump called on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to resign early Wednesday morning, joining an outpouring of criticism that is giving a divided Republican Party a fresh common target.

"Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot - resign!" Trump tweeted.

But other top Republicans who have never shied away from criticizing liberal Supreme Court rulings aren't going as far as to say Ginsburg should quit.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/12/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-reaction/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 13, 3:11 AM EDT
*Poll: Most young people dislike GOP's Trump, say he's racist*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump is wildly unpopular among young adults, in particular young people of color, and nearly two-thirds of Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 believe the presumptive Republican nominee is racist.

That's the finding of a new GenForward poll that also found just 19 percent of young people have a favorable opinion of Trump compared to the three-quarters of young adults who hold a dim view of the New York billionaire.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-13-03-11-52


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jul 13 2016, 2:07 pm ET
*Clinton Calls For Unity, Says Trump a 'Threat' to Democracy*
by Monica Alba

*VIDEO*

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Speaking at the historic site of Abraham Lincoln's "house divided" speech, Hillary Clinton Wednesday issued a call for unity and tore into Donald Trump for running a campaign "as divisive as any we've seen in our lifetimes."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...lls-unity-says-trump-threat-democracy-n608691


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Still far from solving police, community issues*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- America is "not even close" to where it needs to be in terms of resolving issues between police and the communities they serve, President Barack Obama said after concluding a more than three-hour meeting Wednesday with community activists, politicians and law enforcement officials.

Obama expressed optimism, however, and said the participants - who included members of the Black Lives Matter movement - agreed such conversations need to continue despite emotions running raw.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-13-22-37-54


----------



## poochee

Jul 14, 10:47 AM EDT
*Ginsburg regrets "ill-advised" criticism of Trump*
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg apologized Thursday for "ill-advised" public criticism of Donald Trump, promising to be more discreet in the future.

The leader of the court's liberal wing sought to quiet complaints that she crossed a line in her remarks about Trump, saying in a statement that judges should not comment on candidates for public office.

"On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them," the 83-year-old justice said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-14-10-47-01


----------



## poochee

*7 things Trump's looking for in a VP*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 12:09 PM ET, Thu July 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

The question now, as the show sprints to its denouement Friday when Trump will announce the winner, is what exactly the presumptive nominee really wants in his vice president? Trump has presented a varied and sometimes contradictory set of qualifications, creating confusion and drama in equal parts.

*Among the qualifications:
*
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/14/politics/what-donald-trump-wants-in-vice-presidential-pick/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 14, 1:40 PM EDT
*Obama marks anniversary of nuke deal; GOP aims to undermine*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama marked the anniversary of the landmark nuclear deal with Iran on Thursday by vowing that the United States and its partners will uphold their commitments as long as Iran abides by the pact. Congressional Republicans again tried to undermine the international accord, which outlines what Iran must do to pull back its nuclear program from the brink of weapons-making capacity.

The seven-nation pact also spells out the West's obligation to end many of the financial, trade and oil sanctions that had battered Iran's economy.

Obama said in a statement Thursday that the deal has succeeded in rolling back Iran's nuclear program, "avoiding further conflict and making us safer."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-14-13-40-38


----------



## poochee

Jul 14, 2:41 PM EDT
*AP-GfK Poll: More people think life improves under Clinton*

By CATHERINE LUCEY and EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans have mixed feelings on which presidential candidate will do better on health care, trade, the economy, terrorism and other important issues. But when they simply consider whether they personally would be better off, they prefer Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The latest Associated Press-GfK poll shows that Americans are more likely to think people like themselves would benefit more from a Clinton White House than one run by Republican Donald Trump, by 36 percent to 29 percent.

They also are much more likely to think women, LGBT people, Hispanics, Muslims and blacks would be better off under Clinton, while they largely think men and whites would be better off under Trump.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-14-14-41-34


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump selects Mike Pence as VP*
By Eric Bradner, Dana Bash and MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 6:11 PM ET, Thu July 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump has called Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and offered him the vice presidential slot on his ticket, CNN has learned. Pence has accepted.

The pick sets up a stark clash in styles: a brash presumptive nominee with a tendency to freelance into controversies alongside a cautious former congressional leader who's stuck close to conservative orthodoxy since starting his career in talk radio.

The long-awaited decision caps a drama-filled, frenetic 24 hours.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/14/politics/donald-trump-vice-presidential-choice/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Pence pick: a conventional choice by an unconventional candidate*
By Dan Balz
Politics
July 15 at 12:01 PM

CLEVELAND - Donald Trump did something uncharacteristic in selecting Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate. He has chosen the safe course over flashier but more risky alternatives. The question is whether the decision is an aberration or represents an important change in his candidacy going forward.

For weeks, Trump has been in a tug of war between his own instincts and the advice of some of his advisers, inside and outside his campaign. Those advisers have urged him to tone it down, to deal with questions about his temperament by acting and sounding more presidential than the candidate who churned through the primaries by doing the opposite.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...a8-fb84201e0645_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

*Secret '28 Pages' From 9/11 Report Released*
_The pages were withheld from the 838-page report on the orders of President George W. Bush_

Congress on Friday released a long-classified and highly controversial 28-page section from the congressional inquiry into 9/11 that revealed suspicions about a Saudi government link to the terror attacks, but no "smoking gun" that linked the country to al-Qaida's operation.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...-911-Sept-11-Attacks-Officials-386991701.html


----------



## poochee

*Turkish President Appears In Public After Elements Of Military Stage Coup *
July 15, 20165:23 PM ET 
 Greg Myre 

 
Local media quote the prosecutor's office in Ankara, Turkey, as saying at least 42 people have been killed during the attempted coup by some members of the military.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on holiday when the revolt started, but has arrived at Istanbul Airport, and held a news conference at which he said his government would defeat the coup.

The Associated Press quotes him as saying, "Turkey has a democratically elected government and president. We are in charge and we will continue exercising our powers until the end. We will not abandon our country to these invaders. It will end well."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...15&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

MSNBC Live 7/15/16
*Obama: Our hearts are with people of France*
On Friday, President Obama gave a statement on the Nice terror attack, calling it "appalling" and saying that the fight against terrorism will succeed by "never giving up on diplomacy."

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/obama-our-hearts-are-with-people-of-france-726020163590


----------



## poochee

July 16, 2016
*Weekly Address: Coming Together to Find Solutions *

VIDEO

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama acknowledged that the aftermath of tragedies like we've seen in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and Minnesota, can leave us struggling to make sense of these events. However, the President reiterated that the country is not as divided as it may seem. He said he saw it this week when he met with law enforcement on the challenges they face; when he traveled to Dallas for the memorial service of the five brave police officers who died while protecting protesters with whom they may have disagreed; when he convened a more than four-hour long meeting with police chiefs, Black Lives Matter activists, and state and local leaders; and when he participated in a town hall where he said there is no contradiction between honoring police and recognizing racial disparities exist within the criminal justice system. The President said that although these conversations can be challenging, we have to be able to talk about our differences. We have to be open and honest - not just within our own circles, but also with those who offer different perspectives. Because that's what America is about - finding solutions not only through policy, but also by forging consensus and finding the political will to make change.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Both Clinton and Trump would bring a war-time posture to the White House*
By Sean Sullivan, Abby Phillip and David Weigel
Politics
July 16 at 11:23 AM

Republican Donald Trump's and Democrat Hillary Clinton's efforts to portray themselves as assertive adversaries of the Islamic State terror group are increasingly defining the 2016 presidential race - and never more so than in the wake of the massacre in Nice, France, this week.

Although authorities have not yet tied the attack to jihadist-inspired terrorism, both candidates immediately responded to the latest in a string of attacks at home and abroad that have heightened voter anxiety by vowing aggressive efforts to combat the Islamic State.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...c4fed2-4a9a-11e6-bdb9-701687974517_story.html


----------



## poochee

National
*More than 6 in 10 adults say U.S. race relations are generally bad, poll indicates*
By Krissah Thompson and Scott Clement
July 16 at 6:00 PM

Pessimism about race relations in America is higher than it has been in nearly a generation, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. In the aftermath of the mass shooting of police officers in Dallas and the high-profile police shooting deaths of two black men, in Baton Rouge and suburban St. Paul, Minn., more than 6 in 10 adults say race relations are generally bad, and a majority say they are getting worse.

"This is certainly the worst political climate that I've seen in my lifetime, but on some level the violence and hatred have always been around," said Peniel Joseph, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a professor of history at the University of Texas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/more-than-6-in-10-adults-say-us-race-relations-are-generally-bad-poll-indicates/2016/07/16/66548936-4aa8-11e6-90a8-fb84201e0645_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Jul 17 2016, 1:47 pm ET
*Three Baton Rouge Officers Killed, Three Injured in Ambush*
by Jacquellena Carrero , Elisha Fieldstadt and Gabe Gutierrez

*VIDEO*

At least three Baton Rouge police officers were killed and three others injured in an apparent ambush shooting Sunday morning, the city's mayor and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office said.

At least one suspect is dead, but law enforcement officials believe two others may be at large, the sheriff's office said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/baton-rouge-police-reports-multiple-officers-shot-n611101

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/baton-rouge-police-reports-multiple-officers-shot-n611101


----------



## poochee

Jul 17 2016, 9:28 am ET
*Poll: Clinton Keeps 5-Point Lead Over Trump Heading Into Conventions*
by Mark Murray

*CHART*

On the eve of the GOP convention, Hillary Clinton maintains a five-point national lead over Donald Trump even after a period of negative news for the presumptive Democratic nominee, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Clinton leads the presumptive GOP nominee 46 percent to 41 percent in a poll that finds both candidates facing sizable disadvantages and challenges ahead of the party conventions which kick off Monday for the GOP in Cleveland and a week later for Democrats in Philadelphia.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...t-lead-over-trump-heading-conventions-n610966


----------



## poochee

Jul 17, 4:19 PM EDT
*Obama condemns attack on Baton Rouge officers*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The attacks on public servants and the rule of law "have to stop," President Barack Obama said Sunday after another shooting spree targeting police killed three officers in Baton Rouge and wounded three others.

Obama said the motive for Sunday's attack, the second targeting police in less than two weeks, was unknown, but there is no justification for violence against law enforcement.

"These attacks are the work of cowards who speak for no one," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "They right no wrongs. They advance no causes."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-17-16-19-55


----------



## Wino

She should be ahead about 25 points!!


----------



## poochee

Wino said:


> She should be ahead about 25 points!!


Yep!


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Dumpster Fires, Fishing And Travel: These Republicans Are Sitting Out The RNC*
July 18, 20166:00 AM ET 
Jessica Taylor 

When the Republican National Convention officially gavels into order Monday, some major GOP leaders will be conspicuously absent.

The remaining former GOP presidents and the party's past two Republican nominees are not coming to Cleveland. Neither are some former 2016 GOP presidential candidates. More than 20 senators and several House members, along with a half-dozen Republican governors, won't be here either.

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/18/48639...vel-these-republicans-are-sitting-out-the-rnc


----------



## poochee

Jul 18 2016, 1:46 pm ET 
*Vietnam Veteran Charles Kettles Awarded Medal of Honor*
by Christina Coleburn

Nearly 50 years after Lt. Col. Charles Kettles swooped in while flying a bullet-riddled helicopter and saved the lives of dozens of soldiers during the Vietnam War, President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to the retired soldier in a ceremony at the White House on Monday.

Kettles, who served as a helicopter commander in the Army during the Vietnam War, received the nation's highest military honor for his valor in combat operations in May 1967. He is credited with saving the lives of more than 40 soldiers during an ambush in the Song Tra Cau riverbed.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vietnam-veteran-charles-kettles-awarded-medal-honor-n611651


----------



## poochee

*WATCH: Chaos Erupts On RNC Floor As #NeverTrump Makes Last Stand*
July 18, 20164:25 PM ET 
 Jessica Taylor

*VIDEOS*

Chaos erupted on the floor on the first day of the Republican National Committee in Cleveland, as forces opposed to Donald Trump tried - and failed - to make one last stand.

Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack brought up the Rules Committee report, which would keep delegates bound to Trump. Anti-Trump forces began shouting and wanting a roll call vote in a last-ditch effort to unbind GOP delegates and let them vote their "conscience."

Their objections were shouted down by pro-Trump supporters. The package was passed on voice vote. Boos and chants were drowned out by cheers of "USA!" and Trump supporters.

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/18/48651...18&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

Jul 18 2016, 2:03 pm ET
*Hillary Clinton on Baton Rouge: 'This Madness Has to Stop'*
by Monica Alba

VIDEO

CINCINNATI - Hillary Clinton on Monday called for "all good people" to speak out "loudly and clearly" against violence after the killings of police officers in Baton Rouge.

"This madness has to stop," Clinton said at the annual NAACP conference. "We have difficult, painful, essential work ahead of us to repair the bonds between our police and our communities and between and among each other."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hillary-clinton-baton-rouge-madness-has-stop-n611781


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All*
_"The Art of the Deal" made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth-and regrets it._
By Jane Mayer

Last June, as dusk fell outside Tony Schwartz's sprawling house, on a leafy back road in Riverdale, New York, he pulled out his laptop and caught up with the day's big news: Donald J. Trump had declared his candidacy for President. As Schwartz watched a video of the speech, he began to feel personally implicated.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...0&spJobID=961427027&spReportId=OTYxNDI3MDI3S0


----------



## Wino

Read that article this morning. Good insight into a petulant wannabe president. Makes me ill to think of that man sitting in the oval office at THE DESK. Never thought I'd wish for GWB. LOL


----------



## poochee

Wino said:


> Makes me ill to think of that man sitting in the oval office at THE DESK. Never thought I'd wish for GWB. LOL


Same here.


----------



## poochee

Jul 18 2016, 10:36 pm ET
*Fact-Checking the First Night of the Republican National Convention*
by Mark Murray , Alexandra Jaffe, Carrie Dann and Jane C. Timm

NBC News fact-checked some of the claims made during the first night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Here are some of our findings.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...-night-republican-national-convention-n612081


----------



## poochee

Jul 18 2016, 10:53 pm ET
*In Rare Appearance, Melania Trump Adds Softer Tone to RNC*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

CLEVELAND, Ohio - In a rare public-speaking appearance, Melania Trump made the case for her husband on the first night of his convention.

Her speech displayed Trump's softer side, oft shielded and secret from the press that constantly follow him. And while her words did little to add to the image of the brash billionaire poised to officially become the Republican standard bearer, Monday's speech painted a more vivid picture of the woman who stands by the that billionaire's side.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...p-introduce-wife-melania-s-speech-rnc-n612061


----------



## poochee

Politics
2016 Conventions
Jul 19 2016, 12:59 pm ET
*Trump Campaign Struggles to Manage Melania Trump Speech Fallout*
by Benjy Sarlin, Katy Tur and Ali Vitali

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Trump campaign, already on shaky ground headed into this week's convention, struggled to find a response Tuesday to charges that Melania Trump's prime-time speech lifted passages from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech.

The side-by-side video of the two speeches, replayed endlessly on cable news, is jarring. A potential first lady describing her family's values ("you work hard for what you want in life," "your word is your bond," "you treat people with respect") in near-identical terms to a first lady whose own husband's integrity, faith, and patriotism Donald Trump regularly throws into question.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...s-manage-melania-trump-speech-fallout-n612446


----------



## poochee

*Who Will Be President?*
By JOSH KATZ UPDATED July 19, 2016

CHART

The Upshot's elections model suggests that Hillary Clinton is favored to win the presidency, based on the latest state and national polls. A victory by Mr. Trump remains quite possible: Mrs. Clinton's chance of losing is about the same probability that an N.B.A. player will miss a free throw.

From now until Election Day, we'll update our estimates with each new poll, as well as collect the ratings of other news organizations. You can chart different paths to victory below. *Here's how our estimates have changed over time:*

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Step Right Up and Make America Safe Again*
By Evan Osnos, 10:42 A.M.

The theme for the opening night of the Republican National Convention was "Make America Safe Again." It seemed like the setup for a program on national security but turned out to be something darker and more encompassing: a pageant of fear, as my colleague John Cassidy has noted, directed at a vast range of opponents, from the Islamic State to Black Lives Matter to the Libyan mobs that sacked the consulate in Benghazi. Rarely, in the thirteen months since Donald Trump entered the race for President, has it been clearer that he has refashioned the Republican Party in his own image and enlarged the definition of America's enemies.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/evan-...0&spJobID=961522933&spReportId=OTYxNTIyOTMzS0


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Republicans Officially Nominate Donald Trump For President * 
July 19, 20165:56 PM ET 
Jessica Taylor 

*VIDEO*

Republicans have officially nominated Donald Trump as their presidential nominee, with his home state of New York putting him over the top.

His son, Donald Trump Jr., cast the state's 89 delegates for his father as the Quicken Loans Arena erupted in cheers. "Over The Top" was splashed across the convention's big screens, and the convention band began playing "New York, New York."

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/19/48666...19&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

Politics
2016 Conventions
Jul 20 2016, 8:11 am ET
*Republicans Pummel Hillary Clinton in Attempt to Unite GOP*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEOS*

CLEVELAND - On the night Donald Trump officially became the nominee of the party of Abraham Lincoln, the GOP's top leaders laid out their case for his election: Have you seen Hillary Clinton?

The Democratic nominee on Tuesday night, perhaps even more than Trump, was again the star of the convention even as the night was tentatively themed "Make America Work Again" and focused on the economy.

Few speakers addressed the topic of jobs, using their time on the podium to litigate a host of other issues against Clinton. The former secretary of state provided a desperately needed change of subject for a party bitterly divided over its own nominee's competence, ethics, and policy acumen.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...se-hillary-clinton-united-divided-gop-n612966


----------



## poochee

*Fact-checking the second day of the 2016 Republican National Convention*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
July 19 at 11:49 PM

Hillary Clinton was often attacked, sometimes unfairly or out of context, on the second night of the Republican National Convention. *Here's a roundup of some of the most noteworthy claims that were made.* As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios for a roundup of claims made in convention events.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...an-national-convention/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

The Fix
*This is exactly how Donald Trump would act as president*
By Chris Cillizza
July 20 at 12:10 PM

*VIDEO*

Trump is, effectively, a brand ambassador for himself and his company. He projects the ideas of excellence and opulence in connection to the Trump brand. He is not, at this stage of his life, getting deep down into the nitty-gritty of each deal. He has people - oftentimes family members - who do that. Trump's job is to be, well, Trump.

That is, quite clearly, how Trump sees the role of president - as a sort of brand ambassador for the United States. He is the guy who will make people believe America can be, um, great again - at home and abroad. He will be the strong public face that Barack Obama isn't - and doesn't know how to be. As for the day-to-day operations of the White House, he would delegate most of them, as the Kasich source makes plain to Draper.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...would-act-as-president/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*Appeals court strikes down Texas voter ID law*
 Richard Wolf, USA TODAY 6:22 p.m. EDT July 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

A federal appeals court struck down Texas' tough voter identification law as discriminatory Wednesday, giving civil rights advocates a crucial victory in advance of the 2016 election.

The 9-6 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, a generally conservative court, represents the third consecutive decision against the Texas law and sets up a potential Supreme Court showdown over the contentious issue of state photo ID rules.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...rights-photo-id-supreme-court-texas/87349070/


----------



## poochee

Jul 20, 11:03 PM EDT
*Thunderous boos for Cruz for refusing to endorse Trump*
By JULIE PACE and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Stubbornly undercutting calls for Republican unity, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump Wednesday night as he addressed the GOP convention, ignoring thunderous boos from furious delegates as he encouraged Americans to simply "vote your conscience" in November.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-20-23-03-15


----------



## poochee

Jul 20, 11:21 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: The GOP rush to blame Clinton*
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's new running mate and other Republicans are wrongly accusing Hillary Clinton of speaking with indifference about the death of Americans in Benghazi, Libya - twisting her comments out of context to make their indictment.

A look at some of the claims from the stage of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night and how they compare with the facts:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-20-23-00-09


----------



## poochee

Jul 21 2016, 8:29 am ET 
*First Read: Three Nights of Unforced Errors*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

CLEVELAND - To recap what has been the most unpredictable, newsworthy, and mistake-filled political convention that we can remember:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-unforced-errors-n614021?cid=eml_pol_20160721


----------



## poochee

*Even After Republican Backlash, Ted Cruz Won't Endorse Trump 'Like A Servile Puppy'*
_Cruz said Trump's attacks on his wife and father kept him from endorsing._
07/21/2016 10:00 am 10:00:59 | Updated 2 hours ago
*Paige Lavender*  Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

Hours after receiving boos and jeers for not endorsing Donald Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) doesn't seem to be changing his mind.

Speaking at a breakfast Thursday morning with the Texas delegation at the RNC, Cruz said Trump's negative comments about Cruz's wife and father kept him from endorsing the real estate mogul for president. "You might have a similar view, if someone were attacking your wife," Cruz told an audience member.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-rnc-2016_us_5790c893e4b0bdddc4d340e2


----------



## poochee

*Roger Ailes, Accused Of Sexual Harassment, Out As Chairman Of Fox News *

July 21, 20164:31 PM ET 
 Camila Domonoske 

Roger Ailes, the CEO and chairman of Fox News, is stepping down from his role. Rupert Murdoch will be taking over as chairman and acting CEO.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...21&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

Jul 21, 11:38 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump resurfaces debunked claims in speech*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and MICHAEL BIESECKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite promising "the truth, and nothing else" in his convention speech, Donald Trump presented the nation with a series of previously debunked claims and some new ones Thursday night - about the U.S. tax burden, the perils facing police, Hillary Clinton's record and more.

*A look at some of the Republican presidential candidate's claims and how they compare with the facts:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-21-23-38-28


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Trump's doom-and-gloom doesn't match reality*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:36 PM ET, Fri July 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The deeply pessimistic outlook that Donald Trump offered at this week's Republican National Convention doesn't match reality, President Barack Obama insisted on Friday.

Noting he didn't watch Trump's prime-time acceptance speech on Thursday -- "I've got a lot of stuff to do" -- Obama said he read news coverage of the remarks. And he said they didn't match most Americans' experiences.

"This idea that America is somehow on the verge of collapse, this vision of violence and chaos everywhere, doesn't really jibe with the experience of most people," Obama said during a press conference in the White House East Room alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/22/politics/obama-mexico-press-conference-trump-convention/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 22, 6:16 PM EDT
*The Latest: Clinton calls RNC 'perversely flattering'*
AP

Hillary Clinton is calling the Republican convention "perversely flatteringly," saying the speakers spent more time talking about her than the problems facing the country.

"I never thought I'd say these words but Ted Cruz was right," Clinton said Friday at a campaign rally in Tampa. "In this election, do the right thing and vote your conscience."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-22-18-16-46


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton Picks Tim Kaine As Her Vice Presidential Running Mate*
July 22, 20168:15 PM ET 
 Jessica Taylor 

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine is Hillary Clinton's choice for her vice president, giving her a running mate with experience at all levels of government to round out the Democratic ticket.

Clinton told supporters the news in a text message and a tweet on Friday evening just after 8 p.m. ET. According to a Clinton campaign official, the former secretary of state called Kaine this evening to make the formal offer.

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/22/48705...22&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

July 23, 2016
*Weekly Address: Protecting the Progress We've Made with Wall Street Reform*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined President Obama to discuss how far we've come since the financial crisis, when the recklessness of Wall Street caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, homes, and savings. Senator Warren underscored the importance of the Wall Street reforms the President signed into law, which included the strongest consumer protections in generations. In addition to making the financial system safer and more resilient, these reforms also established the first-ever Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which holds banks, credit card companies, mortgage lenders, and others accountable, and protects consumers from abuses and deceptive practices. This past Thursday, July 21, marked six years since the President signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law and the five year anniversary of the creation of the CFPB. Thanks to these reforms, the President reiterated the economy is stronger and more durable today than it was before the crisis. That's why President Obama is going to keep fighting to protect the progress we've made reforming Wall Street from attacks, because hard-working Americans who play by the rules should expect Wall Street to play by the rules, too.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Kaine in Miami: 'Bienvenidos a todos' *
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 1:42 PM ET, Sat July 23, 2016

*VIDEOS*

*Story highlights*

Clinton picked Kaine Friday night to be her running mate
The two appeared for the first time on stage together Saturday in Miami
"Sen. Tim Kaine is everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not," Clinton said, with Kaine beside her. "He is qualified to step into this job and lead on Day 1. And he is a progressive who likes to get things done."

She heralded her pick as a man of faith, willing to work across the aisle and committed to furthering the progressive cause.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/23/politics/hillary-clinton-tim-kaine-vp-pick-rally/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Debbie Wasserman Schultz Out As Democratic Convention Chair After Email Leak * 
July 24, 201612:00 PM ET 
Eyder Peralta 
 
Amita Kelly

Amid furor over an email leak that revealed a bias against Bernie Sanders inside the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is out as chair of the convention.

In an email to NPR, the office of Rep. Marcia Fudge said she "has been named permanent chair of the Democratic National Convention."

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/24/48724...24&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jul 24 2016, 11:38 am ET
*Obama: Trump's NATO Comments Show 'Lack of Preparedness'*
by The Associated Press

*VIDEO *

Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that Trump's comments to the New York Times - in which Trump suggested allies that haven't paid their NATO dues wouldn't be guaranteed of getting help if Russia invaded - were an admission that the U.S. might not live by NATO's "most central tenet."

Obama, speaking before the Democratic National Convention begins Monday, said Trump's comments on NATO last week were "an indication of the lack of preparedness.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bar...-nato-comments-show-lack-preparedness-n615696


----------



## poochee

*Dismayed by Donald Trump, Michael Bloomberg Will Endorse Hillary Clinton*
By ALEXANDER BURNS
JULY 24, 2016

Michael R. Bloomberg, who bypassed his own run for the presidency this election cycle, will endorse Hillary Clinton in a prime-time address at the Democratic convention and make the case for Mrs. Clinton as the best choice for moderate voters in 2016, an adviser to Mr. Bloomberg said.

The news is an unexpected move from Mr. Bloomberg, who has not been a member of the Democratic Party since 2000; was elected the mayor of New York City as a Republican; and later became an independent.

But it reflects Mr. Bloomberg's increasing dismay about the rise of Donald J. Trump and a determination to see that the Republican nominee is defeated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/u...rg-hillary-clinton-dnc.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 24, 12:49 AM *EDT
DNC rules meeting agrees to a compromise on superdelegates*
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

*VIDEO*

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The role of superdelegates could be significantly reduced in future Democratic presidential primaries under a compromise deal struck at the Democratic National Convention rules committee Saturday.

Efforts by Bernie Sanders supporters to pass amendments eliminating or limiting the power of superdelegates failed to win approval at the committee meeting in Philadelphia. But campaigns for Sanders and Hillary Clinton worked out an agreement to create a "unity commission" to revise the nominating process, including changing superdelegate rules, which won near-unanimous support.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-24-00-49-13


----------



## poochee

*Debbie Wasserman Schultz To Step Down As Democratic Chair After Convention*
July 24, 201612:00 PM ET 
Amita Kelly 
Eyder Peralta 

Wasserman Schultz will still open and close the convention, she said in a statement, and "address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans."

"We have planned a great and unified Convention this week and I hope and expect that the DNC team that has worked so hard to get us to this point will have the strong support of all Democrats in making sure this is the best convention we have ever had," the statement continued.

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/24/48724...24&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

Jul 24 2016, 7:21 pm ET 
*Philadelphia Officers 'Prepared' to Keep Democratic National Convention Safe*
by Elisha Fieldstadt

*VIDEO*

Officials in Philadelphia said Sunday that they're prepared for any security threats that might come along with thousands of people arriving in the city for the Democratic National Convention.

"Our officers are prepared, they're trained" to deal with the 6,000 people expected to attend the DNC and the thousands of protesters expected on city streets, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Sunday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...p-democratic-national-convention-safe-n615791


----------



## poochee

*The Conventions*

The Democratic National Convention is off to a contentious start as embattled DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she would not gavel in the proceedings or speak to the convention as planned. Wasserman Schultz had announced Sunday she would be stepping down at the conclusion of the convention after internal DNC emails were leaked showing DNC officials plotting against the primary campaign of Bernie Sanders. Wasserman Shultz was booed at a breakfast she attended Monday morning and later by Sanders supporters as he was addressing them.

The convention officially begins Monday afternoon and among tonight's list of speakers are Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and First Lady Michelle Obama.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-conventions


----------



## poochee

*Secret Service investigating Trump adviser after Clinton remark*
By Kevin Liptak and Naomi Lim, CNN
Updated 8:05 PM ET, Wed July 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The US Secret Service is investigating an informal adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign after he called for Hillary Clinton's execution.

Al Baldasaro, a New Hampshire state representative, told radio host Jeff Kuhner Tuesday that Clinton "should be put in the firing line and shot for treason."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/20/politics/tom-cotton-al-baldasaro-hillary-clinton-treason/


----------



## poochee

*Bernie Sanders tries to calm skeptical supporters: 'We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine'*
By Tom Kludt, CNN
Updated 4:48 PM ET, Mon July 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

"We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," Bernie Sanders said, which prompted some attendees to shout him down.

"Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," Sanders said, before adding, "Trump has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign. Throughout this campaign he has insulted Mexicans and Latinos. He has insulted Muslims. He has insulted women and African-Americans."

Sanders is expected to speak at the convention Monday night.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/25/polit...lect-hillary-clinton-and-tim-kaine/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 25, 11:50 PM EDT

*After turmoil, Sanders, Mrs Obama, Warren thrill convention*
By JULIE PACE and KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

"Any objective observer will conclude that - based on her ideas and her leadership - Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," he declared in a headlining address on the opening night of the Democratic convention.

Sanders joined a high-wattage lineup of speakers, including first lady Michelle Obama who made a forceful, impassioned case for the Democratic nominee. Mrs. Obama's address all but wiped away earlier tumult in the convention hall that had exposed lingering tensions between Clinton and Sanders supporters.

Sanders spoke just after Massachusetts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a
favorite of liberals who has emerged as one of the Democrats' toughest
critics of Trump.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-25-23-26-06


----------



## poochee

*Democratic Convention Night 1: What You Missed*
By NICHOLAS FANDOSJULY 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

PHILADELPHIA - _The prime-time lineup for Night 1 of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia was full of political star power: the first lady, Michelle Obama*;* *Senator Elizabeth Warren* of Massachusetts, and *Senator Bernie Sanders* of Vermont all addressed the crowd, and speeches were given by athletes, activists and celebrities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/us/politics/convention-highlights.html?ref=politics&_r=1_

_Here are the highlights::_


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: Michelle Obama is the Democrats' best weapon against Donald Trump*
By James Hohmann July 26 at 9:04 AM

*THE BIG IDEA: *

PHILADELPHIA - Michelle Obama never said Donald Trump's name during her speech at the convention last night, yet she offered a more effective rebuttal of the Republican nominee and the mantra that animates his campaign than any other Democrat has been able to thus far in 2016.

*-- She didn't need to dignify Trump by naming him. *No one had any doubt exactly who she was talking about with these five soundbites:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...8e4acce20505161e31/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Politics
2016 Conventions
Jul 26 2016, 7:41 am ET
*Democrats Pull Back From Brink on First Night of Convention*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

PHILADELPHIA - The patient was stabilized Monday as Bernie Sanders and a parade of progressive leaders worked to marginalize so-called Bernie-or-bust delegates on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, which just hours earlier seemed on the verge of spinning out of control.

The anti-unity delegates booed speakers, including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, when Clinton's name was mentioned, but the party's efforts clearly materialized as the delegates were proven to be a small minority, though a vocal one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...ull-back-brink-first-night-convention-n616716


----------



## poochee

*Clinton Makes History As Democratic Presidential Nominee * 
July 26, 20164:05 PM ET 
 Eyder Peralta 

*VIDEO*

Clinton is now the first woman presidential candidate of a major American party.

It is a historic moment 150 years in the making, starting when suffragettes demanded the right to vote and Victoria Claflin Woodhull became the first woman to run for president in the United States in 1872.

When the chair of the convention called on the delegation from Vermont, Sen. Sanders took the microphone. He asked the chair to suspend the rules, and nominate Hillary Clinton for president by acclamation.

The arena roared with ayes that propelled the moment into history books.

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/26/48751...26&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

Jul 26, 11:40 PM EDT
*Clinton wins historic nomination, says glass ceiling cracked*
By JULIE PACE and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

She put an electrifying cap on the Democratic convention's second night, appearing by video from New York and declaring to cheering delegates, "We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet."

Minutes earlier, former President Bill Clinton took on the role of devoted political spouse, declaring his wife an impassioned "change-maker" as he served as character witness. He traced their more than 40-year political and personal partnership in deep detail.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-26-23-40-09


----------



## poochee

*Democratic Convention: What to Watch For on Day 3*
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
UPDATED 9:08 AM ET

PHILADELPHIA - With the roll call behind them, Democrats on Wednesday will begin passing the torch to Hillary Clinton from President Obama, who will deliver the keynote speech, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Also speaking tonight will be Tim Kaine, Mrs. Clinton's running mate, who will get his chance to introduce himself to the nation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/27/us/politics/democratic-national-convention.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump: 'I Hope' Russia Hacked Clinton's Email Servers*
*The Republican nominee broke a cardinal rule of American politics: Never root against the United States.*
07/27/2016 12:02 pm ET | *Updated* 36 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

By actively hoping that American servers were hacked by another nation, Trump broke an unwritten but cardinal rule of American public office: You don't root against the United States, even when your political opponent is in power.

Regardless of party or platform, American public officials are expected to champion U.S. interests and defend U.S. national security. Trump seemed to do the opposite Wednesday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-russia-hack_us_5798d1c8e4b02d5d5ed3b51a


----------



## poochee

*Trump Won't Release His Taxes, Says Top Aide*
*"It has nothing to do with Russia," campaign chairman Paul Manafort said.*
07/27/2016 10:50 am ET

Addressing questions about whether Trump has financial ties to Russia, Manafort said Trump's decision to break with tradition and not release his taxes "has nothing to do with Russia, it has nothing to do with any country other than the United States and his normal tax auditing process."

The Trump campaign is under growing scrutiny for its business connections with Russia and for Trump's friendly attitude toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Emails from the Democratic National Committee were released last week at a favorable time for Trump, and the U.S. government suspects Russian hackers were responsible for the breach.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-wont-release-taxes_us_5798b8d7e4b02d5d5ed39dbb?section=


----------



## poochee

*Obama: 'Reject Cynicism And Reject Fear' And Elect Hillary Clinton * 
July 27, 20166:55 PM ET 
 Eyder Peralta 

Democrats called on Americans to reject what they called the politics of fear and division of the GOP and elect Hillary Clinton during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Everyone from President Obama to democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine contrasted the Democratic vision of America to the vision offered by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

"America is already great," President Obama said. "America is already strong. And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump."

http://www.npr.org/2016/07/27/487682590/live-blog-president-obama-to-headline-third-night-of-dnc


----------



## poochee

*Obama's Powerful Message: Donald Trump Is Un-American*
*By **John Cassidy** 03:50 A.M*

Obama took the stage at just before eleven. (The show was running late.) Although his remarks were to be a demolition job on Trump, and a testimonial to Clinton, they weren't to be cast in the everyday language of campaign speeches. Obama and his speechwriters, as is their wont, had aimed higher than that. And they succeeded.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-...0&spJobID=962283186&spReportId=OTYyMjgzMTg2S0


----------



## poochee

*6 takeaways from Wednesday night at the Democratic Convention*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:43 AM ET, Thu July 28, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

President Obama gave a strong endorsement of Hillary Clinton and denounced Donald Trump
Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg also used speeches to take down Trump
They set the frame for the Democratic National Convention's most important moment: Clinton's speech Thursday night.
Here are six takeaways from the third night in Philadelphia:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/politics/democratic-convention-night-three-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton: 'The sky's the limit'*
By Stephen Collinson and Maeve Reston, CNN
Updated 12:17 AM ET, Fri July 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

Philadelphia (CNN)Hillary Clinton beamed with emotion as she took the convention stage to become the first woman ever to accept a major U.S. party's presidential nomination.

"It is with humility, determination and boundless confidence in America's promise that I accept your nomination for President of the United States," Clinton said to thunderous applause at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/politics/hillary-clinton-dem-convention-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump says he would like to 'hit' DNC speakers who disparaged him*
By Ashley Killough, CNN
Updated 12:06 AM ET, Fri July 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

At a rally in Iowa, Trump said he wanted to 'hit' some DNC speakers who criticized him
The four-day Democratic Convention has featured a series of speakers attacking the GOP nominee
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/politics/donald-trump-dnc-response/index.html


----------



## poochee

POLITICS 
*We Compared Obama's Words To Trump's And The Result Will Make You Sad*
*So much for "the best words."*
07/28/2016 05:26 pm ET | *Updated* 21 hours ago
*Nick Wing*  Senior Viral Editor, The Huffington Post

To get a better sense of what sets Trump apart from other presidents, we only need to take a look at the person he is seeking to replace. The quotes below don't say much about where President Barack Obama and Trump differ on specific policies. But they do paint contrasting portraits of two men. One evidently an articulate, intellectually curious leader who has given careful consideration to a variety of topics spanning politics and culture. The other ... well, we'll just let his words speak for themselves.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...us_579a155fe4b02d5d5ed489ce?section=#comments


----------



## poochee

Jul 29, 6:08 PM EDT
*Obama signs bill requiring labeling of GMO foods*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill that will require labeling of genetically modified ingredients for the first time.

The legislation passed by Congress two weeks ago will require most food packages to carry a text label, a symbol or an electronic code readable by smartphone that indicates whether the food contains genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-29-18-08-30


----------



## poochee

Jul 29, 9:34 PM EDT
*Courts strike blows to GOP voter restrictions in 3 states*
By GREG MCCUNE
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) -- Courts dealt setbacks on Friday to Republican efforts in three states to restrict voting, blocking a North Carolina law requiring photo identification, loosening a similar measure in Wisconsin and halting strict citizenship requirements in Kansas.

The rulings came as the 2016 election moves into its final phase, with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton locked in a high-stakes presidential race and control of the U.S. Senate possibly hanging in the balance. North Carolina is one of about a dozen swing states in the presidential race, while Wisconsin has voted Democratic in recent presidential elections and Kansas has been solidly Republican.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-29-21-34-07


----------



## poochee

*Kochs reject push to meet with Trump*
_Trump donors have been pushing the billionaire brothers to reconsider their lack of support for the GOP nominee._
By Kenneth P. Vogel
07/29/16 05:09 PM EDT

Top Donald Trump donors tried to set up a meeting between the GOP presidential nominee and Charles Koch in Colorado Springs on Friday, but Koch aides rejected the entreaties, according to two Republicans with knowledge of the outreach.

Koch and his brother David Koch, who helm an influential network of advocacy groups and major conservative donors, have been sharply critical of Trump's rhetoric and policy stances and have indicated they do not intend to support his campaign.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/kochs-donald-trump-226451#ixzz4FrHgYzuf 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*This Cartoon Captures All You Need To Know About Trump And Clinton In 2016*
_Cartoonist Joe Heller has a brilliant take on the race for the White House._
07/29/2016 02:19 pm ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joe-heller-trump-clinton-cartoon_us_579b93d4e4b0693164c120e1


----------



## poochee

July 30, 2016
*Weekly Address: It's Time to Fill the Vacancy on the Supreme Court*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, retired Federal Judge Timothy Lewis joined Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the nomination of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Vice President talked about his experience as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which every nominee got a hearing and an up or down vote on the Senate floor. Despite having more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history, Chief Judge Garland's nomination has now been pending longer than any other Supreme Court nominee who wasn't withdrawn from consideration. Judge Lewis emphasized that this lack of action is preventing the Supreme Court from fulfilling its duty of interpreting the law and resolving conflicts in the lower courts. The Vice President made clear that for the sake of our Nation, everyone must do their job. That's why the President did his job by nominating Chief Judge Merrick Garland. Now, it's time for the Senate Republicans to do their job.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jul 30, 12:22 PM EDT
*Trump, Clinton spar for national security upper hand*
By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In their struggle for the upper hand on national security, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are emphasizing strikingly different themes - he as the bold and cunningly unpredictable strongman who will eliminate terrorism; she as the calm, conventional commander in chief who will manage all manner of crises.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-30-12-22-31


----------



## poochee

*This Cartoon Captures All You Need To Know About Trump And Clinton In 2016*
_Cartoonist Joe Heller has a brilliant take on the race for the White House._
07/29/2016 02:19 pm ET | *Updated* 5 hours ago

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joe-heller-trump-clinton-cartoon_us_579b93d4e4b0693164c120e1


----------



## poochee

Jul 30, 8:59 PM EDT
*Billionaire's aide says no plans to help Trump*
By STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Billionaire industrialist and conservative benefactor Charles Koch's expansive political network will not help Donald Trump win the presidency.

That's the message from one of the Koch network's chief lieutenants as hundreds of the nation's most powerful Republican donors gathered for a weekend retreat on Saturday. With Election Day just three months away, Koch lamented the state of the 2016 contest during a welcome reception inside a luxury hotel at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-30-20-59-29


----------



## poochee

*Clinton: Trump's coziness with Putin 'raises national security issues'*
By Eric Bradner and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 12:25 PM ET, Sun July 31, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton criticized Trump's suggestion that Russia hack her emails
Clinton said Trump's relationship with Putin 'raises national security issues'

_Washington (CNN)_Hillary Clinton said Sunday that Donald Trump's apparent call for Russia to hack her email shows he is "not temperamentally fit to be president and commander in chief."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/31/politics/hillary-clinton-trump-putin-russia-email-hack/index.html


----------



## poochee

Meet the Press
2016 Conventions
Jul 31 2016, 12:29 pm ET
*Khizr Khan, Father of Fallen U.S. Soldier: Trump Lacks 'Moral Compass'*
by Sally Bronston

*VIDEO*

When Khizr Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, few could have predicted his emotional rebuke of Donald Trump would still be driving headlines days later.

But that's exactly what has happened.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...-fallen-u-s-soldier-trump-lacks-moral-n620496


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jul 31 2016, 4:45 pm ET
*Bernie Sanders Urges Reluctant Supporters to Back Hillary Clinton*
by Christina Coleburn

While acknowledging that some of his supporters "will not vote" for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders argued on Sunday that his signature issues stood a better chance of being addressed by a President Clinton than they would by a President Donald Trump.

"I would tell all of my supporters, and we got over 13 million votes, to take a hard look at the issues impacting the American people," Sanders said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "Which candidate, for example, wants to overturn this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which allows billionaires to buy elections and is undermining American democracy? That is Hillary Clinton's position."

Sanders continued to say that he took issue with Trump's economic plans and contended that the Republican nominee was "running a campaign based on bigotry."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ctant-supporters-back-hillary-clinton-n620541


----------



## poochee

*White House invites Trump, Clinton reps for transition meetings*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 9:00 PM ET, Fri July 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough phoned the Trump and Clinton transition teams Friday to invite them for preparation sessions on the complex workings of the federal government. It's the latest step in a process that began months ago to ensure a smooth transfer of power next January, no matter who wins.

In his phone calls, McDonough also advised both teams their candidates are now eligible for classified intelligence briefings, administered by the Director of National Intelligence. Opponents of both candidates have claimed neither Trump nor Clinton should be trusted with sensitive information.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/politics/white-house-transition-campaigns/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 1, 2:15 PM EDT
*Obama says services for veterans better but need more work*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the U.S. has made serious progress improving services for veterans but should still be outraged about shortcomings and work to do better.

Obama is addressing the annual convention of the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta. He says it's his final major address to veterans as president.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-01-08-27-53


----------



## poochee

Politics
Aug 1 2016, 9:31 am ET
*First Read: Trump Faces Temperament Question Again*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's dismissive response to Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan over the weekend has prompted yet another crisis for the GOP nominee's campaign. But even more so than the recent dustups over Trump's positions on issues like the U.S. relationship with Russia, the optics of his vice presidential rollout, or his wife's plagiarism scandal, for example, Trump's confrontation with the Khans raises a core question of temperament.

His decision to push back against a Gold Star family, perhaps the most unimpeachable group in American culture today (across party lines, too) is prompting new pressure on Republican leaders to decide once again whether to stand by their nominee. We've seen parts of this movie before, particularly just over a year ago when Trump disputed Sen. John McCain's heroism and poked fun at his capture during the Vietnam War.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...t-question-again-n620761?cid=eml_pol_20160801


----------



## poochee

*Clinton Gets a Post-Convention Bounce in New CBS Poll* 
Leah Barkoukis
Posted: Aug 01, 2016 8:45 AM

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton received a 7-point post-convention bounce, a new CBS News poll found.

Forty-six percent of registered voters say they'll support Clinton in the general election compared to 39 percent who say they'll vote for Trump.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahba...ets-a-postconvention-bounce-in-polls-n2200583


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## poochee

Politics
Aug 1 2016, 7:56 pm ET
*Warren Buffett Challenges Trump to Release Taxes *
by Monica Alba

OMAHA, Neb. - Warren Buffett eviscerated Donald Trump before introducing Hillary Clinton at a rally here Monday afternoon, challenging him to release his tax returns and invoking McCarthyism over the Republican nominee's feud with the Khan family.

"How in the world can you stand up to a couple of parents who've lost a son and talked about sacrificing because you were building a bunch of buildings?" Buffett said before channeling Joseph Welch's question during the 1954 McCarthy hearings.

"I ask Donald Trump: have you no sense of decency, sir?"

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/warren-buffett-challenges-trump-release-taxes-n621336


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet*
By STEVE EDER and DAVE PHILIPPSAUG. 1, 2016

*VIDEO*

Back in 1968, at the age of 22, Donald J. Trump seemed the picture of health.

He stood 6 feet 2 inches with an athletic build; had played football, tennis and squash; and was taking up golf. His medical history was unblemished, aside from a routine appendectomy when he was 10.

But after he graduated from college in the spring of 1968, making him eligible to be drafted and sent to Vietnam, he received a diagnosis that would change his path: bone spurs in his heels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/us/politics/donald-trump-draft-record.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Aug 2, 4:34 PM EDT
*Obama: Libya airstrikes critical to US security*
By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Libya continued for a second day Tuesday, as President Barack Obama called the new bombing campaign critical to protecting U.S. national security interests.

The strikes are needed to ensure that Libya's fragile new Government of National Accord is "able to finish the job" and drive the militants out of the troubled North African country, Obama said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-02-14-39-32


----------



## poochee

Aug 2, 4:18 PM EDT
*Trump is 'unfit,' Obama says, challenging GOP to end support*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a searing denouncement, President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as "unfit" and "woefully unprepared" to serve in the White House. He challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party's nominee, declaring "There has to come a point at which you say enough."

While Obama has long been critical of Trump, his blistering condemnation Tuesday was a notable escalation of his involvement in the presidential race. Obama questioned whether Trump would "observe basic decency" as president, argued he lacks elementary knowledge about domestic and international affairs and condemned his disparagement of an American Muslim couple whose son was killed while serving the U.S. Army in Iraq.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-02-16-18-21


----------



## poochee

Aug 2 2016, 4:26 pm ET 
*Trump's Mental State Is Becoming a Campaign Talking Point*
by Adam Howard

As Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's verbal gaffes have mounted and his penchant for lashing out at his political opponents has continued to escalate, it's become in vogue for critics to earnestly raise questions about Trump's temperament and his mental stability.

*VIDEOS*

Terms like "narcissist" and "sociopath" have been attached to his name as routinely as Trump attaches that name to his buildings. Many of his GOP allies have been publicly apoplectic about the unorthodox (some have argued virtually non-existent) campaign, contradictory statements regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump's critical remarks about the Muslim-American parents of a slain Iraq War hero.

The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson even wrote a column this week asking: "Is Donald Trump just plain crazy?"

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-s-mental-state-becoming-campaign-talking-point-n621556


----------



## poochee

*Sally Bradshaw Has Left the Republican Party*
The "GOP autopsy" author and Jeb Bush adviser told CNN that when it comes to Donald Trump, "too many Republicans are standing by and looking the other way."
Nora Kelly
Aug 1, 2016

Longtime Republican operative Sally Bradshaw tried to remake the GOP so its candidate would be a shoo-in this November. Now, she's leaving the party entirely.

In an interview with CNN, Bradshaw, a Jeb Bush adviser who helped author the so-called "GOP autopsy" after the Republicans' 2012 defeat, suggested she cannot in good conscience vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and has re-registered as an Independent.

If the race in Florida, where she lives, is tight, she plans to vote for Clinton.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/sally-bradshaw-trump-gop/493910/


----------



## poochee

*Richard Hanna Becomes First Republican Congressman To Say He'll Vote For Hillary Clinton*
_Donald Trump "is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country," he says._
08/02/2016 09:03 am ET | *Updated* 12 hours ago
*Igor Bobic*  Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

Retiring Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) on Tuesday announced he will vote for Hillary Clinton in November because Donald Trump is "unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country."

The three-term congressman, who represents New York's 22nd Congressional District, is the first Republican member of Congress to announce he will vote for the former secretary of state. He previously said he could never support the GOP nominee, putting him among several conservative and establishment holdouts known as the #NeverTrump movement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/richard-hanna-hillary-clinton_us_57a08f42e4b08a8e8b5f45ba?


----------



## poochee

Aug 3, 5:11 PM EDT
*GOP frustrations with Trump mount as allies weigh options*
By STEVE PEOPLES and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Their party in crisis, Republicans' frustration with Donald Trump reached new heights on Wednesday as GOP leaders scrambled to persuade the presidential nominee to abandon divisive tactics that have led to sinking poll numbers and low morale.

Party chairman Reince Priebus appealed to the New York billionaire's adult children to help.

Worried that that may not be enough, Priebus also joined a handful of high-profile Trump allies in considering whether to confront the candidate directly following a series of startling stances and statements with Election Day quickly approaching. Trump has exposed deepening party divisions by refusing to endorse GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan's re-election and continuing to criticize the family of a slain U.S. soldier.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-03-17-11-16


----------



## poochee

*Is Donald Trump just plain crazy?*
By Eugene Robinson Opinion writer
Opinions
August 1

*VIDEOS*

During the primary season, as Donald Trump's bizarre outbursts helped him crush the competition, I thought he was being crazy like a fox. Now I am increasingly convinced that he's just plain crazy.

I'm serious about that. Leave aside for the moment Trump's policies, which in my opinion range from the unconstitutional to the un-American to the potentially catastrophic. At this point, it would be irresponsible to ignore the fact that Trump's grasp on reality appears to be tenuous at best.

Begin with the fact that he lies the way other people breathe. Telling a self-serving lie - no matter how transparent, no matter how easily disproved - seems to be a reflex for him. Look at the things he has said in just the past week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...171e86-581d-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama Commutes Sentences Of 214 Federal Inmates*
August 3, 20163:03 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy

Those granted clemency today were "incarcerated under outdated and unduly harsh sentencing laws," according to a press release from the White House. They include 67 people serving life sentences.

Not all of them will be immediately released. Some will serve more time, and others will face different treatment depending on their circumstances, according to the statement:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ama-commutes-sentences-of-214-federal-inmates


----------



## poochee

*Federal Judge Allows Suit Against Trump University to Proceed*
By STEVE EDERAUG. 2, 2016

The case, in federal court in San Diego, has been a nagging concern for Mr. Trump's Republican campaign for the presidency, as he pushes back against claims made by former students that his school cheated them out of their tuition by using high-pressure sales tactics and deceptive claims about what they would learn.

At one point, Mr. Trump publicly denounced the rulings of Judge Curiel, who was born in Indiana, and questioned whether he would be biased because of his Mexican heritage. Mr. Trump's political opponents have repeatedly turned the case against him, including during the recent Democratic National Convention.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/us/politics/trump-university-case.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*NIH Plans To Lift Ban On Research Funds For Part-Human, Part-Animal Embryos* 
August 4, 20169:01 AM ET 
Rob Stein

The NIH imposed a moratorium on funding these experiments in September because they could raise ethical concerns.

One issue is that scientists might inadvertently create animals that have partly human brains, endowing them with some semblance of human consciousness or human thinking abilities. Another is that they could develop into animals with human sperm and eggs and breed, producing human embryos or fetuses inside animals or hybrid creatures.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...04&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

Politics
Aug 4 2016, 1:16 pm ET
*Obama Calls for Cultural Shift to End Gender Inequality*
by Anna Merod

*VIDEOS*

President Obama once again declared himself a feminist and said men have a responsibility to fight for gender equality, too.

In a personal essay for Glamour magazine published Thursday, Obama highlighted the need for a cultural shift as well as policy change to achieve gender equality. He even touched on his own experience with gender roles, acknowledging the imbalance of parental duties that fell on his wife, Michelle, when he was a senator in Illinois.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bar...-cultural-shift-end-gender-inequality-n622996


----------



## poochee

*Obama goes to Pentagon to talk ISIS but Trump looms large*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 10:41 AM ET, Thu August 4, 2016

*Story highlights*

Obama is traveling to the Pentagon Thursday for an update on his administration's battle against ISIS
The US also announced a campaign this week to go after ISIS in the Libyan city of Sirte
*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)For the second time this week, the trappings of executive power will provide a backdrop for President Barack Obama as he fields reporters' questions -- and likely takes another swing at Donald Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/04/politics/obama-trump-pentagon-isis/index.html


----------



## poochee

A little humor

*D.N.C. Headquarters Mobbed by Republican Refugees Seeking Asylum*
*By Andy Borowitz*, 12:50 P.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...0&spJobID=980328194&spReportId=OTgwMzI4MTk0S0


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Islamic State will 'inevitably' be defeated, but networks will persist*
By Greg Jaffe, David Nakamura and William Branigin Politics
August 4 at 7:59 PM

*VIDEO
*
Obama is scheduled to leave Saturday for a vacation with his family on Martha's Vineyard through Aug. 21.

Before he departed, Obama was at the Pentagon, where he received a two-hour briefing from his top national security advisers on the expanding war against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria and most recently Libya, where U.S. planes have been bombing in support of a government offensive near Sirte.

Obama vowed that the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, is "inevitably going to be defeated," but he predicted that the dispersed terrorist networks it spawns are likely to continue trying to launch attacks after the group loses its major strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

"As we've seen, it is still very difficult to detect and prevent lone actors or small cells of terrorists who are determined to kill the innocent and are willing to die," Obama said. "And that's why . . . we're going to keep going after ISIL aggressively across every front of this campaign."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...198978-5a5d-11e6-8b48-0cb344221131_story.html


----------



## poochee

Thursday, Aug 4, 2016 03:00 AM PDT
* It's worth asking again: Is Donald Trump trying to tank his campaign? *
 _Trump's outlandish behavior leaves two possibilities: either he's truly unhinged or he's looking for a way out_ 
Sean Illing

http://www.salon.com/2016/08/04/its_worth_asking_again_is_donald_trump_trying_to_tank_his_campaign/


----------



## poochee

*Vet Raises Money To Help Donald Trump Earn His Own Purple Heart*
_"Chip in to fly him to the conflict zone of his choosing," says Cameron Kerr, who got his medal after losing a leg._
08/05/2016 05:23 pm ET

WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump was thrilled last week when a veteran at a Virginia rally gave him his Purple Heart. "I've always wanted to get a Purple Heart," he said, dangling the medal typically awarded to soldiers wounded or killed while serving in battle. "This was much easier."

That response didn't sit right with Cameron Kerr, a Purple Heart recipient based in Virginia. As an Army veteran who lost his leg on the battleground in Afghanistan, Kerr was stunned to see Trump treating the prestigious award like a flashy new toy. He figured if Trump has really always wanted a Purple Heart, he should have to earn it "the old-fashioned way": by going into a war zone.

So he's raising money to help give Trump that chance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-purple-heart_us_57a4cc5ae4b03ba6801239b8?section=&


----------



## poochee

*Ex-CIA chief endorses Clinton, labels Trump 'threat to national security'*
By David Wright
Updated 2:57 PM ET, Fri August 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Michael Morell was acting CIA director from 2010-2013
Morell suggested Trump is being manipulated by the Russian government
"On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure she is elected as our 45th president," Morell wrote.

The former CIA chief said that "Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/05/politics/michael-morell-clinton-endorsement/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump backs off false Iran video claim*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 5:43 PM ET, Fri August 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump backed off a false claim Friday morning, admitting he had not seen a video of a $400 million payment being unloaded from a US plane in Iran.

The Republican nominee had claimed at rallies twice this week that such a video existed, saying in Maine on Thursday that it was provided by Iranians "to embarrass our president because we have a president who's incompetent."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/05/politics/donald-trump-iran-video-claim/index.html


----------



## poochee

August 06, 2016
*Weekly Address: Representing the Best of America in the Summer Olympics*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama celebrated the beginning of the Summer Olympics by wishing Team USA the best of luck as they compete on the world stage. The President said Team USA reminds the world why America always sets the example as a nation of immigrants that finds strength by embracing our diversity and finding unity in our national pride. President Obama thanked the American Olympic and Paralympic athletes for representing the best of America. Our Olympians always remind us of our potential - that no matter where you're from, you can succeed with determination and discipline. That's not only the Olympic spirit, but also the American spirit.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Endorses Paul Ryan, GOP Leaders He's Criticized* 
August 6, 201612:00 AM ET 
Emma Bowman

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump formally endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan for reelection on Friday night, after refusing to do so just days ago.

"We will have disagreements but we will disagree as friends and never stop working together toward victory," Trump said, delivering prepared remarks during a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wis.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ndorses-paul-ryan-gop-leaders-he-s-criticized


----------



## poochee

Aug 6, 5:31 PM EDT
*Charting a road to 270, Clinton sets out most efficient path*
By THOMAS BEAUMONT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Hillary Clinton doesn't appear all that interested in making scenic stops on her state-to-state quest to become president. The Democratic nominee is instead programming her GPS to take her on the quickest route to collect the 270 Electoral College votes she needs to win the White House.

With three months until Election Day, Clinton's campaign is focused on capturing the battleground states that have decided the most recent presidential elections, not so much on expanding the map.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-06-12-04-51


----------



## poochee

*Strong Job Gains, for Second Month, Reframe Economic Outlook*
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZAUG. 5, 2016

The American jobs machine has moved back into high gear.

After a long stretch of conflicting reports, the Labor Department said on Friday that the economy in July delivered a second consecutive month of robust hiring and rising wages in a signal that the expansion is strengthening, not ebbing, as it enters its eighth year.

With the political conventions completed, the buoyant jobs numbers also have major implications for the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/06/business/economy/jobs-report-unemployment-wages.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Poll finds Clinton has widened lead ahead of Trump to 8 points*
By Dan Balz and Scott Clement
August 7 at 12:01 AM

*CHARTS*

Hillary Clinton has emerged from the two major party conventions and their aftermath with an eight-point lead over Donald Trump, aided by a consolidation of support among Democrats and a failure so far by Republicans to rally equally behind their nominee, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Meet the Press
Aug 7 2016, 9:39 am ET
*Five Things We Learned About the Presidential Campaign Last Week*
by Dante Chinni

*VIDEO*

After two conventions and a turbulent week of campaign news, the polls around the race for the White House look very different than they did a month ago. Hillary Clinton is surging and Donald Trump is sinking. While there's still a long time until November, here's a look at the five things we can say about the presidential race right now.

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-pre...rned-about-presidential-campaign-week-n624486


----------



## poochee

*In context: Clinton did not say she 'short-circuited'*
By Glenn Kessler Fact Checker
August 7 at 11:49 AM

*VIDEO*

_"So I may have short-circuited *it* and for that I, you know, will try to clarify because I think - you know, Chris Wallace and I, we're probably talking past each other be - because, of course, he could only talk to what I had told the FBI and I appreciated that."
_
- Hillary Clinton, remarks to joint convention of black and Hispanic journalists, Aug. 5, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...text-clinton-did-not-say-she-short-circuited/


----------



## poochee

The Right Opinion
*The Week They Decided Donald Trump Was Crazy*
*He inflicts one wound after another on his campaign.*
*Peggy Noonan* · Aug. 6, 2016

I think this week marked a certain coming to terms with where the election is going. Politics is about trends and tendencies. The trends for Donald Trump are not good, and he tends not to change.

All the damage done to him this week was self-inflicted. The arrows he's taken are arrows he shot. We have in seven days witnessed his undignified and ungrateful reaction to a Gold Star family; the odd moment with the crying baby; the one-on-one interviews, which are starting to look like something he does in the grip of a compulsion, in which Mr. Trump expresses himself thoughtlessly, carelessly, on such issues as Russia, Ukraine and sexual harassment; the relitigating of his vulgar Megyn Kelly comments from a year ago; and, as his fortunes fell, his statement that he "would not be surprised" if the November election were "rigged." Subject to an unprecedented assault by a sitting president who called him intellectually and characterologically unfit for the presidency, Mr Trump fired back - at Paul Ryan and John McCain.

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/44165


----------



## poochee

Aug 6 2016, 3:18 pm ET
*Planned Parenthood Launches Voter Registration Campaign*
by Anna Merod

Planned Parenthood will begin a nonpartisan campaign to register voters at its clinics, on college campuses and online to help marginalized populations participate more in this election cycle, the women's health provider announced to the Huffington Post Friday.

The voter registration campaign titled "My Vote, My Voice" will have volunteers in 45 states set up tables outside of Planned Parenthood clinics and other spots in communities to educate people about their state's voter ID laws while helping them register to vote. Two weeks before the general election, volunteers will also remind people to vote.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/planned-parenthood-launches-voter-registration-campaign-n624411


----------



## poochee

Aug 7 2016, 8:24 pm ET 
*Ex-CIA Director: 'No Doubt' Putin Views Trump as 'Unwitting Agent'*
by Christina Coleburn

*VIDEOS*

Former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell on Sunday doubled down on the connection he made between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Morell told ABC's "This Week" that he had "no doubt" Putin viewed Trump as an "unwitting agent" of Russia, and noted that as a trained KGB intelligence operative, Putin had manipulated people "much smarter than Donald Trump."

"He played this perfectly, right? He saw that Donald Trump wanted to be complimented. He complimented him. That led Donald Trump to then compliment Vladimir Putin and to defend Vladimir Putin's actions in a number of places around the world. And Donald Trump didn't even understand, right, that Putin was playing him," Morell said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ubt-putin-views-trump-unwitting-agent-n624786


----------



## poochee

Aug 8, 2:28 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump on the economy*
By JOSH BOAK and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In his centerpiece speech on the economy, Donald Trump wrongly accused Hillary Clinton of wanting to increase middle-class taxes and blamed America's crumbling roads and bridges in part on the money spent on refugees, a minuscule expense in comparison with infrastructure.

A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-08-14-28-49


----------



## poochee

*50 G.O.P. Officials Warn Donald Trump Would Put Nation's Security 'at Risk'*
By DAVID E. SANGER
AUG. 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

Fifty of the nation's most senior Republican national security officials, many of them former top aides or cabinet members for President George W. Bush, have signed a letter declaring that Donald J. Trump "lacks the character, values and experience" to be president and "would put at risk our country's national security and well-being."

Mr. Trump, the officials warn, "would be the most reckless president in American history."

The letter says Mr. Trump would weaken the United States' moral authority and questions his knowledge of and belief in the Constitution. It says he has "demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding" of the nation's "vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances and the democratic values" on which American policy should be based. And it laments that "Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/u...urity-gop-donald-trump.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*CNN Poll of Polls: Clinton tops Trump by 10*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 11:15 AM ET, Mon August 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The post-convention polls are in, and they consistently show Hillary Clinton entering the next phase of the presidential election campaign with the upper hand over Donald Trump.

The CNN Poll of Polls incorporating the results of six major polls -- all conducted after the party conventions concluded in late July -- finds Clinton with an average of 49% support to Trump's 39%. When third party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are included, the margin remains the same, with both candidates losing the same amount of support to land at 45% for Clinton to 35% for Trump, with Johnson at 9% and Stein at 5%.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/08/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-cnn-poll-of-polls/index.html


----------



## poochee

*GOP senator: 'I will not be voting for Donald Trump'*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 10:03 PM ET, Mon August 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_Susan Collins, a Republican who's been in the Senate since 1997, said she is not going to vote for Donald Trump as president, finding him unsuitable for office "based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics."

"I will not be voting for Donald Trump for president," she wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday night. "This is not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican. But Donald Trump does not reflect historical Republican values nor the inclusive approach to governing that is critical to healing the divisions in our country."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/08/politics/susan-collins-donald-trump-republican-party-oped/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 8, 4:41 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump shapes facts to fit economic agenda*
By JOSH BOAK and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump changed some of his facts to fit his agenda Monday, pitching shades of truth and misconceptions in what was billed as a major economic policy speech.

He wrongly accused Hillary Clinton of proposing to increase middle-class taxes and blamed crumbling roads and bridges on money spent on refugees, a minuscule expense in comparison with infrastructure. He overstated the corporate tax burden and declared the jobless rate - the prime statistic for holding leaders accountable for the state of the economy - a hoax.

A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-08-16-41-26


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Parents Of 2 Benghazi Victims Sue Hillary Clinton For Wrongful Death*
August 9, 201612:31 PM ET

The parents of two Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya, are suing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for wrongful death, alleging the 2012 attack "was directly and proximately caused" by the then-secretary of state's mishandling of government secrets.

The lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Washington, D.C., argued that Islamic terrorists were able to track the movements of Ambassador Chris Stevens and plot the deadly siege because of Clinton's use of a personal email server to conduct government business.

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/09/489326949/two-benghazi-parents-sue-hillary-clinton-for-wrongful-death


----------



## poochee

*Trump slams GOP officials' national*
*security letter*
By Mark Hensch
August 08, 2016, 06:42 pm

*VIDEO
*
"The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in this country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place," he said in a statement.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...mp-slams-gop-leaders-national-security-letter


----------



## poochee

*Trump Wonders If Gun Owners Could Stop Hillary Clinton*
_During a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Tuesday, the Republican nominee made an apparent joke about the assassination of his rival.
David A. Graham 
3:58 PM ET _

*VIDEO*

"Hillary wants to abolish, essentially, the Second Amendment," he said. "By the way, and if she gets the pick-if she gets the pick of her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dunno."

At no point in recent American history has the nominee of one of the two major parties even jested about the murder of a rival. (Watch the man in the red shirt and white beard behind Trump to see his reaction in the clip above.) The recent prevalence of "lock her up!" chants at Trump events look, from some angles, like a disturbing echo of politics in less stable nations, where vanquished political rivals are imprisoned or worse. Trump's comment today blows well past that line. Even unserious suggestions of killing can be a dangerous thing, as St. Thomas Becket might attest.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/not-what-the-second-amendment-is-for/495191/


----------



## poochee

*Borowitz Report *
Humor

*Trump Economic Plan Calls for Every American to Inherit Millions from Father*
*By Andy Borowitz*,
August 8, 2016

DETROIT (The Borowitz Report)-At a speech in Detroit on Monday, the Republican Presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, spelled out the details of his economic plan, which calls for every American to inherit millions of dollars from his or her father.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...0&spJobID=980629916&spReportId=OTgwNjI5OTE2S0


----------



## poochee

*Many people are saying -- that Trump drives conspiracies and gossip*
By Gregory Krieg and Jeff Simon, CNN
Updated 10:45 PM ET, Tue August 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump is hearing things.

The information is coming from "many people," but it has all led him to one simple conclusion: "There is something going on."

Employing a witches' brew of vague but inflammatory language, the Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly amplified and offered roundabout endorsements to conspiracy theories and outright lies by presenting them, in speeches and interviews, with an increasingly dubious caveat.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/politics/donald-trump-conspiracy-many-people-are-saying/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Secret Service spoke to Trump campaign about 2nd Amendment comment*
By Tami Luhby and Jim Sciutto, CNN
Updated 4:22 PM ET, Wed August 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Critics and supporters debate what Trump meant
Clinton's campaign is fundraising off the comments
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/politics/trump-second-amendment/index.html


----------



## poochee

Wednesday, Aug 10, 2016 01:44 PM PDT
*Hillary Clinton responds to Trump's Second Amendment insinuation: "Words matter, my friends" *
_Trump's "casual inciting of violence," she said, "proves [he] simply does not have the temperament to be president"_ 
Brendan Gauthier

Speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday afternoon, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton addressed her Republican opponent, Donald Trump's controversial "Second Amendment people" insinuation.

"Words matter, my friends," Clinton told the crowd. "And if you are running to be president, or are president of the United States, words can have tremendous influence."

http://www.salon.com/2016/08/10/hil...mendment-insinuation-words-matter-my-friends/


----------



## poochee

*Man Spotted Scaling Side of Trump Tower in New York*

By EMILY SHAPIRO
Paul Blake
Aug 10, 2016, 4:44 PM ET
*VIDEO*

http://abcnews.go.com/US/man-spotted-scaling-side-trump-tower-york/story?id=41278389


----------



## poochee

Aug 10 2016, 10:11 pm ET 
*Trump Tower Climber Wanted Meeting With the Presidential Candidate*
by Eli Panken

*VIDEOS*

In the video, which has not been independently confirmed by NBC News, the man said he needed to get Trump's attention via scaling the building because he would be unable to reach him via "conventional means." He also encouraged others to vote for the Republican presidential candidate in the November election. Police said the man came to New York Tuesday and was staying in a local hotel.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...wanted-meeting-presidential-candidate-n627761


----------



## poochee

*Disgraced ex-congressman sits behind Trump at rally*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 10:15 PM ET, Wed August 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

Sunrise, Florida (CNN)Donald Trump on Wednesday again slammed Hillary Clinton and her campaign for allowing the father of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen to sit in the stands behind her at a recent rally.

But sitting behind Trump was ex-congressman Mark Foley, who resigned in disgrace in 2006 after sending sexually explicit messages to underage teenage boys.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/politics/donald-trump-mark-foley-campaign-rally/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 10, 6:12 PM EDT
*US: 45,000 Islamic State fighters taken off battlefields*
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The military campaigns in Iraq and Syria have taken 45,000 enemy combatants off the battlefield and reduced the total number of Islamic State fighters to as few as 15,000, the top U.S. commander for the fight against IS said Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland said that both the quality and number of IS fighters is declining, and he warned that it is difficult to determine accurate numbers. Earlier estimates put the number of Islamic State fighters between 19,000 and 25,000, but U.S. officials say the range is now roughly 15,000 to 20,000.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-10-18-12-37


----------



## poochee

Aug 11, 12:51 PM EDT
*Trump refuses to back away from false claim Obama founded IS*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) -- Donald Trump repeatedly accused President Barack Obama of founding the Islamic State group on Thursday, refusing to take back a patently false allegation even when questioned about the logic of his position.

A day after lobbing the attack against the president during a rowdy rally, Trump pressed ahead during a round of interviews. The Republican presidential nominee brushed off conservative radio commentator Hugh Hewitt's attempt to reframe Trump's observation as one that said Obama's foreign policy created the conditions in Iraq and Syria that allowed IS to thrive.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-11-12-51-20


----------



## poochee

*Clinton to release tax returns, pressuring Trump*
By Dan Merica
Updated 8:41 AM ET, Thu August 11, 2016

Detroit, Michigan (CNN)Hillary Clinton will release her 2015 taxes this week, according to a source, a move that her campaign hopes will put pressure on Donald Trump to do the same.

Tim Kaine, Clinton's running mate, will also release 10 years of his returns, added the source close to Clinton.

Trump, however, has declined to release any of his tax returns, citing the fact that he is under IRS audit. The government agency, however, has said that an audit does not restrict Trump from releasing the returns.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/hillary-clinton-release-tax-returns/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump just confirmed every Republican's worst fear*
Ivan Levingston | @IvanLevingston
4 Hours Ago

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump told CNBC on Thursday he will either win with his frank and uncensored style of campaigning or enjoy a "very, very nice long vacation."

Republicans have long hoped Trump will pivot on his behavior, but in the "Squawk Box" interview, he said:

"I'm a truth teller. All I do is tell the truth. And if at the end of 90 days, I've fallen short because I'm somewhat politically correct even though I'm supposed to be the smart one and even though I'm supposed to have a lot of good ideas, it's OK. I go back to a very good way of life."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/11/gop-presidential-candidate-donald-trump.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration to shift $81 million to fight Zika*
By Kelsey Snell and Brady Dennis August 11 at 2:04 PM

The Obama administration plans to reallocate $81 million from the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the Zika virus, according to a letter sent Thursday by HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.

Burwell notified congressional leaders that she will transfer $34 million away from other programs at the National Institutes of Health and $47 million within the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority budget. The money will supplement the $347 million HHS transferred away from an existing fund to fight the Ebola virus. The administration is seeking $1.9 billion to fight Zika, but Congress is deadlocked over the funding.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...llion-to-fight-zika/?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

Aug 11, 5:20 PM EDT
*US government won't reclassify marijuana, allows research*
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration has decided marijuana will remain on the list of most dangerous drugs, fully rebuffing growing support across the country for broad legalization, but said it will allow more research into its medical uses.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-11-17-20-23


----------



## poochee

Post Politics
*The Daily Trail: Are Republicans considering dropping Donald Trump? *
By Rebecca Sinderbrand
Post Politics
August 11 at 5:20 PM

Up until recently, it has mostly been a theoretical assumption among some disgruntled Republicans in Congress that the GOP would, at some point, simply cut its losses with Donald Trump, and devote its cash and infrastructure to saving their congressional majorities.

On Thursday, that idea is becoming rapidly less theoretical. More than 70 Republicans signed an open letter released Thursday to Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus urging him to cut off cash from Trump. Earlier on on Thursday, Time magazine reported Priebus was considering it:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...cca59cd249a2fe363ba14/?wpisrc=nl_trail&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

August 06, 2016
*Weekly Address: Representing the Best of America in the Summer Olympics*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama celebrated the beginning of the Summer Olympics by wishing Team USA the best of luck as they compete on the world stage. The President said Team USA reminds the world why America always sets the example as a nation of immigrants that finds strength by embracing our diversity and finding unity in our national pride. President Obama thanked the American Olympic and Paralympic athletes for representing the best of America. Our Olympians always remind us of our potential - that no matter where you're from, you can succeed with determination and discipline. That's not only the Olympic spirit, but also the American spirit.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Aug 12, 3:54 PM EDT
*Pressuring Trump, Clinton releases 2015 tax returns*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary and Bill Clinton earned $10.6 million last year, according to a tax filing released by her campaign Friday that sought to pressure presidential rival Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns.

The filing shows that the Clintons paid a federal tax rate of 34.2 percent in 2015. The bulk of their income - more than $6 million - came from speaking fees for appearances made largely before Hillary Clinton launched her campaign in April 2015. They gave more than $1,042,000 to charity, with $1 million going to the Clinton family foundation. That is the financial vehicle the family uses to give money to museums, schools, churches and other charitable causes. It is not the same organization as the better-known Clinton Foundation.

The Clintons' income puts them well within the ranks of the top 0.1 percent of Americans, though they pay a higher tax rate than many of their elite peers, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, based on 2013 data.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-12-13-47-39


----------



## poochee

Aug 12, 2:34 PM EDT
*As Trump struggles, Clinton goes on offense to win over GOP*
By LISA LERER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton is seizing opportunities presented by a volatile presidential race to expand her base of support heading into the fall, seeking to position the Democratic Party for a sweeping victory in November.

As Donald Trump struggles through a second week of self-inflicted blunders, the Democratic nominee's campaign has started to push into Republican territory by courting some of the party's core supporters and expanding her campaign's operations into traditionally Republican states.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-12-03-41-49


----------



## poochee

*he Upshot Who Will Be President?*
By JOSH KATZ UPDATED August 12, 2016

*Hillary Clinton* has an *88% chance* of winning the presidency.
Last updated Friday, August 12 at 2:47 PM ET

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Trump has Harvard Republicans seeing crimson*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 1:08 PM ET, Fri August 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Harvard Republican Club rejects Trump, calls on party to follow
Club is withholding endorsement of GOP nominee for first time in 128 years
_(CNN)_The kids are not all right with Donald Trump.

Harvard's tenderfoot GOP elite on Thursday declared the candidate "a threat to the survival of the Republic," while asking party leaders and fellow college conservatives to "join us in condemning and withholding their endorsement from this dangerous man."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/04/politics/harvard-republicans-reject-donald-trump/


----------



## poochee

August 13, 2016
*Weekly Address: Providing a Better, Cleaner, Safer Future for Our Children*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed the progress we have made to combat global climate change. During the Obama Administration, we have made ambitious investments in clean energy and achieved reductions in carbon emissions - increasing wind power and solar power, and decreasing the amount of carbon pollution from our energy sector to its lowest level in 25 years. We have also set standards to increase the distance cars and light trucks can travel on a gallon of gas every year through 2025. The President noted that although America has become a global leader in the fight against climate change, there's still work to do. Together, we must continue to work domestically and build upon the progress we've made along with other countries - such as the Paris Agreement, the most ambitious climate change agreement in history. President Obama said if we continue to work together, we will leave a better, cleaner, safer future for our children.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Aug 13, 2:31 AM EDT
*WHY IT MATTERS: Issues at stake in election
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A selection of issues at stake in the presidential election and their impact on Americans, in brief:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-13-02-31-32


----------



## poochee

Aug 13, 6:11 PM EDT
*Hacker posts personal info of House Democrats and staff*
By KEVIN FREKING and RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After receiving a deluge of obscene voicemails and text messages, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi informed her fellow Democrats on Saturday of "an electronic Watergate break-in" and warned them not to allow family members to answer their phones or read incoming texts.

The breach targeted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other Democratic Party entities, Pelosi said in a statement. As a result, a mix of personal and official information of Democratic members and hundreds of congressional staff, purportedly from a hack of the DCCC, was posted online, she said.

Pelosi said she is changing her phone number and advised her colleagues to do the same.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-13-18-11-03


----------



## poochee

Aug 13, 10:41 AM EDT
*GOP could be near Trump breaking point; frustration abounds*
By STEVE PEOPLES, JILL COLVIN and JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) -- The Republican Party could be nearing a breaking point with Donald Trump.

As he skips from one gaffe to the next, GOP leaders in Washington and in the most competitive states have begun openly contemplating turning their backs on their party's presidential nominee to prevent what they fear will be wide-scale Republican losses on Election Day.

Back in 1996, the party largely gave up on nominee Bob Dole once it became clear he had little chance of winning, so it's not without precedent. Nevertheless, it's a jolting prospect now, with roughly three months still left before the Nov. 8 vote and weeks before the three presidential debates.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-13-10-41-29


----------



## poochee

Aug 14, 11:20 AM EDT
*Trump goes on tear against media, not Clinton*
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's campaign on Sunday went on a new tear against the media, blaming the "disgusting" press for a week of distractions at a time when Republicans have urged him - again - to focus on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump will get another chance to reset his campaign on Monday when he is expected to lay out his plan for defeating what running mate Mike Pence on Sunday called, "radical Islamic terrorism" with "real specifics" on how to make the United States safer.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-14-11-20-37


----------



## poochee

*Leon Panetta Says Americans Should 'Move On' From Clinton Emails*
By Nicki Rossoll
Aug 14, 2016, 9:39 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Clinton supporter and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called on the public to "move on" from Hillary Clinton's emails and instead focus on the "real issues."

"It's been investigated, no action has been taken by the Justice Department," Panetta said on ABC's "This Week." "They found no basis for any kind of action."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/leon-panetta-americans-move-clinton-emails/story?id=41358340


----------



## poochee

*I Survived 'Trump' Magazine-Barely*

_Bills went unpaid. They turned off the electricity. Our paychecks started bouncing. I got cancer and they canceled my health coverage. Here's what it was like to work for Donald Trump's failed magazine._
By Carey Purcell
August 14, 2016

I had been at _Trump _magazine for only four months when my first paycheck bounced.

We'd heard rumors of the company's financial troubles, but I had no idea how bad it really was until my landlord called me one afternoon to tell me that my rent check hadn't cleared. I logged into my online banking account and saw, to my amazement, that the magazine I worked for-the one with the billionaire's name on the cover-had stiffed me. Although it was a stressful moment, the irony was not lost on me. It felt like I was living in an _Onion_ article: "Luxury Lifestyle Magazine Can't Pay Its Own Employees."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/donald-trump-magazine-employee-confessional-bankrupt-2016-214155#ixzz4HKRZlD4A
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Obama interrupting vacation to campaign for Clinton*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

President Barack Obama is interrupting what so far has been a leisurely vacation to help raise money for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. Obama has said there's never been anyone more qualified than Clinton, who was his rival in the 2008 presidential contest and his first-term secretary of state, to be president.

Obama is slated to headline a Democratic Party fundraising dinner Monday evening on Martha's Vineyard, the island playground off the coast of Massachusetts where he's in the midst of a two-week vacation with his wife, Michelle, and their daughters Malia and Sasha.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-15-10-17-21


----------



## poochee

*Wall Street Journal to GOP: Dump Donald Trump if he doesn't change (and he says he won't)*
August 15th, 2016

The conservative op-ed page of The Wall Street Journal is calling on the Republican party to essentially abandon Donald Trump if he doesn't change his ways on the campaign trail, which Trump openly says he won't do. Meanwhile, a New York Times report links Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, to cash payments documented on a secret ledger in Ukraine. NBC's Hallie Jackson reports for TODAY.

*VIDEO*

http://www.today.com/video/wall-str...-t-change-which-he-says-he-won-t-744368195727


----------



## poochee

Aug 15 2016, 11:53 am ET 
*Clinton Surges Past 270 Electoral Votes in NBC News Battleground Map*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

After releasing our seven battleground-state polls last week -- and seeing several other state surveys -- we've updated our NBC battleground map. The states in Hillary Clinton's column now add up to 288 electoral votes, which exceeds the 270 needed to win the presidency. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is at 174 electoral votes, and an additional 76 are in the Tossup category. Our last map, back in July, showed Clinton with a 255-190 advantage - so Clinton's tally has gone up since the conventions, while Trump's has declined.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...battleground-map-n630851?cid=eml_pol_20160815


----------



## poochee

*Borowitz Report *
*Trump Blames Bad Poll Numbers on Existence of Numerical System*
*By Andy Borowitz* , 12:02 P.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...0&spJobID=981224672&spReportId=OTgxMjI0NjcyS0


----------



## poochee

Aug 15, 7:39 PM EDT
*Giuliani, backing Trump, appears to briefly forget 9/11*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Rudolph Giuliani, promoting Donald Trump's national security plan, said Monday that in the "eight years before (President Barack) Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States." That's an apparent omission of the largest terror attack in United States history.

Giuliani was mayor of New York City on Sept. 11, 2001 and in the hours after the World Trade Center fell, while then-President George W. Bush was largely unseen, he became the face of American grief and determination. His brave and graceful performance in the weeks after the towers' collapse earned him the nickname "America's mayor" and he was soon launched into national political stardom, his name synonymous with the response to the attacks That made his comments Monday all the more puzzling.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-15-19-39-40


----------



## poochee

*At least one battle in the gender wars is over*
By Nicole Gaouette
Updated 5:48 AM ET, Mon August 15, 2016

*Story highlights*

A 2014 Pew survey found that 75% of Americans feel women and men make equally good leaders
And as attitudes toward women have shifted, Clinton has methodically worked to neutralize the issue as well.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/15/politics/hillary-clinton-female-commander-in-chief/index.html


----------



## poochee

*FBI to send Clinton investigative report to Congress*
By Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz and Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:24 PM ET, Tue August 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The report will include notes from the interviews of Clinton and other witnesses in the investigation
The decision to provide the investigative material on a case in which charges were not brought is rare
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/16/politics/hillary-clinton-interview-fbi-notes/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump to Receive First Classified Briefing Tomorrow*

By Mike Levine
JOHN SANTUCCI
Aug 16, 2016, 11:40 AM ET
*VIDEO*

Certain staff within the FBI's New York Field Office have been told to expect a special guest tomorrow: Donald Trump.

The presidential candidate is scheduled to receive his first classified briefing as the Republican Party's nominee, according to sources notified of the upcoming visit.

Trump is planning to bring with him New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former top military and intelligence official who has become an outspoken supporter of Trump, a senior campaign official said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-receive-classified-briefing-tomorrow/story?id=41419607


----------



## poochee

By Rebecca Shabad CBS News August 16, 2016, 11:52 AM
*More than 120 Republicans tell RNC to cut off funds to Donald Trump*

*VIDEO
*
A letter that urges the Republican National Committee to cut off funds to Donald Trump has collected more than 120 signatures from current and former elected officials, according to the final version obtained by CBS News.

The letter, which will be delivered to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Tuesday, includes two sitting members of Congress and 27 former RNC staffers, among many others.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-than-120-republicans-tell-rnc-to-cut-off-funds-to-donald-trump/


----------



## poochee

AP August 15, 2016, 9:09 PM
*Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane found guilty in perjury case*
Last Updated Aug 16, 2016 3:14 AM EDT

*NORRISTOWN, Pa.* -- The state's attorney general was convicted Monday of all nine counts in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict late Monday. The jurors agreed the first-term Democrat leaked information about a 2009 grand jury probe to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

After the conviction, Pennsylvania's governor renewed his call for Kane to resign. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf called it a "sad day" for Pennsylvania, adding, "There should be no question" that Kane, a fellow Democrat, should resign immediately.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pennsyl...l-kathleen-kane-found-guilty-in-perjury-case/


----------



## poochee

Politics
Aug 16 2016, 11:51 pm ET
*Liz Cheney Wins Wyoming Republican Primary for U.S. House Seat*
by The Associated Press

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Liz Cheney has won Wyoming's Republican primary for U.S. House.

Cheney beat seven challengers for a chance at the job her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, first won 40 years ago.

Her campaign focused on national security and rolling back federal regulations affecting Wyoming's beleaguered coal industry.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/liz-cheney-wins-republican-primary-u-s-house-seat-n632411


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: What Trump's latest shakeup says about his flailing campaign*
By James Hohmann August 17 at 8:58 AM

The Republican nominee knows he's losing. Congenitally unable to take personal responsibility, he blames his slide in the polls on the people who have prodded him to act "presidential" and wage a more traditional campaign.

In a 5:38 a.m. press release, Trump announced that Stephen Bannon, who got rich on Wall Street but has never worked on a race before, will take a leave of absence from running Breitbart.com to become the campaign's "chief executive." Pollster Kellyanne Conway, who worked for Ted Cruz's super PAC during the primaries but has been friendly with Trump for years, will become campaign manager.

Paul Manafort will retain his titles as campaign chairman and chief strategist, but Trump advisers told Robert Costa overnight that his status has diminished internally due to the candidate's unhappiness and restlessness in recent weeks. The aides told Costa that Trump has grown to feel "boxed in" and "controlled" by people who barely know him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...48cd249a2fe363ba23/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

By Reena Flores CBS News August 17, 2016, 12:29 PM
*Fact check: Leaked Clinton medical records -- real or fake?*

One problem: The documents were all fake. And according to the Democratic nominee's physician, Clinton is healthy enough to occupy the Oval Office.

In a report Tuesday, FactCheck.org examined the screenshots of the alleged medical records and confirmed with Clinton's doctor, Dr. Lisa Bardack, that they were "false, were not written by me and are not based on any medical facts." In a statement, Bardack added that the candidate is "in excellent health and fit to serve as President of the United States."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fact-check-leaked-clinton-medical-records-real-or-fake/


----------



## poochee

Aug 18, 1:38 PM EDT
*Obama administration to end use of private prisons*
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration said Thursday it will phase out its contracts with private prisons, affecting thousands of federal inmates.

The decision announced by the Justice Department comes after an audit this month found that private facilities have more safety and security problems than the government-run prisons. The federal prison population has been declining due to changes in sentencing policies over the past three years, reducing the need for private prisons.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-18-13-38-41


----------



## poochee

*Campaign shake-up signals that Trump will finish race on his own terms*
By Robert Costa, Jose A. DelReal and Jenna Johnson
Politics
August 17 at 7:11

*PHOTOS/VIDEOS*

Donald Trump, following weeks of agitation over his advisers' attempts to temper his style, moved Wednesday to overhaul his struggling campaign by rebuffing those efforts and personally elevating two longtime associates who have encouraged his combative populism.

Trump's decision sent a powerful signal to Republicans and Democrats alike that the real estate magnate intends to finish the presidential race on his own terms and that his closing argument to voters will defy the usual partisan template of general-election campaigns.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...38df9c-6490-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 17, 3:11 PM EDT
*AP Sources: Manafort tied to undisclosed foreign lobbying*
By JEFF HORWITZ and DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's campaign chairman helped a pro-Russian governing party in Ukraine secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, and did so in a way that effectively obscured the foreign political party's efforts to influence U.S. policy.

The revelation, provided to The Associated Press by people directly knowledgeable about the effort, comes at a time when Trump has faced criticism for his friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It also casts new light on the business practices of campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-17-15-11-03


----------



## poochee

*Clinton: Nation needs to bring together police, communities *
By KEN THOMAS
Aug. 18, 2016 4:16 PM EDT

*PHOTOS*

NEW YORK (AP) - Hillary Clinton said Thursday the nation needs to work together to repair rifts between police officers and the communities they serve and guard against more discord - a veiled reference to rival Donald Trump.

The Democratic presidential nominee was meeting with law enforcement leaders in New York City, joining with chiefs of police in the days after Trump, her Republican opponent, accused her of being "against the police" following a police shooting in Milwaukee.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/007d...-new-york?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-081816


----------



## poochee

Aug 18, 6:16 PM EDT
*US says $400M to Iran was contingent on release of prisoners*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration said Thursday that a $400 million cash payment to Iran seven months ago was contingent on the release of a group of American prisoners.

It is the first time the U.S. has so clearly linked the two events, which critics have painted as a hostage-ransom arrangement.

State Department spokesman John Kirby repeated the administration's line that the negotiations to return the Iranian money - from a military-equipment deal with the U.S.-backed shah in the 1970s - were conducted separately from the talks to free four U.S. citizens in Iran. But he said the U.S. withheld the delivery of the cash as leverage until Iran permitted the Americans to leave the country.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-18-15-49-33


----------



## poochee

*AP FACT CHECK: Trump wrongly says nation is short of coal *
By NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Aug. 9, 2016 4:48 PM EDT

DENVER (AP) - Asked Tuesday about the price of gasoline and how regulation may affect the price of electricity, Donald Trump stood up for American's fossil fuel industry - coal in particular.

But the Republican nominee incorrectly blamed the coal industry's woes solely on new federal regulations, leaving out the effects of cheap natural gas. And he warned those regulations will lead to an imminent spike in the cost of electricity. That's not on the horizon, at least according to the Department of Energy.

A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts:

http://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/...ct-check-trump-wrongly-says-nation-short-coal


----------



## poochee

Aug 18, 7:14 PM EDT
*Clinton's foundation to alter donations policy if elected*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hillary Clinton's family foundation will no longer accept foreign and corporate donations if she is elected president, and will bring an end to its annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting regardless of the outcome of the November election.

Former President Bill Clinton made the announcement at an afternoon meeting with foundation staff members, according to participants who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement.

Bill Clinton said the foundation plans to continue its work, but intends to refocus its efforts in a process that will take up to a year to complete. The former president, who turns 70 on Friday, said he will resign from the board, and the foundation will only accept contributions from U.S. citizens and independent charities.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-18-19-14-58


----------



## poochee

*WATCH: Donald Trump Expresses 'Regret' For Sometimes Saying The Wrong Thing*
August 18, 20168:32 PM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 

*VIDEO*

It is a remarkable statement from a man not known for outward self-reflection or admitting fault. Quite the opposite - he has come to embody political incorrectness and the visceral emotion of an angry sect of the electorate. He said during the primary campaign, in fact, he was proud to carry the "mantle of anger."

As recently as four days ago, Trump tweeted, "I am who I am."

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/49055...s-regret-for-sometimes-saying-the-wrong-thing


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> *WATCH: Donald Trump Expresses 'Regret' For Sometimes Saying The Wrong Thing*
> August 18, 20168:32 PM ET
> Domenico Montanaro
> 
> As recently as four days ago, Trump tweeted, "I am who I am."...................................................


He IS still the same...........................no matter how contrite he now claims to be - Mr Chameleon.


----------



## poochee

Wino said:


> He IS still the same...........................no matter how contrite he now claims to be - Mr Chameleon.


Yep!


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort resigns*
By Dana Bash, Theodore Schleifer and Ashley Killough, CNN
Updated 2:24 PM ET, Fri August 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

"This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign," Trump said. "I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today, and in particular his work guiding us through the delegate and convention process. Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success."

A Trump source said Manafort told Trump he was becoming a distraction and he wanted to end that.

The departure also comes as Manafort is defending himself from investigations into his extensive lobbying history overseas, particularly in the Ukraine, where he represented pro-Russian interests. Manafort has been beating back reports from multiple media outlets in recent days over his ethics, which have been egged on by a Clinton campaign eager to highlight Trump's ties to the Kremlin.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/19/polit...ign-chairman-paul-manafort-resigns/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 19 2016, 12:21 pm ET
*Who Was Donald Trump Apologizing To? Here Are 23 Possibilities*
by Mark Murray and Anna Brand

*VIDEO*

Exactly what he was apologizing for, or to whom, was left unsaid. On Friday morning, Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was unable to clarify. "He was talking about anyone who feels offended by anything he said and that's all him," Conway said in an interview on ABC.

"Anyone" and "anything" includes a multitude of people, places, things to choose from. Could it perhaps be any of the below that he regrets offending?

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...apologizing-here-are-23-possibilities-n634341


----------



## poochee

*Judge: No Deposition By Hillary Clinton In Email Lawsuit* 
August 19, 20168:20 PM ET 
Richard Gonzales

A federal judge has ordered Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to answer written questions posed by a conservative watchdog group about her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. That means she will not have to sit in a lengthy deposition and answer questions from lawyers during the campaign.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...eposition-by-hillary-clinton-in-email-lawsuit


----------



## poochee

*Weekly Address: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service

VIDEO
*
WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama commemorated the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and encouraged Americans to "Find Your Park." First Lady Michelle Obama and Mrs. Laura Bush are serving as honorary co-chairs of the National Parks Centennial Celebration to raise awareness and help Americans connect with their favorite parks and public lands. Today, military families can access all national parks for free through the Joining Forces initiative, and families with a fourth grader can get a free pass by visiting EveryKidInAPark.org. The President emphasized his commitment to building on the American tradition of conservation - noting his record of protecting more lands and waters than any other administration. With the threat of climate change, the President said that protecting our public lands and waters is more important than ever. In the years to come, we must do what we can to continue to protect our parks and our planet for future generations.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pres...ating-100th-anniversary-national-park-service


----------



## poochee

*President Obama to Visit Flood-Ravaged Baton Rouge*
By Alexander Mallin
Aug 19, 2016, 3:45 PM ET

*VIDEO*

President Obama is expected to travel to Baton Rouge next Tuesday to get a firsthand look at the devastating flood damage in the state.

"The President today directed his team to coordinate with Louisiana officials to determine an appropriate time for him to visit," press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. "The President is mindful of the impact that his travel has on first responders and wants to ensure that his presence does not interfere with ongoing recovery efforts."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-visit-baton-rouge/story?id=41520320


----------



## poochee

Aug 20, 2:47 AM EDT
*WHY IT MATTERS: Issues at stake in election
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A selection of issues at stake in the presidential election and their impact on Americans, in brief:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-20-02-47-28


----------



## poochee

August 20, 2016, 11:57 am
*Sanders returning to campaign trail for Clinton*
By Jessie Hellmann

"I feel very strongly that Donald Trump would be a disaster for the country. I want to do everything I can to see that Secretary Clinton wins."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...king-forward-to-campaigning-for-clinton-after


----------



## poochee

Aug 20, 3:41 PM EDT
*Democratic megadonors plow money into Clinton, Senate bids*
By JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic megadonors, including George Soros and Tom Steyer, are putting millions of dollars into efforts to put Hillary Clinton in the White House and win control of the Senate. Their investment comes as Republicans worry about not only their nominee Donald Trump's chances, but also his effect on down-ballot races.

Yet few of the GOP's biggest donors have put major money into Trump efforts, a striking change from four years ago when Mitt Romney had more million-dollar donors on his side than did President Barack Obama.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-20-15-41-06


----------



## poochee

*Louisiana governor: Donald Trump's visit 'helpful'*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 11:10 AM ET, Sun August 21, 2016

*VIDEO*

Republicans have questioned why Democratic leaders including President Barack Obama have not been more active in supporting and highlighting Louisiana, but Edwards defended the White House.

Edwards said the White House asked about coming to Louisiana, but that his office asked them to wait until the immediate response phase was over.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/21/politics/louisiana-governor-donald-trump-visit-helpful/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 21, 9:40 PM EDT
*Obama eyes busy fall after return from summer vacation*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama returned from vacation Sunday, ready for a busy fall season and more battles with Congress over Zika funding, the federal budget and $400 million the administration paid Iran this year for the never-completed sale of military equipment.

Obama is also expected to campaign doggedly throughout October to help elect Democrat Hillary Clinton as president.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-21-12-11-03


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump rips into 'Morning Joe' and calls Mika 'neurotic'*
by Brian Stelter @brianstelter August 22, 2016: 2:26 PM ET

*VIDEO*

On Monday morning he trained his Twitter fire at the MSNBC show "Morning Joe," formerly one of his favorite places to campaign.

A number of political reporters pointed out that Trump's attacks came one day after new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said that Trump does not hurl "personal insults."

http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/22/media/donald-trump-morning-joe-mika/index.html


----------



## poochee

*State Dept. reviewing nearly 15,000 Clinton emails*
 Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY 2:41 p.m. EDT August 22, 2016

WASHINGTON - The State Department is reviewing nearly 15,000 emails as part of a batch of previously undisclosed communications that emerged in the FBI's yearlong investigation of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's use of a private server while secretary of State.

Government lawyers acknowledged the action Monday in federal court where the conservative legal group Judicial Watch is seeking release of the messages as part of a separate public records lawsuit.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...llary-clinton-emails-judicial-watch/89109348/


----------



## poochee

Aug 22, 2:23 PM EDT
*Racism and talk of religious war: Trump staff's online posts*
By JEFF HORWITZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's paid campaign staffers have declared on their personal social media accounts that Muslims are unfit to be U.S. citizens, ridiculed Mexican accents, called for Secretary of State John Kerry to be hanged and stated their readiness for a possible civil war, according to a review by The Associated Press of their postings.

The AP examined the social media feeds of more than 50 current and former campaign employees who helped propel Trump through the primary elections. The campaign has employed a mix of veteran political operatives and outsiders. Most come across as dedicated, enthusiastic partisans, but at least seven expressed views that were overtly racially charged, supportive of violent actions or broadly hostile to Muslims.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-22-14-23-54


----------



## poochee

Aug 22, 11:38 PM EDT
*Clinton: Trump health allegations a 'wacky strategy'*
By LISA LERER
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hillary Clinton pushed back Monday against charges that she's physically unfit for the White House.

The Democratic presidential candidate said the accusations are part of a "wacky strategy" by GOP rival Donald Trump and an "alternative reality" that's not focused on the kinds of issues that are most important to voters.

"I do feel sometimes like this campaign has entered into an alternative universe," she said in an appearance on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" taped Monday afternoon. "I have to step into the alternative reality and, you know, answer questions about, am I alive, how much longer will I be alive, and the like."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-22-23-38-00


----------



## poochee

*New bio 'Trump Revealed' offers troubling portrait*
Ray Locker , USA TODAY 2:05 p.m. EDT August 22, 2016

Any voter who is not already devoted to Trump's cause will find plenty of reason to think long and hard about whether to support him after reading this book. It's crammed with court records, financial data, anecdotes and interviews about Trump's unscrupulous business practices, his liberal use of "truthful hyperbole" and false promises to make himself rich, usually at the expense of others.

Many of the revelations here are not new. Some of the nation's best investigative reporters have mucked through Trump's business record to write about his thousands of lawsuits, his string of unpaid bills and multiple business bankruptcies.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...-fisher-washington-post-book-review/88945500/


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Louisiana flooding 'not a photo op issue'*
By Jesse Byrnes - 08/23/16 02:29 PM EDT

"I don't worry too much about politics," Obama said Tuesday, responding to the criticism of the timing of his visit.

"I think the president is used to people trying to score political points even in situations where they shouldn't," Earnest told reporters Tuesday, according to a White House pool report.

"The president certainly believes this is the kind of situation where ... we're talking about lives lost. We're talking about a community being upended. And [he believes] that it's an appropriate time to put politics aside, and actually focus on our responsibilities as Americans," he added.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/292359-obama-louisiana-flooding-not-a-photo-op-issue


----------



## poochee

*Clinton's health is fine, but what about Trump?*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 4:04 PM ET, Tue August 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

Like Clinton, Trump has released minimal of information, most notably in the form of a December 2015 letter of a few paragraphs from his personal physician, a gastroenterologist, that described his blood pressure and lab results as "astonishingly excellent" while suggesting a President Trump would be the "healthiest individual ever elected."

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, found much of that language surprising and, in some cases, almost comically lacking in objective data.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-health/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's immigration policy: Then and now*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 4:05 PM ET, Tue August 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

The real estate mogul and his new campaign leadership have dodged questions in recent days about whether Trump will abandon the promises he made on illegal immigration that attracted Republican primary voters to his campaign in droves, notably his promise to deport all estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US.

That's fueling questions that Trump may be on the verge of a big flip-flop - something the candidate is denying.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/politics/donald-trump-immigration-policy/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Black Voters Speak Out on Donald Trump's Recent Overtures*
By Meghan Keneally
Aug 23, 2016, 3:03 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's latest direct appeals to black voters have been seen as a welcome change by some black attendees at Trump's rallies, but many of those leaning toward Hillary Clinton say they see the attempts as disingenuous.

"I think it's just a ploy to gain my vote," said Sylvester Ollie, a 47-year-old African-American from Pennsylvania.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/black-voters-speak-donald-trumps-recent-overtures/story?id=41592758


----------



## poochee

Aug 23 2016, 1:17 pm ET 
*A Full List of Donald Trump's Rapidly Changing Policy Positions*
by Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*

After a year of campaigning, hundreds of interviews, stadium rallies, and press conferences, it is still difficult to glean a platform from the Republican nominee's powerfully incoherent rhetoric and constantly evolving views.

In order to better understand what the Republican Party nominee believes today - and yesterday - this list offers a look at the billionaire real estate mogul's views since he announced his candidacy a year ago, along with any explanation the candidate has offered on the changes.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...p-s-rapidly-changing-policy-positions-n547801


----------



## poochee

*American University Of Afghanistan *
August 24, 201612:17 PM ET
Camila Domonoske 

Gunfire and explosions have been reported at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, and the president of the university tells The Associated Press that a militant attack is underway.

"We are trying to assess the situation," Mark English told the AP.

A police spokesman tells the news service that police and intelligence personnel are on site at the campus to respond to the situation.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...tack-underway-at-american-university-of-kabul


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton expected to receive intel briefing Saturday in New York*
By Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 12:03 PM ET, Wed August 24, 2016

_(CNN)_Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is expected to receive her intelligence briefing Saturday morning near her home in New York at the FBI offices in White Plains, according to a US official.

The briefing had been scheduled for an earlier date but was moved to Saturday to accommodate Clinton's schedule, the official said Wednesday, adding that the date could be moved again given Clinton's schedule.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/polit...ntel-briefing-saturday-in-new-york/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Italy earthquake leaves 159 dead; rescuers racing against time*
By Ray Sanchez, Barbie Latza Nadeau, Tim Hume and Vasco Cotovio, CNN
Updated 6:26 PM ET, Wed August 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The worst affected areas are villages in a mountainous region of central Italy
Rescue workers are racing to find survivors amid the rubble
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/europe/italy-earthquake/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

Politics
Aug 24 2016, 4:41 pm ET
*Veering Off-Script, Trump Steps on Minority Message *
by Alexandra Jaffe

*VIDEO*

TAMPA, Fla. - Donald Trump continued his minority outreach efforts Wednesday with a speech that tailored his populist, anti-immigration message for an African-American and Latino audience.

But after a relatively error-free week where he stuck largely to prepared remarks, Trump began veering off-script again Wednesday, peppering the speech with his trademark non-sequiturs that at times turned the pitch awkward.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/veering-script-trump-steps-minority-message-n637331


----------



## poochee

*Obama cheers as hemisphere's longest war comes to end*
By Julian Hattem - 08/25/16 10:50 AM EDT

President Obama on Thursday hailed the "historic day" marked by the finalization of a peace deal between the government of Colombia and Marxist rebels, bringing to an end the longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere.

"We have witnessed, once again, that a sustained commitment to diplomacy and reconciliation can overcome even the most entrenched conflicts," the president said in a statement after the agreement was announced between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym as FARC.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/293294-obama-cheers-as-americas-longest-war-comes-to-end


----------



## poochee

*Clinton: Trump campaign built on 'prejudice and paranoia'*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 3:27 PM ET, Thu August 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton is looking to link Trump to the "alt-right," painting him as "a divisive and dystopian" leader
The "alt-right" is a unorganized group that pushes racist, homophobic and sexist content online
Reno, Nevada (CNN)Hillary Clinton cast Donald Trump as far outside the norm of American politics Thursday, drawing a line between the Ku Klux Klan, its former leader David Duke and the Republican presidential nominee.

"From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia," Clinton said at a campaign rally here. "He's taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe take over the Republican Party. His disregard for the values that make our country great is profoundly dangerous."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/25/politics/hillary-clinton-alt-right-speech-donald-trump-kkk/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 25 2016, 2:27 pm ET 
*A Full List of Donald Trump's Rapidly Changing Policy Positions*
by Jane C. Timm

After a year of campaigning, hundreds of interviews, stadium rallies, and press conferences, it is still difficult to glean a platform from the Republican nominee's powerfully incoherent rhetoric and constantly evolving views.

Donald Trump changes his mind so frequently and so dramatically that a compilation of his current policies would not tell the whole story, nor would it be up to date for very long - he once offered up three different views on abortion in eight hours. By mixing facts with exaggerations and outright falsehoods in hundreds of interviews while simultaneously refusing to offer specifics - insisting that unpredictability is an advantage he'll use to cut better deals - Trump and the Republican Party that's nominated him are putting forward the most elusive presidential platform in modern history.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...p-s-rapidly-changing-policy-positions-n547801


----------



## poochee

Aug 25, 5:22 PM EDT
*US warship fires warning shots at Iranian boats*
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A U.S. Navy ship fired three warning shots in the direction of an Iranian boat that was approaching another American ship head-on in the North Arabian Gulf on Wednesday, U.S. officials said, in an escalation of encounters in the region this week.

According to U.S. Navy Cmdr. Bill Urban, the Iranian boat came within 200 yards of the USS Tempest and ignored several bridge-to-bridge radio calls and warning flares. It finally turned away after the USS Squall, which was with the USS Tempest, fired three warning shots from its .50-caliber gun, said Urban, a spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-25-17-22-05


----------



## poochee

August 25, 2016, 04:15 pm
*Majority of Republicans say Trump should release his tax returns*
By Jesse Byrnes

Sixty-two percent of Republicans say Trump should release his returns publicly, and 31 percent say he should not, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...epublicans-say-trump-should-release-his-taxes


----------



## poochee

*See woman react to Trump calling Clinton a 'bigot' *
CNN Tonight

*VIDEO*

At a rally, Donald Trump said, "Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future."
Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/08/25/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-bigot-reaction-ctn.cnn


----------



## poochee

*On Women's Equality Day, a look back at the early fight for equal rights*
By Brenna Williams, CNN
Updated 6:02 AM ET, Fri August 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Friday marks the 45th anniversary of Women's Equality Day
The Equal Rights Amendment has been presented to Congress since 1923
The ERA has never been ratified
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/26/politics/womens-equality-day-equal-rights-amendment-history/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 26, 10:55 AM EDT
*Obama plans to create world's largest marine protected area*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Friday expanded a national monument off the coast of Hawaii, creating a safe zone for tuna, sea turtles and thousands of other species in what will be the world's largest marine protected area.

Obama's proclamation quadrupled in size a monument originally created by President George W. Bush in 2006. The Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument will contain some 582,578 square miles, more than twice the size of Texas.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-26-10-55-37


----------



## poochee

*Tech giants sign Obama's equal pay pledge*
By Ali Breland - 08/26/16 12:48 PM EDT

Twenty-nine businesses, including 10 tech giants, signed President Obama's Equal Pay Pledge, the White House announced on Friday.

With the pledge, companies including Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, are committing to take steps to address the pay gap between men and women.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/293463-tech-giants-sign-obamas-equal-pay-pledge.


----------



## poochee

*Teamsters Endorse Hillary Clinton for President*
August 26, 2016

"We are proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for President of the United States," said Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa. "She is the right candidate for the middle class and working men and women across the country. She will stand strong for the workers of America by fighting to reject job-killing trade deals, enforcing labor laws and working to provide retirement security for millions of people who have sacrificed so much for the chance to retire with dignity.

https://teamster.org/news/2016/08/teamsters-endorse-hillary-clinton-president


----------



## poochee

Aug 26, 11:28 PM EDT
*Ex-wife says Trump campaign CEO made anti-Semitic remarks*
By BRIAN MELLEY and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An ex-wife of Donald Trump's new campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon, said Bannon made anti-Semitic remarks when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago, according to court papers reviewed Friday by The Associated Press.

That revelation came a day after reports emerged that domestic violence charges were filed 20 years ago against Bannon following an altercation with his then-wife, Mary Louise Piccard.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-26-23-02-44


----------



## poochee

Aug 27, 12:29 PM EDT
*Clinton receives first intelligence briefing as nominee*
By KEN THOMAS and SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton received her first national security briefing Saturday as the Democratic presidential nominee, meeting with intelligence officials for an overview of the major threats facing the nation around the globe.

Clinton attended the briefing for more than two hours at the FBI office in White Plains, New York, near her suburban New York City home. Republican Donald Trump received his briefing earlier this month, a customary move for major party nominees but one that has been the subject of a political tussle during the campaign.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-27-12-29-23


----------



## poochee

Aug 27, 11:23 AM EDT
*US: Clinton calendars won't be released until after election*
By TED BRIDIS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seven months after a federal judge ordered the State Department to begin releasing monthly batches of the detailed daily schedules showing meetings by Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state, the government told The Associated Press it won't finish the job before Election Day.

The department has so far released about half of the schedules. Its lawyers said in a phone conference with the AP's lawyers that the department now expects to release the last of the detailed schedules around Dec. 30, weeks before the next president is inaugurated.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-27-11-23-58


----------



## poochee

August 27, 2016
*Weekly Address: Taking Action Against the Zika Virus*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - This week, President Obama called on Republicans in Congress to take action and vote to fund the Administration's response to the Zika virus. In February, the President asked Congress to fund emergency resources, including mosquito control, fast-tracking diagnostics tests and vaccines, tracking the spread of the virus, and monitoring women and babies with Zika. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have failed to take action on this issue. So the President continues to direct his Administration do what it can without help from Congress, with the primary focus of protecting pregnant women and families planning to have children. Today, the CDC continues to work with state public health officials and has an emergency response team on the ground in South Florida, agencies have moved to expedite the development of a vaccine, and the administration is working with the private sector to develop more options to test and prevent infection. The President reiterated this is about more than politics and Republicans should make this their top priority when they return from their summer recess.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trump will directly address black voters, top aide says*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:00 AM ET, Sun August 28, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump hasn't yet held a rally in front of a largely African-American audience
Trump linked the death of Dwyane Wade's cousin to African-Americans voting for him
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's campaign manager said Sunday he will soon be courting black voters more directly, scheduling events in front of predominantly African-American audiences.

"Those events are actually being planned, and we're very excited about them," Kellyanne Conway told "Fox News Sunday," acknowledging that Trump so far hasn't yet held a rally in front of a largely black audience.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/28/politics/donald-trump-black-voter-outreach-dwyane-wade/index.html


----------



## poochee

MSNBC Live 8/28/16
*Clinton maintains lead in latest poll*

The latest presidential Quinnipiac poll shows Hillary Clinton maintaining her lead over Donald Trump. Democratic pollster Fred Yang joins to discuss.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/clinton-maintains-lead-in-latest-poll-753045059929


----------



## poochee

Aug 28, 4:23 PM EDT
Trump stand-ins struggle to speak for and defend nominee
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump isn't making it easy for top supporters and advisers, from his running mate on down, to defend him or explain some campaign positions.

Across the Sunday news shows, a parade of Trump stand-ins, led by vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, couldn't say whether Trump was sticking with or changing a central promise to boot the roughly 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally, with the help of a "deportation force." And they didn't bother defending his initial response Saturday to the killing of a mother as she walked her baby on a Chicago street.

Questioned on whether it's a problem that the GOP presidential nominee has left key details on immigration policy unclear so late in the election, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus demurred: "I just don't speak for Donald Trump."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-28-16-23-37


----------



## poochee

*Clinton Foundation official plays defense over accusations*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 4:22 PM ET, Sun August 28, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)A top Clinton Foundation official defended its "lifesaving work" Sunday amid new criticism and pay-to-play accusations over Hillary Clinton's connections to its top donors.

"None of the Clintons have ever taken a salary and don't profit from the foundation," Craig Minassian, the Clinton Foundation's chief communications officer, told MSNBC.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/28/politics/clinton-foundation-emails/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 29, 12:45 PM EDT
*Weiner's wife is leaving him amid a new sexting scandal*

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin said Monday that she is separating from her husband, Anthony Weiner, after the former New York congressman was accused in yet another sexting scandal.

"After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband," Abedin, vice chair of Clinton's presidential campaign, said in a statement issued by the campaign. "Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-29-12-45-44*
*


----------



## poochee

*There's Simply No Equivalence*
_Hillary Clinton has her problems, but Donald Trump is unfit for the presidency_.
Ron Fournier
12:03 PM ET

On one hand, there's former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who oversaw "grossly inadequate" security at a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, the site of a deadly September 11, 2012, terrorist attack.

On the other hand, there's wealthy celebrity Donald Trump, who led the race-baiting attack on President Obama's citizenship.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/trump-should-not-be-president/497858/


----------



## poochee

Aug 30, 10:29 AM EDT
*Gov. LePage wants to make amends, doesn't rule out resigning*
By MARINA VILLENEUVE
Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- Republican Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday that he plans to meet with a Democratic lawmaker to try to make amends for leaving an obscene voicemail message and that he isn't ruling out resigning.

Speaking on WVOM-FM radio, LePage apologized for the tirade directed at Rep. Drew Gattine and said it was "unacceptable and totally my fault."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-30-10-29-55


----------



## poochee

*FBI to release report on Hillary Clinton email investigation*
By Evan Perez and Laura Koran, CNN
Updated 8:50 PM ET, Tue August 30, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The FBI plans to make public agent notes from Clinton's voluntary interview at FBI headquarters
Not being released: Interviews of Clinton aides or other investigative materials
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/30/politics/fbi-report-hillary-clinton-investigation/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 30 2016, 11:28 pm ET
*Donald Trump to Meet With Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday, both men said Tuesday night.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...et-mexican-president-enrique-pe-nieto-n640441


----------



## poochee

*A little humor

Borowitz Report 
Obama Pays Mexico Five Billion Dollars to Keep Donald Trump
By Andy Borowitz, 08:19 A.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...0&spJobID=982584992&spReportId=OTgyNTg0OTkyS0*


----------



## poochee

Aug 31, 11:03 AM EDT

Clinton speech to stress American leadership in world

By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton plans to address America's leadership in the world during a speech in the battleground state of Ohio, arguing that Republican nominee Donald Trump would undermine the country's greatness while she would maintain it.

Clinton's midday address at the American Legion's annual convention in Cincinnati Wednesday comes as Trump plans a last-minute trip to Mexico hours before he delivers a long-expected speech on immigration. A Clinton campaign official said the Democratic nominee will use her first public event in days to portray her Republican opponent as a questionable leader who would "walk away from our allies, undermine our values, insult our military - and has explicitly rejected the idea of American exceptionalism."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-31-11-03-27


----------



## poochee

Politics
Aug 31 2016, 8:32 am ET
*First Read: Why Donald Trump's Immigration Position Needs Clarity *
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

In Phoenix Wednesday night, Donald Trump is set to give a big speech about his plans on immigration. And there's a big reason why he's giving it: Today, we know less about his plans on immigration -- his signature issue -- than we did a week ago. Consider the contradictions and conflicting statements over the past week.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...on-needs-clarity-n640566?cid=eml_pol_20160831


----------



## poochee

*Rubio, McCain, Wasserman Schultz win primaries*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 7:42 AM ET, Wed August 31, 2016

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_The incumbents won the night in several highly watched races Tuesday night. CNN projected Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida all won their primary races Tuesday night.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/30/polit...serman-schultz-marco-rubio-primary/index.html


----------



## poochee

*First U.S.-Cuba Commercial Flight In More Than 50 Years Has Landed * 
August 31, 201610:20 AM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy 

*VIDEO*

The first commercial flight from the U.S. to Cuba in more than half a century landed in the Cuban city of Santa Clara, marking another milestone in the thawing relationship between the two countries.

The inaugural trip was a JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that took off Wednesday morning bound for Abel Santamaria International Airport in central Cuba. And as NPR's Scott Horsley tells our Newscast unit, two Cuban-American pilots were at the controls.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ercial-flight-in-more-than-50-years-takes-off


----------



## poochee

Aug 31, 7:12 PM EDT
*The Latest: Mexican president contradictsTrump on wall
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT):

7:05 p.m.

The president of Mexico says Donald Trump wasn't telling the truth when he described their Wednesday conversation.

Specifically, President Enrique Peña Nieto said that he and Trump did indeed discuss who would pay for construction of a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. That's the centerpiece of Trump's immigration plan.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-31-19-12-14


----------



## poochee

*Obama begins climate victory lap at Lake Tahoe*
By Timothy Cama - 08/31/16 06:19 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

President Obama used a Wednesday speech at the 20th Lake Tahoe Summit to boast about his accomplishments on fighting climate change and on conservation.

Speaking at the Nevada event led by retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry ReidHarry ReidReid says Dems may curb the filibusterObama begins climate victory lap at Lake TahoeWhite House sets up Puerto Rico oversightMORE (D), Obama proudly listed off what he's done to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, promote low-carbon energy sources and protect land and water from development, among other actions.

The speech comes at the beginning of a trip that will eventually take him to Asia, where a top focus with leaders of the G20 nations will be implementing the Paris climate deal that Obama helped negotiate last year.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...oasts-of-climate-conservation-accomplishments


----------



## poochee

*US finalizes flights to Cuba's capital*
By Melanie Zanona - 08/31/16 03:38 PM EDT

Twenty daily nonstop flights between the U.S. and Havana were officially confirmed on Wednesday, the same day that the first commercial flight to another Cuban city resumed for the first time in 50 years.

Transportation Secretary Anthony FoxxAnthony FoxxUS finalizes flights to Cuba's capitalCommercial US flight lands in Cuba for first time in 50 yearsFeds funnel nearly M toward DC Metro safety effortsMORE made the milestone announcement from Cuba after he boarded a 150-passenger JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Santa Clara.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/294001-us-finalizes-flights-to-cubas-capital


----------



## poochee

*Trump: 'There will be no amnesty'*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 10:56 PM ET, Wed August 31, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump's speech Wednesday focused on immigration policy
It follows a meeting with the Mexican president

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/31/politics/donald-trump-immigration-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 31, 11:49 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump on immigration*
By ERICA WERNER and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wednesday was supposed to be the day Donald Trump clarified his immigration stance. But in a key speech on that subject, he misstated facts about immigration policy, life for those in the country illegally and their impact on the U.S. economy.

A look at some of his statements in an Arizona rally in the evening and after a meeting earlier in the day with Mexico's president:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-31-23-49-25


----------



## poochee

Aug 31 2016, 1:41 pm ET
*Clinton on Trump Mexico Trip: Diplomacy More Than 'Photo-Op'*
by Monica Alba

*VIDEO*

CINCINNATI - Touting "American exceptionalism" during an address to veterans here Wednesday, Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump's impromptu visit to Mexico as "a photo-op" and argued he doesn't understand foreign policy well enough to be commander-in-chief.

"Getting countries working together was my job every day as Secretary of State. It's more than a photo-op. It takes consistency and reliability," Clinton said to the American Legion conference. "And it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours, and then flying home again. That is not how it works."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...p-mexico-trip-diplomacy-more-photo-op-n640726


----------



## poochee

Sep 1, 12:37 PM EDT
*Charity watchdog gives Clinton Foundation high marks*
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A charity watchdog with an ongoing relationship with the Clinton Foundation gave the former first family's nonprofit high marks Thursday, after an evaluation prompted by heightened interest in the organization.

The Clinton Foundation received four out of four stars - the highest rating that Charity Navigator gives after a close look at a charity's finances. The rating is based on annual federal tax documents and an objective algorithm. It was not intended to reflect whether Hillary Clinton kept donors to her family's foundation at appropriate arm's length or provided favored access as secretary of state.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-01-12-37-21


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Gambles on Immigration but Sends Conflicting Signals*
By PATRICK HEALYAUG. 31, 2016

Donald J. Trump made an audacious attempt on Wednesday to remake his image on the divisive issue of immigration, shelving his plan to deport 11 million undocumented people and arguing that a Trump administration and Mexico would secure the border together.

In a spirited bid for undecided American voters to see him anew, Mr. Trump swept into Mexico City to make overtures to a nation he has repeatedly denigrated, then flew to Phoenix to outline in his usual bullying tone his latest priorities on immigration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/us/politics/donald-trump-immigration-speech.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Hispanic supporters flee Donald Trump's campaign after fiery immigration speech*
By Aaron Blake and Jenna Johnson
The Fix
September 1 at 1:54 PM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's meeting with his Hispanic advisory council a couple of weeks ago left its members so excited that some even told reporters that Trump was about to significantly soften his approach to illegal immigration and maybe even embrace a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants.

Those advisers got a reality check Wednesday night, when Trump gave arguably his toughest speech on illegal immigration yet - promising a large-scale crackdown and saying that every undocumented immigrant is subject to deportation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...n-speech/?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-090116


----------



## poochee

*Leaked Script Shows What Advisers Want Donald Trump to Say at Black Church*
By YAMICHE ALCINDOR SEPT. 1, 2016

DETROIT - Donald J. Trump's visit to a black church here on Saturday will be a major moment for a candidate with a history of offending the sensibilities of black Americans.

His team was leaving nothing to chance.

Instead of speaking to the congregation at Great Faith Ministries International, Mr. Trump had planned to be interviewed by its pastor in a session that would be closed to the public and the news media, with questions submitted in advance. And instead of letting Mr. Trump be his freewheeling self, his campaign prepared lengthy answers for the submitted questions, consulting black Republicans to make sure he says the right things.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/us/politics/donald-trump-black-voters-wayne-jackson.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

August 27, 2016
*Weekly Address: Taking Action Against the Zika Virus*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - This week, President Obama called on Republicans in Congress to take action and vote to fund the Administration's response to the Zika virus. In February, the President asked Congress to fund emergency resources, including mosquito control, fast-tracking diagnostics tests and vaccines, tracking the spread of the virus, and monitoring women and babies with Zika. Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have failed to take action on this issue. So the President continues to direct his Administration do what it can without help from Congress, with the primary focus of protecting pregnant women and families planning to have children. Today, the CDC continues to work with state public health officials and has an emergency response team on the ground in South Florida, agencies have moved to expedite the development of a vaccine, and the administration is working with the private sector to develop more options to test and prevent infection. The President reiterated this is about more than politics and Republicans should make this their top priority when they return from their summer recess.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Obama to bid farewell with Asia pivot in flux*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 9:34 AM ET, Fri September 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

TPP trade pact is key plank of Asia pivot but is in grave doubt
China ties, North Korea complicate Asia policy legacy
White House eager to highlight successes in Southeast Asia
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/politics/obama-asia-pivot-china-laos-trip/index.html


----------



## poochee

September 02, 2016, 01:45 pm
*A great week for America's wildlife*
By Eric Holst

The Obama Administration has made major strides this week to protect our nation's at-risk wildlife. It comes at a critical time, as the Endangered Species Act is faced with what seems like a constant onslaught of lawsuits, legislative threats and significant criticism in the media.

While some in Congress have taken the tack of bickering in committee hearings and drafting riders that seek to undermine the very core of the Endangered Species Act, agency staff have been quietly at work writing the next chapter of wildlife management for the country. And the forest is starting to fill.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/294312-a-great-week-for-americas-wildlife


----------



## poochee

*Presidential Debate Moderators Are Set, With Lester Holt for the First*
By JOHN KOBLIN and ALEXANDER BURNSSEPT. 2, 2016

Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper and Chris Wallace have been selected to moderate this year's presidential debates, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Friday.

Mr. Holt, the anchor of the "NBC Nightly News," will moderate the first debate on Sept. 26; Ms. Raddatz of ABC and Mr. Cooper of CNN will moderate the town hall debate on Oct. 9; and Mr. Wallace of Fox News will handle the final debate on Oct. 19.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/b...ter-holt-chris-wallace.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 2, 4:47 PM EDT
*FBI publishes notes on Clinton's use of private email*
By MICHAEL BIESECKER and ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton told the FBI she relied on her staff not to send emails containing classified information to the private email server she relied on as secretary of state, adding that she was unclear about a classification marking on official government documents.

The revelation came Friday as the FBI, in a rare step, published scores of pages summarizing interviews with Clinton and her top aides from the recently closed criminal investigation into her use of a private email server in the basement her Chappaqua, New York, home.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-02-14-57-00


----------



## poochee

*Hiring slows: America gains 151,000 jobs in August *
by Patrick Gillespie [URL='https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=CNNMoney']@CNNMoney [/URL] September 2, 2016: 5:42 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in August, a decent gain but a lot less than the 275,000 new jobs in July.

The unemployment rate remained at 4.9%. It fell below 5% earlier this year for the first time since 2008.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/02/news/economy/august-jobs-report/?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-090216


----------



## poochee

*A reel honor: Scientists name new fish after Obama*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 8:20 PM ET, Fri September 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)It isn't exactly a squid pro quo, but scientists are naming a new fish after President Barack Obama partly as a way to say thanks for his decision last month to create a new protected area off the Hawaiian coast.

National Geographic reported Friday that the maroon and gold creature, which was discovered 300 feet deep in the waters off Kure Atoll, is the only known fish to live within Papahānaumokuākea, an expanse of coral reefs and seamounts home to more than 7,000 species.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/politics/fish-named-after-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

September 03, 2016
*Weekly Address: Building Upon the Legacy of Labor Day*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama commemorated Labor Day by highlighting the economic progress we've made over the course of his administration. Over the past seven and a half years, we've rescued our economy from another depression, cut our unemployment rate in half, and unleashed the longest string total job growth on record. The President said that although the country has made significant progress, there's still work to do in the years to come. He emphasized that despite the boisterous political season, we must not lose sight of the policies that will actually help working families get ahead. President Obama said if we are going to restore the sense that hard work is rewarded with a fair shot to get ahead, we must build on the legacy of those who came before us - that means exercising our right to speak up in the workplace, to join a union, and to vote.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trump flashes humility in first ever black church visit*
_The Republican nominee spoke of Abraham Lincoln, calling for 'a civil rights agenda for our time.'_
By Shane Goldmacher
09/03/16 01:28 PM EDT
Updated 09/03/16 02:42 PM EDT

DETROIT - Campaigning at an African-American church for the first time during the presidential race, Donald Trump called for "a civil rights agenda for our time" and cast himself as the candidate who could best "rebuild Detroit" and struggling black communities across the nation.

In a 12-minute speech he read from the center aisle at Great Faith Ministries, the Republican nominee shaved off the rougher edges of the pitch he's previously made to African-American voters, mostly before white audiences - "what the hell do you have to lose?" he has said in the past - and traded it in for uncharacteristic humility.

Church-goers in Detroit were open to listening to Trump, though most remained cool to the notion of actually voting for him. Joseph McFadden, a Democrat who said he would vote Democratic this fall, said, "We're here to listen."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-detroit-african-american-church-227712


----------



## poochee

Sep 3, 9:28 AM EDT
*What's Donald Trump's to-do list before Election Day?*
By STEVE PEOPLES and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-03-09-28-50

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sep 3, 9:25 AM EDT
*What's on Hillary Clinton's to-do list before Election Day?*
By KEN THOMAS and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-03-09-25-42


----------



## poochee

*Obama, China ratify climate agreements*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 9:43 AM ET, Sat September 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

Hangzhou, China (CNN)The United States and China on Saturday each submitted their plans to reduce carbon emissions to the United Nations, officially ratifying an agreement forged last year in Paris meant to curb climate change.

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping submitted their nations' plans to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon here, the host city of this year's Group of 20 meetings.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/politics/obama-asia-meetings-xi-erdogan-duterte/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Trump appeals to 'folks who feel left out'*
By Alexandra King, CNN
Updated 11:31 AM ET, Sun September 4, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama says Trump appeals to those worried about "the rapidity of demographic change, social change"
Obama says next generation of voters "completely reject the kinds of positions" Trump is taking
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/04/politics/obama-donald-trump-voters/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 4 2016, 11:53 am ET
*'Model of Holiness' Mother Teresa Officially Becomes Saint *
by Claudio Lavanga, Carlo Angerer and Matthew Grimson

*VIDEO*

VATICAN CITY - Mother Teresa, the nun who devoted her life to the impoverished and one of the Catholic Church's most iconic figures, was canonized as a saint on Sunday.

Saint Teresa of Kolkata, as she is now known, was canonized by Pope Francis in front of about 120,000 faithful at the Vatican.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/model-holiness-mother-teresa-officially-becomes-saint-n642576


----------



## poochee

*Trump surrogate admits falsifying biographical claims*
By Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 8:29 AM ET, Sat September 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Mark Burns had said he had a Bachelor of Science degree and served six years in the Army Reserve
Both claims were false, CNN discovered
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/03/politics/mark-burns-donald-trump-interview/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 5, 12:05 PM EDT
*Obama, Putin, agree to continue seeking deal on Syria*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

HANGZHOU, China (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Monday the U.S. and Russia have not given up on negotiations that could stem the bloodshed in Syria, but acknowledged that leaders are challenged by "gaps of trust" between the rival powers.

Significant sticking points remain in the negotiations over creation of an unlikely U.S.-Russian military partnership focusing firepower on "common enemies" in Syria, Obama said. He acknowledged that a flurry of diplomacy at an economic summit and a 90-minute meeting earlier Monday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, did not yield a breakthrough.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-05-12-05-19


----------



## poochee

Sep 5, 1:00 PM EDT
*Obama in Laos for first US presidential visit*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

The visit comes during what is probably Obama's final trip as president to Southeast Asia, a region that has enjoyed intense attention from the U.S. during his tenure. Obama's frequent visits to oft-ignored corners of the Asia Pacific have been central to his strategy for countering China's growing dominance in the region. By bolstering diplomatic ties in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, the Obama administration has declared it wants to compete for influence and market access in China's backyard.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-05-13-00-06


----------



## poochee

Sep 5, 4:23 PM EDT

*Obama cancels meeting with new Philippine President Duterte*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) -- President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a U.S. ally's leader during a diplomatic tour that's put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures.

It's unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much rarer to call the other a "son of a *****." Duterte managed to do both just before flying to Laos for a regional summit, warning Obama not to challenge him over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

"Clearly, he's a colorful guy," Obama said. "What I've instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-05-15-00-09


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton flies with the traveling press corps for the first time*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 12:54 PM ET, Mon September 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

The former secretary of state, who has been markedly press averse for much of her campaign, joked with reporters on board that she had "been just waiting for this moment."

"I will come back and talk to you more formally but I wanted to welcome you onto the plane," Clinton said.

A joint campaign-press plane is a symbolic step in a campaign that marks a time of more access to the candidate.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/politics/hillary-clinton-plane-flying-traveling-press-corps/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump mistakes 'confidential' and 'classified' in Clinton attack*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 1:48 PM ET, Mon September 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump criticized Hillary Clinton on Sunday for not knowing what the "(C)" label meant when it was used on her State Department emails.

But the Republican presidential nominee apparently doesn't know what it means either.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/polit...ed-confidential-clinton-fbi-report/index.html


----------



## poochee

*After cursing Obama, Duterte expresses regret*
By Sheena McKenzie and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 12:08 PM ET, Tue September 6, 2016

*VIDEO*

Vientiane, Laos (CNN)Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is expressing regret after his obscenity-laden rant against President Barack Obama prompted the White House to cancel planned bilateral talks between the two leaders.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/politics/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-barack-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 6, 10:32 AM EDT
*OBAMA LEGACY: Quiet but big changes in energy, pollution*
By SETH BORENSTEIN and JOSH LEDERMAN

HANGZHOU, China (AP) -- Mostly unnoticed amid the political brawl over climate change, the United States has undergone a quiet transformation in how and where it gets its energy during Barack Obama's presidency, slicing the nation's output of polluting gases that are warming Earth.

As politicians tangled in the U.S. and on the world stage, the U.S. slowly but surely moved away from emissions-spewing coal and toward cleaner fuels like natural gas, nuclear, wind and solar. The shift has put the U.S. closer to achieving the goal Obama set to cut emissions by more than a quarter over the next 15 years, but experts say it is nowhere near enough to prevent the worst effects of global warming.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-06-10-32-22


----------



## poochee

*Pelosi: "Too much is being made of" Clinton email investigation*
CBS this MORNING
September 5, 2016, 8:05 AM

*VIDEO*

After a seven-week recess, Congressional lawmakers returns to Washington Tuesday to tackle stalemates (and partisan fights) that have been on hold for the summer. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joins "CBS This Morning" to offer a preview of what Congress will be doing in the weeks before Election Day.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/nancy...tigation/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab8d&linkId=28402276


----------



## poochee

*A new 50-state poll shows exactly why Clinton holds the advantage over Trump*
By Dan Balz and Scott Clement
September 6 at 7:00 AM

*VIDEO/GRAPHIC*

With nine weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump is within striking distance in the Upper Midwest, but Hillary Clinton's strength in many battlegrounds and some traditional Republican strongholds gives her a big electoral college advantage, according to a 50-state Washington Post-SurveyMonkey poll.

The survey of all 50 states is the largest sample ever undertaken by The Post, which joined with SurveyMonkey and its online polling resources to produce the results. The state-by-state numbers are based on responses from more than 74,000 registered voters during the period of Aug. 9 to Sept. 1. The individual state samples vary in size from about 550 to more than 5,000, allowing greater opportunities than typical surveys to look at different groups within the population and compare them from state to state.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Unimpressive Support From Military Leaders*
_His campaign announced endorsements from 88 retired generals and admirals. That's nice, but 500 backed Mitt Romney in 2012._
Russell Berman
12:53 PM ET
Politics

Seems impressive, right? Eighty-eight generals and admirals sounds like a lot of military leaders, all rallying around the tough-talking, law-and-order candidate pledging to restore greatness to America's armed forces.

Well, it's actually not.

There are nearly 900 active general and flag officers in the military and thousands of retirees.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...military-leaders-isnt-that-impressive/498806/


----------



## poochee

Sep 6, 10:02 AM EDT
*Obama vows to work to tighten sanctions on North Korea*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) -- In the wake of another missile launch, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to work with the United Nations to tighten sanctions against North Korea, but added that the U.S. was still open to dialogue if the government changes course.

Obama signaled the U.S. would redouble its effort to choke off North Korea's access to international currency and technology by tightening loopholes in the current sanctions regime. Obama called the series of ballistic missile launches "provocations" that flouted international law and would only lead to further isolation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-06-10-02-21


----------



## poochee

*First lady Michelle Obama set to campaign for Clinton *
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 8:41 AM ET, Tue September 6, 2016

Obama flashed her potential as a Clinton proxy with an electric performance at the Democratic National Convention last month, and will campaign for the party's nominee in the northern Virginia region -- a crucial area for Clinton if she hopes to win the swing state.
Transcript: Michelle Obama's DNC speech

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/politics/michelle-obama-hillary-clinton-campaign/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 6, 6:59 PM EDT
*House votes to ensure rights for sexual assault survivors*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation outlining a federal bill of rights for survivors of sexual assault, following a national outcry over the sexual assault of an unconscious woman by a former Stanford University swimmer.

The House bill would ensure that survivors in federal criminal cases have a right to a sexual assault evidence collection kit, to be told of the results and to be notified in writing before the kit is destroyed. Lawmakers said they are troubled by the number of untested rape kits that remain in the country, despite efforts to reduce a national backlog.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-06-18-59-41


----------



## poochee

*Clinton says she's going to press Trump on his tax returns until Election Day*
By John Wagner
Post Politics
September 6 at 1:45 PM

TAMPA - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged Donald Trump to "come clean" about his finances and said she would continue to press the Republican to release his tax returns until Election Day, declaring that "he clearly has something to hide."

Speaking to reporters aboard her campaign plane, Clinton said she was responding to a statement Trump made to ABC News that people aren't interested in his returns.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-on-tax-returns-until-election-day/?tid=a_inl


----------



## poochee

Politics
Sep 7 2016, 12:03 pm ET
*In Their Words: The Candidates on Commander-in-Chief Issues*
by Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face questions on military issues, national security and veterans affairs at NBC News' Commander-in-Chief Forum Wednesday, hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Trump and Clinton espouse vastly different views on how to fight terrorism and deploy U.S. troops, although those positions don't always hew to the traditional divide on national security issues between the two parties.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/their-words-candidates-commander-chief-issues-n643836


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump ending press 'blacklist'*
by Brian Stelter @brianstelter September 7, 2016: 1:07 PM ET

*VIDEO *

Donald Trump is ending a practice most journalists think he never should have started: his "blacklisting" of news outlets.

A campaign spokeswoman confirmed the change on Wednesday. Trump provided a cheeky statement to CNN about the restoration of credentials: "I figure they can't treat me any worse!"

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/07/media/donald-trump-press-blacklist-over/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Mexican finance minister steps down after helping arrange Trump visit*
By Joshua Partlow and Gabriela Martinez
The Americas
September 7 at 2:26 PM

*VIDEO*

In formally announcing the resignation Wednesday, President Enrique Peña Nieto offered no explanation for the departure of Luis Videgaray, one of his closest aides and the architect of some of the government's signature economic reforms. But it came a week after Trump appeared with Peña Nieto in a meeting that was widely viewed across Mexico as an embarrassment for the country's leader. Videgaray had served as a behind-the-scenes liaison to the Trump campaign and advocated for the visit over the opposition of other ministers.

The departure of one of his closest allies showed the huge political cost the Trump visit has exacted for Peña Nieto. Videgaray had worked with Peña Nieto when he was a governor and ran his campaign for president. But the Mexican leader's approval ratings had already been languishing, and the Trump meeting has now dropped him to the lowest point of his presidency, with a new movement even calling for his resignation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...f51c6c-750b-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Only one new Benghazi email in 15,000 docs recovered from Clinton server, State Department says*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 3:26 PM ET, Wed September 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_Only one email from the batch of 14,900 new documents the FBI found from Hillary Clinton's private server directly references the Benghazi attacks -- and that was a letter of praise from an ambassador, the State Department said Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/07/politics/benghazi-emails-hillary-clinton/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 7 2016, 11:28 pm ET
*Fact-Checking Clinton and Trump at the Commander-in-Chief Forum*
by Jane C. Timm and Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

In Wednesday night's NBC News Commander-in-Chief forum, both candidates offered up a series of inaccuracies and half-truths to national security questions.

NBC News took a look at the facts behind each candidate's claims -- from who supported which military interventions over the last decade to reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs. Here's how they stacked up to the facts:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...g-clinton-trump-commander-chief-forum-n644611


----------



## poochee

*Highlights of Hillary Clinton's News Conference*
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER SEPT. 8, 2016

_Hillary Clinton took questions at a news conference on an airport tarmac in New York on Thursday, one night after a presidential forum on national security issues._

_*Here are the highlights:*_

_http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/us/politics/hillary-clinton-highlights.html?_r=1_


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Trump's 'wacky ideas' should be challenged*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 10:55 AM ET, Thu September 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama slams Trump's outlandish statements
You have to do your homework, Obama warns
Vientiane, Laos (CNN)President Barack Obama warned Thursday against becoming immune to Donald Trump's more outlandish statements, arguing that the stakes of the US presidential contest were too high for Americans to tune out.

Obama has repeatedly warned against the perils of the Trump presidency, suggesting the Republican nominee would be woefully unprepared to take office should he win in November.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/politics/obama-trump-asia-liptak/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Matt Lauer gets rough reviews after candidate forum*
 Cooper Allen, USA TODAY 11:43 a.m. EDT September 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

Moderating a high-profile political debate or forum, not unlike being the umpire in a playoff baseball game, is a role most often talked about the next day when things don't go quite so well.

Such was the case Thursday morning for Matt Lauer, the day after he was at the helm for NBC News' Commander-in-Chief Forum featuring Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

The two presidential nominees weren't on stage together, thrusting Lauer, the long-time _Today_ show co-anchor, even more into the center of the action as he questioned Trump and Clinton on national security issues.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...9/08/matt-lauer-forum-trump-clinton/89994620/


----------



## poochee

*Wells Fargo slapped with $185 million fine for opening unauthorized accounts*
By Vicki Needham - 09/08/16 04:05 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

Thousands of Wells Fargo employees secretly opened deposit and credit card accounts to boost their sales numbers, racking up millions in fees and other charges for consumers, a regulator said Thursday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined Wells Fargo $185 million, including a $100 million penalty the bank will pay to the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund, which is the largest fine ever levied by the regulator.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/2...illion-fine-for-opening-unauthorized-accounts


----------



## poochee

*South Korean President: North Korea Conducted Fifth Nuclear Test*
September 8, 201611:20 PM ET 
Elise Hu

The move comes against numerous calls from North Korea's allies and antagonists to refrain from more "provocative acts" following January's test and a February rocket launch.

In March, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2270, which the U.S. calls the toughest package of sanctions on the North in two decades. China, a longtime ally of Pyongyang, signed on, signaling it too was weary of the North's threats on the security in the Northeast Asia region. Six months after those sanctions, North Korea is only increasing its missile launches and test frequency.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...08&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Economic outlook best in 9 years*
By Tal Kopan and Jennifer Agiesta, CNN
Updated 2:52 PM ET, Fri September 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The poll also showed that President Barack Obama continues to have majority approval ratings
Traditionally, good economic feelings would bode well for the incumbent president's party in November

Washington (CNN)Americans are more positive about the nation's economy than they have been in nine years, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

In a reflection of rising optimism, 53% of Americans say economic conditions in the US are good, up from the 45% who felt that way in June. It's the highest number since September 2007, before the 2008 economic collapse.

The poll also showed that President Barack Obama continues to have majority approval ratings, at 51%. His approval rating has been at or above 50% since February, the longest stretch of his presidency since his first year in office.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/poll-economy-obama-approval-rating/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Democrats rally around Clinton and paint Trump as unfit for office*
By Jose A. DelReal, Karoun Demirjian and John Wagner
Politics
*September 9 at 12:10 AM

VIDEO*

On Thursday, the full force of the Democratic Party, including President Obama, rallied around Hillary Clinton, saying that rival Donald Trump is unfit for office.

On the Republican side, there was no such unity as lawmakers struggled with how to respond to the GOP nominee's claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a stronger leader than Obama.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...8fd6d2-75dc-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html


----------



## poochee

9/9/16
*Grandmother labels Trump's words and actions as 'punk moves'*
*
VIDEO
*
Sister Yvetta Songofunmi and her grandson met Donald Trump following his education remarks in Cleveland. Songofunmi made it clear to NBC's Katy Tur that she's still not convinced Trump is fit to be Commander-In-Chief.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-quick-cuts/watch/grandmother-calls-trump-s-words-punk-moves-761350723726


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 9/9/16
*Cuban: Trump will crumble under tough questions*

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban says Donald Trump will crumble under tough scrutiny and he says Hillary Clinton should smirk at Trump during the debates as a means of provocation.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/cuban-trump-will-crumble-under-tough-questions-761216579555


----------



## poochee

News
Sep 9 2016, 1:43 pm ET
*House OKs Bill to Let 9/11 Families Sue Saudi Arabia *
by Alex Moe

*VIDEO*

On the eve of the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the House unanimously passed on Friday controversial legislation clearing the way for the families of victims to sue Saudi Arabia if that country is found legally responsible for helping back the deadly terrorist acts.

The bill, which passed the Senate in May, now heads to President Obama's desk. The White House strongly opposes the legislation and worries the legislation leaves the U.S. open to similar suits.

Critics also argue the bill will put U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia in jeopardy and potentially set a dangerous precedent of Americans suing foreign governments.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/house-oks-bill-allow-9-11-victims-families-sue-saudi-n645591


----------



## poochee

Sep 9, 10:47 AM EDT
*Clinton to visit ground zero on 9/11 anniversary*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hillary Clinton's campaign said Friday she now plans to visit ground zero to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.

Clinton will arrive at the memorial Sunday morning before the annual moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., marking the moment that the first plane struck the skyscraper's north tower, her spokeswoman Julie Wood told The Associated Press on Friday.

Her Republican rival, New York native Donald Trump, is not slated to attend. A spokeswoman for Trump declined to discuss the celebrity businessman's schedule for the day.

Both campaigns have confirmed they intend to halt television ads for the anniversary, keeping with a tradition of avoiding partisan presidential politics on 9/11.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-09-10-47-11


----------



## poochee

Sep 9, 8:28 PM EDT
*US, Russia seal Syria cease-fire, new military partnership*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) -- The United States and Russia early Saturday announced a breakthrough agreement on Syria that foresees a nationwide cease-fire starting on Monday, followed a week later by an unlikely new military partnership targeting the Islamic State and al-Qaida as well as new limits on President Bashar Assad's forces.

After a daylong final negotiating session in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said shortly after midnight Saturday that the plan could reduce violence in Syria and lead to a long-sought political transition, ending more than five years of bloodshed. He called the deal a potential "turning point" in a conflict that has killed as many as 500,000 people, if complied with by Syria's Russian-backed government and U.S.-supported rebel groups.

The cease-fire begins at sundown Sept. 12, Kerry said, coinciding with the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-09-20-28-29


----------



## poochee

*Clinton plays role of commander in chief after national security meeting*
By MJ Lee and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 6:31 PM ET, Fri September 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Both the meeting and press conference that followed were staged to draw a stark contrast with Trump
Clinton has pointed to her four years as secretary of state as one of her major qualifications
(CNN)Standing in front of a row of American flags and white pillars resembling those at the White House, Hillary Clinton touted support from national security leaders, reminded the country of her role in killing Osama bin Laden, and chastised -- with a touch of theatrical flare -- her Republican opponent as clueless and entirely out of his element.

With this one brief press conference, Clinton signaled loud and clear: I've done this before.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/hillary-clinton-national-security-meeting/index.html


----------



## poochee

September 09, 2016
*Weekly Address: Upholding the Legacy of Those We Lost on September 11th*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama marked the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks and paid tribute to the victims, survivors, first responders, and those who have served our country. The President said that although a lot has changed over the past 15 years, the core values that define us as Americans have remained the same. As Americans we are resilient, we will never give into fear, and we will always look out for one another. Our strength is in our diversity, our welcoming of all talent, and our fair treatment of everyone - no matter their race, gender, ethnicity, or faith. The President said that's part of what makes our country great - and if we uphold those values, we will carry on the legacy of those we lost and keep our nation strong and free.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Sep 10, 5:12 PM EDT
*Clinton: 'Deplorables' comment was "grossly generalistic"*
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

Less than 24 hours after she made the comments at a private New York City fundraiser, Clinton said in a statement, "last night I was 'grossly generalistic' and that's never a good idea. I regret saying 'half' - that was wrong." But she argued that the word "deplorable" was reasonable to describe much of Trump's campaign.

"He has built his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia and given a national platform to hateful views and voices, including by retweeting fringe bigots with a few dozen followers and spreading their message to 11 million people," the Democratic nominee said.

Of course, while Clinton is taking heat for her comment, Trump's brand is controversy. At a rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday, he said Clinton is "so protected" that "she could walk into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching, right smack in the middle of the heart. And she wouldn't be prosecuted."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-10-16-28-13


----------



## poochee

Sep 11, 12:30 PM EDT
*Obama calls on Americans to embrace diversity on 9/11*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Sunday marked the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by calling on Americans to embrace the nation's character as a people drawn from every corner of the world, from every religion and from every background. He said extremist groups will never be able to defeat the United States.

Obama spoke to hundreds of service members, and relatives and survivors of the attack that occurred at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Defense Department's headquarters, killing 184 people. The youngest victim was only 3 years old.

In all, about 3,000 people lost their lives that day as a result of the planes that crashed into New York City's World Trade Center and in a Pennsylvania field.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-11-12-30-35


----------



## poochee

Sep 11, 2:46 PM EDT
*The Latest: Senator says Clinton seemed 'fine' at 9/11 event
*
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Latest on the 2016 race for president (all times EDT):

2:38 p.m.

Sen. Chuck Schumer says Hillary Clinton seemed "fine" just before she left the 9/11 memorial ceremony and was captured on video appearing to struggle to stay on her feet.

The New York senator said in a statement Sunday that he and the Democratic presidential nominee "chatted for quite a while" about their memories of the tragic attacks, when both were senators from New York.

Clinton later went to daughter Chelsea's house nearby and emerged telling reporters that she felt much better.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-11-14-46-44


----------



## poochee

*Clinton on 9/11: The closest thing to 'hell' I've ever seen*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 12:13 PM ET, Sun September 11, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton -- at the time New York's junior senator -- described the "sickening experience" of 9/11
Trump's rhetoric, Clinton said, has only fueled the motivations driving ISIS
New York (CNN)Fifteen years later, the scene is still seared into Hillary Clinton's memory.

"We saw this curtain of black smoke that was stretched across the island," Clinton recalled. "Occasionally it would be broken by a firefighter coming out. I remember one image so indelibly, dragging his ax, and it was as close to depiction of hell that I've ever personally seen."

Those were the things Clinton saw as she approached Ground Zero on September 12, 2001 -- the day after the country's worst terrorist attacks brought down New York City's World Trade Center and left thousands dead.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/11/politics/hillary-clinton-september-11/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 11, 10:44 AM EDT
*Clinton says Trump anti-IS strength is "phony"*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hillary Clinton is urging people who like the sound of Donald Trump's boasts about defeating the Islamic State group to consider the difference between "real strength" and "phony strength."

"It's phony strength to not know what you're talking about, and to make outrageous statements that will actually make our job harder, no matter how in the moment it sounds," the former New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate told CNN in an interview aired Sunday, the 15th anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington.

"Real strength is leveling with the American people and making it clear we will defeat ISIS," she added. "But that we've got to make sure that here at home, we're not opening doors to people who feel that somehow they want to be part of this global movement because Donald Trump has said it's a war between us and them, and that's pretty attractive to people."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-11-10-44-50


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton has pneumonia, doctor says, after early 9/11 event exit*
By Eric Bradner, Shimon Prokupecz and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 5:52 PM ET, Sun September 11, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton has pneumonia, her doctor said Sunday, hours after the Democratic nominee stumbled and exited a 9/11 commemoration ceremony early.

Clinton was diagnosed on Friday with pneumonia, and "was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule," Dr. Lisa Bardack said in a statement.

"While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely," said Bardack, chairman of internal medicine at the Mount Kisco Medical Group.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/11/politics/hillary-clinton-health/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Remembering 9/11
*
Fifteen years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, friends and families still grieve. Children still search for understanding. Survivors still suffer. The nation, and the world, still remembers.

NBC News and MSNBC present a look back at the day of terror that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, examining its lasting impact at home and around the globe.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/9-11-anniversary


----------



## poochee

Health
Sep 11 2016, 10:32 pm ET
*Does Hillary Clinton Have a Classic Case of Walking Pneumonia?*
by Maggie Fox

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton's wobbly incident Sunday is a near-textbook case of what can happen with "walking pneumonia" - patients don't feel great, but they're not sick enough to stay home in bed or to be hospitalized.

Hillary Clinton's wobbly incident Sunday is a near-textbook case of what can happen with "walking pneumonia" - patients don't feel great, but they're not sick enough to stay home in bed or to be hospitalized.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/hillary-clinton-classic-walking-pneumonia-n646516


----------



## poochee

September 12, 2016, 12:35 pm
*Clinton to reveal more health info in coming days*
By Jesse Byrnes

*VIDEO*

"In the next couple days, we're going to be releasing additional medical information about Hillary Clinton," spokesman Brian Fallon said on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Fallon said that "there's no other undisclosed condition; the pneumonia is the extent of it."

The aide cited Clinton's physician to say that Clinton's latest health scare had nothing to do with the concussion she suffered in 2012 while serving as secretary of State.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...inton-to-reveal-more-information-about-health


----------



## poochee

Sep 12, 3:24 AM EDT
*Obama, Hill leaders meet ahead of federal funding deadline*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is meeting with the top four leaders of Congress ahead of a month's-end deadline to fund the government or face a shutdown, and with money all but gone to address the worsening Zika crisis.

The White House meeting Monday afternoon is likely to focus on an emerging legislative compromise to address both issues. Long-sought provisions to provide money to deal with Zika look likely to be added to a must-pass spending bill to fund the government through Dec. 9.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-12-03-24-16


----------



## poochee

*12 Perfect Responses To Hillary Clinton Being a Human and Getting Sick
*
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ng-sick_us_57d6b298e4b00642712e5a65?section=&


----------



## poochee

*How Donald Trump retooled his charity to spend other people's money*
By David A. Fahrenthold
Politics
September 10

*CHART/VIDEOS*

Donald Trump was in a tuxedo, standing next to his award: a statue of a palm tree, as tall as a toddler. It was 2010, and Trump was being honored by a charity - the Palm Beach Police Foundation - for his "selfless support" of its cause.

His support did not include any of his own money.

Instead, Trump had found a way to give away somebody else's money and claim the credit for himself.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Calls For No Debate Moderators As Pressure Mounts To Fact-Check Him*
_Republican nominee takes another pre-emptive strike at supposedly "unfair" and "rigged" debate process._
09/12/2016 12:33 pm ET
Michael Calderone Senior Media Reporter, The Huffington Post

*VIDEO*

"I think, maybe, we should have no moderator," Trump said on CNBC. "Let Hillary and I sit there and just debate. I think the system is being rigged so it's going to be a very unfair debate. And I can see it happening right now. Everyone's saying that [Lauer] was soft on Trump. Well now, the new person's going to try and be really hard on Trump just to show the establishment what he can do. So, I think it's very unfair what they're doing. I think we should have a debate with no moderators, just Hillary and I sitting there talking."

Trump presumably can't really expect the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates to tear up its entire debate process and remove the moderators. But the Republican nominee's pre-emptive complaints about "unfairness" could be an effective way of giving the moderators pause before aggressively challenging him ― also known as working the refs. Such pre-debate gripes could also be used to try to explain away a poor performance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-no-debate-moderators_us_57d6b4bae4b00642712e5dc9


----------



## poochee

Sep 12, 6:35 PM EDT
*Senate boosts bill for water projects, $220M for Flint*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted to move forward Monday on a $10 billion water projects bill that includes $220 million in emergency funding for Flint, Michigan, and other communities beset by lead-contaminated water.

Senators advanced the bill 90-1 on a procedural vote, with approval expected later this week.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-12-18-35-22


----------



## poochee

Sep 12, 7:45 PM EDT
*Obama, McConnell strike hopeful tone on budget, Zika*
By ERICA WERNER and NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Striking a conciliatory tone after an Oval Office sitdown, President Barack Obama and the top Senate Republican declared themselves hopeful Monday that an agreement can be reached to keep the government running and to provide money to take care of the worsening Zika crisis.

"I was encouraged by some of the constructive work that's being done right now," Obama said after his meeting with the top four congressional leaders, two from each party.

Long-sought provisions to provide money to deal with Zika look likely to be added to a must-pass spending bill to fund the government through Dec. 9.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-12-19-45-37


----------



## poochee

*Bill Clinton To Take Hillary Clinton's Place At Upcoming Campaign Events* 
September 12, 20162:00 PM ET
Brian Naylor 
Updated at 5:05 p.m. ET

Former President Bill Clinton will take his wife's place at several campaign events in the next couple of days. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has been recovering from pneumonia at home after abruptly leaving a Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony in New York on Sunday, where her campaign said she became overheated and dehydrated.

Hillary Clinton was due to appear at fundraisers in California on Tuesday and make an appearance for a campaign event near Las Vegas on Wednesday, where her husband will now go instead.

Clinton did tweet a message while at home in Chappaqua, N.Y., expressing her desire to return to campaigning quickly.

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/12/493634408/clinton-to-release-more-details-about-her-health


----------



## poochee

*Census Bureau: Poverty Rate Down, Median Incomes Up * 
September 13, 201611:13 AM ET
 Camila Domonoske 

More Americans are making more money.

The U.S. Census Bureau released new numbers on Tuesday showing that, after a brutal economic recession and years of stagnation, real median household incomes rose from $53,718 in 2014 to $56,516 last year. That's a 5.2 percent rise - the first statistically significant increase since 2007.

The official poverty rate decreased to 13.5 percent for last year, a drop of 1.2 percentage points. That represents 3.5 million people who are no longer in poverty and is the largest annual percentage point drop since 1999, the Census Bureau says.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...us-bureau-poverty-rate-down-median-incomes-up


----------



## poochee

*Dr. Oz pledges to avoid questions Trump 'doesn't want to have answered'*
By Nick Gass
09/13/16 10:36 AM EDT
Updated 09/13/16 11:41 AM EDT

Mehmet Oz on Tuesday promised to ask Donald Trump "pointed questions" about his health when he sits down with him this week, but in the same interview Oz pledged that he will not ask Trump "questions he doesn't want to have answered."

Trump, a reality TV star in his own right, plans to take part in a taping of "The Dr. Oz Show" on Wednesday in which he's expected to disclose more details of his personal health, including the results of a physical he received last week.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/dr-oz-trump-medical-records-228089


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Clinton 'Steady,' Trump 'Not Fit in Any Way' to Lead*
By kathleen hennessey, associated press
PHILADELPHIA - Sep 13, 2016, 8:40 PM ET

Speaking at an outdoor rally in a Democratic stronghold, Obama praised Clinton as the most qualified candidate ever to seek the office and mocked her opponent Donald Trump as "not fit in any way" to lead. He suggested Clinton was again the victim of unfair treatment and a scandal machine that has dogged her throughout her long political career.

To an audience of roughly 6,000 supporters in downtown Philadelphia, Obama argued that Clinton has been more transparent in providing health and financial records than her rival, as well as releasing her past tax returns while Trump refuses to release his.

Obama said the Clinton Foundation has "saved countless lives around the world," while Trump used his charity to buy "a six-foot-tall painting of himself," Obama said, referencing a Washington Post investigation of Trump's charity.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-hits-campaign-trail-clinton-philadelphia-42049629

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-hits-campaign-trail-clinton-philadelphia-42049629


----------



## poochee

Politics
Sep 13 2016, 10:02 pm ET
*N.Y. Attorney General Reveals Inquiry Into Donald Trump's Nonprofit Foundation*
by Alex Seitz-Wald, Katy Tur and Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

New York state's top prosecutor has made inquiries into Donald Trump's nonprofit foundation after questions about impropriety.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman revealed the inquiry on Tuesday, telling CNN that "we have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety," although he did not go into detail.

"We've inquired into it and we've had correspondence with them," Schneiderman said. "I didn't make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference. We have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...eals-inquiry-donald-trump-s-nonprofit-n647896


----------



## poochee

Sep 14, 2:01 PM EDT
*US lifting sanctions on Myanmar as leader Suu Kyi visits*
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday the U.S. is lifting economic sanctions and restoring trade benefits to former pariah state Myanmar as he met with Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner who is now the nation's de facto leader.

Obama hailed a "remarkable" transformation in the country also known as Burma, which spent five decades under oppressive military rule. Suu Kyi's party swept historic elections last November, and the visit by the 71-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, deeply respected in Washington, is a crowning occasion in the Obama administration's support for Myanmar's shift to democracy, which the administration views as a major foreign policy achievement.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-14-14-01-48


----------



## poochee

*Clinton to meet with Egyptian, Ukrainian presidents at UN meeting*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 1:42 PM ET, Wed September 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton has sought to cast Donald Trump as a foreign policy novice
She will meet with the Egyptian and Ukrainian presidents
New York (CNN)Hillary Clinton will look to highlight her foreign policy credentials next week by meeting with foreign leaders during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to an aide.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/14/politics/hillary-clinton-united-nations-meeting/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump surprises Dr. Oz with results of recent physical*
by Brian Stelter and MJ Lee @CNNMoney 
September 14, 2016: 1:52 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The physical was conducted by Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, the same doctor who previously said Trump would if elected be the healthiest president in history.

The campaign plans to share the information from Dr. Bornstein on Thursday.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/14/med...-trump-taping0225PMVODtopLink&linkId=28774246


----------



## poochee

*Powell: Trump A 'National Disgrace'; Clinton 'Screws Up' Everything 'With Hubris'* 
September 14, 201612:12 PM ET 
Domenico Montanaro 

Colin Powell, who is usually a model of public restraint, apparently was not so much in his emails.

The former secretary of state under George W. Bush had harsh words for both presidential nominees in emails made public that were apparently hacked.

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/14/49392...race-clinton-screws-up-everything-with-hubris


----------



## poochee

Washington Sep 14, 4:55 PM EDT
*The Latest: Clinton's doctor says she's 'fit to serve'*
Washington (AP)

Hillary Clinton's doctor says she is recovering from her pneumonia and remains "healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States."

The statement was part of medical information Clinton's campaign released Wednesday after her pneumonia diagnosis last week.

The campaign says that Clinton's physician found that the remainder of the Democratic presidential nominee's complete physical exam was "normal" and she is in "excellent mental condition."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-14-16-55-09


----------



## poochee

September 14, 2016, 03:35 pm
*Hillary Clinton's plan for innovation*
By David J. Kappos

There's that old line about candidates-they campaign in poetry, but govern in prose. Few would mistake esoteric topics like innovation promotion and intellectual property protection as poetic. So it is therefore somewhat remarkable that Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has already released detailed outlines of these critical aspects of U.S. tech and competitiveness policies she would pursue if elected. Her in-depth and balanced proposals in this area demonstrate a thoughtful approach that deserves recognition.

In Clinton's recently released innovation strategy, titled _ Initiative on Technology & Innovation,_ she importantly emphasizes that America's innovation and intellectual property edge needs to be preserved and enhanced. Over 55 million higher-than-average-wage jobs and 35 percent of our nation's GDP depend on our strong intellectual property regime. Promoting Silicon Valley, Research Triangle Park, and other innovation hubs across the country is critical to America's continuing global economic leadership.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/295585-hillary-clintons-plan-for-innovation


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump and the art of the boomerang insult*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 10:14 AM ET, Wed September 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

The Republican nominee has gotten plenty of attention for his trash-talking and bare-knuckle style. But he's also developed a sub-specialty: the boomerang insult.

Rather than running from the words his opponents hurl at him, Trump seizes them, shakes them up and turns them around. It's a strategy that muddies stark differences between Trump and his rivals, and helps neutralize political vulnerabilities.

"Whatever he does, he accuses everyone else of doing," Ted Cruz, whom Trump relentlessly attacked as a liar during the Republican primaries, said at a fiery press conference the morning of the Indiana primary in May. "In a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying. He accuses everybody on that debate stage of lying. And it's simply a mindless yell."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/14/politics/donald-trump-boomerang-insult/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 14, 6:16 PM EDT
*Trump, interrupted, heckled in visit to Flint church*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

FLINT, Mich. (AP) -- Donald Trump was cut off, chastised and then heckled after he attacked rival Hillary Clinton during what was supposed to be a speech on helping where the government had failed the people of Flint, Michigan.

"Mr. Trump, I invited you here to thank us for what we've done in Flint, not give a political speech," said the Rev. Faith Green Timmons, the pastor of the Bethel United Methodist Church.

The Republican nominee quickly stopped, then said "Ok, that's good, Then I'm going to go back to Flint" and its water crisis that had sickened its citizens.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-14-18-16-22


----------



## poochee

*Newsweek's Kurt Eichenwald Explains How Trump's Business Entanglements Would Cause A "National Security Nightmare"*
_Eichenwald: The Trump Organization Has Interests And Partnerships That "Often Go Directly Against The Interests Of American National Security"_
_
13 hours 39 min ago _
From the September 14 edition of CNN's _New Day_:

*VIDEO*

http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/...glements-would-cause-national-security/213063


----------



## poochee

Sep 15, 1:31 PM EDT
*Trump outlines vision for economy, promising large tax cuts*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump outlined his vision for managing the nation's economy as president on Thursday, promising that his plans to lower taxes by $4.4 trillion over a decade and cut regulations would lead to booming growth, create millions of jobs and even cut into the nation's budget deficit.

"My plan will embrace the truth that people flourish under a minimum government burden and will tap into the incredible, unrealized potential of our workers and their dreams," Trump said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-15-13-31-23


----------



## poochee

*Despite gestures, Trump is still the least transparent U.S. presidential candidate in modern history*
By Jenna Johnson and Mary Jordan
Politics
September 14 at 9:27 PM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump made what his campaign billed as two major disclosures on Wednesday. First, an attorney provided a timeline of his Slovenia-born wife's immigration status. Then, amid questions about his health during a television interview, Trump pulled some medical test results out of his blazer pocket.

Yet despite these high-profile gestures, Trump remains the least transparent major presidential nominee in modern history. He is the first since 1976 to refuse to release his tax returns. He has declined to provide documentation of the "tens of millions" of dollars he claims to have donated to charity. He has yet to release a comprehensive accounting of his health. And, while Wednesday's letter about Melania Trump's immigration from her home country offers a few new details, there is no documentation to back up the claims.

At the same time, Trump and his aides are criticizing rival Hillary Clinton as secretive and demanding more information from her about her emails and health.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...aa0dba-7a92-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html


----------



## poochee

*What Is Donald Trump Jr. Talking About?*
_The Republican nominee's son appeared to make a casual joke about the Holocaust-but his claims about his father's honesty and why he won't release his tax returns deserve scrutiny, too.

David A. Graham

12:47 PM ET

One theory for Donald Trump's recent surge in the polls is that the Republican nominee has gotten better at staying on message. But sometimes the apple does far fall from the tree, because Donald Trump Jr. has not proven quite so deft.

Trump Jr. has committed a pair of notable gaffes in the last 24 hours. First, during a meeting with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, he delivered a perfect example of a Kinsley gaffe-when a politician or surrogate accidentally tells the truth. There has been a steady and growing drumbeat of questions about why Donald Trump won't release his tax returns, and Trump Jr. explained it this way: "Because he's got a 12,000-page tax return that would create … financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that would detract from (his father's) main message."

In other words, in the face of suggestions that Donald Trump won't release his tax returns because something in them could be politically damaging, his son admitted that Trump won't release his tax returns because something in them could be politically damaging.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/what-is-donald-trump-jr-talking-about/500198/

_


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton returns -- and not a moment too soon*
By MJ Lee and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 8:30 AM ET, Thu September 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton returns for her first public appearance since leaving the 9/11 memorial service early on Sunday
She will hold a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, a key swing state
Clinton returns to the campaign trail with a rally in Greensboro followed by a speech at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus gathering in Washington in the evening.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/politics/hillary-clinton-greensboro-north-carolina/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Latest Election Polls 2016*

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/polls.html?nlid=75973118&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 15, 12:29 PM EDT
*Senate approves bill for water projects; millions for Flint*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate approved a $10 billion water projects bill Thursday that includes emergency funding for Flint, Michigan - nearly a year after officials declared a public health emergency because of lead-contaminated water.

Senators approved the bill 95-3. The measure now goes to the House, where approval of a similar bill - minus the Flint provision - is expected as soon as next week.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-15-12-29-51


----------



## poochee

Politics
Sep 15 2016, 12:06 pm ET
*With Attack on Black Pastor, Trump Reboot Again Goes Off Rails*
by Benjy Sarlin and Ali Vitali

* VIDEO*

Donald Trump, currently trying to cast himself a softer candidate with an eye for policy, returned to his old ways with a vengeance on Thursday as he mocked an African-American pastor in Flint, Michigan and concocted a false story about his visit to her congregation.

The move was one of several recent examples where Trump's efforts to rebrand his campaign toward outreach, discipline and substance have clashed with his natural penchant for insults, inaccurate boasts and conspiracy theories.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...-pastor-trump-reboot-again-goes-rails-n648881


----------



## poochee

*Former House Speaker Boehner, Noted Smoker, Joins Tobacco Firm*
September 15, 20163:20 PM ET 
Susan Davis

The Ohio Republican was the nation's highest-ranking smoker before he left office last October. Boehner currently smokes Camel brand cigarettes and has never indicated a desire to quit the cancer-causing habit.

That's good news for Reynolds, where Boehner will now serve as a Class 2 director and serve on the board's corporate governance committee.

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/15/494115244/former-house-speaker-noted-smoker-joins-tobacco-firm


----------



## poochee

*Trump campaign: Obama born in the US*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 11:23 PM ET, Thu September 15, 2016

VIDEO

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday said he believes President Barack Obama was born in the US, a major reversal from a line of attack Trump launched five years ago.

The announcement late Thursday night is an attempt by Trump's campaign to take the controversial issue -- which helped propel him to political prominence -- off the table ahead of the first presidential debate later this month.

But Trump himself has not flatly said Obama was born in Hawaii.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/politics/donald-trump-obama-birther-united-states/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

*14 of Trump's most outrageous 'birther' claims -- half from after 2011*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 12:33 PM ET, Fri September 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

Trump himself, however, had not until Friday publicly said he believes Obama was born in the US. And asked recently about his role in promoting the racially charged smear, Trump went uncharacteristically mum.

"I don't talk about it because if I talk about that, your whole thing will be about that," he told reporters last week. "So I don't talk about it."
*Here's a laundry list of birther declarations Trump made before he tried to put the controversy to rest:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/donald-trump-birther/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 16, 2:32 PM EDT
*Congressional Black Caucus denounce Trump, demand apology*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Friday called Donald Trump a "disgusting fraud" and demanded that he apologize to President Barack Obama for repeatedly challenging the first African-American president's U.S. citizenship before retreating from the claim on Friday.

One by one, outraged members of the CBC denounced the Republican presidential nominee who for five years was the chief promoter of the false notion that Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii. Trump said in a brief statement Friday morning that Obama was "born in the United States, period."

The African-American members of Congress sought to use the turn of events to energize not only minority voters but moderates and independents who might be offended by Trump's repeated questioning of Obama's citizenship.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-16-14-32-06


----------



## poochee

*A LITTLE HUMOR
*
*Emotional Obama Tearfully Thanks Trump for Granting Him Citizenship*
By Andy Borowitz, 12:15 P.M.

"The issue of whether or not I was a U.S. citizen has been a dark cloud over my existence for as long as I can remember," a tearful Obama told the press corps. "Only one man had the courage, wisdom, and doggedness to make that cloud go away: Donald J. Trump."

The President, who had to halt several times during his remarks to compose himself, praised the Republican Presidential nominee for "never giving up" in his quest to prove that Obama was born in the U.S.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/emotional-obama-tearfully-thanks-trump-for-granting-him-citizenship?mbid=nl_091616 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=9530791&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1001360101&spReportId=MTAwMTM2MDEwMQS2


----------



## poochee

Sep 16, 4:51 PM EDT
*Networks air 20-minute Trump 'commercial' before statement*
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump's renouncement of birtherism on Friday came with some media gamesmanship that compelled television news networks to air 20 minutes of endorsements by retired military men before the candidate briefly got to the point.

"We all got Rick-rolled," said CNN's Jake Tapper, a reference to the Internet prank of replacing an expected link with a video of singer Rick Astley's 1987 hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up."

The bad blood continued after the event when the Trump campaign barred text reporters and a television producer from joining him on a tour of the new Trump International Hotel in Washington. In response, cable and broadcast networks refused to use any video of the tour.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-16-16-51-39


----------



## poochee

Politics
Sep 16 2016, 3:59 pm ET
*First Lady Michelle Obama Calls 2016 Choice 'Excruciatingly Clear' *
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

First lady Michelle Obama on Friday said her nearly eight years in the White House have made it "excruciatingly clear" that Hillary Clinton is the only qualified candidate in the 2016 presidential race and responded to the continued false rumors about her husband's birthplace.

"A candidate is not going to suddenly change when they get into office. It's the opposite, in fact, because the minute that individual takes that oath, they are under the hottest, harshest light there is," the first lady said in Virginia during her first campaign rally for Clinton.

"With every word they utter, they can start wars, crash markets, change the course of this planet...For me, it is excruciatingly clear that there is only one person in this election that we can trust with those responsibilities," she added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...alls-2016-choice-excruciatingly-clear-n649646


----------



## poochee

*Eichenwald: Trump overseas business conflicts 'can't be unwound'*
By Jeremy Diamond and David Wright, CNN
Updated 1:03 PM ET, Wed September 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The author of a new report that alleges Donald Trump's businesses overseas have conflicts with America's interests said Wednesday that the Republican presidential nominee "makes money by aiding the people whose interests don't coincide with America's."

"The interests of these businesses, the interests of these politicians, often go directly against the interests of American national security. So right now you have Donald Trump in a situation where he makes money by aiding the people whose interests don't coincide with America's," Newsweek senior writer Kurt Eichenwald told CNN's Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota on "New Day," adding later, "The important thing here is this is an entanglement that can't be unwound."

The Newsweek report raised a series of questions about how Trump would handle the countless conflicts of interests inherent in his overseas business interests.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/14/politics/kurt-eichenwald-donald-trump-business/index.html


----------



## poochee

September 17, 2016
*Weekly Address: It's Time for Republicans in Congress To Do Their Jobs*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama called on Republicans in Congress to do their jobs. With Congress back in session there is a lot of business that needs to get done, including funding the fight against Zika, providing resources to help the flood victims in Louisiana, and giving Supreme Court nominee Chief Judge Merrick Garland the courtesy of a fair hearing and a vote. The President said addressing these problems is all within our reach - and we need Congress to work as hard as the American people do. We should expect Republicans in Congress to do their jobs - to protect us from disease, help us recover from disaster, and keep the Supreme Court above politics.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trump on Clinton's guards: 'Take their guns away, see what happens to her'*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 12:45 PM ET, Sat September 17, 2016

*VIDEO*

Trump's comment, which came as he criticized Clinton over gun rights, is not the first time he has called for Clinton's Secret Service detail to "disarm." But it is the first time he has wondered aloud what would happen to her should she suddenly be deprived of armed protection.

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Trump's remarks "should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate."

"Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of commander in chief," Mook said in a statement, adding, "He is unfit to be President and it is time Republican leaders stand up to denounce this disturbing behavior in their nominee."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/16/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-guns-secret-service/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates Says Trump Is 'Beyond Repair'*
_"He has no clue about the difference between negotiating a business deal and negotiating with sovereign nations."_
09/17/2016 12:12 pm ET
*Sam Levine*  Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON ― Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has served both Republican and Democratic presidents, sharply criticized Republican nominee Donald Trump's ability to lead the United States, writing that the business mogul was "beyond repair" when it came to national security.

"At least on national security, I believe Mr. Trump is beyond repair. He is stubbornly uninformed about the world and how to lead our country and government, and temperamentally unsuited to lead our men and women in uniform. He is unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief," Gates wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Friday evening.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ecurity_us_57dd63b4e4b08cb1409622ee?section=&


----------



## poochee

Sep 17, 1:33 PM EDT
*Obama, Clinton will attend Congressional Black Caucus gala*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama will deliver his final keynote address on Saturday night to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, while the person he hopes will succeed him, Hillary Clinton, will be honored for becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party.

Obama is expected to highlight areas of progress during his two terms as president and why he believes Clinton is the candidate most likely to continue that work.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-17-13-33-15


----------



## poochee

Sep 17, 8:48 AM EDT
*Obama aims to define his global leadership in last UN speech*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In one of his last major appearances on the world stage, President Barack Obama will try to define how his leadership has made the planet safer and more prosperous when he gives his farewell speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Obama's challenge at the annual gathering of world leaders is to cast the past eight years as ones of overall progress, without glossing over the profound problems that have eluded his diplomacy. His successes in galvanizing action on climate change and encouraging democratic changes in Cuba and Myanmar are tempered by crises across the Middle East and North Korea's nuclear threat, which has only strengthened.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-17-08-48-53


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Would be 'personal insult' to legacy if black voters don't back Clinton*
By MJ Lee, Dan Merica and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 11:02 PM ET, Sat September 17, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"I will consider it a personal insult -- an insult to my legacy -- if this community lets down its guard," Obama said
Hillary Clinton lauded Obama and directly took on the birther controversy
Addressing the Congressional Black Caucus gala for the last time as president, Obama warned that while his name would not be on the ballot in November, all of the progress that the country has made over the last eight years was on the line.

"If I hear anybody saying their vote does not matter, that it doesn't matter who we elect -- read up on your history. It matters. We've got to get people to vote," Obama said. "I will consider it a personal insult -- an insult to my legacy -- if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election. You want to give me a good sendoff? Go vote."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/politics/obama-black-congressional-caucus/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 17 2016, 8:10 am ET
*Donald Trump Again Alludes to Violence Against Hillary Clinton*
by Ali Vitali

MIAMI - Donald Trump mixed policy with intimations of violence in Miami on Friday, reversing his position on re-engaging with Cuba and pushing for Hillary Clinton's security to disarm because of her proposed firearm reforms.

"Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President, has a pattern of inciting people to violence. Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of Commander in Chief," Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, wrote in a release.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...t-happens-if-clinton-security-disarms-n649781


----------



## poochee

DEVELOPING
News
Sep 18 2016, 1:18 pm ET
*'An Act of Terrorism': Investigators Hunting for Clues in NYC 'Bomb' That Injured 29*
by Jonathan Dienst, Tom Winter, Richard Esposito, Emmanuelle Saliba and Phil Helsel

*VIDEO*

An explosion that rocked a crowded Manhattan neighborhood Saturday night and injured 29 people has been determined to be an "intentional act," and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it was clearly "an act of terrorism."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/29-hurt-manhattan-explosion-called-intentional-act-n650041


----------



## poochee

Sep 18 2016, 12:06 pm ET
*How Trump and Clinton Reacted to New York City 'Bomb'*
by Ali Vitali , Monica Alba and Anna Brand

The presidential candidates remained true to form in their reactions to an explosion in New York City Saturday night, with Donald Trump sounding alarms and Hillary Clinton offering caution.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-trump-clinton-reacted-new-york-city-bombs-n650116


----------



## poochee

Sep 18 2016, 2:15 pm ET 
*Rigged Pressure Cookers Have Long History Among Bombers Worldwide*
by Josh Meyer

*VIDEO*

New York police officials said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon that investigators found "some components indicative of an IED" in what appears to a pressure cooker rigged to explode.

The discovery of that device followed an explosion just four blocks away, on West 23rd Street, around 8:30 p.m. Saturday - which injured 29.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-long-history-among-bombers-worldwide-n650176


----------



## poochee

Sep 18 2016, 3:49 pm ET
*RNC Chair: Ex-GOP Candidates Who Won't Back Trump Could Be Punished*
*by Christina Coleburn

VIDEO*

Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus suggested Sunday that former GOP presidential candidates might be penalized if they refuse to back Donald Trump's White House bid.

"People who agreed to support the nominee that took part in our process, they used tools from the RNC, they agreed to support the nominee, they took part in our process ... those people need to get on board," Priebus said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-gop-candidates-who-won-t-back-trump-could-be-n650171


----------



## poochee

*Police Arrest Suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami Over Bombs In New York Area* 
September 19, 20167:53 AM ET 
 Bill Chappell 

Law enforcement agencies have apprehended New Jersey resident Ahmad Khan Rahami, after a brief but intense manhunt by agencies seeking to question him about multiple bombs in New York and New Jersey since Saturday. No one was killed in the blasts, but 29 people were injured.

Rahami, 28, was captured after a gunbattle with police in Linden, N.J.; images shown on local TV shortly before noon Monday showed Rahami on a stretcher with what looks to be a wound on his upper arm or shoulder, with his hands behind his back.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/19/494550583/new-york-names-person-of-interest-in-chelsea-bombing-ahmad-khan-rahami?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20160919&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


----------



## poochee

*Obama warns media: Don't get ahead of bomb investigation*
By Jordan Fabian - 09/19/16 11:46 AM EDT

Obama spoke amid reports that law enforcement officials had taken Ahmad Rahami, 28, into custody after a gun battle in New Jersey.

"We're going to make sure everyone is working together seamlessly ... to make sure that justice is done," Obama said from New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly.

"At this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened here in New York and New Jersey," the president said of the stabbing spree in Minnesota, which he described as "a potential act of terrorism".

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ns-media-dont-get-ahead-of-bomb-investigation


----------



## poochee

Sep 19, 7:56 AM EDT

*WHY IT MATTERS: Clinton, Trump present voters clear choice*
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

Washington, even in normal times, may feel like a foreign capital far removed from the places politicians love to talk about - the proverbial kitchen table, Main Street, your wallet.

But decisions to be made by President Trump or President Clinton are going to matter to home and hearth. The tax bite, the social safety net, the social fabric, potholes, prices, jobs, war, the air we breathe, personal debt and national debt - all that and more are touched in some way by the ballots of Tuesday, Nov. 8.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-19-07-56-17


----------



## poochee

*CNN to host town hall with President Barack Obama*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 4:19 PM ET, Mon September 19, 2016

_(CNN)_CNN will host the "CNN Presidential Town Hall: America's Military and the Commander in Chief," with President Barack Obama on Wednesday September 28 at 9 p.m. ET.

CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper will sit down with the President to discuss veterans, national security and foreign policy issues impacting the US military.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/19/politics/cnn-announces-town-hall-with-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
*First Presidential Debate To Focus On Prosperity, Security And Nation's Direction* 
September 19, 20164:37 PM ET 
Brian Naylor 

The first presidential debate, to be held next Monday, Sept. 26, at Hofstra University in New York, will be divided into three 30-minute segments on three topics, according to the Commission On Presidential Debates co-chairman, Frank Fahrenkopf.

That's a bit different from the original announcement for the first debate, which said there would be six 15-minute segments. Farhrenkopf told NPR that it was moderator Lester Holt's decision to combine the segments.

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/19/49462...-on-prosperity-security-and-nations-direction


----------



## poochee

*Chris Christie faces new allegations in 'Bridgegate' scandal*
09/19/16 12:45 PM-Updated 09/19/16 12:54 PM
By Steve Benen

In May 2015, Gov. Chris Christie's (R) longtime ally, David Wildstein, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, stemming from his role in the "Bridgegate" scandal. At the time, the Republican governor reiterated his longtime position: "I had no knowledge or involvement in the planning or execution of this act."

One of the enduring mysteries of this controversy is that we don't know whether or not Christie's claim is true. In May 2015, Wildstein's lawyer told reporters, "There is a lot more that will come out." He added that the governor "knew of the lane closures as they occurred" and that "evidence exists" that proves it.

Keep this in mind when reading about this morning's developments. The _New York Times_ reported:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/chris-christie-faces-new-allegations-bridgegate-scandal


----------



## poochee

Sep 20, 1:55 PM EDT
*In parting words to UN, Obama calls for 'course correction'*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

Four months before leaving office, Obama called for a "course correction" to ensure that the unstoppable forces of globalization don't lead nations to entrench behind their borders and ignore the most vulnerable. He chided foreign leaders for stoking ethnic and religious divisions while faulting Russia for a brutish approach to its role on the world stage.

Still, Obama insisted it was critical not to gloss over "enormous progress" on economics and global cooperation that he said formed a template for tackling the problems of the future.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-19-18-58-20


----------



## poochee

*Clinton, Trump meet world leaders for very different reasons*
By Stephen Collinson, Dan Merica and Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 6:39 AM ET, Tue September 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

Clinton, who served for four years as President Barack Obama's secretary of state, also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

While the stakes are high for both candidates, there is likely more on the line for Trump who, as a foreign policy novice, is still looking to prove his chops before the first presidential debate next Monday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/19/politics/trump-clinton-egypt-fattah-el-sisi/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump-Clinton debate expected to shatter records*
By Joe Concha - 09/20/16 12:04 PM EDT

The first presidential debate between promises to be the most watched ever, with an audience that could exceed 100 million people, according to experts interviewed by The Hill.

A debate with an audience that size would be something never seen before in U.S. politics and would be a figure close to what the Super Bowl gets.

http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...on-debate-expected-to-shatter-ratings-records


----------



## poochee

September 20, 2016, 08:15 am
*Poll: Clinton regains 5-point lead nationally*
By Jessie Hellmann

Hillary Clinton is bouncing back after a week of bad polling news, upping her lead over to 5 points, according to a new national poll released Tuesday morning.

Clinton has 50 percent support among likely voters, while Trump is at 45 percent, the NBC News poll found.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...ll-clinton-regains-five-point-lead-over-trump


----------



## poochee

Sep 20 2016, 2:35 pm ET
*Obamacare Doesn't Cost More Than Other Health Insurance, Report Finds*
by Maggie Fox

Obamacare may have come under fire for rising health insurance premiums, but plans offered by employers, which cover far more people, are rising even faster, a new report shows.

On average, premiums for "benchmark" plans offered on the state and federal government health insurance marketplaces are 10 percent lower than for the average employer-sponsored plan, the team at the Urban Institute found.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...e-other-health-insurance-report-finds-n651361


----------



## poochee

*Trump reportedly used his charity's money to settle legal disputes*
Christine Wang | @christiiineeee
5 Hours Ago CNBC.com

Donald Trump spent $258,000 from his charity on resolving legal disputes regarding his for-profit businesses, _The Washington Post_ reported.

The _Post_, citing interviews and legal documents, said the findings suggest the GOP presidential nominee may have violated "self-dealing" regulations. Heads of charitable organizations are not supposed to use nonprofit money on themselves or their other businesses.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/20/trum...-charitys-money-to-settle-legal-disputes.html


----------



## poochee

By Rebecca Shabad CBS News September 20, 2016, 12:05 PM
*National security leaders call on Donald Trump to disclose overseas business investments*

More than 50 major national security leaders are calling on Donald Trump to disclose all of his business partners and investments overseas and to divest himself of his overseas business interests if he wins the White House.

"We are calling on Mr. Trump to disclose, in full, the nature of his business relationships overseas -- to include specifically who his business partners are and what and where are his foreign investments," said the letter, obtained by CBS News.

The letter, which was signed by a number of prominent Republicans like former administration officials for President George W. Bush, comes after Newsweek reported last week that Trump has done business with controversial figures in Russia, India and China.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nationa...mp-to-disclose-overseas-business-investments/


----------



## poochee

*Stephen Hawking, 375 scientists slam Trump for backing 'Parexit'*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 8:00 AM ET, Wed September 21, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_A group of 375 "concerned" scientists -- including famed physicist Stephen Hawking -- released an open letter Tuesday sharply criticizing Donald Trump, citing the threat of climate change and blasting his push for the US to leave the Paris Accord.

"It is of great concern that the Republican nominee for President has advocated U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Accord. A 'Parexit' would send a clear signal to the rest of the world: 'The United States does not care about the global problems of human-caused climate change. You are on your own,'" the group wrote on the website responsiblescientists.org.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/21/politics/scientists-open-letter-trump-climate-change/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Bush family's lament*
_They detest the GOP nominee, and now have become his foil._
By Eli Stokols
09/21/16 05:01 AM EDT

Their distaste for Donald Trump was no secret. But they saw no point in publicizing it.

From Miami to Houston, Crawford to Kennebunkport, members of the Republican Party's first family remained quiet for months, avoiding cameras and questions about presidential politics and focusing their few fundraiser appearances on assisting the GOP candidates who would be forced to share the November ballot with a nominee they detest.

But given the Bush clan's proximity to public life, and their progeny's desire to one day return the family to power, it was only a matter of time before they could hold their tongues no longer.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/bush-family-donald-trump-228446#ixzz4KuzFeu2W 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Obama at Netanyahu meeting: 'He is always very candid with us'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 6:18 PM ET, Wed September 21, 2016

*VIDEO*

New York (CNN)President Barack Obama confronted one of his most strained foreign partnerships Wednesday during a final meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the pair making a last attempt at patching up their stormy bond before Obama leaves office.

Speaking before their session, Obama said he was aiming to ascertain the prospects for peace in the region as he prepares to end his presidency.

"Our hope will be that in these conversations we get the sense of how Israel sees the next few years, what the opportunities are and what the challenges are in order to ensure we keep alive the possibility of a stable, secure Israel at peace with its neighbors," Obama said. "These are challenging times. One thing that I would say about Prime Minister Netanyahu is that he is always very candid with us."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/21/politics/obama-netanyahu-us-israel-mideast-peace/index.html


----------



## poochee

*This Is What The Audience Looks Like At A Trump Event On African-American 'Concerns'*
_Pretty darn white._
09/21/2016 04:46 pm ET

*VIDEO*

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump continued his supposed outreach to African-American voters on Wednesday with a pair of events at a black church in Ohio.

The first function, which the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights billed as a "meeting on African-American concerns," featured Trump flanked by a few of his most prominent black supporters. Pastor Darrell Scott played host as a leader of the church. Legendary boxing promoter and convicted killer Don King introduced Trump, at one point dropping the N-word. The setting may have projected an air of diversity and inclusion, but it was a mostly white audience that sat and listened as Trump declared black communities can't get "much worse" and that only he could "fix it."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-black-voters_us_57e2c70ce4b0e80b1b9fc038?section=&


----------



## poochee

Sep 21 2016, 11:43 pm ET
*Person Shot in Charlotte Protests After Fatal Police Shooting of Keith Scott*
by Alex Johnson and Gabe Gutierrez

*VIDEO*

One person was shot and at least four others were injured Wednesday as demonstrators clashed for a second night with police in Charlotte, N.C., a day after cops killed a man whose family claimed he was simply reading a book.

The city government said Wednesday night that the shooting victim, a civilian, had been killed. But Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said later on MSNBC's "The Last Word" that there was "conflicting information on whether they are dead or are in intensive care."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ter-fatal-police-shooting-keith-scott-n652331


----------



## poochee

Sep 22 2016, 1:56 pm ET
*Black Cops at Odds With Fraternal Order of Police Over Trump Endorsement*
by Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEOS*

The endorsement of Donald Trump by the Fraternal Order of Police appears to have driven a wedge between many black cops and their white brothers in blue.

And nowhere is the split more visible than in Philadelphia, where the local FOP chapter has fallen in line and also endorsed the Republican presidential candidate - over the objections of a group that represents some 2,500 African-American officers in the city and which has branded Trump an "outrageous bigot."

"Our Local FOP is saying that our people have to follow the national lead," Rochelle Bilal, head of the Philadelphia Guardian Civic League, told NBC News. "We are saying you don't have to vote for Donald Trump and the national FOP should have stayed out of this election."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...olice-over-trump-n652071?cid=eml_pol_20160922


----------



## poochee

*At White House, A Golden Moment For America's Great Artists And Patrons* 
September 22, 201611:22 AM ET 
 Colin Dwyer 

Say one thing for certain: The lists don't lack for leading lights.

When President Obama doled out the 2015 National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals on Thursday, the artists and arts patrons he draped with awards had plenty of familiar names - including Mel Brooks, Morgan Freeman, Terry Gross and nearly two dozen others.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...moment-for-americas-great-artists-and-patrons


----------



## poochee

*How Clinton And Trump Are Preparing For The First Presidential Debate* 
September 22, 20166:00 AM ET 
Meg Anderson

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have spent the summer throwing attacks at one another from across the country and over the Internet. But on Monday night, the two will stand face to face on a debate stage for the first time.

The stakes are high for both candidates. Many recent polls have shown a narrow race, and the upcoming debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., is expected to have a Super Bowl-sized audience.

Both Clinton and Trump have been preparing for the debate. While neither campaign is saying much about how they've been doing that, it's become clear their methods are as different as the candidates themselves.

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/49490...e-preparing-for-the-first-presidential-debate


----------



## poochee

*Trump lobbies moderators ahead of debate*
 David Jackson, USA TODAY 12:21 p.m. EDT September 22, 2016

Donald Trump isn't saying much about debate preparation, with one notable exception.

Baiting the moderators.

The Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly wondered whether the moderators will be "fair" to him, engaging in what analysts described as age-old pre-debate tactics: lowering expectations and intimidating the questioners.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-hillary-clinton-debate-lester-holt/90826630/


----------



## poochee

*Clinton ignores Trump, delivers speech on helping disabled*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 4:52 PM ET, Wed September 21, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton said people with disabilities are "invisible, overlooked and undervalued"
Clinton added that as president, she would do away with the subminimum wage
Orlando, Florida (CNN)Hillary Clinton's aides wanted their candidate to start talking more about policy and less about Trump. On Wednesday, Clinton did just that.

The Democratic presidential nominee forcefully argued in favor of giving people with disabilities an equal chance at success during an event here, saying defending the disabled would be "a vital aspect of my presidency."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/21/politics/hillary-clinton-economy-disabled/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 22, 5:07 PM EDT
*Trump debate challenge: Keeping his cool if Clinton attacks*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's advisers are urging him to keep his cool during next week's presidential debate and resist attempts by Hillary Clinton to provoke him with questions about his business record, wealth or controversial comments about minorities.

The focus underscores the campaign's concern that too many Americans still don't believe the Republican has the temperament to be president, which could be a difference-maker in a close race with Clinton.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-22-16-50-21


----------



## poochee

*Sacramento mayor punches pie thrower*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:43 PM ET, Thu September 22, 2016

_(CNN)_Kevin Johnson -- the NBA star-turned-Sacramento mayor -- was pied in the face by a man at a charity dinner Wednesday night at the high school he once attended.

But the pie-thrower appeared to get the worst of it.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/22/politics/kevin-johnson-sacramento-pie-assault/index.html


----------



## combsdon

sometimes you just have to have to have a little pie with your dinner..................


----------



## poochee

combsdon said:


> sometimes you just have to have to have a little pie with your dinner..................


...


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Violent protests won't solve policing issues*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 7:59 PM ET, Thu September 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama said anger should instead be redirected toward pushing needed reforms
Obama also offered debate advice to Democrat Hillary Clinton an interview with ABC
"The way we change the system requires us to be able to reach out and engage the broader American community. And that requires being peaceful," Obama said during an interview with ABC News. "The overwhelming majority of people who have been concerned about police community relations doing it the right way. Every once in awhile, you see folks doing it the wrong way."

In his interview with ABC, Obama also offered debate advice for Clinton, his preferred successor.

"Be yourself and explain what motivates you," he said. "I think there's a reason why we haven't had a woman president before, and so she's having to break down some barriers. There's a level of mistrust and a caricature of her that just doesn't jibe with who I know."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/22/politics/obama-police-violence-protests-charlotte-tulsa/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 23 2016, 11:37 am ET
*Man Arrested in Fatal Shooting of Charlotte Protester, Police Chief Says*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

Charlotte police on Friday announced the arrest of a suspect in the killing of a demonstrator fatally shot during protests this week over a police-involved shooting.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the suspect as Rayquan Borum and charged him in the shooting death of Justin Carr, 26, who was on life support and died on Thursday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...charlotte-protester-police-chief-says-n653391


----------



## poochee

*National poll: Clinton leads Trump by 6 ahead of debate*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 12:12 PM ET, Fri September 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Hillary Clinton has a 6-point lead over Donald Trump in a four way race, according to a new poll
Clinton has the edge over Trump on a number of key issues in the poll ahead of the first presidential debate

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/politics/mcclatchy-marist-national-poll-before-debate/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump vs. Clinton: A debate fact-check cheat sheet*
By Glenn Kessler
Fact Checker
September 23 at 3:00 AM

Presidential candidates rarely come to the debates with fresh facts. Instead, they rely on claims that have been scattered in their stump speeches for many months - claims that The Fact Checker has already put to the Pinocchio Test. So here's a quick guide to old favorites viewers will likely hear during the presidential debates that start on Sept. 26.

The list is longer for Trump because, frankly, he has been exceptionally fact-challenged in this campaign. His average Pinocchio rating is 3.4, which is extraordinary; the highest average rating in the 2012 campaign was Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who earned 3.08. Clinton has an average Pinocchio rating of 2.2, which is slightly higher than President Obama and slightly lower than Mitt Romney in 2012.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...fact-check-cheat-sheet/?wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Video Emerges From Scene Of Charlotte Police Shooting Of Keith Scott* 
September 23, 20161:38 PM ET
 Bill Chappell 

*VIDEO*
As officials in Charlotte, N.C., consider when, if, and how to release video of the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott earlier this week, lawyers for the family have released what they say is eyewitness video taken by Scott's wife.

On the cellphone footage that was first published by NBC, The New York Times, and other news outlets, Rakeyia Scott is heard pleading with her husband to be safe - and for the police not to shoot him. The video doesn't give a complete version of the encounter on Tuesday, which is already under way when the roughly two minutes of footage begins.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...e-of-charlotte-police-shooting-of-keith-scott


----------



## poochee

*After Bitter Primary Fight, Ted Cruz Backs Donald Trump* 
September 23, 20162:35 PM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro  
Sarah McCammon 

After a bitter primary battle that culminated with Ted Cruz being booed off the stage at the Republican National Convention, the Texas senator says he will vote for Donald Trump.

Facebook post Friday, Cruz wrote that he made the decision because he wants to "keep his word" to vote for the Republican nominee and because he finds Hillary Clinton "wholly unacceptable."

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/23/495211893/after-bitter-primary-fight-ted-cruz-to-back-donald-trump


----------



## Phantom010

poochee said:


> *Video Emerges From Scene Of Charlotte Police Shooting Of Keith Scott*
> September 23, 20161:38 PM ET
> Bill Chappell
> 
> *VIDEO*
> As officials in Charlotte, N.C., consider when, if, and how to release video of the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott earlier this week, lawyers for the family have released what they say is eyewitness video taken by Scott's wife.
> 
> On the cellphone footage that was first published by NBC, The New York Times, and other news outlets, Rakeyia Scott is heard pleading with her husband to be safe - and for the police not to shoot him. The video doesn't give a complete version of the encounter on Tuesday, which is already under way when the roughly two minutes of footage begins.
> 
> http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...e-of-charlotte-police-shooting-of-keith-scott


Are american street cops racist, trigger happy, paranoid or simply idiots? They should take away their guns and give them tasers until they can train real cops. It takes at least a brain to own a gun, and psychology to do the job properly. In many countries, police officers never even take their gun out of the holster. Maybe 'cause civilians aren't expected to be carrying a gun anywhere else.......? Uh oh!

Should they still hire ex-military men and woman, many with potential emotional issues? It should take more than being able to shoot at the centre of a target, or destroying a tank to be hired in law enforcement... The human factor is more important. Plenty of unarmed black people shot for nothing already. Are they ever gonna get it, for crying out loud! Wasn't the guy's wife clear enough? With all those cops surrounding the victim, what was he going to do anyway??? They're being filmed and they shoot anyway! What a bunch of idiots!


----------



## poochee

*Obama, thousands to celebrate opening of African-American Smithsonian museum*
By Suzanne Malveaux and Kevin Bohn, CNN
Updated 6:06 PM ET, Fri September 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Thousands will descend on the National Mall this weekend for a three-day festival event to celebrate the newest Smithsonian Museum -- the National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

The building chronicles the decades of fighting against slavery, the efforts to end segregation and the Civil Rights Movement as well as contributions made by African-Americans in areas ranging from the military to sports to culture and the arts.

President Barack Obama, speaking at the White House Friday, said he hopes people visit the museum and come to see current events in greater context.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/politics/smithsonian-african-american-museum-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 23, 6:36 PM EDT
*Obama vetoes 9/11 bill; possible override by Congress looms*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama nixed a bill Friday that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia, arguing it undermined national security and setting up the possibility that Congress might override his veto for the first time of his presidency.

The bill had sailed through both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support, clearing the final hurdle just days before the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

But the White House said the bill, which doesn't refer specifically to Saudi Arabia, could backfire by opening up the U.S. government and its officials to lawsuits by anyone accusing the U.S. of supporting terrorism, rightly or wrongly.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-23-18-36-06


----------



## poochee

September 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Weekly Address: Celebrating the National Museum of African American History and Culture*

In this week's address, President Obama commemorated the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The President recognized the museum for celebrating the many accomplishments of the African American community - and for telling the fuller story of America by facing the uncomfortable truths of our Nation's history all while embracing the knowledge that America is a constant work in progress. The National Museum of African American History and Culture not only tells the African American story - it tells the American story. By telling the fuller account of the American story, the President said, the museum will give all of us a chance to reflect and set the course for generations to come.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Sep 24, 11:50 AM EDT
*VIEWER'S GUIDE: Look for trust, temperament themes in debate*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The most telling moments in presidential debates often come out of the blue - an offhand remark or unrehearsed gesture that helps to reveal the essence of a candidate who's already been poked, prodded and inspected for years.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have competing missions heading into Monday night's leadoff debate of the general election campaign: Hers to overcome the trust questions that have bedeviled her for decades. His to convince voters that he has the good judgment and restraint required of a president.

Plenty of subtexts will play out as well over 90 minutes of must-see TV before an estimated audience of 75 million or more viewers - an outsized share of them disenchanted with both candidates.

Some things to watch for Monday night:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-24-11-50-33


----------



## poochee

*Netanyahu to meet with Clinton, Trump on Sunday*
By Jim Acosta and Karl de Vries, CNN
Updated 9:45 AM ET, Sat September 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet separately with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Sunday, several sources with knowledge of the meetings told CNN.

The meetings were arranged in the last 24 hours and will take place in New York City, one of the sources told CNN. This source added that the meeting with Trump came to fruition following a phone call between the GOP nominee's representatives and Netanyahu's office after it was clear that a similar meeting was going to take place with Clinton.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/politics/netanyahu-to-meet-with-clinton-trump-on-sunday/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 24 2016, 3:18 pm ET
*Macy's Shooting: Police Plead for Help IDing Gunman After 5 Killed at Washington Mall*
by Gemma DiCasimirro, Alastair Jamieson, Jillian Sederholm and Elizabeth Chuck

*VIDEO*

Police pleaded with the public for help identifying a gunman who fled after killing four women and a man at a Washington state mall Friday night.

The suspect, dressed in a black T-shirt and black shorts, was seen on surveillance footage at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, about 65 miles north of Seattle, where he opened fire inside a Macy's department store.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/least-3-dead-shooting-cascade-mall-washington-state-n653756


----------



## poochee

*Two Glimpses Into Keith Scott's Death*
_Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, released body-cam and dashboard footage of the 43-year-old black man's final moments.
Matt Ford
7:48 PM ET

*VIDEOS*

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released Saturday clips of body-cam and dashboard footage taken during Scott's shooting Tuesday after days of protests in downtown Charlotte over the killing.

The two clips offer an incomplete glimpse into the encounter. Footage from the body-cam of one of the officers runs a minute long. Scott himself is shown for only a fraction of a second in it. During the shooting itself, the lens is obscured by the officer's neck. The audio is also missing from the first 25 seconds, including when the gunshots are fired.

http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/09/keith-scott-footage-charlotte/501545/
_


----------



## poochee

Our endorsement is rooted in respect
for her intellect, experience and courage.
*Hillary Clinton
for President*
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
SEPT. 24, 2016
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

In any normal election year, we'd compare the two presidential candidates side by side on the issues. But this is not a normal election year. A comparison like that would be an empty exercise in a race where one candidate - our choice, Hillary Clinton - has a record of service and a raft of pragmatic ideas, and the other, Donald Trump, discloses nothing concrete about himself or his plans while promising the moon and offering the stars on layaway. (We will explain in a subsequent editorial why we believe Mr. Trump to be the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/opinion/sunday/hillary-clinton-for-president.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP September 25, 2016, 8:48 AM
*Cascade Mall shooting: Suspect Arcan Cetin "zombie-like" when arrested in Washington*
Last Updated Sep 25, 2016 12:05 PM EDT

*BURLINGTON, Wash.* - The 20-year-old suspect in the deadly Washington state mall shooting said nothing and appeared "zombie-like" when he was arrested by authorities nearly 24 hours into an intense manhunt, authorities said.

Island County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Hawley said he spotted Arcan Cetin from a patrol car Saturday evening in Oak Harbor, Washington, and immediately recognized him as the suspect who killed five people at the Cascade Mall in nearby Burlington.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cascade...-arcan-cetin-zombie-like-arrested-washington/


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Week of Misrepresentations, Exaggerations and Half-Truths*
_POLITICO fact-checked both candidates for a week. This is what we found._
By Kyle Cheney, Isaac Arnsdorf , Daniel Lippman, Daniel Strauss and Brent Griffiths
September 25, 2016

We subjected every statement made by both the Republican and Democratic candidates - in speeches, in interviews and on Twitter - to our magazine's rigorous fact-checking process. The conclusion is inescapable: Trump's mishandling of facts and propensity for exaggeration so greatly exceed Clinton's as to make the comparison almost ludicrous.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/2016-donald-trump-fact-check-week-214287#ixzz4LIFgojOI 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/2016-donald-trump-fact-check-week-214287#ixzz4LIFITFwk 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton Struggles Most With Truth About Herself*
POLITICO fact-checked both candidates for a week. This is what we found.
By Kyle Cheney, Isaac Arnsdorf , Daniel Lippman and Daniel Strauss
September 25, 2016

Hillary Clinton's relationship to the truth is solid - but her most brazen misrepresentations come when she's talking about herself.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/2016-hillary-clinton-fact-check-week-214286#ixzz4LIGfL5dW 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*How Lester Holt is getting ready for Monday's debate*
by Brian Stelter @brianstelter September 25, 2016: 10:13 AM ET
_Lester Holt has called on several NBC News colleagues for advice as he prepares for the biggest night of his career._
_
*VIDEO*_

Holt's debate prep team has plotted possible questions for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and responses if the candidates stray from the truth.

But once the debate begins on Monday night, Holt will be on his own -- which is a big difference between primary debates and general election debates.

Holt has been mum about his debate prep, giving no interviews, even to NBC's own newscasts.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/25/media/lester-holt-nbc-presidential-debate/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 25, 10:00 PM EDT
*Clinton, Trump buff foreign policy bona fides on debate eve*
By LISA LERER and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were meeting separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, giving each candidate fresh foreign policy talking points on the eve of their first presidential debate.

Clinton met Sunday evening with Netanyahu for less than an hour in Manhattan, according to Clinton campaign officials. Her meeting came after Trump sat down with the prime minister at his residence in Trump Tower in the morning, Israeli and Trump campaign officials said.

Reporters were barred from covering either meeting.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-25-22-00-32


----------



## poochee

Sep 26, 12:51 PM EDT
*Debate Night: Clinton, Trump set for high-stakes showdown*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After months of tangling from afar, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will confront each other face-to-face for the first time in Monday night's presidential debate, laying out for voters their vastly different visions for America's future.

The high-stakes showdown - the first of three presidential debates - comes as both candidates are viewed negatively by large numbers of Americans, with Democrat Clinton facing questions about her trustworthiness and Republican Trump struggling to convince many voters that he has the temperament and policy depth to be president.

Interest in the presidential race has been intense, and the campaigns are expecting a record-breaking audience to watch the 90-minute televised debate at suburban New York's Hofstra University.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-26-12-51-26


----------



## poochee

*Who Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Invited to the First Presidential Debate*
By Liz Kreutz
Sep 26, 2016, 12:27 PM ET

While the biggest attraction during the presidential debate tonight will be the two candidates on stage, at least some attention will likely be paid to those in the audience.

Here's a look at who the candidates invited to sit in the audience at tonight's debate.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-invited-presidential-debate/story?id=42360318


----------



## poochee

2016 Presidential Debates
Sep 26 2016, 8:13 am ET
*Five Debate Storylines to Watch*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

HEMPSTEAD, NY -- Well, we're finally here: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tonight square off in their first presidential debate at Hofstra University, making it arguably the most consequential night so far of the 2016 election. The stakes are enormous, with recent polls showing the national race ranges from a six-point lead for Clinton (in the NBC/WSJ) to a dead-even tie (in Bloomberg's). There are five storylines we're watching heading into the debate.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/five-debate-storylines-watch-n654261?cid=eml_pol_20160926


----------



## poochee

*Ex-Wells Fargo Employees Sue, Allege They Were Punished For Not Breaking *
September 26, 201610:57 AM ET
 Camila Domonoske 

Former Wells Fargo employees who say they were fired for following the law have filed a class-action lawsuit seeking $2.6 billion in damages as the fallout continues over the creation of millions of secret, unauthorized bank accounts.

Two employees are named in the lawsuit, filed on behalf of all the bank's employees in the past 10 years who were penalized for not making sales quotas.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...llege-they-were-punished-for-not-breaking-law


----------



## poochee

ENTERTAINMENT 
*Here's Why Zach Galifianakis Won't Have Trump On 'Between Two Ferns'*
_Trump will never sit between two ferns._
09/26/2016 01:56 pm ET

*Cavan Sieczkowski*  Deputy Director, News & Analytics

Almost 10 million people have watched Zach Galifianakis interview Hillary Clinton for "Between Two Ferns," but the comedian has no time for Donald Trump.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...o-ferns_us_57e956e6e4b0e28b2b553767?section=&


----------



## poochee

*Clinton puts Trump on defense at first debate*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:06 AM ET, Tue September 27, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump repeats inaccurate statements on birther controversy, support for Iraq War
Clinton on Trump: 'He has a long record of engaging in racist behavior'
_CNN)_Hillary Clinton forced Donald Trump onto defense over his temperament, refusal to release his taxes and his past comments about race and women during a fiery debut presidential debate Monday -- a potentially pivotal moment in a tight election campaign.

Clinton, who has seen her dominance of the presidential race fade in the weeks since the Democratic convention, delivered a strong performance in which she demonstrated a command of policy and a sense of humor, smiling through some of Trump's strongest attacks. She delivered the best zinger of the night in response to criticism from Trump for staying off the campaign trail recently.

"I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate," she said. "And yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be President. And that is a good thing."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/politics/presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Clinton, Trump clash in first debate: CNN's Reality Check Team vets the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 12:00 AM ET, Tue September 27, 2016

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump clashed Monday in their first head-to-head debate of the general election season, with Trump in particular straying from the truth, CNN's Reality Check Team found.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the debate and selected key statements from both candidates, rating them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/politics/fact-check-presidential-debate/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Can't Stop Sniffling During First 2016 Presidential Debate, #TrumpSniffles Is Born*
September 26, 2016 @ 11:18 PM 
_By_  Sierra Marquina

*VIDEO*

"Trump was making fun of Hillary's health but if he sniffs 1 more time i'm calling 911," one person tweeted after the mogul, 70, mocked the Democratic presidential nominee's recent battle with pneumonia.

Viewers also kept track of the amount of water Trump drank, and several people went as far as to create Twitter accounts for his sniffles.

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity...-sniffling-during-presidential-debate-w442164


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Clinton wins first debate*

A CNN/ORC poll shows registered voters, who watched the first presidential debate, thought Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump. CNN's David Chalian reports.
Source: CNN

*VIDEO*

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/09/27/trump-clinton-hofstra-debate-poll-chalian-sot.cnn


----------



## poochee

*6 takeaways from the first presidential debate*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 10:51 AM ET, Tue September 27, 2016

*VIDEO*

Hempstead, New York (CNN)Hillary Clinton stepped onto the debate stage Monday night determined to show that only one candidate is ready to be president.

Clinton poked, prodded and quoted Trump's own words, goading the famously thin-skinned Republican nominee. Trump took the bait, repeatedly interrupting angrily or dismissively throughout the night.

He couldn't resist attacks, even when it was obvious they would backfire -- such as his criticism of Clinton for dropping off the campaign trail ahead of the debate to prepare.

"Yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for?" Clinton shot back. "I prepared to be president."

*Here are six takeaways from the first presidential debate:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/politics/winner-presidential-debate-takeaways/index.html*


----------



## poochee

*Debate breaks record as most-watched in U.S. history*
by Brian Stelter @brianstelter September 27, 2016: 1:31 PM ET
_Monday night was the most-watched debate in American history._

*VIDEO*

More than 80 million people tuned in to see Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off, setting a new record in the sixty year history of televised presidential debates.

The final numbers are still being tallied by Nielsen. But the debate averaged a total of 80.9 million viewers across 12 of the channels that carried it live.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/27/med...r=twpol092716debate-ratings-record-viewership


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
*Fact-checking the first Clinton-Trump presidential debate*
Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
September 27 at 2:16 AM

*VIDEO*

In the first debate between presidential contenders Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Trump repeatedly relied on troublesome and false facts that have been debunked throughout the campaign. Clinton stretched the truth on occasion, such as when she tried to wiggle out of her 2012 praise of the Trans Pacific Partnership as a "gold standard." But her misstatements paled in comparison to the list of Trump's exaggerations and falsehoods.

Here's a roundup of 23 of the most noteworthy claims that were made. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...mp-presidential-debate/?wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Dan Rather: Hillary Clinton 'calm and substantive' in first debate*
 Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY 3:20 p.m. EDT September 27, 2016

*VIDEO*

"Ladies and gentlemen, whatever civility once existed in our politics is tonight officially dead," the former CBS News anchor declared in a lengthy Facebook post, following the debate at Hofstra University on Long Island. "Never in the history of televised debates have we witnessed such a show."

Rather went on to offer a very specific analysis of their body language and policies.

Some highlights:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...n-calm-and-substantive-first-debate/91166272/


----------



## poochee

*The real Donald Trump showed up at Hofstra. Republicans must live with it.*
By Dan Balz Chief correspondent
Politics
September 27 at 3:45 PM

Republicans learned again during the first presidential debate that no matter the setting, no matter the stakes, no matter the expectations, Donald Trump will insist on being Donald Trump. He will rise or fall politically as himself - brash, unpredictable, volatile and true to his own instincts.

Monday's debate might not move mountains politically. Most Americans are already set in stone about their choice on Nov. 8. But Hillary Clinton didn't need an earthshaking event on Monday. She needed no more than to resettle nervous Democrats and reinforce the reasons many college-educated white voters have had such reservations about voting for Trump. That much she no doubt accomplished, thanks in large part to Trump himself.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ef-f35afb41797f_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

Sep 27 2016, 6:40 pm ET 
*Obama Nominates Jeffrey DeLaurentis to Be First Cuban Ambassador in 55 Years *
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Jeffrey DeLaurentis the be the first U.S. ambassador to Cuba since the two countries broke off relations 55 years ago.

The appointment would be a promotion for DeLaurentis, who's been the U.S. chief of mission in Havana since 2014, paving the way for Obama's initiative to normalize relations with Cuba last year before his visit to the island nation in March.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...is-be-first-cuban-ambassador-55-years-n655726


----------



## poochee

*Senate blocks stopgap bill to prevent shutdown this weekend *
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Sep. 27, 2016 7:24 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) - A must-do bill to prevent the government from shutting down this weekend and to fund the fight against the Zika virus is stalled in the Senate, held up by bipartisan opposition as the clock ticks toward a Friday deadline.

Democrats, demanding money so Flint, Michigan, can address its lead-contaminated water crisis, overwhelmingly opposed the measure is a Senate test vote Tuesday. So did a dozen of the Senate's most conservative members.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6462...ding-bill?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-092716


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR*

Borowitz Report 
*Trump Threatens to Skip Remaining Debates If Hillary Is There*
By Andy Borowitz

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (The Borowitz Report)-Plunging the future of the 2016 Presidential debates into doubt, Donald J. Trump said on Tuesday morning that he would not participate in the remaining two debates if Hillary Clinton is there.

Trump blasted the format of Monday night's debate by claiming that the presence of Clinton was "specifically designed" to distract him from delivering his message to the American people.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-threatens-to-skip-remaining-debates-if-hillary-is-there?mbid=nl_092716 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=9589354&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1002204234&spReportId=MTAwMjIwNDIzNAS2


----------



## poochee

Sep 27 2016, 9:31 pm ET 
*Trump Tries Reframing Poor Debate Performance at Florida Rally*
by Alexandra Jaffe

*VIDEO*

MELBOURNE, Fla. - Donald Trump, all day Tuesday, maintained he won a debate that most pundits, and many polls, said he lost.

"Last night was very exciting, and nearly every single poll had us winning against Hillary Clinton, big league," he said.

A number of online polls showed him to be the winner, but there's some question over how accurate they were and whether they may have been manipulated by Trump supporters. For all his public bluster, Trump seemed aware of this fact, spending nearly the entire rally re-litigating the debate, this time with the help of a teleprompter.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...poor-debate-performance-florida-rally-n655791


----------



## poochee

*Clinton nabs another high-profile GOP endorsement*
By Mark Preston, CNN
Updated 9:13 PM ET, Tue September 27, 2016

Wednesday morning, handing the Democratic nominee another high-profile Republican endorsement just 42 days before the election, CNN has learned.

Warner will join his fellow Virginian and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine at a campaign event in Alexandria, Virginia -- a state Clinton is favored to win but that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been eyeing.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/politics/hillary-clinton-john-warner-gop-endorsement/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 28 2016, 10:38 am ET
*U.S. Officials: 615 More Troops Heading To Iraq*
by Courtney Kube and Corky Siemaszko

The Department of Defense is preparing to dispatch 615 more U.S. troops to Iraq to help government forces oust ISIS from the city of Mosul, the White House announced Wednesday.

The soldiers will provide logistics support for the Iraqi forces and not spearhead the attack, spokesman Josh Earnest said. The troops, who will deploy in the coming weeks, will have a supporting role, helping with logistics and providing advice.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/600-more-troops-heading-iraq-n656006


----------



## poochee

*Senate Democrats accept deal on Flint aid, potentially averting shutdown*
Mike DeBonis September 28 at 2:35 PM

The Senate cemented an agreement Wednesday to avoid an Oct. 1 government shutdown after House Republicans allowed a vote on federal aid to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich., removing a major obstacle in negotiations.

Senators voted 77-21 to advance a stopgap that will keep the government open until Dec. 9, giving appropriators time to pass 2017 spending bills. The stopgap also provides for $1.1 billion in funds to address the Zika virus and $500 million in emergency flood relief.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...y-averting-shutdown/?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

By Rebecca Shabad CBS News September 28, 2016, 12:30 PM
*Senate overrides Obama veto for the first time in his presidency*

The Senate voted Wednesday afternoon to override President Obama's veto of a bill that would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.

Lawmakers overrode the veto in a 97-1 vote. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, was the only lawmaker to oppose the override. The House is expected to vote to override the veto within the next day.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-first-override-obama-veto-on-911-lawsuit-bill/


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: Trump stumbles into Clinton's trap by feuding with Latina beauty queen*
James Hohmann September 28 at 9:11 AM

*THE BIG IDEA: It might be Hillary Clinton's most cunning move since the start of the general election. *The Democratic nominee set a trap for Donald Trump in the final minutes of the first debate, and he walked right into it.

The GOP nominee's decision to take the bait and rehash his past attacks of a former Miss Universe for gaining too much weight is now dominating the conversation. And the controversy is helping the Clinton campaign galvanize Latinos and prevent undecided women from moving toward Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...30e9b69b0ec0c0a85d/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Chelsea Clinton Discusses the First Debate, Her Mom's Pneumonia, and More*
_Chelsea Clinton responds to Trump's remarks about her father's infidelity and her mother's "stamina."_
_By Prachi Gupta
Sep 28, 2016

After the debate, Donald Trump said he was "proud" that he didn't mention your father's infidelity out of respect for you. What was your reaction to that?

Well, my reaction to that is just what my reaction has been kind of every time Trump has gone after my mom or my family, which is that it's a distraction from his inability to talk about what's actually at stake in this election and to offer concrete, comprehensive proposals about the economy, or our public school system, or debt-free college, or keeping our country safe and Americans safe here at home and around the world.

And candidly, I don't remember a time in my life when my parents and my family weren't being attacked, and so it just sort of seems to be in that tradition, unfortunately. And what I find most troubling by far are Trump's - and we talked about this when you interviewed me the night before the Iowa caucus - are Trump's continued, relentless attacks on whole swaths of our country and even our global community: women, Muslims, Americans with disabilities, a Gold Star family. I mean, that, to me, is far more troubling than whatever his most recent screed against my mom or my family [is].

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a3880605/chelsea-clinton-reaction-first-presidential-debate/_


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's trouble with women -- an incomplete list*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 1:51 PM ET, Wed September 28, 2016

*Story highlights*

Clinton criticized Trump for his words about women during Monday's debate
He has a long history
*VIDEO*

(CNN)As Hillary Clinton on Monday night reeled off a litany of insults he had leveled against women through the years, including some nasty nicknames for a former Miss Universe, Donald Trump leaned into his microphone and asked repeatedly, "Where did you find this? Where did you find this?"

The Clinton campaign need not have looked far, or particularly hard, to turn up instances of the Republican presidential nominee speaking in cold or cruel ways about women. Trump has made a habit of it over the years, targeting public figures, even his own wives and girlfriends.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/politics/donald-trump-women-problems/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Senator Suggests Trump 'Daily Weigh-In' After His Miss Universe Body Comments*
By ALI ROGIN
Sep 28, 2016, 4:49 PM ET

*TWEET*

The Missouri senator's tweet came after Trump appeared on Fox News Tuesday to defend his criticism of Machado, who said he called her "Miss Piggy" when she gained weight after winning the Miss Universe Pageant.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sena...ld-trumps-weight-gain-calls/story?id=42428002


----------



## poochee

Sep 28, 3:24 PM EDT
*Why the US economy isn't quite the weakling Trump says it is*
By PAUL WISEMAN
AP Economics Writer

The U.S. economy does face serious challenges: An aging workforce, low worker productivity, still-sluggish growth, stagnant pay and a steady loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs - a loss that's brought pain to many American communities.

But the facts don't bear out Trump's assertion that the United States has become a global weakling, an economic pushover exploited by its competitors. Whether measured by its pace of expansion, job gains, financial might, global competitiveness or sheer size, the U.S. economy remains the envy of much of the developed world.

"Over the past 10 years, the U.S. has done better than pretty much any other advanced country, certainly the European competitors," says Daron Acemoglu, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

*Consider:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-28-15-24-55


----------



## poochee

Sep 28, 2016 at 3:48 PM
* Election Update: Early Polls Suggest A Post-Debate Bounce For Clinton *
By Nate Silver

Every scientific poll we've encountered so far suggests that voters thought Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in Monday night's debate. In fact, some of them showed her winning by a wide margin - wide enough to make it a good bet (though not a guarantee) that she'll gain in horse-race polls against Trump over the next week or so.

But so far, we've seen just two polls released that tested Clinton's standing against Trump after the debate. They have pretty good news for Clinton, but I'd recommend some caution until we get more data.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features...lls-suggest-a-post-debate-bounce-for-clinton/


----------



## poochee

*Congress Votes to Override Obama Veto on 9/11 Victims Bill*
By JENNIFER STEINHAUERSEPT. 28, 2016

In recent days, Mr. Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all wrote letters to Congress warning of the dangers of overriding the veto.

The law "could be devastating to the Department of Defense and its service members," Mr. Obama wrote, "and there is no doubt that the consequences could be equally significant for our foreign affairs and intelligence communities." The White House and some lawmakers were already plotting how they could weaken the law in the near future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/u...ide-obama-veto-on-9-11-victims-bill.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama will travel to Israel for Shimon Peres's funeral*
By Greg Jaffe
Post Politics
September 28 at 4:15 PM

*VIDEO
*
President Obama will attend the funeral of Shimon Peres, the former Israeli president and driving force behind the Oslo peace accords of the 1990s, on Friday in Israel, White House officials said Wednesday.

Obama "will lead the U.S. delegation to Jerusalem to participate in the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...n-peres-funeral/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Congress passes bill to avoid government shutdown*
By Manu Raju, Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh, CNN
Updated 10:06 PM ET, Wed September 28, 2016

*Story highlights*

The measure funds the federal government through December 9
The bill ended up getting broad support
*VIDEO*

(CNN)Congress cleared a bill Wednesday to fund the government and the federal response to Zika, avoiding a potentially embarrassing government shutdown just weeks before the election.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/politics/congress-deal-zika-flint-avoid-shutdown/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Michelle Obama just went off on Donald Trump*
By Chris Cillizza
September 28 at 3:25 PM

*VIDEO*

Ever since her much-lauded speech at the Democratic National Convention, I've been waiting to see when and where first lady Michelle Obama would make her presence - and her popularity - known in the fall presidential campaign.

Today looks to be that day. Obama was campaigning in Philadelphia - at La Salle University, to be exact - when she absolutely let loose on Republican nominee Donald Trump and his long-running birther insinuations about her husband.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...nt-off-on-donald-trump/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

Sep 28 2016, 5:28 pm ET
*Poll: Majority of Voters Say Clinton Won First Presidential Debate*
by Hannah Hartig, John Lapinski and Stephanie Psyllos

*VIDEO*

A majority of likely voters (52 percent) who either watched the debate or said they followed debate coverage in the news said Hillary Clinton won the first presidential debate on Monday night, according to the NBC News|SurveyMonkey Debate Reaction Poll.

Just 21 percent of likely voters thought Donald Trump won the debate, and 26 percent said neither candidate won the debate.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/da...clinton-won-first-presidential-debate-n656231


----------



## poochee

DEVELOPING
News
Sep 29 2016, 2:16 pm ET
*Commuter Train Crashes Into Hoboken, New Jersey, Station, Killing 1: Officials*
by Jay Varela, Jon Schuppe, Emmanuelle Saliba and Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

The train was traveling "at much too high rate of speed," crashing through a series of barriers and taking down an interior wall of the station just before 9 a.m. ET, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said at a news conference after assessing the damage.

"There's no evidence at this time ... that it was anything other than an accident," Christie said earlier on MSNBC.

He later declined to speculate on an exact cause, but said the engineer was in the hospital with critical injuries and cooperating with investigators.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/commuter-train-crashes-hoboken-new-jersey-station-n656711


----------



## poochee

*Faces of the military at the Obama town hall *
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 10:15 PM ET, Wed September 28, 2016

*PHOTOS*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama answered questions from servicemen and women and military family members Wednesday regarding national security and other related issues at CNN's presidential town hall moderated by Jake Tapper.

*Here are some the people and stories behind the questions:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/polit...ma-presidential-town-hall-military/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 29 2016, 2:31 pm ET 
*Conservative Newspapers Breaking Tradition to Abandon Trump *
by Andrew Rafferty

A growing number of conservative newspaper editorial boards are breaking long-standing traditions and endorsing Democrat Hillary Clinton, Libertarian Gary Johnson, or no one at all.

The Detroit News on Thursday backed Johnson, marking the first time in the newspaper's 143-year history its' editorial board did not endorse a Republican.

"We abandon that long and estimable tradition this year for one reason: Donald J. Trump," the paper wrote.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...pers-breaking-tradition-abandon-trump-n656911


----------



## poochee

*Trump angry at allies conceding he lost debate*
By Gloria Borger, Dana Bash and Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 2:27 PM ET, Thu September 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

(CNN)Donald Trump is angry that his aides and advisers have conceded to reporters -- largely without attribution -- that the Republican nominee struggled in his first presidential debate.

In a conference call with surrogates Wednesday afternoon, Trump aides made clear the Republican nominee is upset that his allies publicly acknowledged they pushed him to change his preparation and tactics before his next bout with Hillary Clinton. And he wants them to stop it immediately.

The message was "not subtle," a source familiar with the call said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/politics/donald-trump-debate-reaction/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Video released shows officers shooting 6-year-old *
By John Newsome, CNN
Updated 7:18 AM ET, Thu September 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_A Louisiana judge released body cam video Wednesday showing officers firing multiple rounds into a car, unknowingly striking and killing a 6-year-old boy.

The incident, which happened in September 2015, resulted in the indictments of two marshals on second degree murder and second degree attempted murder charges.

The marshals began pursuing the car after they witnessed an argument between a man and his girlfriend in front of a local bar, a source told CNN. Officers moved to detain the man, identified as Christopher Few, who took off in his car.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/29/us/louisiana-body-cam-shooting/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*Congressional leaders concede changes should be made to 9/11 law Obama vetoed*
By Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh, CNN
Updated 4:08 PM ET, Thu September 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Top congressional leaders from each party expressed buyer's remorse Thursday about a controversial new law that was enacted over President Barack Obama's objections that allows 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia.

Just one day after these lawmakers led the first override of a veto during Obama's presidency they publicly called for making changes to the law. But even as they admitted they agreed with some of the White House's concerns, GOP leaders quickly blamed the President for "dropping the ball" for failing to engage with Congress on the legislation before it passed.

The White House didn't hold back in its criticism after both the House and Senate voted decisively on Wednesday to overturn Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, also referred to as JASTA. The President called the vote Wednesday "political" and his spokesman ripped the move as the "single most embarrassing thing" Congress has done in decades.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/29/politics/obama-911-veto-congressional-concerns/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Clinton campaign rolls out a few dozen more Republican endorsements*
By John Wagner
Post Politics
September 29 at 3:56 PM

CHICAGO - The campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton rolled out another 40 endorsements from prominent Republicans and independents Thursday, the latest play in a bid to lure voters across party lines in her race against Donald Trump.

The list includes three former congressmen, a dozen former high-ranking members of Republican administrations - including a White House ethics lawyer, a director of the Situation Room and an undersecretary of transportation - as well as an array of Capitol Hill staffers, local elected officials and fundraisers for GOP candidates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...an-endorsements/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Gary Johnson blunders again: 'I guess I'm having an Aleppo moment'*
By Cristiano Lima
09/28/16 09:07 PM ED
Updated 09/29/16 12:12 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

Gary Johnson drew a blank again on Wednesday.

In another excruciating exchange on MSNBC, the Libertarian nominee was unable to name a single foreign leader he respects, failing to recall the name of former Mexican President Vicente Fox just as he previously drew a blank on the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Pressed by "Hardball" host Chris Matthews to "name one foreign leader that you respect and look up to," Johnson stumbled.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/gary-johnson-blunders-again-i-guess-im-having-an-aleppo-moment-228876#ixzz4LgSYt2KU 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Lawmakers: Wells Fargo a 'criminal enterprise' like Enron*
by Matt Egan @mattmegan5 
September 29, 2016: 4:59 PM ET 
_Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf is running "a criminal enterprise" and should be fired or even jailed, several members of Congress claimed._

*VIDEO*

Rep. Michael Capuano on Thursday said the Wells Fargo (WFC) scandal and the people who lead the bank reminded him of "the guys who ran Enron," evoking a company that was found guilty of massive financial fraud.

Capuano said Stumpf is "clearly and unequivocally guilty" of a range of crimes, including conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit identity theft and racketeering.

Stumpf sought to defend his bank in front of a very hostile audience of members of the House Financial Services Committee. However, Stumpf wasn't able to get much of a response in beyond his prepared remarks apologizing for the scandal.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/29/inv...ndex.html?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-092916


----------



## poochee

Sep 29, 4:20 PM EDT
*Obama flies to Israel for Shimon Peres memorial service*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Both were Nobel Prize laureates who labored for peace in the Middle East but failed to achieve it. Now, their joint efforts are at an end as President Barack Obama prepares to pay a final tribute to Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

Obama boarded Air Force One on Thursday afternoon to fly to Israel to join dozens of other world leaders at the funeral of Peres, the former prime minister, president and elder statesman who died at age 93.

The two leaders shared similar visions for a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Peres' son-in-law and personal physician, Dr. Rafi Walden, said Obama had called the family overnight on Wednesday during Peres' final hours and spoke to Peres' daughter, Tzvia. "We are deeply moved," Walden said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-29-16-20-26


----------



## poochee

*Trump Foundation lacks the certification required for charities that solicit money*
By David A. Fahrenthold
Politics
September 29 at 8:25 PM

Donald Trump's charitable foundation - which has been sustained for years by donors outside the Trump family - has never obtained the certification that New York requires before charities can solicit money from the public, according to the state attorney general's office.

Under the laws in New York, where the Donald J. Trump Foundation is based, any charity that solicits more than $25,000 a year from the public must obtain a special kind of registration beforehand. Charities as large as Trump's must also submit to a rigorous annual audit that asks - among other things - whether the charity spent any money for the personal benefit of its officers.

If New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) finds that Trump's foundation raised money in violation of the law, he could order the charity to stop raising money immediately. With a court's permission, Schneiderman could also force Trump to return money that his foundation has already raised.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...979381495_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*Tweeting overnight, Trump digs in on controversy*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 2:42 PM ET, Fri September 30, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_What does the Republican nominee for president do when he can't sleep?

Awake at 3 a.m. ET, Donald Trump picked up his phone and began tweeting about "made up lies" in the media.

Just two hours later, he opened up Twitter again and quickly went from venting to slandering a former beauty queen -- shaming her for a sex tape that does not exist.

Trump's conduct since the first debate has been astonishing for a major party nominee just 39 days away from the election. Instead of zeroing in on his strongest points from Monday night on jobs and trade, he's cited fake polls, resurfaced Bill Clinton's marital scandals from the 1990s, floated a conspiracy theory about Google searches, and attacked 1996's Miss Universe.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/30/politics/trump-overnight-media-tweets/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Who Will Be President?*
By JOSH KATZ UPDATED 2 hours ago

*Hillary Clinton* has a *75% chance* of winning the presidency. 
Last updated Friday, September 30 at 1:24 PM ET

The Upshot's elections model suggests that Hillary Clinton is favored to win the presidency, based on the latest state and national polls. A victory by Mr. Trump remains quite possible: Mrs. Clinton's chance of losing is about the same as the probability that an N.F.L. kicker misses a 45-yard field goal.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html?nlid=75973118&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 30 2016, 5:29 pm ET
*U.S. Officials: Thousands of Ground Troops Massing Around Aleppo*
by Courtney Kube and Abigail Williams

Two senior U.S. officials tell NBC News that thousands of ground troops are massing around Aleppo and they worry that the war-torn city could soon fall.

The officials said they are awaiting a major ground operation as troops representing a mix of Syrian regime, Iranian Quds Force, Hezbollah, paid fighters from Iraq (Badr Brigade) and from Afghanistan gather.

Russian fixed wing and Syrian regime helicopters continue to pound the city from the air and they are still striking Aleppo with artillery batteries outside the city. The officials expect this to continue once the ground forces move in.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...s-ground-troops-massing-around-aleppo-n657686


----------



## poochee

October 01, 2016
*Weekly Address: It's Time to Give Families Access to Paid Sick Leave*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed the importance of ensuring that American families have access to paid leave. Today, millions of Americans do not have access to paid sick leave and have to face tough choices when their families face illness - choices that could risk their jobs or their health. The President has repeatedly called on Republicans in Congress to pass a law guaranteeing most workers the chance to earn seven days of paid sick leave each year. To this day, no action has been taken in the Republican Congress. But, that hasn't stopped the President from taking action where he can to help more Americans access paid sick time, and starting January 1st, federal contractors will be required to give their employees working on new federal contracts up to seven paid sick days each year. That's because paid leave isn't something that just nice to have - it's a must have.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Oct 1, 9:23 AM EDT
*Supreme Court: Some noteworthy cases coming up in new term*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-01-09-23-21


----------



## poochee

*White House wants to add new racial category for Middle Eastern people*
 Gregory Korte, USA TODAY 3:24 p.m. EDT October 1, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The White House is putting forward a proposal to add a new racial category for people from the Middle East and North Africa under what would be the biggest realignment of federal racial definitions in decades.

If approved, the new designation could appear on census forms in 2020 and could have far-reaching implications for racial identity, anti-discrimination laws and health research.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...cial-category-middle-eastern-people/91322064/


----------



## poochee

*If Trump thinks debate prep is for chumps, his advisers can't save him from himself*
By Dan Balz
Politics
October 1 at 12:31 PM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump has one week to prepare for his next debate with Hillary Clinton. It is a critical event for him. Yet everything he's done before and after the first debate sends a loud, clear message: He seems to think debate prep is for chumps.

A candidate charged with lacking discipline just spent the week providing evidence for the prosecution. His Friday morning tweet storm - beginning at 3:20 a.m. with a rant about unnamed sources and resuming just after 5 a.m., with a series of tweets that expanded his sexist attacks on a Latina former Miss Universe - punctuated a days-long spiral that has put at greater risk his hopes of winning the election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ef-f35afb41797f_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

ANALYSIS
Politics
Oct 1 2016, 1:05 am ET
*Analysis: Donald Trump's Double Standard for Women*
by Irin Carmon

*VIDEOS*

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has bragged about "being out four or five nights a week, usually with a different woman each time" during his youth and described avoiding sexually transmitted infections back then as "my personal Vietnam." But it was the sexual history of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado that he derided early Friday morning as "disgusting" and urged people to "check out sex tape and past."

Trump, who told Howard Stern he had watched Paris Hilton's sex tape despite having known Hilton since she was 12, also said that Hillary Clinton had falsely portrayed Machado as an "angel" and "paragon of virtue" after she referred to the former pageant winner in Monday's debate.

Clinton, in fact, had focused on Trump's behavior, which included ambushing the then-19-year-old Machado with television cameras during her workout.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/analysis-donald-trump-s-double-standard-women-n657601


----------



## poochee

*Video of Trump acknowledging business losses released*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 8:35 PM ET, Fri September 30, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Video was released Friday of Donald Trump acknowledging that his now-famous comments calling Mexicans "rapists" harmed his business interests.

A District of Columbia Superior Court released earlier this summer transcripts of Trump's deposition and sworn testimony from his children over his loss of business following his comments on Mexico. CNN and a group of other news outlets petitioned successfully for the release of the actual video from the lawsuit involving two Washington restaurateurs.

The video's release caps a challenging week following an underwhelming debate performance and comes with a little more than a month until the election.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/30/politics/donald-trump-deposition-video/


----------



## poochee

Oct 1, 2:47 PM EDT
*Supreme Court in holding pattern, awaiting ninth justice*
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court is set to begin its new term as it ended the last one, down one justice and ideologically deadlocked on a range of issues.

The absence of a ninth justice since Antonin Scalia's death in February has hamstrung the court in several cases and forced the justices to look for less contentious issues on which they are less likely to divide by 4-4 votes.

It could be several months, at least, before the nation's highest court is again operating at full strength.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-01-14-47-40


----------



## poochee

*Trump Tax Records Obtained by The Times Reveal He Could Have Avoided Paying Taxes for Nearly Two Decades*
By DAVID BARSTOW, SUSANNE CRAIG, RUSS BUETTNER and MEGAN TWOHEYOCT. 1, 2016

*VIDEO*

Donald J. Trump declared a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, a tax deduction so substantial it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years, records obtained by The New York Times show.

The 1995 tax records, never before disclosed, reveal the extraordinary tax benefits that Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, derived from the financial wreckage he left behind in the early 1990s through mismanagement of three Atlantic City casinos, his ill-fated foray into the airline business and his ill-timed purchase of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

Tax experts hired by The Times to analyze Mr. Trump's 1995 records said that tax rules especially advantageous to wealthy filers would have allowed Mr. Trump to use his $916 million loss to cancel out an equivalent amount of taxable income over an 18-year period.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-taxes.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton Headed to Charlotte, NC, Sunday in Wake of Shooting*
By Josh Haskell
Oct 1, 2016, 7:13 PM ET
 
Hillary Clinton will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday, after being invited by faith leaders to visit the community, following the fatal shooting of a black man by police and the days of protests that followed.

Clinton had planned to go last Sunday, but the Democratic nominee postponed her trip so as to not impact the city's resources, already taxed by dealing with daily demonstrations.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hill...tte-nc-sunday-wake-shooting/story?id=42500680


----------



## poochee

*As news of Trump's taxes breaks, he goes off script at a rally in Pennsylvania*
By Jenna Johnson
Post Politics
October 2 at 4:47 AM

MANHEIM, Pa. - Donald Trump's campaign announced Saturday evening that the candidate would soon deliver a nine-sentence critique of comments Hillary Clinton made months ago about many of the millennials supporting her primary rival, Bernie Sanders. It was an attempt to latch onto a new headline in hopes of finally escaping the controversies that had consumed his week.

It didn't work.

It took Trump nearly 25 minutes to read the brief statement because he kept going off on one angry tangent after another - ignoring his teleprompters and accusing Clinton of not being "loyal" to her husband, imitating her buckling at a memorial service last month, suggesting that she is "crazy" and saying she should be in prison. He urged his mostly white crowd of supporters to go to polling places in "certain areas" on Election Day to "watch" the voters there. He also repeatedly complained about having a "bum mic" at the first presidential debate and wondered if he should have done another season of "The Apprentice."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/02/as-news-of-trumps-taxes-broke-he-goes-off-script-at-a-rally-in-pennsylvania/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumprally-0550am:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

Oct 2 2016, 11:50 am ET
*Christie, Giuliani: Trump's Manipulation of Tax Law Shows 'Genius'*
by Christina Coleburn

*VIDEOS *

Donald Trump's allies argued Sunday that a New York Times report revealing that Donald Trump might have avoided paying taxes for 18 years shows the Republican candidate is "genius" and the best person to implement tax reform.

"What it shows is what an absolute mess the federal tax code is and that's why Donald Trump is the person best positioned to fix it," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on "Fox News Sunday."

"There's no one who has shown more genius in their way to maneuver around the tax code and to rightfully use the laws to do that and he's already promised in his tax plan to change many of these special interest loopholes and get rid of them so you don't have this kind of situation," Christie said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...p-s-manipulation-tax-law-shows-genius-n658131


----------



## poochee

*'Saturday Night Live' Is Trying To Make Us Laugh At An Election That Isn't Funny*
October 2, 20162:56 AM ET 
 Sam Sanders 

*VIDEO*

One could see the return of _Saturday Night Live_ this weekend as the perfect remedy after our summer of discontent. After birtherism, and deplorables, and tax returns and emails, and rumors of affairs and videos and body doubles, we could all use a laugh.

As such, expectations were high for the show Saturday night, after being away for months, and returning only a few days after the most-viewed presidential debate in modern history.

But it became clear, quickly, that any parody could not top the strange of the original act.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/02/49626...-make-us-laugh-at-an-election-that-isnt-funny


----------



## poochee

Oct 2, 1:28 PM EDT
*The Latest: Giuliani says Trump better for US 'than a woman'*

Did Rudy Giuliani really mean to say Donald Trump would make a better president than Hillary Clinton because he's a man?

The former New York mayor told ABC's "This Week" that Trump was a "genius" for maneuvering around tax laws, unlike Clinton who was investigated by the FBI for using a private email server.

He said: "Don't you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman, and the only thing she's ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI checking out her emails?"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-02-13-28-27


----------



## poochee

*Trump Has Turned Over Tax Returns for Lawsuits and Loans*
By chad day and jeff horwitz, associated press
WASHINGTON - Sep 28, 2016, 11:42 AM ET

*VIDEO*

While Donald Trump won't publicly release his income tax returns, the New York businessman has turned them over when it suited his needs - if he stood to make a profit, needed a loan or when a judge forced him.

Pennsylvania gaming regulators were given at least five years' worth and eight boxes full of Trump's tax documents. Nevada, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana and other state gaming officials also had access to multiple years of his returns. Large banks that lent Trump money over the years have also obtained Trump's returns.

One common thread ties all those who have seen the documents: They can't talk about them.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-turned-tax-returns-lawsuits-loans-42410562


----------



## poochee

*Clinton promises 'end to end' criminal justice reform in pitch to black voters*
_Visiting Charlotte less than two weeks after a controversial police shooting, the Democrat makes makes an appeal to the voters she needs to beat Donald Trump in North Carolina._
By Annie Karni
10/02/16 03:12 PM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - In a humble church with a familiar name, Little Rock A.M.E. Zion, Hillary Clinton on Sunday made a passionate case for police reform and a direct appeal to the city's black voters, whose support she needs to win this swing state.

Less than two weeks after the death of Keith Lamont Scott, a black man killed by police, Clinton arrived here Sunday morning with a message of sympathy for a grieving community and political promises, including "end to end reform in our criminal justice system - not half-measures, but full measures."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/...-criminal-justice-reform-229023#ixzz4LzPSMb70
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Oct 2 2016, 9:37 pm ET
*LeBron James Endorses Hillary Clinton as 'Champion for Children'*
by Richie Duchon

LeBron James, the most famous man in the critical swing state of Ohio, endorsed Hillary Clinton Sunday.

"Only one person running truly understands the struggles of an Akron child born into poverty," the NBA superstar and Akron, Ohio, native wrote in an editorial published Sunday by Business Insider.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...hampion-children-n658356?cid=eml_pol_20161003


----------



## poochee

Oct 3, 10:23 AM EDT
*AP: "Apprentice" cast and crew say Trump was lewd and sexist*
By GARANCE BURKE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- In his years as a reality TV boss on "The Apprentice," Donald Trump repeatedly demeaned women with sexist language, according to show insiders who said he rated female contestants by the size of their breasts and talked about which ones he'd like to have sex with.

The Associated Press interviewed more than 20 people - former crew members, editors and contestants - who described crass behavior by Trump behind the scenes of the long-running hit show, in which aspiring capitalists were given tasks to perform as they competed for jobs working for him.

The staffers and contestants agreed to recount their experiences as Trump's behavior toward women has become a core issue in the presidential campaign. Interviewed separately, they gave concurring accounts of inappropriate conduct on the set.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-03-10-23-06


----------



## poochee

*The Time I Found Donald Trump's Tax Records in My Mailbox*
By SUSANNE CRAIG OCT. 2, 2016
_In this article, Susanne Craig, a New York Times Metro reporter who covers government and politics, reveals one of the lesser-known benefits of "snail mail."

But Friday, Sept. 23, was different.

I walked to my mailbox and spotted a manila envelope, postmarked New York, NY, with a return address of The Trump Organization. My heart skipped a beat.

I have been on the hunt for Donald J. Trump's tax returns. Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has broken with decades-long tradition and refused to make his returns public. I have written extensively about his finances, but like almost every other reporter, I was eager to see his actual returns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/i...ld-trumps-tax-records-in-my-mailbox.html?_r=0_


----------



## poochee

*State Attorney General Orders Trump Foundation to Cease Raising Money in New York*
By STEVE EDER OCT. 3, 2016

The office of New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has issued a "notice of violation" to Donald J. Trump's foundation, ordering it to immediately stop soliciting donations in New York.

The letter, which was sent on Friday and released on Monday morning by Mr. Schneiderman's office, said that its charities bureau had determined that the Donald J. Trump Foundation had been fund-raising in New York this year when it was not registered to do so under state law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/us/politics/trump-foundation-money.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

Oct 3, 2:17 PM EDT
*US suspends contacts with Russia on Syria*
By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a sharp deterioration of relations, the U.S. on Monday suspended diplomatic contacts with Russia over Syria, while Moscow halted cooperation on a joint program for disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.

The U.S. move followed a threat last week from Secretary of State John Kerry after new Russian and Syrian attacks on the city of Aleppo. The State Department said Russia had not lived up to the terms of an agreement last month to restore the cease-fire and ensure sustained deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged cities.

"This is not a decision that was taken lightly," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "Unfortunately, Russia failed to live up to its own commitments ... and was also either unwilling or unable to ensure Syrian regime adherence to the arrangements to which Moscow agreed."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-03-14-17-27


----------



## poochee

*Post-debate, Clinton takes the lead*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 4:59 PM ET, Mon October 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton emerges from the first presidential debate with a five-point lead over Donald Trump in the race for the presidency, having narrowed the enthusiasm gap between her supporters and Trump's, and holding broad advantages over the Republican nominee as the candidate with the right temperament and preparation for the job, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

The survey finds Clinton topping Trump 47% to 42% among likely voters with Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson at 7% and Green Party nominee Jill Stein at 2%.

Clinton's boost in the race stems largely from gains on Trump among men (from a 22-point deficit with that group in early September to just a 5-point one now) and sharply increased support from independents, who broke heavily in Trump's favor in the early September poll but now tilt Clinton, 44% to 37%.

Read the full CNN/ORC poll results

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/03/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-presidential-polls/index.html


----------



## poochee

October 03, 2016, 01:25 pm
*President Obama's ocean legacy supports fishermen and sustainable seafood*
By Rick Gaffney and Chris Lee

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the string of uninhabited islands stretching 1,200 miles from Nihoa Island to Kure Atoll, have a bipartisan history of conservation dating back over a century. Starting with Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, seven American presidents - four Democrats and three Republicans - have put in place protections for the region. This spectacular expanse of islands and ocean is home to the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, recently enlarged by President Barack  Today because of the President's bold vision, Hawaii is home to the largest marine reserve in the world.

Papahanaumokuakea is a source of great pride for Hawaii. The monument was the first marine area inscribed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites for having global significance for both culture and biodiversity. It also gives Native Hawaiians a direct role in how ocean resources are managed, and protects fragile ecosystems and threatened populations of sea life, which is why we question what compelled a congressman from landlocked Utah to make unsubstantiated claims about Papahanaumokuakea and the future of commercial fishing in Hawaii.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...nt-obamas-ocean-legacy-supports-fishermen-and


----------



## poochee

*After Trump's tax-return leak, Clinton accuses him of protecting a 'rigged system'*
By Abby Phillip and David Weigel
Post Politics
October 3 at 3:27 PM

*VIDEO*

TOLEDO, Ohio - Hillary Clinton looked to compound Donald Trump's season of bad news, sharply criticizing him Monday for losing nearly a billion dollars and pocketing tax savings while ordinary Americans pay their fair share.

"What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?" Clinton asked a crowd in downtown Toledo, with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Here in the economic rust belt, support for Trump has been difficult for Clinton to dislodge. But with the new revelations, the campaign sees an opportunity to refocus on the economy. Most of her speech here hinged on making the case that Trump is more robber baron than populist prince.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...a-rigged-system/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Oct 4, 10:04 AM EDT
*Kerry says US not abandoning peace efforts in Syria*
By BRADLEY KLAPPER and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The United States won't abandon its pursuit of peace in Syria after suspending direct U.S.-Russian talks on a cease-fire, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday, even as he announced no new strategy to replace diplomatic efforts with Russia.

Washington and Moscow will still discuss Syria as part of larger multilateral negotiations, Kerry said, and they'll make sure their warplanes conducting bombing missions in the Arab country don't cross paths. Explaining Monday's announcement to halt bilateral contacts over Syria, he said Russia has rejected diplomacy and chosen instead to help Syrian President Bashar Assad's government achieve a military victory over rebel groups.

"We acknowledge in sorrow and, I have to tell you, a great sense of outrage that Russia has turned a blind eye to Assad's deplorable use of these weapons of war, chlorine gas and barrel bombs, against his people," Kerry said in a speech focused on trans-Atlantic ties at an event hosted by the German Marshall Fund in Brussels.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-03-17-39-45


----------



## poochee

*What to watch in the vice presidential debate*
By Nia-Malika Henderson, Senior Political Reporter
Updated 8:53 AM ET, Tue October 4, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Sen. Tim Kaine and Gov. Mike Pence come into Tuesday night's debate with a mission.

Pence needs to help Donald Trump recover from his lost week and re-focus his message, as well as convince people the White House is in good hands with the unpredictable Trump. Kaine wants ensure Hillary Clinton can solidify her post-debate gains in several swing states and in national polls.

*Here are five things to watch when the vice presidential nominees sit down for their only debate:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/04/politics/what-to-watch-vp-debate/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 4, 1:10 PM EDT
*Clinton seeks support from women in suburban Philadelphia*
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

HAVERFORD, Pa. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton aimed to capitalize on tumult within the campaign of rival Donald Trump on Tuesday, hunting for votes in the Philadelphia suburbs with a message directed at working mothers and college-educated women.

Joined by daughter Chelsea Clinton and actress Elizabeth Banks at an event billed as a "family town hall," the Democratic presidential nominee outlined ways she would curb gun violence that has spilled out across the nation and provide paid family leave and sick days for struggling working mothers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-04-13-10-14


----------



## poochee

*Clinton's Former Prosecutor Endorses Her for President*
Oct 3, 2016 6:00 AM EDT
Eli Lake

Twenty years ago, Michael Chertoff was near the top of the Clintons' enemy list. He was the lead Republican counsel on the Senate Whitewater Committee, one of the first of many congressional investigations into Hillary Clinton.

Clinton later cast the only vote in the Senate against him when he was nominated in 2001 to head the Justice Department's criminal division. She was also the lone no vote against Chertoff in 2003, when he was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the third circuit.

All of this, though, was before the Republican Party nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. This has shaken the party of Reagan. Chertoff, a lifelong Republican, will now be voting for the Democrat in November.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/arti...orses-her?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-100316


----------



## poochee

*Kaine, Pence wage an unsatisfying proxy war in vice-presidential debate*
By Dan Balz
Politics
October 4 at 11:31 PM

FARMVILLE, Va. - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton weren't on the stage at the vice-presidential debate here Tuesday night, but it didn't really matter. They were still front and center.

Stripped of the overpowering personalities of Trump and Clinton, the debate between Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) offered the possibility of a more civil and sober conversation about issues that divide the two national party tickets. At times it was just that, whether on the economy, immigration, the chaos in the Middle East or abortion.

But for much of the evening, it was a boisterous proxy war by a pair of running mates whose goal was to take down the other's presidential nominee. They squabbled, they disagreed, they interrupted one another, they rolled out canned lines, and they feigned indignation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4f-a7f89eb68887_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

Oct 5 2016, 8:40 am ET
*Split Decision: How Pence Helped Pence While Kaine Helped Clinton*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

You have to give Republican presidential running mate Mike Pence credit. In what was a difficult assignment defending Donald Trump after a week of missteps and controversies, Pence was smooth and polished in his debate against Democratic VP nominee Tim Kaine. Indeed, Pence came out on top in the Kaine-vs.-Pence debate, with Kaine not winning any style points for his constant interruptions. But in the night's other debate -- Clinton vs. Trump -- it was Kaine who won, simply because Pence didn't defend (or didn't forcefully defend) Trump on not releasing his tax returns and on his controversial statements. "Six times tonight, I have said to Gov. Pence I can't imagine how you can defend your running mate's position on one issue after the next. And in all six cases, he's refused to defend his running mate. And yet he is asking everybody to vote for somebody that he cannot defend." Ouch. Bottom line: Mike Pence helped Mike Pence, especially when viewed through a 2020 lens. But Tim Kaine helped Hillary Clinton more than Pence helped Trump.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...e-helped-clinton-n660201?cid=eml_pol_20161005


----------



## poochee

Fact-checking the vice-presidential debate between Kaine and Pence
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
October 5 at 2:58 AM

*VIDEO*

The Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, and the Republican nominee, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, debated Oct. 4 at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Here is a roundup of 25 suspicious or interesting claims that were made. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-presidential-debate-between-kaine-and-pence/


----------



## poochee

Oct 5, 1:30 PM EDT
*Obama wants to make sure people take storm threat seriously*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged residents of Florida and other states along the path of Hurricane Matthew to take the threat seriously.

Government officials are worried about complacency, especially in South Florida, which hasn't seen a major hurricane in 11 years.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-05-13-30-40


----------



## poochee

Oct 5 2016, 3:50 pm ET
*Obama: Paris Climate Accord Best Possible Shot to 'Save' Planet*
by NBC News and Reuters

*VIDEO*

A sweeping global agreement to combat climate change by shifting the world economy away from fossil fuels will take force next month after passing a threshold for ratification on Wednesday with support from European nations.

President Obama, speaking from the Rose Garden, called the "Paris Agreement" potentially a "turning point" for our planet.

"This gives us the best possible shot to save the one planet we've got," Obama said.

Addressing climate change has been a core goal for the president and netting the Paris climate deal is considered a critical part of his environmental policy legacy.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/obama-paris-climate-accord-best-possible-shot-save-planet-n660446


----------



## poochee

*President Barack Obama declares state of emergency in Florida as potentially catastrophic Hurricane Matthew approaches*
By Associated Press
October 6 at 1:57 PM

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama declares state of emergency in Florida as potentially catastrophic Hurricane Matthew approaches .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...8777ec-8bee-11e6-8cdc-4fbb1973b506_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama approval hits new high*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 9:42 AM ET, Thu October 6, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama's rating is 55% in a new poll
That's the highest mark of his second term
_(CNN)_President Barack Obama's approval rating stands at 55% in a new CNN/ORC poll, the highest mark of his second term, and matching his best at any time since his first year in office.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/06/politics/obama-approval-rating-new-high/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 6 2016, 11:01 am ET
*Thirty Former GOP Congressmen Come Out Against Trump*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

A group of 30 former Republican members of Congress has publicly come out against Donald Trump.

It's the largest group of former Republican elected officials to officially
announce their opposition to the current leader of their party.

"Sadly, our party's nominee this year is a man who makes a mockery of the principles and values we have cherished and which we sought to represent in Congress," the letters states.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...op-congressmen-come-out-against-trump-n660906


----------



## poochee

*At Nevada Rally, Trump Woos The Terminally Ill Demographic *
By Karoli Kuns
10/06/16 7:00am

*VIDEO*

Trump's Nevada rally on Tuesday was special on a couple of different levels. In addition to telling everyone there to mispronounce Nevada as "NevAHda," he had a special appeal for the terminally ill.

http://crooksandliars.com/2016/10/nevada-rally-trump-woos-terminally-ill


----------



## poochee

*Trump says town hall event has 'nothing to do' with debate prep -- and proves it*
By Jeremy Diamond and Maeve Reston, CNN
Updated 11:27 PM ET, Thu October 6, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"They were saying this is practice for Sunday. This isn't practice," Trump said
Trump opened by extending his prayers to those living in the path of Hurricane Matthew
But as Trump prepared to field questions from voters on Thursday, it appeared as though the event had been set up to prepare Trump for his next showdown with Clinton.

Howie Carr, a talk radio host supporting Trump, would serve as moderator, and he announced to Trump that he would man a clock timing his responses to two minutes each. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a town hall aficionado who has been helping Trump prepare for the coming debate, stood just a couple yards away, carefully observing Trump's performance.

And as Carr read questions from the voters in the room, each would stand up to identify themselves, giving Trump a chance to interact -- with pleasantries or an exchange of glances -- with them.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/06/politics/donald-trump-town-hall-new-hampshire/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 6, 5:27 PM EDT
*Business leaders call Trump bad for economy in new letter*
By JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A dozen big-name business leaders, including lifelong Republicans and independents, say they won't support real estate mogul Donald Trump for president. They say he would be bad for the economy, and they question how successful he's been as a businessman.

"For sustained investment, economic growth and job creation, American business needs as much predictability, reliability and stability in our government as possible," they write. "Donald Trump is simply too reckless for American business."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-06-17-27-06


----------



## poochee

*Countries Around The World Beat The U.S. On Paid Parental Leave*
October 6, 20167:09 PM ET 
Jessica Deahl

Jody Heymann, founding director of the World Policy Analysis Center at UCLA, says the global landscape for paid parental leave looks bright, but the U.S. is far behind.

"The U.S. is absolutely the only high-income country that doesn't, and as you can tell by the numbers, overwhelmingly the world provides it," she says. "The world not only provides paid maternity leave, but they provide adequate paid paternity leave."

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/06/49583...the-world-beat-the-u-s-on-paid-parental-leave


----------



## poochee

*Hurricane Matthew Lashes Florida With 100 MPH Winds, 1 Dead as Nearly 1 Million Lose Power*

By J.J. GALLAGHER
EMILY SHAPIRO
Morgan Winsor
Oct 7, 2016, 1:37 PM ET
*VIDEO*

Hurricane Matthew battered the Florida coast this morning with powerful winds, potentially devastating storm surges and torrential rain, leaving nearly 1 million without power as officials made last-minute appeals for any remaining holdouts to get out of harm's way.

President Obama this morning urged residents to pay attention to their local officials. While the focus of the storm is on Florida right now, he warned Georgia residents to pay attention, as the storm will likely move north.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hurricane-...licksource_4380645_2_hero_headlines_bsq_image


----------



## poochee

*U.S. added 156,000 jobs in September; unemployment rate rose to 5 percent*
Friday , October 07, 2016 - 8:23 AM 
Chico Harlan

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy added 156,000 new jobs in September, government data showed Friday, as companies maintained their steady pace of hiring.

The unemployment rate ticked up from 4.9 to 5 percent, largely because the labor force swelled with scores of new would-be workers - a sign that Americans are growing confident enough to come in from the sideline.

The Labor Department also revised its estimates for job creation in July and August, with the combined total falling by 7,000. The nation has added 178,000 new jobs in the typical month this year, roughly double the pace necessary to keep up with population growth.

http://www.standard.net/Business/20...ptember-unemployment-rate-rose-to-5-percent-1


----------



## poochee

*Daughter of Trump booster Giuliani is backing Clinton*
 William Cummings  , USA TODAY 8:23 a.m. EDT October 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

Caroline Giuliani - the daughter of former New York City mayor and ardent Donald Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani - is making it clear that she's "with her."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...7/giuliani-daughter-backing-clinton/91715474/


----------



## poochee

Oct 7 2016, 3:46 pm ET
*U.S. Publicly Blames Russian Government for Hacking*
by Tracy Connor, Robert Windrem and Josh Meyer

*VIDEO*

The Obama administration on Friday for the first time squarely blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin's government for a wave of hacking attacks and email leaks, saying the goal was "to interfere with the U.S. election process."

"The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations," the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in an extraordinary gloves-off statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-publicly-blames-russian-government-hacking-n662066


----------



## poochee

October 07, 2016, 05:50 pm
*Obama signs 'bill of rights' for rape survivors into law*
By Cristina Marcos

President Obama signed legislation into law on Friday that ensures sexual assault survivors in federal criminal cases have access to forensic evidence collection kits.

The bill, known as the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act, guarantees the right to materials for gathering and preserving physical evidence, known as rape kits.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-acti...ns-bill-of-rights-for-rape-survivors-into-law


----------



## poochee

*Trump bragged on hot mic about being able to grope women*
By Jeremy Diamond and MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 5:42 PM ET, Fri October 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

_*WARNING:* This story contains graphic language._
(CNN)Donald Trump bragged about trying to have sex with a married woman and being able to grope women in previously unaired footage from 2005 that surfaced on Friday.

Trump is heard discussing women in vulgar terms during off-camera banter during the taping of a segment for "Access Hollywood," footage which was obtained by The Washington Post.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/07/politics/donald-trump-women-vulgar/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama's popularity soars thanks to Trump*
_The White House says Americans are finally appreciating Obama's long-term results. But they acknowledge Trump helps._
By Sarah Wheaton
10/06/16 07:45 PM EDT

The American public is falling back in love with President Barack Obama, who is suddenly enjoying his highest approval numbers since the honeymoon that was his first year in office.

It's due, in no small part, to Donald Trump.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/obama-approval-rating-donald-trump-229262#ixzz4MRLUIze5
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Fri Oct 7, 2016 | 5:35pm EDT
*Obama casts early vote for 2016 election during Chicago trip*
Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Leslie Adler

President Barack Obama on Friday cast his ballot for the Nov. 8 election during a trip to his hometown of Chicago.

Onlookers cheered as Obama, who was a U.S. senator from Illinois prior to becoming president, entered the early-voting facility in downtown Chicago.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-obama-idUSKCN1272C0


----------



## poochee

*WikiLeaks posts apparent excerpts of Clinton Wall Street speeches*
By Laura Koran, Dan Merica and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 9:50 PM ET, Fri October 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Thousands of hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, were posted online Friday evening, including what appears to be excerpts from transcripts of closed-door speeches Clinton gave to Wall Street companies after leaving the State Department.

WikiLeaks, which has been alleged to work with Russia, posted more than 2,000 emails from Podesta and promises to post more from a trove of more than 50,000 the group said it has access to.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/07/politics/john-podesta-emails-hacked/index.html


----------



## poochee

*State Department releases new batch of Clinton emails*
By Laura Koran, CNN
Updated 5:27 PM ET, Fri October 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The State Department released 75 emails, totaling 273 pages, recovered by the FBI as part of their investigation into Hillary Clinton's private server Friday.

The release is the first of four large productions before Election Day, with more expected in the months after.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/07/politics/clinton-emails-state-department/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 8 2016, 12:30 am ET
*Trump Apologizes for Vulgar Comments About Women Recorded in 2005*
by Kelly O'Donnell

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump late Friday apologized for crude comments he made about women in 2005, saying in a video posted online that "I said it. I was wrong and I apologize."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ar-comments-about-women-recorded-2005-n662311


----------



## poochee

October 08, 2016
*Weekly Address: Continuing to Strengthen the Middle Class *

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama highlighted wage growth over the course of his presidency. Since 2012, real wages have grown about 20 times faster than they did for almost three decades between 1980 and 2007. Last year, typical household income rose by $2,800 - the single largest increase on record. Across every race and age group in America, incomes rose and poverty rates fell; and 3.5 million people were lifted out of poverty - the largest one-year drop in the poverty rate since 1968. Thanks in part to states and communities that have raised the minimum wage, lower- and middle-income families saw the biggest boost in incomes. Although we've made significant progress, the President said more work needs to be done to strengthen the middle class - and this starts with a Congress that will put politics aside and act on commonsense ideas.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trump throws GOP into chaos*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 4:10 PM ET, Sat October 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Mike Pence criticized Trump after days of defending him
Series of Reublicans Republicans urge Trump to abandon the campaign
(CNN)The Republican Party is in a meltdown unlike anything it has experienced in modern times.

Many in the GOP are reeling from shock, revulsion and utter confusion about what to do next after a video surfaced Friday of Donald Trump talking about women in crude and aggressive sexual terms.

Even Trump's wife, Melania, who has kept a low profile in recent months, released a statement saying Trump's comments were "offensive."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/donald-trump-gop-chaos/index.html


----------



## poochee

*McCain Joins Growing Ranks of Republicans Withdrawing Support for Trump*

By Jordyn Phelps
BENJAMIN SIEGEL
ALANA ABRAMSON
Oct 8, 2016, 5:16 PM ET
*VIDEO
*
Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain has withdrawn his support from Donald Trump, adding to the growing list of GOP officeholders who announced Saturday that they will not support their party's standard-bearer in the election.

"Cindy and I will not vote for Donald Trump," the Arizona senator and 2008 presidential nominee announced in a statement Saturday that also referred to the views of his wife, Cindy McCain. "I have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate and we will not vote for Hillary Clinton. We will write in the name of some good conservative Republican who is qualified to be President."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/repu...aked-comments-groping-women/story?id=42657879


----------



## combsdon

the ship is sinking......................blub, blub, blub...........................


----------



## poochee

*More Trump tapes surface with crude sex remarks*
By Marc Fisher
Politics
October 8 at 5:52 PM

*VIDEO *

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, already under siege for vulgar comments about forcing women into sex, also had crude, sexually explicit conversations in a series of radio interviews over the past 23 years, even noting how "voluptuous" his daughter was.

On a new batch of recordings from Howard Stern's radio shows aired Saturday by CNN, Trump said that he would "have no problem" having sex with 24-year-olds, that he "couldn't care less" if he satisfies the women he sleeps with, that "it's checkout time" once women reach the age of 35 and that he had engaged in three-way sex.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...op-table-main_howardstern808pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

Oct 8 2016, 7:35 pm ET
*These Republican Leaders Say Trump Should Not Be President*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump faced harsh rebukes from a growing list of Republicans on Saturday after the release of a video in which he brags about groping women, with some in the GOP calling on him to drop out of the presidential race.

The candidate himself was defiant, however, telling The Washington Post that he will "never withdraw"  and insisting the "support I'm getting is unbelievable."

But the condemnation from across the Republican Party was growing louder and more fierce. By NBC News' count, nearly 75 Republicans have censured their party's presidential nominee - and more than two dozen have demanded he drop out. Here's how they break out:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...demned-republican-leaders-legislators-n662446


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> Oct 8 2016, 7:35 pm ET
> *These Republican Leaders Say Trump Should Not Be President*
> by Leigh Ann Caldwell
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> Donald Trump faced harsh rebukes from a growing list of Republicans on Saturday after the release of a video in which he brags about groping women, with some in the GOP calling on him to drop out of the presidential race.
> 
> The candidate himself was defiant, however, telling The Washington Post that he will "never withdraw"  and insisting the "support I'm getting is unbelievable."
> 
> But the condemnation from across the Republican Party was growing louder and more fierce. By NBC News' count, nearly 75 Republicans have censured their party's presidential nominee - and more than two dozen have demanded he drop out. Here's how they break out:
> 
> http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...demned-republican-leaders-legislators-n662446


Never thought I'd have something in common with a republican!! LOL


----------



## poochee

Wino said:


> Never thought I'd have something in common with a republican!! LOL


...


----------



## poochee

Oct 9 2016, 2:08 pm ET
*Exclusive: Inside the Trump Campaign's Moment of Crisis*
by Katy Tur and Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

NEW YORK - Under siege from a growing brigade of Republican officials demanding Donald Trump step down, the candidate's campaign team and dwindling number of allies struggled to respond on Sunday, just hours before a crucial second debate with Hillary Clinton.

At Trump Tower in Manhattan, where the candidate holed up after the 2005 Access Hollywood tape surfaced, stalwart Trump backers including son Eric Trump and campaign CEO Steve Bannon projected a sunny image to reporters as they left the building, saying things were on track for the debate.

But as dozens of top Republicans continue to publicly abandon Trump, sources tell NBC News his campaign and party apparatus are going through an intense bout of soul searching, with no unified message on how to proceed. The sources were granted anonymity in order to speak candidly.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/inside-trump-campaign-s-moment-crisis-n662776


----------



## poochee

*What to watch in the second presidential debate*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 1:16 PM ET, Sun October 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump will have 90 minutes Sunday night to save his presidential campaign, as he faces off against Hillary Clinton in a debate that will cap one of the most extraordinary weekends in American political history.

Republicans -- including vice presidential nominee Mike Pence -- are criticizing Trump for his vulgar comments about advances he has made toward women that came to light Friday. And an ever-growing list of senators and top GOP officials want Trump replaced on the ticket.

Trump insists he won't leave the race, and he and allies (those that remain, at least) indicate he'll go on the attack against Clinton.

There's one thing on everyone's mind Sunday night in St. Louis at the town hall debate co-moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper. *Here's what to watch:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/09/politics/presidential-debate-what-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama: Comments From Trump About Women Show He's 'Insecure'* 
October 9, 20164:44 PM ET 
 Amita Kelly

Reacting to the recent release of audio of Donald Trump making vulgar comments about women, President Obama called the candidate "insecure" and said he "pumps himself up by putting other people down - not a character trait I would advise for somebody in the Oval Office."

"One of the most disturbing things about this election is just the unbelievable rhetoric coming from the top of the Republican ticket," he said. "I don't need to repeat it. There are children in the room."

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/09/497295693/obama-comments-from-trump-show-hes-insecure


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Vows Retaliation as Republicans Abandon Him*
By ALEXANDER BURNS, JONATHAN MARTIN and MAGGIE HABERMANOCT. 9, 2016

The Republican Party was at the brink of civil war on Sunday as Donald J. Trump signaled he would retaliate against lawmakers who withdraw their support from his campaign, and senior party leaders privately acknowledged that they now feared losing control of both houses of Congress.

Even before Mr. Trump's second debate against Hillary Clinton, the party faced an internal rift unseen in modern times. A wave of defections from Mr. Trump's candidacy, prompted by the revelation of a recording that showed him bragging about sexual assault, was met with boastful defiance by the Republican presidential nominee.

On Twitter, Mr. Trump attacked the Republicans fleeing his campaign as "self-righteous hypocrites" and predicted their defeat at the ballot box. In a set of talking points sent to his supporters Sunday morning, Mr. Trump's campaign urged them to attack turncoat Republicans as "more concerned with their political future than they are about the country."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/us/politics/republicans-trump.html?ref=politics


----------



## poochee

*UGLIEST DEBATE EVER*
_Clinton says Trump's campaign is exploding. Trump calls Clinton the devil_.
By Shane Goldmacher
10/09/16 11:13 PM EDT
Updated 10/09/16 11:13 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

It was the ugliest debate in American history.

For 90 minutes, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton called each other liars, untrustworthy and unfit for office as they sparred not so much about their policy differences as their basic character.

Trump even threatened to "jail" Clinton if he became president. "Believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart," Trump said. Clinton accused Trump of launching distractions and diversions: "Anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it's exploding."

It was nearly non-stop name-calling and nastiness - they opened by dispensing with the traditional handshake and an agitated Trump repeatedly encroached Clinton's physical space as he paced the debate stage. There were only brief reprieves of policy discussion that soon devolved back into a contentious affair, even as they had to balance their attacks with flashes of geniality before a town-hall audience of undecided voters.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/2016-presidential-debate-donald-trump-hillary-clinton#ixzz4MeLwCJ6d 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Fact Checks of the Second*
*Presidential Debate*

Reporters for The New York Times fact-checked the statements made by Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump during Sunday's presidential debate. Here's our how we analyzed it live, plus our highlights and emails with William Weld, the Libertarian vice-presidential nominee.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/09/us/elections/fact-check-debate.html?ref=politics


----------



## poochee

October 09, 2016, 10:47 pm
*House fly crashes presidential debate*
By Judy Kurtz

*PICTURE*

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/300148-house-fly-crashes-presidential-debate


----------



## poochee

*Paul Ryan Will No Longer Defend Trump, Looks To Protect House Majority* 
October 10, 201612:10 PM ET 
 Susan Davis 
Jessica Taylor 

The speaker told his members "you all need to do what's best for you in your district" and that he will not defend Trump or campaign with him over the next 29 days until Election Day on Nov. 8. Ryan had been planning to campaign with Trump on Saturday, the day after the video surfaced, but that appearance was quickly scrapped.

Trump responded on Twitter a short time later, chiding Ryan to "not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee."

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/10/49738...-defend-trump-looks-to-protect-house-majority


----------



## poochee

*Fact-checking the second Clinton-Trump presidential debate*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
October 10 at 3:45 AM

*VIDEO*

In the second presidential debate, Donald Trump once again relied on many dubious and false claims that have been repeatedly been debunked. His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, on occasion made a factual misstep, but it didn't even compare to Trump's long list of exaggerations.

*Here's a roundup of 25 interesting and suspect claims*. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...presidential-debate/?wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

Oct 10 2016, 12:44 pm ET
*Poll: After Trump Tape Revelation, Clinton's Lead Up to Double Digits*
by Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

As Donald Trump's campaign reels over tapes of the presidential candidate's sexually aggressive comments about women in 2005, the Republican nominee now trails Hillary Clinton by double digits among likely voters, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. 

The poll, conducted on Saturday and Sunday but before the second presidential debate, shows Clinton with 46 percent support among likely voters in a four-way matchup, compared to 35 percent for Trump.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...velation-clinton-s-lead-double-digits-n663691


----------



## poochee

*'Today' show addresses Billy Bush suspension on the air*
Published October 10, 2016
FoxNews.com

*VIDEO*

Bright and early Monday morning, "Today" host Savannah Guthrie read an NBC statement regarding the suspension of host Billy Bush, following the release of a tape in which Bush is heard discussing women using lewd language alongside GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainmen...w-addresses-billy-bush-suspension-on-air.html


----------



## poochee

By Kate Gibson MoneyWatch October 10, 2016, 2:18 PM
*Trump was wrong about my taxes, Warren Buffett says*

By Monday afternoon, the billionaire investor offered a public rebuke to Trump, releasing a statement Monday entitled "Some Tax Facts for Donald Trump," saying he had paid federal income tax every year since 1944 -- when Buffett was 13 and, "being a slow starter," owed just $7.

"I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward," said Buffett of the strategy used by Trump to uses losses incurred one year to offset gains in subsequent years.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-was-wrong-about-my-taxes-warren-buffett-says/


----------



## poochee

**
*Trump Wandered Creepily At The Debate*
_Donald Trump wandered behind Hillary Clinton at the second presidential debate._

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ly-at-the-debate_us_57fb2888e4b03e9442d3cc0a?


----------



## poochee

*Federal judge extends Florida voter registration deadline*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 6:34 PM ET, Mon October 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The US District Court ruling comes after the Florida Democratic Party sued
Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott had opposed the extension


http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/10/politics/federal-judge-extends-florida-voter-registration-deadline/


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama: America will take the giant leap to Mars*
By Barack Obama
Updated 1:52 PM ET, Tue October 11, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Barack Obama: Space program shows America's boundary-pushing curiosity. We do what's possible before anyone else
He says next step is to reach for Mars: learn to build new habitats that can sustain astronauts on long missions
(CNN)One of my earliest memories is sitting on my grandfather's shoulders, waving a flag as our astronauts returned to Hawaii. This was years before we'd set foot on the moon. Decades before we'd land a rover on Mars. A generation before photos from the International Space Station would show up in our social media feeds.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/opinions/america-will-take-giant-leap-to-mars-barack-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Wreckage Left Behind by Hurricane Matthew*

Alan Taylor
2:20 PM ET
34 Photos
In Focus
What remains of Hurricane Matthew is now a tropical depression moving out into the Atlantic Ocean. Matthew moved slowly northward from Haiti and Cuba to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, at peak, reaching sustained winds of 160 mph. One week after the powerful storm first made landfall in southwestern Haiti, some communities still have not received any assistance, as authorities there reported at least 900 deaths due to the hurricane. Another 33 people in the United States lost their lives as Matthew crashed ashore. Haiti now faces a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of residents in need of aid, housing, and medical attention, as a growing cholera outbreak threatens to make the situation even worse.

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/10/the-wreckage-left-behind-by-hurricane-matthew/503687/


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is blowing up the Republican Party*
By Chris Cillizza
The Fix
October 11 at 11:33 AM

Tuesday marks four weeks until the 2016 election. And the Republican presidential nominee is in the midst of blowing up his own party.

The news came - as it so often does with Donald Trump - via Twitter.

Let's stop for a second. This is the Republican presidential nominee. Attacking his own party. Promising to teach his party leaders a lesson. Pledging to take the "shackles off."

I've spent the better part of the past two decades covering politics - day in and day out. And, I can say without hesitation I have NEVER seen anything close to this. And I expect I never will again.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/11/donald-trump-is-blowing-up-the-republican-party/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_fix-trump-1pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

Poll Chart
*2016 General Election: Trump vs. Clinton*
Currently tracking 321 polls from 42 pollsters
Updated 28 minutes ago
Election on November 8, 2016

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-general-election-trump-vs-clinton


----------



## poochee

*GOP ex-prosecutors slam Trump over threat to 'jail' Clinton*
'The Justice Department isn't a political tool and it ought not to be employed that way.'
By Josh Gerstein
10/10/16 05:20 PM E
Updated 10/10/16 05:20 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's debate-night vow to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton's email setup and put her "in jail" provoked a sharp blowback from former U.S. prosecutors, who said Trump's view of the Justice Department serving the whims of the president is antithetical to the American system.

While presidents appoint the attorney general, they do not make decisions on whom to prosecute for crimes - and were Trump to do so, prosecutors warned, he would spark a constitutional crisis similar to that of the "Saturday Night Massacre" in the Nixon administration. In that case, Nixon attempted to fire the prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, and the top two Justice Department officials resigned on the spot.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-clinton-jail-ex-prosecutors-slam-229547


----------



## poochee

*RNC goes dark as party members demand answers*
_With Trump campaign in freefall, RNC members greeted with 'radio silence' from party._
By Katie Glueck and Alex Isenstadt
10/10/16 04:28 PM EDT
Updated 10/10/16 04:28 PM EDT

As Donald Trump's campaign unravels, the Republican National Committee has gone dark - failing to give GOP vendors guidance on whether to keep working for the nominee or to move resources into down-ballot races, and not even returning calls from party members ahead of a critical late-afternoon meeting about the way forward.

Numerous Republicans on Monday used the same phrase to describe the response of the RNC to their questions: "radio silence."

The RNC plans to conduct a closed conference call with members on Monday at 5 p.m., but numerous Republicans said they could not get through to the committee all day. And vendors working on Trump Victory, the effort dedicated to winning the White House, still have not yet been given the green light to restart pro-Trump mailings just four weeks until the election. On Saturday, one day after the bombshell tape was released, the committee sent an email to mail vendors asking them to "put a hold/stop on all mail projects."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/rnc-goes-dark-as-party-members-demand-answers-229556


----------



## poochee

_*Barack Obama found Donald Trump tape 'repugnant'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 3:14 PM ET, Tue October 11, 2016

*VIDEO*

(CNN)Donald Trump's sexually aggressive boasts a decade ago were "repugnant" in President Barack Obama's mind, his spokesman said Monday.

The caught-on-tape remarks, which have thrown the Republican Party into tumult, amounted to an endorsement of criminal behavior, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

"The President found the tape as repugnant as most Americans did," Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to a campaign stop in North Carolina. "I think there's been a pretty clear statement by people all along the ideological spectrum that those statements constituted sexual assault."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/politics/obama-donald-trump-tape-repugnant/index.html

_


----------



## poochee

*Al Gore: 'Consider me exhibit A' for why each vote matters*
By Nolan D. McCaskill
10/11/16 05:05 PM EDT
Updated 10/11/16 05:05 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

Former Vice President Al Gore introduced himself to Florida millennials on Tuesday, telling them that his near miss in the 2000 presidential election is "exhibit A" for why it's so important to vote.

Campaigning with Hillary Clinton in Miami, Gore highlighted two messages he wanted to share with the former secretary of state's supporters.

"No. 1, when it comes to the most urgent issue facing our country and the world, the choice in this election is extremely clear. Hillary Clinton will make solving the climate crisis a top national priority," Gore said. "Very important."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/...rs-229625?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-101116


----------



## poochee

*Obama Takes Issue With Trump and His Supporters in Congress*
By darlene superville, associated press
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Oct 11, 2016, 8:05 PM ET

Exposing the nation's sharp political divisions as Election Day nears, supporters of Republican Donald Trump repeatedly interrupted President Barack Obama on Tuesday as he urged North Carolina Democrats to take advantage of early voting and cast their presidential ballots for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Obama also delivered a sharp indictment of Republicans who continue to support Trump's bid despite hearing him on a recently released video recording from 2005 talking in vulgar terms about making unwanted sexual advances toward women.

The stop in North Carolina, parts of which are experiencing record flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, marked the first of three appearances the president has scheduled this week in battleground states in the White House race. The president canceled a Clinton campaign event last week in Miami because of the approaching storm. Polls indicate the presidential race is extremely close in North Carolina.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/sprint-connect-1m-students-brothers-keeper-42726158


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump tells supporters to vote on November 28*
 
Bryan Logan

During a campaign event Tuesday night, Donald Trump urged his supporters to vote on November 28.

"Go and register. Make sure you get out and vote November 28," the GOP presidential nominee said in Panama City, Florida.

Election day is actually November 8.

http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-tells-rally-crowd-to-vote-on-november-28-2016-10


----------



## poochee

*Russia, US move past Cold War to unpredictable confrontation*
By Nicole Gaouette and Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 2:14 PM ET, Wed October 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)It's not a new Cold War. It's not even a deep chill. It's an outright conflict.

US-Russia relations have deteriorated sharply amid a barrage of accusations and disagreements, raising the stakes on issues ranging from the countries' competing military operations in Syria, disputes over Eastern European independence and escalating cyber breaches.

"This is a conflict, there should be no doubt," said Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, on the US-Russia confrontation.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/12/politics/us-russia-tensions-cold-war/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump turns bitter*
_The Republican nominee, sinking in the polls, lashes out at the dishonest media, a partisan debate commission, and a GOP establishment out to get him._
By Nolan D. McCaskill
10/12/16 04:44 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

A bitter Donald Trump on Wednesday ratcheted up his accusations about a rigged system designed to coronate Hillary Clinton, blaming a corrupt Democratic nominee, a dishonest media, a partisan debate commission, an unjust justice system, and a Republican establishment that's in on it all.

Trump also offered a glimpse into his potential administration, a reign that would jail Clinton and the law firm that helped delete emails from her private server, and would include an investigation into the Justice Department investigation that ultimately cleared her of criminal wrongdoing.

But Trump signaled that such things are unlikely to happen - not because that's now how the federal government operates - but because the political establishment is working to elect Clinton over him.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-lashes-out-polls-media-gop-229691


----------



## poochee

*Early Voting Could Point to Hillary Clinton Victory Well Before Nov. 8*
By JEREMY W. PETERSOCT. 11, 2016

With early voting already underway in many of the states that will decide the presidency, Hillary Clinton is beginning to reap the benefits of years of Democratic efforts to target and register voters, even as Republicans steadily close their disadvantage in party registration.

The first wave of data from states like Florida and North Carolina shows preliminary signs that Mrs. Clinton was building a slight edge even before the revelation that Donald J. Trump had bragged about sexual assault roiled the race.

Democrats are requesting more absentee ballots in Florida than they were at this point in 2012, with increases of 50 percent in the heavily Hispanic areas around Miami and Orlando. In North Carolina, where Mitt Romney built enough of a lead in early voting four years ago to eke out a victory over President Obama, Democrats are requesting mail-in ballots in larger numbers than in 2012, while Republicans' participation is declining.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/us/politics/early-voting-registration.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

10/11/16
*Apprentice Contestant on Trump's Behavior*
*
VIDEO
*
After Donald Trump's lewd comments on "Access Hollywood" surfaced, more people with ties to his reality show are speaking out, including a sound engineer on "The Apprentice." Tara Dowdell, a contestant on the show, joins Lawrence to relay her experience.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/apprentice-contestant-on-trump-s-behavior-783940675601


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Scottish golf resorts report 2015 losses*
By Sean Sullivan
Post Politics
October 12 at 3:15 PM

A pair of luxe Scottish golf resorts operated by Donald Trump suffered millions of dollars in losses during 2015, according to recent filings with a U.K. government agency, adding another complication to Trump's pitch for the White House, in which he has frequently emphasized his business acumen.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ort-2015-losses/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately*
By MEGAN TWOHEY and MICHAEL BARBAROOCT. 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

Donald J. Trump was emphatic in the second presidential debate: Yes, he had boasted about kissing women without permission and grabbing their genitals. But he had never actually done those things, he said.

"No," he declared under questioning on Sunday evening, "I have not."

At that moment, sitting at home in Manhattan, Jessica Leeds, 74, felt he was lying to her face. "I wanted to punch the screen," she said in an interview in her apartment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

Oct 12 2016, 5:52 pm ET
*Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Retires, Effective Immediately*
by Christine Wang, CNBC

*VIDEOS*

Wells Fargo said on Wednesday that Chairman and CEO John Stumpf will retire effective immediately in the wake of a sales practice scandal at the bank.

The news comes after it was revealed that employees in Wells Fargo's community banking division opened about 2 million accounts without customer authorization, which resulted in the bank paying $185 million in penalties. Stumpf was grilled on Capitol Hill as he defended the bank's sales practices.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...-stumpf-retires-effective-immediately-n665396


----------



## poochee

*George W. Bush officials come out against Trump in open letter*
By Timothy Cama - 10/12/16 10:02 AM EDT

Republicans who served top roles in President George W. Bush's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) are coming out against Donald Trump.

The 12 former officials - and one former Energy Department official - criticized the Republican in an open letter Wednesday, led by former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman and former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

"We believe in effective government, a society of hope and optimism balanced with realism, and a politics of civility and honesty. None of these values are present in Donald Trump's campaign," the ex-officials wrote.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...ose-trump?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-101216


----------



## poochee

Oct 12 2016, 6:00 am ET
*Major GOP Donors Are Asking Trump for Their Money Back*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

Two big-money donors who have given or raised tens of thousands of dollars for Donald Trump are livid at the Republican presidential nominee and are asking for their money back, according to a bundler who raised money for Trump.

"I cannot express my disappointment enough regarding the recent events surrounding Mr. Trump," one donor wrote to a Trump fundraiser in an email with the subject line "Trump support withdrawal."

"I regret coming to the Trump support event, and in particular allowing my son to be a part of it," the donor, who had given to and raised money for Trump, said. "I respectfully request that my money be refunded."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ors-are-asking-trump-their-money-back-n664661


----------



## poochee

*WATCH: Michelle Obama Says Trump Comments Have 'Shaken Me To My Core'* 
October 13, 20161:05 PM ET 
 Amita Kelly

*VIDEO*

First lady Michelle Obama gave a rousing, lengthy speech Thursday, hammering Donald Trump for vulgar comments he has made about women. Campaigning for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, Obama also addressed new allegations that Trump inappropriately touched women.

"This is not something we can ignore" or sweep under the rug, she said. "This is not normal. This is not politics as usual."

"Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough. This has got to stop right now," she continued.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/13/497817419/michelle-obama-trump-comments-have-shaken-me-to-my-core


----------



## poochee

*Ex-Trump exec on assault allegations: 'I do believe it'*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 10:14 AM ET, Thu October 13, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

A former Trump executive worked with the business mogul for 18 years spoke to New Day
Barbara Res, who supports Hillary Clinton, said that Trump is a "blatant sexist"
(CNN)Barbara Res worked for Donald Trump for 18 years as a construction executive, and asked Thursday if she believed the allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against him, she was frank.

"I do believe it. Yes, absolutely," Res told CNN's Alisyn Camerota in an interview on "New Day." "He's a blatant sexist."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/13/polit...ault-allegations-new-day-interview/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton for president*
By Editorial Board
The Post's View
October 13 at 6:06 AM

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*

IN THE gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot. *Hillary Clinton* has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation.

In a moment, we will explain our confidence. But first, allow us to anticipate a likely question: No, we are not making this endorsement simply because Ms. Clinton's chief opponent is dreadful.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hillary-clinton-for-president/2016/10/12/665f9698-8caf-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html?utm_term=.3cd18cec703d&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Michelle Obama: This issue is personal for me*
By Michelle Obama, Special to CNN
Updated 9:24 AM ET, Thu October 13, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Michelle Obama launched global girls' education initiative Let Girls Learn
She traveled to Morocco and Liberia with Meryl Streep, Freida Pinto and CNN's Isha Sesay
Her trip was documented in the CNN Film "We Will Rise"
_(CNN)_For me, education has never been simply a policy issue -- it's personal.

Neither of my parents and hardly anyone in the neighborhood where I grew up went to college. But thanks to a lot of hard work and plenty of financial aid, I had the opportunity to attend some of the finest universities in this country. That education opened so many doors and gave me the confidence to pursue my ambitions and have a voice in the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/opinions/cnn-films-we-will-rise-michelle-obama/


----------



## poochee

Oct 13 2016, 2:13 pm ET 
*Trump Denies Sexual Assault Allegations; Says He'll Prove Claims Are False*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump on Thursday said new sexual assault allegations against him are part of a "coordinated and vicious attack" while lashing out at his accusers and promising that his campaign will soon produce evidence showing the claims are untrue.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...lt-allegations-say-he-ll-prove-claims-n665901


----------



## poochee

Oct 14 2016, 2:29 pm ET
*Attention Travelers: The Limit on Cuban Cigars and Rum is History*
by Corky Siemaszko

The Cuba Libre has been liberated and the ban on Cuban cigars has gone up in smoke.

The Obama Administration, in a new round of executive actions aimed at increasing trade with the communist country, lifted the restrictions Friday on how much of Cuba's famed rum and cigars tourists can bring home with them.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/attention-travelers-limit-cuban-cigars-rum-history-n666431


----------



## poochee

Oct 14, 1:44 PM EDT
*'Come on, man,' Obama says, rolling his eyes at Trump*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Rolling his eyes at the Republican nominee, President Barack Obama mocked Donald Trump's purported business acumen and newfound rage against the "global elite," as he rallied Friday for Democrat Hillary Clinton. He warned that democracy itself was at risk if Trump wins.

As the presidential election draws to a close, Obama has increasingly embraced his role as troll-in-chief to the former reality star who hopes to succeed him in the Oval Office. With his own popularity having rebounded, Obama has become one of Trump's chief antagonists making the claim that Trump's exaggerated boasts aren't to be believed.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-14-13-44-05


----------



## poochee

Oct 14, 5:05 PM EDT
*New allegations of sexual misconduct rock Trump campaign*
By STEVE PEOPLES and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- Battered by sordid new accusations of sexual misbehavior, Donald Trump fought back in ever-more-remarkable fashion Friday, acting out one woman's allegation onstage and suggesting another was not attractive enough to merit his attention. He defiantly denied a week's worth of accusations that have all but consumed his presidential bid just over three weeks before the election.

"She would not be my first choice, that I can tell you," Trump said of one woman in a rambling attack on his female accusers as he campaigned in battleground North Carolina.

The New York businessman said his staff wanted him to avoid the topic altogether but that he couldn't resist defending himself. He blamed the growing story on his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and an international media conspiracy, describing his female accusers as "sick" people seeking fame or money.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-14-15-40-59


----------



## poochee

*A British Magazine Just Summed Up The U.S. Election Perfectly*
*"The debasing of American politics."*
10/14/2016 04:06 am ET | Updated 6 hours ago

*Ed Mazza*  Overnight Editor
Donald Trump in a single cover image released on Thursday:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...t-cover_us_580073a2e4b06e04759420c4?section=&


----------



## poochee

*US businesses can start applying for tariff reductions on scarce products*
By Vicki Needham - 10/14/16 04:16 PM EDT

The House Ways and Means Committee said Friday that U.S. businesses can start applying for the temporary suspension of duties on products that are not available or in short supply domestically.

Panel Republicans and Democrats said the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will analyze the requests and make recommendations to Congress.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/3...ying-for-tariff-reductions-on-scarce-products


----------



## poochee

Oct 14, 7:39 PM EDT
*All about Trump: A presumed golden touch dims on closer look*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's nothing like a presidential campaign to shine a bright light into the nooks, crannies and back alleys of a candidate's life. And there's nothing like Donald Trump in the annals of U.S. politics.

Some of what's been revealed about Trump's predatory personal interactions, business dealings, legal tactics and management style would come as no surprise to those who've made a career out of following the billionaire's rise to prominence. But ordinary Americans who began the 2016 campaign with a passing impression of Trump as the outspoken mogul of "Apprentice" fame now have far more information to draw upon as Election Day nears.

Despite his curated image as the businessman with the golden touch, Trump's track record in business isn't as magical as he would have people think. Yes, he is rich. Yes, he has had his share of success. But he's also kept company with any number of questionable business associates, had quite a share of projects go bust, left a string of contractors in the lurch, exaggerated his wealth and bragged of using his star power to impose himself sexually on women.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-14-19-39-15


----------



## poochee

Oct 14, 8:08 PM EDT
*Clinton says she takes 'no satisfaction' in Trump's actions*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) -- With Donald Trump on the defensive, Hillary Clinton says she is taking "no satisfaction" in his actions and promising to repair the damage and project a message of unity during the campaign's final weeks.

Hours after her Republican rival furiously defended himself against multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, Clinton spoke Friday of the need for national healing in a Seattle fundraising speech that also saw her call upon Americans to help her govern if she's elected president.

"This election is incredibly painful. I take absolutely no satisfaction in what is happening on the other side with my opponent," Clinton said while visiting a Seattle campaign field office. "I am not at all happy about that because it hurts our country, it hurts our democracy, it sends terrible messages to so many people here at home and around the world."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-14-20-08-21


----------



## poochee

October 15, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Ensuring America Leads the World Into the Next Frontier*
*
VIDEO*

In this week's address, President Obama highlighted the White House Frontiers Conference, where many of America's leading innovators came together to discuss how we can empower people through science, technology, and innovation to lead our communities, our country, and our world in the future. The President said the advances we've made as a nation demonstrate how investing in science and technology can help develop new jobs and industries, and new discoveries that improve lives - and that innovation is in our nation's DNA. And that's why the President made the largest single investment in basic research in history; modernized the government's approach to innovation for the 21st Century; and spurred a clean energy revolution, among many other accomplishments in science and technology. That's what the President's leadership has been about - ensuring America is the nation that leads the world into the next frontier. Click here to learn more about the President's accomplishments in science, technology, and innovation - and click here to learn more about the White House Frontiers Conference.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Oct 15 2016, 4:42 am ET
*Global Climate Deal: Nearly 200 Nations Agree to Limit Powerful Greenhouse Gases*
by The Associated Press

*VIDEOS*

The talks on hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, have been called the first test of global will since the historic Paris Agreement to cut carbon emissions was reached last year. HFCs are described as the world's fastest-growing climate pollutant and are used in air conditioners and refrigerators.

The agreement announced Saturday morning, after all-night negotiations, caps and reduces the use of HFCs in a gradual process beginning in 2019 with action by developed countries including the United States, the world's second worst polluter. More than 100 developing countries, including China, the world's top carbon emitter, will start taking action in 2024.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/m...-deal-limit-powerful-greenhouse-gases-n666816


----------



## poochee

*Canada Just Wants To #TellAmericaItsGreat* 
October 14, 20166:54 PM ET 
Sam Sanders 

*VIDEO*

While we've been slogging through what feels like the most contentious presidential election in decades, Canada seems to have been dancing on air, still caught up in the glow of a relatively new prime minister who has been compared to a Disney prince.

We on the other hand, are living through a point in the campaign where cable news might have to be censored for small children.

Enter Canada, with a small, yet poignant show of support during our year of discontent. A Toronto-based creative agency called The Garden has created the "Tell America It's Great" campaign, complete with a hashtag and a video.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/14/497986850/canada-just-wants-to-tellamericaitsgreat


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## poochee

Oct 14 2016, 5:36 pm ET
*Top Democrats Call on FBI to Investigate Trump Ties to Russia Over Hacking*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

Top Democrats on four House committees that oversee national security on Friday called on the FBI to investigate Donald Trump's purported ties to the Russian government and its alleged hacking of Democratic groups and operatives.

"Troubling new evidence appears to show that the Trump campaign not only was aware of cyber attacks against Secretary Clinton's campaign chairman, but was openly bragging about it as far back as August," read a joint statement from Reps. Elijah Cummings, John Conyers, Elliot Engel and Bennie Thompson, who are respectively the ranking members of the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and Homeland Security.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...tigate-trump-ties-russia-over-hacking-n666696


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## poochee

*Clinton has some big challenges in final debate. None involves discrediting Trump.*
By Dan Balz Chief correspondent
Politics
October 15 at 3:35 PM

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton has two important challenges in the final presidential debate on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Neither involves trying to discredit Donald Trump.

The first will be to respond to and explain what has been learned from the hacking of campaign Chairman John Podesta's email account and other recent revelations. The second and perhaps even more important task will be to make a strong, affirmative and compelling case for a possible Clinton presidency.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


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## poochee

Oct 15, 6:21 PM EDT
*Trump challenges legitimacy of election*
By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) -- A beleaguered Donald Trump sought to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S. presidential election on Saturday, pressing unsubstantiated claims the contest is rigged against him, vowing anew to jail Hillary Clinton if he's elected and throwing in a baseless insinuation his rival was on drugs in the last debate.

Not even the country's more than two centuries of peaceful transitions of political leadership were sacrosanct as Trump accused the media and the Clinton campaign of conspiring against him to undermine a free and fair election.

"The election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president," he said, referring to the several women who have come forward in recent days to say that Trump had groped or sexually assaulted them. He has denied the claims, calling the women liars.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-15-18-21-32


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## poochee

Oct 15, 8:30 PM EDT
*A look at hacked emails from Clinton's campaign chairman*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hacked emails released in daily dispatches this past week by the WikiLeaks group exposed the inner workings of Hillary Clinton's campaign leading up to her 2015 announcement that she would seek the presidency, and through this year's primary.

The thousands of emails were hacked from the accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

U.S. intelligence officials have blamed the Russian government for a series of breaches intended to influence the presidential election. The Russians deny involvement.

Among the revelations from Podesta's hacked emails:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-15-20-30-23


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## poochee

*Pelosi: Trump 'projecting' his problems onto others*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:48 PM ET, Sun October 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi attacked Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Sunday saying "he's always projecting" his own political problems onto Hillary Clinton.

"When he knows his temperament is not going over very well, he says, 'I have the temperament for the job.' When he knows that his stamina, is lagging, he says, 'I have the stamina for the job,' " Pelosi told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

"When he knows that he has exposure in terms of women, he projects onto Bill Clinton. When he knows that -- I don't know what this drug thing is, but I'm very suspicious that he's saying she should take a drug test; what's he talking about there?" she said. "And when he says she's engaged in an international conspiracy, whatever he's describing it as, his own people describe his advisers admitting to having back-channel conversations with the Russians."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/16/politics/nancy-pelosi-trump-projects/index.html


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## poochee

*Why Does Trump 'Project' So Much? A Hypothesis*
James Fallows
11:46 AM

In installment #142 of the Time Capsule series, I argue that "projection," in the psychological sense, is the default explanation for anything Donald Trump says or does.

Projection means deflecting any criticism (or half-conscious awareness) of flaws in yourself by accusing someone else of exactly those flaws. Is Trump's most immediately obvious trait his narcissistic and completely ungoverned temperament? (Answer: yes.) By the logic of projection, it thus makes perfect sense that he would brag that he has "the greatest temperament" and judgment, and criticize the always-under-control Hillary Clinton for hers.

How can this be? A reader offers an analysis worth considering (emphasis added):

http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/10/why-does-trump-project-so-much-a-hypothesis/504293/


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## poochee

Oct 16, 11:52 AM EDT
*Analysis: Trump 'rigged' vote claim may leave lasting damage*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump keeps peddling the notion the vote may be rigged. It's unclear whether he understands the potential damage of his words, or simply doesn't care.

Trump's claim, made without evidence, undercuts the essence of American democracy, the idea that U.S. elections are free and fair, with the vanquished peacefully stepping aside for the victor. His repeated assertions are sowing suspicion among his most ardent supporters, raising the possibility that millions of people may not accept the results on Nov. 8 if Trump loses.

The responsibilities for the New York billionaire in such a scenario are minimal. Trump holds no public office and has said he'll simply go back to his "very good way of life" if Democrat Hillary Clinton wins.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-16-11-52-15


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## poochee

*Iraq Embarks On Offensive To Drive ISIS From Mosul* 
October 16, 20167:02 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy 

Iraq's military has launched an offensive aimed at wresting control of Mosul from Islamic State militants, according to the country's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi. In a televised speech, Abadi said he would keep an earlier promise to defeat ISIS by 2016 - and declared that soon the Iraqi flag would be raised in Mosul.

"This is a decisive moment in the campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement. "The United States and the rest of the international coalition stand ready to support Iraqi Security Forces, Peshmerga fighters and the people of Iraq in the difficult fight ahead."

The battle for control of the crucial city will be "Iraq's biggest fight" and "the largest mission Iraqi security forces have yet undertaken against the enemy," as Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for the coalition fighting ISIS, told reporters Wednesday. A victory in Mosul would be a huge blow to the Islamic State, pushing it out of the last major urban center under its control in Iraq.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...minister-pivotal-offensive-on-mosul-has-begun


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## poochee

*Reality Check: The week in whoppers*
By Steven A. Holmes, CNN
Updated 5:56 PM ET, Sun October 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Here's a round-up of this week's whoppers from the campaign trail:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/16/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-reality-check/index.html


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## poochee

*CNN Poll of Polls: Clinton leads Trump by 8 points *
By Caroline Kenny, CNN
Updated 11:58 AM ET, Mon October 17, 2016

*VIDEO*

The Poll of Polls averages result from the four most recent publicly-released national polls that meets CNN's standards for publication. All of the polls included the four-way match-ups with the third party candidates. The poll of polls does not have a margin of sampling error.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/politics/cnn-poll-of-polls-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html


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## poochee

Oct 17 2016, 7:44 am ET
*Poll: Clinton Maintains 50-Point Lead Among Latinos*
by Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton is maintaining a 50-point lead over Donald Trump among Latino voters heading into the final weeks of the presidential election, and more Latinos now say they they're very interested in the November contest, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...maintains-50-point-lead-among-latinos-n667326


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## poochee

Oct 17 2016, 9:46 am ET
*Analysis: Clinton Haters and Lovers Feel Vindicated By WikiLeaks*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

There's something for everyone in the 12,073 released pages of John Podesta emails.

Now into its second week, WikiLeaks' daily releases of emails - allegedly stolen by Russian hackers from Hillary Clinton's campaign chair personal account - are confirming what everyone thought they knew about Hillary Clinton.

For Donald Trump fans, they show the Democratic nominee is corrupt; for Bernie or Busters they show she's beholden to Wall Street; for Clinton supporters, they show she's as thoughtful and substantive in private as in public.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ters-lovers-feel-vindicated-wikileaks-n667491


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## poochee

Oct 16, 10:08 PM EDT
*Defense chief calls Iraqi offensive moment to defeat IS*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Ash Carter is calling the start of Iraqi operations to liberate Mosul "a decisive moment in the campaign" to deliver a lasting defeat to the Islamic State group.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-16-22-08-52


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## poochee

Oct 17, 3:29 AM EDT
*Trump controversies cast shadow on Mar-a-Lago charity galas*
By JEFF HORWITZ, BERNARD CONDON and MAE ANDERSON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A staple of Palm Beach's high-end philanthropy circuit, the Mar-a-Lago Club boasts rich history, an 800-seat ballroom and ocean views. But some major charities and fundraisers are now concerned with a different feature: the property's owner, Donald Trump.

Event planners who spoke with the AP forecast trouble ahead for the high-end party space.

"There's a cloud over Mar-a-Lago," said Lynne Goldberg of Boca Entertainment Inc., a party planner who has overseen numerous weddings and fundraisers at the venue, including a 2014 gala for the March of Dimes. She stressed her opinion had nothing to do with politics.

https://forums.techguy.org/threads/news-from-the-web-3.1138344/page-191


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## poochee

Oct 17, 6:01 PM EDT
*Amid talk of 'rigged' election, experts say fraud is rare*
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- Donald Trump has repeatedly warned of a "rigged" election, saying large-scale voter fraud is happening in the U.S. and suggesting it will affect the outcome of this year's presidential race. There is no evidence that such widespread fraud exists.

Trump's comments have alarmed voting rights experts and civil rights groups, who say they threaten to undermine faith in the nation's elections. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans are expressing confidence in the voting systems, while state election officials are saying they are committed to conducting fair and impartial elections.

It's worth noting, too, that 29 of the nation's secretaries of state are Republican.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-17-18-01-07


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## poochee

Oct 17, 8:51 PM EDT
*Melania Trump does not believe husband's accusers*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Melania Trump on Monday dismissed her husband's sexually aggressive language as "boy talk," insisting his remarks do not reflect "the man I know," and said she does not believe that he has assaulted any women.

Trump's wife, in a series of media interviews, said she has accepted her husband's apology and the couple is "moving on." The comments come more than a week after the release of a 2005 video in which Trump brags about kissing women and grabbing their genitals without their permission.

"I said to my husband that, you know, the language is inappropriate. It's not acceptable. And I was surprised, because that is not the man that I know," she told CNN.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-17-20-51-04


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## poochee

*Obama highlights record high school graduation rate*
By Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 1:06 PM ET, Mon October 17, 2016

*Story highlights*

The White House said the US graduation rate was up among all groups Monday
President Barack Obama will discuss the statistics at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington
(CNN)President Barack Obama touted the highest US high school graduation rate on record Monday, while visiting a high school in Washington and encouraged students to continue their education.

"When we understand that no matter what you look like, where you come from, what faith you are, whether you're a boy or a girl, that you should have great opportunities to succeed and that requires you to put effort into it," Obama told students at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/polit...ion-rate/?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-101716


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## poochee

Oct 18, 1:12 PM EDT
*Obama praises Italian leader's progressive, bold leadership*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama praised Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Tuesday for "bold" and "progressive" leadership that Obama said is exactly what Europe needs at a time of crisis and soul-searching.

Obama also hailed U.S. relations with Italy, saying America has many strong allies around the world but that few are as strong, reliable and capable as the boot-shaped country. "In good times and in bad, we count on each other," Obama said.

Hours earlier, Obama said it was a "bittersweet moment" as he and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the Italian leader and his wife for an official visit and the final state dinner of Obama's presidency. "We've saved the best for last," Obama said, grinning.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-18-13-12-10


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## poochee

Oct 18, 12:59 PM EDT
*'Stop whining,' Obama tells Trump*
By KEVIN FREKING and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday tore into Donald Trump for sowing suspicion about the integrity of the U.S. election, telling the Republican presidential nominee to "stop whining" and focus on winning votes.

Obama called Trump's intensifying, pre-emptive warnings about voter fraud "unprecedented" in modern politics. The rhetoric is not based on any evidence, Obama said, but is simply aimed at discrediting the election before the first votes are counted.

"You start whining before the game's even over?" Obama said at a press conference. "Then you don't have what it takes to be in this job."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-18-12-59-32


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## poochee

*From The Economy To Race, See Where The Candidates Stand On The Big Issues* 
October 18, 20165:00 AM ET 
 Meg Anderson

This election has been particularly noisy.

But when all the Twitter storms and heated exchanges (maybe) fade away after Nov. 8, the issues that affect real voters will remain.

With that in mind, we set out to create a cheat sheet on where each candidate stands on the issues voters care about most. The issues we chose to highlight come from the top 10 issues voters said were "very important" to their vote, according to a 2016 poll from the Pew Research Center.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/18/49692...-where-the-candidates-stand-on-the-big-issues


----------



## poochee

*Trump's new problem: He's becoming a bore*
By David Sable and Will Johnson
Updated 11:34 AM ET, Tue October 18, 2016

*VIDEO
*
David Sable is CEO of Young & Rubicam. Will Johnson is president of BAV Consulting. Owned by Young & Rubicam Group, BAV studies brand equity. The opinions expressed in this commentary are theirs.

_CNN)_Reeling from allegations of sexual assault and falling poll numbers, Donald Trump insists that his "movement powered by millions of people" remains strong. Diehards will stick with the GOP presidential candidate to the end, but his campaign is no juggernaut.

It is instead a sputtering machine burdened with a leader who is becoming the one thing Trump never was before -- boring.

https://forums.techguy.org/threads/news-from-the-web-3.1138344/page-191


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## poochee

*Obama's half-brother will be at Vegas debate cheering for Trump*
By Richard Johnson
October 18, 2016 | 5:32pm

President Obama's Kenyan-born, half-brother Malik will be in the audience in Las Vegas Wednesday night when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton square off in their third and final debate.

Malik - an American citizen who lives in Washington, DC, when he's not in Kenya - says he will be a guest of Trump, the Republican nominee he supports for president.

http://pagesix.com/2016/10/18/obamas-half-brother-to-support-trump-at-vegas-debate/


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## poochee

Oct 19, 11:28 AM EDT
*13.8M goal set for Obama's final health care sign-up season*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Facing new challenges to a legacy law, the Obama administration on Wednesday set its goals for the president's final health care sign-up season.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said she expects 13.8 million people to sign up.

This is shaping up to be the most difficult sign-up season since HealthCare.gov launched in 2013 and the computer system froze up. But technology isn't the issue now. Premiums are going up sharply in many parts of the country, and some major insurers have exited the program, leaving consumers with fewer choices next year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-19-11-28-26


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## poochee

*What we've learned from the hacked emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign (so far)*
By Tal Kopan and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 7:49 AM ET, Tue October 18, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The emails reveal a buttoned-up campaign that analyzes nearly every decision
The campaign has refused to weigh in on the veracity of individual email exchanges

Washington (CNN)The emails hacked from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta have offered an insight into the inner workings of the famously guarded candidate's operation.

And it turns out, they're not much different than the external ones.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/18/politics/hillary-clinton-campaign-email-hack-what-learned/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
Oct 19 2016, 5:51 am ET
*Presidential Debate: Five Things To Watch in the Final Joust*
by Alex Seitz-Wald and Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

LAS VEGAS - The final presidential debate may be Donald Trump's last best chance to turn around an election in which Hillary Clinton appears to be decisively pulling away.

But after scattershot performances in the two previous debates for Trump, time is running out. The GOP nominee's campaign has been sinking deeper into dark conspiracy theories, while Clinton has been trying to close her campaign on high note.

After slogging through what is widely seen as the ugliest presidential campaign in recent memory, it will be the last time Clinton and Trump meet on the same stage together - they didn't even shake each others' hands at the last debate - with just three weeks to go before Election Day.

*Here are five things to watch:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...sidential-debate-n668591?cid=eml_pol_20161019


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Clinton leads Trump by 9 points heading into last debate*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 8:46 AM ET, Wed October 19, 2016

*Story highlights*

The poll found Clinton gaining on Trump among the groups that have supported him most
A majority of voters say the 2005 Trump tape will affect their vote
*VIDEO*

(CNN)A new national poll finds Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by 9 points heading into the third and final presidential debate.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-presidential-polls/index.html


----------



## poochee

2016 Presidential Debates 
Oct 18 2016, 10:01 pm ET
*Why Dead Voters Won't Tip the Presidential Election*
by Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEOS*

While Donald Trump has raised the specter of voter fraud involving the identities of dead voters on Nov. 8, elections experts say such fears are based in more fantasy than fact.

"It is possible to have some votes stolen in this way, but it's not possible to be done on a wide scale," said Dick Simpson, a University of Illinois-Chicago political science professor, who said there are many safeguards in place to prevent such fraud.

And Simpson would know - he's also a former Chicago alderman.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...dential-election-n668386?cid=eml_pol_20161019


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## poochee

*5 things Trump needs to do in the final debate*
 David M Jackson  , USA TODAY 4:04 a.m. EDT October 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton meet one final time before Election Day, squaring off Wednesday in Las Vegas in their third debate. Trump, beleaguered by the fallout from the now-infamous _Access Hollywood_ recording and subsequent allegations of sexual misconduct, needs nothing short of a tour de force performance to revive his chances of catching Clinton before Nov. 8.

*Here are five things Trump needs to do in Wednesday's debate.*

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-things-trump-needs-to-do-in-debate/92347926/


----------



## poochee

*5 things Clinton needs to do in the final debate*
 Heidi M. Przybyla  , USA TODAY 4:06 a.m. EDT October 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

This is the final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump before the Nov. 8 election, and both candidates will face tough questions in Las Vegas.

Trump will have to answer for a growing roster of allegations from women accusing him of improper sexual contact, while Clinton is contending with a trove of hacked emails from her campaign chairman, John Podesta.

*Here are five things the Democratic nominee needs to do in the final debate:*

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/.../hillary-clinton-five-things-debate/92357012/


----------



## poochee

*Glenn Beck praises Michelle Obama's speech slamming Trump*
 David M Jackson  , USA TODAY 2:13 p.m. EDT October 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

The first lady's remarks last week denouncing Donald Trump's comments about women is drawing praise across the political spectrum, and is being hailed as a pivotal event in the contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, a Trump critic, described Mrs. Obama's remarks as "the most effective political speech I have heard since Ronald Reagan."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ld-trump-hillary-clinton-glenn-beck/92198394/


----------



## poochee

*A little humor*

*Borowitz Report *
*Clinton Hoping to Guarantee Victory by Inviting Trump to Debate*
By Andy Borowitz, 05:05 P.M.

LAS VEGAS (The Borowitz Report)-In what is being denounced by Republicans as an "outrageous dirty trick," Hillary Clinton is seeking to seal a victory in the third Presidential debate by inviting Donald Trump to attend.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/hillary-hoping-to-guarantee-victory-by-inviting-trump-to-debate?mbid=nl_101916 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=9722962&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1021537255&spReportId=MTAyMTUzNzI1NQS2


----------



## poochee

*The Trump workers voting against the boss*
By Donie O'Sullivan and Tiara Chiaramonte, CNN
Updated 2:22 PM ET, Wed October 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Some workers at Trump's Vegas hotel are speaking out against the businessman
Workers at Vegas hotel voted to unionize late last year
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/the-trump-workers-voting-against-the-boss/index.html


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## poochee

*The final debate: CNN's Reality Check Team vets the claims*
By CNN's Reality Check Team
Updated 11:55 PM ET, Wed October 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump met Wednesday for their final debate, and CNN's Reality Check Team spent the night analyzing their claims.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN listened throughout the debate and selected key statements from both candidates, rating them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

Supreme Court • Immigration • Syrian refugees • Gun deaths • Nuclear proliferation • Abortion • Clinton's State Department • Russian hacking • Jobs

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/debate-fact-check-trump-clinton/index.html


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## poochee

*Trump Looked Presidential-for About 30 Minutes*
_Well behind in most polls, he needed to beat Hillary decisively. He didn't, especially when he declined to say he'd accept the election results._
By Jeff Greenfield
October 19, 2016

There was a half-hour or so when it looked as if Donald Trump had finally absorbed the hopes, pleas, entreats, and desperate groveling of his most ardent supporters and decided to behave like a serious, responsible candidate for president of the United States.

And then, about a half-hour in, the Donald Trump we have seen for the past year and half began to emerge: slowly at first, with the interruptions ("Wrong!") and then with increasingly depressing familiarity, right up until the point at which he refused to say he would recognize the results of the Nov. 8 election-plainly the headline of the night-and then spewed out: "Such a nasty woman!"

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/final-debate-2016-doanld-trump-hillary-clinton-214373#ixzz4Nax52FJO 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump refuses to say whether he'll accept election results*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:09 AM ET, Thu October 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump on Wednesday refused to say he would accept the result of the presidential election if he loses to Hillary Clinton, raising the possibility of an extraordinary departure from principles that have underpinned American democracy for more than two centuries.

Trump's debate performance could doom his chance to win over any remaining undecided voters at this late stage in the campaign. His comments about the election results came during a debate in which he spoke of "hombres," language that could offend Latinos. And he referred to Clinton as a "nasty woman."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/presidential-debate-highlights/index.html


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## poochee

Fact Checker
*Fact-checking the third Clinton-Trump presidential debate*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
October 20 at 1:23 AM

*VIDEO*

The final presidential debate once again demonstrated Donald Trump's thin grasp of the facts and his willingness to make poorly sourced or inaccurate claims. Hillary Clinton, for the most part, was more factually accurate.

Here's a roundup of 24 of the more notable claims. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of claims in debates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...mp-presidential-debate/?wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


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## poochee

*Obama Congratulates Clinton on Twitter for '3 for 3 debate sweep'*
By Jordyn Phelps Oct 20, 2016, 10:17 AM ET

President Obama took to Twitter this morning to congratulate Hillary Clinton on her performance in last night's third and final presidential debate of the 2016 election.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-congratulates-clinton-twitter-debate-sweep/story?id=42938067


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## poochee

*Hillary Clinton wins third presidential debate, according to CNN / ORC poll*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 8:54 AM ET, Thu October 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Overall, 52% who watched tonight's matchup thought Clinton did the best job
The poll finds one of the sharpest demographic divides among debate-watchers is education

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/polit...l-debate-according-to-cnn-orc-poll/index.html


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## poochee

Oct 20, 11:07 AM EDT
*Day after debate, Trump, Clinton square off again at roast*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bitter presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have one more face-to-face showdown before Election Day. And they're supposed to make it funny.

The venue Thursday night just 24 hours after their third and final debate is the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York, a white-tie gala that every four years becomes a showcase for presidential politics. Tradition dictates that the candidates deliver humorous remarks poking fun at each other and themselves, a jovial custom that seems hard to envision amid such an ugly campaign.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-20-11-07-47


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## poochee

Oct 20, 4:12 PM EDT
*Obama: Health care law worked, but improvements needed*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Thursday defended his namesake health care program, long a target of Republicans and recently criticized by some Democrats, saying millions of Americans "now know the financial security of health insurance" because of the Affordable Care Act.

"It's worked," he said, even while allowing that the program isn't perfect. "No law is."

Less than two weeks before the Nov. 1 start of the enrollment period for Affordable Care Act health plans, Obama flew to a south Florida college to kick off a push by the administration to encourage more people to sign up, with a particular emphasis on young adults.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-20-10-25-29


----------



## poochee

*Al Smith dinner: Most memorable lines from Trump, Clinton*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 10:58 PM ET, Thu October 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Anyone hoping for cooler heads after an acrimonious debate was likely disappointed
Here's a look at the most memorable lines from the dinner


http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/polit...lines-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 20 2016, 8:01 pm ET
*First Lady Michelle Obama: Trump Threatening 'Very Idea of America' *
by Alexandra Jaffe

*VIDEOS*

"And when a presidential candidate threatens to ignore our voices and reject the outcome of this election, he is threatening the very idea of America itself," she said.

Drawing huge cheers from a crowd that the Clinton campaign estimated at 7,000 people, Obama declared: "We cannot stand for that. You do not keep American democracy in suspense."

It was a rousing speech, the likes of which the first lady has become known for as she's been an increasingly active presence on the campaign trail for Clinton. Last week, Obama made headlines for an emotional speech in which she rebuked Trump for his lewd comments about groping women in 2005.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...a-trump-threatening-very-idea-america-n670391


----------



## poochee

Oct 21, 1:37 PM EDT
*Short-handed Supreme Court delays action in 3 cases*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court is offering new evidence that the short-handed court is having trouble getting its work done.

The justices have yet to schedule three cases for arguments that were granted full review in January, about a month before Justice Antonin Scalia died. The cases involve separation of church and state, class-action lawsuits and property rights, issues that often split liberal and conservative justices.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-21-13-37-30


----------



## poochee

Oct 19, 4:02 PM EDT
*Modest gain seen for Obama's last health care sign-up season*
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Facing new challenges to a legacy law, the Obama administration on Wednesday set modest expectations for the president's final health care sign-up season. The biggest worry: rising premiums and dwindling choices.

Some 13.8 million people are expected to sign up for 2017 coverage, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said. That would be an increase of a bit less than 9 percent from the 12.7 million who picked plans during open enrollment for this year.

This year is shaping up to be the most difficult sign-up season since HealthCare.gov launched in 2013 and the computer system froze up. But technology isn't the issue this time. Premiums are going up by double digits in many communities, and some major insurers have left the program, leaving consumers with fewer choices next year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-19-16-02-54


----------



## poochee

*No happy warriors to be found at Al Smith dinner*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 1:02 PM ET, Fri October 21, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump and Clinton looked anything but happy Thursday night
They struggled to disguise the anger, bitterness and sheer open dislike
They struggled to disguise the anger, bitterness and sheer open dislike that has pulsed through their recriminatory White House race, perhaps not surprisingly since he has threatened to throw her in jail and she says he's a threat to the republic.

An evening known for sharp humor that often goes right up to the line but rarely crosses it quickly degenerated into an uncomfortable experience. They just imported the acrimony of Wednesday night's debate to a new venue.

In short, the evening became an apt metaphor for the campaign.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/21/polit...lary-clinton-donald-trump-campaign/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Al Smith V: Trump 'took it a little too far' at charity dinner*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 12:23 PM ET, Fri October 21, 2016

*Story highlights*

Al Smith V spoke at his family's charity dinner on Thursday night
Smith said Donald Trump's jokes about Hillary Clinton on Catholicism were off-key
_(CNN)_Al Smith V, whose family hosts the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York, said Friday that Donald Trump "crossed the line and took it a little too far" with some of his remarks at this year's charity gala.

"Donald had some very solid minutes early on and eventually he crossed the line and took it a little too far," Smith said in an interview on CNN's "New Day." "Hillary, on the other hand, was able to laugh at herself and at the same time not underplay any of the serious things Donald Trump has said or done."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/21/polit...ump-clinton-performances-at-dinner/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Fact-checking two false claims by Trump alleging widespread voter fraud*
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
October 19

Trump has made several claims alleging a "rigged" election system. We looked at two of the Republican presidential nominee's claims: that there is widespread voter fraud, and that undocumented immigrants are voting and swaying elections. *We'll rate the two separately, starting with the first claim.
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...widespread-voter-fraud/?wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*What's Up With The Internet Today? Websites Lag, Don't Load For Many In U.S.*
October 21, 20163:20 PM ET 
Alina Selyukh 

Hackers have attacked a major Internet infrastructure company, causing intermittent disruptions Friday to websites and services including Twitter, Reddit, Spotify and Airbnb.

The victim of the attack is a New Hampshire-based company called Dyn (pronounced "dine"). It might not be a household name, but Dyn is one of the companies that sit between you and some of the biggest websites and services - and help make sure that when you type in a Web address, your traffic is properly routed.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-today-websites-lag-dont-load-for-many-in-u-s


----------



## poochee

October 22, 2016

*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Taking Action to Spur Competition in the Airline Industry and Give Consumers the Information They Need*
*
VIDEO*

In this week's address, President Obama highlighted the actions his administration is taking to spur competition in the airline industry, protect consumers and arm them with the information they need to make informed decisions, following the President's call to action in April. Building on the progress we've made so far, this week's actions include a proposed requirement for airlines to reimburse luggage fees when bags are delayed; requiring airlines to report on the probability that your luggage could be lost; providing protections for travelers with disabilities; and requiring additional transparency and fairness in online ticket platforms. The President highlighted these steps as another example of how government can be a force for good - ensuring that everyday Americans get a fair shake in our economy and have a voice in the conversation. That's what these actions are about - taking steps, big and small, to better the lives of everyday Americans.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Oct 22, 3:37 AM EDT
*Clinton campaign ponders 'what if' Trump doesn't concede*
By KEN THOMAS and LISA LERER
Associated Press

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton's campaign is increasingly preparing for the possibility that Donald Trump may never concede the presidential election should she win, a development that could enormously complicate the crucial early weeks of her preparations to take office.

Aiming to undermine any argument the Republican nominee may make about a "rigged" election, she hopes to roll up a large electoral vote margin in next month's election. That could repudiate the New York billionaire's message and project a governing mandate after the bitter, divisive presidential race.

Clinton's team is also keeping a close eye on statements by national Republican leaders, predicting they could play an important role in how Trump's accusations of electoral fraud might be perceived. That's according to several Clinton campaign aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal strategy.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-21-21-16-30


----------



## poochee

Oct 22, 12:54 PM EDT
*Trump vowing to sue 'every one' of his female accusers*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Donald Trump on Saturday pledged postelection lawsuits against every woman who has accused him of sexual assault or other inappropriate behavior, and he charged Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic Party with orchestrating the allegations.

"Every one of these liars will be sued once the election is over," Trump said, adding, "I look so forward to doing that."

Trump's threat overshadowed his intended focus during a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that was billed as a chance for the Republican nominee to lay out his agenda for his first 100 days in office. Trump promised to institute a hiring freeze on federal workers and to label China as a currency manipulator, but he first seized on the chance to once again try to discredit his accusers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-22-12-54-15


----------



## poochee

Oct 22 2016, 7:18 pm ET
*11th Woman Accuses Donald Trump of Inappropriate Sexual Behavior*
by Elizabeth Chuck and Zachary Roth

VIDEOS

An eleventh woman came forward Saturday to publicly accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Adult film star Jessica Drake alleged at a Los Angeles press conference that in 2006 Trump hugged kissed her and two female companions in his hotel room without permission. She also charged that after she left the room, Trump or someone acting on his behalf called her and offered her $10,000 to return.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...d-trump-inappropriate-sexual-behavior-n671171


----------



## poochee

*Log Cabin Republicans board votes against endorsing Trump*
By Sarah Wheaton
10/22/16 01:05 PM EDT

The board of the nation's largest group of LGBT Republicans has voted to not endorse Donald Trump, in a contentious decision that did not reflect the preference of many of its chapters.

While the Log Cabin Republicans are united against Hillary Clinton, the group's 14-member national board narrowly voted on Tuesday to "withhold" an endorsement of the Republican nominee, according to Gregory T. Angelo, the organization's president.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-log-cabin-republicans-230178#ixzz4NrMQJnXa
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Oct 22, 5:39 PM EDT
*WHERE THEY STAND: Clinton, Trump on the issues*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A look at where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump stand on three dozen issues:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-22-17-39-15


----------



## poochee

*Clinton looks past Trump*
_'I don't even think about responding to him anymore,' the Democratic nominee says as she focuses on electing down-ballot candidates._
By Shane Goldmacher
10/22/16 08:11 PM EDT

PITTSBURGH - Hillary Clinton is done with Donald Trump.

Using her most dismissive language of the campaign - "I don't even think about responding to him anymore" - Clinton said Saturday she is now more focused on electing other Democrats in the final days of the 2016 campaign than her Republican opponent.

"As we're traveling in these last 17 days we're going to be emphasizing the importance of electing Democrats down the ballot," Clinton told reporters aboard her campaign plane.

It was the surest declaration of confidence yet from a candidate and a campaign that enters the home stretch in so commanding a position that they are redirecting cash and manpower to traditionally red states, including Arizona, Missouri, Indiana and Georgia.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-non-response-230195#ixzz4NsNzMPDN
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Oct 22 2016, 9:29 pm ET
*AT&T Reaches Deal to Buy Time Warner for $85 Billion*
by JeeYeon Park and Phil Helsel

AT&T has reached a deal to acquire Time Warner for more than $85 billion, a blockbuster deal that fuses a mobile giant with an entertainment conglomerate, carrying with it the potential to reshape the media landscape.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the deal. The two companies on Saturday jointly announced the deal, unanimously approved by both boards, that will see the mobile company pay $107.50 per share in a cash and stock transaction. The deal represents a marriage of Time Warner's limitless movie and television empire with AT&T's 315 million wireless subscribers.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...deal-buy-time-warner-more-80b-sources-n671226


----------



## poochee

*New poll shows Clinton over Trump by double-digits*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:43 PM ET, Sun October 23, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

An ABC News poll shows Clinton leading Trump, 50% to 38%
CNN's Poll of Polls average has Clinton ahead 48% to 39%
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/23/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-presidential-polls/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama endorses all the way down ballot*
_After watching the GOP make large gains in statehouses during his presidency, Obama is making a last-gasp attempt to build his party from the bottom up._
By Edward-Isaac Dovere
10/23/16 06:56 AM EDT

President Barack Obama will make a late splash into races for state senate and assembly over the next week, endorsing roughly 150 candidates across 20 states.

He'll also back a candidate for North Carolina state supreme court.

The endorsements-which will come along with a variety of robocalls, social media, mailers, photos of Obama with the candidates taken as he's been traveling to campaign in recent weeks, and even a few radio ads-are Obama's biggest investment in state races ever by far, and come as he gears up to make redistricting reform at the state level the political priority of his post-presidency.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/obama-endorsements-down-ballot-230194#ixzz4NvugpAkV
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Soldiers Told To Repay Thousands In Signing Bonuses From Height Of War Effort* 
October 23, 20162:43 PM ET 
 Bill Chappell 

In most cases, when an employer pays a signing bonus to attract new workers, that payment is understood to be essentially unrecoverable. But the Pentagon has a different understanding - and it's ordering the California National Guard to claw back thousands of dollars paid to soldiers who reenlisted to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And in many cases, an employer would also have a tough time arguing that decade-old lapses in its own oversight should trigger wage garnishments and tax liens against its workers. But again, this is the U.S. military, and its officials say the law requires them to reclaim the overpayments.

That's the gist of a report by The Los Angeles Times, which says nearly 10,000 soldiers are now scrambling to pay back signing bonuses that helped the Pentagon cope with the task of using an all-volunteer service to fight two prolonged international conflicts.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...s-in-signing-bonuses-from-height-of-war-effor


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton to campaign with Michelle Obama for the first time*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 1:44 PM ET, Mon October 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday will campaign together for the first time, in North Carolina, a state that Clinton's top aides view as a must-win for Donald Trump.

The two first ladies -- one former, one current -- will campaign together in Winston-Salem, Brian Fallon, Clinton's spokesman said Sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/23/politics/michelle-obama-hillary-clinton-campaign/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 24, 3:44 AM EDT
*WHY IT MATTERS: Beneath the fury, issues that matter*
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

It's pocked with Donald Trump's ballistic-missile tweets in the middle of the night. It's enlivened by the spectacle of Hillary Clinton's campaign innards spilling day after day into public view, quite a WikiMess

*Got a minute for the issues?*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-24-03-44-37


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Tweets 'We Are Winning' a Day After Campaign Manager Says 'We Are Behind'*
By EMILY SHAPIRO
Oct 24, 2016, 11:24 AM ET

*VIDEO*
 
Donald Trump tweeted today that he is winning the race to the White House, one day after his campaign manager acknowledged that they were behind.

Trump, who is in Florida for two rallies later today, declared on Twitter, "We are winning and the press is refusing to report it."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-tweets-winning-day-campaign-manager/story?id=43016316


----------



## poochee

*Warren launches broadside against Trump, saying he 'aggressively disrespects' women*
By John Wagner, Sean Sullivan and Anne Gearan
October 24 at 7:02 PM

*VIDEOS*

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a top ally of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, launched a broadside against Republican nominee Donald Trump on Monday, saying his disrespect for women would be his undoing in the election.

Appearing at a rally with Clinton outside Manchester, N.H., Warren said Trump "disrespects, aggressively disrespects, more than half the human beings in this country."

"He thinks because he has a mouth full of Tic-Tacs that he can force himself on any woman within groping distance," she said, referring to a 2005 video in which Trump spoke in lewd terms about women and then took the breath mints as he explained he liked to kiss women without asking their permission.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...8eacb_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Why Investors Are Terrified of a President Trump*
_The Republican nominee's presidential campaign has been nightmarish for his hotel business. Financial markets foresee a similar effect on the world economy_.
Derek Thompson
7:00 AM ET

*CHARTS*

Donald Trump once wondered aloud if he might become the first person to make money running for president. He made rather brazen attempts to fulfill the prediction. But his candidacy has been a downright disaster for the hotels and resorts that bear his gilded surname. Bookings there are down 59 percent since 2015, according to the travel company Hipmunk. Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danzinger announced that the newest hotels will junk the Trump name entirely. The company has settled on "Scion" to rebrand its new line of luxury hotels aimed at Millennials, who are overwhelmingly opposed to his campaign.

Trump isn't just bad for his business. He's not even just a danger to the U.S. economy. Investors around the world think that a President Trump would be disastrous for global markets. And now, there is hard data to prove it, thanks to two clever economists and one debate meltdown.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...s/505097/?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-102416


----------



## poochee

*Rates Rise Again For Obamacare Health Plans, But So Do Subsidies*
_Rates Rise Again For Obamacare Health Plans, But So Do Subsidies_
_October 24, 20165:01 PM ET
Alison Kodjak 

 _The cost of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act is expected to rise an average of 22 percent in 2017, according to information released by the Obama administration Monday afternoon.

Still, federal subsidies will also rise, meaning that few people are likely to have to pay the full cost after the rate increases to get insurance coverage.

"We think they will ultimately be surprised by the affordability of the premiums, because the tax credits track with the increases in premiums," said Kevin Griffis, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...or-obamacare-health-plans-but-so-do-subsidies


----------



## poochee

*Election law doesn't care if Trump (or Clinton) ever concede*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 9:48 PM ET, Mon October 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

There's no stipulation that a losing candidate has to concede
It's purely by tradition and custom
Rick Hasen, a University of California-Irvine professor who runs the popular Election Law Blog, said that while Trump is already undermining "part of the fabric of our society" with his comments, the knock-on effects are likely to be more mundane.

"At the extreme, his claims could encourage his supporters to take to the streets, perhaps to even to engage in violence," Hasen told CNN. "More likely though it will become a rallying cry to try to delegitimize the Clinton presidency before it even begins. And to make it harder for her to pursue her agenda."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/24/politics/donald-trump-election-concession-law/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 25, 3:22 AM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Voter roll problems do not equate to fraud*
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- Donald Trump has warned for weeks of a "rigged" election, telling his supports to watch out for large-scale voter fraud - despite a lack of evidence that it exists. In the past few days, Trump has specifically raised concerns about people fraudulently voting using the names of dead people and cited research showing 1.8 million deceased people are still listed on state voter rolls.

*Here's a look at Trump's latest claim and what the facts show:
*
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-25-03-22-40


----------



## poochee

10/24/16
*Lawyers offer Trump accusers free legal help*

Lawrence talks to Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, one of the nation's leading constitutional scholars and lawyers, about his offer to provide free legal help to any of Donald Trump's accusers.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawyers-offer-trump-accusers-free-legal-help-792814147890


----------



## poochee

*Trump bobbles attack on Obamacare*
_Republicans were handed a gift when the Obama administration announced two weeks before Election Day that Obamacare premiums are set to soar next year._ 
By Louis Nelson

*VIDEO*

DORAL, Fla. - Standing beside his shimmering green golf course, Donald Trump had the political equivalent of a tap-in putt - news that Obamacare premiums are set to shoot up next year.

He muffed it.

Trump said Tuesday morning that President Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act legislation is "just blowing up" at a campaign event at his Miami golf resort, blaming the controversial law for his employees' struggles with healthcare, but once again he made a mess of his attack.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-obamacare-employees-230284#ixzz4O8EibHHp 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

*'We Are Killing the Leadership of ISIS'*
_In Iraq, elite American fighters-not just local forces-are hunting some of the most feared terrorists in the world._ 
Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

ERBIL, Iraq-U.S. special operators in northern Iraq and Syria are killing Islamic State leaders at a faster pace, disrupting the organization's defense of Mosul and, more importantly to Pentagon leaders, their ability to plot attacks against the United States and other targets outside the region.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter, in a Sunday visit with American and coalition forces at the Joint Operations Center in Erbil, the Kurdish capital in northern Iraq, said he commended American fighters here who are supporting "elements in Syria" and working to envelop Raqqa. Quickening the pace of targeting ISIS leaders, known in military parlance as "high-value targets" or "high-value individuals," has hurt the terrorist group's ability to launch external "attacks aimed at our own people, our own country, and friends and allies," he said. "That remains our highest priority, always," Carter said, "those external operations."

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...q-carter-special-forces-pentagon-isis/505301/


----------



## poochee

*With only two weeks left, Trump is promoting his hotels - and complicating his candidacy*
By Sean Sullivan
October 25 at 1:10 PM

*VIDEOS*

DORAL, Fla. - Donald Trump woke up Tuesday morning with two weeks left to try to snap his floundering campaign for president into focus as it barreled toward a potentially humiliating defeat. But his interests seemed to lie elsewhere.

As he has often done, Trump mixed his business dealings with his presidential campaign in a way that muddled his message and raised questions about his priorities. This time, he did it while lagging badly behind his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in public-opinion polls, amid a number of stumbles.

Trump's first event of the day was effectively an infomercial for his luxe Trump National Doral resort, near Miami, and a preview of his newest hotel's much-hyped grand opening in Washington on Wednesday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...g-his-candidacy/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Oct 25, 12:50 PM EDT
*Trump brand loses luster with affluent*
By MAE ANDERSON and BERNARD CONDON
AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) -- Event planner Beth Bernstein decided she had had enough with Donald Trump after his 2005 hot-mic boasts about groping women came to light earlier this month. She removed photos of weddings she had thrown at a Trump hotel in Chicago from her website, wrote to hotel staff to remove her from the list of "preferred vendors" and posted a sort of call to arms on her blog.

"I simply cannot bring myself to walk in the door there any longer," wrote the owner of SQN Events.

Bernstein is not alone. Rates for rooms at Trump's new D.C. hotel are being slashed as travelers weigh their options, and smartphone data suggest fewer people are visiting his properties compared to rival venues nearby.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-25-12-50-06


----------



## poochee

*Colin Powell joins 68 Republican politicians, donors and officials who are supporting Hillary Clinton*
By Aaron Blake
October 25 at 3:03 PM

Powell's support isn't much of a surprise, given his support for President Obama in 2008 and 2012 and clear distaste for Donald Trump. In his leaked emails from last month, Powell also appeared to be talking over the best time to announce his support for Clinton.

But at least it's official now. And Powell is now the third Bush Cabinet official to support Clinton.

*Below is that list as it stands:*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...orting-hillary-clinton/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b


----------



## poochee

*Amid lagging polls, Trump stops holding high-dollar fundraisers*
By Sean Sullivan, Matea Gold and John Wagner
October 25 at 9:00 PM

*VIDEO*

TALLAHASSEE - Donald Trump's campaign said Tuesday that it has scheduled no more big-money fundraising events to benefit the Republican Party, another sign of the GOP nominee's struggling campaign and a serious blow to the party's get-out-the-vote operations with less than two weeks to go until Election Day.

The consequences of halting major fundraisers will compound the challenges facing a candidate and a party already straining to match Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's much larger and better-
financed operation. Unlike Clinton, who has an extensive turnout operation of her own, Trump and many other GOP candidates down the ballot are relying heavily on the Republican National Committee to bring voters to the polls.

In another sign of unexpected weakness, Trump also announced that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the GOP vice-presidential nominee, will pay a visit Wednesday to Utah, where polls show Trump is at risk of losing what has been a reliably Republican state.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...table-main_campaignprint-910pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*Obama unleashed*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 8:57 PM ET, Tue October 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

Los Angeles (CNN)Maybe it's his rapidly approaching return to life as a normal citizen. Or the knowledge that, two weeks from Election Day, his preferred successor is enjoying a decisive edge over Donald Trump. Or maybe it was just the West Coast vibe.

In California this week, a loosened President Barack Obama left few Republicans spared in a fierce reproach of the party he now has little reason to placate. During a political swing through oceanfront gardens and tastefully appointed living rooms of La Jolla and Beverly Hills, Obama expanded his ire beyond the GOP presidential nominee in a cutting and specific fashion, savaging his longtime political opponents as craven, hypocritical and ultimately responsible for their own demise.

"The things that you're hearing Trump saying, they're said on the floor of the House of Representatives all the time. The Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives are repeatedly promoting crazy conspiracy theories and demonizing opponents," Obama told donors crammed into a modern art-bedecked study in San Diego. "Donald Trump didn't build that. He just slaps his name on it and took credit for it."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/25/politics/obama-unleashed/index.html


----------



## poochee

EXCLUSIVE
News
Oct 26 2016, 11:42 am ET
*DoD Sec. Ash Carter Orders Pentagon to Stop Reclaiming Reenlistment Bonuses*
by Hans Nichols and Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEOS*

Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Pentagon on Wednesday to stop clawing-back the bonuses that thousands of soldiers got for reenlisting to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There is no more important responsibility for the Department of Defense than keeping faith with our people," Carter said in a statement. "That means treating them fairly and equitably, honoring their service and sacrifice, and keeping our word. Today, in keeping with that obligation, I am ordering a series of steps to ensure fair treatment for thousands of California National Guard soldiers who may have received incentive bonuses and tuition assistance improperly as a result of errors and in some cases criminal behavior by members of the California National Guard."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/militar...raged-over-reenlistment-bonus-scandal-n673071


----------



## poochee

Oct 26, 12:11 PM EDT
*US says it will abstain on UN vote on Cuba embargo*
By EDITH M. LEDERER and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States announced Tuesday that it will abstain for the first time in 25 years on a U.N. resolution condemning America's economic embargo against Cuba, a resolution it had always vehemently opposed.

Power ahead of a vote on the resolution was greeted with applause in the 193-member General Assembly.

Power said the U.S. was abstaining because of President Barack Obama's new approach to Cuba, but she made clear that the United States "categorically" rejects statements in the resolution suggesting the embargo violated international law.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-26-12-11-30


----------



## poochee

*Newt Gingrich Defends Donald Trump By Accusing Megyn Kelly Of Being Obsessed With Sex*
_She told him to take his "anger issues and spend some time working on them."_
10/25/2016 11:00 pm ET | *Updated* 48 minutes ago
*Elise Foley*  Immigration & Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post

*VIDEOS*

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) accused Fox News host Megyn Kelly of being "fascinated by sex" on Tuesday, after snapping at her for asking about the women who have accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexual assault.

The exchange on "The Kelly File" was a snapshot of how the Trump campaign is attempting to spin allegations of sexual assault by more than a dozen accusers against their candidate. First: deny them. Next: lash out at the questioner for asking. Finally: pivot to former President Bill Clinton.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry..._58100cbfe4b02b1d9e63ad23?section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

Oct 26 2016, 2:50 am ET 
*Trump Cites Police, Military, ICE Endorsements That Didn't Happen*
by Amanda Sakuma

*VIDEOS*

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump frequently touts his support among law enforcement and military figures.

On Monday, he told News4Jax that the United States military "conceptually" endorsed him and that "virtually every police department" in the country backed his bid for the presidency. During last week's third debate, Trump said his hardline stance on immigration and pledge to build a border wall had earned him an endorsement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But none of that is true.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ts-didn-t-happen-n672336?cid=eml_pol_20161026


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Clinton builds lead in divided nation worried about Election Day violence*
Susan Page and Karina Shedrofsky, USA TODAY 2:34 p.m. EDT October 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - As the most caustic campaign in modern American history nears its close, Hillary Clinton has built a formidable lead over Donald Trump approaching 10 percentage points, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds. But she faces a deeply divided nation that is alarmed about the prospect of Election Day violence and what may be ahead.

A 51% majority of likely voters express at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day; one in five are "very concerned." Three of four say they have confidence that the United States will have the peaceful transfer of power that has marked American democracy for more than 200 years, but just 40% say they are "very confident" about that.

More than four in 10 of Trump supporters say they won't recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn't have won fair and square.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...worried-election-day-violence-trump/92712708/


----------



## poochee

*Three Ways to Fix Obamacare*
*By John Cassidy*, October 26, 2016

So, what can be done? Despite their bluster, Trump and the Republicans don't really have a plan to fix Obamacare. They want to repeal it and rely on the market. A recent analysis by experts at the RAND Corporation showed where the Trump strategy could lead: by 2018, it estimated, about twenty million fewer Americans would have health coverage, and people buying policies in the individual insurance market would face _higher_ out-of-pocket costs, on average.

Setting this non-option aside, there are numerous possible ways to proceed. In a piece for the _Wall Street Journal_ a while back, the economist Robert Litan discussed four of them. Drawing partly on Litan's analysis, *I will confine myself to three:
*
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/three-ways-to-fix-obamacare?mbid=nl_TNY Template - With Photo (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=9762775&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1022077645&spReportId=MTAyMjA3NzY0NQS2


----------



## poochee

*Some Machines Are Flipping Votes, But That Doesn't Mean They're Rigged* 
October 26, 20161:13 PM ET
Pam Fessler

Norden thinks the real problem is that voting machines used in much of the country are old, more than 10 years in most places. The machines rely on outdated technology - some of it is from the 1990s - to calibrate the touch screens. And the hardware is starting to wear out.

"Over time, as people vote, that calibration becomes less and less accurate," says Norden. So by the end of a long day of voting, the machines aren't as accurate as they were in the morning. Also, the sealant that attaches the screen to the machine can deteriorate over time, which causes the screen to be misaligned.

Voters can usually change the selection to the right one before their ballot is cast. If not, they can let a poll worker know there's a problem so they can move to a machine that works. In many places, such machines also have paper ballot backups, if there's ever a question about the vote.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/26/49945...ping-votes-but-that-doesnt-mean-theyre-rigged


----------



## poochee

*Poll Tracker*

*Election Day is 13 days away*
Check out the latest national polling averages for the presidential race as well as state-by-state polling averages.

*National Polling Averages*
Updated Oct. 25, 2016, 10:00 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/2016/election/poll-tracker/


----------



## poochee

Oct 26, 6:37 PM EDT
*2 studies point to lack of campaign substance on newscasts*
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two studies of U.S. news coverage suggest that this is a presidential campaign with little substance - unless groping women, tax returns and email servers are your idea of major issues.

ADT Research, which monitors content of the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, said Wednesday that with two weeks before Election Day, there has been less issues coverage than for any presidential campaign the company has monitored, going back through 1988.

The conservative watchdog Media Research Center also counted the campaign topics that have taken up the most time on the newscasts since the end of the conventions. Of the 15 topics with the most attention, arguably only two - Donald Trump's position on immigration and questions about his attitudes toward Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin - could be considered traditional policy issues.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-26-18-37-17


----------



## poochee

*The First 100 Days: What Clinton And Trump Want To Get Done*
October 27, 20166:00 AM ET 
 Scott Horsley 

Presidents generally try to deliver on campaign promises - and in many cases they succeed. So like them or not, voters should take these pledges seriously.

"When somebody promises to do something, you have to think about whether that's something you'd be willing to see happen," said Wittes, the Brookings Institution scholar. "Because the powers are simply too vast and too dangerous to say, 'Well, he was probably clowning around at that point or he doesn't know what he's saying.'"

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/27/499489585/the-first-100-days-what-clinton-and-trump-want-to-get-done


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare Architect Jonathan Gruber: "Obamacare Is Not Imploding," "Working As Designed"*
Posted By Tim Hains
On Date October 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, a well-known architect of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, tells CNN that the law known as 'Obamacare' is working exactly as intended.

*Full transcript, via CNN:*

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vi...edium=email&utm_campaign=mailchimp-newsletter


----------



## poochee

*Trump's 'Voter Suppression Operation' Targets Black Voters*
_Even as the Republican launches a purported African American outreach campaign 12 days before the election, his aides say their goal is to depress turnout in the bloc.
David A. Graham
12:49 PM ET 
_
It would be unfair to call Donald Trump's interaction with black voters a love-hate relationship, since there's little evidence of African American enthusiasm for Trump. But the Republican campaign has pursued a Janus-like strategy on black voters-ostensibly courting them in public while privately seeking to depress turnout.

This tension is on display in the last 24 hours. On Wednesday, Trump delivered a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, advertised as an "urban renewal agenda for America's inner cities." Trump told the audience, "It is my highest and greatest hope that the Republican Party can be the home in the future and forevermore for African Americans and the African American vote because I will produce, and I will get others to produce, and we know for a fact it doesn't work with the Democrats and it certainly doesn't work with Hillary."

Yet on Thursday, BusinessWeek published a big cover story, based on exclusive access to the campaign, that revealed that Trump's team has decided that winning over black voters is a lost cause:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/trumps-black-voter-dilemma/505586/


----------



## poochee

Oct 27, 4:35 PM EDT
*Auto insurers: Distraction big factor in traffic death surge*
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Auto insurers believe drivers who text, use smartphone apps or are otherwise distracted are a big factor in the recent surge in traffic fatalities and injuries, an industry official said Thursday.

The Transportation Department recently announced that deaths spiked 10.4 percent in the first six months of this year. That followed a 7.2 percent increase in 2015 after years of declining deaths.

Robert Gordon, senior vice president for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, told a safety forum that the increase isn't spread evenly across the country. He said insurers are seeing bigger increases in the frequency of auto collisions in urban areas where traffic congestion is getting worse, and declines in area where congestion is less of a problem.

For example,

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-27-16-35-43


----------



## poochee

Oct 27 2016, 3:36 pm ET
*Clinton and FLOTUS Take On Bullies at Joint Rally*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEOS*

Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama spoke out against bullies -- both in the classroom and the 2016 presidential race -- in their first joint campaign appearance on Thursday.

"You may have noticed that I have been doing some campaigning for Hillary," Michelle Obama said. "And I know that there are some folks out there who have commented that it's been unprecedented for a sitting first lady to be so actively engaged in a presidential campaign. And that may be true, but what's also true is that this is truly an unprecedented election."

The first lady has been one of Clinton's most effective surrogates this campaign ever since her well-reviewed address at the Democratic National Convention in July. She has become one of the most popular public figures in America and has been deployed to college campuses in swing states to encourage young voters to cast ballots early.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-flotus-take-bullies-joint-rally-n674111


----------



## poochee

*Polls*
*General Election: Trump vs. Clinton (4-Way)*
  RCP Electoral Map | State Changes | No Toss Up Map | No Toss Up Changes | Latest Polls
RCP Electoral Map | Changes in Electoral Count | Map With No Toss Ups | No Toss Up Changes | Latest Polls

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep...ail&utm_term=0_d6a76c9ec3-6f62b9f029-84568773


----------



## poochee

*Gov. Pence's plane skids off the runway at NYC airport*
 William Cummings and  Bart Jansen  , USA TODAY 10:53 p.m. EDT October 27, 2016

*VIDEO*

Republican Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence's campaign plane skidded off a rain-soaked runway while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City Thursday night.

No one was injured in the incident, the New York Port Authority announced. The agency said more than 30 people were on board when the plane "overshot a LaGuardia Airport runway."

"So thankful everyone on our plane is safe," Pence said in a tweet. "Grateful for our first responders & the concern and prayers of so many. Back on the trail tomorrow!"

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/.../10/27/pence-plane-runway-laguardia/92861348/


----------



## poochee

*Facing potential loss, Trump expands the list of conspirators plotting against him*
By Jose A. DelReal and Sean Sullivan
October 27 at 7:05 PM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's claim that the 2016 presidential election is "rigged" against him has become a central part of his closing argument to voters in the final days of the campaign, as the GOP nominee insists that a growing range of "corrupt" public institutions are to blame for his sharply narrowing path the White House.

As he heads into a potential loss on Nov. 8, Trump has expanded the scale and scope of his accusations to include Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the media, establishment leaders from both parties and unidentified "global financial powers."

The "power structure" he describes, according to a review of his speeches this week, includes banking institutions, the judiciary, media conglomerates, voting security experts, Democratic tricksters, scientific polling and also perhaps military leaders. He has also accused Clinton of meeting "with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...80-50913d68eacb_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton to hold election night party under real glass ceiling*
By Amanda Jackson, CNN
Updated 7:45 PM ET, Wed October 26, 2016

*PICTURES*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton has spoken about breaking through the glass ceiling all campaign long, so it's no wonder why she chose a glass convention center for her election night party.

The Democratic presidential nominee's staff announced Wednesday that the event will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/26/politics/hillary-clinton-election-night-javits-center-irpt/index.html


----------



## poochee

*FBI reopens Clinton email server investigation*
_The FBI doesn't yet know if the new material is 'significant,' Comey writes._
By Madeline Conway
10/28/16 01:34 PM EDT
Updated 10/28/16 01:34 PM EDT

The FBI has reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state, director James Comey said Friday.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to this investigation," Comey wrote in a letter to several House committee chairmen.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/fbi-reopens-clinton-email-server-investigation-230454#ixzz4OP4JGx9C 
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


----------



## poochee

Who Will Be President?
By JOSH KATZ UPDATED an hour ago

*CHARTS*

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html?nlid=75973118&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court takes up school bathroom rules for transgender students*
By Robert Barnes and Moriah Balingit
Courts & Law
October 28 at 4:21 PM

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will decide whether the Obama administration may require public school systems to let transgender students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, putting the court once again at the center of a divisive social issue.

School districts across the country are split on how to accommodate transgender students in the face of conflicting guidance from courts, the federal government and, in some cases, state legislatures that have passed laws requiring people to use public restrooms that coincide with the sex on their birth certificates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ert-COMBO-national%2Bpolitics%2Blocalpolitics


----------



## poochee

*Computer seized in Weiner probe prompts FBI to take new steps in Clinton email inquiry*
By Rosalind S. Helderman, Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz
Politics
October 28 at 6:04 PM

Newly discovered emails found on a computer seized during an investigation of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) have prompted the FBI to make new inquiries related to Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.

FBI Director James B. Comey informed congressional leaders Friday that the agency would take "appropriate investigative steps" to determine whether the newly discovered emails contain classified information and to assess their importance to the Clinton server probe.

The emails were found on a computer used jointly by both Weiner and his wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to a person with knowledge of the inquiry. Federal officials have been examining Weiner's alleged sexually suggestive online messages with a teenage girl. The link to the Weiner probe was first reported by the New York Times.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...p-table-main_fbi-530pm-artonly:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*Clinton: Americans deserve 'full and complete facts immediately' regarding new email probe*
By Abby Phillip, John Wagner and Sean Sullivan
October 28 at 7:24 PM

*VIDEO*

DES MOINES, Iowa - Hillary Clinton on Friday criticized FBI Director James Comey for failing to disclose additional information about the nature of the new inquiry into her private email server.

"We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election of our lifetimes," Clinton said at a news conference in Des Moines, Iowa. "The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...fb0fe6-9d04-11e6-b3c9-f662adaa0048_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Attorney General Lynch objected to FBI director going public with email review*
 Kevin Johnson and  Richard Wolf  , USA TODAY 4:40 p.m.
EDT October 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Loretta Lynch objected to the decision by FBI Director James Comey to notify Congress that the bureau was reviewing newly discovered emails that might be related to the previously closed investigation of Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information, according to an official familiar with the matter.

Lynch's views were relayed to Comey just hours before the FBI director transmitted a letter to federal lawmakers indicating that investigators were reviewing the emails that may or may not have a bearing on the Clinton case that was closed in July, said the official who is not authorized to comment publicly.

The official said Lynch was standing by long-held Justice Department policy that federal authorities should not take any action that may interfere with an election. While Lynch made her position clear, the official said Comey acted independently of the attorney general.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-director-going-public-email-review/92949970/


----------



## poochee

*Michelle Obama: 'Beyond Proud' at US Navy Submarine Ceremony*
By jennifer mcdermott, associated press
GROTON, Conn. - Oct 29, 2016, 2:33 PM ET

First lady Michelle Obama said she was "beyond proud" to take part in a commissioning ceremony Saturday for the U.S. Navy attack submarine named for her home state of Illinois.

The submarine officially became the USS Illinois, SSN 786, and began active service at a ceremony at the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut.

Mrs. Obama, the ship sponsor, gave the order to "man our ship and bring her to life" before the crew of about 130 men ran across the brow, onto the vessel.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/michelle-obama-part-submarines-commissioning-43152844


----------



## poochee

October 29, 2016
*Weekly Address: Achieving the Mission of the Cancer Moonshot*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, Vice President Joe Biden discussed the progress of the White House Cancer Moonshot, an initiative with the goal to make a decade's worth of advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, in five years. Recently, the Cancer Moonshot Task Force released a report that outlines what we need to do to achieve this goal, including: enhancing prevention efforts, expanding access to care, increasing collaboration and sharing data amongst cancer researchers, and building an international commitment to the fight against cancer. The report also highlighted the progress we've made since the launch of the Moonshot. Today, federal agencies are working together to share research - such as the National Institutes of Health using NASA's research on radiation and its effects on the human body. In the past few months, more than 70 public and private sector commitments have been made to join the fight against cancer - such as IBM, which offered its supercomputer, Watson, to partner with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to help patients determine specific therapies they need for their cancer treatment. The Vice President said the Moonshot is about all of us doing our part in the fight against cancer. To learn how you can volunteer to help, visit Cancer.Serve.Gov, and to learn about clinical trials nearby, visit Trials.Cancer.Gov.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Comprehensive WaPo Report Shows Trump Lies Like a Dog About His Charitable Giving*
Posted at 5:00 pm on October 29, 2016 by Patterico

Perhaps no reporter has done so much to hold Donald Trump's feet to the fire regarding his con-artist promises than David Farenthold of the _Washington Post_. Remember when Trump ran crying like a baby from the Iowa debate with Megyn Kelly in the primaries, and used as his excuse a hastily slapped together fundraiser for veterans? Trump claimed he had given $1 million of his own money to the veterans - and months later, Farenthold showed Trump had lied, forcing Trump to actually donate the money Trump had falsely claimed to have given.

Today, Farenthold has a new comprehensive article that represents months of research on the topic of Trump's alleged philanthropy. By now, if you have been paying attention, you won't be surprised to learn that Farenthold's report shows that Trump a) is cheap and ungenerous; b) consistently tries to portray himself as generous when he is not; and c) tends to make sure that what little charitable giving he does make, benefits him personally.

http://www.redstate.com/patterico/2...-shows-trump-lies-like-dog-charitable-giving/


----------



## poochee

*Top Senate Democrats demand update on FBI's Clinton email investigation no later than Monday*
Michelle Mark Politics Oct. 30, 2016, 9:56 AM

*VIDEO*

Four influential Senate Democrats have formally requested that the FBI provide more details on its renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, in a letter sent to FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Saturday.

Sens. Tom Carper, Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, and Ben Cardin requested that the FBI give an update no later than Monday detailing what investigative steps are being taken, how many emails are involved, and whether the emails are duplicates of ones that have already been reviewed.

Comey's letter "is troubling because it is vaguely worded and leaves so many questions unanswered," the senators wrote in their letter, which was published in full by The Huffington Post.

http://www.businessinsider.my/senate-democrats-fbi-comey-clinton-email-2016-10/#tTdvP4I3mMTjIODC.97


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR
*
*Queen Offers to Restore British Rule Over United States*
By Andy Borowitz, October 29, 2016

LONDON (The Borowitz Report)-In an unexpected televised address on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II offered to restore British rule over the United States of America.

Addressing the American people from her office in Buckingham Palace, the Queen said that she was making the offer "in recognition of the desperate situation you now find yourselves in."

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...pJobID=1022341033&spReportId=MTAyMjM0MTAzMwS2


----------



## poochee

*FBI agents knew of Clinton-related emails weeks before director was briefed*
By Matt Zapotosky, Rosalind S. Helderman and Ellen Nakashima
National Security
October 30 at 1:15 PM

*VIDEO*

The FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server knew early this month that messages recovered in a separate probe might be germane to their case, but they waited weeks before briefing the FBI director, according to people familiar with the case.

FBI Director James B. Comey has written that he was informed of the development Thursday, and he sent a letter to legislators the next day letting them know that he thought the team should take "appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails."

That missive ignited a political firestorm less than two weeks before the election. Almost instantly, Comey came under intense criticism for his timing and for bucking the Justice Department's guidance not to tell Congress about the development.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...op-table-main_clintonfbi-121pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*Obama Ramps Up Appearances In Final Campaign Sprint* 
October 29, 201611:00 AM ET 
 Meg Anderson 

President Obama has a very busy week ahead of him. According to a schedule released by the White House, the president plans to campaign Tuesday through Friday next week for Hillary Clinton. He is likely to keep up the vigorous campaign schedule in the days leading up to the election.

The president is planning a sort of "tour de swing state." On Tuesday - exactly one week before Election Day - he will head to Ohio to campaign for Clinton at a "Get Out The Early Vote" campaign in Columbus. The next day, he'll be in North Carolina for a similar event in Raleigh. And on Thursday, Obama will travel to Florida to campaign for Clinton in Miami and in Jacksonville. The president will also attend a Clinton event on Friday, though details on that one have not been released.

That's a highly unusual move for a sitting president. Obama is the first president in nearly a century to campaign strongly for his chosen successor, as NPR's Domenico Montanaro reported.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/29/499639406/obama-ramps-up-appearances-in-final-campaign-sprint


----------



## poochee

*Search Warrant Sought to Examine Abedin's Clinton-Related Emails: Report*
By *Nicholas Loffredo* On 10/30/16 at 2:44 PM

*VIDEOS *

The discovered emails that have roiled the presidential race still have not been examined, as government lawyers aim to secure a search warrant that will allow them to begin a probe that FBI Director James Comey alluded to in a Friday letter to Congress, CNN reports.

http://www.newsweek.com/search-warrant-examine-abedin-clinton-emails-515092?rx=us


----------



## poochee

*Trump rally speaker fantasizes about death of Hillary Clinton*
_Ben _Schreckinger
10/30/16 02:12 PM EDT

LAS VEGAS - A speaker warming up the crowd for Donald Trump at a campaign rally Sunday morning fantasized about the deaths of Hillary Clinton and a senior aide.

Conservative commentator Wayne Allyn Root, describing his fantasy of a made-for-TV movie about Clinton and aide Huma Abedin, said, "We all get our wish. The ending is like 'Thelma and Louise." In the 1991 film, the title characters drive over a cliff to their death. Root's line drew cheers from rally attendees.

Root's call is the latest elevation in the increasingly extreme and violent rhetoric directed by Trump and his surrogates at Clinton at campaign events.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/clinton-trump-abedin-death-230510#ixzz4ObY1I8nb


----------



## poochee

*FBI obtains search warrant to search newly discovered emails potentially relevant to Clinton investigation*
By Matt Zapotosky, Ellen Nakashima and Rosalind S. Helderman
National Security
October 30 at 1:15 PM

*VIDEOS *

The FBI has obtained a warrant to search the emails found on a computer used by former Congressman Anthony Weiner that may contain evidence relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to law enforcement officials.

One official said the total number of emails recovered in the Weiner investigation is close to 650,000 - though that reflects many emails that are not in any way relevant to the Clinton investigation. Officials familiar with the case said, though, the messages include a significant amount of correspondence associated with Clinton and her top aide Huma Abedin, Weiner's estranged wife.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Harry Reid says Comey 'may have broken the law' by disclosing new Clinton-related emails*
Mike DeBonis October 30 at 6:36 PM

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid on Sunday accused FBI Director James D. Comey of breaking federal law in disclosing possible new evidence in the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Reid (D-Nev.) said in a letter sent to Comey that his disclosure to Congress, made 11 days before the election, might have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits partisan politicking by government employees.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ken-the-law-by-disclosing-new-clinton-emails/


----------



## poochee

*Clinton's FBI investigation: What you need to know*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:58 PM ET, Sun October 30, 2016

*Story highlights*

Ex-Attorney General Eric Holder called James Comey's letter "a stunning breach of protocol"
The FBI Director concluded that emails uncovered in an Anthony Weiner probe would need review
*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton's campaign was jolted when FBI Director James Comey delivered the ultimate October surprise.

Eleven days before the 2016 presidential election, Comey announced that the FBI had discovered additional emails and is reviewing them to see whether they are related to the bureau's investigation into Clinton's handling of classified information.

*Here's what you need to know -- and how it might affect Clinton, Donald Trump and the presidential race:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/politics/clinton-fbi-investigation-comey/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Eric Holder: James Comey is a good man, but he made a serious mistake*
By Eric Holder
Opinions
October 30 at 10:38 PM

_Eric Holder was U.S. attorney general from 2009 to 2015._

I began my career in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section 40 years ago, investigating cases of official corruption. In the years since, I have seen America's justice system firsthand from nearly every angle - as a prosecutor, judge, attorney in private practice, and attorney general of the United States. I understand the gravity of the work our Justice Department performs every day to defend the security of our nation, protect the American people, uphold the rule of law and be fair.

That is why I am deeply concerned about FBI Director James B. Comey's decision to write a vague letter to Congress about emails potentially connected to a matter of public, and political, interest. That decision was incorrect. It violated long-standing Justice Department policies and tradition. And it ran counter to guidance that I put in place four years ago laying out the proper way to conduct investigations during an election season. That guidance, which reinforced established policy, is still in effect and applies to the entire Justice Department - including the FBI.

The department has a practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations. Indeed, except in exceptional circumstances, the department will not even acknowledge the existence of an investigation. The department also has a policy of not taking unnecessary action close in time to Election Day that might influence an election's outcome. These rules have been followed during Republican and Democratic administrations. They aren't designed to help any particular individual or to serve any political interest. Instead, they are intended to ensure that every investigation proceeds fairly and judiciously; to maintain the public trust in the department's ability to do its job free of political influence; and to prevent investigations from unfairly or unintentionally casting public suspicion on public officials who have

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...3a007c77bb4_story.html?utm_term=.9044752478e6


----------



## poochee

Oct 31 2016, 7:26 am ET
*Analysis: The Vengeful World of Donald Trump, and Why It Matters*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

Trump's emphasis on violence and retaliation, especially outside the confines of the law, is unique among modern nominees and is rooted in a set of guiding principles.

In his eyes, the world is an unforgiving place where cities are "war zones," where "rapists" are streaming across the border and where jealous rivals are hatching plots to humiliate America and Trump personally.

To prevail in such an environment, he suggests, the response to any slight must be swift and overwhelming. Dwelling on limits imposed by law or tradition is usually a secondary concern.

This framework has expressed itself in policy, in which Trump has extolled the use of torture, threatened reprisals against the families of terrorists and pledged to jail Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state. It has expressed itself rhetorically in vicious insults against critics and in his encouragement of violence by supporters.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ful-world-donald-trump-why-it-matters-n671721


----------



## poochee

*What is the Hatch Act -- and did James Comey break it?*
By Steve Vladeck, CNN
Updated 10:29 AM ET, Mon October 31, 2016

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress Friday alerting the world to the possibility of new emails in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server certainly has upended the presidential race.
One question now: By doing so, did Comey violate federal law? Specifically the Hatch Act, a 1939 law intended to keep federal employees from directly supporting candidates. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggests he may have, as detailed in a Sunday night letter to Comey.

*Here's CNN's guide to the Hatch Act, what it prohibits, and how it is usually enforced.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/31/politics/what-is-the-hatch-act/index.html*


----------



## poochee

*White House: We won't 'defend nor criticize' Comey on Hillary emails*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 5:18 PM ET, Mon October 31, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Barack Obama does not believe FBI Director James Comey is attempting to influence this year's presidential vote, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.

"The President doesn't believe that he's secretly strategizing to benefit one candidate or one political party," Earnest said. "He's in a tough spot, and he's the one who will be in a position to defend his actions in the face of significant criticism from a variety of legal experts, including individuals who served in senior Department of Justice positions in administrations led by presidents in both parties."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/31/politics/white-house-james-comey-clinton-emails/


----------



## poochee

Oct 31 2016, 5:08 pm ET
*Poll: Clinton Maintains National Lead Over Trump Despite FBI Letter*
by Hannah Hartig, John Lapinski and Stephanie Psyllos

*CHARTS*

Hillary Clinton's 6-point national lead over Donald Trump remains virtually unchanged since last week, even after FBI Director James Comey announced the discovery of emails that could be "pertinent" to the investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server.

The NBC News|SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll showed Clinton with a 6-point lead over Trump in the days prior to the Comey news. When looking at the data for Saturday and Sunday only, her lead remained the same - 47 percent to Trump's 41 percent. The poll was conducted online from October 24 through October 30. Questions about Comey's announcement were included on October 29 and October 30.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/da...spite-fbi-letter-n675771?cid=eml_pol_20161031


----------



## poochee

*In private, Burr quips about gun owners shooting Clinton*
By Manu Raju, Senior Political Reporter
Updated 6:32 PM ET, Mon October 31, 2016

_CNN)_Sen. Richard Burr privately mused over the weekend that gun owners may want to put a "bullseye" on Hillary Clinton, according to audio obtained by CNN.

The North Carolina Republican, locked in a tight race for reelection, quipped that as he walked into a gun shop "nothing made me feel better" than seeing a magazine about rifles "with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it."

"I was a little bit shocked at that -- it didn't have a bullseye on it," he said Saturday to GOP volunteers, prompting laughter from the crowd in Mooresville, North Carolina. "But on the bottom right (of the magazine), it had everybody for federal office in this particular state that they should vote for. So let me assure you, there's an army of support out there right now for our candidates."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/31/politics/richard-burr-hillary-clinton-gun-owners/index.html


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## poochee

*Donald Trump, Michelle Obama and America's long struggle to define sexual violence*
Danielle Paquette
October 31 at 1:00 AM

As Election Day approaches, Americans are debating a question that has recently become political: What, exactly, is sexual violence? The White House said Donald Trump's remarks about grabbing women's genitals captured on a 2005 recording describe sexual assault. The Republican presidential nominee has dismissed his comments as "locker-room talk."

Rhetoric aside, the Trump tape highlights the United States' murky understanding of sexual assault, a crime that was once, in the days before women could vote, considered a property offense. More than a century later, people still can't agree on which unwanted advances rise to the level of criminal, and which should be shrugged off as normal male behavior. This societal discord, researchers say, is part of why police officers across the country have bungled rape investigations and women remain extremely unlikely to report any form of sexual transgression.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...define-sexual-violence/?wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's Companies Destroyed Emails in Defiance of Court Orders*
_Donald Trump has a long, troubling history of destroying and hiding important documents in lawsuits, but he thinks Hillary Clinton's the one who should be going to jail.Lucas Jackson/Reuters_
By *Kurt Eichenwald* On 10/31/16 at 7:00 AM

This behavior is of particular import given Trump's frequent condemnations of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, for having deleted more than 30,000 emails from a server she used during her time as secretary of state. While Clinton and her lawyers have said all of those emails were personal, Trump has suggested repeatedly on the campaign trail that they were government documents Clinton was trying to hide and that destroying them constituted a crime. The allegation-which the FBI concluded was not supported by any evidence-is a crowd-pleaser at Trump rallies, often greeted by supporters chanting, "Lock her up!"

*Trump's use of deception* and untruthful affidavits, as well as the hiding or improper destruction of documents, dates back to at least 1973, when the Republican nominee, his father and their real estate company battled the federal government.

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/11/11/donald-trump-companies-destroyed-emails-documents-515120.html


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## poochee

*Iraqi Forces Approach Outskirts Of ISIS-Held Mosul* 
November 1, 201612:39 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy

Iraqi security forces are closing in on the city of Mosul. It's a pivotal offensive for the U.S.-backed troops, and the last major ISIS-held urban center in the country hangs in the balance.

The forces have pushed through ISIS-held territory more quickly than expected, reaching the edge of the city in what is a "huge psychological moment for Iraq," NPR's Alice Fordham reports. ISIS fighters took control of Mosul, one of the biggest cities in Iraq, more than two years ago in what was an embarrassing defeat for Iraqi government forces.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-forces-approach-outskirts-of-isis-held-mosul


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## poochee

Who Will Be President?
By JOSH KATZ UPDATED 38 minutes ago

*Hillary Clinton* has an *88% chance* to win.
Last updated Tuesday, November 1 at 2:18 PM ET

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/presidential-polls-forecast.html?nlid=75973118&_r=1


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## poochee

*Despite Premium Increases, the ACA Marketplaces Are Not In Crisis*

By Thomas Huelskoetter
October 31, 2016

We've heard a lot of rhetoric in the past few days about the recent announcement of premium increases for the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Like clockwork, the ACA repeal machine has sprung back into action to argue, as it has for the past six years, that the law will collapse any day now.

Yet despite the bad headlines, the sky is not falling. It is important to explain why this year's premium increases are different, and why they mostly represent a one-time correction rather than a new normal. While the increases are significant, the Affordable Care Act is not in crisis, and the marketplaces remain viable long-term.

http://www.realclearhealth.com/arti...ca_marketplaces_are_not_in_crisis_110207.html


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## poochee

*FBI releases 17-year-old archive from Clinton pardon case*
Updated November 1, 2016 6:13 PM
By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Only days before the presidential election, the FBI released a 17-year-old archive of documents from a long-closed investigation into Bill Clinton's presidential pardon of a fugitive financier, prompting questions from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign about its timing.

The release comes amid the bureau's controversially timed review of emails from a Hillary Clintonaide.

The Clinton campaign questioned the bureau's decision to make the file public so close to next Tuesday's election.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/...d-archive-from-clinton-pardon-case-1.12541380


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## poochee

*'He's not one of us': Trump is still having trouble winning over many Republicans*
By Robert Costa
Politics
November 1 at 6:49 PM

WAUKESHA, Wis. - Donald Trump got the big October surprise. The momentum seems to be going his way. Hillary Clinton is again on the defensive, again over her emails. But in this enclave of white, upper-middle-class Republicans, the party's presidential nominee still faces a barrier that will be difficult to clear.

"It's a moral choice," Dick Radder, a 68-year-old Republican, said as he cupped a black coffee outside a Starbucks here Tuesday. "I can't get there. I can't get to Trump. I'm a husband and a father. And I can't convince myself to vote for a person who is weakening the fiber of the country."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4d-cc2898cfab06_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


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## poochee

*An Evangelical Makes Her Case For Clinton*
_And it's not just because Clinton is the lesser of two evils. Though Trump certainly makes it easier_
By Katie Zavadski
November 02, 2016

EW YORK-Earlier this summer, Deborah Fikes, a former executive advisor of the World Evangelical Alliance which represents some 600 million evangelical Christians in 129 countries, decided she needed to take a stand in the presidential race. Long before the hot-mic tape that would reveal Donald Trump's propensity for groping women, Fikes determined the real estate mogul simply was unsuitable for the presidency. But the brief essay she wrote in the _New York Times_ didn't decry Trump's extremely casual acquaintance with the Bible, his history of marital infidelity and his generally un-Christlike desire to always punch back twice as hard. She made a case that was almost unique among her fellow evangelicals: Hillary Clinton, she argued, was not the lesser of two evils but in actuality the more Christian candidate and therefore far more deserving of their support.

"Many well-intentioned evangelicals have been drawn to the Republican Party platform with the hope of making an impact on culture and voting their values," she wrote. But, "for the first time in my life, I feel compelled to reject my community's unquestioned political alignment with the G.O.P. and challenge my fellow evangelicals to reconsider."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/hillary-clinton-evangelical-deborah-fikes-214410#ixzz4OsJdi4cB


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## poochee

*Centenarian women spotlight their support for Hillary Clinton*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 11:46 AM ET, Wed November 2, 2016

*Story highlights*

The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920
Not everyone in this demographic thought they'd see this day coming
*VIDEOS*

And while the supporters are quick to acknowledge Clinton's 30 years of public service as a motivation for their support, they aren't shy about acknowledging that gender influenced their decision.

"I think women do bring something different to office, a sensitivity that most men don't have," said Schultz, an educator. "I saw the election of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Merkel, May and Hillary would be a wonderful triad to rule the world."

"Maybe they'd be able to bring about some peace and quality growth that hasn't happened yet," she added.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/politics/hillary-clinton-women-100/index.html


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## poochee

*Black Mississippi Church Burned And Vandalized With 'Vote Trump'*
*There were no reported injuries.*
11/02/2016 10:35 am ET | *Updated* 45 minutes ago

A black church in Mississippi was burned and vandalized with pro-Donald Trump graffiti late Tuesday.

Authorities responded to the fire at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, Tuesday night. Delta Daily News reports that the majority of the damage was to the main sanctuary and there were no reported injuries. Someone had spray-painted the words "Vote Trump" along the side of the building.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...-vandalized-trump_us_5819ef95e4b01f610e393372


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## poochee

*Obama on FBI: We don't operate on innuendo*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 12:22 PM ET, Wed November 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to members of Congress related to Hillary Clinton's emails
Obama made his first comments on the FBI's review of those emails
"I do think that there is a norm that when there are investigations we don't operate on innuendo and we don't operate on incomplete information and we don't operate on leaks," Obama said in the interview, which was taped Tuesday. "We operate based on concrete decisions that are made. When this was investigated thoroughly last time the conclusion of the FBI, the conclusion of the Justice Department, the conclusion of repeated congressional investigations was she had made some mistakes but that there wasn't anything there that was procecutable."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/politics/obama-on-fbi-we-dont-operate-on-innuendo/index.html


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## poochee

*A hot mic, groping charges and sexting: 2016 has not been a good year for men*
By Mary Jordan
November 2 at 2:19 PM

*VIDEO*

This presidential election has been downright embarrassing to men. In its closing days, that's how a lot of men, including Ken Oldham, see the 2016 campaign.

"It's disgusting," said Oldham, 40, president of the United Way in Frederick, Md. "Men have not looked good in this election."

"The vast majority of men are decent, civil human beings, and I don't think we can be silent anymore," said Oldham, who joined the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes fundraiser in downtown Frederick on Sunday to raise money to help survivors of sexual assault.

To make a point, Oldham and two dozen men did the walk in high heels. "It was the first time I had the guts to put on a pair of pumps and walk publicly through town," he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...32-23a007c77bb4_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


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## poochee

*Ambush-style killings of police up 300% *







USA TODAY 
Kim Hjelmgaard8 hrs ago

There has been a massive increase in the number of police officers killed in the United States as a result of ambush-style attacks - a jump of more than 300% in the first half of 2016, according to a report published by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The report found that from January to July 20 this year, 14 police officers were shot and killed in ambushes, seven while stopping a suspicious person and five were killed while "executing a tactical arrest or high-risk warrants."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/am...300percent/ar-AAjJI2j?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=ieslice


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## poochee

**
*Comey Says F.B.I. Investigating Hillary's Ties to Bill Clinton*
By Andy Borowitz
01:44 P.M.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-Dropping a bombshell less than a week before the Presidential election, the F.B.I. Director James Comey revealed on Wednesday that the Bureau was investigating Hillary Clinton's ties to Bill Clinton.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...pJobID=1040177870&spReportId=MTA0MDE3Nzg3MAS2


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## poochee

*KKK's official newspaper supports Donald Trump for president*
By Peter Holley
Post Politics
November 2 at 6:49 AM

*PHOTOS*

Among the small number of American newspapers that have embraced Donald Trump's campaign, there is one, in particular, that stands out.

It is called the Crusader - and it is one of the most prominent newspapers of the Ku Klux Klan.

Under the banner "Make America Great Again," the entire front page of the paper's current issue is devoted to a lengthy defense of Trump's message - an embrace some have labeled a de facto endorsement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...p-for-president/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


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## poochee

Bryce Covert
Economic Policy Editor at ThinkProgress.
8 hrs ago

*The legal baggage Donald Trump would bring to the White House*
_There are a number of pending lawsuits against the Republican nominee._

After FBI Director James Comey sent a letter to Congress on Friday saying that the agency would be reviewing new emails to see if they are relevant to its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State, Donald Trump has wasted no time in saying the announcement should keep her from office. He called her "corrupt," claiming the corruption is "on a scale we have never seen before."

He added, "We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office."

But what Trump left out is that he himself is involved in a number of legal battles that are still ongoing, some of which have court dates scheduled for just after the election. While there are differences between these lawsuits and the ongoing federal investigation into Clinton - most of the suits against Trump are civil claims - Trump would bring plenty of legal baggage into the White House.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-pending-lawsuits-75a49b1db1ee#.8f5y7d800


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## poochee

*Obama: Army Corps Examining Possible Rerouting Of Dakota Access Pipeline* 
November 2, 20163:37 PM ET 
 Rebecca Hersher 

President Obama said Tuesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is examining possible alternative routes for the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Protesters have been occupying land along the current pipeline route near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. A federal judge has ruled that work on the pipeline can go forward, but the Corps and two other agencies said work would not go forward in an area particularly sensitive to the tribe until a review was completed.

"We're monitoring this closely and I think, as a general rule, my view is that there's a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans," Obama said in an interview with the news organization Now This.

*The president continued:*

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-possible-rerouting-of-dakota-access-pipeline


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## poochee

*Out West, Clinton paints grim picture of life under Trump*
By JULIE PACE
Nov. 2, 2016 7:37 PM EDT

Clinton was campaigning in the West, both in battleground Nevada and in Arizona. The latter is a reliably Republican state where Democrats see an opening against Trump given his unpopularity with Hispanics.

Speaking to a union-heavy crowd in Las Vegas, Clinton urged voters to imagine what life would be like if Trump is inaugurated on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in January. For Hispanics, she said, that would mean having a president "who doesn't see you as Americans." And for blacks, she said it would mean having a president who believes their lives are consumed by "crime and poverty and despair."

http://elections.ap.org/content/out-west-clinton-paints-grim-picture-life-under-trump


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## poochee

*Russian hacking is the real scandal: Madeleine Albright*
Madeleine K. Albright 9:56 a.m. EDT November 3, 2016
_Democracy is on the line here and around the world amid attempts to undermine our elections._

Democrats have been renewing their calls this week for the FBI to release more information on the connections among Donald Trump, his top advisers and the Russian government. But it is already clear that Russia's intervention in our election on Trump's side is the real scandal of 2016 - and we must take more seriously the threat this interference poses to democratic countries around the world.

For years, Russia and other authoritarian governments have been waging a shadow campaign to discredit democratic institutions worldwide, focusing much of their energy on Europe and former Soviet states in Asia. The goal is not necessarily to prove the superiority of their system, but to diminish the appeal of representative government and to undermine Western leaders by making them seem corrupt or malicious. This war has been waged by propaganda outlets such as Russia Today and Sputnik News, but also through the spread of misinformation and lies across the Internet.

I have some experience with their methods because for years, Russian propaganda outlets have been spreading the bizarre rumor that I once said Siberia does not belong to Russia. After I denied saying this, Russian officials even claimed that they had read my mind - a capability I did not know they or their friends at Wikileaks had yet developed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...igging-democracy-madeleine-albright/93125198/
*
*


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## poochee

*'C'mon man': Obama tells voters to get serious*
By JULIE PACE and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
Nov. 3, 2016 12:47 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Time to get serious, President Barack Obama told voters Thursday, denouncing Republican Donald Trump as a "con artist" and a threat to democracy as the race for the White House opened its do-or-die phase.

"This isn't a joke. This isn't 'Survivor.' This isn't 'The Bachelorette.'" Obama said, taunting the former reality-TV star. "This counts."

Obama tore into Trump as the Republican is closing on Democrat Hillary Clinton with just five days left. Speaking to students in all-important Florida, Obama tried to light a fire under complacent Democrats and frame the stakes. He zig-zagged from mockery to dire warnings to boasting about his own record in office. And he repeatedly returned to his new campaign catchphrase capturing his disbelief in the unpredictable race to replace him.

http://elections.ap.org/content/cmon-man-obama-tells-voters-get-serious


----------



## poochee

*A Trump Tower Goes Bust in Canada*
_The failure this week of Trump Toronto showcased a familiar scenario: big promises, glitzy image, a Russian-born financier, aggrieved smaller investors - but few losses for the mogul himself._
By Michael Grunwald
November 03, 2016

Trump is not the project's developer or even an investor; one of his partners, a Russian-born billionaire who got rich in Ukraine's steel industry, controls the firm that's in default. The Trump Toronto is still a posh hotel, and even though nearly two thirds of the tower's condo units remain unsold, they're still upscale residences. Still, the saga of the property's glittering rise and rapid fall is classic Trump, featuring a tsunami of litigation and bitterness, money with a Russian accent, and a financial wreck that probably won't hit its namesake particularly hard.

Trump has vowed to run the country the way he runs his businesses, and Trump Toronto is yet another reminder that his businesses do not always run smoothly. Even before the bankruptcy, the Trump Organization was already mired in litigation over management issues with the project's owner, Talon International-led by Alex Shnaider, the steel magnate who is perhaps better known for buying a Formula One racing team and hiring Justin Bieber to sing at his daughter's Sweet Sixteen. The project also faced lawsuits filed by middle-class investors who claim they were suckered into buying time-share-style units in the hotel with wildly overstated projections of Trump Toronto's performance. Now it's in receivership, which will produce new ownership and, quite possibly, a new brand.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/trump-tower-goes-bust-canada-214412


----------



## poochee

*New CNN / ORC polls suggest new strength for Trump in Nevada, Clinton rise in Florida*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 2:46 PM ET, Thu November 3, 2016

*Story highlights*

New CNN / ORC polls have good news for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
The polls suggest a very tight race headed into election day
*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns have hit the ground hard in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania, and new CNN/ORC polls across the four states paint a picture of a tight race to the finish in critical battlegrounds.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/polit...lorida-pennsylvania-nevada-arizona/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Melania Trump: Ending social media bullying would be focus as first lady*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 4:04 PM ET, Thu November 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Melania Trump says she'd focus on fixing America's social media culture as first lady
She gave a rare speech in Berwyn, Pennsylvania -- in the suburbs of Philadelphia
(CNN)Melania Trump says she'd work to improve a social media culture that has gotten "too mean and too tough" -- riddled with insults based on "looks and intelligence" -- if she becomes first lady.

But she didn't make any mention of the Twitter activities of her husband, Donald Trump, who has relentlessly attacked his political foes, journalists, critics and other entertainers for years with demeaning comments based on their appearances and intelligence.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/politics/melania-trump-speech-pennsylvania/index.html


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## poochee

Nov 3 2016, 10:12 pm ET
*Exclusive: White House Readies to Fight Election Day Cyber Mayhem*
by Ken Dilanian, Josh Meyer, Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin and Robert Windrem

*VIDEO*

The U.S. government believes hackers from Russia or elsewhere may try to undermine next week's presidential election and is mounting an unprecedented effort to counter their cyber meddling, American officials told NBC News.

The effort is being coordinated by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, but reaches across the government to include the CIA, the National Security Agency and other elements of the Defense Department, current and former officials say.

Russia has been warned that any effort to manipulate the actual voting or vote counting would be viewed as a serious breach, intelligence officials say.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-readies-fight-election-day-cyber-mayhem-n677636


----------



## poochee

*Democrats, Trump lawyers going to court early -- and often*
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 9:52 PM ET, Thu November 3, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_As Democrats warn their supporters of voter suppression efforts and Donald Trump urges his followers to watch polling areas, lawyers from both sides are filing fiery legal briefs and laying the groundwork for potential challenges Election Day.

In states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, lawyers for state Democratic parties are in federal court alleging that the Trump campaign and others are "conspiring to threaten, intimidate, and thereby prevent minority voters in urban neighborhoods from voting in the 2016 campaign."

They are asking for a temporary injunction to block "such conduct" through Election Day.

In legal briefs, they quote Trump from a speech last August. "I hope you people can...not just vote on the 8th, [but also] go around and look and watch other polling places and make sure that it's 100-percent fine," Trump told an audience in Pennsylvania.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/03/politics/poll-watcher-ballot-access-lawsuits/index.html


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## poochee

*U.S. Wages Rising At The Fastest Pace In Years Amid Solid Hiring*
November 4, 201612:07 PM ET
 Marilyn Geewax 

Go ahead - ask the boss for a raise.

The jobs report released Friday by the Labor Department suggests the time finally may be right to demand a fatter paycheck.

The October report showed employers added 161,000 jobs - and paid workers more. Average hourly earnings rose by 10 cents to $25.92 last month - and that gain followed September's increase of eight cents an hour.

In all, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.8 percent over the past year - the fastest pace since the end of the Great Recession. That's a lot considering that the consumer price index has risen only 1.5 percent in the same 12 months. So workers now have more buying power at the store.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...t-the-fastest-pace-in-years-amid-solid-hiring


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## poochee

*Clinton, Trump make their closing arguments*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:40 PM ET, Fri November 4, 2016

With four days remaining before the election, the White House rivals are speaking in increasingly stark terms about the stakes of the race. Clinton is portraying Trump as someone who doesn't care about minorities and women. Trump, meanwhile, is arguing that Clinton flouts the law and says her administration would be consumed with constant investigations and distracting scandals.

The final get-out-the-vote flurry begins

Neither candidate is making an affirmative case for their own campaign, more comfortable keeping their opponent's flaws in the spotlight.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/04/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-election-2016/index.html


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## poochee

Nov 4 2016, 8:42 am ET 
*With Four Days to Go, the Presidential Race is Closing Ugly*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*Closing ugly*

Given the campaign we've watched over the past year, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the closing arguments from both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are incredibly negative. Trump has a TV ad referring to "pervert Anthony Weiner," and he has made the false charge that Clinton is "under criminal investigation," which NBC's reporting doesn't back up. Meanwhile, Clinton is throwing the kitchen sink at Trump, re-litigating his issues with women (Alicia Machado) and noting that Trump was endorsed by the KKK newspaper, which Trump's campaign has disavowed. (NBC's Leigh Ann Caldwell sums up the negative closing arguments here.) But these ugly closing arguments do create a HUGE opening for either candidate to rise above the negativity -- and make the other side pay for it.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ace-closing-ugly-n677886?cid=eml_pol_20161104


----------



## poochee

*The biggest Pinocchios of Election 2016*
*By **Glenn Kessler* 
*Fact Checker*
November 4 at 3:00 AM

This presidential election race has been one for the record books - including for Pinocchios.

In many ways, it was an unbalanced race. Donald Trump has amassed such a collection of Four-Pinocchio ratings - 59 in all - that by himself he's earned as many in this campaign as all other Republicans (or Democrats) combined in the past three years. His average Pinocchio rating was 3.4. (By contrast, the worst Pinocchio rating in 2012 was earned by Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota - an average of 3.08 Pinocchios.)

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, ended up with an average Pinocchio rating of 2.2. That put her in about the same range as President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in 2012. (She had a total of seven Four-Pinocchio ratings.) If not for her statements about the email controversy, which earned her lots of Pinocchios, her average rating would have been much lower.

*Here are some of the lowlights of the 2016 campaign.*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...chios-of-election-2016/?wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


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## poochee

*Fox News apologizes for falsely reporting that Clinton faces indictment*
By Paul Farhi
November 4 at 2:40 PM

He further said on Thursday, during an interview with Fox's Brit Hume, that a separate FBI investigation - of the charitable Clinton Foundation - would "likely" lead to an indictment of Clinton after Tuesday's election.

Both statements, if true, would be explosive developments in the late stages of the presidential campaign between Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly invoked the alleged atmosphere of corruption around the Clinton Foundation and the security risks involved in Clinton's use of a private server while secretary of state as reasons not to vote for Clinton.

But neither of his reports about Clinton were accurate, Baier acknowledged Friday morning in a "Fox News alert" conversation with Fox News anchor Jon Scott.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...d56f20-a2b7-11e6-8d63-3e0a660f1f04_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's allies trip him up*
_The indictment of Chris Christie's former aides and Rudy Giuliani's claim of insider FBI knowledge distract from Trump's closing message._
By Eli Stokols
11/04/16 04:53 PM EDT
Updated 11/04/16 06:13 PM EDT

ATKINSON, N.H. - Donald Trump is closing out his campaign with a lament that is also a warning, an "isn't it a shame" sort of riff about the likelihood of Hillary Clinton, whether she's elected president or not, remaining under federal investigation and likely winding up facing charges.

This relatively decaffeinated version of Trump's longstanding attack on Clinton - encouraging his supporters' dreams of seeing the Democratic nominee sent to jail if not their full-throated chants of "Lock her up" - is the same one he's been delivering all week, trying to avoid any unforced errors in the final days of a seemingly narrowing presidential campaign.

But Friday's news cycle did not exactly dovetail neatly with Trump's closing argument.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-christie-giuliani-distractions-230752


----------



## poochee

*Clinton hones closing argument against Trump, asks supporters to stage 'intervention'*
By Abby Phillip, Jenna Johnson and Katie Zezima
November 4 at 7:09 PM

VIDEO

PITTSBURGH - Hillary Clinton honed her closing argument against Donald Trump Friday, asking supporters to imagine Trump standing in front of the Capitol and being in charge of the nation's nuclear arsenal.

"Think about what it would mean to entrust the nuclear codes to someone with a very thin skin who lashes out at anyone who challenges him?" Clinton asked. "Imagine how easy it would be that Donald Trump would feel insulted and start a real war, not just a Twitter war at 3 in the morning."

Clinton urged supporters to stage "an intervention" with friends and family members who plan to vote for Trump by explaining to them that "anger is not a plan."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...fab06_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Clinton's campaign taps star power as Trump goes it alone*
By LISA LERER and JILL COLVIN
Nov. 4, 2016 10:43 PM EDT

CLEVELAND (AP) - Hillary Clinton dispatched musical and political celebrities across battleground states Friday to try to energize Democrats in what's become an increasingly competitive race. Donald Trump, meanwhile, defended his go-it-alone approach.

The Democratic presidential nominee wrapped up a day of campaign stops at a packed, star-studded concert in Cleveland. Standing alongside singer Beyonce and her husband, rapper Jay Z, on a brightly lit stage at the Wolstein Center, Clinton lavished praise on the celebrity couple and asked thousands of cheering fans their votes.

"Please take this energy out with you," she said, rattling off the address of an early voting location. "Help us win Ohio."

http://elections.ap.org/content/clintons-campaign-taps-star-power-trump-goes-it-alone


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## poochee

November 05, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: The Progress We've Made Because of the Affordable Care Act*

*VIDEO*

This week, President Obama discussed Open Enrollment on the Health Insurance Marketplace, which began November 1 and will end on January 31. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 20 million American adults have obtained health insurance, and an additional three million children have gained coverage since the President took office. The uninsured rate is the lowest level on record. Today, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, your preventive care is free; there are no more annual or lifetime limits on essential health care; you can't get charged more just for being a woman; young people can stay on a parent's plan until they turn 26; seniors get discounts on their prescriptions; and no one can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. To sign up for health care coverage, visit HealthCare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*National poll finds Clinton, Trump virtually deadlocked*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 5:09 PM ET, Sat November 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Another national survey shows a near-even race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the final weekend before Election Day.

The former secretary of state has 44% of support among likely voters in a McClatchy-Marist poll released Saturday while the businessman has 43%, within the poll's margin of error.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has 6% of the vote while Green Party nominee Jill Stein garners 2%.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/05/politics/mcclatchy-marist-poll-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/index.html


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## poochee

*Taking America's political pulse: A deep anxiety sets in, but some optimism lingers*
By Arelis R. Hernández, Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Marc Fisher
November 5 at 2:57 PM

At long last, Americans get to decide. More than usual, most people don't like their choices. More than usual, many Americans believe that people who don't agree with them are not only wrong but are also best avoided.

On the eve of the election, America is afraid. People talk about buying guns to protect themselves from troubles to come. They talk about places they steer clear of and people they don't talk to anymore. Casual conversations have blown up into hurtful arguments. Friends vanish from Facebook feeds. People who used to put up yard signs don't for fear of what their neighbors might do. And people who thought things were improving, in their own lives and in their communities, wonder whether they missed the real story, a darker tale of division and despair.

But America is also what it's always been, a green field of possibility, a place where people relish rogues and truth-tellers, and a place where being appalled by politicians is part of the deal, something that can even bring people together.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4d-cc2898cfab06_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


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## poochee

2016 ELECTION DAY
Nov 5 2016, 5:36 pm ET
*Clinton Pulls Out the Stops, Calls for Backup to Help Mobilize Black Voters*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

There's no doubt about which party is favored among black voters, who made up about 13 percent of the electorate in 2012. They have consistently voted close to 90 percent or higher for Democratic presidential candidates, and Donald Trump's rhetoric may only increase that margin.

But margins don't matter, votes do. And the question is whether the same number of African-American votes will be cast as there were for Barack Obama, who re-engineered the way Democrats win the White House by juicing turnout among friendly demographics.

After some discouraging initial early-vote numbers, Democrats are somewhat relieved by newer data out of Florida and North Carolina, two states where the black vote is critical. But they are pulling out all the stops to get black voters to the polls. And while Clinton may not be Obama, it has helped to have him in her corner.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...lls-backup-help-mobilize-black-voters-n678471


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## poochee

*Big Names Campaigning for Hillary Clinton Underscore Donald Trump's Isolation*
By ALEXANDER BURNS and GARDINER HARRISNOV. 4, 2016

*Hillary Clinton* campaigned Friday in the company of friends and celebrities, first flanked by the billionaire businessman Mark Cuban in Pittsburgh and Detroit, and then at a concert in Cleveland with Jay Z and Beyoncé. High-wattage political leaders fanned out for her around the country: Her husband, Bill, stumped in Colorado, as President Obama rallied voters in North Carolina.

By comparison, Donald J. Trump was a lonely figure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/us/politics/campaign-trump-clinton.html?ref=politics&_r=1


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## poochee

Nov 5 2016, 11:34 pm ET
*Trump Rushed Off Reno Stage After Someone Yells 'Gun,' No Weapon Found*
by Phil Helsel and Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump was rushed off stage by the Secret Service while delivering a speech in Reno, Nevada, Saturday night after someone in the crowd yelled "gun," the federal agency said. No weapon was found.

"Immediately in front of the stage, an unidentified individual shouted "gun". Secret Service agents and Reno Police Officers immediately apprehended the subject," the Secret Service said in a statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ed-stage-after-disturbance-reno-rally-n678531


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## poochee

*I know Trump. Don't vote for him: Ex-Harrah's executive*
USA Today Network Phil Satre, Reno Gazette-Journal 9:02 a.m. EST November 6, 2016
_I wrote of his bluster, threats, intemperance and falsehoods in 1985. Nothing has changed._

Above all else, however, I am convinced he simply does not have the temperament to be president, or more importantly, commander in chief: His hair trigger temper, bluster, racial rhetoric and divisive domestic and international views will endanger our democracy and risk permanent damage to our society.
_
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...vote-trump-former-harrahs-executive/93353464/_


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## poochee

*Clinton vs. Trump: The America They'd Build*
_Real policy barely came up in the campaign, but the differences between the candidates are huge. A guided tour of two futures._
By Michael Grunwald
November 06, 2016

Hillary Clinton plans to raise taxes on the rich, while Donald Trump plans to cut taxes on the rich. That's a major difference between the two major candidates for president. But the three major nightly newscasts have not mentioned tax policy once in their coverage of 2016. Trump also wants to repeal President Barack Obama's health care reforms and Wall Street reforms, while Clinton wants to keep them and strengthen them. Those issues haven't made it onto the nightly news, either.

One of these candidates will soon wield enormous influence over issues that affect the country and the world. *Here are some of them, along with the very different approaches the candidates take with them:*

http://www.politico.com/magazine/st...-election-policy-differences-president-214423


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## poochee

*FBI director says agency once again won't recommend charges over Clinton email*
By Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman
Politics
November 6 at 5:07 PM

FBI Director James B. Comey notified key members of Congress Sunday afternoon that after reviewing newly discovered Hillary Clinton emails the agency stands by its original findings against recommending charges.

Comey wrote that investigators had worked "around the clock" to review all the emails found on a device used by former congressman Anthony Weiner that had been sent to or from Clinton and that "we have not changed our conclusions expressed in July."

The conclusion from Comey provided one more twist to the 2016 presidential race and cleared away a major distraction for Clinton and her team just two days before the election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli....html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


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## poochee

Nov 6 2016, 5:03 pm ET
*Poll: Clinton Hits Her Stride with Latino Voters Just Before Election*
by Stephen A. Nuño

The tracking poll conducted by polling firm Latino Decisions for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) began eight weeks ago and Clinton has hit full stride with Latinos just two days before the election. With eagerness over the 2016 race at its highest mark since the tracking poll began, 55 percent of Latino voters are more enthusiastic over this election than they were in 2012, say experts.

The tracking poll numbers show Clinton receiving her highest favorability rating among Latinos in the last week of the tracking poll, now at 70 percent. By contrast, Donald Trump continues to occupy low ratings among Latinos, now at 17 percent. Perhaps most important for the Democrats in down ballot races, favorability ratings for Democrats in Congress have also reached their highest point since the poll began, at 65 percent.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/poll-clinton-hits-her-stride-latino-voters-just-election-n678726


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## poochee

*Black pastors issue urgent plea to voters at Sunday services*
By JEFF KAROUB AND RACHEL ZOLL | Nov. 6, 2016 3:59 PM EST

DETROIT (AP) - At Sunday services, in rallies and on social media, black pastors urged congregants to vote, hoping to inspire a late flood of African-American turnout that could help propel Democrat Hillary Clinton to victory in critical swing states on Tuesday.

In Detroit, a pastor spoke of voting and citizenship. In Philadelphia, the minister reminded congregants others had died for their chance to cast a ballot. The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke to a crowd of a few hundred people gathered in front of City Hall in Tallahassee, Florida, right before they marched a block over to the county courthouse to vote early.

Along with women and Hispanics, African-Americans are seen as critical to Clinton's chances against Republican Donald Trump, who polls show is not popular among black voters. However, early voting data from key states indicate turnout will not be as high this year as it was four years ago, when Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, was on the ballot. Sunday's efforts were aimed at minimizing that decline.

http://elections.ap.org/content/black-pastors-issue-urgent-plea-voters-sunday-services


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## poochee

*Latest Election Polls 2016*
Updated daily as new polls are published.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/polls.html?_r=0


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## poochee

*A Changing America Faces A Stark Choice This Election*
November 6, 20166:00 AM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 

America is changing. It's getting browner, as population growth stagnates among whites. And Millennials, who now outnumber baby boomers, are poised to become the dominant political generation of the next 35 years beginning in this election.

Non-whites now make up a majority of kindergartners. By the next presidential election, the Census Bureau projects, they will be a majority of all children. And by 2044, no one racial group will be a majority of the country.

2016 could be the first election in which the white vote is at or below 70 percent as a share of the electorate. For perspective: in 1976, whites made up 89 percent of voters. As Latino and Asian immigration increased in the 1990s and 2000s, the white vote has been set on a steady decline.

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/06/500706733/a-changing-america-faces-a-stark-choice-this-election


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## poochee

POLITICS 
*Edward Snowden Shows Just How Fast The FBI Could Read Hillary Clinton's Emails*
*"Old laptops could do it in minutes-to-hours."*
11/06/2016 10:42 pm ET | *Updated* 1 hour ago
*Ed Mazza*  Overnight Editor, The Huffington Post

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ry-clinton-emails_us_581fe27de4b0aac62485334d


----------



## poochee

Politics
*With Fewer Legal Tools In Hand, Justice Department Prepares To Monitor Election* 
November 7, 201610:30 AM ET 
Pam Fessler 

The U.S. Justice Department says it will have more than 500 monitors and observers out Tuesday watching polling sites in 28 states. They'll be looking for any voting rights violations, such as whether voters are discriminated against because of their race or language.

"The bedrock of our democracy is the right to vote, and the Department of Justice works tirelessly to uphold that right, not only on Election Day, but every day," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/07/50100...stice-department-prepares-to-monitor-election


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## poochee

*THE NEW YORK TIMES

UPSHOT
Latest Election Polls 2016
*
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/polls.html?_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Did Donald Trump Just Make Up An Award He Won?*
*He says he was named "Man of the Year" in Michigan five years ago. But there's no evidence of this.*
11/07/2016 11:34 am ET
*Sam Stein*  Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post

*Arthur Delaney*  Senior Reporter, The Huffington Post
Donald Trump, during a speech on Sunday, claimed that five years ago he was "honored" as "Man of the Year in Michigan."

We have no clue what he's talking about.

That doesn't mean it didn't happen. But there is no apparent _record_ of it happening, and the folks who might know aren't talking.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-michigan-man-of-year_us_5820a413e4b0aac62485af81


----------



## poochee

*What to know about the 15 states that will decide the election*
Jose A. DelReal, Anne Gearan, Ed O'Keefe, Abby Phillip, Amber Phillips, Sean Sullivan, John Wagner and Katie Zezima
Politics
November 6 at 10:09 AM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...32-23a007c77bb4_story.html?wpisrc=fl_election


----------



## poochee

*MORE...

The FBI Scanned Clinton's Emails the Same Way Your Boss Reads Yours
Tech
Nov 7 2016, 3:41 pm ET*
by Alyssa Newcomb

The FBI said this weekend that an investigative team had worked "around the clock to process and review" emails found on former New York congressman Anthony Weiner's laptop that related to the agency's probe of Hillary Clinton.

But even a moderately tech savvy person could weed through 650,000 emails in a little more than a week if they knew what they were looking for, according to experts.

"Anybody with coding skills could write a script and do this in 15 to 20 minutes," Jeremiah Grossman, chief of security at SentinelOne, told NBC News. "It just a bunch of filters. I'm looking for a word, a phrase or to and from a certain person."

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/fbi-scanned-clinton-s-emails-same-way-your-boss-reads-n679086


----------



## poochee

*Markets Right Now: US stocks surge after FBI clears Clinton*
Nov. 7, 2016 11:54 AM EST

NEW YORK (AP) - The latest on developments in U.S. financial markets (All times local):

11:45 a.m.

Stocks are surging on Wall Street, breaking a nine-day losing streak, after the FBI said newly discovered emails didn't warrant any action against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

http://elections.ap.org/content/markets-right-now-us-stocks-surge-after-fbi-clears-clinton


----------



## poochee

*Trump drifts off message in final stretch*
_The Republican nominee punctuates his closing argument with riffs about a Trump mask and complaints about rap music._
By Louis Nelson
11/07/16 03:59 PM EST

Hillary Clinton made her closing argument to voters on the eve of the election with a sober warning, telling supporters in Pittsburgh, "We don't have to accept a dark and divisive vision for America. Tomorrow you can hope for a hopeful, inclusive, bighearted America."

Donald Trump, at his own rally in Florida, held up a rubber mask of his own face and complained about obscenity in rap music.

Both candidates are crisscrossing the country on Monday, making one last push to get out the vote and secure an Election night result that will be historic, one way or another. And while both candidates delivered stump lines in their rallies, it was Trump who characteristically included some out-of-left-field riffs.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-2016-election-eve-speech-230896


----------



## poochee

*THE LATEST....

REAL CLEAR POLITICS POLL*

General Election: Trump vs. Clinton (4-Way)

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep...ail&utm_term=0_d6a76c9ec3-d0107a5170-84568773


----------



## poochee

*Obama passes the torch to Clinton*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 11:00 PM ET, Mon November 7, 2016

*VIDEO*

Philadelphia (CNN)Hillary Clinton -- joined by her husband, Bill, and their daughter, Chelsea -- campaigned a final time with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama Monday night, in front of tens of thousands of supporters before the historic Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

The group celebrated the history Obama made eight years ago, as the first African-American to win the White House, and expressed optimism that the next day Clinton will make a different kind of history as the first woman to be elected to the highest office.

Still hours away from Tuesday morning when polls would open on the East Coast, Obama issued an urgent warning in what would be one of his final and most importance speeches as president.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/07/politics/obama-hillary-clinton-election-2016/index.html


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## poochee

*An anti-Trump disabled boy was booed at a rally. The next day, he got to meet President Obama.*
Lindsey Bever
Inspired Life
November 7 at 4:23 PM

Twelve-year-old JJ Holmes has been enamored with the 2016 presidential election.

By Election Day, the boy would encounter two of the most polarizing figures in this campaign season - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and President Obama - and his experiences with them would be vastly different.

For months, JJ, who has a severe case of cerebral palsy, has been sitting on his knees at his home in Longwood, Fla., using his nose to type searches on his iPad for "Mary Poppins" plays and Trump events, his mother said. Throughout the election, she said, he had been itching to go to a rally - to express his disdain for Trump, who came under fire last year for mocking a reporter with a disability.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/11/07/a-disabled-boy-was-booted-from-a-trump-rally-the-next-day-he-got-to-meet-president-obama/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_il-antitrumpboy-645pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

Politics
2016 ELECTION DAY
Nov 8 2016, 8:17 am ET
*The 2016 Election Has Been the Final Battle of the Obama War*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

One way to view the presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is it being the final battle of the eight-year-long Obama War. Think about it: You have one candidate (Clinton) who has embraced 98% of Obama' agenda, as the current president has spent much of the fall campaigning for her, including last night in Philadelphia. And you have the other candidate (Trump) who not only first entered the political fray of the Obama Era by questioning the president's birthplace and legitimacy for office, but who is also Obama's polar opposite in so many ways. That's why the divides we see in this Clinton-vs.-Trump contest -- on race, gender, age, and geography -- were the same ones we spotted eight years ago. The Obama Era has featured so many different political battles. 2008. Obamacare. The Debt-Ceiling Standoff. 2012. The Government Shutdown. The 2014 Midterms. And tonight is the final one. Which side will win? There are no certainties in politics, but the side who has a current president with a 53% approval rating in the last NBC/WSJ poll has the upper hand. And a Clinton win would be affirmation that Obama is the Democratic Party's Ronald Reagan. Indeed, remember the last time a party won a third-straight presidential election -- in 1988, when George HW Bush succeeded a popular Reagan.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...battle-obama-war-n679631?cid=eml_pol_20161108


----------



## poochee

*A new theory for why Trump voters are so angry - that actually makes sense*
Jeff Guo
November 8 at 10:54 AM

*VIDEO*

But if you're wondering about the widening fissure between red and blue America, why politics these days have become so fraught and so emotional, Kathy Cramer is one of the best people to ask. For the better part of the past decade, the political science professor has been crisscrossing Wisconsin trying to get inside the minds of rural voters.

Well before President Obama or the tea party, well before the rise of Trump sent reporters scrambling into the heartland looking for answers, Cramer was hanging out in dairy barns and diners and gas stations, sitting with her tape recorder taking notes. Her research seeks to understand how the people of small towns make sense of politics - why they feel the way they feel, why they vote the way they vote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...t-actually-makes-sense/?wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump files Nevada voting lawsuit*
By Ariane de Vogue and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 1:25 PM ET, Tue November 8, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump lawyers want pertinent early vote ballots not to be "co-mingled or interspersed" with other ballots
The state's GOP chairman said polling locations were kept open late so a "certain group" could vote
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/08/politics/nevada-voting-lawsuit-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Why women are wearing white to the polls on Election Day*
an hour ago
Rheana Murray
TODAY

 
If you went to the polls before work this morning to vote, maybe you noticed some women were dressed in all white.

No, this isn't a boycott of the "no white after Labor Day" fashion rule, but rather a tribute to the suffragettes of the early 1900s, who wore the same hue at protests while fighting for women's right to vote in the United States.

http://www.today.com/style/why-women-are-wearing-white-polls-election-day-t104810


----------



## poochee

*Nevada judge denies Trump request; warns about Twitter trolls*
By Ariane de Vogue and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 4:33 PM ET, Tue November 8, 2016

*VIDEO *

*Story highlights*

Trump wanted some early vote ballots not to be "co-mingled or interspersed" with other ballots
Latino voters showed up in record numbers to vote early
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/08/politics/nevada-voting-lawsuit-donald-trump/index.html
Washington (CNN)A Nevada court judge forcefully denied a request Tuesday from Donald Trump's campaign to direct a county registrar of voters to preserve and segregate ballots from voting machines in four early voting sites in the


----------



## poochee

*Election results: Florida, other key battleground states too close to call*
By Matea Gold and David A. Fahrenthold
Politics
November 8 at 10:09 PM

*VIDEO*

Hours after polls began to close, the presidential race was extremely close on Tuesday evening, with Republican Donald Trump running unexpectedly close to Democrat Hillary Clinton in a series of battleground states.

By 10 p.m. Eastern time, voting had ended in more than 40 states that together represent 450 electoral votes.

Trump was showing surprising strength in the battleground states, especially in Florida - where he held a lead of more than 150,000 votes with 95 percent of precincts reporting. That state remained too close to call.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/election-day-an-acrimonious-race-reaches-its-end-point/2016/11/08/32b96c72-a557-11e6-ba59-a7d93165c6d4_story.html?elex&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


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## dustyjay

Well Mr Trump is now Mr President. It is a good thing in my mind.


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton delivers painful concession speech*
By Stephen Collinson, Dan Merica and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 12:14 PM ET, Wed November 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clinton conceded to President-elect Donald Trump by phone earlier Wednesday morning
Much of the seating at Clinton's remarks was for staff and aides
Clinton speech was devoid of bitterness and seemed at times to be an attempt to inspire her supporters about the virtues of public service and of fighting for what they believe.

But she also put Trump on notice that the core American values, which many Democrats believe Trump abhors with his proposals for a ban on Muslim immigration and rhetorical assaults on female journalists during his campaign.

"Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power and we don't just respect that, we cherish it. It also enshrines other things: the rule of law, the principle that we are equal in rights and dignity, freedom of worship and expression. We respect and cherish these values too and we must defend them."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/clinton-to-offer-remarks-in-new-york-city/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama vows to work for a 'successful transition' of power*
By Kevin Liptak, Eugene Scott and Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 12:47 PM ET, Wed November 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama promised Wednesday to work for a "smooth transition" of power to President-elect Donald Trump when he leaves office in January, citing the example set by former President George W. Bush eight years ago.

"I had a chance to talk to President-elect Trump last night at 3:30 in the morning to congratulate him on winning the election and invited him to the White House tomorrow to talk about making sure there is a successful transition between our two presidencies," Obama said from the White House Rose Garden with Vice President Joe Biden at his side.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/obama-congratulates-trump-on-victory/index.html


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## poochee

*Trump's conflicts of interest are without precedent in American presidential history*
By Drew Harwell
November 9 at 9:07 AM

Donald Trump's stunning victory will force the United States to confront a series of never-before-seen entanglements over the president's private business, debts and rocky financial history.

No laws prohibit Trump from involving himself in his private company, the Trump Organization, while serving in the highest public office.

And Trump has so far resisted the long-standing presidential tradition of giving his holdings to an independent manager, stoking worries of conflicts of interests over his businesses' many financial and foreign ties.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...p_rhp-bignews3_conflicts-1250p:homepage/story


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## poochee

*'Fright night': The world reacts to U.S. election results*
by Charles Riley @CRrileyCNN November 9, 2016: 6:59 AM ET

_The world reacted with shock, awe and no small measure of disbelief as voters made Donald Trump the next president of the United States, electing a populist firebrand who has promised sweeping changes to American policy.

*VIDEO*

CNN called the race for Trump shortly before 3:00 am ET on Wednesday, and reaction from international media was swift.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/09/med...ion/index.html?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial

_


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## poochee

Nov 9 2016, 11:03 am ET
*World Weighs In on Trump Victory, Tells America: 'Good Luck'*
by NBC News

*VIDEO*

Only U.S. citizens have the right to vote in the election, but plenty of people around the world wish they could help choose the most powerful person on the planet.

As news sunk in that Donald J. Trump will become the 45th president of the United States, people shared their views - from shock to surprise - on America's next leader.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...trump-victory-tells-america-good-luck-n681331


----------



## poochee

*How Trump Won, According To The Exit Polls*
November 9, 20165:04 AM ET 
 Danielle Kurtzleben 

Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.

That's remarkable for all sorts of reasons: He has no governmental experience, for example. And many times during his campaign, he said things that inflamed large swaths of Americans, whether it was talking about grabbing women's genitals or calling Mexican immigrants "rapists" and playing up crimes committed by immigrants, including drug crimes and murders.

But right now, it's also remarkable because almost no one saw it coming. All major forecasters predicted a Hillary Clinton win, whether moderately or by a landslide.

*So what happened?*

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501378673/how-trump-won-according-to-the-exit-polls


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## poochee

*Thousands protest Trump win around US*
By The Associated Press
Nov. 9, 2016 10:34 PM EST

CHICAGO (AP) - The raw divisions exposed by the presidential race were on full display across America on Wednesday, as protesters flooded city streets to condemn Donald Trump's election in demonstrations that police said were mostly peaceful.

From New England to heartland cities like Kansas City and along the West Coast, demonstrators carried flags and anti-Trump signs, disrupting traffic and declaring that they refused to accept Trump's triumph.

In Chicago, where thousands had recently poured into the streets to celebrate the Chicago Cubs' first World Series victory in over a century, several thousand people marched through the Loop. They gathered outside Trump Tower, chanting "Not my president!"

http://elections.ap.org/content/thousands-protest-trump-win-around-us


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## poochee

*President-elect Trump due to appear in court at trial starting later this month*
_The Republican nominee will have to juggle his legal headaches as he prepares for the White House._
By Josh Gerstein
11/09/16 04:13 AM EST

Before Donald Trump raises his right hand to take the oath of office in January, he's set for a less-auspicious swearing-in: taking the witness stand in his own defense in a federal court civil trial over alleged fraud in his Trump University real estate seminar program.

Trump faces a legal ordeal no president-elect has ever encountered: juggling defending himself before a jury with preparing for the vast challenges a political novice will face in assuming the presidency.

And the class-action case set for trial the Monday after Thanksgiving is just one of a plethora of lawsuits and threatened suits Trump was entangled in during the campaign-litigation that doesn't seem likely to disappear anytime soon and might even intensify with Trump headed to the White House.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-court-university-231082


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## poochee

Nov 10 2016, 8:25 am ET
*First Read: What We Got Wrong*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*What we got wrong in the 2016 presidential election*

If you believe in learning from your mistakes, here is everything we and plenty others seemed to get wrong in the general election:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-what-we-got-wrong-n681956?cid=eml_pol_20161110


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## poochee

*Trump meets with Obama at the White House as whirlwind transition starts*
David Nakamura and Juliet Eilperin November 10 at 1:24 PM

*VIDEO*

Still, Trump told reporters Thursday that he expects to work closely with Obama now and in future to seek his advice in guiding the country. He noted that a session that was supposed to last 10 to 15 minutes went on for an hour-and-a-half.

"As far as I'm concerned, it could have lasted a lot longer," Trump said. "We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel."

"Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you, and I look forward to being with many more time in the future," he added, calling Obama "a very good man."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/10/obama-to-welcome-trump-to-white-house-for-first-meeting-since-election/?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


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## poochee

11/9/16
*How the U.S. Constitution curtails Trump*

For all those worried about what power President-elect Trump could wield, Lawrence reminds us that our Founding Fathers already put something in place to protect us from that: the U.S. Constitution.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/how-the-u-s-constitution-curtails-trump-805393987518


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## poochee

*Melania Trump, Michelle Obama sit down for tea in the White House *
By Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 7:57 PM ET, Thu November 10, 2016

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_While all eyes were on President Barack Obama and President-Elect Donald Trump's meeting in the Oval Office Thursday, another changing of the guard meeting was taking place a few doors down between First Lady Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.

The first lady hosted the soon-to-be first lady for tea and a tour of the White House residence, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in the White House briefing.

A photo released by the White House showed the two sitting next to each other in gold chairs speaking in the Yellow Oval Room, located in the residence of the White House.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/melania-trump-michelle-obama-white-house/index.html


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## poochee

*Who could be in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*
Updated November 10, 2016

President-elect Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill, including some of the most important posts in the US government. His team has been at work coming up with possible candidates for the top jobs, but there is a smaller universe of Republicans who were close to his campaign. Much of the Washington establishment kept him at arms length. Others, including some former GOP cabinet secretaries, rejected him entirely. The names below pull from his circle of supporters. Here's a look at who might be included in a Trump Cabinet and inner White House circle.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/index.html


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## poochee

*Trump's lawyers seek to delay fraud case - until after he is sworn into office*
By Roxana Popescu and Rosalind S. Helderman
November 10 at 10:03 PM

*VIDEO*

Trump's attorneys said he will be too busy with the presidential transition to participate in the Nov. 28 trial involving his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University. They asked that the trial be postponed until February or March, after he has taken office.

They made their request before Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the jurist Trump harshly criticized during the campaign as biased because of his Mexican heritage.

Curiel expressed concern about the wisdom of a delay given that Trump will assume the presidency Jan. 20. Curiel said he will probably issue a ruling by Monday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-lawyers-seek-to-delay-fraud-case--until-after-he-is-sworn-into-office/2016/11/10/8a1c109e-a784-11e6-ba59-a7d93165c6d4_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumpuniversity955p:homepage/story


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## poochee

*Trump's day: Transition planning and apparently more tweeting*
 David Jackson  , USA TODAY 12:14 p.m. EST November 11, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump returned to social media and huddled with advisers Friday as he began putting together a new administration.

"Busy day planned in New York," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Will soon be making some very important decisions on the people who will be running our government!"

Among the aides spotted entering Trump Tower on Friday: campaign CEO Steve Bannon, deputy campaign manager David Bossie, press secretary Hope Hicks, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, senior communications adviser Jason Miller, senior adviser Stephen Miller, and top surrogate and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...transition-meetings-bannon-giuliani/93639438/


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## poochee

*Trump Transition Team Members Will Have to Disclose Finances, While President-Elect Refuses to Release Taxes*
By TOM LIDDY
Nov 11, 2016, 9:04 AM ET

*VIDEO*

In what may be seen as an eyebrow-raising move, the Trump transition team is requiring most applicants to disclose their finances out of fear of conflicts of interest -- while the president-elect himself refuses to release his tax returns.

On the transition team's website, greatagain.gov, the team warns "the time commitment is significant and the pace is fast."

And it also says that for "most applicants under serious consideration" they will be vetted "for possible conflicts of interest."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trum...se-finances-president-elect/story?id=43434537


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## poochee

*Rubber bullets and fear: Trump protesters flood streets anew*
By TERRENCE PETTY and ROBERT JABLON
Nov. 11, 2016 12:14 PM EST

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - From New York to Illinois to California, in red states and blue, protesters decrying Donald Trump's election spent another night overtaking highways, smashing store windows, igniting fires and in at least one city, facing pepper spray and rubber projectiles from police trying to clear the streets.

The demonstrations stretched into a third straight night Thursday and came to a head in Portland, Oregon, where thousands of marchers chanted, "We reject the president-elect!" while some lit firecrackers, sparked small blazes and used rocks and baseball bats to break the glass of businesses and vehicles parked at dealerships.

http://elections.ap.org/content/rubber-bullets-and-fear-trump-protesters-flood-streets-anew


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## poochee

*Tribal Leader Calls on Obama to Halt Pipeline Construction Before Trump Takes Office*
By Catherine Thorbecke 
Nov 11, 2016, 12:55 PM ET

The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has called on President Obama to "set a lasting and true legacy" by halting construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next year.

The tribe is more concerned than ever about the future of its water and lands as public records show Trump has invested up to $1 million in Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access, the builder of the controversial pipeline.

The exact figures of how much Trump has invested in Energy Transfer remains unclear, as he has refused to release his tax returns.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trib...pipeline-construction-trump/story?id=43467302

Dakota Access Standoff Unlikely to Reroute Pipeline Due to Major Hurdles, Some Experts Say


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## poochee

*Trump shakes up transition team, elevates Pence's role*
By JULIE PACE and JONATHAN LEMIRE
| Nov. 11, 2016 4:45 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump shook up his transition team Friday as he plunged into the work of setting up his administration, elevating Vice President-elect Mike Pence to head the operations. The move, one of the first key decisions as Trump pivots from campaigning to governing, amounted to a demotion for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had been running the planning for months.

Pence would be the first vice president-elect in at least 40 years to take on the hefty transition job, and it's a sign of Trump's confidence in him. During the campaign, Trump suggested his vice president would run "domestic and foreign policy."

On the heels of Trump's victory this week, his team has begun to embark upon building a government, an enormous undertaking that probably will require Trump to alter his hands-on management style and consider going outside his insular group of loyalists. He has been scrambling to identify people for top White House jobs and Cabinet posts, a herculean task that must be well in hand by the time Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-shakes-transition-team-elevates-pences-role


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## poochee

*Donald Trump, in Exclusive Interview, Tells WSJ He Is Willing to Keep Parts of Obama Health Law*
_President-elect hints at possible compromise after vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act_ 
By Monica Langley and Gerard Baker 
Updated Nov. 11, 2016 4:09 p.m. ET 
 

NEW YORK-President-elect Donald Trump said that, after conferring with President Barack Obama, he would consider leaving in place certain parts of the Affordable Care Act, an indication of possible compromise after a campaign in which he pledged repeatedly to repeal the 2010 health law.

In his first interview since his election earlier this week, Mr. Trump said one priority was moving "quickly" on the president's signature health initiative, which he argued has become so unworkable and expensive that "you can't use it."

Yet, Mr. Trump also showed a willingness to preserve at least two provisions of the health law after the president asked him to reconsider repealing it during their meeting at the White House on Thursday.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-...twsO+u3+0AEF0otAJ5mojRXjViXUvBZPOy+4uzAz/Kg==


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## poochee

*Michelle Obama graces the cover of Vogue for the 3rd time*
3 hours ago
Eun Kyung Kim

*VIDEO
*
 
Michelle Obama helped get the world into shape, eat healthier and made sure veterans and their families got what they needed.

More recently, she delivered speeches so sensational they even challenged those by one of her generation's best speakers, her husband.

As she prepares to leave the White House, the first lady reflects on her legacy in a Vogue magazine cover story that features stunning new photos illustrating why Obama also will be remembered as a fashion icon.

http://www.today.com/style/michelle-obama-graces-cover-vogue-3rd-time-t104943


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## poochee

November 12, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Honoring Our Veterans*

*VIDEO*

In this week's address, President Obama recognized the service and sacrifice of our Nation's military members and veterans. These men and women serve as an example of what our Nation strives to be every day. From the example of the 9/11 Generation signing up to serve in response to tragedy, to the example of our military's unity and diversity, our Nation's veterans and service members represent the best of our country. To all of our Nation's veterans: thank you for your service.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


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## poochee

*Clinton to donors: FBI letters were double whammy to campaign*
By Jeff Zeleny, Senior Washington Correspondent
Updated 2:24 PM ET, Sat November 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Hillary Clinton told donors in a conference call Saturday that FBI Director James Comey delivered a double whammy to her candidacy in the final days of the campaign by taking another look at emails related to Clinton's private server before abruptly saying he found no wrongdoing.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/12/politics/hillary-clinton-james-comey-fbi/index.html


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## poochee

*5 Big Foreign Policy Challenges For President-Elect Trump*
November 12, 20167:00 AM ET
NPR Staff

Donald Trump, a neophyte in foreign policy and national security issues, will take office in January facing a world of challenges. The president-elect's campaign trail pronouncements on international affairs were sometimes contradictory, often vague and seldom substantive, leaving many in the U.S. and abroad to speculate about what exactly his foreign and defense policies might look like.

NPR journalists in Washington and around the world weigh in on some of the thorniest and most pressing international issues a Trump administration will confront.

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...n-policy-challenges-for-president-elect-trump


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## poochee

Nov 12 2016, 7:26 am ET
*Donald Trump's NATO Stance Threatens 'West' as We Know It: Experts*
by Alexander Smith

*VIDEO*

If Donald Trump actually follows through on his bold rhetoric he is in danger of tearing NATO apart, and with it the very concept of "the West" itself, according to experts.

During his campaign, Trump sent shock waves of alarm through Europe after revealing that he might not come to the aid of his NATO allies if they were attacked.

"A world without NATO would be the unraveling of the West"
This called into question a fundamental principle of the alliance: that an attack against one of its 28 members is considered an attack against all.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...nato-stance-threatens-west-we-know-it-n681926


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## poochee

*People are crying: It's not because they lost a race*
 Anne Godlasky  , USA TODAY 9:41 a.m. EST November 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

More than 200 hate incidents - ranging from swastika graffiti to physical threats - have been reported across the country since Donald Trump's election, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit that monitors hate groups in the USA.

Now many people of color, women and LGBT people who have long faced threats large and small must grapple with the knowledge that half of their fellow American voters elected someone who has advocated policies aimed at them: Keeping Muslims and Mexicans out of the country, using police tactics considered racially biased such as stop-and-frisk, and grabbing women without consent.

They are part of the other half of American voters, many of whom wept on election night and since, crying not because their horse in the race lost but because they fear for their safety and well-being.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/11/12/bad-year-for-minorities/93637192/


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## poochee

*Megyn Kelly: Trump tried to influence coverage with gifts*
By LYNN ELBER
| Nov. 12, 2016 9:24 PM EST

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to give her gifts, including a free stay at one of his hotels, as part of what she called his pattern of trying to influence news coverage of his presidential campaign.

In her memoir "Settle for More," to be released Tuesday, Kelly says Trump may have gotten a pre-debate tip about her first question, in which she confronted him with his critical comments about women. Her book also details the insults and threats she received after Trump's tirades objecting to her reporting. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy of the book Saturday.

Kelly, host of Fox News Channel's "The Kelly Report," said Trump routinely attempted to gain favorable treatment from other journalists and commentators.

http://elections.ap.org/content/megyn-kelly-trump-tried-influence-coverage-gifts


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## poochee

*Revenge of the rural voter*
_Rural voters turned out in a big way this presidential cycle - and they voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump._
By Helena Bottemiller Evich
11/13/16 07:08 AM EST

It was supposed to be the year of the Latino voter. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, white rural voters had an even bigger moment.

Now Democrats are second-guessing the campaign's decision to largely surrender the rural vote to the GOP. With their eyes turned anxiously toward 2018, they're urging a new strategy to reach out to rural voters to stave off another bloodbath when a slew of farm-state Democrats face tough reelection battles.

"Hillary lost rural America 3 to 1," said one Democratic insider, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the campaign. "If she had lost rural America 2 to 1, it would have broken differently."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/hillary-clinton-rural-voters-trump-231266


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## poochee

*The Latest: Priebus tapped as White House chief of staff*
Nov. 13, 2016 4:35 PM EST

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus as his White House chief of staff and conservative media executive Stephen Bannon as his senior counselor.

Trump's transition team announced the decisions Sunday. The moves are Trump's first as he sets about putting together his administration.

In selecting Priebus, Trump is turning to a Washington veteran with deep ties to Republican leadership, particularly House Speaker Paul Ryan. Bannon ran the conservative website Breitbart before joining Trump's presidential campaign during the general election. Neither has significant governing experience.

http://elections.ap.org/content/latest-priebus-tapped-white-house-chief-staff


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## poochee

By Reena Flores CBS News November 13, 2016, 10:21 AM
*After promises to restrain Twitter use, Donald Trump tweets rant on New York Times*
Last Updated Nov 13, 2016 1:14 PM EST

*VIDEO*

After promises last week to curb his sometimes controversial use of Twitter, President-elect Donald Trump went on another of his infamous tweetstorms early Sunday, targeting the New York Times for their "BAD coverage" of his presidential campaign.

Here are Trump's critical tweets about the Times, in which he claims the newspaper had sent a letter to their subscribers apologizing for their election reporting:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-use-restraint-60-minutes-donald-trump-tweets-new-york-times/


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## poochee

*The Latest: Protests continue in Philadelphia, LA, more*
Nov. 13, 2016 6:13 PM EST 
NEW YORK (AP)

Immigrants and their advocates are continuing to march in Manhattan to protest Donald Trump's presidential election win.

Organizers say they're speaking out against Trump's support of deportation and other measures.

Demonstrations throughout the country - and the world - entered a fifth day Sunday.

http://elections.ap.org/content/latest-protests-continue-philadelphia-la-more


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## poochee

*President-elect Trump speaks to a divided country on 60 Minutes*
_What can we expect from a Trump presidency? 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl finds some of his campaign issues were not meant to be taken literally, but as opening bids for negotiation_
2016Nov 13 
CorrespondentLesley Stahl

*VIDEO*

_The following script is from "The 45th President," which aired on Nov. 13, 2016. Lesley Stahl is the correspondent. Rich Bonin and Ruth Streeter, producers.
_
During what seemed an interminable campaign, a divided country found all kinds of ways to describe Donald Trump: visionary businessman, vulgar self-promoter, political neophyte.

But after Tuesday, for all Americans, there's only one description that counts: president-elect.

Since the election, demonstrations against him have broken out in over a dozen cities across the country. And people on both sides are on edge.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-donald-trump-family-melania-ivanka-lesley-stahl/


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## poochee

*Concerns about Trump loom over Obama's final foreign tour*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
| Nov. 14, 2016 12:31 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - It was supposed to be his grand valedictory tour. Now President Barack Obama must use his last major trip abroad to try to calm shocked world leaders about the outcome of the U.S. election, and what comes next when Donald Trump is president.

Trump's unforeseen victory has triggered pangs of uncertainty at home and grave concerns around the world. Though Obama has urged unity and said the U.S. must root for Trump's success, the president's trip to Greece, Germany and Peru forces him to confront global concerns about the future of America's leadership.

http://elections.ap.org/content/concerns-about-trump-loom-over-obamas-final-foreign-tour


----------



## poochee

*Prosecutors Question Julian Assange Over Sex-Crime Accusations* 
November 14, 201610:10 AM ET 
 Camila Domonoske 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange began facing questions from prosecutors Monday in connection to sex-crime allegations dating back to 2010.

Swedish authorities have been trying for years to question Assange. They say they need to interview him before making a decision about whether to press charges in the case, which began when two women accused Assange of sexual misconduct, including rape, in Sweden.

Assange, who denies the accusations, took refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London four years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning. He's remained there ever since, running WikiLeaks from inside the embassy. Since he took refuge, the statute of limitations has run out on some of the accusations, but prosecutors are continuing to investigate the rape allegation.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ion-julian-assange-over-sex-crime-accusations


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## poochee

*Trump faces backlash over appointing Bannon as a top aide, a choice critics say will empower white nationalist*
Elise Viebeck, Katie Zezima and Jerry Markon
November 14 at 1:54 PM

*VIDEO*

"President-elect Trump's choice of Steve Bannon as his top aide signals that white supremacists will be represented at the highest levels in Trump's White House," Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), said in a statement Sunday night. "It is easy to see why the KKK views Trump as their champion when Trump appoints one of the foremost peddlers of White Supremacist themes and rhetoric as his top aide. Bannon was 'the main driver behind Breitbart becoming a white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill,' according to the Southern Poverty Law Center."

The statement echoed sentiments from leaders of the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, other Capitol Hill Democrats and some Republican Trump critics such as Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, who tweeted, "Is there precedent for such a disreputable & unstable extremist in [White House] senior ranks before Bannon?"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/14/trump-faces-backlash-over-appointing-bannon-as-a-top-aide-a-choice-critics-say-will-empower-white-nationalists/?hpid=hp_rhp-banner-main_backlash-930a:homepage/story


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## poochee

*Trump considering woman, openly gay man for leadership posts*
By STEVE PEOPLES and JULIE PACE
| Nov. 14, 2016 12:43 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump is considering a woman to run the Republican Party and an openly gay man to represent the U.S. at the United Nations, moves that would inject diversity into a Trump team.

The incoming president is considering Richard Grenell as United States ambassador to the United Nations. If picked and ultimately confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first openly gay person to fill a Cabinet-level foreign policy post. Grenell previously served as U.S. spokesman at the U.N. under former President George W. Bush's administration.

At the same time, Trump is weighing whether to select Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, a niece of Trump critic and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney. She would be the first woman in decades to run the Republican National Committee.

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-considering-woman-openly-gay-man-leadership-posts


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## poochee

_*Obama urges Americans to give Trump a chance*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 4:47 PM ET, Mon November 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

(CNN)_President Barack Obama encouraged Americans Monday to give President-elect Donald Trump some time to get adjusted to the responsibilities of the presidency.

But in his first news conference since last week's stunning election results, Obama warned that some of Trump's expectations will soon be shaken up by the gravity of the job.

Obama said he was certain after meeting Trump last week that his successor and longtime political foe was "sincere" about being president for all Americans but also called on the President-elect to reach out to people who felt anxious after the explosive rhetoric of the campaign, including women and minorities.

"I don't think he is ideological, I think ultimately he is pragmatic in that way and that can serve him well as long as he has got good people around him and he has a good sense of direction," Obama said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/obama-news-conference-donald-trump-transition/index.html


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## poochee

Nov 14 2016, 4:22 pm ET
*Vladimir Putin Phones Donald Trump to Discuss Russia-U.S. Relations, Terrorism*
by Tim Stelloh and Alexey Eremenko

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agreed to "normalize" the increasingly tense relationship between Russia and the U.S. through trade and the "principles of equality," the Kremlin said in a statement Monday.

The Russian president and the American president-elect spoke by phone, the statement said, adding that Putin called to again congratulate Trump and wish him "success in implementing the election agenda."

Trump's transition team confirmed the call, stating that the pair discussed "a range of issues, including the threats and challenges facing the United States and Russia."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...ld-trump-discuss-russia-u-s-relations-n683746


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## poochee

*Obama heads to Europe with conciliatory message on Trump*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 5:09 PM ET, Mon November 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The last time President Barack Obama took questions from reporters abroad, he dismissed Donald Trump as an "unqualified" peddler of "wacky ideas," expressing confidence during his September swing through Asia that voters would ultimately reject the candidate who ran so vocally against his own agenda.

Now, as he departs for his final scheduled overseas trip as president, Obama faces an altogether different scenario: Trump is his successor, and instead of a cheering farewell tour, he's embarking upon a reassurance mission for deeply shaken foreign allies.

At stops in Greece, Germany and Peru, Obama will be left explaining the US election results to foreign counterparts whose anxieties about Trump he's been fueling for more than a year by denouncing Trump from podiums across the globe. Obama must now convince foreign governments and populations that the future isn't as bleak as he once predicted.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/obama-trip-greece-germany-peru/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Students lead new wave of anti-Trump protests*
 Susan Miller  , USA TODAY 10:47 p.m. EST November 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

High school students led the charge Monday as protests against President-elect Donald Trump rolled into a sixth day.

Hundreds of teens, many not even old enough to vote, exited classrooms on both coasts, carting signs and chanting slogans against a man they say poses a threat to their future. The students are part of a protest movement that has seen tens of thousands taking to the streets in U.S. cities large and small after Tuesday's election. Monday's protests happened in Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, Ore., and Silver Spring, Md., among others.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...s-lead-new-wave-anti-trump-protests/93813120/


----------



## poochee

*Megyn Kelly claims Trump 'threatened me' before debate *
by Chloe Melas @CNNMoney November 14, 2016: 5:04 PM ET

*VIDEO *

Megyn Kelly alleges that President-elect Donald Trump called her up "screaming" just days before the presidential debate she moderated in August 2015.

Kelly, the host of Fox News' "The Kelly File," told Dr. Phil that this was the "first time" she had ever told this story.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/14/med...hil/index.html?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*Trump transition memo: Trade reform begins Day 1*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 9:09 AM ET, Tue November 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The 200-day plan is built around five main principles
The draft memo reveals what the transition team has developed as a blueprint for Trump's administration
Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump will begin the process of reshaping America's trade policy on Day 1 of his administration, according to a memo drafted by his transition team obtained by CNN.

The document lays out the skeleton of Trump's trade policy for the first 200 days of his presidency, focusing on a set of principles including renegotiating or withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement -- a frequent promise Trump made on the campaign trail.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/15/polit...mo-transition/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*'Knife fight' as Trump builds an unconventional national security cabinet*
By Ryan Browne, Elise Labott and Jim Sciutto, CNN
Updated 10:05 AM ET, Tue November 15, 2016

*VIDEO *

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's transition is being marked by sharp internal disagreements over key cabinet appointments and direction, both for internal West Wing positions and key national security posts, sources involved in the transition team tell CNN.

One source with knowledge of the transition described it as a "knife fight."

The split has put traditional Republican operatives such as Reince Priebus -- named Trump's chief of staff Sunday -- against more non-traditional influences such as Steve Bannon -- the alt-right leader of Breitbart News -- who will be Trump's chief strategist. A particular challenge is lack of clarity about the division of power among Priebus, Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who also has a key role in transition decisions. Another source tied to the transition described the resulting confusion as "buffoonery."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/trump-shortlist-national-security-worldview/index.html


----------



## poochee

Nov 15 2016, 6:36 am ET
*Obama Races to Protect His Achievements From Trump*
by Perry Bacon Jr.

*VIDEO*

From the Iran nuclear deal to the Paris climate change agreement to Obamacare, President Obama and his team plan to spend the next two months aggressively defending and implementing these policies, despite President-Elect Donald Trump's campaign promises to end them once he takes office.

"To unravel a deal that is working and keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon would be hard to explain," President Obama said on Monday, in his first press conference since Trump's election victory.

"It becomes more difficult to undo something that is working," Obama added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...hievements-trump-n683771?cid=eml_pol_20161115


----------



## poochee

*'Ape in heels': W.Va. officials under fire after racist comments about Michelle Obama*
*By Lindsey Bever*
November 15 at 1:12 PM

*VIDEO*

The mayor of a tiny town in West Virginia has apologized and the director of a local, government-funded nonprofit has been removed from her position following a firestorm over racist comments about Michelle Obama.

After Donald Trump's election as president, Pamela Ramsey Taylor, director of Clay County Development, took to Facebook to comment on the upcoming shift from Obama to Melania Trump, reportedly writing: "It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady back in the White House."

She added: "I'm tired of seeing a Ape in heels."

NBC affiliate WSAZ reported that Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling then replied, "Just made my day Pam."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-table-main_pn-wvaobama-0620pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*After blasting Clinton, Pence in an email battle of his own*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 9:35 AM ET, Tue November 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Vice President-elect Mike Pence is embroiled in a legal challenge stemming from his decision to withhold information from a public records request in a case local Democrats say raises the specter of the Indiana governor shielding all of his emails from public view.

It's a bit ironic as Pence, along with running mate President-elect Donald Trump blasted their way into the White House in part by hammering away at Democrat Hillary Clinton's own email scandal.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/mike-pence-email-lawsuit/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Sen. Barbara Boxer to introduce bill to end Electoral College*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 3:25 PM ET, Tue November 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump won the Electoral College but Clinton took the popular vote
Boxer was an outspoken supporter of Clinton
She cited President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the Electoral College despite Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's apparent popular vote advantage.

"In my lifetime, I have seen two elections where the winner of the general election did not win the popular vote," Boxer said in a statement. "The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately. Every American should be guaranteed that their vote counts."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/15/polit...college-donald-trump-2016-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Republicans Again Choose Paul Ryan as House Speaker*
By EMMARIE HUETTEMANNOV. 15, 2016

WASHINGTON - House Republicans renominated Speaker Paul D. Ryan as their leader on Tuesday, quieting rumors of an initial revolt in the party in the wake of feuding between Mr. Ryan and President-elect Donald J. Trump while Democrats grappled with their own potential insurrection.

To retain the speaker's job, Mr. Ryan, of Wisconsin, will still have to clear a vote by the full House when the new Congress assembles in January - when he must win at least 218 votes. With the results of a few contests outstanding, Republicans will hold at least 239 seats, leaving a relatively healthy margin for dissent in their ranks.House Republicans said on Twitter that Mr. Ryan's selection was unanimous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/congress-paul-ryan.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump receives first Presidential Daily Brief*
By Jim Acosta and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 3:30 PM ET, Tue November 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday received the Presidential Daily Brief, the same daily intelligence briefing that President Barack Obama receives.

Trump received the briefing at Trump Tower, sources told CNN.

The PDB is a daily rundown of threats and intelligence developments compiles by the national security community. The top secret document is read by the president and his inner circle of security advisers and top White House officials and is often accompanied by an in-person briefing by intelligence officials.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/15/polit...residential-daily-briefing-tuesday/index.html


----------



## poochee

*NYTimes*

*20 Things Donald Trump Said He
Wanted to Get Rid of as President*
By KAREN YOURISH NOV. 14, 2016

Here are some of the parts of the government that Donald J. Trump promised to dismantle if elected. In the days since the election, he has begun to moderate some of his positions, so it's unclear how many of his pledges will become reality.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-trump-wants-to-change.html?ref=politics&_r=1


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## poochee

Nov 10, 2016 @ 03:14 PM

*Will President Trump Cut Medicare And Social Security As Well As Taxes?*
Janet Novack , Forbes Staff

In the wake of Tuesday's election results, budget deficit hawks might seem as out of fashion as smartly tailored pants suits. After all, President-elect Donald J. Trump has proposed cutting taxes by $6.2 trillion over the next decade (with 47% of that cut going to the richest 1%), while promising to spend more on the military and veterans, plus an extra $500 billion to rebuild the nation's roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure. Oh, and he hasn't exactly said how (or if) he'd pay for all those goodies.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetno...ocial-security-as-well-as-taxes/#7aab0da0a43f


----------



## poochee

*McConnell, Schumer elected to top spots in Senate ahead of battles with Trump*
By Ted Barrett, Tom LoBianco and Jeff Zeleny, CNN
Updated 1:24 PM ET, Wed November 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Both political parties chose their leaders in the Senate on Wednesday
Democrats also formally added Vermont independent Bernie Sanders to their ranks

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/16/politics/senate-republican-democratic-leaders/index.html


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## poochee

*Obama urges nations not to give in to isolationist impulses*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
| Nov. 16, 2016 1:58 PM EST

*VIDEO*

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Standing in democracy's birthplace, President Barack Obama on Wednesday issued a parting plea to world leaders not to let the fear of globalization tugging at Europe and the U.S. pull them away from their core democratic values. He argued it wasn't too late for a course correction.

On his last foreign trip as president, Obama has repeatedly tried to draw lessons from Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, hoping it can serve as wake-up call in the U.S. and abroad. Conceding that many feel left behind by globalization, Obama said there was an understandable impulse toward isolationism and that if people feel their futures are at risk, "they'll push back."

"People have to know that they're being heard," Obama said in a speech to the Greek people in Athens. But, he added, "We can't look backward for answers. We have to look forward."

http://elections.ap.org/content/obama-urges-nations-not-give-isolationist-impulses


----------



## poochee

Nov 16 2016, 10:01 pm ET
*Hillary Clinton Makes First Public Appearance Since Conceding the Election*
by Monica Alba and Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton urged supporters "not to give up" at a charity gala in Washington D.C. Wednesday night.

The appearance, which aides say was planned long before last week's stunning loss, marked Clinton's first public remarks since conceding the election to President-elect Donald Trump.

"I know many of you are deeply disappointed about the results of the election," she said to the crowd at a Children's Defense Fund gala. "I am too, more than I can ever express."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...kes-first-public-appearance-conceding-n685091


----------



## poochee

*Sen. Dianne Feinstein will lead Democrats as they take on Trump's Supreme Court nominees*
Mike DeBonis November 16 at 4:00 PM

Sen. Dianne Feinstein - who has taken on the gun industry, the CIA and civil-liberties advocates in her own party during her long tenure in the Senate - will lead Democrats' scrutiny of President-elect Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominees for at least the next two years.

Feinstein (D-Calif.) was named ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee by incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday, and she immediately made clear in a statement that Trump's judicial nominations will go under a microscope.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-court-nominees/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump is back on Twitter with a vengeanc*
Elise Viebeck November 16 at 12:07 PM

If you thought Donald Trump would give up his Twitter habit if he won the election, think again.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ith-a-vengeance/?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama issues warning to Trump on Russia*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 1:07 PM ET, Thu November 17, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Merkel is Obama's closest global ally
She's Europe's most powerful leader
Berlin (CNN)President Barack Obama, making a final return as President to Berlin Thursday, issued a warning to President-elect Donald Trump in his dealings with Russia.

He cautioned on issues like Ukraine and Syria, Moscow must be confronted head-on. He advised Trump against making deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin that could hurt Americans.

"I don't expect the President-elect will follow exactly our blueprint or our approach, but my hope is he does not simply take a realpolitik approach and suggest we cut some deals with Russia, even if it hurts people or violates international norms or leaves smaller countries vulnerable," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/politics/obama-europe-germany-angela-merkel/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration cancels oil and gas leases on Blackfeet tribe's sacred grounds*
Steven Mufson and Brady Dennis
Energy and Environment
November 16 at 12:40 PM

The Interior Department on Wednesday announced a settlement with Devon Energy for the cancellation of leases in Montana for oil and gas drilling on lands considered sacred by the Blackfeet Tribe.

"This is the right action to take on behalf of current and future generations," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said on the department's Web site. She said it would protect the region's "rich cultural and natural resources and recognizes the irreparable impacts that oil and gas development would have on them."

The settlement comes as the Obama administration seeks to wrap up outstanding issues and as Native Americans in nearby North Dakota are protesting to block the construction of an oil pipeline just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.


----------



## poochee

*Hundreds Of U.S. Businesses Urge Trump To Uphold Paris Climate Deal* 
November 17, 201611:54 AM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy 

Hundreds of businesses such as Starbucks, General Mills and Hewlett Packard are asking President-elect Donald Trump to follow through on U.S. commitments to combat climate change. They argue it's good for business.

More than 360 companies and investors made their plea in an open letter to Trump, President Obama and members of Congress. They called on Trump to "continue U.S. participation in the Paris agreement," which he has threatened to scrap, and invest in the "low carbon economy at home and abroad."

The signatories also include DuPont, eBay, Nike, Unilever, Levi Strauss & Co. and Hilton. They issued the letter Wednesday during a major U.N. climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco, where representatives of nearly 200 countries were gathered to hash out the details of the Paris climate deal.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...esses-urge-trump-to-uphold-paris-climate-deal


----------



## poochee

*JPMorgan Chase to pay $264 million in fines for bribing foreign officials by hiring their friends and family*
By Renae Merle
Business
November 17 at 1:05 PM

NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase hired hundreds of friends and relatives of potential clients in order to win business in China, an international bribery scheme, federal officials said Thursday, that netted the Wall Street bank more than $100 million.

JPMorgan agreed to $264 million in fines to settle civil and criminal charges, an amount discounted in return for the bank's cooperation with the investigations. The bank, which was accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, acknowledged wrongdoing as part of the settlement, an usual admission in such cases.

Facing a competitive business environment, JPMorgan hired candidates - who were usually unqualified - for internships and full-time jobs at the prestigious bank, the largest in the U.S. by assets. In some cases, the applicants were referred by Chinese government officials and the employment would be extended if the relationship generated enough revenue, according to court documents.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2016/11/17/jpmorgan-chase-to-pay-264-million-in-fines-for-bribing-foreign-officials-by-hiring-their-friends-and-family/?hpid=hp_rhp-more-top-stories_no-name:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*USGS: Largest oil deposit ever found in U.S. discovered in Texas*
USA Today Network Mary Bowerman  , USA TODAY Network 2:13 p.m. EST November 17, 2016

VIDEO

The U.S. Geological Survey recently discovered the largest continuous oil and gas deposit ever found in the United States, officials said Tuesday.

The agency announced that the Wolfcamp shale, located in the Midland Basin portion of Texas' Permian Basin, contains 20 billion barrels of oil and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquid.

The Permian Basin is one of the most productive oil and gas areas in the country, and more than 3,000 horizontal wells have been drilled in the Wolfcamp shale section, the agency said in a statement.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...osit-ever-found-us-discovered-texas/94013292/


----------



## poochee

Politics
*CHARTS: Here's What Donald Trump Has Said On The Issues* 
November 17, 20161:51 PM ET 
Meg Anderson

Before Donald Trump takes the oath of office in January, there are a lot of questions about how he will decide key policy issues.

We've identified the top 10 issues voters care about most according to a 2016 survey from the Pew Research Center and charted what Trump has said about each of them. The issues are, in order: the economy, terrorism, foreign policy, health care, gun policy, immigration, Social Security, education, Supreme Court appointments and the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities.

Where we could, we gave Trump's stances a simple "Yes" or "No," but also used the rating "It's Complicated" in cases where his stance is more nuanced or has changed.

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/17/501582824/charts-heres-what-donald-trump-has-said-on-the-issues


----------



## poochee

Nov 17 2016, 7:17 pm ET
*Romney May be in, Gingrich Out of Trump Cabinet*
by Alexandra Jaffe and Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Mitt Romney may be in while Newt Gingrich says he is out of the running for a post in Donald Trump's cabinet as the president-elect's team continued to piece together key positions in the new administration on Thursday.

A source close to Trump told NBC News that Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, is being considered for secretary of state. The two men feuded throughout Trump's 2016 run, with Romney actively calling on Republicans to reject the candidate he called "a phony" and "a fraud."

The frosty relationship seemed to thaw a bit last week after Trump tweeted that Romney called him to congratulate him on his victory.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/romney-may-be-gringrich-out-trump-cabinet-n685541


----------



## poochee

*AP source: Trump offers Flynn national security adviser job*
By KEN THOMAS, CATHERINE LUCEY and JULIE PACE
| Nov. 17, 2016 9:42 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump offered former military intelligence chief Michael Flynn the job of national security adviser as he began to build out his national security team Thursday, according to a senior Trump official. The move came as Trump made his most direct foray into foreign policy since the election, meeting with Japan's prime minister.

Flynn, who served as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has advised Trump on national security issues for months. As national security adviser, he would work in the White House and have frequent access to the president. The post does not require Senate confirmation.

http://elections.ap.org/content/ap-source-trump-offers-flynn-national-security-adviser-job


----------



## poochee

Nov 17 2016, 7:23 pm ET
*DNC Chair Joe Biden? Some Democrats Hope to Draft the Vice President*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEOS*

With a pack of (mostly) fresh faces seeking to take over as Democratic National Committee chair, some Democrats hope to bring in a ringer: Joe Biden.

There's no word on whether the vice president is interested in running for the job - his office declined to comment - and those behind the effort know that it's a long shot. But they're making a concerted effort to line up support in the hope that it will convince the vice president to take the helm of a party in crisis.

"The vice president has done a lot for the country and the party. We're asking him to do just one more thing," said Stephen Bittel, a Florida-based DNC member and donor who serves as co-chairman of the party's national finance committee. "There's too much at stake in our country to not try to give it our all."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...e-democrats-hope-draft-vice-president-n685556


----------



## poochee

*Shifting US policy to right, Trump taps Sessions, Flynn*
By JULIE PACE and JONATHAN LEMIRE
| Nov. 18, 2016 9:43 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump signaled a sharp rightward shift in U.S. national security policy Friday with his announcement that he will nominate Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general and Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA, turning to a pair of staunch conservatives as he begins to fill out his Cabinet.

Trump also named retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as his national security adviser. A former military intelligence chief, Flynn has accused the Obama administration of being too soft on terrorism and has cast Islam as a "political ideology" and driver of extremism.

http://elections.ap.org/content/shifting-us-policy-right-trump-taps-sessions-flynn


----------



## poochee

Nov 18 2016, 7:20 pm ET
*$25 Million Settlement Reached in Trump University Lawsuit*
by Phil Helsel

Donald Trump has reached an agreement to settle the lawsuit against Trump University for $25 million, New York's attorney general said Friday.

The settlement likely means that Trump will avoid becoming possibly the first sitting president to testify in open court.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called the settlement "a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university." Lawyers involved in the cases say the settlement applies to all three lawsuits against Trump University including two cases filed in California.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/25-million-settlement-reached-trump-university-lawsuit-n686026


----------



## poochee

*Despite reassurance, Obama warns Europe of a 'meaner world'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 11:48 AM ET, Fri November 18, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Merkel is Obama's closest global ally
She's Europe's most powerful leader
Berlin (CNN)President Barack Obama, returning to Berlin Thursday, intended to reassure his most stalwart global ally, Chancellor Angela Merkel, about her prospects under Donald Trump.

Instead, Obama found himself warning of an impending shift in the global order, one he advised could lead to a "meaner, harsher, more troubled world" if not stopped.

"Whoever is president and whoever is the chancellor of Germany and whoever is the leader of other European nations and other democracies around the world, they need to recognize that," Obama said. "There are going to be forces that argue for cynicism. For looking the other way with somebody else's problems. That are not going to champion people who are vulnerable because sometimes that's politically convenient."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/politics/obama-europe-germany-angela-merkel/


----------



## poochee

November 19, 2016
*Weekly Address: Building on a Record of Economic Progress*
*
VIDEO*

In this week's address, Vice President Joe Biden discussed the progress we have made to ensure that anyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a real shot at getting into the middle class and staying there. Over the past eight years, we have made significant progress; from working with Congress to cut taxes for low- and middle-income families, to taking executive authority to provide paid sick leave to more than 1.1 million workers. Since the President's call to action to increase the minimum wage in 2013, 18 states and 55 cities have raised their minimum wage. The Vice President noted that although we've made progress, more work needs to be done to give American workers a chance. Because when they are given the chance, American workers never let their country down.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


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## poochee

*What Obama Got Right*
The outgoing president has resolved old problems and avoided new ones. 
Edmon de Haro

In one respect, presidents are like kindergartners. Well, sometimes in more than one respect, depending on the president. That aside, presidents and kindergartners have in common that one of the simplest ways to evaluate them is also one of the best: Do they clean up when they're finished?

Which brings us to Barack Obama. How does he rate on the cleanup scale? The only fair answer, I think, is: impressively high.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/12/leaving-a-clean-desk/505856/


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## poochee

*Embrace the popular vote, restore faith in US democracy*
By Charles Kaiser
Updated 7:18 PM ET, Thu November 17, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Charles Kaiser: Dropping traditional Electoral College system could produce new faith in the future of American democracy
A popular vote-based model for the presidential election would mean true national campaigns, he says
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/opinions/restoring-faith-in-american-democracy-kaiser/index.html


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## poochee

*Obama to Latin America: Give Trump a chance to lead*
By Eric DuVall | Updated Nov. 19, 2016 at 4:56 PM

LIMA, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama on Saturday sought to reassure Latin America that U.S. policy in the region will not significantly change once his predecessor, President-elect Donald Trump, assumes power.

Obama, who is attending the annual conference of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Peru, spoke to a group of about 1,000 people in a town hall setting. He told those in attendance they should give Trump a chance to govern before making judgments about his policies, a common theme from Obama since Republicans swept the Nov. 8 election.

"With respect to Latin America, I don't anticipate major changes in policy from the new administration," Obama said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...ca-Give-Trump-a-chance-to-lead/9571479592127/


----------



## poochee

*Social media explodes over 'Hamilton'/Trump duel*
 Jayme Deerwester  , USA TODAY 4:57 p.m. EST November 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

Not since Ford's Theater has so much furor erupted from a politician attending a play.

With Vice President-elect Mike Pence, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage who has supported diverting federal funding from HIV and AIDS groups to conversion therapy, seated in the audience for Friday night's performance of _Hamilton, _certain lines resonated even more than usual.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...ia-explodes-over-hamiltontrump-duel/94129798/


----------



## poochee

*Pence: 'I wasn't offended' by message of 'Hamilton' cast*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 2:27 PM ET, Sun November 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump has demanded that "Hamilton" cast apologize to Mike Pence
Broadway musical cast member addressed Pence from stage over anxiety after election
Washington (CNN)Vice President-elect Mike Pence said the boos he faced at the Broadway production of "Hamilton" were "what freedom sounds like."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/20/politics/mike-pence-hamilton-message-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama's counterterrorism adviser on threats facing Trump administration*
By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst
Updated 7:16 AM ET, Sun November 20, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser said that she believes the United States and its allies are winning the war against ISIS and that the incoming Trump team needs to guard against the possibility of terrorism during the early part of the administration.

Lisa Monaco oversees a team of some 50 senior directors and other officials at the White House who are focused on counterterrorism, cybersecurity and homeland security. Monaco and her team guide a wide range of American policies -- from the fight against ISIS, to how to guard against hackers on key infrastructure in the States, to how to mitigate the effect of emerging diseases.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/19/politics/obama-terrorism-adviser-trump-transition-bergen/index.html


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## poochee

*Obama, Putin discuss Syria and Ukraine at summit in Peru*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
| Nov. 20, 2016 2:56 PM EST

Although reporters present couldn't hear what they said, the White House said Obama encouraged Putin to uphold his country's commitments under the Minsk deal aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict. Both the White House and the Kremlin said the leaders had agreed that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov should keep working throughout Obama's final months on initiatives lower violence in Syria and alleviate suffering.

The short interaction came amid intense speculation and concern about whether Trump's election might herald a more conciliatory U.S. approach to Russia. Under Obama, the U.S. has enacted severe sanctions on Russia over its aggressive behavior in Ukraine and has sought unsuccessfully to persuade Moscow to stop intervening in Syria's civil war to help prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad.

http://elections.ap.org/content/obama-russias-putin-speak-economic-summit-peru


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## poochee

*Energized By Trump's Win, White Nationalists Gather To 'Change The World'* 
November 20, 201611:38 AM ET 
 Jessica Taylor

Loyalists of the self-described white nationalist, alt-right movement from around the country gathered in D.C. Saturday afternoon, enthused by the election of Donald Trump and optimistic that their controversial, offensive views such as calling for a white, ethnocentric state were on the rise throughout the country.

"The alt-right is here, the alt-right is not going anywhere, the alt-right is going to change the world," Richard Spencer, head of the white nationalist think tank the National Policy Institute (NPI) promised at a press conference.

About 300 people - split nearly evenly between conference attendees and protesters of the conference outside - were on hand at the downtown D.C. event.

Spencer told journalists that he doesn't believe Trump himself is alt-right, the term he coined that's come to embody white supremacist, anti-Semitic and sexist ideas. But it was clear that his surprise election has given the once fringe movement a jolt, and on Saturday they were eager to take a victory lap. Spencer called Trump's campaign "the first step towards identity politics in the United States."

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/20/50271...white-nationalists-gather-to-change-the-world


----------



## poochee

*Trump opponents try to beat him at the Electoral College*
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and BILL BARROW
| Nov. 19, 2016 11:42 AM EST

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Grassroots campaigns have sprung up around the country to try to persuade members of the Electoral College to do something that has never been done in American history - deny the presidency to the clear Election Day winner.

Activists are circulating online petitions and using social media in hopes of influencing Republican electors to cast their ballots for someone other than President-elect Donald Trump and deprive him of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the next occupant of the White House.

"Yes, I think it's a longshot, but I also think we're living in strange times," said Daniel Brezenoff, who created a petition in favor of Hillary Clinton and is asking signers to lobby electors by email or phone. "If it was ever plausible, it's this year."

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-opponents-try-beat-him-electoral-college


----------



## poochee

Nov 20 2016, 8:11 pm ET
*Obama Says He'll Give Trump a Chance, Even If He Attacks Legacy*
by Chelsea Bailey

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama said Sunday that he would withhold criticism of the Trump administration once he's out of office - even if President-elect Donald Trump tries to dismantle his legacy.

"I want to be respectful of the office and give the president-elect an opportunity to put forward his platform and his arguments without somebody popping off in every instance," Obama said.

Obama urged his fellow Democrats to try to work with Trump's team if what it's doing is good for the country. But he cautioned that if the Trump administration begins to attack American values, he might be compelled to speak up, and so would the Democratic Party.

"As an American citizen who cares deeply about our country, if there are issues that have less to do with the specifics of some legislative proposal or battle but go to core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it's necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I'll examine it when it comes," he said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-says-he-ll-give-trump-chance-even-if-he-n686556


----------



## poochee

Nov 20 2016, 2:01 pm ET
*Alec Baldwin Makes First Post-Election Appearance on 'Saturday Night Live'*
by Jillian Sederholm

*VIDEO*

Alec Baldwin returned to "Saturday Night Live" to play Donald Trump for the first time since the election - but the president-elect apparently didn't see the funny side.

http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...ection-appearance-saturday-night-live-n686346


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> Nov 20 2016, 8:11 pm ET
> *Obama Says He'll Give Trump a Chance, Even If He Attacks Legacy*
> by Chelsea Bailey
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> President Barack Obama said Sunday that he would withhold criticism of the Trump administration once he's out of office - even if President-elect Donald Trump tries to dismantle his legacy.
> 
> "I want to be respectful of the office and give the president-elect an opportunity to put forward his platform and his arguments without somebody popping off in every instance," Obama said.
> 
> Obama urged his fellow Democrats to try to work with Trump's team if what it's doing is good for the country. But he cautioned that if the Trump administration begins to attack American values, he might be compelled to speak up, and so would the Democratic Party.
> 
> "As an American citizen who cares deeply about our country, if there are issues that have less to do with the specifics of some legislative proposal or battle but go to core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it's necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I'll examine it when it comes," he said.
> 
> http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-says-he-ll-give-trump-chance-even-if-he-n686556


We go from class to crass!! come Jan. 20, 2017.


----------



## poochee

Yep!


----------



## poochee

Nov 21 2016, 8:17 am ET
*How Trump's Business Presents Huge Conflicts of Interest*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

During the general election, Donald Trump railed against the Clinton Foundation, accusing it of being a "pay for play" scheme -- alleging that donors gave money to the charity for access and special favors. "It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history," Trump said back in August. "What they were doing during Crooked Hillary's time as Secretary of State was wrong then, and it is wrong now. It must be shut down immediately." But doesn't that exact-same line of argument apply to Trump and his business interests now that he's president-elect? *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...nflicts-interest-n686651?cid=eml_pol_20161121


----------



## poochee

By Rebecca Shabad CBS News November 21, 2016, 8:05 AM
*Poll: Hillary Clinton receives higher post-election grades than Donald Trump*

Hillary Clinton received higher grades than president-elect Donald Trump in a post-election Pew Research Center survey, which is the first time in its polling history where the losing candidate outperforms the presidential winner.

The survey, conducted after the Nov. 8 election, included interviews with voters who were originally interviewed before the election.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-hi...igher-post-election-grades-than-donald-trump/


----------



## poochee

*NBC

Obama on Post-Presidential To-Do List: 'I Have to Take Michelle on Vacation'*
Sun, Nov 20

*VIDEO *

President Barack Obama shared a bit of his plans on how he'll spend the coming days and months after he leaves office, saying he'd like to spend time with his daughters, write, think and he "has to take Michelle on vacation," and that he will give President-Elect Donald Trump the space he needs to put forth his policies.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/obama-...ave-to-take-michelle-on-vacation-813791299619


----------



## poochee

*Were Trump's 'Hamilton' tweets 'weapons of mass distraction'?*
By Paul Farhi Style
November 21 at 4:19 PM

*VIDEO *

He's out there, lurking, his fingers poised on the buttons. At any moment, he may strike. News, inevitably, will follow.

As he illustrated with tweets about the musical "Hamilton" over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump knows how to change the subject - and the entire news cycle. Just as questions were mounting about Trump's appointments, his business conflicts, his $25 million fraud-case settlement - bam! - Trump had everyone talking about something else.

*In this case, a Broadway show.*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...67dfda-af8a-11e6-8616-52b15787add0_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump outlines policy plan for first 100 days *
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 9:12 PM ET, Mon November 21, 2016

*VIDEOS*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump released a video focusing on steps his administration will take early in his presidency
Trump focused exclusively on campaign promises that would not require congressional approval
The six items Trump detailed Monday are all somewhat easy lifts inside Washington -- because they can be done with a simple signature by Trump and do not require congressional approval.
But Trump also left out his biggest campaign promises -- including promises to build a wall along the Mexican border, establish a "deportation force," place new restrictions on immigration from some majority Muslim countries, repeal Obamacare and spend $1 trillion on infrastructure.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/21/polit...nes-policy-plan-for-first-100-days/index.html


----------



## poochee

*For Trump and GOP, 'Obamacare' repeal is complex and risky*
By ALAN FRAM
| Nov. 21, 2016 7:53 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - Here's the idea: Swiftly pass a repeal of President Barack Obama's health care law, perhaps soon enough for Donald Trump to sign it the day he takes the presidential oath. Then approve legislation restructuring the nation's huge and convoluted health care system - despite Republican divisions, Democratic opposition and millions of jittery constituents.

*What could go wrong?*

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-and-gop-obamacare-repeal-complex-and-risky


----------



## poochee

*Obama grants 79 more commutations to federal inmates, pushing the total past 1,000*
By Sari Horwitz
November 22 at 2:00 PM

President Obama granted commutations to another 79 federal drug offenders Tuesday, pushing the number of inmates he has granted clemency to past 1,000.

Obama's historic number of commutations was announced as administration officials are moving quickly to rule on all the pending clemency applications from inmates before the end of the year. The Trump administration is not expected to keep in place Obama's initiative to provide relief to non-violent drug offenders.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-grants-79-more-commutations-to-federal-inmates-pushing-the-total-past-1000/2016/11/22/1c7b5710-b0db-11e6-840f-e3ebab6bcdd3_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Trump Foundation admits to violating ban on 'self-dealing,' new filing to IRS shows*
By David A. Fahrenthold
November 22 at 1:35 PM

President-elect Donald Trump's charitable foundation has admitted to the IRS that it violated a legal prohibition against "self-dealing," which bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity's money to help themselves, their businesses or their families.

That admission was contained in the Donald J. Trump Foundation's IRS tax filings for 2015, which were recently posted online at the nonprofit-tracking site GuideStar. A GuideStar spokesman said the forms were uploaded by the Trump Foundation's law firm, Morgan, Lewis and Bockius.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-foundation-apparently-admits-to-violating-ban-on-self-dealing-new-filing-to-irs-shows/2016/11/22/893f6508-b0a9-11e6-8616-52b15787add0_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Nov 22 2016, 9:48 am ET
*Trump Team Signals He Won't Pursue Clinton Investigations*
by Carrie Dann and Alexandra Jaffe

*VIDEO*

The president of the United States is not the one who unilaterally chooses to launch or not launch a criminal probe. But the announcement is still a reversal of a key - and highly unusual - pledge that Trump made repeatedly during his campaign.

Throughout the general election, Trump promised to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton's emails, and his supporters regularly chanted "Lock her up!" at his rallies.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...e-won-t-pursue-clinton-investigations-n687116


----------



## poochee

Nov 22 2016, 4:16 pm ET
*Obama's Medal of Freedom Picks Part of Legacy*
by Adam Howard and Chelsea Bailey

*VIDEO*

For the last time during his tenure in office, President Obama bestowed the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, on a distinguished array of American icons on Tuesday.

It was a star-studded affair filled with luminaries from a broad range of fields spanning the arts, sports, philanthropy, education, science and mathematics. It was also an event filled with laughter.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-s-medal-freedom-picks-part-legacy-n687131


----------



## poochee

*Dow closes above 19,000 for first time in its 120-year history*
 Adam Shell  , USA TODAY 4:59 p.m. EST November 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

Get out the Dow 19,000 rally caps. The Dow Jones industrial average, arguably the world's best-known stock market gauge, closed above the 19,000 barrier Tuesday for the first time in its 120-year history.

For the second straight day, all four major U.S. stock indexes touched new record-high territory. The Dow jumped 67.18 points, or 0.4%, to close at a record high of 19,023.87.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/11/22/stocks-dow-tuesday/94268404/


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump disavows 'alt-right'*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 2:30 PM ET, Tue November 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

"It's not a group I want to energize, and if they are energized, I want to look into it and find out why," he added, according to one of the Times reporters in the room, Michael Grynbaum.

Trump offered up the condemnation of the alt-right, a far-right political movement rife with white nationalist, anti-Semitic and racist ideologies, after The New York Times' executive editor Dean Baquet asked Trump if he feels he did things to energize the alt-right.

Trump's comments come days after Richard Spencer, a white supremacist and leading figure in the alt-right, delivered a racist and anti-Semitic address to a gathering of the group's members in which he declared, emphatically, "Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!"

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/donald-trump-disavow-groups-new-york-times/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump admits 'some connectivity' between climate change and human activity*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 4:07 PM ET, Tue November 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

New York (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump conceded Tuesday there is "some connectivity" between human activity and climate change and wavered on whether he would pull the United States out of international accords aimed at combating the phenomenon, which scientists overwhelmingly agree is caused by human activity.

The statements could mark a softening in Trump's position on US involvement in efforts to fight climate change, although he did not commit to specific action in any direction. During the campaign, he vowed to "cancel" the US's participation in the Paris climate agreement, stop all US payments to UN programs aimed at fighting climate change and continued to cast serious doubt on the role man-made carbon dioxide emissions played in the planet's warming and associated impacts.

"I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much," Trump said Tuesday in a meeting with New York Times reporters, columnists and editors. He has previously called climate change a "hoax" invented by the Chinese.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/donald-trump-climate-change-new-york-times/index.html


----------



## poochee

*6 takeaways from Donald Trump's New York Times meeting*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 8:32 PM ET, Tue November 22, 2016

VIDEO

_CNN)_President-elect Donald Trump brushed aside his campaign promises to jail Hillary Clinton, batted away questions about conflicts of interest over his business empire and denounced the neo-Nazi movement that is celebrating his victory.

Answering questions for just the second time since his election, Trump met for 75 minutes on Tuesday with reporters, editors and columnists from The New York Times.

It wasn't broadcast live, but some Times reporters tweeted Trump's remarks in real time. And, since Trump has not held a news conference since his upset win two weeks ago, the entire political world was glued to Twitter through it all.

*Here are six takeaways from Trump's meeting with the Times:*

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/takeaways-donald-trump-new-york-times-meeting/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump nominates two prominent GOP women: DeVos as education secretary, Haley as U.N. ambassador*
By Jerry Markon and Robert Costa
November 23 at 1:32 PM

*VIDEO *

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday selected two prominent Republican women for Cabinet-level positions, adding diversity to an inner circle that was already coming under fire for being composed mostly of white men.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...1f4a7a-b183-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump left two key promises to voters off his to-do list*
Max Ehrenfreund
November 22 at 3:13 PM

*VIDEO*

During his campaign, Trump had said that he would reopen negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement and direct the Treasury Department to declare that China is manipulating its currency on the first day of his administration. Neither item was on his to-do list in the recorded remarks he put online Monday.

Noting that curtailing international trade could cause economic chaos, many analysts have been skeptical about how committed the president-elect is to the populist and protectionist agenda that helped him defeat former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. The omission in this week's message leaves open the question of how exactly Trump intends to shift manufacturing from overseas into the United States -- a pledge he repeated often on the stump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ers-off-his-to-do-list/?wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Nov 23 2016, 1:22 pm ET
*Hillary Clinton's Popular Vote Lead Now Over Two Million*
by Mark Murray

As additional votes have been counted in the presidential election, especially on the West Coast, Hillary Clinton's national popular-vote lead over Donald Trump now exceeds 2 million votes, according to an ongoing tally by the Cook Political Report's David Wasserman.

Hillary Clinton's vote total is 64,223,986 (48.1% of the vote), while Trump's is 62,206,395 (46.6%) - a difference of 2,017,591 votes (1.5%).

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...opular-vote-lead-now-over-two-million-n687701


----------



## poochee

Nov 23 2016, 2:57 am ET
*Chattanooga Mom Says She Complained About Driver in Deadly Crash*
by Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

A grieving Chattanooga mother said Tuesday that she repeatedly complained about her children's school bus driver in the months before he was involved in an accident Monday that killed five young students, including one of her daughters.

The driver, identified by authorities as 24-year-old Johnthony Walker, taunted students from Woodmore Elementary School by "slamming on brakes on purpose, making all the kids hit their heads," Jasmine Mateen told local NBC affiliate WRCB.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-complained-about-driver-deadly-crash-n687416


----------



## poochee

*Stop Being Trump's Twitter Fool*
By Jack Shafer
November 19, 2016

By this time you'd expect that people would have figured out when Donald Trump is yanking their chain and pay him the same mind they do phone calls tagged "Out of Area" by caller ID. But, no. Like Pavlov's dog, too many of us leap to object or correct the president-elect whenever he composes a deliberately provocative tweet, as he did this morning, commenting on the somber and vaguely lecturing treatment vice president-elect Mike Pence earned from the cast last night at a performance of _Hamilton_. In an 8:56 a.m. tweet, he wrote:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/stop-being-trumps-twitter-fool-214470


----------



## poochee

*Everything You Need to Know About the Presidential Turkey Pardon*
By JENNIFER HANSLER 
Nov 23, 2016, 2:49 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Two very lucky turkeys get to avoid the dinner table for a podium at the White House today, thanks to the annual presidential turkey pardon.

Today is President Obama's last turkey pardon. Here's everything you need to know about this national Thanksgiving tradition.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/presidential-turkey-pardon/story?id=43726878


----------



## poochee

*Trump Foundation admits to violating ban on 'self-dealing,' new filing to IRS shows*
By David A. Fahrenthold
November 22 at 8:57 PM

President-elect Donald Trump's charitable foundation has admitted to the Internal Revenue Service that it violated a legal prohibition against "self-dealing," which bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity's money to help themselves, their businesses or their families.

The admission was contained in the Donald J. Trump Foundation's IRS tax filings for 2015, which were recently posted online at the nonprofit-tracking site GuideStar. A GuideStar spokesman said the forms were uploaded by the Trump Foundation's law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

The Washington Post could not immediately confirm if the same forms had actually been sent to the IRS.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...7add0_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama calls for unity in Thanksgiving message*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 2:13 PM ET, Thu November 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama called for unity in his final Thanksgiving address Thursday, just weeks after what he called the "sometimes divisive campaign" came to a close.

"As a country, we've just emerged from a noisy, passionate, and sometimes divisive campaign season," Obama said in his weekly address. "After all, elections are often where we emphasize what sets us apart. We face off in a contest of 'us' versus 'them.' We focus on the candidate we support instead of some of the ideals we share ... But a few short weeks later, Thanksgiving reminds us that no matter our differences, we are still one people, part of something bigger than ourselves."

Obama made nine phone calls to service members Thursday morning to thank them for their service.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/24/politics/obama-thanksgiving-message-unity/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump then and now: How the President-elect has changed since his election*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 8:17 AM ET, Thu November 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump is sounding a different tune as he prepares to take on the mantle of the presidency.

The brash businessman has already begun to step away from some of his rhetoric and promises he made during the presidential campaign -- ranging from how he'll treat Hillary Clinton to what he can accomplish with Congress.

*Here's Donald Trump then and now*.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/23/politics/donald-trump-changes-since-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump turning away intelligence briefers since election win*
By Greg Miller and Adam Entous
National Security
November 23 at 8:40 PM

President-elect Donald Trump has received two classified intelligence briefings since his surprise election victory earlier this month, a frequency that is notably lower - at least so far - than that of his predecessors, current and former U.S. officials said.

Officials involved in the Trump transition team cautioned against assigning any significance to the briefing schedule that the president-elect has set so far, noting that he has been immersed in the work of forming his administration, and has made filling key national security posts his top priority.

But others have interpreted Trump's limited engagement with his briefing team as an additional sign of indifference from a president-elect who has no meaningful experience on national security issues and was dismissive of U.S. intelligence agencies' capabilities and findings during the campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-turning-away-intelligence-briefers-since-election-win/2016/11/23/5cc643c4-b1ae-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumpbriefing-650pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*Trump shares message of unity on Thanksgiving Eve*
By Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 10:51 AM ET, Thu November 24, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President-elect Donald Trump shared a message of unity Wednesday in a video published on the official White House transition team's YouTube page.

In the video, Trump acknowledges the "long and bruising" political season and says he understands that emotional divides don't heal overnight.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/23/politics/donald-trump-thanksgiving-message/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during election, experts say*
By Craig Timberg
November 24 at 8:27 PM

There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign.

"They want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government or U.S. government interests," said Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who along with two other researchers has tracked Russian propaganda since 2014. "This was their standard mode during the Cold War. The problem is that this was hard to do before social media."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_propaganda-8pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*The Fact Checker's guide for detecting fake news*
Glenn Kessler
November 22

Anyone active on social media has probably done this at least once: shared something based on the headline without actually reading the link.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...or-detecting-fake-news/?wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump fills White House counsel and deputy national security posts*
By *Jerry* Markon, Karen Tumulty and Karoun Demirjian
November 25 at 5:28 PM

Trump announced that Donald F. McGahn, a controversial former member of the Federal Election Commission who had served as Trump's campaign lawyer, will be his White House counsel.

For deputy national security adviser, Trump chose Kathleen "KT" McFarland, who in her most recent role as a Fox News analyst has expressed strident opposition to many of President Obama's national security policies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-fills-white-house-counsel-and-deputy-national-security-posts/2016/11/25/c4dee8d2-b341-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_transition-235pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*Green Party files for Wisconsin recount, audit*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 5:20 PM ET, Fri November 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Experts alerted the Clinton campaign earlier this week to possible hacking in Wisconsin
Green Party presidential hopeful Jill Stein has led efforts for an investigation
Washington (CNN)Green Party officials filed Friday for a recount in Wisconsin, following reports of voting discrepancies, and were seeking a deeper investigation into the election.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/25/politics/green-party-recount-wisconsin/index.html


----------



## poochee

Nov 26 2016, 1:02 pm ET
*Fidel Castro Dies at 90: Obama, World Leaders React to Death of Cuban Dictator*
by Elizabeth Chuck

*VIDEO*

The death of Fidel Castro, one of this era's most polarizing global figures, prompted an outpouring of responses from around the world, ranging from sympathy to celebration.

President Barack Obama, who has made restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba a hallmark of his administration, offered America's hand in friendship to the Cuban people following the death of the longtime dictator Friday.

"We know that this moment fills Cubans - in Cuba and in the United States - with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation," Obama said in a statement. "History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fi...obama-world-leaders-react-death-cuban-n688571


----------



## poochee

*Cubans carry on quietly, as worries grow for what comes next*
By Nick Miroff
November 26 at 5:06 PM

*VIDEO*

HAVANA - For the nearly five decades Fidel Castro ruled this country, he was a near-daily presence in Cubans' lives. His speeches echoed on their televisions and his stern rules shaped almost every aspect of their existence.

They woke up Saturday and found out he was gone.

A numbness has descended here since. Few Cubans seemed to believe Castro's death will bring immediate transformation oftheir country, the only one-party state in the Western hemisphere. After all,poor health forced Castro aside in 2006. The system he created that has long since carried on without him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cubans-carry-on-quietly-as-worries-grow-for-what-comes-next/2016/11/26/cac41440-b3ee-11e6-bc2d-19b3d759cfe7_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-banner-main_cuba-132pm:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*Michelle Obama welcomes last Christmas tree of Obama White House*
 Maria Puente  , USA TODAY 2:07 p.m. EST November 25, 2016

*VIDEO*

The last White House Christmas tree of the Obama administration arrived Friday.

As with the goofy annual turkey pardoning on Wednesday, the departing President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are carrying out their final White House ceremonies with humor and panache.

The first lady, accompanied this year by her little nephews, Austin and Aaron Robinson, plus her dogs Bo and Sunny, received the official tree - a 19-foot Balsam-Veitch fir cross grown at the Whispering Pines Tree Farm in Oconto, Wisc.- at the mansion's north portico.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...st-christmas-tree-obama-white-house/94426278/


----------



## poochee

By Emily Schultheis CBS News November 24, 2016, 10:12 AM
*No more Electoral College? Here's how campaigning might change*

*VIDEO*

Imagine this scenario: a presidential campaign in which the campaigns focused their attention on big cities like Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. More national TV advertising. And a race that depended far more on turning out one's base than on expanding appeal to new voters.

That might be the reality if the United States decided to get rid of the Electoral College in presidential campaigns.

2016 is on track to be the fifth election in U.S. political history in which the candidate who wins the most votes is not the one elected president -- giving rise to another round of calls to abolish the Electoral College system. All told, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is currently leading President-elect Donald Trump by about 1.7 million votes nationally, despite Mr. Trump's win in the Electoral College.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-more-electoral-college-heres-how-campaigning-might-change/


----------



## poochee

*Sanders calls for assessment of Electoral College*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 12:14 PM ET, Sun November 27, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Sunday it is time to re-examine the Electoral College, after Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote to President-elect Donald Trump.

"We have one candidate who had two million more votes than the other candidate but she is not going to be sworn in as president, and I think on the surface that's a little bit weird," the Vermont senator told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union."

Other Democrats, including California Sen. Barbara Boxer, have flatly called for the Electoral College to be abolished and have presidents be elected by a simple popular vote. The effort gained some steam in Democratic-controlled statehouses in the years after Al Gore beat George W. Bush in the popular vote. But since any change would require a constitutional amendment, that appears highly unlikely to happen.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/27/politics/bernie-sanders-electoral-college/index.html


----------



## poochee

Nov 27 2016, 8:29 am ET 
*Cuba After Castro: How Much Change, and How Quickly?*
by Carmen Sesin

*VIDEOS*

MIAMI - As the world takes in the news that Fidel Castro has died, many people are asking what will happen next in one of the last remaining Communist countries.

Raul Castro has been the leader of Cuba since his brother handed over power 10 years ago, and significant change has taken place on the island including reforms that would have been unthinkable under Fidel.

Raul Castro and President Barack Obama stunned the world in 2014 when they announced their countries would re-establish diplomatic ties after decades of isolation and hostility. Both nations have opened embassies and scheduled flights from the United States to Cuba have resumed after decades.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fi...er-castro-how-much-change-how-quickly-n688681


----------



## poochee

Nov 27 2016, 2:32 pm ET
*Trump and Obama Speak 'Regularly,' Conway Says*
by Alexandra Jaffe

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump talks "regularly" with President Barack Obama and "very much enjoys" their conversations, a top Trump aide said Sunday.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Trump's consulted the president on his Cuba policy and the two spoke this weekend.

"He's even been talking to President Obama. You know, beyond the sit-down they had 30 hours or so after President-elect Trump won the election, they've been talking regularly on any number of issues. They talked just yesterday," she said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/trump-obama-speak-regularly-conway-says-n688801


----------



## poochee

*Trump assails recount push, claims millions voted illegally*
By STEVE PEOPLES and CALVIN WOODWARD
| Nov. 27, 2016 4:34 PM EST

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump claimed without evidence Sunday that "millions" voted illegally in the national election, scoffing at Hillary Clinton's nearly 2 million edge in the popular vote and returning to his campaign mantra of a rigged race even as he prepares to enter the White House in less than two months.

Trump and his lieutenants assailed an effort - now joined by Clinton - to recount votes in up to three battleground states, calling the push fraudulent, the work of "crybabies" and, in Trump's estimation, "sad."

The president-elect went on to cast a shadow over the legitimacy of an election that he actually won, tweeting that "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." He provided further contended that if the popular vote determined the presidency, "It would have been much easier for me to win" it because he would have altered his campaign to pile up overall vote totals, not Electoral College votes.

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-assails-recount-push-claims-millions-voted-illegally


----------



## poochee

*The Latest: White House says reversing Cuba policy not easy*
Nov. 28, 2016 1:59 PM EST

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the policy has resulted in new economic ties, travel and business deals that make it very difficult to undo.

Earnest cited new daily commercial flights from the U.S. to the island, as well as a surge of other U.S. investment allowed under new regulations.

Earnest says reversing the policy would mean "a significant economic blow" to Cubans, and it is "not as easy as a stroke of a pen."

President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he "will terminate" Obama's reestablishment of diplomatic ties and normalization of relations if Cuba isn't willing to negotiate a better agreement.

http://elections.ap.org/content/latest-trump-threatens-terminate-us-cuba-detente#


----------



## poochee

*The new overtime rule is one of Obama's most progressive action*
By Jared Bernstein
May 18

*VIDEO*

The Obama administration's new overtime rule was finalized Tuesday night, and it will go into effect in the nation's workplaces on Dec. 1 of this year. I'll get to the details in a moment, but this update of a vital labor standard is a great advance for working people. I'd go as far as to say that this may be the administration's most significant action on behalf of middle-class paychecks.

Here are the basics of the final rule (note that some key parameters have changed since I last visited the issue on this page):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...?utm_term=.7ce512e4a0bf&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Nov 28 2016, 1:05 pm ET
*1 Suspect Dead, 9 in Hospital After Ohio State Car-and-Knife Attack*
by Pete Williams, Tom Winter and Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

A man plowed his car into a crowd on the Ohio State University campus, then jumped out and started stabbing people with a butcher knife before being shot dead by police Monday morning, officials said.

Nine people were taken to hospitals after the ambush, and one was in critical condition. The incident was initially reported as an "active shooter" situation, but the suspect did not shoot anyone.

A police officer was on the scene within a minute and killed the assailant. "He engaged the suspect and eliminated the threat," OSU Police Chief Craig Stone said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...hio-state-university-car-knife-attack-n689076


----------



## poochee

Nov 28 2016, 8:04 pm ET
*Suspect Identified in Ohio State Attack as Abdul Razak Ali Artan*
by Pete Williams, Tom Winter, Andrew Blankstein and Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

An Ohio State University student posted a rant shortly before he plowed a car into a campus crowd and stabbed people with a butcher knife in an ambush that ended when a police officer shot him dead, a law enforcement official said.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, wrote on what appears to be his Facebook page that he had reached a "boiling point," made a reference to "lone wolf attacks" and cited radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

"America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially Muslim Ummah [community]. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that," the post said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...hio-state-university-car-knife-attack-n689076


----------



## poochee

*Trump picks Congressman Tom Price as health and human services secretary*
By Philip Rucker
November 28 at 9:49 PM

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), an orthopedic surgeon who has been one of Capitol Hill's fiercest critics of President Obama's health care law, to be secretary of health and human services, a person briefed on the decision confirmed Monday night.

The public announcement of Trump's selection of Price, a six-term congressman who chairs the House Budget Committee and is regarded as a policy wonk, is expected to be made as early as Tuesday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...price-as-health-and-human-services-secretary/


----------



## poochee

*AP FACT CHECK: Trump won presidency but lost popular vote*
By LAURIE KELLMAN
| Nov. 28, 2016 7:35 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump's tweets can't erase the reality that he lost the popular vote in this month's election, according to The Associated Press' vote-counting operation.

The president-elect tweeted Saturday that he'd have won the popular vote "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." He also alleged "serious voter fraud" in California, New Hampshire and Virginia and complained that the media aren't covering it.

Not only did he present no evidence to back up those claims - there apparently isn't any. Asked to provide supporting evidence on Monday, Trump's transition team pointed only to past charges of irregularities in voter registration. There has been no evidence of widespread tampering or hacking that would change the results of the presidential contest, and for good reason, experts said.

http://elections.ap.org/content/ap-fact-check-trump-won-presidency-lost-popular-vote


----------



## poochee

*Trump picks Elaine Chao for transportation secretary*
By Phil Mattingly and David Wright, CNN
Updated 12:57 PM ET, Tue November 29, 2016

*VIDEO*

Chao served as secretary of labor under President George W. Bush from 2001 through 2009 -- the longest tenure in the position since World War II -- and has been married to McConnell since 1993. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a Cabinet position.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/polit...-chao-for-transportation-secretary/index.html


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## poochee

Nov 29 2016, 1:16 pm ET
*Top Democrats Attack 'Cures' Bill in Congress*
by Associated Press

Two of the Senate's most liberal lawmakers are assailing a $6.3 billion medical research bill as a gift to drug companies, even as Republican leaders prepare to try pushing the measure through the lame-duck Congress.

"It's time for Congress to stand up to the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, not give them more handouts," Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Tuesday in a written statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/top-democrats-attack-cures-bill-congress-n689686


----------



## poochee

*Women Could Pay More Than Men For Health Care Under Trump* 
November 29, 201611:44 AM ET 
Michelle Andrews

Some women have been worried that they will lose insurance coverage for contraception under the Trump administration, but coverage for other women's health benefits could also be at risk.

At or near the top of the list is guaranteed coverage of maternity services on the individual insurance market. Before the health law, it was unusual for plans purchased by individuals to cover prenatal care and childbirth. But the Affordable Care Act requires that maternity care be included as one of 10 essential health benefits.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...pay-more-than-men-for-health-care-under-trump


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## poochee

*Nancy Pelosi chosen again as House Democratic leader - but tally suggests deep division*
Paul Kane and Ed O'Keefe November 30 at 1:00 PM

*VIDEO*

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on Wednesday won the race to lead the Democratic caucus for an eighth term, prevailing in a contest that became a vote of confidence in her continued stewardship and an early proxy battle over the future of the Democratic Party.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...c38a6&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Trump says he's leaving businesses to avoid conflicts*
By JULIE PACE and LAURIE KELLMAN
| Nov. 30, 2016 12:16 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he's leaving his business empire to focus on being the nation's 45th president, declaring he can successfully avoid conflicts of interest between governing and profiting in the private sector.

"I will be leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country in order to make America great again," he tweeted in a series of missives sent before dawn. "While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as president, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses."

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-says-hes-leaving-businesses-avoid-conflicts


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## poochee

*Thousands of Cubans gather to view caravan bearing Fidel Castro's ashes*
USA Today Network Maria Perez, Naples (Fla.) Daily News 8:15 p.m. EST November 30, 2016

*VIDEO*

MATANZAS, Cuba - When the motorcade carrying Fidel Castro's ashes approached this northern shore town's Freedom Plaza on Wednesday, the crowd lining the sidewalks, benches, rooftops, balconies and even window bars started to chant his name.

_"Yo soy Fidel!" _("I am Fidel!"), hundreds of people shouted in Spanish. "_Viva Fidel!"_ ("Long live Fidel").

Some carried Cuban flags, many held smartphones to record the moment, and a few cried. And within a moment, the caravan disappeared along the street where thousands of Cubans waited for a glimpse of the urn that held Castro's ashes, to tell him goodbye.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...caravan-bearing-fidel-castros-ashes/94700496/


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## poochee

*U.S. Imposes Nationwide Ban On Smoking In All Public Housing * 
November 30, 20165:49 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy

The Obama administration has issued a sweeping final rule banning smoking in all public housing units nationwide, extending a smoke-free environment to nearly a million units.

The rule, issued Wednesday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, prohibits smoking any lit tobacco products (like cigarettes, pipes and cigars) in indoor areas of public housing complexes. It also bans smoking in public housing administrative offices and in outdoor areas within 25 feet from the buildings.

The department says the rule "will save public housing agencies $153 million every year in repairs and preventable fires, including $94 million in secondhand smoke-related health care, $43 million in renovation of smoking-permitted units, and $16 million in smoking-related fire losses."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...tionwide-ban-on-smoking-in-all-public-housing


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## poochee

Dec 1 2016, 10:33 pm ET
*Trump Picks Tough Talking Gen. James 'Mad Dog' Mattis as Secretary of Defense *
by Hans Nichols and Halimah Abdullah

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to head the Department of Defense, a move that could signal the incoming administration's tougher positioning with nations such as Iran.

Trump made a surprise announcement of the expected appointment during a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday night, as the crowd cheered wildly.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-picks-tough-talking-gen-james-mad-dog-mattis-dod-n689621


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## poochee

*Trump is about to inherit the 'strongest overall job market in a generation'*
*Akin Oyedele
*
Once again, Friday is jobs day in America.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its report on America's November employment situation at 8:30 a.m. ET.
*
Here's what economists are forecasting, according to Bloomberg: *

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-jobs-report-preview-november-2016-2016-12


----------



## poochee

*5 Fact Checks From Trump's Cincinnati 'Thank-You Tour' Kickoff*
December 2, 20162:23 PM ET 
Danielle Kurtzleben

Donald Trump kicked off his postelection "thank you tour" with a Thursday-night rally that sounded a lot like any of his campaign rallies. He said trade was dangerous, he warned about refugees, and his mention of his former opponent, Hillary Clinton, prompted supporters to chant "lock her up."

As was the case at many times on the campaign trail, Trump's presentation of facts requires some fact-checking and context. Here's a look at the president-elect's Thursday-night speech.

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/02/504146253/5-fact-checks-from-trumps-cincinnati-thank-you-tour-kick-off


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## poochee

*Democrats plot tactics to thwart Obamacare repeal*
By Manu Raju, Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh, CNN
Updated 8:52 AM ET, Fri December 2, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Senate Democrats are issuing a new warning to Republicans plotting a quick repeal of Obamacare next year: Don't count on us to help replace it.

"It they break this, they own it," said Sen. Patty Murray, who will be the third-ranking Senate Democrat in the new Congress. "They have failed to come up with any plausible way to provide care and health care insurance for so many people. If they take it away, they better tell us how to fix it because they broke it."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/02/politics/obamacare-repeal-democrats-tactics/index.html


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## poochee

*Obama signs onto women registering for Selective Service*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 12:03 PM ET, Fri December 2, 2016

*Story highlights*

All male citizens & immigrants ages 18 through 25 are required to register
The White House had previously threatened to veto legislation including women
*VIDEO*

(CNN)President Barack Obama now supports women registering for the Selective Service -- a shift in the White House's previous position.

"The President highly values the service of men and women who comprise our All-Volunteer force and have proven their mettle in our missions worldwide, including operations in Afghanistan and Iraq," Ned Price, spokesman for the National Security Council, told CNN Friday in a statement.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/02/politics/women-selective-service-obama/index.html


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## poochee

*Trump stacks kitchen cabinet with millionaire, billionaire executives*
Elise Viebeck December 2 at 3:12 PM

President-elect Donald Trump has assembled a kitchen cabinet of wealthy corporate and financial executives - including current and former leaders from General Motors, JPMorgan Chase and IBM - to provide him with economic advice.

The 16-person group, whose membership was announced Friday, will meet for the first time at the White House in early February. Leader Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive and co-founder of private-equity giant Blackstone, is the wealthiest member of the group, with an estimated net worth of $9.9 billion.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.2698f9939233&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


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## poochee

December 03, 2016
*Weekly Address: Pass the 21st Century Cures Act*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama highlighted the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill in Congress that could help us find a cure for Alzheimer's, end cancer as we know it, and help those who are seeking treatment for opioid addiction. This week, the House passed the bill overwhelmingly with bipartisan support - and the President called on the Senate to do the same when they vote in a few days. Because that's what this is all about: coming to a compromise based on the belief that we should seize every chance we have to find cures as soon as possible.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


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## poochee

*Obama blocks Aixtron deal over national security concerns*
 Roger Yu  , USA TODAY 9:24 p.m. EST December 2, 2016

The Obama administration, citing national security concerns, on Friday blocked a deal for Aixtron's U.S. business to be acquired by a Chinese investor.

In its statement Friday, CFIUS said the agency and the president came to a conclusion that "the transaction poses a risk to the national security of the United States that cannot be resolved through mitigation."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/12/02/us-blocks-chinas-fujian-buying-aixtron/94833072/


----------



## poochee

*Oklahoma City priest declared first American martyr by Pope Francis*
Josephine McKenna, Religion News Service 4:28 p.m. EST December 2, 2016

VATICAN CITY - An American missionary priest killed in Guatemala in 1981 has moved a step closer to being named a Catholic saint after Pope Francis declared him the first-ever American martyr.

The Rev. Stanley Rother, a priest from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, served for nearly 15 years in Guatemala before being shot dead during the country's bloody civil war that divided the country from 1960 to 1996.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-first-american-martyr-pope-francis/94826208/


----------



## poochee

*Army Corps Denies Easement For Dakota Access Pipeline* 
December 4, 20164:45 PM ET
 Eyder Peralta  

The Army Corps of Engineers has decided to deny a permit for the construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The decision essentially halts the construction on the 1,172-mile oil pipeline about half a mile south of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The decision is also a victory for the thousands of demonstrators across the country who flocked to North Dakota in protest.

"Our prayers have been answered," National Congress of American Indians President Brian Cladoosby said in a statement. "This isn't over, but it is enormously good news. All tribal peoples have prayed from the beginning for a peaceful solution, and this puts us back on track."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...kota-access-pipeline-says-tribal-organization


----------



## poochee

*Trump warns of 'retribution' for companies that offshore jobs, threatening 35 percent tariff*
*By **Ylan Q. Mui*
*Wonkblog*
December 4 at 10:22 AM

President-elect Donald Trump fired another warning shot Sunday at U.S. companies considering moving their operations out of the country, threatening "retributions or consequences" such as a hefty border tax if they do.

The pronouncements came in a string of early morning tweets. Trump said he intends to incentivize businesses to stay in America by lowering corporate taxes and slashing regulations, two key components of his economic agenda. But he also warned that companies with offshore factories would face a 35 percent tariff on goods sold back to the United States.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/04/trump-warns-of-retribution-for-companies-that-offshore-jobs-threatening-35-percent-tariff/?utm_term=.2f75e25770bc&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR

Obama Politely Asks Trump to Wait Until Inauguration Before Destroying World*
By Andy Borowitz
, 10:10 A.M.

According to the aides, Obama said that, while he understood that Trump was eager to create potentially cataclysmic diplomatic crises around the world, tradition dictated that he wait until he is actually President to do so.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/obama-politely-asks-trump-to-wait-until-inauguration-before-destroying-world?mbid=nl_120416 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=9987122&spUserID=*MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1060339081&spReportId=MTA2MDMzOTA4MQS2*


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## poochee

*Trump taps Ben Carson for HUD secretary*
By David Wright
Updated 2:01 PM ET, Mon December 5, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Ben Carson will be nominated as the next secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Trump transition team announced Monday.

"I am thrilled to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as our next Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development," President-elect Donald Trump said in a statement. "Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities."

During their primary fight, though, Trump had derided Carson as "super low energy" and delivered a number of sharp attacks on Twitter, questioning Carson's temperament and qualifications for office.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/05/politics/ben-carson-hud-secretary-nomination/index.html


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## poochee

*D.C. Mayor Bowser to meet with Trump in NYC on Tuesday*
By Aaron C. Davis
D.C. Politics
December 5 at 10:54 AM

President-elect Donald Trump will meet with D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Tuesday in New York City, according to Trump's transition team and a spokeswoman for the mayor.

The meeting is a first for the two since the groundbreaking for Trump's luxury hotel in D.C., when Trump was a real estate mogul and not yet a candidate for the presidency.

Next month, Trump will move to a city where voters overwhelmingly rejected his campaign - just 4 percent of D.C. voters backed him while 90 percent voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was the worst showing for a Republican candidate for president in the city in decades.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...=.264628d65319&wpisrc=al_alert-local-politics


----------



## poochee

Dec 5 2016, 5:42 pm ET
*Georgia Dad Justin Ross Harris Sentenced to Life in Son's Hot Car Death*
by Daniella Silva

*VIDEO*

A Georgia father convicted of murder after leaving his toddler son in a hot car two summers ago was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Monday.

Jurors last month convicted Justin Ross Harris of malice murder and other charges in the June 18, 2014, death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper, who was left in a Hyundai Tucson for seven hours in sweltering heat. Jurors believed Harris left the little boy to die on purpose.

Harris, 35, was also convicted of eight counts of malice murder, felony murder, cruelty to children in the first and second degree, sexual exploitation of and dissemination of harmful material to minors.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ho...-ross-harris-sentenced-life-son-s-hot-n692086


----------



## poochee

*Aide says Trump sold stocks in June, provides no evidence*
By JULIE PACE and CHAD DAY
| Dec. 6, 2016 3:44 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Donald Trump sold all of his stocks in June as he plunged into the costly general election campaign, his transition team abruptly announced Tuesday. His advisers provided no proof of the transactions and would not explain the apparent sell-off.

The announcement comes amid swirling questions about potential conflicts of interest between Trump's expansive financial holdings and the decisions that will reach his desk as president. Some details of Trump's finances are unknown given that he never released his tax returns during the presidential campaign, breaking decades of precedent.

http://elections.ap.org/content/aide-says-trump-sold-stocks-june-provides-no-evidence


----------



## poochee

*Obama hands off legacy on terror to sharp critic *
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 9:55 PM ET, Tue December 6, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_A commander in chief who prizes nuance and restraint put his legacy in the war on terror Tuesday in the hands of a brassy successor who embodies gut-check leadership.

Forty-five days before the inauguration, Barack Obama and Donald Trump struck a contrast that not only reflected their chalk-and-cheese political styles, but their radically different doctrines for how best to keep America safe.

Obama traveled to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida to bid a poignant farewell to his troops. He offered one of his characteristic, professorial examinations of his own motives, place in history and responses to the threat from terrorism that has evolved but hardly waned during his eight years in office.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/06/politics/obama-trump-terrorism-views/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Latest: Republicans unveil temporary spending bill*
Dec. 6, 2016 7:56 PM EST

The legislation would prevent the government from shutting down this weekend and buy several months for the new Congress and incoming Trump administration to wrap up more than $1 trillion worth of unfinished agency budget bills.

Democrats complained the GOP measure shortchanged New York City by giving it just $7 million to cover police overtime and other security costs for President-elect Donald Trump. And they complained that a provision to help retired Appalachian coal miners keep their health benefits for a few months was inadequate.

http://elections.ap.org/content/latest-republicans-unveil-temporary-spending-bill


----------



## poochee

Dec 7 2016, 2:47 pm ET
*Thousands Pay Tribute at Pearl Harbor, 75 Years After Attack*
by Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

America marked the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor Wednesday with a solemn but inspirational ceremony that honored the dwindling number of veterans who survived the 1941 bombing and framed their defense against the Japanese as a symbol of the country's enduring fight against tyranny.

The servicemen and civilians who fought and died in the assault "left us a warning: Remember Pearl Harbor. Keep America alert. And eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," Admiral Harry B. Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a gathering at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam at the site of the bombing near Honolulu.

That message, Harris said, remained clear on 9/11 and stands today, as the United States continues to fight terrorism across the world.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/thousands-pay-tribute-pearl-harbor-75-years-after-attack-n692986


----------



## poochee

*Trump is Time magazine's Person of the Year*
By LAURIE KELLMAN
| Dec. 7, 2016 8:18 AM EST

Gibbs said Time gives the title to the person who has had the greatest influence on events "for better or worse."

Trump went from fiery underdog in the race for the GOP presidential nomination to defeating Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. Trump won 306 electoral votes, easily enough to make him president when the electors meet on Dec. 19. Clinton won the popular vote.

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-time-magazines-person-year


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## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*
Updated December 07, 2016

President-elect Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill, including some of the most important posts in the US government. Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation, but other key posts are completely up to the discretion of the President.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

Dec 7 2016, 6:38 pm ET
*Senate Celebrates 'Friend' Joe Biden, Paying Tribute to 44-Year Career*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Andrea Mitchell

*VIDEO*

True to form, Vice President Joe Biden was late to the party and the last one to leave.

An emotional Biden presided over the Senate Thursday for the next-to-last time as more than a dozen senators of both political parties spent more than two hours paying tribute to the man who has spent 36 years as the senator from Delaware and eight years as president of the Senate in his role as vice president of the United States.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...e-biden-paying-tribute-44-year-career-n693316


----------



## poochee

Dec 7 2016, 6:35 pm ET
*Senate Passes Sweeping 21st Century Cures Act Funding Medicine*
by Maggie Fox

*VIDEO*

The Senate passed an extensive medical funding bill Wednesday, sending it to the desk of President Barack Obama, who says he'll happily sign it.

It was a rare demonstration of unity in a Congress badly split by politics and usually determined to thwart any initiatives coming out the White House. But the $6.3 billion legislation easily passed the Senate in a vote of 94-5.

The measure pays for some of Obama's pet projects, including the Cancer Moonshot that Vice President Joe Biden leads.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...st-century-cures-act-funding-medicine-n693351


----------



## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*

Updated December 08, 2016

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

*American Dream collapsing for young adults, study says, as odds plunge that children will earn more than their parents*
Jim Tankersley
December 8 at 11:48 AM

Rising income inequality has eroded the ability for American children to grow up to earn more than their parents, according to a new study from a team of researchers that could carry deep implications for President-elect Donald Trump's policy agenda.

The research from a group led by Stanford's Raj Chetty, and also including economists and sociologists from Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, estimates that only half the children born in the 1980s grew up to earn more than their parents did, after adjusting for inflation. That's a drop from 92 percent of children born in 1940.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.e524f9195275&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump will remain EP on 'Celebrity Apprentice'*
by Dylan Byers @CNNMoney December 8, 2016: 8:20 PM ET

*VIDEO*

That agreement, first reported by Variety and confirmed by sources at NBC and the Trump campaign, means the president will have an interest in a show aired by a media company that also reports on his presidency -- a major conflict of interest for the network.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/08/media/trump-apprentice-ep/


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton Jokes at Her Own Expense for Harry Reid's Retirement *
By Serena Marshall
Dec 8, 2016, 5:07 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton didn't shy away from some dark humor in her opening remarks at retiring Sen. Harry Reid's tribute and portrait unveiling today.

"This is not exactly the speech at the Capitol I hoped to be giving after the election," she said. "But after a few weeks of taking selfies in the woods, I thought it would be a good idea to come out. And I'm very grateful to Harry for inviting me to be a part of this celebration."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hill...ense-harry-reids-retirement/story?id=44072018


----------



## poochee

*Robert Reich: Has Trump no decency? *
By Robert B. Reich
Updated 7:23 PM ET, Thu December 8, 2016
_Robert Reich served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. He is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of __"Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few." __ A version of this piece appeared on his website. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

*Story highlights*
_


_

Robert Reich: Trump's tweets on union boss, Boeing, show unwillingness to take criticism; this poses danger to democracy

Reich: Democracy requires freedom to criticize those in power without fear of retribution. Fascists, dictators traffic in such fear
_
_

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/08/opini...critics-reich/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial_


----------



## poochee

*SATIRE*

*Obama Signs Executive Order Requiring President of United States to Be Taxpayer*
*By Andy Borowitz*
11:25 A.M.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-Calling his action "long overdue," President Barack Obama on Friday signed an executive order requiring that the President of the United States be a federal taxpayer.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...pJobID=1060835842&spReportId=MTA2MDgzNTg0MgS2


----------



## poochee

*Rudy Giuliani no longer a candidate for secretary of state*
December 9 at 4:41 PM

By Washington Post Staff
Trump said in a statement that the former New York mayor "would have been an outstanding member of the Cabinet in several roles, but I fully respect and understand his reasons for remaining in the private sector."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...or-secretary-of-state/?utm_term=.4dc265d70569


----------



## poochee

Dec 9 2016, 3:01 pm ET
*Dylann Roof's Videotaped Confession Stuns Courtroom*
by Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

Dylann Roof began his videotaped confession with 11 chilling words: "I went to that church in Charleston and I did it."

And then for the next two or three hours, the self-declared white supremacist described to the FBI how he gunned down nine black worshippers last year at a historic South Carolina church in a bid to spark a race war.

"What I did is still minuscule to what they're doing to white people every day," Roof insisted at one point.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dylann-roof-s-videotaped-confessions-stuns-courtroom-n694036


----------



## poochee

*Obama orders review of election hacking *
 Elizabeth Weise and  Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY 5:27 p.m. EST December 9, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Obama has ordered a full review of hacking-relating activity on the part of Russia linked to attempts to disrupt the November presidential election. He wants the report before he leaves office on January 20.

The news came at a breakfast arranged by the Christian Science Monitor Friday morning.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/12/09/obama-orders-review-election-hacking/95204588/


----------



## poochee

*Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House*
By Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller
December 9 at 10:45 PM

*VIDEO*

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton's chances.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...d88a9&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Senate approves spending bill minutes before deadline, averting government shutdown*
Kelsey Snell December 9 at 11:28 PM

The Senate voted late Friday night to approve a must-pass spending, ending the threat of a short-term government shutdown.

The Senate voted 63 to 36 to approve the year-end legislation less than an hour before the midnight deadline.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...m_term=.e64f56f8e28e&wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

December 10, 2016
*Weekly Address: It's Time to Get Covered on the Health Insurance Marketplace*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed Open Enrollment on the Health Insurance Marketplace, which began November 1. The deadline to sign up for coverage beginning on January 1 is this Thursday, December 15, and the final deadline to sign up for 2017 coverage is January 31. Today, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, every American with insurance is covered by the strongest set of consumer protections in history. For every person with insurance, preventive care is available with no cost sharing; there are no more annual or lifetime limits on essential health care; you can't get charged more just for being a woman; young people can stay on a parent's plan until they turn 26; seniors get discounts on their prescriptions; and no one can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Although Republicans in Congress want to repeal this law, the President emphasized that we should build on the progress we've already made. To sign up for health care coverage, visit HealthCare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*President Obama on His Approach to Counterterrorism over the Last Eight Years*
_"Let my final words to you as your Commander-in-Chief be a reminder of what it is that you're fighting for, what it is that we are fighting for."_
_
*VIDEO *_

*THE PRESIDENT:* Thank you so much! (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you. Everybody, please have a seat. Have a seat. Well, thank you so much.

Good afternoon, everybody. I was just told that was going to be the last "Hail to the Chief" on the road, and it got me kind of sentimental. I want to first and foremost say thanks to all of you. Just before I came here, I was able to visit with some of the men and women from MacDill Air Force Base, Central Command, our Special Operations Command to thank them for their extraordinary service. And so to you and your families, and to the extended family of American servicemembers, let me say that our nation owes you an unbelievable debt of gratitude. We are grateful for you, and will be praying for you over the holidays. (Applause.)

https://medium.com/@WhiteHouse/pres...-the-last-eight-years-b8a7c55cb422#.q83xgdh0a


----------



## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*
Updated December 09, 2016

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

*John Kerry awarded French Legion of Honor for peace-making*
By Associated Press
December 10 at 11:18 AM

PARIS - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is now an officer in France's Legion of Honor.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault bestowed the award on Kerry on Saturday after the two held talks on Syria's war.

Calling him a "friend to France," the Foreign Ministry said he earned the distinction for "his indefatigable efforts in favor of peace."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ec72d34f8c9_story.html?utm_term=.5cc210ec8407


----------



## poochee

*Clinton's loss sparks surge of interest in women running for offic
Ovetta Wiggins*
December 10 at 7:05 PM

Martha McKenna expected about 75 people to attend her group's annual fundraiser. Then Hillary Clinton lost.

And the RSVP list for last week's gathering for Emerge Maryland, part of a national network that identifies potential female Democratic candidates for office and encourages them to run, swelled to nearly 250 people.

Business executives, mothers, lawyers, community activists, elected officials and would-be politicians were among those who filled the arts space in Northeast Baltimore on Thursday night. They were shocked by the defeat of the former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady in the presidential election and were troubled by the looming departure of the only two women in Maryland's congressional delegation.

Most of all, they were eager to join the effort to get more Maryland women elected.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/clintons-loss-sparks-surge-of-interest-in-women-running-for-office/2016/12/10/557be8fe-bcd9-11e6-ac85-094a21c44abc_story.html?hpid=hp_local-news_mdwomen-1130am:homepage/story&utm_term=.fdc558a5c048


----------



## poochee

Dec 11 2016, 3:19 pm ET
*Trump Once (Wrongly) Criticized Obama for Not Attending Intel Briefings *
by Phil McCausland

The president-elect has attended only a handful of intelligence briefings in the past month, and says it's no big deal- but Donald Trump and future White House Chief Strategist Steven Bannon's far-right-wing media arm once criticized President Obama for the same.

Trump opined on Twitter (stated as "Fact") in September 2014 that Obama "does not read his intelligence briefings..." and mocked the president as "Too busy I guess!"

Not only was Trump's claim without merit, it was based on a dubious report from the conservative Government Accountability Institute - which was co-founded by Bannon.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...d-obama-not-attending-intel-briefings-n694631


----------



## poochee

*Trump set for deposition just weeks before inauguration*
 Nick Penzenstadler  , USA TODAY 4:45 p.m. EST December 12, 2016

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to testify under oath at Trump Tower in January, just weeks before the inauguration, in a lawsuits tied to his Washington D.C. hotel. His lawyers are battling over special conditions Trump is seeking because of his new position.

The deposition is tied to Trump's $10 million lawsuit in the District of Columbia against Topo Atrio, the restaurant that was to be run by celebrity chef José Andrés in the hotel Trump has developed in the Old Post Office building just down the street from the White House. Andrés and the company cancelled the deal after Trump's presidential campaign announcement in June 2015, saying the candidate's rhetoric was "widely perceived as anti-Hispanic." Trump sued Andrés and another famed chef who made a similar decision, citing breach of their contracts.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...tion-just-weeks-before-inauguration/95343740/


----------



## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*

*Updated December 12, 2016*

President-elect Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill, including some of the most important posts in the US government. Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation, but other key posts are completely up to the discretion of the President.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump: Strong Leader Or Dangerous Authoritarian?*
December 12, 20166:00 AM ET 
 Mara Liasson 

Even before he is sworn in, Donald Trump is putting his own stamp on the role of chief executive.

That has some people rejoicing - and others worried about where he's going to take the country. Here is why some of Trump's critics say the president-elect could be a threat to democratic institutions and why others say those fears are overblown.

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/12/505205197/is-donald-trump-a-threat-to-democracy


----------



## poochee

*Trump postpones announcement on how he will avoid conflicts of interest*
Elise Viebeck December 12 at 6:47 PM

President-elect Donald Trump will wait until January to say what role he will play in his business empire as president, delaying one of the most critical and highly anticipated announcements of the transition.

Trump has been under significant pressure to step away from his various businesses since winning the election to avoid possible conflicts of interest. On Sunday, Trump repeated that he will hand over day-to-day management of the Trump Organization to his three older children, but he suggested he would not fully divest from the company.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...m_term=.0ac906fca57d&wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

Dec 9 2016, 7:03 pm ET
*Obamas Unveil Their Final White House Holiday Card*
by Adam Howard

*PICTURES*

For fans of the outgoing first family, this holiday season will be bittersweet. It will be the Obamas' last year of appearing on their annual Christmas cards.

This year's card features a much grayer President Obama than the one Americans elected for the first time eight years ago, alongside first lady Michelle Obama and his two daughters Malia and Sasha Obama, who have grown up in the White House.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obamas-unveil-their-final-white-house-holiday-card-n694201


----------



## poochee

*White males dominate Trump's top cabinet posts*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 5:06 PM ET, Tue December 13, 2016

*Story highlights*

Trump's cabinet picks for the most senior positions are all white males, a first since 1989
He has selected women and minorities for other positions
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-diversity/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama signs $6.3 billion law for cancer research, drug treatment*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY 6:10 p.m. EST December 13, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Obama signed a $6.3 billion bill to fund drug treatment, a precision medicine initiative and Vice President Biden's signature effort to "end cancer as we know it."

In an emotional bill signing ceremony - likely the last one of this presidency - Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act in a White House auditorium. The signing brought full circle Obama's State of the Union challenge to Congress to "surprise the cynics" by tackling some of the biggest health priorities facing the country.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-law-cancer-research-drug-treadment/95382708/


----------



## poochee

*Obama: President Without Briefings Would Be 'Flying Blind'*
By laurie kellman, associated press
NEW YORK - Dec 13, 2016, 9:01 AM ET
*
VIDEO*

President Barack Obama says any president who shuns daily intelligence briefings would be "flying blind" on national security matters, a stiff push-back against Donald Trump's suggestion that that he doesn't need daily read-ins to fulfill his campaign pledge to "make America safe again."

"I think the president-elect may say one thing and do another once he's here" in the White House," Obama said late Monday on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-president-briefings-flying-blind-44159817


----------



## poochee

Dec 14 2016, 3:30 pm ET
*Fed Raises Rates for Second Time in a Decade*
by Jeff Cox, CNBC

*VIDEO*

Federal Reserve officials, amid signs that the economy soon could shed its long period of stagnation, approved the first interest rate hike in just about a year Wednesday and indicated a modestly more aggressive path ahead.

The Federal Open Market Committee raised its target range from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent to 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent. The overnight funds rate currently sits at 0.41 percent.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/fed-raises-rates-second-time-decade-n695951


----------



## poochee

*Pelosi casts doubt on GOP plans to repeal Obamacare *
By Deirdre Walsh, CNN Senior Congressional Producer
Updated 7:55 PM ET, Tue December 13, 2016
*Pelosi re-elected as House Democratic leader 01:53*

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"I don't think they are going to repeal the Affordable Care Act," Pelosi said
She said Democrats are willing to work with Republicans to improve the law
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/polit...t-on-gop-plans-to-repeal-obamacare/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Longest-serving female lawmaker says goodbye*
By Dana Bash and Abigail Crutchfield, CNN
Updated 8:19 AM ET, Wed December 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_When Barbara Mikulski was elected senator 30 years ago, it was REALLY a man's world.

"When I came to the Senate, the senators were Tom, Dick and Harry. Now they're Barb, Tammy and Diane and Heidi," Mikulski mused in an interview with CNN.

In 1986, when she was first elected, women weren't allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor. They lacked a proper bathroom. And, there were only two female senators then -- Mikulski and Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/14/politics/barbara-mikulski-maryland-senator-goodbye/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama has degraded ISIS. Can Trump finish the job?*
By Nicole Gaouette
Updated 11:19 PM ET, Wed December 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Pentagon officials say a lot of work against ISIS remains
The US has seen lone wolf attacks by people claiming affiliation with ISIS
Washington (CNN)The Obama administration is publicly handing Donald Trump a gift as he prepares to enter the White House: a degraded ISIS. The question is what the President-elect will do with it.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/14/politics/isis-degraded-trump-policy/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*

*Updated December 15, 2016*

President-elect Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill, including some of the most important posts in the US government. Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation, but other key posts are completely up to the discretion of the President.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

*7 Questions We Would Have Asked Donald Trump At His Canceled Press Conference* 
December 15, 20166:00 AM ET 
NPR Staff

*Updated at 12:39 p.m. ET*

President-elect Donald Trump promised a press conference Thursday to clarify the role he would have with his international business entanglements after he becomes president.

He canceled.

But we have questions related to his businesses - and otherwise. Here's what six of our top reporters and correspondents, who cover business, politics and the White House, would have asked - and would welcome answers to.

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/15/50563...donald-trump-at-his-canceled-press-conference


----------



## poochee

*The good, bad and ugly of warmer US-Russia relations*
By Stephen Collinson and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 5:52 AM ET, Wed December 14, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Closer US-Russia ties could revive non-proliferation projects and closer anti-terrorism cooperation
But closer ties could also mean restoring Russian influence at the direct expense of the US
Washingto(CNN)George W. Bush tried it. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton tried it. Now Donald Trump is vowing to reset relations with Russia.

But could the unintended costs outweigh the benefits?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/14/politics/russia-us-trump-reset-pros-cons/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's vow to undo Obama rules? Not so fast*
 Ledyard King  , USATODAY 1:46 p.m. EST December 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a vow to repeal what he claims are job-killing federal regulations, including rules limiting power plant emissions, protecting rivers and streams, and preventing banks from reckless lending.

Easier said than done.

The same deliberate process used to enact the Clean Power Plant rule, the "waters of the U.S." Clean Water Rule, or regulations under the Dodd-Frank law designed to clamp down on Wall Street usually requires the same long slog to undo them, making quick repeal unattainable.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ck-economically-harmful-regulations/95438432/


----------



## poochee

Obama's Legacy The First Family

*How Michelle Obama became a singular American voice*
_The heart of the first lady's efforts was a message about the country's persistent inequities of race, class and gender._
By Peter Slevin Dec. 12, 2016

The heart of Obama's efforts, however, was a message about the persistent inequities of race, class and gender in America. In scores of speeches and projects, she turned again and again to the stacked deck. These were the themes and conundrums that animated her work before she reached the White House and now seem certain to shape her choices after she departs.

For all the grief she took from critics who conjured radicalism, grievance or, bizarrely, racism from her finely tuned remarks, Obama's antidotes were fundamentally timeless and conservative. More than anything, she used the strength of her own Chicago-to-Princeton-to-the-White-House narrative to urge kids to believe in themselves and never quit. She mastered the levers of popular culture and harnessed the convening power of her office and her carefully curated brand to establish partnerships with the private sector.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/grap...le-main_prebuild-olp-michelle-:homepage/story


----------



## poochee

*Dylann Roof found guilty on all counts in Charleston church massacre trial*
Mark Berman
December 15 at 6:19 PM

*VIDEO*

With Roof's guilt effectively unquestioned, this verdict was seen as likely, and the trial largely hinged on what happens next. Mirroring what happened during the Boston Marathon bombing trial last year - the last case that saw the Justice Department obtain a rare federal death sentence - there was no real question about guilt. Prosecutors played video footage of Roof admitting his guilt to FBI agents, and Roof's attorneys did not argue that he was innocent.

Instead, the larger question surrounding the trial has focused on the next portion of the case, which will deal with whether Roof is sentenced to death or life in prison.

This sentencing phase is set to begin next month, and it remains far less clear what will happen there, as Roof said Thursday he still intends to represent himself. Federal death sentences are rare, but the government has opted to seek one in this case, even though this decision has caused some unease among relatives of the victims. It is also unclear when and if the government would be able to carry out such a sentence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/12/15/jurors-begin-deliberating-in-charleston-church-shooting-trial/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_roof-340pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.a2b5cd9ba829


----------



## poochee

*Health care chief: Obamacare repeal will be 'chaos'*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 11:12 AM ET, Thu December 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

Newark, New Jersey (CNN)Sylvia Mathews Burwell is issuing a grave warning to Republicans: Repealing Obamacare will result in "chaos."

Burwell, President Barack Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services, told CNN Wednesday that dismantling the Affordable Care Act will hit millions of Americans' healthcare coverage, result in a spike in premiums and unleash widespread uncertainty across the insurance market.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/08/politics/obamacare-battle-2017/index.html
The secretary's sober remarks came five weeks after Donald Trump's Election Night victory - an unexpected outcome that has suddenly handed the Republican Party an opening to overhaul Obama's signature policy accomplishment. In anticipation of Trump's inauguration on January 20, GOP lawmakers are preparing to vote to repeal key portions of Obamacare early next month.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/15/politics/obamacare-repeal-burwell/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama vows action against Russia for hacks*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 8:56 PM ET, Thu December 15, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Intelligence agencies in October pinned blame on Russia for election-related hacking
Officials have said US actions against Russia may not be revealed publicly
Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama on Thursday vowed retaliatory action against Russia for its meddling in the US presidential election.

"I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action and we will at a time and place of our own choosing," Obama told National Public Radio.

Describing potential countermeasures by the US, the President said "some of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/15/politics/obama-russia-hacking-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The biggest Pinocchios of 2016*
Glenn Kessler
Fact Checker
December 16 at 3:14 AM

It's time for our annual roundup of the biggest Pinocchios of the year.

Just before the presidential election, we highlighted the most outlandish statements of the campaign. This list is limited to claims we checked in 2016. We also decided to keep the focus on whoppers that the candidates said about themselves or about policy issues, not political attacks.

In the past, we have tried to assemble a relatively equal number of claims by Democrats and Republicans but find that this is impossible this year. Donald Trump earned five of the "biggest Pinocchio" ratings; the previous record was three (President Obama in 2013 and Trump in 2015).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.f66c1b0e6615&wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*FBI backs CIA view that Russia intervened to help Trump win election*
By *Adam Entous** and **Ellen Nakashima* 
*National Security*
December 16 at 2:20 PM

FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. have backed a CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald Trump win the presidency, according to U.S. officials.

Comey's support for the CIA's conclusion suggests that the leaders of the three agencies are in agreement on Russian intentions, contrary to suggestions by some lawmakers that the FBI disagreed with the CIA.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c01cf&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Obama defends handling of Russian meddling ahead of election: 'We handled it the way we should have'*
Juliet Eilperin and David Nakamura
Post Politics
December 16 at 5:08 PM

*VIDEO*

President Obama said Friday that his administration did not ascribe motives to Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 campaign ahead of Election Day because he did not want to be seen as influencing the outcome in favor of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, or risk exposing the nation's electoral system to greater attack.

Speaking at a year-end news conference, Obama said, "We did not - and the reason we did not was because in this hyper-partisan atmosphere, at a time when my primary concern was making sure that the integrity of the election process was not in any way damaged, at a time when anything that was said by me or anybody in the White House would immediately be seen through a partisan lens. I wanted to make sure that everybody understood we were playing this thing straight, that we weren't trying to advantage one side or another."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.e04ca1670fc8&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Transcript: Obama's end-of-year news conference on Syria, Russian hacking and more*
By Washington Post Staff
Post Politics
December 16 at 4:24 PM

*VIDEO*
_
President Obama may hold additional availability events before leaving office on Jan. 20 and may deliver some sort of farewell address, but today's news conference offers him one of the last chances to lay out the case for what he's accomplished in office. Here's what he said:_

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.4d875134e340&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama announces record sign-ups for a single day in ACA marketplaces*
By Amy Goldstein
Health & Science
December 16 at 7:31 PM

President Obama used his final pre-Christmas news conference to tout anew the popularity of the sprawling health-care law that his successor wants to abolish, announcing that sign-ups in Affordable Care Act marketplaces just hit an all-time record for a single day.

The president said 670,000 Americans chose health plans in states relying on HealthCare.gov on Thursday, the original deadline to have ACA coverage in place by Jan. 1. That is 70,000 more than the enrollment on the same date last year - a record at the time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...-0805pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.c5b2c17390d0


----------



## poochee

*Intelligence expert to White House and Trump: 'Shut up' and figure out what's next on Russia hacking*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 7:34 AM ET, Fri December 16, 2016

*VIDEO*

Mudd said the White House and Trump transition team must come together to address ongoing concerns about Russia's involved in the digital world, the Iran nuclear program and Syria.

"My message is 'Shut-up to the White House! Shut up to the Trump office. Figure out what we do going forward and stop trying to figure out what happened six months ago," he said.

Mudd, a CIA and FBI veteran, suggested that if the two camps don't come together to address Russia, bigger problems could lie ahead.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/16/politics/philip-mudd-trump-russia-white-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Final Days Of Hawaiian Sugar* 
December 17, 20169:00 AM ET 
Molly Solomon

For over a century, the sugar industry dominated Hawaii's economy. But that changed in recent decades as the industry struggled to keep up with the mechanization in mills on mainland U.S. That and rising labor costs have caused Hawaii's sugar mills to shut down, shrinking the industry to this one last mill.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/12/17/505861855/the-final-days-of-hawaiian-sugar


----------



## poochee

*I Miss Our Sane, Calm, Empathetic, Funny President Already*
_Before Trump's election, we on the left didn't give President Obama enough credit. Why?_
By Katha PollittTwitter
December 15, 2016 

I miss him already. Say what you like, President Barack Hussein Obama is supremely intelligent, witty, humane, reasonable, elegant, a great writer, a model father, a good husband, a decent human being. He has empathy and humor. He is sane and calm. He gave us eight years free of scandal and drama: no interns, no corruption, no jobs handed out to outrageously unqualified people (a hallmark of the George W. Bush years-remember "Heckuva job, Brownie"?). Although it's unfashionable these days to care about dignity and decorum-we're all vulgarians now, living inside a perpetual reality-TV show- Obama brought seriousness and purpose to an office that had been a kingdom of dimwittery and darkness for eight years. He acted as if knowing what you're talking about actually mattered.

READ ON:

https://www.thenation.com/article/i-miss-our-sane-calm-empathetic-funny-president-already/


----------



## poochee

*Facebook Details Its New Plan To Combat Fake News Stories *
December 15, 20162:21 PM ET
 Bill Chappell 

The social media giant was sharply criticized after the Nov. 8 election, as false stories were blamed for adding confusion to a dynamic campaign season. Since then, fake news and conspiracy theories were also identified as a motivating factor in a man's assault on a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C.

In the wake of that and other stories, some called for Facebook to hire editors to vet news stories; in today's update from Facebook's vice president in charge of its News Feed feature, Adam Mosseri, the company could be seen to be effectively outsourcing that job to third-party groups that it says have signed on to Poynter's International Fact Checking Code of Principles.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ails-its-new-plan-to-combat-fake-news-stories


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR
*
*Inauguration Protesters Plan to Surround White House to Keep Obama from Leaving*
By Andy Borowitz
December 17, 2016

According to Harland Dorrinson, the organizer of the protest, after the plans for the demonstration were announced, between eighty and ninety million Americans expressed an initial interest in participating.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/inauguration-protesters-plan-to-surround-white-house-to-keep-obama-from-leaving?mbid=nl_121716 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=10072785&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1061551265&spReportId=MTA2MTU1MTI2NQS2


----------



## poochee

*Obama's Final Hawaiian Vacation as President*
By Serena Marshall 
Dec 17, 2016, 4:32 PM ET

President Barack Obama is heading back to his home state of Hawaii for his final vacation as president.

Taking off Friday evening, the first family returns to the island Obama grew up on, Oahu, for 17 days, staying near the beach town of Kailua.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obamas-final-hawaiian-vacation-president/story?id=44237561


----------



## poochee

*In last-shot bid, thousands urge electoral college to block Trump at Monday vote*
By Robert Samuels
Politics
December 17 at 6:38 PM

*VIDEOS *

Pressure on members of the electoral college to select someone other than Donald Trump has grown dramatically - and noisily - in recent weeks, causing some to waver but yielding little evidence that Trump will fall short when electors convene in most state capitals Monday to cast their votes.

Carole Joyce of Arizona expected her role as a GOP elector to be pretty simple: She would meet the others in Phoenix and carry out a vote for Trump, who won the most votes in her state and whom she personally supported.

But then came the mail and the emails and the phone calls - first hundreds, then thousands of voters worrying that Trump's impulsive nature would lead the country into another war.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rs644pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.737aa12e2e47


----------



## poochee

*Senators Push to Broaden Inquiry on Election Hacking*
By NICHOLAS FANDOSDEC. 18, 2016

WASHINGTON - Pressure mounted on Sunday for a broader congressional investigation of Russian cyberattacks aimed at influencing the American election, even as a top aide to President-elect Donald J. Trump said there was no conclusive evidence of foreign interference.

The effort was being led by a bipartisan group of senators, including John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate Democratic leader, who called on Sunday for the creation of a Senate select committee on cyberactivity to take the investigative lead on Capitol Hill.

"Recent reports of Russian interference in our election should alarm every American," the senators wrote on Sunday in a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, who has said a select committee is not necessary. "Cybersecurity is the ultimate cross-jurisdictional challenge, and we must take a comprehensive approach to meet this challenge effectively."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/u...ry-on-election-hacking.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump off to a strong start in Electoral College*
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
| Dec. 19, 2016 2:01 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump started racking up electoral votes Monday even as anti-Trump protesters across the country tried to persuade the Electoral College to prevent him from winning the White House.

With about half the states reporting, neither Trump nor Democrat Hillary Clinton had lost any electors.

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-strong-start-electoral-college


----------



## poochee

*To Rehabilitate Democratic Party, Obama Plans To 'Coach' Young Talent *
December 19, 20165:00 AM ET 
 Scott Detrow 

*VIDEO*

President Obama sees a role for himself in rebuilding the Democratic Party after he leaves office - coach.

"What I am interested in is just developing a whole new generation of talent," Obama told NPR's Steve Inskeep in an interview on _Morning Edition_.

"There are such incredible young people who not only worked on my campaign, but I've seen in advocacy groups," Obama said. "I've seen passionate about issues like climate change, or conservation, criminal justice reform. You know, campaigns to - for a livable wage, or health insurance. And making sure that whatever resources, credibility, spotlight that I can bring to help them rise up. That's something that I think I can do well, I think Michelle can do well."

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/19/50554...ratic-party-obama-plans-to-coach-young-talent


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama's Sanity-Affirming Press Conference*
*By Amy Davidson*
December 18, 2016

"I guess part of my over-all message here as I leave for the holidays is that, if we look for one explanation or one silver bullet or one easy fix for our politics, then we're probably going to be disappointed," President Obama said in a press conference on Friday. He will be in Hawaii for the next couple of weeks; that comment came in response to a question about whether, while he was gone, members of the Electoral College, which meets on Monday, should do something dramatic, and whether the whole electoral-college system needed scrambling. He demurred: "With respect to the electors, I'm not going to wade into that issue because, again, it's the American people's job, and now the electors' job, to decide my successor. It is not _my_ job to decide my successor." It was his job, he said, to provide good information about the election, and during the campaign that came before, and he believed that he had done so. There had been "a lot of information," above all, from the candidates: "The President-elect, I think, has been very explicit about what he cares about and what he believes in. So it's not in my hands now; it's up to them."

http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-d...pJobID=1061709692&spReportId=MTA2MTcwOTY5MgS2


----------



## poochee

Dec 19 2016, 5:15 pm ET
*Poll: Majority of Americans Pessimistic or Uncertain About Trump Presidency*
by Carrie Dann

*CHARTS*

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to be sworn in as the country's commander-in-chief next month, a majority of Americans say they are either uncertain or pessimistic about his presidency, even as the country is sounding a more optimistic tone about the future of the economy and Trump's ability to bring positive change to Washington D.C.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds 54 percent of adults saying that they are either uncertain (25 percent) or pessimistic and worried (29 percent) about how Trump will perform during his presidency, compared with 45 percent with either an optimistic and confident view (22 percent) or a satisfied and hopeful view (23 percent).

That's a significantly worse outlook than Americans expressed after the elections of both Barack Obama and George W. Bush. A combined 66 percent were either optimistic or hopeful about Obama in January 2009, according to the same poll, while 59 percent were optimistic or hopeful about George W. Bush in January 2001.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...c-or-uncertain-about-trump-presidency-n697971


----------



## poochee

*Obama grants clemency to 231 individuals, largest single day act*
By Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 5:09 PM ET, Mon December 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama on Monday granted clemency to 231 individuals, the largest single day act of his presidency and totaling 1,324 total while in office.

Obama granted 153 commutations, bringing the total number of commutations while he's been in office to 1,176, including 395 life sentences.

A majority of the commutations involved drug related charges.
Obama also granted pardons to 78 individuals, doubling his previous number of pardons for a total of 148.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/19/politics/obama-clemency/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump reaches the 270 votes needed in electoral college, according to AP count*
By Ed O'Keefe
Politics
December 19 at 5:36 PM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump clinched the presidency Monday as members of the electoral college cast ballots declaring him the victor, a perfunctory conclusion to the most stunning presidential contest in modern history.

Trump became the winner Monday afternoon after electors from Texas cast ballots and put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Results will be officially announced Jan. 6 in a special joint session of Congress.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...4c94c&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Obama Administration Intends to Transfer 17 or 18 Guantánamo Detainees*
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
DEC. 19, 2016

By law, the Pentagon must notify Congress 30 days before a transfer, so the deadline to set in motion deals before the end of the Obama administration was Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/us/politics/guantanamo-bay-obama.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Obama Places Sweeping Ban on Offshore Drilling in Atlantic and Arctic Waters*
by Amanda Sakuma
Dec 20 2016, 5:30 pm ET

*VIDEO *

In the final stretch of his term President Barack Obama is implementing new environmental protections that stand to thwart Donald Trump's agenda on oil and gas extraction in ways that may prove difficult for the president-elect to roll back.

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it will place an indefinite ban on offshore oil and gas drilling across large swaths of Atlantic and Arctic waters. The actions come in conjunction with news that Canada will implement a sweeping ban of its own, launching a set of actions to be reviewed every five years.

"President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau are proud to launch actions ensuring a strong, sustainable and viable Arctic economy and ecosystem, with low-impact shipping, science based management of marine resources, and free from the future risks of offshore oil and gas activity," the White House said in a joint statement with the Canadian leader.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-places-sweeping-ban-offshore-drilling-n698461


----------



## poochee

Dec 20 2016, 8:08 pm ET
*The Truth Behind the 'Red Phone': How the U.S. and Russia Really Connect*
by Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

New tensions between the United States and Russia have resurfaced an old myth about the Cold War foes' emergency communications link, known as the "Red Phone."

But it is not a phone. It never has been.

That false image, perpetuated in popular culture ("Dr. Strangelove," "Fail Safe,") and campaign ads ("3 a.m.") masks a less evocative reality: secure teletypes, faxes and computer links transmitting encrypted text messages between the Kremlin and Pentagon.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/truth-behind-red-phone-how-u-s-russia-really-connect-n698406


----------



## poochee

Dec 20 2016, 8:20 am ET
*Michelle Obama: Presidential Election Was 'Challenging' to Watch*
by Chris Fuchs

*VIDEO*

Michelle Obama in a candid interview with Oprah Winfrey opened up for the first time publicly about the 2016 presidential campaign, calling it "challenging" for her "as a citizen to watch and experience."

The first lady said it was important "for the health of this nation" that she and her husband, President Barack Obama, support President-elect Donald Trump, even though she said some political leaders didn't support her husband's presidency.

"So we're going to be there for the next president and do whatever we have to do to make sure that he is successful, because if he succeeds, we all succeed," Obama told Winfrey during her final one-on-one White House interview, which aired Monday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...esidential-election-challenging-watch-n698086


----------



## poochee

*Trump names campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as White House counselor to the president*
Philip Rucker December 22 at 7:48 AM

*VIDEO*

Kellyanne Conway, who served as Donald Trump's campaign manager and as a senior adviser to the president-elect's transition team, will join the White House as counselor to the president, Trump announced Thursday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...elor-to-the-president/?utm_term=.209cd322f238


----------



## poochee

*Trump's still going wrong on Twitter*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 10:33 AM ET, Wed December 21, 2016

*VIDEO*

But if his preoccupation with the Electoral College is a distraction, Trump has now on multiple occasions since Election Day stepped awkwardly, app open and eyes closed, into a series of weightier foreign and domestic blunders with seemingly haphazard flicks of his smartphone.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/21/politics/donald-trump-twitter/index.html


----------



## poochee

Dec 22 2016, 3:36 pm ET
*Obama Moves to Eliminate Bush-era Tracking Program *
by Andrea Mitchell and Jon Schuppe

The Department of Homeland Security filing, posted in the Federal Register Thursday, calls NSEERS "outdated," "obsolete" and "redundant" due to updated rules and systems that allow the department to accomplish its security goals with more efficiency.

A 2012 report by the department's inspector general found the program to be "inefficient and ineffective," and with new tracking measures in place, "NSEERS and its regulatory structure serve no public benefit," the DHS said in a statement.

But Trump appears to be considering whether to bring it back.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-moves-eliminate-bush-era-tracking-program-n699171


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: What if? 94 questions that still keep some Democrats up at night*
James Hohmann
December 22 at 10:25 AM

*THE BIG IDEA: The more time that passes, the more that the outcome of every presidential election feels inevitable in retrospect - even the close ones. *That's the way the frosted glass of human memory works. We simplify, as our frame of reference shifts from the tactical to the tectonic: This was a change election, and Donald Trump was a change candidate. Hillary Clinton represented the status quo.

In 2016, it often felt like nothing mattered. Not facts. Not gaffes. Not investigative reporting.

The reality, of course, is more complex: Everything matters. History just as often turns on small decisions that don't seem significant when they are made as the weighty ones that follow weeks of deliberations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.dd70a8b494a5&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*The Hanukkah-Christmas convergence couldn't be more symbolic of the light we must embrace*
By Petula Dvorak Columnist
December 22 at 4:29 PM

"Lighting a candle in the darkness - that is something that stands on its own," Rabbi Jack Moline told me just as that early winter night was closing in and the Christmas lights around us began twinkling.

It's a powerful image, a strong metaphor for both Christians and Jews.

The start of Hanukkah and Christmas fall on the same day this weekend, a rarity that comes only every few decades. It means millions of people of both faiths will be lighting candles together, across the land.

Hello? Haters? Are you seeing this celestial bat signal?

It's a sign. Interfaith wonderpowers: Time to activate. Because the darkness has been deep this year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...-1040pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.6bf5a6d97fa0


----------



## poochee

*U.S. declines to veto U.N. Security Council resolution for Israel to stop Jewish settlement activity*
By Carol Morello
National Security
December 23 at 2:27 PM

*VIDEO*

This marked the first time in more than 36 years that the Security Council passed a resolution critical of settlements.

The United States' abstention Friday reflected mounting frustration in the Obama administration over settlement growth that the United States considers an obstacle to peace.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...l-240pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.bc344667aabd


----------



## poochee

*Clinton wins popular vote by nearly 2.9 million*
By LISA LERER
| Dec. 22, 2016 12:47 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Clinton received nearly 2.9 million more votes than President-elect Donald Trump, giving her the largest popular vote margin of any losing presidential candidate.

Certified results in all 50 states and the District of Columbia show Clinton winning nearly 65,844,610 million votes - 48 percent __ to Trump's 62,979,636 million votes __ 46 percent - according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

http://elections.ap.org/content/clinton-wins-popular-vote-nearly-29-million


----------



## poochee

*Feds warn of ISIS threats to churches, holiday events*
By Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 2:10 PM ET, Fri December 23, 2016

*Story highlights*

There are no known specific, credible threats
The bulletin was issued out of an abundance of caution
(CNN)Federal authorities warned Friday that ISIS sympathizers "continue aspirational calls for attacks on holiday gatherings, including targeting churches."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/23/polit...threats-to-churches-holiday-events/index.html


----------



## poochee

December 23, 2016
*WEEKLY ADDRESS: Merry Christmas from the President and the First Lady*
*
VIDEO*

In this week's address, the President and the First Lady wished all Americans a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. They reflected on the honor of serving the American people as President and First Lady over the past eight years and the progress that has been made. The President and the First Lady recognized our troops and their families for their service, and they encouraged everyone to visit JoiningForces.gov to find out how to support service members, veterans, and military families in your community.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Dec 24 2016, 2:38 pm ET
*'Merry Christmas Everybody': Obamas Share Final Holiday Address*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama and the first lady shared a bittersweet goodbye - and a few laughs - in their final Christmas video message to the country released Saturday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bar...dy-obamas-share-final-holiday-address-n699816


----------



## poochee

*The chaos theory of Donald Trump: Sowing confusion through tweets*
By John Wagner and Abby Phillip
December 23 at 5:36 PM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's sudden embrace this week of a nuclear arms race - and his staff's scramble to minimize the fallout - underscored an emerging modus operandi for the president-elect: governance by chaos.

Since winning the election, Trump has seemed to revel in tossing firecrackers in all directions, often using Twitter to offer brief but provocative pronouncements on foreign and domestic policies alike - and leaving it to others to flesh out his true intentions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e-615pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.24f4526ca06f


----------



## poochee

*White House Sharpens Its Case For Obamacare, As Republicans Sharpen Knives* 
December 24, 20167:00 AM ET 
 Scott Horsley

*CHART * 

The Affordable Care Act is on the chopping block, likely to be one of the first casualties when President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.

"We will repeal the disaster known as 'Obamacare' and create new health care - all sorts of reforms that work for you and your family," Trump promised in Florida last week.

Before that happens, President Obama and his aides want to put a marker down on what they see as the law's accomplishments over the last six years.

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/24/50633...e-for-obamacare-as-republicans-sharpen-knives


----------



## poochee

*AP Poll: US election voted top news story of 2016*
By DAVID CRARY
| Dec. 21, 2016 10:55 AM EST

NEW YORK (AP) - The turbulent U.S. election, featuring Donald Trump's unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, was the overwhelming pick for the top news story of 2016, according to The Associated Press' annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors.

The No. 2 story also was a dramatic upset - Britons' vote to leave the European Union. Most of the other stories among the Top 10 reflected a year marked by political upheaval, terror attacks and racial divisions.

*Here are 2016's top 10 stories, in order:*

http://elections.ap.org/content/ap-poll-us-election-voted-top-news-story-2016


----------



## poochee

*Pope Francis Offers A Message Of Peace In Annual Christmas Day Blessing*
December 25, 201610:24 AM ET 
Maggie Penman

Pope Francis gave the traditional Christmas Day blessing on Sunday, calling for peace in Syria and other countries "scarred by war."

An estimated 40,000 tourists and Romans gathered in St. Peter's Square to hear the message, which was delivered from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, "Urbi et Orbi": to the city and the world.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...age-of-peace-in-annual-christmas-day-blessing


----------



## poochee

Dec 25 2016, 11:05 pm ET
*Obama Thanks Troops in Final Christmas Visit to Base*
by Hasani Gittens and The Associated Press

*VIDEO*

"It's important to hear from us that what you do matters, and that we know about it, and that we're grateful, and that we'll stay grateful even when many of you end up being out of uniform and are veterans, and that we make sure that we're serving you as well you served us," Obama said.

"So I just want all of you to know that it has been the privilege of my life to serve as your commander in chief," he added. "I know Michelle feels the same way when it comes to being able to stand alongside our military families and our veterans. And although this will be my last time addressing you as President, I want you to know that, as a citizen, my gratitude will remain and our commitment to standing by you every step of the way - that won't stop."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-honors-troops-final-christmas-visit-n700081


----------



## poochee

*Native American Education: What Will It Take To Fix The 'Epitome Of Broken'?*
December 25, 20165:00 PM ET
Carrie Jung

Gatewood teaches special education at the Crystal Boarding School. She's dreading this winter, like she dreads every winter, because temperatures can slip into the negative digits which the school building just can't handle.

"You have a boiler system that regulates heat at one certain temperature so you can't turn it down," she says. "It gets so hot in the classroom and you have to open the windows in the dead of winter."

The Crystal Boarding School isn't part of any local school district in New Mexico. It's overseen at the federal level by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education. As are nearly 200 other Native American schools nationwide.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016...hat-will-it-take-to-fix-the-epitome-of-broken


----------



## poochee

Dec 24 2016, 7:29 pm ET
*Donald Trump Announces Intention to Dissolve Charitable Foundation *
by Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would dissolve his namesake foundation to avoid any potential conflict of interest during his time as president.

The plan may quickly run into a snag, however.

"The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete," New York Attorney General spokesperson Amy Spitalnick said in a statement released Saturday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ention-dissolve-charitable-foundation-n699846


----------



## poochee

*Israel summons US ambassador as Netanyahu lashes out at Obama*
By Michael Schwartz, Oren Liebermann and James Masters, CNN
Updated 9:11 AM ET, Mon December 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

US ambassador summoned by Israel
PM Netanyahu angered by UN vote over settlements
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/25/politics/israel-un-settlements-netanyahu-ambassadors/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama's exit interview: I could've won again*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 2:19 PM ET, Mon December 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Arguing that Americans still subscribe to his vision of progressive change, President Barack Obama asserted in an interview recently he could have succeeded in this year's election if he was eligible to run.

"I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it," Obama told his former senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview for the "The Axe Files" podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

"I know that in conversations that I've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one," Obama said in the interview, which aired Monday.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/politics/axe-files-president-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

January 2, 2017 Issue 
*Michelle Obama and Us*
_The tenure of a First Lady who leaves the White House as one of the most popular political figures in recent memory._
By Amy Davidson

Nine years later, Michelle Obama ends her time as First Lady as one of the most popular political figures in recent memory. So it's worth looking back on those fears, both to take the measure of her accomplishments and as a reminder of a certain national capacity for blindness. In a recent interview with _Vogue,_ she said that, as a teen-ager on the South Side of Chicago, she had been told at school that she wasn't "Princeton material." During that first campaign, Obama, a graduate of Princeton and of Harvard Law, heard that she was not First Lady material.

http://www.newyorker.com/?post_type...pJobID=1062072553&spReportId=MTA2MjA3MjU1MwS2


----------



## poochee

Dec 27 2016, 4:52 pm ET
*Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and President Obama Reaffirm Ties at Pearl Harbor*
by Halimah Abdullah

*VIDEO*

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's rare visit with President Barack Obama to Pearl Harbor on Tuesday seems aimed at sending a message that former enemies can mend bonds and form powerful alliances that outlive the devastating effects of war.

Abe on Monday said he wants to send a message to the world during his visit to Pearl Harbor that Japan will never repeat the atrocities of past wars.

"The alliance between Japan and the United States is one with hope in dealing with various problems in the world," Abe said in a speech to the Japanese business lobby Keidanren.

"I hope this visit will be a historical one with leaders of Japan and the United States jointly visiting Pearl Harbor in a show of reconciliation," he said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...dent-obama-reaffirm-ties-pearl-harbor-n700566


----------



## poochee

*Military reviewing NYC escape routes for Trump*
By Shimon Prokupecz and David Shortell, CNN
Updated 9:12 PM ET, Thu December 22, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The presence of the large plane and two tailing helicopters raised eyebrows around the city
Trump has said that he plans to return to his home in New York regularly
De Blasio earlier this month put the cost of the protecting Trump during the transition at half a million dollars a day.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/22/politics/donald-trump-new-york-evacuation/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Can Donald Trump persuade Americans to support his agenda? It's not likely.*
By George C. Edwards III
December 27 at 5:00 AM

Campaigning is different from governing, however. To win an election, a candidate need only convince voters in the short term that he or she is a better choice than the few available alternatives. In addition, someone always wins, whether or not voters support the victor's policy positions.

Governing, on the other hand, involves deliberation, negotiation and often compromise over an extended period. The president's policy is just one of a wide range of alternatives. To succeed, the president frequently needs to increase public support beyond his electoral coalition.

This brings us to Donald Trump. Is President Trump likely to enjoy broad public support to revolutionize public policy? *Here are four questions to **predict** this critical aspect of his presidency.
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.845e4e5d44d5&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Kerry Rebukes Israel, Calling Settlements a Threat to Peace*
By DAVID E. SANGER
DEC. 28, 2016

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State John Kerry warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday that the Israeli government was undermining any hope of a two-state solution to its decades-long conflict with the Palestinians, and said that the American vote in the United Nations last week was driven by an effort to save Israel from "the most extreme elements" in its own government.

With only 23 days left as secretary of state, Mr. Kerry, the former presidential candidate who made the search for peace in the Middle East one of the driving missions of his four years as secretary, spoke with clear frustration about Mr. Netanyahu's continued support of settlements "strategically placed in locations that make two states impossible." But he spoke knowing that the incoming administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump may well abandon the key principles that the United States has used for decades of Middle East negotiations.

"The status quo is leading toward one state, or perpetual occupation," Mr. Kerry said, his voice animated. He argued that Israel, with a growing Arab population, could not survive as both a Jewish state and a democratic state unless it embraced the two-state approach that a succession of American presidents have advocated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/u...israel-palestine-peace.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama beats Trump where it will sting: He's the most admired man in America*
Philip Bump
December 28 at 10:01 AM

*CHARTS*

Since Gallup began asking Americans the people they admired the most, there's been a consistent pattern: Whoever was president or president-elect was almost always the man the country admired the most. The most admired woman? Usually someone who had been married to a president.

Only five times has the most admired man in the country not been a president - past, current or elected. And in 2016, the trend continued, with President Obama retaining the title he's held since 2008.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/28/obama-beats-trump-where-it-will-sting-hes-the-most-admired-man-in-america/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_mostadmired-fix-1040am:homepage/story&utm_term=.551e8e54e131


----------



## poochee

*Axelrod: Obama looking to Bushes as a post-presidential model*
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 9:04 PM ET, Mon December 26, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

A CNN commentator and former Obama confidant says Obama plans a low-key post presidency
Both Bushes have largely avoided politics since vacating the nation's highest office
In the podcast, Obama said he needed to find an internal "quiet" for himself once he leaves office, but that did not mean he planned on staying quiet about everything. Axelrod, reiterating what Obama said in the podcast, said the 44th President would speak out on an especially consequential issue.

Acknowledging the Democratic Party was without "an obvious leader" as Obama exits, Axelrod said there was a demand from some that the current President serve as "the point of the spear against Donald Trump." But rather than serve as the leader of the opposition party, Axelrod said Obama would instead work to develop a new generation of leaders.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/politics/axelrod-obama-post-presidency/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country. Here's what we're buying.*
Carolyn Y. Johnson
Wonkblog
December 27

American health-care spending, measured in trillions of dollars, boggles the mind. Last year, we spent $3.2 trillion on health care -- a number so large that it can be difficult to grasp its scale.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals what patients and their insurers are spending that money on, breaking it down by 155 diseases, patient age and category -- such as pharmaceuticals or hospitalizations. *Among its findings:
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.17895c812d2a&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump ally Carl Paladino: I was 'emotional' when I wished Obama dead and insulted the first lady*
Hunter Walker 
National Correspondent
Yahoo News
December 27, 2016

Carl Paladino, who co-chaired President-elect Donald Trump's campaign in New York, issued a lengthy statement on Tuesday amid continuing uproar over racially offensive comments he made about President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.

In a press release, Paladino apologized to the "minority community" for his remarks, which appeared in a feature that was published in the Western New York weekly _Artvoice_ on Dec. 23. Paladino blamed the comments on an "emotional" reaction to President Obama's handling of the situation in Syria and accidentally hitting the wrong button in his email.

His initial remarks were a response to a questionnaire from _Artvoice_ that asked people what they wanted to happen in 2017 and who they wanted to "go away." Paladino said his main desire for the New Year was that President Obama would die after contracting "mad cow disease after being caught having relations" with a "Herford" [sic]. He also wrote that he wanted Michelle Obama to go away and "return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-al...ad-and-insulted-the-first-lady-183444824.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump takes credit for 8,000 jobs from Japanese mogul*
By Vivian Salama and Josh Boak | AP
December 28 at 6:37 PM

In the grand scheme of the economy, the jobs announcement is unlikely to have a major impact. Still, it's another example of how Trump is trying to stoke voters' belief that he is actively fighting for their well-being.

The announcement came during a whirlwind day in which Trump accused President Barack Obama of throwing up "inflammatory" roadblocks during the transition of power and said his administration was treating Israel with "total disdain."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ml?tid=pm_national_pop&utm_term=.895726dc0d60


----------



## poochee

*With new monuments in Nevada, Utah, Obama adds to his environmental legacy*
Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis
Health & Science
December 28 at 5:00 PM

President Obama on Wednesday created new national monuments in a sacred tribal site in southeastern Utah and in a swath of Nevada desert, after years of political fights over the fate of the areas.

The designations further cement Obama's environmental legacy as one of the most consequential - and contentious - in presidential history. He has invoked his executive power to create national monuments 29 times during his tenure, establishing or expanding protections for more than 553 million acres of federal lands and waters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...s-520pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.68be0e82b3b0


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration announces measures to punish Russia for 2016 election interference*
By Missy Ryan, Ellen Nakashima and Karen DeYoung
National Security
December 29 at 2:21 PM

The Obama administration announced sweeping new measures against Russia on Thursday in retaliation for what U.S. officials have characterized as interference in this fall's presidential election, ordering the expulsion of Russian "intelligence operatives" and slapping new sanctions on state agencies and individuals suspected in the hacks of U.S. computer systems.

The response, unveiled just weeks before President Obama leaves office, culminates months of internal debate over how to react to Russia's election-year provocations. In recent months, the FBI and CIA have concluded that Russia intervened repeatedly in the 2016 election, leaking damaging information in an attempt to undermine the electoral process and help Donald Trump take the White House.

Because Thursday's announcement is an executive action, it can be undone by the next administration. But Obama's last-minute measures put pressure on Trump, who has largely waved off the allegations against Russia, to make a decision about whether to keep the punitive measures in place.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-administration-announces-measures-to-punish-russia-for-2016-election-interference/2016/12/29/311db9d6-cdde-11e6-a87f-b917067331bb_story.html?utm_term=.65e25c952d52&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Kremlin spokesman vows retaliation against U.S. sanctions*
By Andrew Roth and David Filipov
December 29 at 6:08 PM

*VIDEO*

MOSCOW - The Kremlin on Friday issued a stark warning to the United States, saying it would respond in kind to the U.S. expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and other sanctions following the Russian hacking of U.S. political parties before the 2016 presidential elections.

"I cannot say now what the response will be, although, as we know, there is no alternative here to the principle of reciprocity," said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a statement late Thursday reported by the Interfax news service.

He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would decide the exact response.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c2a61b0436f_story.html?utm_term=.709480113f58


----------



## poochee

*Buffalo school board demands resignation of member Carl Paladino for vile comments about Obamas*
Valerie Strauss 
December 29 at 4:36 PM

The Buffalo Board of Education voted Thursday to demand the resignation of Carl Paladino, a board member who made vile and racist remarks about the Obamas. Paladino co-chaired President-elect Donald Trump's campaign in New York.

In a special meeting called to discuss Paladino's comments, board members voted 6 to 2 to call for his resignation. If he does not, the board will petition the New York state commissioner of education, who has the authority to initiate proceedings to have Paladino removed from the panel.

A statement from the New York State Education Department issued after the vote said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...comments-about-obamas/?utm_term=.32d07034a5da


----------



## poochee

Dec 30 2016, 10:11 am ET
*Obamacare: Five Things You May Not Know About the Health Care Law*
by Maggie Fox

As Republicans prepare to take over the White House and both houses of Congress next month, they've got President Barack Obama's signature legislation squarely in their sights.

Some GOP leaders say they want to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act as soon as possible and figure out how to replace it later. Others say they may want to move more cautiously, changing certain aspects while keeping others. What's clear is that big changes are in the works - even as the majority of Americans say they'd like to keep most of what the law offers.

*Here are five important things to know about Obamacare:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/20...gs-you-may-not-know-about-health-care-n699651


----------



## poochee

All In with Chris Hayes 12/29/16
*Trump and the truth*
How hard is it to get to the real story when Donald Trump makes a claim? Media critic Bob Garfield weighs in as only he can.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-and-the-truth-844305987746


----------



## poochee

*2017 minimum wage increases: These 21 states are paying workers more*
Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool 10 a.m. EST December 30, 2016
_Find out if your state is one of many boosting pay to low-income workers._

Minimum wage laws have been a major political issue recently. Proponents of higher wages argue that they're necessary to provide for basic living expenses, and many have called for increases to as much as $15 per hour. Opponents, meanwhile, point to the potential impact of higher labor costs on the businesses that employ the most minimum wage workers. State legislatures have responded across the nation and, currently, 21 states are slated to put 2017 minimum wage increases into effect at some point during the coming year. Let's look at the list to see what stands out among these minimum wage boosts.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...e-21-states-are-paying-workers-more/95741406/


----------



## poochee

*Trump and Putin: A relationship where mutual admiration is headed toward reality*
By Karen DeYoung and David Filipov
December 30 at 8:17 PM

*VIDEO*

For much of this year, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have been engaged in a long-distance courtship. They have said kind things about each other in public and separately expressed visions of a mutually agreeable future.

Since Trump's election, the anticipation has become more explicit. It culminated this week in the U.S. president-elect's call for America to "move on" from allegations of Russian electoral hacking, and the Russian president's blithe pronouncement Friday that he would rather plan for a new relationship with Trump than retaliate in kind to sanctions and expulsions ordered by outgoing President Obama.

"Great move on delay (by V. Putin)," Trump tweeted. "I always knew he was very smart!"

But as with all such arms-length pairings, the looming question is whether Trump and Putin will find fulfillment or disappointment once face-to-face reality strikes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...a-830pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.7fe39a929a03


----------



## poochee

*Obama to meet congressional Democrats on efforts to block health care repeal*
By Deirdre Walsh, CNN Senior Congressional Producer
Updated 12:46 PM ET, Fri December 30, 2016

*VIDEO*

"Next week, Republicans in Congress will once again turn to repealing a law that's provided coverage to 20 million uninsured Americans, extended consumer protections to many millions more, improved the quality of care offered by our health professionals, and helped slow the growth of health care costs," a White House official said.

"In light of this, on Wednesday, January 4, President Obama will visit a closed-press meeting of the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses ... He will discuss the work still left to do, including the ideas he has put forth to strengthen the Affordable Care Act (ACA). And he will share his perspective about the dangers posed by Congressional Republicans' stated strategy to repeal the ACA before proposing any replacement, creating chaos in the health system in the short run -- and holding hostage Americans' health care -- while Republicans develop their plan."

The high-profile visit signals that the President will remain engaged in protecting his legacy, and that Democrats will wage a public and multi-front campaign to raise public awareness about the impact of doing away with Obamacare.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/30/politics/obama-congressional-democrats-block-obamacare-repeal/


----------



## Johnny b

* White House fails to make case that Russian hackers tampered with election *

http://arstechnica.com/security/201...016-election-bitter-debate-likely-to-rage-on/



> The US government's much-anticipated analysis of Russian-sponsored hacking operations provides almost none of the promised evidence linking them to breaches that the Obama administration claims were orchestrated in an attempt to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.





> While security companies in the private sector have said for months the hacking campaign was the work of people working for the Russian government, anonymous people tied to the leaks have claimed they are lone wolves. Many independent security experts said there was little way to know the true origins of the attacks.
> 
> Sadly, the JAR, as the Joint Analysis Report is called, does little to end the debate. Instead of providing smoking guns that the Russian government was behind specific hacks, it largely restates previous private-sector claims without providing any support for their validity.


Looks like politics as usual.


----------



## poochee

December 31, 2016
*Weekly Address: Working Together to Keep America Moving Forward*
*
VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama reflected on the significant progress we've made since he took office in 2009. Over the past eight years, we've turned the recession into recovery; 20 million more Americans have health insurance; we've brought 165,000 troops from Iraq and Afghanistan; we took out Osama bin Laden; and we brought nearly 200 nations together around a climate agreement that could save the planet for our kids. The President reminded us that this extraordinary progress wasn't inevitable - it was the result of tough choices, and the hard work and resilience of the American people. It will take all of us working together to sustain and build on all that we've achieved - that's how we keep America moving forward.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*What's their angle? Breaking down the Putin, Trump and Obama spy games*
By Gregory Krieg and Bryony Jones, CNN
Updated 9:30 PM ET, Fri December 30, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama, Putin, Trump and the GOP are at odds over Russia policy
Here's a breakdown of what's going on
(CNN)President Barack Obama and his first secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, entered the White House in 2009 with visions of a "Russian reset." But Obama will leave office next month in the midst of a shadowy Cold War-era fever dream, as Washington and Moscow are, once again, beset by accusations of diplomatic chicanery and outright espionage.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/30/politics/russia-us-obama-putin-trump-hacking-sanctions/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Authorities search for a shooter after New Year's massacre at Istanbul nightclub*
Erin Cunningham and Kareem Fahim
World
January 1 at 9:37 AM

*VIDEO*

ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities were hunting for a lone gunman who opened fire on a New Year's celebration early Sunday at one of Istanbul's most popular nightclubs, killing dozens of people, many of them foreigners, and wounding scores more in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the city.

The victims include an Iraqi architecture student, a Turkish policeman and an Israeli woman celebrating the new year with her friends. At least 39 people were killed and 70 people wounded, and citizens of five other countries were believed to be among the dead, officials said.

The assault, which began with a spray of gunfire from a single assailant around 1 a.m., was the latest in a string of deadly attacks that have shaken Turkey as it faces threats both at home and from the civil war next door in Syria.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ul823pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.38a02a7adc51


----------



## poochee

*Trump says he has inside information on hacking*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 11:54 AM ET, Sun January 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump said another culprit aside from Russia could have been behind the US election hack
"It could be somebody else. And I also know things that other people don't know," he said

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/31/politics/trump-russia-doubts/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Schiff Warns of 'Vigorous' Response by Congress If Trump Reverses Russia Sanctions*
By Nicki Rossoll
Jan 1, 2017, 11:05 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Rep. Adam Schiff of California said he thinks Congress may actually want to strengthen Russian sanctions.

"You're going to see Democrats, and Republicans like [John] McCain and [Lindsey] Graham, and others come together with a strong sanctions package because frankly even though what the administration did was more than symbolic -- it was very meaningful -- it is not enough to deter Russia," Schiff told ABC News Chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl on "This Week."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/schi...gress-trump-reverses-russia/story?id=44486063


----------



## poochee

*My New Year's Wish For Donald Trump*
01/01/2017 01:08 pm ET
Robert Reich
_Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; author, 'Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few''_

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry..._586944b7e4b0d9a5945bddb8?section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

**
*Watch These Cringeworthy Political Moments From 2016 Before We Burn The Tape*
For your health and well-being, we limited this to three minutes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry..._5866c0b9e4b0030bf998561b?section=us_politics


----------



## poochee

CBS News January 2, 2017, 11:07 AM
*Poll: Trump will start off term in historically weak position*
*
VIDEO*

With just a few weeks before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, he's going to take office in a historically weak position, according to a Gallup survey released Monday.

Less than half of people in the U.S., 46 percent, said they're confident in Mr. Trump's ability to handle an international crisis and 47 percent said they're confident in his ability to use military force wisely. The poll also found 44 percent said they are confident in his ability to prevent major scandals in his administration.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-trump-will-start-off-term-in-historically-weak-position/


----------



## poochee

*House Republicans back off gutting ethics watchdog after backlash from Trump*
By Sean Sullivan and Mike DeBonis
January 3 at 1:18 PM

*VIDEO *

House Republicans scrapped plans to weaken an independent ethics watchdog on the first day of the 115th Congress after a backlash from President-elect Donald Trump and others, as a new period of Republican-led governance started on a tumultuous note.

In a complete reversal*, *the House GOP moved to withdraw proposed changes they approved the day before to official rules that would rein in the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). Instead, the House will study changes to the office with an August deadline.

The about-face came hours after Trump took to Twitter to slam House Republicans for voting behind closed doors Monday night in favor of immediately weakening the independent ethics office. The vote defied House GOP leaders and complicated Trump's "drain the swamp" campaign mantra.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...6f69a399dd5_story.html?utm_term=.c6dae9728a2a


----------



## poochee

Jan 3 2017, 1:08 pm ET
*'It's About Time': Catherine Cortez Masto, 1st Latina U.S. Senator Sworn In*
by Suzanne Gamboa

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto brought Latinos forward hundreds of years Tuesday as she was sworn in to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first Latina and first Mexican American woman to do so.

"It's about time," Cortez Masto said in the hallway outside the Senate chamber just before taking her oath."I look forward to using my voice."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/it-s-about-time-catherine-cortez-masto-1st-latina-u-n702691


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jan 3 2017, 8:34 am ET
*First Read's Seven Questions for 2017*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann
_First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter._

With the brand-new year, with a new Congress that begins today, and with a new administration taking office in less than three weeks, *here are our seven questions for 2017:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...n-questions-2017-n702576?cid=eml_pol_20170103*


----------



## poochee

*Senate Republicans take first step to repeal Obamacare*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 1:47 PM ET, Tue January 3, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Senate budget resolution would pave way to end Obamacare
Process would allow Republicans to avoid a Democratic filibuster
Republican leaders are considering a "repeal and delay" approach of preventing the repeal from going into effect for two or three years. This transition period would buy lawmakers some time to figure out a replacement plan, but already, insurance companies are balking at the uncertainty that this scenario would create.

GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, has gone as far as to say that it would be a mistake to repeal Obamacare before Republicans craft a replacement.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/politics/senate-obamacare-resolution/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Bill, Hillary Clinton to attend Trump Inauguration*
By Dan Merica and Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 2:48 PM ET, Tue January 3, 2017

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Previously, Jimmy Carter was the only former commander in chief who had publicly said he would attend
Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, will not be attending due to his health

Washington (CNN)Former President Bill Clinton and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration later this month, aides to both Clintons told CNN on Tuesday.

Former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush will also attend, the 43rd president's office said in a statement Tuesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/03/polit...-inauguration/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*Democratic Leader Schumer Fires First Salvo at Trump*
By *Emily Cadei* On 1/3/17 at 4:21 PM

*VIDEO*

The most powerful Democrat in Washington issued a stern warning to President-elect Donald Trump as Congress returned to work on Tuesday. Senator Chuck Schumer's combative remarks on the Senate floor, his inaugural speech as minority leader, signal there will be little in the way of bipartisan cooperation under President Trump.

The veteran lawmaker from New York said Democrats were prepared to work with the new president and the Republican-controlled Congress on legislation that bolsters the middle class-such as new infrastructure investments and trade protections-but expressed skepticism that Trump actually intends to pursue such policies. He spent the majority of his remarks challenging the president-elect to lay out substantive proposals to meet all his vague, larger-than-life campaign promises.

http://www.newsweek.com/schumer-democrats-opposition-538222


----------



## poochee

*1,140 Lawyers Pen Letter Opposing Jeff Sessions for Attorney General*
By JOHN VERHOVEK
Jan 3, 2017, 8:49 PM ET

A group of 1,140 faculty members from law schools around the country has penned a letter opposing Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, citing questions that have been raised about his civil rights record.

The letter, addressed to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. -- the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee respectively -- took aim at controversy surrounding Sessions' 1986 confirmation hearing for a federal judgeship.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/1140...sing-jeff-sessions-attorney/story?id=44536465


----------



## poochee

*Obama tells Democrats: 'Don't rescue' Republicans on 'Trumpcare'*
By MJ Lee, Kevin Liptak and Manu Raju, CNN
Updated 11:42 AM ET, Wed January 4, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Obama and Mike Pence are visiting their fellow party members on Capitol Hill
This is likely Obama's last visit to Congress, and it comes as Republicans push to overturn his signature legislative accomplishment
In the closed-door meeting, the President urged fellow Democrats to not "rescue" Republicans by helping them pass replacement measures, according to sources in the room.

He also floated this idea: Start referring to the GOP's new plan as "Trumpcare."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/04/politics/obama-capitol-hill-obamacare/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Many Americans Don't Think Twitter Is An Effective Form Of Presidential Communication*
*But Donald Trump will probably keep tweeting anyway.*
01/04/2017 11:00 am ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/poll-twitter-trump_us_586d0632e4b0eb58648b4f5a


----------



## poochee

*Obama administration moves against federal contractors that owed back pay to workers*
Joe Davidson | Columnist January 4 at 7:00 AM

How the dealmaking Trump crowd will deal with federal contractors remains to be seen, but the Obama administration is making a statement during its final weeks in office.

In the waning days of December, the Labor Department took strong action against two companies that it said has cheated workers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.../?utm_term=.71efb30624a1&wpisrc=nl_fed&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*The myth and reality of Donald Trump's job claims*
Ylan Q. Mui and Steven Overly
Wonkblog
January 3 at 6:10

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump took aim at the U.S. auto industry Tuesday as he continued an intervention into corporate America that aims to bolster job growth but is also vulnerable to exaggerations and oversimplifications.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.910290ec601f&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Obamacare Journey: From Total Repeal to 'Be Careful'*
by Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO *

Donald Trump spent nearly his entire 2016 campaign promising to repeal and replace Obamacare. On Wednesday, weeks away from inauguration, he expressed trepidation about doing just that and urged his fellow Republicans to be cautious in their efforts.

As GOP lawmakers begin the process of repealing President Obama's landmark legislation, it's worth taking a look at the *eight times* Trump has changed his position on Obamacare since announcing his bid for president more than a year and a half ago.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...acare-journey-total-repeal-be-careful-n703236


----------



## poochee

*Classified Election Hacking Report Complete, President Obama to Be Briefed *
By JUSTIN FISHEL
Mike Levine
Jan 4, 2017, 4:53 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The classified report requested by President Barack Obama detailing Russia's alleged role in cyberattacks during U.S. presidential elections dating back to 2008 is now complete, and he is expected to receive the first briefing on its findings on Thursday afternoon, U.S. officials tell ABC News.

President-elect Donald Trump, who said last week he would receive his briefing on the matter on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, is scheduled to receive his briefing on Friday. Both briefings will be conducted by the heads of relevant agencies, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, the FBI and the CIA.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clas...ete-president-obama-briefed/story?id=44553895


----------



## poochee

*In farewell to military, Obama urges America to uphold its values*
Greg Jaffe 
Post Politics
January 4 at 4:27 PM

*VIDEO*

Obama was speaking at a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall marked by the full pomp and circumstance of the world's most powerful fighting force. But much of his message seemed directed at President-elect Donald Trump, who during his White House campaign voiced support for torture and for killing the families of terrorists, in violation of the laws of war.

Obama thanked the military and stressed the need for the country and its fighting forces to maintain high standards, respect the rule of law and do everything in their power to prevent civilian casualties.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-725a-1:homepage/story&utm_term=.440b2dccbf0e


----------



## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff
Updated January 04, 2017*

President-elect Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill, including some of the most important posts in the US government. Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation, but other key posts are completely up to the discretion of the President.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

*Top U.S. intelligence official: Russia meddled in 2016 election through hacking and spreading of propaganda*
By Ellen Nakashima and Karoun Demirjian
National Security
January 5 at 11:45 AM

*VIDEOS*

The country's top intelligence official said Thursday that Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign consisted of hacking, as well as the spreading of traditional propaganda and "fake news."

"Whatever crack, fissure, they could find in our tapestry . . . they would exploit it," said Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on foreign cyberthreats, and especially Russian hacking and interference in the campaign.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McCain said at the opening of the packed hearing that every American "should be alarmed by Russia's attacks on our nation."

"There is no national security interest more vital to the United States of America than the ability to hold free and fair elections without foreign interference," he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-us-cyber-officials-russia-poses-a-major-threat-to-the-countrys-infrastructure-and-networks/2017/01/05/36a60b42-d34c-11e6-9cb0-54ab630851e8_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_hacking-10am:homepage/story&utm_term=.75f59171aa2b


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump deposition completed earlier Thursday*
By Sara Murray and Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 1:42 PM ET, Thu January 5, 2017

*VIDEO*

Trump sued Andres for breach of contract after the chef backed out of a plan for a restaurant in Trump's new luxury hotel in Washington. Andres claimed he canceled plans for the project after Trump made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants during his presidential campaign.

Alan Garten, executive vice president and general counsel for Trump Organization, said the deposition lasted "just over one hour" and described the case as "fairly straightforward."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/politics/donald-trump-deposition-completed-earlier-thursday/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 5 2017, 8:34 am ET
*Donald Disrupts, But Can He Control the Backlash?*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

This is how a new president can -- despite our government's checks and balances and our country's powerful institutions -- affect change. Or at least influence behavior. And change is what Trump promised during his campaign. But while disruptive forces can produce change, they can also produce economic uncertainty (remember when Corporate America railed against that back in 2009-2010?), diplomatic unpredictability, and potential backlash. So brace yourselves: Trump is going to bring a lot of change to government, foreign relations, and the media. The question to watch over the next few months is whether this change outweighs the uncertainty, unpredictability, and eventual backlash that will follow it.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...control-backlash-n703451?cid=eml_pol_20170105


----------



## poochee

Jan 5 2017, 4:25 pm ET
*Four Arrested in Facebook Live Torture Video Now Charged With Hate Crimes*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

The suspects - identified as Jordan Hill, 18; Tesfaye Cooper, 18; Brittany Covington, 18; and Tanishia Covington, 24 - were charged Thursday ahead of an afternoon bond hearing.

The charges also include aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi had tweeted Thursday morning that authorities were continuing to investigate the "senseless attack. The attackers, who are black, were heard yelling anti-white epithets at various points throughout the 30-minute video.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...torture-video-now-charged-hate-crimes-n703456


----------



## poochee

*US transfers more Guantanamo prisoners; 55 remain*
By Ryan Browne
Updated 5:08 PM ET, Thu January 5, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

18 who remain are also eligible for transfer
Trump took to Twitter Tuesday to slam additional prisoner transfers
But White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that Trump's pronouncement would have no effect on Obama's decisions
.
"He'll have an opportunity to implement the policy that he believes is most effective when he takes office on January 20," Earnest said of Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/05/politics/guantanamo-bay-prisoners-transferred-saudi-arabia/index.html


----------



## poochee

MSNBC Live 1/5/17
*NBC News confirms Obama briefed on hacking report*
*
VIDEO
*
NBC News has confirmed that President Obama has orally received the classified intelligence briefing on the Russian hacking. This happens as the Senate Committee hears the report from intelligence officials. Former White House Cybersecurity Chief, Ari Schwartz

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/nbc-news-confirms-obama-briefed-on-hacking-report-848248899524


----------



## poochee

*President Obama Talks Race Relations, Calls Alleged Hate Crime in Facebook Video 'Terrible'*
By Jordyn Phelps
Jan 5, 2017, 6:19 PM ET

"It's terrible," he said about the incident, during an interview with ABC affiliate WLS in Chicago.

Though Obama said he thinks race relations have "gotten better" in the country for the most part, he said reports like this show the work still to be done. "In some ways, we have surfaced tensions that were already there but are getting more attention," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pres...elations-calls-alleged-hate/story?id=44583801


----------



## poochee

Jan 6, 1:04 PM EST
*Obama says he'd back Obamacare repeal if GOP has better plan*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

As Republicans prepare to gut his biggest legislative achievement, Obama implored his opponents not to pursue a two-step approach where the Affordable Care Act is repealed first and replaced after - perhaps years later. He sought to lay the groundwork for Democrats to pile on Republicans for taking health care away from millions of people if the replacement never materializes.

"I am saying to every Republican right now: If you, in fact, can put a plan together that is demonstrably better than what Obamacare is doing, I will publicly support repealing Obamacare and replacing it with your plan," Obama said in a live-streamed interview with online news site Vox. "But I want to see it first."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-06-11-58-18


----------



## poochee

The Daily 202: Donald Trump isolates himself by living in a state of denial on Russia
By James Hohmann January 6 at 10:23 AM

*THE BIG IDEA: As the nation's top spies brief Donald Trump today on how they concluded that Russia interfered in the election, the president-elect continues to isolate himself. *From the truth. From intellectually honest members of his own party on Capitol Hill. Even from the Western alliance.

There are few indications that the meeting will prompt Trump to reverse himself after two months of steadfast denials in the face of mounting evidence.

*TRUMP VS. REALITY: 
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...efd5ce9b69b36fcfeafa9/?utm_term=.e82c9048b079


----------



## poochee

*U.S. added 156,000 jobs in December; unemployment rate ticked up to 4.7 percent*
By Ana Swanson
January 6 at 10:30 AM

The U.S. economy added 156,000 new jobs in December, according to government data issued Friday, slightly below economists' expectations. Yet wages showed strong growth in the final full month of President Obama's administration, evidence that economic growth is finally translating into gains for workers as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.fadba5838839&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

President Obama: The Legacy
Jan 6 2017, 7:54 am ET
*Michelle Obama: The Historic Legacy of the Nation's First Black First Lady*
by Daniella Silva

*VIDEO*

For the past two years, Michelle Obama has attended a ceremony in the East Room of White House honoring the country's school counselor of the year as part of her program encouraging students to pursue higher learning. On Friday, she will use the occasion to give her final remarks as first lady of the United States.

As her time in the White House draws to a close, historians note that she leaves behind an unprecedented legacy, not just as the nation's first black first lady and fierce defender of her husband's policies, but as a champion for a healthier nation and access to educational opportunity.

"What strikes me about Michelle Obama is how much she made the position her own," Allida Black, the first ladies' historian at the White House Historical Association, told NBC News. "She not only became increasingly comfortable but also increasingly influential as first lady in ways that really were her own, and they were ways that were different."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...egacy-nation-s-first-black-first-lady-n703506


----------



## poochee

*It is over': Biden quiets Democrats as Congress meets to make Trump victory official*
Mike DeBonis January 6 at 1:22 PM

Congress made President-elect Donald Trump's victory official Friday, meeting in joint session to tally electoral votes ahead of Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.

The final count was 304 to 227, with two "faithless" Trump electors having chosen other candidates when they cast their ballots last month. Five electors for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton also broke with their party.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...m_term=.6143a40d428c&wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*Intel report: Putin directly ordered effort to influence election*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 5:12 PM ET, Fri January 6, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The US intelligence community concluded in a declassified report released Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an "influence campaign" aimed at hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

The campaign -- which consisted of hacking Democratic groups and individuals, including Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and releasing that information via third-party websites, including WikiLeaks -- amounted to what the intelligence report called "a significant escalation" in longtime Russian efforts to undermine "the US-led liberal democratic order."

The report was the first official, full and public accounting by the US intelligence community of its assessment of Russian cyberhacking activities during the 2016 campaign and the motivations behind that hacking.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/06/politics/intelligence-report-putin-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump lashes out at host of targets on Twitter, including his old TV show*
Abby Phillip
Post Politics
January 6 at 9:35 AM

*VIDEO*

So began the morning of what could be a pivotal day in which Trump would receive a highly anticipated briefing on the subject of Russian intervention into the U.S. election, a subject that has vexed politicians on both sides of the aisle and pertains to sensitive national security issues. That issue, which had been the subject of tweets calling into question the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies earlier in the week, went unmentioned on Friday morning.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.42d7e96833e6&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump downplays Russian meddling in election despite intel report*
By Nicole Gaouette and Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 7:44 PM ET, Fri January 6, 2017

*Story highlights*

Trump met for over an hour at Trump Tower with nation's top intel officials
Trump said there was no evidence Russia affected election outcome - but officials disagree
*VIDEO
*
Senate Minority Leader and New York Democrat Charles Schumer said, "That any foreign power could influence an American election should send shivers down the spines of both political parties, regardless of which party benefited this time around ... We need to confront this interference head on, in an aggressive and bipartisan manner. If we don't, it'll be open season for any foreign power who wants to cause trouble in our elections."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/06/politics/trump-russia-intelligence-briefing/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Five killed in Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, suspect in custod*
Mark Berman, William Wan and Sari Horwitz
January 6 at 7:36 PM

*VIDEO*

Police said a lone gunman opened fire Friday at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., international airport, killing five people and injuring eight others in a brief, bloody shooting rampage.

The attack at a quiet baggage claim area sent people scrambling through the terminals and across the airfield at one of the country's busiest airports, shutting down all flights while paramedics and federal and local law enforcement officers flooded the scene.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...le-airport/?tid=pm_pop&utm_term=.64a517149649


----------



## poochee

*Joe Biden Marks End of His Term*
Fri, Jan 06

*VIDEO*

Joe Biden, in one of his final acts as Vice-President, signed his ceremonial desk drawer to mark the final days of the Obama administration.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/joe-biden-takes-part-in-signing-of-ceremonial-desk-drawer-849448003507


----------



## poochee

January 06, 2017
*Weekly Address: President Obama's Farewell Address to the Nation*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - In this week's address, President Obama discussed his upcoming farewell address to the nation. In 1796, as George Washington set the precedent for a peaceful, democratic transfer of power, he also set a precedent by penning a farewell address to the American people. And over the 220 years since, many American presidents have followed his lead. Next week, the President will return to his hometown of Chicago to say a grateful farewell to the nation. This will mark the first time that a President has returned to his hometown to deliver such a speech. The President has said that the running thread through his career has been the notion that when ordinary people get involved, get engaged and come together, things change for the better. This belief is at the heart of the American experiment in self-government - and it gives purpose to new generations. Through his address, the President will thank his supporters, celebrate the ways we have changed this country for the better these past eight years, and offer his vision on where we all go from here. The President will deliver his farewell address at 9:00 PM EST on Tuesday, January 10, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. To tune in on Tuesday, visit WhiteHouse.gov/live.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

President Obama: The Legacy
Jan 7 2017, 9:41 am ET
*Obama Legacy on Race is About Representation, Respect*
by Adam Howard

*VIDEO*

The first significant controversy of the first black president's tenure in office was a racial one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...acy-race-about-representation-respect-n664346


----------



## poochee

*After weeks of tweeting, Trump and team face open questioning this coming week*
By Dan Balz Chief correspondent
Politics
January 7 at 11:01 AM

*VIDEOS *

President-elect Donald Trump has made plenty of news since he won the election, but the coming week should be the most important of the pre-inaugural period by far, a moment when tweets and mixed signals could give way to greater clarity about the incoming president and his administration.

For weeks Trump has been mostly out of sight, heard from mostly in random, 140-character bursts that have rattled cages from Capitol Hill to corporate boardrooms to world capitals. But for all the running commentary, Trump's transition has been particularly opaque. Over the next week, he and many of his Cabinet nominees will all be out in public, providing answers that could start to bring his administration into sharper focus.

The focal point will be Trump's news conference Wednesday in New York, with two issues uppermost: how he answers questions about the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta's emails, and how he explains the steps he plans to take with his business enterprises to avoid conflicts of interest as president.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-weeks-of-tweeting-trump-and-team-face-open-questioning-this-week/2017/01/07/2f399b9a-d45e-11e6-945a-76f69a399dd5_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_sundaytake-1052am:homepage/story&utm_term=.3dcea86f21b5


----------



## poochee

*Ethics Office Struggling to Vet Trump's Cabinet Picks, Worries GOP Is Rushing the Process*
By Chas Danner 
January 7, 2017 01/07/2017 2:18 p.m.

The head of Office of Government Ethics, the federal agency charged with investigating the backgrounds of Donald Trump's cabinet nominees, told Senate Democrats on Saturday that the process of vetting Trump's picks is overwhelming the agency. Director Walter Shaub Jr. also emphasized his concern that Republicans are pushing forward with confirmation hearings for Trump's nominees before the appropriate paperwork has been completed, and thus before the OGE can confirm that the nominees have no financial, ethical, or criminal red flags.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligence...truggling-to-vet-trumps-cabinet-nominees.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 8 2017, 6:21 am ET
*Tough Choices Loom on Long Road to Replacing Obamacare*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEOS*

Republicans watched President Obama crash against the shores of health care reform over and over again over the last seven years. Now the wheel is in GOP hands, and the politics are only more treacherous.

Republican leaders are excited at the prospect of fulfilling their longtime promise to replace the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature legislative accomplishment, and injecting more free market principles into health care. But the path is long, complicated and carries enormous risks, potentially taking the entire insurance system with it in the process.

The main problem is that there is no perfect replacement: Any changes they make to the system will inevitably create new winners and losers, just as Obamacare did. There is a long list of agonizing choices ahead for Republican lawmakers, many of whom are new to the nitty gritty of health care policy.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...lacing-obamacare-n704021?cid=eml_pol_20170108


----------



## poochee

*McConnell: Trump's Russia hopes 'will be dashed pretty quickly'*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 11:35 AM ET, Sun January 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday he believes President-elect Donald Trump's hopes of working more cooperatively with Russia "will be dashed pretty quickly."

The Kentucky Republican's comments came in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," a day after Trump had tweeted: "Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only 'stupid' people, or fools, would think that it is bad!"

McConnell said Trump's hopes are probably wishful thinking.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/08/politics/mitch-mcconnell-trump-russia/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama says he advised Trump to trust the U.S. intelligence community*
 Erin Kelly  , USA TODAY Published 10:32 a.m. ET Jan. 8, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

President Obama, in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC, said he told President-elect Donald Trump that he must have confidence in the U.S. intelligence community in order to make good decisions.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ump-trust-us-intelligence-community/96313244/


----------



## poochee

Jan 8 2017, 11:13 pm ET
*Meryl Streep Takes on Donald Trump at Golden Globes*
by Adam Howard

Meryl Streep took dead aim at the controversial rhetoric and behavior of President-elect Donald Trump in her Cecil B. DeMille Award speech at the 74th annual Golden Globes - without ever mentioning him by name.

Streep, who was a passionate supporter of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, used her platform (where she was being honored for her lifetime achievement as a film actress) both to defend Hollywood against charges of elitism and to call for people in the performing arts to remain resilient and proactive in the face of intolerance.

Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners," Streep said after describing the diverse backgrounds of some of her acting contemporaries ("Where are their birth certificates?" she asked pointedly).

"So if you kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts. And that is not the arts," she said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/awards/meryl-streep-takes-donald-trump-golden-globes-n704571


----------



## poochee

Jan 8, 1:14 PM EST
*Trump has taken few steps to disentangle from private empire*
By JULIE BYKOWICZ and CHAD DAY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Donald Trump pledged to step away from his family-owned international real estate development, property management and licensing business before taking office Jan. 20. With less than two weeks until his inauguration, he hasn't stepped very far.

Trump has canceled a handful of international deals and dissolved a few shell companies created for prospective investments. Still, he continues to own or control some 500 companies that make up the Trump Organization, creating a tangle of potential conflicts of interest without precedent in modern U.S. history.

The president-elect is expected to give an update on his effort to distance himself from his business at a Wednesday news conference. He told The Associated Press on Friday that he would be announcing a "very simple solution."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-08-13-14-02


----------



## poochee

Jan 9 2017, 8:34 am ET
*What Trump's Russia Reaction Says About His Judgment*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*What Trump's Russia reaction says about his judgment*

In a taped interview for "Meet the Press" before President-elect Donald Trump received his intelligence briefing Friday on Russia's intervention in the 2016 election, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made this plea to Trump. "I hope you will embrace the intelligence, you will join the Republicans and Democrats to push back against Russia to make sure this stops and doesn't happen again. If after the briefing he is still unsure, that will shake me to my core about his judgment." Yet in his frequent Twitter statements after the briefing, Trump didn't sound so sure. *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...out-his-judgment-n704666?cid=eml_pol_20170109


----------



## poochee

*Trump battles Streep as Cabinet picks prepare for grilling*
By JILL COLVIN and LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press

Trump plunged Monday into another fight with a high-profile critic, this time in a three-part tweet responding to actress Meryl Streep's denunciation of him from the stage of the Golden Globe awards.

Trump called the Academy Award winner who had supported Democrat Hillary Clinton "one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood" and "a Hillary flunky who lost big."

Bigger issues await the president-elect and at least nine of his Cabinet and other nominees this week. He becomes the nation's 45th president on Jan. 20.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-09-08-08-10


----------



## poochee

*Cuba, US sign deal on oil-spill prevention *
Associated Press
Jan. 9, 2017 2:01 PM EST

HAVANA (AP) - Cuba and the United States have signed an accord on preventing and cleaning up oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Straits.

Monday's agreement is another step in the Obama Administration's efforts to solidify its legacy of normalization with Cuba before a Republican administration takes over.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0e55...67e1d6/cuba-us-sign-deal-oil-spill-prevention


----------



## poochee

**
*Kellyanne Conway Says Donald Trump Shouldn't Be Held Accountable For The Things He Says*
She thinks journalists should focus on "what's in his heart."
01/09/2017 10:14 am ET | *Updated* 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry..._us_58738edae4b043ad97e475d5?3l4yztxhbs9ejyvi


----------



## poochee

Jan 9, 3:31 PM EST
*Celebrities to turn out for women's march on Washington*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hollywood will be turning out in force for the women's march on Washington set to follow Donald Trump's inauguration.

Actress America Ferrera will chair the march's "artist table," organizers said Monday.

Other notables who plan to participate include Katy Perry, Amy Schumer, Scarlett Johansson, Cher, Julianne Moore and Frances McDormand.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-09-15-31-36


----------



## poochee

Jan 9 2017, 9:00 am ET
*The Obama Era: The Last Eight Years in Pictures*
Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American president.

45* Photos
*
http://www.nbcnews.com/slideshow/obama-era-n704251?cid=eml_pol_20170109


----------



## poochee

*Satire from the Borowitz Report *
*Trump Urges Spy Agencies to Lay Off Russia and Focus on Threat Posed by Actresses*
*By Andy Borowitz*
January 9, 2017

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)-In an emergency meeting at Trump Tower on Monday morning, President-elect Donald J. Trump urged the heads of the nation's intelligence agencies to "stop picking on Russia" and instead focus on "the very real threat" posed by Hollywood actresses.

READ MORE................

http://www.newyorker.com/?p=3300621...pJobID=1080707660&spReportId=MTA4MDcwNzY2MAS2


----------



## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*

*Updated January 09, 2017*

President-elect Trump will have about 4,000 government positions to fill, including some of the most important posts in the US government. Cabinet positions require Senate confirmation, but other key posts are completely up to the discretion of the President.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

Jan 10, 6:35 PM EST
*Obama, in final speech, to declare faith in power of change*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) -- In his parting message to the nation, President Barack Obama is declaring his continued faith in the ability of all Americans to bring about powerful national change, despite the trials of the last eight years that so often stood between him and his goals.

Obama, standing before thousands in his hometown, Chicago, planned to reflect on his origins as a community organizer who witnessed "the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss." He argues change is only possible "when ordinary people get involved" and join forces to demand progress.

"After eight years as your president, I still believe that," Obama says in excerpts of his speech released in advance by the White House. "And it's not just my belief. It's the beating heart of our American idea - our bold experiment in self-government."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-10-18-35-39


----------



## poochee

Jan 10 2017, 5:53 pm ET
*Dylann Roof Sentenced to Death for Charleston Church Massacre*
by Jon Schuppe and Jamie Morrison

*VIDEOS*

An admitted white supremacist was condemned to death Tuesday for massacring nine black worshipers who'd invited him to study the Bible with them at a Charleston, S.C., church, ending a two-phase federal trial that exposed the killer's hate-fueled motives and plumbed the chasms of grief left by the victims' deaths.

The jury, the same that convicted Dylann Roof in the murders last month, announced its verdict after deliberating less than three hours.

Roof, 22, who represented himself in the penalty phase, did very little to persuade the panel to spare his life. He declined to present any witnesses or evidence, blocked standby defense lawyers' attempts to raise questions about his mental health, and suggested in his closing statement that arguing for life in prison wasn't worth the effort.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ch...nced-death-charleston-church-massacre-n705376


----------



## poochee

*Intelligence chiefs briefed Trump and Obama on unconfirmed claims Russia has compromising information on president-elect*
By Greg Miller, Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Steven Mufson
National Security
January 10 at 10:04 PM

*VIDEO*

A classified report delivered to President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump last week included a section summarizing allegations that Russian intelligence services have compromising material and information on Trump's personal life and finances, U.S. officials said.

The officials said that U.S. intelligence agencies have not corroborated those allegations, but believed that the sources involved in the reporting were credible enough to warrant inclusion of their claims in the highly classified report on Russian interference in the presidential campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/intelligence-chiefs-briefed-trump-and-obama-on-unconfirmed-claims-russia-has-compromising-information-on-president-elect/2017/01/10/9da3969e-d788-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?utm_term=.4c963b7da19f&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*This new poll has all kinds of bad news for Donald Trump*
Aaron Blake 
The Fix
January 10 at 3:13 PM

As honeymoons go, Donald Trump's wasn't much to write home about. He was voted in as the most unpopular president-elect in modern history and got slightly less unpopular in the weeks that followed, as the goodwill flowed. Even then, though, he clearly remained the most unpopular president-elect in modern history. Again, that was the _honeymoon_.

And now it's over.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...p/?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.ca14ec5f5547


----------



## poochee

Jan 11 2017, 12:10 am ET
*Eight of the Biggest Takeaways From President Obama's Farewell Address*
by Adam Howard

*VIDEO*

In an expansive and emotional farewell address in Chicago on Tuesday, President Barack Obama revisited the achievements and challenges of his eight years in office, outlined what he sees as the greatest threats to our democracy and both paid tribute to his supporters and colleagues, while urging them to keep fighting for what they believe in.

The speech arrived at a surreal moment, 10 days away from his final day in the White House, Obama is enjoying his highest approval ratings in over six years (according to a new Quinnipiac poll) while his polarizing successor, President-elect Donald Trump has been besieged with unflattering headlines and ever more discouraging poll numbers.

Amid all the speculation and apprehension, Obama gave one of the most memorable final major addresses from a president in recent history. *Here are eight of the biggest takeaways from the speech people will be talking about for a long time:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bar...farewell-address-n705541?cid=eml_pol_20170111


----------



## poochee

Jan 11, 1:28 PM EST
*Trump denounces 'disgrace' of reports of Russian ties to him*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

NEW YORK (AP) -- A defiant President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday adamantly denied reports that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him, calling it a "tremendous blot" on the record of the intelligence community if such material had been released.

The incoming president, in his first news conference since late July, firmly chided news organizations for publishing the material late Tuesday night. After weeks of scoffing at reports that Russians had interfered in the election, he conceded publicly for the first time that Russia was likely responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. "As far as hacking, I think it was Russia," he said and quickly added that the United States is hacked by other countries as well, including China.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-11-12-47-06


----------



## poochee

*Trump outlines plan to shift assets, give up management of his company*
By Drew Harwell
January 11 at 12:12 PM

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump will shift his assets into a trust managed by his sons and give up management of his private company, a step that will help the businessman move closer to resolving potential conflicts of interest.

The move, announced Wednesday in Trump's first news conference since July, will target some of his most visible ethical vulnerabilities and push back against early criticism from Congressional Democrats who say his financial entanglements could improperly steer his presidential decision-making.

The announcement included a pledge from a Trump lawyer that the company would make "no new foreign deals whatsoever" during Trump's presidency, and that any new domestic deals would undergo vigorous review, including approval by an independent ethics adviser.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...b5164beba6b_story.html?utm_term=.0e76713948d8


----------



## poochee

*Who's in Trump's Cabinet?*
By *CNN Staff*

*Updated January 11, 2017
*
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/11/politics/new-cabinet/


----------



## poochee

*Fact-checking President-elect Trump's news conference*
Glenn Kessler
Fact Checker
January 11 at 2:53 PM

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump finally held a news conference, but as is typical, he often made claims that have been repeatedly debunked or discredited. Here's a guide to 15 of his more notable statements, in the order in which he made them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.162f7439c4c9&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*After an aggressive news conference, questions linger about Trump's readiness*
By Dan Balz
Politics
January 11 at 3:47 PM

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump's first news conference in six months was a vintage performance. He was self-assured, aggressive, combative, at times willing to offend and at times trying to sound conciliatory. What it added up to was a reminder of the challenges he will face in gaining and maintaining full public trust once he is sworn in as president.

No president in memory has come to the brink of his inauguration with such a smorgasbord of potential problems and unanswered questions, or with the level of public doubts that exist around his leadership. Though he dealt with the issues directly on Wednesday, what he could not answer - what he cannot answer until he is in the Oval Office - is whether he can avoid having these kinds of questions plague and possibly debilitate his presidency over the next four years.

Trump and his advisers have dismissed much of the pre-inaugural controversy as part of an effort to delegitimize his election victory and undermine his presidency even before he takes office. Still, the questions swirling around him as he came to the lobby of Trump Tower were an unprecedented mixture of the personal, the financial and the substantive.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ke620pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.57411ac8cf67


----------



## poochee

*Obamacare is one step closer to repeal after Senate advances budget resolution*
By Kelsey Snell and Mike DeBonis January 12 at 1:20 AM

The Senate voted 51 to 48 early Thursday to approve a budget resolution instructing House and Senate committees to begin work on legislation to repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act. The House is expected to take up the legislation Friday.

Senate Democrats made a late-night show of resistance against gutting the Affordable Care Act by forcing Republicans to take politically charged votes against protecting Medicare, Medicaid and other health-care programs. The measure narrowly passed without the support of any Democrats.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...9233f&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: Rex Tillerson's struggles show the risk of a president and secretary of state with no government experience*
James Hohmann January 12 at 10:33 AM
_With Breanne Deppisch

THE BIG IDEA: For the first time in American history, the nation is poised to have both a president and chief diplomat with no prior government, military or legislative experience. This is a recipe for trouble. Rex Tillerson's shaky performance yesterday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee underscored why.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.3b29e57bc06a&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1_


----------



## poochee

*Obama names five new national monuments, including Southern civil rights sites*
Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis
National
January 12 at 6:00 PM

President Obama declared five new national monuments Thursday ranging from a Birmingham, Ala. church bombed by segregationists to the coniferous forests of Oregon. He has now used his executive authority more than any other president in history to protect iconic historic, cultural and ecological sites across the country.

The three new monuments in the South, all of which enjoy bipartisan support, exemplify Obama's push to expand America's shared national identity through the narrative it tells with its public lands. Two of the sites, in Birmingham and Anniston, Ala., respectively, witnessed acts of violence perpetrated against African American children and an interracial group of civil rights activists. The third, in Beaufort, S.C., commemorates the period between the Civil War and the push for segregation in the 1890s when freed slaves worked to establish schools and communities of their own.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...m_term=.bcb6061d107a&wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*Obama surprises Biden with Presidential Medal of Freedom*
Greg Jaffe
Post Politics
January 12 at 4:20 PM

*VIDEOS*

President Obama awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to a shocked Vice President Biden on Thursday at the White House.
Biden and the president had gathered for what the White House had described as a final tribute to the vice president.
"For the final time as president I am pleased to award our nation's highest civilian honor..." Obama began as a Marine officer bearing the medal stood by.

Biden immediately spun around and wiped his face and eyes with his handkerchief. The president added that he was bestowing the medal "with distinction," an additional level of veneration that his predecessors had reserved for only three other recipients - Pople John Paul II, former President Ronald Reagan and Gen. Colin Powell.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...tial-medal-of-freedom/?utm_term=.5b2b1b1e5692


----------



## poochee

*Justice Department inspector general to investigate pre-election actions by department and FBI*
Matt Zapotosky and Sari Horwitz
January 12 at 6:22 PM

*VIDEO*

The Justice Department inspector general will review broad allegations of misconduct involving FBI Director James B. Comey and how he handled the probe of Hillary Clinton's email practices, the inspector general announced Thursday.

The investigation will be wide ranging - encompassing Comey's various letters and public statements on the matter and whether FBI or other Justice Department employees leaked nonpublic information, according to Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ral-2pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.1831c07bf673


----------



## poochee

*US ending 'wet foot, dry foot' policy for Cubans*
By Elise Labott, Kevin Liptak and Patrick Oppmann, CNN
Updated 6:33 PM ET, Thu January 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama is ending the longstanding "wet foot, dry foot" policy that allows Cubans who arrive in the United States without a visa to become permanent residents, the administration announced Thursday.

The move, which wasn't previously outlined and is likely one of the final foreign policy decisions of Obama's term, terminates a decades-long policy that many argued amounted to preferential treatment for a single group of migrants.

"By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries," Obama wrote in a statement Thursday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/12/politics/us-to-end-wet-foot-dry-foot-policy-for-cubans/index.html


----------



## poochee

By Julianna Goldman CBS News January 11, 2017, 7:19 PM
*Federal ethics chief calls Trump's business plans "wholly inadequate"*
*
VIDEO*

On Wednesday, Walter Shaub, the head of the government ethics office, called the plan "wholly inadequate."

"The plan the [president-elect] has announced doesn't meet the standards that the best of his nominees are meeting, and that every president in the past four decades has met," Shaub said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/head-of...onald-trump-business-plans-wholly-inadequate/


----------



## poochee

*CNN Films: The End: Inside the Last Days of the Obama White House*
Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 9p ET/PT

*VIDEO*
*FILMS*

Join CNN Films for an inside view of Barack Obama's last days as America's first African-American President and the legacy he leaves behind.

http://www.cnn.com/shows/last-days-of-the-obama-white-house


----------



## poochee

*House votes to begin Obamacare repeal process*
By Mike DeBonis January 13 at 3:35 PM

*VIDEO*

Congress took its first step toward rolling back President Obama's health care reform law Friday, with the House voting along party lines to pass key preliminary legislation.

The measure, which was passed Thursday by the Senate, will allow Republicans to use special budget procedures to repeal major parts of the Affordable Care Act without cooperation from Democrats.

House Republicans from divergent wings of the party had raised concerns this week about taking the initial step without having a more detailed plan in place for ultimately replacing Obamacare with a GOP alternative.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congress-readies-to-begin-obamacare-repeal-process/2017/01/13/6bcd6eba-d9b3-11e6-9a36-1d296534b31e_story.html?utm_term=.3120e35b1882&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Jan 13 2017, 9:10 am ET
*No Confidence: Warning Signs for the Health of Our Democracy*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Three days ago, President Obama warned about the health of America's democracy. "Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift. But it's really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own," Obama said. "Whether or not we stand up for our freedoms. Whether or not we respect and enforce the rule of law. That's up to us. America is no fragile thing. But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured." Three days later, the outgoing president doesn't seem to be that wrong about the state of our democracy, especially when it comes to key American institutions. *Consider all of the news from this week alone:
*
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...th-our-democracy-n706536?cid=eml_pol_20170113


----------



## poochee

*Bush daughters offer advice to Malia and Sasha Obama in open letter*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 3:07 PM ET, Fri January 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

"Now you are about to join another rarified club, one of former First Children - a position you didn't seek and one with no guidelines," the Bushes wrote. "But you have so much to look forward to. You will be writing the story of your lives, beyond the shadow of your famous parents, yet you will always carry with you the experiences of the past eight years."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/12/politics/bush-daughters-letter-to-obama-sisters/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 13, 5:15 PM EST
*Don's what? Portable toilet names covered for inauguration*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press









WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's the great port-a-potty cover-up for President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

Workers preparing for the inauguration Jan. 20 have taped over the name of the company - "Don's Johns" - that has long supplied portable restrooms for major outdoor events in the nation's capital.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-13-13-38-48


----------



## poochee

*In 2 Terms, Barack Obama Had Fewer Scandals Than Donald Trump Has Had In The Last 2 Weeks*
_This is a major departure from the presidencies of George W. Bush, Clinton, Reagan and Nixon._
01/13/2017 04:06 am ET | *Updated* 7 hours ago
*Paul Blumenthal*  Money in Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/barack-obama-scandal-legacy_us_5875a0fce4b05b7a465c67ed


----------



## poochee

*Trump said he'd do a lot - fast. Expectations, meet reality.*
By Robert Costa and Philip Rucker
Politics
January 13 at 3:55 PM

*VIDEO*

But ahead of his swearing-in next Friday, the extraordinarily high expectations that Trump has set are running into the logjam known as American democracy. While every new president confronts Washington's sluggish culture, Trump's more grandiose and hard-line ideas could face unprecedented challenges - logistical and even constitutional.

Trump imagines a presidency of vision and velocity, but his big-ticket items cannot be done by presidential edict, no matter how loud Trump's demands might be or assured he is of the popularity of his proposals. They will require consensus on Capitol Hill, emerging from a deliberative process that takes time and the navigation of a labyrinth of constituencies and special interests.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rm=.6227186fe402&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Good Samaritan shoots, kills gunman who ambushed trooper*
USA Today Network Yihyun Jeong and Alessandra Luckey, The Arizona Republic Published 4:37 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2017 | Updated 15 hours ago

*VIDEO*

TONOPAH, Ariz. - A man traveling to California came to the rescue of a wounded Arizona state trooper struggling with a gunman who had shot him Thursday on an isolated stretch of Interstate 10, authorities said

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/12/man-with-gun-saves-trooper/96502142/.


----------



## poochee

January 13, 2017
*Weekly Address: The Honor of Serving You as President*

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON, DC - This week, President Obama delivered his final weekly address thanking the American people for making him a better President and a better man. Over the past eight years, we have seen the goodness, resilience, and hope of the American people. We've seen what's possible when we come together in the hard, but vital work of self-government - but we can't take our democracy for granted. Our success as a Nation depends on our participation. It's up to all of us to be guardians of our democracy, and to embrace the task of continually trying to improve our Nation. Despite our differences, we all share the same title: Citizen. And that is why President Obama looks forward to working by your side, as a citizen, for all of his remaining days.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jan 14 2017, 1:31 pm ET
*Obama and His Movement Prepare to Challenge President Trump *
by Perry Bacon Jr.

*VIDEO*

CHICAGO - He may be leaving the White House but he isn't totally going away.

As President Obama gave his farewell address to the nation on Tuesday night, he also began the shift to a third stage of his political career. The once young, idealistic senator-turned-two-term-president will soon become an influential strategist and ally to those worried about the future with Donald Trump at the helm of the most powerful nation on the planet.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bar...ent-prepare-challenge-president-trump-n704866


----------



## poochee

Jan 14, 9:30 AM EST
*Supreme Court takes up suit over 2001 detention of Muslims*
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

The justices on Wednesday are hearing an appeal from former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI Director Robert Mueller and other former U.S. officials that seeks to shut down the lawsuit that human rights lawyers have filed on behalf of Abbasi and others over their harsh treatment and prolonged detention.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-14-09-30-25


----------



## poochee

Jan 14, 7:38 AM EST
*Trump's CEO meetings raise ethics questions*
By JOSH BOAK
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Donald Trump's meetings with CEOs seeking federal approval for major mergers are raising red flags for ethics lawyers concerned about the possible erosion of a firewall between the incoming White House and regulators reviewing those billion-dollar deals.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-14-07-38-13
.


----------



## poochee

Jan 14, 12:46 PM EST
*Trump unleashes Twitter attack against civil rights legend*
By STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

Lewis, among the most revered leaders of the civil rights movement, suffered a skull fracture during the march in Selma, Alabama, more than a half-century ago and has devoted his life to promoting equal rights for African-Americans.

For many African-Americans the contrast between this inauguration and Barack Obama's first one, in 2009, was striking.

The 16-term congressman said Friday that he would not attend Trump's swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol this coming Friday, and that it would be the first time he had skipped an inauguration since joining Congress three decades ago.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-14-12-46-55


----------



## poochee

*Trump Is Bringing His Love-Excoriate Relationship With Media Into Office* 
January 14, 20176:54 AM ET 
Commentary
David Folkenflik 

So now we know: This is how it's going to be after Inauguration Day, too.

When coverage falls afoul of Donald Trump, the soon-to-be-president will feed the media itself into the news grinder. As Matthew Continetti wrote in the _Washington Free Beacon_, the new administration is going on permanent offense; Trump will invert the usual equation to subject individual journalists and their employers to scrutiny and slashing attacks of the kind usually reserved for public officials.

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/14/50977...excoriate-relationship-with-media-into-office


----------



## poochee

*The Obama years: The sources of a president's strength were always on display*
Writer Marcia Davis January 5

*PICTURES*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...m_term=.56f6991e683d&wpisrc=nl_insight&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jan 14 2017, 9:48 pm ET
*These Democratic Lawmakers Won't Attend Trump's Inauguration*
by Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

Seventeen Democratic lawmakers now say they are skipping Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20, a number that grew Saturday after the president-elect dismissed a congressman who is a civil rights icon as "all talk."

Some Democrats had said they were boycotting the event prior to Saturday, but more Democratic members of the House said they would not attend after Trump in a series of tweets attacked Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who a day earlier said he doesn't see Trump as a "legitimate president" due to alleged Russian interference in the election.

*Below are the Democratic lawmakers who do not plan on attending.*

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ers-won-t-attend-trump-s-inauguration-n707001


----------



## poochee

*Rep. John Lewis's books sell out following Donald Trump's attacks*
Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
The Fix
January 15 at 4:49

*VIDEO*

One side-effect of Rep. John Lewis's heated and very public spat with President-elect Donald Trump: ballooning interest in books written by the civil rights icon.

The Georgia Democrat's "Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement" was sold out on Amazon and was the site's No. 3 bestseller Saturday afternoon. Used copies of the hardcover edition were going for nearly $100.

Claiming the top spot on the list was another book by Lewis: "March," a graphic-novel trilogy about the civil rights movement. The third installment won the National Book Award last year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-1017am:homepage/story&utm_term=.fb124dfd3a2b


----------



## poochee

Jan 15 2017, 11:41 am ET
*Trump's Plan to Quickly Recall Ambassadors Is 'Risky Move': Experts*
by Alexander Smith

A plan by Donald Trump to toss out dozens of ambassadors on the day he takes office risks months of uncertainty in some of the most sensitive parts of the world, according to several experts.

The president-elect's stance that all politically appointed ambassadors must, with no exceptions, be gone from Day One risks cutting off nations' direct line to the president while Congress wades through the lengthy process of approving their successors, analysts said.

This could be especially pertinent because of Trump's penchant for making candid foreign policy statements from his Twitter account; a good ambassador might be able to provide their host government with reassurances and explanation perhaps absent from the president-elect's forthright 140-character messages.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/t...sky-move-experts-n705131?cid=eml_pol_20170115


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama: Eight Years in the White House*
_On 60 Minutes, President Obama discusses his two terms as commander-in-chief, Donald Trump and what has been one of the strangest presidential transitions in history_
2017Jan 15 
Correspondent Steve Kroft

_*The following script is from "60 Minutes Presents: Barack Obama: Eight Years in the White House," which aired on Jan. 15, 2017. Steve Kroft is the correspondent.*

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-barack-obama-eight-years-in-the-white-house/_


----------



## poochee

By Emily Schultheis CBS News January 15, 2017, 2:42 PM
*Outgoing CIA Director warns Donald Trump over Russia threat, criticism of intel agencies*
*
VIDEO*

Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan warned President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday, saying he doesn't fully understand the threat of Russia -- and that his open criticism of the intelligence community could have effects far outside the United States' borders.

"I think he has to be mindful that he does not have a full appreciation and understanding of what the implications are of going down that road," Brennan told "Fox News Sunday."

He also said that once Mr. Trump is inaugurated things will be different for him -- and that he'll have responsibilities beyond just "talking and tweeting."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/outgoin...er-russia-threat-criticism-of-intel-agencies/


----------



## poochee

*Trump vows 'insurance for everybody' in Obamacare replacement plan*
By Robert Costa and Amy Goldstein
Politics
January 15 at 10:00 PM

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Obama's signature health-care law with the goal of "insurance for everybody," while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid.

Trump declined to reveal specifics in the telephone interview late Saturday with The Washington Post, but any proposals from the incoming president would almost certainly dominate the Republican effort to overhaul federal health policy as he prepares to work with his party's congressional majorities.

Trump's plan is likely to face questions from the right, after years of GOP opposition to further expansion of government involvement in the health-care system, and from those on the left, who see his ideas as disruptive to changes brought by the Affordable Care Act that have extended coverage to tens of millions of Americans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...735dd&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Karaoke Machine Backs Out of Performing at Inauguration*
By Andy Borowitz
January 15, 2017

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-Donald J. Trump's plans for a triumphal Inauguration were upended over the weekend when a karaoke machine that had been engaged to perform at the event abruptly backed out.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...chine-backs-out-of-performing-at-inauguration


----------



## poochee

*With days left in office, President Obama ushers in dozens of policies. But will they stay seated?*
By Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis
Politics
January 14 at 6:52 PM

*VIDEO *

In the past week, the Obama administration overturned a decades-old policy toward Cuban immigrants, forged two major agreements to address racial bias in big-city police departments and approved an unexpected cut in mortgage insurance premiums for hundreds of thousands of low-income and first-time home buyers.

Officials even made time, after years of lobbying, to add the rusty patched bumble bee to the list of endangered species.

In the final days before President Obama leaves office, administration officials are rushing to complete dozens of tasks that will affect millions of lives and solidify the president's imprint on history. But in many cases, their permanence is uncertain, and President-elect Donald Trump is already pledging to undo some of them after taking office.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati..._story.html?tid=pm_pop&utm_term=.6ab61034fc01


----------



## poochee

*Trump Meets With Martin Luther King Jr.'s Son *
By Jordyn Phelps
ALANA ABRAMSON
Jan 16, 2017, 1:56 PM ET

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump met with Martin Luther King Jr.'s son to discuss the civil rights leader's legacy.

Martin Luther King III said that he had "a very constructive meeting" with the president-elect and touched on how he hopes to be a "bridge-builder" to help the country "become a greater nation" moving forward.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-meet-martin-luther-king-jrs-son-today/story?id=44804763


----------



## poochee

*Trump national security spokeswoman Monica Crowley to forgo post amid plagiarism charges*
John Wagner
Post Politics
January 16 at 1:04 PM

Monica Crowley, recently appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to a key national security communications job, said Monday that she would relinquish the post amid multiple allegations of plagiarism.

Crowley, who has been named senior director of strategic communications at the National Security Council, said in a statement that "after much reflection," she had decided to remain in New York and "will not be taking a position in the incoming administration."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...m_term=.eed15d559d31&wpisrc=al_alert-politics


----------



## poochee

*10 More Detainees Are Transferred From Guantánamo Prison*
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
JAN. 16, 2017

WASHINGTON - With days left in the Obama administration, the United States has sent 10 more lower-level detainees from the wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to Oman, and lawyers for two more who are on a list of those recommended for transfer are urgently asking a court to send them home as well.

The government of Oman announced early on Monday that it had resettled the 10 men. They were from a list of those approved for transfer, many after about 15 years of detention without trial, but remained stranded because they come from unstable countries like Yemen. Oman, which has a custodial rehabilitation program for Islamist extremists, previously took in 20 detainees, all Yemenis.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/...leave-guantnamo-prison.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Jan 16, 10:14 AM EST
*Obama issues warning on 1st anniversary of Iran nuclear deal*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is marking the first anniversary of the Iran nuclear deal by warning the Trump administration that the accord can't easily be undone and is preferable to war.

Obama says the agreement is the product of years of work between Iran and six world powers, not just between the U.S. and Iran. He says a diplomatic solution that keeps Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is preferable to an "unconstrained" Iranian nuclear program or another war in the Middle East.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-16-10-14-08


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
*What Trump got wrong on Twitter this week (#2)*
*Michelle Ye Hee Lee*
*Fact Checker*
January 13

*VIDEO*

Welcome to the second edition of Fact Checker's series examining what the incoming president got wrong on Twitter in a given week. Here's a round-up of 10 dubious tweets from President-elect Donald Trump from the past week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.../?utm_term=.513593eb7946&wpisrc=nl_fix&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama to commute hundreds of federal drug sentences in final grants of clemency*
By Sari Horwitz
National Security
January 16 at 1:41 PM

Justice Department officials have completed their review of more than 16,000 clemency petitions filed by federal prisoners over the past two years and sent their last recommendations to President Obama, who is set to grant hundreds more commutations to nonviolent drug offenders during his final days in office.

"Everyone has killed themselves here to get the final recommendations to the president," Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates said in an interview. "We were in overdrive. We were determined to live up to our commitment. It was 24-7 over the Christmas break."

U.S. Pardon Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer has not taken a day off since Yates brought him on in February 2016 to sift through the backlog of thousands of petitions. From her home in Atlanta, Yates said she reviewed hundreds of petitions during the holidays.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-to-commute-hundreds-of-federal-drug-sentences-in-final-grants-of-clemency/2017/01/16/c99b4ba6-da5e-11e6-b8b2-cb5164beba6b_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-banner-low_criminal-justice-240pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.a700aa0018d5


----------



## poochee

*Tumult surrounds Trump days ahead of his presidency*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 2:43 PM ET, Mon January 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

In fact, many of the political storms raging as he takes office have been instigated by Trump himself. Inciting chaos and disruption has been the key to his political career, helping him rupture the Republican establishment and win the White House. He seemingly has no plans to change tactics in the White House.

"He is reinventing the modern presidency," said Timothy Naftali, a CNN presidential historian.

But as Trump takes office, his signature style, designed to keep everyone off balance, is facing its most significant test. Will his confrontational, brazen approach, the prosecution of personal grudges on social media and tendency to stir disorientation prove to be a workable template for a presidency? And will his method of deliberately picking at societal fault lines work when Trump is president of all Americans?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/donald-trump-presidency/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 16 2017, 4:02 pm ET
*Obama Welcomes World Series Champs Chicago Cubs at White House*
by Associated Press

*VIDEO*

President Barack Obama celebrated the World Series champion Chicago Cubs on Monday and spoke about the power sports has to unite people.

"Throughout our history, sports has had this power to bring us together even when the country is divided," Obama said at a White House ceremony for his hometown team. "Sports has changed attitudes and culture in ways that seem subtle but that ultimately made us think differently about ourselves."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...eries-champs-chicago-cubs-white-house-n707501


----------



## poochee

*In final days, Obama administration signs law enforcement pact with Cuba*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY Published 7:16 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department signed a new agreement on law enforcement cooperation with Cuba on Monday, seeking to further deepen ties with the communist island just four days before the end of the Obama administration.

The agreement outlines U.S.-Cuban cooperation on a wide range of criminal and security-related issues, including terrorism, narcotics, cyber-security, immigration, money laundering, smuggling and human trafficking.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ion-signs-law-enforcement-pact-cuba/96648026/


----------



## poochee

Jan 16, 3:37 AM EST
*Obama prepares for a busy retirement, more freedom*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For Barack Obama, there's a presidential library to build, hundreds of millions of dollars to raise, causes to champion and a book to write. And don't forget that long-promised vacation with his wife.

Looming retirement is looking like anything but for the 44th president.

Obama's next chapter starts Friday when he becomes an ex-president. He'll be freer to speak his mind, set his own schedule and make some money.

Already, Obama is looking ahead to the book he wants to write, and has had talks with Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel about arrangements that could include speaking gigs.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-16-03-37-39


----------



## poochee

Jan 17, 12:34 PM EST
*Obama praises outgoing press secretary for 'integrity'*









WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has made a surprise visit to the final daily press briefing with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

Obama praised Earnest Tuesday for "his smarts and his maturity," but added that one of his best qualities has been his integrity.

Obama says Earnest is "tough and didn't always give you guys what you wanted," but that he tried to make sure to share as much of the administration's vision and policy as possible.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-17-12-34-05


----------



## poochee

*Obama looks to lock in $1 billion to schools with low-income kids*
By Thomas Frank, CNN
Updated 10:32 AM ET, Tue January 17, 2017

Washington (CNN)The Obama administration is considering a major last-minute policy shift that could force hundreds of school districts to cut spending at well-financed elementary and secondary schools and move nearly $1 billion dollars to schools with large numbers of low-income students.

The policy, written by the Department of Education, is under review by the White House budget office and has drawn fierce opposition from Republican lawmakers and school administrators.

The policy, written by the Department of Education, is under review by the White House budget office and has drawn fierce opposition from Republican lawmakers and school administrators.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/obama-billion-schools-regulation/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump Fires Back After Polls Show His Favorability Ratings In The Basement*
January 17, 201712:48 PM ET 
 Danielle Kurtzleben 

*CHART*

Donald Trump loves superlatives: words like "biggest," "best," and "greatest" pepper many of his statements, whether at a microphone or on Twitter. But a recent poll lends him another, less attractive superlative: the lowest favorability rating of any incoming president in at least 40 years.

That's what a new _ABC News-Washington Post_ poll shows, with only 40 percent of Americans currently viewing Donald Trump favorably and 54 percent unfavorably. That's the lowest favorability for any incoming president since at least Jimmy Carter in 1977 in that poll. (Carter is the earliest data the poll presented). The next-lowest performer on this measure was George W. Bush in 2001, and his favorability rating was 16 points higher than Trump's currently is.

A new CNN/ORC poll bolsters this finding, showing Trump with 44 percent favorability (along with 53 percent unfavorability). (A Pew poll from last month had him at an even lower 37 percent.)

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/17/510256862/trump-polls-tweet-favorability-popular


----------



## poochee

*Health Law Repeal Could Cost 18 Million Their Insurance, Study Finds*
By ROBERT PEAR JAN. 17, 2017

WASHINGTON - Repealing major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, while leaving other parts in place, would cost 18 million people their insurance in the first year, a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday. A repeal could increase the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million in 10 years, the report said, while causing individual insurance premiums to double over that time.

The budget office analyzed the probable effects of a Republican bill repealing the law like the one approved in Congress, but vetoed early last year by President Obama.

The C.B.O. report, released after a weekend of protests against repeal, will only add to the headaches that President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans face in their rush to gut President Obama's signature domestic achievement as they try to replace it with a health insurance law more to their liking.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/...ce-affordable-care-act.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Obama commutes sentence of Chelsea Manning, U.S. soldier convicted for leaking classified information*
By Ellen Nakashima and Sari Horwitz By Ellen Nakashima and Sari Horwitz
National Security
January 17 at 5:35 PM

*VIDEO*

President Obama commuted the 35-year prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, an Army private convicted in 2013 of taking troves of secret diplomatic and military documents and disclosing them to WikiLeaks.

Obama also granted a full and complete pardon to Ret. Marine General James E. Cartwright for lying to the FBI in a probe of a leak of classified information about a covert U.S.-Israeli cyberattack on Iran's nuclear program. A former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was known as Obama's favorite general, Cartwright pleaded guilty in October and faced a request by prosecutors for a two-year prison term sentencing in two weeks.

In addition, Obama granted clemency to about 200 low-level drug offenders who were sentenced under harsh drug laws and would have received lighter sentences if convicted today. In all, the president commuted 209 individuals and pardoned another 64. He is expected to grant more federal drug commutations on Wednesday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.ef01f1b2583a


----------



## poochee

Jan 17 2017, 5:30 pm ET 
*Trump Accuser Summer Zervos Files Defamation Suit Against President-Elect*
by Daniella Silva

*VIDEO*

A woman who previously accused Donald Trump of unwanted sexual advances has filed a defamation lawsuit against the president elect - just three days before Trump's presidential inauguration.

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on the "The Apprentice," said in a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles on Tuesday that she filed the lawsuit over allegedly false statements Trump made in response to her accusation.

The suit, filed Tuesday morning, claims Trump knew his statements about Zervos and his other accusers would subject them to "threats of violence, economic harm and reputational damage."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...famation-suit-against-president-elect-n708031


----------



## poochee

*GOP lawmakers unaware of Trump's health care plan*
By Manu Raju, Tami Luhby and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 3:01 PM ET, Tue January 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Republican lawmakers are in the dark about President-elect Donald Trump's plan to repeal Obamacare and are frustrated he is emphasizing "insurance for everybody," three senior GOP sources told CNN on Tuesday.

Those sources said Republicans are working on a strategy to dismantle and replace the law in pieces.

The comments come after Trump told The Washington Post this weekend that he is nearly done crafting a plan that has "insurance for everybody" as its goal, although his transition team quickly walked back those remarks Monday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/congress-obamacare-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Secret Service agrees to pay $24 million in decades-old race-bias case brought by black agents*
By Carol D. Leonnig
Politics
January 17 at 11:56 PM

The Secret Service agreed Tuesday to pay $24 million to settle a two-decade-old case in which more than 100 black agents alleged that the agency fostered a racist culture and routinely promoted white agents over more qualified African Americans, according to documents filed in court and interviews with representatives of both sides.

As part of the deal, which is the result of a push in the waning days of the Obama administration, the agency admits to no wrongdoing or institutional bias.

But the payments to the agents - including lump sums as high as $300,000 each to the original eight plaintiffs - are intended to remedy the sting of the discrimination the agents say they suffered and the job opportunities they lost, according to interviews with representatives from both sides.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...a5aec&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Jan 17, 5:18 PM EST
*McConnell introduces bill to fund coal miner health plans*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press 








WASHINGTON (AP) -- Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell on Tuesday introduced legislation to maintain health benefits for retired union coal miners whose companies have declared bankruptcy in recent years.

McConnell was among those who successfully worked last year to provide a four-month extension of health benefits that protected 16,000 miners whose benefits would otherwise have been cut off on Jan. 1. Democrats made a major push as well, as the government neared a shutdown last December.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-17-17-18-32


----------



## poochee

Jan 17 2017, 12:26 pm ET
*As GOP Pushes Repeal, Obamacare Has Never Been More Popular: NBC News/WSJ poll *
by Mark Murray

*CHART *

As Republicans get closer to repealing it, President Barack Obama's federal health-care law - or Obamacare - has never been more popular, according to results from a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal.

And half of Americans - 50 percent - say they have little to no confidence that Republican proposals to replace the law will make things better.

The poll finds 45 percent of respondents believing that the health-care law is a good idea, which is the highest percentage here since the NBC/WSJ poll began asking the question in April 2009.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...obamacare-has-never-been-more-popular-n707806


----------



## poochee

Jan 18, 1:37 PM EST
*Inaugural speech is Trump's time to rise to the moment*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tradition suggests it's time for Donald Trump to set aside the say-anything speaking style and rise to the inaugural moment.

But bucking tradition, or ignoring it altogether, is what got Donald Trump to his inaugural moment.

When Trump stands on the west front of the Capitol on Friday and delivers his inaugural address, all sides will be waiting to see whether he comes bearing a unifying message for a divided nation or decides to play up his persona as a disrupter of the established order.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-18-13-16-33


----------



## poochee

Jan 18 2017, 12:00 am ET 
*NBC/WSJ Poll: Nearly 70 Percent of Americans Give a Thumbs Down to Trump's Twitter Habit *
by Carrie Dann

In these divisive political times, the American public actually has a pretty unambiguous message for Donald Trump: "Cool it with the tweets."

Nearly seven-in-ten Americans say that Trump's use of Twitter is a bad idea, and only nine percent say they strongly support his use of the 140-character medium to announce policy positions and express his personal point of view.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents in the survey said that Trump's tweeting is bad, agreeing with the statement that "in an instant, messages can have unintended major implications without careful review."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...give-thumbs-down-n708116?cid=eml_pol_20170118


----------



## poochee

*George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush both hospitalized, spokesman says*
By CNN staff
Updated 1:40 PM ET, Wed January 18, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Barbara Bush also was admitted to the hospital Wednesday morning
Bush revealed several years ago that he suffered from a form of Parkinson's disease
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/politics/george-h-w-bush-hospitalized/
(CNN)Former President George H.W. Bush


----------



## poochee

*Obama's parting words: 'We're going to be OK'*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 5:09 PM ET, Wed January 18, 2017

*VIDEO/PICTURES*

*Story highlights*

George W. Bush held his final news conference a week before leaving office
A CNN/ORC poll showed 60% of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing
Washington (CNN)Barack Obama used his departing words as President Wednesday to offer an assured -- if not entirely optimistic -- outlook for a country governed by Donald Trump.

"At my core I think we're going to be OK," Obama said as he concluded his final news conference at the White House. "We just have to fight for it, work for it, and not take it for granted."

"I know that you will help us do that," he told reporters assembled in the White House briefing room.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/politics/obama-final-news-conference/


----------



## poochee

*Read the Full Transcript of President Obama's Farewell Speech to the Nation*
The Associated Press
Updated: Jan 11, 2017 12:23 PM Pacific

The text of President Barack Obama's farewell speech Tuesday night in Chicago, as prepared for delivery.

*TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO*

http://fortune.com/2017/01/10/president-obama-farewell-speech-transcript/


----------



## poochee

*Obama approval hits 60% as end of term approaches*
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 2:07 PM ET, Wed January 18, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama will leave office Friday with his highest approval rating since 2009, his presidency largely viewed as a success, and a majority saying they will miss him when he is gone.

A new CNN/ORC poll finds Obama's approval rating stands at 60%, his best mark since June of his first year in office. Compared with other outgoing presidents, Obama lands near the top of the list, outranked only by Bill Clinton's 66% in January 2001 and Ronald Reagan's 64% in January 1989. About two-thirds (65%) say Obama's presidency was a success, including about half (49%) who say that was due to Obama's personal strengths rather than circumstances outside his control.

Amid those glowing reviews, one-quarter of Americans (25%) say Obama is one of the nation's greatest presidents, far outpacing the share who felt that way about other recent presidents as their terms ended (11% described Reagan that way, 10% Clinton, and 5% or fewer said so about either President Bush). Still, nearly as many (23%) call Obama a poor president, more than said so about Reagan, Clinton or the first president Bush, but well below the 46% who said George W. Bush was a poor president as he prepared to leave the White House.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/polit...-cnn-orc-poll/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

**
*Trump Gets Trolled After Tweeting Photo Of Himself Writing Inauguration Speech*
_*"*Who is translating it from the original Russian for you?"_
01/18/2017 04:42 pm ET
*Elyse Wanshel*  Associate Editor, Trends, The Huffington Post

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...auguration-speech_us_587fcbede4b02c1837e94d60


----------



## poochee

Jan 18 2017, 9:33 pm ET 
*Art Thief Drove Stolen Car to Seek Pardon From Wrong Attorney General, Police Say*
by Alex Johnson

Ashley Savage, a police spokeswoman, told NBC Washington on Wednesday that Patmon "wanted to meet with Eric Holder" because "he was looking to be pardoned by the Obama administration before the Trump administration came in." 

 One problem (besides the stolen car): Eric Holder is no longer the attorney general. That would be Loretta Lynch.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ar-seek-pardon-wrong-attorney-general-n708656


----------



## poochee

*Trump Asks Some 50 Senior Obama Appointees to Stay On*
By matthew lee, ap diplomatic writer
WASHINGTON - Jan 19, 2017, 12:12 PM ET

*VIDEO*

President-elect Donald Trump has asked roughly 50 senior Obama administration appointees to remain in their posts after his inauguration to ensure continuity in government, his incoming White House press secretary said Thursday.

The officials include the highest-ranking career officials at key national security agencies like the Pentagon and State Department.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wire...-state-department-lacks-interim-boss-44878550


----------



## poochee

*Nearly 70 Democratic lawmakers now skipping Trump's inauguration*
By Elise Viebeck January 19 at 1:22 PM

*VIDEO*

A growing group of Democratic lawmakers will boycott President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration Friday to protest what they described as his alarming and divisive policies, foreign interference in his election and his criticism of civil rights icon John Lewis, a congressman from Georgia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...g-trumps-inauguration/?utm_term=.c9b79ef71d99


----------



## poochee

*Michelle Obama's touching last Instagram posts as first lady require tissues*
Erin Jensen, USA TODAY Published 10:01 a.m. ET Jan. 19, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/.../19/michelle-obama-first-lady-posts/96767584/


----------



## poochee

*9 foreign policy issues the Trump administration will have to face*

THE HANDOFF | This is part of a series examining the foreign policy challenges President-elect Donald Trump will inherit and how he might approach them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/grap...n-policy-challenges/?wpisrc=pu_handoff&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump is right. He didn't create the country's divisions. But will he heal them?*
By Dan Balz Chief correspondent
Politics
January 19 at 4:25 PM

"We meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and as friends," George H.W. Bush said from the expansive West Front of the Capitol moments after taking the presidential oath in 1989. "For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended."

That is the imagined ideal of Inauguration Day, a time of coming together in the spirit of national unity. It is a theme that President-elect Donald Trump sounded shortly after accepting a concessionary phone call from Hillary Clinton on the night he won the presidency - "Now it is the time for America to bind the wounds of divisions," he said. - and likely a sentiment he will express again when he takes the oath Friday.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rm=.c74efa8b2596&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jan 19 2017, 5:52 pm ET
*President Obama Grants 330 Commutations in Historic Final Act*
by Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

President Obama capped an extraordinary week in clemency activity Thursday when he shortened the prison sentences of 330 drug offenders, the largest single batch of White House commutations in history.

The announcement, less than 24 hours before he leaves office, came two days after Obama handed out 209 commutations and 64 pardons, part of his unprecedented effort to show mercy to drug offenders serving epic prison terms. Obama has now commuted the sentences of 1,715 people, more than any of his predecessors.

"The President set out to reinvigorate clemency, and he has done just that," White House Chief Counsel Neil Eggleston said in a statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...s-330-commutations-historic-final-act-n709106


----------



## poochee

*Everything you need to know about Trump's inauguration, weekend protests*
By Eli Watkins and Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 6:17 PM ET, Thu January 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump is set to become President on Friday
Here's how to watch that happen
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/17/politics/donald-trump-inauguration-how-to-watch/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 19 2017, 3:40 pm ET
*Obama's Last Full Day On Job Filled With Nostalgia and Thank You Calls*
by Ron Allen and Corky Siemaszko

It was for President Obama a day of thank you calls, farewells, wrapping up loose ends - and business as usual.

Obama began his last full day on the job Thursday the way he did some 2,920 times before - with the Daily Presidential Briefing.

It was held in the usual location, which is the Oval Office. And, as is typical, Vice President Joe Biden was in attendance, according to a schedule released by the White House.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...ll-day-job-filled-nostalgia-thank-you-n708996


----------



## poochee

*Obama pens goodbye letter to the American people*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 1:50 PM ET, Thu January 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama penned an emotional public letter, published Thursday, thanking Americans and encouraging them to participate into "daily acts of citizenship."

"Before I leave my note for our 45th president, I wanted to say one final thank you for the honor of serving as your 44th," he wrote. "Because all that I've learned in my time in office, I've learned from you. You made me a better president, and you made me a better man."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/obama-pens-goodbye-letter-to-the-american-people/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Sworn In As The 45th President Of The United States* 
January 20, 201712:01 PM ET 
Carrie Johnson

*VIDEO*

A newly inaugurated Donald J. Trump delivered a fiercely populist and often dark address, promising to transfer power in Washington from political elites to the people and vowing to put "America first."

Surrounded by members of Congress and the Supreme Court, the nation's 45th president repeated themes from his historic and divisive campaign message, describing children in poverty; schools in crisis; and streets pocked with crime and "carnage."

"For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost," Trump said. "Washington flourished but the people did not share in its wealth. The establishment protected itself."

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/20/51074...in-as-the-45th-president-of-the-united-states


----------



## poochee

*President Donald Trump signs first bill into law*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 1:51 PM ET, Fri January 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

Cameras rolled as Trump signed his first orders as President in the Capitol, surrounded by congressional leaders.

According to Spicer, the other papers Trump was signing included formal nominations for his Cabinet and a proclamation for a national day of patriotism.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/donald-trump-first-law-actions/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 19, 4:44 PM EST
*First day goal? Make White House feel like home for Trump*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's supposed to feel just like home when Donald Trump steps inside the White House residence for the first time as president on Inauguration Day.

His clothes will be hanging in the closet. The kitchen will be stocked with his favorite foods. Windows will have been washed, carpets vacuumed or replaced, and fresh li nens and towels will be in all the bedrooms and baths. No packed or half-empty boxes will be lying around either, unlike a typical home move.

Trump and his wife, Melania, can thank the nearly 100 butlers, maids, plumbers, electricians and other staffers who maintain the private living areas of the White House. The crew will have just the hours between Trump's swearing-in and the end of the inaugural parade to remove all traces of President Barack Obama and his family and make the Trumps feel at home.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-19-16-44-55


----------



## poochee

Jan 20 2017, 2:15 pm ET
*Obama Addresses Farewell Gathering Before Last Flight From Joint Base Andrews*
by NBC News

*VI DEO*

Walking out to chants of "yes, we can!" and leaving to chants of "yes, we did!" President Barack Obama gave final remarks at a farewell gathering of staff at Joint Base Andrews before boarding his last flight on the military aircraft that ferries presidents on their travels.

"This has never been about us. It has always been about you. And all the amazing things that happened over these last ten years are really just a testament to you," Obama told the gathered staffers and military. "Our democracy is not the buildings, it's not the monuments, it's you - being willing to work and make things better."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...hering-last-flight-joint-base-andrews-n709646


----------



## poochee

*George W. Bush Fought With His Poncho And The Internet Loved It*
*He battled the poncho and the poncho won.*
01/20/2017 04:51 pm ET

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/george-bush-poncho_us_58827c7ce4b096b4a231b3af?mp8rmeg8d1dmwjyvi


----------



## poochee

*The world reacts as Donald Trump takes power*
By Jason Hanna, CNN
Updated 5:08 PM ET, Fri January 20, 2017

* VIDEO*

_(CNN)_On the streets, in small gatherings and in the halls of government, people around the globe weighed in on US President Donald Trump's inauguration Friday, anticipating how the real estate tycoon's policies may play out on the world stage. Here is some of the
reaction -- including opposition, support and even indifference:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/donald-trump-inauguration-world-reaction/index.html

https://forums.techguy.org/javascript:void(0);


----------



## poochee

*Fact-checking President Trump's inaugural address*
Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
January 20 at 3:54 PM

*VIDEO*

Generally, inaugural addresses are not designed to be fact-checked. But President Trump's address was nothing if not unique, presenting a portrait of the United States that often was at variance with reality. Here's a guide to understanding whether the facts back up his rhetoric.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.2d10abe11047&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump signs executive order on Obamacare; enacts regulatory freeze*
By MJ Lee, Tal Kopan and Tami Luhby, CNN
Updated 9:08 PM ET, Fri January 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not respond when asked for further details
Trump also signed papers confirming the appointments of James Mattis and John Kelly

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-on-obamacare/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 21, 1:13 PM EST
*Hundreds of thousands of women protest against Trump*
By NANCY BENAC and BEN NUCKOLS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wearing pink, pointy-eared "pussyhats" to mock the new president, hundreds of thousands of women massed in the nation's capital and cities around the globe Saturday to send Donald Trump an emphatic message that they won't let his agenda go unchallenged over the next four years.

"We march today for the moral core of this nation, against which our new president is waging a war," actress America Ferrera told the Washington crowd. "Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack and a platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday. But the president is not America. ... We are America and we are here to stay."

The women brandished signs with messages such as "Women won't back down" and "Less fear more love" and decried Trump's stand on such issues as abortion, health care, gay rights, diversity and climate change. Their message reverberated at demonstrations around the world, from New York, Philadelphia and Chicago to Paris, Berlin, London, Prague, Sydney and beyond.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-21-13-13-02


----------



## poochee

*There's even a Women's March in Antarctica*
 Mary Bowerman  , USA TODAY Network Published 1:13 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2017 | Updated 17 minutes ago

*PICTURES*

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...mens-march-on-washington-antarctica/96882184/


----------



## poochee

*Trump attends interfaith prayer service in Washington as a massive crowd protests his presidency*
John Wagner By John Wagner
Post Politics
January 21 at 12:28 PM

President Trump spent more than an hour Saturday at an interfaith prayer service designed to appeal for national unity as an expected 500,000 people streamed into the nation's capital to protest his fledgling presidency.

Trump and and Vice President Pence sat in the front row of the Washington National Cathedral as more than two dozen faith leaders, including a Muslim, offered brief prayers and readings interspersed with religious and patriotic hymns.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...r-105pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.9510e7bfe863


----------



## poochee

*An Impulsive Authoritarian Populist in the White House*
*By John Cassidy*
January 20, 2017

On Thursday evening, Jason Furman, the chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, tweeted out a picture of himself leaving his office for the last time, with the message "Turning out the lights." Whether it was deliberate or not, Furman's message echoed the words of Lord Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary, who remarked to a friend, in August, 1914, "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."

Grey's words, spoken on the eve of the First World War, are sometimes seen as an elegy for a halcyon period of globalization, peace, and prosperity. Listening to Donald Trump's dark, inward-looking Inaugural Address, on Friday, it was easy to believe that we are at another historical turning point.

Perhaps the trepidation and fear over Trump taking over as President will turn out to have been overdone. Let us hope so. But there can be no doubt that these feelings are genuinely held, and not just in the United States. Around the world, there is still astonishment that such an inexperienced, volatile, and disruptive figure could become America's President. Indeed, Trump's elevation has raised foundational questions not just about the future of democracy in this country but about the entire American-led global order that has been in place since the end of the Second World War.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-...pJobID=1081691111&spReportId=MTA4MTY5MTExMQS2


----------



## poochee

*Malia Obama Just Landed A Dream Hollywood Internship*
*Lights, camera, Harvey Weinstein.*
01/20/2017 09:48 am ET | *Updated* 1 day ago

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...lywood-internship_us_588211a4e4b0e3a735686c52


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Day Two: Prayer service, visit CIA, hit media*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 5:05 PM ET, Sat January 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The President visited the CIA, saying he is "behind" the intel community and criticized the media
Much of Washington's monumental core is filled with protesters
Trump attended traditional inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/trump-presidency-day-two/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Here's what celebrities and activists said in fiery Women's March speeches*
By Ray Sanchez, CNN
Updated 4:17 PM ET, Sat January 21, 2017

*VIDEOS*

_(CNN)_The Women's March on Washington Saturday was the main event of an historic day when millions took to the streets of America.

From Boston to New York, from Chicago to Los Angeles, throngs poured out into streets, parks and squares. Many were clad in pink hats and waved protest signs. They raised their voices for women's rights, immigration and other civil rights.

And they cheered on speakers who delivered impassioned -- and in at least one instance, profanity-laced -- rallying cries for the preservation of rights they said could be eroded under Donald Trump's presidency.

*Here are snippets of what some speakers had to say:*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/womens-march-speeches/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Brennan 'deeply saddened and angered' at Trump's CIA remarks*
By Ryan Browne
Updated 7:13 PM ET, Sat January 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)*BREAKING NEWS: *Former CIA Director John Brennan is "deeply saddened and angered" at President Donald Trump after the commander in chief addressed CIA employees at their headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Saturday, Brennan's former deputy chief of staff says.

Trump spent much of his speech -- which was in front of a memorial wall for the more than 100 CIA officers who have fallen in the line of duty -- focusing on his crowd size at his inauguration and saying he "has a running war with the media."

"Former CIA Director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA's Memorial Wall of Agency heroes," Nick Shapiro said in a statement. "Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/trump-to-cia-i-am-so-behind-you/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Conway: Trump White House offered 'alternative facts' on crowd size*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 12:11 PM ET, Sun January 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," host Chuck Todd pressed Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway about why the White House on Saturday had sent Spicer to the briefing podium for the first time to claim that "this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period."

"You're saying it's a falsehood. And they're giving -- Sean Spicer, our press secretary -- gave alternative facts," she said.

Todd responded: "Alternative facts aren't facts, they are falsehoods."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/politics/kellyanne-conway-alternative-facts/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 22, 11:58 AM EST
*WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times EST):*

Conway told ABC's "This Week": "The White House response is that he's not going to release his tax returns."

She added: "We litigated this all through the election. People didn't care."

Polls show a majority of Americans want him to release the returns.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-22-11-58-12


----------



## poochee

**
*Disturbed Man Gets Past White House Security, Gives Press Conference*
*By Andy Borowitz*
January 22, 2017

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-A man who was described as "visibly deranged" eluded the Secret Service on Saturday and gave a five-minute press conference at the White House.

The man, who somehow obtained White House credentials in order to bypass security, unloaded a delusional and paranoid rant that left a room full of experienced reporters shaken.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...pJobID=1081814311&spReportId=MTA4MTgxNDMxMQS2


----------



## poochee

*Melania Trump returns to New York*
By Betsy Klein and Kate Bennett, CNN
Updated 3:06 PM ET, Sun January 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)First lady Melania Trump is returning to New York Sunday, after a whirlwind inaugural weekend in Washington.

"The first lady thanks everyone for their support and a beautiful welcome to Washington. She is returning to New York in advance of the school week and will be splitting her time between Washington and New York for the next few weeks," her spokeswoman told CNN Sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/politics/melania-trump-new-york-anniversary/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump to meet congressional leaders Monday at the White House*
By Manu Raju and Phil Mattingly, CNN
Updated 5:36 PM ET, Sun January 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

President Donald Trump will confer with congressional leaders Monday
He'll need their support to move his legislative agenda
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/polit...sional-leaders-white-house-meeting/index.html


----------



## poochee

*What the Trump administration has done so far*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 7:16 PM ET, Sun January 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Much of President Donald Trump's first weekend in the White House was driven by criticism from Trump and press secretary Sean Spicer of media coverage over the size of his inauguration crowd.

But the new administration is also driving policy changes that will have far more long-term significance.

*Here's a list of the Trump administration's actions in its first 48 hours:*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/22/politics/trump-first-days-actions/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jan 23 2017, 9:06 am ET
*'Alternative Facts': Trump Adviser Conway Stirs Mockery, Concern*
by Alexander Smith

*VIDEO*

As soon as the words "alternative facts" left Kellyanne Conway's lips, a meme mocking her turn of phrase began to reverberate around the internet.

Not everyone was laughing, however, with some commentators concerned that President Donald Trump's administration appeared comfortable disseminating easily-disprovable falsehoods.

Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, made the remark Sunday during a testy exchange with Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet The Press."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...-adviser-conway-stirs-mockery-concern-n710676


----------



## poochee

*Trump wields his presidential pen, signing orders on trade, hiring, abortion*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY Published 12:07 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2017 | Updated 45 minutes ago

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*

WASHINGTON - President Trump signed three presidential directives Monday, withdrawing U.S. support for a Pacific trade deal, imposing a hiring freeze in civilian agencies, and restoring the so-called Mexico City policy that prohibits U.S. aid from supporting international groups that promote abortion.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...igning-orders-trade-hiring-abortion/96945308/


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton tweets support for Women's March*
By Caroline Kenny, CNN
Updated 0201 GMT (1001 HKT) January 23, 2017

Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton is making sure the hundreds of thousands of participants in the Women's Marches held across the globe know she is on their side.

Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, tweeted an article from Slate on Sunday night that showed images and videos of the massive crowds at Women's Marches held in Washington, DC, other American cities and internationally, and added that the huge turnout was uplifting.

"Scrolling through images of the #womensmarch is awe-inspiring. Hope it brought joy to others as it did to me," Clinton tweeted from her official account.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/22/p...rch/index.html?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

Jan 23 2017, 10:58 pm ET
*President Trump Resigns From Businesses, Leaves Sons, CFO in Charge*
by Kristen Welker and Tim Stelloh

*VIDEOS*

President Donald Trump has resigned from his namesake company and more than 400 affiliated entities, a Trump Organization spokesperson told NBC News.

In a statement, the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified, said Trump had transferred title, management and authority of the companies to a trust under the management of his sons Don and Eric and of Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of The Trump Organization .

The spokesperson provided a resignation letter dated Jan. 19 and signed by Trump, along with a list of hundreds of companies that he had left.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...gns-businesses-leaves-sons-cfo-charge-n711156


----------



## poochee

*Trump names his Inauguration Day a 'National Day of Patriotic Devotion'*
Abby Phillip By Abby Phillip
Post Politics
January 23 at 5:13 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump has officially declared the day of his inauguration a national day of patriotism.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-0902pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.dc58fb086d97


----------



## poochee

*What is the 'Emoluments Clause'? Does it apply to President Trump?*
By David A. Fahrenthold and Jonathan O'Connell By David A. Fahrenthold and Jonathan O'Connell
Politics
January 23 at 2:54 PM

*VIDEO*

On Monday morning, a liberal watchdog group filed a lawsuit against President Trump, alleging he'd violated a previously obscure provision in the Constitution, the "Emoluments Clause."

The watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that the clause prohibits Trump-owned businesses from accepting payments from foreign governments.

They asked a court to stop Trump's businesses from taking them now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rm=.9ce0f18d8fac&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Comey staying on as FBI director *
By Pamela Brown and Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1837 GMT (0237 HKT) January 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

FBI directors have 10-year terms, and James Comey's is set to run through 2023.
Many Democrats believe Comey cost Hillary Clinton the presidential election
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump has asked FBI Director James Comey to stay on the job, a law enforcement source said Tuesday.

Comey had no intention of resigning, law enforcement officials had previously told CNN after Trump's election.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/james-comey-fbi-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump seeks to revive Dakota Access, Keystone XL oil pipelines*
Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin By Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin
Energy and Environment
January 24 at 1:25 PM
*
VIDEO*

President Trump signed executive orders Tuesday to revive the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines, another step in his effort to dismantle former president Barack Obama's environmental legacy.

He also signed an executive order to expedite environmental reviews of other infrastructure projects, lamenting the existing "incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process."

"The regulatory process in this country has become a tangled-up mess," he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...cda86&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Jan 24, 1:43 PM EST
*Senate Democrats propose $1 trillion infrastructure plan*
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats on Tuesday offered a plan to spend $1 trillion on transportation and other infrastructure projects over 10 years, challenging President Donald Trump to join them on an issue where they hope to find common ground.

Democrats estimate their plan would create 15 million jobs. The plan includes $210 billion to repair aging roads and bridges and another $200 billion for a "vital infrastructure fund" to pay for a variety of transportation projects of national significance.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-24-13-43-03


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: The sorest winner of all time cannot stop whining*
James Hohmann By James Hohmann January 24 at 9:59 AM

*VIDEO*

*THE BIG IDEA: Somebody call the wambulance. Donald Trump needs a box of Kleenex for all the whining he's doing.*

Just like his campaign, the first days of his presidency have been animated and defined by grievance.

At a White House reception last night to discuss his 2017 agenda, Trump devoted the first 10 minutes to rehashing the 2016 campaign. The commander-in-chief told a bipartisan group of congressional leaders that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused him to lose the popular vote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.ccc3480da285&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jan 24, 1:55 PM EST
*GOP Congress grapples with 'alternative facts' from Trump*
By ERICA WERNER and LISA LERER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republicans are discovering that with Donald Trump in the White House, they may be spending a lot of time answering for false claims from their president.

Eager to dive into a packed legislative agenda in a new era of GOP governance, Republicans instead found themselves confronting questions Tuesday about Trump's claim that he would have won the popular vote but for 3 million to 5 million ballots cast by immigrants in the country illegally.

No evidence supports that assertion, which Trump made in a private meeting with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders at the White House on Monday night. Trump has also made incorrect claims about crowds at his inauguration and his feud with the CIA in the four days since taking office.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-24-13-55-33


----------



## poochee

*Satire from the Borowitz Report *
*Trump Creates Ten Million Jobs for Fact Checkers*
*By Andy Borowitz*
10:30 A.M.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-In less than a week as President, Donald J. Trump has created ten million jobs for fact checkers, the Department of Labor has confirmed.

Harland Dorrinson, the executive director of HonestyWatch, a Minnesota-based fact-checking organization, called the pace of hiring in the fact-checking industry since Trump's Inauguration "blistering."

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-creates-ten-million-jobs-for-fact-checkers?mbid=nl_012417 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=10290685&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1081975814&spReportId=MTA4MTk3NTgxNAS2


----------



## poochee

*President Donald Trump's thin skin*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:54 AM ET, Wed January 25, 2017

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump's refusal to let sleeping dogs lie now threatens to harm his presidency.
________________________________________________

Trump's deep desire for legitimacy is not some new character trait that has emerged from during his early days in power.

Throughout his campaign, his obsession with polls, boasts about his wealth, lavish praise for his buildings and business revealed a candidate unusually open to talking up his achievements and place in the world.

Michael D'Antonio, author of a recent book "The Truth About Trump" said the President's obsessive desire for recognition was on display through his long climb to prominence as a business tycoon.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/trump-legitimacy-voter-fraud-inauguration-crowd/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: 11 stories from President Trump's first 100 hours that deserve more attention*
By James Hohmann January 25 at 10:52 AM

*THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump is quadrupling down on his lie that millions of ballots were illegally cast in the November election. *This morning he ensured that the mainstream media will spend another day focused on this issue by calling for an investigation:

________________________________________________

We've all been drinking from a fire hose since noon last Friday. To help you not lose track, here are 11 moves by Team Trump that would lead the news in any ordinary time *but have gotten relatively little public attention:*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.5721490e6222&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump to sign executive orders enabling construction of proposed border wall and targeting sanctuary cities*
By Jerry Markon, Robert Costa and Abigail Hauslohner
National Security
January 25 at 12:14 AM

*VIDEO*

President Trump plans to sign executive orders Wednesday enabling construction of his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and targeting cities where local leaders refuse to hand over illegal immigrants for deportation, according to White House officials familiar with the decisions.

The actions, part of a multi-day focus on immigration, are among an array of sweeping and immediate changes to the nation's immigration system under consideration by the new president. The moves represent Trump's first effort to deliver on perhaps the signature issue that drove his presidential campaign: his belief that illegal immigration is out of control and threatening the country's safety and security.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/president-trump-is-planning-to-sign-executive-orders-on-immigration-this-week/2017/01/24/aba22b7a-e287-11e6-a453-19ec4b3d09ba_story.html?utm_term=.248c0a96626f&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Trump signs directive to start border wall with Mexico, ramp up immigration enforcement*
By David Nakamura By David Nakamura
Politics
January 25 at 3:02 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump signed a pair of executive actions Wednesday to begin ramping up immigration enforcement, including a new border wall with Mexico, vowing that construction on his chief campaign pledge would begin in months.

In an appearance at the Department of Homeland Security, Trump kicked off the rollout of a series of directives aimed at clamping down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. Aides said more directives could come later this week, including new restrictions on refugees and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries.

The presidential directives signed Wednesday aim to create more detention centers, add more federal border control agents and withhold federal funds to cities that do not comply with federal immigration laws, Trump aides said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pledges-to-start-work-on-border-wall-within-months/2017/01/25/dddae6ee-e31e-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_immigration-2pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.d89927082b6c


----------



## poochee

*Boom: Dow hits 20,000 for first time ever*
By Matt Egan @mattmegan5 January 25, 2017: 3:02 PM ET

*VIDEO/CHART*

After weeks of close calls, the Dow made history on Wednesday by blowing past that key level for the first time ever.

The historic milestone leaves the Dow up more than 1,700 points since President Donald Trump's victory in November. The achievement is evidence of how optimistic investors have become about the prospects for the U.S. economy.

But the jump in stocks is also a reflection of the solid economy Trump inherited from former President Obama. The U.S. has added jobs for a record 75 straight months and the unemployment rate is sitting near a 10-year low.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/25/investing/dow-20000-stocks/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's name in Chinese? He won't like this particular translation*
Hannah Gardner, Special for USA TODAY Published 12:18 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

BEIJING - What's in a name? If it's Donald Trump in Chinese, it could be as controversial as the president is back home.

Trump's official Chinese name is Te Lang Pu. That translates to "extraordinary, bright and popular" - the of kind of name he might choose for himself.

But it also can mean "unusual, loud and common," surely the preference for his detractors in the United States.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/25/china-donald-trump-name-meaning/97034962/


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Vote Fraud Investigation Will Finish What the GOP Started*
_The president's bogus claims will give Republicans the cover they need to ramp up voter suppression nationwide._
By Mark Joseph Stern

 
On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump tweeted that he "will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and … even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!" The _Washington Post_'s Robert Costa reports that Trump's obsession with nonexistent fraud is the result of his insecurity over losing the popular vote by a wide margin, and that his fixation isn't being encouraged by GOP congressional leaders or even by his own staff. But that won't stop Trump from ordering his Department of Justice to investigate the supposed perfidy of the American electorate. In his press briefing on Wednesday, Sean Spicer indicated that such an investigation would likely target "bigger states" like California and New York.

This investigation is notable for three reasons. First, it is the direct result of years of Republican lies about the prevalence of voter fraud, which created a counterfactual hysteria that the party's leadership is now apparently unable to temper. Second, it will primarily serve as pretext for an assault on voting rights at both the state and federal level. Third, it will not turn up any significant evidence of fraud-and this lack of evidence will not matter. Having invented the myth of voter fraud, Trump and the Republican Party will continue to perpetuate it no matter how many times it has been debunked.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...igation_will_finish_what_the_gop_started.html


----------



## poochee

*Here are nine investigations on voter fraud that found virtually nothing*
Christopher Ingraham By Christopher Ingraham
Wonkblog
January 25 at 11:41 AM

The Trump administration is doubling down on unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election with a call from the president himself to conduct a "major investigation" into whether it occurred.

His unsupported claim that 3 million to 5 million illegal votes were cast causes the administration to hold contradictory positions that a. the 2016 election was marred by voter fraud on an unprecedented scale, and b. the president's victory in that election is 100 percent legitimate. The tension was on display repeatedly during yesterday's White House press briefing.

*Trump's call for an investigation overlooks that there have been numerous inquiries into voter fraud over the past decade, and none of them have turned up evidence of a widespread problem:
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.a7e5ea2e92fe&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jan 26 2017, 1:32 pm ET
*Mexico's President to Trump: 'I Will Not Attend' Scheduled Meeting*
by Halimah Abdullah and Suzanne Gamboa

*VIDEO*

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has scrapped an upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump in the wake of a fiery spat over which nation will pay for a border wall between the two countries.

"This morning we informed the White House that I will not attend the business meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with the @POTUS," Nieto tweeted.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-mexico-s-president-after-shots-fired-n712461


----------



## poochee

*Trump administration asks top State Department officials to leave*
By Elise Labott, CNN
Updated 1:44 PM ET, Thu January 26, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The White House usually asks career officials in such positions to stay on for some time
The firings leave a huge management hole at the State Department

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/polit...d-to-leave-by-trump-administration/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Daily Cartoon: Thursday, January 26th*
*By Tom Toro*
10:00 A.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/d...pJobID=1082175763&spReportId=MTA4MjE3NTc2MwS2


----------



## poochee

*Report: Trump Admin Pulls O'Care Ads In Last Days Of 2017 Open Enrollment*
ByEsme CribbPublishedJanuary 26, 2017, 6:36 PM EDT

Even ads that President Barack Obama's administration already placed and paid for have been pulled, Politico reported, citing sources at the Department of Health and Human Services and on Capitol Hill. The White House has also reportedly halted media outreach promoting enrollment, including emails sent to visitors to HealthCare.gov.

The final days of the open enrollment period are "seen as critical," according to the report. This is due to a last-minute surge in sign-ups by individuals who procrastinate on enrollment, particularly younger and healthier customers.

Open enrollment for 2017 ends next week on Jan. 31.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-administration-reportedly-pulls-obamacare-ads-outreach


----------



## poochee

Jan 27 2017, 8:39 am ET
*Chaos Defines Trump's First Week in Office*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*Recapping Trump's chaotic first week*

It's been a week since Donald Trump took the oath of office to become the nation's 45th president, though it certainly feels more like a month. And if the past seven days have had a defining characteristic, it's been this -- chaos. To recap the last week:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...irst-week-office-n712931?cid=eml_pol_20170127


----------



## poochee

Jan 27 2017, 1:50 pm ET
*Trump Welcomes British PM Theresa May for First Foreign Visit *
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump said the United States would negotiate a new and fair relationship with Mexico and ducked questions about lifting sanctions on Russia during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday.

"Mexico, with the United States has out-negotiated us, beat us to a pulp through our past leaders. They made us look foolish," Trump said.

"We are going to be working on a fair relationship and a new relationship," Trump said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...sh-pm-theresa-may-first-foreign-visit-n713131


----------



## poochee

*Behind closed doors, Republican lawmakers fret about how to repeal Obamacare*
By Mike DeBonis By Mike DeBonis
Politics
January 27 at 1:35 PM

*VIDEO*

PHILADELPHIA - Republican lawmakers aired sharp concerns about their party's quick push to repeal the Affordable Care Act inside a closed-door meeting Thursday, according to a recording of the session obtained by The Washington Post.

The recording reveals a GOP that appears to be filled with doubts about how to make good on a long-standing promise to get rid of Obamacare without explicit guidance from President Trump or his administration.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...2f846&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Reality check: Many of Trump's early vows will probably never happen*
By Ashley Parker and Sean Sullivan By Ashley Parker and Sean Sullivan
Politics
January 27 at 6:00 AM

*VIDEO*

No one can accuse Donald Trump of campaigning in poetry. But after just one week in the White House, the new president is bumping up against the hard reality of governing in prose.

Many of the sweeping actions President Trump vowed this week through his executive orders and proclamations are unlikely to happen, either because they are impractical, opposed by Congress and members of his Cabinet, or full of legal holes.

The reality - that yawning gap between what Trump says he will do and what he actually can do - underscores his chaotic start, which includes executive actions drafted by close aides rather than experts and without input from the agencies tasked with implementing them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ml?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.ee237db5accf


----------



## poochee

Jan 27 2017, 10:27 pm ET
*Trump Signs Order Suspending Entry to U.S. by Syrian Refugees, Others*
by Halimah Abdullah and Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that suspends the admittance of Syrian refugees into the U.S. and potentially from other countries, taking action on a pledge made on the campaign trail for "extreme vetting" for some seeking to come into the country.

In signing the order, Trump pledged to "keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America." Trump also signed a second order aimed at "rebuilding the U.S. Armed Forces."

"We are not admitting into the country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas," Trump said during the swearing in ceremony for Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon. "We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...xpands-power-military-extreme-vetting-n713336


----------



## poochee

*Trump signs executive actions on lobbying, ISIS, NSC*
By Eli Watkins and Athena Jones, CNN
Updated 5:13 PM ET, Sat January 28, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump signed three executive actions Saturday that imposed a five-year lobbying ban for administration officials, reorganized the National Security Council's structure and called for a plan to be delivered to him within 30 days on how defeat ISIS, administration officials said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/28/politics/donald-trump-executive-actions/index.html#


----------



## poochee

Jan 28 2017, 4:39 pm ET
*Trump Field Calls From Several Foreign Leaders, Including Putin and Merkel*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

*The phone calls with foreign leaders Saturday included:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...oreign-leaders-including-putin-merkel-n713581


----------



## poochee

*World Leaders React To The Reality Of A Trump Presidency*
*Many of the presidential memorandums and executive decisions will fundamentally affect countries around the globe.*
01/28/2017 04:10 pm ET

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...us_5888c396e4b0441a8f72181f?tyyo7joiiut5u3di&


----------



## poochee

*Steve Bannon's War on the Press*
*By John Cassidy*
January 27, 2017

Somewhere in the West Wing of the White House, I'm guessing, Stephen Bannon, Donald Trump's chief political strategist, is chuckling to himself. A quick call with a _Times_ reporter, and, a day later, there was his mug on the paper's front page, next to a story in which he was quoted as saying, "The paper of record for our beloved Republic, the New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated. They got it 100 per cent wrong." Talk about hitting the enemy where it lives.

Of course, the Gray Lady didn't give Bannon front-page treatment simply for trolling her. In his interview, Bannon delivered a broadside at the press more generally, saying, "The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while." Bannon also said, ""I want you to quote me on this. The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States."

When the _Times_ posted its story online, the reaction in some quarters was one of righteous outrage. Jacob Weisberg, the editor-in-chief of the Slate Group, said on Twitter, " 'The media should keep its mouth shut' is a terrifying, tyrannical comment. It's coming from inside the White House." CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked, "Sorry, what country are we living in?"

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-...pJobID=1082289173&spReportId=MTA4MjI4OTE3MwS2


----------



## poochee

*Russians Charged With Treason Worked in Office Linked to Election Hacking*
By SCOTT SHANE, DAVID E. SANGER and ANDREW E. KRAMERJAN. 27, 2017

WASHINGTON - Ever since American intelligence agencies accused Russia of trying to influence the American election, there have been questions about the proof they had to support the accusation.

But the news from Moscow may explain how the agencies could be so certain that it was the Russians who hacked the email of Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Two Russian intelligence officers who worked on cyberoperations and a Russian computer security expert have been arrested and charged with treason for providing information to the United States, according to multiple Russian news reports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/world/europe/russia-hacking-us-election.html?_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Judge stays deportations; Trump order barring refugees, migrants from Muslim countries triggers chaos, outrage*
By Jerry Markon, Emma Brown and Katherine Shaver By Jerry Markon, Emma Brown and Katherine Shaver
Social Issues
January 28 at 9:46 PM

*VIDEO*

*Breaking:*

Judge Ann Donnelly of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn granted a request from the ACLU to stay deportations of those detained on entry to the United States following President Trump's executive order.

And only minutes after the judge's ruling in New York City, another came in Virginia when U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a temporary restraining order to block the removal of any green card holders being detained at Dulles International Airport for seven days. Brinkema's action also ordered that lawyers have access to those held there because of the president's ban.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-challenge-trumps-executive-order/2017/01/28/e69501a2-e562-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html?utm_term=.c516e663759e&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Trump brought up ending Electoral College, but McConnell talked him down: report*







The Hill 
Brooke Seipel1 day ago

President Trump told congressional leaders he was considering getting rid of the Electoral College, only to be talked out of it by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

During a meeting with congressional leadership this week, Trump said he was interested in using a national popular vote to determine the presidency, sources who attended the meeting told the Journal.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...own-report/ar-AAmjYnP?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=ieslice


----------



## poochee

*Gorbachev Urges Trump and Putin to Introduce UN Resolution Banning Nuclear War*
By David Caplan Jan 28, 2017, 2:45 AM ET

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has issued a dire warning: "The world is preparing for war."

And with a phone call scheduled on Saturday between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gorbachev is urging the leaders to put a halt to a such a deadly path by spearheading a United Nations resolution that essentially bans nuclear war.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gorb...-resolution-banning-nuclear/story?id=45084217


----------



## poochee

*Protests against Trump's immigration plan set in more than 30 cities*
 John Bacon and  Alan Gomez  , USA TODAY Published 9:38 a.m. ET Jan. 29, 2017 | Updated 15 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

Scores of protests were planned across the nation Sunday as angry immigrant advocates pressed their demand for an end to President Trump's executive order barring citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

"We will not stop until this executive order is canceled and we arrive at common-sense, immigration reform that takes into account the lives of immigrant and refugee families," said Michelle LaRue, Virginia state director for the advocacy group CASA, which was planning to protest at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...s-stay-has-little-impact-travel-ban/97211720/


----------



## poochee

*This Week In Trump's 'Alternative Facts' * 
January 29, 20177:30 AM ET 
 Jessica Taylor 
Danielle Kurtzleben 

Less than 24 hours after White House press secretary had spouted numerous falsehoods about inauguration crowd size and more, Kellyanne Conway went on NBC's "Meet the Press" to defend him. In the process, the counselor to President Donald Trump coined a phrase that's now deigned to follow Trump throughout his presidency - "alternative facts."

The Trump administration's push-back on easily verifiable facts is unprecedented and shows that the Trump we saw on the campaign trail and in debates - who was freewheeling with facts and assertions and often peddled wildly exaggerated claims - had not changed once he took the oath of office. And it's only week one.

Below we've rounded up some of the White House's assertions here that are exaggerated or just flat out false.

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/29/512068148/this-week-in-trumps-alternative-facts


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Trump reaches majority disapproval in eight days*
By Jennifer Calfas - 01/29/17 08:38 PM EST

On Saturday, 51 percent of Americans disapproved of Trump, a Gallup poll found.

It took just eight days to reach these ratings. It took at least several hundred days for the majority of Americans to disapprove of past presidents.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...mericans-disapprove-of-president-trump-faster


----------



## poochee

*FACT CHECK: Trump Tweets On Christians, ISIS And Vetting Miss The Bigger Picture* 
January 29, 20171:39 PM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 
Larry Kaplow 
 Michele Kelemen 
Alice Fordham 

 
Hundreds were detained at airports around the country Saturday in a chaotic and confusing day following President Trump's Friday night executive order temporarily banning Muslims from seven countries.

It spurred protests and backlash - even from some in Trump's own party, for either mismanagement of the rollout of the order or for the values it represents.

But one thing Trump's executive order did - and why many are referring to it as a Muslim ban - is indicate a carveout for Christians. Here's the controversial language:

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/29/51230...ians-isis-and-vetting-miss-the-bigger-picture


----------



## poochee

Jan 29, 9:58 PM EST
*Kochs condemn Trump's immigration crackdown*
By STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- Charles Koch first likened candidate Donald Trump's plan to ban Muslim immigrants to something Adolf Hitler would have done in Nazi Germany.

The billionaire industrialist and his chief lieutenants offered a more delicate response this weekend when asked about President Trump's plan to block immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. They described Trump's plan as "the wrong approach" that violated its dedication to "free and open societies."

The criticism comes as the Koch network, among the most powerful conservative groups in the nation, works to strike a delicate balance in the early days of the new administration. The Kochs refused to support Trump's candidacy last fall, but they now see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to influence the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-29-21-58-26


----------



## poochee

*Obama rejects comparison between Trump's immigration policy and his own, encourages protests*
Juliet Eilperin By Juliet Eilperin
Post Politics
January 30 at 2:22 PM

*VIDEOS*

Former president Barack Obama rejected the idea Monday that President Trump based his immigration executive order on a policy adopted by his own administration, and he endorsed the protests that have been taking place across the country in response to the new restrictions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...aa4e4&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*A Dangerously Isolated President*
*By Benjamin Wallace-Wells*
January 29, 2017

The Presidential order that Donald Trump signed on Friday barring all refugees and citizens from seven Muslim countries from travel to the United States was reviewed by virtually no one. The State Department did not help craft it, nor the Defense Department, nor Justice. Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly, "saw the final details shortly before the order was finalized," CNN reported. Early Saturday morning, there were reports that two Iraqi refugees had been detained upon their arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport. When a lawyer for the men asked an official to whom he needed to speak to fix the situation, the official said, "Ask Mr. Trump." This sounded like a sign of straight goonery and incipient authoritarianism; maybe it was. But it also may have been the only reasonable answer. Few people understood what was going on.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/benja...pJobID=1082494302&spReportId=MTA4MjQ5NDMwMgS2


----------



## poochee

Jan 30 2017, 4:47 pm ET
*Trump Signs Executive Order to Curtail Regulations *
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at slashing federal regulations to help businesses, the latest in a string of presidential directives he has unveiled in his first ten days in office.

The "one in, two out" plan requires federal agencies requesting new regulations to cut two existing regulations. Trump said the order will reduce the regulatory burdens on the private sector, particularly small businesses.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-signs-executive-order-reduce-regulations-n714151


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's plan to bring jobs back to America comes with one giant asteris*
Matt O'Brien By Matt O'Brien
January 30 at 7:00 AM

*VIDEO*

If you call something "the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere," you kind of have to get rid of it when you have the chance.

So it seems like only a matter of time before President Trump really does begin to pull us out of the North American Free Trade Agreement so that he can try to negotiate a presumably "great deal" to replace it. The question, though, is what kind of deal this will be for American workers. And the answer may be not much of one.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.e4533a03bb16&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jan 30 2017, 5:58 am ET
*Petition to Ban Trump's State Visit to UK Reaches 1M Signatures*
by Alexander Smith

*VIDEOS*

The petition, which was launched Sunday, said that Trump should be allowed to enter the U.K. "in his capacity as head of the U.S. government," but suggested that the official state visit should be canceled "because it would cause embarrassment" to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

"Donald Trump's well-documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales," it added, referring to the Queen and her son, Prince Charles, who is second in line to the throne. "Therefore, during the term of his presidency, Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official state visit."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/p...es-1m-signatures-n714021?cid=eml_pol_20170130


----------



## poochee

*Kellyanne Conway gave a master class in not answering questions in her Fox News interview*
Chris Cillizza By Chris Cillizza
January 30 at 10:23 AM

_Trump White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway went on "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace amid a furor caused by a travel ban on refugees put into place by the president on Friday. She was, as always, a tireless advocate for her boss -- and a tireless critic of the mainstream media.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.../?utm_term=.d0175aa90338&wpisrc=nl_fix&wpmm=1_


----------



## poochee

*Trump has fired the acting attorney general who ordered Justice Dept. not to defend president's travel ban*
By Matt Zapotosky, Sari Horwitz and Mark Berman By Matt Zapotosky, Sari Horwitz and Mark Berman
National Security
January 30 at 9:28 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates Monday night, after Yates ordered Justice Department lawyers Monday not to defend his immigration order temporarily banning entry into the United States for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from around the world.

The White House has named Dana Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as acting attorney general. Boente told The Washington Post that he will agree to enforce the immigration order.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c5f2f&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*AP FACT CHECK: Trump claims on travel ban misleading, wrong*
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the face of widespread criticism, President Donald Trump has staunchly defended his order temporarily banning refugees and nearly all citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. But in a statement Sunday and tweets Monday, Trump misstated the facts multiple times.

*What Trump said and how it compares with the facts:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-30-16-32-11


----------



## poochee

*Trump Replaces Acting Director of Immigration Enforcement*
by Alex Johnson
Jan 30 2017, 11:44 pm ET

President Donald Trump replaced the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday night, shortly after he fired the acting attorney general, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed.

Unlike the firing of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, the replacement of Acting ICE Director Daniel Ragsdale came with no explanation. Ragsdale was replaced by Thomas Homan, ICE's executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations since 2013.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-replaces-acting-director-immigration-enforcement-n714491


----------



## poochee

Jan 31 2017, 11:52 am ET
*Senate Democrats Boycott Votes on Trump's Health and Treasury Nominees*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Senate Democrats on Tuesday boycotted two committee votes to delay the confirmations of President Donald Trump's picks to head the Health and Human Services and Treasury departments.

"We're not going to this committee today because we want the committee to regroup, get the information, have these two nominees come back in front of the committee, clarify what they lied about - I would hope they would apologize for that - then give us the information that we all need for our states," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told reporters.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...otes-trump-s-health-treasure-nominees-n714731


----------



## poochee

Jan 31, 2:36 PM EST
*Trump to sign order strengthening cybersecurity*
By CATHERINE LUCEY and TAMI ABDOLLAH
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is planning to sign an executive order aimed at improving the government's ability to protect its computer networks and fend off hackers.

The move puts the head of the Office of Management and Budget in charge of cybersecurity efforts within the executive branch and directs federal agency directors to develop their own plans to modernize their infrastructure.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-31-14-36-47


----------



## poochee

Jan 31, 4:29 PM EST

*AP FACT CHECK: Trump claims on travel ban misleading, wrong*
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the face of widespread criticism, President Donald Trump and other member of his administration have staunchly defended his order temporarily banning refugees and nearly all citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. But in a statement Sunday, tweets Monday and comments Tuesday, Trump and others misstated the facts or offered contradictory statements multiple times.

What Trump and others said and how it compares with the facts:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-31-03-50-27


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is the kind of guy who loves the hunt and kill, not 4 years serving the people of the United States VIDEO *
D. Watkins and Matthew Smith

I actually don't think Donald trump is going to last four years in office.

*VIDEO*

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/16/watch-5-reasons-why-donald-trump-wont-complete-his-first-term/


----------



## poochee

*Satire from the Borowitz Report *

*Trump Fires Attorney General After Copy of Constitution Is Found on Her Computer*
By Andy Borowitz
10:51 A.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/?p=3309209&mbid=nl_013117 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=10336604&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1082559402&spReportId=MTA4MjU1OTQwMgS2


----------



## poochee

*On the death of the Senate and its long history as the world's greatest deliberative body*
By Paul Kane January 31 at 1:10 PM

President Trump's first Supreme Court nomination has the potential to do more than reshape the nation's judicial branch for years to come. It could end the Senate's long history as the world's greatest deliberative body.

Liberal and conservative activists are girding for a fight that, under current rules, gives Democrats the power to block any court nomination. But in this week's environment, with Democrats delaying Cabinet nominations and both sides calling each other names largely unheard of in the history of the Senate's genteel discourse, Republicans could take steps to eliminate that power.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...rm=.4d0d72307b02&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump picks Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court*
Richard Wolf and David Jackson, USA TODAY Published 4:01 a.m. ET Jan. 31, 2017 | Updated 25 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Nearly a full year after Justice Antonin Scalia's death left the Supreme Court shorthanded, President Trump nominated federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch of Colorado to fill the void Tuesday night, setting off a pitched battle over the direction of the nation's highest court.

Trump unveiled his nominee to the nation on live television from the East Room of the White House after a day filled with palace intrigue, during which the media mapped the whereabouts of Gorsuch and federal appeals court Judge Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, the other favorite for the seat.

"Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support," Trump said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-court-trump-nominee-scalia-justice/97260482/


----------



## poochee

*Trump Outlines Plan to Tighten Government Cybersecurity, Postpones Order*
by Peter Alexander and Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

President Trump was expected to sign an executive order Tuesday outlining his approach to protecting federal agencies from hackers. The White House said Tuesday afternoon that the signing had been postponed, but did not give a reason.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...plan-tighten-government-cybersecurity-n714841


----------



## poochee

Feb 1, 1:08 PM EST
*Congressional Republicans move to dismantle Obama rules*
By MATTHEW DALY and KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republicans are moving to dismantle former President Barack Obama's rules on the environment, gun ownership and financial disclosure as they look to reverse years of what they see as excessive government regulation during the Democrat's presidency.

House Republicans are expected to vote Wednesday to scuttle a new regulation that prevents coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams. Lawmakers also are set to rescind a rule requiring companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments relating to mining and drilling.

Rules on fracking, guns and federal contracting also are in the GOP cross-hairs as Congress moves to void a host of regulations finalized during Obama's last months in office.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-01-13-08-00


----------



## poochee

*Homeland Security chairman suggests changes possible to Trump refugee order *
By Scott Wong and Mike Lillis - 02/01/17 01:53 PM EST

House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) on Wednesday would not rule out using his committee to make legislative tweaks to President executive order temporarily blocking travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations and suspending the resettlement of refugees in the U.S.

The GOP chairman's comments to The Hill come just a day after Speaker Paul (R-Wis.) said he backed Trump's executive order and seemed to suggest legislation was not needed to address bipartisan concerns about the plan.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-...y-chairman-suggests-changes-possible-to-trump


----------



## poochee

*White House ices out CNN*
_Trump administration refuses to put officials on air on the network the president called 'fake news.'_
By Hadas Gold
01/31/17 06:16 PM EST

The White House has refused to send its spokespeople or surrogates onto CNN shows, effectively freezing out the network from on-air administration voices.

"We're sending surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda," said a White House official, acknowledging that CNN is not such a place, but adding that the ban is not permanent.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-cnn-press-234455


----------



## poochee

*Capitol Hill's busy Wednesday: Everything you might have missed today in Congress*
By Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 3:28 PM ET, Wed February 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump's pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, was confirmed Wednesday
But Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos is in trouble

Washington (CNN)There was a dramatic scramble across Capitol Hill Wednesday morning as Republicans tried to get President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees approved and Democrats tried to stand in their way, boycotting hearings. Republicans actually changed the Senate rules to move forward. *Here's what happened.*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/capitol-hill-confirmation-hearings-boycotts/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump endorses use of 'nuclear option' to confirm his Supreme Court pick*
John Wagner and Ashley Parker By John Wagner and Ashley Parker
Post Politics
February 1 at 2:56 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump endorsed the use of the "nuclear option" Wednesday if needed to achieve Senate confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee.

Citing partisan gridlock in Washington, Trump said at a White House event that he would support the approval of Colorado federal Appeals Court Judge Neil Gorsuch with 51 votes, instead of the 60 that have traditionally been required in the Senate to break a filibuster.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.108ac882f554&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 1 2017, 4:33 pm ET
*Trump Jupiter Golf Club Loses Lawsuit, Must Pay Ex-Members $5M*
by Rich Gardella and Tracy Connor

A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump's Jupiter National Golf Club to pay more than $5 million to former members who sued to get refunds of their deposits and dues after they were barred from the facilities while waiting for their resignations to be accepted.

Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida found that Trump's company had breached the membership contract and ruled in favor of 65 plaintiffs who filed a 2013 class-action lawsuit - one of thousands of legal actions Trump and his businesses have faced.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...lub-loses-lawsuit-must-pay-ex-members-n715571


----------



## poochee

*Trump Touts Apprentice Ratings, Tells Prayer Breakfast: 'Pray For Arnold'*
February 2, 201712:07 PM ET 
Brian Naylor 

*VIDEO*

Despite the religious underpinning of the National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump couldn't resist settling a score.

He slammed former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his successor as host of _Celebrity Apprentice_ for his poor ratings.

"We had tremendous success on The Apprentice, and when I ran for president, I had to leave the show. That's when I knew for sure I was doing it," Trump began. "And they hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes. It's been a total disaster. And Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again.

"And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings, O.K."

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/02/51305...atings-tells-prayer-breakfast-pray-for-arnold


----------



## poochee

Feb 2 2017, 9:54 am ET
*Rex Tillerson Has the Toughest Job in the World Today*
*B*y Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

_Rex Tillerson has the toughest job in the world this morning _

The good news for Rex Tillerson: The U.S. Senate confirmed him Wednesday, by a 56-43 vote, to be this country's next secretary of state, and he was sworn into the job last night. Here's the bad news: He might have the hardest job in the world this morning trying to deal with - or clean up - *these three stories that popped up in just the last 24 hours.*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-job-world-today-n715801?cid=eml_pol_20170202


----------



## poochee

*The GOP's incredible, shrinking Obamacare repeal*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 11:24 AM ET, Thu February 2, 2017

*VIDEO*

But across town on Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers have been working away at the monumental task of overhauling Obamacare in the opposite fashion -- quietly, slowly and with little fanfare. And they're starting to be more open about acknowledging that the Affordable Care Act may never entirely disappear.

GOP Rep. Greg Walden, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in an interview Wednesday that it is time to do away with the notion that there is a GOP Obamacare "mega-bill" in the works.

"There isn't," said Walden, whose committee has significant jurisdiction over healthcare. "We're looking at fixing this mess a brick at a time. Piece by piece. Taking our time to get it right."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/politics/gop-incredible-shrinking-obamacare-repeal/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Steve Bannon's first major play is shaping up as a full-blown fiasco*
By Greg Sargent
The Plum Line
opinion
February 2 at 10:06 AM

*VIDEO*

Bannon, Time reports, continues to relish the massive blowback unleashed by Trump's executive order - which bans refugees and migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries - as proof that he is doing something right. He's shaking the elites to their core (_he didn't even attend the exclusive Alfalfa Club dinner!!!_), which, he crows, heralds the birth of a "new political order." But, for all of Bannon's bravado, the better interpretation of what's going on is that Bannon's first major effort to translate Trumpism into policy reality is a full-blown disaster:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...o/?tid=pm_business_pop&utm_term=.434ed0abd922


----------



## poochee

Feb 2, 12:31 PM EST
*Trump puts Iran 'on notice' after ballistic missile test*
By VIVIAN SALAMA and JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Thursday his administration has put Iran "on notice," echoing comments from his top national security adviser that the U.S. will act against Iran unless it stops testing ballistic missiles and supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Trump and his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, didn't elaborate on what retaliatory actions the U.S. could pursue.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-02-12-31-56


----------



## poochee

*That time Donald Trump held a listening session on Black History Month and did most of the talking*
Chris Cillizza By Chris Cillizza
The Fix
February 1 at 1:53 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump isn't one to let circumstances dictate his behavior. He does him - all the time.

So it was Wednesday morning in Washington when Trump gathered a group of African American leaders (and staffers) at the White House for what was billed as a "listening session" to kick off the start of Black History Month. It turns out Trump had other plans, plans that involved a lot less listening and a lot more talking - mostly about himself and his various grievances.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.../?utm_term=.2f68a07517fd&wpisrc=nl_fix&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Congressional leaders scramble to reassure Australia after testy Trump phone call*
Mike DeBonis By Mike DeBonis February 2 at 12:33 PM

*VIDEO*

Top Republican figures on Capitol Hill sought to reassure Australia on Thursday after reports of a remarkably tense phone call between President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Australia was a "very essential" U.S. ally after being pressed in a morning news conference by reporters on the call, as well as on a tweet late Wednesday in which Trump dismissed an agreement to accept refugees from Australia as a "dumb deal."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.f26d25214835&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump*
By Juliet Eilperin, Lisa Rein and Marc Fisher January 31
Politics

*VIDEO*

Less than two weeks into Trump's administration, federal workers are in regular consultation with recently departed Obama-era political appointees about what they can do to push back against the new president's initiatives. Some federal employees have set up social media accounts to anonymously leak word of changes that Trump appointees are trying to make.

And a few government workers are pushing back more openly, incurring the wrath of a White House that, as press secretary Sean Spicer said this week about dissenters at the State Department, sends a clear message that they "should either get with the program, or they can go."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ml?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.7ff487f8b06d


----------



## poochee

Feb 2, 10:04 PM EST
*In shift, Trump warns Israel against new settlements*
By JULIE PACE and ALON BERNSTEIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday warned Israel that constructing new settlements "may not be helpful" to Middle East peace efforts, shifting toward a tougher line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Still, the White House made clear that the Trump administration "has not taken an official position on settlement activity," departing from previous administrations that have considered the settlements illegitimate.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-02-22-04-16


----------



## poochee

*Trump administration sanctions Iran on missile test*
By Carol Morello and Anne Gearan
National Security
February 3 at 12:35 PM

*VIDEO *

The Treasury Department placed new sanctions Friday on Iran, the first move by the Trump administration in response to a ballistic missile test that led the White House to announce it was putting Iran "on notice."

The sanctions were imposed on 25 people and entities involved in helping develop Iran's ballistic missile program, or assisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force in supporting groups that the United States considers terrorist, such as Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militant group. The administration said the sanctions are not a breach of U.S. commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, that was negotiated by Iran and six world powers, including the United States.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...49449e92c1f_story.html?utm_term=.0f9024a919c7


----------



## poochee

Feb 3, 2:47 PM EST
Trump moves to scale back financial regulations
By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is taking his first steps aimed at scaling back financial services regulations, and the Republican-run Congress cast a vote early Friday signaling that it's eager to help.

The president signed an executive order that will direct the Treasury secretary to review a 2010 financial oversight law, which reshaped financial regulation after the 2008-09 financial crisis.

Trump also signed a presidential memorandum that instructs the Labor Department to delay implementing an Obama-era rule that requires financial professionals who charge commissions to put their clients' best interests first when giving advice on retirement investments.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-03-11-23-25


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: More companies back away from Donald Trump under pressure from customers*
By James Hohmann February 3 at 10:20 AM

*THE BIG IDEA: *Companies are caught between a rock and a hard place, with President Trump on one side and their customers on the other.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit President Trump's 15-member council of business leaders yesterday, and Disney CEO Bob Iger let it be known that he won't attend a meeting at the White House today because of a scheduling conflict.

Nordstrom announced last night that it will stop selling Ivanka Trump's name-branded line of clothing and shoes after an extended boycott by an anti-Trump activist group called "Grab Your Wallet."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.025739391747&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 3 2017, 8:39 am ET
*Ten Unanswered Questions for Donald Trump*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEOS*

Two weeks have now passed in the Trump presidency, and we've learned quite a lot. It turns out that you need to take him both seriously and literally; he's more than willing to pick fights to shake up the status quo (see Iran or even Australia); his administration will dig in its heels even when it's wrong (like calling that U.S. raid in Yemen a "success" when the facts don't back it up); and the president is still using his Android phone to tweet. But there's a lot else we don't know about Trump and the policies his administration will pursue, *and so here's a list of 10 questions we don't have answers to:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ons-donald-trump-n716341?cid=eml_pol_20170203


----------



## poochee

*U.S. economy adds a robust 227,000 jobs in January, but wage growth lags*
By Ana Swanson
Wonkblog
February 3 at 1:35 PM

The first employment report since Donald Trump began his presidency showed the U.S. labor market expanding at a healthy clip, though wage growth was slower than many expected, a sign that the economy still has room to grow before almost all workers who want a job can find one.

Companies added 227,000 jobs in January - the final weeks of the Obama administration - according to government data released Friday morning. The pace of hiring surpassed the expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who had forecast an increase of 175,000 in nonfarm payrolls, roughly in line with gains in the previous year.

Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, called Friday's report "solid." "That's the last jobs report of the Obama administration, and we've seen more than six years of steady job growth. It's good news," she said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.bfe46e2e9588&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 2 2017, 10:29 pm ET 
*Trump Named in More Than 50 Lawsuits Since Inauguration*
by Phil McCausland

President Donald Trump has been named in more than 50 lawsuits since taking the oath of office, a staggering number compared to the first days of past administrations.

Since being sworn in Jan. 20, Trump has been named in 52 federal cases in 17 different states, according to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Comparatively, Barack Obama was named in three and George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were each named in four cases between Jan. 20 and Feb. 1.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...its-inauguration-n716191?cid=eml_pol_20170203


----------



## poochee

*Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump's entry order nationwide*
By Matt Zapotosky, Justin Jouvenal and Ann E. Marimow
National Security
February 3 at 10:58 PM

*VIDEO*

A federal judge in Washington state declared Friday that he would temporarily block enforcement of President Trump's controversial ban on entry to the United States, and government authorities immediately began taking steps that would allow those previously affected to travel, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...01b6b443624_story.html?utm_term=.6ba06430a3d4


----------



## poochee

*Trump's administration isn't very diverse. Photo ops make it glaringly obvious.*
By David Nakamura and Abby Phillip
Politics
February 3 at 3:03 PM

He has surrounded himself in a series of photo ops with his most trusted senior aides as he signs a flurry of executive orders, visits government agencies and calls world leaders from the Oval Office.

But if the images from the White House aim to show a man of action, they also have delivered another unspoken message in the early days of the new administration: Most of the aides Trump relies on for counsel as he moves to dramatically reshape the country are men - and nearly all of them are white.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rm=.25811ef90e19&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Back to reality: Obamas settle into DC life*
By Betsy Klein, CNN
Updated 3:59 PM ET, Fri February 3

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Vacation's over. After a two-week escape to Palm Springs and the British Virgin Islands, Barack and Michelle Obama are back in Washington, where they will begin to settle into the post-White House life.

While most former presidents depart Washington when they take their final flight aboard Air Force One, the Obamas are opting to stay in the District as daughter Sasha, 15, finishes up at Sidwell Friends School.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/03/politics/where-to-spot-the-obamas-in-dc/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump just got checked and balanced*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 3:44 PM ET, Sat February 4, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The rapid halting of President Donald Trump's immigration order has given him his first exposure to the limits on his presidential power, a sharp awakening for a real estate mogul accustomed to the wide unilateral prerogative of a chief executive.

With the order mired in legal challenge and travelers again weighed with uncertainty, Trump is facing his first run-in with a system of federal checks and balances.

The fresh uncertainty over the order illustrated again the chaotic fallout of the new President's intent in rapidly fulfilling his most controversial campaign promises.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/04/politics/donald-trump-travel-ban/index.html


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## poochee

*Donald Trump is using Barack Obama as a security blanket*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 3:43 PM ET, Sat February 4, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump's White House has pointed fingers at the Obama administration planning for the Yemen raid
But takes credit for jobs figures achieved under Obama's watch
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump spent months running against Barack Obama's leadership style, faulting him for being "weak and ineffective" on Iran, lacking of focus the "real" job numbers and inability to combat ISIS because he was the group's "founder."

What a difference a few months makes.

Trump and his White House advisers are now using Obama as a security blanket, making almost identical moves he made during his tenure and defending possible mistakes by arguing that they were initially made by Barack Obama.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/04/politics/trump-obama-security-blanket/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Fact Checking This Week In The Trump Administration* 
February 4, 201711:20 AM ET 
 Jessica Taylor 
Danielle Kurtzleben 

It's only the second week of the Trump administration, but there has been a continued tension with facts. In his first week, the president boasted about his inaugural crowds and doubled down on false claims that there were millions of illegal voters who swayed the results of the popular vote.

This week, the White House pushed back on claims about the immigration and travel ban the president signed; an adviser used a Kentucky massacre that never occurred to make an argument; the press secretary thundered over (non-) "identical" National Security Councils; and the president referred to refugees as "illegal immigrants" and kept touting the size of his electoral win, including support from black voters and Latinos.

*1. "It really is a massive success story in terms of implementation on every single level." - *_senior administration official Sunday on the travel/immigration ban and its implementation.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/04/513348780/fact-checking-this-week-in-the-trump-administration_


----------



## poochee

Feb 4, 2:34 PM EST
*Wall St. lending to Main St. even as many decry Dodd-Frank*
By KEN SWEET
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- President Donald Trump has wasted little time in beginning a push to reverse the stricter banking regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has branded the Dodd-Frank Act "a disaster" - a regulatory overreach that slowed the economy and stifled lending to consumers and businesses.

Dodd-Frank did impose tighter curbs on U.S. banks and how they operate. And the restrictions fell particularly hard on community banks. Yet it's also true that by just much every measure, the U.S. economy is healthier now: The job market is solid. The housing market has largely rebounded. And the banking system, which nearly collapsed at the height of the crisis, is safer and sturdier.

The Dodd-Frank Act took effect in 2010, a response to reckless risk-taking by banks that inflated a housing bubble, kindled the financial crisis and eventually required a $700 billion taxpayer bailout. The law was designed, most broadly, to guard against another catastrophe.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-04-14-34-11


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## poochee

By Reena Flores CBS News February 4, 2017, 11:01 AM
*Trump tweets on "so-called judge" after travel ban stay*
Last Updated Feb 4, 2017 5:02 PM EST

*VIDEO*

President Trump launched an early morning Twitter offensive against a federal judge Saturday after U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle declared a nationwide stay on Mr. Trump's travel ban.

The president defended his immigration order, which prohibits refugees or any citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S., in the series of tweets. He also swore that Robart's temporary restraining order, which effectively freezes the executive order's most controversial provisions, would be "overturned":

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Trump has already faced criticism for his assailing comments of Judge Robart.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tweets-on-so-called-judge-after-travel-ban-stay/


----------



## poochee

*Trump on Putin 'You think our country's so innocent?'*
By Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 12:28 AM ET, Sun February 5, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?" Trump says
It is an unusual assertion coming from the President of the United States
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump appeared to equate US actions with the authoritarian regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview released Saturday, saying, "There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?"

Trump made the remark during an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, saying he respected his Russian counterpart.
"But he's a killer," O'Reilly said to Trump.

"There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?" Trump replied.

A clip of the exchange was released Saturday and the full interview is scheduled to air Sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/04/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Justice Department to appeal judge's order blocking Trump's immigration ban*
 Doug Stanglin and  Trevor Hughes  , USA TODAY Published 8:55 a.m. ET Feb. 4, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

*VIDEO*

President Trump has formally asked a federal court to overturn a Seattle judge's injunction halting his immigration ban, after a day in which he criticized the judge's ruling as "ridiculous" and a "terrible decision."

In a short notice of appeal filed Saturday evening, the Department of Justice, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson formally notified the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals of their intention. The filing contains no legal arguments; those are expected to come later.

"We'll win," Trump said Saturday night as he arrived for a Red Cross gala ball at his Mar-a-Lago resort. "For the safety of our country, we'll win."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...led-federal-judges-block-travel-ban/97484556/


----------



## poochee

Feb 5 2017, 1:11 pm ET
*Appeals Court Rejects Bid to Quickly Restore Trump Travel Ban*
by Phil Helsel and Mark Hanrahan

*VIDEO*

A federal appeals court early Sunday denied the Justice Department's request to immediately reinstate President Trump's order restricting refugees and travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

The ruling came just hours after the department filed an emergency motion to stay Judge James L. Robart of Seattle's order that halted the implementation of restrictions imposed by Trump's order nationwide.

The denial means that travelers restricted under the order can continue coming to the U.S. while the legal battles continue.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ump-travel-order-n716891?cid=eml_pol_20170205


----------



## poochee

*The Deep Denialism of Donald Trump*
By Michael Specter
February 3, 2017

Donald Trump is hardly the first President to lie to the American people. Nor is he the first to place ideology before data. But this White House, unlike any other, has already crossed the threshold into a space where facts appear to mean nothing.

Eventually, the President's daily policy outrages, his caustic insults, and his childish Twitter rants will fade into history. But it will take years to gauge the impact of having a habitual liar as President. When words like "science" and "progress" become unmoored from their meaning, the effects are incalculable. And let's not kid ourselves: those words today are under assault with a ferocity we have not seen for hundreds of years.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-deep-denialism-of-donald-trump?mbid=nl_TNY Template - With Photo (130) remainder&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=10366848&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1100337055&spReportId=MTEwMDMzNzA1NQS2


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: The most political Super Bowl ever*
By James Hohmann February 6 at 10:40 AM
_With Breanne Deppisch_

*THE BIG IDEA:* The permanent campaign pervades more deeply into our lives than ever before, so it should come as no surprise that we could not escape politics during last night's Super Bowl -- before, during or after the game.

Martellus Bennett of the New England Patriots told reporters following his team's stunning win that he will not travel to the White House for the traditional celebration as long as it's occupied by Donald Trump. The star tight end has been sharply critical of the president, including his immigration ban last week:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...7e601e9b69b1406c75c86/?utm_term=.2c7a0bd8a32e


----------



## poochee

*It turns out Donald Trump's 'forgotten men and women' aren't who you thought*
By Matt O'Brien
Wonkblog analysis
February 3

During the campaign, Donald Trump liked to brag that, unlike his rivals, he wasn't in Wall Street's pocket. And you can tell that by the fact that he's stocked his cabinet with Goldman Sachs alums, has signaled that he wants to dismantle the post-crisis rules reining in banks, and will now allow brokers to go back to giving their clients deliberately bad advice.

This is Wall Street's kind of populism.

That last part, what's known as the fiduciary rule, was something the Obama administration only changed in the last year. Up until then, you see, it was perfectly legal for your financial adviser to give you advice that wasn't in your best interest, but was in theirs. In other words, to push you into products that wouldn't increase your returns, but would increase your fees. Wall Street, of course, didn't take too kindly to a rule that the administration estimated would cost them $17 billion a year in lost revenue. They claimed that the compliance costs alone would make their advice so expensive that middle-class families would no longer be able to afford it. Or, in the case of Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci, that this was like the 1857 Dred Scott decision-which held that black people were not citizens-since telling brokers that they couldn't give bad advice was allegedly just a way for the government to "discriminate against a class of people who they deem to be adding no value."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.af25867b9db1&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 5 2017, 11:41 pm ET
*Analysis: Why Voting Rights Advocates Are Worried About a Trump Voter Fraud Probe*
by Zachary Roth

*VIDEO*

Following up on his false claim that at least 3 million illegal immigrants voted in November's election, President Donald Trump was all set last Thursday to sign an executive order initiating a federal investigation into voter fraud.

But the order never came. A spokesman said Trump got stuck in meetings that ran long.

Since then, the White House has moved on to other issues, like banning travel from seven majority Muslim nations and threatening to defund sanctuary cities, without rescheduling the signing. An aide to Trump told NBC News on Friday that there would be no voter inquiry any time soon, although Trump seemed to contradict that in an interview that aired Sunday afternoon.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...bout-trump-voter-n717101?cid=eml_pol_20170206


----------



## poochee

*No, President Trump, negative polls are not 'fake news'*
by Brian Stelter @brianstelter February 6, 2017: 8:50 AM ET

*VIDEO*

On Monday he tweeted -- inaccurately -- that "Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election."

Professional polling is scientific, not political, in nature. Polls by TV networks during the election were not "fake news." In fact, most national polls were not far off the mark. The polls correctly showed Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote by a relatively small margin.

But that's about the past. Trump's tweet said more about the future. He was taking his long-standing poll denialism to its illogical conclusion, inviting his supporters to dismiss unpleasant data.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/06/media/donald-trump-poll-denialism/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Federal appeals court decides to schedule a hearing on Trump travel order*
By Matt Zapotosky
National Security
February 6 at 7:06 PM

*VIDEO*

A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether to restore President Trump's controversial immigration order, marking a critical juncture for the president's directive temporarily barring refugees and those from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The hearing, which will be conducted by telephone, is to review an order by a lower court judge to put Trump's directive on hold.

It was scheduled just as Justice Department lawyers made their final written pitch to immediately restore the president's order - and as tech companies, law professors and former high-ranking national security officials joined a mushrooming legal campaign to keep the measure suspended.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/opposition-to-trump-travel-ban-grows-as-key-court-decision-looms/2017/02/06/d766ec7c-ec74-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?utm_term=.eea3e0d6de64&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*President Trump is now speculating that the media is covering up terrorist attacks*
Philip Bump By Philip Bump
Politics
February 6 at 2:55 PM

*VIDEO*

Speaking to the U.S. Central Command on Monday, President Trump went off his prepared remarks to make a truly stunning claim: The media was intentionally covering up reports of terrorist attacks.

The comment immediately harked back to comments from senior adviser Kellyanne Conway on MSNBC last week.

"I bet it's brand-new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre," she said. "Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered."

It was brand-new information to people because there was no "Bowling Green massacre." Conway had referred to the supposed terrorist attack previously, including in response to a question posed by TMZ. But the two Iraqis arrested in Bowling Green, Ky., in 2011 never committed an attack in the United States. She later admitted that she'd misspoken.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.6c4a6dc2fac5&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Opinions
*Trump's presidency is doomed*
By Richard Cohen Opinion writer
Opinions
January 16

*VIDEO *

Whether he knows it or not, the specter of Lyndon Baines Johnson haunts Donald John Trump. There are some jarring similarities - two big, fleshy men given to vulgarities and gauche behavior, boastful, thin-skinned, politically amoral, vengeful, unforgiving and, most important, considered illegitimate presidents. For Johnson, that took some time to sink in; Trump is already there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._experimentrandom_2_na&utm_term=.55d05ddc98e5


----------



## poochee

Politics
Feb 6 2017, 2:46 pm ET
*Trump Pledges to Rebuild 'Depleted' Military in CENTCOM Speech*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump pledged to reinvest in the "depleted" U.S. military and voiced support for NATO on Monday in an address at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida.

"You've been lacking a little equipment, we're going to load it up. You're going to get a lot of equipment," Trump said.

Throughout the campaign, Trump pledged to grow the military while shrinking most other aspects of government. He told senior U.S. commanders that the military has been "depleted" and that the Navy "is at a point almost as low as World War I" -- a likely reference to the number of ships currently in use.

Trump pledged that the U.S. would remain committed to NATO after rattling European leaders by suggesting during the campaign that America could retreat from the alliance. But he warned other nations need to increase their contributions.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...uild-depleted-military-centcom-speech-n717471


----------



## poochee

*With historic tiebreaker from Pence, DeVos confirmed as education secretary*
By Emma Brown
Education
February 7 at 12:31 PM

*VIDEOS *

The Senate narrowly confirmed Betsy DeVos as education secretary on Tuesday, with Vice President Pence casting a historic tiebreaking vote after senators deadlocked over her fitness for the job.

The entire Democratic caucus of 48 senators voted against DeVos, as did two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who said they did not think that DeVos was qualified for the job. The remaining 50 Republicans voted for DeVos, setting up a 50-50 tie that Pence broke with his vote at about 12:30 p.m.

It marked the first time that a vice president's tiebreaking vote was needed to confirm a Cabinet secretary, according to Daniel Holt, an assistant historian in the Senate Historical Office.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/senate-to-vote-today-on-confirmation-of-betsy-devos/2017/02/06/fd4b7e9c-ec85-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?utm_term=.62eb1e759137&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Feb 7 2017, 6:34 am ET
*President Trump Unlikely to Address Britain's Parliament*
by Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

If President Donald Trump had plans to follow in the footsteps of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan and address Britain's historic Houses of Parliament, he may have to think again.

The president was the subject of an unprecedented snub Monday by the usually-impartial speaker of the House of Commons, the most powerful branch of the U.K.'s legislature.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-parliament-zero-n717456?cid=eml_pol_20170207


----------



## poochee

*What Trump Wants Bill O'Reilly, and All of Us, to Forget*
*By Amy Davidson*
February 6, 2017

Is there _any_ validity to the criticism of you that you say things you can't back up factually?" Bill O'Reilly asked President Donald Trump, in a pre-Super Bowl interview in the White House. The President had said, for example, that there were "three million illegal aliens who voted" in the 2016 Presidential election. O'Reilly tilted his head with the air of a man who expected that the two of them were about to make quick work of any misunderstanding about Trump's relation to the truth. The President just shrugged.

"Many people have come out and said I'm right," Trump said. "_You_ know that."

"I know," O'Reilly said, as if conceding the tediousness of the whole fact enterprise. "But you've got to have _data _to back that up."

http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-d...lly-and-all-of-us-to-forget?intcid=mod-latest


----------



## poochee

National Security
*Federal appeals court weighs Trump immigration order*
By Matt Zapotosky and Robert Barnes 
February 7 at 7:55 PM
National Security

*VIDEO*

The court said it expects to make a decision on the matter "probably this week," and Judge Michelle Taryn Friedland promised rapid consideration. The ruling could affect tens of thousands of travelers whose visas were revoked by the initial executive order, then restored after U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in Seattle put a nationwide stop to it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-their-courtrooms-theyre-protected-by-people-like-me-dhs-secretary-weighs-in-on-legal-dispute-over-trump-ban/2017/02/07/5e37fc4e-ed4e-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumphearing-1230pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.aa74ceda0908


----------



## poochee

Feb 7 2017, 5:57 pm ET
*Senate Democrats Plan Late Night to Oppose AG Nominee Sessions*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

Senate Democrats are planning a second consecutive late-night session Tuesday to highlight their opposition to another one of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees. And this time the target is one of their own colleagues, attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions.

Democrats are expected to speak on the Senate floor late into the night, one day after they staged an all-night talkathon against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos - a tactic that failed to derail her nomination but succeeded in highlighting the divisiveness of her appointment and slowing the overall confirmation process.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...late-night-oppose-ag-nominee-sessions-n718066


----------



## poochee

*Conway: Do falsehoods matter as much as what we get right?*
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 8:09 PM ET, Tue February 7, 2017

*VIDEO*

"How about the President's statements that are false?" Tapper asked at one point. "I'm talking about the President of the United States saying things that are not true, demonstrably not true. That is important."

"Are they more important than the many things that he says that are true that are making a difference in people's lives?" Conway asked in response.

At a different part in the interview, Tapper told Conway the President's words mattered and they were obscuring other things he did.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/07/politics/kellyanne-conway-donald-trump-falsehoods/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 7, 8:57 PM EST
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump botches murder rate*
By CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's dark view of violent crime in America rests largely on a bogus claim: that the murder rate is higher than it's been in nearly half a century. Actually, the murder rate is down sharply in that time, despite a recent spike.

On Tuesday, he told a meeting of sheriffs: "The murder rate in our country is the highest it's been in 47 years, right? Did you know that? Forty-seven years. I used to use that - I'd say that in a speech and everybody was surprised because the press doesn't tell it like it is." He circled back to add: "The murder rate is the highest it's been in, I guess, from 45 to 47 years."

THE FACTS: The murder rate in 2015, the latest year for which figures are available, is actually among the lowest in half a century. It stood at 4.9 murders per 100,000 people, a far cry from the rates in the 1970s, 1980s and most of the 1990s, when they were typically over 6 per 100,000, peaking at over 10 in 1980.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-07-20-57-20


----------



## poochee

Feb 8 2017, 8:33 am ET
*The Third Week of Trump's Presidency Feels Like the Third Year*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*Is this Week 3 of Trump's presidency? Or Year 3?*

Maybe the most remarkable aspect to President Trump's first three weeks in office is how they look and feel like three years. *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...feels-third-year-n718261?cid=eml_pol_20170208


----------



## poochee

Feb 8, 12:19 PM EST
*Silencing of Warren throws Senate into turmoil*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic senators fighting to derail Jeff Sessions' nomination as attorney general repeatedly challenged Republicans Wednesday by reading aloud from a critical letter from Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow, a day after the Republicans silenced Sen. Elizabeth Warren for doing the same.

Warren was ordered to sit down Tuesday night, throwing the Senate into turmoil as it headed for Wednesday night's vote on the Alabama senator. She was silenced for reading the letter that Coretta Scott King wrote three decades ago criticizing Sessions' record on race.

Other Democratic senators read from the letter Tuesday night after she was told to sit down, and more did so Wednesday morning.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-08-12-19-33


----------



## poochee

*Leaks Suggest Trump's Own Team Is Alarmed By His Conduct*
_White House leaks are common, but leakers suggesting the president might be unfit for office are not._
02/07/2017 09:30 pm ET | *Updated* 3 hours ago

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...rom White House and agency officials alarmed&


----------



## poochee

Feb 7 2017, 10:31 am ET
*Melania Trump Missing out on 'Multimillion-Dollar' Deals, Libel Lawsuit Says*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

First lady Melania Trump can't adequately cash in on her multimillion-dollar brand following false reports that she once worked as a high-paid escort, she says in a newly filed lawsuit against an online tabloid.

The defamation suit, filed Monday in New York Supreme Court, seeks "redress for the commercial harm done" by the Mail Online against Trump, whose brand of skin care products, jewelry and other fashion accessories has "lost significant value" - pegged in the "multiple millions of dollars."

A previous suit filed against Mail Media in Maryland was dismissed, and Trump settled a complaint against a Maryland blogger on Tuesday, the blogger's attorneys said. The new suit moves the litigation to New York, where Mail Media has headquarters.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...ti-million-dollar-deals-libel-lawsuit-n717771


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch says Trump's attacks on judiciary are 'demoralizing'*
By Abby Phillip, Robert Barnes and Ed O'Keefe
Politics
February 8 at 5:20 PM

*VIDEO *

President Trump's escalating attacks on the judicial branch drew denunciation Wednesday from his Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, who told lawmakers that the attacks were "demoralizing" and "disheartening" to the independence of the federal courts.

"I told him how abhorrent Donald Trump's invective and insults are towards the judiciary. And he said to me that he found them 'disheartening' and 'demoralizing' - his words," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- Conn.) said in an interview.

Gorsuch "stated very emotionally and strongly his belief in his fellow judges' integrity and the principle of judicial independence," he added. "And I made clear to him that that belief requires him to be stronger and more explicit, more public in his views."

Gorsuch's comments to Blumenthal were confirmed by Ron Bonjean, a member of the judge's group of aides tasked with helping him navigate the confirmation process.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-nominee-gorsuch-says-trumps-attacks-on-judiciary-are-demoralizing/2017/02/08/64e03fe2-ee3f-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?utm_term=.19dfe888888a&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Feb 8 2017, 7:12 pm ET
*Nordstrom Says It Told Invanka Last Month Her Line To Be Dropped*
by Ben Popken

*VIDEO*

President Donald J. Trump hit back at Nordstrom this morning on Twitter after the retailer said it wasn't buying his daughter Ivanka's clothing line for this season -- a decision Nordstrom said it informed her of in early January.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We made this decision based on performance," a Nordstrom spokesperson told NBC News in an emailed statement. "Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn't make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now."

"We've had a great relationship with the Ivanka Trump team," the spokesperson continued. "We've had open conversations with them over the past year to share what we've seen and Ivanka was personally informed of our decision in early January."

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/con...m-six-days-after-it-drops-ivanka-line-n718396


----------



## poochee

*Steve Bannon Aligns With Vatican Hard-Liners Who Oppose Pope Francis*
February 8, 20174:04 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered

White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is known to have cultivated ties with far-right parties in Europe, like the National Front in France. He also seems to have forged an alliance with Vatican hard-liners who oppose Pope Francis' less rigid approach to church doctrine. The _New York Times_ reported this week on Bannon's connections at the Vatican.

Before becoming White House chief strategist, Bannon - who is Catholic - was the executive chairman of Breitbart News, which he called a "platform for the alt-right." That's a movement associated with white nationalism.

During a visit to Rome a few years ago, Bannon struck up a friendship with the American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a traditionalist who has emerged as one of Pope Francis' most vocal critics.

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...th-vatican-hardliners-who-oppose-pope-francis


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR*
*George W. Bush: America, If You Remember Me as an O.K. President, I'll Trap Trump in One of My Paintings*
*By Keaton Patti*
February 7, 2017

America, in the years since my Presidency, I've spent much of my time painting. In fact, I've spent countless hours in front of the easel, putting paint to canvas-that's what painting is. If I'm not painting, I'm sleeping, enjoying time with my family, or dabbling in the dark arts.

You heard me right. I've been getting in a lot of family time.

And, during that time, I've learned that the majority of Americans are unhappy with Donald Trump as President. Having been a President the majority of Americans were unhappy with, I know it's an unfortunate situation that should be avoided at all costs.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/dail...pJobID=1100677446&spReportId=MTEwMDY3NzQ0NgS2


----------



## poochee

*Senate confirms Jeff Sessions as attorney general*
By Ellen Nakashima By Ellen Nakashima
National Security
February 8 at 7:19 PM

*VIDEO *

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jeff Sessions as the next attorney general, following a bitter debate in the chamber that saw Republicans formally rebuke Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for the manner in which she criticized her colleague from Alabama.

Sessions, a four-term U.S. senator, was the first senator to endorse Trump in February 2016, and his conservative, populist views have shaped many of the administration's early policies, including on immigration.

The vote, 52-47 in favor of confirmation, ran largely down party lines. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat who supported him. Sessions voted present.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...bee68&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Pentagon leader assumes new role: Turning down the temperature on Trump*
By Missy Ryan
Checkpoint
February 8 at 1:55 PM

As President Trump's new Pentagon chief, Jim Mattis has a long list of tasks ahead, including devising a more aggressive campaign to combat the Islamic State and restoring military readiness after years of budget cuts. But a few weeks into his tenure, the retired general's most visible role has been of a different sort: soothing Americans and allies unnerved by the president and some of his top advisers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...is1110p:homepage/story&utm_term=.228be8b4c1f6


----------



## poochee

*Emmett Till's accuser admits she lied. What now?*
USA Today Network Jerry Mitchell, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger Published 1:20 p.m. ET Feb. 7, 2017 | Updated 10 hours ago

*VIDEO*

JACKSON, Miss. - Carolyn Bryant has admitted she lied when she testified in 1955 that Emmett Till touched her - a lie she repeated to the FBI a decade ago.

Lying to the FBI is a crime. So is obstruction of justice.

Both carry up to five years in prison.

But prosecuting the 82-year-old woman now would be difficult if not impossible because the five-year statute of limitations has run out, experts say.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/02/07/emmett-till-murder-case/97588506/


----------



## Johnny b

Possible elimination of the Department of Education is underway:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/899/all-info


----------



## poochee

*Federal appeals court maintains suspension of Trump's immigration order*
By Matt Zapotosky
National Security
February 9 at 6:46 PM

*VIDEO*

A federal appeals court panel has maintained the freeze on President Trump's controversial immigration order, meaning previously barred refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries can continue entering the United States.

In a unanimous, 29-page opinion, three judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit flatly rejected the government's argument that the suspension of the order should be lifted immediately for national security reasons and forcefully asserted their ability to serve as a check on the president's power.

The judges wrote that any suggestion that they couldn't "runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...433d3&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

Feb 9, 7:13 PM EST
*Trump responds to ruling on travel ban: 'SEE YOU IN COURT'*
By KEN THOMAS and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump vowed Thursday to contest a federal appellate court decision refusing to reinstate his ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, tweeting, "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"

The White House did not immediately comment on the merits of the unanimous decision issued by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court declined to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travelers to enter the U.S.

The ruling represented a setback for Trump's administration and the second legal defeat for the new president in the past week. Trump's decision to sign the executive order late last month has sparked protests at airports around the world as authorities barred scores of travelers from entering the country amid confusion over how to implement the details.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-09-19-13-02


----------



## poochee

*Trump signs three new executive orders on crime reduction*
By Laura Jarrett, CNN
Updated 6:59 PM ET, Thu February 9, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump signed three new executive orders Thursday that he said are "designed to restore safety in America."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/09/politics/trump-executive-orders-crime-reduction/index.html

Trump signed the executive orders in the Oval Office after swearing in Attorney General Jeff Sessions.


----------



## poochee

Feb 9 2017, 2:23 pm ET
*Why President Trump's Misleading Image of American Crime Matters*
by Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*

In talks with law enforcement officials this week, President Donald Trump offered a misleading view on American crime and police safety that experts say ignored - and could hurt - decades of progress in reducing crime.

The president's description of an increasingly dangerous America feeds into his campaign narrative that the nation simply needs more "law and order" to be safer. He's argued that police are being mistreated amid a national debate about racial policing after groups like the Black Lives Matter movement demanded police reforms amid a slew of police killings of unarmed black men and women.

Swearing in his top law enforcement official on Thursday morning, Trump said it marked "a new era of justice," while his new Attorney General, Sen. Jeff Sessions vowed to tackle "a dangerous permanent trend that has placed the health and safety of the American people at risk.''

But this picture of America doesn't fit the facts

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...sleading-image-american-crime-matters-n718546


----------



## poochee

*National security adviser Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials, officials say*
By Greg Miller, Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima
National Security
February 9 at 9:26 PM

*VIDEO*

National security adviser Michael Flynn privately discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country's ambassador to the United States during the month before President Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Trump officials, current and former U.S. officials said.

Flynn's communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were interpreted by some senior U.S. officials as an inappropriate and potentially illegal signal to the Kremlin that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions that were being imposed by the Obama administration in late December to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 election.

Flynn on Wednesday denied that he had discussed sanctions with Kislyak. Asked in an interview whether he had ever done so, he twice said, "No."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c25aa&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*Trump Aide May Face Ethics Charges for Plugging Ivanka Trump Clothing *

Thu, Feb 09 · *Clip 1 of 6*

After Kellyanne Conway said to "go buy Ivanka's stuff" on Fox News Thursday, the House Oversight Committee - headed by Republican Jason Chaffetz - sent the White House a scathing bipartisan letter demanding answers.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...r-plugging-ivanka-trump-clothing-873881667530


----------



## poochee

*TRUMPS PROMISES*
By Gregory Krieg, Will Mullery, Tal Yellin
Updated February 6, 2017, 10:00 a.m. est

Donald Trump made hundreds of promises, pledges and threats on his road to the White House. This continuously updated interactive feature tracks his progress in delivering on that agenda at the beginning of his term.

*Explore Trump's issues and progress below
*
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/politics/tracking-trumps-promises/


----------



## poochee

Feb 9 2017, 8:54 am ET
*Trump Is the Fighter-in-Chief… But What About Governing?*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*Fighter-in-chief*

As we enter Day 21 of Donald Trump's presidency, one theme of his first three weeks on the job is how he picks fights with, well, almost anyone. *Just look at the last 24 hours:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-about-governing-n718776?cid=eml_pol_20170209


----------



## poochee

Feb 10, 1:55 PM EST
*The Latest: Trump touts Intel factory started under Obama*

At his press conference with the Japanese prime minister, President Donald Trump touted plans by Intel announced this week to open a $7 billion factory because of his administration's planned tax cuts.

But that's not the whole story behind the Chandler, Arizona facility-which began construction during Barack Obama's presidency. In fact, Obama appeared at the side of Intel's CEO when the factory was announced and even spoke at the construction site in 2012.

Intel never finished its "Fab 42" factory because there was insufficient demand for its high-powered computer chips, a spokesman said this week. The company plans to complete the facility within four years because it expects its business to grow.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-10-13-55-15


----------



## poochee

Feb 10 2017, 2:53 pm ET
*President Trump Praises Japan-U.S. Alliance*
by Ali Vitali

President Donald Trump on Friday praised the U.S.-Japan relationship, calling the country an "important and steadfast ally."

In his second joint press conference as president, this one with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Trump thanked Japan for "hosting" the U.S. military, though he did not mention making them pay more for U.S. defense as he suggested while campaigning for the presidency.

He did promise, however, that both countries will "invest heavily" to build up their defensive capabilities, which Trump says will ultimately "be impenetrable."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-praises-japan-u-s-alliance-n719456


----------



## poochee

*Trump finds the limits of executive power*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 11:22 AM ET, Fri February 10, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump suffered more than a legal defeat of his immigration ban Thursday night.

He ran smack into the limits of executive power.

Three federal judges unanimously refused to restore the White House's controversial travel ban, laying down the most significant marker yet that Trump's vision of an administration rooted in the muscular use of executive power -- similar to that he enjoyed as a business leader -- will not go unchallenged.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/donald-trump-travel-ban-politics/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump won't immediately appeal travel ban halt to Supreme Court*
By Pamela Brown, Laura Jarrett and Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 5:56 PM ET, Fri February 10, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The Trump administration is not currently planning to appeal the decision blocking its travel ban to the Supreme Court, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.

The decision to not go to the Supreme Court comes as the White House is examining several options to save President Donald Trump's controversial executive order on immigration.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/trump-abe-awkward-diplomacy/index.html
"We will win that battle. The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle. We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order," Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One Friday evening.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/immigration-executive-order-white-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Since Trump became president, Americans think our global standing has slipped*
By Philip Bump
Politics
February 10 at 12:52 PM

*CHARTS*

There has been no shortage of news reports about President Trump's foreign policy moves since winning the election and assuming his new position. There was the call with the leader of Taiwan, which prompted annoyance from China and, on Thursday, a meek acceptance of China's position. There were the allegedly contentious calls with Australia and France. There was the renewed dispute with Mexico. And so on.

Trump won election by promising to shake things up and - mission accomplished. Polling just released from Gallup, though, suggests that Americans see the dawn of the Trump era as eroding, not improving, the country's position in the world.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.27f0faef5da7&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump says he's unaware of reports Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador*
By Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny and Elizabeth Landers, CNN
Updated 7:22 PM ET, Fri February 10, 2017
*
VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon he was unaware of reports that his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, may have spoken about sanctions with the Russian ambassador before the inauguration.

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said he will "look into that."

A US official confirmed to CNN late Friday afternoon that Flynn and the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, did speak about sanctions, among other matters, during the call.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/flynn-russia-us-sanctions-reports/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 10, 5:50 PM EST
*Trump's comments likely to cause heartburn for US lawyers*
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump lobs verbal bombshells on Twitter and fiercely criticizes federal judges overseeing his court cases. He openly discusses pending legal matters on which lawyers usually advise their clients to stay mum.

That freewheeling style, uncharacteristic for an American president, is sure to complicate efforts of Justice Department attorneys tasked with defending his executive actions in court. Federal lawyers, invariably inclined to speak through technical legal pleadings instead of on social media, are likely to be asked time and again to account for public statements from the president, including comments that seem to contradict or harm their arguments.

"This is what's so surprising about Trump's statements and his use of Twitter: He says all kinds of things that undermine the claims that the government is making in litigation," said Eric Posner, a University of Chicago law professor. People challenging the government will bring tweets and other statements to the attention of the courts, Posner said, "and courts will pay attention to them."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-10-17-50-45


----------



## poochee

Feb 9 2017, 11:54 pm ET
*Emmett Till Book Prompts Cousins to Call for New Investigation *
by Annette Ejiofor

*VIDEO*

Emmett Till's relatives are calling for authorities to reopen the investigation into his cruel 1955 murder.

On August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was inhumanely murdered after he allegedly whistled at now 82-year-old, Carolyn Bryant Donham. Decades later, Donham left the shadows of solitude to reveal that her initial accusation was a lie in the new book, "The Blood of Emmett Till," by historian Timothy Tyson.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/emmett-till-book-prompts-cousins-call-new-investigation-n713341


----------



## poochee

*FEC commissioner asks Trump for voter fraud evidence*
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 10:30 PM ET, Fri February 10, 2017

*VIDEO*

Trump alleged in a White House meeting earlier this week that illegal voters from Massachusetts successfully voted in New Hampshire en masse, three sources familiar with the meeting have told CNN.

The sources said Trump complained about thousands of people being bused from Massachusetts to vote illegally in New Hampshire, a state he narrowly lost to Hillary Clinton.

In a statement calling the claim "astonishing," FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said, "The scheme the President of the United States alleges would constitute thousands of felony criminal offenses under New Hampshire law."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/fec-ellen-weintraub-new-hampshire/


----------



## poochee

Feb 11 2017, 10:50 am ET
*Trump Backlash Could Make 2018 a New 'Year of Women' at Ballot Box*
by Adam Howard

President Donald Trump's victory may have galvanized conservatives and struck fear in the hearts of his political foes, but it has also inspired a whole new generation of women to seek elected office in droves.

Since his election, Emily's List, a political action committee which recruits and promotes pro-choice, Democratic women candidates, has reported that over 4,000 women across the country have sought guidance from them on running for office. For some perspective, that's quadruple the number of requests they got over the past 22 months combined, with 1,660 appeals from would-be candidates coming in since Inauguration Day.

Meanwhile, on Saturday afternoon, VoteRunLead, a 2-year-old national non-profit organization, which provides resources and guidance for women breaking into politics, will be hosting a "This is How You Run for Office" seminar online at 4 p.m. EST.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-backlash-could-make-2018-new-year-women-ballot-box-n718976


----------



## poochee

*8 Fact-Checks On The Trump Administration This Week *
February 11, 201712:30 PM ET 
Jessica Taylor  
Danielle Kurtzleben 

The Trump administration continued to play loose with facts in week three.

President Trump took aim at one of his favorite targets - the media - accusing them of not reporting terrorist attacks. The very list of attacks the White House released hours later contradicted those claims.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/11/514612245/8-fact-checks-on-the-trump-administration-this-week


----------



## poochee

*Trump Calling Everything Unfair Shows Just How Profoundly Privileged He Is*
6:36 pm - 02/10/2017

Think about this for a second: when was the last time you earnestly exclaimed that something was unfair? If you're over the age of eight, it's probably been quite some time; you likely can't even remember. You know why that is? Well, at some point in your life, likely in elementary school, you were taught, or you realized on your own that life isn't always fair and complaining about it does little to change that fact, or improve your situation. You start to grasp the way the world works, the ebbs and flows of it all. Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't.

Donald Trump, a 70-year-old man, and the current leader of the free world, never learned that lesson-he uses the word constantly. And when he does, it's always about himself. He never describes the plight of the economically, socially or racially disenfranchised as unfair. His usage is always centered around how unfair SNL, or Fox News, or CNN, or protesters, or the RNC, or our executive branch, or the New York Times, or Nordstrom treats him (and in one case, his daughter.)montage of Trump using the word 20 times while campaigning.

Here's a montage of Trump using the word 20 times while campaigning.

*And here are 22 tweets:*

Read more at ONTD Political: http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/11737139.html#ixzz4YPGf0bIo


----------



## poochee

*This is going to be harder than Donald Trump expected*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 9:54 AM ET, Sat February 11, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to take a blowtorch and pliers to the Washington political establishment.

But three weeks into his presidency, he has been repeatedly disarmed and frustrated by partisan opponents and the machinery of a government designed to check his power.

It hasn't been for a lack of trying. Trump over his first 21 days in office has issued a barrage of executive actions aimed at delivering on a range of policy pledges -- including many of his most aggressive and controversial. But the January 27 travel ban has become a millstone on the neck of a young administration that has spent the last two weeks digging deeper into a legal battle that now seems destined for the Supreme Court.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/11/politics/donald-trump-three-weeks-problems/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 11 2017, 11:44 pm ET
*North Korea Launches Missile Into Sea, First Since Trump Took Office*
by Phil Helsel, Stella Kim and Courtney Kube

*VIDEOS*

President Donald Trump vowed Saturday that the United States supports its ally Japan "100 percent" after North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the sea, in what appears to be its first missile test since Trump took office.

The launch at 7:55 a.m. Sunday Seoul time toward the Sea of Japan came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is on a visit to the United States to meet with Trump.

"North Korea's most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable," Abe said at a joint appearance with Trump Saturday night in Florida. Abe said Trump's presence at the joint appearance was a demonstration of support for Japan.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-korea-says-north-korea-fires-test-missile-sea-n719856


----------



## poochee

*Franken calls Trump's 'Pocahontas' remark 'racist'*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 10:57 AM ET, Sun February 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump reportedly attacked Warren in a closed-door meeting
"I would have said something," Franken said
"I'd have said, 'Mr. President, with all due respect, that's racist. Please stop doing that. I am on Indian Affairs. This is completely unacceptable. You really should stop doing that. It doesn't serve anybody.' Something like that," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/12/politics/al-franken-donald-trump-pocahontas/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Congressman: Rarely used law could make Trump tax returns public*
Herb Jackson, The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record Published 1:44 p.m. ET Feb. 11, 2017 | Updated 22 hours ago

*VIDEO*

A New Jersey congressman says a rarely invoked 1924 law could be used to examine President Donald Trump's tax returns for possible conflicts of interest and Constitutional violations.

Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat who serves on the Ways and Means Committee, has asked the committee's chairman, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, to order the Treasury Department to provide tax returns to the committee. Brady's office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...could-make-trump-tax-returns-public/97788564/


----------



## poochee

*Education Dept. torched for misspelling W.E.B. Du Bois in tweet*
 Deirdre Shesgreen  , USATODAY Published 11:12 a.m. ET Feb. 12, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Well, this isn't going to help Betsy DeVos, Trump's controversial new Education secretary, win any new fans.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...orched-tweet-misspells-du-bois-name/97820482/


----------



## poochee

*KKK 'Imperial Wizard' Found Dead on a Missouri Riverbank*
By Michael Edison Hayden
Feb 12, 2017, 1:24 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The body of a Ku Klux Klan leader who had been missing for several days was found on a Missouri riverbank, according to police.

Frank Ancona, who was a 51-year-old self-proclaimed imperial wizard of a KKK chapter near St. Louis, according to a website promoting the group, was found dead by a family who had gone to the Big River in Missouri to go fishing, according to Daily Journal, a local newspaper.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/proclaimed-kkk-imperial-wizard-found-dead-riverbank/story?id=45439758


----------



## poochee

Feb 12 2017, 1:52 pm ET
*Powerful Women Lead the Way in Taking Trump to Task*
by Safia Samee Ali

*VIDEO*

Ironically, the loudest voice in a growing chorus was "silenced," when Sen. Elizabeth Warren was rebuked by Senate colleagues for criticizing Attorney General Jeff Sessions during his confirmation.

But she is just one member of a group of Trump administration critics who share a notable commonality: They are women in positions of power.

In all branches of government, some of the sharpest scrutiny of the president is coming from female leaders, with vastly different roles and ideologies.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/powerful-women-lead-way-taking-trump-task-n717991


----------



## poochee

Feb 13 2017, 12:42 am ET
*'Potentially Catastrophic': Tens of Thousands Evacuated Amid Dam Spillway Failure*
by Tim Stelloh and Andrew Blankstein

*VIDEO*

Tens of thousands of people in at least half a dozen Northern California towns and cities were evacuated on Sunday after a spillway serving the country's tallest dam suffered "potentially catastrophic damage," officials said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...s-evacuated-amid-dam-spillway-failure-n720051


----------



## poochee

*Gallup poll: Trump approval rating at new low*
By David Wright, CNN
Updated 7:44 AM ET, Mon February 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_President Donald Trump's approval rating reached a new low Saturday, according to a poll from Gallup, as the new administration has struggled to find its footing nearly a month into the term.

The daily tracking poll found that just 40% of Americans approve of President Trump's job as president so far, compared to 55% who say the disapprove. The negative 15-point spread is the highest recorded in the poll since Trump took office January 20.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/13/politics/donald-trump-approval-poll-low-gallup/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump defends travel ban as Trudeau looks on*
By Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 3:10 PM ET, Mon February 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Disputes between the US and Canada rarely veer into anything resembling combativeness
Then-President Barack Obama met with Trudeau often
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump offered an unapologetic defense of his travel ban during a joint news conference Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying the US "cannot let the wrong people in."

Trudeau, meanwhile, made clear that he holds a different view of the issue but said it was not his place to come to the US and "lecture" Trump on the controversial policy.

"I'm just doing what I said I would do," Trump said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/13/politics/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-white-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump just can't get along with a hugely important American industry*
Max Ehrenfreund By Max Ehrenfreund
Wonkblog
February 13 at 11:05 AM

Wall Street has President Trump's ear. He meets with bankers and financiers at the White House, and he has signed orders indicating that he will accommodate the industry's needs.

Meanwhile, Trump's relationship with the nation's other center of big business has been tense, sometimes even hostile. Separated by culture, politics and a long, cross-country flight, Silicon Valley and the new administration have been experiencing compatibility issues.

The contrast suggests how the president's connections in business and his experience in real estate could influence his economic policies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.b0d17a62a1fb&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 13 2017, 6:15 pm ET
*Flynn in 'Hot Seat' Over Discussing Sanctions with Russians*
by Ali Vitali , Hallie Jackson, Peter Alexander, Kristen Welker, Andrea Mitchell and Ken Dilanian

*VIDEO*

National Security Adviser Mike Flynn has the full confidence of the president, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told NBC News Monday, appearing to signal that Flynn is safe in his job despite his changing account of whether he discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador in December.

But moments later, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president is evaluating the situation and is having conversations with the vice president about his discussions with Flynn on the matter.

The mixed messages left Flynn's status unclear.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...at-over-discussing-sanctions-russians-n720191


----------



## poochee

Feb 13, 5:05 PM EST
*Canada's Trudeau talks trade with Trump at White House*
By CATHERINE LUCEY and ROB GILLIES
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A political odd couple, President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resolutely played up their similarities at their first meeting Monday, even as obvious differences lurked behind their public smiles.

After their White House meeting, the North American neighbors emerged to hail their close ties, with Trump promising to "build upon our very historic friendship" and Trudeau noting the "special" bond between the countries.

But it was hard to escape their contrasting worldviews.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-13-17-05-42


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 2/13/17
*Trump, Miller don't get checks and balances, says senator*

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, shares his thoughts on the Trump White House, including Stephen Miller's Sunday interviews and Judge Gorsuch's confirmation.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/wa...checks-and-balances-says-senator-876012099646


----------



## poochee

*Tracking Trump's Agenda, Step by Step*
By JOSH KELLER and ADAM PEARCE UPDATED FEB. 10, 2017

President Trump has started action on several of his major priorities, but most of his proposals require moves by Congress or pose other significant obstacles.

*Possible paths are described below, though other options exist.* We'll update this page as statuses change and new proposals emerge.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...dit_trmp_20170213&nl=&nlid=75973118&te=1&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 13, 5:24 PM EST
*Trudeau and Trump: Anything but two of a kind*
BY ROB GILLIES and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had their first face-to-face meeting Monday and emerged stressing their countries' common interests. But these neighboring leaders are polar opposites.

A look at Trump and Trudeau:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-13-17-24-19


----------



## poochee

*Jerry Sandusky's son Jeffrey arrested on child sex charges*
By mark scolforo, associated press
BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Feb 13, 2017, 4:58 PM ET

*VIDEO*

One of Jerry Sandusky's sons was charged Monday with sex crimes involving two girls, more than five years after the former Penn State assistant coach was himself first arrested on child molestation charges.

Jeffrey S. Sandusky, 41, was charged by state police and arraigned by a district judge in Bellefonte on 14 counts. He was jailed on $200,000 bail.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireSt...n-jeffrey-charged-child-sexual-abuse-45464804


----------



## poochee

*Flynn resigns amid controversy over Russia contacts*
By Sara Murray, Gloria Borger and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 1:13 AM ET, Tue February 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Embattled White House national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned Monday night, an abrupt end to a brief tenure.

His departure came just after reports surfaced the Justice Department warned the Trump administration last month that Flynn misled administration officials regarding his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians.

"I inadvertently briefed the Vice President-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology," Flynn wrote, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/13/polit...te-house-national-security-adviser/index.html


----------



## poochee

*A White House where no one is in charge*
By Michael Gerson Opinion writer
Opinions
February 13 at 7:31 PM

In early January, House Speaker Paul Ryan met on the issue of tax reform with a delegation from the president-elect. Attending were future chief strategist and senior counselor Stephen K. Bannon, future chief of staff Reince Priebus, future senior adviser Jared Kushner, future counselor Kellyanne Conway and future senior policy adviser Stephen Miller. As the meeting began, Ryan pointedly asked, "Who's in charge?"

Silence.

It is still the right question. Former officials with deep knowledge of the presidency describe Donald Trump's White House staff as top-heavy, with five or six power centers and little vertical structure. "The desire to be a big shot is overrunning any sense of team," says one experienced Republican. "This will cause terrible dysfunction, distraction, disloyalty and leaks."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...erm=.3be62c9d964e&wpisrc=nl_todayworld&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump, aware of DOJ warning, asked Flynn to resign after loss of trust*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 2:05 PM ET, Tue February 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump asked for Michael Flynn's resignation after he lost trust in his national security adviser for misleading Vice President Mike Pence over his calls with Russia's ambassador, the White House said Tuesday.

Trump was also made aware of the Justice Department's concerns about Flynn's calls with the Russian ambassador, according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer
.
The President's counsel, Don McGahn, convened a meeting with Trump and a small circle of advisers.

"Immediately after the Department of Justice notified the White House counsel of the situation, the White House counsel briefed the President and a small group of senior advisers," Spicer said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-administration-michael-flynn/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: 10 unanswered questions after Michael Flynn's resignation*
James Hohmann February 14 at 9:19 AM

*VIDEO*

THE BIG IDEA: President Trump should thank his lucky stars that Republicans control both chambers of Congress, because Democrats would be announcing a Benghazi-style inquest today if they could.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

But there is much we still do not know. Here are 10 questions that have become critical in the wake of last night's news:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.97d90ff64a89&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Satire from the Borowitz Report *
*Putin Starting to Wonder If His Puppets Are Smart Enough to Pull This Off*
*By Andy Borowitz*
11:00 A.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...pJobID=1101153637&spReportId=MTEwMTE1MzYzNwS2


----------



## poochee

Feb 14, 10:26 AM EST
*News conferences raise issue of Trump seeking softballs*
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- President Donald Trump managed to avoid questions about hot-button issues facing the White House - such as the future of national security adviser Michael Flynn and a North Korean missile launch - in a news conference Monday where selected reporters asked non-challenging questions and other, shouted-out inquiries were ignored.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-13-23-31-34


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 2/14/17
*Joe: This is a WH in chaos, and a storm is coming*

The Morning Joe panel discusses Michael Flynn's exit, possible replacements for him, the impact if Trump knew about Flynn's conversations and why the WH needs a new chief.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/joe-this-is-a-wh-in-chaos-and-a-storm-is-coming-876861507622


----------



## poochee

*Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign*
By Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto and Evan Perez, CNN
Updated 10:59 PM ET, Tue February 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The communications stood out to investigators due to the frequency and the level of the Trump advisers involved
Investigators have not reached a judgment on the intent of those conversations

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-aides-russians-campaign/index.html


----------



## poochee

*In the early weeks of the new administration, the humbling of a president*
By Dan Balz 
Politics
February 14 at 12:05 PM

*VIDEO*

The presidential campaign was a heady experience for Donald Trump: months of triumph and, better yet, disproving all the so-called experts who said he never had a chance of winning. The early weeks of the new administration have been the opposite: the public humbling of a new president.

Trump's campaign was never entirely smooth, but instincts that served him so well then appear to be less helpful now that he is in office. As president, Trump's early moves - with some exceptions - have been marked by poor judgment, botched execution, hubris among some advisers, and a climate of fear and disorder all around.

The complexities of governing have quickly caught up with a politician determined to shake up Washington as quickly as possible. The president gets credit from many Americans for keeping his campaign promises, but government by chaos is not a known recipe for success. The result is an administration that begins its second month weakened and on the defensive. What Trump takes away from all this will determine the future of his tumultuous presidency.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-1245pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.0f3dba4e80f5


----------



## poochee

Feb 15, 1:02 PM EST
*Trump urges Israeli premier to 'hold off' on settlements*
By JILL COLVIN and VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Israel's prime minister to "hold off" on building Jewish settlements in land the Palestinians claim for their future state, yet held back from explicitly endorsing support for a future independent Palestine.

After weeks of dancing around the issue of expanded Israeli settlements, Trump made the request to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint news conference at the White House preceding their private discussions. It is Netanyahu's first trip to Washington since Trump became president.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-15-13-02-51


----------



## poochee

Feb 15 2017, 10:38 am ET
*Trump Blames Russian Connection 'Conspiracy Theories' on Clinton Campaign 'Cover Up'*
by Erik Ortiz and Adam Reiss

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump blamed "conspiracy theories and blind hatred" - and an attempt to "cover-up" for Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign - in a series of tweets Wednesday morning as he tried to distance himself from any links to Russia.

Trump tweeted that the "fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred," and added that "this Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...iracy-theories-clinton-campaign-cover-n721151


----------



## poochee

Feb 15, 1:30 PM EST
*Congress blocks rule barring mentally impaired from guns*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress on Wednesday sent President Donald Trump legislation blocking an Obama-era rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people.

On a vote of 57-43, the Senate backed the resolution, just one of several early steps by the Republican-led Congress to undo regulations implemented by former President Barack Obama. The House had passed the measure earlier this year. The White House has signaled Trump will sign the legislation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-15-13-30-23


----------



## poochee

Andrew Puzder withdraws labor nomination, throwing White House into more turmoil
By Ed O'Keefe and Jonnelle Marte February 15 at 8:37 PM

*VIDEO*

Andrew Puzder, President Trump's labor secretary nominee, withdrew from consideration Wednesday amid growing resistance from Senate Republicans centered primarily on Puzder's past employment of an undocumented housekeeper.

The collapse of Puzder's nomination threw the White House into further turmoil just two days after the resignation of Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, amid revelations that Flynn had spoken repeatedly, and possibly illegally, with the Russian ambassador last year about lifting U.S. sanctions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...63470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.fe61852b8970


----------



## poochee

Feb 15, 7:37 PM EST
A crush of crises all but buries the young Trump White House
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Less than a month into his tenure, Donald Trump's White House is beset by a crush of crises.

Divisions, dysfunction and high-profile exits have left the young administration nearly paralyzed and allies wondering how it will reboot. The bold policy moves that marked Trump's first days in office have slowed to a crawl, a tacit admission that he and his team had not thoroughly prepared an agenda.

Nearly a week after the administration's travel ban was struck down by a federal court, the White House is still struggling to regroup and outline its next move on that signature issue. It's been six days since Trump - who promised unprecedented levels of immediate action - has announced a major new policy directive or legislative plan.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-15-19-37-00


----------



## poochee

*Russian Aggression Providing Key Test for Trump Administration*
Wed, Feb 15

*VIDEO*

A Russian spy ship was spotted approximately 30 miles off the coast from a US Submarine Base in Groton Connecticut. In the Black Sea, Russians planes are flying fast and low over a US Destroyer.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...ion-a-key-concern-at-nato-summit-878223939581


----------



## poochee

*Trump says 'I inherited a mess,' blasts media and detractors at combative news conference*
By Ashley Parker
Post Politics
February 16 at 2:17 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump on Thursday aired his grievances against the news media, the intelligence community and his detractors generally in a sprawling, stream-of-consciousness news conference that alternated between claims that he had "inherited a mess" and the assertion that his fledgling administration "is running like a fine-tuned machine."

"To be honest, I inherited a mess," Trump said, in news conference that lasted more than an hour and was at times rambling, combative and pointed. "It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country."

Yet moments later, the president seemed to acknowledge the widespread reports of turbulence and upheaval emanating out of his West Wing, only to claim that his White House - which so far has been marred by staff infighting, a controversial travel ban, false statements and myriad leaks - was operating seamlessly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...p-220pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.67bc63938f17


----------



## Johnny b

Impeach Trump: Ohio Republican judge
Mark P. Painter 2:00 p.m. ET Feb. 15, 2017

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...ch-flynn-ivanka-tweet-russia-column/97944818/



> As Charles P. Pierce said in Esquire last week, "I swear, it's like we elected the Clampetts, if the Clampetts were grifters."





> The leader of the band of Mad Hatters occupying the White House has already insulted allied world leaders, issued illegal and badly written orders, impugned a "so-called" judge appointed by his own party, and appointed the least-qualified cabinet ever. The first secretary of state was Thomas Jefferson. Trump appointed a big-oil executive with close ties to Russia. The first treasury secretary was Alexander Hamilton. Trump appointed a former Goldman Sachs exec who got rich foreclosing on homeowners. The national security advisor lasted 24 days.


----------



## poochee

*Flynn changed story to FBI, no charges expected*
By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Correspondent
Updated 6:17 PM ET, Thu February 16, 2017

*VIDEO*


Flynn was fired by President Donald Trump earlier this week

The FBI interviewers believed Flynn was cooperative and provided truthful answers
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/fbi-not-expected-to-pursue-charges-against-flynn/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Harward says no to national security adviser role*
By Jim Sciutto and Jake Tapper, CNN
Updated 7:29 PM ET, Thu February 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

A friend of Harward's said he was reluctant to take the job because the White House seems so chaotic

Earlier this week, Trump fired Michael Flynn as national security adviser
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/harward-says-no-to-national-security-adviser-role/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 16, 6:51 PM EST
*Trump, in unprecedented fashion for a president, rips press*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The leaks are real. But the news about them is fake. The White House is a fine-tuned machine. Russia is a ruse.

For its stunning moments and memorable one-liners, Donald Trump's first solo news conference as president has no rivals in recent memory. For all the trappings of the White House and traditions of the forum, his performance was one of a swaggering, blustery campaigner, armed with grievances and primed to unload on his favorite targets.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-16-18-51-31


----------



## poochee

Feb 16, 6:02 PM EST
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump's messy case that he inherited a mess*
By JOSH BOAK and CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday made a messy case that he "inherited a mess" from his predecessor. Economic stats and territorial losses of Islamic State insurgents don't support his assertions about the problems handed to him on those fronts.

A look at some of his claims in a news conference Thursday and how they compare with the facts:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-16-18-02-19


----------



## poochee

*Fact Check*
*Trump Calls Press 'Dishonest,' Then Utters Falsehoods of His Own*
By NICHOLAS FANDOSFEB. 16, 2017

WASHINGTON - _President Trump took aim at reporters on Thursday for more than an hour at an impromptu White House news conference._

_"The press has become so dishonest," he said, and not talking about it would be "doing a tremendous disservice to the American people." He added that the "level of dishonesty is out of control."_

_In accusing the news media, though, Mr. Trump uttered several falsehoods of his own. Here is a list of some of the most important._

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/us/politics/trump-fact-check.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Then and now: Donald Trump's reversal on leaks*
By Gregory Krieg and Will Mullery, CNN
Updated 11:07 AM ET, Thu February 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The presidency has changed Donald Trump -- at least when it comes to his take on the morality of government leaks.
In the days before his election, Trump the candidate touted a damaging -- and false -- leak reported and subsequently retracted by Fox News. Parroting the initial claim, he told supporters at a rally in Jacksonville that FBI agents said their investigation into Clinton's use of private email server was "likely to yield an indictment."

It was hardly an outlier.

Trump during the campaign routinely applauded Wikileaks for its role in disseminating the contents of internal communications stolen from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign. He even publicly encouraged the Russians to "to find the 30,000 emails (from Clinton's server) that are missing."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/donald-trump-russia-leaks-wikileaks/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump family's elaborate lifestyle is a 'logistical nightmare' - at taxpayer expense*
By Drew Harwell, Amy Brittain and Jonathan O'Connell
Politics
February 16 at 5:06 PM

*VIDEO*

Barely a month into the Trump presidency, the unusually elaborate lifestyle of America's new first family is straining the Secret Service and security officials, stirring financial and logistical concerns in several local communities, and costing far beyond what has been typical for past presidents - a price tag that, based on past assessments of presidential travel and security costs, could balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a four-year term.

Adding to the costs and complications is Trump's inclination to conduct official business surrounded by crowds of people, such as his decision last weekend to host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a working dinner while Mar-a-Lago members dined nearby.

The handful of government agencies that bear the brunt of the expenses, including the Defense and Homeland Security departments, have not responded to Washington Post requests for data laying out the costs since Trump took office.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ml?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.151679b57a68


----------



## poochee

Feb 17 2017, 9:53 am ET
*Trump's First Month Has Been Anything But a 'Fine-Tuned Machine'*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEOS*

Trump's first month in office has been anything but a fine-tuned machine

The last 24 hours perfectly summed up President Trump's first month in office. In a 77-minute news conference Thursday to voice a series of grievances, Trump declared that his administration was running "like a fine-tuned machine," saying: "I turn on the TV, open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos. Chaos! Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine." Then, just a few hours later, the frontrunner to replace his ousted national security adviser declined to take the job.

Folks, that's anything but a fine-tuned machine (though the White House did finally hire a communications director). Indeed, perhaps the best way to describe Trump's first month is with three Cs - conflict, chaos, and constant. The conflict, of course, has involved the courts, the news media, Mexico, Nordstrom, and even Australia. The chaos? Try the travel ban, "alternative facts," and the very slow start to Trump's government. And constant describes how unrelenting the news and Trump's presence has been over the past month. Sure, there have been good moments (the Gorsuch pick, the meetings with business and union leaders). And, yes, all new White Houses have their struggles. But we've never, ever seen a first month like this. *To recap:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ne-tuned-machine-n722356?cid=eml_pol_20170217


----------



## poochee

Fact Checker
Analysis
*Fact-checking President Trump's news conference*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Fact Checker
February 16 at 5:57 PM

*VIDEO*

_"I don't think there's ever been a president elected who in this short period of time has done what we've done."_
*- President Trump, news conference, Feb. 16, 2017*

We can't quite fact check the statement above - it's certainly open to debate what counts as achievements - but we can fact-check 15 dubious claims made by the president in his lengthy news conference. Some of these are from his greatest hits of falsehoods, which we have fact-checked many times before. The claims are addressed in the order in which Trump made them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.0b0bfe4d77f4&wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 16 2017, 7:33 pm ET
*New GOP Health Care Document Reveals Little About ACA Replacement Plans*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEOS*

Republican members of Congress Thursday armed themselves with a general outline of the party's ideas to replace the Affordable Care Act just as they head home to their districts for the next ten days.

It's a strategic document appropriately timed to help Republicans who might face constituents at town halls angry and worried about losing their health insurance amid their stalled effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The 19-page document, released by the House GOP leadership, is thin on specifics but provides general goals for the party on reforming health care policy. But even such a broad outline reveals a party divided on how to approach the issue.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...-aca-replacement-n722021?cid=eml_pol_20170217


----------



## poochee

*A Jewish Reporter Got to Ask Trump a Question. It Didn't Go Well.*
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN FEB. 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

Jake Turx is a newly minted White House correspondent for a publication that has never before had a seat in the White House press corps: Ami Magazine, an Orthodox Jewish weekly based in Brooklyn. He is a singular presence in the briefing room: a young Hasidic Jew with side curls tucked behind his ears and a skullcap embroidered with his Twitter handle.

When President Trump called on him at a news conference on Thursday, saying he was looking for a "friendly reporter," Mr. Turx was prepared. He had spent an hour crafting a question about a recent surge of anti-Semitism, with a preamble that he hoped would convey his supportive disposition toward Mr. Trump.

But the exchange did not go the way he expected. A few hours later, with the clip replaying on social media and Jewish groups issuing news releases, Mr. Turx, 30, was still reeling. He said in a telephone interview, "Regretfully, today was a day I wish we could have done over."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/...s-conference-jake-turx.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Scott Pruitt, longtime adversary of EPA, confirmed to lead the agency*
By Brady Dennis
Energy and Environment
February 17 at 2:20 PM

*VIDEO*

Scott Pruitt, who as Oklahoma's attorney general spent years suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its efforts to regulate various forms of pollution, was confirmed Friday as the agency's next administrator.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ed-to-lead-the-agency/?utm_term=.93fff459065f


----------



## poochee

*At Boeing, Trump returns to an economic message after a week of controversy*
By Abby Phillip and Max Ehrenfreund
Post Politics
February 17 at 2:35 PM

*VIDEO*

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - When President Trump took the stage here Friday to mark the launch of Boeing's newest aircraft, it was a scene reminiscent of his airplane hangar rallies during the presidential campaign.

Except, instead of his "Trump" branded Boeing 757 parked in the background, Boeing's newest product, the Dreamliner 787-10, glittered in the sun behind him, and off to the side stood Trump's new ride, Air Force One.

Trump's somewhat unusual appearance at the launch event for the company's highly anticipated version 10 of the Dreamliner wasn't to roll out new economic policy or even push a specific economic agenda item. Instead, it seemed that Trump was there to boost the company with a presidential endorsement for its American-made fleet, and he in turn would be the face of a major milestone for one of the country's largest job creators.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.ccc68efbc6ed&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Lawmakers say Trump's words matter - and hurt the country's standing abroad*
By Sean Sullivan and Mike DeBonis February 18 at 10:16 AM

*VIDEO*

A growing roster of Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill say they believe President Trump's pugnacious rhetoric and unpredictable behavior threaten to diminish the United States' standing around the world, do real damage to fragile diplomatic relationships and even weaken global stability.

Lawmakers are speaking in increasingly urgent tones about Trump's unusual foreign policy statements and his tendency to pick fights with domestic and international figures. They say it has taken a toll on the way key allies, foes and other foreign observers view the United States. Even members of Trump's own party are having difficulties vouching for him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/lawmakers-say-trumps-words-matter--and-are-hurting-the-countrys-standing-abroad/2017/02/17/1cacaa9e-f55b-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_pwr-words-827am:homepage/story&utm_term=.7bcc0cc54652


----------



## poochee

*With 'Fake News,' Trump Moves From Alternative Facts To Alternative Language*
February 17, 20178:27 PM ET 
Danielle Kurtzleben 

Anyone who has followed the news knows this isn't what "fake news" meant just a few months ago. Back then, it meant lies posing as news, made up by people from Macedonian teenagers to a dad in the Los Angeles suburbs. The stories impacted the election to some unmeasurable degree, and they also presented a tangible threat when a gunman inspired by false stories fired shots inside Washington pizza restaurant Comet Ping Pong.

Now, Trump casts all unfavorable news coverage as fake news. In one tweet, he even went so far as to say that "any negative polls are fake news." And many of his supporters have picked up and run with his new definition.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/17/51563...rom-alternative-facts-to-alternative-language


----------



## poochee

*Timeline: What we know about the Trump campaign, his White House and Russia*
By Marshall Cohen

Updated 6:22 AM ET, Thu February 16, 2017

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/politics/trump-russia-timeline/index.html


----------



## poochee

*McCain slams Trump in Munich speech without using his name*
By richard lardner, associated press
WASHINGTON - Feb 17, 2017, 5:53 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Republican Sen. John McCain delivered a withering critique of President Donald Trump in a speech Friday that highlighted fractures within the GOP as the new administration struggles to overcome a chaotic start.

Speaking in Germany at the Munich Security Conference, McCain didn't mention the president's name, according to the prepared text, while he lamented a shift in the United States and Europe away from the "universal values" that forged the Western alliance seven decades ago. McCain is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the value of NATO, calling the military pact obsolete, and sought instead to stoke a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, Trump's defense secretary, Jim Mattis, has accused Putin of wanting to break NATO.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/mccain-slams-trump-munich-speech-45573414


----------



## poochee

*McCain: Dictators 'get started by suppressing free press'*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 5:31 PM ET, Sat February 18, 2017

*VIDEOS*

*Story highlights*

Free press needed "to preserve democracy as we know it," McCain said
Trump called the US press "the enemy of the American people"
(CNN)Sen. John McCain slammed President Donald Trump's attacks on the media this week by noting dictators "get started by suppressing free press."

It was a startling observation from a sitting member of Congress against the President of the United States, especially considering McCain is a member of Trump's party.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump-dictators/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump attempts a reset with a rally, new staff and a renewed fight with the media*
By Jenna Johnson and John Wagner
Politics
February 18 at 7:16 PM

*VIDEO*

MELBOURNE, Fla. - Nearly a month into a presidency full of missteps, Donald Trump returned Saturday to firmer ground outside of Washington, staging a raucous campaign-style rally here with a throng of adoring supporters who helped sweep him into the White House.

For 45 minutes, there was no talk of the president's falling approval ratings or turmoil in his administration. Instead, Trump rattled off familiar campaign promises, scolded the media, mocked protesters gathered outside, declared that it is "a new day in America" and basked in applause from a crowd of 9,000 that waited hours in the sun to see him.

"This will be change for the ages, change like never before," Trump thundered toward the end of his remarks, which included several exaggerations and misrepresentations about his fledgling presidency.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attempts-a-reset-with-a-rally-new-staff-and-a-renewed-fight-with-the-media/2017/02/18/6ec54f74-f54d-11e6-b9c9-e83fce42fb61_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumpreset-234pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.e23d05187e12


----------



## poochee

Feb 18, 2:23 PM EST
*Pence says US to hold Russia accountable, stand with NATO*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

MUNICH (AP) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday conveyed a message to jittery partners that the Trump administration will "hold Russia accountable" and maintain steadfast support for NATO, a military alliance the American commander in chief once dismissed as "obsolete."

In his overseas debut as vice president, Pence told the audience at the Munich Security Conference that the U.S. would be "unwavering" in its commitment to NATO and that President Donald Trump would "stand with Europe." Pence pointed to their shared "noble ideals - freedom, democracy, justice and the rule of law."

Addressing the violence in Ukraine, Pence said the U.S. would demand that Russia honor a 2015 deal to end violence in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists. He did not mention findings by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in last year's presidential election to help Trump win the White House.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-18-14-23-32


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Sweden comment raises questions*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 1:13 PM ET, Sun February 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

"We've got to keep our country safe," he said. "You look at what's happening in Germany. You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what's happening in Brussels. You look at what's happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris."

--------------------------------------------------------------

Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, questioned the President's statement on Twitter.

"Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking?" Bildt tweeted. "Questions abound."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/19/politics/trump-rally-sweden/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 19, 1:25 PM EST
*Europeans wonder if Trump will act on Pence's reassurances*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

MUNICH (AP) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was the latest in a trio of high-ranking Trump emissaries to tell European allies in person that the United States will steadfastly support NATO and demand that Russia honor its commitments to end fighting in Ukraine.

Some European leaders, however, remain skeptical of whether Pence and the U.S. secretaries of state and defense actually speak for President Donald Trump. And they worry those declarations might easily be swept away at the whim of the mercurial American president.

"We are waiting for actions," said Polish President Andrzej Duda. "We only know what the media has reported and the statements that we've got. Now we are waiting for actions of the new government of Donald Trump."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-19-13-25-48


----------



## poochee

*Fact-checking President Trump's rally in Florida*
By Glenn Kessler
Fact Checker
Analysis
February 19 at 11:16 AM

*VIDEO*

President Trump's speech at a campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Fla., was filled with a number of dubious claims. Here's a quick round-up of his rhetoric - and the facts. *We will examine these statements in the order in which he made them.
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-1131am:homepage/story&utm_term=.43fa9ca8b3a2


----------



## poochee

Analysis
*5 Questions After A Chaotic Week In The Trump White House*
February 19, 20178:03 AM ET
Mara Liasson 

What a week it was for Donald Trump.

As if everyone didn't know this already - Donald Trump is governing just the way he campaigned. He's a one-man band with an impulsive, seat-of-the-pants management style. As his former rival Jeb Bush correctly predicted way back in the primaries, he's the "chaos candidate" and now the "chaos president." While it's too soon to subscribe to some of the hyperventilating headlines about a "crisis" in the West Wing, there's no doubt Trump's has been the most chaotic start to any administration in modern times.

*Here are five questions about Trump's extraordinary fourth week in office.*

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/516049981/5-questions-after-a-chaotic-week-in-the-trump-white-house


----------



## poochee

Feb 19 2017, 9:25 am ET
*Former CIA Director Panetta: Building Loyalty with Intel Can Help Stop Leaks*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's friction with the intelligence community is fostering a "lack of trust" atmosphere and damaging morale, former CIA Director Leon Panetta told NBC's Chuck Todd.

Panetta, speaking on Sunday's "Meet The Press," said of the relationship: "Obviously, it's not a good situation."

"Because there is a lack of trust between the president and the intelligence community, and between the intelligence community and the president. And, you know, every time he demeans the intelligence community or accuses it of leaks or accuses it of doing things that it's not doing, that obviously impacts on the morale of that institution," he added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...el-can-help-stop-n722941?cid=eml_pol_20170219


----------



## poochee

*Senators want Russia-related materials preserved*
By Eric Bradner and Manu Raju, CNN
Updated 4:55 PM ET, Sun February 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_The Senate Intelligence Committee is asking more than a dozen agencies, organizations and individuals to preserve communications related to the panel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The panel, led by chairman Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, and top Democrat, Mark Warner of Virginia, sent letters asking for those materials to be kept, a Senate aide said Sunday. The letters were sent Friday, the same day committee members discussed Russia in a private meeting with FBI Director James Comey.

The move comes amid inquiries into whether President Donald Trump's campaign officials were in contact with Russian officials and other Russians known to US intelligence during the 2016 race. High-level advisers close to then-presidential nominee Donald Trump were in constant communication during the campaign with Russians known to US intelligence, multiple current and former intelligence, law enforcement and administration officials have told CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/19/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-russia-materials/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Reality collides with Trump's promises*
_The president proclaims a successful first month despite falling short on major pledges_.
By Eli Stokols
02/19/17 03:53 PM EST

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump touts "incredible progress" in his first month in office. But the frenetic period that opened with an inaugural address about "American carnage" and ended with a raucous campaign rally has brought a spotty record that falls short of his promises

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-reality-promises-235198


----------



## poochee

*White House confirms adviser reassigned after disagreeing with Trump*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 11:30 AM ET, Mon February 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Sanders said she was "not extending a blanket policy"
Deare's reassignment is not the first time a senior administration official has been removed
West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN)A senior National Security Council adviser was reassigned to his old job at the National Defense University, a White House spokeswoman confirmed Sunday, after he criticized the Trump administration's Latin American policies.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/19/politics/craig-deare-white-house-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Has the White House press office's silence become a weapon in its war on the media?*
Paul Farhi By Paul Farhi
February 20 at 10:00 AM

*VIDEO*

An eye-opening sentence has appeared in several important news stories about the Trump administration in recent days: The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Not "the White House declined to comment" or "We'll get right back to you." But no response at all when reporters have asked for the White House's take on developments.

At a time when President Trump has declared the news media the "enemy of the American people," the official silence from the White House has left some journalists wondering whether the non-responses are mere indifference or a strategy to discredit journalists by pointing to flaws after publication instead of beforehand.

For its part, the White House - which, yes, responded to this story - blames reporters for not trying hard enough to get the White House's side of the story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...-1030am:homepage/story&utm_term=.ca13f848ce84


----------



## poochee

EXCLUSIVE
News
Feb 20 2017, 9:40 am ET
*Russia Compiles Psychological Dossier on Trump for Putin*
by Bill Neely

*VIDEO*

MOSCOW - A dossier on Donald Trump's psychological makeup is being prepared for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Among its preliminary conclusions is that the new American leader is a risk-taker who can be naïve, according to a senior Kremlin adviser.

Trump "doesn't understand fully who is Mr. Putin - he is a tough guy," former Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov told NBC News.

The file is being compiled by retired diplomats and some of Putin's staff, he added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-compiles-psychological-dossier-trump-putin-n723196


----------



## poochee

*Can Trump win over African Americans? This survey suggests there's little chance.*
By Jonathan Collins
February 20 at 8:00 AM

As February began, President Trump made a seemingly routine political gesture by convening in the White House with African American allies to mark Black History Month. Initially started as "***** History Week" by famed African American historian Carter G. Woodson, Black History Month has been recognized by every U.S. president dating to Gerald R. Ford. The observance has become a period in which the country acknowledges the wide-ranging contributions of a group of Americans whose story in the United States began with bondage and chains.

Trump's "listening session," however, was quickly overshadowed by a set of rambling remarks in which he complained about the news media and described abolitionist Frederick Douglass - who died in 1895 - as "an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice."

The event highlighted Trump's particular challenges in winning over African Americans. Most obviously, he has been dogged by questions about connections between his advisers and the white nationalist movement. During the 2016 campaign, he was widely criticized by the black community for making a seemingly flippant and tongue-in-cheek appeal by asking: "What do you have to lose?" The campaign also resurrected allegations surrounding a 1973 housing-related federal discrimination lawsuit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.c633109e32d7&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*CPAC rescinds Yiannopoulos invitation amid social media uproar*
By David Weigel and Robert Costa February 20 at 2:03 PM

The organizers of this week's Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded their booking of Breitbart Editor Milo Yiannopoulos on Monday, following an outcry after the right-wing speaker's critics resurfaced videos of him criticizing age-of-consent laws and joking about a teenage sexual encounter he had with a Catholic priest.

"Due to the revelation of an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning pedophilia, the American Conservative Union has decided to rescind the invitation," the group's chairman, Matt Schlapp, said in a statement.

He added, "We realize that Mr. Yiannopoulos has responded on Facebook, but it is insufficient. It is up to him to answer the tough questions and we urge him to immediately further address these disturbing comments."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.31b07a41e636&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos resigns following outrage over his past comments about pedophilia*
By Paul Farhi By Paul Farhi
February 21 at 3:11 PM

*VIDEO*

Milo Yiannopoulos, the incendiary writer and commentator who helped make Breitbart News a leading organ of the "alt-right," resigned from the news organization Tuesday after a video of him endorsing pedophilia surfaced online over the weekend.

Yiannopoulos - known simply as MILO in Breitbart's own coverage of him - has been a flame-throwing provocateur whose writing has offended women, Muslims, blacks and gay people ever since former Breitbart executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon hired him as a senior editor in 2014.

Bannon, now President Trump's senior adviser, championed the British-born Yiannopoulos's inflammatory commentary and promoted him as a conservative truth teller and champion of free speech. In turn, his popularity helped raise Breitbart's profile among Trump's supporters and the "alt-right," a vaguely defined collection of nationalists, anti-immigration proponents, and anti-establishment conservatives.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.edad877a5662


----------



## poochee

*Trump keeps DACA but chips away at barriers to deportation*
By Tal Kopan and Laura Jarrett, CNN
Updated 3:38 PM ET, Tue February 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

DACA does not confer lawful status upon an individual, but it provides undocumented immigrations a means to work and live in the US
Immigration officers now have unfettered discretion to deport anyone charged with any criminal offense
Washington (CNN)The Trump administration on Tuesday delivered its most explicit embrace yet of Obama-era protections for young undocumented immigrants -- while at the same time issuing new rules that immigration advocates fear effectively chips away at the previous barriers to deportation.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/politics/daca-dreamers-donald-trump-both-ways/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump decries anti-Semitic acts as 'horrible' amid calls for stronger White House denu*nciations
By Fred Barbash, Ben Guarino and Brian Murphy
February 21 at 11:02 AM

*VIDEO*

President Trump called anti-Semitic violence "horrible" and vowed Tuesday to take steps to counter extremism in comments that followed criticism that the White House had not clearly denounced vandalism and threats targeting Jewish institutions.

Hours before Trump's remarks, Hillary Clinton called on her former presidential rival to speak out against anti-Semitic acts after more than 170 Jewish graves were found toppled at a cemetery in Missouri.

"The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community at community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil," Trump said following a visit to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...es-10pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.8494c346d807


----------



## poochee

Feb 21 2017, 8:28 am ET
*Trump Has the Opportunity for a Reset. But Can He Seize It?*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*Trump has the opportunity for a reset. Can he seize it*?

After a chaotic and controversial first month in office, President Trump's week has the potential for a bit of a reset - a new national security adviser, a revised travel ban, even a stop this morning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. But here's the $64,000 question: Can Trump enjoy a no-drama week? The stakes are important, given that Congress is on recess with many of its members holding town halls across the country, and given that Trump's approval rating stands at historic lows for a new president. This week is a big opportunity for the president and his team. Can they seize it?

*The administration speaks with more than one voice*

Over the last few days, key Trump administration officials have made comments that directly contradict the president on key issues, suggesting that the administration speaks with more than one voice. *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-can-he-seize-it-n723526?cid=eml_pol_20170221


----------



## poochee

Feb 21, 10:41 PM EST
*Millions targeted for possible deportation under Trump rules*
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of people living in the United States illegally could be targeted for deportation - including people simply arrested for traffic violations - under a sweeping rewrite of immigration enforcement policies announced Tuesday by the Trump administration.

Any immigrant who is in the country illegally and is charged or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime, will now be an enforcement priority, according to Homeland Security Department memos signed by Secretary John Kelly. That could include people arrested for shoplifting or minor offenses - or simply having crossed the border illegally.

The Trump administration memos replace narrower guidance focusing on immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes, are considered threats to national security or are recent border crossers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-21-22-41-15


----------



## poochee

Feb 22 2017, 12:05 am ET
*Texas Judge Blocks Cutting Funds to Planned Parenthood in Sharp Rebuke*
by Phil Helsel and The Associated Press

*VIDEO*

A federal judge in Texas ruled Tuesday that the state can't cut off funding for Planned Parenthood over secretly recorded videos taken by anti-abortion activists in 2015, which critics said were misleading and heavily edited.

"A secretly recorded video, fake names, a grand jury indictment, congressional investigations - these are the building blocks of a best-selling novel rather than a case concerning the interplay of federal and state authority through the Medicaid program," U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote in an order.

"Yet, rather than a villain plotting to take over the world, the subject of this case is the State of Texas's efforts to expel a group of health care providers from a social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources," Sparks wrote.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...funds-planned-parenthood-sharp-rebuke-n723956


----------



## poochee

*Wells Fargo fires four managers over unauthorized accounts scandal*
 Kevin McCoy  , USA TODAY Published 2:00 p.m. ET Feb. 21, 2017 | Updated 8 hours ago

*VIDEO*

Wells Fargo on Tuesday said it has fired four current or former senior managers amid the U.S. banking giant's internal investigation of a scandal involving millions of accounts unauthorized by customers.

The four were terminated for cause in a unanimous vote by the company's board of directors, which is continuing its review of the bank's retail banking sales practices and related issues, Wells Fargo (WFC) disclosed in a statement.

The ousters came as the San Francisco-headquartered financial company faced pressure to demonstrate management accountability for the scandal that erupted in early September.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...-over-unauthorized-accounts-scandal/98202788/


----------



## poochee

*Anger Rises Across The Country At GOP Congressional Town Halls*
February 22, 201711:59 AM ET 
Jessica Taylor 

*VIDEO*

Republican members of Congress aren't exactly getting a warm welcome in their home districts during this week's recess.

Angry constituents have confronted legislators at town halls across the country, upset over everything from the GOP's plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Trump White House's travel ban, alleged Russian interference in the U.S. elections and more. New York Rep. Tom Reed, for example, faced these questions in a series of town halls he held over the weekend.

The backlash is happening in some deep red places, stretching from Reed's western New York district to Kentucky and Iowa. Some national Republicans - and President Trump in a Tuesday night tweet - have tried to dismiss the progressive activists helping to organize the protests.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/22/51652...s-the-country-at-gop-congressional-town-halls


----------



## poochee

Feb 22, 1:33 PM EST
*Trump sends top aides to Mexico amid deep strains with US*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- President Donald Trump is sending his top diplomat and homeland security chief to Mexico on a fence-mending mission made all the more challenging by the actual fence he wants to build on the southern border.

Ties between the countries have plunged since Trump took office a month ago, punctuated by Trump's insistence that Mexico pay for a border wall and other demands on illegal immigration and trade. And in Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly will face a government anxiously rethinking its relationship with its bigger, richer and more powerful neighbor.

Tillerson was arriving Wednesday evening in Mexico City. Kelly, whose agency is responsible for implementing Trump's immigration crackdown, was to arrive separately after visiting Guatemala. They plan to meet Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and other top officials.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-22-13-33-03


----------



## poochee

Feb 22 2017, 4:37 am ET
*Amnesty International Blames Trump, Others for Rights Rollback*

PARIS - Amnesty International says President Donald Trump's "poisonous" rhetoric on his way to winning the White House led a global trend towards increasingly divisive politics in 2016 that had made the world a "darker" place.

It alleged that "toxic" fear-mongering by anti-establishment politicians is contributing to a global pushback against human rights.

Releasing its 408-page annual report on rights abuses around the world Wednesday, the watchdog group described 2016 as "the year when the cynical use of 'us vs. them' narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s," when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.

The Associated Press and Reuters

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/a...-rights-rollback-n723991?cid=eml_pol_20170222


----------



## poochee

Feb 22 2017, 6:00 am ET
*Poll: Majority of Americans Worried About War, Feel Favorably Toward NATO*
by Hannah Hartig, John Lapinski and Stephanie Perry

*CHARTS *

Nearly two-thirds of Americans, divided sharply along party lines, are worried that the United States will become engaged in a major war in the next four years, according to results from the latest NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll.

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/data...ably-toward-nato-n723931?cid=eml_pol_20170222


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 2/22/17
*Trump approval stands at 43 percent: poll*

Top Talkers: A new NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll shows 43 percent of Americans approve of the job the president is doing, while 54 percent disapprove. The Morning Joe panel digs into the numbers.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/trump-approval-stands-at-43-percent-poll-882294851915


----------



## poochee

*Kellyanne Conway sidelined from TV after Flynn debacle*
by Dylan Byers @CNNMoney February 22, 2017: 3:01 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Kellyanne Conway, once the most visible spokesperson for the Trump White House, has been sidelined from television appearances for making statements that were at odds with the administration's official stance, White House sources told CNNMoney on Wednesday.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/22/media/kellyanne-conway-sidelined-from-tv/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump administration rolls back protections for transgender students*
By Sandhya Somashekhar, Emma Brown, Moriah Balingit and Robert Barnes
Education
February 22 at 7:45 PM

The Trump administration on Wednesday revoked federal protections for transgender students who sought the right to use the public school restrooms that match their gender identity, taking a stand on a contentious issue that has become the central battle over LGBT rights.

Officials with the federal Education and Justice departments notified the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday that the administration is ordering the nation's schools to disregard memos the Obama administration issued during the past two years regarding transgender student rights. Those memos said that prohibiting transgender students from using facilities that align with their gender identity violates federal anti-discrimination laws.

The two-page "dear colleague" letter from the Trump administration, which is set to go to the nation's public schools, does not offer any new guidance, instead saying that the earlier directive needed to be withdrawn because it lacked extensive legal analysis, did not go through a public vetting process, sowed confusion and drew legal challenges.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-administration-rolls-back-protections-for-transgender-students/2017/02/22/550a83b4-f913-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_story.html?utm_term=.0e4d65c76d97&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%2Bnation


----------



## poochee

*White House punts new travel order to next week*
By Jordan Fabian - 02/22/17 06:11 PM EST

The White House is pushing back the release of a revised executive order on travel and refugees until next week, an official said Wednesday.

No explanation was given for the delay, and it remains unclear how the White House will tweak the travel ban to avoid future legal pitfalls.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/320735-white-house-punts-new-travel-order-to-next-week


----------



## poochee

*Trump is turning to Wall Street for top jobs. Democrats hope to use that against him.*
By John Wagner and Renae Merle
Politics
February 22 at 3:21 PM

*GRAPHIC*

As a candidate, Donald Trump lumped Wall Street in with Washington as part of a "corrupt" system he pledged to fight against on behalf of everyday Americans. But as president, he has plucked Wall Street executives for top administration jobs and launched a rollback of regulations considered onerous by the industry.

Now Democrats are trying to seize on the contradiction in hopes winning back working-class voters whose allegiance to Trump caught the party flat-footed in last year's elections.

"It is one of Democrats' highest priorities to hold President Trump and these Wall Street insiders accountable for their efforts to reinstate economic policies that benefited billionaires at the expense of working Americans," said Adrienne Watson, national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...rm=.61c7a42223a6&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Feb 22, 7:26 PM EST
*DNC race remains tight as energized Democrats combat Trump*
By LISA LERER and BILL BARROW
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- Just days before Democratic activists pick a new party chair, the contest to head the Democratic National Committee remains fluid, as national leaders grapple with how to turn an outpouring of liberal protest against President Donald Trump into political gains.

A tight race between former Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota marks the first heavily contested battle to run the organization in recent history, a reflection of a newly energized Democratic Party struggling to find the best path forward after years of losses in Congress, governor's mansions and statehouses.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-22-19-26-54


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is losing his war with the media*
Aaron Blake
The Fix
Analysis
February 22 at 2:52 PM

*VIDEO*

It's pretty clear what President Trump is doing by going after the media. He sees someone who is tough on him, with a lower approval rating, and he sets up a contrast. It's like making yourself look taller by standing next to a short person.

"You have a lower approval rate than Congress," he needled reporters at last week's news conference, making clear he had done the math.

Except maybe it's not really working.

A new poll from Quinnipiac University suggests that while people may be broadly unhappy with the mainstream media, they still think it's more credible than Trump. The president regularly accuses the press of "fake news," but people see more "fake news" coming out of his own mouth.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...a/?tid=pm_politics_pop&utm_term=.feb2419dacee


----------



## poochee

*Police start arresting Dakota Pipeline protesters as camp deadline passes*
USA Today Network Steph Solis  , USA TODAY Published 2:34 a.m. ET Feb. 22, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*PHOTOS*

Police on Thursday started arresting protesters who refused to leave the Dakota Access pipeline protest camp by Wednesday's deadline, according to reports by The Associated Press and NBC News.

The arrests come hours after remnants of the camp went up in flames as protesters set fire to the wooden housing as part of a departure ceremony.

The protesters stayed on the federal land for six months as they tried to block construction efforts. While many planned to go peacefully, others said they would defy the 2 p.m. CT Wednesday deadline, the AP reported.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-oil-pipeline-protest-camp-deadline/98240228/


----------



## poochee

*Mexico says no to Trump's new deportation rules*
David Agren and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY Published 1:34 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2017 | Updated 7 hours ago

*VIDEOS*

MEXICO CITY - Mexico will vigorously fight U.S. mass deportations of undocumented immigrants back to Mexico and refuse to accept any non-Mexicans expelled across the border, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray vowed Wednesday.

A day after the Trump administration unveiled tough new guidelines for enforcing immigration laws, Videgaray said the treatment of Mexican migrants in the United States would top his country's agenda when President Enrique Peña Nieto meets Thursday with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

"I want to make clear, in the most emphatic way, that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept measures that, in a unilateral way, one government wants to impose on another," Videgary said.

He added that Mexico would go to the United Nations to defend the rights of its migrants. "We are not going to accept it because we don't have to accept it and because it is not in the interests of Mexico," he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ister-mexico-immigrations-proposals/98252710/


----------



## poochee

*McMaster May Reorganize Trump's Foreign Policy Team Once Again*
By PETER BAKER FEB. 22, 2017

WASHINGTON - Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, President Trump's new national security adviser, is considering a reorganization of the White House foreign policy team that would give him control of Homeland Security and guarantee full access to the military and intelligence agencies.

Just days after arriving at the White House, Mr. McMaster is weighing changes to an organization chart that generated consternation when it was issued last month.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/...r-trump-foreign-policy.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Russia military acknowledges new branch: info warfare troops*
By vladimir isachenkov, associated press
MOSCOW - Feb 22, 2017, 11:22 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Along with a steady flow of new missiles, planes and tanks, Russia's defense minister said Wednesday his nation also has built up its muscle by forming a new branch of the military - information warfare troops.

Sergei Shoigu's statement - which came amid Western allegations of Russian hacking - marked the first official acknowledgement of the existence of such forces.

Speaking to parliament, Shoigu said that the military received a sweeping array of new weapons last year, including 41 intercontinental ballistic missiles.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-military-continues-massive-upgrade-45652381


----------



## poochee

Feb 22 2017, 10:33 pm ET
*Muslim Fundraiser to Repair Jewish Cemetery Raises $100k *
by Mary Emily O'Hara

*VIDEO*

In just over 24 hours, an online fundraiser encouraging Muslims to donate to repair vandalism at a Jewish cemetery has raised over $100,000.

The LaunchGood.com fundraising page set up by Linda Sarsour of MPower Change and Celebrate Mercy's Tarek El-Messidi - garnered $20,000 in donations in its first three hours alone, shortly after being launched on Tuesday.

"People in a cemetery should be able to rest in peace," Sarsour said on MSNBC Wednesday, telling Andrea Mitchell that she "expected nothing less from my community, who has always been a generous community."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/muslim-fundraiser-repair-jewish-cemetery-raises-100k-n724221


----------



## poochee

2/21/17
*Mental health experts say Trump is unfit to serve*
*
VIDEO
*
Some psychologists and psychiatrists are speaking out about Trump because of a duty to warn. Lawrence talks to two experts with this view: Dr. Lance Dodes and Dr. John Gartner, whose online petition of mental health professionals has more than 26,000 signatures.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/...erts-say-trump-is-unfit-to-serve-882688067737


----------



## poochee

*Top Trump Advisers Bannon And Priebus Emphasize Unity At CPAC* 
February 23, 20171:35 PM ET 
 Jessica Taylor 

*VIDEO*

Top White House advisers Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference to make the case that despite seeming like a political odd couple, the two represent the successful marriage of disparate wings of the Republican Party, united under President Trump.

"The truth of the matter is [Trump] brought together the party and the conservative movement, and I've got to tell you, if the party and the conservative movement are together ... it can't be stopped," said Priebus, the White House chief of staff and former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

* *
Bannon, the president's chief strategist and former Breitbart News executive chairman, echoed that sentiment at the annual conservative confab, held just outside the nation's capital in National Harbor, Md.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/23/516847668/top-trump-advisers-bannon-and-priebus-set-to-address-cpac


----------



## poochee

Feb 23, 5:44 PM EST
*Justice Ginsburg praises media and the role of free press*
By SAM HANANEL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is praising the media at a time when the Trump administration has accused reporters of being dishonest and delivering "fake news."

Ginsburg told the BBC's "Newsnight" program in an interview Thursday that she reads The Washington Post and The New York Times every day, and that "reporters are trying to tell the public the truth."

The 83-year-old justice did not comment directly on President Donald Trump, but said she was encouraged by the massive women's march in Washington, the day after his inauguration Jan. 20, when demonstrators protested his election victory.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-23-17-44-33


----------



## poochee

Feb 23, 5:32 PM EST
*Homeland Security chief: No use of military for deportations*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Seeking to tamp down growing unease in Latin America, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly pledged Thursday that the United States won't enlist its military to enforce immigration laws and that there will be "no mass deportations."

Only hours earlier, President Donald Trump suggested the opposite. He told CEOs at the White House the deportation push was a "military operation."

Kelly, speaking in Mexico's capital, said all deportations will comply with human rights requirements and the U.S. legal system, including its multiple appeals for those facing deportation. He said the U.S. approach will involve "close coordination" with Mexico's government.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-23-17-32-34


----------



## poochee

*Trump: U.S. will remain at 'top of the pack' on nuclear weapons*
 David Jackson  , USA TODAY Published 4:15 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2017 | Updated 8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Trump pledged Thursday to keep the United States at the "top of the pack" in terms of nuclear weapons, expanding the nation's nuclear arsenal if necessary and suggesting that changes to a treaty with Russia could be possible.

"I am the first one that would like to see everybody - nobody - have nukes, but we're never going to fall behind any country even if it's a friendly country," Trump told Reuters in an interview. "We're never going to fall behind on nuclear power."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...rump-reuters-interview-russia-china/98314846/


----------



## poochee

*Alt-right leader Richard Spencer kicked out of CPAC*
 Jessica Estepa  , USA TODAY Published 4:45 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2017 | Updated 21 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

White nationalist Richard Spencer on Thursday was kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Spencer, the controversial public face of the alternative right movement, had purchased a general admission pass on Thursday morning and was spotted speaking to reporters in the lobby of the hotel where CPAC is held, according to media reports.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...23/alt-right-leader-kicked-out-cpac/98318034/

After CPAC officials were told of Spencer's presence, security booted him from the premises


----------



## poochee

*Trump's repetitive rhetoric is a trick used in advertising*
 Sean Rossman  , USA TODAY Published 6:07 p.m. ET Feb. 16, 2017 | Updated 1:01 p.m. ET Feb. 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

President Trump, at a Thursday news conference, repeatedly declared he inherited a "mess" when becoming president.

"To be honest, I inherited a mess," he said. "It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess." He then explained how jobs and companies are leaving the U.S. and the instability of foreign countries before adding, again, for emphasis, "I inherited a mess."

The president's rhythm of speaking, in which he echoes the same phrases and descriptors, has been on display since he entered the presidential race. The examples have penetrated the zeitgeist. Bad deals are "terrible," the media is "dishonest," and the system, "broken."

The style of repetition isn't lost on linguists, who say his speech is similar to what advertisers use to get people to buy products. And it's working, thanks to the makeup of our brain.

MORE............

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...rumps-repetition-advertising-tactic/98014444/


----------



## poochee

*President Trump At CPAC: 'The Era Of Empty Talk Is Over' * 
February 24, 201710:12 AM ET 
 Jessica Taylor  

 *VIDEO*

Trump's stem-winder of just under an hour, which he delivered to the adoring crowd just outside Washington on Friday morning, felt more like a campaign speech than a presidential address, reliving many of his greatest hits and applause lines on the campaign trail - even down to the crowd breaking out in chants of "lock her up" about his vanquished rival, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The president boasted to attendees that "the era of empty talk is over" as he began to tick off each of his campaign promises.

"We're going to repeal and replace Obamacare," he promised, despite the fact that Republicans have not yet settled on an alternative plan.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/24/517009754/watch-live-president-trump-addresses-cpac


----------



## poochee

*Trump escalates his feud with the media*
_The president pledges to 'do something' about damaging stories while the White House selectively blocks media from briefing with Spicer._
By Nolan D. McCaskill
02/24/17 10:45 AM EST
Updated 02/24/17 03:58 PM EST

The White House canceled Friday's on-camera briefing with press secretary Sean Spicer, replacing it with a private, off-camera gaggle in Spicer's office with what it characterized as an "expanded pool."

Outlets such as POLITICO, CNN and The New York Times were sidelined, however, while a select group of journalists, including many conservative outlets, were given access. The Associated Press and Time magazine were granted access but declined it in protest and in solidarity with the White House Correspondents Association.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-media-makes-up-sources-235345


----------



## poochee

*Media figures slam White House for excluding outlets from briefing*
By Mark Hensch - 02/24/17 02:54 PM EST

Key media figures lined up Friday to condemn the White House's decision to block several news outlets from covering a question-and-answer session with press secretary Sean Spicer.

The administration blocked a number of outlets from Spicer's gaggle Friday afternoon, including The Hill, the New York Times, CNN, Politico, the BBC, BuzzFeed and others.

The move drew wide-ranging rebukes. CNN, which has been particularly targeted by President Trump in recent weeks, called the move "an unacceptable development " in a statement, adding: "Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless."

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/321063-media-slams-limited-wh-press-access


----------



## poochee

Feb 24, 1:36 PM EST
*Officials: Trump adviser asked FBI to dispute Russia reports*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked top FBI officials to dispute media reports that Donald Trump's campaign advisers were frequently in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election, according to three White House officials who confirmed the unusual contact with law enforcement involved in a pending investigation.

The officials said that Priebus' Feb. 15 request to FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe came as the White House sought to discredit a New York Times report about calls between Russian intelligence officials and people involved with Trump's presidential run.

As of Friday, the FBI had not commented publicly on the veracity of the report and there was no indication it planned to, despite the White House's request.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-24-13-36-26


----------



## poochee

*Trump tweets anger at FBI while White House scrambles to contain fallout*
_The White House is pushing back against the media after a report revealed Priebus asked FBI to knock down a damaging story_
By Matthew Nussbaum and Louis Nelson
02/24/17 08:10 AM EST
Updated 02/24/17 02:24 PM EST

President Donald Trump chastised the FBI Friday morning for being "totally unable" to locate the source of media leaks, even as the White House scrambled to contain fallout from new reports of the White House asking the FBI to knock down damaging stories.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-scolds-fbi-leaks-235338


----------



## poochee

*Tapper: White House excluding the press is 'un-American'*
By Christina Manduley and Jason Kurtz, CNN
Updated 6:30 PM ET, Fri February 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

CNN, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and Buzzfeed were blocked from an off-camera press briefing Friday
CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin also responded on air after learning the White House had blocked the news outlets

(CNN)CNN's Jake Tapper said there's one word to describe the White House's decision to block several news organizations from a press briefing: "un-American."

CNN, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and Buzzfeed were blocked from an off-camera press briefing Friday held by White House press secretary Sean Spicer just hours after President Donald Trump again said much of the press represents "the enemy of the people," this time during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/politics/jake-tapper-white-house-trump-unamerican-cnntv/


----------



## poochee

*Fact-checking President Trump's CPAC speech*
By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee 

Fact Checker
Analysis
February 24 at 12:42 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump's speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor in Maryland was littered with some of the president's favorite and frequently cited falsehoods. Here's a roundup of 13 of his more dubious claims, listed in the order in which he made them:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rm=.698ce3f8ebfd&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Majority of Americans Say Congress Should Probe Contact Between Trump, Russia: Poll*
by Carrie Dann

*CHARTS*

About half of Americans believe that Congress should investigate whether Donald Trump's presidential campaign had contact with the Russian government in 2016, while only a quarter say that lawmakers should not probe the issue, according to a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll.

The new poll, conducted February 18-22, shows that 53 percent of the American public wants Congress to look into the alleged communications, while 25 percent disagree and 21 percent say they don't have an opinion.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ld-probe-contact-between-trump-russia-n725391


----------



## poochee

*Trump still has to fill nearly 2,000 vacancies*
By Aaron Kessler and Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 11:41 AM ET, Sat February 25, 2017

Washington (CNN)Nearly 2,000 appointed positions in the administration of President Donald Trump remain vacant, leaving many agencies with large staffing gaps waiting to be filled, according to data reviewed by CNN.

Meanwhile, Trump is noticeably behind the last three presidents when it comes to securing the confirmation of his Cabinet and other top appointments that require Senate approval.

Trump complained about the pace of confirmations Friday in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. He told the crowd the administration was "setting records" for Senate delays and that he didn't like seeing "all those empty seats" at his Cabinet meetings.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/25/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-vacancies/index.html


----------



## poochee

Feb 24 2017, 2:50 pm ET 
*GOP Draft Health Care Bill Cuts Medicaid, Insurance Subsidies*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Kasie Hunt

*VIDEO*

A draft bill detailing Republican plans to begin repealing and replacing many facets of the Affordable Care Act would provide expanded tax credits and health savings accounts for individuals while reducing federal spending on tax subsidies and Medicaid and practically eliminating both the current employer and individual mandate to provide and carry health insurance.

The 105-page draft legislation, obtained by NBC News, repeals much of the current law, also known as Obamacare, within the next few years and sets in place a Republican vision of healthcare.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...ill-cuts-medicaid-insurance-subsidies-n725331


----------



## poochee

*DNC Race: Democrats Elect New Leader Saturday*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

ATLANTA - After a polarizing campaign that has frozen efforts to rebuild the party from November's devastating loss, Democrats will elect a new leader Saturday.

Frontrunners Keith Ellison and Tom Perez - a congressman and former Obama cabinet member, respectively - have been locked in a neck-and-neck race for months, representing rival constituencies inside the factionalized party.

The winner of Saturday's vote will become chairman immediately, taking over from Interim Chair Donna Brazile, who stepped into the role after the abrupt resignation of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz last summer.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/dnc-race-democrats-elect-new-leader-saturday-n725596


----------



## poochee

*Fox anchor Shepard Smith is not amused with Trump's media bashing*
 Charles Ventura  , USA TODAY 9:53 a.m. ET Feb. 25, 2017

*VIDEO*

Following President Trump's scathing attack against the media at the Conservative Political Action Conference and the unsettling invitation-only gaggle with White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Friday, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith came to the defense of a rival network yet again.

During a news segment, the _Shepard Smith Reporting _host addressed Trump's assault of the media as "fake news" and "the enemy" of the American people.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...rd-smith-donald-trump-cnn-fake-news/98397906/


----------



## poochee

*BREAKING NEWS*

*Perez wins DNC chairmanship*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 3:37 PM ET, Sat February 25, 2017

*VIDEO*

The Democratic National Committee elected Tom Perez as its new chairman Saturday, voting for the former labor secretary over Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison in a 235-200 vote. Moments later, at Perez's request, Ellison was approved as his deputy chair.

Perez, who drew support from backers of Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, argued that the party needs to focus on voting access and down-ballot battles.

Ellison's allies, who were aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders' progressive wing, pitched him as the only candidate who could bridge the party's divisions.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/25/politics/dnc-chair-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

02/25/2017 11:46 am ET | *Updated* 6 hours ago
*Obama Is Back From Vacation And Looking *
*Oh, hello there, Mr. President.*

*By Cavan Sieczkowski* 

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...s_58b1a8ece4b0a8a9b782b71f?nqyrn0hodn0gxecdi&


----------



## poochee

Politics
Feb 25 2017, 6:29 pm ET
*Trump Will Be First POTUS to Skip White House Correspondents' Dinner in Over 30 Years*
by Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump is skipping this year's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, he announced Saturday on Twitter, offering without any explanation: "Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!"

Slated to take place April 29, the annual dinner is traditionally attended by the president, first lady, members of the administration, the White House press corps and numerous media outlets. Proceeds raised by the dinner go toward scholarships and awards for aspiring journalists.

The gathering is typically hosted by a noted comedian who roasts the president and members of the media, and then lets the commander in chief crack his own jokes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The White House Correspondents' Association responded shortly after Trump tweeted and said they still planned to have the dinner despite his absence.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...not-attend-white-house-correspondents-n725661


----------



## poochee

Feb 26, 12:30 PM EST
*New Dem Party chairman Perez pledges to repair, unite party*
By HOPE YEN and BILL BARROW
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- Newly elected Democratic national chairman Tom Perez pledged on Sunday to unite a fractured party, rebuild at all levels from "school board to the Senate" and reach out to chunks of rural America left feeling forgotten in the 2016 election.

Speaking in television interviews, Perez indicated that an important first step was joining with vanquished rival Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who agreed at Perez's invitation to serve as the Democratic National Committee's deputy chairman. Perez said the two would work hard to put out an affirmative party message while opposing President Donald Trump's policies, adding that he and Ellison were already getting a "good kick" that Trump was stirred to tweet that the DNC election was "rigged."

"We lead with our values and we lead with our actions," Perez said, describing a party focus that will emphasize protecting Social Security, Medicare and "growing good jobs in this economy."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-26-12-30-12


----------



## poochee

Feb 25, 4:31 PM EST
*The Latest: Obama congratulates Perez as new DNC leader*
AP

Former President Barack Obama has congratulated Tom Perez on his election to lead the Democratic Party and commended his decision to ask runner-up Keith Ellison to be his deputy.

Obama said in a statement that he knows "Perez will unite us under that banner of opportunity, and lay the groundwork for a new generation of Democratic leadership for this big, bold, inclusive, dynamic America we love so much."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-25-16-31-25


----------



## poochee

Feb 25, 2:42 PM EST
*In Trump's first speech to Congress, will decorum hold?*
By NANCY BENAC and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A presidential speech to Congress is one of those all-American moments that ooze ritual and decorum.

The House sergeant-at-arms will stand at the rear of the House of Representatives on Tuesday night and announce the arrival of Donald Trump before a joint session of Congress by intoning: "Mister Speaker, the President of the United States" just like always.

Trump will stride down the center aisle to lusty cheers and hearty handshakes from his Republican supporters. First lady Melania Trump, accompanied by special guests, will smile from the gallery above.

From there, though, the president who favors disruption over decorum can take the night in any number of directions. So can the Democrats who oppose him.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-25-14-42-34


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Job Approval Stands at Just 44 Percent as Partisan Splits Reign*
by Carrie Dann

VIDEO/CHARTS

President Donald Trump's job approval rating stands at just 44 percent - a record low for a newly inaugurated commander-in-chief - and half of Americans say that his early challenges suggest unique and systemic problems with his administration, according to a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.

In the poll, conducted February 18-22, 48 percent of Americans said they disapprove of Trump's performance as president and 32 percent said that his first month in office demonstrates that he is not up to the job. Asked about early challenges in the first month of his presidency, 52 percent called the issues "real problems" that are specific to his administration, while 43 percent of Americans attributed them to typical "growing pains" for any new president.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...tands-just-44-percent-partisan-splits-n725621


----------



## poochee

Politics
Feb 26 2017, 7:59 pm ET
*Trump's Pick for Navy Secretary Withdraws Over Ethics Rules, Finances*
by Tim Stelloh and Courtney Kube

Financier Philip Bilden dropped his bid to become President Donald Trump's secretary of the Navy on Sunday, citing ethics requirements and the "undue disruption" the job would have caused to his family's private financial interests.

In a statement, Bilden said he couldn't satisfy Office of Government Ethics rules without "materially adverse divestment" of those interests.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...-withdraws-over-ethics-rules-finances-n725911


----------



## poochee

**
*Here's how the worst flub in Oscar history went down*
 Maria Puente ,  Andrea Mandell and  Bryan Alexander  , USA TODAY Published 1:25 a.m. ET Feb. 27, 2017 | Updated 1 hour ago

*VIDEO*

Oscar got it wrong, wrong, soooo wrong. The presenters announced the wrong Best Picture; _Moonlight_ was the winner, not _La La Land_.

It was the biggest, most embarrassing, most awkward mistake in the history of the Academy Awards, played out before an audience of millions watching on TV and a theater full of stars standing, stunned, mouths agape, as a chaotic scene unfolded on stage at the Dolby Theater after midnight ET.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...-worst-flub-oscar-history-went-down/98466956/


----------



## poochee

Politics
*Trump To Propose $54 Billion Defense Increase, Cuts To Domestic Programs*
February 27, 201712:15 PM ET 
Brian Naylor

President Trump's budget will propose a $54 billion increase in defense spending, while slashing domestic programs by the same amount. The president told the nation's governors on Monday that his plan "puts America first," and that "we're going to do more with less, and make the government lean and accountable to people."

An official with the White House Office of Management and Budget, who spoke to reporters only if not named, said most agencies will see budget cuts, including foreign aid, which comprises less than 1 percent of federal spending.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/27/51750...lion-defense-budget-cuts-to-domestic-programs


----------



## poochee

*New Wave Of Bomb Threats Hits Jewish Community Centers Across U.S.*
ByEsme Cribb PublishedFebruary 27, 2017, 12:48 PM EDT

Jewish community centers in at least 11 states received bomb threats on Monday, echoing similar waves of threats on Jan. 9 and Jan. 18.

The threats came after hundreds of headstones were overturned at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia over the weekend. According to a report by WPVI, more than 500 headstones were damaged in what police called an act of vandalism, though they did not attribute a specific cause.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/new-wave-bomb-threats-to-jewish-community-centers


----------



## poochee

Feb 27, 11:18 AM EST
*AP-NORC Poll: US teens disillusioned, divided by politics*
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- In the days after President Donald Trump's election, thousands of teenagers across the nation walked out of class in protest. Others rallied to his defense.

It was an unusual show of political engagement from future voters who may alter America's political landscape in 2020 - or even in next year's midterm elections.

Now, a new survey of children ages 13 to 17 conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research with the permission of their parents finds that America's teens are almost as politically disillusioned and pessimistic about the nation's divisions as their parents. The difference? They aren't quite as quick to write off the future.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-27-11-18-23


----------



## poochee

*Father of dead Navy SEAL refused to meet Trump at ceremony*
By the associated press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Feb 26, 2017, 1:13 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The father of a Navy SEAL killed during an anti-terrorism raid in Yemen is demanding an investigation into its planning and criticized the Trump administration for its timing.

Bill Owens told The Miami Herald ( http://hrld.us/2lTYhPB ) in a story published Sunday that he refused to meet with President Donald Trump when both came to Dover Air Force Base to receive the casket carrying his son, Chief Special Warfare Officer William "Ryan" Owens.

"I want an investigation," said Owens, a retired Fort Lauderdale police detective and veteran. "The government owes my son an investigation."

http://abcnews.go.com/International...avy-seal-refused-meet-trump-ceremony-45749160


----------



## poochee

*George W. Bush discovers his 'inner Rembrandt' in homage to veterans*
By Eli Watkins and Jamie Gangel, CNN
Updated 4:04 PM ET, Mon February 27, 2017

*PAINTINGS*

Washington (CNN)Former President George W. Bush is back in the spotlight to promote a book of his paintings titled "Portraits of Courage," a collection of stories, 66 portraits and a four-panel mural that he painted to honor military veterans.

"I know each person I painted," the former President said in a wide-ranging interview Monday on NBC's "Today." "I was thinking about their backgrounds, their service, their injuries and their recovery."









After leaving office in 2009, Bush began to paint, but he kept his new hobby a secret. Inspired by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who painted extensively, Bush told friends and family that he found painting relaxing and that he hoped it would inspire others to try new things. Along the way, he hired an art teacher to help him with technique and, notably, told her he wanted to discover his "inner Rembrandt."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/27/politics/george-w-bush-paintings/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Guess How Much Of Uncle Sam's Money Goes To Foreign Aid. Guess Again!* 
February 10, 20155:17 PM ET 
Poncie Rutsch

*CHART*

How much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid?

What's your best guess? 10 percent? 20 percent? 1 percent?

If you're like most Americans, you probably guessed wrong.

In December, the Kaiser Family Foundation polled 1,505 people. Only 1 in 20 knew the right answer: less than 1 percent of the $4 trillion federal budget goes to foreign aid. The average respondent estimated that 26 percent went toward assisting other countries.

What's more, our ignorance colors the way we think about foreign spending. Fifty-six percent of the poll respondents thought the U.S. spends too much on foreign aid. Once they were told that the U.S. spends less than 1 percent of the federal budget on foreign aid, only 28 percent still thought the nation was overspending.

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...le-sams-money-goes-to-foreign-aid-guess-again


----------



## poochee

*Comment *
March 6, 2017 Issue 
*Trumpcare vs. Obamacare*
*Americans don't want to lose the benefits they have gained, and Republicans are hearing about it.  *
By Atul Gawande

The pitchforks are changing hands. In 2009, it was Democratic members of Congress supporting health-care reform who were set upon by outraged constituents. When they passed the Affordable Care Act anyway, it cost their party control of Congress in the 2010 midterm elections. House Republicans subsequently voted more than fifty times to repeal or cripple the A.C.A. Nineteen Republican-led states spurned the offer of federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage. In January, Donald Trump's first act as President was to order government agencies to avoid implementing, as much as is legally possible, what has become known as Obamacare.

But Obamacare, it turns out, has done a lot of good. It guarantees that people with preëxisting health conditions cannot be rejected by insurers or charged more than others. It has reduced the number of uninsured people by twenty million. It has increased access to primary care, specialty care, surgery, medicines, and treatment for chronic conditions. Patients are less likely to skip needed care because of the cost. As a result, according to studies conducted at Harvard, the A.C.A. is saving tens of thousands of lives each year.

Now Republicans in Congress are facing the wrath of constituents who don't want to lose those gains. Conservatives have had to back off from their plan to repeal Obamacare now and worry about replacement later. Instead, they must grapple with what they have tried to ignore: the complexities of our health-care system, especially in the four vital areas of employer-sponsored coverage, Medicaid, the individual insurance market, and taxes.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...pJobID=1102202421&spReportId=MTEwMjIwMjQyMQS2


----------



## poochee

*Trump: 'Nobody Knew That Health Care Could Be So Complicated'*
ByTierney Sneed PublishedFebruary 27, 2017, 11:23 AM EDT

President Donald Trump told a bipartisan group of governors at a White House reception Monday morning that GOP tax reform would have to wait for lawmakers to move on repealing Obamacare, cautioning that, "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

"I have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject," Trump said.

For health policy experts and Democrats who spent the last eight years overhauling the nation's health care system in the face of GOP intransigence, Trump's admission that health care is hard dripped with irony. Republicans, in the mean time, voted repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but made little progress on settling on what their replacement would look like, a conundrum that is haunting them now.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-health-care-complicated


----------



## poochee

Feb 28, 10:09 AM EST
*What to watch for when Trump makes 1st address to Congress*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A presidential address to Congress is always part policy speech, part political theater. With President Donald Trump, a former reality TV star, there's extra potential for drama as he makes his first address to Congress.

After a chaotic start to his presidency, Trump will be trying to project his administration as ready to stride forward on top priorities such as changes to President Barack Obama's health care law and a tax overhaul. Congressional Democrats, in turn, will be trying to calibrate how strongly to oppose the Republican president in the staid setting of the House chamber, where manners still matter.

*Some things to watch for Tuesday night:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-28-10-09-25


----------



## poochee

*Trump signs orders on waters rule, black colleges*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY Published 11:31 a.m. ET Feb. 28, 2017 | Updated 53 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Trump's newest executive orders target a water-protection rule and elevate an initiative on historically black colleges and universities into the White House.

Trump signed the executive orders in back-to-back signing ceremonies at the White House on Tuesday. The first seeks to undo the Waters of the United States rule, an Obama administration regulation that sought to reinterpret the Clean Water Act to extend federal protections to smaller rivers and streams.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...n-orders-waters-rule-black-colleges/98512864/


----------



## poochee

*Conservatives say they're tired of seeing Obamacare drafts via leaks*
By Lauren Fox, CNN
Updated 2:49 PM ET, Tue February 28, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)More than 20 members of the House Freedom Caucus huddled over Panera dinners Monday night in a Rayburn office building committee room to talk about their greatest emerging concern: the House GOP leadership's trajectory to dismantle Obamacare.

After a draft of the House bill to repeal Obamacare leaked Friday, conservatives have had ongoing concerns about how leadership is structuring refundable tax credits and Medicaid expansion among other items. But they are also upset about how few details they feel they are getting from their leaders.

According to a source in the room, a Republican member said what others were thinking: instead of learning about the drafted legislation in conference, they were learning about it from places like CNN or Politico, which first obtained the draft legislation.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/conservatives-obamacare-draft-bill-leaks/index.html


----------



## poochee

Andrea Mitchell Reports 2/28/17

*VIDEO*

*House Dem leader: We've gotten under Trump's skin*
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi responds to President Trump's comment calling her "incompetent," and what she thinks about House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes speaking about the Russia investigation.

http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchel...-we-ve-gotten-under-trump-s-skin-886623299804


----------



## poochee

Feb 28 2017, 11:30 am ET 
*Kellyanne Conway's Feet on Oval Office Couch Kick Off Debate *
by Kalhan Rosenblatt and Associated Press

*PHOTOS
*
Photos of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway kneeling on an Oval Office couch with her shoes on have sparked an online debate about decorum in the executive mansion.

Conway is seen perched on her knees on the couch with her feet behind her in photos taken Monday while President Donald Trump met with leaders of historically black colleges and universities.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ouch-kick-debate-n726596?cid=eml_pol_20170228


----------



## poochee

*Satire from the Borowitz Report *
*Trump Bids Ben Carson Farewell Until Next Black History Month*
By *Andy Borowitz*
07:00 A.M.

Saying goodbye to Carson at the White House, Trump praised him for "sitting or standing next to me" at various times over the past four weeks.

"At the beginning of Black History Month, you came to that breakfast we had, and last week you went with me to that museum or whatever," Trump said. "We'll do things like that again next year. Thanks again, Ben, and goodbye."

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-bids-ben-carson-farewell-until-next-black-history-month?mbid=nl_022817 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=10518933&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1102213172&spReportId=MTEwMjIxMzE3MgS2


----------



## poochee

*Trump hits the reset button*
_The president's hope-infused address before Congress was the most unifying moment of his divisive and chaotic first 39 days in office*.*_
By Eli Stokols
02/28/17 08:51 PM EST
Updated 02/28/17 11:30 PM EST

*VIDEO*

For 60 minutes and 14 seconds Tuesday night, President Donald Trump abandoned the dark rhetoric and narrow vision that have long defined his politics and offered an aspirational message stocked with bold promises for the country in his first address before a joint session of Congress.

While Trump still offered some charged language - including his use of the term "radical Islamic terrorism" - the speech was notably less confrontational than his "American carnage" inaugural address. It was, in fact, by far the most unifying moment of his divisive and chaotic first 39 days in office.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-set-to-make-bold-promises-in-prime-time-address-235523


----------



## poochee

Feb 28, 11:23 PM EST
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump takes credit he hasn't earned*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday night about corporate job expansion and military cost-savings that actually took root under his predecessor and gave a one-sided account of the costs and benefits to the economy from immigration - ignoring the upside.

*A look at some of his claims in his prime-time speech to Congress:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-28-23-23-08


----------



## poochee

*Democratic response to Trump's speech: He's 'Wall Street's champion'*
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 11:10 AM ET, Wed March 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Beshear spoke from a diner
He said Trump wasn't helping the working class
_(CNN)_Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear delivered the Democratic Party's response to President Donald Trump's address Tuesday night, criticizing Trump for not living up to his populist campaign trail rhetoric and pressing for compromise solutions on health care reform.

"You picked a Cabinet of billionaires and Wall Street insiders," Beshear said, sitting in the Lexington Diner in Lexington, Kentucky. "That's not being our champion. That's being Wall Street's champion."

He delivered the remarks plainly and occasionally awkwardly, with a setting and tone entirely at odds with the President's speech before a Joint Session of Congress.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/steve-beshear-democratic-response/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/steve-beshear-democratic-response/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump finally gets a presidential fashion makeover, matching his more polished speech to Congress*
 Carly Mallenbaum and  Cara Kelly  , USA TODAY Published 11:12 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

*PICTURES*

Goodbye, super-long, fiery red inauguration tie. Hello more presidential-looking Trump.

When President Trump arrived for his first joint address to Congress Tuesday night, he opted for a more stylish look than we've seen in the past: tailored jacket, shortened sleeves, tie of appropriate length, one button buttoned.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

His slightly shortened and slicked back hair, subtle but noticeable, helped with the overall change.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...28/trump-follows-gqs-fashion-advice/98560372/


----------



## poochee

*Barack, Michelle Obama get book deals*
 Jocelyn McClurg  , USA TODAY Published 7:35 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2017 | Updated 19 hours ago

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*

Penguin Random House announced Tuesday that it has signed both Barack and Michelle Obama to book deals.

The publishing giant, in a news release, said it will publish "forthcoming books" by the former president and first lady, but gave very few details.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...le-obama-books-penguin-random-house/98550988/


----------



## poochee

*The reviews are in. Great speech, what's next?*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 3:40 PM ET, Wed March 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump nailed the performance art during his first address to Congress Tuesday night. But turning his solid reviews into tangible policy victories will be a lot more complicated and test more than his showmanship.

The President woke up to a rare experience Wednesday: glowing reviews in the media that he has nominated as an enemy of the American people.

"THANK YOU" he tweeted, savoring a rare moment of universal praise in a young presidency battered by self-detonated controversies and the political residue of one of the most divisive elections in decades.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/politics/donald-trump-policy-agenda-goals/index.html


----------



## poochee

*How long has it been since Donald Trump attacked someone on Twitter?*
By Gregory Krieg and Tal Yellin, CNN
Updated 3:14 PM ET, Wed March 1, 2017

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/politics/has-trump-tweeted-yet-trnd/index.html


----------



## poochee

*White House staff told to preserve Russia-related materials*
By JULIE PACE and VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House lawyers have instructed the president's aides to preserve materials that could be connected to Russian interference in the 2016 election and other related investigations, three administration officials said Wednesday.

The instructions, which were sent to White House staff on Tuesday, come after Senate Democrats last week asked the White House and law enforcement agencies to keep all materials involving contacts that Trump's administration, campaign and transition team - or anyone acting on their behalf - have had with Russian government officials or their associates.

The Senate intelligence committee, which is investigating Russia's role in the 2016 election, has also asked more than a dozen organizations, agencies and individuals to preserve relevant records.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-01-19-15-08


----------



## poochee

*Sessions under fire over Russia meetings
Democrats seek his resignation*.
By Rebecca Morin
03/01/17 10:17 PM EST
Updated 03/01/17 11:49 PM EST

Top congressional Democrats called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign Wednesday after revelations that he had met with the Russian ambassador in the months before the election - meetings that Sessions did not disclose during his confirmation hearings.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led the effort late on Wednesday night, accusing Sessions of "lying under oath" during confirmation proceedings about his contacts with the Russians.

"The Attorney General must resign," Pelosi wrote in a statement. "There must be an independent, bipartisan, outside commission to investigate the Trump political, personal and financial connections to the Russians." Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House oversight committee, also called on Sessions to resign, as did Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/graham-sessions-trump-russia-235597


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 2 2017, 8:31 am ET
*The White House Now Has Three Options on Russia*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

Russia is back in the news, and the White House has three options

Well, that didn't take long. Twenty-four hours after President Trump's address to Congress, the Russia story roared back into the news last night in the form of three different stories, two of which involve Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

*VIDEOS*

Washington Post: "Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose"
Wall Street Journal: "Investigators Probed Jeff Sessions' Contacts With Russian Officials"
The New York Times: "Obama Administration Rushed to Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking"
The stories about Sessions have led Democratic lawmakers either to call for Sessions to recuse himself from any investigation looking into Russia, or to resign because he misled Congress about his contacts with the Russian government. And now Sessions has three options - and all of them are bad.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...e-options-russia-n728071?cid=eml_pol_20170302


----------



## poochee

News 
Mar 2 2017, 5:39 pm ET
*Attorney General Sessions Recuses Himself From Probe Of Russian Election Interference*
by Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

Embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions bowed to pressure Thursday and said he would recuse himself from any federal probe of Russian meddling in the presidential election.

Insisting again that he had no improper contacts with the Russians, Sessions said he nevertheless will withdraw because of his involvement in the Trump campaign.

Sessions said he met with Department of Justice ethics lawyers and concluded: "I should not be involved in investigating a campaign I had a role in."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...f-probe-russian-election-interference-n728366


----------



## poochee

*Trump transition team canceled ethics training session *
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 4:36 PM ET, Thu March 2, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_President Donald Trump's transition team, days before he took office, nixed plans for an orientation class that would have prepared political appointees and White House staff for a series of ethical and legal issues, documents provided to CNN show.

The ethics program proposed by the General Services Administration would have helped White House staff and political appointees get through Senate confirmation hearings, work with Congress and corresponding agencies and comply with laws and executive orders -- all issues Trump nominees and staff have confronted during their first six weeks in office.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/white-house-ethics-training/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 2, 5:34 PM EST
*AP FACT CHECK: US military not as threadbare as Trump says
By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR*
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump painted an overly bleak picture of the condition of the armed forces Thursday as he made his case for military expansion.

A look at some of his statements from the For the last few decades the Navy has dramatically increased the warfighting effectiveness of its ships, meaning it can do more with far fewer ships than it could during the Cold War, for example., a $12.9 billion aircraft carrier being built in Newport News, Virginia:

TRUMP: "We are going to have very soon the finest equipment in the world."

THE FACTS: Pentagon leaders have said for years that the U.S. already has the world's best weaponry and military equipment. They sometimes claim the U.S. is in danger of losing its advantage unless the Congress continues to spend heavily to develop and build new generations of weapons.

READ ON:


----------



## poochee

*Joe Biden defends media, courts from 'dangerous' attacks*
By Meridith McGraw
Mar 2, 2017, 1:57 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Former Vice President Joe Biden offered a strong defense of the media and judicial branch on Wednesday night, calling attacks on both institutions "corrosive" and "dangerous."

While not mentioning President Trump by name, Biden's remarks at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. -- where he was accepting the Patriot Award for political courage and leadership from the Bipartistan Policy Center -- were a thinly veiled reference to the new president's comments and the current state of politics.

"What worries me the most," said Biden, is the "almost drumbeat of denigration of the institutional structures that govern us." He added, "when you delegitimize the courts, you delegitimize the legislative body. It's corrosive. and it it makes it impossible to reach compromise."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/joe-biden-defends-media-courts-dangerous-attacks/story?id=45848276


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 3 2017, 8:36 am ET
*Trump Cries 'Witch Hunt' as Russia Questions Pile Up*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

According to President Trump, every new story and development involving his team's contacts with Russia is nothing more than a "total witch hunt." "The Democrats are overplaying their hand," he said in a statement last night reacting to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal from investigations involving the 2016 presidential campaign. "They lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality." But who has the firmer grasp on reality - the Trump White House or those who are waving their arms that something here doesn't seem right? *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...a-questions-pile-n728611?cid=eml_pol_20170303


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: What Trump didn't want you to see him signing*
By James Hohmann March 3 at 11:26 AM

*THE BIG IDEA: The deconstruction of the administrative state will not be televised.*

*Donald Trump is eager to look like a man of action, pulling the levers of government and redirecting the ship of state.* The president has had a photo op to reinforce this narrative nearly every day since taking office. A steady procession of guests, from steelworkers to congressmen and the presidents of historically black colleges, has flanked him as he rolled back environmental protections, took aim at Dodd-Frank and killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Ever the showman, Trump even postponed his second attempt at a travel ban, which had been scheduled for Wednesday, so that it could get a news cycle to itself.

With that in mind, it should speak volumes when Trump does _not_ invite camera crews into the Oval Office to film him taking action. *Three recent examples illustrate this:
*
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.2a753e01a172&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Americans Conflicted Over GOP Plans To Dump Obamacare* 
March 3, 201710:18 AM ET 
Jay Hancock

Last year, when presidential candidate Donald Trump hammered the Affordable Care Act as "a fraud," "a total disaster" and "very bad health insurance," many Americans seemed to agree with him.

Now that President Trump and fellow Republicans are attempting to keep their promise to get rid of the law, voters increasingly seem to be having second thoughts.

Multiple polls show rising support for the ACA, including one from the Pew Research Center and one from the _Wall Street Journal/_NBC News indicating Americans feel more positively about it than ever.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...s-conflicted-over-gop-plans-to-dump-obamacare


----------



## poochee

*Rand Paul still searching for Obamacare replacement bill*
By Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 1:22 PM ET, Fri March 3, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Following a chaotic day attempting to locate a copy of the House GOP's Obamacare replacement bill, Sen. Rand Paul, said Friday he's still on the hunt.

"When we heard it was secret, we wanted to see it even more," the Kentucky Republican told CNN's Kate Boldaun in an interview, noting, "As we speak, my staff is still going around Washington looking for the bill."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/03/politics/rand-paul-obamacare-bill-search-cnntv/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Two Republicans sign on to effort demanding Trump's tax returns*
By Cristina Marcos - 03/03/17 10:56 AM EST

*VIDEO*

Two House Republicans endorsed a Democratic effort on Friday calling on the House and Senate committees with oversight of the Internal Revenue Service to request copies of President Trump's tax returns.

Reps. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) signed a letter urging the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee to ask for copies of Trump's tax documents from the last decade.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/3...sign-onto-effort-demanding-trumps-tax-returns


----------



## poochee

Mar 3, 6:58 PM EST
*Keystone pipeline won't use US steel despite Trump pledge*
AP

Trump said as recently as last week that Keystone and another pipeline must use American steel "or we're not building one."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-03-18-58-54


----------



## poochee

*Cartoon Carousel*
*The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics*

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

http://www.politico.com/gallery/201...onists-on-the-week-in-politics-002408?slide=0

By POLITICO Staff

03/03/17 05:19 AM EST


----------



## poochee

Mar 3, 10:15 PM EST
*Environmental programs face deep cuts under budget proposal*
By JOHN FLESHER, MATTHEW DALY and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration would slash programs aimed at slowing climate change and improving water safety and air quality, while eliminating thousands of jobs, according to a draft of the Environmental Protection Agency budget proposal obtained by The Associated Press.

Under the tentative plan from the Office of Management and Budget, the agency's funding would be reduced by roughly 25 percent and about 3,000 jobs would be cut, about 19 percent of the agency's staff.

President Donald Trump has said he plans to pay for billions of dollars more for the military by cutting spending on domestic agencies and departments. Trump plans to submit his budget to Congress the week of March 13.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-03-22-15-15


----------



## poochee

Mar 3, 11:56 AM EST
*Mischief in the Capitol as GOP rebels stir up trouble*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Capitol is suddenly awash with troublemakers and rebels - and that's just the Republicans.

Whatever GOP unity was produced by Donald Trump's victory in November has all but disappeared, and Republican leaders are confronting open rebellion in their ranks as they try to finalize health care legislation. Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress this week was well-received, but did little to repair divisions.

In the Senate, a trio of conservatives that's been a thorn in the side of leadership is back at it again. And in the House, recalcitrant conservatives are banding together and threatening to foil House Speaker Paul Ryan's plans for swift passage of the legislation to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health law.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-03-11-56-35


----------



## poochee

*A brief history of Women's History Month*
By Brenna Williams, CNN
Updated 1:32 PM ET, Thu March 2, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Women's History Month is traditionally celebrated in March
Carter was the first president to mark a week for women's history
Reagan expanded it to a month
(CNN)President Donald Trump on Wednesday proclaimed March as Women's History Month, following a tradition that's been in place since the 1980s. But how did it begin?

National Women's Month in the US has its roots in International Women's Day, celebrated on March 8. The day has been marked by the United Nations since 1975 but it was observed in smaller ways in the US as far back as 1911 -- nearly a decade before American women were granted the right to vote.

According to the *National Women's History Project*, the success of local observations of Women's History Week bubbled up to the Carter White House. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential statement on Women's History Week.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/womens-history-month-politics/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Without evidence, Trump accuses Obama of wiretapping him*
By Eugene Scott and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 1:05 PM ET, Sat March 4, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory," Trump tweeted
Former Obama national security adviser Ben Rhodes tweeted in response that presidents can't order wiretapping

_(CNN)_*BREAKING NEWS:* A spokesperson for former President Barack Obama responded to President Donald Trump's stunning allegations on Saturday that the Obama administration wiretapped him, calling the unverified claim "simply false."

"A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement. "As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/04/politics/trump-obama-wiretap-tweet/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Obama obsession*
_The president finds his predecessor to be a convenient foil as he wades through persistent controversy._
By Edward-Isaac Dovere
03/04/17 11:55 AM EST
Updated 03/04/17 01:01 PM EST

Donald Trump just can't quit Barack Obama.

From entering politics as the chief promoter of the birtherism conspiracy-complete with claims of mysterious calls coming in to him with new information to detectives he claimed he sent to Hawaii but were never heard from again-to waking up Saturday morning tweeting, "How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones," Obama's always there.

There's a political advantage to it-Obama is just as infuriating a figure as he was six weeks ago to the Republican base and the pro-Trump media that powered the president's campaign.

And there's a diversionary advantage to churning up a new controversy that this time takes away airtime and mindshare from the questions of just how many top administration officials had just how many undisclosed meetings with Russian officials. But there also seems to be a true sense in Trump's mind that Obama is practically sitting beneath the floorboards of the West Wing, chipping away at his presidency.

So much for Trump trying to make them out as buddies.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-obama-obsession-235681


----------



## poochee

Mar 4, 9:18 AM EST
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump's skewed ledger of achievements*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM DRINKARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The start of a new administration is never a clean slate, even when parties flip. Day One is just another day for military operations, a budget that is still in place from the old crowd and a vast array of economic, social and law enforcement initiatives left over by the last president.

He loudly and proudly takes credit for any positive development that has bloomed since he took office Jan. 20, even when the roots and buds of it were from President Barack Obama's time. In his speech to Congress and other remarks in recent days, *Trump has claimed credit for:
*
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-04-09-18-53


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 3 2017, 10:30 pm ET
*Sessions Will Submit Amended Testimony, Address Senators' Questions*
by Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will submit amended testimony and respond to senators' questions over his contacts with Russia's ambassador last year, a Justice Department spokesman said Friday.

The offer came after all nine Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter asked the committee chairman to bring Sessions back for a follow-up hearing to explain his past testimony and recent decision to recuse himself from any investigation involving the Trump campaign.

"In light of the letter received from Senators late this afternoon, the Attorney General will respond to their questions along with his amended testimony on Monday," Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...-testimony-address-senators-questions-n729026


----------



## poochee

*Trump flashes anger over Sessions recusal, Russia stories in tense Oval Office meeting*
By Jonathan Karl
CHRIS VLASTO
Mar 4, 2017, 2:12 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Before heading off to his so-called "winter White House" in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, President Donald Trump summoned some of his senior staff to the Oval Office and went "ballistic," senior White House sources told ABC News.

The president erupted with anger over the latest slew of news reports connecting Russia with the new administration -- specifically the abrupt decision by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trum...ecusal-russia-stories-tense/story?id=45908106


----------



## poochee

*Satire from the Borowitz Report *
*Trump Orders All White House Phones Covered in Tin Foil*
*By Andy Borowitz*
12:06 P.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-orders-all-white-house-phones-covered-in-tin-foil?mbid=nl_030417 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=10554621&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1120336718&spReportId=MTEyMDMzNjcxOAS2


----------



## poochee

*Trump accuses Obama of 'Nixon/Watergate' wiretap - but offers no evidence*
By Philip Rucker, Ellen Nakashima and Robert Costa
Politics
March 4 at 9:53 PM

*VIDEO*

Senior U.S. officials with knowledge of a wide-ranging federal investigation into Russian interference in the election, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified information, said Saturday that there had been no wiretap of Trump.

Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for Obama, said in a statement: "A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-accuses-obama-of-nixonwatergate-wiretap--but-offers-no-evidence/2017/03/04/1ddc35e6-0114-11e7-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumpwiretap-8pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.3410822ca426


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 5 2017, 10:14 am ET
*Former DNI James Clapper: 'I Can Deny' Wiretap of Trump Tower*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Sunday denied any suggestion that Trump Tower communications were wiretapped before the election.

For the part of the national security apparatus that he oversaw, "there was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign," Clapper told Chuck Todd in an exclusive interview on Sunday's "Meet The Press."

When Todd asked him whether he could confirm or deny if a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Act) order for this existed, Clapper declared, "I can deny it."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...etap-trump-tower-n729261?cid=eml_pol_20170305


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 5 2017, 12:37 pm ET
*White House Asks Congress To Investigate, Offers No Evidence of Wiretapping*
by Jane C. Timm and Mark Hanrahan

*VIDEO*

A day after President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that the Obama administration had wiretapped him when he was a candidate, the White House sought to spin it as merely a request for more information and called on Congress to investigate.

"All we're saying is, let's take a closer look. Let's look into this. If this happened, if this is accurate, this is the biggest overreach and the biggest scandal," White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on ABC News.

That's not all the president said, however, when he spoke of the allegations as fact. "This is Nixon/Watergate," he wrote. NBC News has not found any evidence to substantiate President Trump's wiretapping claims.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-calls-probe-whether-obama-abused-powers-n729256


----------



## poochee

*Women's History Month: Women of color whose names you should know*
Editors, USA TODAY Published 8:08 a.m. ET March 4, 2017 | Updated 8:32 a.m. ET March 4, 2017

*PHOTOS/VIDEO*

These leaders - Black, Latina, Asian, Arab, Native American - in varied fields, broke both gender and racial barriers as they made history. Here is a by-no-means-comprehensive primer recognizing 34 women of color, past and present:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/04/womens-history-month-women-color/98595366/


----------



## poochee

MSNBC Live 3/4/17
*Spokesman for former President Obama responds to allegations*
Democratic congressman, Rep. Jim Himes, talks about the statement released from the Obama Administration after President Trump accused him of wiretapping Trump towers.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/wat...nt-obama-responds-to-allegations-890222147527


----------



## poochee

Mar 5, 6:33 PM EST
*Trump enlists Congress, ex-intel chief denies wiretapping*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

Spicer said the White House wants the congressional committees to "exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016." He said there would be no further comment until the investigations are completed, a statement that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi took offense to and likened to autocratic behavior.

"It's called a wrap-up smear. You make up something. Then you have the press write about it. And then you say, everybody is writing about this charge. It's a tool of an authoritarian," Pelosi said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-05-14-56-50


----------



## poochee

*Revised executive order bans travelers from six Muslim-majority countries from getting new visas*
By David Nakamura and Matt Zapotosky
National Security
March 6 at 1:54 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump signed a new travel ban Monday that administration officials said they hope will end legal challenges over the matter by imposing a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas for citizens of six majority-Muslim nations, authorities said.

In addition, the nation's refugee program will be suspended for 120 days, and it will not accept more than 50,000 refugees in a year, down from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama administration.

Trump signed the new ban out of public view, according to White House officials. The order will not take effect until March 16, officials said.

_[__Read the full text of the revised executive order__]_
What Trump changed in the new travel ban View Graphic 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...op-1017:homepage/story&utm_term=.661c875df230


----------



## poochee

*Inside Trump's fury: The president rages at leaks, setbacks and accusations*
By Philip Rucker, Robert Costa and Ashley Parker
Politics
March 5 at 8:18 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump spent the weekend at "the winter White House," Mar-a-Lago, the secluded Florida castle where he is king. The sun sparkles off the glistening lawn and warms the russet clay Spanish tiles, and the steaks are cooked just how he likes them (well done). His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner - celebrated as calming influences on the tempestuous president - joined him. But they were helpless to contain his fury.

Trump was mad - steaming, raging mad.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...t-830pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.563a069c823b


----------



## poochee

Mar 6, 1:31 PM EST
*Pentagon: US troops play new role in Syria*
By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon says U.S. troops are playing a new role in Syria, in addition to advising local Arab and Kurdish fighters in their battle against Islamic State militants.

A spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said a small number of U.S. troops have taken up positions just west of the northern city of Manbij with the declared mission of deterring violence between Turkish, Russian and other forces that have converged there. He said the Americans also are there to reassure Turkey that Manbij is under the control of a predominantly Arab force called the Manbij Military Council, and that no IS fighters are present.

Davis said this is a new mission for the U.S., but that it falls within authorities held by U.S. commanders since before President Donald Trump took office.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-06-13-31-52


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 6 2017, 8:31 am ET
*Welcome to Our Post-Truth Presidency*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*Welcome to our post-truth presidency*

President Trump's assertion - without evidence - that Barack Obama wire-tapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election started as a "conspiratorial rant" on conservative talk radio, got picked up by Breitbart News, and then moved over to the president's Twitter feed, the New York Times writes. FBI Director James Comey has asked the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump's claim because it's untrue. And the entire episode potentially opens up President Trump to libel charges. "He's basically stating that Mr. Obama committed crimes, and to state that somebody has committed a crime when it's false is clearly defamatory," Benjamin Zipursky, who teaches defamation law at Fordham University Law School in New York, told NBC News. Welcome to our post-truth presidency. *To recap some of Trump's biggest whoppers since taking office:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/welcome-our-post-truth-presidency-n729481


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 6 2017, 7:36 pm ET
*Republicans Unveil Obamacare Replacement Bill, Scrapping Individual Mandate*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Alex Moe

*VIDEO*

House Republicans have unveiled a long-anticipated plan to dismantle and replace the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's signature health care achievement, that includes scrapping a requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance.

The cost of the proposed bill, dubbed The American Health Care Act, is still uncertain, but the measure will undoubtedly reduce the number of those insured, a central goal of the ACA, better known as Obamacare.

The bill was released Monday night by top Republicans on the two House committees that oversee health care after more than two months of crafting that involved White House officials.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...ent-bill-scrapping-individual-mandate-n729871


----------



## poochee

*Planned Parenthood rejects Trump proposal to stop abortion services*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 6:55 PM ET, Mon March 6, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Planned Parenthood swiftly rejected Monday a proposal by President Donald Trump that would have pledged his support for federal funding for the women's health organization if it ceased providing abortion services.

White House officials recently floated the idea in private conversations, a White House official said, but it was dismissed by the women's health organization, which receives about a $500 million annually in federal funds.

Taxpayer dollars do not fund abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood, which provides a range of reproductive health services and preventative screenings through clinics nationwide.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/06/politics/donald-trump-planned-parenthood-funding-abortion/index.html


----------



## poochee

*FBI Director James Comey was 'incredulous' over Trump's tweets*
By Pamela Brown and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 6:57 PM ET, Mon March 6, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_FBI Director James Comey was "incredulous" over the weekend after President Donald Trump's allegation via Twitter that former President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of his phones during the campaign, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.

The source said Comey was concerned that the allegation would make the FBI look bad, and that concern was part of what prompted the FBI director to have his staff reach out to staff at the Justice Department asking them to knock down the allegation.

The source said Comey felt "institutionally he has to push back on this" because the magnitude of the allegations that Comey knows not to be true.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/06/politics/james-comey-trump-wiretap-tweets/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court Allows Prying Into Jury Deliberations If Racism Is Perceived*
March 6, 20177:03 PM ET 
 Nina Totenberg 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that when clear evidence emerges after a jury verdict that there was racial bias during deliberations, the trial judge must make an exception to the usual rule protecting the secrecy of deliberations in order to determine whether the defendant was denied a fair trial. The vote was 5-to-3.

Writing for the court majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said that racial discrimination is unlike other types of misconduct that may occur in the jury room because it "implicates unique historical, constitutional and institutional concerns."

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/06/51887...nto-jury-deliberations-if-racism-is-perceived


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court Won't Decide Transgender Teen's Challenge To Bathroom Policy*
March 6, 201710:36 AM ET 
 Bill Chappell 

In a reversal, the Supreme Court will not decide Gavin Grimm's lawsuit over a school policy that requires students to use the bathroom corresponding to their biological sex. The court was scheduled to hear the case this month.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. Its one-sentence order cites the Trump administration's recent move to rescind federal guidelines that transgender students have the right to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ransgender-teens-challenge-to-bathroom-policy


----------



## poochee

Mar 6, 6:41 PM EST
*Senate votes to scrap Obama-era labor rule*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate on Monday reversed an Obama administration rule designed to ensure government contractors disclose violations of federal labor laws as they seek more work.

Senate approval of the measure sends it to President Donald Trump for his signature and marks another success in the GOP's efforts to quash an array of regulations issued during President Barack Obama's final months in office.

This time, the Senate voted 49-48 to overturn a rule that required contractors to disclose violations of 14 federal labor laws, including those pertaining to workplace safety, wages and discrimination. Contracting officers would then consider the violations when evaluating bids.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-06-18-41-42


----------



## poochee

Mar 6, 9:45 PM EST
*Missile tests add pressure on Trump over North Korea*
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- North Korea's latest volley of missile tests put new pressure on a preoccupied Trump administration Monday to identify how it will counter leader Kim Jong Un's weapons development.

North Korea's march toward having a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the U.S. mainland is among the pressing national security priorities President Donald Trump faces. He has vowed it "won't happen" but has yet to articulate a strategy to stop it.

Trump spoke Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean Acting President Hwang Kyo-Ahn. The White House said the three leaders agreed "to continue close bilateral and trilateral cooperation to demonstrate to North Korea that there are very dire consequences for its provocative and threatening actions."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-06-21-45-25


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Begins Shipping Controversial Anti-Missile System to South Korea*
by Alex Johnson, Courtney Kube and Stella Kim

VIDEO

The United States has begun shipping a controversial anti-missile system to South Korea after North Korea test-launched four medium-range missiles on Monday, U.S. officials told NBC News.

The system, called THAAD, which stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, is an anti-missile system designed to counter a threat like that from North Korea. Other THAAD systems are already active in Hawaii and Guam to defend against North Korea, but the shield hadn't yet been deployed to South Korea - a scenario that Beijing has denounced as a "clear, present and substantive threat to China's security interests."

The "first elements" of the THAAD system have already arrived in South Korea, U.S. defense officials told NBC News on Monday, just hours after Hwang Kyo-ahn, South Korea's acting president and prime minister, urged the United States to deploy it as soon as possible, saying the consequences of a nuclear-armed North Korea would be "horrible and beyond imagination."

Defense officials stressed that THAAD "is strictly a defensive system" aimed solely at defending South Korea against North Korean missiles.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-threat-north-korean-missile-launches-n729846


----------



## Wino

I see another "Gulf of Tonkin" on our horizon. Our lying Cheeto in Chief is looking for anything to take the heat off him. Sad.


----------



## poochee

Mar 7 2017, 7:26 am ET
*Obamacare Lite? New GOP Health Care Bill Has Host of Critics *
by Maggie Fox

*VIDEO*

A new Republican health care plan keeps much of the basic framework set up by Obamacare, adding a conservative twist, analysts say.

But it's full of holes, with no detail on how to pay for its provisions and no estimates at all of how much it will cost taxpayers.

While conservatives praised the emphasis on personal responsibility, liberals said it would take newly won health insurance away from millions and cost people protection from some of the worst abuses of the insurance industry.

And it's not even clear if all Republicans in Congress will vote for it. At best, analysts agreed, it's a work in progress.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...has-host-critics-n729931?cid=eml_pol_20170307


----------



## poochee

Mar 7, 2:45 PM EST
*House GOP health bill adds up to big tax cut for the rich*
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House Republicans' health care bill adds up to big tax cuts for the rich.

The bill would cut more than 20 taxes enacted under President Barack Obama's heath law, saving taxpayers nearly $600 billion over the next decade. The bulk of the money would go to the wealthiest Americans.

Low- and moderate-income families would lose their subsidies to buy health insurance in state and federal marketplaces. The subsidies would be replaced by tax credits to help them buy insurance.

Official estimates for how these people would fare under the bill have not been made public, even as House committees move ahead with the legislation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-07-14-23-56


----------



## poochee

*USA TODAY Poll: Tweets and temperament are tripping up President Trump*
 Susan Page  , USA TODAY Published 2:00 p.m. ET March 7, 2017 | Updated 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON - President Trump gets high marks for leadership amid growing economic optimism, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds, but questions about his temperament and his tweets have cost him the political boost that a president traditionally gets from that good news.

The survey, taken Wednesday through Sunday, shows Trump getting little bounce from his well-received address to Congress last week or from a brightening view of the country's direction. Instead, 47% approve of the job he's doing and 44% disapprove, a bit better than some other recent polls but a poor rating by historic standards. He is the first president in modern times not to score majority approval at this early point in his tenure.

By 2-1, those surveyed disapprove of Trump's temperament, a much more negative rating than he gets for his policy positions. Six in 10, including 40% of Republicans, complain that he tweets too much.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...erament-tripping-up-president-trump/98807880/


----------



## poochee

*Chaffetz: House Oversight Committee Won't Investigate Trump's Voter Fraud Claims*
by Avalon Zoppo

The House Oversight Committee will not investigate President Donald Trump's claims of wide-spread voter fraud during the 2016 election, Chairman Jason Chaffetz said Tuesday.

Speaking on CNN, the Utah representative said he does not see any evidence to back up Trump's tweets.

"We can't just investigate everything that's ever thrown out there by the Democrats, by the Republicans. We have to pick and choose," he said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...ittee-won-t-investigate-trump-s-voter-n730146


----------



## poochee

*Trump White House lawyers up*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 1:31 PM ET, Tue March 7, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump announced Tuesday his team of White House lawyers is bulking up, establishing a larger footprint than the past two administrations had at this point.

The White House has hired 26 attorneys to serve in the counsel's office under Don McGahn, the Jones Day partner and longtime Trump campaign attorney. That's up from the 22-attorney team serving President Barack Obama at the start of his administration and just a dozen that started off in the early months of President George W. Bush's White House.

McGahn, who serves as White House counsel, assembled the team during the chaotic first weeks of the Trump administration, which has already tested the limits of presidential authority, skirted ethical lines and faced a hefty number of legal challenges.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/trump-white-house-counsel-office/index.html


----------



## poochee

*GOP Hill leaders back away from Trump on wiretap allegations*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 10:16 PM ET, Tue March 7, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

President Donald Trump accused then-President Barack Obama of wiretapping him last year
Republicans on the Hill, charged with investigating the claim, say they've seen no evidence
(CNN)The top Republicans investigating Russia's interference in the US election declined Tuesday to back up President Donald Trump's claims that then-President Barack Obama wiretapped his Manhattan headquarters last year -- leaving the White House on its own to explain the stunning allegation.

When pressed on whether he believed Trump's allegations, House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes -- one of Trump's strongest supporters in the House and a member of his transition team -- brushed aside the President's allegations.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/wiretap-congress-sean-spicer-response/index.html


----------



## poochee

All In with Chris Hayes 3/7/17
*Will Trump release this year's tax return?*
While President Trump and his surrogates have maintained last year's tax filing is still under some kind of never-ending audit, we know for sure that his upcoming tax return is not.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/will-trump-release-this-year-s-tax-return-892583491897


----------



## poochee

*Major Hospitals Group Comes Out Against GOP Health Care Bill*
ByTierney Sneed PublishedMarch 7, 2017, 6:09 PM EDT

A major hospital group that represents nearly 5,000 hospitals came out against the Republican Obamacare repeal legislation introduced this week.

Richard Pollack, CEO and president of the American Hospital Association, sent a letter Tuesday to members of Congress raising concerns about the the bill's overhaul of Medicaid and other proposals included in the legislation, called the The American Health Care Act.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the Congress and the Administration on ACA reform, but we cannot support The American Health Care Act in its current form," Pollack said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hospitals-letter-republican-health-care-bill


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 8 2017, 11:35 am ET
*Experts: The GOP Health Care Plan Just Won't Work*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

They rarely agree on much, but health care experts on the left, right and center of the political spectrum have found consensus on the House GOP's Obamacare replacement: It won't work.

While their objections vary depending on their ideological goals, the newly introduced American Health Care Act (AHCA) is facing an unrelenting wave of criticism. Some experts warn that the bill is flawed in ways that could unravel the individual insurance market.

The bill, experts said, falls far short of the goals President Donald Trump laid out: Affordable coverage for everyone; lower deductibles and health care costs; better care; and zero cuts to Medicaid. Instead, the bill is almost certain to reduce overall coverage, result in deductibles increasing, and will phase out Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.

Several health care policy wonks cautioned that they're waiting to see a report by the Congressional Budget Office, which is analyzing the bill to determine how many people would gain or lose coverage and how much it would cost. *But here are the main objections.*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...-just-won-t-work-n730361?cid=eml_pol_20170308


----------



## poochee

03/07/2017 05:38 pm ET
*WikiLeaks Dumps Documents It Claims Detail The CIA's Arsenal Of Hacking Tools*
*Don't panic. Unless you're a high-value CIA target.*

*By Ryan Grenoble* 

*VIDEO*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...tware&utm_term=released a trove of documents&


----------



## poochee

*Sens. Graham and Whitehouse demand proof of Trump's claim that Obama wiretapped him*
 Eliza Collins  , USA TODAY Published 1:06 p.m. ET March 8, 2017 | Updated 56 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Trump *accused former president Barack* Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower during the campaign over the weekend, and now Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., are asking the Justice Department to prove it.

The bipartisan pair - who are chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism - sent a letter Wednesday to the FBI director and the acting deputy attorney general asking for specific information regarding the accusation. Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente is in charge of the Russia probe because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself last week from any investigation involving Russia and the Trump campaign.

*Letter:*

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...of-trump-claim-obama-wiretapped-him/98903528/


----------



## poochee

*International Women's Day: What you need to know*
By Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 10:30 AM ET, Wed March 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

This year, the day comes amid an already contentious political environment
There are numerous events scheduled around the world
Washington (CNN)International Women's Day is set to take place on Wednesday, March 8, an annual marker that aims to bring attention to women's accomplishments and obstacles.

But this year, the day comes amid an already contentious political environment, where protesters have turned out in force to voice disagreement with the new administration's policies and President Donald Trump's rhetoric, especially regarding women's issues.
*Here's what you need to know about International Women's Day:*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/international-womens-day-guide/index.html


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> Politics
> Mar 8 2017, 11:35 am ET
> *Experts: The GOP Health Care Plan Just Won't Work*
> by Benjy Sarlin
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> They rarely agree on much, but health care experts on the left, right and center of the political spectrum have found consensus on the House GOP's Obamacare replacement: It won't work.
> 
> While their objections vary depending on their ideological goals, the newly introduced American Health Care Act (AHCA) is facing an unrelenting wave of criticism. Some experts warn that the bill is flawed in ways that could unravel the individual insurance market.
> 
> The bill, experts said, falls far short of the goals President Donald Trump laid out: Affordable coverage for everyone; lower deductibles and health care costs; better care; and zero cuts to Medicaid. Instead, the bill is almost certain to reduce overall coverage, result in deductibles increasing, and will phase out Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.
> 
> Several health care policy wonks cautioned that they're waiting to see a report by the Congressional Budget Office, which is analyzing the bill to determine how many people would gain or lose coverage and how much it would cost. *But here are the main objections.*
> 
> http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...-just-won-t-work-n730361?cid=eml_pol_20170308


This is same thing Ryan wants to do to medicare. These people are nuttier than fruitcakes and as about as useless.


----------



## poochee

Health
Mar 8 2017, 3:17 pm ET
*American Medical Association Opposes GOP Health Care Plan*
by Maggie Fox

*VIDEO*

The American Medical Association joined a growing list of medical groups rejecting the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act Wednesday, saying it will hurt patients.

The AMA said not only is the proposed American Health Care Act being rushed through Congress, but it's loaded with unacceptable provisions from cutting Planned Parenthood funding to repealing a vital public health fund.

"That just won't do," Dr. Andrew Gurman, president of the AMA, said in a statement posted to the association's website.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...ociation-opposes-gop-health-care-plan-n730741


----------



## poochee

Mar 8, 4:32 PM EST
*Senate votes to repeal Obama rule on teacher training*
By MARIA DANILOVA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate on Wednesday voted to repeal a key Obama-era regulation governing teacher training and evaluation.

Senators voted 59-40 in favor of rescinding regulations issued by the Department of Education in October. The House voted last month to overturn the rules and the bill now goes to the White House for President Donald Trump's signature.

The regulations stipulated that federally funded teacher preparation programs must be evaluated based on the academic outcomes of those teachers' students.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-08-16-32-45


----------



## poochee

Mar 8, 6:19 PM EST
*House approves $578 billion to keep armed forces operating*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House voted decisively Wednesday to approve a $578 billion spending bill that keeps the U.S. armed forces operating through September and sets the stage for substantial increases to the Pentagon's budget advocated by President Donald Trump.

The fiscal year 2017 defense legislation passed the GOP-led chamber by a wide margin, 371-48, clearing the way for the Senate to act. The Trump administration is preparing a $30 billion supplement to the bill, which serves as a down payment on the president's promise to repair what he and other Republicans have described as a military "depleted" by the Obama administration's refusal to spend enough money.

The United States spends more on defense than the next seven nations combined. Yet GOP defense hawks are pressing Trump to spend tens of billions more on defense than he's envisioned for the next budget year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-08-18-19-29


----------



## poochee

*First lady Melania Trump touts equality at International Women's Day luncheon*
By Betsy Klein and Kate Bennett, CNN
Updated 9:41 PM ET, Wed March 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

She arrived to a standing round of applause
Ivanka Trump also attended the luncheon
Washington (CNN)First lady Melania Trump spoke about equality, freedom and the responsibility women have to help each other achieve success at an invitation-only luncheon honoring International Women's Day Wednesday at the White House.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/melania-trump-international-womens-day-luncheon/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 9, 4:21 PM EST
*GOP health bill clears first hurdles; leaders claim momentum*
By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican leaders drove their long-promised legislation to dismantle Barack Obama's health care law over its first big hurdles in the House on Thursday and claimed fresh momentum despite cries of protest from right, left and center.

After grueling all-night sessions, the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees both approved their portions of the bill along party-line votes. The legislation, strongly supported by President Donald Trump, would replace the tax penalties for the uninsured under Obama's Affordable Care Act with a conservative blueprint likely to cover far fewer people but, Republicans hope, increase choice.

The vote in Ways and Means came before dawn, while the Energy and Commerce meeting lasted past 27 hours as exhausted lawmakers groped for coffee refills, clean shirts and showers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-09-14-07-10


----------



## poochee

Mar 9 2017, 6:05 am ET
*Obamacare Creators Tell GOP: We Told You So*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump said last week that "nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

But the aides and advisers who worked on health care for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama - they knew.

"Maybe I should just say karma is a serious thing," said Neera Tanden, who was a top health official in the Obama administration. "Health care is hard. Governing is hard. And Republicans are now living with the fruits of never putting forward a plan and making promises they can't keep."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...p-we-told-you-so-n730831?cid=eml_pol_20170309


----------



## poochee

*Trump to conservative leaders: If this plan fails, I'll blame Democrats*
By Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 12:00 PM ET, Thu March 9, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

President Donald Trump revealed his plan in the event the GOP effort fails
During the hour-long meeting, sources said Trump chastised the groups
Washington (CNN)In an Oval Office meeting featuring leaders of conservative groups that already lining up against House Republicans' plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump revealed his plan in the event the GOP effort doesn't succeed: Allow Obamacare to fail and let Democrats take the blame, sources at the gathering told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/donald-trump-conservative-leaders/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 9, 7:19 PM EST
*House passes bill to restrict legal claims against companies*
By MATTHEW DALY and MARCY GORDON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House has approved a bill that would make it harder for individuals or groups to bring legal claims against companies in consumer disputes, employment discrimination cases and other areas.

Lawmakers approved the Republican-sponsored measure, 220-201, Thursday night. The bill heads to the Senate, where its prospects are less clear.

The legislation is the latest in a flurry of business-friendly moves by Congress and the Trump administration. Changes mandated in the bill could help reduce legal costs for businesses by putting up more hurdles to bringing class-action lawsuits in federal court.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-09-19-19-37


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Employers Added A Robust 235,000 Jobs In February*
March 10, 20179:04 AM ET
 Colin Dwyer 

CHART

The U.S. added 235,000 jobs in February, while the unemployment rate nudged down a tenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent. The monthly report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics fell roughly in line with economists' expectations: Healthy economic growth continuing January's strong showing.

The number of unemployed Americans saw little change last month, as well, hovering at roughly 7.5 million people.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...oyers-added-a-robust-235-000-jobs-in-february


----------



## poochee

Mar 10, 3:53 AM EST
*Media the enemy? Trump sure is an insatiable consumer*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Before most people are out of bed, Donald Trump is watching cable news.

With Twitter app at the ready, the man who condemns the media as "the enemy of the people" may be the most voracious consumer of news in modern presidential history.

Trump usually rises before 6 a.m. and first watches TV in the residence before later moving to a small dining room in the West Wing. A short time later, he's given a stack of newspapers - including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Washington Post and, long his favorite, The New York Post - as well as pile of printed articles from other sources including conservative online outlets like Breitbart News.

The TVs stay on all day. The president often checks in at lunch and again in the evening, when he retires to the residence, cellphone in hand.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-09-21-36-16


----------



## poochee

Mar 10, 9:55 AM EST
*Pelosi urges FBI director to dispute wiretapping claim*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is suggesting the FBI director should come forward to dispute President Donald Trump's baseless claim that he was wiretapped by former President Barack Obama.

Asked Friday about James Comey's responsibility in the matter, Pelosi responded: "Theoretically do I think that a director of the FBI who knows for a fact that something is mythology but misleading to the American people, and he should set the record straight? Yes, I do think he should say that publicly."

Trump's claim, Pelosi added, "couldn't possibly be true."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-10-09-55-31


----------



## poochee

Mar 10, 3:07 PM EST
*Trump embraces jobs numbers he once scorned*
By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is embracing numbers he once maligned as "phony" as he tries to take credit for the latest jobs report.

The new administration on Friday promoted new Labor Department statistics that show U.S. employers added 235,000 jobs in February. The unemployment also rate dipped to a low 4.7 percent from 4.8 percent.

"Great news for American workers: economy added 235,000 new jobs, unemployment rate drops to 4.7% in first report for @Potus Trump," tweeted White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

"Not a bad way to start day 50 of this Administration," he later said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-10-15-07-04


----------



## poochee

*Commander-in-Tweet: 50 Days of @RealDonaldTrump*
by Anna Brand, Sam Petulla and Carrie Dann

*CHARTS*

President Donald Trump may have given up his weekly primetime TV slot as host of "Celebrity Apprentice," but since he took the oath of office, every day is a new episode of Trump's White House - on Twitter.

In his first 50 days as President of the United States, Trump has never skipped a day communicating with the country via @RealDonaldTrump, tweeting more than 260 times since Inauguration Day.

That's an average of 36 tweets per week. By comparison, Barack Obama tweeted from the now-archived @Potus account a *total of 352 times* since the handle was created in May 2015.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...onaldtrump-looks-n731496?cid=eml_pol_20170310


----------



## poochee

Mar 10, 8:55 PM EST
*Conservatives want health bill changes, House leaders resist*
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Conservative Republicans demanded tougher changes Friday in insurance requirements and Medicaid than the House GOP health care bill proposes and warned they'd oppose the legislation if it isn't reshaped. The White House signaled an openness to negotiate, but there was resistance from House leaders.

Less than two weeks before the GOP's showpiece legislation is slated to hit the House floor, the discord underscored the challenge facing top Republicans trying to garner votes for legislation scrapping former President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

It also raised questions about whether congressional leaders reluctant to make changes were lagging behind a White House more willing to cut deals. And it illustrated anew the strained relationship between GOP leaders and some conservatives, even as the party tries to deliver one of its highest profile goals.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-10-17-20-38


----------



## poochee

Mar 11, 1:32 PM EST
*Source: US attorney Bharara rejects step-down request*
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- An outspoken Manhattan federal prosecutor known for crusading against public corruption is taking President Donald Trump up on his word that he can remain in his post.

A person with knowledge of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's (buh-RAH'-ruh's) actions said Saturday he is not complying with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' request to resign along with other prosecutors appointed by former President Barack Obama.

The person said Bharara is remaining in his post after receiving assurances last year from Trump and Sessions that they wanted him to stay on. The person wasn't authorized to comment publicly on the matter and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-11-13-32-41


----------



## poochee

3/10/17
*Donald Trump is now living in fear*
As Donald Trump avoids questions about his wild claim that Pres. Obama illegally wiretapped him, his spokesman Sean Spicer laughed about Trump's reversal on another important issue. Lawrence O'Donnell discusses with Jonathan Alter, EJ Dionne, and Catherine Rampell.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/donald-trump-is-now-living-in-fear-895473731944


----------



## poochee

*Intruder Arrested After Breaching White House Grounds: Secret Service*
by Monica Alba, Kelly O'Donnell and Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

A man scaled the fence along the southern side of the White House before midnight Friday - the first such breach reported during Donald Trump's presidency, the Secret Service said.

Trump would have been at the White House at the time, according to his schedule, but the intruder didn't manage to get far.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...ng-white-house-grounds-secret-service-n732261


----------



## Johnny b

* The House GOP is pushing a bill that would let employers demand workers' genetic test results *

http://www.businessinsider.com/hous...workers-genetic-test-results-2017-3?r=UK&IR=T



> Rigorous studies by researchers not tied to the $8 billion wellness industry have shown that the programs improve employee health little if at all.
> 
> An industry group recently concluded that they save so little on medical costs that, on average, the programs lose money. But employers continue to embrace them, partly as a way to shift more health care costs to workers, including by penalizing them financially.


----------



## poochee

*US Attorney Preet Bharara tweets that he has been fired*
By Laura Jarrett and Jake Tapper, CNN
Updated 2:53 PM ET, Sat March 11, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Bharara was told after a meeting with the President-elect in November that he could stay on
The US attorney felt blindsided by the move
(CNN)*BREAKING NEWS: *Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, just tweeted that he has been fired. He wrote on his verified Twitter account, "I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/11/politics/bharara-not-resigning/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 11, 5:05 PM EST
*House panel wants any evidence Trump's phones were tapped*
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House intelligence committee asked the executive branch to provide by Monday any evidence to support President Donald Trump's claim that his phones were tapped at Trump Tower during the election, a senior congressional aide said Saturday.

The request was made in a letter sent by committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and the panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., according to the aide, who wasn't authorized to discuss the request by name and requested anonymity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-11-17-05-20


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Mar-a-Lago is heaven - for spies*
_The president's semi-public Florida retreat doesn't follow the same strict background check protocol as the White House, creating an espionage risk._
By Darren Samuelsohn
03/10/17 06:28 PM EST

PALM BEACH, Fla. - President Donald Trump relishes the comforts of his Mar-a-Lago estate for repeated weekends away from Washington, but former Secret Service and intelligence officials say the resort is a security nightmare vulnerable to both casual and professional spies.

While Trump's private club in South Florida has been transformed into a fortress of armed guards, military-grade radar, bomb sniffing dogs and metal-detection checkpoints, there are still notable vulnerabilities, namely the stream of guests who can enter the property without a background check.

And security experts warn that the commander in chief's frequent visits - four since he took office in January - afford an unprecedented opportunity for eavesdropping and building dossiers on the president's routines and habits, as well as those of the inner circle around him. They add that with each repeat visit, the security risk escalates.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-mar-lago-security-risk-espionage-235950


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 12 2017, 7:12 am ET
*Drain the Swamp? Supporters Say Fired Prosecutor Bharara Was Doing It*
by Phil McCausland and Phil Helsel

*VIDEO*

Bharara aggressively pursued insider trading cases, and Time magazine in 2012 put him on the cover with the headline "This Man Is Busting Wall St."

Prosecution against SAC Capital on fraud charges ended in the hedge fund group being hit with a record penalty of $1.8 billion in 2014. After his office charged JP Morgan Chase over the massive Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, the bank agreed to a $1.7 billion settlement.

Prosecutions sent Times Square bomb plotter Faisal Shahzad to prison for life. Bharara's office successfully prosecuted Al Qaeda terrorist Khalid Al-Fawwaz in 2015 for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

More recently, Bharara went after a former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Joseph Percoco, who allegedly sought and accepted over $300,000 in bribes.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...fired-prosecutor-bharara-was-doing-it-n732331


----------



## poochee

Politics
Mar 12 2017, 11:37 am ET
*Trump Voters Would Be Hit Hardest By Health Care Replacement Plan *
by Dante Chinni and Sally Bronston

*VIDEO*

The House plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would hit one group of voters especially hard: older, rural voters who were crucial to President Donald Trump in 2016.

The House plan would offer tax credits based on income and age, but the net effect according to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation would be a drop in federal subsidies for those who are older, lower income and who live in high-premium areas. When you put those elements together, Mr. Trump's voters appear to take the biggest hits.

Older voters were a big part of the Mr. Trump's winning 2016 coalition. He won 52% of the vote among all voters 45 or older.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...are-replace-plan-n732086?cid=eml_pol_20170312


----------



## poochee

*McCain calls on Trump to clarify wiretapping claim*
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 1:54 PM ET, Sun March 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Sen. John McCain said Sunday that President Donald Trump should either retract or substantiate his claim that President Barack Obama wire-tapped him in the final weeks of the presidential campaign and added he expects more to come on Russia's meddling in the US election.

McCain said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he had "no reason to believe" Trump's allegation, which the President has not supported with any evidence and which a White House official said was prompted by a Breitbart article.

"I have no reason to believe that the charge is true, but I also believe that the President of the United States could clear this up in a minute," McCain told anchor Jake Tapper. "All he has to do is pick up the phone, call the director of the CIA, director of national intelligence and say, 'OK, what happened?'"

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/12/politics/john-mccain-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Dictator Chic*
_I wrote a book about autocrats' design tastes. The U.S. president would fit right in._
By Peter York
March/April 2017

*PICTURES*

*Every good brand needs a theme and an aesthetic, *and President Donald Trump has spent decades cultivating both. The theme is success, wealth, winning, and the aesthetic is bright, brassy, loud-or, depending whom you ask, gaudy and fake. In person, the Trump look is that distinctive hair, oversize suits (apparently from the expensive Italian clothier Brioni) and long, shiny red ties. Architecturally, it's gilt and mirrors, as in his famous marble-and-gold Trump Tower apartment, photographed many times over the years, with its canopy beds, fresco-style ceilings and colossal chandeliers.

Trump's design aesthetic is fascinatingly out of line with America's past and present. If you doubt it, note that the interiors of the apartments his company actually sells bear no resemblance to the one he lives in. But that doesn't mean his taste comes from nowhere. At one level, it's aspirational, meant to project the wealth so many citizens can only dream of. But it also has important parallels-not with Italian Renaissance or French baroque, where its flourishes come from, but with something more recent. The best aesthetic descriptor of Trump's look, I'd argue, is _dictator style_.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/trump-style-dictator-autocrats-design-214877


----------



## poochee

Mar 12, 2:21 PM EDT
*Republicans dismiss upcoming budget analysis of health plan*
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans on Sunday dismissed an upcoming Congressional Budget Office analysis widely expected to conclude that more Americans will be uninsured under a proposal to dismantle Barack Obama's health law, despite President Donald Trump's promise of universal coverage.

Meanwhile, GOP opponents from the right and center hardened their positions against the Trump-backed legislation. House conservatives vowed to block the bill as "Obamacare Lite" unless there are more restrictions, even as a Republican senator warned the plan would never pass as is due to opposition from moderates.

"Do not walk the plank and vote for a bill that cannot pass the Senate and then have to face the consequences of that vote," said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. "If they vote for this bill, they're going to put the House majority at risk next year."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-12-14-21-49


----------



## poochee

Mar 12, 11:35 AM EDT
*In 1st budget, Trump to push conservative view of government*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump sends Congress a proposed budget this week that will sharply test Republicans' ability to keep long-standing promises to bolster the military, making politically painful cuts to a lengthy list of popular domestic programs.

The Republican president will ask his adopted political party, which runs Capitol Hill, to cut domestic agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, along with grants to state and local governments and community development projects. The spending plan, set for release Thursday, would make the Pentagon the big winner with a $54 billion boost to defense spending.

Trump has promised to "do a lot more with less," but his blueprint faces a reality test with Republicans, many of whom are already protesting.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-12-11-35-01


----------



## poochee

*White House Faces Deadline Monday To Provide Proof That Obama Wiretapped Trump* 
March 13, 20171:56 PM ET 
 Bill Chappell 

The Trump administration has until the end of the day Monday to produce evidence that former President Obama ordered surveillance on President Trump during last year's election, as Trump has claimed.

The House Intelligence Committee set the deadline in a letter to Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente last week in which it asked for proof of the claim, which Obama and others have said is baseless.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-to-provide-proof-that-obama-wiretapped-trump


----------



## poochee

MSNBC Live 3/12/17
*Is Trump keeping his promise to donate presidential salary?*
As a candidate, President Trump promised to donate his salary to charity or give it back to the Treasury. So has he made good? *Ari Melber reveals what his exclusive reporting uncovered on The Point.

VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/wat...se-to-donate-presidential-salary-896252995774


----------



## poochee

*Rep. Steve King Defends 'Somebody Else's Babies' Remarks*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO *

Iowa Rep. Steve King on Monday defended his contention that U.S. culture cannot be restored "with somebody else's babies" and advocated for "an America that's just so homogeneous that we look a lot the same."

The firebrand Republican, who has made a number of eyebrow raising remarks about immigration and culture, retweeted praise for a far-right European politician on Sunday, lauding him for understanding "that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...efends-somebody-else-s-babies-remarks-n732741


----------



## poochee

*Spicer: Trump didn't mean wiretapping when he tweeted about wiretapping*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 3:58 PM ET, Mon March 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

A week earlier Spicer said Trump's tweet "speaks for itself"
But Monday, Spicer was open to providing an interpretation
(CNN)The White House on Monday walked back a key point of President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated allegation that President Barack Obama wiretapped his phones in Trump Tower during the 2016 election.

Namely, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump wasn't referring to wiretapping when he tweeted about wiretapping.

"I think there's no question that the Obama administration, that there were actions about surveillance and other activities that occurred in the 2016 election," Spicer said. "The President used the word wiretaps in quotes to mean, broadly, surveillance and other activities."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/sean-spicer-donald-trump-wiretapping/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

*CBO report: 14 million fewer insured by 2018 under GOP health care law*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 4:21 PM ET, Mon March 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Fourteen million more Americans would be uninsured under the House Republican health care bill than under Obamacare in 2018, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday.

The long-anticipated score immediately puts the writers and supporters of the GOP Obamacare bill on the defensive. It is also certain to complicate the party's already troubled efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The Republican bill, titled the American Health Care Act, would reduce the federal deficits by $337 billion over 10 years, the CBO said.

The legislation, introduced last Monday, has sparked deep concern among Republican lawmakers in both the House and the Senate. The sources of unease are wide-ranging.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/cbo-report-health-care/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

Mar 13, 7:21 PM EDT
*Justice Dept. asks for more time on wiretapping evidence*
By JULIE PACE and DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Facing a Monday deadline, the Justice Department asked lawmakers for more time to provide evidence backing up President Donald Trump's unproven assertion that his predecessor wiretapped his New York skyscraper during the election. The request came as the White House appeared to soften Trump's explosive allegation.

The House intelligence committee said it would give the Justice Department until March 20 to comply with the evidence request. That's the date of the committee's first open hearing on the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia.

A spokesman for the committee's Republican chairman said that if the Justice Department doesn't meet the new deadline, the panel might use its subpoena power to gather information.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-13-19-21-16


----------



## poochee

*NBC

Potentially Historic Blizzard: Travel Nightmares Unfolding Ahead of Nor'easter*
Mon, Mar 13

*VIDEO*

More than 4,600 flights are canceled, and schools in major cities like Boston, Philadelphia and New York are already closed, ahead of Tuesday's potentially historic winter snowstorm

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...es-unfolding-ahead-of-nor-easter-896993347527


----------



## poochee

Mar 14, 2:04 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Both sides loose with facts in health debate*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Congressional Budget Office report on a Republican health care bill has set off an intense reaction in Washington, and some on both sides of the debate are playing loose with the facts.

Republicans are overlooking President Donald Trump's promise to deliver "insurance for everybody," which the CBO makes clear will not happen if the legislation becomes law. Democrats are assailing Republicans for "attacking the messenger," seeming to forget all the times they assailed the budget office themselves.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-14-14-04-53


----------



## poochee

*Trump Is Confident Probe Into Wiretap Claims Will 'Vindicate' Him*
ByEsme CribbPublishedMarch 14, 2017, 3:07 PM EDT

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is "extremely confident" an investigation will "vindicate" his unsubstantiated claims that President Barack Obama "wiretapped" his phone lines at Trump Tower.

"I think he's extremely confident," Spicer said at his daily briefing. "I'll let the House and Senate and I'll let the DOJ report this."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewi...-probe-into-wiretap-claims-will-vindicate-him


----------



## poochee

*King: Hispanic, Black People Will Turn On Each Other Before Outnumbering Whites*
ByEsme CribbPublishedMarch 14, 2017, 12:46 PM EDT

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), of newfound "somebody else's babies" infamy, said on Monday that black and Hispanic populations "will be fighting each other" before outnumbering the population of white people in the United States.

"They're dividing people, they're pitting people against each other," King said on WHO radio's "The Jan Mickelson Show" in Des Moines.

King referred to Univision anchor Jorge Ramos' remark on Fox News that "the white population will become a minority." Ramos used the point to argue that the United States is a multiracial country.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewi...turn-on-each-other-before-outnumbering-whites


----------



## poochee

*Senator: Comey to say whether FBI probing Russia, Trump campaign by Wednesday*
By Manu Raju and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 9:57 PM ET, Tue March 14, 2017

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Members of Congress are investigating a claim made by President Donald Trump on wiretapping
The President has not provided any evidence to support his claim
(CNN)Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Tuesday that FBI Director James Comey promised to tell him Wednesday whether the FBI is investigating ties between Russia and the campaign of President Donald Trump.

The Rhode Island Democrat said that Comey made the promise in a March 2 meeting with him and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/14/politics/wiretapping-congressional-investigation/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump tax returns show president paid $38 million in 2005, White House says*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY Published 9:00 p.m. ET March 14, 2017 | Updated 16 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 on an income of more than $150 million, a senior White House official confirmed Tuesday night.

That rare acknowledgement came in anticipation of a report by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who purported to have copies of Trump's tax returns from 11 years ago. The White House official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive financial matter.

Trump defied decades of tradition during the 2016 presidential campaign in refusing to voluntarily release his tax returns, which would shed light on the size and breadth of a sprawling real estate and entertainment empire he says is worth $10 billion.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...id-38-million-2005-white-house-says/99192100/


----------



## poochee

*House intel chairman: No evidence of wiretapping claim*
By Manu Raju, Tom LoBianco and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 2:20 PM ET, Wed March 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of his phones ran into headwinds on several fronts Wednesday, as three top Republicans said they'd seen no evidence of the assertion.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said he does not believe Trump's claim that Obama wiretapped him, but said it's possible Trump communications may have been gathered in "incidental" intelligence collection.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/14/politics/wiretapping-congressional-investigation/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Mar 15 2017, 10:49 am ET
*Who Is Leaking Donald Trump's Tax Returns?*
by Gregg Birnbaum

*VIDEO*

Here's what we know about how the leaks happened and what they tell us about who the leaker - or leakers - might be:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...mp-s-tax-returns-n733661?cid=eml_pol_20170315


----------



## poochee

*Democrats urge one another not to get distracted by Trump's taxes*
By *Dan *Merica, CNN
Updated 9:51 AM ET, Wed March 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Democrats fighting Obamacare say they don't want to be distracted by Trump's taxes
Though Democrats have long coveted Trump's tax returns, which the candidate and now president has refused to release, a cadre of Democratic operatives and lawmakers stressed the need to focus on the GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, which the Congressional Budget Office says would cause millions to lose health insurance, lead to higher premiums in the short-term and decrease the amount spent on Medicaid.

"Message: tax cuts for the rich paid for by taking health care away from 24M people > tax returns," Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama tweeted.

Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, added, "Focus! $880b cut in Medicaid in order to pay for a $880b tax cut for rich. Plus an age tax."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/14/politics/democrats-distracted-trump-taxes/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Fed Raises Interest Rates for Third Time Since Financial Crisis*
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUMMARCH 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

The decision raises the Fed's benchmark rate to a range between 0.75 percent and 1 percent.

In a statement after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee, the Fed said that the United States economy continued to chug along, expanding at a "moderate pace." Employers are hiring, consumers are spending and businesses - the laggards in recent months - are starting to spend a little more, too.

The Fed also highlighted a recent increase in inflation after a long period of sluggishness. Prices are now rising at roughly the 2 percent annual pace that the Fed regards as optimal. The Fed, which had made faster inflation a central objective, said on Wednesday that it was now focused on stabilizing inflation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/business/economy/fed-interest-rates-yellen.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*White House, senators plot major changes to Obamacare repeal bill*
By Lauren Fox and MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 1:50 PM ET, Wed March 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Conservative lawmakers are unhappy with the House GOP health care measure
White House is working on changes, but risk alienating moderate lawmakers
"The House has a current bill that personally I don't think gets the job done," said Ted Cruz
(CNN)Trump administration officials acknowledged to Republican senators at a White House meeting Tuesday that the House bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is in serious jeopardy.

One adviser to a senator present at the meeting said the acknowledgment was simply that "they don't have the votes to pass this in current form," a reference to whether the House GOP bill in its current form could survive in the Senate.

The meeting included a handful of conservative senators who have expressed deep concerns with the bill. According to multiple aides, Vice President Mike Pence made a short visit to the closed-door briefing with lawmakers.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/15/politics/white-house-senators-obamacare-repeal-changes/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama spokesman: Anti-Trump robocalls using Obama's voice have been reported to law enforcement*
By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN
Updated 4:15 PM ET, Wed March 15, 2017

*Story highlights*

"These pre-recorded calls were not authorized by President Barack Obama," said Obama's spokesperson.
"We will continue to monitor for and report any misleading or fraudulent uses of the President's image," he added.
(CNN)A spokesperson for Barack Obama says the former president is not affiliated with a group soliciting donations to oppose President Donald Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/15/politics/kfile-obama-pac-ads/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 15 2017, 12:30 pm ET
*Russian Spies Charged in Massive Yahoo Email Hack*
by Ken Dilanian

*VIDEO*

The Justice Department announced charges Wednesday against two Russian spies and two hackers behind the 2014 theft of data connected to half a billion Yahoo accounts, which officials called one of the largest known data breaches in American history.

The four men together face 47 criminal charges, including conspiracy, computer fraud, economic espionage, theft of trade secrets and aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department said in a news release.

One of them, Karim Baratov, 22, a Canadian and Kazakh national and a resident of Canada, was arrested in Canada on Tuesday, said Mary McCord, acting assistant attorney general for national security.

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/russian-spies-charged-massive-yahoo-email-hack-n733716


----------



## poochee

Mar 15, 9:22 PM EDT
*GOP leaders acknowledge health bill changes, may delay vote*
By ALAN FRAM and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Their health care overhaul imperiled from all sides, the White House and top House Republicans acknowledged Wednesday they would make changes to the legislation in hopes of nailing down votes and pushing the party's showpiece legislation through the chamber soon.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declined to commit to bringing the measure to the House floor next week, a fresh indication of uncertainty. Republican leaders have repeatedly said that was their schedule, but opposition mushroomed after a congressional report concluded this week that the measure would strip 24 million people of coverage in a decade.

Ryan told reporters that GOP leaders could now make "some necessary improvements and refinements" to the legislation, reflecting an urgency to buttress support. The measure would strike down much of former President Barack Obama's 2010 overhaul and reduce the federal role, including financing, for health care consumers and is opposed uniformly by Democrats.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-15-21-22-03


----------



## poochee

Mar 15, 9:41 PM EDT
*Trump announces challenge to Obama-era fuel standards*
By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) -- President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration will re-examine federal requirements governing the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, moving forcefully against Obama-era environmental regulations that Trump says are stifling economic growth.

Trump revealed his plans during a speech at an automotive testing center near Detroit, where he also met with auto company executives and workers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-15-21-41-59


----------



## poochee

Mar 15 2017, 10:38 pm ET
*Judge Blocks Second Travel Order; Trump Slams 'Judicial Overreach'*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

A federal judge in Hawaii blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump's revised executive order on entry into the United States on Wednesday, just hours before it was to have taken effect.

The ruling, granting a request for a temporary restraining order by the state of Hawaii and Ismail Elshikh, stalls the president's second attempt to suspend admission of nearly all refugees for 120 days and to restrict visas for nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-hawaii-blocks-trump-s-revised-travel-order-n734141


----------



## poochee

*2 Federal Judges Rule Against Trump's Latest Travel Ban*
By ALEXANDER BURNSMARCH 15, 2017

VIDEO

A federal judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide order Wednesday evening blocking President Trump's ban on travel from parts of the Muslim world, dealing a stinging blow to the White House and signaling that Mr. Trump will have to account in court for his heated rhetoric about Islam.

A second federal judge in Maryland ruled against Mr. Trump overnight, with a separate order forbidding the core provision of the travel ban from going into effect.

The rulings were a second major setback for Mr. Trump in his pursuit of a policy that he has trumpeted as critical for national security. His first attempt to sharply limit travel from a handful of predominantly Muslim countries ended in a courtroom fiasco last month, when a federal court in Seattle halted it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/us/politics/trump-travel-ban.html?ref=politics&_r=0


----------



## poochee

*Ryan, Senate Intel committee see no evidence of Trump wiretap*
By Manu Raju and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 2:16 PM ET, Thu March 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

House, the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman and the ranking Democrat on the committee said Thursday that they've seen no evidence of President Donald Trump's accusation that he was wiretapped last year by his predecessor.

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr and ranking member Mark Warner issued a statement Thursday, saying "based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016."

The statement from the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee marks the clearest and strongest refutation of Trump's allegations since the President first made them two weeks ago. The senators statement also addresses Trump's more recent statement that he was not merely speaking about wiretapping specifically.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/16/politics/paul-ryan-wiretap-response/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Top Intel Dem: Trump 'Appears' To Have Blabbed About Classified CIA Breach*
ByMatt ShuhamPublishedMarch 16, 2017, 1:25 PM EDT

The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee alleged Thursday that President Donald Trump may have divulged classified information when he said in an interview that "the CIA was hacked, and a lot of things taken."

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) tweeted that Trump, in his "effort to again blame Obama … appears to have discussed something that, if true and accurate, would otherwise be considered classified information."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/adam-schiff-trump-appears-to-have-leaked-classified-info


----------



## poochee

*Here's what Trump's budget proposes to cut*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 1:21 PM ET, Thu March 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump unveiled his first budget blueprint on Thursday, and to offset increases in defense spending, the President is proposing $54 billion in cuts to large parts of the federal government and popular programs big and small.

Trump's budget would cut off funding entirely for several agencies, including arts, public broadcasting and development groups, and also proposes steep cuts to agencies like the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency.

Virtually every agency will see some sort of cut, with only Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs getting a boost.
Congress will have the final say, and lawmakers have already expressed opposition to many of the proposals.

*Here's a look at some of the major cuts in the President's budget blueprint:
*
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/16/politics/trump-budget-cuts/


----------



## poochee

*Former Trump National Security Adviser Was Paid To Advise Russian Firms* 
March 16, 20174:54 PM ET 
 Jackie Northam 

That total came from several sources. In one case, Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, was paid more than $33,000 to speak at a conference in Moscow sponsored by RT, the government-run news organization. Flynn sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin during dinner at the event. The speaking engagement was held in December 2015, just two months before Flynn became a formal adviser to Trump's presidential campaign.

The documents include emails from RT explaining that Flynn was invited to the event for his "expertise as an intelligence professional" and "to talk about the decision-making process in the White House - and the role of the intelligence community in it."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...rity-adviser-was-paid-to-advise-russian-firms


----------



## poochee

*President Trump and Angela Merkel Meet for the First Time at the White House*
Ken Thomas and Jill Colvin / AP
2:23 PM ET

*VIDEO*

(WASHINGTON) - It was all smiles as President Donald Trump welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House on Friday, their first personal encounter since he frequently criticized her during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Their agenda included discussions on strengthening NATO, fighting ISIS and resolving Ukraine's conflict, all matters that require close cooperation between the U.S. and Germany. The meeting, which was postponed from Tuesday because of a snowstorm, will be capped with a joint news conference.

Trump and Merkel smiled in front of cameras in the Oval Office at the start of their meeting, with the president urging journalists to "send a good picture back to Germany, please." The new president told reporters merely that he and Merkel would be discussing "many things" in their first face-to-face exchange of his presidency.

http://time.com/4705544/trump-merkel-meeting-white-house/?xid=homepage
_
_


----------



## poochee

*Trump Offers No Apology for Claim on British Spying*
By PETER BAKER and STEVEN ERLANGERMARCH 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Trump refused to back down on Friday after his White House aired an unverified claim that Britain's spy agency secretly monitored him during last year's campaign at the behest of President Barack Obama, fueling a rare rupture between the United States and its most important international partner.

Although his aides in private conversations since Thursday night had tried to calm British officials who were livid over the claim, Mr. Trump made clear that he felt the White House had nothing to retract or apologize for. He said his spokesman was simply repeating an assertion made by a Fox News commentator.

"We said nothing," Mr. Trump told a German reporter who asked about the matter at a joint White House news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel. "All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didn't make an opinion on it." He added: "You shouldn't be talking to me. You should be talking to Fox."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/...click&contentCollection=Europe&pgtype=article


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's words are catching up to his presidency*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 3:31 PM ET, Fri March 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_During a campaign rally a little less than a year before he entered the White House, Donald Trump boasted that his supporters' loyalty was such that he "could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody" with political impunity.

The rhetorical flourish struck a nerve, in part because it spoke to a fundamental truth about his campaign. Trump backers were all-in and there seemed to be nothing, no ugly revelation or gaffe, damaging enough to loosen the grip.

But after nearly two months in office, Trump is running up against more suspicious constituencies. Institutions he promised to conquer have shown themselves to be less inclined to forgive his missteps and foreign governments, including close allies like the UK, are making their concerns known. White House aides were forced to deliver what amounted to an apology Friday morning to their British counterparts -- then watch as Trump seemed to withdraw it during a press conference hours later.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/17/politics/donald-trump-under-attack-own-words/index.html


----------



## poochee

*GOP lawmaker to Trump: Produce wiretap evidence or apologize to Obama*
By Manu Raju and Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 12:30 PM ET, Fri March 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump "shouldn't be reckless in accusations," Cole said
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump is standing by his claim
_(CNN)_A Republican lawmaker called on President Donald Trump Friday to either provide evidence or apologize to former President Barack Obama for his so-far unverified claim that Trump Tower was wiretapped during the 2016 election.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/17/politics/tom-cole-donald-trump-apology/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 17 2017, 9:12 am ET
*Rex Tillerson: Military Action Against North Korea Is 'on the Table'*
by Alexander Smith

*VIDEO*

Rex Tillerson warned Friday that military action against North Korea was "on the table" if the country continued to develop its weapons program.

"If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action then that option is on the table," he told a press conference in South Korea.

"Certainly we do not want for things to get to a military conflict," he added. "But obviously if North Korea takes actions that threaten the South Korean forces or our own forces then that would be met with an appropriate response."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-k...orth-korea-table-n734771?cid=eml_pol_20170317


----------



## poochee

*Daily Cartoon: Friday, March 17th*
*By Pat Byrnes*
11:19 A.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/friday-march-17th-st-patricks-wiretap?mbid=nl_TNY Template - With Photo (147)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=10643193&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1121383986&spReportId=MTEyMTM4Mzk4NgS2


----------



## poochee

*In awkward exchange, Trump seems to ignore Merkel's handshake request*
By Madeline Conway
03/17/17 01:28 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump, who made headlines for shaking hands with Japan's prime minister in front of reporters for a full 19 seconds, seemed to ignore German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she suggested that they exchange the same courtesy during her White House visit Friday.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-angela-merkel-no-handshake-236175


----------



## poochee

Mar 17 2017, 12:08 pm ET
*Employer-Backed Insurance Could Take a Huge Hit from GOP Healthcare Plan*
by Martha C. White

*VIDEO*

The Republican healthcare plan could signal the beginning of the end for employer-based healthcare insurance, a perk that millions of Americans take for granted.

Roughly half of Americans were covered by employer-sponsored health plans in 2015, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. But that could change, according to the Congressional Budget Office's report on the GOP's American Health Care Plan.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/con...uld-take-huge-hit-gop-healthcare-plan-n734951


----------



## poochee

Mar 17, 3:05 PM EDT
*GOP, Dem lawmakers decry Trump's cut to Meals on Wheels*
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Meals on Wheels, the popular service that provides food to the elderly, faces a sharp funding cut under President Donald Trump's budget proposal, drawing protests from congressional Republicans and Democrats.

The exact size of the cut is unknown, but White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the government "can't spend money on programs just because they sound good - and great."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-17-15-05-54


----------



## poochee

Mar 17, 7:47 PM EDT
*House panel gets DoJ information about Trump's wiretap claim*
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department has given the House intelligence committee information it requested about President Donald Trump's bold but unsubstantiated claim of being wiretapped during the presidential election, but the committee chairman won't say what was received.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., declined to disclose details, saying only that the Justice Department had "fully complied" with the committee's request.

The Justice Department sent the information in advance of FBI Director James Comey's testimony Monday at a committee hearing being held in conjunction with its investigation into Russian activities during the presidential election.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-17-19-47-23


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama is probably lying on a beach in a deserted paradise right now*
By Kate Bennett, CNN
Updated 7:03 PM ET, Fri March 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

WashingtonBarack Obama's post-presidency life is way more glamorous than you could imagine.

Back in Washington, President Donald Trump continues to suggest, without proof, that Obama wiretapped him and Republicans are busy trying to dismantle his signature health reform law. Nevertheless, former President Barack Obama is unwinding nicely from the most important job in the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/17/politics/where-in-the-world-is-barack-obama/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump, Day After Merkel's Visit, Says Germany Pays NATO and U.S. Too Little*
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISMARCH 18, 2017

"Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!" he continued.

The message was misleading because no nation actually "owes" money to NATO; its direct funding is calculated through a formula and paid by each of the 28 nations that are members.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/...-angela-merkel-germany.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton says she's 'ready to come out of the woods'*
By michael rubinkam
SCRANTON, Pa. - Mar 18, 2017, 12:54 AM ET

*VIDEO*

Hillary Clinton said Friday she's "ready to come out of the woods" and help Americans find common ground.

Clinton's gradual return to the public spotlight following her presidential election loss continued with a St. Patrick's Day speech in her late father's Pennsylvania hometown of Scranton.

"I'm like a lot of my friends right now, I have a hard time watching the news," Clinton told an Irish women's group.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/hillary-clinton-give-st-pats-day-speech-pennsylvania-46198520


----------



## poochee

Mar 19 2017, 3:30 pm ET
*Driver Arrested Near White House Grounds Claimed to Have a Bomb: Police*
by Daniella Silva

*VIDEO*

A man detained by Secret Service near the White House grounds said he had a bomb in his car as he drove up to a checkpoint on Saturday night, according to a police report obtained by NBC News on Sunday.

The suspect claimed to have "a bomb in the trunk" of a stolen Chevrolet Impala while clasping something in his right hand as he drove up a White House checkpoint around 11 p.m. Saturday night, according to the Metropolitan Police report.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ouse-grounds-claimed-have-bomb-police-n735401


----------



## poochee

*Political dogfight over Supreme Court finally reaches Senate*
 Richard Wolf  , USA TODAY Published 11:41 a.m. ET March 19, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - One of the most convoluted Supreme Court confirmation battles in history finally reaches the U.S. Senate Monday, 401 days after the death of legendary Justice Antonin Scalia left a vacancy that spanned two presidencies and spawned two nominees.

Federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's choice to be the nation's 113th Supreme Court justice, faces several days of harsh questioning from Democrats still seething at the Republican-controlled Senate's refusal to consider President Barack Obama's equally qualified nominee last year.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...e-neil-gorsuch-reaches-senate-trump/99216280/


----------



## poochee

*Trump Administration Files Motion Aimed At Controlling Consumer Protection Agency* 
March 17, 20178:24 PM ET
Barbara Campbell

Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, testifies before a Senate committee last year. The Trump administration is trying to bring the independent bureau under the president's direct control.

The Trump administration has gone to court to try to bring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under its control. The bureau is an executive branch entity, but the president doesn't have direct control over the six-year-old agency.

The Justice Department filed a brief with a federal appeals court in Washington on Friday, making the case that the structure of the agency violates the Constitution.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...imed-at-controling-consumer-protection-agency


----------



## poochee

*Trump sued over disclosure of personal debts*
By Josh Gerstein
03/18/17 10:48 PM EDT
Updated 03/19/17 02:05 PM EDT

A Washington lawyer is suing President Donald Trump for allegedly obscuring the extent of his personal debts on his federal financial disclosure form.

Attorney Jeffrey Lovitky filed the case in federal court in Washington this week, claiming that Trump's May 2016 disclosure intermingles his personal indebtedness and loans made to businesses or development projects Trump is affiliated with.

While Trump or his businesses are facing at least four lawsuits alleging unfair competition or violations of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, Lovitky's suit makes no claims of impropriety - it simply alleges that the public is being deprived of accurate information about Trump's debts.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/03/trump-sued-personal-debt-disclosure-236222


----------



## poochee

Mar 18, 5:37 PM EDT
*Trump wants to build 30-foot-high wall at Mexican border*
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration wants to build a 30-foot-high border wall that looks good from the north side and is difficult to climb or cut through, according to a pair of contract notices posted to a government website further detailing President Donald Trump's promise to build a "big, beautiful wall" at the Mexican border.

The notices were made public late Friday by Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security Department agency that will oversee the project and eventually patrol and maintain the wall. The proposals are due to the government by March 29.

One of the CBP contract requests calls for a solid concrete wall, while the other asks for proposals for a see-through structure. Both require the wall to sunk at least six feet into the ground and include 25- and 50-foot automated gates for pedestrians and vehicles. The proposed wall must also be built in a such a way that it would take at least an hour to cut through it with a "sledgehammer, car jack, pick axe, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar hand-held tools."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-18-17-37-52


----------



## poochee

*Trump, critic of Obama's golfing, regularly hits the links*
By Dan Merica
Updated 7:03 PM ET, Sun March 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

A president's golf play is far from controversial: In fact, it's the most common pastime of the country's leaders. But before he ran for office, Trump was the most fervent critic of the fact that President Barack Obama regularly hit the links with friends, aides and advisers, arguing that it showed the president was unserious about fixing America's problems.

Now that Trump is President, the comments are coming back to complicate his golf habit.

Trump has visited the two courses near his Mar-a-Lago estate -- Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach and Trump National Golf Course in Jupiter -- 10 times in the first two months of his presidency.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/19/politics/trump-golf-weekends/index.html


----------



## poochee

*FBI: Trump campaign, Russia ties investigated, no wiretap evidence found*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 3:04 PM ET, Mon March 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_FBI Director James Comey said for the first time Monday that the bureau is investigating whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow while Russia was interfering in the presidential election.

Comey also delivered an implicit rebuke to President Donald Trump, saying that he had "no information" to support claims by the President that he was wiretapped on the orders of predecessor Barack Obama.

In a dramatic hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey, once again finding himself at the epicenter of a political storm, also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a clear preference for whom he wanted to see as the next president -- and it was not Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/20/politics/comey-hearing-russia-wiretapping/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 20, 3:11 PM EDT
*The Latest: Trump keeping tabs on Russia hearing, tweeting*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on a congressional inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election (all times local):

3:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump is keeping tabs on the congressional hearing on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. He's tweeting that the FBI and National Security Agency are telling Congress that Russia did not influence the electoral process.

That put FBI Director James Comey in the unusual situation of having to respond to presidential tweets in the middle of his testimony.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-20-15-11-22


----------



## poochee

Mar 20 2017, 8:31 am ET
*Buckle Up: Trump Faces His Most Consequential Week Yet*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Buckle up:Trump faces his most consequential week yet

This is shaping up to be a consequential week for Donald Trump's presidency - on his explosive wiretapping charge, on Russia, on the fate of his health-care effort, and on the confirmation of his Supreme Court pick. And we start getting answers to these questions as soon as today.

*1. Does FBI Director Comey publicly repudiate Trump's wiretapping charge?* Beginning at 10:00 am ET, Comey testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Russia's activities to influence the 2016 election. But expect Democrats to ask him to either confirm - or refute - President Trump's unsubstantiated accusation that Barack Obama wire-tapped him. Earlier this month, NBC News reported that Comey asked the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump's claim.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...uential-week-yet-n735666?cid=eml_pol_20170320


----------



## poochee

*Poll: President Trump's approval rating hits a new low*
 Jessica Estepa  , USA TODAY Published 12:05 p.m. ET March 20, 2017
| Updated 5 hours ago

*VIDEO*

Two months after the inauguration, Donald Trump's job approval rating has hit a new low, according to a new poll.

The Gallup poll found 37% of Americans approve of how the president is doing his job. Comparatively, 58% disapprove of how Trump is handling the presidency.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...017/03/20/trump-approval-rating-low/99409570/


----------



## poochee

*Republicans Praise Gorsuch, Democrats Decry Garland Treatment On Day 1 Of Hearings* 
March 20, 201710:47 AM ET 
 *Jessica Taylor* 

At his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Neil Gorsuch pitched himself as a reasonable jurist who would do his best to uphold the rule of law without any bias.

"Sitting here, I am acutely aware of my own imperfections," the federal appeals court judge told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. "But I pledge to each of you and to the American people that, if confirmed, I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of our great nation."

The 49-year-old Gorsuch, who was nominated by President Trump in January to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia, did his best to strike a chord of unity in his testimony.

But his comments followed four hours of opening statements from the committee members in which Democrats made clear they believed it was not Gorsuch who should be sitting before them, but President Obama's original nominee, Merrick Garland.

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/20/52081...l-gorsuchs-supreme-court-confirmation-hearing


----------



## poochee

*Trump Still Hasn't Done Very Much*
_Month Two: What matters and what didn't_
By Michael Grunwald
March 20, 2017

Monday marks the end of President Donald Trump's second month in office. And once again, it was a month dominated by news coverage of President Donald Trump.

He plunged into a ferocious battle over Obamacare, delivered his first speech to Congress, released his first budget blueprint and revised his controversial travel ban. He also accused his predecessor of tapping his phones, demanded a congressional investigation of his accusation, and then refused to withdraw it even after the investigation swiftly debunked it. If that didn't seem presidential-well, it actually was, because Trump is the president. And he's been a perpetual presidential motion machine, signing executive orders, announcing new policies, attacking the media and bragging about how much he's getting done.

But he hasn't gotten much done

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/trump-still-hasnt-done-very-much-214932


----------



## poochee

Mar 21 2017, 7:50 am ET
*Comey Disclosures Leave Trump Alone on Island of Conspiracy Theories*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEOS*

*It's become clear that things in the nation's capital are boiling down to this:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...spiracy-theories-n736101?cid=eml_pol_20170321


----------



## poochee

Mar 21, 12:28 PM EDT
*Trump warns GOP of political costs of rejecting health bill*
By ALAN FRAM and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned House Republicans they would lose their seats in next year's midterm elections if they failed to back the GOP health care overhaul and fulfill a long-promised goal to undo Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.

In a rare trip to the Capitol, the president met behind closed doors with rank-and-file Republicans, some wavering on the legislation two days before a climactic vote. Top House Republicans unveiled revisions to their bill Monday night in hopes of nailing down support.

Trump's message to Republicans: "If you don't pass the bill there could be political costs," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-21-12-28-33


----------



## poochee

Mar 21, 12:45 PM EDT
*US, UK bar laptop carry-ons from Mideast, N. Africa flights*
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. and British governments, citing unspecified threats, are barring passengers on some international flights from mostly Middle Eastern and North African countries from bringing laptops, tablets, electronic games and other devices on board in carry-on bags.

Passengers flying to the United States from 10 airports in eight countries will be allowed only cellphones and smartphones in the passenger cabins, senior Trump administration officials said. Larger electronic items must be checked.

The British security rules will affect flights from six countries and will bar passengers from taking "any phones, laptops or tablets larger than a normal sized mobile or smartphone," into the cabin.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-21-12-45-49


----------



## poochee

March 20, 2017, 4:20 PM
*Donald Trump's wealth ranking tumbles 200 spots on Forbes list*
Last Updated Mar 20, 2017 5:21 PM EDT

*NEW YORK* - President Donald Trump's week is not getting off to a good start, with him falling more than 200 spots on the Forbes world billionaires list and hearing that his election campaign is under FBI investigation.

While Mr. Trump's political fortunes were rising, his net worth was dropping to a mere $3.5 billion, or roughly a third of what he claimed during his successful campaign for the U.S. presidency, according to the latest Forbes list of the world's billionaires. His latest ranking reflects a dip of about $1 billion, by Forbes' reckoning.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-forbes-list-wealth-rank/


----------



## poochee

*Even Democrats Finding it Hard to Dislike Pres. Trump's SCOTUS Nominee*
Tue, Mar 21

*VIDEO*

Throughout the second day of his confirmation hearings, Judge Neil Gorsuch remained unruffled and confident, assuring senators that he would act independently of the president.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...like-pres-trump-s-scotus-nominee-903259715710


----------



## poochee

Cartoon

*VIDEO*

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon-032117-crimping


----------



## poochee

London Parliament Attack
Mar 22 2017, 2:48 pm ET
*London Terrorist Attack: 3 Killed Near British Parliament*
by Alastair Jamieson, Alexander Smith, Saphora Smith and Lisa McNally

*VIDEO*

LONDON - Three people were killed and 20 others wounded Wednesday after a terrorist attack at Britain's Parliament sent crowds of tourists and lawmakers fleeing for safety.

The victims included a police officer stabbed at the House of Commons, who died despite the efforts of doctors and a passing government minister to save him.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/lo...d-near-britain-s-house-commons-london-n736991


----------



## poochee

Mar 22, 2:13 PM EDT
*GOP lawmaker: Trump communications may have been 'monitored'*
By JULIE PACE and DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the House intelligence committee said Wednesday that the communications of Trump transition officials - possibly including President Donald Trump himself - may have been "monitored" after the election as part of an "incidental collection."

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said the intercepted communications do not appear to be related to the ongoing FBI investigation into Trump associates' contacts with Russia. He said he believes the intelligence collections were done legally.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-22-14-13-26


----------



## poochee

Mar 22 2017, 8:09 am ET
*First Read's Morning Clips: Manafort and Russia*
_TRUMP AGENDA: Paul Manafort's Russian connection_

Breaking this morning from the AP: "President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests." *MORE:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-manafort-russia-n736876?cid=eml_pol_20170322


----------



## poochee

Mar 22, 2:40 PM EDT
*WH distances Trump from Manafort after AP report*
By JEFF HORWITZ and CHAD DAY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is distancing itself from former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, saying his secret work for a Russian billionaire detailed in an Associated Press report happened during "the last decade."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-22-10-59-42


----------



## poochee

Mar 22 2017, 7:19 am ET
*Susan Rice: Trump White House 'False Statements' Undermine National Security*
by Alastair Jamieson

*VIDEO*

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, she said recent "false statements" about wiretapping that led to public criticism from Britain's spy agency were part of a "disturbing pattern of behavior that poses real and potentially profound dangers to U.S. national security."

She wrote: "When the American people question the commander in chief's statements, his ability to harness public support to confront a national crisis is undermined."

Rice, a Rhodes scholar who was confirmed as an ambassador by unanimous consent, warned that Washington's world standing was being harmed.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...ational-security-n736846?cid=eml_pol_20170322


----------



## poochee

*WSJ editorial: Most Americans may conclude Trump 'fake president'*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 2:25 PM ET, Wed March 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"If he doesn't show more respect for the truth, most Americans may conclude he's a fake President," the editorial says
Trump has refused to back down from unsubstantiated allegations
(CNN)President Donald Trump's repeated lack of "respect for the truth" puts him in jeopardy of being viewed as "a fake President," The Wall Street Journal editorial board says.

"Two months into his presidency, Gallup has Mr. Trump's approval rating at 39%. No doubt Mr. Trump considers that fake news, but if he doesn't show more respect for the truth, most Americans may conclude he's a fake President," reads the editorial, which appeared online Tuesday night.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/22/politics/donald-trump-wsj-trust/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 22 2017, 6:18 pm ET
*Trump Says He Feels 'Somewhat' Vindicated by House Intel Chairman's Disclosure on 'Incidental' Surveillance*
by Ali Vitali , Kasie Hunt and Ken Dilanian

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday he feels "somewhat" vindicated after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' revelation that he has seen reports from the U.S. intelligence community showing communication from members of the transition team - and possibly from the president himself - were "incidentally collected" as part of a broader surveillance effort.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investi...ssibly-picked-incidental-surveillance-n737201


----------



## poochee

Mar 22, 6:27 PM EDT
*Black lawmakers say they had candid conversation with Trump*
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black lawmakers emerged from a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday saying the president was at least willing to listen to their concerns that his policies and positions could hurt their African-American constituents.

However, beyond a promise of future dialogue and a discussion about "divisive rhetoric," it seemed that there was little change in either the White House's mind or the minds of the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus on issues like the president's approach to health care, police misconduct investigations, criminal justice, education or funding for historically black colleges and universities.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-22-18-27-46


----------



## poochee

Mar 22 2017, 10:20 pm ET
*Schiff: 'More Than Circumstantial Evidence' Trump Associates Colluded With Russia*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee claimed Wednesday evening that he has seen "more than circumstantial evidence" that associates of President Donald Trump colluded with Russia while the Kremlin attempted to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the Ranking Member on the committee, was asked by Chuck Todd on "Meet The Press Daily" whether or not he only has a circumstantial case.

"Actually no, Chuck," he said. "I can tell you that the case is more than that and I can't go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...ence-trump-associates-colluded-russia-n737446


----------



## poochee

*Still no deal on Obamacare repeal after White House meeting*
Erin Kelly, Eliza Collins and Paul Singer, USA TODAY Published 9:36 a.m. ET March 23, 2017 | Updated 4 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

Conservative House Republicans said a Thursday meeting with President Trump produced progress but no deal on legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, leaving plans for a vote on the bill by the end of the day in jeopardy.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...acare-repeal-bill-vote-negotiations/99527734/


----------



## poochee

*Obama defends signature health care law as GOP seeks repeal*
By Betsy Klein, CNN
Updated 10:19 AM ET, Thu March 23, 2017

He cautioned that Republicans and Democrats working to build on the law should "start from the baseline that any changes will make our health care system better, not worse for hardworking Americans."

It's highly unusual for a former president to make such a public and political statement less than 100 days after leaving office, signaling Obama's concern for the law's future.

Obama touted the bill's successes, naming some of the law's key features.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/23/politics/obama-affordable-care-act-anniversary/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 23, 7:07 PM EDT
*Obamacare repeal vote put off in stinging setback for Trump*
By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After seven years of fervent promises to repeal and replace "Obamacare," President Donald Trump and GOP congressional leaders buckled at a moment of truth Thursday, putting off a planned showdown vote in a stinging setback for the young administration.

The White House insisted the House vote would still happen - Friday morning instead - but with opposition flowing from both strongly conservative and moderate-leaning GOP lawmakers, that was far from assured.

The delay was announced after Trump, who ran for president as a master deal-maker, failed to close the deal with a group of fellow Republicans in the first major legislative test of his presidency.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-23-19-07-03


----------



## poochee

*Nunes apologizes for going directly to White House with monitoring claims
Nancy Pelosi calls the Intelligence Committee chairman a 'stooge for the president of the United States.*
By Austin Wright and Nolan D. McCaskill
3/23/17 11:16 AM EDT
Updated 03/23/17 12:21 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday called Nunes a "stooge for the president of the United States."

"I think he's demonstrated very clearly that there is no way there can be an impartial investigation under his leadership on that committee," Pelosi said. "It speaks very clearly to the need for an outside independent commission."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/...-to-white-house-with-monitoring-claims-236415


----------



## poochee

*Trump: 'I can't be doing so badly, because I'm president and you're not'*
By Louis Nelson
03/23/17 08:09 AM EDT

In a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine, President Donald Trump defended his controversial statements on wiretapping, voter fraud and an array of other issues, claiming he has ultimately been proven right time and time again.

"I'm a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right," Trump told Time's Washington bureau chief Michael Scherer in an interview conducted Wednesday and published Thursday morning. "I tend to be right. I'm an instinctual person, I happen to be a person that knows how life works."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-time-interview-truth-236404


----------



## poochee

Mar 23, 11:12 PM EDT
*White House, in gamble, demands make-or-break health vote*
By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Abandoning negotiations, President Donald Trump demanded a make-or-break vote on health care legislation in the House, threatening to leave "Obamacare" in place and move on to other issues if Friday's vote fails.

The risky move, part gamble and part threat, was presented to GOP lawmakers behind closed doors Thursday night after a long and intense day that saw a planned vote on the health care bill scrapped as the legislation remained short of votes amid cascading negotiations among conservative lawmakers, moderates and others.

At the end of it the president had had enough and was ready to vote and move on, whatever the result, Trump's budget director Mick Mulvaney told lawmakers.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-23-23-12-40


----------



## poochee

*Deal or no deal, Trump ready to cast blame*
By Jeremy Diamond and Dana Bash, CNN
Updated 10:56 AM ET, Fri March 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The vote, now expected Friday, is still not a guaranteed win for Republicans
That's despite White House attempts to woo conservative party members
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump likes winning.

But as he stands on the precipice of what may be his first legislative failure -- one that would damage the political capital he will need to steer the priorities he truly cares about through Congress -- Trump is "pissed," one source close to the President said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/24/politics/donald-trump-health-care-blame/index.html


----------



## poochee

News
Mar 24 2017, 1:39 pm ET
*Nunes Backs Down From Assertion Trump Was Monitored*
by Ken Dilanian and Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

The chairman of the House intelligence committee has backed down from his dramatic assertion that Donald Trump and his aides were "monitored," by U.S. spies - a claim the Republicans have cited this week in emails to loyalists.

Rep. Devin Nunes told reporters Friday he can't be sure whether conversations among Trump or his aides were captured in the surveillance that has become a source of controversy since Nunes made it public in two news conferences this week.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nunes-backs-down-assertion-trump-was-monitored-n738151


----------



## poochee

Mar 24 2017, 1:11 pm ET
*Paul Manafort to Voluntarily Go Before House Intel Committee in Russia Probe *
by Ali Vitali and Ken Dilanian

*VIDEO*

The two leaders of the House Intelligence committee continued their back-and-forth Friday as tension mounts over the panel's inquiry into whether there are ties between Russia and Trump campaign officials as well as the Kremlin's potential meddling in the 2016 elections.

Into the fray steps Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's embattled former campaign chairman, who will voluntarily appear before the panel, committee chairman Devin Nunes told reporters Friday. A Senate aide confirmed to NBC News that Manafort has also offered to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee as a part of their investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. elections last year.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...go-house-intel-committee-russia-probe-n738136


----------



## poochee

Mar 24, 12:32 PM EDT
*Trump approves Keystone XL, calling it 'great day' for jobs*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump declared it a "great day for American jobs" on Friday as he formally green-lighted the Keystone XL pipeline, clearing the way for the $8 billion project to finally be completed.

In a reversal of the Obama administration's earlier decision, the Trump administration issued a presidential permit enabling Calgary-based TransCanada to build the pipeline. Appearing alongside TransCanada's CEO in the Oval Office, Trump called it part of a "new era of American energy policy" that he said would lower costs, reduce reliance on foreign oil and create thousands of U.S. jobs.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-24-12-32-15


----------



## poochee

*FCC Rule Change Could Lead to Fewer Robocalls Coming to Your Phone*
Thu, Mar 23

*VIDEO*

An FCC rule change would give phone companies permission to block hoax numbers that are often used in calls with automated messages in an effort to stop spam on people's telephone lines.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...r-robocalls-coming-to-your-phone-905106499613


----------



## poochee

*House Republicans pull health care bill*
By Stephen Collinson, Dana Bash, Phil Mattingly, Deirdre Walsh, Lauren Fox and MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 3:38 PM ET, Fri March 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

House Republicans pull health care bull after all-day drama searching for votes
Trump has said he wants Republicans to pass the bill or live with Obamacare remaining law
Washington (CNN)*BREAKING -- The House has pulled the health care bill after failing to find enough votes to pass it.*

House Speaker Paul Ryan sensationally canceled a vote on his Obamacare repeal bill for a second time, repudiating President Donald Trump who has threatened to walk away from health care reform if the measure does not pass on Friday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/24/politics/house-health-care-vote/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 25, 3:34 AM EDT
*AP Analysis: Trump yet to meet promise of 'so much winning'*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just two months in, Donald Trump's presidency is perilously adrift.

His first major foray into legislating imploded Friday when House Republicans abandoned a White House-backed health care bill, resisting days of cajoling and arm-twisting from Trump himself. Aides who had confidently touted Trump as the deal's "closer" were left bemoaning the limits of the presidency.

"At the end of the day, you can't force somebody to do something," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

On its own, the health care bill's collapse was a stunning rejection of a new president by his own party. And for Trump, the defeat comes with an especially strong sting. The president who campaigned by promising "so much winning," has so far been beset by a steady parade of the opposite. With each setback and sidetrack, comes more concern about whether Trump, the outsider turned president, is capable of governing.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-24-20-00-16


----------



## poochee

Mar 25 2017, 6:26 am ET
*What's Next On The Trump Agenda?*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

While Congressional Republicans are left reeling from a major loss on health care, President Donald Trump says he is ready to move on.

"Now we're gonna go for tax reform - which I've always liked," he told reporters Friday afternoon.

After the health care failure, Trump had expressed disappointment and surprise to reporters in the Oval Office that the long-promised GOP overhaul of Obamacare failed, but he brightened up when asked by reporters what was next.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/what-s-next-trump-agenda-n738366


----------



## poochee

/24/17
*Lawrence: Trump presidency effectively over after repeal failure*
*
VIDEO
*
Donald Trump's strong-arm ultimatum did not persuade House Republicans as Paul Ryan admits "Obamacare is the law of the land." Ezra Klein, Editor-in-Chief of Vox.com, and The Daily Beast's Rick Wilson join Lawrence O'Donnell.

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/...tively-over-after-repeal-failure-906197571595


----------



## poochee

Mar 25, 9:12 AM EDT
*Analysis: The outsider dealmaker faltering in White House*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump campaigned as an outsider - celebrating his lack of political experience by selling himself as a dealmaker willing to buck Republican orthodoxy and his own party's leadership. He alone would reshape Washington.

He's tried governing the same way. His actions are a blitz. He rarely consults old Washington hands. And he hangs the threat of retribution over anyone who challenges him. And now he and his party have been dealt a stinging defeat on a signature campaign promise, a defeat that further weakens a president whose approval rating has hovered under 40 percent and humiliates Republicans who have pledged for seven long years to undo President Barack Obama's health care law.

Trump's haphazard approach on Friday to the health care bill - first demanding a House vote despite an uncertain result, then suddenly suggesting he'd support a future bipartisan solution - underscored Trump's political identity: He is an independent, seemingly uninterested in leading a political party or unifying the federal government. The failed vote - despite Republican control of the White House and both houses of Congress - highlighted severe cracks within the GOP that Trump's presidency won't easily mend.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-25-09-12-34


----------



## poochee

*U.S. investigates Mosul strike after more than 100 civilians reported dead*
 Jim Michaels  , USA TODAY Published 2:45 p.m. ET March 25, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

*VIDEO/PHOTOS*

The U.S. military is investigating reports that more than 100 civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike last week in Mosul, where U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are clearing the city of Islamic State militants.

If confirmed, it would be the largest civilian casualty incident in the coalition air campaign in Iraq and Syria, which is more than two years old.

The coalition said in a statement Saturday that the assessment is focused on a March 17 airstrike made at the request of Iraqi security forces in the area where the allegations surfaced. The coalition said it opened an initial "civilian casualty credibility assessment" to determine the validity of the reports.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...trike-investigation-civilian-deaths/99620538/


----------



## poochee

Mar 25 2017, 1:10 pm ET
*Democrats Introduce 'MAR-A-LAGO' Act to Force Trump to Provide Visitor Logs*
by Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

Democrats are giving Donald Trump a transparency gut check in the form of a new bill with a mouthful of a name - and an acronym that takes an unsubtle dig at the president.

The "Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act" - or MAR-A-LAGO Act - would require the Trump administration to disclose the names of anyone who visits the White House or "any other location at which the President or the Vice President regularly conducts official business."

The legislation, introduced in the House and Senate on Friday, calls for the creation of a publicly available database to be updated every 90 days.

Democrats say the move is necessary after a Whitehouse.gov page featuring visitor access records has said "this page is being updated" ever since Trump took office - and remains unchanged. In addition, they want the public to know who has been visiting Trump's private club in Florida, known as Mar-a-Lago - the namesake of the bill - because he conducts presidential business there.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-act-force-trump-provide-visitor-logs-n738426


----------



## poochee

Mar 26, 9:38 PM EDT
*GOP struggles to govern despite a monopoly in Washington*
By THOMAS BEAUMONT and BILL BARROW
Associated Press

The Republican Party of "no" for Democrat Barack Obama's eight years is having a hard time getting to "yes" in the early Donald Trump era.

The unmitigated failure of the GOP bill to replace Obamacare underscored that Republicans are a party of upstart firebrands, old-guard conservatives and moderates in Democratic-leaning districts. Despite the GOP monopoly on Washington, they are pitted against one another and struggling for a way to govern.

The divisions cost the party its best chance to fulfill a seven-year promise to undo Obama's Affordable Care Act and cast doubt on whether the Republican-led Congress can do the monumental - the first overhaul of the nation's tax system in more than 30 years - as well as the basics - keeping the government open at the end of next month, raising the nation's borrowing authority later this year and passing the 12 spending bills for federal agencies and departments.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-26-08-06-44


----------



## poochee

*Woman arrested three times as she tries to see President Trump*
By Liz Turrell and Noah Gray, CNN
Updated 7:03 PM ET, Sun March 26, 2017

*Story highlights*

Marci Anderson Wahl has tried to scale the White House fence, officers say
She also has been arrested near the Treasury Building and in Lafayette Park
(CNN)A woman arrested late Tuesday night after she allegedly attempted to gain entry to the White House has been arrested two more times nearby. Police said she has told them she was there to speak to President Donald Trump.

Marci Anderson Wahl, 38, of Everett, Washington, was arrested by the US Secret Service near the south grounds of the US Treasury Building early Sunday, said a Washington Metropolitan Police Department.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/26/politics/white-house-fence-jumper-arrested-again/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 27, 3:47 PM EDT
*Trump signs legislation rolling back Obama-era regulations*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is signing a handful of measures aimed at rolling back Obama-era regulations.

Two roll back rules that deal with how states assess school performance and teacher preparation programs. Trump says that local educators, parents and state leaders know what students need best.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-27-15-47-04


----------



## poochee

Mar 27 2017, 3:51 am ET
*Trump Son-in-Law Jared Kushner to Oversee Government Overhaul*
by Peter Alexander and Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

The Associated Press reported that National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, Dina Powell, senior counselor to the president for economic initiatives and deputy national security adviser, Chris Liddell, assistant to the president for strategic initiatives, and Reed Cordish, assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives would also be involved in the effort.

Federal anti-nepotism laws prevent relatives from being appointed to government positions. But the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel recently said the president's "special hiring authority" allowed him to appoint Kushner to the West Wing staff.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ernment-overhaul-n738801?cid=eml_pol_20170327


----------



## poochee

Mar 27 2017, 7:34 am ET
*Health Care Defeat Rattles Markets in Sign of Loss of Confidence in Trump*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEOS*

The withdrawal of the Republican health care bill was blamed for sharp drops Monday morning in a number of leading U.S. economic indicators, including the dollar's drop to nearly a two-month low.

The inability to overhaul the U.S. health care system, a major campaign promise of President Donald Trump and his allies, marked a significant setback for the president in a Congress controlled by his own party.

Coming so early in Trump's term, the blow has heightened worries about the chances to enact measures to boost the economy, such as tax reforms - a major priority of the president's - and big spending packages.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/mar...confidence-trump-n738796?cid=eml_pol_20170327


----------



## poochee

*FACT CHECK: Trump Says Obamacare Is 'Exploding.' It's Not*
March 27, 20171:47 PM ET 
Danielle Kurtzleben 
 
Alison Kodjak 

Again on Twitter on Saturday, he repeated his case: "ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!"

The law has its problems - but it is far from "exploding," using any reasonable definition of the word. Here is a quick rundown of where the Affordable Care Act stands right now, what's going well and what's not so great.

*What's working*
*1) The exchanges are stable ...*

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/27/521441490/fact-check-trump-says-obamacare-is-exploding-its-not


----------



## poochee

*Gallup: Trump Approval Rating Now Lower Than Obama, Clinton Records*
ByMatt ShuhamPublishedMarch 27, 2017, 2:29 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

*President Donald Trump's approval rating reached a new low in **Gallup**'s* daily polling average Monday.

According to Gallup, 36 percent of respondents to its daily polls approved of Trump's performance in office, while 57 percent disapproved.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-approval-reaches-new-low-gallup


----------



## poochee

Mar 27, 11:15 PM EDT
*Trump takes aim at Obama's efforts to curb global warming*
By MATTHEW DALY and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Moving forward with a campaign pledge to unravel former President Barack Obama's sweeping plan to curb global warming, President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday that will suspend, rescind or flag for review more than a half-dozen measures in an effort to boost domestic energy production in the form of fossil fuels.

As part of the roll-back, Trump will initiate a review of the Clean Power Plan, which restricts greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. The regulation, which was the former president's signature effort to curb carbon emissions, has been the subject of long-running legal challenges by Republican-led states and those who profit from burning oil, coal and gas.

------------------------------------------------------------------

While Republicans have blamed Obama-era environmental regulations for the loss of coal jobs, federal data shows that U.S. mines have been shedding jobs for decades under presidents from both parties as a result of increasing automation and competition from cheaper natural gas. Another factor is the plummeting cost of solar panels and wind turbines, which now can produce emissions-free electricity cheaper than burning coal.

According to an Energy Department analysis released in January, coal mining now accounts for fewer than 70,000 U.S. jobs. By contrast, renewable energy - including wind, solar and biofuels - now accounts for more than 650,000 U.S. jobs.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-27-23-15-49


----------



## poochee

*'Pink Tax' forces women to pay more than men*
 Anne-Marcelle Ngabirano  , USA TODAY Published 3:03 p.m. ET March 27, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

*VIDEO*

NEW YORK - The "Pink Tax" has many women seeing red when it comes to gender inequity.

Whether it's razors, dry cleaning or toys, women still pay more for those gender-specific items than men, studies show. As Women's History Month draws to a close, gender-based pricing remains a stubborn issue that is yet to be solved, right along with equal pay for equal work.

"Price discrimination adds another layer to the wage inequality women face, making it harder sometimes for women to make end's meet," said Surina Khan, CEO of the Women's Foundation of California, a group devoted to advancement of gender equality. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that in the decade between 2004 and 2014, women earned 80% to 83% as much as men.

What do men get that women don't? Here are a few things

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...-tax-forces-women-pay-more-than-men/99462846/


----------



## poochee

*Schiff, Pelosi call on Nunes to recuse himself from House Russia investigation*
By Tom LoBianco, Phil Mattingly and Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 9:20 PM ET, Mon March 27, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House's Russia investigation, called on Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes to recuse himself from the investigation -- widening a stunning partisan split at the top of the chamber's investigation.

"The Chair of the House Intelligence has a serious responsibility to the Congress and to the country," Pelosi said in a statement to CNN Monday evening. "Chairman Nunes' discredited behavior has tarnished that office. (House) Speaker (Paul) Ryan must insist that Chairman Nunes at least recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation immediately. That leadership is long overdue."
Her request came a little more than an hour after Schiff requested Nunes' recusal.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/adam-schiff-nunes-recusal-russia/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Energy independence, not climate change, becomes priority under Trump order*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY Published 2:20 p.m. ET March 28, 2017 | Updated 30 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Trump's executive order on American energy independence is a sweeping repudiation of Obama-era environmental initiatives, substituting a strategy of combating climate change through international cooperation for an America-first energy policy.

Trump proclaimed the order as "the start of a new era of American energy production" that would "restore economic freedom and allow our workers to thrive compete and succeed on a level playing field for the first time in a long time." Trump spoke at a signing ceremony at the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday on a stage with a dozen coal miners.

Officials said the order "will look back and it will look forward," providing the framework for a new Trump-era energy framework that will emphasize more production, more jobs and fewer environmental safeguards.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-becomes-priority-under-trump-order/99725640/


----------



## poochee

Mar 28, 2:22 PM EDT
*Gov't watchdog to examine cost of Trump's Florida travel*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A government watchdog will investigate the taxpayer-funded travel costs when President Donald Trump travels to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and the security procedures surrounding those trips.

That's the word from several congressional Democrats who raised concerns and sought an inquiry by the Government Accountability Office. The lawmakers said Tuesday in a statement that the GAO has initiated a review.

The lawmakers had expressed concerns after photographs emerged of the president and his staff discussing what was believed to be national security matters in full view of diners at the resort.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-28-14-22-50


----------



## poochee

Mar 28, 2:51 PM EDT
*White House calls for domestic cuts to finance border wall*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is proposing immediate budget cuts of $18 billion from programs like medical research, infrastructure and community grants so U.S. taxpayers, not Mexico, can cover the down payment on the border wall.

The White House documents were submitted to Congress amid negotiations over a catchall spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown at the end of next month. The package would wrap up $1.1 trillion in unfinished spending bills and address the Trump administration's request for an immediate $30 billion in additional Pentagon spending.

The latest Trump proposal, disclosed Tuesday, would eliminate $1.2 billion in National Institutes of Health research grants, a favorite of both parties. The community development block grant program, also popular, would be halved, amounting to a cut of $1.5 billion, and Trump would strip $500 million from a transportation project known as TIGER grants.

Like Trump's 2018 proposed budget, which was panned by both Democrats and Republicans earlier this month, the proposals have little chance of being enacted.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-28-14-10-27


----------



## poochee

*Trump claims immunity from 'Apprentice' contestant's lawsuit*
 Nick Penzenstadler  , USA TODAY Published 1:03 p.m. ET March 28, 2017 | Updated 23 minutes ago

President Trump's private attorneys asserted in court this week that he should be immune from a defamation lawsuit filed against him because of his presidential duties.

Summer Zervos, a former contestant from _The Apprentice_, sued Trump in New York on Jan. 17, just days before the inauguration. She came forward in October and accused Trump of kissing and groping her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2007. Trump denied the accusation, including a series of tweets calling the sexual misconduct allegations "100% fabricated and made-up charges," "totally false" and "totally made up nonsense."

Zervos' attorney, Gloria Allred, demanded a retraction, to no avail. So, she sued. Zervos' lawsuit claims the alleged defamation was "detrimental to Ms. Zervos's reputation, honor and dignity."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nity-apprentice-contestants-lawsuit/99729932/


----------



## poochee

Mar 28 2017, 11:12 am ET
*As Trump Flaunts Ford's $1.2B Investment, Ford Says It Was Planned in 2015*
by Paul A. Eisenstein

*VIDEO*

Ford will invest $1.2 billion in three Michigan facilities, a move signaled overnight through a tweet from President Donald Trump - though Ford had originally planned to make the official announcement itself at a Tuesday meeting with Michigan officials.

While Trump was quick to take credit for the investment, the plan is "consistent with what we announced previously," Joe Hinrichs, Ford's President of the Americas, told NBC News, noting that all three projects were in the works well before Trump took office - the largest, involving an $850 million assembly plant investment, approved as part of a deal with the United Auto Workers Union in 2015.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/trump-flaunts-ford-s-1-2b-investment-ford-says-it-n739476


----------



## poochee

Mar 28, 6:22 PM EDT
*House votes to block Obama-era online privacy rule*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House voted Tuesday to block online privacy regulations issued during the final months of the Obama administration, a first step toward allowing internet providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to sell the browsing habits of their customers.

The Federal Communications Commission rule was designed to give consumers greater control over how internet service providers share information. But critics said the rule would have added costs, stifled innovation and picked winners and losers among Internet companies.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-28-18-22-12


----------



## poochee

Mar 28 2017, 10:12 pm ET
*Manafort-Linked Accounts on Cyprus Raised Red Flag*
by Aggelos Petropoulos and Richard Engel

*VIDEO*

LIMASSOL, Cyprus - A bank in Cyprus investigated accounts associated with President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, for possible money-laundering, two banking sources with direct knowledge of his businesses here told NBC News.

Manafort - whose ties to a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin are under scrutiny - was associated with at least 15 bank accounts and 10 companies on Cyprus, dating back to 2007, the sources said. At least one of those companies was used to receive millions of dollars from a billionaire Putin ally, according to court documents.

Banking sources said some transactions on Manafort-associated accounts raised sufficient concern to trigger an internal investigation at a Cypriot bank into potential money laundering activities. After questions were raised, Manafort closed the accounts, the banking sources said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/manafort-linked-accounts-cyprus-raised-red-flag-n739156


----------



## poochee

Mar 28, 9:14 PM EDT
*White House staff also will skip correspondents dinner*
By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

The annual fundraising dinner, which raises money for college scholarships, typically draws a mix of politicians, journalists, celebrities, as well as the president and first lady. Top White House staff members typically attend, often as guests of media organizations.

The dinner also typically features remarks from a comedian, often roasting the president, and a humorous address by the president himself, often roasting the press and political opponents.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-28-21-14-23


----------



## poochee

*Fact Check: Trump's Misleading Words on Energy and Jobs*
By LINDA QIUMARCH 28, 2017

WASHINGTON - In his first major move to undo President Barack Obama's climate change policies, President Trump declared Tuesday the beginning of a "new era in American energy and production and job creation."
*
Here is an assessment of his claims about energy production and jobs.*

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/28/...limate-executive-order.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## storage_man

All you have to do is quote the NYTimes and its a FAKE Report !


----------



## poochee

March 29, 2017, 6:54 AM
*UK begins Brexit process, triggers Article 50 to leave EU*
Last Updated Mar 29, 2017 10:31 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

*UNITED KINGDOM* -- The United Kingdom formally triggered Article 50 and began the process of leaving the European Union on Wednesday, CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reports. The move will end a 44-year relationship, and Britain's breakup with the EU may not be pretty.

The divorce papers were filed at European Union headquarters in Brussels, after British Prime Minister Theresa May signed an official letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday.

In a statement, May said, "It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country." She added that this included EU nationals living in Britain, who had "made this country their home."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/britain-begins-brexit-process-eu-theresa-may-triggers-article-50/


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton Faults Trump On Health Care And Lack Of Female Appointees *
March 29, 201711:35 AM ET 
 Brian Naylor 

Hillary Clinton criticized the lack of diversity in the Trump White House and the ill-fated Republican health care proposal in what were her most political public remarks since losing the November presidential election to Donald Trump.

Clinton made her observations in an address to the Professional BusinessWomen of California in San Francisco on Tuesday night. "There's no place I'd rather be than here with you," she told the gathering, adding, "other than the White House."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

She also was critical of comments by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who told American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan, "Please, stop shaking your head," during Tuesday's press briefing. "Too many women have had a lifetime of practice taking this kind of indignity in stride," Clinton said.

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/29/52190...p-on-health-care-and-lack-of-women-appointees


----------



## Johnny b

storage_man said:


> All you have to do is quote the NYTimes and its a FAKE Report !


Would this satisfy you?

* Trump: Owned By The Russian Mafia *
http://www.teapartynation.com/trump-owned-by-the-russian-mafia/

* DT: Just Stirring And Rearranging The Swamp- NO Drainy *
http://www.teapartynation.com/dt-just-stirring-and-rearranging-the-swamp-no-drainy/

http://www.teapartynation.com/
* Impeach Trump Already *

Surprised me too


----------



## poochee

*'What is wrong with him?': MJ reacts to Spicer briefing*
*
VIDEO
*
Top Talkers: WH Press Secretary Sean Spicer told veteran reporter April Ryan to stop shaking her head during a heated press briefing this week, a claim Ryan refutes. The Morning Joe discusses.

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/wa...him-mj-reacts-to-spicer-briefing-909028931540


----------



## bomb #21

poochee said:


> March 29, 2017, 6:54 AM
> *UK begins Brexit process, triggers Article 50 to leave EU*
> Last Updated Mar 29, 2017 10:31 AM EDT
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> *UNITED KINGDOM* -- The United Kingdom formally triggered Article 50 and began the process of leaving the European Union on Wednesday, CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reports. The move will end a 44-year relationship, and Britain's breakup with the EU may not be pretty.
> 
> The divorce papers were filed at European Union headquarters in Brussels, after British Prime Minister Theresa May signed an official letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday.
> 
> In a statement, May said, "It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country." She added that this included EU nationals living in Britain, who had "made this country their home."
> 
> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/britain-begins-brexit-process-eu-theresa-may-triggers-article-50/


Sad day for those of us who were opposed to it.


----------



## poochee

Mar 29, 2:40 PM EDT
*Poll: Americans dislike GOP's, Trump's plan on health care*
By ALAN FRAM and EMILY SWANSON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Note to President Donald Trump and House Republicans: People really don't like your approach to overhauling America's health care. If you're hoping to revive the effort, you may want to try something different.

Sixty-two percent of Americans turned thumbs down on Trump's handling of health care during the initial weeks of his presidency, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Wednesday. It was his worst rating among seven issues the poll tested, which included the economy, foreign policy and immigration.

Of the six health coverage changes the poll assessed from the failed House GOP bill, five drew more negative than positive reviews.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-29-14-09-49


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## poochee

*Woman in custody after 'criminal' incident near Capitol; police say 'no nexus to terrorism'*
By VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
Mar 29, 2017, 12:53 PM ET

*VIDEO*

U.S. Capitol Police officers have apprehended a female driver after she struck another vehicle and nearly hit several officers near the Capitol, police said this morning.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/shots-fired-capitol-suspect-custody/story?id=46444214


----------



## poochee

*Father Stops Teen's Plot for Mass Shooting at High School*
Tue, Mar 28

*VIDEO*

18-year-old Nicole Cevario's father made the difficult decision to report his own daughter to the local sheriff's officer after reading in her diary a highly detailed plan for a mass shooting at her high school.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...for-mass-shooting-at-high-school-908635203893


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## poochee

bomb #21 said:


> Sad day for those of us who were opposed to it.


...sorry.


----------



## poochee

*Everything We Learned Today About The Senate Intel Committee's Russia Probe*
ByAllegra KirklandPublishedMarch 29, 2017, 6:06 PM EDT

One thing was made crystal clear in a Wednesday press briefing on the Senate Intelligence Committee's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election: this investigation is a very big and very serious deal.

In an hour-long appearance, committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice-Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) framed their probe as one of most ambitious investigative efforts ever taken on by a congressional committee. Burr, a 22-year veteran of Capitol Hill, framed the investigation as "one of the biggest" he's seen in his tenure in Washington, D.C.

Warner concurred, saying, "When we started this, we saw the scope, what was involved, I said it was the most important thing I have ever taken on in my public life. I believe that more firmly now."

Their solemn assurances to investigate the full scope of Russia's involvement, to look into the Trump campaign's ties to Russian officials, and to produce a truly bipartisan report on their findings offered a stark contrast from the House Intelligence Committee's investigation, led by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA). The House's probe came to a standstill this week over Nunes' overly close relationship with the President, and he and ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) haven't appeared together publicly in days.

*Here are the key takeaways about the Senate committee's investigation from Wednesday's press conference:*

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/burr-warner-presser-what-we-learned-senate-intelligence-russia-probe


----------



## poochee

*Ivanka Trump gets new White House title*
 *David Jackson * , USA TODAY Published 5:08 p.m. ET March 29, 2017 | Updated 24 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Presidential daughter Ivanka Trump said Wednesday she will take a formal White House position without pay but will be subjected to federal ethics rules.

"I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the president in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees," Ivanka Trump said in a statement issued by the White House.

Her official title will be assistant to the president; her husband, Jared Kushner, has the title of senior adviser, and also does not get paid.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/29/donald-trump-ivanka-trump/99795232/


----------



## poochee

Mar 29 2017, 5:51 pm ET
*Melania Trump Honors Women In Rare First Lady Appearance*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

In a rare speaking appearance, First Lady Melania Trump called Wednesday for a celebration of the achievements of women and the need for their empowerment during an event at the State Department.

Honoring a dozen women from around the world at the "Women of Courage" award ceremony, Trump said the United States must "continue to shine the light on each miraculous victory achieved by women" and preached vigilance against injustice "in all of its forms."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...nors-women-rare-first-lady-appearance-n740221


----------



## poochee

BREAKING
News
Mar 29 2017, 11:58 pm ET
*Hawaii Judge Extends Order Blocking Trump 'Travel Ban'*
by Phil Helsel

*VIDEO*

A federal judge in Hawaii on Wednesday extended his previous ruling blocking President Donald Trump's so-called "travel ban" that would have restricted entry to the United States by refugees and people from some predominantly Muslim countries.

District Judge Derrick Watson granted a motion by the state to turn his temporary restraining order blocking Trump's revised executive order into a preliminary injunction, extending the ban on enforcement while the case moves forward.

The government also sought to have the judge limit the injunction to just the issue of visas from six predominantly Muslim nations, and not on a 120-day hold on refugees, but the judge declined and that part of Trump's order is still blocked.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hawaii-judge-extends-order-blocking-trump-travel-ban-n740396


----------



## poochee

Mar 29, 3:02 PM EDT
*Ex-Trump University student wants the president's apology*
By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- President Donald Trump's $25 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit that alleged fraud at his now-defunct Trump University may be put on hold because a former student in Florida wants a full refund plus interest and an apology.

A federal judge in San Diego will decide Thursday whether to let Sherri Simpson opt out of the settlement and sue the president individually.

Simpson, a Fort Lauderdale bankruptcy and consumer rights attorney, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she thinks Trump should acknowledge wrongdoing and apologize. Simpson and a partner paid $35,000 in 2010 to enroll in Trump University's "Gold Elite" program, where they were supposed to be paired with a mentor who would teach them Trump's secret real estate investment strategies.

https://forums.techguy.org/threads/news-from-the-web-3.1138344/page-261#post-9355452


----------



## Wino

Anyone dumb enough to enroll in Trump University kinda deserves whatever they get. Considering Simpson was educated and works as a bankruptcy and consumer rights advocate is a scary thought.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Anyone dumb enough to enroll in Trump University kinda deserves whatever they get. Considering Simpson was educated and works as a bankruptcy and consumer rights advocate is a scary thought.


Agreed.
Out of interest, I signed up for an introduction and it only took several minutes of glossing over the university's itinerary to see there wasn't much value to it.


----------



## poochee

*White House invites Congress investigation leaders to view documents *
By Jeremy Herb and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 3:05 PM ET, Thu March 30, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The White House said Thursday it was inviting the top-ranking lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees to view materials it said had been uncovered in the course of looking into President Donald Trump's claims he'd been surveilled by the Obama administration.

"We are willing to provide them with information that we have, the materials that we have come across, and I think that is an important step," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said during his daily briefing.

He said the chairmen and ranking members of the intelligence committees had requested the information as part of their probe into Russia's influence in last year's presidential election. He declined to say what specific information the White House had uncovered, and couldn't say whether Trump himself had been briefed on the materials.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/house-intelligence-committee-schiff-nunes/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 30, 2:08 PM EDT
*As GOP schism grows, Trump attacks fellow Republica*ns
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump trained his fire on members of his own party Thursday, declaring in the aftermath of the Republican's failed health care push that the conservative Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire GOP agenda. He vowed to "fight them" in 2018 if they don't get behind him.

The Trump tweet highlighted the growing schism in a Republican party that controls the White House and both branches of Congress yet appears to be teetering on the precipice of a civil war. Republicans plunged into a blame game over the demise of the years-long push to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's signature health care legislation, with members sniping at each other over how much they can work with Democrats - or even the White House.

His poll numbers falling and his plans to move onto tax reform and a robust infrastructure program imperiled, Trump took to Twitter to attack the conservative group that many in the White House hold responsible for sabotaging last week's health care vote.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-30-14-08-10


----------



## poochee

*The U.S. Is Ramping Up Military Engagement, Which Could Be A Risk For Trump* 
March 30, 201711:29 AM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 

While the political world continues to focus on the machinations of congressional investigations about Russia (which won't have conclusions drawn for months, if not longer) and where health care goes from here, there's another, arguably more important story going on - ramped-up military engagement.

Here's the New York Times Thursday:

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/30/52204...ry-engagement-which-could-be-a-risk-for-trump


----------



## Johnny b

poochee said:


> Mar 30, 2:08 PM EDT
> *As GOP schism grows, Trump attacks fellow Republica*ns
> By JONATHAN LEMIRE
> Associated Press
> 
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump trained his fire on members of his own party Thursday, declaring in the aftermath of the Republican's failed health care push that the conservative Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire GOP agenda. He vowed to "fight them" in 2018 if they don't get behind him.
> .......................
> 
> .......................


I think I might consider investing in the popcorn market...............


----------



## poochee

Johnny-be-Good said:


> I think I might consider investing in the popcorn market...............


Me too...


----------



## poochee

Mar 30, 4:05 PM EDT
*Trump, Denmark's premier meet amid Brexit, NATO concerns*
By VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump held his first meeting Thursday with Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, declaring that the two countries enjoy a "truly great relationship."

Loekke Rasmussen is the latest wary European ally to visit the White House since Trump took office, looking to ease concerns that the new administration will honor multilateral agreements with Europe and take a firmer stance against Russian aggression.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-30-16-05-58


----------



## poochee

*What the 'deconstruction of the administrative state' really looks like*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 9:47 AM ET, Thu March 30, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The term was coined by White House chief strategist Steve Bannon
The process began with Trump's staffing decisions
(CNN)Donald Trump's budget proposal was a statement of intent. And his actions this week were a down payment.

The warning to Americans from the government is clear: your national defense will be well-funded and your security will be a priority, but for benefits beyond the most basic services, don't count on me. It's a kind of break-up note to taxpayers. Uncle Sam can still be your friend, sure, but that's it. Nothing more.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/trump-bannon-administrative-state/index.html


----------



## poochee

Mar 30 2017, 7:16 pm ET
*Mike Flynn Willing to Be Interviewed in Return for Immunity*
by Frank Thorp V

*VIDEO*

Former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn has told the Senate Intelligence Committee he is willing to be interviewed about the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia in return for immunity from prosecution, a Congressional official told NBC News.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Flynn had told the FBI and Congress he was willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity.

In a statement tweeted Thursday, Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, confirmed that discussions had taken place with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and said "General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mike-flynn-willing-testify-return-immunity-n740836


----------



## poochee

Mar 30 2017, 3:52 pm ET
*White House Officials Aided Nunes in Getting Intel: Report *
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

Two White House officials were involved in giving House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes access to intelligence reports that seemed to show that President Donald Trump and his associates were incidentally included in surveillance efforts, the New York Times reported Thursday.

Nunes went on to tell reporters that the president was surveilled in some capacity. He later went to the White House to brief them on his findings, ushering in a wave of criticism from Democrats, including ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...als-aided-nunes-getting-intel-reports-n740631


----------



## poochee

*Trump, Flynn once criticized Clinton aides for seeking immunity*
By STEPHANIE EBBS
Mar 30, 2017, 9:58 PM ET

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn has asked for "assurances against unfair prosecution" in investigations into Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, but both Flynn and Trump previously criticized Hillary Clinton's aides for asking for similar treatment during the campaign.

Trump attacked Clinton's aides repeatedly on the campaign trail for seeking immunity in exchange for their testimony in the investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server while she was serving as secretary of state.

"The reason they get immunity is because they did something wrong, if they didn't do anything wrong, they don't think in terms of immunity," he said at a rally in Wisconsin last September.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trum...nton-aides-seeking-immunity/story?id=46479102


----------



## Johnny b

A follow up on Flynn situation.....USAToday

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nces-against-witch-hunt-prosecution/99850144/

* Flynn lawyer: Client wants assurances against 'witch-hunt' prosecution *



> Flynn was dismissed last month after misleading Vice President Pence about his pre-inaugural contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn repeatedly maintained that he had not discussed Obama admininstration sanctions against Russia during his conversations with Kislyak. But former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, fearing that Flynn could be vulnerable to possible blackmail, later presented intercepts of Kislyak's conversations to the White House, indicating that sanctions were indeed part of the discussions.





> Yates was scheduled to testify before the House panel earlier this week, along with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, *before the hearing was abruptly canceled by Nunes.*
> 
> The decision followed a flurry of communications between an attorney for Yates and Trump administration lawyers in which the *former acting attorney general was warned that much of her testimony could contain privileged communications and may be barred. *


Attempted cover up?


----------



## Johnny b

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/30/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-hearing-russia/index.html

* Senate Russia hearing: Rubio divulges hack attempts *



> Russian interference with American politics did not stop after the election, and prominent Republicans -- including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Marco Rubio -- have been targeted by coordinated social media attacks, cybersecurity experts told a Senate panel Thursday.
> Rubio -- a former primary opponent of President Donald Trump -- announced at a Senate intelligence committee hearing on Russian meddling that during last year's election his former campaign staff was targeted by hackers twice.





> Rubio's comment followed after one cybersecurity expert said Rubio himself had been the target of a Russian propaganda campaign designed to help Trump -- although the witness, *former FBI agent and cybersecurity expert Clinton Watts, later said that all Republican opponents of Trump were targeted by Russians, not just Rubio. *


----------



## Johnny b

http://www.salon.com/2017/03/30/aft...hreatens-to-support-states-seceding-from-u-s/

March 30, 2017

* After Trump praises Brexit, EU chief threatens to support states seceding from U.S. *



> European president Jean-Claude Juncker says he'll support independence for Ohio and Texas unless Trump backs off





> In an extraordinary speech, the leader of the European Union's top governing body warned President Donald Trump on Thursday to keep out of the Continent's internal affairs.


Pass the popcorn, please.


----------



## poochee

Mar 31, 3:23 PM EDT
*Too soon to discuss immunity for Flynn, investigators say*
By CHAD DAY, EILEEN SULLIVAN and JULIE PACE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional investigators on Friday rebuffed former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's offer of cooperation in exchange for immunity from prosecution, saying it's too early in their probe of Russia connections to discuss a deal.

President Donald Trump tweeted that Flynn, his former adviser, should ask for immunity because he's facing "a witch hunt."

Flynn's attorney said talks have taken place about immunity in order for him to testify. Intelligence committees in both the Senate and House are investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-31-14-32-28


----------



## poochee

31 2017, 2:01 pm ET
*Judge Approves $25 Million Settlement of Trump University Lawsuit*
by Ben Popken

*VIDEO*

A judge has approved a $25 million class action settlement that levied claims of fraud against President Donald Trump and his Trump University real estate classes.

Students claimed that they were subject to high-pressure sales techniques and bogus claims about what they would learn in the classes, leading to the loss of thousands of dollars in tuition.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...n-settlement-trump-university-lawsuit-n741201


----------



## poochee

Mar 31, 8:58 PM EDT
*Trump's approach to intel agencies shows anxiety, distrust*
By JULIE PACE, EILEEN SULLIVAN and VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

This week, Trump's White House is facing allegations that it funneled secret intelligence reports to a top Republican investigating his campaign's possible ties to Russian officials as well as Moscow's interference in the 2016 election.

The approach appears to be based, at least in part, on the White House's anxiety over the Russia investigations, which threaten to seriously weaken his presidency. It also reflects a deep distrust of the intelligence community among his political advisers, including government newcomers who have never dealt with classified information or covert programs.

"It reveals a chasm of ignorance about how stuff is done," said Michael Hayden, the former head of the CIA and National Security Agency.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-31-20-58-06


----------



## poochee

Mar 31 2017, 12:35 pm ET
*Obama Officials Made List of Russia Probe Documents to Keep Them Safe*
by Richard Greenberg

*VIDEO*

Obama administration officials were so concerned about what would happen to key classified documents related to the Russia probe once President Trump took office that they created a list of document serial numbers to give to senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a former Obama official told NBC News.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...russia-probe-documents-keep-them-safe-n741146


----------



## poochee

*A Presidency Stalled And Sputtering*
April 1, 20177:00 AM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 

Since the Republican health care bill collapsed a little more than a week ago, President Trump's White House has struggled with a path forward. Trump is dealing with finger-pointing and infighting that threatens to derail his agenda, as well as nagging Russia investigations on Capitol Hill that are raising more questions than answers about his team.

And Trump has a real perception problem with the American public - he has the lowest approval rating at this point of any president in more than half a century.

This past week didn't help matters. *Let's recap as well as look ahead:*

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/01/522232180/a-presidency-stalled-and-sputtering


----------



## poochee

Apr 1, 3:06 AM EDT
*Hands raised, Trump aides rush to try to testify on Russia*
By JOSH LEDERMAN and ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Their reputations at risk, a coterie of President Donald Trump's associates caught up in the swirling debate about Trump and Russia are turning to a similar if unusual playbook: volunteering to testify to Congress, before even being asked.

They are eager to come forward despite not having been compelled by subpoena to appear before the two committees investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. election and potential Trump campaign collusion. But testifying on such matter is an exercise most people would typically avoid, especially if there's a chance they're being scrutinized in a parallel FBI investigation.

So what gives?

"There's only one way: Tell it early, tell it all, tell it yourself," said Lanny Davis, who was special counsel to President Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-01-03-06-18


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump walks out on signing ceremony without actually signing order *

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ning-ceremony-after-questions-flynn/99909002/



> President Trump walked out on his own Oval Office signing ceremony without actually signing his two executive orders on trade.






I hate when that happens


----------



## poochee

*The only 4 things you need to know about Trump and Russia*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 2:59 PM ET, Sat April 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump's Russia problem is getting worse -- and more complicated.

Questions about his campaign's alleged ties to Moscow seem to proliferate by the hour. The mushroom cloud surrounding his baseless allegations that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower is spreading faster. The investigations have become difficult to keep track of -- and those are just the ones we know about.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/politics/russia-trump-explained/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 1, 8:00 PM EDT
*Judge to Trump: No protection for speech inciting violence*

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A federal judge has rejected President Donald Trump's free speech defense against a lawsuit accusing him of inciting violence against protesters at a campaign rally.

Trump's lawyers sought to dismiss the lawsuit by three protesters who say they were roughed up by his supporters at a March 1, 2016 rally in Louisville, Kentucky. They argued that Trump didn't intend for his supporters to use force.

Two women and a man say they were shoved and punched by audience members at Trump's command. Much of it was captured on video and widely broadcast during the campaign, showing Trump pointing at the protesters and repeating "get them out."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-01-20-00-59


----------



## poochee

Apr 2 2017, 12:05 pm ET
*McConnell Says He's Seen 'No' Evidence of Trump Surveillance*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEOS*

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Sunday reiterated that he is unaware of any intelligence information that indicates the Obama Administration in any form applied or asked for surveillance of President Trump's team before or after the election.

"No," McConnell said, later adding, "the committee is going to conduct this investigation. You asked me if I knew anything about alleged wiretapping by the previous president. The answer is no."

Both the Senate and the House intelligence committees have been looking into the issue ever since President Donald Trump fired off a series of tweets in early March accusing the former president of ordering a wiretap of Trump Tower before the election.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...rump-wiretapping-n741751?cid=eml_pol_20170402


----------



## poochee

*Schiff: Trump trying to shift attention from Russia probe*
 David Jackson  , USA TODAY Published 10:41 a.m. ET April 2, 2017 | Updated 51 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee said Sunday that President Trump's claims about illegal wiretapping and news leaks are an attempt to distract people from the overall investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians who sought to influence last year's election.

"I would tell people, whenever they see the president use the word 'fake,' it ought to set off alarm bells," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Cal., speaking on CNN's _State of the Union_.

While Schiff said "I don't think we can say anything definitively at this point" about the probes of Trump and Russia, the president denounced the entire set of investigations and continued to stress claims that President Barack Obama and his administration had him wiretapped last year.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...t-attention-russia-probe-john-mccan/99950962/


----------



## poochee

*Apr 2, 7:33 AM EDTPolitical fights over Supreme Court seats nothing new*
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wondering when Supreme Court nominations became so politically contentious? Only about 222 years ago - when the Senate voted down George Washington's choice for chief justice.

"We are in an era of extreme partisan energy right now. In such a moment, the partisanship will manifest itself across government, and there's no reason to think the nomination process will be exempt from that. It hasn't been in the past," University of Georgia law professor Lori Ringhand said.

This year's brouhaha sees Senate Democrats and Republicans bracing for a showdown over President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch. It's the latest twist in the political wrangling that has surrounded the high court vacancy almost from the moment Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-02-07-33-10


----------



## poochee

*Trump makes little headway filling out Pentagon jobs*
By Ellen Mitchell - 04/02/17 07:32 PM EDT

The nomination hearing this week for President Trump's Air Force secretary nominee was a rare sight for those monitoring Trump's progress filling Pentagon positions.

Former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) - whose hearing was delayed several times because the White House hadn't turned in required documents - is only the second of Trump's Defense Department (DOD) picks to be interviewed by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Trump so far has only seen one Pentagon nominee - Defense Secretary James Mattis - make it through the confirmation process and has 52 additional positions to fill. Many in the defense world are bothered by the holdup.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/326848-trump-makes-little-headway-filling-out-pentagon-jobs


----------



## poochee

*threshold on Gorsuch setting up 'nuclear option' change*
By Ashley Killough and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 2:00 PM ET, Mon April 3, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court is getting a committee vote Monday
Republicans are primed to change Senate rules following Democratic efforts to slow his confirmation
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/03/politics/neil-gorsuch-filibuster-senate/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

Apr 3, 1:57 PM EDT
*Trump, Egypt's president meet to talk terrorism, foreign aid*
By VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The president who loves generals met Monday with the general-turned-president.

Donald Trump reunited with his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, for talks ranging from collaboration against the Islamic State group to bolstering Egypt's flailing economy.

It's the second meeting for the pair. Reflecting on their first encounter in New York shortly before the general election, Trump said el-Sissi is someone "very close to me."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-03-12-39-31


----------



## poochee

Apr 3 2017, 7:01 am ET
*North Korean Defector Tells Lester Holt 'World Should be Ready' *
by Lester Holt and Alexander Smith

*VIDEO *

SEOUL, South Korea - A senior North Korean defector has told NBC News that the country's "desperate" dictator is prepared to use nuclear weapons to strike the United States and its allies.

Thae Yong Ho is the most high profile North Korean defector in two decades, meaning he is able to give a rare insight into the secretive, authoritarian regime.

According to Thae, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is "desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and ICBM." He was using an acronym for intercontinental ballistic missiles - a long range rocket that in theory would be capable of hitting the U.S.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/n...lls-lester-holt-world-should-be-ready-n741901


----------



## poochee

Morning Joe 4/3/17
*Trump keeps up the weekend tweets*
Top Talkers: Donald Trump kept up the claims of phony surveillance stories over the weekend, while simultaneously praising Fox News over a story. The panel wonders about Trump's tweeting habits.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/trump-keeps-up-the-weekend-tweets-912620611971


----------



## poochee

*Did Obama Blow It on the Russian Hacking? *
_Top White House aide Lisa Monaco is one of the few officials to go on the record about how the Obama team handled the hacks._
By Susan B. Glasser
April 03, 2017

It's a question that still rankles many a Clinton loyalist: Why didn't the Obama administration do more to sound the alarm over Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign?

Few former officials have explained it, but in a new interview for The Global POLITICO, Lisa Monaco, President Obama's top homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, describes a White House afraid of "doing the Russians' work for them." By going public before the election with evidence that the Kremlin was trying to help Donald Trump , the Obama team feared, they'd be accused of intervening to help Hillary Clinton. So they mostly kept quiet despite intense lobbying from fellow Democrats to say more before the voting..

That decision continues to be hotly debated months later now that the FBI has acknowledged it is investigating whether Trump or his team colluded with the Russians, and Monaco's comments amount to the most extensive on-the-record description yet about the Obama White House's internal thinking as it struggled to come up with a proper response to what it would eventually characterize as "unprecedented" foreign interference in a U.S. election.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/obama-russia-hacking-trump-214976


----------



## poochee

Apr 3 2017, 2:16 pm ET
*White House Releases Melania Trump's First Official Portrait*
by Jane C. Timm

*PICTURE*

The White House released first lady Melania Trump's first official portrait on Monday. According to a statement accompanying the release, the photo was "taken in her new residence at the White House."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...lania-trump-s-first-official-portrait-n742091


----------



## poochee

*Chaos worked for Trump as a candidate. As president? Not so much*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN
Updated 9:59 AM ET, Mon April 3, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump is either unwilling or incapable of anything approaching the sort of discipline that the presidency demands
Of Trump's first 72 days in office, only two could reasonably be declared clear victories for him

(CNN)Way back in December 2015, Jeb Bush said something incredibly prescient about Donald Trump.

"Donald, you know, is great at the one-liners," said Bush at the final GOP debate of the year. "But, he's a chaos candidate. And he'd be a chaos president."

No one paid much attention at the time. Voters were a month away from, you know, voting. Trump was riding high and Jeb(!) was, um, not. But, on the 73rd full day of the Trump presidency, it's clear that Jeb's prediction was spot on.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/03/politics/trump-chaos-cillizza/index.html


----------



## poochee

Hardball with Chris Matthews 4/3/17
*Matthews: This presidency resembles nothing before it*
Chris Matthews discusses the role of nepotism in the Trump administration.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch...ency-resembles-nothing-before-it-913195587720


----------



## Johnny b

poochee said:


> Morning Joe 4/3/17
> *Trump keeps up the weekend tweets*
> Top Talkers: Donald Trump kept up the claims of phony surveillance stories over the weekend, while simultaneously praising Fox News over a story. The panel wonders about Trump's tweeting habits.
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/trump-keeps-up-the-weekend-tweets-912620611971


Just a word of caution.

I don't use MSNBC as a source of news, so it's not a common site I link to.
I seem to have to let an unusual number of javascripts run and the lock icon on my Firefox V52 browser becomes black with a red stripe and a warning that the site has an insecure logon. Multiple audio sources start playing and when backing out of the link, Firefox locks up.
I had to reboot to post this.

John.


----------



## bomb #21

I still don't get "Sleepy Eyes". I'm not into insults, but if I was going to gently rib the guy I'd go with "Woodchuck Todd". IMO he's sweet-looking  (I'm not gay).


----------



## Johnny b

No idea 

Maybe he meant 'bedroom eyes' ?........


( I'm not gay either  )


----------



## poochee

Johnny-be-Good said:


> Just a word of caution.
> 
> I don't use MSNBC as a source of news, so it's not a common site I link to.
> I seem to have to let an unusual number of javascripts run and the lock icon on my Firefox V52 browser becomes black with a red stripe and a warning that the site has an insecure logon. Multiple audio sources start playing and when backing out of the link, Firefox locks up.
> I had to reboot to post this.
> John.


Thanks, for the caution.


----------



## poochee

Apr 4 2017, 11:52 am ET
*Trump Administration Floats Compromise on Health Care*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

Hours after President Donald Trump told NBC News that he was serious about reaching a deal on health care with members of his party, Vice President Mike Pence headed to Capitol Hill Monday night armed with a compromise proposal for the House conservatives who had helped doom the Republican health care bill a little more than a week ago.

Details of the proposal emerged after Pence met with moderate Republican members at the White House earlier in the evening on Monday. The administration is trying to hash out a compromise on insurance regulations, a component of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the failed GOP health care bill to partially repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, that caused one of the biggest splits between moderate and conservative Republicans.

But reality set in Tuesday morning when most of the Republican conference met behind closed doors. Members left the meeting admitting that discussions were taking place but that no deal has been agreed upon.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...mise-health-care-n742311?cid=eml_pol_20170404


----------



## poochee

*Susan Rice, Ex-National Security Adviser, Now in Spotlight in Surveillance Debate*
By PETER BAKERAPRIL 4, 2017

WASHINGTON - Susan E. Rice, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, denied any wrongdoing on Tuesday after reports that she sought during last year's campaign to learn the identities of associates of President Trump caught up in electronic surveillance of foreigners.

Ms. Rice said that she sometimes asked for the names of Americans whose identities were redacted in intelligence reports given to her in order to understand the context of what was going on. The purpose, she said, was "to do our jobs," but "absolutely not for any political purpose, to spy, expose, anything."

She added that she never made public the identities of any associates of Mr. Trump mentioned in intelligence surveillance. "I leaked nothing to nobody and never have and never would," Ms. Rice told the journalist Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/us/politics/susan-rice-obama-trump-leak.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Cillizza: Trump just keeps creating smokescreens to mask his Russia problem*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-Large
Updated 11:56 AM ET, Tue April 4, 2017

*Story highlights*

What Trump and his associates are doing is pursuing a strategy of muddying the waters
That's fine as a political strategy, but the facts are still the facts
Washington (CNN)From the moment President Donald Trump tweeted that he had been "wiretapped" by President Barack Obama during the course of the 2016 election, he and his senior aides have been desperately searching for evidence that makes that allegation true.

The latest charge is that former national security adviser Susan Rice "unmasked" -- intelligence parlance for asking for the identity of unnamed officials -- Trump campaign officials, proof, the President's allies insist, that something nefarious was happening on the surveillance front during the final days of the Obama administration.

Here's what Trump tweeted Monday morning on the subject:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/polit...ama-unmasking/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Authoritarian Vision*



Part IOur Dishonest President


Part IIWhy Trump Lies


Part IIITrump's Authoritarian Vision

Part IVWednesday
By The Times Editorial Board
April 4, 2017

*S*tanding before the cheering throngs at the Republican National Convention last summer, Donald Trump bemoaned how special interests had rigged the country's politics and its economy, leaving Americans victimized by unfair trade deals, incompetent bureaucrats and spineless leaders.

He swooped into politics, he declared, to subvert the powerful and rescue those who cannot defend themselves. "Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it."

To Trump's faithful, those words were a rallying cry. But his critics heard something far more menacing in them: a dangerously authoritarian vision of the presidency - one that would crop up time and again as he talked about overruling generals, disregarding international law, ordering soldiers to commit war crimes, jailing his opponent.

Trump has no experience in politics; he's never previously run for office or held a government position. So perhaps he was unaware that one of the hallmarks of the American system of government is that the president's power to "fix" things unilaterally is constrained by an array of strong institutions - including the courts, the media, the permanent federal bureaucracy and Congress. Combined, they provide an essential defense against an imperial presidency.

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-trumps-authoritarian-vision/


----------



## poochee

*Syrian chemical attacks pose a tough test for Trump*
_*The White House condemned the suspected government-backed assault, but hasn't changed its position on leaving Assad in power.*
By __Nahal Toosi_
04/04/17 01:36 PM EDT
Updated 04/04/17 03:02 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

Just last week, top aides to President Donald Trump declared that ousting Bashar Assad from power is no longer a priority for the United States, calling the Syrian strongman's continued rule a "political reality" that needs to be accepted.

Now, reports of a deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria have brought home another reality: priority or not, Assad still poses a political problem for Trump, and it's one that won't simply vanish by blaming former President Barack Obama.

As accounts filtered in Tuesday of dozens dead from the gassing, Republicans, Democrats and even some foreign leaders slammed the Trump team for words and actions they said had emboldened Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers. Some critics also asked whether, by publicly stating it will accept Assad's rule, the White House had given away a critical piece of leverage in the struggling international effort to bring peace to Syria.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-syria-chemical-attacks-236870


----------



## poochee

Apr 4, 2:14 PM EDT
*Border wall contractors brace for hostile environment*
By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- One potential bidder on President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico wanted to know if authorities would rush to help if workers came under "hostile attack." Another asked if employees can carry firearms in states with strict gun control laws and if the government would indemnify them for using deadly force.

With bids due Tuesday on the first design contracts, interested companies are preparing for the worst if they get the potentially lucrative job.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall, but he has since requested that Congress approve billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer funds. Democrats vow to oppose any wall funding, and many Republicans are also wary of his plans for a massive brick-and-mortar barrier.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-04-14-14-35


----------



## poochee

*Trump just can't quit the 2016 campaign talk*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 4:30 PM ET, Tue April 4, 2017

*Story highlights*

Trump spoke to union members on Tuesday
The President regaled them about his November win
It has become more likely than not that Trump will mention the 2016 campaign -- and its unexpected victory -- when he speaks to big crowds.

But on Tuesday, Trump may have misjudged his audience.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/politics/trump-unions-speech-2016-win/index.html


----------



## poochee

By Jonathan Berr MoneyWatch April 4, 2017, 4:04 PM
*Bill O'Reilly sexual allegations spur advertiser exodus*
Last Updated Apr 4, 2017 6:24 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

So far, more than a dozen advertisers have pulled their spots or promised to do so. They include household names such as automakers BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi, drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, and financial services stalwarts Allstate and T. Rowe Price, as well as less known brands such as Constant Contact. Other businesses moving to cut ties with O'Reilly's show include Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, which is associated with talk show host Rachel Ray; life sciences company Bayer; Hyundai; weight-loss company Jenny Craig; and men's shirt seller UNTUCKit.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-oreilly-scandal-sexual-allegations-fox-advertisers/


----------



## poochee

Apr 4 2017, 7:28 pm ET
*ISIS Calls Trump 'Idiot' in First Message Addressing New President*
by Phil Helsel

*VIDEOS*

The terror group ISIS in new audio released Tuesday called President Donald Trump an Arabic term that means "idiot" and said he doesn't know anything about Islam, according to various translations.

It appears to be the first time the terror group has referred to Trump since he took office. ISIS controls parts of Iraq and Syria, and is currently being targeted by a U.S.-led coalition.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/i...irst-message-addressing-new-president-n742716


----------



## poochee

*Hill negotiators hope to avoid government shutdown *
By Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett, CNN
6:52 PM ET, Tue April 4, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

April 28 is the last day by which Congress can avoid a government shutdown
A bipartisan group of lawmakers just don't want to extend the existing funding
VIDEO

Washington (CNN)Congress faces a deadline at the end of April to pass a spending bill to fund federal agencies or face a possible government shutdown.

Bipartisan leaders on the spending panels in the House and Senate are making progress on a deal that would wrap several individual spending measures into one "omnibus" spending bill they hope to approve before the deadline. But time is short and both sides warn that any move to add significant money to build President Donald Trump's promised border wall could blow up that effort.

"I personally wouldn't gamble a trillion-dollar bill over $3 billion bucks," Oklahoma GOP Rep. Tom Cole, a key negotiator told reporters Tuesday, warning it wouldn't be worth shutting down the government over the $3-billion Trump wants for a wall on the southwest border between the United States and Mexico. 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/politics/government-shutdown-negotiations/index.html


----------



## poochee

*President Trump: Syrian Attack 'Crossed A Lot Of Lines For Me' * 
April 5, 20172:22 PM ET 
 Jessica Taylor  
Updated: 3:03 p.m.

President Trump condemned the horrific chemical attack in Syria that has been blamed on its president, Bashar al-Assad, signaling a shift in Trump's approach toward the country's controversial leader - but didn't elaborate on how the U.S. would respond.

"It crossed a lot of lines for me," the president said during a Rose Garden press conference on Wednesday with Jordan's King Abdullah. "When you kill innocent children, innocent babies, little babies, with a chemical gas that is so lethal that people were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line, many many lines."

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/05/522743184/president-trump-syrian-attack-crossed-a-lot-of-lines-for-me


----------



## poochee

*Trump Removes Stephen Bannon From National Security Council Post*
By PETER BAKERAPRIL 5, 2017

WASHINGTON - President Trump reshuffled his national security organization on Wednesday, removing his chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, from a top policy-making committee and restoring senior military and intelligence officials who had been downgraded when he first came into office.

The shift was orchestrated by Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was tapped as Mr. Trump's national security adviser after the resignation of Michael T. Flynn, who stepped down in February after being caught misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador.

General McMaster inherited an organizational scheme for the National Security Council that stirred protests because of Mr. Bannon's role. The original setup made Mr. Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News, a member of the principals committee that typically includes cabinet-level officials like the vice president, secretary of state and defense secretary. The original order also made the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence only occasional participants as issues demanded.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/...council-stephen-bannon.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump says Susan Rice broke the law. His evidence? Nothing.*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 3:02 PM ET, Wed April 5, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump made a big accusation on Wednesday in an interview with the New York Times: Former Obama Administration national security adviser Susan Rice likely broke the law in requesting the names of Trump campaign officials caught up in the broader surveillance of Russian officials seeking to meddle in the 2016 election.

"Do I think? Yes, I think," Trump told the Times, when asked whether Rice committed a crime.

Big stuff, right? The President of the United States accusing the top national security adviser in his predecessor's administration of breaking the law! Trump must have some pretty conclusive evidence to make such a charge, right? Right?!

Rice looks on before a press conference at the White House in 2014.
Wrong. Or, at least, not proven -- or anything close.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/05/politics/trump-susan-rice/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 5 2017, 2:29 pm ET
*President Trump Defends Bill O'Reilly Amid Sexual Harassment Claims *
by Safia Samee Ali

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump defended Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly amid revelations that O'Reilly and the network paid out millions to settle sexual harassment claims by five women.

"I think he shouldn't have settled; personally I think he shouldn't have settled," Trump told the New York Times on Wednesday. "Because you should have taken it all the way. I don't think Bill did anything wrong," he said.

"I think he's a person I know well - he is a good person," he said.

The comments came days after the president proclaimed this month as "National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month" where he said "we must develop meaningful strategies to eliminate these crimes" and "protect vulnerable groups."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-reilly-amid-sexual-harassment-claims-n743011


----------



## poochee

Apr 5 2017, 5:06 pm ET
*House Prepares to Leave for Recess Without Health Care Deal*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

The House of Representatives is set to leave town Thursday morning for a two-week break without reaching an agreement on health care. It's another blow to Republicans and the Trump administration who had worked this week to revive the failed effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congress will return from recess with a crowded agenda that starts with the need to pass a funding measure to prevent a government shutdown. They'll also have to consider a debt ceiling increase and would like to also tackle tax reform. And, of course, health care.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...leave-recess-without-health-care-deal-n743106


----------



## poochee

*GALLUP*

April 4, 2017 
*Affordable Care Act Gains Majority Approval for First Time*
*
CHARTS
*
*Story Highlights*

55% approve, up from 42% right after 2016 election
40% want to keep law but make significant changes
30% want to repeal; 26% want to keep law as it is
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Fifty-five percent of Americans now support the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a major turnaround from five months ago when 42% approved and 53% disapproved. This is the first time a majority of Americans have approved of the healthcare law, also known as Obamacare, since Gallup first asked about it in this format in November 2012.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/207671/a...jority-approval-first-time.aspx?ex_cid=SigDig


----------



## poochee

Apr 5, 4:38 PM EDT

*AP FACT CHECK: Trump's Islamic State claim goes overboard*
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's assessment of the fight against Islamic State militants ignores substantial progress made against the group before he took office.

At a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday, Trump said: "We had a very, very fine delegation come over from Egypt, and also from Iraq. And they said more has been done in the last six weeks than has been done in years with the previous administration, and believe me, we're going to keep it that way."

THE FACTS: There was far more progress against IS over the past year than in the last six weeks. The military campaign against the group has been building slowly. More cities have been recaptured from the militants, and IS has lost large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. However, the two biggest, climactic battles - to retake Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria - have not been completed.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-05-16-38-53


----------



## poochee

*Trump's War on Journalism*

Part I Our Dishonest President 
Part IIWhy Trump Lies

Part IIITrump's Authoritarian Vision
 

Part IVTrump's War on Journalism

Part VWednesday
Part VIFriday
By The Times Editorial Board
April 5, 2017

*I*n Donald Trump's America, the mere act of reporting news unflattering to the president is held up as evidence of bias. Journalists are slandered as "enemies of the people."

Facts that contradict Trump's version of reality are dismissed as "fake news." Reporters and their news organizations are "pathetic," "very dishonest," "failing," and even, in one memorable turn of phrase, "a pile of garbage."

Trump is, of course, not the first American president to whine about the news media or try to influence coverage. President George W. Bush saw the press as elitist and "slick." President Obama's press operation tried to exclude Fox News reporters from interviews, blocked many officials from talking to journalists and, most troubling, prosecuted more national security whistle-blowers and leakers than all previous presidents combined.

But Trump being Trump, he has escalated the traditionally adversarial relationship in demagogic and potentially dangerous ways.

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-trumps-war-on-journalism/


----------



## poochee

*Trump Picks Strategy To Counter Russia Storyline: Blame Susan Rice* 
April 5, 20177:02 PM ET 
Philip Ewing

After false starts and odd twists in the White House's counternarrative about the potential connections between President Trump's campaign and Russia's electoral meddling, the storyline has settled into a familiar arc: It's all Susan Rice's fault.

The White House charges that it was Rice who may have abused her power as President Barack Obama's national security adviser and effectively snooped on Trump's presidential transition. It was Rice who may have leaked classified details from that surveillance to the press, it alleges. And in doing so, Trump mused on Wednesday, she might have committed a crime.

Now it's all there: The plot and the villain and the quest for a predicate to drive the story forward. Who will investigate? What's to be done?

Rice is probably not in any legal trouble, and she denied any improper behavior or leaking any information while working in the White House. But she has been a favorite target for Republicans for years, and bringing her back into the headlines reprises a familiar antagonist they love to hate - a crowd-pleasing Darth Vader cameo in an untested _Star Wars_ spinoff.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/05/52277...-to-counter-russia-storyline-blame-susan-rice


----------



## poochee

*MSNBC Live with Kate Snow* 4/5/17
*Bloom: Trump defending Bill O'Reilly 'disgusting'*
Attorney Lisa Bloom and The New York Times' Michael Schmidt join Kate Snow to discuss President Trump's defense of Bill O'Reilly, as the Fox News Channel host faces harassment allegations.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/bloom-trump-defending-bill-o-reilly-disgusting-914794563985


----------



## poochee

Politics 
Apr 6 2017, 1:55 pm ET
*Republicans Use 'Nuclear Option' to Clear the Way for Gorsuch Confirmation*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

Senate Republicans used the "nuclear option" Thursday to change the chamber's rules and clear the way for the confirmation of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

The rules change will enable Gorsuch to easily pass through the Senate with a simple majority instead of the now-defunct 60-vote threshold. A final confirmation vote is expected Friday.

The move by Republicans came after Senate Democrats blocked Gorsuch's nomination from advancing to a final vote earlier in the day. In a vote of 55 to 45, all but four Democrats voted to support a filibuster of the nomination, leading to the GOP rules change.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...il-gorsuch-s-supreme-court-nomination-n743326


----------



## poochee

Politics
Apr 6 2017, 1:48 pm ET
*The Nuclear Option: What It Is and Why It Matters*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

They went nuclear.

Facing significant Democratic opposition, Republicans on Thursday enacted the "nuclear option" to clear the way to confirm Neil Gorsuch as President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court. That confirmation vote is expected on Friday.

Here we take a look at the nuclear option - what it is, how it works, its history and where the name comes from.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/nuclear-option-what-it-why-it-matters-n742076


----------



## poochee

*Why Devin Nunes is bowing out of the Russia investigation*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 12:18 PM ET, Thu April 6, 2017

*VIDEOS*

_(CNN)_House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes announced Thursday that he would step aside from the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, an abrupt about-face from the California Republican who had insisted he had no plans to recuse himself.

*Here's Nunes full statement**:*

_Several leftwing activist groups have filed accusations against me with the Office of Congressional Ethics. The charges are entirely false and politically motivated, and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of U.S. citizens and other abuses of power. Despite the baselessness of the charges, I believe it is in the best interests of the House Intelligence Committee and the Congress for me to have Representative Mike Conaway, with assistance from Representatives Trey Gowdy and Tom Rooney, temporarily take charge of the Committee's Russia investigation while the House Ethics Committee looks into this matter.

At issue is an at-the-time secret trip Nunes took the White House last month in which he was briefed the incidental collection of information from Trump campaign officials as the result of a surveillance program directed at foreign nationals. Nunes revealed that he had briefed President Trump on the information before he had briefed the members of his own committee. Ethics experts suggested that Nunes had created a massive conflict of interest with the trip and the meeting with Trump, raising major questions about whether he could be impartial in leading the investigation by his committee.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/devin-nunes-russia/index.html_


----------



## poochee

*Conspiracy Theorist in Chief*
By The Times Editorial Board
April 6, 2017

*I*t was bad enough back in 2011 when Donald Trump began peddling the crackpot conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not a native-born American. But at least Trump was just a private citizen then.

By the time he tweeted last month that Obama had sunk so low as to "tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process," Trump was a sitting president accusing a predecessor of what would have been an impeachable offense.

Trump went public with this absurd accusation without consulting the law enforcement and intelligence officials who would have disabused him of a conspiracy theory he apparently imbibed from right-wing media. After the FBI director debunked it, Trump held fast, claiming he hadn't meant that he had been literally wiretapped.

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-conspiracy-theorist-in-chief/


----------



## poochee

*Trump meets Xi: What's at stake*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 9:51 AM ET, Thu April 6, 2017

*VIDEOS*

*Story highlights*

Trump and Xi meet Thursday
The two-day summit takes place in Mar-a-Lago

(CNN)It's a blind date with global ramifications.

President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping meet for the first time Thursday and will seek to forge a connection and to stabilize the world's most important diplomatic relationship, despite a gulf between them in experience, temperament and global outlook.

Both have a long way to come to meet in the middle.

Trump, the brash, outspoken, political novice who seems to give little mind to policy details, anchored his campaign on China bashing. He once warned that China had committed "rape" against the US economy and tweeted that global warming was a Chinese ruse to damage US manufacturing.

Xi, though more prone to depart from his talking points than his predecessor Hu Jintao, spent decades navigating treacherous Communist Party politics, and speaks in the formal diction of Chinese statesmanship, where words and linguistic formulae for defining diplomatic relationships matter above all.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/05/politics/donald-trump-xi-jinping-mar-a-lago/index.html


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR*

*Nation Desperately Hopes Real Reason for Bannon's Exit Will Not Involve Sex Tape*
*By Andy Borowitz*
April 5, 2017

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...on-for-bannons-exit-will-not-involve-sex-tape


----------



## poochee

Six Degrees Of Trump Opposition
*You can tell how much trouble Trump is in by how many groups are lined up against him.*
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Filed under The Trump Administration
Published Apr. 3, 2017

Many of the early struggles of Donald Trump's presidency appear to be self-inflicted: a leader with little experience in government or politics, an administration with significant internal divides and a set of policy goals - such as rolling back the Affordable Care Act and blocking travelers to the United States from certain countries - that are complicated to execute.

But there is another huge factor affecting him: his opposition. Amid the intense swirl of things happening in Washington right now, there is near-constant criticism of the new president from all quarters. That makes it hard to tell exactly why some of Trump's moves turn into full-blown controversies with protests, lawsuits and endless cable news coverage while other potential scandals peter out in a day.

Here's one way you can tell what will become a problem for the White House: How many groups line up against the administration on a particular issue turns out to be a relatively good, semi-empirical way to gauge the level of difficulty Trump is in. Trump's initiatives face resistance from a number of constituencies. But when several of these blocs band together, they cause stories to explode, forcing the White House to respond and often to shift direction.

*Here are six of the most important blocs:
*
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-trump-opposition-meter/?ex_cid=politicsnewsletter


----------



## poochee

Apr 6, 6:53 PM EDT
*Clinton: 'Deeply concerned' about Russian election role*
By DEEPTI HAJELA
Associated Press

"I think what was done to us was an act of aggression and it was carried out by a foreign power under the control of someone who has a deep desire to dominate Europe and send us into a tailspin," she said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Clinton called on Congress to put party squabbles aside and look into it. Otherwise, she said, "They will be back."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-06-18-53-06


----------



## poochee

BREAKING
News
Syria's Suffering Families
Apr 6 2017, 4:40 pm ET
*Defense Sec Mattis to Brief President Trump on Military Options in Syria*
by Courtney Kube

*VIDEOS*

Defense Secretary James Mattis will brief President Donald Trump on Thursday at Mar-a-Lago on military options against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's regime in the wake of a deadly attack which activists said killed at least 100 people - including 25 children - and injured 400 others earlier this week.

The White House and Pentagon have had detailed back-and-forth conversations over the past two days about options, including a National Security Council meeting Wednesday. Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster have had repeated contact about the best way forward in Syria, a U.S. official told NBC News.

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to Florida, said "something should happen," when asked whether Assad should be removed from power.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sy...ft-dropped-chemical-weapons-civilians-n743431


----------



## poochee

*U.S. strikes Syrian military airfield in first direct assault on Bashar al-Assad's government*
By Dan Lamothe, Missy Ryan and Thomas Gibbons-Neff By Dan Lamothe, Missy Ryan and Thomas Gibbons-Neff National Security
April 6 at 11:23 PM

*VIDEOS*

The U.S. military launched 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield late on Thursday, in the first direct American assault on the government of President Bashar al-Assad since that country's civil war began six years ago.

The operation, which the Trump administration authorized in retaliation for a chemical attack killing scores of civilians this week, dramatically expands U.S. military involvement in Syria and exposes the United States to heightened risk of direct confrontation with Russia and Iran, both backing Assad in his attempt to crush his opposition.

President Trump said the strike was in the "vital national security interest" of the United States and called on "all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria. And also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types."

"We ask for God's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world," he continued. "We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed and we hope that as long as America stands for justice then peace and harmony will in the end prevail."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-weighing-military-options-following-chemical-weapons-attack-in-syria/2017/04/06/0c59603a-1ae8-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.369e4f156dd0&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

Politics
Apr 7 2017, 8:56 am ET
*Four Big Questions After Trump's Syria Strike*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEOS*

On Day 77 of his presidency, Donald Trump responded to his first major international test - a chemical attack in Syria that killed scores of civilians - by carrying out a targeted missile strike against a Syrian airfield. The move is a dramatic departure from Trump's campaign promises to avoid intervention in the region (much more on that below), and the immediate aftermath of Trump's decision has left us with some very big questions about what the strike means and how the president will try to sell it.

1. *What's Trump's ultimate goal in Syria?* In his remarks last night, Trump said it is in the "vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons." And he urged the international community to work "to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria." But was Trump's military action about beginning the removal of Bashar al-Assad - something Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson alluded to yesterday before the strike? Was it mainly a strategic move to begin dismantling Assad's ability to use chemical weapons? The Trump team has taken pains to emphasize that the move was a "proportionate" response to the chemical attack, but what comes next? And if the goal is ending the bloodshed in Syria, how will Trump finish the job?

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...p-s-syria-strike-n743761?cid=eml_pol_20170407


----------



## poochee

*Russia condemns U.S. missile strike on Syria, suspends key air agreement*
By David Filipov and Anne Gearan By David Filipov and Anne Gearan
Europe
April 7 at 1:43 PM

*VIDEO *

MOSCOW - Russia on Friday condemned a U.S. missile strike against Syrian government forces as an attack on its ally and said it was suspending an agreement to minimize the risk of in-flight incidents between U.S. and Russian aircraft operating over Syria.

Even as Russian officials expressed hope that the strike against Syrian President Bashad al-Assad's forces would not lead to an irreversible breakdown in U.S. relations with Moscow, the Kremlin's decision to suspend the 2015 memorandum of understanding on the air operations immediately raised tensions in the skies over Syria.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...-banner:homepage/story&utm_term=.2fb16c4fe8bb


----------



## poochee

Politics
Apr 7 2017, 2:23 pm ET
*Neil Gorsuch Confirmed to Supreme Court After Senate Uses 'Nuclear Option'*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEOS*

The Senate confirmed judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court Friday in a mostly party-line 54-45 vote that reflected weeks of bruising political fighting which deepened congressional divides and changed the nature of high court appointments in the future.

Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's first major court nominee, will fill the seat that has been vacant since Justice Antonin Scalia passed away in February of 2016. He will be officially sworn in on Monday morning.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...ourt-after-senate-uses-nuclear-option-n743766


----------



## poochee

*Syria just changed Donald Trump's presidency*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 10:08 AM ET, Fri April 7, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Healthcare, tax reform and even the Russian investigation are back burner issues now.
Presidencies are often shaped by unforeseen events like this one.(CNN)The presidency you plan for is rarely the presidency you get. Events have a way of outrunning blueprints. Plans change.
That's what happened to Donald Trump's presidency earlier this week when the Syrian government launched a chemical attack against civilians in the northwestern part of the country.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/07/politics/donald-trump-syria-attack/index.html


----------



## Wino

Being a bit of a cynic, I suspect Assad & Putin pulled this off to help protect their client and to change the subject of Russian collusion and interference in our election aided and abetted by Trump and gang.


----------



## poochee

*Trump touts progress but no breakthrough after meeting with China's Xi*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY Published 5:25 p.m. ET April 7, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago
*
VIDEO*

PALM BEACH, Fla. - President Trump said goodbye to his Chinese counterpart after two days of meetings Friday, declaring that they "made tremendous progress" but without any breakthroughs to announce.

Instead, the two sides agreed on a 100-day plan to address their differences on economic issues, which the Trump administration touted as an accomplishment in itself. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called it "a very big sea change in the pace of discussions."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...eakthrough-after-meeting-chinas-xi/100165862/


----------



## poochee

*After U.S. Strikes On Syria, The Gloves Come Off In Moscow* 
April 7, 20174:55 PM ET 
 Lucian Kim

The Kremlin's rhetorical cease-fire is officially over.

Following Donald Trump's inauguration, the Russian government and its loyal media gave the new American president the soft touch. But following the U.S. missile strike on Syria, the gloves have come off in Moscow, as hopes for friendlier relations fizzle.

When Rex Tillerson makes his first trip to Russia as secretary of state next week, he can no longer expect a warm welcome. Instead, he will be faced with well-rehearsed accusations of American hypocrisy and double standards.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the U.S. attack as "an act of aggression against a sovereign state" and a blow to joint efforts in fighting terrorism. In response to the attack, Russia suspended an agreement with the U.S. to avoid mid-air collisions over Syria and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...strike-on-syria-the-gloves-come-off-in-moscow


----------



## poochee

Apr 7 2017, 7:23 pm ET
*Trump's Options for North Korea Include Placing Nukes in South Korea*
by William M. Arkin, Cynthia McFadden, Kevin Monahan and Robert Windrem

*VIDEO*

The National Security Council has presented President Trump with options to respond to North Korea's nuclear program - including putting American nukes in South Korea or killing dictator Kim Jong-un, multiple top-ranking intelligence and military officials told NBC News.

Both scenarios are part of an accelerated review of North Korea policy prepared in advance of President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

The White House hopes the Chinese will do more to influence Pyongyang through diplomacy and enhanced sanctions. But if that fails, and North Korea continues its development of nuclear weapons, there are other options on the table that would significantly alter U.S. policy.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...rea-include-placing-nukes-south-korea-n743571


----------



## poochee

*US created only 98,000 jobs in March, vs 180,000 expected*

Nonfarm payrolls up 98,000, unemployment rate at 4.5 percent
Winter weather, retail slide cited for weakness
"Real" unemployment rate at 8.9 percent, lowest in more than nine years
Jeff Cox | @JeffCoxCNBCcom
14 Hours Ago

*VIDEO*

Nonfarm payrolls grew by just 98,000 in March though the unemployment rate fell to a 10-year low of 4.5 percent, according to a closely watched report Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Payrolls had been expected to increase by 180,000 in March, according to economists surveyed by Reuters.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/07/march-nonfarm-payrolls.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 8, 12:40 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump and lawmakers on Syria, jobs, court*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM DRINKARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Before the U.S. attack on a Syrian air base, President Donald Trump accused his predecessor of doing nothing when Syria's government used chemical weapons against its population in 2013. Trump is right that President Barack Obama issued what amounted to an empty threat of military action. The circumstances, though, were more complicated than Trump described.

A look at statements on a selection of subjects over the past week by Trump and lawmakers:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-08-12-40-45


----------



## poochee

*How Republicans learned to love Obama*
_The GOP heads home for recess with little to show voters - and no one to blame but themselves._
By Rachael Bade, Kyle Cheney and Elana Schor
04/08/17 07:19 AM EDT

Republicans never knew how much they loved Barack Obama.

Three months into Donald Trump's presidency, congressional Republicans enter a two-week Easter recess without a major legislative victory to brag about to voters back home. While they used to blame the ex-president for all their problems - pointing the finger at a Democratic White House for their inability to pass GOP priorities - their beloved scapegoat is gone.

That means they now bear responsibility for the party's inability to land any of Trump's campaign promises in what should have been some of the most productive months of his presidency. Indeed, House GOP infighting has all but suffocated their longtime promise to repeal Obamacare - and it's threatening their chance to pass tax reform and fund Trump's border wall.

"Clearly, President Obama gave us a common focus," said Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.). "Now that he's gone, we have to govern. That's always a bit of a challenge when you're not just the opposition, but you're now the governing majority. I hope when we go home for the next two weeks, our constituents will remind us of that so we can get on track when we come back."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/how-republicans-learned-to-love-obama-237017


----------



## poochee

Apr 8, 8:12 PM EDT
*Amid clashes, White House says no looming staff shake-up*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's White House has been sharply divided by the rivalry between his powerful son-in-law with unfettered access to the president and the ideologue behind Trump's populist rise.

Senior adviser Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon, arguably the two most influential voices in the West Wing, have clashed repeatedly in recent weeks over strategy to pass health care legislation, the fallout of the bogged-down immigration bans and, most recently, whether to intervene in the Syrian civil war.

Although the White House is rife with rumors of a staff shake-up, Trump's young administration is pushing back against reports of a pending West Wing overhaul fueled by squabbling among top aides.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-08-20-12-46


----------



## poochee

*Trump officials send mixed signals on what's next for foreign policy*
 Susan Page  , USA TODAY Published 1:22 p.m. ET April 9, 2017 | Updated 1 hour ago

*VIDEO*

President Trump's decision to strike Syria with cruise missiles after its use of chemical weapons signals a fundamental shift in the "America First" doctrine he espoused during last year's campaign. Unless it doesn't.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and UN Amb. Nikki Haley offered different responses to that question Sunday, reflecting a lack of clarity about whether Trump is pivoting to a more expansive view of the U.S. role of the world, or simply responding in one particular case to heart-wrenching photos of "beautiful babies" dying. As the new president moves toward the 100-days milestone of his tenure at the end of the month, foreign governments, congressional leaders and even his own aides continue to search for clues to what might comprise a Trump doctrine on foreign policy.

"One strike does not a strategy make," former CIA director David Petraeus cautioned on CNN.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-signals-whats-next-foreign-policy/100256316/


----------



## poochee

*Trump Goes Back To Drawing Board On Taxes, Seeking GOP Consensus*
ByJOSH BOAK and STEPHEN OHLEMACHERPublishedApril 9, 2017, 2:01 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump has scrapped the tax plan he campaigned on and is going back to the drawing board in a search for Republican consensus behind legislation to overhaul the U.S. tax system.

The administration's first attempt to write legislation is in its early stages and the White House has kept much of it under wraps. But it has already sprouted the consideration of a series of unorthodox proposals including a drastic cut to the payroll tax, aimed at appealing to Democrats.

Some view the search for new options as a result of Trump's refusal to set clear parameters for his plan and his exceedingly challenging endgame: reducing tax rates enough to spur faster growth without blowing up the budget deficit.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-goes-back-to-drawing-board-tax-plan


----------



## poochee

*McMaster: Trump open to more military action in Syria but seeks 'political solution'*
Published April 09, 2017
FoxNews.com

*VIDEO*

National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster on Sunday left open the possibility that President Trump will take further military action in Syria, but made clear the president wants a "political solution" to the Syrian crisis.

"We need to do everything we can," McMaster said on "Fox News Sunday." "We need some kind of political solution to that very complex problem."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...on-in-syria-but-seeks-political-solution.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 9 2017, 4:40 pm ET
*Manhunt Intensifies for Joseph Jakubowski, Man Who Allegedly Stole Guns and Mailed Manifesto to Trump*
by Daniella Silva

*VIDEO*

Police in Wisconsin ramped up security at local churches on Sunday as the manhunt continued for a 32-year-old fugitive who is accused of stealing more than a dozen weapons from a gun store and mailing an anti-government manifesto to President Donald Trump.

Over 150 officers from local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies were searching for Joseph Jakubowski, who they say allegedly broke into the Armageddon Gun Shop in Janesville, Wisconsin, on Tuesday and stole 16 high-caliber rifles and handguns.

Police said Jakubowski is considered "armed and dangerous" and was in possession of a bullet-proof vest and helmet.

Authorities said they were increasing security presence at local churches because of "anti-religion sentiment" contained within a 160-page manifesto they believe was written by Jakubowski and sent to Trump at the White House.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...i-man-who-allegedly-stole-guns-mailed-n744401


----------



## poochee

Apr 10 2017, 4:39 am ET
*New Justice Neil Gorsuch to Have Immediate Impact on Supreme Court*
by Pete Williams

*VIDEOS*

The U.S. Supreme Court term is nearly over, but the influence of the newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, is likely to have an immediate effect on one of the most important cases yet to be heard and on helping select cases the court will take up next.

History will be made Monday when Justice Anthony Kennedy administers the judicial oath to Gorsuch at a White House ceremony. Never before has a sitting justice sworn in a former clerk to become a colleague on the high court bench. Chief Justice John Roberts will privately administer the separate constitutional oath earlier in the day.

The court hears the final 13 cases of the term during the last two weeks in April, when it will be back at full strength for the first time since Antonin Scalia died 14 months ago. Gorsuch will not be able to vote on cases that were argued before he arrived at the court, but he may have a decisive role to play in an important freedom of religion case to be heard April 19.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-c...ct-supreme-court-n744386?cid=eml_pol_20170410


----------



## poochee

*Trump finds his niche: fixing problems that no longer exist*
By Matt O'Brien
Wonkblog
April 10 at 5:00 AM

President Trump has finally found an economic issue that's not too complicated for him to do something about. That's stopping China from manipulating its currency that it hasn't been manipulating for the past two years.

Trump and Chinese premier Xi Jinping's met for the first time last week, following an election that featured more than the usual amount of China bashing. Indeed, ahead of the meeting, Trump himself promised that their tête-à-tête at Mar-a-Lago was going to be "very difficult" since we could "no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses" with them.

The only snag, as Trump's own Treasury Department could tell him, is that that trade deficit isn't the result of economic chicanery, but rather economic forces. China, you see, isn't holding its currency down anymore to subsidize its exports. In fact, it's doing the opposite: furiously spending down its at-one-point $4 trillion war chest of reserves to try to keep its currency from falling too fast.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.09683187791f&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Apr 10 2017, 8:49 am ET
*Team Trump Offers Mixed Messages on Syria*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*Mixed messages on Syria*

President Trump's decision last week to launch a targeted airstrike in Syria certainly got the attention of the world. But four days later, the same big question remains: What comes next? So far, we've gotten mixed messages from the White House about what the U.S.'s long-term goals in the region will ultimately be. Where exactly is the Trump administration on regime change in Syria? If Assad must go, what's the role of the United States in creating that change? Can ISIS and Assad be addressed at the same time or not? Here's what we've heard in the last 48 hours from administration officials:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...d-messages-syria-n744556?cid=eml_pol_20170410


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's travel expenses in 10 weeks cost US taxpayers as much as Barack Obama spent in two years*
_US President has spent seven weekends at Mar-a-Lago since taking office 10 weeks ago_
Niamh McIntyre
Thursday 6 April 2017 17:07 BST

Donald Trump's trips to his luxury Florida resort have already cost the US taxpayer at least $24 million (£19.2 million) - roughly as much as Barack Obama spent on travel in the first two years of his presidency.

Mr Trump has spent seven weekends at Mar-a-Lago since taking office ten weeks ago. It is estimated that each of these trips costs at least $3 million (£2.4 million), covering the President's extensive security detail.

In total, Mr Obama's travel bill over the eight years of his presidency came to $97 million (£78 million) - an average of $12.1 million (£9.7 million) a year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ars-mar-a-lago-us-a7670541.html?ex_cid=SigDig


----------



## poochee

*Dylann Roof given 9 life sentences on state murder charges; victims's families spared second death penalty trial*
By Andrew Knapp
4 hrs ago

Judge J.C. Nicholson gave Dylann Roof nine life sentences without parole in a state hearing Monday for the June 2015 attack at Emanuel AME Church. Roof pleaded guilty to state murder charges, sparing the victims' families a second death penalty trial.

Monday's hearing likely brings an end the local courtroom saga in his prosecution since he gunned down nine black church worshipers at the church's weekly Bible study, which he planned for months and foreshadowed in an online white supremacist manifesto.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/...cle_4a8b54ec-1df1-11e7-af4f-3f880fee388b.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 10, 7:47 PM EDT
*What exactly is US Syria policy? Big questions for allies*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

LUCCA, Italy (AP) -- Seeking support from abroad, the U.S. struggled Monday to explain a hazy Syria strategy that has yet to clarify key questions: whether President Bashar Assad must go, how displaced Syrians will be protected and when America might feel compelled to take further action.

Successive attempts by top Trump administration officials to articulate a plan have only furthered the appearance of a policy still evolving, even after the U.S. broke with precedent last week by attacking Assad's forces. In the absence of answers, other countries seem to be moving ahead on their own terms.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, after a meeting in Italy with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, floated the possibility of new sanctions on both the Syrian and Russian militaries, an idea the U.S. has only briefly mentioned. In an unusual announcement for a foreign government, Johnson also said the U.S. could launch more cruise missiles into Syria like the ones President Donald Trump ordered last week in reaction to Assad's use of chemical weapons.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-10-19-47-23


----------



## poochee

NBC
*Calif. School Shooting: 8-Year-Old, Teacher and Gunman Killed*
Mon, Apr 10

*VIDEO*

An 8-year-old boy and a teacher were killed and another student was wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a San Bernardino, Calif., elementary school classroom Monday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...ar-old-teacher-and-gunman-killed-918180931936


----------



## poochee

*Before Their Tete-A-Tete, Tillerson And Russians Trade Verbal Tit-For-Tat On Syria* 
April 11, 201712:00 PM ET 
 Colin Dwyer 

Rex Tillerson has touched down in Moscow. But well before his plane landed on the runway, heated words were already flying between the U.S. secretary of state and Russian officials over the situation in Syria.

"I hope that what the Russian government concludes is that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar al-Assad," Tillerson said Tuesday at a meeting of G-7 foreign ministers in Lucca, Italy, shortly before he left for Russia.

Tillerson made plain that the chemical attack last week in Syria was unacceptable to the U.S., and that the U.S. retaliatory missile strike against a Syrian base presented Russia with a choice: either continue to side with Syria, Iran and the militant group Hezbollah, or join with the U.S. and other likeminded countries.

Tillerson said there was no room for both.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...and-russians-trade-verbal-tit-for-tat-on-syri


----------



## poochee

*Why the Trump administration has so many vacancies*
_*The process is bogged down by the involvement of top White House officials, turf wars and an inexperienced and overworked staff.*_
By Nancy Cook, Josh Dawsey and Andrew Restuccia
04/11/17 05:11 AM EDT

Hundreds of key jobs across the federal government remain vacant as a result of an overworked White House personnel office that is frustrating Cabinet secretaries and hampering President Donald Trump's ability to carry out his ambitious legislative agenda.

The process is bogged down as a result of micromanaging by the president and senior staff, turf wars between the West Wing and Cabinet secretaries and a largely inexperienced and overworked staff, say more than a dozen sources including administration insiders, lobbyists, lawyers and Republican strategists.

Trump personally oversees the hiring process for agency staff by insisting on combing through a binder full of names each week and likes to sign off on each one, according to two people with knowledge of the administration's hiring process. Also weighing in on the names - and not always agreeing on final picks - are leaders of sometimes warring factions, including chief of staff Reince Priebus, senior strategist Steve Bannon, Cabinet secretaries and, sometimes, the White House's top lawyer, Don McGahn.

"It's like a medieval court," said one person advising potential nominees through the confirmation process. "The White House meets once a week to go over personnel in some attempt to create uniformity, but in this White House, you just have to smile at that. … It's hard to impose uniformity among the White House's different coalitions."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/donald-trump-white-house-staff-vacancies-237081


----------



## poochee

*Social Security Advocates Sound The Alarm About The Latest Trump Tax Plan*
ByAlice OllsteinPublishedApril 10, 2017, 4:55 PM EDT

Following reports that President Donald Trump is dumping the tax plan he campaigned on and exploring a host of other options, advocates for Social Security are sounding the alarm, pointing to a proposal to eliminate the program's primary source of funding: payroll taxes.

Though it is not yet known how far along the White House proposal has progressed, those who want to protect Social Security say they are taking the news "extremely seriously."

"Even if this is just a trial balloon, we want to puncture it as quickly as we can," said Nancy Altman, the president of the advocacy group Social Security Works.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/social-security-tax-program-cuts


----------



## poochee

*Constituents Shout 'You Lie' At Rep. Joe Wilson In Raucous Town Hall*
*ByMatt ShuhamPublishedApril 11, 2017, 11:01 AM EDT
*
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) got a taste of his own medicine Monday, when attendees at a town hall chanted "you lie" in response to his assertion that "I've also supported the local solicitor here, and the solicitor in Lexington, all efforts to make sure that violence against women is fully enforced."

The Charleston Post & Courier posted video from the event, in which constituents also criticized Wilson's support of the American Health Care Act, the White House and House Republican leadership's effort to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The Post & Courier noted that Wilson voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act in 2013.

In 2009, during an address from President Barack Obama to a joint session of Congress, Wilson yelled out "You lie!" after Obama said that his health care reform effort would not insure undocumented immigrants.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/joe-wilson-violence-against-women-act-you-lie-town-hall


----------



## poochee

Apr 11, 10:22 PM EDT
*Spicer apologizes for 'insensitive' reference to Holocaust*
By KEN THOMAS and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer apologized Tuesday for making an "inappropriate and insensitive" comparison to the Holocaust in earlier comments about Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons - remarks that drew instant rebuke from Jewish groups and critics.

Spicer said in an interview with CNN that he was trying to make a point about Assad's use of chemical weapons and gas against his people but "mistakenly made an inappropriate and insensitive reference to the Holocaust, for which there is no comparison. And for that I apologize. It was a mistake to do that."

During the daily White House briefing, Spicer told reporters that Adolf Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons." Critics noted the remark ignored Hitler's use of gas chambers to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-11-18-52-54


----------



## poochee

Apr 11 2017, 8:20 pm ET
*White House Accuses Russia of Trying to 'Cover Up' Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack*
by Alexey Eremenko, Alastair Jamieson, Abigail Williams and Ali Vitali

*VIDEOS*

The White House is accusing Russia of trying to "cover up" Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's role in a chemical weapons attack that left dozens, including children, dead and spurred U.S. military strikes.

Senior administration officials briefed reporters Tuesday on declassified intelligence that knocks down the Russian-pushed narrative that last week's deadly chemical weapons attack could have been carried out by non-state or terrorist actors.

One administration official called that effort an absolute cover up of Syrian regime culpability, and reinforced the U.S. narrative that the Assad regime was behind the attack and that the gas used was, in fact, sarin.

Russians have a "clear pattern of deflecting blame" from the Assad regime, another administration official said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-declares-u-s-relations-worst-period-cold-war-n745026


----------



## poochee

MTP Daily 4/11/17
*Dems Pushing to Get Trump's Taxes Before Tackling Tax Reform*
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) joins MTP Daily to discuss why he thinks a main aspect of President Trump's agenda-tax reform-should be put on hold until he releases his tax returns.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watc...taxes-before-tackling-tax-reform-919006275994


----------



## poochee

*Bill O'Reilly announces break amid sponsor backlash*
 Andrea Mandell  , USA TODAY Published 10:46 p.m. ET April 11, 2017 | Updated 10 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

Bill O'Reilly is taking a break.

According to The Associated Press, the Fox News host told viewers Tuesday he's going on vacation, saying everyone needs a little "R&R."

O'Reilly's announcement on his Fox News Channel show, _The O'Reilly Factor_, came amid sponsor defections over a report of harassment allegations made against him.

O'Reilly said he usually takes a break this time and that his travel plans were made last year.

*Read more:*

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...ounces-break-amid-sponsor-backlash/100358228/


----------



## poochee

Apr 12, 2:28 PM EDT
*Seeking to salvage ties, US and Russia agree on Syria probe*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) -- Striving to salvage ties amid a fierce dispute over Syria, the United States and Russia on Wednesday agreed to work together on an international investigation of a Syrian chemical weapons attack last week that prompted retaliatory American missile strikes. Washington blames Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Moscow says Syrian rebels are responsible.

After a day of discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the former Cold War foes agreed a probe of events in northern Syria on April 4 was necessary. More than 80 people were killed in what the U.S. has described as a nerve gas attack that Assad's forces undoubtedly carried out. Russia says rebels dispersed whatever chemical agent was found, which the Trump administration calls a disinformation campaign.

The news conference came after Russian President Vladimir Putin met the top American diplomat for almost two hours to see if they could rescue relations between the world's mightiest military powers. Russia's alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election also hovered over the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and a Trump administration Cabinet member.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-12-14-28-12


----------



## poochee

*The Russia story just keeps getting worse for President Trump*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-Large
Updated 1:16 PM ET, Wed April 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Two stories dealing with Russia's meddling in the election broke Tuesday night. And both were full of bad news for President Donald Trump.

The first, an exclusive to CNN, revealed that a number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees who have seen classified documents see no evidence that Obama administration officials did anything unusual or illegal, further suggesting Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, misled Trump (and the public) when he described documents relating to the unmasking of Trump campaign officials caught up in an incidental collection operation by the intelligence community.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second, broken by The Washington Post, reveals that the FBI obtained a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court court warrant in August 2016 aimed at monitoring the communications of one-time Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page. The key paragraph:

Read More
_"The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Page's communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, according to the officials."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/politics/trump-carter-page-russia-devin-nunes/index.html_


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's on-the-job training*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 8:32 AM ET, Wed April 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The Trump White House is finding out that running the world is even more complicated than trying to pass health care reform.

The administration is struggling to frame and explain a coherent foreign policy response to two related crises -- the fallout from chemical weapons attacks in Syria and rapidly deteriorating relations with Russia.

The intractable problems would challenge any new White House. But the Trump team seems to be exacerbating its learning curve by failing to come up with unified approaches and rhetoric among top officials. And it's reeling from a series of missteps, including a Holocaust-related gaffe Tuesday by White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/politics/donald-trump-on-the-job-training/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 12 2017, 8:06 am ET
*Daily Mail Pays Melania Trump Damages Over Modelling Article*
by Alexander Smith

*VIDEO*

LONDON - British tabloid the Daily Mail and the Mail Online website agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to First Lady Melania Trump on Wednesday over an article they published containing allegations that "she had provided services beyond simply modelling."

The paper and website apologized and agreed to pay damages and costs after the first lady filed a $150 million lawsuit over a story published in August last year.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...odelling-article-n745476?cid=eml_pol_20170412


----------



## poochee

*The Assad Family: Nemesis of Nine U.S. Presidents*
*By Robin Wright*
April 11, 2017

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's first meeting with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, in 1973, dragged on until almost eleven P.M. It ran so long, the _Times_ reported, that the media began to speculate about whether America's top diplomat had been kidnapped. Assad "negotiated tenaciously and daringly like a riverboat gambler to make sure he had exacted the last sliver of available concessions," Kissinger recalled in his memoir, "Years of Upheaval." The marathons were typical. In 1991, Secretary of State James Baker famously waved a white flag "in submission" after almost ten hours because he needed a bathroom break. Baker called negotiating with Assad "bladder diplomacy."

Since the bloodless coup, in 1970, that brought the family to power, the Assad dynasty-the founding father, Hafez, and his heir and second son, Bashar-has exasperated nine American Presidents. "Time-consuming, nerve-racking, and bizarre," Kissinger said of his sessions with Hafez al-Assad. Republican and Democratic Administrations alike have coaxed and cajoled, prodded and praised, and, most recently, confronted and condemned the Assads to induce policy changes.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...pJobID=1140941310&spReportId=MTE0MDk0MTMxMAS2


----------



## poochee

All In with Chris Hayes 4/11/17
*Trump's strong opinions on presidential golfing*

If there's one thing Trump was adamant about on the campaign trail, it's how much time a president should spend on the golf course.

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-s-strong-opinions-on-presidential-golfing-919165507884


----------



## poochee

Apr 12 2017, 3:11 pm ET
*Tillerson Tells Putin That U.S.-Russia Relations 'At a Low Point'*
by Andrew Rafferty and Abigail Williams

*VIDEO*

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that relations between the two countries are at "a low point" as clear divides remain over Syria, Moscow's alleged meddling in U.S. elections and a host of other major issues.

While Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Tillerson expressed agreement when they met on Wednesday on what the future of Syria should look like, they laid out vastly different paths to get there.

Both Tillerson and Lavrov said they support a political solution in Syria, with Tillerson declaring Syrian President Basah al-Assad's reign is "coming to an end."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/putin-meets-tillerson-moscow-n745591


----------



## poochee

Apr 12 2017, 5:38 pm ET
*Trump Reverses on NATO: 'It Is No Longer Obsolete'*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEOS*

President Donald Trump reversed his stance on NATO being "obsolete" Wednesday - a 180-degree turn on a key campaign complaint that the military alliance was no longer equipped for the fights ahead, specifically when it comes to terrorism.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-reverses-nato-it-no-longer-obsolete-n745601

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apr 12 2017, 5:51 pm ET
*In Major Reversal, Trump Says China 'Not Currency Manipulators'*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he no longer believes China manipulates its currency, a complete shift from the position he repeatedly took during his 2016 campaign.

"They're not currency manipulators," Trump told the the Wall Street Journal during an Oval Office interview.

The reason he changed his mind, the president said, was because China has stopped manipulating its currency in recent months and the accusations could jeopardize U.S. negotiations with China to deal with the nuclear threat from North Korea.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...-says-china-not-currency-manipulators-n745826


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's border wall faces first lawsuit*
USA Today Network Rafael Carranza, The Arizona Republic 8:40 p.m. ET April 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

PHOENIX - The Trump administration has not yet released concrete details to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but it already faces the first of what could be a litany of lawsuits against the president's signature proposal.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based conservation group, and U.S. Congressman Raul Grijalva, who represents a broad swath of the Arizona border, filed the suit on Wednesday in a Tucson federal court targeting the environmental and fiscal impact of building a nearly 2,000-mile border wall.

It lists U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary John Kelly and Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan as defendants.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ps-border-wall-faces-first-lawsuit/100397382/


----------



## poochee

Apr 13 2017, 2:13 pm ET
*U.S. Drops 'Mother of All Bombs' on ISIS Target in Afghanistan*
by Courtney Kube

* VIDEO*

The U.S. dropped a GBU-43 bomb, nicknamed "the mother of all bombs," on ISIS fighters and tunnels and caves used by the terror group in the country's Nangarhar province, officials said.

Military officials believe it is the first time the weapon has been used on the battlefield. It was dropped from an aircraft.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the GBU-43 bomb was used Wednesday around 7 p.m. local time in Afghanistan. He called the weapon "large, powerful" and accurate.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...is-afghanistan-large-non-nuclear-bomb-n746106


----------



## poochee

Apr 13, 10:20 AM EDT
*Trump declares US-Russia relations may be at 'all-time low'*
By VIVIAN SALAMA and JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Laying bare deep and dangerous divisions on Syria and other issues, President Donald Trump declared that U.S. relations with Russia "may be at an all-time low." His top diplomat offered a similarly grim assessment from the other side of the globe after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"Right now we're not getting along with Russia at all," Trump said flatly during a White House news conference Wednesday. It was stark evidence that the president is moving ever further from his campaign promises to establish better ties with Moscow.

Only weeks ago, it appeared that Trump, who praised Putin throughout the U.S. election campaign, was poised for a potentially historic rapprochement with Russia. But any such expectations have crashed into reality amid the nasty back-and-forth over Syria and ongoing U.S. investigations into Russia's alleged interference in America's U.S. presidential election.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-13-10-20-51


----------



## poochee

*Cillizza: Here's an easy way to understand all of President Trump's recent flip-flops*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-Large

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Everything, in the world of Trump, is a negotiation
What we see as flip-floppery and weakness, Trump sees as flexibility and uncertainty
Washington (CNN)In the space of the last week, President Donald Trump has either altered or totally reversed his views on US involvement in Syria, Russia's friendliness (or lack thereof), China's currency manipulation, Fed chair Janet Yellen, the Export-Import Bank and NATO.

It's enough to a) give you whiplash and b) raise legitimate questions about what Trump actually believes, given that many of his current positions are directly at odds with those that he staked out during the campaign. Is this a new Trump? A more centrist, realistic one? And, if so, what changed?

*The answer is that nothing has really changed*.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/politics/trump-flip-flop-russia-china/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump threatens to stop insurance payments so Democrats negotiate on Obamacare*
By Lauren Fox, CNN
Updated 8:27 AM ET, Thu April 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Discussions on how to repeal and replace Obamacare continue albeit behind closed doors
A White House official said they're leaving it to the Freedom Caucus and the Tuesday Group
(CNN)President Donald Trump is threatening not to reimburse health insurers for covering low income people as a way of forcing Democrats to the negotiating table on health care.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Trump said health care remained a top priority for him, but that he was still undecided about whether his administration would fund what are known as cost-sharing reduction payments, which reduce deductibles and co-payments for lower-income people.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/politics/health-care-congress-talks-latest/index.html


----------



## poochee

*CIA director blasts Wikileaks as 'non-state hostile intelligence'*
By MARIAM KHAN
Apr 13, 2017, 5:58 PM ET

CIA Director Mike Pompeo blasted anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks on Thursday calling it a "hostile" intelligence-gathering service that is often "abetted by state actors like Russia."

"WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service," Pompeo said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, saying, "it's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it is."

He called WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a "fraud" and "coward" and criticized NSA leaker Edward Snowden for championing "nothing but his own celebrity."

http://abcnews.go.com/International...-state-hostile-intelligence/story?id=46786497


----------



## poochee

Apr 14 2017, 3:13 pm ET
*Panetta: Trump Is Risking Nuclear War With North Korea*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned Friday that the strong rhetoric coming from President Donald Trump's administration toward North Korea could escalate tensions.

"The words from the administration are creating even higher volume in terms of the provocations that are going on. I think we have got to be careful here," Panetta told NBC News' Andrea Mitchell. "We should not engage in any precipitous action. There is a reason no U.S. president in recent history has pulled the trigger on North Korea."

He added, "We have the potential for a nuclear war that would take millions of lives. So I think we have got to exercise some care here."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/panetta-warns-trump-be-careful-north-korea-n746666


----------



## poochee

China issues stern warning to U.S., North Korea over their growing tensions
By Anna Fifield By Anna Fifield
Asia & Pacific
April 14 at 2:00 PM

*VIDEOS*

TOKYO - China issued a stern warning Friday to both the United States and North Korea, urging them not to push their recriminations to a point of no return and allow war to break out on the Korean Peninsula.

In comments carried by China's official Xinhua news agency, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "storm clouds" were gathering, an apparent reference to North Korean preparations to conduct a new nuclear test and the United States' deployment of a naval strike force to the waters off the peninsula. In addition, the U.S. military has been conducting large-scale military exercises with South Korean forces, drills that the North considers provocative.

"The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent," Wang said at a news conference after a meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Xinhua reported. "We urge all parties to refrain from inflammatory or threatening statements or deeds to prevent irreversible damage to the situation on the Korean Peninsula."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korea-blames-trump-and-hisaggressive-tweets-for-tensions/2017/04/14/6932c9aa-20e1-11e7-bcd6-6d1286bc177d_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_nkorea408am:homepage/story&utm_term=.4a91d8a23e44


----------



## poochee

*EPA moves to undo tougher pollution limits on coal plants*
By MICHAEL BIESECKER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration is moving to rewrite Obama-era rules limiting water pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, sent a letter announcing his decision to a coalition of energy companies that lobbied against the 2015 water pollution regulations.

The rule would have required utilities by next year to cut the amounts of toxic heavy metals in the wastewater piped from their plants into rivers and lakes often used as sources of drinking water. Arsenic, lead and mercury and other potentially harmful contaminates leach from massive pits of waterlogged ash left behind after burning coal to generate electricity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-14-16-08-08


----------



## poochee

*White House Says It Will No Longer Release Visitor Logs To The Public* 
April 14, 20172:43 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy

Watchdog groups immediately criticized the decision, with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington calling it a "massive step away from transparency."

"The only reasonable conclusion is to believe the Trump administration has many things it is trying to hide," the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement, also referencing the administration's relationship with the media.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-no-longer-release-visitor-logs-to-the-public


----------



## poochee

Apr 14 2017, 5:48 am ET 
*Tax Day Protests to Demand Trump's Returns*
by Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

Large protests are expected Saturday across the country pegged to Tax Day to pressure President Donald Trump to release his tax returns.

This year's Tax Day Marches on Saturday, planned in dozens of cities across the county, are expected to be the biggest political mass mobilization since January's Women's March, which some believe was the largest mass political mobilization ever recorded.

Organizers hope to call attention to the fact that Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon to refuse to release his tax returns, and to prepare for a fight on tax policy.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/de...-trump-s-returns-n746146?cid=eml_pol_20170414


----------



## poochee

*Fugitive who mailed manifesto to Trump captured in Wisconsin*
By EMILY SHAPIRO
Apr 14, 2017, 5:22 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The Wisconsin fugitive accused of robbing a gun shop and sending a manifesto to President Donald Trump was captured while camping on a Wisconsin farmer's property after a 10-day manhunt, officials said.

Joseph Jakubowski, who was considered "armed and dangerous," allegedly stole 18 firearms from a gun store near Janesville, Wisconsin, on April 4, then allegedly torched his car and fled, and had been on the run ever since.

Jakubowski is also accused of sending the president a manifesto littered with anti-religious and anti-government rhetoric. Jakubowski allegedly distributed as many 25 copies of the manifesto, mostly to people that he knew, officials said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/armed-dang...ve-custody-weeklong-manhunt/story?id=46702278


----------



## poochee

Apr 15 2017, 9:05 am ET
*North Korea Parades New Prototype Long-Range Missiles amid Nuclear Tensions: Experts*
by Alastair Jamieson and Stella Kim

*VIDEO*

North Korea paraded its military might Saturday in a massive public display that experts said showed new capabilities for its long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Kim Jong Un did not speak during the huge event, which celebrates the birthday of North Korea's founding ruler Kim Il Sung, but another top official, Choe Ryong Hae, warned that the North would stand up to any threat posed by the United States.

Choe said President Donald Trump was guilty of "creating a war situation" on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching U.S. forces to the region.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/n...type-long-range-missiles-amid-nuclear-n746921


----------



## poochee

Apr 15, 8:54 AM EDT

*AP FACT CHECK: President Trump's flip-flops flub the facts*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM DRINKARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was a flip-floppy week at the White House as President Donald Trump walked away from some promises and people, contorting reality in the process.

He declared NATO no longer obsolete, even though the alliance hasn't changed much since he denigrated it in the 2016 campaign. He credited China with ceasing the manipulation of its currency, swerving away from a campaign pledge with a belated acknowledgment that China had changed its ways.

The president's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, joined a list of people Trump has claimed to know well until he said he didn't. Russian President Vladimir Putin is on the list, too, as he has been for some time. "I don't know Putin," Trump said in characterizing U.S.-Russia relations as the worst ever. He'd bragged in 2015, "I got to know him very well."

As he performed such acrobatics to explain a series of shifts, Trump also committed several more familiar sleights of rhetoric, taking credit where it isn't due in job growth and corporate expansion.

A look at some of his statements this past week:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-15-08-54-05


----------



## poochee

Apr 15 2017, 10:07 pm ET
*North Korean Missile Launch Fails 'Almost Immediately', U.S. Military Says *
by Courtney Kube, Kelly O'Donnell and Stella Kim

*VIDEOS*

North Korea attempted a missile launch Sunday morning local time (5:21pm ET), but it failed "almost immediately" United States military officials confirmed to NBC News.

South Korea's military detected the same results, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The launch was attempted from Sinpo, a city on North Korea's east coast, some 400 miles from Japan,according to U.S. Pacific Command.

Early assessments suggested the projectile was not the feared intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continental U.S., two U.S. military officials told NBC News.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...fails-almost-immediately-u-s-military-n747006


----------



## poochee

Apr 15, 6:20 PM EDT
*5 things to know about US Vice President Mike Pence*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is embarking on a 10-day, four nation tour of the Asia-Pacific this weekend, arriving in South Korea amid tensions over North Korea's aggressive flaunting of its nuclear and missile program.

Pence will visit South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Australia during his trip, meeting with leaders in the region, military troops and business groups. It will be Pence's second foreign trip as vice president - he traveled to Germany and Belgium in February to meet with NATO and European Union officials.

*Five things to know about President Donald Trump's No. 2 at the start of his visit.*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-15-18-20-59


----------



## poochee

*Pope decries 'vile' attack on Syrians in Easter address*
By frances d'emilio, associated press
VATICAN CITY - Apr 16, 2017, 8:30 AM ET

*VIDEO*

On Christianity's most joyful day, Pope Francis lamented the horrors generated by war and hatred, delivering an Easter Sunday message that also decried the "latest vile" attack on civilians in Syria.

Both in his impromptu homily during Mass in St. Peter's Square and later in his formal "Urbi et Orbi" Easter message delivered from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Francis reflected on a litany of suffering in the world, including wars, oppressive regimes, human trafficking, corruption, famine and domestic violence.

He encouraged people to hold fast in their "fearful hearts" to faith, acknowledging that many people wonder where God is amid so much evil and suffering in the world.

http://abcnews.go.com/International...atican-pope-celebrates-easter-sunday-46826312


----------



## poochee

Apr 16 2017, 11:10 am ET
*McCain: North Korea Is First 'Real Test' of Trump's Presidency*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEOS*

WASHINGTON - Amid rising tensions with North Korea and new evidence of a failed missile test, Sen. John McCain said Sunday that "this could be the first test, real test, of the Trump presidency."

McCain, R-Ariz. the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, added that China will be "key" in how the world addresses the situation.

"They can stop this if they want to because of their control over the North Korean economy," McCain said on "Meet the Press."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...ump-s-presidency-n747086?cid=eml_pol_20170416


----------



## poochee

Apr 16 2017, 11:21 am ET
*Trump Calls for Investigation Into Tax Day Protesters, Tweets 'Election Is Over!'*
by Daniella Silva

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump on Twitter Sunday lashed out against citizens who'd taken to the streets to exercise their First Amendment rights.

While claiming that thousands of people who on Saturday demanded Trump finally release his full tax returns were "paid" protesters, Trump tweeted, "The election is over!"

"Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies," Trump tweeted a day after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in more than 150 cities across the country.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trump himself used paid actors to pose as rally attendees during his campaign, and has talked at length about the election results since his victory while criticizing his former rival Hillary Clinton. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...x-day-protesters-tweets-election-over-n747101


----------



## poochee

*Trump and The Problem of Militant Ignorance*
ByJosh MarshallPublishedApril 14, 2017, 2:36 PM EDT

It is what we might call 'the consensus judgment' that President Trump is a deeply ignorant man and perhaps a profoundly ignorant President. But it is worth stepping back and considering just what this means, the different kinds of ignorance that exist and how they differ.

Without making a direct comparison, it is worth remembering that each of the last three Presidents came to office with a steep learning curve about the modalities of the presidency and many aspects of the challenges and issues they would face. Clinton, Bush and Obama were each, in different ways, pretty green. Bush's father, since he had served in Congress, as head of the CIA and especially because he had served as a fairly active Vice President for the previous eight years, came in knowing quite a lot about the specifics of the Presidency.

Some of the difference with Clinton, Bush and Obama (let's call them CBO) is that they had good staff or at least knowledgable staff who could help them understand what they didn't know and advise them on the almost infinite number of details they could never hope to understand in depth. But there's another key issue. You don't become President by being excessively humble. Yet CBO each had a sense of what they did not know. At a bare minimum, they didn't advertise it when they learned something they later realized a lot of other people knew.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-the-problem-of-militant-ignorance


----------



## poochee

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 14, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*

*VIDEO*

*Transcript:*

My fellow Americans,

This is a season of great hope.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/14/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Apr 16 2017, 7:50 pm ET
*Manhunt in Cleveland After Killing Broadcast on Facebook Live*
by Alex Johnson, E.D. Cauchi and Tim Stelloh

*VIDEO*

Cleveland police were searching Sunday for a man who they said killed an elderly man live on Facebook and bragged about having committed many other homicides.

The suspect, identified as Steve Stephens, is considered armed and dangerous, police said after the homicide in northeast Cleveland near the Lake Erie shore. The FBI was providing assistance, a spokeswoman told NBC News.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/manhunt-cleveland-after-killing-broadcast-facebook-live-n747166


----------



## poochee

*Pence Tells North Korea: 'The Era Of Strategic Patience Is Over'* 
April 17, 201710:19 AM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy 

Vice President Pence said on a visit to South Korea on Monday that the U.S. "era of strategic patience is over" regarding North Korea and its nuclear and ballistic missile program.

"Since 1992, the United States and our allies have stood together for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula," Pence said at a joint news conference with acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-Ahn in Seoul. "We hope to achieve this objective through peaceable means. But all options are on the table."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...h-korea-the-era-of-strategic-patience-is-over


----------



## poochee

Apr 16 2017, 5:51 pm ET
*Cracking the White House Easter Egg Roll: 6 Things You Might Not Know*
by Shira Tarlo

*VIDEO*

As the Trump administration is finding out, pulling off the White House Easter Egg Roll is no yolk.

More than 35,000 people hop over to the South Lawn every year on Easter Monday to take part in the celebration, where the Easter Bunny and more than 15,000 dyed eggs are waiting.

White House Easter festivities - which date back at least to 1878 - usually include storytelling, musical performances and activities like yoga and egg-decorating.

* Here are some "egg-cellent" facts you might not know about Easter festivities at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. *

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...things-you-might-n746596?cid=eml_pol_20170417


----------



## poochee

April 14, 2017
*Top Frustrations With Tax System: Sense That Corporations, Wealthy Don't Pay Fair Share*
_Fewer are bothered by the amount they pay in taxes
_
*CHARTS*

A majority of Americans now view the federal tax system as unfair, including similar shares of Republicans and Democrats. But partisans differ in their concerns about the tax system, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to express frustration that some corporations and wealthy people don't pay their "fair share."

Among the public overall, 62% say they are bothered "a lot" by the feeling that some corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes, and 60% say the same about some wealthy people not paying their fair share.

About four-in-ten (43%) say they are bothered a great deal by the complexity of the system. But with the April 18 tax filing deadline approaching, only about a quarter (27%) say they are bothered a lot by the amount _they _pay in taxes. And just 20% say that about the feeling that the poor do not pay their fair share of taxes.

http://www.people-press.org/2017/04...hy-dont-pay-fair-share/?wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Apr 16 2017, 8:00 pm ET
*Supreme Court Scheduled to Hear Important Freedom of Religion Dispute*
by Pete Williams

*VIDEO*

A plan to make a playground safer for preschoolers is at the center of one of the most important legal battles in decades over the separation of church and state, to be heard Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But an 11th hour change in policy by the state at the heart of the dispute could blunt the impact of the case.

At stake are bans in well over half the nation that prohibit spending tax dollars to support churches.

The states say they're necessary to keep the government from meddling in religious affairs.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...religion-dispute-n746746?cid=eml_pol_20170417


----------



## poochee

Apr 17 2017, 12:03 pm ET
*Susan Rice Did Nothing Wrong, Say Both Dems and Republicans*
by Ken Dilanian

*VIDEOS*

A review of the surveillance material flagged by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes shows no inappropriate action by Susan Rice or any other Obama administration official, Republican and Democratic Congressional aides who have been briefed on the matter told NBC News.

President Donald Trump told the New York Times he believed former National Security Adviser Rice broke the law by asking for the identities of Trump aides who were mentioned in transcripts of U.S. surveillance of foreign targets. Normally, the identities of Americans are blacked out in transcripts circulated by the National Security Agency, but they may be "unmasked," if their identities are relevant to understanding the intelligence.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...thing-wrong-say-both-dems-republicans-n747406


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama snaps photo of Michelle Obama on yacht*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 1:02 PM ET, Mon April 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

They left Tahiti after a nearly one-month stay in French Polynesia.
Obama's had a pretty glamorous post-presidency life so far
Washington (CNN)The Obamas are having the time of their post-White House lives.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/17/politics/obama-snaps-photo-of-michelle-yacht/index.html


----------



## poochee

**
*Watch the first lady nudge President Trump for national anthem*
 Jessica Estepa  , USA TODAY Published 2:39 p.m. ET April 17, 2017 | Updated 20 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ge-president-trump-national-anthem/100572198/


----------



## poochee

Apr 17, 6:52 PM EDT
*Trump talks tough on North Korea, says Kim 'gotta behave'*
By KEN THOMAS and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

PANMUNJOM, South Korea (AP) -- The White House displayed a tough and unyielding approach to North Korea and its nuclear ambitions Monday, with President Donald Trump warning that Kim Jong Un has "gotta behave" and Vice President Mike Pence sternly advising Kim not to test America's resolve and military power.

Trump, in Washington, and Pence at the tense Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, signaled a forceful U.S. stance on North Korea's recent actions and threats. But no one was predicting what might come next.

Behind the heated rhetoric, in fact, Trump's strategy in the region looks somewhat similar to predecessor Barack Obama's - albeit with the added unpredictability of a new president who has shown he's willing to use force.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-17-18-52-32


----------



## poochee

*Trump to sign 'Buy American, Hire American' executive order*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY 9:25 p.m. ET April 17, 2017

WASHINGTON - President Trump will sign a double-barreled executive order Tuesday that will clamp down on guest worker visas and require agencies to buy more goods and services from U.S. companies and workers.

Trump will sign the so-called "Buy American, Hire American" executive order during a visit to Snap-On Tools in Kenosha, Wis., Tuesday, said two senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the order Monday. The officials spoke on condition they not be identified because the cabinet-level officials who could discuss the matter on the record were unavailable.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ican-hire-american-executive-order/100582276/


----------



## poochee

Apr 18 2017, 3:43 pm ET
*Cleveland Facebook Killer: Steve Stephens Dead in Car After Pursuit by Pa. Police*
by Chelsea Bailey and Tom Winter

*VIDEO*

After eluding police nearly 48 hours, the Cleveland man accused of posting video of a murder he committed to Facebook, pulled into Pennsylvania McDonald's drive-thru Tuesday and ordered McNuggets and fries.

That was his downfall.

A fast-thinking restaurant employee recognized Steve Stephens, so told him he'd have to wait for his fries a little longer - while another worker quickly dialed 911.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ve-stephens-dead-car-after-pursuit-pa-n747821


----------



## poochee

Apr 18 2017, 9:39 am ET
*Guess Who Came to Dinner With Flynn and Putin*
by Robert Windrem

It was a (red) star-studded affair, the December 2015 dinner celebrating the 10th birthday of Russian TV network RT. At a luxe Moscow hotel, President Vladimir Putin and a host of Russian luminaries toasted a state-backed news channel that U.S. intelligence calls a Kremlin mouthpiece.

And next to Putin at the head table, in the seat of honor, was an American. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who would later become Donald Trump's national security adviser, was already advising Trump's presidential campaign when he was paid $45,000 to speak at the gala.

"It is not coincidence that Flynn was placed next to President Putin," said Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador in Moscow from 2012 to 2014 and now an NBC News analyst. "Flynn was considered a close Trump adviser. Why else would they want him there?"

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696


----------



## poochee

*Simple Beats Nuance, Which Is Part Of Why Trump's Not Releasing Those Tax Returns*
April 18, 20173:56 PM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 
Updated: 4:05 p.m. ET

This is what a president can do with the bully pulpit:
It's Tax Day. And that means another reminder of the fact that President Trump has broken with tradition and not released his tax returns.

That would be a big focus of the day except that Trump, like other presidents before him, is trying to drive the narrative with something he's more comfortable with - he held an event in Wisconsin at a tool company headquarters to discuss his "Buy American and Hire American" executive order released Monday night.

It's a nice, simple slogan that helps him look like he's delivering on a campaign promise. And it helps deflect from an otherwise negative storyline.

Reality, however, is not so neat.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/18/52456...of-why-trumps-not-releasing-those-tax-returns


----------



## poochee

*Aircraft Carrier Wasn't Sailing to Deter North Korea, as U.S. Suggested*
By MARK LANDLER and ERIC SCHMITTAPRIL 18, 2017

WASHINGTON - Just over a week ago, the White House declared that ordering an American aircraft carrier into the Sea of Japan would send a powerful deterrent signal to North Korea and give President Trump more options in responding to the North's provocative behavior. "We're sending an armada," Mr. Trump said to Fox News last Tuesday afternoon.

The problem was that the carrier, the Carl Vinson, and the three other warships in its strike force were that very moment sailing in the opposite direction, to take part in joint exercises with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean, 3,500 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula.

White House officials said Tuesday that they had been relying on guidance from the Defense Department. Officials there described a glitch-ridden sequence of events, from an ill-timed announcement of the deployment by the military's Pacific Command to a partially erroneous explanation by the defense secretary, Jim Mattis - all of which perpetuated the false narrative that a flotilla was racing toward the waters off North Korea.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/...orth-korea-carl-vinson.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*President Trump has a long history of praise for autocrats, dictators and strongmen*
By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 2:06 PM ET, Tue April 18, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_From Vladimir Putin to Saddam Hussein, President Donald Trump has a long history of regularly and openly expressing admiration for a rogues' gallery of foreign dictators and authoritarians.

Trump's soft spot for strongmen was on display again Monday, when he phoned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on winning a referendum designed to dismantle the country's democratic infrastructure. In fairness, Erdogan pushed back on Tuesday, conceding in a CNN exclusive interview that his death -- "I am a mortal, I could die at any time" -- would end his rule.

The White House readout of the call made no mention of the ongoing crackdown in Turkey, where Erdogan has targeted opposition figures, journalists and other elements of civil society in the aftermath of a failed coup last year. A senior Trump administration official told CNN the call skirted the controversy surrounding the referendum and, apart from a "simple congrats," mostly focused on Syria.

Some vocal segments of the domestic political establishment and anti-Trump pundits responded to news of the conversation with shock and dismay. But if anyone is surprised, well, then they obviously haven't been paying much attention the past two years -- or weeks, for that matter.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/politics/donald-trump-favorite-dictators-and-strongmen/index.html


----------



## poochee

HUMOR
*Jared Kushner Calls Kim Jong-un "Totally Unqualified Person" Who Got Job Only Through Nepotism*
*By Andy Borowitz *April 18, 2017

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-Offering a stunningly blunt appraisal of the North Korean leader, Jared Kushner said on Tuesday that Kim Jong-un was a "totally unqualified person" who attained his position of power only through nepotism.

"Here you have a guy who has no government experience, and he's in charge of the whole thing," Kushner said, in an interview with Fox News. "It's the craziest thing I've ever heard of."

Kushner noted that, instead of working his way up and acquiring the skills necessary to do his job, the North Korean leader had been given huge responsibilities and power "only because of family connections."

http://www.newyorker.com/?p=3339783...pJobID=1141439975&spReportId=MTE0MTQzOTk3NQS2


----------



## poochee

*Bill O'Reilly out at Fox News amid sexual misconduct allegations*
By Paul Blake
Apr 19, 2017, 2:59 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The star host has been dogged by misconduct claims -- some sexual in nature -- since an April 1 story in The New York Times detailed alleged settlements made between the host and five women who accused him of harassment and sexual misconduct.

"After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O'Reilly have agreed that Bill O'Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/bill-oreilly-fox-news/story?id=46887583


----------



## poochee

Apr. 19, 2017 at 7:54 AM
* 5 Takeaways From The Georgia 6 Special Election *
By Harry Enten

The special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District has moved into extra innings. In the primary on Tuesday, Democrat Jon Ossoff won the most votes, with 48 percent, but fell just short of the 50 percent necessary to win outright. He'll face Republican Karen Handel, who finished second with 20 percent of the vote, in a runoff election on June 20. So what should we make of Round 1? What do Tuesday's results tell us about the coming runoff and the 2018 midterms? *Here are five takeaways.*

https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...gia-6-special-election-results/?ex_cid=SigDig


----------



## poochee

Apr 19 2017, 7:28 am ET
*VP Mike Pence Warns North Korea: 'We Will Defeat Any Attack' *
by Petra Cahill

*VIDEO*

Vice President Mike Pence renewed the Trump administration's tough talk on North Korea during his second stop of his 10-day Asia trip Wednesday after briefly pushing a more conciliatory line.

Pence reiterated the commitment to defend U.S. allies in the region from North Korea - which he called "the most dangerous and urgent threat to the peace and security of the Asia Pacific" during remarks to U.S. and Japanese troops aboard the USS Ronald Reagan at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.

Pence had struck a more conciliatory tone at a press conference with the Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso in Tokyo Tuesday. At that event he said that the Trump administration is actively working with its allies in the region - Japan, South Korea and China - to deploy diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to try to achieve a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/v...-will-defeat-any-n748161?cid=eml_pol_20170419


----------



## poochee

*Unpredictable. Unhinged. Dangerous - Asian Countries Look Warily At Trump*
By KIM TONG-HYUNG Published April 19, 2017, 8:58 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Unpredictable. Unhinged. Dangerous.

Many South Koreans are using those words to describe the president of their most important ally, rather than the leader of their archrival to the North. They worry that President Donald Trump's tough, unorthodox talk about North Korea's nuclear program is boosting already-high animosity between the rival Koreas.

No matter whether Trump succeeds at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs, his actions, comments and tweets are changing how the region views the long-running conflict. Senior North Korean officials see their relations with Washington as even more volatile than before. China is appealing for calm, and possibly re-examining its role. Japan is weighing a retaliatory strike capability against the North.

*MORE:*

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/asia-allies-wary-trump


----------



## poochee

*Fox News Turmoil Highlights Workplace Culture's Role In Sexual Harassment*
_Fox News Turmoil Highlights Workplace Culture's Role In Sexual Harassment_
April 19, 20175:42 PM ET 
Heard on All Things Considered
 Yuki Noguchi 

Fox News star Bill O'Reilly has been ousted from the network after fresh allegations of sexual harassment surfaced last month, and the TV franchise again faces scrutiny over whether its culture perpetuates such behavior. Fox already ousted its CEO, Roger Ailes, over claims of sexual harassment, and _The_ _New York Times_ reported the network has already paid out $13 million to settle five claims against O'Reilly since 2002.

Fox isn't alone; allegations of pervasive sexual harassment also recently surfaced at Uber and at Sterling Jewelers, which owns the Kay, Jared and Zales chains. Uber hired former Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate claims that its culture permitted sexual harassment. Sterling's parent company says the allegations against it are without merit.

Experts say rooting out a culture of sexual harassment is a big challenge but can be done if handled correctly.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/19/52475...-workplace-cultures-role-in-sexual-harassment


----------



## poochee

World News | Wed Apr 19, 2017 | 4:18pm EDT
*Exclusive: Putin-linked think tank drew up plan to sway 2016 U.S. election - documents*
By Ned Parker, Jonathan Landay and John Walcott | WASHINGTON

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON A Russian government think tank controlled by Vladimir Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters' faith in the American electoral system, three current and four former U.S. officials told Reuters.

They described two confidential documents from the think tank as providing the framework and rationale for what U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort by Russia to interfere with the Nov. 8 election. U.S. intelligence officials acquired the documents, which were prepared by the Moscow-based Russian Institute for Strategic Studies [en.riss.ru/], after the election.

The institute is run by retired senior Russian foreign intelligence officials appointed by Putin's office.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-election-exclusive-idUSKBN17L2N3


----------



## poochee

*North Korea threatens 'super-mighty' strike on U.S.*
 Doug Stanglin  , USA TODAY Published 11:51 a.m. ET April 20, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

*VIDEO*

In an escalating war of words with the U.S., North Korea warned Thursday of a "super-mighty preemptive strike" that would reduce American military forces in South Korea and the U.S. mainland "to ashes," according to _The Rodong Sinmun,_ official newspaper of North Korea's Workers' Party.

The report, carried by Reuters, also warned the U.S. and its allies "should not mess with us."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-super-mighty-preemptive-strike-us/100693568/


----------



## poochee

*The 1 sentence that should make you very skeptical about a new health care bill*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, Editor-at-large
Updated 2:21 PM ET, Thu April 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

A flurry of activity Thursday suggests health care legislation might not be dead on the Hill
The Catch: Some key players have not seen the bill and that's a big unknown for lawmakers

_As of now, the broader conference is not aware of what the new health care blueprint is, suggesting that things are very much in the air."_

So, outside of a handful of people like Meadows (North Carolina) and MacArthur (New Jersey), leaders of the Freedom Caucus and the Republican moderates respectively, almost no one in the House GOP conference has actually seen the changed bill, much less approved of it.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/politics/health-care-trump-ahca/index.html


----------



## poochee

Thu Apr 20, 2017 | 2:42pm EDT
*Canada's Trudeau defends dairy system *after Trump criticism
By Leah Schnurr and David Ljunggren | OTTAWA 

OTTAWA Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday brushed off an attack by U.S. President Donald Trump on Canada's system of dairy protections, saying every nation defended its agricultural industries.

Trudeau told Bloomberg Television that the United States in fact ran a dairy surplus with Canada. Trump took aim at Canada's dairy industry this week and said on Thursday "what they've done to our dairy farm workers is a disgrace".

Canada's dairy sector is protected by high tariffs on imported products and controls on domestic production as a means of supporting prices that farmers receive.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-politics-trudeau-idUSKBN17M21L


----------



## poochee

Apr 20, 7:36 PM EDT
*Trump hails Italy for role in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan*
By VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed Italy's contributions to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and its efforts seeking stability in Libya, but dismissed the possibility of U.S. intervention in that country, saying the U.S. has "enough roles."

After a White House meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Trump stuck to his demand that European allies meet their financial obligations in their partnerships with the U.S., including NATO. He urged Italy to address the refugee crisis through a policy that "seeks the eventual return of refugees to their home countries so they can help to rebuild their own nations."

Gentiloni, who took office in December, stressed the need for burden-sharing in the refugee crisis, given Italy's proximity to Libya, where large numbers of migrants take the risky voyage across the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

Trump was quick to dismiss the notion that the U.S. would get involved in Libya, telling a joint news conference, "I do not see a role in Libya."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-20-19-36-36


----------



## poochee

*Aaron Hernandez's lawyer says family will donate his brain for research*
 A.J. Perez  , USA TODAY Sports Published 2:11 p.m. ET April 20, 2017 | Updated 7 hours ago

*VIDEO*

The family for Aaron Hernandez plans to donate the brain of the former New England Patriots tight end to concussion researchers, one of his lawyers told reporters in Boston on Thursday.

Attorney Jose Baez said that the family has authorized Boston University -- where dozens of brains have been examined in recent years in the study of the debilitating brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) -- to study Hernandez's brain. Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of former longtime friend Odin Lloyd, died Wednesday after he was found hanging from a bed sheet in his prison cell.

"The family of Aaron Hernandez has decided to donate Aaron's brain to the study so we can possibly help other young men who play football ... further the cause, and possibly shed light and provide more evidence on this case," Baez said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/04/20/aaron-hernandez-family-donate-brain/100701100/


----------



## poochee

Apr 21, 1:55 PM EDT
*Trump says he will release tax reform package next week*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump says businesses and individuals will receive a "massive tax cut" under a tax reform package he plans to unveil next week.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Trump says the plan will result in tax cuts for both individuals and businesses. He would not provide details of the plan, saying only that the tax cuts will be "bigger I believe than any tax cut ever."

The president says the package will be released on "Wednesday or shortly thereafter" - just before his 100 day mark in office.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-21-13-55-48


----------



## poochee

*Trump had undisclosed meeting with former Colombian presidents*
By Paul Blake Alexander Mallin
Apr 21, 2017, 2:00 PM ET

*VIDEO*
 
President Trump had an undisclosed rendezvous with two former Colombian presidents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last week, and in the process injected himself into a contentious political battle over Colombia's peace deal that seeks to end the Western hemisphere's longest-running war.

The previously undisclosed encounter was confirmed today by the White House, with deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders' saying that former Presidents Andrés Pastrana and Álvaro Uribe "were there with a member from the club and briefly said hello when the president walked past them."

"There wasn't anything beyond a quick hello," Sanders said.

She declined to answer why the meeting was not publicly disclosed. It's unclear when it occurred.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-undisclosed-meeting-colombian-presidents/story?id=46938452


----------



## poochee

*Trump is heading for a do-nothing presidency*
Josh Barro
Apr. 18, 2017, 10:35 AM

"George W. Bush, but racist." That's what Jonathan Chait of New York magazine says President Donald Trump is turning into as he abandons some of his more idiosyncratic campaign positions and starts listening to Republican Party regulars who favor foreign wars and tax cuts for the rich.

This comparison is unfair - to George W. Bush, who accomplished things, whether you liked those things or not.

I agree with Chait that Trump is failing to promote and advance a policy agenda of his own. But the likely result is that he will do very little, not that he will achieve what a conventional Republican president would achieve if given a Republican Congress to work with.

I think Trump is so inept that he will be unable to get a major tax cut out of a Republican Congress. And I certainly hope I am right that he is too lazy to start a ground war.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-do-nothing-presidency-2017-4?ex_cid=trumpbeat


----------



## poochee

*CNN: Russia Tried To Infiltrate Trump Camp Through Advisers Like Carter Page*
ByAllegra KirklandPublishedApril 21, 2017, 5:33 PM EDT

U.S. intelligence officials obtained evidence that Russian operatives tried to infiltrate the Trump campaign through its sprawling network of advisers, CNN reported Friday.

Carter Page, who served as an adviser on Russia and energy policy until he departed over allegations that he met with Kremlin-allied figures during a July 2016 visit to Moscow, is one of those advisers, according to the report.

Page told CNN that he never collected intelligence or worked on behalf of the Russian government.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewi...nfiltrate-trump-campaign-advisers-carter-page


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump just pulled a major flip-flop on his first 100 days in office*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 9:25 AM ET, Fri April 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)On the 92nd day of his presidency, Donald Trump has decided the idea of his first 100 days in office as a critical yard marker is bunk.

Just before 7 am eastern time, Trump tweeted this:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/politics/trump-100-days/index.html


----------



## poochee

*March for Science: Protesters gather worldwide to support 'evidence'*
By Laura Smith-Spark and Jason Hanna, CNN
Updated 2:41 PM ET, Sat April 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Organizers say more than 600 marches taking place worldwide
The protests are billed as being political but nonpartisan
(CNN)Crowds massed in the US capital and around the world Saturday to support science and evidence-based research -- a protest partly fueled by opposition to President Donald Trump's threats of budget cuts to agencies funding scientists' work.

At the main March for Science, demonstrators gathered at Washington's National Mall to hear speakers laud science as the force moving humanity forward, and rail against policymakers they say are ignoring fact and research in areas including climate change.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/22/health/global-march-for-science/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 22, 2:44 PM EDT
*Trump awards Purple Heart at Walter Reed military hospital*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday awarded a Purple Heart to an Army sergeant recently wounded in Afghanistan, the first of many Trump likely will award during his service as commander in chief of the U.S. military.

"When I heard about this and I wanted to do it myself," Trump said during a brief ceremony at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington. The medal went to Sgt. 1st Class Alvaro Barrientos, who was wounded March 17 in Afghanistan during America's longest war. The White House did not release Barrientos' hometown.

It was Trump's first visit as president to the military hospital. His wife, first lady Melania Trump, joined him.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-22-13-58-45


----------



## poochee

Apr 22, 2:00 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: When Trump takes credit and assigns blame*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM DRINKARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of the most consistent features of President Donald Trump's public statements is his drive to take credit and assign blame. It's a tendency that consistently lands him in trouble with history, either recent or long ago, and has been on display as he approaches his 100th day in office.

Over the past week, the president claimed unprecedented achievement as he tried to shape perceptions of his 100-day legacy. He then pooh-poohed that benchmark as time ran short for him to get big things done. He disparaged the record of his predecessor, specifically on fighting the violent MS-13 gang, and Trump addressed his abandonment of a central campaign promise on China by denying he'd changed his mind.

A look at some of his statements:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-22-14-00-59


----------



## poochee

Apr 23 2017, 9:25 am ET
*Public Gives Trump Low Marks for First 100 Days: NBC News/WSJ Poll*
by Mark Murray

*VIDEO/CHARTS*

Nearly two-thirds of Americans give President Donald Trump poor or middling marks for his first 100 days in office, including a plurality who say he's off to a "poor start," according to results from a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...ump-low-marks-first-100-days-nbc-news-n749756


----------



## poochee

Apr 22, 8:43 PM EDT
*Trump sons take helm of company, eye domestic expansion*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Apprentices no more, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are now at the helm of the Trump Organization and adjusting to the reality presented by their father's presidency. They're eyeing ways to use the new lease on the family fame by expanding the brand into parts of the United States that embrace him.

Some business has slowed as a result of the pledge to stall international dealmaking while Trump is president. But a U.S. push is planned, and two new hotel chains are being considered - a four-star brand
and a less luxurious line - possibly in states where Trump triumphed over Democrat Hillary Clinton last November.

"I think it makes it naturally easier if you're going into a place that's not adversarial to you," Donald Trump Jr. said in a recent interview.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-22-20-43-54


----------



## poochee

*Climate scientists, officials dismayed over Trump's stance*
By Mallika Kallingal, CNN
Updated 8:19 AM ET, Sat April 22, 2017

*VIDEOS*
_
CNN)_On this day last year, the Paris Agreement, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing global warming, was opened for signatures, eventually going into effect in November.

This week, President Donald Trump was to meet with senior administration officials to discuss the deal -- and whether the United States should withdraw from it.

The meeting was postponed indefinitely, and with key Trump advisers divided over the issue, it is still uncertain what Trump will finally do about the accord. But advocates of greater federal regulations to address climate change are already expressing dismay about the administration's stance.

It's no secret that Trump has called climate change a "hoax" in the past. Last month, he signed an executive order rolling back Obama-era climate regulations, which will initiate a review of the Clean Power Plan, an effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions that Obama started.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/22/politics/earth-day-paris-accord/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 24 2017, 12:14 pm ET
*Obama Returns to Public Stage for First Time in University of Chicago Forum*
by Kelly O'Donnell

*VIDEO*

Barack Obama is returning to the public stage on Monday for the first time since leaving office.

The 44th president is appearing in a forum at the University of Chicago with a group of politically diverse students from high school age to graduate school level.

Obama, who is leading the forum, was not expected to criticize President Donald Trump, advisers said, but would advocate for his own administration's policies, like the Affordable Care Act.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/bar...ty-chicago-forum-n749931?cid=eml_pol_20170424


----------



## poochee

*Humor*

*Obama's Barrage of Complete Sentences Seen as Brutal Attack on Trump*
*By Andy Borowitz*
01:39 P.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...lete-sentences-seen-as-brutal-attack-on-trump


----------



## poochee

*These are the 100-day accomplishments Trump is touting*
By Jim Acosta, CNN
Updated 12:59 PM ET, Mon April 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

In a memo obtained first by CNN, the White House highlights job creation efforts, regulation cuts and national security measures, among others.

But not all the initiatives have been unqualified success -- Trump's travel ban, which is listed, is currently stalled in the court system.

Further, the bulk of Trump's accomplishments have been made through executive action or memorandum, something Republicans decried Obama for doing during his second term. There are 37 points in this list and 23 (62%) were accomplished by executive order or memorandum.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/24/politics/donald-trump-white-house-100-day-accomplishments/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 24 2017, 7:50 am ET 
*Congress Aims to Avoid Shutdown as Trump Presses for 100-Day Wins*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEOS*

Congress returns from a two-week break facing a deadline to keep the government operating while President Donald Trump presses harder for some legislative accomplishments as his first 100 days in office wind to a close.

The week is shaping up to be a collision of needs between the two, and time is quickly running out on both.

Passing funding to avoid a government shutdown appeared to be an easy task just weeks ago, but new stumbling blocks have arisen in recent days as Trump has added new demands on items like the border wall and increased military spending.

Government funding ends Friday, allowing only three full days of legislative activity after the House returns late Tuesday night, and the last-minute controversial requests from the administration are threatening to make a deal harder to reach.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...ses-100-day-wins-n749696?cid=eml_pol_20170424


----------



## poochee

Apr 25, 1:41 PM EDT
*Trump touts executive orders he once lambasted*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump will mark the end of his first 100 days in office with a flurry of executive orders, looking to fulfill campaign promises and rack up victories quickly by turning to a presidential tool he once derided.

But Trump's frequent use of the executive order points to his failure to move major legislation through a Congress controlled by his own party. Few of the orders themselves appear to deliver the sweeping changes the president has promised.

White House aides said that Trump will have signed 32 executive orders by Friday, the most of any president in their first 100 days since World War II. That's a far cry from Trump's heated campaign rhetoric, in which he railed against President Barack Obama's use of executive action late in his tenure when he faced a Republican Congress. Trump argued that he, the consummate deal maker, wouldn't need to rely on the tool.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-25-13-41-01​


----------



## poochee

Apr 25 2017, 7:29 am ET
*The Top Trump Controversies of The First 100 Days*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Surprise allegations. Early morning tweet storms. Harsh attacks. Bad jokes.

President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office have been marked by almost daily controversies, questions and outrage. You can describe the start to Trump's presidency in many different ways - but boring isn't one of them.

*Here's a look at some of the biggest controversies of Trump's first days in office.*

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...s-first-100-days-n746736?cid=eml_pol_20170425


----------



## poochee

*Judge blocks part of Trump's sanctuary cities executive order*
By Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 5:59 PM ET, Tue April 25, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The judge sided with Santa Clara County, San Francisco and other jurisdictions
The ruling applied nationwide
Washington (CNN)A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a threat to take away funds from sanctuary cities -- the latest blow from the federal judiciary to President Donald Trump's immigration agenda.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/25/politics/sanctuary-cities-injunction/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

Apr 25, 7:29 PM EDT
*Lawmakers suggest former Trump aide Flynn broke US law*
By CHAD DAY and STEPHEN BRAUN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, appeared to violate federal law when he failed to seek permission or inform the U.S. government about accepting tens of thousands of dollars from Russian organizations after a trip there in 2015, leaders of a House oversight committee said Tuesday.

The congressmen also raised new questions about fees Flynn received as part of $530,000 in consulting work his company performed for a businessman tied to Turkey's government.

The bipartisan accusations that Flynn may have broken the law come as his foreign contacts are being examined by other congressional committees as part of investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential ties between Trump associates and the Kremlin. Congress returned earlier this week from its spring recess, and Tuesday's announcements reflected renewed interest on Capitol Hill.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-25-19-29-41


----------



## poochee

MTP Daily 4/25/17
*Trump's Mostly Empty Government*
Tonight Chuck is obsessed with this question: what if you were elected to run a government and no one showed up?

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/trump-s-mostly-empty-government-929430595926


----------



## poochee

*Putin building massive Arctic military base*
Situation Room

*VIDEO*

CNN's Brian Todd reports on a sprawling, futuristic Russian base in the Arctic, and Vladimir Putin's intentions for the region. Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/04/21/putin-arctic-mega-military-base-todd-tsr-dnt.cnn


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Tax Plan Looks Like a Plutocrat's Dream*
By John Cassidy
April 25, 2017

According to news accounts, the tax plan that the Trump Administration will release on Wednesday won't be a comprehensive proposal but, rather, a statement of general principles-a glorified wish list. It's well known in Washington that the staffers working for Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, and Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, are a good ways away from drafting a detailed proposal, and that the only reason the Administration is making an announcement this week is that the President demanded one in advance of Saturday, which marks his hundredth day in office.

It's tempting to dismiss the whole thing as a publicity stunt, but that would be a mistake. Although the nuts and bolts of Trump's tax plan remain unclear or unformed, leaks and public statements from *Administration officials this week have confirmed three key things about what he intends to do:
*
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-...pJobID=1142093226&spReportId=MTE0MjA5MzIyNgS2


----------



## poochee

By Jacqueline Alemany CBS News April 26, 2017, 2:24 PM
*Trump administration considering removing U.S. from NAFTA*

Amid a bubbling trade dispute over softwood lumber and dairy with Canada, the Trump administration is now considering an Executive Order on withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement, two White House officials confirmed to CBS News.

This executive order is one of several ideas being considered by President Donald Trump as the administration readies to move forward on Mr. Trump's campaign trail pledge to renegotiate or withdraw from the three-nation trade deal, a White House official says.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-considering-removing-u-s-from-nafta/


----------



## poochee

*Trump order could roll back public lands protections from 3 presidents*
By Dan Merica and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 12:51 PM ET, Wed April 26, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump is all about bucking precedent, and he's doing it again when it comes to public lands.

In a move that could allow him to roll back the protection of lands designated by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that reviews enforcement of the law that gives him power to designate lands as national monuments.

The order, which Trump will sign at the Interior Department, could lead to the reshaping of 24 national monuments, including Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Basin and Range National Monument, as well as a host of Pacific Ocean monuments, including the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/25/politics/donald-trump-federal-lands-antiquities/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 26 2017, 6:49 pm ET
*Senators Gather at White House For 'Sobering' North Korea Briefing*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEOS*

The White House played host Wednesday to an all-senators briefing focused on the North Korea threat - a meeting which, though serious in tone, yielded few new specifics.

White House officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, briefed the senators.

President Donald Trump also made a brief stop at the meeting, a White House official told NBC News, staying for "just a few minutes" at the top of the gathering.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...e-house-sobering-north-korea-briefing-n751556


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump has spent 97 days in constant motion. But what has he actually done?*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 12:33 PM ET, Wed April 26, 2017

*VIDEOS*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump seems to have spent his first 97 days in near-constant motion.

If he's not tweeting about something or hosting members of Congress at the White House, he's huddled with a foreign leader at Mar-a-Lago or putting his John Hancock on some executive action or order.
Or boasting about how much he's gotten done. "No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days," Trump said earlier this month.

The truth is more nuanced and less favorable to Trump. Yes, Trump has been moving almost non-stop for his first 97 days as president. But, movement is not accomplishment. And, any analysis of Trump's first 97 days makes clear there has been much more of the former and much less of the latter.

Consider this: The single, large-scale accomplishment of the Trump administration to date is the nomination and confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/26/politics/donald-trump-100-days/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 27 2017, 1:28 pm ET
*Efforts to Prevent Government Shutdown Hit a Snag Over Health Care Plans*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

The renewed momentum for a GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare is now threatening to complicate efforts to avoid a government shutdown.

Democrats said Thursday they would oppose even a one-week extension to keep the government operating past Friday if Republicans bring up a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act this week.

While Republican leaders insist they will not bring health care to the floor for a vote until they are confident they have enough support to pass it, a new compromise amendment to the once-shelved legislation has given it enough of a push to raise the prospect of a vote by the end of the week.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...tdown-hit-snag-over-health-care-plans-n751936


----------



## poochee

Apr 27, 2:40 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Be wary of White House claims about tax plan*
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER and STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Getting to the bottom of President Donald Trump's tax plan is difficult because it exists so far as bullet points on a single page, with no detail. Still, there are reasons to be wary about some of the claims coming out of the White House about it.

CLAIM: TAX CUT IS BIGGEST EVER

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-27-14-40-22


----------



## poochee

*White House Touts 'Historic' 28 Laws Signed By Trump, But What Are They?*
_White House Touts 'Historic' 28 Laws Signed By Trump, But What Are They?_
April 27, 20176:00 AM ET
Tamara Keith 

Even though President Trump calls the 100-days measure "ridiculous," the White House is still touting what one press release called the president's "historic accomplishments" - including 28 laws he has signed since taking office.

But when it comes to legislation, political scientists say it is better to measure significance than to simply add up the number of bills. It is better, they argue, to ask whether a law changes the status quo or introduces a new policy idea.

By that measure, there is not as much to show legislation-wise for Trump's first 100 days.

Of the 28 new laws signed by Trump, two name Veterans Affairs clinics in honor of people, one adds National Vietnam War Veterans Day to the list of days people and businesses are encouraged to fly American flags, five are related to personnel matters (including the waiver allowing James Mattis to become secretary of defense), and one extends an Obama-era policy allowing veterans in some circumstances to get health care outside of the VA system.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/27/52575...ric-28-laws-signed-by-trump-but-what-are-they


----------



## poochee

*Trump to create new whistleblower protection office at Veterans Affairs*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 5:09 PM ET, Thu April 27, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump, as part of his dash to rack up wins before the end of his first 100 days, signed an executive order Thursday that creates a new office devoted to protecting whistleblowers at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Before signing the order at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Trump said the new office will help provide veterans with the "health care they need and the health care they deserve."

"We are not going to let them down," Trump said, arguing that the order "makes it clear that we will never tolerate substandard care for our great veterans" and ensure that those who report problems at the veterans affairs are protected.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/27/politics/trump-veterans-affairs-whistleblower/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 27 2017, 3:08 pm ET
*Pentagon Investigating Michael Flynn for Foreign Payments*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Documents released Thursday reveal former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was specifically warned in 2014 not to take money from foreign governments without advance permission and is now under investigation by the Pentagon for possibly violating the law, lawmakers said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the highest ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, released a Defense Intelligence Agency letter sent to the former Army lieutenant general as he entered retirement which specifically says Flynn cannot accept fees and gifts from foreign governments "unless congressional consent is first obtained."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...ormer-nsa-head-flynn-foreign-payments-n751876


----------



## poochee

Thu Apr 27, 2017 | 11:27pm EDT
*Exclusive: Trump says 'major, major' conflict with North Korea possible, but seeks diplomacy*
By Stephen J. Adler, Steve Holland and Jeff Mason | WASHINGTON

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday a major conflict with North Korea is possible in the standoff over its nuclear and missile programs, but he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute.

"There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely," Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview ahead of his 100th day in office on Saturday.

Nonetheless, Trump said he wanted to peacefully resolve a crisis that has bedeviled multiple U.S. presidents, a path that he and his administration are emphasizing by preparing a variety of new economic sanctions while not taking the military option off the table.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-exclusive-idUSKBN17U04E


----------



## poochee

*With Billions At Stake, Trump Agrees To *
April 27, 20175:38 PM ET 
 Scott Horsley 

President Trump still calls the North American Free Trade Agreement "a horrible deal" for the United States. But in opting to renegotiate - rather than cancel - the agreement, Trump acknowledged that backing out of NAFTA would be "a pretty big shock to the system."

After more than two decades, NAFTA is tightly woven into the economies of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Trade among the three countries is much more robust and supply chains more tightly integrated than was the case in 1994 when NAFTA went into effect.

Last year, Canada and Mexico were the United States' second- and third-largest trading partners, respectively. With hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, it's little wonder those countries' leaders pressed Trump not to abandon the trade agreement.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/27/525920241/with-billions-at-stake-trump-agrees-to-mend-nafta-not-end-it


----------



## poochee

*Trump fails to force health care vote in first 100 days*
By Phil Mattingly, Deirdre Walsh, Ted Barrett and Lauren Fox, CNN
Updated 11:08 PM ET, Thu April 27, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)House GOP leaders, despite a furious push Thursday, were unable to wrangle the votes necessary to move forward on their latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The development short-circuits, yet again, the House effort to repeal the cornerstone domestic achievement of President Barack Obama.

It guarantees President Donald Trump will be without a cornerstone legislative achievement on his 100th day in office -- a symbolic moment that the White House has focused on intently in recent days as negotiations on a revised health care proposal accelerated.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/25/politics/shutdown-border-wall-obamacare-congress/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 28 2017, 12:34 pm ET
*House and Senate Vote to Keep Government Open One More Week*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

The House of Representatives passed a short-term extension Friday morning to keep the government operating for another week, one step in averting a shutdown as negotiators continue to work on an agreement to extend funding through the remainder of the year.

The Senate also voted to pass the short-term spending bill, known as a continuing resolution, shortly after the House passed it. The president has until midnight tonight to sign the extension. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told NBC News that he dropped his objection to the extension even though there wasn't an agreement yet on the larger spending bill.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-votes-keep-government-open-one-more-week-n752436


----------



## poochee

Apr 28, 2:18 PM EDT
*Trump signs order aimed at opening Arctic drilling*
By MATTHEW DALY and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Working to dismantle his predecessor's environmental legacy, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday aimed at expanding oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

With one day left to rack up accomplishments before he reaches his 100th day in office, Trump signed an order reversing some of former President Barack Obama's restrictions and instructing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review a plan that dictates which federal locations are open to offshore drilling.

It's part of Trump's promise to unleash the nation's energy reserves in an effort to reduce oil imports and spur jobs, regardless of fierce opposition from environmental activists who say offshore drilling harms whales, walruses and other wildlife and exacerbates global warming.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-28-12-37-03


----------



## poochee

*Trump: The President Who Is Still A Businessman* 
April 28, 201712:00 PM ET 
 Alina Selyukh

*VIDEO*

President Trump is in a peculiar position: He runs the country, advised by his daughter and son-in-law - while also profiting from his own worldwide Trump Organization, run by his sons.

This arrangement has spurred a number of ethics and conflicts-of-interest concerns, numerous lawsuits and a consistent stream of headlines. Though President Trump has stepped down from _managing_ his 500+ businesses and put them in a trust, he continues to own them. The top government ethics official has decried Trump's arrangement as insufficient.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/28/525875211/trump-the-president-who-hasn-t-stopped-being-a-businessman


----------



## poochee

Apr 27 2017, 3:46 pm ET 
*The View From Abroad: Trump's 100 Days*
by Richard Engel

*VIDEO*

LONDON - The reviews from around the world of President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office are in, and they're not good.

"Quite a few people are saying well, 'We're still here,'" joked Alastair Stewart, a top anchor at Britain's ITV News and an observer of global affairs for more than 40 years. But he was only half-joking. "There isn't all-out nuclear conflict, although it's openly talked about. I find that quite extraordinary," he said.

Interviews conducted by NBC NEWS in more a half-dozen countries revealed a similar feeling that the world has become more dangerous under Trump and that a major crisis, or worse, could be looming.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...100-days/view-abroad-trump-s-100-days-n751931


----------



## poochee

Apr 28 2017, 7:38 am ET
*Donald Trump Misses His Old Job, Admits: 'I Thought It Would Be Easier'*
by Alastair Jamieson and Reuters

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump misses his former life as a business tycoon and struggles with the workload and lack of "privacy" that comes with being President of the United States, according to an interview coinciding with his first 100 days in office.

"I loved my previous life. I had so many things going … this is more work than in my previous life," he told Reuters. "I thought it would be easier."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...its-i-thought-it-n752341?cid=eml_pol_20170428


----------



## poochee

Apr 28 2017, 7:24 pm ET
*George H.W. Bush Discharged From Hospital After Pneumonia Treatment*
by Daniel Arkin

Former President George H.W. Bush was discharged Friday from a Houston hospital where he had been treated for pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, a family spokesman said.

Bush, 92, was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital on April 14 for a persistent cough that was later diagnosed as a "mild case of pneumonia," the spokesman, Jim McGrath, has said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...umonia-treatment-n752766?cid=eml_nnn_20170428


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> Apr 28 2017, 7:38 am ET
> *Donald Trump Misses His Old Job, Admits: 'I Thought It Would Be Easier'*
> by Alastair Jamieson and Reuters
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> Donald Trump misses his former life as a business tycoon and struggles with the workload and lack of "privacy" that comes with being President of the United States, according to an interview coinciding with his first 100 days in office.
> 
> "I loved my previous life. I had so many things going … this is more work than in my previous life," he told Reuters. "I thought it would be easier."
> 
> http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pr...its-i-thought-it-n752341?cid=eml_pol_20170428


We can only hope he pulls a half term and quits ala Palin!! LOL People got bent all out of shape when an old Barbie said "Math is hard!!", so where's the outrage now. LOL


----------



## poochee

Apr 29, 3:39 PM EDT
*Marchers use Trump's 100th day to protest climate policies*
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) -- Thousands of people across the U.S. marched Saturday on President Donald Trump's 100th day in office to demand action on climate change.

At the marquee event, the Peoples Climate March in Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of demonstrators made their way down Pennsylvania Avenue in sweltering heat on their way to encircle the White House.

Organizers said about 300 sister marches or rallies were being held around the country, including in Seattle, Boston and San Francisco. In Chicago, marchers headed from the city's federal plaza to Trump Tower.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-29-14-33-40


----------



## poochee

By Kathryn Watson CBS News April 28, 2017, 6:00 AM
*Trump's first 100 days: High in executive orders, low in approval ratings*
Last Updated Apr 29, 2017 9:37 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump has signed more laws and executive orders than recent presidents in his first 100 days, but he hasn't been remarkably more - or shockingly less - successful than most past presidents, according to experts in presidential history.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-r...issued-low-in-approvals-nearing-100-day-mark/


----------



## poochee

*Here's why Donald Trump is obsessed with the 2016 electoral map*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 5:37 PM ET, Sat April 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

Why the obsession?

To understand that, you have to go back decades to when Trump was a young man. His father, Fred, was a major builder in first Queens and then Brooklyn. But never Manhattan. Fred Trump wasn't a big wheel in the big borough. He was on the outside looking in.

When his son, Donald, took over the real estate business, he planted his flag right in the middle of Manhattan -- on glitzy 5th Avenue no less. But, even then, the old money of New York City didn't accept the brash Trump into their clubs. He was on the outside looking in.

Trump eventually built his own clubs and named them after himself. Then he started to get interested in politics.

He came to Washington for the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner and sat through an evening of embarrassment as President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers mocked his political ambition -- and his focus on Obama's birth certificate -- relentlessly. He was on the outside looking in.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/29/politics/donald-trump-electoral-map/index.html


----------



## poochee

Apr 29, 11:23 PM EDT
*Absent glitter and Trump, journalists honor press freedom*
By JACK GILLUM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Prominent Washington journalists, if not Hollywood stars, celebrated the First Amendment during the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, an event that lacked the glitter of past years because of the absence of the president of the United States.

With President Donald Trump sending his regrets, the attention was no longer focused on an in-person roasting of the commander in chief and his humorous remarks about politics and the press. The red carpet that once featured Oscar winners, TV stars and a few major-league athletes barely turned heads.

Instead, speakers at the dinner promoted press freedom and responsibility and challenged Trump's accusations of dishonest reporting.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-29-23-23-03


----------



## poochee

*Help Wanted: The Trump Administration (Still) Has Some Openings To Fill*
Help Wanted: The Trump Administration (Still) Has Some Openings To Fill
3:27

President Trump starts the second hundred days of his administration Sunday with a perhaps unwelcome benchmark: fewer appointees in place than any of his recent predecessors.

Only a fraction of the hundreds of key jobs the Trump administration needs to fill have been nominated and confirmed by the Senate.

The nonpartisan Partnership For Public Service lists 556 "key" positions, including Cabinet secretaries, undersecretaries and ambassadors, and of those positions, just 25 have been confirmed by the Senate.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/29/52602...dministration-still-has-some-openings-to-fill


----------



## poochee

*Trump rallies his base on his 100th day*
By *Caroline Kenny**,* CNN
Updated 12:27 PM ET, Sun April 30, 2017

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_President Donald Trump hit hard at the news media at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania to tout the accomplishments of his first 100 days, striking a tone both divisive and determined as he played to the populist sentiments of a cheering crowd.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trump held that divisive tone throughout the speech, prompting former presidential adviser and senior CNN political analyst David Gergen to call the remarks "deeply disturbing" in a special prime-time edition of "CNN Newsroom" with John Berman and Poppy Harlow.

"This was the most divisive speech I have ever heard from a sitting American president," Gergen said. "Others may disagree about that. He played to his base and he treated his other listeners, the rest of the people who have been disturbed about him or opposed him, he treated them basically as, 'I don't give a damn what you think because you're frankly like the enemy.' I thought it was a deeply disturbing speech."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/29/politics/donald-trump-100-days-rally/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 1 2017, 7:21 am ET
*Deal on Government Funding Reached, Averting Shutdown*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell, Kasie Hunt and Frank Thorp V

*VIDEO*

A deal has been reached on a $1 trillion-plus bill to fund the government for the final five months of this fiscal year, an agreement that is likely to avert a government shutdown.

Congressional negotiators had been working through the weekend to hash out the last remaining complications in a bill to fund the government before the agreement was announced Sunday night.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...verting-shutdown-n753086?cid=eml_pol_20170501


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump just gave two incredibly bizarre (and fact-free) interviews*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 12:28 PM ET, Mon May 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_To commemorate his 100th day in office -- a "ridiculous" marker created by the "fake news" media! -- President Donald Trump gave a series of long interviews to a variety of news outlets. And, holy cow did he talk -- and talk.

Let's start with Trump's interview with "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson, the full text of which is making its way around the Internet this morning.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/politics/donald-trump-andrew-jackson-wiretapping/index.html


----------



## poochee

*First on CNN: Trump administration ending Michelle Obama's girls education program*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 2:50 PM ET, Mon May 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The "Let Girls Learn" program was launched by Michelle Obama
The Trump administration is discontinuing it
News of the program's end came the same day President Donald Trump's agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, was visiting an elementary school in suburban Virginia to announce changes to another initiative spotlighted by the former first lady, healthy school lunches.

Perdue was set to unveil a rule change "providing regulatory flexibility for the National School Lunch Program" during a visit to Catoctin Elementary School in Leesburg. Like "Let Girls Learn," improving the nutritional quality of school meals was a major focus of Obama's during her tenure as first lady.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/politics/trump-michelle-obama-girls-education/index.html
Washington (CNN)The Trump administration is


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Next 100 Days Won't Be Any Easier Than His First*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

The good news for President Trump is that his rocky first 100 days in office won't make or break his presidency, as we wrote last month. The bad news is that the next 100 to 200 days won't get any easier for him, especially with a job-approval rating in the low 40s. *Here are the issues where Trump can rack up some important victories - or some big defeats:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-t-be-any-easier-n753181?cid=eml_pol_20170501


----------



## poochee

*Despite memo, White House says Michelle Obama program unchanged*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 9:59 PM ET, Mon May 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_Hours after CNN reported on an internal document advising administration employees that former first lady Michelle Obama's signature education initiative would not be maintained, the White House said the program had not changed.

"There have been no changes to the program," said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, referring to the "Let Girls Learn" initiative, which Obama launched in 2015.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/politics/trump-michelle-obama-let-girls-learn/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 1, 7:17 PM EDT
*Pushing for victories, Trump shows disconnect with House GOP*
By KEN THOMAS and ERICA WERNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump could be on the verge of marking two significant legislative accomplishments at the start of his presidency. Yet he's displayed a curious disconnect with Republicans on Capitol Hill, raising questions about how deeply he is delving into the specifics of legislative sausage-making.

In interviews and Tweets, Trump has been notably off-topic and off-message about the state of affairs in Congress.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-01-19-17-59


----------



## ekim68

New Verizon Video Blatantly Lies About What's Happening To Net Neutrality



> Lies and hyperbole are certainly no strangers to either side of the net neutrality debate, but as the FCC moves to kill net neutrality -- net neutrality opponents have taken things to an _entirely new level_. FCC boss Ajit Pai's speech last week unveiling the move was utterly packed with claims that had already been painstakingly debunked over the last decade (read: lies), from the absurd claim that gutting consumer protections would somehow _help_ consumers in the Comcast era, to the similarly untrue claim that net neutrality killed broadband investment.


----------



## poochee

*Clinton: 'If the election had been on October 27, I would be your president'*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 2:31 PM ET, Tue May 2, 2017

*VIDEO
*
*Story highlights*

Clinton has two events in New York Tuesday
One is a Planned Parenthood dinner
New York (CNN)Hillary Clinton said Tuesday she takes personal responsibility for her 2016 loss, but also pointed to the timing of a letter from FBI Director James Comey and Russian interference as factors.

"If the election had been on October 27, I would be your president," she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour at a Women for Women event in New York.

"It wasn't a perfect campaign, there is no such thing, but I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me and got scared off," she said. "The evidence for that intervening event is, I think, compelling, persuasive, and so we overcame a lot in the campaign."

She also agreed that misogyny played a role in her loss.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/02/politics/hillary-clinton-planned-parenthood-women-for-women/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 2 2017, 12:18 pm ET
*Trump: 'Good Shutdown' Needed to Fix Congress Mess*
by Andrew Rafferty and Benjy Sarlin

The president's tweets come ahead of a key vote on a bipartisan funding deal to avert a government shutdown. Both parties claimed victory for the bill that, if approved, would keep the government open through September 30. But Democrats portrayed themselves as having the upper hand in the negotiations by securing funding for Planned Parenthood and omitting any money for a wall along the southern border of the United States.

House Republicans meeting to discuss the way forward on health care were surprised by the White House's pivot to a shutdown threat over funding priorities and Senate procedure.

"The president said what?" Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, told reporters after being read portions of his tweets. "You'll have to talk to the president about that. I don't work in the White House and I don't sit in the Senate."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-good-shutdown-needed-fix-congress-mess-n753836


----------



## poochee

*6 Strongmen Trump Has Praised - And The Conflicts It Presents* 
May 2, 201711:43 AM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 

The United States and Western allies have long turned a blind eye to totalitarian regimes guilty of a long list of human-rights violations. Often, it was in the name of stability and at the expense of people suffering in those countries. But American leaders have mostly been mindful to choose their words carefully to maintain some semblance of a moral higher ground. What Trump is doing is different - past American leaders would almost never express admiration for bad actors. Trump, in many cases, has been doing exactly that.

Duterte is hardly the only autocrat Trump has had kind words for. From Saddam Hussein's efficient killing of terrorists to the "smart cookie" in North Korea, Trump has praised strongmen around the world when others wouldn't. The following list reads like a who's who of totalitarian leaders with dicey human-rights records. And in all of the countries, the American president and real-estate magnate has a raft of potential conflicts of interest, too:

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/02/526520042/6-strongmen-trumps-praised-and-the-conflicts-it-presents


----------



## poochee

May 2 2017, 5:26 pm ET
*Trump and Putin Speak by Phone, Discuss Potential Personal Meeting*
by Ali Vitali

Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone Tuesday, discussing Syria, terrorism and North Korea - as well as the possibility of a personal meeting this summer.

The leaders - who have previously been at odds over the best handling of Syria - "agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence", according to a White House readout of the call.

The Syria discussion included safe zones, something Trump has advocated for both as a candidate and as president, as well as future cease-fire talks to happen on May 3rd and 4th in Astana, Kazakhstan.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...ne-discuss-potential-personal-meeting-n753976


----------



## poochee

May 3, 1:20 PM EDT
*The Latest: Abbas talks with Trump about peace with Israel*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on President Donald Trump's meeting Wednesday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (all times EDT):

1:15 p.m.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS') says in a meeting with President Donald Trump that he's hopeful for bringing about peace with Israel "based on the vision of two states," based on the borders of 1967.

Abbas is calling for a peace that is "just and comprehensive" and tells Trump that he believes "we are coming into a new opportunity, a new horizon" that could lead to peace with Israel.

The Palestinian leader says it is time for Israel to end its occupation of its land. He's crediting Trump for his wisdom and says he believes they can be "true partners ... to bring about a historic peace treaty."

Israel has rejected the 1967 lines as a possible border, saying it would impose security risks.

-----

12:50 p.m.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-03-13-20-56


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Messaging Keeps Friends Confused And Enemies More So * 
May 3, 20171:30 PM ET 
 Ron Elving 

President Trump has a flair - perhaps a genius - for counter-programming, which can be described as the art of upstaging your rivals just when they think they're about to have their spotlight moment.

He did it countless times as a candidate, eclipsing all the other Republican contenders and the Democrats as well. He demonstrated his prowess again on the 100th day of his presidency, rallying a blue-collar crowd in Pennsylvania and shunning the annual black-tie White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

On the basis of visuals alone, Trump was the man of the people at war with the elite of the capital. It was the split-screen reality show _par excellence_.

But the president has since spent three days and nights in a frenzy of mixed messaging that has counter-programmed not only his rivals but his own administration, his own party and even himself. The result is a new level of confusion and disarray at a moment when many had expected the White House team to find its groove and go forward.

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526723057/trumps-messaging-keeps-friends-confused-and-enemies-more-so


----------



## poochee

May 3 2017, 3:26 pm ET
*Comey: 'Mildly Nauseous' FBI's Clinton Probe Could Have Impacted Election*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that it makes him "mildly nauseous" to think his decision to reopen the bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails just days before the election could have impacted voters, but added he would make the same choice again.

In his most detailed explanation and strongest defense of his actions to date, Comey said it was a choice between "really bad and catastrophic" to inform lawmakers about the discovery of additional Clinton emails found on the computer of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, the husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Democrats pressed Comey on why he chose to make the renewed investigation public, despite the FBI's general policy not to comment on ongoing investigations.

"Why didn't you just do the investigation as you would normally, with no public announcement?" Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked.

Comey said he had the choice to either "speak" or "conceal."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...open-investigation-was-right-nauseous-n754251


----------



## poochee

May 3, 9:05 PM EDT
*House to vote on health care bill Thursday*
By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House will vote Thursday on GOP legislation to repeal and replace Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, as Republicans finally aim to deliver on seven years of campaign promises that helped them gain control of Congress and the White House.

But the move announced late Wednesday by GOP leaders also carries extreme political risk, as House Republicans prepare to endorse a bill that boots millions off the insurance rolls and may not even survive the Senate.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-03-21-05-58


----------



## poochee

May 3, 6:17 PM EDT
*House passes $1.1T government spending bill, sends to Senate*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House easily passed a $1.1 trillion governmentwide spending bill on Wednesday, awarding wins to both Democrats and Republicans while putting off until later this year fights over President Donald Trump's promised border wall with Mexico and massive military buildup.

The 309-118 vote sends the bill to the Senate in time for them to act to avert a government shutdown at midnight Friday. The White House has said Trump would sign the measure, which is the first major legislation to pass in Trump's short, turbulent presidency.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-03-18-17-35


----------



## poochee

*House Republicans pass bill to replace and repeal Obamacare*
By MJ Lee, CNN National Politics Reporter
Updated 5:53 PM ET, Thu May 4, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)In a major victory for President Donald Trump, the House has voted to dismantle the pillars of the Affordable Care Act and make sweeping changes to the nation's health care system.

The bill now heads to the Senate where it faces daunting challenges because of the same ideological splits between conservative and moderate Republicans that nearly killed it in the House.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/04/politics/health-care-vote/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 4, 5:48 PM EDT
*Trump limits IRS action over church political activity*
By CATHERINE LUCEY and RACHEL ZOLL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Declaring he was giving churches their "voices back," President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at easing an IRS rule limiting political activity for religious organizations - a move that fell far short of a more sweeping order some supporters had expected.

As he marked the National Day of Prayer at the White House on Thursday, Trump signed the order on religious freedom, which directs the Treasury Department to not take "adverse action" over churches or religious organizations for political speech. The rule has rarely been enforced. Still, opponents said the restrictions have a chilling effect on free speech.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-04-17-48-51


----------



## poochee

May 4 2017, 2:24 pm ET
*Trump to Visit Israel, Saudi Arabia and Vatican in First Foreign Trip*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump's first foreign trip since entering office will take him to Israel, the Vatican and Saudi Arabia later this month, a senior White House official confirmed to NBC News.

Trump will end his trip in Brussels with a visit to NATO on May 25, followed by a meeting at the G7 summit in Sicily.

In remarks in the Rose Garden on Thursday, Trump said the trip "will begin to construct a new foundation of cooperation and support with our Muslim allies to combat extremism, terrorism and violence and to embrace a more just and hopeful future for young Muslims in their countries."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...udi-arabia-vatican-first-foreign-trip-n754766


----------



## poochee

*Trump has a dangerous disability*
By George F. Will By George F. Will Opinion writer
Opinions
May 3 at 7:36 PM

*VIDEO*

It is urgent for Americans to think and speak clearly about President Trump's inability to do either. This seems to be not a mere disinclination but a disability. It is not merely the result of intellectual sloth but of an untrained mind bereft of information and married to stratospheric self-confidence.

In February, acknowledging Black History Month, Trump said that "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice." Because Trump is syntactically challenged, it was possible and tempting to see this not as a historical howler about a man who died 122 years ago, but as just another of Trump's verbal fender benders, this one involving verb tenses.

Now, however, he has instructed us that Andrew Jackson was angry about the Civil War that began 16 years after Jackson's death. Having, let us fancifully imagine, considered and found unconvincing William Seward's 1858 judgment that the approaching Civil War was "an irrepressible conflict," Trump says:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.dd0231127b87&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

May 4 2017, 8:35 pm ET
*Senators Turn to Health Care Bill and They Have Issues*
by Benjy Sarlin

VIDEOS

House Republicans passed their health care bill at a whirlwind pace, pushing it through as soon as they had enough votes lined up without holding hearings on its impact or waiting for a report on how much it will cost.

Now it's the Senate's turn, where things tend to move at a more genteel pace. Having largely sidestepped this week's House contentious debate, members say they'll need plenty of time to look things over and some have already expressed concerns about the plan's substance.

"We're not under any deadline, so we're going to take our time," Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the majority whip, told reporters.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has assembled a working group to try to find a consensus.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senators-turn-health-care-bill-they-have-issues-n755061


----------



## poochee

*Britain's Prince Philip to step down from official duties in August*
 Jane Onyanga-Omara  , USA TODAY Published 2:23 a.m. ET May 4, 2017 | Updated 6 hours ago

*VIDEOS/PHOTOS*

LONDON - Britain's Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, will no longer carry out public engagements from this fall, Buckingham Palace announced Thursday.

The announcement followed frenzied speculation among the media and the public after staff working at royal buildings throughout the country were called to the palace in central London for an emergency meeting.

"His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh has decided that he will no longer carry out public engagements from the autumn of this year. In taking this decision, The Duke has the full support of The Queen," the palace said in a statement.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...izabeth-prince-philip-royal-family/101272098/


----------



## ekim68

The Shame of the House



> The dereliction of duty is breathtaking. In pushing the American Health Care Act through the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan and his Republican conference have voted to remake almost one-fifth of the U.S. economy. They did so without public hearings, without input from outside experts, without analysis by the Congressional Budget Office and without, finally, much compunction or consideration of the tens of millions of Americans it will harm.


----------



## poochee

May 5 2017, 9:25 am ET
*GOP Faces Three Challenges as Health Care Heads to the Senate*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

*GOP faces three challenges as health fight turns to the Senate*

Republicans passing health care out of the House was always the easiest part of repealing and replacing Obamacare. Now comes a much harder part - the Senate - where the GOP faces three challenges. *Call them the three M's:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...e-challenges-health-care-heads-senate-n755346


----------



## poochee

By Mary Brophy Marcus CBS News May 5, 2017, 10:38 AM
*Prestigious medical groups denounce health care vote*

*VIDEO*

Many of the country's most respected doctors' groups and consumer health organizations are decrying Thursday's vote in the House for a Republican health care bill that could cut health benefits for millions of Americans.

The bill, which passed by a narrow margin, is an amended version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Within hours of the vote, many of the country's top medical organizations representing hundreds of thousands of physicians and doctors in training, made public statements and spoke out on social media.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctors-health-groups-denounce-ahca-health-care-vote/


----------



## poochee

May 5, 3:50 PM EDT
*Trump: Australian health care system better than US*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders cautioned Friday against reading too much into the president's comment. She said he was complimenting a foreign leader on the "operations of their health care system" and that he "didn't mean anything more than that."

Trump seemed to contradict his spokeswoman a short time later, tweeting "Of course the Australians have better healthcare than we do - everybody does. ObamaCare is dead! But our healthcare will soon be great."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Australia has a government-funded system that provides free or subsidized care for all Australian citizens and permanent residents, which is partially funded by income taxes.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-05-14-41-32


----------



## poochee

*White House fires its chief usher, the first woman to hold the job*
 Jessica Estepa  , USA TODAY Published 12:43 p.m. ET May 5, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

The White House has fired its chief usher, Angella Reid, who was the first woman to hold the job.

Residence staff learned of the dismissal on Friday morning, the _Washington Post_ reported. Reid, also the second African American to be chief usher, joined the White House in 2011, under President Obama.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...s-chief-usher-first-woman-hold-job/101328044/


----------



## poochee

May 5, 3:43 PM EDT
*Trump signs $1 trillion spending bill, keeps government open*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

BRANCHBURG, N.J. (AP) -- President Donald Trump signed his first piece of major legislation on Friday, a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government operating through September.

The bill cleared both houses of Congress this week and Trump signed it into law behind closed doors at his home in central New Jersey, well ahead of a midnight Friday deadline for some government operations to begin shutting down.

But other budget battles lie ahead as the White House and Congress hammer out a spending plan for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-05-15-43-42


----------



## poochee

*Jobless Rate at 10-Year Low as Hiring Grows and Wages Rise*
By PATRICIA COHENMAY 5, 2017

The April figures renewed a conversation among economists about whether the economy was at "full employment," the point at which everyone who wants a job can get one at the current level of pay.

There was less agreement on who deserved the credit. Republicans crowed about how many jobs had been created since President Trump took office in January, while Democrats pointed to the ongoing economic legacy of President Barack Obama.

Three months is still a short span in the life of an administration, and Mr. Trump has not yet pushed through the main planks of his pro-growth agenda like tax reform or a large investment in infrastructure. Even so, some economists gave the president credit for a jump in optimism.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/business/economy/jobs-report-unemployment.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

For Immediate Release
May 05, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*
*
VIDEO

Transcript:

*My fellow Americans,

Since Day One, my administration has been hard at work, tearing down the barriers to job creation and economic growth. We have removed one job-killing regulation after another - they're not pretty and they're going. And believe me, we are just getting started on regulations. They're gone.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/05/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*AP FACT CHECK:* Rose-colored glasses in the Rose Garden
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM DRINKARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- They promised you a rose garden, from the Rose Garden.

This past week, President Donald Trump and Republicans legislators celebrated passage of a House bill seeking to replace the Affordable Care Act.

At a White House event, they heaped praise on their effort and brushed off worries that health coverage could be imperiled for many people if the Senate is persuaded to go along with the legislation.

There were other bold claims coming from the Rose Garden, too, about the budget deal that keeps the government running through September, as well as questionable statements by Trump on other fronts.
*
A sampling:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-06-09-16-29


----------



## poochee

*Chicago mayor Emanuel posts EPA's deleted climate change page*
By Edward-Isaac Dovere   
05/06/17 10:42 AM EDT

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's response to the Trump administration pulling down its website detailing information about climate change: putting up his own.

The new section of the City of Chicago's website, launched this weekend, pulls data from the archived Environmental Protection Agency page, noting, "while this information may not be readily available on the agency's webpage right now, here in Chicago we know climate change is real and we will continue to take action to fight it." Emanuel is promising to build the site out more in the coming weeks, using city resources.

"The Trump administration can attempt to erase decades of work from scientists and federal employees on the reality of climate change, but burying your head in the sand doesn't erase the problem," Emanuel said.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/...-posts-epa-deleted-climate-change-page-238067


----------



## ekim68

Why doesn't anyone know we're incredibly close to replacing the Electoral College with the popular vote?




> The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has passed a total of 35 state legislative chambers in 23 states


----------



## poochee

_*Obama accepts JFK Profile in Courage Award
By **Joshua Miller** and **Laura Krantz* Globe Staff May 07, 2017

Obama received the award, named for the country's 35th president, for his overall contributions to public life, including his achievements on key policy issues and his historic victory as the nation's first African-American president, according to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, which administers the award.

The speech was the culmination of the black-tie gala that drew the top players in Massachusetts politics, business, education, philanthropy, religion, arts, and sports.

Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Congressman Joe Kennedy III were among members of famed political dynasty spotted going into the event.

"President Obama, over the course of his tenure in office, the values that he showed and how he conducted himself and how he led our nation, exemplifies the values that the award was meant to celebrate," the congressman told reporters as he walked on a red carpet unfurled in front of the library on windy Columbia Point in Dorchester.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2...urage-award/wMg7JPK8uqboArCoyjlHZI/story.html_


----------



## poochee

May 7 2017, 8:45 pm ET
*French Election: Macron's Victory Hailed - and Decried - as Boost for United Europe*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEOS*

Emmanuel Macron's election Sunday as the next president of France marks the third time in four months that European voters have declined to follow the United States in electing a populist anti-immigration leader, a development that mainstream European leaders found heartening.

Macron, 39, a centrist newcomer to national politics, convincingly defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in Sunday's second round of voting, the Interior Ministry said.

Leaders and political figures across Europe welcomed - or denounced - the results as an endorsement of a united Europe, similar to the victories of moderate Alexander Van der Bellen over right-wing populist Norbert Hofer in Austria in December and of Mark Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy over anti-Islam nationalist Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom in the Netherlands in March.

Macron's victory confirms France's "attachment to the European Union, as well as to the openness of France to the world," outgoing French President Francois Hollande said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/f...ry-hailed-decried-boost-united-europe-n756086


----------



## poochee

May 6, 7:25 PM EDT
*Some pastors praise Trump order, others worry over integrity*
By AMY FORLITI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- President Donald Trump's order to ease limits on political activity by religious organizations is being met with both enthusiasm and dread from religious leaders, with some rejoicing in the freedom to preach their views and endorse candidates and others fearing the change will erode the integrity of houses of worship.

Trump signed the executive order Thursday, saying it would give churches their "voices back." It directs the Treasury Department not to take action against religious organizations that engage in political speech.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-06-19-25-54


----------



## poochee

May 8, 2:13 PM EDT
*Obama warned Trump about Flynn, former officials say*
By ERIC TUCKER and EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama warned Donald Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as national security adviser during an Oval Office meeting after the 2016 election, according to three former Obama administration officials.

The information on Monday, from officials who requested anonymity in order to disclose the private conversation, came hours before former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was to testify to Congress about concerns she raised to the Trump administration about contacts between Flynn and the Russian ambassador.

The highly anticipated hearing - it is Yates' first appearance on Capitol Hill since her firing - before a Senate panel investigating Russian interference in the presidential election is expected to fill in basic details in the chain of events that led to Flynn's ouster in the early weeks of the Trump administration. Word that Obama directly warned Trump suggests that concern over Flynn's possible appointment spread to the highest level of government months before Flynn's departure.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-08-14-13-59


----------



## poochee

*Obama isn't ready to give up on Obamacare just yet*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 11:38 AM ET, Mon May 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

This isn't the first time Barack Obama has weighed in on events during Donald Trump's presidency
Obama clearly feels these are extraordinary times, Cillizza writes
(CNN)Former President Barack Obama had a blunt message for his successor on Sunday night: I'm not letting the Affordable Care Act go down without a fight.

"It is my fervent hope and the hope of millions that, regardless of party, such courage is still possible," Obama said while accepting a "Profile in Courage" award at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. "That today's members of Congress, regardless of party, are willing to look at the facts and speak the truth. Even when it contradicts party positions. I hope that current members of Congress recall that it doesn't take a lot of courage to aid those who are already powerful."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/08/politics/obama-health-care-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 8 2017, 8:39 am ET
*The GOP's Health Care Claims Don't Hold Up*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Republican health care claims don't hold up

On the Sunday shows yesterday, top Republicans - in the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill - made at least three assertions about the House health care bill (which cleared the chamber on Thursday) that don't hold up under scrutiny.

*Assertion #1: The House bill will be "more affordable" for those with pre-existing conditions: *When NBC's Andrea Mitchell asked HHS Secretary Tom Price on "Meet the Press" yesterday if Americans with pre-existing conditions will be able to afford coverage under the House bill, Price responded, "Absolutely. We think it's going to be more affordable as a matter of fact, Andrea."

*In fact:* Those with pre-existing conditions who don't maintain continuous health insurance could pay more.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...laims-don-t-hold-n756216?cid=eml_pol_20170508


----------



## poochee

*Kushner Companies' Pitch To Chinese Investors Raises Conflict Of Interest Questions* 
May 7, 20175:50 PM ET 
 Merrit Kennedy 

 This is the latest in a series of conflict-of-interest questions surrounding the vast business interests of top Trump administration officials.

"It's highly problematic," Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, tells NPR. "It appears that Jared Kushner's family business is using his name and his official position to bring in investment."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...investors-raises-conflict-of-interest-questio


----------



## poochee

May 8, 4:02 PM EDT
*Yates: I warned White House that Flynn could be blackmailed*
By ERIC TUCKER and EILEEN SULLIVAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, speaking publicly for the first time about concerns she brought to the Trump White House on Russia, told Congress on Monday she warned that National Security Adviser Michael Flynn "essentially could be blackmailed" because he apparently had lied to his bosses about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.

The statements from Yates, an Obama administration holdover, offered by far the most detailed account of the chain of events that led to Flynn's ouster from government in the first weeks of the Trump administration.

Yates, appearing before a Senate panel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, described discussions with Trump White House Counsel Don McGahn in late January in which she warned that Flynn apparently had misled the administration about his communications with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador.

White House officials had insisted that Flynn had not discussed U.S.-imposed sanctions with Kislyak during the presidential transition period, but asked Flynn to resign after news reports indicated he had misled them about the nature of the calls.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-08-16-02-34


----------



## poochee

*Why Trump didn't listen to all the people who told him to stay away from Michael Flynn*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 3:22 PM ET, Mon May 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Two days after Donald Trump won the presidency, he came to visit the man he would replace at the White House. And, in that meeting, Barack Obama warned Trump about bringing Michael Flynn into his administration due to concerns about the retired general's ties to Russia.

Trump did it anyway -- offering Flynn a job as national security adviser just eight days after meeting with Obama.

The question now is why. Why, after being told by the outgoing president that Flynn was bad news -- in the sense that his name was all over the ongoing Justice Department investigation into Russia's attempts to hack the 2016 election -- did Trump ignore that advice within a week? And why has Trump continued to publicly defend Flynn in the face of repeated warnings -- from then acting Attorney General Sally Yates among others -- that his ties to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak represented a major problem?

I put that question to several current and former Trump officials.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/08/politics/flynn-trump-russia/index.html


----------



## ekim68

Comey's Competence and Reliability Are Questionable



> At this critical juncture, when Republicans refuse to call for a special commission or an independent prosecutor to investigate Russia's attempt to influence the 2016 election, this country must rely primarily on James Comey's FBI to do an investigation into those matters that is independent of political influence. That is a difficult premise for many who believe that he tilted the election when he went public with the news about Clinton's emails but remained silent about the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign.


----------



## poochee

May 9 2017, 8:32 am ET
*Four Reasons Why the Russia Story Isn't Fake News*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

* Here are four reasons why the Russia story isn't fake news *

After former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified on Capitol Hill Monday, President Trump took to Twitter to dismiss their revelations.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But here are four reasons why the entire Russia story - as it relates to the 2016 election, to former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and to any allegations of collusion - isn't fake news.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...-isn-t-fake-news-n756776?cid=eml_pol_20170509


----------



## poochee

May 9, 2:48 PM EDT
*Senate GOP discussing health overhaul's Medicaid provisions*
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans trying to craft a health care overhaul discussed Tuesday how to ease provisions in the House-passed bill phasing out President Barack Obama's expansion of Medicaid. On television talk shows and congressional town hall meetings, meanwhile, attention on the GOP drive to repeal Obama's law showed no signs of fading.

Members of a working group appointed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., met privately and said their discussions centered on Medicaid, the health care program for poor and disabled people.

The House bill would end extra federal payments in 2020 that Obama's law provides to states that have expanded their Medicaid programs to cover more lower-income people. Senators from some of the 31 states that enlarged their programs want to prevent an abrupt cutoff of that money.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-08-19-20-29


----------



## poochee

*President Trump dismisses FBI Director Comey*
By Devlin Barrett By Devlin Barrett
National Security
May 9 at 6:23 PM

*VIDEO*

FBI Director James B. Comey has been dismissed by the president, according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer - a startling move that officials said stemmed from a conclusion by Justice Department officials that he had mishandled the probe of Hillary Clinton's emails.

Comey was fired as he is leading a counterintelligence investigation to determine whether associates of President Trump may have coordinated with Russia to meddle with the presidential election last year. That probe began quietly last July but has now become the subject of intense debate in Washington. It is unclear how Comey's dismissal will affect that investigation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...desktop:homepage/story&utm_term=.5314d3c286ee


----------



## poochee

*Firing James Comey is Donald Trump's most unpredictable and dangerous move yet*

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 9:50 PM ET, Tue May 9, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_James Comey found out he had been fired as FBI director just like the rest of us: By watching it on television.

The move, announced late Tuesday via a letter sent from President Donald Trump to Comey, marked the most unpredictable moment of a presidency that through its first 100-plus day has been the least orthodox in memory. It also ramped up criticism of Trump's judgments -- Comey was tasked with leading the investigation into Russia's meddling into the 2016 campaign and what, if any, collusion had occurred between Trump campaign operatives and Russian intelligence officials -- and left official Washington reeling over a move considered unthinkable as recently as this week.

The explanation for the move, which emerged into the stunned silence it caused, made little logical sense. A report from deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein highlighted Comey's handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server as the main reason for his dismissal. Rosenstein accused Comey of an attempt to "usurp" the power of the attorney general by announcing publicly that he didn't believe any charges should be brought against Clinton in a July 5, 2016 press conference.

"Compounding the error, the director ignored another longstanding principle: We do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation," Rosenstein added. "The way the director handled the conclusion of the email investigation was wrong. As a result, the FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/09/politics/james-comey-firing-trump-analysis/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Mother's Day Scam Spreading on Social Media*
Tue, May 09

* VIDEO*

With Mother's Day approaching this weekend, retailers are warning consumers of a scam quickly spreading through social media.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/retailers-warn-consumers-of-mother-s-day-scam-940028483960


----------



## poochee

May 10, 1:48 PM EDT
*Russian government releases photos of Oval Office meeting*

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted a photo of Trump and Lavrov shaking hands in the Oval Office. The Russian Embassy followed on Twitter with a photo of Trump smiling as he shook hands with Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador in Washington. Kislyak has been a key figure in investigations of alleged ties between Trump associates and the Russian government.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-10-13-48-38


----------



## poochee

*Senate intelligence committee subpoenas Michael Flynn*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 6:35 PM ET, Wed May 10, 2017

*VIDEO*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/10/politics/flynn-subpoena/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 10, 10:40 PM EDT
*Before the ax, Comey was pushing Trump-Russia probe harder*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Days before he was fired by Donald Trump, FBI Director James Comey requested more resources to pursue his investigation into Russia's election meddling and the possible involvement of Trump associates, U.S. officials said Wednesday, fueling concerns that Trump was trying to undermine a probe that could threaten his presidency.

It was unclear whether word of the Comey request, put to deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, ever made its way to Trump. But the revelation intensified the pressure on the White House from both political parties to explain the motives behind Comey's stunning ouster.

Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon to fire a law enforcement official overseeing an investigation with ties to the White House. Democrats quickly accused Trump of using Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as a pretext and called for a special prosecutor into the Russia probe. Republican leaders brushed off the idea as unnecessary

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-10-18-06-53


----------



## poochee

*Suspicious Timing And Convenient Reasoning For Trump's Firing Of Comey*
May 10, 201710:59 AM ET 
 Domenico Montanaro 

The White House says President Trump fired James Comey because of how he handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The president, who campaigned before crowds that chanted, "Lock her up," is telling the American people that he summarily fired the FBI director, by letter, because he went outside Department of Justice protocols in speaking out about the Clinton investigation months ago.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as news of the termination broke, some political observers began to sound off that something doesn't add up. The timing is suspicious, and the reasoning is convenient. It raises all kinds of questions about what happened and what happens next, especially as the FBI is reportedly ramping up its investigation of Trump associates' connections to Russia.

Trump went on a tweetstorm about it Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning:

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/10/52774...nvenient-reasoning-for-trumps-firing-of-comey


----------



## poochee

*Senate blocks move to overturn Obama-era rule on drilling*
By matthew daly, associated press
WASHINGTON - May 10, 2017, 11:20 PM ET

Environmentalists notched a rare win in the Republican-led Senate on Wednesday as a GOP effort to reverse an Obama-era rule restricting harmful methane emissions unexpectedly failed.

The 51-49 vote against the repeal measure was a blow to the fossil-fuel industry and groups linked to the conservative Koch Brothers, which had waged a public campaign to overturn the Interior Department rule.

The rule, finalized in November, would force energy companies to capture methane that's burned off or "flared" at drilling sites because it earns less money than oil. An estimated $330 million a year in methane - the component of natural gas - is wasted through leaks or intentional releases, enough to power about 5 million homes a year.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wire...ves-overturn-obama-era-rule-drilling-47323742


----------



## poochee

*Inside Trump's anger and impatience - and his sudden decision to fire Comey*
By Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, Sari Horwitz and Robert Costa By Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, Sari Horwitz and Robert Costa
Politics
May 10 at 11:14 PM

*VIDEO*

Every time FBI Director James B. Comey appeared in public, an ever-watchful President Trump grew increasingly agitated that the topic was the one that he was most desperate to avoid: Russia.

Trump had long questioned Comey's loyalty and judgment, and was infuriated by what he viewed as the director's lack of action in recent weeks on leaks from within the federal government. By last weekend, he had made up his mind: Comey had to go.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-trumps-anger-and-impatience-prompted-him-to-fire-the-fbi-director/2017/05/10/d9642334-359c-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_comeyreconstruct912pmblurb:homepage/story&utm_term=.e39617b39193


----------



## poochee

May 11 2017, 12:28 pm ET
*Acting FBI Dir.: 'No Effort to Impede' *
*Russia Investigation*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEOS*

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told lawmakers Thursday there has been "no effort to impede" the Russia investigation and said former FBI Director James Comey continues to have "broad support" in the agency even after the White House claimed he lost the trust of his employees.

"The work of the men and women continues despite any changes in circumstance, any decisions," McCabe told the Senate Inetlligence Committee. "So there has been no effort to impede the investigation to date. Simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women of the FBI from doing the right thing."

The political fallout from President Donald Trump's decision to fire Comey loomed heavily over the hearing in which Comey was scheduled to testify. Sen. Mark Warner, the highest-ranking Democrat on the panel, used his opening remarks to speculate if Comey's dismissal was linked to the FBI's investigation into possible ties between Trump associates and Russia.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...comey-fired-over-russia-investigation-n757876


----------



## poochee

*Trump: I might release tax returns -- when I'm out of office*
by Chris Isidore @CNNMoney May 11, 2017: 7:49 AM ET

VIDEO

In an interview with The Economist, he was asked whether he would release his returns in exchange for Democratic support for tax reform. He first said that he doubted he would do it, and he insisted "nobody cares" about his returns except reporters. (Polls and protests show otherwise.)

Trump went on: "Oh, at some point I'll release them. Maybe I'll release them after I'm finished because I'm very proud of them actually. I did a good job."

Moments later in the interview, he suggested he would never release the returns because he is being audited.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/11/news/trump-taxes/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Foreign diplomats try to understand 'weird' Comey firing *
By Elise Labott and Nicole Gaouette, CNN
Updated 7:20 PM ET, Thu May 11, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)A US ambassador has taken the rare step of expressing frustration with the Trump administration for complicating American diplomats' work overseas.

On Wednesday morning local time, soon after FBI Director James Comey was fired, Dana Shell Smith, envoy to Qatar, tweeted: "Increasingly difficult to wake up overseas to news from home, knowing I will spend today explaining our democracy and institutions."

The exact target of her comment was unclear, but it was widely interpreted as criticizing President Donald Trump for dismissing Comey. Her tweet comes as foreign envoys and officials in overseas capitals said they are increasingly looking for help in understanding the Trump administration's positions and actions.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/politics/us-ambassador-qatar-trump-comey/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump latest: Live updates on the Comey fallout*
By Daniella Diaz and Amanda Wills, CNN
Updated 2:16 PM ET, Fri May 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

May 12, 2017 2:48pm EDT
*Friday in a nutshell*

Trump fired Comey Tuesday night, and the fallout from that has been messier than the White House expected.
Trump went on a tweet storm Friday morning, threatening Comey, talking about "tapes" if he speaks out - and calling the Russia investigation a "witch hunt."
White House press secretary Sean Spicer led the briefing again today - and defended Trump's Comey tweet, saying: "That's not a threat. The tweet speaks for itself."
Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had a new directive for federal prosecutors across the country: charge suspects with the most serious offense you can prove.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/12/politics/trump-latest/index.html


----------



## poochee

HUMOR

*Trump Boasts That His Impeachment Will Get Higher TV Ratings Than All Other Impeachments*
*By Andy Borowitz*
11:43 A.M.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-In an interview with NBC's Lester Holt, Donald Trump boasted that, if he is impeached, the television ratings will be higher than those of any other impeachment in history.

"Everywhere I go, people tell me that if I am impeached, they're going to watch it," he said. "The ratings are going to be through the roof."

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/boro...pJobID=1161053559&spReportId=MTE2MTA1MzU1OQS2


----------



## poochee

May 12 2017, 8:43 am ET
*The White House's Explanation for Firing Comey Crumbles*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEOS*

The White House's explanation for firing Comey crumbles

In the last 48 hours, the Trump White House's initial explanations for firing former FBI Director James Comey - as well as other details it provided - have crumbled.

First, the White House suggested that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's recommendation served as the basis for Comey's ouster. But President Trump contradicted that in his interview with NBC's Lester Holt. "I was going to fire regardless of recommendation," Trump said. The White House also initially said it was Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton investigation - not Russia - as the reason behind the firing. But in the interview with Holt, Trump mentioned Russia as a rationale. "When I decided to [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...g-comey-crumbles-n758306?cid=eml_pol_20170512


----------



## poochee

*24 hours of craziness in Trump's Washington*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 6:27 AM ET, Thu May 11, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)You couldn't make it up.

Even by the often bewildering standards of the Trump administration, the 24 hours following the firing of FBI Director James Comey were baffling, surreal and at times impossible to process.

In the confusing hours when up seemed down and down seemed up, the White House appeared to be defending Hillary Clinton, the FBI chief was among the last to know he was gone, and there was a cameo performance by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his ice skates.

It all started with a bolt from nowhere late Tuesday afternoon. President Donald Trump canned Comey. No one had thought it would come to this, since the FBI director was overseeing an investigation into Russian election meddling and alleged collusion by Trump campaign aides with Moscow. But the President, either dismissive or oblivious to the political damage he could suffer, did it anyway.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/politics/24-hours-of-craziness/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 12, 6:35 PM EDT
*Hinting at secret tapes, Trump warns ousted FBI director*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE, JAKE PEARSON and JULIE PACE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Raging against a political firestorm, President Donald Trump on Friday shot a sharp warning at his ousted FBI director about possible "tapes" of their disputed private conversations, raising the provocative possibility that recording devices have been installed in the White House.

Trump's top spokesman refused to comment on whether listening devices are active in the Oval Office or elsewhere, a non-denial that recalled the secretly taped conversations and telephone calls that ultimately led to President Richard Nixon's downfall in the Watergate scandal. Trump's warning to fired FBI Director James Comey prompted new accusations of interference in an investigation into allegations of collaboration between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign last year.

It also escalated a potentially damaging standoff between a fuming, undisciplined president and the unorthodox lawman he dismissed three days earlier. Not to mention Congress, which has its own investigations underway.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-12-18-35-06


----------



## poochee

*White House 'systems failed' with Comey firing, but Trump pushed the buttons*
By Philip Rucker By Philip Rucker
Politics
May 13 at 5:45 PM

*PHOTOS/VIDEO*

In deciding to abruptly fire FBI Director James B. Comey, President Trump characteristically let himself be guided by his own instincts - fueled by his creeping anger and sense of victimhood about a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that he considers a "witch hunt."

The aftermath is a presidency rocked by its most serious self-inflicted crisis yet, exposing dysfunction and distrust within his West Wing and imperiling his agenda. The momentum for the health-care bill that passed the House is gone, and a week scheduled to be devoted to Trump's preparations for a high-stakes foreign trip was overtaken by distractions and fury.

Across Washington, Trump's allies have been buzzing about the staff's competence as well as the president's state of mind. One GOP figure close to the White House mused privately about whether Trump was "in the grip of some kind of paranoid delusion."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...use-6pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.5e50e361ac5a


----------



## poochee

*Isolated and agitated, Trump rattles White House from within*
By Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny, Sara Murray and Elizabeth Landers, CNN
Updated 9:36 AM ET, Sat May 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Many in Trump's circle now view the past four days as the worst stretch of Trump's presidency so far
Pence wasn't fully briefed on the President's reasoning for firing Comey before he went in front of cameras, an aide said
Those around Trump are eager to get him out of the White House and outside of Washington as soon as possible
One Republican congressional source described the White House as in "meltdown mode"
Washington (CNN)A buoyant President Donald Trump reemerged into public for the first time in more than a week on Friday, offering few signs of the malaise that has gripped his administration since the hasty dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.

"It's such an honor to be here," Trump declared to a group of military mothers gathered in the East Room for a Mother's Day event. "So bright and festive."

Downstairs, the mood was anything but.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/12/politics/trump-comey-white-house-morale-fallout/index.html


----------



## poochee

For Immediate Release
May 12, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*

*VIDEO*

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/12/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*4 Big Intelligence Stories You Missed Amid The Comey Headlines This Week* 
May 12, 20173:16 PM ET 
Philip Ewing

This week's spectacle over the leadership of the FBI got all the headlines, but there's always a lot more taking place beneath the surface in the shadowy world of the intelligence community, or "IC."

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe was only one of a full slate of witnesses who appeared Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee to discuss the range of worldwide threats arrayed against the United States.

The bad news is: *There's a lot of them.*

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/12/52813...you-missed-amid-the-comey-headlines-this-week


----------



## poochee

*Bellwether*
*Does Donald Trump want to be president?*
By  John Moody  Published May 12, 2017
Fox News

President Trump's eccentric behavior, especially in the past week, raises a serious question: Does he want to be president?

His Twitter threat against James Comey, whom he fired as director of the FBI, suggests he might have secretly recorded their conversations. Banning American news media from his Oval Office conversation with Russia's foreign minister while allowing a TASS photographer to record the event may be payback against a press corps he despises. But it also fuels suspicions that he is indebted, somehow, to the Kremlin. Recently, he retweeted Rosie O'Donnell, surely a first for a sitting president.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/12/does-donald-trump-want-to-be-president.html

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/05/12/does-donald-trump-want-to-be-president.html


----------



## poochee

*Clapper: US institutions 'under assault'*
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 11:34 AM ET, Sun May 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Clapper said his statements aren't "exculpatory"
He warned about federal checks and balances eroding
Washington (CNN)Former Director of National Washington (CNN)Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a stern warning Sunday about the state of the US government after President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey last week, saying he thinks US institutions are "under assault."

"I think in many ways our institutions are under assault both externally -- and that's the big news here is the Russian interference in our election system -- and I think as well our institutions are under assault internally," Clapper said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Pressed by anchor Jake Tapper if he meant US institutions were under assault internally from the President, Clapper responded, "Exactly."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/14/politics/james-clapper-russia-collusion/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 14 2017, 9:33 am ET
*NBC/WSJ Poll: Just 29 Percent Approve of Trump's Firing of James Comey*
by Mark Murray

Just 29 percent of Americans say they approve of President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, while 38 percent disapprove, according to results from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Another 32 percent of respondents don't have enough to say on the matter.

Yet among those who say they have read, seen or heard "a lot" about the firing, 53 percent say they disapprove, versus 33 percent who approve.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...e-trump-s-firing-n759196?cid=eml_pol_20170514


----------



## poochee

*Analysis: Donald Trump has biggest credibility gap of any president since Nixon*
Susan Page , USA TODAY Published 1:35 p.m. ET May 14, 2017 | Updated 46 minutes ago

President Trump drew the biggest Inaugural crowd in history - except he didn't. President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign - except there's no evidence that he did. Trump fired FBI director James Comey because the deputy attorney general concluded he had mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation - except now the president says it was his decision alone and cites the Russia investigation as the reason.

On issues big and small, substantive and cosmetic, the Trump White House has failed to give accurate accounts of what happened until photographs, records, reporting and, in some cases, the president's own words provide a new version of the facts. Even when confronted with evidence, the president and his spokespeople don't always acknowledge the need to correct a falsehood.

This doesn't seem to bother Trump.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...tter-president-comey-news-analysis/101651602/


----------



## poochee

*Repercussions Continue From Global Ransomware Attack* 
May 14, 20171:14 PM ET 
 James Doubek 

The ransomware attack unleashed on Friday has affected more than 100,000 organizations in 150 countries, according to Europe's law enforcement agency Europol on Sunday.

The malware, which locks files and asks for payment to unlock them, hit businesses and institutions across the world, including shipper FedEx, train systems in Germany, a Spanish telecommunications company, universities in Asia, Russia's interior ministry and forced hospitals in Britain to turn away patients.

More than 200,000 people around the world have been affected by the malware, Jake Cigainero reports for NPR's Newscast.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ssions-continue-from-global-ransomware-attack


----------



## poochee

AM Joy 5/14/17
*Harvard's Laurence Tribe: Impeach Trump now*
Constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe tells Joy Reid why it is critically important to put the impeachment process in motion now, before it is too late.

http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy/watch/harvard-s-laurence-tribe-impeach-trump-now-943633987952


----------



## poochee

May 14, 4:26 PM EDT
*GOP lawmakers mark success by flipping rules from Obama era*
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Final score: Republicans 14, Barack Obama's last-minute regulations, one.

Congressional Republicans anxious to show voters they can get something done are hailing their reversal of more than a dozen Obama-era regulations on guns, the internet and the environment.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader in the Senate, argued that overturning rules passed at the end of the Obama administration hardly constituted an agenda.

"The fact that they are bragging about these highlights how little else they have accomplished legislatively," Schumer said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-14-16-26-48


----------



## poochee

May 15, 2:35 PM EDT
*Trump taps Callista Gingrich to be ambassador to the Vatican*
By STEVE PEOPLES and VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration has approached the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to be the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, days before President Donald Trump embarks on his first foreign trip.

Trump will nominate Callista Gingrich for the post, two people with direct knowledge of the discussions said Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly before an official announcement.

Trump's foreign trip this month includes a stop at the Vatican.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-15-14-35-47


----------



## poochee

May 15 2017, 11:16 am ET
*Supreme Court Won't Hear Appeal on Controversial N.C. Voter ID Law*
by Pete Williams

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear North Carolina's appeal of a court ruling that found its legislature intended to discriminate against minorities in enacting one of the toughest voter ID laws in the nation.

The action leaves in place a federal appellate court ruling which previously struck down portions of the law and blocked enforcement.

As is the court's usual custom, no explanation was given for turning down the appeal, and no vote was noted. Chief Justice John Roberts said the state had produced a "blizzard of filings" over who was authorized to appeal. He noted that although the court declined to hear the case, the refusal expresses no opinion about the merits of the issue.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...low-north-carolina-over-voting-rights-n759456


----------



## poochee

*How Trump gets his fake news* 
_The president rarely surfs the web on his own, but his staff have made a habit of slipping news stories on to his desk-including the occasional internet hoax_
By Shane Goldmacher
05/15/17 05:11 AM EDT

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus issued a stern warning at a recent senior staff meeting: Quit trying to secretly slip stuff to President Donald Trump.

Just days earlier, K.T. McFarland, the deputy national security adviser, had given Trump a printout of two Time magazine covers. One, supposedly from the 1970s, warned of a coming ice age; the other, from 2008, about surviving global warming, according to four White House officials familiar with the matter.

Trump quickly got lathered up about the media's hypocrisy. But there was a problem. The 1970s cover was fake, part of an internet hoax that's circulated for years. Staff chased down the truth and intervened before Trump tweeted or talked publicly about it.

The episode illustrates the impossible mission of managing a White House led by an impetuous president who has resisted structure and strictures his entire adult life.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/donald-trump-fake-news-238379

.


----------



## poochee

*G.O.P. Senators Pull Away From Trump, Alarmed at His Volatility*
By JENNIFER STEINHAUERMAY 14, 2017

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans, increasingly unnerved by President Trump's volatility and unpopularity, are starting to show signs of breaking away from him as they try to forge a more traditional Republican agenda and protect their political fortunes.

Several Republicans have openly questioned Mr. Trump's decision to fire the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, and even lawmakers who supported the move have complained privately that it was poorly timed and disruptive to their work. Many were dismayed when Mr. Trump seemed to then threaten Mr. Comey not to leak negative information about him.

As they pursue their own agenda, Republican senators are drafting a health care bill with little White House input, seeking to avoid the public relations pitfalls that befell the House as it passed its own deeply unpopular version. Republicans are also pushing back on the president's impending budget request - including, notably, a provision that would nearly eliminate funding for the national drug control office amid an opioid epidemic. And many high-ranking Republicans have said they will not support any move by Mr. Trump to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/14/us/politics/trump-republican-senators.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

*HUMOR
*
Daily Cartoon: Monday, May 15th
By Kim Warp
10:45 A.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/d...pJobID=1161297898&spReportId=MTE2MTI5Nzg5OAS2


----------



## poochee

*Trump Revealed Highly Classified Intelligence to Russia, in Break With Ally, Officials Say*
*By **MATTHEW ROSENBERG** and **ERIC SCHMITT** MAY 15, 2017

VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Trump boasted about highly classified intelligence in a meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador last week, providing details that could expose the source of the information and the manner in which it was collected, a current and a former American government official said Monday.

The intelligence disclosed by Mr. Trump in a meeting with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, was about an Islamic State plot, according to the officials. A Middle Eastern ally that closely guards its own secrets provided the information, which was considered so sensitive that American officials did not share it widely within the United States government or pass it on to other allies.

Mr. Trump's disclosure does not appear to have been illegal - the president has the power to declassify almost anything. But sharing the information without the express permission of the ally who provided it was a major breach of espionage etiquette, and could jeopardize a crucial intelligence-sharing relationship.

In fact, the ally has repeatedly warned American officials that it would cut off access to such sensitive information if it were shared too widely, the former official said. In this case, the fear is that Russia will be able to determine exactly how the information was collected and could disrupt the ally's espionage efforts.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/...ified-information-isis.html?ref=politics&_r=1


----------



## poochee

May 15, 10:53 PM EDT
*Another crisis hits the White House after Post story*
By JILL COLVIN and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Closed-door emergency meetings. Hallways packed with reporters. Statements rushed out, but few questions answered.

It's become a familiar scenario in the crisis-prone Trump White House, where big news breaks fast and the aides paid to respond seem perpetually caught off-guard.

The Washington Post report Monday led to the latest feeding frenzy. The news that Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials in a meeting last week prompted another round of bizarre scenes, just days after Trump's decision to fire FBI director James Comey sent his communications team into a tizzy.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-15-22-53-25


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton launches political group Onward Together to counter Trump*
 Fredreka Schouten  , USA TODAY Published 5:11 p.m. ET May 15, 2017 | Updated 5 hours ago

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton is back.

The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee on Monday formally launched Onward Together, a political nonprofit group that she said is "dedicated to advancing the progressive vision that earned nearly 66 million votes in the last election."

The group is poised to help fund some of the organizations at the forefront of liberal efforts to push back on President Trump's agenda and to seize seats from Republicans in Congress. Clinton said Onward Together will support groups such as Swing Left, which is working to elect Democrats to the House, and Indivisible, a rapidly expanding organization of anti-Trump activists who are using tactics borrowed from conservative Tea Party activists to oppose Trump and to challenge congressional Republicans at town hall meetings.

"This year hasn't been what I envisioned," Clinton said in one of a series of tweets Monday afternoon announcing her move, "but I know what I'm still fighting for: a kinder, big-hearted, inclusive America. Onward!"

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...roup-onward-together-counter-trump/101724182/


----------



## poochee

By David Martin CBS News May 15, 2017, 7:46 PM
*Latest North Korea missile test represents significant advance*
*
VIDEO*

*THE PENTAGON --* A missile launch over the weekend shows that North Korea's technology seems to be getting more sophisticated.

It's not the "perfect weapon" the North Koreans claim, but the latest test represents a significant advance for Kim Jung Un and his nuclear weapons program.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-missile-launch-advance-nuclear-weapons-program-kim-jung-un/


----------



## poochee

May 16 2017, 2:33 am ET
*Behind the Scenes as Another Crisis Hits the Trump White House*
by Hallie Jackson

*VIDEO*

The Trump administration, already in near-perpetual crisis management mode, scrambled again Monday night to respond to yet another explosive allegation.

This time it was reports that President Donald Trump had disclosed highly sensitive classified information to top Russian officials.

The face of the response was National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, well-regarded as a steadying influence but facing his most visible - and most fraught - moment in this administration so far.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...rump-white-house-n759891?cid=eml_pol_20170516


----------



## poochee

*The two explanations for Trump's loose lips go from bad to worse*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 10:31 AM ET, Tue May 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump's decision to apparently share top-secret classified information from a foreign ally with two top Russian officials last week, according to sources who spoke with CNN and The Washington Post, seems, on its face, inexplicable.

After all, Russia actively meddled in the 2016 election. And the country has not exactly been a cooperative player on the world stage over the past decade or so.

And yet, Trump did what he did. Despite denials by national security adviser H.R. McMaster of the original reporting on this by the Post as well as sources who spoke with CNN, Trump came out and essentially confirmed this morning on Twitter t[URL='https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/864436162567471104']hat he had shared information with the Russians.

Why?

There are two obvious options -- and a third that Trump seems to be trying to sell this morning that seems, to be honest, a bit far-fetched. The first two options are bad and worse for Trump, the Republican Party and the country more broadly.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/politics/donald-trump-russia-options/index.html

[/URL]


----------



## poochee

*Trump's trust problem*
_Senior administration officials have strained their credibility with the public with months of false, misleading or tortured statements._
By Josh Dawsey
05/15/17 10:59 PM EDT
Updated 05/15/17 11:22 PM EDT

President Donald Trump was accused of leaking highly classified information to Russian officials, and White House officials wanted to fiercely rebut the charges.

But when senior national security officials issued statements Monday night, including from behind a lectern on the West Wing driveway, they spoke for an administration that has strained its credibility by issuing a series of false, misleading or tortured statements on far less important matters. And they spoke for a president who less than a week ago said publicly that his aides and surrogates can't be expected to give accurate statements, because they don't always know what's going on.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/trump-russia-trust-problem-238422


----------



## poochee

*The public really wants a special prosecutor for Russia investigation *
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 9:56 AM ET, Mon May 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_President Donald Trump and his White House have been adamant: There's absolutely no need for a special prosecutor to investigate the ties between his 2016 campaign and Russian intelligence operatives.

At the moment, Congressional Republicans -- at least the bulk of them -- seem content to go along with Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted last week on the Senate floor that "too much is at stake" to appoint a special prosecutor, adding that such an appointment would "only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the Russians may have done but also to let this body and the national security community develop counter measures."

The public very much disagrees, according to new numbers from a NBC-Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday. Almost eight in ten people -- 78% -- said they would prefer an investigation led by an independent prosecutor or independent commission. Just 15% said they preferred an investigation led by Congress.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/15/politics/donald-trump-russia/index.html?ex_cid=SigDig


----------



## poochee

*Trump confronts global cyber crisis with a staff marked by vacancies*
_So far the malware hasn't hit U.S. shores in a big way, but a cybersecurity leadership gap in federal agencies worries experts.
By Tim Starks 
05/15/17 09:51 PM EDT
Updated 05/15/17 10:00 PM EDT

The global malware attack that has crippled hospitals, businesses and foreign government computers is confronting a Trump administration that still hasn't filled many of the top cybersecurity slots that are critical for handling this kind of crisis.

The dozens of vacant roles with major cyber responsibilities - not all of which are on the front lines in a crisis - include a permanent director for the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity wing, the government's first responder for many digital emergencies. The raft of openings creates a risk that the government will be slow to respond to trouble, and that federal agencies and private companies will have trouble finding help when they need it, cybersecurity experts and former officials say.

In an emergency, "they're the folks you turn to and say, 'go do this,'" said Chris Cummiskey, a former acting undersecretary and deputy undersecretary at DHS.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/...risis-with-a-staff-marked-by-vacancies-238423
_


----------



## poochee

May 16 2017, 8:22 pm ET
*Comey Wrote Memo Saying Trump Urged Him to Drop Flynn Investigation: Sources*
by Ken Dilanian, Dafna Linzer, Alex Johnson and Peter Alexander

*VIDEOS*

Fired FBI Director James Comey wrote an internal memo saying President Donald Trump asked him to shut down an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, multiple sources with firsthand knowledge of the memo told NBC News on Tuesday.

The memo was part of a paper trail Comey built documenting what he believed to be Trump's campaign to derail the FBI's investigation of alleged Russian ties to his presidential campaign, according to a source close to Comey and a former federal law enforcement official.

The source close to Comey said the memo included a line in which Comey quoted Trump as having said, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...mp-urged-him-drop-flynn-investigation-n760471


----------



## poochee

*Comey and the art of the well-timed leak*
By Evan Perez, CNN Justice Correspondent
Updated 7:35 AM ET, Wed May 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Former FBI Director James Comey has a well-known history of documenting important and controversial moments -- and there's a history of those emails or memos surfacing at politically opportune times.

Trump administration officials surprised at revelations that Comey documented conversations with President Donald Trump in memos he shared with friends should have taken a clue from Comey's past in the Bush and Obama administrations.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/17/politics/james-comey-leaks/index.html


----------



## poochee

*GOP Sen. Susan Collins: 'We cannot have this constant chaos' every single day from Trump*
By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN
Updated 1:48 PM ET, Wed May 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

"Clearly, the administration needs to take stock of its operations and the President needs to do a far better job of understanding the differences among the three branches of government -- what's appropriate, what isn't appropriate," Collins said on Newsradio WGAN AM560.

"He needs to ask for advice from his advisers and he needs to listen to that advice. We're four months into this new administration, little over that, and he needs to right the ship. We cannot have this constant chaos and serious questions being raised virtually every single day. It is distracting from the ability to work on certain issues like health care reform, and the administration needs to get its house in order."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/17/polit...stant-chaos/?iid=ob_lockedrail_longstory_pool


----------



## poochee

*The scariest thought: What if Donald Trump just doesn't know what he's doing?*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 11:34 AM ET, Wed May 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_The fundamental question, always, when it comes to President Donald Trump is this: Is he following a grand plan that only he can see or is he just saying and doing things with no broader blueprint in mind?

The stunning nature of his election convinced most people -- including me -- that he was playing a sort of three-dimensional chess, executing a strategy that seemed crazy on its face but turned out to be crazy like a fox.

The events of the first 117 days of the Trump White House -- and, especially, the last 7 days -- suggest that assumption might be dead wrong.

This paragraph from a New York Times report today on allegations as to whether Trump revealed classified information to two top Russian officials is stunning:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/17/politics/donald-trump-russia-comey/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 17 2017, 12:26 pm ET
*Trump's Scandals Pummel Wall Street as Stocks Slide Lower*
by Lucy Bayly

*VIDEO*

Wall Street took a battering on Wednesday as the heightened political turmoil in Washington led many investors to seriously question whether President Donald Trump will be able to push through any real pro-business reform measures.

The Dow Jones opened 170 points lower and continued its freefall all morning, at one point shedding 350 points. By midday it settled somewhat, at a low of 20,725 - a loss of over 250 points from Tuesday's close.

It's the worst day for stocks since 2016. Financials led the sell-off, with Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America all down more than 2 percent.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/wall-street-having-its-worst-day-2016-n760841


----------



## poochee

*Why James Comey's congressional testimony will be 'one for the history books'*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 1:46 PM ET, Wed May 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

Sources: Trump asked to end Flynn inquiry 03:30

Washington (CNN)_Few reporters know deposed FBI Director James Comey as well -- or have been covering him as long -- as CNN's Eric Lichtblau. Lichtblau, a new CNN'er after spending 15 years at The New York Times, has been reporting on Comey for more than a decade -- all the way back to the infamous 2004 hospital confrontation between Comey and then Bush chief of staff Andy Card and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales._

_I reached out to Eric to get some perspective on what Comey will do next, the likelihood he told President Donald Trump he wasn't under investigation and who will succeed Comey at the FBI. Our conversation, conducted via email and lightly edited for flow, is below.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/17/politics/trump-comey-fbi-cornyn/index.html

_


----------



## poochee

May 17, 10:58 PM EDT
*Special prosecutor abruptly named to probe Trump-Russia ties*
By ERIC TUCKER, JULIE PACE and NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department abruptly appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller Wednesday night as a special counsel to lead a federal investigation into allegations that Donald Trump's campaign collaborated with Russia to sway the 2016 election that put him in the White House. Mueller will have sweeping powers and the authority to prosecute any crimes he uncovers.

The surprise announcement to hand the probe over to Mueller, a lawman with deep bipartisan respect, was a striking shift for Trump's Justice Department, which had resisted increasingly loud calls from Democrats for an outside prosecutor. It immediately escalated the legal stakes -- and the potential political damage -- for a president who has tried to dismiss the matter as partisan witch hunt and a "hoax."

The announcement, the latest in the shock-a-day Washington saga, was made by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The White House counsel's office was alerted only after the order appointing Mueller was signed, said a senior White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly by name and commented only on condition of anonymity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-17-22-58-45


----------



## poochee

May 17, 10:53 PM EDT
*Analysis: For Trump, Russia probe is crisis he can't control*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is facing a crisis he can't manage with a tweet or a taunt.

The appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel overseeing the federal government's Russia investigation has dramatically raised the legal and political stakes and put Trump's young presidency in dangerous waters just four months after he was sworn into office.

White House and campaign records may be subpoenaed, and Trump's presidential privilege to keep West Wing conversations private could be challenged. Current and former staffers will likely have to hire pricey lawyers and sit for interviews. Trump himself may have to answer questions.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-17-22-53-52


----------



## poochee

May 18 2017, 8:33 am ET
*Trump Says He's Victim of 'Witch Hunt' After Special Counsel Announced*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

A day after the Justice Department announced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, President Donald Trump is sounding skeptical.

"With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special councel (sic) appointed!" he weighed in Thursday morning on Twitter, his favored form of communication.

"This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!" he followed up.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...-special-counsel-n761421?cid=eml_pol_20170518

*5 politicians who were treated more unfairly than Trump*
 William Cummings  , USA TODAY Published 6:34 p.m. ET May 17, 2017 | Updated 1 hour ago

*VIDEO*

President Trump focused on his own hardships since taking office during his commencement address Wednesday at the United States Coast Guard Academy, saying, "No politician in history - and I say this with great surety - has been treated worse or more unfairly."

History is very long, and despite Trump's "surety," from the Roman Emperor Caracalla, who was fatally stabbed by one of his soldiers while urinating along a roadside, to Nelson Mandela, who was labeled a terrorist and spent 27 years in prison, the past is replete with stories of politicians who had it rougher than Trump.

But, perhaps the president meant to say he was being treated more unfairly than any politician in U.S. history. But even by that standard, most would agree the following American leaders and lawmakers had it worse than Trump.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...s-treated-more-unfairly-than-trump/328504001/


----------



## poochee

CARTOON

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon-051717-trump-travel


----------



## poochee

*5 things to watch on Trump's foreign trip 
Can he stick to a script?*
By Michael Crowley 
05/19/2017 05:13 AM EDT

President Donald Trump departs Friday for his first foreign trip, a nine-day voyage that will take him across the Middle East and Western Europe. Although the trip will be shadowed by Trump's growing problems at home, it could shape his foreign policy in important and lasting ways.

Trump will encounter a slew of thorny foreign policy issues on his trip, which features stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel, a G7 meeting in Sicily, a NATO summit in Brussels and a visit to the Vatican.

*Here are five things to watch:*

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/19/trump-foreign-trip-what-to-watch-238578


----------



## poochee

*NYT: Trump brags to Russians about firing 'nut job' Comey*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 5:54 PM ET, Fri May 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump bragged to two top Russian officials last week that firing "nut job" FBI Director James Comey eased "great pressure" on him, The New York Times reported Friday.

"I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump said, according to the Times. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

Trump's Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak came one day after Comey was fired.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/trump-russians-nut-job-comey/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Current White House staffer caught up in Russia probe, source says*
By Mike Levine
Adam Kelsey
RYAN STRUYK
May 19, 2017, 4:58 PM ET

*VIDEO
*
The federal investigation of alleged collusion between associates of President Donald Trump and Russian officials is looking not only into Trump campaign advisers previously cited in public accounts, but it is also scrutinizing at least one current White House staffer, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The Washington Post was the first to report on this detail of the investigation, saying a "senior White House adviser" has become "a significant person of interest" in the probe.

Officials speaking to ABC News would not identify the staffer, and it is unclear exactly why authorities are interested in this individual.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/curr...-caught-russia-probe-source/story?id=47519121


----------



## poochee

May 19 2017, 11:06 pm ET
*Former FBI Chief James Comey to Testify Before Senate Intelligence Committee*
by Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

Former FBI director James Comey has agreed to publicly testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his role in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the committee announced Friday.

"I am hopeful that [Comey] will clarify for the American people recent events that have been broadly reported in the media," said Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the committee.

Former FBI director James Comey has agreed to publicly testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his role in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the committee announced Friday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...testify-senate-intelligence-committee-n762411


----------



## poochee

*Trump meets with lawyers at the White House*
By Alex Isenstadt  and Josh Dawsey 
05/18/2017 07:08 PM EDT

President Donald Trump convened his legal team on Thursday to discuss the escalating investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

The huddle, according to four people briefed, took place the day after it was announced that former FBI Director Robert Mueller would serve as the investigation's special counsel.

One White House official said the discussion, which came the day before Trump leaves for his first trip abroad since taking office, centered around the nuts and bolts of how the investigation would work - and how the administration will need to handle the inquiry.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/18/trump-lawyers-white-house-238579?lo=ap_f1


----------



## poochee

May 20, 4:45 PM EDT
*The Latest: Trump presents Saudis with massive arms package*

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- The Latest on President Donald Trump's first trip abroad (all times local):

11:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump is basking in a royal welcome in Saudi Arabia, a far cry from the contentious atmosphere he left behind in Washington.

In the capital of Riyadh, Saudi King Salman greeted Trump warmly and later presented him with the kingdom's highest civilian honor, a gold medal, during a ceremony at the grand Saudi Royal Court.

Trump rewarded his Saudi hosts with a $110 billion arms package aimed at bolstering Saudi security and a slew of business agreements.

Trump spent most of his first day abroad shuttling between opulent palace ballrooms with the king. The two were overheard discussing natural resources and arms, and Salman bemoaned the destruction caused by Syria's civil war.

Trump is on a five-stop swing that will take him to the Middle East and Europe.

MORE..........

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-20-16-45-11


----------



## poochee

May 21, 2:23 PM EDT
*Trump urges Mideast nations to drive out 'Islamic extremism'*
By JULIE PACE and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday implored Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries to extinguish "Islamic extremism" emanating from the region, describing a "battle between good and evil" rather than a clash between the West and Islam.

In a pointed departure from his predecessor, Trump all but promised he would not publicly admonish Mideast rulers for human rights violations and oppressive reigns.

"We are not here to lecture - we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship," Trump said, speaking in an ornate room in the Saudi capital. "Instead, we are here to offer partnership - based on shared interests and values - to pursue a better future for us all."

The president's address was the centerpiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first overseas trip since his January swearing-in. For Trump, the trip is a reprieve from the crush of controversies that have marred his young presidency and an attempt to reset his relationship with a region and a religion he fiercely criticized a candidate.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-21-12-32-02


----------



## poochee

May 20, 7:48 AM EDT

*AP FACT CHECK: Trump claims on Russia probe aren't adding up*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some things aren't adding up in President Donald Trump's account of the investigation into his campaign's relationship with Russians, an inquiry he says "I respect" yet considers a "witch hunt."

*A review from another wild week in Washington:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-20-07-48-34


----------



## poochee

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
May 19, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*

*Transcript/VIDEO

*My fellow Americans,

This weekend I begin my first trip overseas as president - a trip with historic significance for the American people.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/19/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

May 21 2017, 5:46 pm ET
*North Korea Launches Medium Range Ballistic Missile: White House*
by Saphora Smith, Ali Vitali and Ed Flanagan

North Korea has launched a medium-range ballistic missile, U.S. officials said on Sunday, the latest in a series of tests carried out since President Donald Trump came to office.

The Saturday launch came a week after the isolated nation test-fired another missile, which experts said marked a step forward in North Korea's missile program.

"We are aware that North Korea launched a [medium-range ballistic missile]. This system, last tested in February, has a shorter range than the missiles launched in North Korea's three most recent tests," a White House official told NBC News.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/n...m-range-ballistic-missile-white-house-n762646


----------



## poochee

*Melania Trump gets rave reviews in Saudi press*
By Elizabeth Landers, CNN
Updated 1:53 PM ET, Sun May 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (CNN)First lady Melania Trump's fashion choices got rave reviews in local Saudi Arabian press Sunday, despite forgoing the customary headscarf.

Both the first lady and first daughter Ivanka Trump have been closely watched in Saudi Arabia for both style and substance.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/21/politics/melania-trump-saudi-arabia/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Media 'jokes' not so funny*
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
Updated 3:04 PM ET, Sun May 21, 2017

*Story highlights*

After firing blanks from a machine gun, Tampa's mayor reportedly joked, "the first place I point that gun is at the media"
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was overheard joking with Trump about a ceremonial saber on journalists
Defense writer John Donnelly was pinned against the wall by security guards at the Federal Communications Commission
Trump's unrelenting criticism of the media and divisive rhetoric at rallies seems to have engendered hostility and a creeping permissiveness about violence
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/21/politics/media-violence-new-normal/index.html


.


----------



## poochee

Trump's First Foreign Trip
May 21 2017, 9:18 pm ET
*Trump's Speech to Muslim World Earns Praise and Condemnation*
by Phil McCausland and Ahmed Mengli

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump tempered his rhetoric on the Muslim world in a speech given in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, earning praise from some corners and condemnation from others.

His remarks in Riyadh tamped down the incendiary tenor Trump maintained during the 2016 campaign, which were pleasing to his base, but inflamed the opposition.

The relatively even keel stayed on target as the president read carefully from his teleprompter and avoided off-the-cuff remarks that got him into trouble in the past.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/tr...ise-condemnation-n762666?cid=eml_pol_20170522


----------



## poochee

*In A Historic First, Trump Visits Old City Of Jerusalem* 
May 22, 201711:02 AM ET 
Mark Katkov
Updated at 2:15 p.m. ET

*VIDEO*

In a visit fraught with symbolism, President Trump on Monday became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The president and first lady Melania Trump visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection, and the Western Wall, part of the Jewish temple complex destroyed by Rome in 70 C.E.

The walled Old City lies in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the Six-Day War 50 years ago. Israel's subsequent annexation of East Jerusalem is not recognized internationally.

The White House said the visit was unofficial and private. The U.S. considers the status of Jerusalem unresolved and subject to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not accompany the president to the Old City.

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/22/529483918/in-a-historic-first-trump-visits-old-city-of-jerusalem


----------



## poochee

May 22, 2:51 PM EDT
*Letter: Flynn cites 'public frenzy,' invokes 5th Amendment*
By CHAD DAY and STEPHEN BRAUN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination on Monday and declined to hand over documents sought under subpoena by a Senate panel investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

In a letter to the Senate intelligence committee , Flynn's attorneys justified the decision by citing an "escalating public frenzy against him" and saying the Justice Department's recent appointment of a special counsel has created a legally dangerous environment for him to cooperate with the panel's investigation.

"The context in which the committee has called for General Flynn's testimonial production of documents makes clear that he has more than a reasonable apprehension that any testimony he provides could be used against him," the attorneys wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the AP.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-22-13-42-28


----------



## poochee

May 22 2017, 8:38 am ET
*The White House Is Still Changing Its Story on Comey's Firing*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Two weeks of changing White House explanations for firing Comey

After the last two weeks of jaw-dropping news coming from the nation's capital, here's maybe the most important question to ask: Why did President Trump fire FBI Director James Comey, and did the firing have anything to do with the FBI's probe into Russia? Well, there's been changing answers coming from the Trump White House.


*May 9:* In its announcement of firing Comey, the White House said it was due to how Comey handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation - and it was based on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. "President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. "I cannot defend the Director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken," Rosenstein wrote to Trump.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...y-comey-s-firing-n762886?cid=eml_pol_20170522


----------



## poochee

*Trump's casino was a money laundering concern shortly after it opened*
By Jose Pagliery, CNN Investigates
Updated 8:21 AM ET, Mon May 22, 2017

*Story highlights*

Trump's Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules in the 1990s
It was the preferred spot for Russian mobsters to gamble
Episodes like this in Trump's business past will get more scrutiny from Senate investigators

(CNN)The Trump Taj Mahal casino broke anti-money laundering rules 106 times in its first year and a half of operation in the early 1990s, according to the IRS in a 1998 settlement agreement.

It's a bit of forgotten history that's buried in federal records held by an investigative unit of the Treasury Department, records that congressional committees investigating Trump's ties to Russia have obtained access to, CNN has learned.

The casino repeatedly failed to properly report gamblers who cashed out $10,000 or more in a single day, the government said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/politics/trump-taj-mahal/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court strikes down North Carolina congressional district maps *
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 2:59 PM ET, Mon May 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Supreme Court held North Carolina illegally drew two congressional districts to pack them with African-American voters
Republicans control 10 US House seats; Democrats three
CNN)The Supreme Court struck down two congressional district maps in North Carolina Monday, holding that the state had engaged in an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/politics/north-carolina-gerrymander/index.html


----------



## poochee

May 22 2017, 3:16 pm ET
*Manafort, Stone Turn Over Russia Documents to Senate Intel Committee*
by Ken Dilanian

*VIDEO*

Two former associates of President Trump - Paul Manafort and Roger Stone - have turned over documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee in its Russia investigation, a congressional source with direct knowledge told NBC News.

Earlier this month, the committee sent document requests to Manafort and Stone, as well as Carter Page and Mike Flynn, officials said previously. The requests sought information pertaining to dealings with Russia. Page has not yet complied, the congressional source said, and Flynn plans to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as a reason not to comply with a committee subpoena, a source close to him has said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ssia-documents-senate-intel-committee-n763141


----------



## poochee

Trump's First Foreign Trip
May 22 2017, 2:17 pm ET
*Trump, Netanyahu Vow to Pursue Mideast Peace, Confront Iran*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

JERUSALEM - President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared together Monday and vowed to make a renewed effort at peace with the Palestinians and to confront Iran.

"I wanted you to know how much we appreciate the American change in policy on Iran," Netanyahu said as the two leaders delivered joint statements at the prime minister's residence here, but took no questions from reporters.

"We can hold back Iran's march in this region and thwart Iran's unbridled ambition," Netanyahu added.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/tr...rrives-israel-will-push-peace-process-n762816


----------



## poochee

May 22 2017, 11:12 pm ET
*19 Killed in 'Appalling Suicide Attack' After Ariana Grande Concert in U.K.*
by Andrew Blankstein, Robert Windrem, Alex Johnson and Tom Winter

*VIDEO*

At least 19 people were killed and about 50 others were injured in what British Prime Minister Theresa May called "an appalling suicide attack" after an Ariana Grande concert Monday night at Manchester Arena in England, authorities said.

Greater Manchester Police said the incident was being treated as terrorism. A senior White House official told NBC News that President Donald Trump, who is on a visit to Jerusalem, had been briefed.

Police said the explosion took place outside the arena, which is near the Manchester Victoria transit station, as the concert ended at about 10:35 p.m. local time (5:35 p.m. ET), catching people as they exited.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/d...xplosions-heard-u-k-concert-featuring-n763286


----------



## poochee

May 23 2017, 5:44 am ET
*Trump Trip: President Meets With Palestinian President Abbas *
by F. Brinley Bruton

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on Tuesday, a day after promising to make a renewed effort at peace between the Palestinians and Israelis.

The president made the journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, passing a billboard which declared the "city of peace welcomes the man of peace."

Speaking after their meeting in the West Bank, Abbas said he was ready to be Trump's partner in trying to reach a deal that would establish a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured half a century ago.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/tr...-president-abbas-n763401?cid=eml_pol_20170523


----------



## poochee

*Coats says 'not appropriate' to talk about his conversations with Trump on Russia probe*
By Madeline Conway 
05/23/2017 10:32 AM EDT
Updated 05/23/2017 12:09 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats declined on Tuesday to confirm or deny a report that President Donald Trump pressured him to publicly deny that there is any evidence of collusion between his campaign and the Russian government.

The Monday Washington Post story, which has since been confirmed by other news outlets, alleges that the White House sought to push back on the FBI's ongoing investigation into Russia's suspected attempts to meddle in last year's election by seeking help from Coats and Michael Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/23/trump-conversation-dan-coats-no-comment-238717


----------



## poochee

*Former CIA Director Tells Lawmakers About 'Very Aggressive' Russian Election Meddling* 
May 23, 20179:57 AM ET 
Brian Naylor
Updated at 3:38 p.m. ET
*
VIDEO*

Former CIA Director John Brennan told the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that Russia "brazenly interfered in the 2016 election process," despite U.S. efforts to warn it off. Brennan testified in an open session of the committee, one of a handful of congressional committees now investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Brennan said he told his Russian counterpart, the head of Russia's FSB, last August that if Russia pursued its efforts to interfere, "it would destroy any near-term prospect for improvement in relations" between the two countries. He said Russia denied any attempts to interfere.

In his opening statement, Brennan also recounted how he had briefed congressional leaders in August of last year, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees about the "full details" of what he knew of Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Brennan said he became convinced last summer that Russia was trying to interfere in the campaign, saying "they were very aggressive."

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/23/52959...-about-very-aggressive-russian-election-meddl

Former CIA Director John Brennan told the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that Russia "brazenly interfered in the 2016 election process," despite U.S. efforts to warn it off. Brennan testified in an open session of the committee, one of a handful of congressional committees now investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Brennan said he told his Russian counterpart, the head of Russia's FSB, last August that if Russia pursued its efforts to interfere, "it would destroy any near-term prospect for improvement in relations" between the two countries. He said Russia denied any attempts to interfere.


----------



## poochee

*Pope-Trump meeting agenda: Climate change, terrorism *
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 10:48 AM ET, Wed May 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

Vatican City (CNN)After a highly anticipated meeting, Pope Francis appears to have left his mark on President Donald Trump.

"Thank you. I won't forget what you said," Trump told Pope Francis, before leaving the Pope's private study after a half-hour private meeting.

Neither Trump nor the Pope revealed what their conversation entailed, but readouts from the White House and the Vatican highlighted terrorism, climate change and peace as agenda items covered.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/24/politics/trump-pope-francis-vatican-city/


----------



## poochee

May 24 2017, 2:42 pm ET
*Manchester Bombing Suspect Was Allegedly Part of a Network*
by F. Brinley Bruton , Richard Engel and Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

MANCHESTER, England - The suicide bomber who killed 22 people after an Ariana Grande concert was part of a terrorist network - and not a lone-wolf attacker.

The revelation by police Wednesday came as British troops were deployed to protect landmarks in major cities and six more suspects, including suspected bomber Salman Abedi's younger brother and father, were arrested.

"It is very clear this is a network we are investigating," Manchester police chief Ian Hopkins said. "We are carrying out extensive searches."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ma...mbing-suspect-likely-didn-t-act-alone-n763921


----------



## poochee

May 24, 3:16 PM EDT
*Longtime Trump attorney set to aid president amid probe*
By JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's longtime attorney is joining a still-forming legal team that will guide the president through intensifying investigations into Russian interference in the U.S. election and his associates' possible involvement.

New York-based attorney Mark Kasowitz has a history of working on Trump's most nettlesome legal issues and is viewed as a trusted adviser, according to two people familiar with the decision. The team is expected to be filled out with lawyers with deeper experience in Washington investigations, as well as crisis communication experts, said the people, who demanded anonymity because they're not authorized to disclose personnel moves publicly.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-24-15-16-21


----------



## poochee

May 24 2017, 6:19 am ET
*Congressional Budget Report Could Upset GOP Efforts to Repeal Obamacare*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

House Republicans passed their health care bill in early May. Now, they get to find out what's in it.

In a highly unusual move, House leaders brought the American Health Care Act to a vote three weeks ago without waiting for the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan agency responsible for scrutinizing legislation, to evaluate its effects.

The agency is scheduled to release its report on the AHCA on Wednesday afternoon. The CBO previously weighed in on a version of the AHCA that the House was set to vote on in March before Republican leaders withdrew the bill due to lack of support.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...repeal-obamacare-n763676?cid=eml_pol_20170524


----------



## poochee

May 24 2017, 11:57 am ET
*Trump Team Stands by Budget's $2 Trillion Math Error*
by Ben Popken

*VIDEO*

"A New Foundation for American Greatness" was built on quicksand, and the president's defenders are happy to keep shoveling it.

President Donald Trump's newly unveiled budget contains a massive accounting error that uses the same money twice for two different purposes. Based on its supersized projections of 3 percent GDP, the president's budget forecasts about $2 trillion in extra federal revenue growth over the next 10 years, which it then uses to pay for Trump's "biggest tax cut in history."

But then it also uses that very same $2 trillion to balance the budget.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-team-stands-budget-s-2-trillion-math-error-n763996


----------



## poochee

*The photos House Republicans are really going to regret taking*
Analysis by Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 8:26 PM ET, Wed May 24, 2017

*Story highlights*

As a practical political concern, this photo was not a good idea
CBO projects 23 million Americans who might otherwise be covered would lose their health insurance
*VIDEO*

(CNN)Everyone looks so happy.

On the same day they voted to shred Obamacare and replace it with the American Health Care Act, House Republicans made their way to the White House for a little celebration.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/24/polit...bo-obamacare-repeal-trump-pictures/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Landslide Buries Stretch of Famous Hwy. 1 at California's Big Sur*
Wed, May 24

*VIDEO*

Part of California's Highway 1 remains buried under a mountain of rock and dirt that stretches a quarter-mile wide.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...us-hwy-1-at-california-s-big-sur-952679491985


----------



## poochee

*Greg Gianforte's assault charge puts Republicans in a lose-lose situation in Montana*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 3:43 PM ET, Thu May 25, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Before Gianforte's choke-slam on Jacobs, the race had been tightening due to the corroding national environment for Republicans
Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that Gianforte should apologize
Washington (CNN)Greg Gianforte's choke-slam of reporter Ben Jacobs on Wednesday night -- and the ensuing assault charge -- might not cost him a victory in today's Montana special election. But even if Gianforte wins, Republicans will face a major decision on whether or not to seat him.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/25/politics/greg-gianforte-montana/index.html


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## poochee

May 25 2017, 2:28 pm ET
*Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Enforcing Trump Travel Restrictions*
by Pete Williams

*VIDEO*

A federal appeals court Thursday upheld one of two bans on enforcing President Donald Trump's executive order restricting travel from six predominately Muslim countries.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia, voted 10-3 to uphold a ruling by a federal judge in Maryland who declared in March that the president's revised travel order amounted to unconstitutional religious discrimination.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...n-enforcing-trump-travel-restrictions-n764701


----------



## poochee

May 25 2017, 12:44 pm ET
*Trump Needles NATO Allies on Debt, Raising Eyebrows at 9/11 Ceremony*
by Saphora Smith

*VIDEO*

BRUSSELS - President Donald Trump slammed fellow NATO leaders for not meeting financial obligations in a public broadside Thursday that surprised seasoned observers.

Some world leaders appeared surprised or bemused as the president said 23 of the 28 member states owed "massive amounts of money" to U.S. tax payers. Trump was unveiling a piece of the World Trade Center as part of an inauguration ceremony of NATO's new headquarters when he criticized his fellow leaders for their lack of contributions to the alliance.

French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to be cringing while the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel raised an eyebrow in response.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/tr...s-debt-raising-eyebrows-9-11-ceremony-n764636


----------



## poochee

*President Trump shoved the Montenegro prime minister at NATO*
 Jessica Estepa  , USA TODAY Published 1:11 p.m. ET May 25, 2017 | Updated 45 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

During his first joint meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders, President Trump on Thursday appeared to push aside the prime minister of Montenegro.

In a video of the interaction, the president comes up from behind and then shoves Montenegro's Dusko Markovic to get to the front of the group of world leaders. Trump then adjusts his jacket.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ved-montenegro-prime-minister-nato/102144808/


----------



## poochee

May 26, 2:38 PM EDT
*Trump views on climate 'evolving' amid push from Europeans*
By JULIE PACE and COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press

TAORMINA, Italy (AP) -- President Donald Trump's views on climate change are "evolving" following discussions with European leaders who are pushing for him to stay in the Paris climate accord, a top White House official said Friday.

"He feels much more knowledgeable on the topic today," said Gary Cohn, Trump's top White House economic adviser. "He came here to learn, he came here to get smarter."

European leaders have used Trump's stops on the continent this week, including at the Group of 7 meeting in Sicily, to launch a last-ditch campaign for Trump to stay in the climate accord. Nearly 200 nations agreed to the 2015 pact aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-26-14-38-02


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## poochee

May 26 2017, 4:09 am ET
*Jared Kushner Under Scrutiny in Russia Probe, Officials Say*
by Ken Dilanian, Peter Alexander and Courtney Kube

*VIDEO*

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, has come under FBI scrutiny in the Russia investigation, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.

Investigators believe Kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry, officials said. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...i-scrutiny-russia-probe-say-officials-n764826


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## poochee

May 26 2017, 4:50 am ET
*Republican Charged With Assault Claims Win in Montana Special Election*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

Republican Greg Gianforte declared victory early Friday in Montana's special congressional election, barely a day after he was accused of slamming a journalist to the ground and charged with misdemeanor assault.

Gianforte, 55, a technology entrepreneur, won a bare majority of the vote. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, he had 50.2 percent of the vote, while the Democrat, Rob Quist, had 44.1 percent. Libertarian Mark Wicks had 5.7 percent, nearly the same as Gianforte's 6.1 percentage point margin over Quist.

Quist, who is a country singer, later conceded the contest for Montana's lone seat in the U.S. House.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...ssional-election-n764866?cid=eml_pol_20170526


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## poochee

May 26 2017, 7:36 am ET
*Here's What the GOP Bill Does to Obamacare's 'Essential Health Benefits'*
by Maggie Fox

*VIDEO*

Maternity care. Mental health. Dentist visits for kids. States trying to save money on health insurance are likely to ask to cut these and other services if the latest version of the GOP's health reform bill becomes law, the Congressional Budget Office found.

The CBO's analysis of the American Health Care Act breaks out how many states are likely to seek permission to stop requiring health insurance companies to offer coverage of all of the "essential health benefits" - the list of medical services that must be offered now under the Affordable Care Act.

"In particular, out-of-pocket spending on maternity care and mental health and substance abuse services could increase by thousands of dollars in a given year," according to the CBO report released Wednesday.


----------



## poochee

*In Commencement Speech, Hillary Clinton Jabs Trump Administration*
May 26, 20178:58 AM ET

On Friday, Hillary Clinton addressed the graduating class of her alma mater, Wellesley College.

She used the opportunity to wade into current politics and direct a few jokes at President Trump.

"When people in power invent their own facts and attack those who question them, it can mark the beginning of the end of a free society," she said. "That is not hyperbole; it is what authoritarian regimes throughout history have done. ... They attempt to control reality."

She called Trump's new budget proposal "an attack of unimaginable cruelty on the most vulnerable among us - the youngest, the oldest, the poorest and hard-working people who need a little help to gain or hang on to a decent, middle-class life."

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/26/53017...iver-commencement-speech-at-wellesley-college


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## poochee

May 27 2017, 6:53 am ET
*Kushner Met With Russian Banker Who Is Putin Crony, Spy School Grad*
by Tom Winter and Robert Windrem

*VIDEO*

The Russian banker Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner met with in December is viewed by U.S. intelligence as a "Putin crony" and a graduate of a "finishing school" for spies who was often tasked with sensitive financial operations by Putin, according to multiple U.S. officials and documents viewed by NBC News.

Sergey Gorkov, 48, graduated from the FSB Academy, which was chartered in 1994 to educate Russian Intelligence personnel. He has long served Russian President Vladimir Putin in critical economic roles. Most recently, Putin chose him to head of the state-owned VneshEconomBank (VEB). As the Russian state national development bank, VEB has played a critical role in blunting the impact of U.S. sanctions against Russia by finding other sources of foreign capital.

Before that, Gorkov was the deputy chairman of Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, also state-owned, and also under U.S. sanctions since 2014.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...anker-who-putin-crony-spy-school-grad-n765311


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## poochee

May 27, 3:47 PM EDT
*AP source: Kushner back channel with Russia involved Syria*
By VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's son-in-law and now top White House adviser Jared Kushner proposed a secret back channel between the Kremlin and the Trump transition team during a December meeting with a leading Russian diplomat.

Kushner spoke with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about creating that line of communication to facilitate sensitive discussions aimed at exploring the incoming administration's options with Russia as it was developing its Syria policy, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke with The Associated Press.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-27-13-41-40


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## poochee

May 27, 9:22 PM EDT
*Trump's trip: Conventional images and unconventional talk*
By JULIE PACE and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

TAORMINA, Sicily (AP) -- As he dashed through the Middle East and Europe, Donald Trump looked like a conventional American leader abroad. He solemnly laid a wreath at a Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, had an audience with the pope at the Vatican and stood center stage with Western allies at the annual summits that dominate the diplomatic calendar.

But when Trump spoke, he sounded like anything but a typical U.S. president.

On his first overseas tour, the new president made no attempt to publicly promote democracy and human rights in Saudi Arabia, instead declaring that he wasn't there to lecture. In Israel and the West Bank, he pointedly did not back America's long-standing support for a two-state solution to the intractable peace process. And in the heart of Europe, Trump berated NATO allies over their financial commitments and would not explicitly endorse the "one for all, all for one" defense doctrine that has been the cornerstone of trans-Atlantic security for decades.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-27-21-22-21


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## poochee

*Decoding Trump's body language *
By Nicole Chavez, CNN
Updated 8:14 PM ET, Sat May 27, 2017

_(CNN)_As President Donald Trump's first official trip abroad comes to an end, handshakes and facial expressions could give us a small glimpse into his personality.

While people speculate what some of Trump's controversial interactions really mean, body language experts shared with CNN what some of his moves and gestures are telling them.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/27/politics/trump-body-language/index.html


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## poochee

May 28 2017, 11:24 am ET
*James Clapper on Trump-Russia Ties: 'My Dashboard Warning Light Was Clearly On'*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Sunday said that his "dashboard warning light was clearly on" when asked about whether he knew about communications between Russians and White House senior adviser and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

"I have to say that, without specifically affirming or confirming these conversations - since, even though they're in the public realm, they're still classified - just from a theoretical standpoint, I will tell you that my dashboard warning light was clearly on and I think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community, very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the Russians," Clapper said during an exclusive interview on NBC's "Meet The Press."

"If you put that in context with everything else we knew the Russians were doing to interfere with the election, and just the historical practices of the Russians, who typically, almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever, which is a typical Russian technique. So we were concerned."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...arning-light-was-n765601?cid=eml_pol_20170528


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## poochee

*Trump is back in the U.S. and tweeting like crazy*
 Bart Jansen  , USA TODAY Published 11:51 a.m. ET May 28, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

President Trump reclaimed his voice on Twitter on Sunday after a relatively quiet foreign trip where he didn't hold a news conference and didn't tweet much.

The common theme in the series featured complaints about news coverage of his administration. In a string of missives, Trump blasted stories based on anonymous sources as "fake news."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/05/28/trump-back-tweetstorm/102261912/


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## poochee

May 28, 11:48 AM EDT
*Trump eyes White House overhaul, outside lawyers and PR team*
By JILL COLVIN and KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

Expanding teams of lawyers and experienced public relations hands are being recruited to deal with the drumbeat of new revelations about Moscow's interference and possible improper dealings with the Trump campaign and associates. The disclosures dogged the president during his first trip abroad since taking office and threaten to overwhelm and stall the agenda for his young administration.

Expanding teams of lawyers and experienced public relations hands are being recruited to deal with the drumbeat of new revelations about Moscow's interference and possible improper dealings with the Trump campaign and associates. The disclosures dogged the president during his first trip abroad since taking office and threaten to overwhelm and stall the agenda for his young administration.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-28-11-48-00


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## poochee

**
*Trump Says He Does Not Know Jared Kushner Very Well*
*By Andy Borowitz*
11:45 A.M.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-says-he-does-not-know-jared-kushner-very-well


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## poochee

May 29, 1:24 PM EDT
*The Latest: Trump visits graves of casualties of recent wars
*
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on President Donald Trump's Memorial Day observance (all times local):

12:45 p.m.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-29-13-24-47


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## poochee

*Trump's actions have 'weakened' the West, German foreign minister says*
By James Masters, CNN
Updated 11:44 AM ET, Mon May 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_Germany's foreign minister launched a scathing criticism of Donald Trump on Monday, claiming the US President's actions have "weakened" the West and accusing the US government of standing "against the interests of the European Union."

Just 24 hours after German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Europe could no longer completely rely on traditional allies such as the US and Britain, the country's top diplomat, Sigmar Gabriel, went a step further.

"Anyone who accelerates climate change by weakening environmental protection, who sells more weapons in conflict zones and who does not want to politically resolve religious conflicts is putting peace in Europe at risk," Gabriel said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/29/europe/angela-merkel-uk-amber-rudd/index.html


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## poochee

*Macron explains his tense handshake with Trump*
By Eli Watkins and Laura Koran, CNN
Updated 12:56 PM ET, Mon May 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

"They shook hands for an extended period of time. Each president gripped the other's hand with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening."

Steve Holland, who covers the White House for Reuters, tweeted this: "The photogs noticed that Trump and Macron were gripping their hands hard... Trump seems to just want his hand back."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/28/politics/emmanuel-macron-donald-trump/index.html


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## poochee

*Here's how the Clintons spent their Memorial Day*
By Saba Hamedy, CNN
Updated 2:31 PM ET, Mon May 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Bill and Hillary Clinton continued their tradition of honoring US service members by walking in Monday's Memorial Day parade in Chappaqua, New York.

"A rainy but wonderful morning march in the Chappaqua Memorial Day Parade," Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, tweeted Monday. "Thinking of our veterans who gave their lives for this country."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/29/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-memorial-day/index.html


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## poochee

May 30, 2:42 PM EDT
*Trump, EPA chief meet ahead of decision on climate change*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is meeting with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency ahead of a decision on whether the United States will withdraw from an international pact aimed at slowing climate change.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer says the president met with EPA administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday as he mulls a decision on the climate agreement.

Spicer says Trump ultimately "wants a fair deal for the American people."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-30-14-42-18


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## poochee

May 30 2017, 8:40 am ET
*Kushner Scrutiny Keeps White House in Permanent Crisis Mode*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Scrutiny of Kushner keeps the White House in permanent crisis mode

Donald Trump could have spent the holiday weekend regrouping after returning from an exhausting and sometimes rocky trip overseas. But instead, the White House finds itself once again in permanent crisis mode, this time due to scrutiny of Jared Kushner's communications with Russian officials. *Consider what's happened just in the last six days:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...nent-crisis-mode-n766011?cid=eml_pol_20170530


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## poochee

*As Trump Lifestyle Takes Toll On Secret Service, Lawmakers Try To Give Extra Support* 
May 28, 20177:00 AM ET 
 Brian Naylor 

 
The president's travels - as well as his world-hopping adult children who also have a Secret Service detail - are taking a toll on the men and women who protect the Trump family.

Former agent Jonathan Wackrow says the Secret Service "is currently operating at lower numbers than they have in modern times. That combined with just the travel schedule and the need to secure multiple locations that the president resides puts a manpower strain on the Secret Service week after week."

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/28/53019...cret-service-lawmakers-try-to-give-extra-supp


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## poochee

May 30 2017, 5:54 pm ET
*U.S. Missile Defense Test Over Pacific Ocean a Key Milestone*
by Courtney Kube, Andrew Rafferty and The Associated Press

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon successfully tested a U.S. long-range interceptor missile over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday in an exercise aimed at helping gauge American readiness to counter a potential threat from North Korea.

During the test, the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency launched an interceptor rocket from an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The interceptor hit and destroyed an intercontinental-range missile fired from a test site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific, the Pentagon announced.

U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm. Jim Syring called the test a "critical milestone" in a statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...test-over-pacific-ocean-key-milestone-n766311


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## poochee

*Michael Flynn To Turn Over Some Subpoenaed Documents To Senate Committee* 
May 30, 20179:51 PM ET 
Barbara Campbell

Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn will give the Senate Intelligence Committee the documents demanded in a revised subpoena for his business records, as part of the committee's investigation into Russia's interference with the 2016 presidential race.

Earlier, Flynn had refused to cooperate with a broader subpoena that included his personal documents, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...some-subpoenaed-documents-to-senate-committee


----------



## poochee

May 30, 10:24 PM EDT
*Trump's use of private cellphone raises security concerns*
By VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

The notion of world leaders calling each other up via cellphone may seem unremarkable in the modern, mobile world. But in the diplomatic arena, where leader-to-leader calls are highly orchestrated affairs, it is another notable breach of protocol for a president who has expressed distrust of official channels. The formalities and discipline of diplomacy have been a rough fit for Trump - who, before taking office, was long easily accessible by cellphone and viewed himself as freewheeling, impulsive dealmaker.

----------------------------------------------------------------
The practice opens Trump up to charges of hypocrisy. Throughout last year's presidential campaign, he lambasted Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for using a private email server while she was secretary of state, insisting she should not be given access to classified information because she would leave it vulnerable to foreign foes.

https://forums.techguy.org/threads/news-from-the-web-3.1138344/page-285


----------



## poochee

*Comey to testify publicly about Trump confrontations*
By Eric Lichtblau, CNN Investigates
Updated 1:24 PM ET, Wed May 31, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Mueller and Comey have discussed parameters to avoid conflicts with criminal probe.
Comey is likely to confirm for the first time accounts of pressure from Trump over Russia investigations.
(CNN)Fired FBI director James Comey plans to testify publicly in the Senate as early as next week to confirm bombshell accusations that President Donald Trump pressured him to end his investigation into a top Trump aide's ties to Russia, a source close to the issue said Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/31/politics/fbi-comey-testimony/index.html


----------



## poochee

CBS News May 31, 2017, 8:06 AM
*President Trump expected to withdraw from Paris climate agreement*
Last Updated May 31, 2017 11:28 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, CBS News White House Correspondent Major Garrett confirms.

Mr. Trump has already told close friends and confidants of his plans, and he has also discussed with senior White House staff attempting to renegotiate the Paris climate protocols on reducing greenhouse gas emissions - with an eye to making them less onerous to U.S. industry.

Mr. Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he will have a formal announcement on the decision "over the next few days."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-trump-to-withdraw-from-paris-climate-agreement/


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## poochee

May 31, 3:32 PM EDT
*Tweet That: #covfefe signals @realDonaldTrump is back*
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Covfefe (cuv-fey-fey) noun: A sure sign that President Donald Trump has regained control of his Twitter account.

For more than a week, the tweets from @realDonaldTrump were, well, boring.

Throughout his first big foreign trip last week, Trump's tweets had the vibe of a garden-variety politician: statements of solidarity with world leaders, retweets of his wife's visits with students and sick children, video clips from arrival statements and formal ceremonies, photos of official dinners.

Yawn.

Well, Twitterverse, he's back.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-31-15-32-51


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## poochee

*Police arrest man with assault rifle at Trump hotel*
By Mary Kay Mallonee and Lauren Meier, CNN
Updated 1:55 PM ET, Wed May 31, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Bryan Moles, 43, of Edinboro, Pennsylvania, was arrested at the Trump International Hotel
The police report said Moles was in possession of two guns and 90 rounds of ammunition
Washington (CNN)A man with an AR-15 assault rifle, a 40-caliber handgun and 90 rounds of ammunition was arrested at President Donald Trump's namesake hotel in Washington early Wednesday morning after a tipster warned police, authorities said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/31/politics/trump-hotel-arrest/index.html


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## poochee

*Six Reasons Why the Trump Reset Won't Work*
*By John Cassidy*
May 30, 2017

The latest Trump Administration reset has begun, or so we are being asked to believe. On Tuesday, Mike Dubke, the White House communications director, confirmed that he was leaving his job after just three months. There is also talk of the Administration setting up a "war room" to deal with the Russia scandal, and assembling an all-star legal team to defend President Trump. Names like Ted Olson and Paul Clement, two former Solicitors General, are being bandied about. And rumors continue to circulate about who else will be coming or going. The potential exit of Sean Spicer, the White House spokesperson, has been the subject of whispers for weeks. According to Politico, on Monday Trump met with his former campaign aides Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie.

What does it all amount to? Unless someone at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue can find a magic potion capable of changing the President's character and behavior, nothing much. To put it in business terms, the White House's problem can't be resolved by firing the marketing team and hiring some external consultants. The problem is the obvious shortcomings of the primary product, Donald J. Trump. *Here are six of them:*

http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-...pJobID=1162689901&spReportId=MTE2MjY4OTkwMQS2


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## poochee

May 31 2017, 6:13 pm ET
*House Subpoenas Flynn, Cohen, and Unmasking Requests by Obama Trio*
by Alex Moe and Kasie Hunt

*VIDEO*

The House Intelligence Committee issued seven subpoenas Wednesday as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, four of them related to the Russia probe - and three about any "unmasking" of Trump associates by Obama officials.

According to a congressional source, the three subpoenas related to unmasking were seeking information on any unmasking requests by former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...n-cohen-unmasking-requests-obama-trio-n766861


----------



## poochee

*Is chronic sleep deprivation impairing President Trump's brain, performance?*
 Jayne O'Donnell  , USA TODAY Published 5:41 p.m. ET May 31, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

*VIDEO*

The tweet came, as they often do, when many others on the East Coast are sleeping.

But when President Trump complained to the twitterverse about all the "negative press covfefe," just after midnight Wednesday, sleep experts saw it as more than just a laughable lapse.

"Cognitive tasks like spelling are impaired by poor sleep," says neurologist Chris Winter, author of the new book _The Sleep Solution._ "I would think something's up, to put it mildly,"

Trump has claimed to prefer three to four hours of sleep. And he shows "many classic signs of sleep deprivation," including bad decision making, inability to focus, irritability and impulsiveness, says Winter, who describes himself as "a fairly conservative guy."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-impairing-trump-brain-performance/102344570/


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## poochee

*Au Revoir: Trump Exits the Paris Climate Accord*
*By Elizabeth Kolbert*
03:49 P.M.

After milking the fate of the planet for maximum drama, Donald Trump announced today that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate accord. To reach this decision, the President had to dismiss decades' worth of research by the country's most prestigious scientific organizations. He needed to resist pleas from the U.S.'s staunchest allies; ignore appeals from many of its largest corporations, including ExxonMobil; and disregard the counsel of his Secretary of State. All this for, well, what? To shore up his base on the coal-hugging right?

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily...pJobID=1180096584&spReportId=MTE4MDA5NjU4NAS2


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## poochee

Jun 1 2017, 4:12 pm ET
*What It Means That Trump Is Leaving the Paris Climate Agreement*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEOS*

WASHINGTON - Now that President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change on Thursday, here's what you need to know about the international effort and how the decision could impact the environment.
*What is the Paris Agreement? *

The Paris Agreement is a deal reached between 195 countries to gradually reduce emissions that cause climate change in order to prevent a major increase in the global temperatures that could raise sea levels, spark major droughts, and lead to more dangerous storms.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...-trump-leaves-paris-climate-agreement-n766761


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## poochee

Jun 1, 1:22 PM EDT
*Trump declines to move US Embassy to Jerusalem, for now*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stepping back from a campaign promise and incurring Israeli ire, President Donald Trump acted Thursday to keep the U.S. Embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv for now instead of moving it to Jerusalem, a cautious move aimed at bolstering prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-01-13-22-27


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## poochee

HUMOR
*Daily Cartoon: Thursday, June 1st*
*By Kim Warp*
June 1, 2017

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/d...pJobID=1180096584&spReportId=MTE4MDA5NjU4NAS2


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## poochee

Jun 2 2017, 9:03 am ET
*It's Trump Against the World - and the President Likes It That Way*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Given all of the chaos and controversies that have surrounded President Trump's first four months in office, his decision to exit to the Paris climate agreement might have been, well, his most predictable move in recent weeks. After all, it was a campaign promise he kept. In addition, those lobbying him to remain in the accord - either at home or abroad - probably didn't vote for him or support him. And the groups and individuals who applauded Trump's move were mostly fellow cabinet members, Republican lawmakers, and GOP outside groups.

But maybe the biggest takeaway is how yesterday's climate move sets up another Trump vs. the World divide, and Trump is probably fine - and sometimes thrives - with that. On one side, you have Trump/Steve Bannon/GOP leaders/Jim Inhofe/even Joe Manchin. On the other, you have Barack Obama/Al Gore/major U.S. corporations/Angela Merkel/Emmanuel Macron. In other words, it was another Thursday in the Trump Era.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ent-likes-it-way-n767506?cid=eml_pol_20170602


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## poochee

*Donald Trump's Cabinet is Complete. Here's the Full List.*
By THE NEW YORK TIMES UPDATED MAY 11, 2017

President Trump's cabinet is more white and male than any cabinet since Ronald Reagan's. Below is a list of appointees for top posts in the new administration. How each senator voted on confirmation votes »

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...d-trump-administration.html?ref=politics&_r=1


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## poochee

*Americans are taking their sweet time paying taxes, and the government is running out of cash*
By Max Ehrenfreund and Damian Paletta By Max Ehrenfreund and Damian Paletta
June 1 at 10:09 AM

Wealthy Americans and business owners are putting off paying taxes in the hopes that Republicans will deliver big cuts, leaving the government increasingly short on cash and accelerating its crash into the debt ceiling.

Federal data and anecdotes from tax advisers reveal that a significant number of taxpayers are postponing cashing out on investments and other financial decisions, hoping to pay less later if the White House and congressional Republicans pass a huge reduction in tax rates.

The Treasury Department had $177 billion in its cash account as of Tuesday, a cash pile that it is drawing down because the government is limited in how much it can borrow by the debt ceiling.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-running-out-of-cash/?utm_term=.2a582f9a722e


----------



## poochee

Jun 2 2017, 2:21 pm ET
*Jerry Sandusky Case: Three Ex-Penn State Officials Get Jail Terms*
by Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A former president of Penn State and two other former university administrators were each sentenced Friday to at least two months in jail for failing to alert authorities to a 2001 allegation against ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a decision that enabled the now-convicted serial predator to continue molesting boys.

"Why Mr. Sandusky was allowed to continue to the Penn State facilities is beyond me," Judge John Boccabella said.

"All three ignored the opportunity to put an end to (Sandusky's) crimes when they had a chance to do so," the judge said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...hree-ex-penn-state-officials-get-jail-n767676


----------



## poochee

Jun 2 2017, 6:01 pm ET
*Special Counsel Robert Mueller Taking Close Control of Russia Investigation*
by Pete Williams

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Special Counsel Robert Mueller is already closely managing the Russian election meddling investigation he was appointed to oversee, receiving daily briefings and weighing in on investigative tactics, a spokesman told NBC News Friday.

Mueller was appointed May 17 after the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, took himself out of overseeing the Russia investigation. Rosenstein said the move was in the public interest and was intended to bolster confidence in the outcome of the probe.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ng-close-control-russia-investigation-n767856


----------



## poochee

Jun 2, 7:15 PM EDT
*Does Trump believe in climate change or not? Aides won't say*
By JILL COLVIN and JACK GILLUM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Does he or doesn't he? Believe in climate change, that is.

You'd think that would be an easy enough question the day after President Donald Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the landmark global accord aimed at combatting global warming.

But don't bother asking at the White House.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-02-19-15-14


----------



## poochee

Jun 2, 7:59 PM EDT
*Special counsel's Trump investigation includes Manafort case*
By SADIE GURMAN, ERIC TUCKER and JEFF HORWITZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The special counsel investigating possible ties between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia's government has taken over a separate criminal probe involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and may expand his inquiry to investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, The Associated Press has learned.

The Justice Department's criminal investigation into Manafort, who was forced to resign as Trump campaign chairman in August amid questions over his business dealings years ago in Ukraine, predated the 2016 election and the counterintelligence probe that in July began investigating possible collusion between Moscow and associates of Trump.

The move to consolidate the matters, involving allegations of misuse of Ukrainian government funds, indicates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is assuming a broad mandate in his new role running the sensational investigation. The expansiveness of Mueller's investigation was described to the AP. No one familiar with the matter has been willing to discuss the scope of his investigation on the record because it is just getting underway and because revealing details could complicate its progress.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-02-19-59-42


----------



## poochee

*Bloomberg Promises $15 Million To Help Make Up For U.S. Withdrawal From Climate Deal*
June 2, 20171:58 PM ET
 Bill Chappell 


Michael Bloomberg is pledging to fill a funding gap created by President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, offering up to $15 million to support the U.N. agency that helps countries implement the agreement.

"Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up - and there isn't anything Washington can do to stop us," said Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who now serves as the U.N.'s special envoy on cities and climate change.

"Mayors, governors, and business leaders from both political parties are signing [on to] a statement of support that we will submit to the U.N.," Bloomberg said, "and together, we will reach the emission reduction goals the U.S. made in Paris in 2015."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...lp-make-up-for-u-s-withdrawal-from-climate-de


----------



## poochee

Jun 3, 12:04 PM EDT
*Trump describes US as cleanest nation; facts muddy the claim*
BY SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said the United States "will continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly country on Earth" as he announced a U.S. pullout from an international accord designed to curb climate change.

But facts muddy that claim.

Data show that the U.S. is among the dirtiest countries when it comes to heat-trapping carbon pollution. One nation that has cleaner air in nearly every way is Sweden.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-03-12-04-48


----------



## poochee

Jun 3, 11:54 AM EDT
*Time dwindling for major successes on GOP legislative agenda*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump and his GOP allies on Capitol Hill have made it through nearly half their first year in power without a single major legislative achievement. If that's going to change, it will have to start soon, a reality that Republican lawmakers will confront when they return to the Capitol on Monday from a weeklong break.

"We just need to work harder," said the second-ranking Republican senator, John Cornyn of Texas, in an interview with KFYO radio in Lubbock, Texas, over the recess.

For now, the party's marquee agenda items remain undone, their fate uncertain. The long-promised effort to overturn former President Barack Obama's health law hangs in limbo in the Senate after barely passing the House. A tax overhaul that's a top Trump priority is unwritten and in dispute, despite his recent claim on Twitter that it's ahead of schedule.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-03-11-54-48


----------



## poochee

*Trump pivots to infrastructure as he enters bruising week*
By Lauren Gardner 
06/03/2017 02:50 PM EDT

The White House next week plans a full-throated infrastructure push, including unveiling more details on its vision for overhauling both the nation's air traffic control system and federal permitting requirements for road projects.

The administration will spend several days rolling out at least some more details about priorities for its $1 trillion infrastructure plan and talking up the need for additional investment, during a week that's otherwise expected to be full of loud and potentially damaging news about the FBI and Russia.

So far the administration has offered few details on its infrastructure proposals, aside from a six-page fact sheet it slipped into its 2018 budget proposal last month.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/03/trump-infrastructure-239098


----------



## poochee

*Police respond to terror attacks on London Bridge, nearby market*
 Andrea Mandell and  Kim Hjelmgaard  , USA TODAY Published 5:48 p.m. ET June 3, 2017 | Updated 0 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

LONDON - British police responded to multiple "terrorist incidents" in London on Saturday as a van plowed into pedestrians on London Bridge, and at least one assailant went on a stabbing rampage in an area of the capital known for its pubs and lively nightlife.

There was more than one fatality, according to media reports.

London Ambulance Service said they had taken at least 20 patients to six hospitals, and treated a number of people at the scene with less serious injuries.

Metropolitan Police said in a tweet that "the incidents at #LondonBridge & #BoroughMarket were declared as terrorist incidents" and appeared to be connected. It was not entirely clear if the police operation was over.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/06/03/police-cite-incident-london-bridge/102467732/


----------



## poochee

Jun 3, 8:36 PM EDT
*Trump filed for an extension on his 2016 tax return*
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump filed for an extension on his 2016 tax return, the White House said Saturday.

Press secretary Sean Spicer did not provide information on when Trump sought the extension or why.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-03-20-36-54


----------



## poochee

Jun 4, 3:25 PM EDT
*Trump criticizes London mayor after latest attack on city*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized London's mayor after he sought to reassure residents about a stepped-up police presence on city streets following the third deadly attack there in the past three months, arguing on Twitter for leaders to "stop being politically correct" and focus on "security for our people."

The mayor's spokesman said he was too busy to respond to Trump's "ill-informed" tweet.

In a series of tweets late Saturday and early Sunday responding to the attack, Trump also pushed his stalled travel ban, took on gun control supporters and pledged that the United States will be there to help London and the United Kingdom.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-04-15-25-37


----------



## poochee

*The London terror tweets prove Donald Trump is never going to be 'presidential'*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 3:04 PM ET, Sun June 4, 2017

_(CNN)_Soon after word of two terror attacks in London broke late Saturday, Donald Trump began to offer his thoughts.

Did he release a statement offering condolences to the victims? Did he grant an interview with a TV network to insist that the US remains resolute in our fight against terror even in the wake of these latest attacks? Nope! He tweeted! Five times, to be exact.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/04/politics/donald-trump-london-terror-tweets/index.html


----------



## poochee

Politics
Jun 4 2017, 2:30 pm ET
*Trump's Support Drops in Military Communities*
by Dante Chinni

*VIDEO*

In a politically unsettled nation, military communities have long been a rock for the Republican Party, solid and true. But new polling data suggest those places have developed some concerns about President Donald Trump.

An analysis of Gallup polling data comparing the first 100 days of Trump's presidency to the month of May shows that Trump's job approval in military counties dropped sharply in the last month - from an average 51 percent approval and 41 percent disapproval in the first 100 days to 43 percent approval and 52 percent disapproval for May.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...tary-communities-n768036?cid=eml_pol_20170604


----------



## poochee

Jun 5, 2:30 PM EDT
*Trump criticizes London's mayor, again*
By JULIE PACE and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Monday that Trump was not "picking a fight with the mayor of London at all." She also pushed back against criticism that the president had mischaracterized Khan's remarks, saying that "the media wants to spin it that way."

Asked if Trump was criticizing the mayor of London because he is Muslim, Sanders said that was "utterly ridiculous."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-05-14-30-39


----------



## poochee

Jun 5, 2:58 PM EDT
*White House: Trump won't seek to block Comey testimony*
By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

White House officials had weighed trying to block Comey by arguing that his discussions with the president pertained to national security and that there was an expectation of privacy. However, officials ultimately concluded that the optics of taking that step would be worse than the risk of letting the former FBI director testify freely.

Legal experts have also said that the president likely undermined his ability to assert executive privilege by publicly discussing his dealings with Comey in tweets and interviews.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-05-14-58-58


----------



## poochee

Jun 5, 12:56 PM EDT
*The pros and cons of privatizing air traffic control*
By JOAN LOWY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. air traffic control system, the world's largest and most complex, is in the midst of an era of unsurpassed safety. There has not been a fatal crash of a domestic airliner in the U.S. in eight years.

Now President Donald Trump is looking to shift responsibility for the system from the government to a private, nonprofit corporation run by airlines and other aviation interests. The handover of about 300 airport towers and other flight tracking centers would be one of the largest transfers of U.S. government assets. About 35,000 workers, including 14,000 controllers and 6,000 technicians, would be affected.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-05-12-56-53


----------



## poochee

Jun 5 2017, 8:35 am ET 
*Tweeting and Fuming, Trump Spirals Further Into Crisis*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Tweeting and fuming, Trump spirals further into crisis

For a presidency that's already in crisis - see his 36 percent job-approval rating per Gallup or this Thursday's upcoming testimony by former FBI Director James Comey - the last 24 hours or so have been extraordinarily horrendous for President Trump.

For starters, there was his out-of-context shot at London's mayor after the terrorist attack on the city Saturday night (before playing a round of golf). Then there were his tweets this morning that called his revised travel ban "watered down" and "politically correct," potentially undermining his administration's legal defense that the ban doesn't discriminate against Muslims. And then there's this stunning Politico article - that Trump deliberately failed to include language in his recent NATO speech reaffirming the alliance's Article 5 provision.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...s-further-crisis-n768211?cid=eml_pol_20170605


----------



## poochee

*Why we should never, ever ignore Donald Trump's tweets*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 12:31 PM ET, Mon June 5, 2017

*VIDEO*

That social media presence -- as anyone who has a big following on, say, Twitter, knows -- cuts both ways. Trump is feeling the stinging side of late -- almost entirely because he uses Twitter to contradict his aides' attempts to manage his message into a form that is less controversial.

The media's job isn't to put forward the most favorable Trump message. (Or the least favorable Trump message, for that matter.) The media's job is to give the American public, who pay Trump's salary, the best look into how their president thinks about the key issues of the day. And Twitter is, without question, the best window into Trump's thought-process there is.

So, we'll keep covering until Trump stops tweeting. Which we all know ain't happening.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/05/politics/trump-twitter-conway/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 5, 9:30 PM EDT
*White House tries to regroup, but Trump isn't helping*
By JULIE PACE and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press
Jun 5, 9:30 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In its effort to regain control of its message, the White House has curtailed press briefings, redirected questions on the Russia investigation to an outside lawyer and planned a major infrastructure policy rollout for this week.

But as long as President Donald Trump has a smartphone, no White House strategy is safe.

The sun was still rising Monday when Trump upended best-laid plans with a blitz of provocative statements delivered via Twitter. He assailed his own Justice Department for its legal strategy to defend his travel ban, potentially creating new headaches as his administration seeks the Supreme Court's backing for the order. And he renewed his criticism of the mayor of London, a city recovering from a weekend vehicle-and-knife attack that left seven people dead.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-05-21-30-36


----------



## poochee

Jun 6, 3:52 PM EDT
*The Latest: Senate panel sought Flynn business documents*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on the Trump administration and the Russia investigation (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee says it sought business records from former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to try to track his whereabouts as they relate to the panel's investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., says the panel issued a subpoena for Flynn's business records to see if his travel, expense and phone records would "give us insight as to where he was."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-06-15-01-09


----------



## poochee

Jun 6, 3:18 PM EDT
*Looking to propose a shareholder vote? It may get tougher*
By MARCY GORDON
AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If you're a shareholder in a major corporation, having your voice heard may soon become harder.

Tucked into a Republican bill to defang the Dodd-Frank financial rules is a provision to make it more difficult to bring proposals to a shareholder vote. It would mean fewer investors could force votes on issues important to them - from executive pay to political spending to gender discrimination.

The House is to vote on the legislation this week.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-06-15-18-47


----------



## poochee

Jun 6, 9:39 PM EDT
*Trump wishes Comey luck, allies aim at lawman's credibility*
By JULIE PACE and JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House and its allies are scrambling for ways to offset potential damage from fired FBI Director James Comey's highly anticipated congressional testimony, an appearance that could expose new details about his discussions with President Donald Trump about the federal investigation into Russia's election meddling.

Asked about the testimony, Trump on Tuesday was tight-lipped: "I wish him luck," he told reporters before a meeting with lawmakers.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday evening a person familiar with the situation said Comey had told Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he did not want to be left alone with Trump.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-06-21-39-24


----------



## poochee

Jun 6, 7:45 PM EDT
*Siding against ally Qatar, Trump injects US into Arab crisis*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump injected the United States into a volatile crisis among America's Mideast allies, siding Tuesday with Saudi Arabia and other countries against Qatar in a dispute that threatens to disrupt efforts to defeat the Islamic State group and counter Iran.

In a series of early-morning tweets, Trump appeared to endorse the accusation that the small, gas-rich kingdom funds terrorist groups, a serious allegation against a strategic U.S. partner that hosts a base with some 10,000 American troops. He also sought to cast the anti-Qatar action led by the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates as the result of his trip last month to Riyadh, where he pressed leaders from dozens of Arab and Muslim governments, including Qatar's emir, to combat extremism.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-06-19-45-22


----------



## poochee

*Exclusive: Jeff Sessions suggested he could resign amid rising tension with President Trump*
By Jonathan Karl
Jun 6, 2017, 6:25 PM ET

*VIDEO*

As the White House braces for former FBI Director James Comey's testimony Thursday, sources tell ABC News the relationship between President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has become so tense that Sessions at one point recently even suggested he could resign.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/atto...uggested-resign-amid-rising/story?id=47875090


----------



## poochee

Jun 7, 1:21 PM EDT
*New Trump FBI pick represented Christie in Bridgegate case*
By SADIE GURMAN and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Christopher Wray, a white-collar defense lawyer with a strong law enforcement background who represented New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal, was announced Wednesday as President Donald Trump's pick to head the FBI.

In an early morning two-sentence tweet, Trump said he intended to nominate Wray, a high-ranking official in George W. Bush's Justice Department. That word came one day before the FBI director that Trump fired last month, James Comey, was to testify in public on Capitol Hill for the first time since his dismissal.

Trump, in a statement later Wednesday, called Wray "an impeccably qualified individual."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-07-13-21-15


----------



## poochee

Jun 7 2017, 8:45 am ET
*The Russia Controversy Shows That Trump's Executive Branch Is Broken*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Russia controversy shows that Trump's executive branch is broken

Former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean famously said during Watergate that there was a cancer growing on the presidency. Well, we won't go as far as saying the Russia probe is a cancer on the Trump White House - but it's clearly a virus. And it all reveals an executive branch that appears to be broken. *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ve-branch-broken-n769156?cid=eml_pol_20170607


----------



## poochee

*Full text: James Comey statement to Senate intelligence committee on Trump contact*
By POLITICO Staff 
06/07/2017 02:19 PM EDT

Statement for the Record
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
James B. Comey
June 8, 2017

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/07/james-comey-trump-russia-testimony-2017-239253


----------



## poochee

*Republicans to Trump: No TV or tweeting during Comey hearing*
By Lauren Fox, CNN
Updated 5:27 PM ET, Wed June 7, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Comey will testify Thursday
GOP lawmakers are worried Trump will tweet during the hearing about Comey's testimony

Washington (CNN)As Former FBI Director James Comey prepares to testify before the Senate Thursday, Republican lawmakers have a message for President Donald Trump: Turn off the TV and hide your phone.

"Oh, I wish he'd do something else. It's not going to change the testimony," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, who will chair the Comey hearing.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/07/politics/republicans-trump-no-tweeting-during-comey/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Fox News host tells Trump he's the 'problem'*
 N'Dea Yancey-Bragg  , USA TODAY Published 5:48 p.m. ET June 7, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

*VIDEO*

Fox News host Neil Cavuto gave President Trump some tough love on Tuesday, criticizing Trump's use of social media and accusing him of alienating members of his own party.

"Mr. President, it is not the fake news media that's your problem. It's you," said Cavuto, who has been with Fox since the early days of the network in 1996. "It's not just your tweeting, it's your scapegoating. It's your refusal to see that sometimes you're the one who's feeding your own beast."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...il-cavutot-tells-trump-hes-problem/378730001/


----------



## poochee

Jun 8 2017, 8:47 am ET
*Here's Where Comey's Testimony Contradicts Trump*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Where Comey's testimony contradicts Trump

Ahead of arguably the most anticipated congressional testimony in years, we got an appetizer of what former FBI Director James Comey will say this morning when he released his opening statement Wednesday afternoon. President Trump's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, responded by saying Trump "feels completely and totally vindicated," because Comey's statement confirms that he told the president he wasn't a target of a counter-intelligence investigation. But there are other parts of Comey's written testimony that clearly contradict what Trump has said previously.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ontradicts-trump-n769641?cid=eml_pol_20170608


----------



## poochee

Jun 8 2017, 1:56 pm ET
*Comey Hearing Watchers Pub Hop, Toast Testimony*
by Chandelis R. Duster

*VIDEOS*

The drinks were flowing and news coverage streaming at bars in Washington D.C. and other cities as political watchers tuned in and raised a glass to fired FBI Director James Comey's highly anticipated testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

In the nation's capital, several bars opened as early as 9:30 a.m. and offered such drinks as $5 Russian vodkas and the "The Comey Hearing Covfefe" cocktail in honor of the befuddling word mistakenly invented by President Donald Trump in a midnight tweet.

Other bars offered a free round of shots anytime the president tweeted.

Those looking for a gratis round were disappointed on that accord - the president's Twitter account remained quiet during the multi-hour public portion of the hearing. Union Pub gave out free beer as a consolation prize since Trump didn't tweet.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/comey-hearing-watchers-pub-hop-toast-testimony-n769901


----------



## poochee

*Trump lawyer says James Comey made 'unauthorized disclosures' of privileged talks*
 David Jackson  , USA TODAY Published 2:12 p.m. ET June 8, 2017 | Updated 15 minutes ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - While President Trump stayed unusually silent on James Comey, his lawyer stressed Thursday that Comey's testimony proved that Trump did not collude with Russia during last year's election nor try to obstruct justice in the FBI investigation - and went on to accuse the former FBI director of directing unauthorized news leaks designed to damage the president.

Comey's testimony, attorney Marc Kasowitz said, "makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted Russian interference in the 2016 election."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-james-comey-hearing-marc-kasowitz/102588032/


----------



## poochee

*His father quiet, Donald Trump Jr. live-tweets Comey*
Analysis by Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 1:29 PM ET, Thu June 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump Jr. live-tweeted the Senate intelligence committee hearing with James Comey
He also repeatedly took shots at press accounts of the hearing and broader probe
(CNN)The work of defending President Donald Trump in the media is not for the faint of heart. His communications director has already resigned and White House press secretary Sean Spicer's standing is in a constant state of flux.

So the White House's decision to effectively hand off rapid response duties on Thursday to the Republican National Committee seemed like a way of cutting the unpredictable Trump voice out of the conversation as James Comey, the fired FBI director, testified on his interactions with the President.

But those plans were quickly scuppered by another Trump, Donald Jr., who live-tweeted the Capitol Hill hearing and, after boosting one of their early tweets, quickly drowned out the more carefully crafted RNC messaging program.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/08/politics/donald-trump-jr-defends-his-father-comey/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/07/politics/rnc-comey-talking-points/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump meets the ultimate adversary in James Comey*
Analysis by Maeve Reston, CNN
Updated 9:28 PM ET, Thu June 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

In Trump v Comey, the ultimate outsider faces ultimate insider
Comey used leak to prompt appointment of special prosecutor
Former FBI director repeatedly accuses Trump of lying
(CNN)In the political drama that Donald Trump has created in Washington, he could not have dreamed up a more formidable adversary than James Comey.

After the President fired his FBI director in early May, he dismissed Comey as "a showboat," "a grandstander" and a "nut job." He told Russian diplomats the next day that Comey's exit had relieved "great pressure" that he felt from the Russia investigation. He apparently assumed Comey would fade away into private life.

He was dead wrong.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/08/politics/comey-trump-insider-outsider/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The tweet that got James Comey to go to the press*
By Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 7:40 PM ET, Thu June 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Fired FBI Director James Comey saw a tweet from President Donald Trump and made a decision that will have untold ramifications.

"James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Trump tweeted on the morning of May 12.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/08/politics/james-comey-leaking-memo/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 9 2017, 7:42 am ET
*Trump Calls Comey 'a Leaker,' Says He's Vindicated After Senate Hearing*
by Erik Ortiz

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump fired back early Friday after the dramatic Senate testimony given by ousted FBI Director James Comey, tweeting that it was the Washington veteran who spun a tale of "lies."

"Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication ... and WOW, Comey is a leaker," Trump wrote, breaking his silence after Comey's more than two and half hours of public testimony Thursday. Trump didn't specify why he thought Comey lied and how he was vindicated.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...ker-says-he-s-vindicated-after-senate-n770196


----------



## poochee

*Trump thinks he got 'total vindication' from Comey. Except he didn't*
Amber Phillips By Amber Phillips
June 9 at 8:17 AM

*VIDEO*

As former FBI director James B. Comey tells it, the president pursued him with an almost singular focus to say one thing publicly: President Trump is not under investigation.

Trump finally got what he wanted Thursday, when Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Here's an excerpt of an exchange between Comey and Trump ally Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho):

RISCH: I gather from all this that you're willing to say now that, while you were director, the president of the United States was not under investigation. Is that a fair statement?

COMEY: That's correct.

See? In Trump's view, that's "complete and total vindication."

Except the president is completely missing the point of Comey's testimony in the first place.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/06/09/trump-thinks-he-got-total-vindication-from-comey-except-he-didnt/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-low_thefixtweet-840a:homepage/story&utm_term=.00a9f5413c77


----------



## poochee

Jun 8 2017, 5:36 pm ET
*House Votes to Roll Back Parts of Dodd-Frank Financial Industry Reform Bill*
by Phil Helsel

The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would roll back key parts of the Dodd-Frank act aimed at Wall Street and financial industry regulatory reform which was passed in the wake of the mortgage meltdown.

The House voted 233-186 to approve the Financial CHOICE Act. The bill would give banks a choice between complying with Dodd-Frank or holding onto more capital.

Critics also say it would eliminate the independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by Dodd-Frank, and greatly reduce its ability to regulate.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...rank-reform-bill-n770076?cid=eml_pol_20170609


----------



## poochee

*Theresa May Promises 'Certainty' After Queen Approves Plan To Form Government* 
June 9, 20173:49 AM ET
Bill Chappell 
 
 James Doubek

*Updated at 10 a.m. ET*

After receiving formal permission from the queen, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday that she will forge a government after a snap-election gamble that cost her Conservative Party its parliamentary majority.

"I will now form a government," May said in front of No. 10 Downing St. moments after speaking with Queen Elizabeth II, "a government that can provide certainty and lead Britain forward at this critical time for our country."

Noting the "crucial Brexit talks that begin in just 10 days," May said the new government will work to fulfill the will of U.K. voters who decided last year to leave the European Union.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...conservatives-lose-majority-in-u-k-parliament


----------



## poochee

*House, Senate investigators seek Trump tapes, Comey memos*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 5:26 PM ET, Fri June 9, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_House and Senate investigators fired off a series of requests after former FBI Director James Comey's testimony, seeking memos of his private discussions with President Donald Trump and any records the White House kept of their discussion -- including audio recordings.

The leaders of the House Russia investigation, Reps. Michael Conaway, a Texas Republican, and Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, sent a request Friday directly to Comey for copies of his memos. They sent a separate request to Trump's White House counsel, Don McGahn, for any record the White House had of their meetings.

The House requested Comey and the White House provide the records, including tapes if they exist, by June 23.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/politics/comey-tape-request-congress/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 10, 8:26 AM EDT
*Trump dodges tapes question, denies seeking Comey 'loyalty'*
By JILL COLVIN and CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Punching back a day after his fired FBI director's damaging testimony, President Donald Trump accused James Comey of lying to Congress and said he was "100 percent" willing to testify under oath about their conversations.

Trump cryptically refused to say whether those private exchanges were taped - a matter at the heart of the conflicting accounts of what passed between them at a time when Comey was leading an FBI investigation into Russia's interference in the presidential election and its ties to the Trump campaign.

He asserted that nothing in Comey's testimony to the Senate pointed to collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. "Yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction," Trump said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-09-21-36-27


----------



## poochee

*Mueller staffing up Russia probe while Trump lawyer declares victory*
By Laura Jarrett and Evan Perez, CNN
Updated 2:29 PM ET, Sat June 10, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump's lawyer has responded to fired FBI Director James Comey's tell-all to Congress by taking a victory lap.
The evening before Comey's testimony, Marc Kasowitz was spotted buying a box of cigars, and sources overheard him saying, "We won. Trump's in the clear. ... It's clear Trump didn't do anything wrong."

He continued his celebration the next day, declaring, "The President feels completely vindicated."

But former prosecutors say it's far too early to pop the champagne.

On the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, special counsel Robert Mueller has been quietly and methodically building the equivalent of a small US attorney's office -- a team of formidable legal minds who've worked on everything from Watergate to Enron, unlikely to leave any stone unturned.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/10/politics/robert-mueller-russia-investigation-team/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's strain with Obama marks departure from presidential fraternity *
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 9:43 AM ET, Sat June 10, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Presidents Club*
Presidents have long relied on their predecessors for advice on a job few could possibly understand. Sometimes they have called on members of the so-called Presidents Club to carry out tasks on behalf of the United States.

The current shutdown in ties between Trump and Obama amounts to the first time in decades a sitting president has closed off all communication with his predecessor -- and, by extension, one of the only individuals with direct knowledge of a role few have played.

"There are only six people on the planet who fully understand the demands of that job," Axelrod said. "It's often helpful, but certainly not mandatory, to be able to counsel with them. But that's totally up the discretion of the incumbent, who in this case has without evidence accused his predecessor of what would amount to a crime. That suggests to me that they're probably not chatting much."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/10/politics/donald-trump-obama-presidents-club/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 9 2017, 6:07 pm ET
*How Donald Trump's Old Tweets Haunt Him Today*
by Benjy Sarlin and Sam Petulla

WASHINGTON - There's a theory going around the internet: For every new statement by President Donald Trump, there is a corresponding tweet that has aged extremely poorly.

As Trump translates his campaign statements into action, he's been tormented by a searchable archive of more than 35,000 tweets, many of which feature outdated campaign positions, confident boasts that fall short or biting insults that could potentially apply to his own administration.

On Reddit, users have created a fast-growing section called r/TrumpCriticizesTrump dedicated to digging up newly relevant tweets and statements. Each entry contains an old quote with a link to the source - no further editorializing allowed. The most popular entry was submitted recently after a Trump aide told CNN that the president was "exhausted" when he made a significant error in a speech in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/how-donald-trump-s-old-tweets-haunt-him-today-n766366


----------



## poochee

Jun 10, 9:47 PM EDT
*Sessions to appear before Senate intelligence committee*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential campaign have sparked questions, agreed Saturday to appear before the Senate intelligence committee as it investigates alleged Russian meddling in the election.

Sessions recused himself in March from a federal investigation into contacts between Russia and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump after acknowledging that he had met twice last year with the Russian ambassador to the United States. He had told lawmakers at his January confirmation hearing that he had not met with Russians during the campaign.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-10-21-47-11


----------



## poochee

Jun 10, 8:26 PM EDT
*Trump expected to announce Cuba policy next week in Miami*
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

BRANCHBURG, N.J. (AP) -- President Donald Trump is expected to outline his new policy with Cuba next week, announcing steps that could reverse some of the changes made by former President Barack Obama to open commerce and travel after a half-century standoff with the communist island.

The Trump administration has been discussing policy changes that include prohibiting business with the Cuban military while maintaining the full diplomatic relations restored by Obama. The White House has also been debating new restrictions on American leisure travel to Cuba, which has more than tripled since Obama's 2014 announcement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Obama's policy moves have led to extensive corporate investment on the island, including new, daily commercial flights, licenses for U.S. hotel operators and agricultural investment by U.S. companies. Trump will be under pressure from lawmakers and corporate interests to continue the U.S. engagement with Havana.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-10-20-26-46


----------



## Wino

Hope the ignorant orange jackleg doesn't screw up Obama's Cuban revival - about 55 years late as it is.


----------



## poochee

Wino said:


> Hope the ignorant orange jackleg doesn't screw up Obama's Cuban revival - about 55 years late as it is.


He is working hard trying to destroy Obama's legacy.


----------



## poochee

*Is Trump Guilty Of Obstruction Of Justice? Comey Laid Out The Case*
June 10, 20177:01 AM ET
 Domenico Montanaro 

While Comey may not have expressed an overt opinion about whether Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice, the careful former prosecutor certainly laid out a set of facts that any prosecutor could use to try to prove just that.

Trump has contested Comey's testimony, saying in a news conference Friday that Comey said things that "just weren't true." Specifically, Trump claimed he never asked for a pledge of loyalty from Comey or asked Comey to let go of investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Someone's lying.

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/10/53232...bstruction-of-justice-comey-laid-out-the-case


----------



## poochee

*Federal attorney says Trump's contacts made him uncomfortable before he was fired*
Sandhya Somashekhar By Sandhya Somashekhar
Post Politics
June 11 at 11:24 AM

*VIDEO*

Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York ousted by President Trump, said Sunday that he had become increasingly uncomfortable with Trump's efforts to "cultivate some kind of relationship" with him and that his March firing came 22 hours after finally refusing to take a call from the president.

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week," Bharara said Trump called him twice as president-elect, "ostensibly just to shoot the breeze." The calls took place after a meeting at Trump Tower in November at which Bharara, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, said Trump asked him to stay on in the new administration.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/06/11/bharara-says-trumps-contacts-made-him-uncomfortable-before-he-was-fired/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_pp-preet-1157am:homepage/story&utm_term=.f3eba7dfaca5


----------



## poochee

Jun 11, 5:28 PM EDT
*Republicans urge Trump on tapes; Sessions to testify Tues*
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fellow Republicans pressed President Donald Trump on Sunday to come clean about whether he has tapes of private conversations with former FBI Director James Comey and provide them to Congress if he does - or possibly face a subpoena, as a Senate investigation into collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice extended to a Trump Cabinet member.

It was a sign of escalating fallout from riveting testimony from Comey last week of undue pressure from Trump, which drew an angry response from the president on Friday that Comey was lying.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was in for sharp questioning by senators on the Senate Intelligence committee Tuesday. Whether that hearing will be public or closed is not yet known.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-11-17-28-25


----------



## poochee

Sun Jun 11, 2017 | 5:30pm EDT
*Puerto Rican vote leans heavily toward U.S. statehood: government*

By Tracy Rucinski | SAN JUAN

SAN JUAN An official count of votes for Puerto Rico's plebiscite on Sunday showed overwhelming support for U.S. statehood, although adding another star to the U.S. flag would likely face an uphill battle in Congress.

A government website for the status referendum, Puerto Rico's fifth since 1967, showed 97 percent of roughly 485,000 votes counted so far in favor of becoming the 51st U.S. state.

Votes were still being counted and the expected outcome is unlikely to change Puerto Rico's label as a U.S. territory, a move that would require an act of the U.S. Congress.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-puertorico-debt-vote-idUSKBN19204O


----------



## poochee

Jun 11 2017, 9:16 pm ET
*First Lady Melania Trump, Son Barron, 11, Move Into the White House *
by Alex Johnson

Melania Trump had continued living in Trump Tower in New York while Barron Trump, 11, finished the academic year at his New York school. Barron will be the first boy to live in the White House since 1963, when John F. Kennedy Jr. was 3 years old.

Sources told NBC News in April that the first lady had been "preparing the residence" at the White House for some time and was looking for suitable schools for Barron.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/first-lady-melania-trump-son-barron-11-move-white-house-n770836


----------



## poochee

Jun 12 2017, 11:38 am ET
*Sessions Agrees to Testify About Russia in Public Hearing*
by Pete Williams, Garrett Haake and Ken Dilanian

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Bowing to pressure from Democrats, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has agreed to testify in public Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has scheduled a hearing for 2:30 p.m.

"The Attorney General has requested that this hearing be public," Justice Department spokesman Sarah Isgur Flores said. "He believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him and looks forward to answering the committee's questions tomorrow."

Committee members were taken by surprise by Sessions' letter over the weekend offering to appear before the panel investigating Russian hacking, in lieu of what was to be an open appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Subsequent reports suggested the intelligence hearing would happen behind closed doors.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sessions-agrees-testify-about-russia-public-hearing-n771031


----------



## poochee

Jun 12 2017, 2:45 pm ET
*Trump's Revised Travel Ban Blocked by Federal Appeals Court*
by Corky Siemaszko

*VIDEO*

A trio of federal appellate judges in San Francisco on Monday ruled against President Donald Trump's second try at imposing a so-called "travel ban" that would restrict refugees and people from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously upheld an earlier decision by a federal judge in Hawaii to block the government from enforcing Trump's executive order.

"The Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") gives the President broad powers to control the entry of aliens, and to take actions to protect the American public," the judges wrote in their opinion. "But immigration, even for the President, is not a one-person show. The President's authority is subject to certain statutory and constitutional restraints."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-s-revised-travel-ban-blocked-federal-appeals-court-n771091


----------



## poochee

*D.C., Maryland attorneys general file a lawsuit against President Trump*
 Fredreka Schouten  , USA TODAY Published 10:40 a.m. ET June 12, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The attorneys general in the nation's capital and Maryland filed a lawsuit Monday against President Trump, arguing he is violating anti-corruption clauses in the Constitution by allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign government and other government entities.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and Washington Attorney General Karl Racine, both Democrats, said they needed to act because Trump is "flagrantly violating" the Constitution.

_T_he legal action centers on Trump's decision to retain ownership of his real-estate and branding empire. The lawsuit alleges his continued ownership has left the president "deeply enmeshed with a legion of foreign and domestic actors" and violates the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which bars federal officials from accepting payments from foreign interests without congressional approval.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...uit-against-president-donald-trump/102774884/


----------



## poochee

Fri Jun 9, 2017 | 3:36pm EDT
*'Nonsense': Powerful Republican denounces White House information shut-out*
By Lisa Lambert | WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON An already contentious move by Republican President Donald Trump to block opposition Democratic lawmakers from getting information about his administration received its most scathing criticism yet on Friday - from one of the most powerful Republican members of the U.S. Senate.

Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, in a more than 2,100-word letter to the White House, asked Trump to rescind unprecedented guidance that told executive agencies they do not have to honor requests for information from lawmakers in the minority party, currently the Democrats.

This week in hearings all over Capitol Hill members of both parties have criticized the information block. Democrats have posited that the Trump administration is trying to hide mistakes, problems or wrongdoing from them.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...SKBN1902TW?feedName=politicsNews&feedType=RSS


----------



## poochee

*President Donald Trump has assembled his full cabinet for its first meeting, saying its members are here to "change Washington.".*
June 12, 2017, at 2:45 p.m.
By CATHERINE LUCEY, Associated Press

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump on Monday chaired the first meeting of his full Cabinet, saying the team is here to "change Washington."

Nearly five months into his presidency, this was the first time Trump hosted all the agency chiefs. He used the meeting to celebrate his young administration and then listened to praise from the assembled aides.

Trump said his Cabinet is "as active as you can possibly be."

https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-06-12/trump-holds-cabinet-meeting-promises-change


----------



## Wino

I hear he outlined all his accomplishments - that had to take about a nano second. LOL Talk about delusional, this twit takes the gold.


----------



## poochee

*Republicans to Trump: Hands off Mueller* 
_As Trump allies call for special counsel's firing, GOP lawmakers say former FBI director gives them comfort_
By Austin Wright  and Kyle Cheney 
06/12/2017 08:59 PM EDT

Republican lawmakers have a warning for President Donald Trump: Don't mess with Robert Mueller.

Some Trump allies have begun agitating for Trump to fire the man appointed just last month as a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Late Monday, PBS' Judy Woodruff reported that, per a close friend, Chris Ruddy, Trump himself is weighing the prospect of pulling the plug on Mueller's probe. And one of the president's lawyers said Sunday that Trump hadn't taken that option off the table.

But that would be a huge mistake, Republican lawmakers said Monday.

"It would be a disaster," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) "There's no reason to fire Mueller. What's he done to be fired?"

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/12/republicans-robert-mueller-trump-239460


----------



## poochee

*North Korea releases U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier; parents say he is in coma*
 Deirdre Shesgreen  , USATODAY Published 9:44 a.m. ET June 13, 2017 | Updated 16 minutes ago

*PHOTOS*

WASHINGTON - North Korea has released Cincinnati native Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student who had been detained and imprisoned in that reclusive dictatorship for more than a year.

"At the direction of the president, the Department of State has secured the release of Otto Warmbier from North Korea," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement Tuesday. "Mr. Warmbier is en route to the United States, where he will be reunited with his family."

Otto Warmbier's parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, confirmed in a statement that their son is in a coma. "We have been told that he has been in that condition since March of 2016. We learned of this only one week ago," they said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...tizen-otto-warmbier-tillerson-says/102806222/


----------



## poochee

Jun 12 2017, 11:39 pm ET
*Senate Strikes Deal on Russia Sanctions, Stripping Power From Trump*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate has reached a bipartisan agreement on a new round of sanctions against Russia, a move that will likely force President Donald Trump to either sign or veto a measure that he has not said he supports.

The sanctions are in response to a trio of Russian actions, including their interference in the 2016 election, engagement in Syria and invasion of Crimea.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...russia-sanctions-n771316?cid=eml_pol_20170613


----------



## poochee

Jun 13 2017, 8:43 am ET
*Why Is Trump Acting So Spooked Over the Russia Investigation?*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Why is Trump acting so spooked over the Russia investigation?

With almost every step he's taken so far in the Russia investigation, President Trump has been his own worst enemy - by making his political problems worse. *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ia-investigation-n771421?cid=eml_pol_20170613


----------



## poochee

*Trump and allies get in way of White House messaging -- again*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 2:49 PM ET, Tue June 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump travels to Wisconsin Tuesday
He began the morning off-message
Washington (CNN)For the second consecutive week, President Donald Trump is trampling his White House's attempts at a messaging strategy aimed at drawing attention away from the controversies storming over the White House.

And his allies aren't helping, either.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/politics/trump-white-house-messaging/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's Approval Rating Reaches New Low*
_President Donald Trump set new records in Gallup's weekly presidential approval polls: a low in approval and a high in disapproval_
_By Sara Morrison
Jun 12, 2017 at 1:40 PM ET

President Donald Trump set two new records in the Gallup's weekly presidential approval polls, neither of which were good.

The latest Gallup numbers, released on Monday, showed that Trump managed to get his lowest approval and highest disapproval ratings so far in his presidency: 37 and 58 percent, respectively. The data, which were collected between June 5 to June 11, came amid former FBI Director James Comey's testimony on his interactions with the president and the continued fallout from backing out of the Paris climate agreement.

http://www.vocativ.com/437869/trumps-approval-rating-reaches-new-low/_


----------



## poochee

Jun 13, 6:25 PM EDT
*Sessions heatedly denies improper Russia contacts*
By ERIC TUCKER and ERICA WERNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions heatedly denied on Tuesday having an undisclosed meeting with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. and declared it was a "detestable and appalling lie" to suggest he was aware of or took part in any collusion between Russia and the election campaign that sent Donald Trump to the White House.

Testifying at a packed Senate hearing, Sessions, who was a close Trump adviser during the battle for the presidency, also rejected any idea of misconduct in the ouster of FBI Director James Comey and vowed to defend his honor "against scurrilous and false allegations."

In his dramatic appearance before former colleagues, Sessions contradicted a contention made by Comey at a hearing before the same panel last week. Comey told the intelligence committee that, after an encounter with President Trump in which he said Trump pressured him to back off an investigation into the former national security adviser, Comey "implored" Sessions to make sure he was never left alone with the president again - but that Sessions didn't respond.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-13-18-25-07


----------



## poochee

Jun 13, 5:10 PM EDT
*AP sources: Trump tells senators House health bill 'mean'
By ALAN FRAM*
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump told Republican senators Tuesday that the House-passed health care bill is "mean" and urged them to craft a version that is "more generous," congressional sources said.

The president's comments, at a White House lunch with 15 GOP senators, came as Senate Republican leaders' attempts to write their own health care package have been slowed by disagreements between their party's conservative and moderates.

Trump's remarks were a surprising critique of a Republican-written House measure whose passage he lobbied for and praised. At a Rose Garden ceremony minutes after the bill's narrow House passage, Trump called it "a great plan."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-13-17-10-07


----------



## poochee

*Senate narrowly votes to back Saudi arms sale*
By Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 3:30 PM ET, Tue June 13, 2017

*VIDEO *

*Story highlights*

Resolutions to disapprove of the sales were offered by Rand Paul and Chris Murphy
Just five Democrats voted to approve the sale and four Republicans voted against
_CNN)_The Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted to support a $510 million sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, defeating a resolution to block the sale in a 47-to-53 vote.

The narrow vote to dismiss a resolution to block the transaction was a significant shift from a similar vote last year on a tank sale to Saudi Arabia under the Obama administration that was easily tabled, or killed, 71-27.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/politics/senate-saudi-arms-deal-paul/index.html


----------



## poochee

*5 things we learned at Jeff Sessions' hearing*
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 9:56 PM ET, Tue June 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave several answers on his meetings with Russian officials
Senators proved despite the end of Tuesday's hearing they're not quite done with Sessions
Washington (CNN)Attorney General Jeff Sessions captivated Washington Tuesday, beating back rumors of a private meeting with Russia's ambassador to the US and mounting a defense for President Donald Trump, one week after former FBI Director James Comey artfully unloaded on both men.

Sessions routinely said he would not answer questions regarding his conversations with Trump, but he delivered more than enough answers over two and a half hours of testimony Tuesday afternoon. 

*Here are the top five things we learned.*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/politics/jeff-sessions-hearing-takeaways/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Suspect Dies After Shooting At GOP Baseball Practice In Virginia*
June 14, 20178:07 AM ET
 Bill Chappell 
Updated at 12:54 p.m. ET

*VIDEOS*

A gunman opened fire during an early morning baseball practice for Republican members of Congress on Wednesday, reportedly firing dozens of shots at a field in Alexandria, Va. At least five people were wounded, including Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

The shooting suspect has been identified as James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Ill., two federal law enforcement sources confirm to NPR's Carrie Johnson. In an address from the White House, President Trump said, "the assailant has now died from his injuries."

Hodgkinson was 66 years old, according to multiple sources online. He was taken into custody at the scene of the shooting. He was a member of several online groups that took stances against Republicans and the president, the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...fire-as-members-of-congress-practice-baseball


----------



## poochee

*House approves bill creating more accountability at VA after string of scandals*
By Deirdre Walsh, CNN Senior Congressional Producer
Updated 5:50 PM ET, Tue June 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday giving the leadership of the Department of Veterans Affairs the ability to fire employees for misconduct and protect those who uncover wrongdoing at the agency.

The vote was 368-55.

The legislation follows several high profile scandals that included veterans dying waiting to get appointments at VA hospitals and one top manager at a Wisconsin facility who widely distributed narcotics got a bonus, even after a patient died of an overdose.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/politics/veterans-affairs-bill-passes-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Most Trump real estate now sold to secretive buyers*
 Nick Penzenstadler ,  Steve Reilly and  John Kelly  , USA TODAY Published 4:50 p.m. ET June 13, 2017 | Updated 16 hours ago

*VIDEO*

Since President Trump won the Republican nomination, the majority of his companies' real estate sales are to secretive shell companies that obscure the buyers' identities, a USA TODAY investigation has found.

Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies - corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners' names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before.

USA TODAY journalists have spent six months cataloging every condo, penthouse or other property that Trump and his companies own - and tracking the buyers behind every transaction. The investigation found Trump's companies owned more than 430 individual properties worth well over $250 million.

Since Election Day, Trump's businesses have sold 28 of those U.S. properties for $33 million. The sales include luxury condos and penthouses in Las Vegas and New York and oceanfront lots near Los Angeles. The value of his companies' inventory of available real estate remains above a quarter-billion dollars.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...rs-make-clear-shift-secretive-llcs/102399558/


----------



## poochee

*Trump prays for shooting victims, makes plea for political unity*
 David Jackson  , USA TODAY Published 11:41 a.m. ET June 14, 2017 | Updated 5 hours ago

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Condemning the shocking congressional shooting at a baseball field,  President Trump announced Wednesday that the suspect has died from his wounds, and he made a plea for political unity in the wake of bloodshed.

"We may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation's capital is here, because. above all, they love our country," Trump said during remarks in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House.

In a message directed to Rep. Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican wounded in the attack, Trump said: "America is praying for you, and America is praying for all of the victims of this terrible shooting."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ot-alexandria-shooting-sean-spicer/102843388/


----------



## poochee

Jun 14 2017, 5:40 pm ET
*Paul Ryan: 'An Attack on One of Us is An Attack On All of Us'*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Somber and shaken members of Congress put politics aside for at least a few hours as they walked through the halls of the United States Capitol Wednesday after a gunman went on a shooting rampage targeting Republican lawmakers at an early morning bipartisan baseball practice at a nearby Virginia field.

Emotional lawmakers spent the day consoling each other and recounting their experience as most official business in the House of Representatives was put on hold until tomorrow. Democrats and Republicans vowed to tone down their rhetoric and increase bipartisanship.

House Speaker Paul Ryan took to the floor to address the shooting that wounded Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, two Congressional and four others. "There are very strong emotions throughout this House today," Ryan said.

"We are all horrified by this dreadful attack on our friends and on our colleagues and those who serve and protect this capital. We are all praying for those who were attacked and for their families," Ryan said. "And we are united. We are united in our shock, we are united in our anguish. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/paul-ryan-attack-one-us-attack-all-us-n772346


----------



## poochee

*GOP House Whip Steve Scalise in critical condition after shooting at baseball practice *
By Tal Kopan and Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 5:57 PM ET, Wed June 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Rep. Steve Scalise is in critical condition after surgery, the hospital tells CNN
President Donald Trump said the gunman died from injuries
The suspect was identified by two law enforcement officials as James Hodgkinson
Members of Congress said their annual baseball game will go on Thursday night
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/14/politics/alexandria-virginia-shooting/index.html


----------



## poochee

*NBC

In Spite of Violence, The Congressional Baseball Game Will Go On*
Wed, Jun 14

*VIDEO*

Congress members will suit up and play ball Thursday at Nationals Park, just as they were practicing to do before a gunman attacked them at a Virginia practice field Wednesday.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...ssional-baseball-game-will-go-on-967602755970


----------



## poochee

*Mueller investigating Trump for obstruction of justice, Washington Post reports*
By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 8:34 PM ET, Wed June 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice, The Washington Post reported Wednesday evening.

Mueller is interviewing as early as this week three top intelligence officials as part of the probe, the Post reported, citing "five people briefed on the requests."
The three officials the Post says Mueller is interviewing are Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers and Richard Ledgett, the recently retired deputy NSA director.
Coats will also meet with members of the Senate intelligence committee Thursday, one week after his tense grilling by the panel, according to a committee source.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/14/politics/robert-mueller-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump doesn't get the special counsel investigation. And he's never going to.*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 1:47 PM ET, Thu June 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

Everything is to be treated as a tabloid story that can be shaped, changed, rebutted, knocked down and torn apart though force of will -- and words.

It's worked remarkably well for Trump. And so it shouldn't be all that surprising that he's brought that blueprint to Washington with him.

Except that the White House -- and the political and legal worlds it touches -- isn't the same thing that Trump is used to facing. Not at all. The rules governing this world aren't the rules of the tabloids of New York City media. Bob Mueller isn't some "Page Six" reporter.

Trump doesn't seem to have even the slightest understanding of that distinction. His twin tweets Thursday morning make that point better than I ever could.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/15/politics/trump-tabloid-russia/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Poll shows most doubt Trump's respect for institutions*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and EMILY SWANSON
Today

WASHINGTON (AP) - Most Americans say they think President Donald Trump has little to no respect for the country's democratic traditions, according to a new poll that underscores the difficulty Trump faces in uniting a country deeply divided about his leadership.

The new survey, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found more than 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, and nearly half strongly disapprove. The poll was conducted before a shooting spree at a Washington-era baseball field on Wednesday left a congressman wounded and renewed calls for more civil political discourse.

"We may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation's capital is here because, above all, they love our country," Trump said Wednesday, responding to the shooting.

The survey suggests Trump faces considerable challenges as he seeks to position himself as a unifying figure.

https://apnews.com/024824c4f6ce4eddae98f4156e36553e?ex_cid=SigDig


----------



## poochee

Jun 15 2017, 12:05 pm ET
*Trump Decries 'Witch Hunt' After Report That Mueller Is Investigating Him*
by Daniel Arkin

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump on Thursday morning once again dismissed the Russia investigation as a "phony story" and blasted federal investigators as "bad and conflicted people" after a report said special counsel Robert Mueller is examining whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.

TWEETS:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...report-says-mueller-investigating-him-n772706


----------



## poochee

*Poll: 61% of Americans think Trump has tried to obstruct Russia investigation*
 Jessica Estepa  , USA TODAY Published 12:22 p.m. ET June 15, 2017 | Updated 6 hours ago

*VIDEO*

A majority of Americans believe that President Trump has tried to obstruct the ongoing Russia investigation, according to a new poll out Thursday.

A poll conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 61% of Americans surveyed believe the president has tried to obstruct or impede the investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election cycle.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ried-obstruct-russia-investigation/102884748/


----------



## poochee

Jun 15 2017, 2:13 pm ET
*Bill Cosby Trial: Judge Orders Deadlocked Jury to Keep Trying *
by Hannah Rappleye and Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - The jury in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial said Thursday it's deadlocked, but the judge ordered jurors to try again to reach a verdict.

"We cannot come to a unanimous consensus on any of these counts," the sequestered panel said in a note to the judge sent out at 11:06 a.m. after more than 30 hours of deliberations.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bi...udge-orders-deadlocked-jury-try-again-n772751


----------



## poochee

*NBC

Otto Warmbier's Condition is 'Unresponsive Wakefulness,' Doctors Say*

*VIDEO*

Thu, Jun 15

The American student's father said Thursday that his son had been "brutalized" in North Korea, and was being treated in Cincinnati hospital for a "severe neurological injury."

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...sponsive-wakefulness-doctors-say-968537155852


----------



## poochee

Jun 16, 2:30 PM EDT
*Trump confirms he's under investigation, fires angry tweets*
By VIVIAN SALAMA and JULIE PACE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump confirmed Friday he is under federal investigation and appeared to single out a senior Justice Department official for criticism, underscoring his growing frustration with the persistent focus on Russia's involvement in the 2016 election and possibly his campaign.

"I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt," the president wrote.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday's tweets are the latest in a week of angry social media responses by the president after a report by The Washington Post that Mueller was looking into whether Trump obstructed justice.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-16-14-30-12


----------



## poochee

*Trump unveils new restrictions on travel, business with Cuba*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 2:48 PM ET, Fri June 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

Miami (CNN)President Donald Trump slammed former President Barack Obama's dealings with the communist regime in Cuba on Friday in Miami, charting his own course of more confrontational relations with the Castro-led government.

The speech, which came as the President signed a directive outlining his posture toward Cuba, is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to chip away at Obama's legacy. Obama spent the last two years of his presidency looking to warm relations with Cuba, including a trip to the island in 2016.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/politics/trump-cuba-policy/index.html


----------



## poochee

*McConnell, Schumer trade jabs over health care*
By Ashley Killough, CNN
Updated 3:41 PM ET, Fri June 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

The two leaders struck a tone of bipartisanship in a joint interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper Thursday night at the Congressional Baseball Game, though they stressed they still had their policy differences.

Those differences were amplified Friday when Schumer sent a letter Friday requesting an all-senators meeting in the Old Senate Chamber next week.

Senate Democrats have been blasting Republicans for deliberating the health care bill behind closed doors, saying they've only been learning of the ongoing negotiations through media reports.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/politics/chuck-schumer-health-care-meeting/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump Family Wedding Planner to Head New York's Federal Housing Office*
By YAMICHE ALCINDOR and J. DAVID GOODMANJUNE 16, 2017

A longtime associate of President Trump's family, who organized golf tournaments on the president's courses and planned his son Eric's wedding, will soon oversee billions of federal dollars as the head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's New York and New Jersey office.

Lynne Patton had been working as a senior adviser and director of public engagement at HUD for several months before Ben Carson, the department secretary, recommended her for the new role, a person close to Mr. Carson said. Before that, Ms. Patton had no experience in housing policy.

The appointment of a Trump family loyalist to a key government post fits a pattern. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, work in White House offices. Daniel Scavino, who was the president's caddy, is the director of social media. His longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller, has become such an important White House figure that he hand-delivered the dismissal papers to James Comey, the former F.B.I. director.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/...t&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=1


----------



## poochee

Jun 16, 5:40 PM EDT

*Scalise doctor hopes for 'excellent recovery' despite risk*
By ERICA WERNER and LAURAN NEERGAARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressman Steve Scalise can hope to make an "excellent recovery," his trauma surgeon said Friday, even though the lawmaker arrived at the hospital Wednesday at imminent risk of death after getting shot at a congressional baseball practice.

In his first public comments since the shooting, Dr. Jack Sava of MedStar Washington Hospital Center said it's a "good possibility" that the Louisiana Republican will be able to return to work in his full capacity.

Sava declined to put a timeline on when that would happen or when Scalise, 51, would be able to leave the hospital. The doctor described how a bullet from an assault rifle entered Scalise's hip and traversed his pelvis, shattering blood vessels, bones and internal organs along the way.

For now, Scalise remains in critical condition in the hospital's intensive care unit.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-16-16-02-38


----------



## poochee

June 16, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*
*
The President's Weekly Address is now available to watch on YouTube.

Transcript:
*
My fellow Americans,

This week, our nation was shocked and horrified when a gunman opened fire on a Member of Congress. Five people were wounded in the assault, including a member of House Leadership - my good friend, Steve Scalise.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/16/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jun 17 2017, 3:01 pm ET
*Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Trial Ends in Mistrial*
by Hannah Rappleye and Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial ended Saturday with a jury that was still deadlocked on all counts after 52 hours of deliberations, punctuating an epic scandal with a giant question mark.

Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill declared a mistrial, but the case against the legendary comedian isn't over: Prosecutors said they will retry him on three counts of aggravated indecent assault, a charge that carries 10 years in prison.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/bi...by-sexual-assault-trial-ends-mistrial-n772106


----------



## poochee

*Trump reports hundreds of millions in income*
by Jill Disis and Cristina Alesci @CNNMoney June 16, 2017: 8:43 PM ET

*VIDEO*

President Trump reported hundreds of millions of dollars in income Friday in financial disclosure forms that shed more light on his vast business holdings.

At his golf courses alone, Trump reported $288 million in income in the past year. That includes $19.8 million from his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he has spent some weekends as president.

The numbers were reported in a 98-page disclosure form signed by Trump this week and made public by the Office of Government Ethics. The report covers January 2016 through April 15, 2017.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/16/news/trump-financial-disclosure-form/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Why we still really need to see Donald Trump's tax returns*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 9:27 PM ET, Fri June 16, 2017

_CNN)_President Donald Trump released a 98-page financial disclosure form Friday, detailing the broad outlines of his wealth but still leaving a number of unanswered questions about the specifics of not only Trump's income but also the details of his vast holdings.

In short, Trump's financial disclosure is nice. His tax returns -- which he became the first presidential candidate in four decades to refuse to release -- would be far better.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/politics/trump-finances/?iid=ob_lockedrail_longstory_pool


----------



## poochee

*58 missing, presumed dead in London high-rise fire, police say*
By Morgan Winsor
Jun 17, 2017, 1:28 PM ET

*VIDEO*

At least 58 people are missing and presumed dead from the massive fire that engulfed a residential high-rise building in London earlier this week, police said on Saturday.

This latest figure includes the 30 people already confirmed dead; 16 of those bodies are being held in a mortuary, including one person who died after being transported to a local hospital. The others have been recovered from the scorched structure, according to Metropolitan Police Service Commander Stuart Cundy.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/58-missing-presumed-dead-london-high-rise-fire/story?id=48103773


----------



## poochee

*Trump family makes first visit to Camp David*
By Kate Bennett, CNN's COVER/LINE
Updated 7:54 PM ET, Fri June 16, 2017

Washington (CNN)Think "Trump orbit" in a recreational sense, and it's likely golf or gilded interiors come to mind -- a vision of uber-comfortable playgrounds replete with ribeye steaks and crystal chandeliers.

Rustic? Not so much. But this weekend, President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and presumably 11-year-old Barron are testing the woodsy digs at Camp David, the rural presidential getaway deep in the mountains of Maryland. It will be the President's first trip to Camp David, and his first weekend overnight trip away from the White House not at a Trump-named property.

It's an unusual decision for the President, who is widely known as someone who doesn't like to disrupt his daily routine or spend weekends anywhere except at Trump-branded properties.

More to the point on this weekend's overnighter, the President appears to have a predisposed opinion of Camp David, which he shared with a European journalist shortly before he was sworn in.

"Camp David is very rustic. It's nice, you'd like it," he quipped. "You know how long you'd like it? For about 30 minutes."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/16/politics/trump-camp-david-visit/index.html


----------



## poochee

CBS/AP June 17, 2017, 8:07 AM
*7 sailors missing from USS Fitzgerald after collision off Japanese coast*
Last Updated Jun 17, 2017 10:35 AM EDT

*VIDEO*

*TOKYO --* Seven U.S. Navy sailors are missing after the USS Fitzgerald destroyer collided before dawn with a container ship four times its size off the coast of Japan, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

A spokesman for the 7th Fleet said U.S. and Japanese aircraft continue to search for the missing sailors. The collision occurred at 2:30 a.m. local time about 56 nautical miles off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan, which is home to the 7th Fleet.

The Fitzgerald was back at its home port in Yokosuka Naval Base south of Tokyo by sunset Saturday, its crew lined up on deck. The Philippine-flagged container ship was berthed at Tokyo's Oi wharf, where officials began questioning crew members about the cause of the nighttime crash.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-fitzgerald-sailors-missing-collision-japan/


----------



## poochee

Jun 17 2017, 10:14 pm ET
*Bodies of 7 Missing U.S. Sailors Found in Destroyer Damaged in Collision *
by Courtney Kube and Phil Helsel

The bodies of seven U.S. sailors missing after a Navy destroyer collided with a container ship off Japan were found in flooded berthing compartments, the U.S. 7th Fleet and a defense official said Saturday.

"The families are being notified and being provided the support they need during this difficult time," the 7th Fleet said in a statement issued Sunday morning local time. "The names of the Sailors will be released after all notifications are made."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...sailors-found-damaged-destroyer-after-n773721


----------



## poochee

Jun 18 2017, 11:39 am ET
*Trump Attorney: The President Is Not Under Investigation *
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEOS*

WASHINGTON - An attorney for President Donald Trump was adamant on Sunday that the president is not under investigation, despite the president's tweets this week referring to one as a "witch hunt."

"Let me be clear here," said Jay Sekulow, a member of the president's legal team, on NBC's "Meet The Press." "The president is not and has not been under investigation for obstruction."

On Friday morning, President Trump sent a tweet that seemed to confirm that he was under scrutiny, writing, "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

But Sekulow claimed the president wasn't referring to an actual investigation in the message, but instead a news report about one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...er-investigation-n773751?cid=eml_pol_20170618


----------



## poochee

Jun 18, 2:39 PM EDT
*GOP senator warns against rushed vote on health care bill*
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Republican senator on Sunday warned against rushing a vote on a GOP bill to repeal and replace the nation's health care law, saying both parties deserve a chance to fully debate the bill and propose changes after it was drafted in secret.

"The Senate is not a place where you can just cook up something behind closed doors and rush it for a vote," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. "So the first step in this may be crafted among a small group of people, but then everyone's going to get to weigh in."

His comments come as Senate Republicans are working hard to finalize legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, without a formal, open drafting session. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he hopes to bring a bill to the floor for a vote within the next two weeks.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-18-14-39-05


----------



## poochee

*Help wanted: Why Republicans won't work for the Trump administration*
By Lisa Rein and Abby Phillip
June 17 at 8:43 PM

*VIDEOS*

The array of legal and political threats hanging over the Trump presidency has compounded the White House's struggles to fill out the top ranks of the government.

Trump's firing of FBI Director James B. Comey last month and the escalating probe into Russian interference in the presidential election have made hiring even more difficult, say former federal officials, party activists, lobbyists and candidates who Trump officials have tried to recruit.

Republicans say they are turning down job offers to work for a chief executive whose volatile temperament makes them nervous. They are asking head-hunters if their reputations could suffer permanent damage, according to 27 people The Washington Post interviewed to assess what is becoming a debilitating factor in recruiting political appointees.

The hiring challenge complicates the already slow pace at which Trump is filling senior leadership jobs across government.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/help-wanted-why-republicans-wont-work-for-the-trump-administration/2017/06/17/61e3d33e-506a-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumphiring818pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.375b73171893


----------



## poochee

*NBC

American Otto Warmbier Dies After Being Released by North Korea*
Mon, Jun 19

*VIDEO *

One week ago, the 22-year-old American student was released by the Nort Korea regime and flown to the US. Now, he's dead.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...after-returning-from-north-korea-971448387503


----------



## poochee

*Democrats plan night full of speeches on health care fight*
By Ashley Killough, CNN
Updated 7:18 PM ET, Mon June 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the Republican plans to repeal and replace Obamacare and kicked off a series of procedural moves for Democrats to take in order to hold the Senate floor Monday night in protest.

Democrats' coordinated effort doesn't actually stall any work that's being done on the bill; it's considered more a night of theatrics for Democrats. But Democrats are attempting to draw attention to the behind-closed-door process that Republicans are taking in drafting the bill.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/19/politics/democrats-senate-health-care-reactions/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 2:15 PM EDT
*Russia sanctions backers fear Trump pressure to weaken bill*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Proponents of Senate-passed legislation to hit Russia with economic sanctions and limit the president's authority to lift the penalties fear the Trump administration may seek to dilute the bill and are urging the House to act quickly.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Tuesday called for the House to vote as soon as possible on the measure. McCain, who has been pushing for months for the U.S. to respond to Russia's election meddling, predicted the legislation would pass overwhelmingly, just as it did in the Senate last week.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-20-14-15-54


----------



## poochee

*Justices to Hear Major Challenge to Partisan Gerrymandering*
By ADAM LIPTAKJUNE 19, 2017

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would consider whether partisan gerrymandering violates the Constitution, potentially setting the stage for a ruling that could for the first time impose limits on a practice that has helped define American politics since the early days of the Republic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/...lights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 11:12 PM EDT
*Republican Handel wins Georgia race, thanks Donald Trump*
By BILL BARROW and KATHLEEN FOODY
Associated Press

DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) -- Republican Karen Handel won a nationally watched congressional election Tuesday in Georgia, and she thanked President Donald Trump after she avoided an upset that would have rocked Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Incomplete returns show Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, winning almost 53 percent of the vote over Democrat Jon Ossoff, who won just over 47 percent in Georgia's 6th Congressional District.

A special thanks to the president of the United States of America," she said late Tuesday night as her supporters chanted, "Trump! Trump! Trump!"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-20-23-12-33


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 5:52 PM EDT
*GOP leaders plan to finalize tax bill behind closed doors*
By JOSH BOAK and STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House plans to privately negotiate a massive overhaul of the tax system with Republican leaders in Congress, possibly giving rank-and-file members little if any say over the finished product, a top aide to President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Gary Cohn, Trump's top economic aide, said the administration doesn't want to engage in prolonged negotiations after the package is made public this fall. Cohn said the goal is to release the overhaul in the first two weeks of September.

We don't want to be negotiating the tax bill on the floor," Cohn said at a meeting of technology executives.

This type of top-down approach has a sketchy record on Capitol Hill, especially on issues as difficult to maneuver as the first remake of the nation's tax code in 31 years. Earlier this year, House members balked when Trump officials demanded that they vote on a bill to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health law.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-20-17-52-17


----------



## poochee

Jun 21 2017, 1:02 pm ET
*Former DHS Chief Warns Russians Will Continue to Target U.S. Elections*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

Former Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson told Congress Wednesday that he has not seen evidence that Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election directly altered ballots, but warned cyberattacks aimed at undermining U.S. elections will "get worse before they get better."

Johnson said officials should "assume" that "the Russians will be back, and possibly other state actors, and possibly other bad cyber actors"

Johnson told the House Intelligence Committee it is "a fact" Russian President Vladimir Putin directed cyberattacks aimed at influencing the election. But, Johnson added in his prepared statement: "To my current knowledge, the Russian government did not through any cyber intrusion alter ballots, ballot counts or reporting of election results."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...rns-russians-will-continue-target-u-s-n775116


----------



## poochee

Jun 20, 4:25 PM EDT
*Russia sanctions backers fear Trump pressure to weaken bill*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Proponents of Senate-passed legislation to hit Russia with economic sanctions and limit the president's authority to lift the penalties fear the Trump administration may seek to dilute the bill and are urging the House to act quickly.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Tuesday for the House to vote as soon as possible on the measure. McCain, who has been pushing for months for the U.S. to respond to Russia's election meddling, predicted the legislation would pass overwhelmingly, just as it did in the Senate last week.

"We all know that the Russians tried to interfere in our elections," McCain said. "Here we are six months later and we've done nothing."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-20-14-15-54


----------



## poochee

*Senate to White House on health care: No Trump, please*
By Dan Merica, Lauren Fox and MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 1:42 PM ET, Wed June 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump may be the President of the United States, but when it comes to passing health care reform through the Senate, Trump is the understudy to Mitch McConnell's lead.

Senators and their top aides on Capitol Hill have made it clear to the White House as health care legislation makes its way through the Senate that the less involved Trump is, the better for the bill's prospects.

It's a tangible acknowledgment that Trump's pull with Senate Republicans, many of whom were not eager to back his presidential campaign, is far weaker than with House Republicans.

"The White House has been super hands off, which feels just about right," a Republican aide told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/politics/white-house-senate-trump-health-care/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 21, 11:46 AM EDT
*Analysis: Dem loss in Georgia underscores party challenges*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans just got a big argument for sticking with President Donald Trump and pushing forward with dismantling former President Barack Obama's health law. And Democrats are struggling to translate the energy of their core supporters into actual election victories.

Tuesday night's outcome in a special House race in Georgia was a triumph for the GOP, and the most recent and devastating illustration of the Democrats' problems - from a weak bench and recruiting problems to divisions about what the party stands for today.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-21-11-46-09


----------



## poochee

Jun 21, 12:46 PM EDT
*Congress hears sinister tale of Russia election meddling*
By RICHARD LARDNER and DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A sinister portrait of Russia's cyberattacks on the U.S. emerged Wednesday as current and former U.S. officials told Congress Moscow stockpiled stolen information and selectively disseminated it during the 2016 presidential campaign to undermine the American political process.

The Russians "used fake news and propaganda and they also used online amplifiers to spread the information to as many people as possible," Bill Priestap, the FBI's top counterintelligence official, told the Senate Intelligence committee.

While he said the Russians had conducted covert operations targeting past American elections, the internet "has allowed Russia to do so much more" than before. But, he added, the "scale and aggressiveness" was different this time, with the primary goal being to sow discord and aid the candidacy of Republican Donald Trump, the eventual winner.

Russia's actions did not change the final election count, they said, but warned that Moscow's efforts will likely continue.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-21-12-46-48


----------



## poochee

*Georgia race provides a wake-up call for both Democrats and Republicans*
By Dan Balz Chief correspondent
June 21 at 2:19 PM

*VIDEO*

For all the money spent and the endless pre-election analysis about the meaning of it all, the special congressional election in Georgia's 6th District produced a status quo result. Republican Karen Handel held on to a seat long held by the Republicans. For both parties, there are lessons to be learned.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e-130pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.47cbcaaecc1f


----------



## poochee

*Senate Republicans set to release health-care bill, but divisions remain*
By Paige Winfield Cunningham, Juliet Eilperin and Sean Sullivan June 21 at 8:36 PM

Senate Republicans on Thursday plan to release a health-care bill that would curtail federal Medicaid funding, repeal taxes on the wealthy and eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood as part of an effort to fulfill a years-long promise to undo Barack Obama's signature health-care law.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But on the eve of the bill's release, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) faced the prospect of an open revolt from key conservative and moderate GOP senators, whose concerns he has struggled to balance in recent weeks. Republicans familiar with the effort said Senate leaders have more work to do to secure the 50 votes needed to pass the measure, with Vice President Pence set to cast the tiebreaking vote, from the pool of 52 GOP senators. No Democrats are expected to support the bill.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...re840pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.6cc257122e26


----------



## poochee

*Four GOP senators oppose Senate health-care measure in its current form*
By Sean Sullivan, Juliet Eilperin and Kelsey Snell 
June 22 at 2:24 PM

*GRAPHIC*

Four Republican senators from the conservative wing of their party say they oppose the Senate health-care bill as it was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday, which places the effort to overhaul the American health-care system in jeopardy as it heads for an anticipated vote in the Senate next week.

Those senators - Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Lee of Utah - announced that while they cannot support the bill as its currently written, they are open to negotiating changes that could ultimately win their support.

"Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor," the statement read. "There are provisions in this draft that represent an improvement to our current health care system but it does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their health care costs."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...re835am:homepage/story&utm_term=.d6477a6cccab


----------



## poochee

Jun 22 2017, 12:08 pm ET
*NBC News/WSJ Poll: Public Overwhelmingly Disapproves of House Health Care Bill*
by Mark Murray

Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the House plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

This new poll comes as Senate Republicans unveil their own health care legislation on Thursday. While the Senate bill shares some similarities to the House version, it also contains differences.

By a 3-to-1 margin, the American public holds a negative view of the American Health Care Act, legislation that House Republicans passed last month and that President Donald Trump supports.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...lmingly-disapproves-house-health-care-n775491


----------



## poochee

*Everything the White House has said about Oval Office tapes*
By Kaitlan Collins and Elizabeth Landers, CNN
Updated 3:02 PM ET, Thu June 22, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump said Thursday he did not make recordings
He previously floated the possibility of tapes
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump confirmed that there are no recordings of his conversations with ousted FBI Director James Comey, nearly six weeks after he implied that there were.

In the time that has passed since he tweeted that Comey "better hope there are no 'tapes,'" the President's spokespeople have refused to elaborate on his statement or give reporters a straight answer about whether tapes existed, even though several agencies told CNN they were not 
the Oval Office.

Now the White House will likely be asked to explain why the President manufactured a claim in hopes of intimidating the FBI director he fired.

*Here is a timeline of how the tapes narrative unfolded:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/22/polit...mments-about-the-james-comey-tapes/index.html*


----------



## poochee

Jun 22, 1:53 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump on solar, taxes, welfare*
By JILL COLVIN and JOSH BOAK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump says the idea of putting solar panels on the wall he wants to build along the Mexico border sprang from his imagination. Actually, others proposed it, back when he was criticizing solar power as too expensive.

Trump's speech in Iowa on Wednesday night was rife with misstatements. He claimed beneficial effects to the economy from actions he has not yet taken. He declared that the "time has come" for a welfare moratorium for immigrants that has been in place for two decades. He juiced up the tax burden on Americans beyond the reality.

*Here's a look at some of his claims:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-22-13-53-19


----------



## poochee

*Republicans' Obamacare repeal would be one of the biggest cuts to the social safety net in history*
By Max Ehrenfreund
June 22 at 11:40 AM

*VIDEO*

Throughout the modern history of Congress, lawmakers have inexorably expanded progressive social policies, and while conservatives have successfully forestalled expansions to the social safety net, they've had very little success in reversing them.

Right now, however, Republicans have a chance to buck that trend, as they prepare legislation aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The Senate bill released on Thursday, coupled with the House bill passed earlier this year, would be exactly the kind of cuts to the welfare state that conservatives have consistently failed to achieve.

The repeal measure, which follows weeks of unusual secrecy in its drafting, would bring down taxes, eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in outlays on the social safety net and curtail the federal government's involvement in a crucial sector of the economy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.209e87fb7063&wpisrc=nl_wonk&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jun 23 2017, 4:21 pm ET
*Dean Heller Becomes the Fifth GOP Senator to Oppose Health Care Bill*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's effort to pass the GOP health care plan got a little harder Friday when Nevada's Dean Heller became the fifth Republican senator to say he can't support the bill in its current form.

McConnell intends to put his health care bill up for a full Senate vote next week but he's facing increasing pressure from both ideological wings of his party to find the 50 votes he needs to pass the bill.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...h-gop-senator-oppose-health-care-bill-n776091


----------



## poochee

Jun 23 2017, 6:54 pm ET
*Just About Every Major Medical Group Hates the GOP Health Care Plans*
by Maggie Fox

*VIDEO*

Groups representing pediatricians, cancer specialists, heart doctors and family physicians all agree: Both the House and the Senate offerings for fixing health care in the U.S. would make things worse, not better.

Within hours of its release, groups representing medical professionals were denouncing the Senate version, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act or BCRA.

"The Senate draft health care bill is literally heartless," American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said.

*Here are five reasons so many medical professionals oppose the Republican-proposed changes made so far to the 2010 Affordable Care Act:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...r-medical-group-hates-gop-health-care-n776001


----------



## poochee

Jun 23, 7:07 PM EDT
*Trump signs law to make VA more accountable for vets' care*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Friday that will make it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire employees, part of a push to overhaul an agency that is struggling to serve millions of military vets.

"Our veterans have fulfilled their duty to our nation and now we must fulfill our duty to them," Trump said during a White House ceremony. "To every veteran who is here with us today, I just want to say two very simple words: Thank you."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-23-15-50-04


----------



## poochee

*Another Hollywood star 'joked' about killing Trump, but no one's laughing*
Analysis by Juana Summers, CNN
Updated 6:04 PM ET, Fri June 23, 2017

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_Actor Johnny Depp on Thursday became the latest US celebrity to invite controversy by making a thinly veiled allusion to the killing of President Donald Trump, asking the crowd at the Glastonbury arts festival in England, "When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?"

The comments, interpreted as a nod to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth more than 150 years ago, sparked widespread condemnation.

But it's clear the US has opened a new chapter in the debate over political expression, art and inciting violence against public figures, one that has been raging for years but has taken on a heightened pitch since Trump took office -- and a slew of celebrities have lined up to oppose him with increasingly provocative language.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/politics/johnny-depp-apology-donald-trump-assassination/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 22 2017, 12:08 pm ET
*NBC News/WSJ Poll: Public Overwhelmingly Disapproves of House Health Care Bill*
by Mark Murray

Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the House plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

This new poll comes as Senate Republicans unveil their own health care legislation on Thursday. While the Senate bill shares some similarities to the House version, it also contains differences.

By a 3-to-1 margin, the American public holds a negative view of the American Health Care Act, legislation that House Republicans passed last month and that President Donald Trump supports.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ouse-health-care-n775491?cid=eml_pol_20170623


----------



## poochee

Jun 24 2017, 7:34 am ET
*Trump White House Has Taken Little Action To Stop Next Election Hack*
by Ken Dilanian, Hallie Jackson, Likhitha Butchireddygari and Gabriela Martinez

*VIDEO*

The Trump administration has taken little meaningful action to prevent Russian hacking, leaking and disruption in the next national election in 2018, despite warnings from intelligence officials that it will happen again, officials and experts told NBC News.

"This attack is really the political equivalent of 9/11 - it is deadly, deadly serious," said Michael Vickers, a career intelligence official who was the Pentagon's top intelligence official in the Obama administration. "The Russians will definitely be back, given the success they had…I don't see much evidence of a response."

According to recent Congressional testimony, Trump has shown no interest in the question of how to prevent future election interference by Russia or another foreign power. Former FBI Director James Comey told senators that Trump never asked him about how to stop a future Russian election cyber attack, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who sits on the National Security Council, testified that he has not received a classified briefing on Russian election interference.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...aken-little-action-stop-next-election-n776116


----------



## poochee

Jun 24, 8:17 AM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Trump and missions unaccomplished*
By JIM DRINKARD and CALVIN WOODWARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump has a way of presenting missions as accomplished even when they're not.

So it was when he told Iowans he's put farmers back at their plows, secured a historic increase in military spending and empowered homebuilders to swing their hammers again. Those all remain aspirations, not achievements.

Trump is also known to propose something already in effect, as when he declared "the time has come" for a welfare moratorium for immigrants. President Bill Clinton signed such a moratorium into law in 1996.

*A look at a variety of Trump's statements from the public square over the past week:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-24-08-17-18


----------



## poochee

*The White House*
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 23, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*
The President's Weekly Address is now available to watch on YouTube.

My fellow Americans,

Millions of families across our nation are suffering under the disaster known as Obamacare. Traveling throughout our country over the last two years, I have met so many of these wonderful Americans, and I have never forgotten their stories.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/23/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Trump: Obama 'did nothing' about Russia election meddling*
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 6:56 PM ET, Sat June 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

"It is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend," the former Obama administration official said
"Now we actually know: Yes, Putin directed it," Merkley said.
_CNN)_President Donald Trump questioned former President Barack Obama's response to Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election in an interview airing Sunday morning, saying Obama didn't do enough to address the situation.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/politics/vladmir-putin-russia-election/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 25 2017, 10:32 am ET
*Sens. Johnson, Sanders: No Way Vote Should Happen on Health Care Bill This Week*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEOS*

WASHINGTON - As as Congress wrangles over implementing a new health care law, Republican and Democratic senators have not agreed on much, but there was one area where two lawmakers on opposite sides of the aisle found common ground on the issue on Sunday.

Both Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who each have expressed serious reservations with the bill for very different reasons, proclaimed during exclusive interviews on Sunday's "Meet The Press" that rushing a vote before the July 4th recess would be unwise.

There's no way we should be voting on this next week. No way," Johnson told host Chuck Todd. "I have a hard time believing Wisconsin constituents or even myself will have enough time to properly evaluate this, for me to vote for a motion to proceed. So I've been encouraging leadership, the White House, anybody I can talk to for quite some time, let's not rush this process. Let's have the integrity to show the American people what it is, show them the truth."

Republican senators unveiled their version of the health bill on Thursday, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he wants to see a vote before the end of this week.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-sen-johnson-no-way-vote-should-happen-bill-week-n776446


----------



## poochee

*Supreme Court allows parts of travel ban to take effect*
By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Updated 12:38 PM ET, Mon June 26, 2017

*Story highlights*

Court will hear full case next fall, but lets part of ban take effect
Partial victory for Trump, who has made the ban a central part of his agenda
Administration can bar those who lack "bona fide" ties to family, other US entities
Could create chaos at airports this summer
VIDEO

_Washington (CNN)_The Supreme Court Monday allowed parts of President Donald Trump's travel ban to go into effect and will hear oral arguments on the case this fall.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/26/politics/travel-ban-supreme-court/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama officials hit back at Trump, GOP over Russia claims*
By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times - Monday, June 26, 2017

Former Obama White House officials accused President Trump Monday of trying to distract the public from Republicans' "terrible" health-care bill by blaming President Obama for obstructing an investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election.

Further, Team Obama is claiming that Republicans prevented the Obama administration last year from responding more aggressively to Moscow's interference in the election.

"They're honestly nonsensical," former Obama National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said of the claims of Mr. Trump and his advisers. "He's attempting to pin on the Obama administration the very serious charges - namely collusion and obstruction - that federal investigators are examining in the context of his behavior and that of his associates."

Mr. Price added, "This 'I'm-not-you-are' strategy tends to be a hallmark of elementary school, not presidential strategy."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/26/obama-officials-hit-back-trump-gop-over-russia-cla/


----------



## poochee

Jun 26, 2:16 PM EDT
*The Latest: AMA says GOP health bill will harm patients*

The nation's largest doctors' group is outlining its opposition to the Senate Republican health care bill.

The American Medical Association sent a letter Monday to Senate leaders saying the draft legislation violates the medical oath to "first, do no harm."

The letter says the Republican plan is likely to lead to higher costs and greater difficulty in affording care for low- and middle-income patients.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-26-14-16-30


----------



## ekim68

Analysis indicates partisan gerrymandering has benefited GOP



> The 2016 presidential contest was awash with charges that the fix was in: Republican Donald Trump repeatedly claimed that the election was rigged against him, while Democrats have accused the Russians of stacking the odds in Trump's favor.
> 
> Less attention was paid to manipulation that occurred not during the presidential race, but before it - in the drawing of lines for hundreds of U.S. and state legislative seats. The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Republicans had a real advantage.


----------



## poochee

Jun 26, 5:02 PM EDT

*Budget office: Senate health bill adds 22 million uninsured
By ALAN FRAM*
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Republican health care bill would leave 22 million more Americans uninsured in 2026 than under President Barack Obama's health care law, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Monday, in a blow to GOP leaders' hopes of pushing the plan through the chamber this week.

The CBO coverage estimates pose yet another problem for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who unveiled the legislation last Thursday. By Friday afternoon, he was facing public statements of opposition from five GOP senators - three more defections than he can afford and still win approval for the legislation over united Democratic opposition. Others have expressed concerns.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-26-17-02-12


----------



## poochee

*Read the CBO report on the impact of Senate Republicans' health care bill*
Updated 4:35 PM ET, Mon June 26, 2017

_CNN)_Read the highly anticipated report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which answers key questions about the impact of Senate Republicans' health care bill. It would leave 22 million fewer Americans with health insurance by 2026 than under Obamacare, CBO says.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/26/politics/cbo-report-health-care-bill-senate-republicans/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 27 2017, 8:56 am ET
*Momentum Sputters for Senate GOP Health Care Plan*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

If the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare were a football game, Republicans started Monday on the Democrats' 30-yard line. But what happened throughout the day amounted to an illegal procedure call, an incomplete pass, and a one-yard run - all setting up 3rd and 14 from the 34-yard line. First came the Congressional Budget Office score that 22 million would lose insurance over the next 10 years under the GOP Senate legislation. Then Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced her opposition to the current legislation, and said she would vote against any motion to proceed on it. "I want to work w/ my GOP & Dem colleagues to fix the flaws in ACA. CBO analysis shows Senate bill won't do it. I will vote no on mtp," Collins tweeted. And according to NBC's Frank Thorp, four Republicans - Collins, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, and Dean Heller - have all said they'd vote NO on a motion to start debate.

Of course, this isn't the first time that the health-care push has looked to be in trouble; remember when House Republicans had to pull their vote before passing revised legislation a month later? But the momentum has stalled. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to pick up 14 yards to keep the drive going.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...health-care-plan-n777091?cid=eml_pol_20170627


----------



## poochee

Jun 26 2017, 10:34 pm ET
*CBO Report Complicates GOP Support for Health Care Bill*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - A crucial week for the Senate health care bill got off to a difficult start for skittish Republicans struggling to muster support for the measure after the Congressional Budget Office released its analysis estimating that 22 million people would lose insurance under the law over the next decade.

Despite an initial addition to the measure Monday, Republicans continued to lay out demands for more changes to the bill, hoping leadership addresses their concerns. And a growing number of senators expressed deep apprehension with the bill Monday night, threatening GOP leadership's ability to even bring the measure up for a debate.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...health-care-bill-n776981?cid=eml_pol_20170627


----------



## poochee

Jun 27, 2:28 PM EDT
*Major veterans' groups voice concern over Senate health bill*
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Major veterans' organizations are voicing concerns about a Senate GOP bill to repeal the nation's health care law, fearing the impact of rising insurance costs and worried the underfunded Department of Veterans Affairs won't be able to fill the coverage gap.

While there are more than 21 million veterans in the U.S., only about 8 million receive health care from the VA. The others rely on Medicaid, purchase insurance on state or federal exchanges, have employer-provided insurance or have no coverage at all.

In a letter Tuesday to senators, Paralyzed Veterans of America, one of the six biggest nonpartisan veterans' groups, criticized an "opaque and closed" legislative process and proposed cuts to Medicaid that could lead to hundreds of thousands of lower-income veterans losing their insurance.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-27-14-28-58


----------



## poochee

*Trump's new foil: a silent Barack Obama*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 10:19 AM ET, Tue June 27, 2017

*VIDEO

Story highlights *

People close to Obama say he has no desire to get dragged into a direct confrontation with his successor
Trump, of course, is happy to fill the vacuum as he seeks a new foil to define his administration
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump has a new favorite target -- the guy who used to have his job.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And it's unlikely that Trump's Obama bashing will linger long in history.

That's because Obama has already done all he can to secure his reputation for posterity.

He is likely to be judged on his efforts to rescue the economy after the Great Recession, his decision not to strike Syria over its use of chemical weapons, and more intangible impressions, including his personal integrity and political skills, and his status as the first African-American president.

Trump's own actions will be instrumental in how future generations see him.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/27/politics/donald-trump-barack-obama-history/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 27, 9:57 PM EDT
*Senate GOP shelves health bill, imperils 'Obamacare' repeal*
By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate GOP leaders abruptly shelved their long-sought health care overhaul Tuesday, asserting they can still salvage it but raising new doubts about whether President Donald Trump and the Republicans will ever deliver on their promises to repeal and replace "Obamacare."

Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced a delay for any voting at a closed-door senators' lunch also attended by Vice President Mike Pence. McConnell's tone was matter-of-fact, according those present, yet his action amounts to a stinging setback for the longtime Senate leader who had developed the legislation largely in secret as Trump hung back in deference.

Now Trump seems likely to push into the discussion more directly, and he immediately invited Senate Republicans to the White House. But the message he delivered to them before reporters were ushered out of the room was not entirely hopeful.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-27-21-57-23


----------



## poochee

Jun 28, 2:49 PM EDT
*The Latest: Trump promises 'big surprise' on health care*
2:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the Republican health care effort is "working along very well" and suggested there could be a "big surprise coming." The White House did not elaborate on what Trump meant.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump told reporters getting approval of a Senate health care bill will be "very tough." But he predicted that Republicans will at least "get very close" and may "get it over the line."

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell postponed a vote on the Republican health care bill this week because he lacked the votes.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-28-14-49-10


----------



## poochee

Jun 28 2017, 10:52 am ET
*Reporter Scolds White House: Stop 'Bullying' the Media*
by Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

The reporter who engaged in a tense exchange with a top White House spokeswoman this week accused the Trump administration on Wednesday of "undermining" journalists and said the media "can't take the bullying anymore."

"We've been called the enemy of the people from that White House, we've been told that we're fake news. We are bullied and brow-beaten every day, and I pretty much have had enough of it," Brian Karem, a White House correspondent for the Sentinel newspapers, a Washington-area chain of publications, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"There are really only two ways to deal with a bully. You can either turn them into your friend, I don't think that's a possibility, or you can let them know exactly what's up and that you're not going to take the bullying anymore. And we can't take the bullying anymore," added Karem.

During the White House press briefing on Tuesday, Karem challenged White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders after she accused the media of perpetuating what she labeled the "Trump-Russia hoax."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/reporter-scolds-white-house-stop-bullying-media-n777526


----------



## poochee

*Time asks Trump to take down fake magazine covers*
 Mike Snider  , USA TODAY Published 12:00 p.m. ET June 28, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago

*VIDEO*

The newsweekly made the request after _The Washington Post_ reported Tuesday that at least five Trump properties had hanging a _Time_ magazine cover showing Trump.

But the magazine covers, dated March 1, 2009, were fake. The magazine did not publish on that date; its March 2, 2009 issue featured actress Kate Winslet.

Trump is tweeting about fake news this morning. Speaking of fake news, Time is asking Trump to remove phony covers

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...ump-take-down-fake-magazine-covers/435085001/


----------



## poochee

*Paper ballots are hack-proof. It's time to bring them back.*
Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Opinion columnist 1:44 p.m. ET June 25, 2017
*We like to tell citizens that every vote counts. But actually, no vote counts unless it is counted.*

_I've been talking about the importance of protecting against voting-machine hacks since 2002. And now, finally, people are starting to take me seriously.

The move to paperless voting started in response to the Florida "hanging chad" fiasco in the 2000 presidential election. Some people (like me) thought this was a mistake, but such concerns were often dismissed. Now, apparently, you can't be paranoid enough. As Politico's Bob King noted, while 10 years ago critics of paperless voting were called paranoid, now both parties are worried.

It remains true that there is no actual evidence that a single vote was changed by hackers in the 2016 election. But even the possibility of hacking has served to promote the sort of conspiracy-mongering and political hatred that led to, for example, the shooting attack on Republican lawmakers last week. In a democratic polity, people have to believe that their votes are counted honestly, or the legitimacy of the system collapses.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...ing-them-back-glenn-reynoldscolumn/416652001/_


----------



## poochee

*Officials struggle to convince Trump that Russia remains a threat*
By Sara Murray and Dana Bash, CNN
Updated 5:56 PM ET, Wed June 28, 2017

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_As President Donald Trump lashes out at former President Barack Obama for failing to take a harder line against Russia for election meddling, Trump's own advisers are struggling to convince him that Russia still poses a threat, according to multiple senior administration officials.

"I just heard today for the first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it," Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired Sunday. "To me -- in other words -- the question is, if he had the information, why didn't he do something about it? He should have done something about it."

But the Trump administration has taken no public steps to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 election. Multiple senior administration officials said there are few signs the President is devoting his time or attention to the ongoing election-related cyber threat from Russia.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/28/politics/officials-struggle-convince-trump-russia-threat/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 28, 6:54 PM EDT
*Senate Intelligence Committee to get access to Comey memos*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Intelligence Committee has an agreement to get former FBI Director James Comey's memos of his conversations with President Donald Trump.

The panel's top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, confirmed the deal Wednesday and said the panel would have access to the memos "soon." He wouldn't say with whom the committee made the deal.

"We have a commitment to get appropriate access to the Comey memos," Warner told reporters Wednesday. "I'm pleased, I think it's critical information we have to have as part of our review process."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-28-18-54-41


----------



## poochee

Jun 29, 1:10 PM EDT
*Trump mocks TV host: 'bleeding badly from a face-lift'*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday ridiculed the brains, looks and temperament of a female cable television host whose show he says he has stopped watching. His latest crude broadside against a woman's appearance set off a storm of protest from Republicans and Democrats alike and did nothing to advance his struggling policy agenda.

In a series of tweets morning tweets, the president went after Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who have criticized Trump on their MSNBC show "Morning Joe."

"I heard poorly rated @Morning Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came ... to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-29-13-10-41


----------



## poochee

Jun 28 2017, 7:51 pm ET
*Fact Check: No Evidence Undocumented Immigrants Commit More Crimes*
by Jane C. Timm

*VIDEO*

The Trump administration on Wednesday was all about crime committed by undocumented immigrants.

President Donald Trump met at the White House with the victims of crimes perpetrated by undocumented immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security championed increased arrests, and the Department of Justice called for the passage of a law that would up the penalties for undocumented immigrants who attempt to reenter the country.

The day's events meshed well with Trump's campaign rhetoric that illegal immigration was a public safety issue, with criminals "roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens," as he put it in one campaign speech.

* There's one catch:* There's no evidence that undocumented immigrants commit more crime.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...mmit-more-crimes-n777856?cid=eml_pol_20170629


----------



## poochee

*Three journalists leaving CNN after retracted article*
by Brian Stelter @brianstelter
June 27, 2017: 6:00 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The reporting about the Russian investment fund and Trump officials was not relayed on CNN's television channels, but it was published on the web and shared on social media.

On Friday, one of the people named in the story, Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci, disputed Frank's reporting and said, "I did nothing wrong."

Friday night, once it was determined that editorial processes were not followed, CNN deleted the story from CNN.com.

Soon thereafter, the story was officially retracted and replaced with an editor's note. The piece "did not meet CNN's editorial standards and has been retracted," the note said. "Links to the story have been disabled."

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/26/media/cnn-announcement-retracted-article/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Senate re-passes Russia sanctions bill*
By Deirdre Walsh and Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 3:03 PM ET, Thu June 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Democrats charged that Republicans in the House were deliberately stalling on a sanctions bill
Republicans said that the reaction to the delay was being overblown
_(CNN)_Ahead of President Donald Trump's first face-to-face encounter with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week at the G20 summit, the Senate passed for a second time a Russia sanctions package that had stalled on Capitol Hill.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/29/politics/russia-sanctions-bill-senate/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's bullying of Mika Brzezinski crosses a big line*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 1:28 PM ET, Thu June 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_A high-profile and powerful man takes to social media -- where he has tens of millions of followers -- to allege a prominent woman was "bleeding badly" after a plastic surgery operation.

If that high-profile man was the CEO of a major company, he would, at minimum, be forced to apologize, and, at most, be fired. If that high-profile man was an actor, he'd likely be blackballed by Hollywood for future roles.

Then why, when that person is the President of the United States, should we treat that sort of behavior any differently?

Donald Trump, from almost the moment he became a candidate for President two years ago, has set about making the outrageous ordinary. Attack John McCain for being captured and held for six years as a prisoner of war? Check! Reference the size of his genitals in a debate? Check! Make lewd comments -- on tape -- about how a prominent man can expect to be treated by women? Check!

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/29/politics/trump-mika-analysis/index.html


----------



## ekim68

Powerful Scenes from the Health Care Rally Outside Congress



> Senate Republicans may have ditched their plans to hold a health care vote this week, but that didn't stop protesters from flooding the US Capitol grounds Wednesday afternoon to voice their opposition to the GOP's plan to repeal Obamacare. The protest, dubbed Linking Together: March to Save our Care, was organized by a host of liberal groups, including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, SEIU, and others.
> 
> With the bill on hold, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is still working behind the scenes to craft a deal and is hoping to vote once senators return from recess next month. The current iteration of the bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured by 2026 than under current law.


----------



## poochee

*Delegitimizing his presidency, one tweet at a time*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:06 PM ET, Fri June 30, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Thursday's tweets focused attention on Trump's coarse brand
The last two Presidents, for example, have often fumed privately
Washington (CNN)It marked a rare presidential moment on a most un-presidential day -- Donald Trump stood at a podium flanked by flags as "Stars and Stripes Forever" rang out, after delivering a speech on energy.

But a day later, all around Washington on Friday, a storm of criticism still raged around his decision to level vicious tweets at MSNBC television anchor Mika Brzezinski.

The controversy was yet another reminder, a few days ahead of America's birthday, that Trump is a leader like no other in the nation's 241-year history, who plans to stay true to himself and is willing to flout norms of decorum.

The longer such antics go on, more and more people will question whether the leader of the free world is not just damaging his own presidency, but demeaning the office itself and potentially diminishing it for whoever comes after him.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/30/politics/trump-presidency-respect/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jun 30, 3:53 AM EDT
*Trump, Putin face high-stakes meeting in Germany next week*
By KEN THOMAS and VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump's "America First" policy will be put to the test if he opts to confront Russia over intelligence that Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential election.

National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Thursday that Trump will meet with Putin along the sidelines of the annual Group of 20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, part of an itinerary that will include meetings with several world leaders.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-30-03-53-48


----------



## poochee

Jun 30, 1:13 PM EDT

*US-SKorea summit exposes spat on trade, resolve on NKorea*
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump took South Korea to task over its trade surplus with the United States on Friday, demanding renegotiation of a bilateral pact, even as the close security allies voiced joint resolve against the nuclear weapons threat from North Korea.

Trump talked tough on North Korea, vowing to defend America and its allies against its "reckless and brutal regime," as he concluded two-day of talks with South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in.

But he also spoke bluntly about the 2012 free trade agreement between the two nations that he said was a "rough deal" for America. He called for the lifting of barriers to U.S. auto sales in South Korea and accused Seoul of enabling exports to the U.S. of dumped steel - apparently referring to steel made in China.

"I'm encouraged by President Moon's assurances that he will work to create a level playing field so that American workers and businesses and especially auto makers can have a fair shake at dealing with South Korea," Trump said in comments alongside Moon in the Rose Garden of the White House.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-30-13-13-23


----------



## poochee

Jun 30, 9:04 PM EDT
*Trump suggests just repeal Obamacare, then try to replace it*
By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump barged into Senate Republicans' delicate health care negotiations Friday, declaring that if lawmakers can't reach a deal they should simply repeal "Obamacare" right away and then replace it later on.

Trump's tweet revives an approach that GOP leaders and the president himself considered but dismissed months ago as impractical and politically unwise. And it's likely to further complicate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's task as he struggles to bridge the divide between GOP moderates and conservatives as senators leave Washington for the Fourth of July break without having voted on a health care bill as planned.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-30-21-04-52


----------



## poochee

Jun 30 2017, 5:46 pm ET
*Backlash at Trump Commission Request for 'Confidential' Voter Data*
by Dartunorro Clark

*VIDEO*

The Presidential Commission on Voter Integrity sent what some experts called an alarming letter this week to all 50 states and Washington, D.C., asking officials, including those in the home states of the panel's chairs, to turn over "publicly-available voter roll data."

However, the panel is also seeking sensitive information, including "dates of birth, political party (if recorded in your state), last four digits of social security number if available, voter history (elections voted in) from 2006 onward, active/inactive status, cancelled status, information regarding any felony convictions, information regarding voter registration in another state, information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Trump established the commission through an executive order and it is headed by Vice President Mike Pence. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an immigration hardliner and strict voter identification law advocate, serves as vice chair and penned the letter.

Almost immediately, a number of states led by Democrats criticized and flatly rejected the request, with some officials calling it a politically-motivated effort to satisfy Trump's unfounded claims about rampant voter fraud during the 2016 election. The president has alleged without any evidence that millions of "illegal" votes cost him the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, who topped him by nearly 3 million votes.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/backlash-trump-commission-request-voter-data-n778661


----------



## poochee

*The White House*
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 30, 2017

*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*
The President's Weekly Address is now available to watch on YouTube.

*Transcript:
*
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/30/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jul 1, 2:36 AM EDT
*Congress comes up short on major action so far this year*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are stuck on health care, can't pass a budget, and hopes for a big, bipartisan infrastructure package are fizzling. Overhauling the tax code looks more and more like a distant dream.

The GOP-led Congress has yet to salt away a single major legislative accomplishment for President Donald Trump - and a summer of drift may lead to a logistical nightmare this fall.

Instead, Trump's allies appear both divided and indecisive, unable to deliver on his agenda while letting other must-do congressional business - chiefly their core responsibilities of passing a budget and spending bills, and keeping the government solvent - slide onto an already daunting fall agenda that is looking more and more like it'll be a train wreck.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-01-02-36-57


----------



## poochee

*Bernstein: We are in the midst of a 'malignant presidency'*
By Ilana Bernstein and Josiah Ryan
Updated 2:05 AM ET, Sat July 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Bernstein called on the media to explore the question of whether Trump is "capable" of leading the country.
His remarks come at the end of a week in which Trump battered the media with insults
"I think something much greater is happening, and that is that we are in the midst of a malignant presidency," he said. "That malignancy is known to the military leaders of the country. It's known to the Republican leadership in Congress who recognize it, and it's known to the intelligence community."

"That has got our leaders worried," he continued. "They are worried about his character. They are worried about his capabilities. They are worried about his temperament and state of his temperament, to use kind words here."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/01/politics/bernstein-calls-trump-presidency-malignant-cnntv/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 1, 6:54 PM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: When a swoopy line on a chart misleads*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and JIM DRINKARD
Associated Press

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-01-18-54-06


----------



## poochee

*CNN Commentator: Trump 'Is Going To Get Somebody Killed In The Media'*
*By Esme Cribb Published July 2, 2017 1:32 pm

VIDEO
*
CNN commentator and Republican strategist Ana Navarro on Sunday said President Donald Trump "is inciting violence against the free press" by railing against the media.

On ABC News' "This Week," Navarro said Trump's Sunday morning tweet of a video of himself attacking a figure with CNN's logo superimposed on their face was "unacceptable."

"I think that is the President of the United States taking things way too far. It is an incitement to violence. He is going to get somebody killed in the media," she said. "Maybe that will stop him."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cnn-gop-ana-navarro-trump-tweets


----------



## poochee

*'We need to be having more transparency': Journalists discuss WH briefings, lack thereof*
By Lindsey Ellefson, CNN
Updated 3:14 PM ET, Sun July 2, 2017
_Journalists on WH briefings: We need 'transparency' 04:03_

*VIDEO*

(CNN)Once again, the Donald Trump administration is being scrutinized for its press briefing strategy, this time on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

During a panel on Sunday's show, journalists discussed the implications of the White House's refusal to host as many on-camera briefings as its predecessors.

New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi said, "This week, one of the only on-camera briefings was when (deputy press secretary) Sarah Huckabee Sanders used it as an excuse to attack CNN, attack the media more broadly, and attack, specifically, Russia reporting. I think there was a reason why we were all assembled there and why the cameras were there. It was very transparent at the time."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/02/politics/white-house-briefings-cnntv/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama speaks out on Trump's policies, warns of nationalism*
*July 2nd, 2017

VIDEO
*
Former President Barack Obama spoke out Saturday in Indonesia on President Donald Trump's policies, including a warning against the rise of nationalism and the decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

http://www.today.com/video/donald-trump-defends-tweets-it-s-modern-day-presidential-981726275548


----------



## poochee

Jul 3, 6:13 AM EDT
*China's Xi warns Trump of 'negative factors' hurting US ties*
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping warned President Donald Trump on Monday that "some negative factors" are hurting U.S.-China relations, as tensions flare anew over a slew of long-standing sore points.

Xi's comments in a phone call with Trump follow Beijing's displeasure over U.S. arms sales to rival Taiwan, U.S. sanctions against a Chinese bank over its dealings with North Korea and, most recently, the sailing of a U.S. destroyer within the territorial seas limit of a Chinese-claimed island in the South China Sea.

Beijing was also miffed after the State Department gave Beijing a dismal grade last week in a new human trafficking report.

According to state media, Xi told Trump in their call that Beijing expects Washington to continue managing relations on the basis of the "one China" principle that rules out formal contacts with Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-03-06-13-04


----------



## poochee

*Trump has wasted the major advantage he had coming into office*
By Fred Hiatt Editorial Page Editor
Opinions
July 2 at 8:05 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump is giving outsiders and drain-the-swampers a bad name.

A president who comes to power with little dependence on either party and wins election by running against the special interests, could, in theory, do a lot of good work. He could use his popular support to push reforms that are in the national interest but have gotten stuck in Washington. Three examples come to mind - none of which has, at least so far, inspired the president to action.

The first, and in some ways most obvious, is a carbon tax linked to infrastructure modernization.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.7e40ffff068e&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Majority of Americans say civility has declined since Trump elected *
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 8:46 AM ET, Mon July 3, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_The majority of Americans -- seven in 10 -- say the level of civility in Washington has declined since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds.

More than eight in 10 Democrats say the civility of discourse has gotten worse since Trump's election, and 65% of Republicans say civility between their party and the Democrats has declined during the same time period.

Seventy percent of independents share the same view.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/03/politics/npr-poll-trump-civility-declined/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump Offers 'Help' To British Baby After Court Rules Life Support Should End* 
July 3, 20173:06 PM ET 
Amy Held

On Monday the Vatican and the White House offered support to the family of a terminally ill British baby whom the European courts ruled could be taken off life support against the will of his parents.

Charlie Gard suffers from a rare mitochondrial disorder, known as MDDS, that leaves him unable to hear and see or to move or breathe unaided, according to Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he is being treated. The condition is currently incurable.

A series of British court rulings have found that continuing Charlie's treatment could cause "significant harm." And on Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights raised nearly $2 million to bring Charlie to an American hospital to undergo experimental treatment. As is written on their GoFundMe page,

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...aby-after-court-rules-life-support-should-end


----------



## poochee

Jul 3, 7:33 PM EDT
*Trump's Twitter battle with press may come with a price*
By JILL COLVIN and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Whether by whim or design, President Donald Trump keeps adding fuel to his incendiary Twitter battle against the media. The press is an easy target for the Republican president, and one his supporters love to hate.

But the escalating conflict has diverted attention not just from Trump's failures but his claimed successes as well.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-03-17-22-16


----------



## poochee

Jul 3, 5:57 PM EDT
*AP Exclusive: US nuclear inspection results now concealed*
By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has thrown a cloak of secrecy over assessments of the safety and security of its nuclear weapons operations, a part of the military with a history of periodic inspection failures and bouts of low morale.

Overall results of routine inspections at nuclear weapons bases, such as a "pass-fail" grade, had previously been publicly available. They are now off-limits. The change goes beyond the standard practice of withholding detailed information on the inspections.

The stated reason for the change is to prevent adversaries from learning too much about U.S. nuclear weapons vulnerabilities. Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the added layer of secrecy was deemed necessary.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-03-17-57-34


----------



## poochee

*Obama plays behind-the-scenes role in rebuilding Democratic Party*
By Amie Parnes - 07/02/17 06:00 AM EDT

*VIDEO *

"He doesn't want the focus to be on him," said one source close to the former president. "He doesn't want to be out in front."

But the private activity suggests that the former president, who left the White House with a 60 percent approval rating, is quietly doing more to shape the party than is often visible.

The meetings and calls have come at a time when the Democratic Party, still reeling from the stunning 2016 presidential election loss, is searching for leadership.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...he-scenes-role-in-rebuilding-democratic-party


----------



## poochee

*Trump's July 4 Message Mixes Church, State And His Reelection Campaign*
By Matt Shuham Published July 4, 2017 11:10 am

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump rang in Independence Day by promoting a new song based on his trademarked phrase, "Make America Great Again."

The composition, which goes by the same name, premiered on Saturday at the Celebrate Freedom rally at D.C.'s Kennedy Center, ABC News reported. Trump continued his attacks against the media in remarks at the event, which was organized to honor military veterans.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-make-america-great-again-july-4-song


----------



## poochee

Jul 3, 1:18 PM EDT
*The Latest: Trump preps for return visit to Europe*

President Donald Trump returns to Europe this week.

Trump is facing his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin along the sidelines of an international summit in Germany. It will be Trump's first visit to Europe since he created anxiety by declining to explicitly endorse NATO's common defense treaty and scolded world leaders for not spending more on their military operations.

This time, Trump will be traveling to Poland for a speech and then to Germany for the annual Group of 20 summit. The president's visit to Poland will be watched for signs that the U.S. may act as a check against Russian aggression.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-03-13-18-16


----------



## poochee

*North Korea missile launch marks a direct challenge to Trump administration*
By Anne Gearan and Emily Rauhala
July 4 at 4:11 PM

North Korea's test launch Tuesday of what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile marks a direct challenge to President Trump, whose tough talk has yet to yield any change in Pyongyang's behavior as the regime continues its efforts to build a nuclear weapon capable of striking the mainland United States.

The latest missile flew higher and remained in the air longer than previous attempts - enough to reach all of Alaska, experts said, in a major milestone for North Korea's weapons program.

The test comes just before Trump will see key Asian leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week. North Korea was already expected to be a main subject for meetings on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit, but the test adds urgency to a widening U.S. campaign aimed at further isolating North Korea.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/north-korea-claims-successful-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-test-defying-international-condemnation/2017/07/04/4f804488-609c-11e7-8adc-fea80e32bf47_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_nkorea-845am:homepage/story&utm_term=.2ab6730a0481


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Army and South Korean military respond to North Korea's launch with missile exercise*
By Dan Lamothe
July 4 at 7:45 PM

*VIDEO*

The U.S. Army and South Korean military responded to North Korea's latest launch with their own exercise of missiles, launching them Wednesday into South Korean territorial waters along the country's eastern coastline, U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement. The launches were directly in response to "North Korea's destabilizing and unlawful actions," Pacific Command said.

The Army used its Army Tactical Missile System and South Korea used its Hyunmoo Missile II, which can be deployed rapidly and provide "deep strike precision capability," Pacific Command said.

The South Korean-U.S. military alliance "remains committed to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Asia-Pacific," Pacific Command said. "The U.S. commitment to the defense of the [Republic of Korea] in the face of threats is ironclad."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...with-missile-exercise/?utm_term=.cfb3354966e6


----------



## poochee

*At G-20 summit, it looks more and more like Trump against the world*
By Damian Paletta and Ana Swanson
July 5 at 11:23 AM

President Trump and key global leaders are on a collision course ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Germany this week, with Trump's unapologetic "America First" mantra on trade and climate change running into emboldened, and increasingly united, opposition overseas.

Trump reiterated his threats on Wednesday to pull the United States back from existing trade deals, arguing they were against the national interest. As Trump threatens to retreat from global trade, other world powers are exploring new economic ties.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/05/at-g-20-meeting-it-looks-more-and-more-like-trump-against-the-world/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_g20-1135a:homepage/story&utm_term=.0ebed4ac513d


----------



## poochee

*North Korea's missile test gives Trump his biggest challenge*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 3:07 PM ET, Wed July 5, 2017

*VIDEO*

It presented Trump with his first real test on the global stage as he flies off to meet far more experienced leaders at the G20 summit in Germany, some of whom are ill-disposed to help him and don't have the US's best interests at heart.

It's a trip that will now be judged on Trump's capacity to secure not just international condemnation of North Korea's actions, but to advance US efforts to change the strategic calculation in Pyongyang.

The mission will test Trump's skill at wielding US power, building international coalitions behind American foreign policy goals and framing innovative policy approaches that haven't yet been tried and that don't fit neatly into the "America First" doctrine that is driving his foreign policy.

Forget the tweetstorms, slams at "fake news" journalists and morale boosting rallies before crowds who thrill to Trump's politically incorrect rhetorical blasts.

This is what being President is really about.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/05/polit...-gives-trump-his-biggest-challenge/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Western values increasingly endangered by terrorism and extremism, Trump warns Europe*
Abby Phillip, John Wagner and Michael Birnbaum
July 6 at 1:23 PM

*VIDEO*

WARSAW - President Trump on Thursday reaffirmed the United States' bond with European allies, calling their pact as "strong as ever." Yet he argued in a speech here that Western values are increasingly imperiled by terrorism and extremism.

In a dark and provocative address with nationalist overtones, Trump said that "the fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive."

"Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost?" Trump said. "Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trump's address in front of a friendly crowd came ahead of his travels to Germany for the Group of 20 Summit of world leaders in Hamburg, where he will meet with several European leaders who view him skeptically and hold starkly different views on globalization.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/06/in-poland-trump-reaffirms-commitment-to-nato-chides-russia/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumppoland-9a:homepage/story&utm_term=.8c6e1c69d909


----------



## poochee

**
*The Merkel-Trump handshake heard 'round the world*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 3:17 PM ET, Thu July 6, 2017

*VIDEO*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/06/politics/merkel-trump-handshake/index.html


----------



## poochee

*After warm welcome in Poland, Trump faces a gantlet of world leaders at G-20 - including Putin*
 Gregory Korte  , USA TODAY Published 4:38 p.m. ET July 6, 2017 | Updated 11:21 p.m. ET July 6, 2017

*VIDEO*

WARSAW - After a warm welcome in Poland, President Trump's European visit gets significantly more difficult with two days of meetings on some of the world's most difficult problems: Terrorism, North Korea, immigration and climate change.

For a president who values face-to-face negotiations, Trump has some of the most challenging foreign policy meetings of his six-month-old presidency lined up this weekend in Hamburg, Germany, where world leaders are gathering for the G-20 summit. *They include:*

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...d-leaders-including-vladimir-putin/455873001/


----------



## poochee

Jul 6 2017, 5:53 pm ET
*G-20 Protests Turn Violent as Trump Arrives in Hamburg*
by Ali Vitali , Phil McCausland and Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

HAMBURG, Germany - Violent clashes broke out near the site of the G-20 Summit Thursday as German riot police confronted thousands of protesters demonstrating amid the arrival of President Donald Trump.

In a protest that some called "Welcome to Hell," upwards of 10,000 people belonging to an array of anti-Trump and anti-capitalist groups - many wearing masks - attacked authorities, set fires, hurled rocks at officers and buildings, chanted slogans and touted angry banners as part of their efforts to disrupt the global conference set to kick off just miles away.

German riot police, in turn, attempted to disperse the protesters with tear gas, smoke bombs and water cannons.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...rs-clash-police-trump-arrives-hamburg-n780211


----------



## poochee

*Trump, Putin reach Syria deal, discuss election interference*
By Dan Merica and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 2:36 PM ET, Fri July 7, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Putin and Trump met Friday in Hamburg
Discussion included situations in Syria, Ukraine
2016 election meddling was discussed
Hamburg, Germany (CNN)President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for over two hours Friday afternoon, discussing interference in US elections and ending with an agreement on curbing violence in Syria, the top American diplomat said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters after the session the ceasefire was a "defined agreement" and could be a precursor to further cooperation in Syria.

"This is our first indication of the US and Russia being able to work together in Syria," Tillerson said. The leaders had a "lengthy discussion of other areas in Syria where we can work together."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/07/politics/trump-putin-meeting/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 7 2017, 2:48 pm ET
*Melania Trump Trapped in Residence Amid G-20 Protests*
by Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

First Lady Melania Trump was unable to leave her residence in Hamburg for a time on Friday due to security concerns stemming from ongoing protests outside the G-20 summit, the White House said.

Violent protests have raged throughout the northern German city ahead of the international conference, a gathering of the leaders of major economies.

The demonstrations continued Friday morning, prompting Hamburg police to refuse clearing Trump from leaving her residence, said Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's communications director.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...pped-hamburg-hotel-amid-g-20-protests-n780486


----------



## poochee

Jul 7, 11:46 AM EDT
*Trump sits down with Mexico's president at last*
By VIVIAN SALAMA and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) -- Better late than never: President Donald Trump and Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto sat down Friday for their first face-to-face meeting since Trump took office with plans for a border wall still looming and Trump asserting that he'll "absolutely" send the bill to Mexico.

Journalists packed the meeting room on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit of industrialized and developing nations for a first glimpse of the two leaders together.

Enrique Pena Nieto was scheduled to be among Trump's first international White House guests but abruptly canceled the visit after Trump moved forward with plans to construct a border wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and have Mexico pay for construction.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-07-11-46-59


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is the best -- and worst -- thing that's happened to modern American feminism*
_The President is the unlikely force behind the revival of the women's movement._
_By
 Jodi Enda 

Deate all you want whether Donald Trump is bad for women, but there's no disputing this: He is great for the women's movement.

The election of a president whom detractors view as misogynistic and backward-thinking has done nothing less than spark a wholesale resurgence of feminism. His defeat of the first woman who might have been president -- coupled with his incendiary comments about women and his divisive policies on reproductive rights and other issues -- lit a fire under a movement that had failed to excite younger generations of women who benefited from the battles of the last century and saw no need to keep fighting.

*They do now.

And so do their mothers and grandmothers.

Inadvertently and singlehandedly, Trump has galvanized women like no president before him.
*
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017...070717womens-movement-donald-trump1204PMStory
*
*_


----------



## poochee

*Once Dominant, the United States Finds Itself Isolated at G-20*
By STEVEN ERLANGER and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
JULY 7, 2017

HAMBURG, Germany - For years the United States was the dominant force and set the agenda at the annual gathering of the leaders of the world's largest economies.

But on Friday, when President Trump met with other leaders at the Group of 20 conference, he found the United States isolated on everything from trade to climate change, and faced with the prospect of the group's issuing a statement on Saturday that lays bare how the United States stands alone.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the host of the meeting, opened it by acknowledging the differences between the United States and the rest of the countries. While "compromise can only be found if we accommodate each other's views," she said, "we can also say, we differ."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/...latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

Jul 8 2017, 4:23 pm ET
*G-20 Summit: Top Five Takeaways From Trump's Trip*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

HAMBURG, Germany - President Donald Trump's G-20 trip was dominated by news of his "very robust" first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin - but other critical issues hinged on his ability to maneuver through diplomatic channels.

After a rough reception last month during the NATO summit, foreign policy experts predicted an icy reception for Trump - especially as his recent policy pronouncements on climate and trade put him out of step with the other allies gathered in Germany.

But the international trip played better than that Brussels stop, according to Jamie Fly, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund, and Trump seemed to have "navigated some of the differences that everyone knew would exist with the Europeans."

Optics was but one of Trump's challenges, however. *These five issues are the top takeaways of the summit:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/g-20-summit-top-five-takeaways-trump-s-trip-n780916


----------



## poochee

*No Trump press conference at G20*
by Jackie Wattles July 8, 2017: 5:36 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The president of Russia did it. So did the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Turkey and Spain. Not President Trump.

The heads of state of at least a half dozen nations took reporters' questions at the conclusion of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday. Trump, however, did not hold a press conference.

It marked a major break with precedent. Former President Obama had a press conferences at each of the eight G20 summits he attended. So did former President George W. Bush in November 2008, as he did the four prior years after G8 meetings.

The president's unwillingness to take questions from reporters is part of an undeniable pattern during his first six months in office.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/08/media/president-trump-press-conference-g20/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 9 2017, 11:32 am ET
*Graham Slams 'Disastrous Meeting' With Putin, Calls Russia Trump's 'Blind Spot'*
by Kailani Koenig

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., blasted President Donald Trump on Sunday for his administration's lack of a response to Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, saying, "this whole idea of moving forward without punishing Russia is undercutting his entire presidency."

Earlier Sunday, Trump fired off a series of tweets on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Germany, writing, "Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded."

"It's not the dumbest idea I've ever heard, but it's pretty close," Graham said of the president's proposal.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...ia-trump-s-blind-n781096?cid=eml_pol_20170709


----------



## poochee

Jul 9, 5:11 PM EDT
*2 GOP senators suggest bill to repeal health care law 'dead'*
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The initial GOP bill to repeal and replace the nation's health law is probably "dead" and President Donald Trump's proposal to just repeal it appears to be a "non-starter," two moderate Republican senators indicated Sunday as their party scrambled to salvage faltering legislation.

"We don't know what the plan is," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. "Clearly, the draft plan is dead. Is the serious rewrite plan dead? I don't know."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it may now be time for Republicans to come up with a new proposal with support from Democrats.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-09-17-11-56


----------



## poochee

*Special Counsel Mueller Lets His Actions Do The Talking: 15 Hires, More to Come*
July 8, 20177:00 AM ET
 Carrie Johnson 

Robert Mueller has made no public comment since he was named to lead the Department of Justice investigation into Russian interference in last year's election.

Instead, he has let his actions do the talking. The former FBI director and decorated U.S. Marine has submitted a budget and quietly hired an all-star team that includes 15 Justice Department prosecutors. And, a spokesman for Mueller said, he's not done bringing on new lawyers.

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/08/53581...-actions-do-the-talking-15-hires-more-to-come


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Jr. just contradicted a whole bunch of White House denials of Russian contacts*
By Aaron Blake
July 10 at 8:33 AM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump Jr. acknowledged Sunday that he met with a Russian lawyer who had promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton in June 2016.

The news, which was first reported by the New York Times, represents the most direct suggestion to date of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and it is the first indication that someone from President Trump's inner circle met with Russians during the campaign. Trump Jr. also brought then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump's son-in-law and now-top White House adviser Jared Kushner to the meeting.

But the information isn't just troubling because it suggests the Trump campaign sought out the help of Russians to win the presidency. It also contradicts a number of claims made by the White House, the campaign and Trump Jr. himself - claims made as recently as this weekend. For an administration and campaign that have repeatedly denied contact with Russians and had their denials blow up in their faces, it's yet another dubious chapter

*Let's recap* all the times they suggested this kind of thing never happened.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/10/donald-trump-jr-just-contradicted-a-whole-bunch-of-white-house-denials-of-russian-contacts/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_fix-contradict-834am:homepage/story&utm_term=.38e9abda07ce


----------



## poochee

Jul 9 2017, 11:01 am ET
*Despite Attacks on the Press, Public Supports Watchdog Role*
by Dante Chinni and Sally Bronston

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The news media have faced a lot of criticism this year, particularly from the White House and conservative opinion leaders. But the press's role as a watchdog is still very popular with most people in the United States who are not Republicans.

Data from the Pew Research Center shows that even as the adversarial tensions between the president and the media have soared this year, 70 percent of Americans say the watchdog role prevents political leaders from doing "things that shouldn't be done." Only 28 percent say the watchdog role prevents those leaders from doing "their jobs."

The most noteworthy finding in the data, however, may be the split between Democrats and Republicans on the question.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...ts-watchdog-role-n781046?cid=eml_pol_20170709


----------



## ekim68

ACLU in lawsuit alleges Trump's election panel is too secret



> The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump's election commission on Monday, saying it had failed to follow federal law governing public access and transparency for such advisory groups.
> 
> The ACLU said in a statement that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity had already held its first meeting without giving any notice and that its upcoming meeting would only be available via webcast.


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Jr. was told campaign meeting would be with 'Russian government attorney,' according to emails*
By Rosalind S. Helderman and John Wagner
July 11 at 3:46 PM

*VIDEO*

Donald Trump Jr. agreed to take a meeting during the 2016 presidential campaign with a woman he was told was a "Russian government attorney" who could provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of "Russia and its government's support" for his father's presidential campaign, according to emails tweeted by the president's son on Tuesday.

President Trump's eldest son posted on Twitter what he said was the entire exchange that led to a June 2016 encounter that has inflamed the controversy over potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

The email exchange showed clearly that Trump Jr. understood he was taking the meeting as a way of channeling information directly from the government of a nation hostile to the United States to his father's campaign. It is the most concrete public evidence to date suggesting that top Trump campaign aides were eager for Russia's assistance in the campaign.

"If it's what you say I love it," Trump Jr. responded to an intermediary pitching the meeting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-1135am:homepage/story&utm_term=.1d55b14293d5


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Jr. was told campaign meeting would be with 'Russian government attorney,' according to emai*
Rosalind S. Helderman and John Wagner
July 11 at 10:26 PM

*VIDEO*

For months, President Trump and his aides have forcefully rejected any suggestion that they sought or received help from Russia to win last year's election.

But the release Tuesday of a 2016 email exchange in which the president's eldest son welcomed the assistance of a "Russian government attorney" offered the clearest contradiction of the White House's denials - marking an escalation in the controversy that has engulfed the Trump presidency.

The email exchange was aimed at setting up a June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin-connected lawyer who was said to have damaging information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The meeting at Trump Tower was also attended by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

During the email exchange, Trump Jr. was told by an intermediary that the "high level" information he would be offered about Clinton was "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump" and would be "highly useful for your father."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-1135am:homepage/story&utm_term=.a3d8174c465d


----------



## poochee

*McConnell delays start of recess until third week in August*
By Lauren Fox, Gabrielle Deutch and Emily Karl, CNN
Updated 9:47 PM ET, Tue July 11, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has delayed the start of the August Senate recess until the third week in August in order to allow more time for his conference to complete "its work on health care reform" among other tasks.

"In order to provide more time to complete action on important legislative items and process nominees that have been stalled by a lack of cooperation from our friends across the aisle, the Senate will delay the start of the August recess until the third week

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/11/politics/mitch-mcconnell-delays-august-recess/index.html


----------



## poochee

*'Paralyzed' by chaos at home, Trump sets off for Paris*
By Jeff Zeleny, Sara Murray and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 1:28 PM ET, Wed July 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

The Paris trip is at least a momentary respite from his current predicament in the United States: embattled against accusations prompted by his oldest son's meeting with a Russian lawyer and surrounded by lawyers and aides urging him to remain quiet.

Back home, Trump faces a deepening crisis over that meeting, which has jolted the White House and moved the Russian meddling controversy directly into Trump's inner circle.

The President approached the news about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting through the same lens he approaches everything with the word Russia in it, according to another person who has spoken with him: as an effort by his enemies and the media to discredit him and his presidency.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/12/politics/trump-white-house-mood/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: Trump dysfunction follows family from the campaign to the White House*
By James Hohmann July 12 at 7:23 AM
_With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve

*VIDEO*_

*THE BIG IDEA: The Trumps are congenitally unable to take personal responsibility.*

"In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently," Donald Trump Jr. told Sean Hannity on Fox News last night.

But don't mistake that for a mea culpa. Because it wasn't. The president's namesake dismissed his sitdown last summer with someone he believed to be an agent of the Russian government as "a nothing."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...5112ee9b69b7071abcb0e/?utm_term=.c356cffbfefc


----------



## poochee

*FBI director nominee vows independence: No 'pulling punches'*
By Tom LoBianco and David Shortell, CNN
Updated 12:06 PM ET, Wed July 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump's pick to run the FBI pledged his independence Wednesday, repeatedly telling a Senate panel at his confirmation hearing he would not be "pulling punches" in the position and that he'd resign if he is asked to do something illegal or immoral.

"My commitment is to the rule of law, to the Constitution, to follow the facts wherever they may lead," Wray told the Senate judiciary committee. "And there isn't a person on this planet whose lobbying or influence could convince to just drop or abandon a properly predicated and meritorious investigation."

Wray faced sharp questions -- including from Republicans -- over his decision-making process, the independence of the FBI and Russian meddling into the US election, including the most recent revelations related to the President's eldest son and his meeting with a Russian lawyer. In his responses, Wray repeatedly and emphatically promised his commitment to running the agency without outside influence and with high standards or he would step down.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/12/politics/chris-wray-hearing-russia-turmoil/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 13, 4:43 PM EDT
*Trump, Macron look past differences on Paris climate pact*
By VIVIAN SALAMA
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) -- President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron set aside lingering differences on climate change during their meeting in France on Thursday, asserting that it shouldn't prevent them from working together toward a post-war roadmap for Syria and to enhance Mideast security.

Trump, standing alongside Macron at a news conference, said the two nations have "occasional disagreements" but that would not disrupt a friendship that dates back to the American Revolution. He remained non-committal about the United States eventually rejoining the global climate agreement that bears Paris' name, telling Macron, "if it happens that will be wonderful, and if it doesn't that will be OK too."

Macron acknowledged sharp differences on the Paris climate pact but said the two leaders could find other areas of cooperation. "Should that have an impact on the discussions we're having on all other topics? No, absolutely not," he said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-13-14-45-39


----------



## poochee

Jul 13 2017, 6:24 pm ET
*Trump Open to Putin White House Invitation 'at the Right Time' *
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump would be willing to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House "at the right time," he told reporters aboard Air Force One Wednesday night.

"I don't think this is the right time," the president said of the hypothetical White House invitation, "but the answer is yes, I would. Look, it's very easy for me to say absolutely, I won't. That's the easy thing for me to do, but that's the stupid thing to do. Let's be the smart people, not the stupid people."

The remarks were released for publication by the White House on Thursday afternoon.

As he has in the past, Trump said that the two superpowers should have an open dialogue, despite Russia's meddling in the U.S. 2016 election - a topic Trump discussed with Putin in their meeting last week at the G-20 Summit.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...tin-white-house-invitation-right-time-n782731


----------



## poochee

*Trump's legal team faces tensions - and a client who often takes his own counsel*
By Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker and Devlin Barrett
July 13 at 8:08 PM

The challenge for President Trump's attorneys has become, at its core, managing the unmanageable - their client.

He won't follow instructions. After one meeting in which they urged Trump to steer clear of a certain topic, he sent a tweet about that very theme before they arrived back at their office.

He won't compartmentalize. With aides, advisers and friends breezing in and out of the Oval Office, it is not uncommon for the president to suddenly turn the conversation to Russia - a subject that perpetually gnaws at him - in a meeting about something else entirely.

And he won't discipline himself. Trump's legal team, led by Marc E. Kasowitz of New York, is laboring to underscore the potential risk to the president if he engages without a lawyer in discussions with other people under scrutiny in widening Russia inquiries, including Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-legal-team-faces-tensions--and-a-client-who-often-takes-his-own-counsel/2017/07/13/07361fc6-67eb-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trumplegal-815pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.6a0376166277


----------



## poochee

*The Finance 202: Trump's agenda imperiled -- by him*
By Tory Newmyer July 14 at 8:17 AM

*President Trump's legislative agenda is balanced on a knife's edge.*

*His promise to gut Obamacare - and thereby make good on seven years of GOP promises - now teeters on the verge of collapse, with one more Senate Republican defection sufficient to seal its fate.* If the health-care effort sinks, it could take a tax code overhaul down with it. And even the basic blocking and tackling required of congressional Republicans to keep the government functioning - passing a budget, raising the debt limit, and funding its operations - all loom as points of intraparty tension.

*You wouldn't know that from observing Trump's lackadaisical approach to wrangling members of his own party on Capitol Hill. *As my colleagues Abby Phillip and Bob Costa report this morning, Trump is proving to be a notably disengaged manager of his own program. "The president," they write, "has treated health care and a host of other legislative agenda items, from taxes to infrastructure, as issues to be hammered out by lawmakers with often-scant direction from the executive branch - and with decidedly mixed signals from Trump himself."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...7bf49e9b69b7071abcb2c/?utm_term=.9026664fb2d7


----------



## poochee

*President Trump's claim 'billions and billions' are 'pouring into NATO' because of his administration*
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee July 12

*CHART/VIDEO*

Whenever we delve into Trump's rhetoric on the funding of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, we find that he fundamentally mischaracterizes the way NATO works. This was true of candidate Trump, who received Three Pinocchios for a series of misleading claims about NATO funding, and of President Trump, who received an updated rating of Four Pinocchios for his failure to correct his talking points.

Trump now says new money is pouring into NATO because of his administration. We logged versions of this claim at least 15 times in our Fact Checker database tracking every false or misleading claim by Trump in his first full year as president.

This is yet another case where Trump is quick to take credit for decisions others made prior to his election, or unrelated to his presidency. Let's dig into the facts.

*The Facts*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...?utm_term=.f77563c8b112&wpisrc=nl_fact&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 14 2017, 1:42 pm ET
*Trump Hires New Lawyer Amid Russia Investigation*
by Ali Vitali and Kristen Welker

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is adding to his growing roster of lawyers handling investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, NBC News confirmed Friday.

Veteran Washington lawyer Ty Cobb is the latest to join the president's legal team, a White House official said. Cobb will spearhead responses to media inquiries related to the ongoing Russia probes and he will work closely with attorney Marc Kasowitz, who is leading the Trump team.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-hires-new-lawyer-amid-russia-investigation-n783016


----------



## poochee

_Updated 11:09 PM ET, Thu July 13, 2017

(CNN)_The personal attorney for President Donald Trump apologized on Thursday after a thread of emails was released showing threats he wrote to a stranger on Wednesday night.

*VIDEO*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/13/politics/trump-lawyer-profanity-threats-emails-apology/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The CBO thinks Trump's budget math is about $3.4T off*
By Ryan Struyk, CNN
Updated 5:47 PM ET, Fri July 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_When the Congressional Budget Office scored President Trump's budget this week, some of the numbers came out looking different -- very different.

The White House says its blueprint balances the budget over the next decade, reining in the deficit from $603 billion this year to a $16 billion surplus in 2027. But the CBO estimates a $720 billion deficit in 2027 -- and more than double the cumulative deficit over the next 10 years.

So here's the fundamental mismatch: The CBO says Trump's budget math overestimated economic growth to the tune of $3.4 trillion in tax revenue over next decade.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/politics/cbo-trump-budget-math/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 14, 6:49 PM EDT
*Russian-American lobbyist joined Trump's son's meeting, too*
By DESMOND BUTLER and CHAD DAY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A prominent Russian-American lobbyist and former Soviet military officer attended a meeting with President Donald Trump's son, son-in-law and campaign chairman last year, the lobbyist said Friday, adding a new wrinkle to the Trump team's evolving explanations about the June 2016 session.

Rinat Akhmetshin confirmed his involvement to The Associated Press in an interview. He had not been previously identified as a participant in the meeting at Trump Tower in New York, which was billed as part of a Russian government effort to help the Republican's White House campaign.

The meeting has heightened questions about whether Trump's associates coordinated with Russia to meddle in the presidential election - to help him and thwart Hillary Clinton - and whether they've been forthcoming about their foreign contacts. Federal and congressional investigators are probing possible connections between the campaign and Moscow.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-14-18-49-40


----------



## poochee

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*
The President's Weekly Address is now available to watch on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and WH.gov.

*Transcript:*

My fellow Americans,

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/07/14/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

Jul 14 2017, 6:10 pm ET
*GOP Weighs Nearly Unprecedented Move to Pass Health Care Bill*
by Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Republicans are considering advancing their health care bill without an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on a major new provision that insurers warn would wreak havoc on customers and would amount to a virtually unprecedented procedural move in the Senate.

The CBO analyzed - or "scored" - a previous version of the Senate bill last month and found it would cover 22 million fewer people than current law. But that was before GOP leaders added a new amendment pushed by conservative members that would allow insurers to sell unregulated plans without protections for pre-existing conditions and without requirements that they cover various benefits guaranteed under Obamacare.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...recedented-move-pass-health-care-bill-n783196


----------



## poochee

Jul 15, 1:34 PM EDT
*Military cyber operations headed for revamp after long delay*
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After months of delay, the Trump administration is finalizing plans to revamp the nation's military command for defensive and offensive cyber operations in hopes of intensifying America's ability to wage cyberwar against the Islamic State group and other foes, according to U.S. officials.

Under the plans, U.S. Cyber Command would eventually be split off from the intelligence-focused National Security Agency.

Details are still being worked out, but officials say they expect a decision and announcement in the coming weeks. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter so requested anonymity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-15-13-34-33


----------



## poochee

*Americans put Trump in the Oval Office. What does that say about the country?*
By Colbert I. King Opinion writer
July 14 at 7:43 PM

The vaudeville show that's running at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue didn't book itself into the White House. Nearly 63 million Americans sent that burlesque comedy with headliner Donald Trump to Washington. That 66 million other voters thought otherwise is beside the point. Trump didn't anoint himself president. Millions put him in office.

What does that tell us about the country?

Was hatred of President Barack Obama, fear of Hillary Clinton, outrage over America's perceived direction enough to transfer the reins to Trump?

It's not as if the Trump on display in the Oval Office is not the same Trump we saw on the campaign trail or on reality TV or out and about touting his businesses. He was, by any yardstick, the most unqualified presidential nominee in modern history.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...term=.d60213304b36&wpisrc=nl_opinionsA&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 15, 11:32 PM EDT
*McConnell delays vote on health care after McCain surgery*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday he will delay consideration of health care legislation in the Senate, after Sen. John McCain's announced absence following surgery left Republicans short of votes on their marquee legislation.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-15-23-25-41


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Trump's six-month approval rating hits historic low*
By Rebecca Morin 
07/16/2017 12:02 AM EDT

President Donald Trump has hit the lowest approval rating of any president during their first nearly-six months in office in 70 years, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Thirty-six percent of those surveyed approve of the president's job performance, which is six points down from his 100-day mark, while 58 percent disapprove of Trump's performance.

In regards to Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer aimed at getting information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, 63 percent said his actions were inappropriate.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/16/trump-approval-rating-historic-low-240598


----------



## TheEnders

poochee said:


> *Poll: Trump's six-month approval rating hits historic low*
> By Rebecca Morin
> 07/16/2017 12:02 AM EDT
> 
> President Donald Trump has hit the lowest approval rating of any president during their first nearly-six months in office in 70 years, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
> 
> Thirty-six percent of those surveyed approve of the president's job performance, which is six points down from his 100-day mark, while 58 percent disapprove of Trump's performance.
> 
> In regards to Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer aimed at getting information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, 63 percent said his actions were inappropriate.
> 
> http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/16/trump-approval-rating-historic-low-240598


I guess just 9% Republicans believe Russia tried to influence 2016 election. Down from 18 % in April, new ABC poll finds. Good god it actually went down. They are getting dumber.


----------



## poochee

*The Top Jobs in Trump's Administration Are Mostly Vacant: Who's to Blame?*
By KAREN YOURISH and GREGOR AISCH JULY 17, 2017

*CHARTS*

President Trump has filled far fewer top jobs in cabinet or cabinet-level agencies than President Barack Obama had at this point in his presidency.

*The status of top jobs*
25 weeks into each administration:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...&nl=&nl_art=1&nlid=75973118&ref=headline&te=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 17, 3:05 AM EDT
*On Message: Democrats say they must do more than talk Russia.*

NEW YORK (AP) -- As Democrats look to reverse Republicans' monopoly control in Washington and the GOP advantage in state capitals, the party is still looking for a crisp, simple message for voters.

*Here's a look at what some Democrats say about the party's pitch:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-17-03-05-51


----------



## poochee

*Latest health care bill collapses following Moran, Lee defections *
By MJ Lee, Phil Mattingly and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 11:03 PM ET, Mon July 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The Republican Party's efforts to gut former President Barack Obama's legacy health care law came to an abrupt -- if temporary -- halt Monday night.

Just hours after the Senate was gaveled back into session, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was handed two more public defections on his health care bill to overhaul Obamacare. The dramatic and simultaneous announcement from Sens. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Mike Lee of Utah means McConnell officially does not have the votes to even begin debate on his legislation to overhaul the Affordable Care Act.

The development deals a devastating blow not only to Republicans who have railed against the law for years, but also President Donald Trump, who campaigned on killing Obamacare and made repealing the law his top legislative priority since taking office.

"Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful," McConnell said in a statement late Monday. He said the Senate would vote in the coming days on a bill that would delay the repeal of Obamacare for two years -- all as Trump called for a wholesale repeal of the law.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/17/politics/health-care-motion-to-proceed-jerry-moran-mike-lee/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 17 2017, 11:38 am ET
*Bipartisan Group That Shares Voter Data Shames Trump Panel*
by Dartunorro Clark

*VIDEO*

The recent request from President Donald Trump's vote fraud commission for a mountain of sensitive data from the states sparked a backlash and baffled many officials - not only because of concerns about privacy and security but because an organization already exists doing much of the same work.

"There's no reason to re-invent the wheel when we're already here…and we do it very well," said Shane Hamlin, executive director of the Election Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC.

ERIC is a non-profit group currently made up of 20 states - both red and blue - and the District of Columbia that shares large amounts of sensitive voter data to root out possible fraud, ensure more accurate voter rolls and encourage registration.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Presidential Commission on Election Integrity was formed by Trump in May through executive order to study "vulnerabilities" in the election system. It was born of the unfounded claim by the president that "millions" voted illegally in the 2016 election, costing him the popular vote against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...ames-trump-panel-n783206?cid=eml_pol_20170717


----------



## poochee

Jul 17 2017, 6:25 pm ET
*Trump Panel Prompts Thousands of Voters to Unregister*
by Dartunorro Clark

*VIDEO*

Thousands of peeved voters are removing themselves from state voter rolls, prompted by a fear that their personal information could be revealed by President Donald Trump's vote fraud commission.

The number of those "unregistering" ranges from several thousand in Colorado to hundreds in Vermont and a handful in some other states, several state officials told NBC News, as voters mount a mutiny at the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity, which was formed in May to study "vulnerabilities" in the American election system.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...oters-unregister-n783891?cid=eml_pol_20170718


----------



## poochee

*Trump: 'We'll let Obamacare fail'*
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 12:05 PM ET, Tue July 18, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Future success may require big changes in Trump's style
He also spent hours this weekend at the US Women's Golf Open
Washington (CNN)The collapse of the Republican bid to repeal and replace Obamacare Monday, alongside chaos brewed by the Russia scandal, has revealed a stunted presidency and a White House struggling to master the levers of power.

It also leaves President Donald Trump without a significant legislative triumph to show for his first six months in office.

He was playing with a firetruck and trying on a cowboy hat as the bill was collapsing and he had no clue," a top Republican told CNN's Jeff Zeleny on Tuesday, mocking the "Made In America" week at the White House.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/18/politics/trump-health-care-failure/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 17 2017, 7:20 pm ET
*'Made in America' Week Renews Focus on Trump Goods Manufactured Overseas*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump celebrated U.S.-made products on Monday, and in doing so he brought renewed attention to his own family's production and sale of goods made overseas.

"We want to build, create and grow more products in our country using American labor, American goods, and American grit," Trump said at a White House event touting products made in all 50 states, kicking off the administration's "Made in America"-themed week.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...ds-made-overseas-n783896?cid=eml_pol_20170718


----------



## poochee

Jul 18 2017, 6:02 am ET
*NBC News Poll: American Fears of War Grow*
by Andrew Arenge, Hannah Hartig and Stephanie Perry

*VIDEO/CHARTS*

An overwhelming majority of Americans - 76 percent - are worried that the United States will become engaged in a major war in the next four years, according to a new NBC News|SurveyMonkey National Security Poll out Tuesday.

The number has jumped 10 points since February, when 66 percent of Americans said they were worried about military conflict.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...n-fears-war-grow-n783801?cid=eml_pol_20170718


----------



## poochee

*Trump Finds That Demolishing Obama's Legacy Is Not So Simple*
By PETER BAKERJULY 18, 2017

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Trump's demolition project just got shut down, at least for now.

Determined to dismantle his predecessor's legacy, Mr. Trump in the space of a couple of hours this week reluctantly agreed to preserve President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran and failed in his effort to repeal Mr. Obama's health care program.

The back-to-back events highlighted the challenge for a career developer whose main goal since taking office six months ago has been to raze what he sees as the poorly constructed edifices he inherited. Mr. Trump has gone a long way toward that objective through executive action, but now faces the reality that Mr. Obama's most prominent domestic and international accomplishments remain intact.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/us/politics/trump-obama-legacy-dismantle.html?rref=collection/sectioncollection/politics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

Jul 19, 3:05 PM EDT
*AP-NORC poll: Negotiate on 'Obamacare,' don't just kill it
By EMILY SWANSON and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR*
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans overwhelmingly want lawmakers of both parties to work out health care changes, with only 13 percent supporting Republican moves to repeal "Obamacare" absent a replacement, according to a new poll.

Although a deep partisan divide endures over the 2010 Affordable Care Act, people may be less far apart on what policymakers should try next, says the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey.

In the poll, 8 in 10 said Republicans should approach Democrats with an offer to negotiate if the current GOP overhaul effort fails, rather than sticking with their own "repeal and replace" campaign of the past seven years. And nearly 9 in 10 said Democrats should take Republicans up on such an offer.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-19-15-05-26


----------



## poochee

Jul 19, 3:46 PM EDT
*Not dead yet: Trump exhorts Senate to pass Obamacare repeal*
By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lecturing fellow Republicans, President Donald Trump summoned GOP senators to the White House Wednesday and told them face-to-face they must not leave town for their August recess without sending him an "Obamacare" repeal bill to sign.

"I'm ready to act," Trump said, putting the responsibility on Republican senators, not himself. During last year's presidential campaign he had declared repeatedly it would be "so easy" to get rid of the Obama law.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-19-14-54-42


----------



## poochee

*32 million more people would be uninsured under new Senate Obamacare repeal bill*
by Tami Luhby July 19, 2017: 6:32 PM ET

* VIDEO*

A new Senate bill to repeal Obamacare would leave 32 million more people uninsured by 2026 than under current law, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Wednesday.

Even more stunning, three-quarters of the nation would live in areas with no insurers participating in the individual market by 2026 -- leaving many without an option if they do not have employer-provided or government health insurance, such as Medicare or Medicaid.

Also, premiums would about double by 2026, compared to current law.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/19/news/economy/senate-repeal-bill-cbo/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 19 2017, 6:20 pm ET
*Trump-Putin Meeting Raises Red Flags for National Security Experts*
by Robert Windrem

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump's just-disclosed hourlong meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G-20 summit - using a Kremlin translator, with no national security staff present - may have damaged U.S. interests, according to some national security experts.

With no other witness or note-taker of the sort normally present on the American side, there's no guarantee that Trump or Putin's words were translated correctly - or that Trump didn't give away more classified information, as he did when top Russian officials came to the White House in May.

Experts who spoke to NBC News also said the impromptu tête-à-têtein Germany_, _while not unprecedented, represented a break with protocol.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...s-red-flags-national-security-experts-n784601


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort scheduled to testify July 26*
By Gloria Borger, Sara Murray, Manu Raju and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 6:22 PM ET, Wed July 19, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort have been scheduled to testify before the Senate judiciary committee on July 26, the panel announced Wednesday.

President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is also expected to appear before the Senate intelligence committee on Monday. A source told CNN Kushner's testimony would be behind closed doors.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/polit...ald-trump-jr-jared-kushner-testify/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 19, 10:44 PM EDT
*Doctors: Sen. John McCain has brain tumor*
By DONNA CASSATA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee with a well-known maverick streak that often vexes his GOP colleagues, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, his office said in a statement Wednesday.

The 80-year-old lawmaker has glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, where McCain had a blood clot removed from above his left eye last Friday.

"Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot," his office said in a statement

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-19-22-44-21


----------



## poochee

*President Trump's 35 most eye-popping quotes in his interview with the New York Times*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 12:48 PM ET, Thu July 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

(CNN)President Donald Trump sat down for a nearly hour-long interview with The New York Times -- you know, the one he has repeatedly called "failing" -- on Wednesday. And he went off on, well, everything.

While his comments about Attorney General Jeff Sessions drew the most attention, there are any number of other quotes in the excerpts of the interview released by the Times that are somewhere between eyebrow-raising and cringe-inducing. The overall impression left by the Trump interview is of a President fixated on the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election and ill-served by those around him.

I went through the excerpted transcript and picked out the 35 most remarkable quotes. *They're below.*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/politics/trump-new-york-times-interview/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's blast of Sessions has 'chilling' effect inside West Wing*
By Jeff Zeleny and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 12:56 PM ET, Thu July 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)For President Donald Trump, loyalty in Washington is a one-way street.

Trump's trashing of several of his administration's top justice officials in an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is causing deep alarm inside the West Wing, leading some to worry that their loyalty to Trump might not be reciprocated from the man in the Oval Office.

There's also a general sense of bewilderment as to why Trump gave the interview. Health care was the focus of the day. He actually got engaged -- but then this.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/20/politics/trump-loyalty-sessions-white-house/index.html

"It's chilling," one White House official said.


----------



## poochee

*The one area where Trump has been wildly successful*
By Ronald A. Klain By Ronald A. Klain
July 19 at 7:22 PM

*VIDEO*

Progressives breathed a sigh of relief recently when Justice Anthony M. Kennedy decided to remain on the Supreme Court for presumably at least one more year. But no matter how long Kennedy stays, a massive transformation is underway in how our fundamental rights are defined by the federal judiciary. For while President Trump is incompetent at countless aspects of his job, he is proving wildly successful in one respect: naming youthful conservative nominees to the federal bench in record-setting numbers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.31ff4053dfce&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 20, 1:44 PM EDT
*Doctors consider next treatment for McCain's brain tumor*
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain's tumor is one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer, and his doctors are determining next treatment options even as the senator, in a tweet, promised his colleagues in Congress he'd "be back soon."

McCain underwent surgery last week to have a blood clot removed from above his left eye, and that clot turned out to be a sign that a tumor called a glioblastoma had begun growing.

*Here are some things to know about glioblastomas*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-20-13-44-40


----------



## poochee

Jul 20 2017, 4:02 pm ET
*O.J. Simpson Granted Parole by Nevada Officials After Nine Years in Prison*
by Daniel Arkin

*VIDEO*

O.J. Simpson, the former football star who was imprisoned nearly a decade ago for a bungled Las Vegas robbery, was granted parole Thursday.

Simpson has served the minimum of a nine-to-33-year sentence at Lovelock Correctional Center, a medium-security prison northeast of Reno. He was convicted in 2008 of armed robbery and other charges related to a botched sports memorabilia heist in a hotel room.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," an emotional Simpson told four members of the Nevada Board of Parole via videoconference.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ole-nevada-officials-after-nine-years-n784931


----------



## poochee

*Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, resigns *
By Jeremy Diamond, Kaitlan Collins, Jeff Zeleny and Dana Bash, CNN
Updated 2:36 PM ET, Fri July 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Sean Spicer ended one of the most tumultuous White House press secretary tenures
He for a time handled the responsibilities of both press secretary and communications director
_(CNN)_White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned Friday morning, capping off a rollercoaster six-month tenure as the chief spokesman for an administration besieged by a steady drumbeat of controversy.

Newly-minted communications director Anthony Scaramucci announced that principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will take over as press secretary.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/21/politics/sean-spicer-resigns-anthony-scaramucci/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Obama stood up to Russian interference. Now Trump must follow through.*
By Denis McDonough
July 20 at 7:26 PM
_Denis McDonough was White House chief of staff from 2013 to 2017.

I have watched with concern the tone, substance and trajectory of the national debate about Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. I write today to set the record straight about the events of last fall and, more important, to ensure that we as a nation do not lose sight of what happened - and what we must do to preserve our democracy._

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.c7e397dab416&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 21, 1:36 PM EDT
*Doctors' group tells Senate to fix, not repeal 'Obamacare'*
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- The nation's largest doctors' group urged senators on Friday to stop trying to repeal or replace Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and instead begin a bipartisan effort to stabilize the insurance marketplace.

The American Medical Association said proposed Republican bills - one to repeal and replace the 2010 health law, the other to repeal only - would cause too many people to lose coverage.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-21-13-36-56


----------



## poochee

For Immediate Release
July 21, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*

*VIDEO*

*Transcript*:

My fellow Americans,

On Monday, I signed a Presidential Proclamation declaring this to be "Made in America Week."

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/07/21/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Scaramucci, repeatedly denied a White House role, finally sees a reward*
_The Wall Street financier and Trump donor was named Trump's communications director after being blocked for other West Wing roles._
By Ben White 
07/21/2017 04:45 PM EDT

Now the telegenic Scaramucci, a fast-talking fixture on the international circuit from Davos, Switzerland, to his own lavish hedge fund conference in Las Vegas, is at the center of power in the chaotic Trump White House. He is now charged with repairing a toxic relationship between the press and a president who regularly rips what he calls the "fake news media."

At a White House briefing on Friday, Scaramucci-widely referred to as "The Mooch"-spoke repeatedly of his "love" for the president, to whom he said he will report. "I think there has been at times a disconnect between the way we see the president and how much we love the president and the way perhaps some of you see the president," he said.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/...trump-communications-director-240817?lo=ap_c1


----------



## poochee

*'In Some Respects, We're A Nation in Crisis Right Now,' Former CIA Director Says* 
July 21, 20179:54 PM ET 
 Carrie Johnson 

Leaving federal government service after decades can be, well, liberating.


Just ask James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, and John Brennan, the former leader of the Central Intelligence Agency. They unloaded on President Trump and the "baffling" way he has embraced Russia while criticizing his own intelligence apparatus during a session at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday in Colorado.


Asked whether the president is taking the Russia threat seriously, Clapper replied: "Well, it's hard to tell. Sometimes I think he's about making Russia great again."


http://www.npr.org/2017/07/21/53866...-in-crisis-right-now-former-cia-director-says


----------



## poochee

Jul 22 2017, 12:05 pm ET
*Congress Reaches Deal on Russia Sanctions Bill to Punish Moscow*
by Associated Press

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats announced Saturday that a bipartisan group of House and Senate negotiators have reached an agreement on a sweeping Russia sanctions package to punish Moscow for meddling in the presidential election and its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria.

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat, said lawmakers had settled lingering issues with the bill, which also includes stiff economic penalties against Iran and North Korea. The sanctions targeting Russia, however, have drawn the most attention due to President Donald Trump's persistent push for warmer relations with President Vladimir Putin and ongoing investigations into Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...l-russia-sanctions-bill-punish-moscow-n785576


----------



## poochee

*Scaramucci's old tweets. You'll understand why he deleted them.*
By Kristine Phillips
July 22 at 5:21 PM

*VIDEO*

New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci hasn't always shared the political views of the administration he now serves.

In previous tweets, the Wall Street financier called Hillary Clinton "incredibly competent" and appeared to be at odds with his new boss on issues such as gun control, climate change, Islam and illegal immigration.

But on Saturday, the day after he became Trump's communications director, he announced on Twitter that he's deleting his old tweets, which he said are only a distraction.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...leted-them/?tid=pm_pop&utm_term=.157d309751fb


----------



## poochee

Jul 23, 12:38 PM EDT
*Russian ambassador to US concludes assignment*
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak - a high-profile figure in the controversy over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election- has concluded his assignment in Washington.

The Russian Embassy in Washington announced on Twitter that Kislyak's tenure ended on Saturday.

Kislyak's successor has not been announced, although it is widely expected to be Anatoly Antonov, a deputy foreign minister and former deputy defense minister seen as a hardliner regarding the United States.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-23-12-38-44


----------



## poochee

Jul 23 2017, 1:49 pm ET
*Kushner Faces Questions Monday on Russia Ties*
by Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

When Jared Kushner sits down on Monday with staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he is expected to be questioned about his relationships with Russian officials, including his participation in a meeting last year with a Kremlin-linked lawyer.

Kushner's attorney has said his client will fully cooperate. "As Mr. Kushner has been saying since March, he has been and is prepared to voluntarily cooperate and provide whatever information he has on the investigations to Congress," the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement.

Kushner will not be under oath during his appearance Monday, and the session will not be in public.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...earance-senate-intelligence-committee-n785421


----------



## poochee

*White House Signals Acceptance of Russia Sanctions Bill*
By PETER BAKER JULY 23, 2017

WASHINGTON - The White House indicated on Sunday that President Trump would accept new legislation imposing sanctions on Russia and curtailing his authority to lift them on his own, a striking turnaround after a broad revolt in Congress by lawmakers of both parties who distrusted his friendly approach to Moscow and sought to tie his hands.

Congressional leaders said Saturday that they had reached agreement on legislation intended to punish Russia for its interference in last year's presidential election and its aggression toward its neighbors, despite objections raised by the administration that it would inappropriately infringe on the president's ability to direct foreign policy. The new White House press secretary said on Sunday that adjustments made to the bill were enough to satisfy the president's concerns.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/23/us/politics/trump-russia-sanctions.html?rref=collection/sectioncollection/politics&action=click&contentCollection=politics&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

Jul 24, 2:46 PM EDT
*No Russia collusion, Trump son-in-law Kushner tells Congress*
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner denied Monday that he colluded with Russians in the course of President Donald Trump's White House bid and declared he has "nothing to hide."

Behind closed doors, Kushner spoke to staff members of the Senate intelligence committee for nearly three hours at the Capitol, then made a brief public statement back at the White House.

"Let me be very clear," he said. "I did not collude with Russia nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-24-14-46-09


----------



## poochee

*The Trump election commission exists solely to justify a Trump lie*
* 
By **E.J. Dionne Jr.* Opinion writer
*Opinions*
July 23 at 7:40 PM

*VIDEO *

Remember that in January, Trump told congressional leaders that between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes were cast in last year's election and that they were the reason he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.9 million.

There is not a shred of evidence for this - none, zero, zilch. Trump's defenders could find no plausible way to support his statement, which is not unusual. But Trump never backs off from a falsehood. So instead, he did something without precedent: He appointed a presidential commission solely to justify an offhand lie.

Trump would not let the commissioners forget their reason for being there, his belief that those phantom votes really exist, although he put his own words into the mouths of unnamed "people," who - surprise! - came to the same conclusions he did.

And now that this body exists, it will almost certainly try to find ways to rationalize purging legitimate voters from the rolls and erecting yet more barriers to voting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.aaecf3b1d26d&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*After President Trump's public attacks, can Jeff Sessions survive as attorney general?*
Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY Published 4:28 p.m. ET July 24, 2017 | Updated 5:27 p.m. ET July 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - In five months as attorney general, Jeff Sessions has pursued the staunchly conservative agenda that then-candidate Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail.

He has refocused the nation's attention on violent crime; ordered a sweeping review of police reform agreements that punished troubled agencies; threatened so-called sanctuary cities for harboring illegal immigrants; and rolled back a series of Obama-era civil rights actions, including a Justice Department challenge to a controversial voter identification law in Texas.

Sessions has done virtually everything that Trump seemed to want, except one thing: protect the boss from an expanding investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 that already has wound its way to the Oval Office.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...torney-general-after-trump-attacks/504823001/


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: Trump marginalizes experts, debases expertise*
By James Hohmann July 24 at 6:55 AM
_With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve 
_
*THE BIG IDEA: *Donald Trump, the first president in American history to take office with no prior governing or military experience, has appointed someone with no professional communications experience to be White House communications director.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.536b83f835c3&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 25 2017, 3:25 pm ET
*Pence Breaks Tie, Senate Votes to Move Forward on Health Care Bill*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Vaughn Hillyard
*
VIDEO*

The vote was a key moment in the GOP's seven-year campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but the final may fall short of that goal, and could well end up as a "skinny" repeal that disposes of just a few components of the law, known as Obamacare.

The Senate will begin debate and votes on a variety of approaches to the bill, beginning with a vote on the 2015 version of the repeal of Obamacare, senators and aides say. That vote is expected to fail.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...nny-repeal-obamacare-tuesday-s-voting-n786296


----------



## poochee

*The 29 most cringe-worthy lines from Donald Trump's hyper-political speech to the Boy Scouts*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 10:35 AM ET, Tue July 25, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)On Monday night, President Donald Trump jetted to West Virginia to address the annual Boy Scout Jamboree. And oh what a speech it was!

Trump ranged from the current health care bill to stories of a bygone time in New York history to his Electoral College victory in 2016. It was a Trumpian tour de force -- one sure to cheer his supporters but leave the rest of the country wondering what, exactly, he is doing and thinking.

I went through the speech and picked out the 29 oddest, cringiest lines -- no easy task given the sheer strangeness of Trump's speech.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/politics/donald-trump-boy-scouts-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

Satire from The Borowitz Report
*Girl Scouts Obtain Restraining Order Against Trump*
By Andy Borowitz
10:58 A.M.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/bor...pJobID=1202252204&spReportId=MTIwMjI1MjIwNAS2


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump's public bullying of Jeff Sessions is embarrassing*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 11:35 AM ET, Tue July 25, 2017

*VIDEO*

Jokes aside, what Trump is doing to Sessions is the worst sort of bullying. He's attacking a subordinate -- publicly and repeatedly -- knowing that the subordinate has no real recourse other than to resign his post.

That appears to be, of course, exactly the outcome Trump wants. For all of his bluster, he's not terribly fond of actually firing people -- he prefers to isolate and embarrass them into quitting.

That, plus Trump's potential fears of what it might look like if he fired the AG so soon after firing the FBI director -- and with the Russia investigation still ongoing -- seems to be at the root of Trump's strategy here.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/politics/trump-sessions-bullying/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 25 2017, 9:54 pm ET
*House Decisively Passes Sanctions Bill Curbing Trump's Power*
by Associated Press

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Eager to punish Russia for meddling in the 2016 election, the House on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a new package of sanctions against Moscow that prohibits President Donald Trump from waiving the penalties without first getting permission from Congress.

Lawmakers passed the legislation, 419-3, clearing the far-reaching measure for action by the Senate. If senators move quickly, the bill could be ready for Trump's signature before Congress exits Washington for its regular August recess. The Senate, like the House, is expected to pass the legislation by a veto-proof margin. The bill also slaps Iran and North Korea with sanctions.

The 184-page measure serves as a rebuke of the Kremlin's military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed President Bashar Assad. It aims to hit Putin and the oligarchs close to him by targeting Russian corruption, human rights abusers, and crucial sectors of the Russian economy, including weapons sales and energy exports.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...-sanctions-bill-curbing-trump-s-power-n786566


----------



## poochee

*John McCain Makes Dramatic Return Amid Political Storm* 
July 25, 20177:04 AM ET 
Domenico Montanaro 
Scott Neuman 
*Update at 4:05 p.m. ET*

Sen. John McCain, diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer just five days ago, returned to applause on the Senate floor Tuesday, where he cast a crucial vote to move forward on repeal of the Affordable Care Act and urged his colleagues to regain their sense of bipartisan cooperation.

However, the longtime Arizona senator, two-time presidential candidate and perhaps America's most famous former prisoner of war, warned that he "will not vote for this bill as it is today," describing it as "a shell."

McCain said he would attend the Senate for a few days and then go home to Arizona to recuperate.

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/25/53918...o-make-a-dramatic-return-amid-political-storm


----------



## poochee

Jul 26 2017, 4:24 pm ET
*Senate Rejects Straight Repeal of Obamacare*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans were dealt another blow in their effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act when they failed to pass a repeal of the Obama-era law on Wednesday afternoon.

The vote, which is one of many expected during the ongoing health care debate, only garnered the support of 45 Republicans, short of the 50-votes necessary.

Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Dean Heller, R-Nev., and John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and surprisingly Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chair of the Senate Health Committee, joined all Democrats in voting against it. The defeat eliminates the chances of Congress sending a nearly-full repeal of the law to President Donald Trump to sign.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-set-vote-straight-repeal-obamacare-n786691


----------



## poochee

Jul 26, 3:31 PM EDT

*Trump says transgender people should be barred from military*
By CATHERINE LUCEY and ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants transgender people barred from serving in the U.S. military "in any capacity," citing "tremendous medical costs and disruption."

Trump's announcement on Twitter would reverse the effort under President Barack Obama to open the armed services to transgender people. He did not say what would happen to transgender troops already in the military.

The president tweeted that he was making his announcement after consulting with "generals and military experts," but he did not name any. He said the military "must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-26-15-31-07


----------



## poochee

Jul 26 2017, 2:55 pm ET
*Republican Senators Steamed Over Trump Attacks Back Sessions*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Alex Seitz-Wald

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Republican senators have Attorney General Jeff Sessions' back.

The GOP lawmakers are furious over President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on their former colleague and are letting the attorney general - and the public - know that they stand with Sessions in the face of the president's broadsides.

"I told him we were thinking about him and that he had a lot of friends up here," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said he told Sessions, who until he joined the administration in February was the other senator from Alabama.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...amed-over-trump-attacks-back-sessions-n786686


----------



## poochee

*Health care debate: Senate vote-a-rama and the 'skinny bill'*
By MJ Lee, Lauren Fox, Ted Barrett and Phil Mattingly, CNN
Updated 3:08 PM ET, Thu July 27, 2017

*VIDEO*

_Washington (CNN)_The Senate has entered the home stretch of the dramatic debate to overhaul Obamacare, with lawmakers bracing for what could be a long and grueling marathon series of votes that extends well into the night and morning.

And the text of the GOP plan -- a so-called "skinny bill" that rolls back Obamacare's individual and employer mandates -- remains unseen by senators or the public, although it was discussed during a closed-door lunch. The idea would be to get to a conference with the House, where GOP leaders would continue negotiations in hope of reaching a bill that can provide a long-awaited legislative victory to President Donald Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/health-care-debate-thursday/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 27 2017, 1:32 pm ET
*War Inside the White House: Scaramucci Takes on Priebus Over 'Leaks'*
by Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

The fracas began Wednesday night after Politico published Scaramucci's financial disclosure forms from his employment at the Export-Import Bank, where the former financier had a post before being tapped last week as Trump's new communications director.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/war-inside-white-house-n787001


----------



## poochee

Jul 27, 5:08 PM EDT
*White House drama bursts into the open: 'Shiv in the ribs'?*
By JULIE BYKOWICZ and JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's new communications chief shoved the behind-the-scenes drama at the White House onto center stage Thursday, daring Trump's chief of staff to publicly deny he's a "leaker" and exposing the West Wing as a hotbed of internal rifts and conspiracy theories.

Language pouring out of the mansion sounded more like a mobster movie than a seat of presidential stability.

In a pull-no-punches, impromptu CNN interview that he said was authorized by the president, Anthony Scaramucci went after chief of staff Reince Priebus in graphic terms. "The fish stinks from the head down," he said. "I can tell you two fish that don't stink, and that's me and the president."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-27-14-15-39


----------



## poochee

Jul 27 2017, 8:46 am ET
*Are the Wheels Coming Off Trump's 'Fine-Tuned Machine'? *
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Accusations of incompetency can undermine even the most talented of politicians. Just ask George W. Bush (Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina) or Barack Obama (HealthCare.Gov).

But while the events and news over the last 24 hours seem like just another day for the Trump White House, they expose a level of dysfunction and chaos that could leave a lasting mark for a president who said back in February that he was running a "fine-tuned machine." *Consider:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...ne-tuned-machine-n786971?cid=eml_pol_20170727


----------



## poochee

*House approves spending bill with $1.6 billion for the border wall*
By Deirdre Walsh and Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 5:50 PM ET, Thu July 27, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_The House voted Thursday to approve a spending bill with $1.6 billion to put toward a border wall along the US-Mexico border, part of a high-profile campaign pledge from President Donald Trump.

Despite Trump's pledge to make Mexico pay for the wall, the bill earmarks taxpayer money to construct a carrier along the southwest border. To avoid having those Republicans who oppose the measure vote on it directly House Republican leaders tucked it into a procedural measure that set the debate plan for the so-called "minibus" funding bill for several federal agencies.

The bill passed 235-192 mostly along party lines.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/spending-bill-vote-border-wall-money/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 27 2017, 8:25 pm ET
*Senate Joins House in Overwhelmingly Passing New Russian Sanctions*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

The Senate overwhelmingly voted Thursday to impose new sanctions on Russia, joining the House in approving the measure by veto-proof margins.

The vote on the bill - which would also add sanctions against North Korea and Iran - was 98-2, with only Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., dissenting. The House passed the measure on Tuesday by 419-3.

The bill targets Russia's aggression in Ukraine and Syria, citing corruption, human rights abuses and weapons sales.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...lmingly-passing-new-russian-sanctions-n787291


----------



## poochee

Jul 28 2017, 8:43 am ET
*How John McCain Saved Senate Republicans From Themselves*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., warned his colleagues that he would vote against the Senate health care legislation if it didn't improve.

"We've tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them it's better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition," he said on Tuesday after voting to proceed on the legislation. "I don't think that is going to work in the end."

And it didn't.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...icans-themselves-n787366?cid=eml_pol_20170728


----------



## poochee

Jul 28 2017, 3:54 pm ET
*After Healthcare Defeat, Trump Pushes Obamacare Implosion*
by Ali Vitali

*VIDEOS*

"I said from the beginning, 'Let Obamacare implode'...I turned out to be right," Trump said at a gathering for law enforcement officers battling the MS-13 gang in Long Island. "Let Obamacare implode."

Trump said the Republican-controlled Senate should have succeeded in passing what has come to be known as the "skinny" repeal of Obamacare, lamenting "the swamp" that the president feels got in the way.

"Boy, oh, boy, they've been working on that one for seven years. Can you believe that?" he said of Obamacare repeal. Still, he promised, "We'll get it done."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...feat-trump-pushes-obamacare-implosion-n787591


----------



## poochee

Jul 28 2017, 7:18 pm ET
*Trump Ousts Chief of Staff Priebus, Installs Ret. Gen. Kelly*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump on Friday removed his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and tapped Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly for the job.

The stunning shakeup is the latest chapter in the West Wing drama that has unfolded publicly in recent days. White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci attacked Priebus in profane terms in an interview on Thursday, predicted he would soon be out of a job, and pledged to crack down on leaks that Scaramucci suspected had come from Priebus.

But what may have ultimately doomed Priebus is the failure of congressional Republicans to repeal Obamacare.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...-staff-priebus-installs-ret-gen-kelly-n787656


----------



## poochee

For Immediate Release
July 28, 2017
*President Donald J. Trump's Weekly Address*
The President's Weekly Address is now available to watch on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and WH.gov.

*VIDEO*

*Transcript:*

My fellow Americans,

This past week, we have celebrated, saluted, and honored American heroes who have devoted their lives to God, Family, and Country.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/07/28/president-donald-j-trumps-weekly-address


----------



## poochee

*Police after Trump speech: We don't tolerate 'roughing up' prisoners*
Sean Rossman, USA TODAY Published 12:44 p.m. ET July 29, 2017 | Updated 12:47 p.m. ET July 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

Law enforcement agencies condemned police violence Friday after President Trump advised New York officers "don't be too nice" during arrests.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police issued a statement stressing that officers are extensively trained to ensure use of force is applied carefully.

"Law enforcement officers are trained to treat all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect," the organization said. "This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and policy legitimacy."

*Read more:*

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...07/29/police-trump-speech-violence/522561001/
*
*


----------



## poochee

*The worst is yet to come*
By Eugene Robinson Opinion writer
July 27

The Court of Mad King Donald is not a presidency. It is an affliction, one that saps the life out of our democratic institutions, and it must be fiercely resisted if the nation as we know it is to survive.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
It gets worse and worse. The past week has marked a succession of new lows.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.1df9224d2485&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Jul 29, 11:35 AM EDT
*AP FACT CHECK: Veracity is a casualty in week of infighting*
By CALVIN WOODWARD and HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Talk about a team of rivals.

This past week wasn't a high point for veracity in Washington. President Donald Trump tormented his own attorney general for days, the White House was rocked by the new communications chief's distinctly unusual way of communicating and the chief of staff was out.

Some wildly off-base assertions flew in these matters.

But truth was stretched in other ways, too.

Perhaps lost in the cover-your-ears din of infighting, Trump made a series of claims about improved services for veterans that are at odds with his government's statistics and the experience of many patients exposed to Department of Veterans Affairs health care.

*A look at some statements over the past week:*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-29-11-35-59


----------



## poochee

*Commentary*
*Harvard Psychiatrist: How Trump's Speech Was Toxic For Boy Scouts Beyond 'Rhetoric'*
July 28, 2017
Dr. Gene Beresin

_"A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent."
- 12 Points of the Boy Scout Law

*VIDEO*_

The head of the Boy Scouts of America publicly apologized Thursday for the "political rhetoric" in President Trump's keynote speech at the scouts' Jamboree, saying that "We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program" and affirming Scout values that include "fairness, courage, honor and respect for others."

The carefully worded statement suggests that the Scout leadership heard loud and clear the complaints from parents who were offended by a speech that sounded much like one of Trump's campaign rallies: slogans, promotion of a political agenda, cutting remarks about his opponents.

But as a senior child and adolescent psychiatrist and advocate for healthy youth development, I'm concerned that the leadership may still not get just how bad this speech was for the tens of thousands of Scouts who heard it, cheered it, chanted "We love Trump!" I feel a professional obligation to share my understanding of the risks this kind of "political rhetoric" poses for our children.

http://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2017/07/28/psychiatrist-trump-speech-scouts


----------



## poochee

*Trump rips China after North Korea missile test*
By Brad Lendon, CNN
Updated 8:33 AM ET, Sun July 30, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_A day after North Korea tested a ballistic missile that it claims can reach all of the United States, US President Donald Trump ripped China for not reining in Kim Jong Un and his missile program.
"I am very disappointed in China," Trump wrote in a pair of Twitter posts. "...they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!"

North Korea's test Friday of an intercontinental ballistic missile was its second of the long-range weapon in a month. The first on July 4 showed the missile had the range to reach Alaska.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/29/politics/trump-china-north-korea-tweet/index.html


----------



## poochee

By Emily Tillett CBS News July 30, 2017, 1:23 PM
*Feinstein calls North Korea a "clear and present danger" to the United States*
*
VIDEO
*
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said Sunday that North Korea poses a "clear and present danger" to the United States, in the wake of the country's second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Feinstein said on "Face the Nation" that after spending time on intelligence and in briefings, she's "convinced that North Korea has never moved at the speed that this leader has to develop an ICBM to put solid fuel, to have an interesting launch device, and to have a trajectory which, as of the latest analysis, would enable it to go about 6,000 miles and maybe even hit as far east as Chicago."

Transcript: Sen. Dianne Feinstein on "Face the Nation" 
"We can't have that," she added. "To me, it points out the danger in isolating a country, that they go to the science and the technical know-how to show their brute force, not to handle the isolation."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/feinste...lear-and-present-danger-to-the-united-states/


----------



## poochee

Jul 30 2017, 8:34 am ET
*Government-Run Health Care: Democrats' New Litmus Test*
by Alex Seitz-Wald and Benjy Sarlin

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., plays the long game.

The longest-serving member of the House of Representatives introduced a bill to make Martin Luther King's birthday a holiday four days after his assassination, but had to wait until the Reagan administration to see it become law.

For the past two decades, Conyers' moonshot idea has been transforming America's healthcare system into a more European-style single-payer one, in which everyone gets coverage under the federal government's Medicare program. He's introduced the bill in every new Congress, and watched it go nowhere each time.

Now, things are changing. Single-payer is attracting serious attention as it gains increasing prominence in the post-Obamacare ideological battle over health care.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/de...health-care-democrats-new-litmus-test-n787581


----------



## poochee

Jul 29, 9:09 AM EDT
*Analysis: Trump gets a major bill, and it's Russia sanctions*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The most consequential piece of legislation that the Republican-led Congress has delivered to President Donald Trump after seven months is a new package of financial penalties against Russia that he didn't want to sign into law.

But he's going to. He would have faced a political firestorm if he rejected the legislation.

The House overwhelmingly backed the bill, 419-3, and the Senate rapidly following their lead on a 98-2 vote. Those massive margins guaranteed that Congress would be able to beat back any possible attempt by Trump to reject the measure. The legislation, which also punishes Iran and North Korea, takes aim at Moscow for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-29-09-09-47


----------



## poochee

*Putin orders cut of 755 personnel at U.S. missions*
By Andrew Roth By Andrew Roth
Europe
July 30 at 4:41 PM

*VIDEO *

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that the U.S. diplomatic missions in Moscow and elsewhere in the country will have to reduce their staffs by 755 people, signaling a significant escalation in the Russian response to American sanctions over the Kremlin's intervention in the 2016 presidential election.

The United States and Russia have expelled dozens of each other's diplomats before - but Sunday's statement, made by Putin in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel, indicated the single largest forced reduction in embassy staff, comparable only to the closing of the American diplomatic presence in the months following the Communist revolution in 1917.

In the interview, Putin said that the number of American diplomatic and technical personnel will be capped at 455 - equivalent to the number of their Russian counterparts working in the United States. Currently, close to 1,200 employees work at the United States' embassy and consulates in Russia, according to U.S. and Russian data.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...b&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*Scaramucci firing suggests John Kelly may be more of the boss than we thought*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 4:47 PM ET, Mon July 31, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)In one of his first acts as White House chief of staff, John Kelly pushed out the newly minted communications director Anthony Scaramucci, a stunning move that suggests the new boss has wider leeway than many people thought when President Trump announced his hiring late Friday.

Scaramucci spent less than two weeks in his post, a stunningly short period of time by any measure of presidential staff tenures. Even in that short time, he repeatedly made waves -- none larger than an expletive-laden phone call with The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza last week in which The Mooch, as he referred to himself, cursed out then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and used an acrobatic vulgarity to describe how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon spends his free time.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politics/anthony-scaramucci-donald-trump-john-kelly/index.html


----------



## poochee

Jul 31 2017, 5:03 pm ET
*Decades After Surviving 'Hell on Earth,' Vietnam Army Medic Receives Medal of Honor*
by Cydney Weiner

*VIDEO*

Army medic James McCloughan never wanted to be a hero when he touched down in Vietnam nearly 50 years ago.

But the 23-year-old Michigan native would soon find himself in the middle of a bloody battle that would change his life. Over the course of 48 hours, McCloughan single-handedly saved the lives of 10 of his comrades, entering the "kill zone" nine times under heavy enemy fire to carry them to safety.

On Monday, President Donald Trump presented McCloughan, now 71, with the Medal of Honor, the country's highest military honor.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...rth-vietnam-army-medic-receives-medal-n788261


----------



## poochee

Jul 31, 7:24 PM EDT
*Republicans say time for Senate to move on from health care*
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Leading Senate Republicans said Monday it was time to move from health care to other issues, saying they saw no fresh pathway to the votes needed to reverse last week's collapse of their effort to repeal and rewrite the Obama health care law.

"For now, until we have a path forward that gets us 50 votes in the Senate, we've got other things to do and we're going to start turning to those," No. 3 Senate GOP leader John Thune told reporters.

"It's time to move onto something else, come back to health care when we've had more time to get beyond the moment we're in," said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, another member of the GOP leadership. "See if we can't put some wins on the board" on bills revamping the tax system and building public works projects, he said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-31-19-24-26


----------



## ekim68

Donald Trump's War on Scientists Has Had One Big Side Effect



> All told, more than a dozen Democratic candidates with science backgrounds have announced their candidacies for Congress or are expected to in the coming months. The boomlet of STEM-based candidates amounts to a minor seismic event in a community where politics and research have traditionally gone together like sodium and water. Trump has been in office just six months, but he's already done something remarkable-he's gotten scientists to run for office.


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump thinks the 'White House is a real dump,' report says *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...trump-thinks-white-house-real-dump/531212001/

schmuck.


----------



## Wino

Johnny-be-Good said:


> * Trump thinks the 'White House is a real dump,' report says *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...trump-thinks-white-house-real-dump/531212001/
> 
> schmuck.


Little man Turnip does not understand the history, the symbolism, the gravity nor the humility and privilege of being in the White House. Nothing more than a rich white trash imbecile.


----------



## poochee

Aug 1, 5:19 PM EDT
*Stocks are at records, but it's no longer the 'Trump trade'*
By STAN CHOE and MARLEY JAY
AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market has never been higher, and President Donald Trump would like more people to pay attention.

"Stock Market could hit all-time high (again) 22,000 today," Trump tweeted Tuesday about the Dow Jones industrial average, before it ended the day at a record 21,963.92. "Was 18,000 only 6 months ago on Election Day. Mainstream media seldom mentions!"

The 18,000 figure he cited was inaccurate: The Dow closed at 19,890.94 six months ago. It was at 18,332.74 on Election Day, which was nearly nine months ago. And analysts say it would be inaccurate to give Trump full credit for the market's recent records.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The stock market was also setting records under Trump's predecessor. The Dow Jones industrial average surged nearly 150 percent over Barack Obama's eight-year presidency. Trump has been in office for a little more than half a year, and the Dow has climbed 11 percent since his January inauguration.

Even if the Trump trade has faded, some effects have been longer lasting. For example, optimism among small businesses is still much higher than it was before the election, even though it's moderated a bit in recent months.

If Trump were to serve two terms and stocks performed similarly under his administration as they did during the Obama years, the Dow would surpass 49,000 - something really worth tweeting about.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-01-16-09-37


----------



## poochee

Aug 1, 10:13 PM EDT

*Lawsuit: Fox coordinated with White House on false story*
By DAVID BAUDER and JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- A lawsuit filed Tuesday lays out an explosive tale of Trump allies, the White House and Fox News Channel conspiring to push a false story about Democratic leaks and an unsolved killing in order to distract attention from the Russia investigation that has been swirling around the president.

The lawsuit was filed against Fox by an investigator who had been looking into the killing of Seth Rich, a former Democratic National Committee staff member killed in 2016 in what police say was a botched robbery. The investigator alleges that Fox quoted him as saying things he never said and was willing to show President Donald Trump its story before it was posted online.

It's the second time in two days that Trump has been accused of being actively involved in pushing a public narrative to lower the heat of the Russia story. The Washington Post reported that the president had written a misleading statement for his son to give to The New York Times about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting last summer with a Russian who promised dirt on Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-01-22-13-49


----------



## poochee

Aug 2 2017, 9:07 am ET
*The White House's Credibility Problem Is Getting Worse - Not Better*
by Chuck Todd and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

The White House's credibility problem is getting worse, not better…

WASHINGTON - It's no secret that the Trump administration and its allies have a significant trust deficit with the press, Congress and much of the American public. But lately, it seems to be going south faster than ever. *Consider, in just the last few days:*

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fir...worse-not-better-n788766?cid=eml_pol_20170802


----------



## poochee

By Rebecca Shabad CBS News August 2, 2017, 1:54 PM
*Trump's approval rating slumps to new low*

*VIDEO*

His latest approval rating is down 7 percentage points from the 40 percent approval rating Mr. Trump received in a similar survey in late June.

Majorities of voters said that Mr. Trump is not honest, doesn't have good leadership skills, isn't a strong person, isn't intelligent, doesn't share their values and doesn't care about average Americans. Voters gave Mr. Trump negative approval ratings for handling key issues like foreign policy, the economy, immigration, health care and terrorism

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-approval-rating-slumps-to-new-low/


----------



## poochee

*Trump signs what he calls 'seriously flawed' bill imposing new sanctions on Russia*
By Abby Phillip
August 2 at 3:18 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump on Wednesday signed a bill that imposes new sanctions on Russia, ending immediate hopes that he might be able to reset U.S. relations with the Kremlin as Congress overruled his opposition to the provisions' curb on his executive power.

Trump's reluctant signing of the legislation came nearly a week after it was approved by an overwhelming, bipartisan majority in the Senate and after a similarly large majority in the House. The president issued two statements outlining his concerns with the bill, which he called "seriously flawed," primarily because it limits his ability to negotiate sanctions without congressional approval.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...a-1105a:homepage/story&utm_term=.70b3cdc54adb


----------



## poochee

*Trump Unveils Legislation Limiting Legal Immigration*
August 2, 201710:03 AM ET 
Brian Naylor 

Updated at 3:30 p.m. ET

President Trump unveiled controversial legislation on Wednesday that would sharply curtail legal immigration to the United States.

The president met at the White House with two Republican senators pushing the legislation, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia.

One of Trump's campaign promises was to reduce immigration, illegal and legal. The Cotton-Perdue legislation, also known as the RAISE Act (for Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy), would cut by half the number of legal immigrants accepted into the U.S. each year.

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/02/541104795/trump-to-unveil-legislation-limiting-legal-immigration


----------



## poochee

_*Donald Trump just keeps lying*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 7:41 AM ET, Thu August 3, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)On Wednesday, the White House acknowledged that President Donald Trump told two lies.

The first came when he claimed, at a Cabinet meeting on Monday, that the President of Mexico had called him recently. Said Trump: "Even the President of Mexico called me. Their southern border, they said very few people are coming because they know they're not going to get to our border, which is the ultimate compliment."

The second came last week in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the transcript of which was published Tuesday night. In the interview, Trump boasted: "I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them, and they were very thankful."

Neither of those phone calls actually happened, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders admitted in her daily press briefing Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/donald-trump-mexico-boy-scouts-lies/index.html
_


----------



## poochee

Aug 3 2017, 1:31 pm ET
*Trump Calls New Hampshire a 'Drug-Infested Den,' Stoking Outrage*
by Corky Siemaszko

President Donald Trump's trashing of New Hampshire as a "drug-infested den" in a telephone conversation with the president of Mexico did not go over well in the Granite State.

Outraged by the jab, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., took to Trump's favorite social media platform Thursday and called his remark "disgusting."

"Instead of insulting people in the throes of addiction, @Potus needs to work across party lines to actually stem the tide of this crisis," Hassan tweeted.

New Hampshire's other Democratic senator, Jeanne Shaheen, called Trump's reported remarks "absolutely unacceptable" and said he owes her state "an apology."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/am...ire-drug-infested-den-stoking-outrage-n789176


----------



## poochee

*Kelly cracks down on West Wing back channels to Trump* 
_The new White House chief of staff is making it his first priority to gain control over the information that gets to the president._ 
By JOSH DAWSEY
08/02/2017 07:26 PM EDT
Updated 08/02/2017 09:49 PM EDT

*VIDEO*

When new White House chief of staff John Kelly huddled with senior staff on his first day at work, he outlined a key problem in President Donald Trump's White House that he planned to fix: bad information getting into the president's hands.

Kelly told the staff that information needed to flow through him - whether on paper or in briefings - because the president would make better decisions if given good information.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/...ng-241268?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-080317


----------



## poochee

*One year into the FBI's Russia investigation, Mueller is on the Trump money trail*
By Evan Perez, Pamela Brown and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
Updated 4:44 PM ET, Thu August 3, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Sources described an investigation that has widened to focus on possible financial crimes
The increased financial focus hasn't gone unnoticed by President Donald Trump
Washington (CNN)Federal investigators exploring whether Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russian spies have seized on Trump and his associates' financial ties to Russia as one of the most fertile avenues for moving their probe forward, according to people familiar with the investigation.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/polit...ssia-trump-one-year-financial-ties/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Source: Mueller Using D.C. Grand Jury In Russia Probe* 
August 3, 20175:44 PM ET 
 Jessica Taylor 

Special counsel Robert Mueller is using a grand jury in Washington, D.C., in connection with his investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Russia and top aides to the Trump campaign, a source with knowledge of the investigation confirms to NPR's Peter Overby. The source did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The _Wall Street Journal _first reported that Mueller, a former FBI director, was using a grand jury. The latest development signals the former FBI director's investigation is "growing in intensity," with the grand jury beginning work in recent weeks, the _Journal _reported_._

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment to NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/03/541432868/source-mueller-using-d-c-grand-jury-in-russia-probe


----------



## poochee

Aug 3, 6:07 PM EDT
*Congress recessing, leaving much undone, tensions with Trump
By ERICA WERNER*
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers scattered for their summer recess Thursday, leaving behind a slim record of achievements and a steaming President Donald Trump. The president is angry about what the Republican-led Congress couldn't do - repeal Obamacare - as well as one of the few things it did: approve a Russia sanctions bill he detests.

So Republican senators leave Washington with simmering tensions between them and the White House now out in public for all to see. They'll face voters back home who have cause for frustration about an unproductive Congress led by a party given over to infighting.

Lamenting poor relations with Russia, Trump sniped over Twitter on Thursday, "You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare!"

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-03-18-07-45


----------



## poochee

*Justice Dept., Under Siege From Trump, Plows Ahead With His Agenda*
By REBECCA R. RUIZ AUG. 3, 2017

Yet even as the Justice Department has been under siege by Mr. Trump, Mr. Sessions and Mr. Rosenstein have sought to tune out the noise as they remake the department into the one that is most powerfully carrying out the president's agenda.

"We value the independence of the Justice Department," Mr. Rosenstein said in an interview this week. The employees, he said, have been conditioned to "ignore anything that's said by people outside of the department."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/...lights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

*Senate blocks Trump's ability to make recess appointments*
By Ashley Killough, CNN
Updated 10:28 AM ET, Fri August 4, 2017

*Story highlights*

Senate will gavel into session every couple of days
Move will prevent recess appointments by President Trump

Concerns arose last month that the President might attempt to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions and appoint a replacement of his choosing while the upper chamber was out during the August recess.

The new attorney general would then be in charge of federal investigations into the 2016 presidential election and would have the power to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/04/politics/senate-blocks-trump-recess-appointments/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 4, 6:02 PM EDT
*US officially tells UN it wants out of Paris climate deal*
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration on Friday officially told the United Nations that the U.S. intends to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate pact.

But the State Department's announcement doesn't formally start the process of the U.S. getting out of the voluntary agreement. That's still to come.

Still, the department described its communication as a "strong message" to the world, following President Donald Trump's decision in June to leave the accord.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-04-18-02-32


----------



## poochee

*U.N. imposes new sanctions on North Korea following missile tests*
By Karen DeYoung
National Security
August 5 at 6:45 PM

*VIDEO *

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Saturday to impose new sanctions on North Korea, banning exports that supply up to a third of the country's annual $3 billion earnings.

The U.S.-sponsored resolution was in response to North Korea's launch of two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month, activities prohibited under existing U.N. resolutions.

The sanctions ban North Korea's largest export, coal, along with exports of iron and iron ore, lead and lead ore, and seafood. Together, those exports amount to more than $1 billion a year in income for Pyongyang.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/un-imposes-new-sanctions-on-north-korea-following-missile-tests/2017/08/05/dc382962-7a29-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_unnorthkorea649pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.0233c8fdc1ac


----------



## poochee

*U.S. Economy Adds 209,000 Jobs In July; Unemployment Dips To 4.3 Percent* 
August 4, 20178:45 AM ET

It was the 82nd consecutive month of jobs growth. Job gains have averaged 184,000 per month so far this year, slightly lower than last year's pace, according to David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide Mutual.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...jobs-in-july-unemployment-dips-to-4-3-percent


----------



## poochee

Aug 6, 1:13 PM EDT
*Russia ready for more engagement with US, despite sanctions*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Russia's top diplomat said Sunday his country was ready for more engagement with the United States on North Korea, Syria, Ukraine and other pressing matters, even as Moscow braced for new sanctions from the Trump administration.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for the first since the U.S. imposed the additional penalties, said Russian and the U.S. had agreed to resume a suspended high-level diplomatic channel and Washington would send its Ukraine envoy to Moscow for negotiations.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-06-13-13-43


----------



## poochee

Aug 6, 12:49 PM EDT
*Welcome boost from China to global pressure on North Korea*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- A global pressure campaign on North Korea propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions received a welcome boost Sunday from China, the North's economic lifeline, as Beijing called on its neighbor to halt its missile and nuclear tests.

The Trump administration cautiously embraced China's apparent newfound cooperation, while putting it on notice that the U.S. would be watching closely to ensure it didn't ease up on North Korea if and when the world's attention is diverted elsewhere. But there were no signs the U.S. would acquiesce to China's call for a quick return to negotiations.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-06-12-49-28


----------



## poochee

Aug 5 2017, 4:26 pm ET
*Fox News Host Eric Bolling Suspended After Lewd Photo Accusation*
by Elizabeth Chuck and Kurt Chirbas

*VIDEO*

Longtime Fox News host Eric Bolling has been suspended amid allegations that he texted a lewd photo to multiple female colleagues in years past.

A Fox News spokesperson confirmed Saturday that his suspension is "pending the results of an investigation, which is currently underway."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The accusation against him is the latest to beleaguer the media outlet, which has recently seen the departures of big names, including former host Bill O'Reilly and late Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, amid such allegations.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And last month, Fox Business Network suspended longtime host Charles Payne after an allegation of "professional misconduct" by a female political analyst who claimed she was coerced into a sexual relationship under the threat of reprisals.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...accused-sending-lewd-photo-colleagues-n789846


----------



## poochee

Aug 7, 8:41 AM EDT
*Nations race to prevent backsliding on North Korea sanctions*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- Armed with extraordinary new U.N. sanctions, nations raced Monday to ensure that North Korea's biggest trading partners actually carry them out, an elusive task that has undercut past attempts to strong-arm Pyongyang into abandoning its nuclear weapons.

North Korea reacted angrily, vowing to bolster its arsenal and mount revenge against the United States. In a reprise of the North's frequent, bellicose broadsides against the U.S., Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Washington alone was to blame for the crisis and added his country was ready to "teach the U.S. a severe lesson" with its nuclear force.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-07-08-41-59


----------



## poochee

*As Mueller closes in, Trump prepares his base for the worst*
By Greg Sargent
August 7 at 10:43 AM

*THE MORNING PLUM:*

President Trump is again attacking the media this morning, and his broadsides carry a newly ominous edge: He is both faulting the media for allegedly downplaying the size and intensity of support from his base and accusing them of trying to _deliberately_ weaken that support for him.

This comes some 24 hours after Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein made big news by telling "Fox News Sunday" that if the special counsel finds evidence of crimes in the course of his probe into Russian sabotage of our election, it may be within the scope of his investigation to pursue them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...-the-worst/?tid=pm_pop&utm_term=.e34a89779bba


----------



## poochee

*North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say*
By Joby Warrick, Ellen Nakashima and Anna Fifield By Joby Warrick, Ellen Nakashima and Anna Fifield 
National Security
August 8 at 12:09 PM

North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded in a confidential assessment.

The new analysis completed last month by the Defense Intelligence Agency comes on the heels of another intelligence assessment that sharply raises the official estimate for the total number of bombs in the communist country's atomic arsenal. The U.S. calculated last month that up to 60 nuclear weapons are now controlled by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Some independent experts believe the number of bombs is much smaller.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-now-making-missile-ready-nuclear-weapons-us-analysts-say/2017/08/08/e14b882a-7b6b-11e7-9d08-b79f191668ed_story.html?utm_term=.71b0d41f3230&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

Aug 8, 11:31 AM EDT
*Trump retweets Fox report based on anonymous sources
By CATHERINE LUCEY*
Associated Press

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) -- President Donald Trump has retweeted a Fox News report based on anonymous U.S. intelligence sources, despite his attorney general's pledge to clamp down on government leaks.

On Tuesday, Trump retweeted a story that said U.S. spy agencies have detected North Korea "loading two anti-ship cruise missiles on a patrol boat on the country's east coast just days ago." The story was attributed to anonymous U.S. officials.

Trump has repeatedly complained about leaks of government information to the press. Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed a crackdown, arguing such leaks could harm national security.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-08-11-31-25


----------



## poochee

*Trump vows North Korea will be met with 'fire and fury' if threats continue*
By John Wagner
*Post Politics*
August 8 at 3:56 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump on Tuesday issued a stern warning to North Korea, saying that if its threats to the United States continue, the outcast nation will be "met with the fire and the fury like the world has never seen."

Trump comments came as North Korea spurned a new round of sanctions approved by the United Nations Security Council and pledged to continue to press forward with development of nuclear weapons that could reach the U.S. mainland.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...a-345pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.5a065b39833f


----------



## poochee

Aug 8, 6:24 PM EDT
*The Latest: McCain questions Trump's threat to North Korea*









WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on North Korea's nuclear and missile programs (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

Republican Sen. John McCain says "great leaders" don't threaten foes unless they're ready to act - and he's not certain President Donald Trump is ready to act against North Korea.

McCain, who heads the Armed Services Committee, made the comments Tuesday in an interview on KTAR News in Phoenix.

He is responding to Trump's warning that North Korea could face "fire and fury" if it threatens the United States after a new report said U.S. intelligence officials believe Pyongyang has successfully produced a nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles.

McCain says he takes exception to Trump's comments "because you got to be sure you can do what you say you're going to do."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-08-18-24-22


----------



## poochee

*Trump could disrupt careful diplomatic messaging on North Korea*
By Nicole Gaouette, CNN
Updated 8:55 PM ET, Tue August 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's blunt threat to North Korea that it could face the United States' "fire and fury" could undermine work the rest of his Cabinet has been doing to defuse growing tensions in Asia.

For weeks, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been building what he calls a "peaceful pressure" campaign, roping international partners into a broad effort to push the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to stop brandishing its missiles and weapons and come to the negotiating table.

The top US diplomat has paired that endeavor with an equally important but more subtle project: sending messages of reassurance to China and other Asian nations that the US' aim isn't to destroy North Korea and upend the region, but simply to engage Pyongyang in talks.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/08/politics/tillerson-messaging-asia/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump warns N. Korea: U.S. nuclear arsenal is 'more powerful than ever before'*
By Philip Rucker and John Wagner
Post Politics
August 9 at 1:37 PM

*VIDEO*

Trump's suggestion, however, that the nuclear arsenal already has been modernized under his presidency is misleading at best, given the military is still operating under a course charted during the Obama administration and any additional modernization could take many years to implement.

"Nothing's happened yet," said Todd Harrison, director of Defense Budget Analysis at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. "Obviously, these changes take time. You can't do much in seven or seven months."

On Jan. 27, one week after his inauguration, Trump issued a congressionally mandated order directing the Defense Department to launch a Nuclear Posture Review, a major undertaking that will set his administration's nuclear policy.

The Pentagon has said the review, which officially began in April, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...eets-9a:homepage/story&utm_term=.226caa812fd8


----------



## poochee

*With 'fire and fury,' Trump revives fears about his possession of nuclear codes*
By Marc Fisher and Jenna Johnson
Politics
August 9 at 6:11 PM

*VIDEO*

As with most things Trump, the furor over the "fire and fury" has divided the nation in two - those who believe the president is a loose cannon, impulsively blurting whatever flits through his mind, and those who believe his inflammatory talk is a wily combination of politically savvy instincts and a gut-driven populism that simply aims to please.

When President Trump went off script Tuesday to deliver a startling threat to North Korea - "They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" - it was as if the nation relived the most lurid themes of the 2016 campaign in one chilling moment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...f-647pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.8b57095a57bd


----------



## poochee

*Trump on North Korea: Maybe 'fire and fury' comment 'wasn't tough enough'*
By Dan Merica and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 3:14 PM ET, Thu August 10, 2017

*VIDEO*

Bridgewater, New Jersey (CNN)President Donald Trump reiterated his bellicose warning to North Korea from earlier in the week, telling reporters at his golf club in New Jersey on Thursday that his threat to bring "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the United States may not have gone far enough.

"Maybe it wasn't tough enough," Trump said during a lengthy exchange with reporters.

Trump said that past administrations had not done enough to take on North Korea and that it is time a President "stuck up for the country."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/10/politics/trump-north-korea/index.html


----------



## poochee

*NBC
The Pentagon Prepares Pre-Emptive Strike Plan for North Korea*
Wed, Aug 09

*VIDEO*

The Pentagon has prepared a specific strike plan for a pre-emptive attack on North Korea, should the President order one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news...orth-korea-1021168195992?cid=eml_nnn_20170809


----------



## poochee

*Why Is Trump Turning on the Ally He Needs Most?*
The president is on a sustained campaign against the Senate majority leader, despite his great control over Trump's political fate.

David A. Graham

4:30 PM ET

The three people with the greatest power over Donald Trump's political future are Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Trump himself.

And if the president's recent treatment of McConnell and Mueller is any indication, Trump had better watch out.

The president is on a sustained campaign against the leader of the Senate. For the second day in a row, Trump broke from his vacation to attack the Kentuckian:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...n/536505/?utm_source=nl-politics-daily-081017


----------



## ekim68

Almost All of FCC's New Advisory Panel Works for Telecoms




> The FCC put out a call for local officials to fill a 30-person board. It chose two of them.


----------



## poochee

*Trump has been making ominous threats his whole life*
By Fareed Zakaria Opinion writer
Opinions
August 10 at 7:48 PM

*VIDEO*

How did we get here? Why does it appear that we're on the brink of a war in Asia, one that could involve nuclear weapons? North Korea has had nuclear-weapons capacity for at least 10 years. Have its recent advances been so dramatic and significant to force the United States to wage a preventive war? No. The crisis we now find ourselves in has been exaggerated and mishandled by the Trump administration to a degree that is deeply worrying and dangerous.

From the start, the White House has wanted to look tough on North Korea. In the early months of President Trump's administration, before there could possibly have been a serious policy review, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that the era of strategic patience with North Korea was over. Last week, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said that North Korea's potential to hit the United States with nuclear weapons was an "intolerable" threat. Not North Korea's use of weapons, mind you; just the potential.

Trump, of course, went furthest, saying Tuesday that if North Korea did not cease its threats, it would be met with "fire and fury like the world has never seen." When pressed on Thursday, Trump doubled down, saying, "If anything, maybe that statement wasn't tough enough." In other words, Trump has made clear that the United States would respond to North Korean threats with a massive military strike, possibly involving nuclear weapons.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.4e57d0ba13fd&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Beyond the fiery words, US quietly pursues diplomacy with North Korea*
By Elise Labott, Laura Koran and Nicole Gaouette, CNN
Updated 3:06 PM ET, Fri August 11, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Contacts between Pyongyang and the US picked up again after Trump took office
They follow a deep freeze between North Korea and the Obama administration
Washington (CNN)Even as tensions between the US and North Korea have intensified, along with President Donald Trump's rhetoric, US diplomats have quietly and steadily been in contact with their North Korean counterparts.

The meetings, led by the US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun and reported on by CNN, have focused on Americans detained in North Korea, but have also touched on the relationship between the two countries.

The US has been in contact with North Korea since at least February at an official level and there have been lower-level talks between Americans -- though none who represent the US government -- and North Korean officials.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/11/politics/north-korea-us-diplomacy/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 12 2017, 3:05 pm ET
*Trump, Politicians Condemn White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia*
by Marianna Sotomayor and Ariana Brockington

*VIDEO*

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The wave of violence incited during a gathering Saturday of white nationalists and counter-protesters led President Donald Trump and other state and national lawmakers to denounce the rally as hateful.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle agreed that such speech, which included racist and anti-Semitic slurs, should be condemned. Some emphasized that while they support freedom of speech and assembly, they do not condone the violence and racism seen in Charlottesville.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...nalist-rally-charlottesville-virginia-n792096


----------



## poochee

Opinions
*The world has already seen 'fire and fury'*
*By Ted Gup By Ted Gup *
*Opinions*
*August 11 at 7:48 PM 
*
_Ted Gup is an author and journalism professor at Emerson College.

*VIDEO*_

In the moments after the blast she pawed through the debris that had been her home, searching for her 4-year-old daughter, Akiko Osato. There was nothing to be found of her, she told me - not then, not ever. Minutes before, her daughter had been in her arms asking for a can of tangerines that had been set aside as an emergency ration. But Sonoda had denied her daughter the tangerines, lest conditions - already dire - should worsen.

All this came to mind hearing the president's threat to unleash the unspeakable terror of nuclear weapons. He said it from the clubhouse of a Bedminster, N.J., golf course, a universe away from Hiroshima's skeletal dome, a testament to the unthinkable.

The president spoke of "fire and fury like the world has never seen." But the world has seen it. Sonoda saw it. So, too, did a couple hundred thousand other souls, nearly all civilians, whose everything was obliterated in an instant. And standing at the humble stone monument marking the exact spot 1,900 feet above which the sun itself seemed to detonate, the temperature rising to 5,000 degrees, unleashing cyclonic winds, I also felt the shiver that never leaves that place.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...term=.6a73f894aee1&wpisrc=nl_opinionsA&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*BREAKING
**News*
Aug 12 2017, 3:00 pm ET
*Charlottesville White Nationalist Rally Turns Violent, Prompting State of Emergency*
by Marianna Sotomayor, Phil McCausland and Ariana Brockington

*VIDEO*

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - One person died and 19 were injured after a car plowed through a crowd here on Saturday. White nationalists and counter-protesters had violently clashed earlier in the day, injuring eight and prompting Charlottesville police and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to declare a state of emergency.

Supporters gathered in Emancipation Park Saturday morning in anticipation of a noon rally held by "Unite the Right." The aim of the rally was to protest the removal of a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The park was formerly known as Lee Park.

State police and members of the Virginia National Guard surrounded the park after McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and the city of Charlottesville declared the alt-right protest an unlawful assembly - effectively cancelling the demonstration before its planned start time.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...upremacists-march-university-virginia-n792021


----------



## poochee

*AP*

Aug 12, 9:01 PM EDT
*Reactions to Trump's statement on violence in Virginia*

President Donald Trump blamed "many sides" for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the wake of a white nationalist demonstration, drawing swift reactions.

Democrats and some Republicans called on him to specifically denounce white supremacy and racially motivated hate by name. Vice President Mike Pence supported the president's speech. A white supremacist website praised the comments.

*What Trump said:*

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides," Trump said. "It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. It's been going on for a long, long time."

*What others are saying:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-12-21-01-18*


----------



## poochee

*Trump -- once again -- fails to condemn the alt-right, white supremacists*
By Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 1:34 AM ET, Sun August 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump blamed violence in Charlottesville at white supremacist protests on "many sides."
Republican leaders criticized the President for not calling the incidents "terrorism."
Trump has made a name for himself with sharp verbal attacks, but has held back here
Bridgewater, New Jersey (CNN)President Donald Trump, a man known for his bluntness, was anything but on Saturday, failing to name the white supremacists or alt-right groups at the center of violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Instead, the man whose vicious attacks against Hillary Clinton, John McCain, federal judges, fellow Republican leaders and journalists helped define him both in and out of the White House simply blamed "many sides."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/polit...n-the-alt-right-white-supremacists/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-white-nationalists-rally/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Alleged driver of car that plowed into Charlottesville crowd was a Nazi sympathizer, former teacher says*
*By **T. Rees Shapiro**, **Ellie Silverman**, **Laura Vozzella** and **John Woodrow Cox* August 13 at 2:15 PM

*VIDEO*

CHARLOTTESVILLE - A man accused of plowing a car into a crowd of protesters here - killing one person and leaving 19 injured - long sympathized with Nazi views and had stood with a group of white supremacists hours before Saturday's bloody crash.

The alleged driver, James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Ohio, had espoused extremist ideals at least since high school, according to Derek Weimer, a history teacher.

Weimer said that he taught Fields during his junior and senior years at Randall K. Cooper High School in Kentucky. In a class called "America's Modern Wars," Weimer said that Fields wrote a deeply researched paper about the Nazi military during World War II.

"It was obvious that he had this fascination with Nazism and a big idolatry of Adolf Hitler," Weimer said. "He had white supremacist views. He really believed in that stuff."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/one-dead-as-car-strikes-crowds-amid-protests-of-white-nationalist-gathering-in-charlottesville-two-police-die-in-helicopter-crash/2017/08/13/3590b3ce-8021-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_fields-145pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.2b176b8f379e


----------



## poochee

*Heather Heyer, Charlottesville Victim, Is Recalled as 'a Strong Woman'*
By CHRISTINA CARONAUG. 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

Heather D. Heyer died standing up for what she believed in.

Friends described her as a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised who was often moved to tears by the world's injustices. That sense of conviction led her to join demonstrators

We were just marching around, spreading love - and then the accident happened," a friend, Marissa Blair, said. "In a split second you see a car, and you see bodies flying."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/heather-heyer-charlottesville-victim.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 14 2017, 3:05 pm ET
*Trump Condemns Hate Groups, Calls Racism 'Evil' Days After Charlottesville Violence*
by Andrew Rafferty

*VIDEO*

His remarks followed widespread criticism for his failure to forcibly denounce white supremacists in the immediate aftermath of the violent clash between white nationalists and counter-protesters that left 19 injured and one person dead in Charlottesville on Saturday.

His remarks followed widespread criticism for his failure to forcibly denounce white supremacists in the immediate aftermath of the violent clash between white nationalists and counter-protesters that left 19 injured and one person dead in Charlottesville on Saturday.

"Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans," Trump said in a brief statement from the White House.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...nce-trump-calls-hate-groups-repugnant-n792491


----------



## poochee

*Intel CEO is the latest to leave Trump's manufacturing council*
by Jethro Mullen @CNNTech August 15, 2017: 12:37 AM ET

*VIDEO*

*Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has become the third top business leader to step down from President Trump's manufacturing council on Monday.*

He follows the chiefs of Merck (MRK) and Under Armour (UA), who announced their decisions earlier Monday amid the fallout over Trump's response to violence over the weekend at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"We should honor -- not attack -- those who have stood up for equality and other cherished American values. I hope this will change, and I remain willing to serve when it does," Krzanich wrote in a blog post on the Silicon Valley company's website late Monday.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/14/tec...ump-manufacturing-council/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

**
*Man in Hostage Video Forced to Recite Words Not His Own*
By Andy Borowitz
August 14, 2017

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/man-in-hostage-video-forced-to-recite-words-not-his-own?mbid=nl_081417 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=11695072&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1221269483&spReportId=MTIyMTI2OTQ4MwS2


----------



## ekim68

Hate Map



> 917 Hate Groups are currently operating in the US.


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> Hate Map


...


----------



## poochee

Aug 15, 6:03 PM EDT
*Combative Trump insists anew: Blame both sides for violence*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JULIE PACE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Combative and insistent, President Donald Trump declared anew Tuesday "there is blame on both sides" for the deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, appearing to once again equate the actions of white supremacist groups and those protesting them.

The president's comments effectively wiped away the more conventional statement he delivered at the White House a day earlier when he branded members of the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who take part in violence as "criminals and thugs."

Trump's advisers had hoped those remarks might quell a crush of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. But the president's retorts Tuesday suggested he had been a reluctant participant in that cleanup effort.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-15-17-34-42


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is missing this key ingredient to being a successful president*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 2:34 PM ET, Tue August 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_Donald Trump has a major empathy problem.
That's not new -- but it is very, very important both to understand his reaction to Charlottesville as well as his presidency going forward.
Way back in May 2016, I wrote this:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/politics/donald-trump-empathy/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump just hit a new low*
By Dana Milbank Opinion writer
Opinions
August 15 at 7:36 PM

It's a case of being careful what you wish for.

Critics left, right and center panned President Trump for his initial refusal to denounce the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, one of whom allegedly drove his car into counter-demonstrators, killing one and injuring 19. When Trump finally gave a canned and grudging disavowal of white supremacists, he was urged anew to say more, to be presidential, to bring the nation together.

Well, late Tuesday, Trump said more and told the nation what he really thought. *It was downright ugly.*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.2c8bfe53c6c8&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Aug 16, 2:30 PM EDT
*Survey: Citizens of many US allies trust Putin over Trump*
By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vladimir Putin is more trusted than Donald Trump to do the right thing for the world among citizens of numerous U.S. allies, including Japan, South Korea and seven European NATO members, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Both leaders scored poorly overall in the poll by the respected Pew Research Center. But Trump's scores in particular point to a stunningly high level of international public distrust in the American president, a position colloquially described as "leader of the free world" as many smaller countries rely on the United States for support and defense.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-16-14-30-29


----------



## poochee

Aug 16 2017, 11:02 am ET
*Obama's Response to Charlottesville Shatters Twitter Record*
by Jillian Sederholm

Former President Barack Obama's response to the deadly car attack and violent protests during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday is now the most-liked tweet of all time.

Obama's record-breaking tweet included a photo of him greeting a group of small children of various ethnicities along with part of a quote from former South African president Nelson Mandela. Obama sent two additional tweets to complete the full Mandela quote:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-s-response-charlottesville-shatters-twitter-record-n793156


----------



## poochee

*By the numbers: 7 charts that explain hate groups in the United States*
By Ryan Struyk, CNN with graphics by Will Mullery, CNN
Updated 12:26 PM ET, Tue August 15, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

The number of total hate groups has risen 17% to more than 900 organizations since 2014
The number of hate groups focused on Muslims tripled in the last year
Some racist hate groups -- including neo-Nazis and white nationalists -- have seen declining numbers
Washington (CNN)White nationalist and neo-Nazi hate groups have made headlines over the last two days for the violent clashes in Virginia on Saturday, but what does their influence look like outside of Charlottesville?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/14/politics/charts-explain-us-hate-groups/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: Trump has failed to offer moral leadership after Charlottesville. These 10 people are filling the void.* By James Hohmann August 17 at 7:04 AM

*VIDEO*

_*With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve*_

*THE BIG IDEA: *It's not enumerated in Article Two of the Constitution, but consoler in chief has always been one of the most important responsibilities of the American president. Playing this part has only become more important in the television age, and Donald Trump - who became president partially because of his mastery of the reality TV medium - has utterly failed to offer moral leadership during the biggest test yet of his seven-month presidency.

*Think about Barack Obama's 2015 eulogy when a white supremacist massacred African American churchgoers in Charleston*, his 2011 speech after Gabby Giffords was shot in Tucson or his tearful comments after kids were gunned down at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012.

*Bill Clinton encouraged Americans to "overcome evil with good" after 168 people were killed at the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.* "Let us teach our children that the God of comfort is also the God of righteousness: Those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind," he said. "Justice will prevail."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.f581318d3764&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump is burning every bridge he can, 1 tweet at a time*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 12:38 PM ET, Thu August 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_Before 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, the President of the United States had already:

Attacked not one but two sitting senators of his own party.
Savaged the "fake" news media.
Tripled down on his comments regarding the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Echoed the rhetoric of the far right by insisting that our "culture" was being destroyed by the cult of political correctness.
Donald Trump did all of these things via Twitter -- starting at 6:19 a.m. ET with a tweet alleging that "publicity seeking" Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) had purposely contorted his comments after the violent white supremacist protests over the weekend and ending at 9:21 a.m. ET with a slippery slope argument that liberals were responsible for the "beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks" by calling for the removal of statues honoring Confederates.

So, for three hours -- at least -- the most powerful person in the world was glued to social media, gleefully settling scores.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/17/politics/trump-twitter/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 17 2017, 2:52 pm ET
*Barcelona Terror Attack: Van Ramming Kills at Least 13, Injures Dozens, Suspect Arrested*
by Tom Winter, Alexander Smith, Tracy Connor, F. Brinley Bruton and Jon Schuppe

*VIDEO*

A terrorist-driven van plowed through a crowded pedestrian plaza in the heart of Barcelona on Thursday afternoon, killing at least 13 people dead and injuring dozens, the latest in a series of low-tech attacks in European cities.

Catalan authorities said they had arrested one man for the attack in Las Ramblas during the height of the tourist season. They said they expected the number of deaths to rise.

"My most serious condemnation to the terrorist attack in Barcelona," Catalan's Interior Minister Joaquim Forn tweeted just before night fell on the city. "We can confirm 13 deaths and more than 50 wounded."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/van-hits-pedestrians-barcelona-n793506


----------



## poochee

*Bob Corker just went there on Trump's 'competence'*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 6:32 PM ET, Thu August 17, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_Bob Corker is no Donald Trump hater. Which makes what the Tennessee Republican senator said Thursday about the President all the more powerful.

"The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful," Corker told reporters following a speech in Chattanooga.

Later, he sounded a similar note: "We should hope that (Trump) aspires that he does some self-reflection, that he does what is necessary to demonstrate stability, to demonstrate competence, to demonstrate that he understands the character of our nation and works daily to bring out the best of the people in our nation."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/17/politics/corker-trump-competence/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon fired*
By Jeremy Diamond, Kaitlan Collins and Elizabeth Landers, CNN
Updated 2:32 PM ET, Fri August 18, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon has been fired, multiple White House officials told CNN on Friday.

Sources told CNN that Bannon's ouster had been in the works for two weeks and a soure said that while Bannon was given the option to resign, he was ultimately forced out. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Bannon's departure, but claimed the decision for him to leave was mutual.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/18/politics/steve-bannon-white-house/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Now charities are dumping Trump, too*
by Jackie Wattles, Ahiza Garcia and Jill Disis @CNNMoney August 18, 2017: 2:53 PM ET

*VIDEO*

The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and Susan G. Komen foundation all said Friday they're canceling events at Trump's Palm Beach property Mar-a-Lago. That comes after three organizations made similar announcements on Thursday.

The cancellations follow the spectacular implosion of Trump's business councils this week over the president's insistence that counter-protesters shared the blame for violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/18/news/companies/trump-mar-a-lago-fundraisers/index.html


----------



## bomb #21

The Donald will return to 1600 once the revolving doors have been fully installed.


----------



## poochee

*'Free speech' rally ends early as thousands of counter-protesters descend on Boston Commo*
Wesley Lowery and Christina Pazzanese
Post Nation
August 19 at 2:10 PM

*VIDEO*

BOSTON - Thousands of counter-protesters crammed Boston Common and marched through city streets on Saturday morning in efforts to drown out the planned "free speech" rally that many feared would be attended by white supremacist groups.

By 1 p.m., the handful of rally attendees had left the Boston Common pavillion, concluding their event without the planned speeches. A victorious cheer went up among the counter-protesters, as many began to leave. Hundreds of others danced in circles and sang, "Hey hey, ho ho. White supremacy has got to go."

Tensions flared as police escorted some rally attendees out of the Common, prompting several physical altercations between police and counter-protesters. It was not immediately clear if anyone was arrested. The situation quickly calmed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...on-11am:homepage/story&utm_term=.80d38a43c31c


----------



## poochee

Aug 19 2017, 12:14 pm ET
*President Trump Won't Attend Kennedy Center Honors Amid Planned Boycotts*
by Chelsea Bailey

President Donald Trump and the First Lady will not attend the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony this December to allow honorees to celebrate "without any political distractions," the White House announced Saturday.

"First Lady Melania Trump, along with her husband President Donald J. Trump, extend their sincerest congratulations and well wishes to all of this year's award recipients for their many accomplishments," the White House said in a statement.

The decision came after multiple honorees said they would boycott the 40th annual gala that is traditionally hosted by the president and first lady and recognizes artists for their contributions to American culture.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...nd-kennedy-center-honors-amid-planned-n794151


----------



## ekim68

Back to school - and armed: Conceal and carry comes to Kansas campuses




> New regulations are shaking up college life for teachers and students


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> Back to school - and armed: Conceal and carry comes to Kansas campuses


...


----------



## poochee

Aug 19, 4:17 PM EDT
*GOP doubts and anxieties about Trump burst into the open*
By JULIE PACE and BILL BARROW
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's racially fraught comments about a deadly neo-Nazi rally have thrust into the open some Republicans' deeply held doubts about his competency and temperament, in an extraordinary public airing of worries and grievances about a sitting president by his own party.

Behind the high-profile denunciations voiced this week by GOP senators once considered Trump allies, scores of other, influential Republicans began to express grave concerns about the state of the Trump presidency. In interviews with Associated Press reporters across nine states, 25 Republican politicians, party officials, advisers and donors expressed worries about whether Trump has the self-discipline and capability to govern successfully.

Eric Cantor, the former House majority leader from Virginia, said Republicans signaled this week that Trump's handling of the Charlottesville protests was "beyond just a distraction."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-19-16-17-20


----------



## poochee

*Mattis confirms decision made on path forward in Afghanistan*
By Carol Morello and John Wagner 
National Security
August 20 at 4:08 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump on Monday night will announce a "path forward" on military strategy in Afghanistan, the White House said, offering his imprint on the longest-running war in U.S. history.

Trump is scheduled to address the military and American people from Fort Myer in Arlington, Va., White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a brief statement Sunday afternoon.

Earlier Sunday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed that a decision has been made on a military strategy in Afghanistan, where more than 8,000 troops already are based.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...-1251pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.b928a8390f8e


----------



## poochee

*Everything is going great! in 1 amazing Trump administration picture*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 11:50 AM ET, Sun August 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_On Friday, President Donald Trump gathered more than a dozen of his top advisers at Camp David to discuss the future of the American military strategy in Afghanistan.

No decisions were announced but many serious things were discussed. How do I know? Because of the photo released by the White House detailing the attendees.

Here it is -- and it's a doozy:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/20/politics/camp-david-pic/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Five sailors injured, 10 missing after U.S. Navy destroyer collides with a merchant ship*
By Anna Fifield
World
August 20 at 10:31 PM

SEOUL - Ten U.S. Navy sailors were missing and five were injured after the USS John S. McCain guided missile destroyer and an oil tanker three times its size collided near Singapore early Monday.

American and Singaporean ships and helicopters launched a search-and-rescue mission after the pre-dawn collision at the entrance to one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

This was the second time in two months a Navy destroyer based at the 7th Fleet's home port of Yokosuka, Japan, has been involved in a collision at sea. Seven sailors were killed when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship south of Japan in June.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/another-us-navy-destroyer-collides-with-a-merchant-ship-rescue-efforts-underway/2017/08/20/c42f15b2-8602-11e7-9ce7-9e175d8953fa_story.html?utm_term=.c0c142e1b475&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

Aug 21, 12:06 PM EDT
*Trump to outline Afghan strategy in national TV address*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump will use a nationally televised address to outline for a war-weary nation the strategy he believes will best position the U.S. to eventually declare victory in Afghanistan after 16 years of combat and lives lost.

The speech Monday night will also give Trump a chance for a reset after one of the most difficult weeks of his short presidency.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-21-12-06-08


----------



## poochee

*Secret Service can't pay agents for Trump and his family, report says*
By Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 11:20 AM ET, Mon August 21, 2017

*Story highlights*

More than 1,000 agents have reportedly hit the federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment
*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)The Secret Service cannot pay hundreds of agents to protect President Donald Trump and his large family, according to a report published Monday morning.

Secret Service Director Randolph "Tex'' Alles told USA Today more than 1,000 agents have already hit the federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances -- which were meant to last the entire year.

"The president has a large family, and our responsibility is required in law,'' Alles told USA Today. "I can't change that. I have no flexibility.''

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politics/secret-service-donald-trump-family/index.html


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: The elites strike back - getting under Trump's skin*
By James Hohmann August 21 at 7:07 AM

*VIDEO*

_*With Breanne Deppisch*_

*THE BIG IDEA: The 2016 election represented, as much as anything else, a repudiation of America's elites and everything they believe in. *By running on the hollow promises of populism, nativism and isolationism, an angry outsider challenged many of the bipartisan shibboleths that have long united most of the highly educated and affluent leaders of our country and culture.

*Seven months into President Trump's reign, the elites are striking back. *From Wall Street to West Palm Beach and West Hollywood, the past week has been a turning point, perhaps even a _tipping_ point. Since Trump abdicated his moral leadership after Charlottesville, the well-connected have used their leverage - like checkbooks and celebrity - to send a message about what truly makes America great.

*The growing number of groups canceling galas, stars boycotting ceremonies and chief executives resigning from advisory boards is further isolating Trump.*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.aebc845b78e5&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump administration dismisses climate change advisory panel *
By Rene Marsh, CNN
Updated 7:05 PM ET, Mon August 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

Scientists fear Trump will bury climate report 03:06

*Story highlights*

Experts from a recently canceled climate change panel spoke to CNN
They warned about the potential suppression of climate change findings
CNN)The Trump administration has fired another shot at the scientific community, this time dismantling a federal advisory committee on climate change.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politics/white-house-climate-change-committee-dismantled/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump declares US will 'win' in Afghanistan, but gives few details*
By Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 11:02 PM ET, Mon August 21, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Trump offered his plans for the US strategy in Afghanistan on Monday in a primetime address
His decision comes on the heels of months of internal debate over the scope of the US's ongoing engagement
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Monday vowed the US will "fight to win" in Afghanistan, extending the 16-year campaign there with a promise to beef up *the *American military presence while ratcheting up pressure on other countries in the region to help turn the tide.

In a prime-time address before a crowd of US troops, Trump sought to convince the country that he was applying a different strategy to the enduring Afghan conflict. But he offered few details, sticking to broad outlines -- beating back the Taliban, annihilating terrorists and cracking down on Pakistan's harboring of militants -- that shed little daylight between the current and future US approaches to the 16-year war.

What was abundantly clear was that Trump, heeding the advice of the current and former generals by his side, had settled on a strategy that cut directly against his instincts for reducing foreign US military interventions.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politics/trump-afghanistan-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

*U.S. hits Chinese and Russian companies, individuals with sanctions for doing business with North Korea*
By Carol Morello and Peter Whoriskey
National Security
August 22 at 1:05 PM

*VIDEO *

As part of a broad effort to further isolate North Korea, the Treasury Department on Tuesday placed sanctions on Chinese and Russian individuals and firms it said had conducted business with the country in ways that advanced its missile and nuclear weapons program.

The sanctions against 10 companies and six individuals are designed to disrupt the economic ties that have allowed Pyongyang to continue funding its missile and nuclear program despite strict United Nations sanctions prohibiting it.

In a related move, two legal complaints were filed Tuesday by the U.S. Justice Department seeking the forfeiture of $11 million from two of the sanctioned companies believed to have been laundering money on behalf of North Korea.

The complaints, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, would represent two of the largest seizures of North Korean funds.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-sanctions-chinese-and-russian-companies-and-individuals-for-conducting-business-with-north-korea/2017/08/22/78992312-8743-11e7-961d-2f373b3977ee_story.html?deferJs=true&outputType=default-article&utm_term=.8dc3f6d24b8f&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*Unscripted Trump Heads to Tense Rally in Phoenix*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO *

*Unscripted Trump heads to tense rally in Phoenix*

.WASHINGTON - If Charlottesville taught us anything, it's that a scripted President Trump can be vastly different from an unscripted Trump. And that's why the tone of his rally in Phoenix tonight - which likely will be off the cuff, as most of his rallies are - matters. After all, he's stepping into a combustible situation in Arizona.

* He's recently attacked both of the state's sitting Republican senators:* "Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He's toxic!" Trump tweeted last week. "You mean Sen. McCain, who voted against us getting good health care?" he said in response to a question about McCain and Charlottesville.

*He's dangled the possibility that he might pardon controversial Joe Arpaio*: "I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio," Trump told Fox News last week. "So what's the scoop on me?" Arpaio asked NBC's Vaughn Hillyard Monday night. "Will he pardon me?" Arpaio was found guilty last month of criminal contempt for defying a judge's order "to refrain from racially profiling Latinos during patrols and turning them over to federal immigration authorities."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/unscripted-trump-heads-tense-rally-phoenix-n794826


----------



## poochee

Aug 23, 11:34 AM EDT

*Trump talks unity, but detours into angry words for media*
By JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) -- President Donald Trump opened his political rally in Phoenix with calls for unity and an assertion that "our movement is about love." Then he erupted in anger.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-23-11-34-33


----------



## poochee

Aug 23 2017, 9:13 am ET
*In New Book, Hillary Clinton Says 'My Skin Crawled' During Debate With Trump*
by Kalhan Rosenblatt

*VIDEO*

In the first excerpts from Hillary Clinton's highly anticipated upcoming memoir, the former Democratic presidential candidate said her "skin crawled" during a debate with Donald Trump.

In audio clips of Clinton reading from the book, "What Happened," which were first obtained by MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday, Clinton recounted her thoughts as she toyed with the idea of telling her Republican rival to "back up, you creep" as he stood behind her during the second presidential debate.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...ing-debate-trump-n795136?cid=eml_pol_20170823


----------



## poochee

*After angry rally, Trump calls for healing in Nevada*
By Eric Bradner, Sophie Tatum and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 6:18 PM ET, Wed August 23, 2017

*VIDEO*

Reno, Nevada (CNN)The morning after stoking the nation's divisions at a campaign rally in Phoenix, President Donald Trump struck a drastically different tone Wednesday and issued a call for national unity.

"It is time to heal the wounds that divide us and to seek a new unity based on the common values that unite us. We are one people with one home and one great flag," Trump told veterans at the American Legion convention here.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/politics/donald-trump-nevada-speech/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump's vicious attack on the media shows one thing clearly: He's running scared*
By Margaret Sullivan Media Columnist
August 23 at 10:27 AM

*VIDEO *

As with so much about President Trump, his Phoenix rally on Tuesday night was two contradictory things: both shocking and completely predictable.

Shocking because it was the most sustained attack any president has made on the news media. ("It's time to expose the crooked-media deceptions and challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions," Trump ranted, as he charged that reporters invent sources and make up stories. "They are trying to take away our history and our heritage.")

And predictable because this is exactly what Trump does when he's in trouble. He finds an enemy and punches as hard as he can.

Make no mistake, he is in trouble. With a special prosecutor breathing down his neck and even once-loyal Breitbart News turning on him, Trump is, according to one new poll, at the lowest point of his presidency.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/trumps-vicious-attack-on-the-press-shows-one-thing-clearly-hes-running-scared/2017/08/23/4fc1a6a2-8802-11e7-a50f-e0d4e6ec070a_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_sullivan-11a:homepage/story&utm_term=.5fd5c9d4b68c


----------



## poochee

*Rabbis ditch High Holy Days call with Trump*
By NEGASSI TESFAMICHAEL
08/23/2017 03:49 PM EDT

A prominent coalition of American rabbis has decided not to hold its annual conference call with the president to mark Jewish holidays, citing Donald Trump's remarks on the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, as supporting "those who advocate anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia."

"We have concluded that President Trump's statements during and after the tragic events in Charlottesville are so lacking in moral leadership and empathy for the victims of racial and religious hatred that we cannot organize such a call this year," the groups - the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbinical Assembly, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism - said in a statement.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/23/trump-rabbis-high-holy-days-telephone-call-241952?lo=ap_a1


----------



## poochee

*Intel chief sheds light on 'beautiful letter' Trump says he wrote him*
By Jake Tapper, CNN Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent
Updated 2:01 PM ET, Thu August 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

Clapper's full interview on Trump's rally 08:03

(CNN)When former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper questioned President Donald Trump's "fitness to be in this office" after the President's wild speech in Phoenix Tuesday night, it was likely only a matter of time before the President aimed his Twitter ire at the retired general.

Indeed, Thursday morning came the tweet from the President: "James Clapper, who famously got caught lying to Congress, is now an authority on Donald Trump. Will he show you his beautiful letter to me?"

In an interview, Clapper told CNN about the "beautiful letter."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/24/politics/james-clapper-beautiful-letter-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 24, 5:01 AM EDT
*Facing big fights, Kelly seeks to restore White House order*
By JILL COLVIN and KEN THOMAS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In his first month on the job, White House chief of staff John Kelly has made significant progress toward imposing discipline on a chaotic operation, even as it's clear he still struggles to have the same effect on the president himself.

The White House is a less contentious place and decision-making is becoming more orderly under Kelly's thumb, according to more than a dozen people interviewed by The Associated Press, including White House officials, outside advisers and others who work regularly with the administration. They say a group of more experienced advisers - including a trio of generals - is increasingly holding sway. And they describe a process in which Kelly has successfully limited dissenting voices, restricted access to the president and "stacked the deck" on major decisions to guide him toward an outcome. The new Afghanistan war strategy announced this week was a chief example of the process.

But President Donald Trump also made clear this week there's no steering him toward less incendiary rhetoric.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-24-05-01-17


----------



## poochee

*Hurricane Harvey Strengthens to Category 3, Hurtles Toward Texas*
by Phil McCausland and Daniel Arkin

*VIDEO*

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Thousands of people fled parts of coastal Texas on Friday as Hurricane Harvey strengthened to a major Category 3 storm and hurtled toward the state.

Homeowners, businesses and government officials were scrambling to prepare for what could be a devastating storm. The National Weather Service said it has the potential to batter the state with significant rain, 125-mph winds, 12-foot storm surges, and "catastrophic" flooding.

Counties along the Texas coast ordered thousands of residents to leave. The message from state officials was clear: *Get out while you can.*

*The Latest*

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...egory-2-mandatory-evacuations-ordered-n795856


----------



## poochee

Aug 25 2017, 3:56 pm ET
*Trump Faces Natural Disaster Test in Hurricane Harvey*
by Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump faces a test in the form of Hurricane Harvey as his administration sought to assure residents of Texas and Louisiana Friday that the federal government is prepared for what new FEMA Director Brock Long called a "very dangerous situation."

Long, who was confirmed as FEMA director two months ago after six years as an executive at an emergency management consulting firm, told MSNBC Friday he was expecting a "very significant disaster" along the coasts of southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...atural-disaster-test-hurricane-harvey-n796011


----------



## poochee

*Trump pardons controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio*
By Abby Phillip
Post Politics
August 25 at 8:21 PM

*VIDEO*

In a statement, Trump made no mention of Arpaio's conviction, but praised his past military service. It is the first pardon of Trump's presidency.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Trump's pardon came late on a Friday night, at a time when much of the country is focused on a Category 4 hurricane bearing down on Texas. Hurricane Harvey is the most powerful such storm to hit the nation in 12 years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...o-830pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.80ade6afbae4


----------



## poochee

Aug 25, 10:55 PM EDT
*National security aide Sebastian Gorka leaves White House*
By GARANCE BURKE and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sebastian Gorka, a White House national security aide whose hardline policy views attracted controversy, is the latest official to exit President Donald Trump's administration.

Gorka told The Associated Press Friday that he had resigned from his position. A White House official, however, said Gorka did not resign but "no longer works at the White House." That official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-25-21-21-39


----------



## poochee

*Trump makes disaster declaration for Hurricane Harvey*
By Jeremy Diamond and Sophie Tatum, CNN
Updated 11:50 AM ET, Sat August 26, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration as Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday evening.

Trump directed federal aid toward the state's recovery efforts in affected areas, the White House said in a statement.

"Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster," the statement read.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/politics/trump-harvey-declaration/index.html


----------



## poochee

Aug 26, 12:28 AM EDT
*Trump's low approval ratings set an unwanted record*
By EMILY SWANSON
AP Polling Editor

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump started as the most unpopular new president in the history of modern polling. After seven months, things have only gotten worse.

Plunging into undesirably uncharted territory, Trump is setting records with his dismally low approval ratings, including the lowest mark ever for a president in his first year. In fact, with four months left in the year, Trump has already spent more time under 40 percent than any other first-year president.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-26-00-28-18

At 34 percent, his current approval rating is worse than President Barack Obama's ever was.


----------



## poochee

*I'll show you my tax returns, Mr. President, if you show me yours*
By Joan Vannorsdall
August 25

_Joan Vannorsdall is a candidate for the Alleghany County, Va., Board of Supervisors._

And then (metaphorically speaking) I went for broke.

"So let me get this straight. I live in a country whose president refuses to release his tax returns so that his 326 million constituents can get a clear understanding of his net worth, debts and worldwide financial involvements. But a retired schoolteacher in Appalachia running for her county board of supervisors has to complete a 25-page form revealing every asset and every liability over $5,000 to her 1,500-constituent district? What's fair about that?"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...term=.a877c55b57e5&wpisrc=nl_opinionsA&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Aug 27 2017, 2:35 pm ET
*Houston Hit by 'Catastrophic Flooding' from Hurricane Harvey, Hundreds Rescued*
by Phil McCausland, Saphora Smith and Daniella Silva

*VIDEO*

HOUSTON - Rescuers were answering thousands of calls from people trapped in Houston early Sunday, officials said, as torrential rain from deadly Hurricane Harvey caused "catastrophic flooding" in the city and across southeast Texas.

"This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced," the National Weather Service (NWS) said Sunday morning.

Heavy rain continued to pour over Houston early Sunday afternoon, with some downtown areas knee-deep in water, and shut down portions of highways flooded with as much as 10 feet of water.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...vey-houston-hit-catastrophic-flooding-n796341


----------



## poochee

AP
Aug 27, 10:45 AM EDT
*Trump says Canada, Mexico being "very difficult" on NAFTA*

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump is accusing Canada and Mexico of being "very difficult" at the negotiating table over the North American Free Trade Agreement, and threatening anew to terminate the deal.

Trump tweeted on Sunday morning that NAFTA is the "worst trade deal ever made."

Trump said at a rally last week in Phoenix that he would "end up probably terminating" NAFTA "at some point."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-27-10-45-45


----------



## poochee

Aug 28, 10:17 PM EDT
*Lawyer says Trump Tower in Russia considered during campaign*
By ERIC TUCKER and CHAD DAY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump's personal lawyer confirmed Monday that the president's company pursued a project in Moscow during the Republican primary, but said that the plan was abandoned "for a variety of business reasons." The attorney, Michael Cohen, also said he sent an email to the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the potential deal.

The confirmation that the Trump Organization was actively considering doing business in Russia during the presidential election could provide special counsel Robert Mueller with motivation for probing Trump's personal and business finances, a line Trump has warned him not to cross.

Cohen disclosed details of the deal in a statement to the House intelligence committee, which like Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. The Associated Press obtained the statement Monday.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-28-22-17-06


----------



## poochee

*Already-pardoned Arpaio asks judge to undo conviction*

By jacques billeaud, associated press
PHOENIX - Aug 28, 2017, 7:53 PM ET

Fresh off his presidential pardon, an emboldened Joe Arpaio on Monday lashed out at his critics and the judge who found him guilty of a crime as his attorneys went to court to throw the court decision that was the basis for his conviction.

The former Arizona sheriff struck a defiant tone in insisting he "didn't do anything wrong" and questioning whether his judge was fair. His comments came as President Donald Trump took a similar posture in defending his Friday pardon of the former lawman, blaming the Obama administration for Arpaio's troubles and calling him a "patriot" who fought against illegal immigration.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pardoned-sheriff-asks-judge-undo-conviction-49477008


----------



## poochee

*Harvey marks the most extreme rain event in U.S. histor*
Jason Samenow
Capital Weather Gang
August 29 at 2:09 PM

*VIDEO/CHARTS*

The rain from Harvey is in a class of its own. The storm has unloaded over 50 inches of rain east of Houston, the greatest amount ever recorded in the Lower 48 states from a single storm. And it's still raining.

John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas state climatologist, said a rain gauge in Mont Belvieu, about 40 miles east of Houston, had registered 51.1 inches of rain through early Tuesday afternoon. This total exceeds the previous record of 48 inches set during tropical cyclone Amelia in Medina, Texas in 1978.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-1245pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.b0be051d249b


----------



## poochee

Aug 29, 2:20 PM EDT
*Trump: 'All options are on table' after North Korea launch*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to reassert an American military threat against North Korea, saying that "all options are on the table" in response to its launch of a missile over close U.S. ally Japan.

In a terse, written statement, Trump said that North Korea's missile launch "signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior."

"Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime's isolation in the region and among all nations of the world," Trump said. "All options are on the table."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-29-14-20-13


----------



## poochee

*Leaks are actually the lifeblood of American democracy*
By Sanford J. Ungar By Sanford J. Ungar
Opinions
August 28 at 6:56 PM
_Sanford J. Ungar is director of the Free Speech Project at Georgetown University and a Lumina Foundation Fellow.

What right-thinking American could not be repelled by these appalling people and practices?

But wait a minute. What if leaks - more attractively labeled "inside information" or "revelations" - and leakers - more euphemistically called "sources" or "whistleblowers" - are part of the lifeblood of American democracy, one of the few reliable ways we find out what is actually going on?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.5ef4b9c0b7e8&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1_


----------



## poochee

Aug 29, 9:11 AM EDT

*Trump's turn to face tricky politics of natural disasters*
By JULIE PACE
AP Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON (AP) -- George W. Bush never recovered from his flyover of Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Barack Obama got a bipartisan boost late in his re-election campaign for his handling of Superstorm Sandy.

Now, President Donald Trump confronts the political risks and potential gains that come with leading the federal government's response to a deadly and destructive natural disaster. Hurricane Harvey, the massive storm that has dumped torrents of rain across Texas - flooding Houston and other cities - is the first major natural disaster of Trump's presidency, and the yet-to-be-determined scope of the damage appears likely to require a years-long federal project.

Trump, who is suffering through a long stretch of low approval ratings, has been particularly eager to seize the moment. He will visit Texas Tuesday - and may return to the region again on Saturday. The White House announced the first visit even before Harvey made landfall. On Monday, Trump promised Texans will "have what you need" and that federal funding would come "fast."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-29-09-11-06


----------



## poochee

*U.S.-led airstrikes block ISIS fighters escaping under a Hezbollah-negotiated deal*
By Liz Sly and Tamer El-Ghobashy
August 30 at 3:15 PM

*VIDEO*

BEIRUT - U.S. warplanes on Wednesday blocked a convoy of hundreds of Islamic State fighters who were heading to eastern Syria under the terms of a widely criticized deal brokered by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

The 310 fighters were traveling to the Iraqi-Syrian border in a convoy of buses after Hezbollah and the Syrian government permitted them to withdraw from a besieged enclave on the Lebanese-Syrian border.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...rm=.561fa4d83800&wpisrc=al_alert-world&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

Aug 30 2017, 8:41 am ET
*In Pittsburgh, Voters Express Disappointment in Trump*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

PITTSBURGH - A focus group of Pittsburgh-area voters, conducted Tuesday night by pollster Peter Hart on behalf of Emory University, revealed bipartisan disappointment in the tenor of Trump's leadership during the first seven months of his presidency.

Asked to describe the president in a single word, participants called Trump "outrageous," "dishonest," "disappointing" "narcissistic," "an abject disappointment," "unique," "not ready to be president," "off the scale," "crazy," "unbelievable" and "contemptible."

Five of the group's 12 members voted for Trump, and each expressed concern about his failure to dislodge D.C. gridlock - plus his habit of punching down on Twitter.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...ppointment-trump-n797356?cid=eml_pol_20170830


----------



## poochee

Aug 30, 4:42 PM EDT

*Trump makes it more difficult to rebuild for future floods*
By MICHAEL BIESECKER and JOAN LOWY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two weeks before Harvey's flood waters engulfed much of Houston, President Donald Trump quietly rolled back an order by his predecessor that would have made it easier for storm-ravaged communities to use federal emergency aid to rebuild bridges, roads and other structures so they can better withstand future disasters.

Now, with much of the nation's fourth-largest city underwater, Trump's move has new resonance. Critics note the president's order could force Houston and other cities to rebuild hospitals and highways in the same way and in the same flood-prone areas.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-08-30-16-42-07


----------



## poochee

*Trump claimed he witnessed Harvey's devastation 'first hand.' The White House basically admits he didn't*
By Aaron Blake
August 31 at 8:21 AM

President Trump clearly and unmistakably exaggerated the "horror and devastation" he witnessed in Texas. The White House's response? To pretend words don't mean what they mean.

Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he had seen this horror and devastation "first hand."








Donald J. Trump

*✔* @realDonaldTrump 
After witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas
6:12 AM - Aug 30, 2017 

But reporters quickly took issue with that. This is from the Dallas Morning News:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/31/trump-claimed-he-witnessed-harveys-devastation-first-hand-the-white-house-basically-admits-he-didnt/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_trump-1040am:homepage/story&utm_term=.91ea46b6e946


----------



## poochee

Aug 31 2017, 7:06 pm ET
*Trump Halted Obama's Equal Pay Rule. What it Means for Working Women*
by Suzy Khimm

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has stopped an Obama-era rule requiring large companies to report how much they pay workers by race and gender.

The rule was intended to help close the persistent wage gap between men and women, as well as between racial groups, through greater pay transparency.

In halting the rule, which was supposed to take effect in March, the Trump administration said it simply wouldn't have worked.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/wh...-obama-s-equal-pay-rule-what-it-means-n797941


----------



## poochee

*Mueller examining Trump's draft letter firing FBI Director Comey*
By Rosalind S. Helderman, Carol D. Leonnig and Ashley Parker
Politics
September 1 at 2:36 PM

*GRAPHIC/VIDEO*

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is reviewing a letter drafted by President Trump and a top aide in the days before the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey laying out in detail why the president wanted to get rid of the country's top law enforcement official, according to people familiar with the Mueller probe.

The multi-page letter enumerated Trump's long-simmering complaints with Comey, according to people familiar with it, including Trump's frustration that Comey was unwilling to say publicly that Trump was not personally under investigation in the FBI's inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump drafted the letter with senior policy adviser Stephen Miller on an early-May weekend visit to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., and then shared it with senior aides during an Oval Office meeting the day before the firing, according to people familiar with the discussions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-politics-daily-090117&utm_term=.e763edbb9930


----------



## poochee

Sep 1 2017, 8:44 am ET
*Trump, Congress Brace for a Busy September *
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Trump, Congress have a busy agenda for September

August was a cruel month for President Trump, as we wrote yesterday. And September doesn't look to be any easier, especially when you consider ALL of the items on Congress' to-do list when it returns to work next week:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...e-busy-september-n798051?cid=eml_pol_20170901


----------



## poochee

*Trump fatigue comes early*
By Joe Scarborough
August 31 at 8:19 PM

*VIDEO*

Americans eventually tire of the presidents they elect. The political skills that fuel the rise of Roosevelts, Reagans and Obamas always seem to lose their allure over time as the promise of "Morning in America" and "Hope and Change" devolves into the cynicism of "Been There, Done That."
---------------------------------------------------------------
President Trump is, of course, the most radical example of this negative political phenomenon. Seven months into his maniacal presidency, Trump is driving his approval ratings to record lows and causing friends and foes alike to experience premature presidential fatigue.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.28563df902e1&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump preparing withdrawal from South Korea trade deal, a move opposed by top aides*
By Damian Paletta
September 2 at 1:47 PM

President Trump has instructed advisers to prepare a withdrawal from the United States' free-trade agreement with South Korea, several people close to the process said, a move that would stoke economic tensions with the U.S. ally at a time both countries confront a crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

While it is still possible Trump could decide to stay in the agreement in order to renegotiate its terms, the internal preparations for terminating the deal are far along and the formal withdrawal process could begin as soon as this coming week, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A number of senior White House officials are trying to prevent Trump from withdrawing from the agreement, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, these people said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...b&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 3, 4:32 PM EDT
*Mattis: NKorea threat would bring massive military response*
By ROBERT BURNS and CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday shot back at North Korea's latest nuclear provocation with a blunt threat, saying the U.S. will answer any North Korean threat with a "massive military response -- a response both effective and overwhelming." While he said America does not seek the "total annihilation" of the North, he added somberly, "We have many options to do so."

In a brief statement to reporters outside the White House, Mattis said the international community is unified in demanding the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and said the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, should know that Washington's commitment to Japan and South Korea is unshakeable.

Earlier, President Donald Trump raised the stakes in the escalating crisis over North Korea's nuclear threats, suggesting drastic economic measures against China and criticizing ally South Korea.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-03-16-32-48


----------



## poochee

*Here Are The Facts About North Korea's Nuclear Test*
September 3, 20178:07 AM ET 
Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
 Geoff Brumfiel

The blast was picked up by seismic stations all over the world, and it was big.

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, which monitors the globe for nuclear tests, said that its monitoring system had gone off-scale. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which was human-made. That's far larger than the seismic signature from the North's last test, conducted roughly a year ago. Here's what you need to know.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...are-the-facts-about-north-koreas-nuclear-test


----------



## poochee

Sep 3, 5:07 PM EDT
*Obama offers accolades, advice in farewell letter to Trump*
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Before he left office in January, President Barack Obama offered his successor accolades and advice in a private letter that underscored some of his concerns as he passed the baton.

In the letter, published Sunday by CNN, Obama praised President Donald Trump, saying: "Congratulations on a remarkable run. Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure."

Obama went on to urge Trump to "build more ladders of success for every child and family," to "sustain the international order" and to protect "democratic institutions and traditions."

More......

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-03-17-07-21


----------



## poochee

Sep 4, 8:08 PM EDT
*Trump's options on North Korea going from bad to worse*
By JOSH LEDERMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sanctions on North Korea have been tried, and failed. Serious negotiations seem like a pipedream. And any military strike would almost surely bring mass devastation and horrific civilian casualties.

The Trump administration's options are going from bad to worse as Kim Jong Un's military marches ever closer to being able to strike the U.S. mainland with nuclear weapons. Just as President Donald Trump seeks to show global resolve after the North's most powerful nuclear test, his leverage is limited even further by new tensions he's stoked with South Korea, plus continued opposition from China and Russia.

With South Korea, the country most directly threatened, Trump has taken the unusual step of highlighting disagreements between the U.S. and its treaty ally, including by floating the possibility he could pull out of a trade deal with South Korea to protest trade imbalances. He also suggested on Twitter the two countries lacked unanimity on North Korea, faulting new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has been more conciliatory to the North, for his government's "talk of appeasement."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-04-20-08-04


----------



## poochee

*Minnesota Finds a Way to Slow Soaring Health Premiums*
By ROBERT PEARSEPT. 2, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS - Last fall, as consumers in Minnesota were facing health insurance rate increases of 50 percent or more, Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, said the Affordable Care Act was "no longer affordable to increasing numbers of people." The state's top insurance regulator said the Minnesota market was "on the verge of collapse."

The outlook now is much better. Rate increases requested for 2018 are relatively modest, thanks in part to a new program under which the state will help pay the largest claims. The program, known as reinsurance, and the efforts that led to its creation hold lessons for other states where rates are rising rapidly, and for Congress, where lawmakers are considering the introduction of a similar program.

"The individual insurance market is stabilizing under the program here," said Allison L. O'Toole, the chief executive of Minnesota's state-run insurance marketplace. "Health plans are very happy about it."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/...lights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

*Something is seriously off about this president*
_By __Jennifer Rubin__ 
September 4 at 11:45 AM
_
*VIDEO*

President Trump in three very different settings over the past few days reminded us how unsuited he is for the job. Increasingly, his presidency is defined by blatant lies, an empathy deficit and a frightful lack of ability to navigate through dire international crises. Each has been on display.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...-president/?tid=pm_pop&utm_term=.2698d113e31f


----------



## poochee

Sep 5, 2:57 PM EDT
*Trump rescinding DACA program protecting young immigrants*
By JILL COLVIN and SADIE GURMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday began dismantling the government program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children. Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared the Obama administration's program "an unconstitutional exercise of authority" that must be revoked.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-05-14-57-32


----------



## poochee

Sep 5 2017, 6:06 am ET
*Harvey Relief Efforts Top Busy Agenda as Congress Returns to Work*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday after five weeks away. While the big item on the Republican agenda for the fall is their push for tax reform, they have a long list of must-pass pieces of legislation to tackle, including providing aide to Texas and Louisiana for Hurricane Harvey, which will be the first major thing the House will vote on Wednesday.

And they have just 12 legislative days scheduled before a series of deadlines at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, meaning much of the rest of their agenda is likely to be pushed back into November and December.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the bigger and more immediate matters Congress will be tackling as it hits the ground running:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/co...ess-returns-work-n797571?cid=eml_pol_20170905


----------



## poochee

*Have we reached a point of no return?*
By Kathleen Parker Opinion writer
September 5 at 7:22 PM

It has become axiomatic that when President Trump says or does something over the top or below the belt, beware the unseen.

His cunning use of distraction turns red herrings green with envy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.41a8ae9f8c39&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 6 2017, 1:33 pm ET
*House Passes Harvey Relief Bill, Trump Agrees to Add Shorter Debt Ceiling Hike*
by Leigh Ann Caldwell

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives passed a $7.85 billion disaster aid package for Hurricane Harvey victims with overwhelming bipartisan support Wednesday, the first round of money expected for areas of Texas and Louisiana devastated by the storm.

And as the bill moved to the Senate, it quickly became a negotiating tool for controversial must-pass legislation.

At a meeting with President Donald Trump today, Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders agreed to attach a three-month debt limit increase and a three-month extension of government funding to the Harvey aid package. The move averts a potential government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year on September 30 but puts conservatives in a difficult position: Vote against disaster relief or turn their back on principled opposition to increased government spending.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-overwhelmingly-passes-harvey-relief-bill-n799191


----------



## ekim68

This EPA Statement Reads Like Something You'd Find in Breitbart



> Over the weekend, the Environmental Protection Agency took a cue from President Donald Trump's media-bashing playbook and issued a press release titled "The EPA's Response to the AP's Misleading Story." It accused the Associated Press of an "incredibly misleading story" about flooded Superfund sites in the greater Houston area.
> 
> The AP reported that the EPA was not on the scene to survey the area's Superfund sites that were underwater because of Harvey. The EPA put out a statement Saturday condemning unnamed "inaccurate reporting" about Superfund sites, while confirming that 11 sites were inaccessible because of the flooding.


----------



## poochee

*Trump offers us a glimpse behind the curtain. There's nothing there.*
By E.J. Dionne Jr. Opinion writer
September 6 at 7:38 PM

One of the most cynical quotations in history is also one of the most widely attributed. Let's ponder the version associated with Groucho Marx: "Sincerity is the key to success. Once you can fake that, you've got it made."

From the moment Donald Trump opened his quest for the presidency, this idea has defined him and served as an organizing principle of his politics.

He presented himself as the guy who said whatever was on his mind, who didn't talk like a politician, who didn't care what others thought and who railed against "political correctness."

In fact, just about everything that comes out of his mouth or appears on his Twitter feed is calculated for its political and dramatic effect. Trump is the exact opposite of what he tries to project: The thing he cares about is what others think of him. So he'll adjust his views again and again to serve his ends as circumstances change. He's not Mr. Fearless. He's Mr. Insecure.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.926b85f8e3dc&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 8 2017, 12:01 am ET
*Hurricane Irma Has Miami in Its Sights After Cutting Deadly Swath In Caribbean*
by Erik Ortiz, Corky Siemaszko and Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

Hurricane warnings were issued for a large area of southern Florida late Thursday as Hurricane Irma was on a track to slam into Miami after it cut a fatal and destructive path through the Caribbean on Thursday.

At 11 p.m. ET, the storm - which has already been blamed for at least 12 deaths in the Caribbean and has left more than a million people in the dark in Puerto Rico - was about 55 miles east-northeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas with winds of 165 mph.

Hurricane warnings were issued Thursday night from Jupiter Inlet south around the Florida peninsula to Bonita Beach, as well as for the Florida Keys, Lake Okeechobee and Florida Bay.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...its-sights-after-cutting-deadly-swath-n799476


----------



## poochee

*Exclusive: Mueller seeks interviews with WH staff over Trump Tower meeting statement*
By Pamela Brown, Gloria Borger and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Updated 7:18 PM ET, Thu September 7, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has approached the White House about interviewing staffers who were aboard Air Force One when the initial misleading statement about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower was crafted, three sources familiar with the conversations said.

The special counsel's discussions with the White House are the latest indication that Mueller's investigators are interested in the response to the Trump Tower meeting. Mueller wants to know how the statement was put together, aboard Air Force One whether information was intentionally left out and who was involved, two of the sources said.

Mueller's questions could go to the issue of intent and possible efforts to conceal information during an obstruction of justice investigation. The answers to Mueller's questions also could illuminate the level of anxiety surrounding the meeting and the decision-making that followed.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/07/polit...force-one-statement-russian-lawyer/index.html


----------



## poochee

*At least 32 killed in massive earthquake off Mexico coast*
By Joshua Partlow
World
September 8 at 2:05 PM

*VIDEO*

MEXICO CITY - Minutes before midnight, warning sirens blared across this earthquake-anxious capital

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...rm=.c785b79f56f4&wpisrc=al_alert-world&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*Extreme Hurricane Irma closing in on Florida, posing dire threat*
By Jason Samenow
Capital Weather Gang
September 8 at 11:05 PM

*VIDEO*

_(This story will be updated throughout Friday. It was last updated to incorporate the 11 p.m. National Hurricane Center advisory as well as new model information, suggesting Florida's west coast is most at risk.)_

The extraordinarily large and intense Hurricane Irma is drawing ever closer to South Florida. A hurricane catastrophe has become nearly unavoidable; it's only a matter of what areas are hardest hit and how severely.

Friday evening, it regained Category 5 intensity, packing 160 mph winds, just before making landfall on the Camaguey Archipelago of Cuba.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...bar&tid=a_breakingnews&utm_term=.e0e3c9f9f701


----------



## poochee

*Exclusive: Obama set for first DNC fundraiser since leaving office*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 4:38 PM ET, Fri September 8, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Former President Barack Obama is set to hold a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee -- the first time he'll raise money for the party and just his second political event overall since leaving office, a Democratic Party official told CNN on Friday.

The fundraiser, set for September 27 in Washington according to a Democratic Party official, is expected to help Obama's former labor secretary, DNC Chairman Tom Perez, bolster the party's lagging fundraising numbers and pump money into state parties and Virginia races this fall.

Invites to party donors are going out Friday afternoon.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/08/politics/barack-obama-fundraiser-dnc/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 9 2017, 12:34 pm ET
*Caribbean Islands Brace Again as Hurricane Jose Approaches*
by Saphora Smith

*VIDEO*

The Caribbean islands of Barbuda, St. Martin and Anguilla were facing the threat of another major storm Saturday as Hurricane Jose loomed - even as they took in the massive destruction wrought by Hurricane Irma.

A Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph, Jose was expected to veer toward the northwestern Caribbean islands on Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The residents of Barbuda, still reeling from Irma, were forced to evacuate Friday to their sister island of Antigua, picked up by fishing boats and private vessels ahead of the next storm.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...brace-again-hurricane-jose-approaches-n799996


----------



## poochee

*In book, Clinton admits mistakes, casts blame for 2016 loss*
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and BILL BARROW
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- In a candid and pointed new book, Hillary Clinton relives her stunning defeat to Donald Trump, admitting to personal mistakes and defending campaign strategy even as her return to the stage refocuses attention on a race Democrats still can't believe they lost.

Clinton is unsparing in her criticism of Trump and also lays out some of the factors she believes contributed to her loss: interference from Russian hackers, accusations leveled at her by former FBI Director James Comey, a divisive primary battle with Bernie Sanders, even her gender. She also addresses common criticisms of her campaign, including the idea that she didn't have a compelling narrative for seeking the presidency and that she ignored Midwestern turf where Trump picked up enough white working-class voters to win several battleground states.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-09-00-17-47


----------



## poochee

Satire from The Borowitz Report
*Researchers Identify Gene for Awfulness*
By Andy Borowitz
1:00 P.M.

LEEDS (The Borowitz Report)-In a finding that has wide-ranging implications for society, British researchers at the University of Leeds announced on Saturday that they have identified the gene for awfulness.

The study, which focussed on one adult male and three of his adult children, makes a persuasive argument that there is a "powerful dominant gene" that makes people heinous.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/researchers-identify-gene-for-awfulness?mbid=nl_090917 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=39283289&spMailingID=11886136&spUserID=MTMzMTg0NjA0OTgzS0&spJobID=1240772568&spReportId=MTI0MDc3MjU2OAS2


----------



## poochee

*Barack Obama drops in to surprise kids at DC high school*
By Miranda Green, CNN
Updated 4:51 PM ET, Sat September 9, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Students at a Washington, D.C., high school had a surprise career counselor welcome them back to school on Friday -- former President Barack Obama.

Obama visited McKinley Tech High School with DC Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson to talk to a group of students about "their life goals, pursuing higher education, and giving back to their communities," according to a statement from his spokesman, Kevin Lewis.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/09/politics/obama-high-school-visit/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 10 2017, 5:17 pm ET
*Hurricane Irma Assaults Florida Gulf Coast*
by Kalhan Rosenblatt, Saphora Smith and Corky Siemaszko

*ViDEO*

PLANTATION, Fla. - Hurricane Irma turned its fury on Florida's Gulf Coast after making two landfalls Sunday and raking the southern half of the state with ferocious winds and torrential rains.

The center of Irma's eye passed over Cudjoe Key at 9:10 a.m., the National Hurricane Center reported, and by 3:35 p.m. it made landfall again on Marco Island, which is just 180 miles south of Tampa.

* The Latest on the Storm*

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...er-florida-keys-gov-scott-warns-leave-n800006


----------



## poochee

Sep 10, 1:22 PM EDT

*Trump readies for first Sept. 11 commemoration as president*
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump will preside over his first 9/11 commemoration in office on Monday, a mostly solemn and nonpartisan occasion that may highlight his muddled claims about the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-10-13-22-54


----------



## poochee

*The 48 most revealing lines of Steve Bannon's '60 Minutes' interview*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 9:17 AM ET, Mon September 11, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon sat down with "60 Minutes" for his first major interview since leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Known for his rhetorical bomb-throwing and willingness to poke the political establishment in the eye, Bannon did not disappoint in his conversation with Charlie Rose.

Below are the 48 most revealing lines from Bannon about President Donald Trump, his time in the White House and the Republican Party.

*1. "The Republican establishment is trying to nullify the 2016 election."
*
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/11/politics/bannon-60-minutes/index.html


----------



## poochee

*U.N. agrees to toughest-ever sanctions against North Korea*
By Carol Morello, Michelle Ye Hee Lee nd Emily Rauhala
September 11 at 7:46 PM

*VIDEO*

The U.N. Security Council on Monday agreed on its toughest-ever sanctions against North Korea that passed unanimously after the United States softened its initial demands to win support from China and Russia.

The sanctions set limits on North Korea's oil imports and banned its textile exports in an effort to deprive the reclusive nation of the income it needs to maintain its nuclear and ballistic missile program and increase the pressure to negotiate a way out of punishing sanctions.

"Today, we are attempting to take the future of the North Korean nuclear program out of the hands of its outlaw regime," said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...a&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*Middle-class income hit highest level on record in 2016, Census Bureau reports*
By Heather Long
September 12 at 11:10 AM

*VIDEO*

America's middle class had its highest-earning year ever in 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

Median household income in America was $59,039 last year, surpassing the previous record of $58,655 set in 1999, the Census Bureau said. The figure is adjusted for inflation and is one of the most closely watched indicators of how the middle class is faring financially, as the Census surveys nearly 100,000 homes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is a really great report card on what the Obama administration accomplished," says Peter Atwater, president of Financial Insyghts.

The challenge for Trump is to make sure incomes keeping going up and poverty keeps going down during his tenure. "We don't want this to be as good as it gets," Atwater said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-1120a:homepage/story&utm_term=.6a5d6aaabdab


----------



## poochee

*Trump administration doesn't want to talk about climate change*
By Miranda Green and Rene Marsh, CNN
Updated 3:00 PM ET, Tue September 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Last year was the Earth's warmest recorded year, the third year in a row to set a new record for global average temperatures. Rising temperatures are likely to increase the intensity and impact of major storms, scientists say, yet in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the Trump administration has resisted talking about climate change at all.

Several key administration officials have been on message this week declining to discuss the issue and how to address the causes of global warming and increased greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/12/politics/trump-climate-change-silence/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 12, 2:33 PM EDT
*Latino group snubs Trump for 'disagreeable actions'*
By LUIS ALONSO LUGO
Associated Press








WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time in almost 40 years, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute has not invited a sitting president to its annual convention, citing President Donald Trump's controversial actions and remarks about Latinos.

The White House did not reply to a question about the snub and whether Trump planned to sign an annual proclamation that Congress requires presidents to issue marking the period from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 for celebrating the contributions of Latinos to the U.S.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-12-14-33-25


----------



## poochee

*Trump's ninth grandchild born*
By Betsy Klein, CNN
Updated 1:15 PM ET, Tue September 12, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump is a grandfather for the ninth time: son Eric, 33, and wife Lara, 34, welcomed their first child, Eric "Luke" Trump on Tuesday.

"[email protected] and I are excited to announce the birth of our son, Eric 'Luke' Trump at 8:50 this morning," the new father tweeted.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/12/politics/lara-eric-trump-child/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*Donald Trump mixes up '9/11' with '7/11'*
By Theodore Schleifer, CNN
Updated 3:33 PM ET, Tue April 19, 2016

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Donald Trump accidentally referred to 9/11 on Monday as 7/11
Trump didn't correct himself
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/18/politics/donald-trump-9-11-7-11-mix-buffalo/


----------



## poochee

Sep 13, 1:55 PM EDT
*Republicans unveil long-shot effort on health care*
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senators on Wednesday rolled out competing plans for the nation's health care system, with a group of GOP senators making a last, long-shot effort to undo Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders proposing universal government-run coverage.

Despite opposition and little time, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., proposed legislation that would do away with many of the subsidies and mandates of the 2010 law and instead would provide block grants to the states to help individuals pay for health coverage.

"If you believe repealing and replacing Obamacare is a good idea, this is your best and only chance to make it happen because everything else has failed except this approach," Graham told reporters.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-13-13-55-41


----------



## poochee

Sep 13 2017, 8:41 am ET
*Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare for All' Plan Is Popular - For Now*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO/CHARTS*

As Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduces his single-payer "Medicare for All Act" today, the legislation couldn't be more popular.

At least 15 Democratic senators have signed on to Sanders' bill, and they include many of the party's other 2020 potential presidential candidates (from Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand to Cory Booker). What's more, a June 2017 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 53 percent of Americans supporting single payer - the highest level of support on this Kaiser question dating back to 1998. And when called "Medicare for All," that support grows to 57 percent.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...plan-popular-now-n800926?cid=eml_pol_20170913


----------



## poochee

Sep 12 2017, 7:13 pm ET
*Congress Overwhelmingly Approves Resolution Condemning White Nationalists*
by Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Congress has approved a resolution condemning white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups following a white-nationalist rally in Virginia that descended into deadly violence.

The resolution recognizes Heather Heyer, who was killed Aug. 12, and 19 other people who were injured after a car allegedly driven by a neo-Nazi slammed into a crowd of demonstrators protesting the rally in Charlottesville. It describes Heyer's death as a "domestic terrorist attack" and acknowledges two Virginia state troopers who died in a helicopter crash while monitoring the protests.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/co...ite-nationalists-n800816?cid=eml_pol_20170913


----------



## poochee

*Schumer, Pelosi, Trump 'agree' to fix DACA, disagree on the details*
By Sophie Tatum
Updated 11:27 PM ET, Wed September 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi said following a Wednesday night meeting with President Donald Trump that they have "agreed" to a fix on DACA and resolved to iron out a border-security plan -- "excluding" the US-Mexico border wall that was one of Trump's most memorable campaign promises.

In a statement following their White House dinner, Schumer and Pelosi said the parties had "agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides." The bipartisan DREAM Act would be part of the arrangement, a person briefed on the meeting said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/chuck-schumer-nancy-pelosi-donald-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 13, 2:32 PM EDT

*Senate rejects bipartisan push for new US war authorization*
By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan push for a new war authorization against the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, electing to let the White House rely on a 16-year-old law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks as the legal basis to send U.S. troops into combat.

Senators voted 61-36 scuttle an amendment to the annual defense policy bill by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have allowed war authorizations, created in the wake of al-Qaida's 9/11 strikes, to lapse after six months. Paul, a leader of the GOP's noninterventionist wing, said Congress would use the time to debate an updated war authority for operations in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere before the old ones expired.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-13-14-32-54


----------



## poochee

Sep 14, 1:58 PM EDT

*House backs $1.2T spending bill with more money for military*
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-led House on Thursday passed a sweeping $1.2 trillion spending bill that provides billions more dollars for the military while sparing medical research and popular community development programs from deep cuts sought by President Donald Trump.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-14-13-58-32


----------



## poochee

*South Korea: North Korea launched missile over Japan*
By Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 6:55 PM ET, Thu September 14, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday that "North Korea fired an unidentified ballistic missile from the vicinity of Sunan, Pyongyang."

The missile "flew over Japan and toward to the North Pacific Ocean," they said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/14/asia/north-korea-missile-launch/index.html?adkey=bn


----------



## poochee

Sep 15 2017, 3:39 pm ET
*British PM May Rebukes Trump Over Tweet on London Subway Attack*
by Alastair Jamieson

*VIDEO*

LONDON - Britain's prime minister rebuked President Donald Trump on Friday after he tweeted that "a loser terrorist" responsible for a subway train detonation had been "in the sights" of London's Metropolitan Police.

Asked whether Trump knew something the British public did not, Prime Minister Theresa May said, "I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation."

May's former chief of staff, Nick Timothy, went further, describing Trump's comment as "so unhelpful from leader of our ally and intelligence partner."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...-trump-over-tweet-after-london-subway-n801671


----------



## poochee

The Rachel Maddow Show 9/14/17
*Clinton: Trump and some staff a clear and present danger to US*

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's behavior in office and the hope that more mature members of the White House staff can contain and restrain him from doing any serious harm to the United States. descriptionLimit">... more Duration: 7:55

*VIDEO*

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/...-clear-and-present-danger-to-us-1047116355662


----------



## poochee

*For Trump and his team, a 'time to be serious' at United Nations debut*
By Anne Gearan and David Nakamura
Politics
September 16 at 5:13 PM

*VIDEO*

NEW YORK - President Trump's first address to the United Nations, the world body he once said risked becoming an irrelevant salon, will be a test of his "America First" agenda on global engagement, climate change and North Korea, but one topic - Iran - looms largest.

Trump's speech on Tuesday, and a series of meetings he will hold next week with foreign leaders gathering here at the annual U.N. General Assembly, are freighted with expectations that the U.S. leader wants to pull away from the 2015 U.N.-backed nuclear deal with Iran.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-trump-and-his-team-a-time-to-be-serious-at-united-nations-debut/2017/09/16/f4b90446-9a47-11e7-b569-3360011663b4_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_trumpunga-340pm-1:homepage/story&utm_term=.3c5d5f0a80cf


----------



## poochee

Sep 17 2017, 11:26 am ET
*Trump Goes on Wide-Ranging Sunday Morning Tweet Storm, RTs Assault on Hillary Clinton*
by Max Burman

President Donald Trump began his Sunday morning on Twitter, raising eyebrows with a series of posts and retweets on subjects ranging from North Korea to Hillary Clinton.

The president was in a seemingly playful mood as he conveyed to the world that he had spoken with South Korean President Moon Jae In and "asked him how Rocket Man is doing," presumably referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But many online were less amused when Trump retweeted a gif that had been edited to show him swinging a golf club and hitting a ball that then knocks over his former opponent Hillary Clinton in the next frame.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...torm-rts-assault-n802086?cid=eml_pol_20170917


----------



## poochee

*Trump's divisive presidency reshapes a key part of his private business*
By David A. Fahrenthold, Amy Brittain and Matea Gold 

September 17 at 3:39 PM

*CHART*

Trump-owned hotels and clubs have long made money by holding galas and other special events. Now, their clientele is changing. Trump's properties are attracting new customers who want something from him or his government.

But they're losing the kind of customers the business was originally built on: nonpolitical groups who just wanted to rent a room.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...s-405pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.e11d499864bd


----------



## poochee

Sep 17 2017, 7:43 am ET
*Forget Trump. The U.S. Storms Ahead on Climate Change Like Never Before*
By Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

Months after President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, states and cities are offering their own forecast for reducing global warming: We got this.

While leaders outside Washington have been implementing measures for decades when it comes to combating carbon emissions and promoting green energy, the Trump administration's rolling back of federal environmental protections has spurred localities around the country to step up in what experts say is an unprecedented effort.

Since Trump took office, there's been a downpour of legislation, amendments and resolutions aimed at curbing carbon emissions that are in line with key tenets of the Paris climate pact, the landmark
global coalition meant to curb emissions that cause climate change.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...u-s-storms-ahead-climate-change-never-n801826


----------



## poochee

*Trump pushes reform in United Nations debut, calls for 'changing business as usual*
David Nakamura
September 18 at 11:51 AM

*VIDEO*

NEW YORK - President Trump called on the United Nations to enact reforms to the world body, pledging Monday in his debut here at the annual General Assembly meetings that he and his administration will be "partners in your work."

Speaking at the opening session of the four-day conference, Trump said the organization founded in 1945 has "not reached its full potential" in recent years because of a bloated bureaucracy and "mismanagement."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-1159am:homepage/story&utm_term=.0e8ca656ddfa


----------



## poochee

Sep 18, 3:02 PM EDT
*GOP eyes popular tax breaks to finance overhaul*
By MARCY GORDON
AP Business Writer
Sep 18, 3:02 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans straining to find about $1 trillion to finance sweeping tax cuts are homing in on two popular deductions that are woven into the nation's fiscal fabric - the mortgage interest deduction that millions of homeowners prize and the deduction for state and local taxes popular in Democratic strongholds.

About 30 million Americans, or about 20 percent of taxpayers, deduct mortgage interest from their income taxes, a deduction Realtors and homebuilders argue is a catalyst to home ownership in the United States. According to the most recent IRS tally, nearly 44 million people claim the deduction for state and local taxes in 2014, especially in the high-tax, high-income states of California, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-18-15-02-37


----------



## poochee

*Hillary Clinton just floated the possibility of contesting the 2016 election*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 4:08 PM ET, Mon September 18, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_In interviews over the last week surrounding the release of her 2016 memoir "What Happened," Hillary Clinton has been hugely critical of President Donald Trump. She's suggested he is a misogynist and said repeatedly that she fears for the country with Trump in charge.

But in an interview Monday with NPR's Terry Gross, Clinton raised that critique up a notch -- not only questioning the legitimacy of Trump's presidency but refusing to rule out the possibility of contesting the results if Russian collusion is proven by special counsel Bob Mueller.

Here's the full text of the back-and-forth, courtesy of CNN's Dan Merica:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 18 2017, 10:22 pm ET
*Category 5 Hurricane Maria Powers Up for Another Blow to the Caribbean*
by Alex Johnson

*VIDEO*

Maria blew up from a tropical storm into a major Category 5 hurricane in barely more than a day, bearing down on Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands that are still bailing out from Hurricane Irma.

Maria made landfall on Dominica, an island of 72,000 people in the Lesser Antilles, at 9:15 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said. The island's prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, wrote on Facebook that his roof was gone, that his home was flooded and that he was "at the complete mercy of the hurricane." A few minutes later, he reported that he had been rescued.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/hurricane-maria-loads-another-blow-caribbean-n802511


----------



## poochee

*In U.N. speech, Trump threatens to 'totally destroy North Korea' and calls Kim Jong Un 'Rocket Man'*
By David Nakamura and Anne Gearan September 19 at 3:00 PM

*VIDEO*

NEW YORK - President Trump warned the United Nations in a speech Tuesday that the world faces "great peril" from rogue regimes with powerful weapons and terrorists with expanding reach across the globe, and called on fellow leaders to join the United States in the fight to defeat what he called failed or murderous ideologies and "loser terrorists."

"We meet at a time of immense promise and great peril," Trump said in his maiden address to more than 150 international delegations at the annual U.N. General Assembly. "It is up to us whether we will lift the world to new heights or let it fall into a valley of disrepair."

The president's address was highly anticipated around the world for signs of how his administration would engage with the United Nations after he had criticized the organization during his campaign as being bloated and ineffective, and threatened to slash U.S. funding.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/19/in-u-n-speech-trump-warns-that-the-world-faces-great-peril-from-rogue-regimes-in-north-korea-iran/?utm_term=.4b7cf609496f&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*Strong earthquake shakes Mexico, killing at least 139 people*
By Joshua Partlow
September 19 at 9:56 PM

*VIDEO*

MEXICO CITY - A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico on Tuesday, collapsing buildings and killing scores of people on the anniversary of a 1985 quake that devastated Mexico City.

Coming less than two weeks after a deadly temblor off the country's Pacific coast, and just hours after a siren signaled an annual earthquake drill in the capital, Tuesday's quake shook the ground with terrifying force, buckling walls and sending panicked residents fleeing into the streets. There were reports of fires and gas leaks.

At least 139 people were reported killed, local officials and news agencies reported. They included 64 people in Morelos state south of Mexico City, 29 in the state of Puebla, one in Guerrero state, nine in the state of Mexico - which surrounds the capital - and 36 in Mexico City.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ault-article&tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.93a6b2d8bb27


----------



## poochee

Sep 19, 6:36 PM EDT
*One last last chance: GOP strains for Obamacare repeal votes*
By ERICA WERNER
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Time growing short, President Donald Trump and Republican Senate leaders dove into a frantic hunt for votes Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare." The pressure was intense, the outcome uncertain in a Capitol newly engulfed in drama over health care.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-19-18-36-05


----------



## poochee

Sep 20 2017, 8:48 am ET
*Yes, Virginia: Politics Can Still Be Civil in the Trump Era*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

MCLEAN, Va. - If you thought the Trump Era has changed every aspect of American politics, last night's gubernatorial debate between Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam - moderated by one of us - was a reminder how candidates can still disagree without insults and name-calling.

There were no comments about hand size, no disparaging nicknames and no taunts. Instead, Gillespie and Northam sparred over the economy, health care, Confederate monuments and, yes, President Trump.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...-civil-trump-era-n802926?cid=eml_pol_20170920


----------



## poochee

*In sign of U.S. economy's strength, Fed to start reducing $4.5 trillion balance sheet*
By Heather Long September 20 at 2:06 PM

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy is strong enough for the central bank to begin reducing its $4.5 trillion balance sheet in October, gradually unwinding a massive stimulus program started after the economy entered a severe recession nearly a decade ago.

The Fed will scale back its holdings by $10 billion in October and raise that amount gradually in the months to come. After the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing recession, the Fed took the unprecedented step of beefing up its holdings of government bonds and mortgage-related securities from $900 billion to $4.5 trillion in an effort to turn the economy around.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/20/in-sign-of-u-s-economys-strength-fed-to-start-reducing-4-5-trillion-balance-sheet/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_wb-fed-213p:homepage/story&utm_term=.b8a7ebdbd25a


----------



## poochee

*Obama swipes at, but doesn't name, Trump*
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 9:52 PM ET, Wed September 20, 2017

*VIDEO*

New York (CNN)In a rare public appearance eight months after leaving office, former President Barack Obama took shots at his successor's plans on health care and foreign policy but didn't criticize him by name.

In a speech and question-and-answer session that closely resembled the types of appearances he favored as president, Obama called repeated efforts to repeal his signature health care law "frustrating." He defended institutions like the United Nations as essential to collective diplomacy. And he warned against nationalism and xenophobia, saying they threaten to stymie progress that has made the world more livable.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/20/politics/obama-gates-foundation/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 21, 1:33 AM EDT
*Manafort offered to brief wealthy Russian during campaign*
By CHAD DAY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the middle of Donald Trump's presidential run, then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort said he was willing to provide "private briefings" about the campaign to a Russian billionaire the U.S. government considers close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Manafort's offer was memorialized in an email exchange with a former employee of his political consulting firm in July 2016. It was first reported by The Washington Post, which said portions of Manafort's emails were read to reporters.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-09-20-22-26-41


----------



## poochee

*North Korean leader responds to Trump: 'I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire*
By David Nakamura and Anne Gearan
September 21 at 6:39 PM

BREAKING: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reacted angrily to President Trump's speech at the United Nations General Assembly, calling it "unprecedented rude nonsense." The North Korean leader said he will make the U.S. president "pay dearly for his speech calling for totally destroying" North Korea.

"I am now thinking hard about what response he could have expected when he allowed such eccentric words to trip off his tongue," Kim said in a statement released by the state Korean Central News Agency, which also published a photo of the North Korean leader sitting at his desk. "I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire."

NEW YORK - President Trump on Thursday announced new financial sanctions targeting North Korea as his administration seeks to build international support for more aggressively confronting the rogue nation, whose escalating nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities have reached what U.S. officials consider a crisis point.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/21/trump-says-the-u-s-will-impose-new-sanctions-on-north-korea/?utm_term=.09adcfdc346e&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 21 2017, 8:41 am ET
*Trump's Approval Rating Ticks Up - With the Help of a Bipartisan Deal*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Trump's approval rating ticks up - with the help of his bipartisan move

The newest NBC/WSJ poll has good news for President Trump: His job-approval rating has inched up to 43 percent, which is three points higher than where it was in August. What's more, 71 percent of Americans support his deal with Democrats Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on hurricane relief and keeping the government open for three months.

The bad news: The public gives Trump low marks on almost everything else. The NBC/WSJ poll - which was conducted Sept. 14-18 - asked respondents to approve or disapprove of Trump's handling of these 11 events and actions. Here are the results, from most popular to least popular:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...-bipartisan-deal-n803351?cid=eml_pol_20170921


----------



## ekim68

South Dakota Republican tries to explain her "All Lives Splatter" post



> A South Dakota state representative has apologized after posting a meme on Facebook that showed a cartoon car ramming into stick figures and the words "All Lives Splatter," the Rapid City Journal reported.
> 
> Republican Rep. Lynne DiSanto shared the image on Sept. 7 in an apparent play on "All Lives Matter," a slogan used in resistance of the Black Lives Matter movement.


----------



## poochee

*GOP health bill all but dead; McCain again deals the blow*
*By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM
1 hour ago
*
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain declared his opposition Friday to the GOP's last-ditch effort to repeal and replace "Obamacare," dealing a likely death blow to the legislation and, perhaps, to the Republican Party's years of vows to kill the program.

"I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal," McCain said in a statement, referring to the bill by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. His opposition likely leaves the bill at least one vote short of the support needed for passage.

https://apnews.com/468101f584e94920...ill-all-but-dead;-McCain-again-deals-the-blow


----------



## poochee

*Trump comments on Curry, NFL protests anger athletes*
*By CATHERINE LUCEY and TIM REYNOLDS*

SOMERSET, N.J. (AP) - President Donald Trump denounced protests by NFL players and rescinded a White House invitation for NBA champion Stephen Curry in a two-day rant that targeted top professional athletes and brought swift condemnation Saturday from league executives and star players alike.

Wading into thorny issues of race and politics, Trump's comments in a Friday night speech and a series of Saturday tweets drew sharp responses from some of the nation's top athletes, with LeBron James calling the president a "bum." Hours later, Major League Baseball saw its first player take a knee during the national anthem.

https://apnews.com/facbef91fc8e4f30...omments-on-Curry,-NFL-protests-anger-athletes


----------



## poochee

*Former DNI Clapper: Intelligence assessment 'cast doubt' on Trump's victory *
By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
Updated 4:16 PM ET, Sat September 23, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Friday night that the intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race "cast doubt" on the legitimacy of President Donald Trump's victory.

"Our intelligence community assessment did, I think, serve to cast doubt on the legitimacy of his victory in the election," Clapper said on CNN's "Erin Burnett Out Front."

Clapper said he disclosed the information to the President during a briefing on the assessment in January, and that particular aspect seemed to concern Trump the most.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/23/politics/james-clapper-cnntv/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Poll: Far more trust generals than Trump on N. Korea, while two-thirds oppose preemptive strike*
By Scott Clement and Philip Rucker
September 24 at 12:01 AM

*CHARTS*

Two-thirds of Americans oppose launching a preemptive military strike against North Korea, with a majority trusting the U.S. military to handle the escalating nuclear crisis responsibly but not President Trump, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.

Roughly three-quarters of the public supports tougher economic sanctions on North Korea in an attempt to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons, while just about one-third think the United States should offer the isolated country foreign aid or other incentives.

The Post-ABC poll finds 37 percent of adults trust Trump either "a great deal" or "a good amount" to responsibly handle the situation with North Korea, while 42 percent trust the commander in chief "not at all." By comparison, 72 percent trust U.S. military leaders, including 43 percent saying they trust them "a great deal."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...c&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 24 2017, 12:54 pm ET
*Sen. Collins Has 'Serious Reservations' Over GOP's Obamacare Repeal*
by Phil McCausland

*VIDEO*

Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced on Sunday that it is "very difficult" for her to envision a scenario in which she would vote for the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, potentially driving a final stake into the heart of the GOP's recent attempt at an Obamacare repeal.

The Republican-controlled Senate would need Collins' vote to pass the bill, as two senators - John McCain, R-Ariz, and Rand Paul, R-Tenn. - have already said that they would vote against it.

With 48 Democrats in opposition of Graham-Cassidy, three Republican defections would kill the GOP's latest hope for a repeal.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...ervations-over-gop-s-obamacare-repeal-n804261


----------



## poochee

Sep 25 2017, 8:36 am ET
*Trump's NFL Feud Continues Long History of Stoking Racial Rifts*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

For the second time in the last two months, President Trump divided the nation on the subject of race. And this time - after calling NFL players who take a knee in protest a "son of a *****," and after disinviting Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors from the White House - he pretty much united the sports world (players, teams, owners) against him.

"All day Sunday, players took a knee, sat down or raised fists," NBC's Craig Melvin reported on "Today" this morning. "Some teams chose to stay in the locker room during the ceremony. Still others locked arms in solidarity with each other, including Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, a friend of Mr. Trump's."

Race, after all, has been the overarching story of Trump's political career and controversies. *Consider:*

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...ing-racial-rifts-n804421?cid=eml_pol_20170925


----------



## poochee

*North Korea asserts a right to shoot down U.S. bombers*
By Carol Morello
September 25 at 3:03 PM

North Korea's foreign minister on Monday asserted that the pariah state has the right to defend itself by shooting down U.S. planes, even if they are not in the country's airspace.

Ri Yong Ho, speaking to reporters at a hotel across from the United Nations, said President Trump's comments at the General Assembly last week and again Saturday on Twitter constituted a declaration of war.

"The whole world should clearly remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country," he said. "Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country."

"The question of who won't be around much longer will be answered then," Ri added, responding to Trump's weekend tweet warning that if Ri "echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!" Trump was referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, recalling an epithet he has used repeatedly

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-asserts-its-right-to-shoot-down-us-bombers/2017/09/25/74da66c4-a204-11e7-8cfe-d5b912fabc99_story.html?utm_term=.51e0a2a67b11&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*Republican leaders: Senate won't vote on Obamacare repeal*
*By ALAN FRAM
1 hour ago

VIDEO*

WASHINGTON (AP) - Facing assured defeat, Republican leaders decided Tuesday not to even hold a vote on the GOP's latest attempt to repeal the Obama health care law, surrendering on their last-gasp effort to deliver on the party's banner campaign promise.

"The bill is dead as a door nail," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., leaving a luncheon where GOP senators decided against holding a futile roll call.

The decision marked the latest stinging rejection on the issue for President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In July, the Republican-controlled Senate rejected three similar GOP measures, a failure that infuriated conservatives and prompted Trump to spend much of his summer tweeting insults at McConnell and other Republican senators for falling short.

https://apnews.com/34cc8d59e8724569...eaders:-Senate-won't-vote-on-Obamacare-repeal


----------



## poochee

*14 issues Trump is sidelining to focus on the NFL *
Analysis by Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 3:23 PM ET, Mon September 25, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_President Donald Trump devoted much of the online portion of his weekend to attacking NFL player-protesters and boosting calls for a boycott of the league.

This latest round of culture war controversy began in Alabama, where Trump asked supporters on Friday night, "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag (by kneeling during the anthem), to say, 'Get that son of a ***** off the field right now. He is fired. He's fired!'"

The crowd responded enthusiastically -- and Trump carried the cudgel into the weekend. Now, with the debate escalating, a host of other questions are fading deeper into the background. *Here are a few other things Trump could focus on as his flag fight ramps up:*

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/25/politics/donald-trump-to-do-list-nfl-protest/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump suddenly focuses on Puerto Rico, promises visit, aid*
*By LAURIE KELLMAN and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Today

VIDEO*

After not mentioning the hurricane-devastated island for days, Trump on Tuesday pushed back aggressively and repeatedly against criticism that he had failed to quickly grasp the magnitude of Maria's destruction or give the U.S. commonwealth the top-priority treatment he had bestowed on Texas, Louisiana and Florida after previous storms.

Trump announced that he would visit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands next week. He tweeted about Puerto Rico's needs. He talked about Puerto Rico during a meeting on tax cuts. He raised the subject at a Rose Garden news conference with the prime minister of Spain.

And he attended a hurricane briefing. He called a meeting of agency heads tasked with helping Puerto Rico recover, and sent top officials out to the White House driveway to talk to reporters. FEMA Administrator Brock Long delivered specifics: 16 Navy and Coast

https://apnews.com/3f60ea1d0caa4596...y-focuses-on-Puerto-Rico,-promises-visit,-aid


----------



## poochee

*GOP proposes deep tax cuts, provides few details on how to pay for them*
By Damian Paletta, Mike DeBonis and Carolyn Y. Johnson 
September 27 at 3:15 PM

Republican leaders on Wednesday proposed slashing tax rates for the wealthy, the middle class and businesses while preserving popular tax deductions that encourage buying homes and giving to charity, according to a nine-page framework they hope will eventually unify the party behind a proposal to revamp the U.S. tax code.

But the document, titled "Unified Framework for Fixing Our Broken Tax Code," leaves many key questions unanswered. In it, the White House and Republican congressional leaders do not identify the numerous tax breaks they say will be removed to offset some of the trillions of dollars in revenue lost by cutting tax rates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...s-1045a:homepage/story&utm_term=.4ab3512c6ce6


----------



## poochee

*Trump Deletes Tweets Supporting Luther Strange*
By RUSSELL GOLDMANSEPT. 27, 2017

After enthusiastically endorsing an Alabama senator's campaign for re-election, President Trump distanced himself on Tuesday night from the candidate's loss in the most Trumpian way possible: He deleted his supportive tweets.

Hours after Senator Luther Strange, a Republican from Alabama, lost in Tuesday's primary runoff, Mr. Trump excised at least three favorable Twitter posts, including one sent Tuesday morning. In that tweet, posted as the polls in Alabama opened, the president boasted that Mr. Strange "has been shooting up in the Alabama polls since my endorsement."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The deleted tweets were archived by ProPublica, a nonprofit journalism website, but are no longer public on Twitter, feeding into an intriguing legal debate about whether Mr. Trump is breaking the law when he expunges his tweets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/...lights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

*Kushner's use of personal email is no minor error*
By Norman Eisen and Anne Weismann
Opinions
September 27 at 5:21 PM

The new revelations of widespread use of personal email for official business by Jared Kushner and five other White House advisers are no minor indiscretion. Rather, they represent the latest episode in a critical systems failure in the Trump presidency - one that strikes at the heart of our democracy.

At issue is the Presidential Records Act, a post-Watergate statute Congress enacted to establish public ownership of presidential (and vice-presidential) records. It obligates the White House and those who work there to preserve all records relating to their official duties. Despite these legal requirements, the first eight months of President Trump's administration have been marked by stories of deleted presidential tweets, by the use within the White House of messaging applications that destroy the contents of messages as soon as they are read, and now by White House staff using personal email accounts to conduct government business.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.08dff5a785d9&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Sep 28 2017, 8:40 am ET
*GOP Rhetoric on New Tax Plan Doesn't Match Reality*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Much like they did in the health care debate - More people will be insured! Pre-existing protections won't be touched! Your premiums will go down! - Republicans are making promises about their tax plan that they won't be able to keep, according to the details released Wednesday.

*Claim #1*: The wealthy don't benefit under the plan: "Our framework includes our explicit commitment that tax reform will protect low-income and middle-income households, not the wealthy and well-connected," President Trump said yesterday.

In fact, the estate tax repeal and the top rate declining from 39.6 percent to 35 percent all benefit the wealthy.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...-t-match-reality-n805441?cid=eml_pol_20170928


----------



## poochee

*Confused by Trump, North Korea contacts ex-US officials*
By Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 2:31 PM ET, Thu September 28, 2017

*VIDEO/CHART*

Washington (CNN)The proverbial game of chicken between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has only escalated in recent months, but amid the public name-calling and threats of annihilation, regime officials have been quietly attempting to set up meetings with Republican analysts in an apparent attempt to better understand the mixed messages coming from the Trump administration.

North Korea has consistently demonstrated that it is unwilling to engage in direct negotiations over its rapidly developing nuclear program despite Trump's fiery rhetoric and increased sanctions -- growing more defiant in the wake of several successful ballistic missile launches and its latest nuclear test.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/28/politics/north-korea-trump-republicans-outreach/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 28 2017, 4:29 am ET
*Trump Administration Stalls Key Obama Rule on Worker Safety*
by Suzy Khimm

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is slow-walking enforcement of a major Obama-era regulation to strengthen protections for construction workers against a type of dust that has been linked to cancer and lung disease.

Enforcement of the new rules for silica dust - which workers are often *exposed to* while cutting, drilling and grinding materials like concrete, granite and mortar - was originally scheduled to begin on June 23, but the Trump administration issued a three-month delay. Last Wednesday, three days before the Sept. 23 deadline, the Labor Department granted another reprieve, announcing that it would hold off fully enforcing the rules for 30 more days.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Trump administration has used delays to slow down many other Obama-era regulations; in May, it suspended a new rule requiring that employers report workplace injuries and illnesses electronically, so they're in public view. But it's hardly the first administration to take its time in regulating silica.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/wh...le-worker-safety-n805011?cid=eml_pol_20170928


----------



## poochee

*From Puerto Rico to Russia, Donald Trump is living in an alternate universe*
By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 2:00 PM ET, Fri September 29, 2017

*VIDEO*

The simple fact is that Trump was caught flat-footed on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Puerto Rico, distracted by both a fight he picked with pro-athletes over the National Anthem and the Alabama Senate race where his preferred candidate was resoundingly defeated on Tuesday.

That Trump, in the face of all facts to the contrary, continues to insist that things in Puerto Rico are coming around and that his administration's response to the hurricane has been pitch perfect is broadly consistent with the President's tendency to create an alternate reality when the fact-based one doesn't look so good for him.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/29/politics/donald-trump-russia-health-care/index.html


----------



## poochee

Sep 29 2017, 1:52 pm ET
*U.S. Pulling Embassy Staff From Cuba in Wake of Mystery 'Attacks'*
by Tracy Connor

*VIDEO*

The United States is pulling more than half its diplomatic personnel out of Cuba and warning Americans not to visit in response to mysterious sonic incidents that sickened 21 embassy staffers and their families.

"Some very bad things happened in Cuba," President Donald Trump said after the announcement by the State Department on Friday. "They did some bad things."

In addition to ordering all nonessential personnel and their families to leave, the U.S. will also suspend the processing of visas in Cuba, senior officials said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-pulling-embassy-staff-cuba-wake-mystery-attacks-n805866


----------



## poochee

Sep 29 2017, 4:48 pm ET
*Tom Price Resigns as Health and Human Services Secretary*
by Ali Vitali

WASHINGTON - Tom Price has resigned as President Donald Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, the White House said Friday.

Price's resignation follows days of public outcry over multiple reports of Price's private jet travel for government business.

Trump alluded to the secretary's fate as he departed the White House for Bedminster, New Jersey, calling Price a "fine man" but reiterating his displeasure about Price's use of private jets for multiple trips on government business.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/wh...-s-fate-be-decided-tonight-trump-says-n806051


----------



## poochee

*Trump doesn't get it on Puerto Rico. He just proved it by lashing out at San Juan's mayor.*
By Aaron Blake
September 30 at 8:27 AM

President Trump is facing growing - but still measured - criticism of the federal response to the devastation in Puerto Rico. So what does he do? Lash out at the mayor of a hurricane-ravaged city, naturally.

Trump responded Saturday morning to harsh critiques from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz by targeting her personally. The president accused the mayor of playing politics and succumbing to pressure from fellow Democrats to attack his administration. He also, remarkably, directly attacked her and other Puerto Rican officials' leadership.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/30/trump-doesnt-get-it-on-puerto-rico-he-just-proved-it-by-lashing-out-at-san-juans-mayor/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_fix-trumpsanjuan-834am:homepage/story&utm_term=.68621b444b70


----------



## poochee

Trump's whiplash weekend heightens questions over leadership
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 6:07 PM ET, Sun October 1, 2017

*VIDEO*

_CNN)_In the span of seventy-two hours, President Donald Trump has fumed and fired a health chief with a penchant for taxpayer-funded private jets, bragged about a recovery process in Puerto Rico that bears little resemblance to reality on the ground, lashed the mayor of the island's capital city for questioning the federal response, and viewed a golf tournament from the "commissioner's suite" at a country club that costs $500,000 to join.

The whiplash weekend just past the eight-month mark of Trump's presidency reflects an administration still dictated by the personal whims of the President, who aides and friends describe as continually agitated by a series of unfulfilled campaign promises and convinced the counsel from his hired hands has steered him woefully off course.

As Trump settled into another weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, the questions about his competence as leader grew louder. Widespread suffering on Puerto Rico has been unmatched by the rhetoric coming from the White House, where the recovery effort is described in far rosier terms.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/01/politics/donald-trump-price-hurricane-golf-weekend/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Las Vegas Shooting Update: At Least 58 People Are Dead After Gunman Attacks Concert *
October 2, 20173:15 AM ET 
 Bill Chappell 
Doreen McCallister

*Updated at 12:25 p.m. ET

VIDEO/PICTURES*

A gunman holed up in a hotel room high above the Las Vegas Strip fired down upon thousands of people attending a music festival Sunday night, in a brutal attack blamed for at least 58 deaths, police say. In the mass shooting and panic that ensued, some 515 people were injured.

At least one of the dead is an off-duty police officer who was attending the concert. The suspect is also dead. Police say they're still trying to learn what could have motivated such an attack.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...strip-is-closed-after-music-festival-shooting


----------



## poochee

*'It will be momentous': Supreme Court embarks on new term*
By Robert Barnes
October 1 at 10:37 AM

The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday with a fortified conservative majority and a docket filled with some of the moment's most contentious issues: voting rights, religious liberty, protection from discrimination and privacy in an increasingly monitored society.

The court was shorthanded for more than a year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016 and responded by largely avoiding controversial topics and compromising to reach narrow, consensus decisions.

Now, with Justice Neil M. Gorsuch not only filling Scalia's seat but also matching his conservative ideological role on the court, the court is back to its full nine members and has a docket that will test harmony.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-1049am:homepage/story&utm_term=.ed08f849cb15


----------



## poochee

Oct 3 2017, 8:43 am ET
*Can Trump Set Feuds Aside in Favor of a Healing Role? *
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's strengths as a politician include his ability to mercilessly attack his opponents, his devoted base of support, and his political branding and showmanship. But they don't include what his job will be over the next two days - his role as comforter-in-chief to devastated Puerto Rico and a Las Vegas that witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

Trump arrives today in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 11:45 am ET, where he will receive a briefing on the island's hurricane-relief efforts, meet with individuals impacted by the hurricane and visit with Puerto Rico's governor. Tomorrow, he heads to Las Vegas, where the death toll is at 59 individuals with another 500 injured.

In Trump's eight months as president, we've seen him react to tragedy to with varying degrees of success - the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (A+), visiting Texas and Florida after their hurricanes (B or a C), and responding to the violence in Charlottesville, Va. (F). But today's and tomorrow's consoler-in-chief jobs might be his toughest yet.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/can-trump-set-feuds-aside-favor-healing-role-n807091


----------



## poochee

*Police say Las Vegas gunman planned 'extensively,' used cameras to monitor officers as they approache*
Matt Zapotosky, Devlin 

*VIDEO*

Investigators trying to determine what sparked the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history have found the massacre to be the work of a sophisticated planner with the means and desire to inflict unprecedented carnage.

But on the second full day after Stephen Paddock smashed out the windows of a high-floor suite on the Las Vegas Strip and opened fire on a crowd of unsuspecting concertgoers, authorities still were trying to understand what drove him to such evil.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...plicate:homepage/story&utm_term=.a15d67f7e25e


----------



## poochee

*FBI searches for motive in Las Vegas massacre, looks to gunman's girlfriend for answers*
By Mark Berman and Matt Zapotosky
October 4 at 3:55 PM

Authorities investigating the Las Vegas massacre turned Wednesday to the shooter's girlfriend, hoping for more answers about the gunman and what may have sparked the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

As the FBI has sought to piece together the actions of 64-year-old Stephen Paddock in the days and weeks before he opened fire in Las Vegas, they sought information from his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, who was in the Philippines when the shooting occurred.

FBI agents met Danley at the Los Angeles airport late Tuesday and were interviewing her on Wednesday. The Las Vegas sheriff had said they planned to interview her at the FBI's field office in Los Angeles.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/10/04/investigators-question-girlfriend-of-las-vegas-shooter-seeking-to-probe-mind-of-shooter/?hpid=hp_rhp-banner-main_vegas-655am-duplicate:homepage/story&utm_term=.78fe81151d18


----------



## poochee

Oct 4 2017, 8:44 am ET
*Team Trump to Donors: Pull the Plug If Congress Fails Us*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

Largely lost in all the other news - the Las Vegas shooting, President Trump's trip yesterday to Puerto Rico, his visit today to Vegas - was Politico's report on Vice President Pence's chief of staff pitching wealthy GOP donors to ditch the party if the GOP-led Congress can't pass the president's agenda.

"I'm not speaking on behalf of the president or vice president when I say this," Pence's chief of staff, Nick Ayers, said in an audio recording Politico obtained of the closed-door meeting. "But if I were you, I would not only stop donating, I would form a coalition of all the other major donors, and just say two things. We're definitely not giving to you, No. 1. And No. 2, if you don't have this done by Dec. 31, we're going out, we're recruiting opponents, we're maxing out to their campaigns, and we're funding super PACs to defeat all of you."

Ayers added, "_f we're going to be in the minority again, we might as well have a minority who are with us as opposed to the minority who helped us become a minority."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...ongress-fails-us-n807366?cid=eml_pol_20171004_


----------



## poochee

*Bob Corker just told the world what he really thinks of Donald Trump*
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 5:06 PM ET, Wed October 4, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker suggested Wednesday that Gens. John Kelly and James Mattis as well Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are the "people that help separate our country from chaos," a stinging criticism of President Donald Trump from a man once considered an ally in Washington.

Asked directly by a reporter whether he was referring to Trump in using the word "chaos," Corker, who announced last month he would retire in 2018, responded: "(Mattis, Kelly and Tillerson) work very well together to make sure the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent. There are other people within the administration that don't. I hope they stay because they're valuable to the national security of our nation."

Stop for a second and re-read that last paragraph. The sitting _Republican_ chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee is suggesting that if Tillerson was removed from office (or quit), the national security of the country would potentially be in danger. And he's refusing to knock down -- and thereby affirming -- the idea that Trump is an agent of chaos who pushes policies that are not always "sound" or "coherent."

That. Is. Stunning.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politics/bob-corker-trump/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 4 2017, 4:12 pm ET 
*More Americans Killed by Guns Since 1968 Than in All U.S. Wars - Combined*
by Chelsea Bailey

*CHART/VIDEO*

More Americans have died from gunshots in the last 50 years than in all of the wars in American history.

Since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, approximately 1.2 million service members have been killed in every war in U.S. history, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and iCasualties.org, a website that maintains an ongoing database of casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/l...-s-wars-combined-n807156?cid=eml_nnn_20171004


----------



## Wino

poochee said:


> *Bob Corker just told the world what he really thinks of Donald Trump*
> Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
> Updated 5:06 PM ET, Wed October 4, 2017
> 
> *VIDEO*
> 
> _(CNN)_Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker suggested Wednesday that Gens. John Kelly and James Mattis as well Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are the "people that help separate our country from chaos," a stinging criticism of President Donald Trump from a man once considered an ally in Washington.
> 
> Asked directly by a reporter whether he was referring to Trump in using the word "chaos," Corker, who announced last month he would retire in 2018, responded: "(Mattis, Kelly and Tillerson) work very well together to make sure the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent. There are other people within the administration that don't. I hope they stay because they're valuable to the national security of our nation."
> 
> Stop for a second and re-read that last paragraph. The sitting _Republican_ chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee is suggesting that if Tillerson was removed from office (or quit), the national security of the country would potentially be in danger. And he's refusing to knock down -- and thereby affirming -- the idea that Trump is an agent of chaos who pushes policies that are not always "sound" or "coherent."
> 
> That. Is. Stunning.
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politics/bob-corker-trump/index.html


Not only stunning, it's scary and sad state this nation has become since electing Turnip.


----------



## poochee

Wino said:


> Not only stunning, it's scary and sad state this nation has become since electing Turnip.


YEP!


----------



## poochee

*Trump's decision on Iran nuclear deal could cause major breach with allies in Europe*
By Karen DeYoung and Carol Morello
October 5 at 8:13 PM

More than any other issue that has threatened transatlantic cohesion this year, President Trump's decision to decertify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal could start a chain of events that would sharply divide the United States from its closest traditional allies in the world.

"After the Paris climate decision," in which Trump withdrew the United States from a widely supported, painfully negotiated accord, "this could push multilateralism to the breaking point," said a senior official from one of the three European signatories to the Iran deal.

U.S. imposition of sanctions affecting banks that even indirectly do business in Iran would doubtless influence those countries' companies, they say, and would be considered an unfriendly act.

None of the three - Britain, France and Germany - believes Iran is in violation, and each has said publicly it will not renegotiate the nuclear agreement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...-1040pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.5825e692dfcf


----------



## poochee

Oct 5 2017, 6:41 pm ET
*Vegas Shooter's Girlfriend Says He Would Lie in Bed Moaning, Screaming*
by Julia Ainsley and Ken Dilanian

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Marilou Danley, the woman investigators hoped would provide key details into the motive behind her boyfriend's deadly shooting attack, said she remembers him exhibiting symptoms such as lying in bed and moaning, according to two former FBI officials who have been briefed on the matter.

"She said he would lie in bed, just moaning and screaming, 'Oh, my God,'" one of the former officials said.

The other former official said Danley spoke about Paddock displaying "mental health symptoms."

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/l...lfriend-says-he-would-lie-bed-moaning-n808156


----------



## Johnny b

Time for some Fake News

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...-did-not-happen-neal-urwitz-column/735107001/

* Limbaugh, Hannity and Jones on North Korea:.............. *

Enjoy


----------



## poochee

...


----------



## poochee

*The world has nearly 15,000 nuclear weapons. This year's Nobel Peace Prize honors the quest to abolish all of them*
By Michael Birnbaum 
October 6 at 2:24 PM

BRUSSELS - An international group dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a recognition of efforts to avoid nuclear conflict at a time of greater atomic menace than any other period in recent memory.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons was honored for its work to foster a global ban on the destructive weapons, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. The scrappy civil society movement was behind a successful push this summer for a U.N. treaty that prohibits nuclear weapons. It promotes nuclear disarmament around the world.

The award comes amid rising global alarm about a potential nuclear conflagration. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has hurled threats of nuclear missile strikes against the United States, and President Trump has warned he could "totally destroy North Korea" if provoked. The barbed exchanges have raised fears among many global leaders of a miscalculation that could end in cataclysmic conflict.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...9&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*Joe Biden: The US is 'walking down a very dark path' under Trump*
By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
Updated 11:31 AM ET, Fri October 6, 2017

*VIDEO*

*Story highlights*

Biden was being honored with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Zbigniew Brzezinski Annual Prize
He referred to Trump by name only a handful of times in his blistering condemnation
Washington (CNN)Former Vice President Joe Biden offered a scathing indictment of Donald Trump and his administration Thursday night, suggesting the President is leading the US "down a very dark path" of geopolitical decline.

"We really worry that we're walking down a very dark path. It's not alarmist. We're walking down a very dark path that isolates the United States on the world stage and, as a consequence, endangers -- not strengthens -- endangers American interests and the American people," Biden said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/06/politics/joe-biden-csis/index.html


----------



## poochee

*Trump on North Korea: 'Sorry, but only one thing will work*
By Jenna Johnson
October 7 at 5:09 PM

*VIDEO*

President Trump continued to make vague threats toward North Korea on Saturday, saying that diplomatic negotiations and agreements over the years have not worked and that "only one thing will work," without elaborating on what that one thing would be.

"Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid ... hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!" Trump tweeted in two messages on Saturday afternoon

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ea525pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.a57871d3d6f6


----------



## poochee

*Corker calls White House 'an adult day care center' in response to Trump's latest Twitter tirade*
By Philip Rucker and Karoun Demirjian
October 8 at 1:07 PM

Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday called the White House "an adult day care center" after President Trump attacked him in a morning Twitter tirade.

Setting off an extraordinary squabble between two leaders of the same party, Trump alleged in a trio of tweets that Corker "begged" him for his endorsement, did not receive it and decided to retire because he "didn't have the guts" to run for reelection next year.

In response, Corker (Tenn.) tweeted, "It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-1052am:homepage/story&utm_term=.b5ca1b5003d1


----------



## poochee

*Trump has more than three years left in his term. What are we going to do?*
By Eugene Robinson Opinion writer
October 9 at 7:35 PM

*VIDEO*

The truth can no longer be ignored: Donald Trump is dangerously unfit to be president and could lead the nation to unthinkable disaster. So what are we going to do about it?

The White House "has become an adult day care center," where the president's senior aides spend "every single day . . . trying to contain him." That terrifying bit of information was disclosed Sunday by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), whose decision not to run for reelection has freed him to point out that the emperor is indeed naked.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin..._term=.66724abfbb84&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Trump does not value or understand how a free press work*
By Callum Borchers
October 11 at 4:28 PM

President Trump made two things clear Wednesday when he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office that "it's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it."

One: He does not value a free press.

Two: He does not even understand how a free press works.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-1150am:homepage/story&utm_term=.b62e0719ad4b


----------



## poochee

*Stacey Abrams explains why 'politicians are like 15-year-old girls'*
*By Jonathan Capehart *
October 10 at 11:33 AM

"Look, politicians are like 15-year-old girls. We respond to money, peer pressure and attention."

The clarity of insight in that one line explain why Stacey Abrams is among the next generation of Democrats the party needs to listen to. The former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives resigned her seat in August to run for governor of the Peach State. If elected, Abrams would be the nation's first African American female governor. But don't tell Abrams she can't win the 2018 contest.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog..._term=.a4394161ca55&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*U.S. withdraws from UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural organization, citing anti-Israel bias*
by Eli Rosenberg 
October 12 at 1:48 PM

The United States will withdraw from UNESCO at the end of next year, the State Department said Thursday, in order to stop accumulating uppaid dues and make a stand on what it said is anti-Israel bias at the U.N.'s educational, science and cultural organization.

In notifying UNESCO of the decision Thursday morning, the State Department said it would like to remain involved as a nonmember observer state. That will allow to United States to remain engaged in debates and activities, though it will lose its right to vote on issues.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...3&wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-world%2Bnation&wpmk=1


----------



## poochee

*The Daily 202: Stepped-up attacks on the press reflect Trump's bunker mentalityBy *James Hohmann October 12 at 7:29 AM

_With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve_

*THE BIG IDEA: Principled conservatives are recoiling at Donald Trump's threats against the free press. *"Mr. President: Words spoken by the President of the United States matter," Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said in a statement last night. "Are you … recanting … the oath you took on January 20th to preserve, protect, and defend the First Amendment?"

*-- **NBC's story** yesterday that Trump asked his national security team about increasing the size of the nuclear arsenal tenfold prompted more than just an angry denial:*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news..._term=.1b5ea07bc92e&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1


----------



## ekim68

Jimmy Carter offers to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un



> Former President Jimmy Carter (D) reportedly offered to meet with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in an attempt at peace talks.
> 
> A University of Georgia professor detailed Carter's offer to Korea JoongAng Daily, a South Korean newspaper.
> 
> "Carter wants to meet with the North Korean leader and play a constructive role for peace on the Korean Peninsula as he did in 1994," Park Han-shik told the newspaper.
> 
> Park, who met with Carter, is the professor emeritus at the university's School of Public & International Affairs.
> "Should former President Carter be able to visit North Korea, he would like to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and discuss a peace treaty between the United States and the North and a complete denuclearization of North Korea," Park told the paper.
> 
> Park said Carter wants "to prevent a second Korean War."


----------



## poochee

Oct 13 2017, 8:40 am ET
*Trump Deliberately Tries to Break Obamacare. Does He Own It Now?*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Remember Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn Rule" - if you break it, you own it? Well, consider the actions that the Trump administration has taken, including over the last 24 hours:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...es-he-own-it-now-n810381?cid=eml_pol_20171013


----------



## poochee

*Trump is about to make the defining mistake of his foreign policy*
By Vali Nasr
October 12 at 8:02 PM 
_Vali Nasr is dean of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies._

President Trump is set to roll out his Iran policy. The first step will be to "decertify" the Iran nuclear deal, which will then set the stage for a broader campaign of economic and military pressure meant to weaken and contain Iran. This risky gambit will undermine U.S. credibility and the international community's ability to manage further nuclear developments in Iran, North Korea and other places down the line for years. The blowback to U.S. national interests, however, goes much further.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...utm_term=.718e7247417c&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*Here's why Obama stays quiet as Trump attacks his legacy*
Analysis by Z. Byron Wolf, CNN
Updated 4:24 PM ET, Fri October 13, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)With each passing day, President Donald Trump unravels another piece of Barack Obama's legacy. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Paris climate accords. The Iran nuclear deal. Transgender people serving in the military. And, now, that most personal of policies for the former president: The Affordable Care Act.

And yet Obama watches from the sidelines, mostly silent, as Trump punches holes in the dry wall of his freshly finished legacy.

Sure, he's living his best, most fabulous post-presidential life -- jetting around the world, spending time with his family, spending time with the rich and famous, making millions to write books, making hundreds of thousands of dollars for the simple act of opening his mouth.

But Trump is ticking through each of Obama's policy achievements -- foreign and domestic -- and trying to dismantle them. CNN's Chris Cillizza wrote Friday that unraveling what Obama wrought seems to motivate just about everything Trump has done as President.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/13/politics/heres-why-obama-stays-quiet-as-trump-attacks-his-legacy/


----------



## poochee

*Don't let Harvey Weinstein buy his way out of trouble with pricey rehab*
By Ruth Marcus Columnist
Opinions
October 13 at 8:09 PM

One of the most repulsive aspects of the Harvey Weinstein scandal - and oh, so many to choose from - is the attempted medicalization of evil.

In this convenient, entitled telling, Weinstein's alleged use of his industry power and physical force to coerce women into sexual activity is not to be understood as inappropriate and very likely illegal workplace behavior. It is not to be prosecuted and punished as criminal sexual attacks. It is to be therapized and counseled away.

From the moment the stories about his predatory behavior broke, Weinstein and his coterie of enablers have used the gauzy language of therapy to explain and excuse his conduct.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...utm_term=.dd3826bc1936&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

Oct 14 2017, 5:50 pm ET
*High Winds Continue to Fan Deadly Northern California Wildfires*
by Jon Schuppe and Rima Abdelkader

*VIDEO*

High winds returned to California's scorched wine country on Saturday, threatening advances firefighters made a day earlier against a series of wildfires that have killed more than three dozen people and incinerated thousands of homes.

The gusty conditions threatened a reversal of fortunes from Friday, when firefighters were able to carve wider barriers around some fires.

"Firefighters were able to make progress yesterday because the winds died down some," said Jaime Williams, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. "Today winds will be challenging."

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/w...-deadly-northern-california-wildfires-n810711


----------



## poochee

*Trump governs by disruption - and overloads all the circuits*
By Dan Balz
Politics
October 14 at 6:24 PM

Nine months into his first term, President Trump is perfecting a style of leadership commensurate with his campaign promise to disrupt business as usual in Washington. Call it governing by cattle prod.

It is a tactic born of frustration and dissatisfaction. Its impact has been to overload the circuits of government - from Capitol Hill to the White House to the Pentagon to the State Department and beyond. In the face of his own unhappiness, the president is trying to raise the pain level wherever he can.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...e-301pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.1be3293cfbeb


----------



## ekim68

Russia reportedly used Pokémon Go in an effort to inflame racial tensions



> Russia's far-ranging campaign to promote dissension in the United States reportedly included an effort to weaponize _Pokémon Go_. CNN reported today that in July 2016, a Tumblr page linked to Russia's now-notorious Internet Research Agency promoted a contest encouraging people sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement to play the game near famous sites of police brutality. Players were told to change their characters' names to the victims of those incidents - an apparent effort to inflame racial tensions.


----------



## poochee

Oct 15 2017, 4:04 pm ET
*President Trump Subpoenaed Over Sexual Misconduct Allegations*
by Phil McCausland

A former contestant on "The Apprentice" who accuses President Trump of past sexual misconduct has filed a subpoena for "all documents concerning any woman who asserted that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately," it was revealed on Sunday.

Buzzfeed News first reported the existence of the court document, which names Trump's campaign organization and any applicable "directors, officers, partners, shareholders, managers, attorneys, employees, agents and representatives" as subjects.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...ed-over-sexual-misconduct-allegations-n810871


----------



## poochee

*Trump allies worry that losing the House means impeachment*
By Sara Murray, CNN
Updated 3:41 PM ET, Mon October 16, 2017

*VIDEO*

_(CNN)_Top White House aides, lawmakers, donors and political consultants are privately asking whether President Donald Trump realizes that losing the House next year could put his presidency in peril.

In more than a dozen interviews, Republicans inside and outside the White House told CNN conversations are ramping up behind the scenes about whether Trump fully grasps that his feuds with members of his own party and shortage of legislative achievements could soon put the fate of his presidency at risk.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/16/politics/democrats-house-midterm-elections/index.html


----------



## poochee

Oct 16 2017, 5:15 pm ET
*Trump's False Claim About Obama and Fallen Service Members*
by Dartunorro Clark

*VIDEO*

"If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls - a lot of them didn't make calls - I like to make calls when it's appropriate," Trump said at a press conference in the Rose Garden when asked about why he had not addressed the recent deaths of American troops in Niger.

However, a former senior Obama administration disputed Trump's claim.

"President Trump's claim is wrong," the ex-official said. "President Obama engaged families of the fallen and wounded warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters, visits to Section 60 at Arlington, visits to Walter Reed, visits to Dover, and regular meetings with Gold Star Families at the White House and across the country."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-false-claim-about-obama-fallen-soldiers-n811206


----------



## poochee

Oct 16 2017, 5:22 pm ET
*21 Things Donald Trump Said During His News Conference*
by Adam Edelman

*VIDEO*

President Donald Trump spoke on what seemed like every issue under the sun during an impromptu news conference in the White House Rose Garden on Monday.

Trump, standing alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, responded to shouted questions from reporters on dozens of subjects including tax reform, the NFL protests, Hillary Clinton and whether he was thinking of firing special counsel Robert Mueller (the answer was no).

Here are 21 things Trump said during the roughly 40-minute question-and-answer session:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/do...press-conference-n811186?cid=eml_pol_20171017


----------



## poochee

Oct 18 2017, 8:53 am ET
*There's a Bipartisan Deal to Fix Obamacare. Will Trump and the GOP Take It?*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - On Tuesday, Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced they struck a deal to shore up the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Per NBC's Frank Thorp and Leigh Ann Caldwell, the deal includes:

Funding - for two years - those subsidies for low-income Americans that President Trump rescinded last week;
Allowing states to waive out of insurance coverage requirements;
Granting catastrophic coverage plans for younger Americans;
And providing "interstate compacts" for purchasing insurance.

What's more, the New York Times reports that the deal would restore money for advertising and outreach that the Trump administration also cut.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...l-trump-gop-take-n811801?cid=eml_pol_20171018


----------



## poochee

*An abusive creep's defense*
By Eugene Robinson Opinion writer
October 16

*VIDEO*

Confronted with allegations of serial sexual abuse and rape, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's instinct was to lie: "I came of age in the '60s and '70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then."

No, it wasn't.

The different-era defense was also used by those who would excuse fugitive director Roman Polanski's confessed 1977 crime, drugging and having sex with a 13-year-old girl. And those willing to forgive and forget the first 20 or so of Bill Cosby's alleged sexual assaults, which took place during those scarlet decades.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...utm_term=.8a316ec04c3f&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1


----------



## poochee

*NBC
VIDEO

George W. Bush: U.S. Discourse Has Been 'Degraded by Casual* *Cruelty*'
Thu, Oct 19

In a speech on Thursday, the former president spoke with a sharper edge, declaring that "bigotry seems emboldened" and "at times it seems like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together."

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-new...been-degraded-by-casual-cruelty-1077276739560


----------



## poochee

Oct 19 2017, 8:44 am ET
*Obama Returns to the Campaign Trail*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

WASHINGTON - In his first public campaign appearances since leaving office, Barack Obama today stumps for two Democratic gubernatorial candidates: Phil Murphy in New Jersey and Ralph Northam in Virginia.

And it will be interesting to see which issues Obama raises - health care (probably), Iran (probably not), Gold Star families (unlikely) - because whatever he says will probably get attention from the current Oval Office occupant.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/fi...s-campaign-trail-n812206?cid=eml_pol_20171019


----------



## poochee

*Senate approves budget in crucial step forward for Republican tax cuts*
By Elise Viebeck October 19 at 9:34 PM

The Senate approved the Republican-backed budget Thursday night, a major step forward for the GOP effort to enact tax cuts.

The budget's passage will allow the GOP to use a procedural maneuver to pass tax legislation through the Senate with 50 or more votes, removing the need for support from Democratic senators.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/10/19/republicans-have-the-budget-votes-they-need-but-democrats-prepare-to-make-it-painful/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_pp-budgetvote-955pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.96b272f6be90


----------



## poochee

Oct 20 2017, 8:52 am ET
*Ex-Presidents Send Trump a Pointed Message*
by Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

*VIDEO*

WASHINGTON - Politics has never been an innocent profession. Every generation has witnessed contentious arguments, division, scandals and below-the-belt attacks - McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, Watergate, Iran-Contra, impeachment, the Iraq war and the all-out fight over Obamacare.

But what was extraordinary about Thursday was having two ex-presidents - George W. Bush and Barack Obama - deliver what amounted to a bipartisan, two-pronged denunciation of the Trump Era. Neither Bush nor Obama mentioned by Trump by name, but they also didn't have to.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/ex-presidents-send-trump-pointed-message-n812526


----------



## poochee

*Fox News host Chris Wallace slams network colleagues for attacks on press*
By Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy October 20, 2017: 12:54 PM ET

Fox News host Chris Wallace leveled sharp criticism in an article published Thursday against some of his colleagues who have echoed President Trump and used their perch at the network to attack the media as "fake news."

Speaking to the Associated Press, Wallace said, "It bothers me."

"If they want to say they like Trump, or that they're upset with the Democrats, that's fine," Wallace continued. "That's opinion. That's what they do for a living."

"I don't like them bashing the media, because oftentimes what they're bashing is stuff that we on the news side are doing," he added. "I don't think they recognize that they have a role at Fox News and we have a role at Fox News. I don't know what's in their head. I just think it's bad form."

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/20/med...dia/index.html?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial


----------



## poochee

*Political Guardrails Gone, a President's Somber Duty Skids Into Spectacle*
By MICHAEL D. SHEAROCT. 21, 2017

WASHINGTON - Blame it on these bitter political times.

The feud over President Trump's call to the widow of a fallen soldier might never have escalated had Mr. Trump done what any of his predecessors almost certainly would have done: quickly apologize for words that failed to bring comfort.

Likewise, the nasty back-and-forth with Frederica S. Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman who is close to the soldier's family, might have dissipated had she not repeatedly disparaged Mr. Trump's intentions on national television, failing to extend him the benefit of the doubt that previous presidents had received.

And the public relations disaster that engulfed the White House might have been less intense if John F. Kelly, the president's chief of staff, had not publicly vented his anger at Ms. Wilson, calling her an "empty barrel" and incorrectly asserting that she had boasted about herself during a ceremony for a building named for fallen F.B.I. agents.

But the political guardrails that once could have prevented a soldier's death from spiraling into a weeklong, made-for-TV spectacle have been wiped out by a mistrust that has deepened on all sides with the rise of Mr. Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/21/...lights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront


----------



## poochee

*Republican Sen. Jeff Flake won't run for re-election*
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 5:26 PM ET, Tue October 24, 2017

*VIDEO*

Washington (CNN)Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has sparred frequently with President Donald Trump, will not run for re-election, he said Tuesday in a blistering floor speech bemoaning the changing tenor of politics in the United States.

"If I have been critical, it's not because I relish criticizing the behavior of the President of the United States," Flake said. "If I have been critical, it is because I believe that it is my obligation to do so, as a matter of duty and conscience."

He continued, "The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep America strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements that ensure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters -- the notion that one should say and do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric and, I believe, profoundly misguided."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/politics/jeff-flake-retirement-arizona/index.html


----------



## poochee

*'Utterly untruthful': Corker unbound as he attacks Trump over fitness, competence*
By Ashley Parker
October 24 at 1:53 PM

*VIDEO*

By just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) was already a man unburdened.

Corker, the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had appeared early on three major morning shows - ABC, CBS and NBC - ostensibly to preview his party's tax plan ahead of President Trump's visit to the Capitol on Tuesday for a lunch with Senate Republicans.

But before the morning shows had even wrapped, Corker had ratcheted up his already simmering and deeply personal feud with the president - prompting a flurry of retaliatory tweets from Trump. The spat served to ensure that the chaos and feuding that has come to define Trump's young presidency would yet again distract from a day originally intended to focus on tax reform.

During a trio of harsh television interviews, Corker called Trump "utterly untruthful," expressed hope that he would stand aside to allow Congress to formulate a tax plan, worried aloud about the president's divisive governing style and, speaking about ongoing tensions with North Korea, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that he would like to see Trump "leave it to the professionals for a while."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...r-240pm:homepage/story&utm_term=.c817917618e8


----------



## Wino

Flake and Corker not exactly showing profiles in courage since they are not running again. Courage would be remaining in race to expose the ignorant POTUS and his ilk to as much negativity they could muster and let the chips fall where they may. An outspoken Opossum is just a Opossum rolling over playing dead. Allowing this political mess to proceed unchecked is a YUGE mistake.


----------



## ekim68

EPA to its scientists: go away or be quiet




> Scott Pruitt is ousting the EPA's independent science advisers and bringing in industry researchers.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Flake and Corker not exactly showing profiles in courage since they are not running again. Courage would be remaining in race to expose the ignorant POTUS and his ilk to as much negativity they could muster and let the chips fall where they may. An outspoken Opossum is just a Opossum rolling over playing dead. Allowing this political mess to proceed unchecked is a YUGE mistake.


I agree with your sentiment, but with the election of Trump, the Republican party took a sharp detour into fascism with the current Trump administration's alt-right support and a large segment of our citizenry approving it.
I suspect there will be many more Rep politicians jumping ship.


----------



## ekim68

Syria is signing the Paris climate agreement, leaving the US alone against the rest of the world



> It's everyone against the United States of America.
> 
> When Donald Trump announced that he intends to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, the implication was that the US would join Syria and Nicaragua as the only non-signatories of the accord. The other holdouts had legitimate excuses: Syria was in the middle of a war and Nicaragua thought the agreement wasn't ambitious enough.
> 
> Now, both countries have had a change of heart.
> 
> At the climate talks in Bonn, Germany today (Nov. 7), the Syrian government announced that it will sign the Paris climate agreement after all, according to Climate Tracker. Last month, Nicaragua also signed up. That leaves the US as the only country opting not to be part of the global consensus on climate action.


----------



## ekim68

A Billion here and a Billion there and pretty soon you're talking about Real Money...


Trump signs $700B defense budget into law


----------



## Johnny b

Alabama elects Jones

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ost-democrats-and-some-republicans/947204001/


----------



## Wino

May be there is hope for Texas next year.


----------



## ekim68

Cheap dates: here's how much it cost the telcoms sector to buy Congress and murder Net Neutrality



> Congress took $101 million in donations from the telcoms sector, and then, by an amazing coincidence, 107 Republican Congressjerks sent a letter to Donald Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, exhorting him to kill Net Neutrality without delay.


----------



## ekim68

Bloomberg goes off on GOP tax bill: We CEOs 'don't need the money'



> Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) slammed the GOP tax bill in a new column, calling it an "economically indefensible blunder that will harm our future."
> 
> "Last month a Wall Street Journal editor asked a room full of CEOs to raise their hands if the corporate tax cut being considered in Congress would lead them to invest more. Very few hands went up," Bloomberg wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed. "Attending was Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump's economic adviser and a friend of mine. He asked: 'Why aren't the other hands up?'
> 
> "Allow me to answer that: We don't need the money."


----------



## 2twenty2

http://nationalpost.com/news/world/...d-to-shooting-death-of-innocent-man-by-police



> Prank 911 call describing hostage situation led to shooting death of innocent man by police.
> 
> The FBI is probing whether an argument over an online game prompted the hoax call that led to Andrew Finch's death. He apparently wasn't involved in the dispute.


----------



## 2twenty2

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/...s-in-his-latest-new-york-times-interview.html



> Donald Trump made 25 false claims in his latest New York Times interview
> Trump made nearly one false claim per minute in the 30-minute interview in Florida on Thursday.
> 
> WASHINGTON-U.S. President Donald Trump sat down Thursday for a rare interview with a media outlet other than Fox News, holding an impromptu 30-minute session with New York Times reported Michael Schmidt at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla.
> 
> He made nearly one false claim per minute - 25 false claims in all.
> 
> The Star is keeping track of every false claim Trump makes as president. As of Dec. 22, Trump had already made 978 false claims; adding the Times interview, the tally will pass the 1,000 mark in the next update.


----------



## ekim68

Trump's Coal Bailout Is Dead



> One of the Trump administration's most ambitious plans to buoy the struggling coal and nuclear power industries has been shot down.
> 
> The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission unanimously rejected a proposal to subsidize coal-burning and nuclear power plants on Monday. Its defeat hands a victory to the motley coalition-of environmental groups, natural-gas companies, free-market advocates, and Democratic state attorneys general-who had opposed the rule and promised to fight it in court.
> 
> The 5-0 rejection was all the bitterer for the administration because four of the five commissioners who lead the agency were appointed by President Trump, and three are Republicans.


----------



## ekim68

Billionaires gone wild




> The American media landscape, like the rest of the country, is being reshaped by the whims of the ultra-rich


----------



## ekim68

Twitter deleted 200,000 Russian troll tweets. Read them here.



> NBC News is publishing its database of more than 200,000 tweets that Twitter has tied to "malicious activity" from Russia-linked accounts during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
> 
> These accounts, working in concert as part of large networks, pushed hundreds of thousands of inflammatory tweets, from fictitious tales of Democrats practicing witchcraft to hardline posts from users masquerading as Black Lives Matter activists. Investigators have traced the accounts to a Kremlin-linked propaganda outfit founded in 2013 known as the Internet Research Association (IRA). The organization has been assessed by the U.S. Intelligence Community to be part of a Russian state-run effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race. And they're not done.


----------



## Wino

I get all the Russian troll tweets I need just reading Turnips tweets.


----------



## Johnny b

Trump back to flogging his own people. Again.

* Trump blasts Jeff Sessions over surveillance probe, and Sessions fights back *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...nce-probe-and-california-over-wall/380747002/



> Publicly chastised and according to the President of the United States disgraceful...Attorney General Jeff Sessions is in the hot seat once again.


Politics in DC is looking like a reality TV show lol!


----------



## Johnny b

Back to Reality TV in DC:

*VA Secretary David Shulkin's top PR aide asked Congress to help get him fired *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...congress-get-him-fired-sources-say/380726002/



> VA Secretary David Shulkin takes responsibility after a report found he improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets and taxpayer-funded airfare for his wife during a trip last year.
> ........
> 
> John Ullyot, the VA's assistant secretary for public affairs, asked a senior aide at the House Committee on Veterans Affairs to persuade lawmakers to call the White House and say they wanted Shulkin out, said both individuals, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation.
> 
> The move was unsuccessful - but audacious since Ullyot is the secretary's highest ranking aide tasked with publicly defending him and the agency.


The natives in DC seem restless


----------



## Johnny b

And for comedy relief:

*VA Secretary David Shulkin says he learned 'lots of lessons' from handling of travel report*

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ots-lessons-handling-travel-report/374247002/

Probably lessons about how not to get caught breaking the law....


----------



## Johnny b

* Ben Carson's HUD spent $31,000 on dining room furniture for his office *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...0-dining-room-furniture-his-office/381844002/

Ben Carson, head of HUD discovers the meaning of inflation.



> $5,000 will not even buy a decent chair.


That is just so sad......


----------



## ekim68

How Jeff Sessions Is Sneaking Trump Allies Into Key DOJ Positions That Normally Require Senate Confirmation



> From investigating money laundering to enforcing America's drug laws, U.S. attorneys possess a considerable amount of discretion in how to allocate the Department of Justice's scarce law enforcement resources. Each of the 93 U.S. attorneys has the ability to make prosecutions of various federal statutes more or less likely and sentencing for any violations more or less draconian.
> 
> Because U.S. attorneys hold so much power, it makes sense that the Senate has the role of confirming or rejecting presidential appointments to the position. Without that check, the U.S. attorney offices could just become another arm of the executive branch.
> 
> That nearly happened during the Bush administration when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales attempted to purge attorneys seen as not sufficiently loyal to the president.


----------



## Johnny b

* A New Backdoor Around the Fourth Amendment: The CLOUD Act *

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/new-backdoor-around-fourth-amendment-cloud-act



> There's a new, proposed backdoor to our data, which would bypass our Fourth Amendment protections to communications privacy. It is built into a dangerous bill called the CLOUD Act, which *would allow police at home and abroad* to seize cross-border data without following the privacy rules where the data is stored.
> 
> This backdoor is an insidious method for accessing our emails, our chat logs, our online videos and photos, and our private moments shared online between one another. This backdoor would deny us meaningful judicial review and the privacy protections embedded in our Constitution.


----------



## ekim68

7 killed, scores wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza protest



> KHUZAA, Gaza Strip (AP) - Thousands of Palestinians protested along Gaza's sealed border with Israel on Friday, engulfing the volatile area in black smoke from burning tires to try to block the view of Israeli snipers and cheering a Hamas strongman who pledged that the border fence will eventually fall.
> 
> Israeli troops opened fire from across the border, killing seven Palestinians and wounding 293 others - 25 of them seriously - in the second mass border protest in a week, Gaza health officials said. Hundreds more suffered other injuries, including tear gas inhalation, the officials said.


----------



## ekim68

Lest we forget....


Russia Is Attacking U.S. Forces With Electronic Weapons in Syria Every Day, General Says



> American forces in Syria are increasingly facing attacks from Russian and Syrian electronic warfare weapons, as Moscow uses the conflict to test its future arsenal.


----------



## ekim68

North Korea to align with South's time zone as first practical step toward reconciliation



> SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will shift its time zone 30 minutes earlier to align with South Korea starting May 5 "as a first practical step for national reconciliation and unity," the North's state media said Monday.


----------



## ekim68

FCC shifts its $8bn pot of gold, sparks fears of corporate money grab




> Pai accused of reverse Robin Hood for business buddies


----------



## ekim68

Saudi Arabia set to pursue nuclear weapons if Iran restarts program



> Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told CNN on Wednesday that his country stands ready to build nuclear weapons if Iran restarts its atomic weapons program.
> Asked what his country will do if Iran restarts its nuclear program, Adel Al-Jubeir told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that "we will do whatever it takes to protect our people. We have made it very clear that if Iran acquires a nuclear capability we will do everything we can to do the same."


----------



## ekim68

Republicans celebrate opening of US embassy in Jerusalem



> JERUSALEM (AP) - The opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem attracted more than a dozen Republican members of Congress, two billionaire GOP fundraisers and the president's eldest daughter, putting on a display of political muscle and Republican unity rare for the Trump era.
> 
> Even as it sparked deadly protests in the Mideast, President Donald Trump's decision to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem united a cross-section of the GOP. It injected new energy into the evangelical movement, which has long wanted the embassy moved because of the deep religious significance of the area. And it pleased big donors and allowed Trump to claim another campaign promise kept.


----------



## Johnny b

* 'New York Post' cover mocks Trump's meeting with 'Kim Thong Un' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ork-post-cover-white-house-meeting/658359002/


----------



## Wino

Two reality TV whores. Lordy!!


----------



## ekim68

Here we go again...


U.S.-Iran tensions rise over oil route as EU tries to save nuclear deal



> LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy stands ready to ensure free navigation and the flow of commerce, the U.S. military's Central Command said on Thursday, as Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned they would block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.


----------



## Johnny b

* Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin: This story isn't going away *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ir-putin-story-isnt-going-anywhere/800516002/

An interesting article, imo.
Too many interesting points to copy and paste.


----------



## Wino

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/07/putin-trump/565604/?utm_source=msn

Excerpt from article:.....................................................................


> Maybe that's why somebody shared with The New York Times on Wednesday this stunning revelation:
> 
> Two weeks before his inauguration, Donald J. Trump was shown highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election.
> 
> The evidence included texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Mr. Putin, who had described to the C.I.A. how the Kremlin decided to execute its campaign of hacking and disinformation.
> 
> The reporters on that story-David Sanger and Matthew Rosenberg-are two of the most seasoned and reputable national-security journalists in the United States. They would not have taken the decision to reveal such sensitive sources-and-methods information lightly; perhaps not unless a responsible person assured them the revelation would no longer put lives at risk. And that, in turn, raises the possibility that the sources that produced the January 2017 certainty have already been compromised, closed, or worse.
> 
> *In the weeks after Donald Trump was elected, bad things started happening to senior Russian officials. Two of Russia's leading cybersecurity figures were arrested and charged with treason in December 2016. Over the following months, Russian officials worldwide abruptly began dying in suspicious numbers and suspicious ways. A 61-year-old former FSB general was found dead in his car in Moscow on December 26, 2016. On December 20, 2016, a senior Russian diplomat was found dead in his apartment with a pillow over his head, and a fatal gunshot wound beneath the pillow. A lawyer for Sergei Magnitsky-for whom the U.S. sanctions law is named-tumbled from his fourth-floor apartment and nearly died from his injuries. And so the tally runs.
> 
> Are these coincidences? Or something more sinister? Trump inadvertently disclosed at least one high-level U.S. secret to the Russian foreign minister in the Oval Office in 2017. How secure are other secrets in his trust?*


*
*
Treason is not just a word to be tossed around lightly.


----------



## Wino

*Blame the 400-Pound Guy
*
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/opinion/trump-supporters-polls-putin-russia.html?partner=msft_msn



> Excerpt:
> Wishing for supporters of Donald Trump to find their hearts, their brains or their patriotism is a fool's errand. We are, as the president has said many times, "a stupid country," and every day of this presidency proves his point.


Wish in one hand and spit in the other isn't an option. We're losing the country one stupid moment after another and his enablers whistle as they pass the graveyard - kinda zombie like, no??


----------



## Johnny b

* Michael Cohen taped Trump discussing payment to a Playboy model, report says *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ded-trump-discussing-payment-model/807195002/



> The revelation casts a fresh spotlight on efforts before the presidential campaign to put the lid on damaging disclosures about Trump, as well as the trove of information that Cohen might possess as he weighs cooperating with prosecutors.
> 
> Federal prosecutors in New York have been investigating whether Cohen's actions, including a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, violated campaign-finance laws as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe into the longtime Trump fixer.


Not treason but potential impeachment for violating campaign-finance laws.

Just more evidence of the lies Trump has created.


----------



## ekim68

Hackers 'targeting US mid-term elections'



> At least three congressional candidates have been targeted by hackers ahead of the US mid-term elections, according to Microsoft.
> 
> Tom Burt, an executive at the firm, made the revelation during a security conference panel in Colorado.
> 
> The three candidates appear to have been targeted by phishing attacks, he told the audience.
> 
> One cybersecurity expert said the hacking was probably an attempt to "undermine the democratic process".


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump's jab over a secret Cohen tape prompts a return poke from his ex-fixer's own lawyer *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...p-lawyer-taping-client-may-illegal/811764002/



> The taped conversation, now in the FBI's possession, could also further entangle the president in a criminal investigation that for months has targeted Cohen.
> 
> Lanny Davis, one of Cohen's lawyers, claimed in a written statement late Friday that the contents of the recording would not be damaging for his client.


Bet there aren't many smiling faces in Trumptopia after that audio exposure.
Gotta wonder what's on all those other recordings.............(  )


----------



## Johnny b

* FBI releases FISA records on Carter Page surveillance *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/21/fbi-releases-carter-page-fisa-records/813984002/

Too much of intense material to copy and paste.
Demonstrates why the Investigation into Trump and collusion with Russia is NOT a witch hunt.
Page obviously has intense involvement.


----------



## Johnny b

More interesting info on Page:

* Carter Page boasted about his Russia contacts 2 months after the FBI warned him the Kremlin was trying to recruit him as an agent *

http://www.businessinsider.com/cart...tacts-2013-letter-undercuts-nunes-memo-2018-2

Again, too much material to copy and paste.
But well worth the read.


----------



## ekim68

Alex Jones's Attorneys Argue That No Reasonable Person Would Believe What He Says


----------



## Wino

ekim68 said:


> Alex Jones's Attorneys Argue That *No Reasonable Person* Would Believe What He Says


That also explains Trump.


----------



## Johnny b

* NRA files lawsuit, claims organization in financial trouble *

https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...ion-financial-trouble/BwLIdfxVE69w5DWJm8qb4O/



> According to a court filing obtained by Rolling Stone, the NRA said that financial constraints could soon cause the organization to "be unable to exist … or pursue its advocacy mission."


Why not just ask for more support ( money ) from their ex-communist, anti-American buds over in Russia?


----------



## Wino

Johnny-be-Good said:


> * NRA files lawsuit, claims organization in financial trouble *
> 
> https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...ion-financial-trouble/BwLIdfxVE69w5DWJm8qb4O/
> 
> Why not just ask for more support ( money ) from their ex-communist, anti-American buds over in Russia?


Oh!! Cry me a river Wayne La Pee Air. This is ludicrously hilarious. May be if they got back to their core and got the hell out of politics they'd be worth while. This is just another one of their scare tactics to drum up money since the Orange Pus Pocket isn't coming after their guns they have to find another boogeyman.


----------



## Johnny b

Feel sorry for the Trumpsters.
Could be dark days ahead for them, following the logic of this article.
Shouldn't impeach Rosenstein now because it upsets confirming Kavanaugh, but time's running out, elections are close and the Trumpsters need to keep all the GOP Congressional seats for protection.

* Nunes on leaked audio: Rosenstein hasn't been impeached because of 'timing' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...rump-rosenstein-impeachment-timing/943636002/



> Here's Devin Nunes describing why House Republicans need to maintain the majority (so they can keep shielding Trump from legal scrutiny).
> 
> "If Sessions won't unrecuse and Mueller won't clear the president, we're the only ones, which is really the danger." -Devin Nunes #Maddowpic.twitter.com/054wuLm9cP


----------



## Wino

Johnny-be-Good said:


> Feel sorry for the Trumpsters.
> Could be dark days ahead for them, following the logic of this article.
> Shouldn't impeach Rosenstein now because it upsets confirming Kavanaugh, but time's running out, elections are close and the Trumpsters need to keep all the GOP Congressional seats for protection.
> 
> * Nunes on leaked audio: Rosenstein hasn't been impeached because of 'timing' *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...rump-rosenstein-impeachment-timing/943636002/


I'm beginning to believe that Nunes was with Turnip in Russia re the Steele dossier and photo evidence exist - otherwise, why would Nunes be so protective of this stain on our nation???


----------



## ekim68

Ajit Pai loses in court-FCC can't kill broadband subsidy in Tribal areas



> A US appeals court has blocked the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to take a broadband subsidy away from Tribal areas.
> 
> The FCC decision, originally slated to take effect later this year, would have made it difficult or impossible for Tribal residents to obtain a $25-per-month Lifeline subsidy that reduces the cost of Internet or phone service for poor people. But on Friday, a court stayed the FCC decision pending appeal, saying that Tribal organizations and small wireless carriers are likely to win their case against the commission.


----------



## Wino

Too bad courts didn't stop end of net neutrality. Imagined, real or not - since it ended, I've had nothing but problems with Netflix and Amazon streaming, loss of WiFi signal, slow internet. This with Spectrum (only have internet, no TV) and Vonage VoIP. Prior to end, seldom ever had any problems and never any streaming movies.


----------



## Wino

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/13/politics/trump-putin-helsinki-intel-assessments/index.html

*



Kremlin "pleased" with Helsinki summit, US and Western intelligence assesses

Click to expand...

*


> Russian officials were "pleased" with the Helsinki summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, US and Western intelligence agencies have found, according to two intelligence sources with knowledge of the assessments.


I'm surprised they aren't ecstatic !!


----------



## Johnny b

Sarah Sanders caught in a big lie and admits to it.

*Sarah Sanders sorry for false claim that Donald Trump created more jobs for blacks than Barack Obama *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...rump-more-jobs-blacks-barack-obama/995704002/



> Media outlets were quick to fact-check with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When Obama was president, he created nearly 3 million jobs for blacks, about 15 times what Sanders claimed.


And the press is accused of fake news?


----------



## Johnny b

I've heard and read that Manafort's problems have nothing to do with Trump.
Perhaps, but there are similar issues Trump might face but is ill prepared for.

* Things in the Paul Manafort trial that should scare Trump *

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blog...-trial-that-should-scare-trump/?noredirect=on

It's a short read but still too much to copy and paste because it's better read in it's entirety.


----------



## Johnny b

* Pentagon says Trump's military parade postponed until 2019 amid reports costs jumped 666% *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ump-military-parade-cost-increase/1011519002/



> Amid reports of a soaring estimated cost for President Donald Trump's planned military parade in Washington, the Defense Department announced Thursday that it would delay the parade until 2019.
> 
> The estimated cost for the parade, originally slated for Nov. 10, had jumped $80 million, The Associated Press reported Thursday citing an unnamed Pentagon official.


666......what an interesting number


----------



## Johnny b

* Why a retired Navy SEAL commander wants Trump to revoke his security clearance *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...e-security-clearance-john-brennan/1015408002/



> Retired Navy admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the Navy SEAL operation that resulted in al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's death, penned a short but scathing letter to President Donald Trump asking that his security clearance be revoked after the commander-in-chief revoked former CIA director John Brennan's clearance.
> 
> "I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency," McRaven wrote in the letter published Thursday by The Washington Post.


----------



## Wino

Kudos to McRaven for having the huevos to say the truth to this poor excuse of a POTUS.

"Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation," McRaven said of Trump.


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting development concerning the rights of owners of social media being able to censor what is posted on their sites.

* Trump, via Twitter, says social media discriminates against GOP, conservative voices *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...minates-against-gop-conservatives/1030478002/

It appears Trump is upset that hate groups and hate comments are being censored.


----------



## Wino

Goes to GOP and conservatives tend to be rudely obnoxious and seem to enjoy hate groups and their comments. My experience on various web forums pretty much confirms the truthiness of this happening.  I'm sure Cheetolini misses his daily dose of Alex Jones and his adulation.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> .......... I'm sure Cheetolini misses his daily dose of Alex Jones and his adulation.


That's a given


----------



## Johnny b

From 'alternative facts' to 'facts are in the eye of the beholder' and now 'truth isn't truth'.

That's the new GOP. It's all about Trumpisms.
And here's his lawyer to explain the latest:

* 'Truth isn't truth': Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani worries Mueller interview could lead to perjury charge *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...h-amid-worries-trump-perjury-risk/1037010002/



> Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Sunday said he won't let special counsel Robert Mueller rush him into an interview with the president, arguing investigators could trap Trump into lying based on their interpretation of the facts.





> "When you tell me, you know, that he should testify because he's going to tell the truth, and he shouldn't worry, well that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth, not the truth," Giuliani said.





> Giuliani, a former New York City mayor who has become the leading voice on Trump's defense team, then entered into an unusual back-and-forth with "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd about the definition of truth.
> 
> "Truth is truth," Todd replied.
> 
> "No, it isn't truth," Giuliani said. "Truth isn't truth."
> 
> "Truth isn't truth?" Todd said at one point in the exchange. "Mr. Mayor, do you realize ... this is going to become a bad meme."


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump says it is 'dangerous' for Twitter, Facebook to ban accounts*

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-trump-says-dangerous-companies-202315827.html



> "I won't mention names but when they take certain people off of Twitter or Facebook and they're making that decision, that is really a dangerous thing because that could be you tomorrow," said Trump.


Won't be me, I don't go there


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting article on personal debt

*Here's how much debt Americans have at every age *

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/20/how...|finance|headline|story|&par=yahoo&yptr=yahoo



> The average American now has about $38,000 in personal debt, excluding home mortgages. That's up $1,000 from a year ago, according to Northwestern Mutual's 2018 Planning & Progress Study, which also reports that "fewer people said they carry 'no debt' this year compared to 2017 (23 percent vs. 27 percent)."


Too much to copy and paste.
Very interesting.


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump Eases Coal-Pollution Curbs in Unwinding More Obama Rules *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-eases-coal-pollution-curbs-130618868.html



> President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday unveiled its plan to dramatically weaken pollution limits on coal-fired power plants by shifting most of the regulatory burden to states in a further assault on the Obama climate legacy.


----------



## Johnny b

This ought to be interesting 

Breaking News:

* Trump ex-lawyer Cohen enters plea deal with U.S. prosecutors: ABC News *

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...l-with-u-s-prosecutors-abc-news-idUSKCN1L61WR



> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in New York, ABC News reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.


----------



## Wino

Re all the reversing of environmental curbs, opening park lands to be ravaged by mining or drilling, along with denial of global warming, I would HOPE come November, if there is no blue wave, maybe a green wave or MAYBE an aqua wave will bury the repulsive party and wrench control of at least the house away from the Trump Toadies .


----------



## Johnny b

* Paul Manafort trial: Jury finds former Trump campaign manager guilty on 8 counts in tax fraud case *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/21/paul-manafort-verdict/995713002/



> A federal jury has found Paul Manafort guilty on eight of 18 counts in the financial fraud trial of a man who just two years ago helped President Donald Trump secure the Republican nomination for the White House.
> 
> Manafort was found guilty on five counts of submitting false tax returns, one count of failing to report foreign bank and financial accounts, and two counts of bank fraud.


----------



## Johnny b

* Steven Tyler sends cease-and-desist to Trump for use of song *

https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...st-trump-for-use-song/1yBivNcS9Wb4jYXwj6qauK/

Shocking, just shocking I tell you


----------



## Johnny b

While the Russians divide our society using social media by backing Trump, recently found is Iran busy dividing our society using social media to back liberals.

* These are the liberal memes Iran used to target Americans on Facebook *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...youtube-and-twitter-liberal-memes/1079882002/



> They were the kind of social media posts that regularly get shared in liberal circles, but they were coming from sham accounts originating in Iran, the most recently uncovered attempt by a foreign adversary to sway U.S. voters.
> 
> One meme on Facebook from a page called the Progressive Front showed former First Lady Michelle Obama holding a doctored sign that read "An Immigrant Took My Job," a swipe at Slovenia-born Melania Trump


People that vote by emotion feed both trolls.


----------



## ekim68

Fascism?


Big oil asks government to protect it from climate change



> PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) - As the nation plans new defenses against the more powerful storms and higher tides expected from climate change, one project stands out: an ambitious proposal to build a nearly 60-mile "spine" of concrete seawalls, earthen barriers, floating gates and steel levees on the Texas Gulf Coast.
> 
> Like other oceanfront projects, this one would protect homes, delicate ecosystems and vital infrastructure, but it also has another priority - to shield some of the crown jewels of the petroleum industry, which is blamed for contributing to global warming and now wants the federal government to build safeguards against the consequences of it.
> 
> The plan is focused on a stretch of coastline that runs from the Louisiana border to industrial enclaves south of Houston that are home to one of the world's largest concentrations of petrochemical facilities, including most of Texas' 30 refineries, which represent 30 percent of the nation's refining capacity.


----------



## ekim68

(I wonder if there are any Russians on the Board of Directors of these Corporations..  )


Big Telecom Is Using Robocalls to Fight a Net Neutrality Bill in California



> Big Telecom is once again trying to disrupt a net neutrality bill in California, this time by robocalling seniors to spread misinformation about the bill.


----------



## ekim68

By the numbers: U.S. has spent over $1.5 trillion on wars since 9/11



> U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria following the September 11 attacks have cost American taxpayers more than $1.5 trillion, CNBC reports, citing a Defense Department report.


----------



## Johnny b

I could post a smarmy comment, but considering he's a Trump pick, this isn't a surprise.

* Kavanaugh accuser Christine Ford willing to testify before Senate committee, lawyer says *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...anaugh-sexual-assault-allegations/1333161002/

I remember a short time ago when conservatives made a big thing out of supporting family values.
Where did they go?


----------



## Wino

Conservatives supporting family values was a phony facade.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Conservatives supporting family values was a phony facade.


Agreed.
It was rather obvious at the time.


----------



## ekim68

Oh this will go well for sure... 


U.S. to join Ukraine for aviation exercise



> Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The United States and eight European countries are joining Ukraine for the country's largest aviation exercise in history, an operation called Clear Sky 2018, the U.S. military said Monday.
> 
> It's the first Clear Sky exercise, which is scheduled to take place in October mostly at Starokostiantyniv Air Base in Ukraine.


----------



## Chawbacon

*Multidrug-Resistant *_*Campylobacter jejuni*_* Outbreak Linked to Puppy Exposure* 

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6737a3.htm?s_cid=mm6737a3_w

Just when we find the benefits of puppies being suitable as a therapy treatment... Proof rises, implicating puppies as evil, disease ridden creatures!

Hmmm...

Will Trump call for the separation of puppies from owners based on public safety? 
Will California proclaim itself a Puppy Safe Sanctuary state, or put puppies on the endangered species list, becoming the largest dog kennel in the world? 
Will the news media blame Trump for the puppy-borne outbreak.... well... YEAH, stupid question.


----------



## Johnny b

* HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO BRETT KAVANAUGH? *

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...you-do-this-to-brett-kavanaugh/?noredirect=on

 !


----------



## Wino

HOW DARE YOU to post a link that I have to pay to read!!!


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> HOW DARE YOU to post a link that I have to pay to read!!!




I'm not aware of any paywall there.

Was free for me.


----------



## Wino

I get that a lot using ad blocker app and refusing to deactivate.


----------



## Lanctus

Chawbacon said:


> *Multidrug-Resistant *_*Campylobacter jejuni*_* Outbreak Linked to Puppy Exposure*
> 
> https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6737a3.htm?s_cid=mm6737a3_w
> 
> Just when we find the benefits of puppies being suitable as a therapy treatment... Proof rises, implicating puppies as evil, disease ridden creatures!
> 
> Hmmm...
> 
> Will Trump call for the separation of puppies from owners based on public safety?
> Will California proclaim itself a Puppy Safe Sanctuary state, or put puppies on the endangered species list, becoming the largest dog kennel in the world?
> Will the news media blame Trump for the puppy-borne outbreak.... well... YEAH, stupid question.


This post is so far out in left field, you might as well call yourself a liberal.


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> This post is so far out in left field, you might as well call yourself a liberal.




He's just confused lol!


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> I get that a lot using ad blocker app and refusing to deactivate.


Win 10 user?

I still use Firefox but switched my OS to Linux.
Ad Block Plus is my adblocker and what I experience is the same as when I used FF on Win 7 .

IMO, MS is a mess these days. Must be from a Trumptonian influence?



edit: Has there been a tariff on foreign electrons? (  )


----------



## Johnny b

Back to seriousness.

* Kavanaugh confirmation: Yale Law joins American Bar Association in request for FBI probe *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...bar-association-fbi-investigation/1452841002/



> The religious America Magazine also walked back its previous support for Kavanaugh on Thursday, calling for his nomination to be withdrawn "in the best interests of the country."


edit:
In case someone has missed the significance of Yale's request, that's Kavanaugh's alma mater.


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny-be-Good said:


> Back to seriousness.
> 
> * Kavanaugh confirmation: Yale Law joins American Bar Association in request for FBI probe *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...bar-association-fbi-investigation/1452841002/
> 
> edit:
> In case someone has missed the significance of Yale's request, that's Kavanaugh's alma mater.


Makes sense. Their school is indirectly implicated in the actions and environment that allowed such accusations to take place. If he is never investigated, that puts a long-lasting stain on the school's reputation, as it will always hang in the air when he's on the Bench.


----------



## Wino

Johnny-be-Good said:


> Win 10 user?
> 
> I still use Firefox but switched my OS to Linux.
> Ad Block Plus is my adblocker and what I experience is the same as when I used FF on Win 7 .
> 
> IMO, MS is a mess these days. Must be from a Trumptonian influence?
> 
> 
> 
> edit: Has there been a tariff on foreign electrons? (  )


Win 10. Gave up on Linux (Ubuntu) several years ago as too aggravating - and I'm getting too lazy to muck around with OS's.:notworthy:


----------



## Wino

As for Kavanaugh, hope he goes down. He appears to be one extreme right wing kook with a temper and out of spite do about anything he could to take us back to the 50's - as in 1850!! Watched his follow up to Ford - he is one scary dude.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> As for Kavanaugh, hope he goes down. He appears to be one extreme right wing kook with a temper and out of spite do about anything he could to take us back to the 50's - as in 1850!! Watched his follow up to Ford - he is one scary dude.


IMO, he seemed an angry volatile man. While sober.


----------



## Wino

Same as the blob that nominated him.


----------



## Johnny b

Very much so.


----------



## Johnny b

Downside to Enhancement using Medical Drugs

* Irreversible Damage to Color Vision Linked to Popular Erectile Dysfunction Drug *

https://neurosciencenews.com/ed-drug-color-vision-9944/

I wonder....... Orin H couldn't tell whether he had his glasses on or not


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny-be-Good said:


> Downside to Enhancement using Medical Drugs
> 
> * Irreversible Damage to Color Vision Linked to Popular Erectile Dysfunction Drug *
> 
> https://neurosciencenews.com/ed-drug-color-vision-9944/
> 
> I wonder....... Orin H couldn't tell whether he had his glasses on or not


Quite interesting to see how certain "side effects" are unknown, and only discovered after a drug has been circulating for years. We look back on other products in the past that were widely used, and that we now know can be lethal to people (asbestos, lead pipes and paint, mercury, unregulated narcotics in medicine), and wonder how people never knew they were toxic. In 20-30 years' time, what will we look back on from this era? What will we be amazed by that we ever used them, knowing how awful the effects were to us?


----------



## Wino

Hmmmmm..............................guess that is a newer version of "red eye" from smoking pot!!


----------



## Johnny b

* President Donald Trump unpopular across globe and America's standing dropped, new poll shows *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...iews-u-s-historic-lows-poll-shows/1492940002/

Trump's even unpopular in Russia.



> In Russia................................... just 19 percent Russians have a positive view of Trump.


Go figure


----------



## Wino

May be, but he's popular with the one Russian that counts - his BFF Putie!!


----------



## ekim68

This didn't take long...


New Yorkers sue Trump and FEMA to stop Presidential Alert



> The three plaintiffs are concerned Trump may broadcast "arbitrary, biased, irrational" messages and there's no way to opt out.


----------



## Johnny b

* Federal judge blocks Trump from deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants under TPS *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...on-deporting-immigrants-under-tps/1517268002/



> A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt its plan to end a special federal immigration program that has allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants to legally live and work in the U.S. for decades.
> 
> U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that the administration may have side-stepped federal rule-making guidelines, imposed undue political pressure on staffers, and violated the Equal Protection Clause by basing its decision "on animus against non-white, non-European immigrants."
> 
> ..............
> The humanitarian program was created in 1990 to help immigrants from countries that suffered war or major natural disasters.


----------



## Johnny b

* Marijuana caused more damage to teens' brains than alcohol, study finds *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ins-more-than-alcohol-study-finds/1539574002/



> The analysis, published Wednesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, found that cannabis had greater short and long-term consequences than alcohol on four key components of teens' memory.


Worse yet, they become the next generation to vote, as if it isn't bad enough now


----------



## Brigham

Johnny-be-Good said:


> * Marijuana caused more damage to teens' brains than alcohol, study finds *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ins-more-than-alcohol-study-finds/1539574002/
> 
> Worse yet, they become the next generation to vote, as if it isn't bad enough now


In 1967 I was a medical rep for a pharmaceutical company. My area was central London which included Earls Court. I used to call on a practice there, that consisted of two Australian doctors. I used to see them late morning over a cup of tea. We were chatting generally and they both agreed that they had seen evidence that cannabis caused irreversable brain damage in some people.


----------



## Littlefield

Ted Koppel wipes the floor with Brian Stelter. LOL


> *CNN's 'ratings would be in the toilet' without Trump*


https://thehill.com/homenews/media/...e-whether-cnns-ratings-would-be-in-the-toilet


----------



## Johnny b

Train wrecks bring large audiences


----------



## Johnny b

A beverage all of Congress should partake 

* LaCroix faces lawsuit for allegedly including cockroach insecticide in its sparkling water *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...ingredients-cockroach-insecticide/1532241002/


----------



## Johnny b

This is guaranteed to go political.

* UN report: 'Unprecedented changes' needed to protect Earth from global warming *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ears-tipping-point-climate-change/1562253002/



> The report, released in South Korea by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that the world's economies must quickly reduce fossil fuel use while at the same time dramatically increasing use of clean, efficient energy. These transitions must start now and be well underway in the next 20 years.
> 
> The goal is to cap global warming at 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, which the group said may prove nearly impossible unless swift action is taken.


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny-be-Good said:


> * Marijuana caused more damage to teens' brains than alcohol, study finds *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ins-more-than-alcohol-study-finds/1539574002/
> 
> Worse yet, they become the next generation to vote, as if it isn't bad enough now


I'm sorry, but I have some issues with this study.
*"Researchers looked at four cognitive functions:* *Problem solving, long-term memory, short-term memory manipulation and the ability to stop a habitual behavior when needed. Marijuana had "significant" negative effects on all four, while the study could not tie alcohol to negative effects.*" This study expects the reader to believe that alcohol had NO negative effects on problem-solving, short and long term memory, or potential addiction? What was the regular amount of alcohol consumed vs marijuana, and how did they equate those effects? What was the factor that caused this issues, CBD, THC, regular smoking, vaping, oils, edibles, or do they all affect differently?
*"However, alcohol's effects may be greater as teens drink more later in life."* Which effects were these, and if the study found no negative effects to alcohol on the user, what effects are "greater"?
*"The study found some of marijuana's negative effects were short-term, while others were lasting."* Which effects, and how do they relate to long-term use?
*"A particularly troubling finding: Young cannabis users may cause long-term damage to a brain function associated with substance abuse.
When studying response inhibition - that's an individual's ability to change their actions to help meet a goal - researchers found that teens using marijuana caused long-term damage to their brains." *
What is the "cause" of this "brain damage", how does marijuana use affect response inhibition, and how does this relate to behavioral effects? What is the factor or factors that lead to this damage?

How long was the study? Were only teenagers observed, or did that extend into adulthood? How does adult usage vary from teenage usage, and what are the findings?

There are way too many unanswered questions in this "study", and the article didn't leave a source or link to the study itself.


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> I'm sorry, but I have some issues with this study. ....................
> 
> There are way too many unanswered questions in this "study", and the article didn't even leave a source to the study.


In the article:


> The analysis, published Wednesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry


And the lead author of the study:


> "We initially suspected alcohol would have a bigger effect," Patricia Conrod, lead author and professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal told USA TODAY.


This is the link, but it's restricted ( paywall ? )
https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/action/doSearch?AllField=Patricia+Conrod

Here's the abstract:
https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.18020202

Seems reasonable to assume cannabis would have negative effects on the developing mind of a child, but that it was greater than alcohol was a surprise to me.


----------



## Lanctus

Without the ability to read the entire study, many of my original questions remain. Observed method(s) of consumption, strain(s) of marijuana consumed (widely varying levels of THC and CBD, as well as indica, sativa, and hybrid plants, greatly depending on the strain(s)), the difference between the casual user vs the habitual user, the observed weights of the user (can affect how long marijuana can linger in the system, which would affect results), and the user's exercise regularity (affects weight and metabolism, which affects the length of stay in their system). 

I lived in Colorado when everything first went legal. I know a lot about cannabis, enough to know that the generalities so far found are cause for concern about the veracity of the study. Could they be right? Yes. Could there be flaws in the parameters? Yes. Plenty of scientific studies are recalled after the fact, when discrepancies in testing parameters are discovered, lack of control groups, limited tested size or too small population in test, lack of variety in cannabis vs results, lack of corresponding results by other researchers to prove results are accurate, etc.

Too many questions remain.


----------



## Johnny b

It's there for those that want to pay 

Smoker, eh?


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny-be-Good said:


> It's there for those that want to pay
> 
> Smoker, eh?


As someone who suffers from several incurable and painful autoimmune diseases (and a refusal to take more opiods), I have to find relief where I can.


----------



## Johnny b

Medical marijuana usage is a whole different consideration to pot recreation.
I'm doubtful the test, referred to, had medicinal usage by young children in mind.

The 'smoker' reference was to recreation


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny-be-Good said:


> Medical marijuana usage is a whole different consideration to pot recreation.
> I'm doubtful the test, referred to, had medicinal usage by young children in mind.
> 
> The 'smoker' reference was to recreation


I dislike studies that reinforce the negative stigma on its use. Even though the Fed's official stance is that cannabis holds zero medical value, that the government owns a patent on it's possible medical use (#6630507) shows a massive hypocrisy.

"In the case of No. 6,630,507, the researchers discovered that non-psychoactive compounds in cannabis may have antioxidant properties that could be beneficial in the treatment of certain neurological diseases."

"This patent describes the therapeutic potential for cannabinoid chemical compounds that are structurally similar to THC, but without its psychoactive properties, thereby treating specific conditions without the adverse side effects associated with smoked marijuana."

https://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/28/what-is-marijuana-patent-6630507/


----------



## Johnny b

I think you'll find negative government actions in many medical areas where a controversial and less expensive medical treatment is opposed by pharmaceutical lobbyists.

I ran into that problem back in the mid 90's from being exposed to an unusually high concentration of mold and developing an allergy problem that was so bad, I was even allergic to the conventional allergy treatments.
Sinus pain, joint inflammation and pain a constant with no relief from the pain meds I was given.
I got on an experimental test to streamline EPD ( enzyme potential desensitization ) into acceptance for FDA and AMA approval and insurance coverage.
I got 2 out of the proposed 5 years of therapy before EPD became a schedule 1 drug. It got me out of trouble, but was no longer legal in the US. It had been used in England since 1968 with no issues.
So what was the issue?
Less than 2% of those treated got a violent migraine that could only be treated with pain killers that defeated the EPD injection. Problem was, for those people, the next EPD shot would do the same, as would happen again repeatedly if pain killers were again administered.
The recommendations in the test were to suffer the migraine because then the next shot had only the desired effect.
I had no problems, but I did see one lady willingly experience a 2 hour migraine
because she knew it wasn't going to be much worse than how she already felt.

I saw her months later and all was going well.

But the FDA disagreed with the protocols for that issue and banned it as a schedule 1 drug.

Note. All the people in my test group were later able to go without prescription decongestants after EPD treatment. The feeling was there was lobbying done against EPD.
Nationally, 82% of those in the test got positive results.

There was absolutely no recreational abilities to the EPD therapy.
( edit ) And no issues of addiction.
LDA (Low Dose Allergy ) therapy replaced EPD, but few got positive results from it at the time.

That's over 20 years ago for me since EPD treatments and I haven't had to use any allergy meds since,

The FDA was so insistent on restricting EPD, they issued an open letter stating that any EPD product entering the US from England ( where it as produced ) , the people in England would become exposed to US laws ( RICO ) and any doctors in the US administering it would be exposed to forfeiture. 

No doubt, as far as medical marijuana goes, there's a lot of push back from pharma lobbyists.


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> I dislike studies that reinforce the negative stigma on its use. ............................
> 
> .....................


You'll find that with anything medically oriented used inappropriately.
Going in the opposite direction, opioids were originally deemed safe from addiction and Ohio is one of the states with incredible addiction issues from opioid recreation.


----------



## Johnny b

I see these stats bounce around every so often, but here's the current standing:

* Here's how much money the top 1 percent have in savings *
(note: the article includes a breakdown of all levels )

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/08/how...|finance|headline|story|&par=yahoo&yptr=yahoo


----------



## Johnny b

Donald Trump and Alcohol abuse (  )

* Trump is planning a big change to your gasoline as a boost for one of the states hit hardest by his trade war *

https://www.thisisinsider.com/trump-iowa-rally-ethanol-e15-gas-change-trade-war-pain-2018-10


----------



## Lanctus

And the wins keep rolling in from Trump, who cannot keep from shooting himself in the foot. 

*Ford Prepares for Mass Layoffs After Losing $1 Billion to Trump's Trade Tariffs, Report Says*

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/ford-prepares-mass-layoffs-losing-002618564.html


----------



## Johnny b

Push a shopping cart while having your privacy invaded 
It's a brave new world out there.

* Walmart's terrifying shopping cart design measures your speed and heart rate

Walmart will know exactly how thrilled you are by its prices. *

https://www.cnet.com/news/walmart-s...es-your-speed-and-heart-rate/#ftag=CAD590a51e

* Walmart gains patent to eavesdrop on shoppers and employees in stores

The system would pick up scanner beeps, rustling bags and conversations. *

https://www.cnet.com/news/walmart-gains-patent-to-eavesdrop-on-shoppers-and-employees-in-stores/

Conversations you say?
But Thought Police Officer, all I want to buy was a loaf of bread.


----------



## Lanctus

Yet another reason to avoid Walmart.


----------



## ekim68

South Korea says Pompeo complained about inter-Korean military pact



> SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed "discontent" with an inter-Korean military pact reached during last month's summit, South Korea's foreign minister said on Wednesday, in a rare disclosure of signs of disagreement with its U.S. ally.


----------



## Chawbacon

*Trump Signs Law To Lower Drug Prices, Ends Gag Orders Against Pharmacists*
https://www.westernjournal.com/trum...orders-pharmacists-sharing-money-saving-info/

Finally! A bipartisan bill that makes sense. And I hope that every single Representative (regardless of party) that voted Yea on the amendment to limit the application of this bill (to private insurance plans) looses their next primary election cycle.


----------



## Wino

Something we can agree on - decent bill and all nays came from -R's in senate - would be nice to see them all gone. LOL House passed by voice vote so who voted what will never be known, although I expect they were also all -R's.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> *Trump Signs Law To Lower Drug Prices, Ends Gag Orders Against Pharmacists*
> https://www.westernjournal.com/trum...orders-pharmacists-sharing-money-saving-info/
> 
> .....................


There's been a lot of obvious abuse in the pricing of prescription drugs.
This appears to be a positive position for Trump and should have been addressed long ago in other administrations.


----------



## Wino

This subject has been on going with my GP and local drug store. My part D Medicare charges my account for ALL prescription drugs whether they pay anything or not - each purchase closes in on Donut Hole. The solution per GP and drug stores was to have one store that has your insurance info and another that does not. Use the insurance store for expensive drugs and the other store for cheaper/generic.


----------



## Johnny b

A long time coming:

* Sears is in trouble: What shoppers should do if the company files for bankruptcy *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...ld-do-if-company-files-bankruptcy/1589306002/

*Sears Hires Advisers to Prepare Bankruptcy Filing *
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sears-hires-advisers-to-prepare-bankruptcy-filing-1539136189


----------



## Johnny b

More on Sears:

* Sears falls again on report that it stopped paying vendors *

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/11/business/sears-vendors/index.html

Penney's next/soon?
My, how the giant retailers of the past have fallen.
I remember Montgomery Ward well.


----------



## Johnny b

The DOW has now lost over 1300 points in it's last two sessions.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-pummelled-selling-intensifies-191002486.html


----------



## Wino

Old Orange "Blame Someone Else not me" is blaming the Feds. LOL


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Old Orange "Blame Someone Else not me" is blaming the Feds. LOL


Of course.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Of course.


Well, the Fed raising rates, or announcing a consideration of a future rate hike, has almost always resulted in a drop the market. This is because a lending rate increase immediately affects consumer borrowing power and can dramatically inflate the payback rate of government bonds. Of course there are many other factors involved with this correction which include, existing and impending tariffs, various global market instabilities, Brexit, military conflicts, weather events, and a bunch of additional factors that I am surely omitting.

As a side note. I find it interesting how the Fed raises rates to prevent inflation that has not occurred; but, in essence is creating back-door inflation (through said higher borrowing rates) by increasing the overall cost of products and services that an individual may need to borrow money to obtain. Shrug...


----------



## Wino

I highly suspect that one of the faithful "If I shot someone on 5th Avenue, I'd not lose any supporters" is posting threads here!! LOL

Anticipating inflation is what the Feds do - and as much as I hate the word "proactive", they are by slowing the economy to prevent over heating. Not always correctly, unfortunately. In any case, I hope they do not get cowed by the Blob and do their job as they see it. Your "many other factors" are a much larger part of this equation. I will trust the Feds long before our flim flam POTUS.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> .................. Of course there are many other factors involved with this correction which include, existing and impending tariffs, various global market instabilities, Brexit, military conflicts, weather events, and a bunch of additional factors that I am surely omitting.


Indeed.
Smart money is said to move 6 months in advance.
Often seen and incorrectly marked as speculation.
A lot of factors in play. 
A big one now is the market has been over sold and needs to adjust.
Often small factors trigger unusually large market moves when confidence is shaky.
This has been coming while Trump brags about economic conditions.

How far down will it go is the question.
Is there more downward before the bounce?

This is for sure; good buys are on the horizon.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> I highly suspect that one of the faithful "If I shot someone on 5th Avenue, I'd not lose any supporters" is posting threads here!! LOL
> 
> Anticipating inflation is what the Feds do - and as much as I hate the word "proactive", they are by slowing the economy to prevent over heating. Not always correctly, unfortunately. In any case, I hope they do not get cowed by the Blob and do their job as they see it. Your "many other factors" are a much larger part of this equation. I will trust the Feds long before our flim flam POTUS.


Indeed.
You nailed it.
This is why the Fed is and has to be independent of politics.


----------



## Chawbacon

*CNN Panel Mocks Kanye West as Trump's 'Token *****,' Don Lemon Laughs (Video)*
https://www.thewrap.com/don-lemon-laughs-as-cnn-panel-mocks-kanye-west-as-token-*****-video/

Hmmmmm..... So...... A CNN host laughs at a black man being labeled as "the token ***** of the Trump administration." The CNN liberals on the panel then mock the black man's prior struggles with mental illness, which is followed up by a comment that describes this black man as "... what happens when ****** don't read." All of this without one objection from the CNN panel??? I thought that liberals specifically championed minorities, and individuals with mental illness?

For some reason I expect to hear nothing but crickets out of CNN on this event, or perhaps an end of show, or midnight apology. Ok, let the liberal outrage begin.


----------



## Johnny b

You could always start a thread about how upset that makes you feel


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> You could always start a thread about how upset that makes you feel


Interesting idea Johnny. I could title the thread "Liberals say WHAAAAAAAT???" 

I could create an identical thread for Republicans; but, the Trump Presidency thread pretty much has that one covered.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Interesting idea Johnny. I could title the thread "Liberals say WHAAAAAAAT???"
> 
> ...........................


Do it


----------



## Johnny b

LOL!

* Michael Cohen, the president's former attorney, is now a registered Democrat *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...rumps-attorney-registers-democrat/1604667002/


----------



## Wino

I'm glad I live where we have open primaries and do not have to declare a party affiliation.

As for CNN and Lemon making fun of or stating disappointment in Kenye West, I can relate. I'm embarrassed by Trump - but then, I have white privilege, and that makes it OK to disparage other white folk. Frankly, West and Trump are both illiterate, little read, nincompoops IMHO.


----------



## Johnny b

Ohio, we have to commit.

I've finally had it with the Republican Party.
Now it's the party of Trump and I want nothing to do with anyone left in it.

Going Independent.

As far as West, it's too hard to have sympathy for him.
He is what he is, a very wealthy attention 'ho. ( imo of course  )


----------



## Lanctus

In non-political news, this amazing and tragic story just crossed my pages. Just goes to show, whether you are a seasoned veteran at something or not, accidents still happen.

*Medieval knight reenactor killed in freak accident when impaled by his own lance*

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/medi...d-freak-accident-impaled-lance-132723853.html


----------



## Johnny b

If anyone thinks this new partnership would be an agreement of equals, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying.

VW and Ford entertain a 'merger'.

* What started off as a MoU, may turn out to be the industry's biggest merger ever *

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-n...-more-and-more-likely-every-day-ar183065.html

With Ford in financial trouble and having to draw up a new $11Billion business model,
Ford is looking more like becoming a subsidiary than a partner.
Thank you Donald Trump and his wrecking crew


----------



## Johnny b

And now this.

* Morgan Stanley downgrades Ford and says dividend at risk *

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/19/for...|finance|headline|story|&par=yahoo&yptr=yahoo



> Morgan Stanley downgraded Ford, citing a risk to the company's dividend and pressure on cash and earnings.
> The automaker is suffering from the appearance that it lacks transparency and decisive action.


Amazing....Ford survived the Bush Great Recession and Obama's experiments with socialism only to be brought down to it's knees by an opportunist posing as a conservative....His Lordship, DJ Trump.


----------



## Johnny b

NEWS FLASH

* Trump stops Montana rally to say that the hurricanes helped prove his hair is real *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...y-talk-whether-he-wears-hairpiece/1690540002/

The crowd cheers and all is good through out the world


----------



## Wino

My Ford stock is in the dumps. I had planned to buy more, but now afraid to even touch it. This nation will rue the day DJT was elected POTUS. I expect by the time he is gone, 2008/09 will look really good in comparison.


----------



## Littlefield

You gotta admit this is funny. LOL
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...llboard-made-by-la-street-artist-sabo-1153715​


----------



## Littlefield

The lack of common sense amongst the general public is difficult to understand.

https://www.krqe.com/news/balloon-f...o-drone-fly-zone-at-balloon-fiesta/1510662538


----------



## ekim68

Justice Dept. charges Russian woman with interference in midterm elections



> The Justice Department announced Friday it had charged a Russian woman who prosecutors say conspired to interfere with the 2018 U.S. election, marking the first criminal case that accuses a foreign national of interfering in the upcoming midterms.
> 
> Elena Khusyaynova, 44, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Prosecutors said she managed the finances of "Project Lakhta," a foreign influence operation they said was designed "to sow discord in the U.S. political system" by pushing arguments and misinformation online about a host of divisive political issues, including immigration, the Confederate flag, gun control and National Football League protests during the national anthem.


----------



## Littlefield

> LOS ANGELES (AP) - Porn actress Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti must pay $4.85 million to an attorney who worked at his former law firm, a California judge ruled Monday in an order that holds the potential presidential candidate personally liable in a lawsuit over back pay.


 LOL
https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-michael-avenatti-must-pay-4-85-ex-172141810.html


----------



## ekim68

Midterms 2018: More candidates using anti-muslim rhetoric than ever - but it's not working



> Fear-mongering is not new in American politics. This midterm election season American voters have seen a growing number of candidates - nearly all Republican - smearing their political opponents either as terrorism threats or with Islamophobic rhetoric. But according to a new report, the politics of anti-Muslim fear will no longer win campaigns.


----------



## Wino

They are also using Maoist if libs elected. LOL


----------



## ekim68

Ajit Pai, Telecom Lobbyists Are Now Coordinating Their Lies In Perfect Symmetry



> So we've made it pretty clear by now that the FCC's entire justification for repealing net neutrality was based entirely on fluff and lobbyist nonsense. But because the Administrative Procedure Act requires that regulators actually provide hard data to justify massive reversals in policy, both the Ajit Pai FCC and his BFFs at Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T have clung tightly to one, completely false claim: that net neutrality harmed network investment. But as we've stated countless times, that's simply not true.
> 
> That's not an opinion, it's based on SEC filings, earnings reports, and the on-the-record statements of nearly a dozen telecom industry CEOs.


----------



## Chawbacon

Gateway Pundit Headline:
*
WILD! Gay Conservative Heckles-Rattles Barack Obama at Rally - "You Belong in Jail!!… You Belong in Jail!!" - Democrats Beat Him Up (VIDEO)*

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1058489894928936960
CNN Headline:

*Obama Gets Heckled: This was his reply:*
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/11/02/obama-gillum-miami-heckler-sot-vpx.cnn

This is a great example of how both media sides are not telling the full story. GPH did not mention how former President Obama handled the heckling with class; however, CNN did not show the heckler being physically abused by the crowd while exiting the arena... and I seem to remember that one punch thrown at a Trump heckler was a CNN cover story news for about a week. Violence in either situation is wrong regardless of political party.

IMHO - Hecklers can counter protest on the sidewalk all they want; but, once they purposefully interrupt a speaking engagement, where the facilities/services are being paid for by a political party/individual/etc..., I have no problem with the hecklers (regardless of party) being tossed in jail; because, they are attempting to suppress the free speech of others.


----------



## ekim68

Chemicals used in Deepwater Horizon spill were ineffective, study says



> Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The chemical dispersants used to clean up oil after the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 were ineffective and unneeded, a new study says.


----------



## ekim68

Hmm, wouldn't have thought that Red States would do this..


Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah vote to expand Medicaid




> More than 300,000 low-income Americans are on the brink of gaining coverage.


----------



## Johnny b

Hate to see this happening because it suggests other companies will follow.

* It's 2005 All Over Again as Ford Teeters on the Edge of Junk *
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-over-again-ford-teeters-110001455.html



> (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. could be close to getting junked again.
> 
> That's what the bond market is saying. The company's debt is trading like it's speculative grade, as investors worry about how higher steel tariffs and slowing sales will weigh on its profits. Ford is rated one step above junk by Moody's Investors Service and two steps by S&P Global Ratings.


Add to the above, there has been a buzz at many car sites about the current Ford partnership arrangement with VW turning into a merger.
As is common in the business world, when a failing company merges with a more powerful company, the lesser becomes a subsidiary.

Ford survived the 'Great Recession' only to be damaged again by Trump to the point of possibly being bought out.

As in Ford's fate, there are likely many more smaller companies in line to fail but with out the national exposure.

I wonder if Trump ball caps are popular on the Ford assembly lines?


----------



## Johnny b

* U.S. judge halts Keystone XL oil pipeline in blow to Trump, Trudeau *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trum...sion-halt-keystone-xl-150335903--finance.html



> (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Montana has halted construction of the Keystone XL pipeline designed to carry heavy crude oil from Canada to the United States, drawing a sharp rebuke on Friday from President Donald Trump.


----------



## Johnny b

This will be interesting to follow:

* Maryland to file federal court challenge asking judge block Whitaker, install Rosenstein *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...whitaker-maryland-court-challenge/1986221002/



> President Donald Trump's controversial selection of Matthew Whitaker to replace ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions will face its first major challenge Tuesday in federal court from the state of Maryland, state officials said.
> 
> Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, is expected to argue that Trump's appointment of Whitaker as acting attorney general violated federal law and that he should be replaced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein,


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> This will be interesting to follow:
> 
> * Maryland to file federal court challenge asking judge block Whitaker, install Rosenstein *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...whitaker-maryland-court-challenge/1986221002/


Yep. This one will be interesting. Looking at history, this is not an unusual, temporary promotion in lieu of a permanent appointment being confirmed by the senate. But Maryland, having the gall to even attempt a dictation, of who should fill the Acting AG position, is laughable at best. Granted, a liberal court would support Maryland; but, this suit is doomed for failure upon appeals.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> ........................this suit is doomed for failure upon appeals.


Agree....Trump has probably enough support in the SC to put it off .........but ah!.....the drama from both sides 

Claims and counter claims.
Good for a lot of press in a realm where there is a lot of mutual dislike between the press and Trump.


----------



## Wino

Good for Maryland. Anything to keep the ogre preoccupied, distracted and rattled.


----------



## Johnny b

This has just got to upset Trump:

* Sen. Jeff Flake draws the line: Protect Mueller probe or no new federal judges *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...eller-probe-no-new-federal-judges/2009838002/



> Sen. Jeff Flake drew a dramatic new line against President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans on Wednesday, promising to vote against new federal judges unless the Senate protects special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
> ............
> "Because (the legislation) has failed today, Sen. ***** and I are prepared to raise it again and again, until there is a vote on this vital bipartisan legislation on the Senate floor," Flake said. "I have informed the majority leader that I will not vote to advance any of the 21 judicial nominees pending in the Judiciary Committee, or vote to confirm the 32 judges awaiting a confirmation vote on the floor, until (the bill) is brought to the full Senate for a vote."


----------



## Wino

Flake will flake, he always does. No profile in courage here.


----------



## Johnny b

* China's 'artificial sun' reaches 100 million degrees Celsius marking milestone for nuclear fusion *

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-15/china-attempts-to-create-an-artificial-sun/10495536



> Chinese nuclear scientists have reached an important milestone in the global quest to harness energy from nuclear fusion, a process that occurs naturally in the sun.


So what has 'dim bulb Trump' done other than try to make nice-nice with Rocket Man Kim? ( a fail )......start a trade war with China that appears to be hurting US business , and agriculture significantly. ( a perverse success )
Embrace coal as a fuel. ( a dying technology )


----------



## Johnny b

This was a surprise.

One of Trump's Federal Judge appointments just made a ruling against Trump.

* Judge orders White House to restore press credential for CNN reporter Jim Acosta *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/11/16/cnn-white-house-credential-court-case/2023035002/



> U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly, *a Trump appointee*, said the White House had violated Acosta's Fifth Amendment right to due process by suspending his press badge without explanation or a chance for CNN to rebut the reasons. Kelly said government officials couldn't even say who made the decision or how.
> 
> Kelly ordered the government to restore the credential while the rest of the case is argued because of the harm to Acosta.
> 
> "This court cannot restore Mr. Acosta's access to press briefings that have already been held," Kelly said.
> 
> But Kelly said he hasn't considered at all yet whether the White House violated Acosta's First Amendment rights. More arguments are expected Tuesday.


Not over yet.

Amazing, one of Trump's own turning against him.
Bet there's going to be a lot of tweeting over that


----------



## Wino

I'd say even right wing judges understand a free press is necessary AND constitutional.


----------



## Johnny b

A benefit to all that have a phone:

* A New Senate Bill Would Hit Robocallers With Up to a $10,000 Fine for Every Call *

https://gizmodo.com/a-new-senate-bill-would-hit-robocallers-with-a-10-000-1830502632

But I wonder how effective this will be against offshore robocalls.


----------



## Johnny b

LOL!

LOL!

* Kellyanne Conway's husband: Trump administration is a 'dumpster fire' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...rump-administration-dumpster-fire/2030909002/

Oh my! He said a lot more than that 



> Conway said he pulled out of being a contender for the Justice Department role because "the administration is like a s***show in a dumpster fire."




Poor Kellyanne.


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting:

* Fox News host Chris Wallace tells Trump world sees him as 'beacon for repression' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/18/trump-fox-news-interview/2047428002/



> "But you're seen around the world as a beacon for repression," Wallace said.
> 
> Trump again tried to explain that his attacks on the media were only aimed at coverage he says is false and unfair.
> 
> Wallace told Trump that the president doesn't "get to decide what's fair and what's not."
> 
> "I can tell what's fair and not and so can my people and so can a lot of other people," Trump replied.


This is starting to sound a lot like " I make you an offer you can not refuse"


----------



## Wino

It's starting to sound like he's crazier than I thought possible !!


----------



## Johnny b

* White House backs down from fight with CNN, restores press credential for reporter Jim Acosta *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...sta-suspension-possibly-permanent/2053073002/


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> This has just got to upset Trump:
> 
> * Sen. Jeff Flake draws the line: Protect Mueller probe or no new federal judges *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...eller-probe-no-new-federal-judges/2009838002/


Good Grief! Had to go to Fox News to find the name of the Bill (S.1735 - Special Counsel Independence Protection Act) and then to Congress.gov to find the actual text. So this bill does proposes the following

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1735 (Summary)



> This bill sets forth requirements and limitations with respect to the removal from office of a special counsel appointed by the Attorney General, or of another official appointed by the Attorney General who exercises a similar degree of independence from the Department of Justice (DOJ) chain of command.
> 
> Specifically, a special counsel or other appointed individual may be removed only if: (1) the Attorney General files an action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and files a contemporaneous notice of the action with Congress; and (2) the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issues an order finding misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including violation of DOJ policies


So, I would be surprised to see either party actually pass this through and then over-rule the veto of whichever sitting President is in office. My opinion... This is is a manufactured issue and is a waste of time, effort, and funds. It is my understanding that under current rules/laws a sitting President cannot directly fire, or shut down, an independent Counsel. Should a sitting President conduct an equivalent of the "Saturday Night Massacre," Congress has the power and responsibility of additional oversight. Plus that action would have to be explained to and accepted by the voters. Granted, the President has the ultimate authority to fire anyone within this organization; but, exercising said authority would have to be done with utmost caution and from a highly defensible position.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> * White House backs down from fight with CNN, restores press credential for reporter Jim Acosta *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...sta-suspension-possibly-permanent/2053073002/


Above is another example of extreme misrepresentation by USA Today. Exactly how is following the direction of a Judge an act of backing down, instead of an obvious example of following a Judicial Instruction? The real story here is the ramification of this entire circus act (Trump and CNN).



> The White House also said it was establishing new rules for conduct at presidential press conferences. "Should you refuse to follow these rules in the future, we will take action in accordance with the rules set forth above. The President is aware of this decision and concurs," the letter said...
> 
> ...The new rules include limiting reporters to a single question each, with follow-ups permitted "at the discretion of the President or other White House officials."


It is saddening that ground rules have to be established for the White House Press Corps when the President, or a White House representative, is providing a briefing, or conducting a question and answer session with the press.

Hmmmmm....... I wonder how many in the White House Press Corps supported the lawsuit, out of a Freedom of the Press position (idiotic, since CNN representation was never banned), or from a more base desire to make Acosta shut up and allow others to ask questions?


----------



## Johnny b

Of course Trump backed down. 

A federal Judge ( that he appointed LOL ) told him to  !

Trump's people couldn't provide a reason and Trump was apparently bitten by the 5th Amendment.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> .............. It is my understanding that under current rules/laws a sitting President cannot directly fire, or shut down, an independent Counsel. ....................


No, not according to the temp AG, Matthew Whitaker.
He proposed earlier that cutting off funding to Mueller's investigation could effectively shut down the investigation and be legal.


----------



## Johnny b

Arrest Ivanka Trump  (  ).....NOW!

* Ivanka Trump sent hundreds of messages from personal email account, according to report *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...il-account-government-work-report/2062280002/

LOL!


----------



## Johnny b

Looks like the Dems have a serious problem in Florida.

* Florida officials investigating possible election fraud, use of altered forms by Democrats *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...investigating-fraud-altered-forms/2061237002/


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> No, not according to the temp AG, Matthew Whitaker.
> He proposed earlier that cutting off funding to Mueller's investigation could effectively shut down the investigation and be legal.


Wait a second and let me understand this better. So having an opinion that an investigation could/should be ended, or could/should be considered for ending now makes an individual conflicted? Since no person is without an opinion, the position now has to stay vacant forever? Thanks for the laugh.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Arrest Ivanka Trump  (  ).....NOW!
> 
> * Ivanka Trump sent hundreds of messages from personal email account, according to report *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...il-account-government-work-report/2062280002/
> 
> LOL!


I saw this also... Waiting for the official spin/response and verification of proof before I weigh in on the topic. If true though... how ironic?


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Wait a second and let me understand this better. So having an opinion that an investigation could/should be ended, or could/should be considered for ending now makes an individual conflicted? Since no person is without an opinion, the position now has to stay vacant forever? Thanks for the laugh.


Laughs on you......your opinion was wrong  ...As explained.
And I explained it with out implying you or anyone else was conflicted.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> I saw this also... Waiting for the official spin/response and verification of proof before I weigh in on the topic. If true though... how ironic?


IMO....this is what is called a mole hill.
I suspect the same was true for H Clinton.

What it is ...is hypocrisy.

Too many in the employ and service of the government are sloppy with security.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Laughs on you......your opinion was wrong  ...As explained.
> And I explained it with out implying you or anyone else was conflicted.


Johnny, you pain me deeply. We should never outright say that someone's opinion is wrong; because, an opinion is extremely subjective. That being said though, there is nothing wrong with attempting to explain to others why our opinion is right.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Johnny, you pain me deeply. We should never outright say that someone's opinion is wrong; because, an opinion is extremely subjective. That being said though, there is nothing wrong with attempting to explain to others why our opinion is right.


LOL!

You are a Trumpite, you betchya 

Your subjective opinion was flawed and it pains you I pointed it out LOL!

Better to work with objective perspectives when discussing reality 
Fewer issues of BS Receptivity LOL!


----------



## Johnny b

* Federal judge blocks Trump's new asylum rules: 'He may not rewrite the immigration laws' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-new-asylum-rules-migrant-caravan/2060994002/



> U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar ruled that the administration's new policy of cutting off asylum to migrants who enter the country illegally appears to run afoul of U.S. law that specifically allows them to do so.
> 
> The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act states that any foreigner who arrives in the USA, "whether or not at a designated port of arrival," may apply for asylum. But on Nov. 9, Trump tried to overrule that law, signing a presidential proclamation ending the ability of migrants to request asylum if they enter the country illegally.


----------



## Johnny b

Too often political extremism polarizes people into demonizing opposition.
James Woods seems to have had his share of involvement, and then the J Woods we don't know stands out.

Credit to James Woods:

* James Woods uses Twitter to help veteran contemplating suicide: 'You could save another' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...elp-veteran-contemplating-suicide/2063910002/


----------



## Johnny b

The Finns have humor 

* Trump said Finland prevents wildfires by 'raking' the forest. Finns say it's #RakeNews *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...11/19/trump-finland-forest-raking/2054797002/



> Helsinki broke loose with social media memes mocking Trump under #RakeAmericaGreatAgain and #RakeNews hashtags.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> * Federal judge blocks Trump's new asylum rules: 'He may not rewrite the immigration laws' *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-new-asylum-rules-migrant-caravan/2060994002/


On the surface, I have to agree with the U.S. Circuit Judge here. Assuming that the quoted law is accurate, it is correct and appropriate for the Judicial Branch of our government to check the actions implemented by the Administrative Branch that change existing law.

A few offshoot questions that stem from this decision are:

1. When will many liberal Judges rule in a similar manner when the Administrative Branch (or local State/City government) refuses to enforce an existing law, regardless of the party controlling the office of the U.S. Presidency? (My thought here is that a sanctuary City/State is refusing to enforce Federal law, effectively changing Federal law.)

2. Is this not similar (on a strictly legal interpretative basis) to the arguments surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? (The ACA rewrote existing law without amending the existing Constitutional law that expressly forbids forcing Americans to participate in any type of commerce.)​


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> The Finns have humor
> 
> * Trump said Finland prevents wildfires by 'raking' the forest. Finns say it's #RakeNews *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...11/19/trump-finland-forest-raking/2054797002/


Although I am sure that Trump was talking about raking in a sense of an intensive effort to remove underbrush (I am not sure if this even happens in Finland though); I don't care which party you support... This is hillarious!!!!


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> On the surface, I have to agree with the U.S. Circuit Judge here. Assuming that the quoted law is accurate, it is correct and appropriate for the Judicial Branch of our government to check the actions implemented by the Administrative Branch that change existing law.
> 
> A few offshoot questions that stem from this decision are:
> 
> 1. When will many liberal Judges rule in a similar manner when the Administrative Branch (or local State/City government) refuses to enforce an existing law, regardless of the party controlling the office of the U.S. Presidency? (My thought here is that a sanctuary City/State is refusing to enforce Federal law, effectively changing Federal law.)
> 
> 2. Is this not similar (on a strictly legal interpretative basis) to the arguments surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? (The ACA rewrote existing law without amending the existing Constitutional law that expressly forbids forcing Americans to participate in any type of commerce.)​


Good questions.

1. Local and State laws are not supposed to contradict Federal Law.
They don't so much rewrite Federal Law as much as they are breaking Constitutional Law and getting away with it as in your example.
It's an issue of the Supremacy Clause within Article VI of the U.S. Constitution.

https://constitution.findlaw.com/article6.html

2.


> The ACA rewrote existing law without amending the existing Constitutional law that expressly forbids forcing Americans to participate in any type of commerce.


This is where the problem arose. The Supreme Court decision ruled ACA was effectively a tax, not an involvement in commerce.
Kennedy, liberal, voted against a tax position and sided with the conservative faction while the conservative Roberts voted with the liberal faction for ACA being a tax.
Strange swap there.

https://www.thenation.com/article/obamacare-upheld-how-and-why-did-justice-roberts-do-it/

And it's still a mess no one agrees on correcting, if that's even possible from a pragmatic pov.


----------



## Johnny b

Time to put on your tin foil hats and listen to some really crazy conspiracy theory out of the fantasy land of Fox News.

All the reported abusive craziness coming out of the White House was done by Trump's own handpicked henchmen to make the Donald look bad in the eyes of America and the World.

Apparently, as the Fox video claims, the elite that opposes Trump are really the people Trump has chosen as his inner circle.
And this guy, Steve Hilton, uses Woodward's Book 'Fear' to prove it.

(sigh!)
And I wonder how many fools will accept it as reality rather than incredible spin?

Trump vs Elites


----------



## Wino

Brings to mind lipstick on a pig or "you can't make a silk purse from a sows ear". La La Land has moved to the east coast.


----------



## Johnny b

* GM to Cut 10,000 Jobs, Targets 5 Factories for Closing Next Year *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-cut-10-000-jobs-153638323.html


----------



## Wino

I hope Ford survives Trumpian economics.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> I hope Ford survives Trumpian economics.


Yeah, Ford, and a lot of small businesses and farmers too.
Ford and VW are doing a partnership agreement some auto analysts think might make Ford a subsidiary of VW if it's profitability doesn't turn around. 
.......................
GM update:

* GM to kill Chevrolet Volt, Cruze, Impala as Americans ditch passenger cars *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...otors-chevrolet-volt-cruze-impala/2114114002/



> The move - part of a sweeping cost-cutting plan unveiled Monday - comes as Americans are abandoning passenger cars in favor of crossovers, SUVs and pickups.
> 
> ........................
> The company will also end U.S. sales of the Cadillac XTS and Buick LaCrosse luxury cars after production ends in March. And the Cadillac CT6 will be killed off in the U.S. after mid-2019, though it will continue to be sold in China.


----------



## Johnny b

* Mueller: Paul Manafort violated plea agreement, lied to FBI in interviews *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...epeatedly-fbi-violation-plea-deal/2115878002/

Shocking, just Shocking I tell you! (  )



> Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied repeatedly to the FBI, violating a plea agreement with Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who recommended that Manafort receive no credit to reduce his prison sentence.
> 
> Manafort could face severe punishment for his conviction in August in an Alexandria federal court and for a separate guilty plea in the District of Columbia.
> 
> In the D.C. case, Manafort faces the prospect of perhaps a decade in prison, unless he is pardoned by President Donald Trump.


See you in 10+ Paul


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting article on undocumented immigrants in the US:

*Number of undocumented immigrants in USA falls to 12-year low, researchers say *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ty-pew-research-center-build-wall/2125005002/


----------



## Brigham

If they are undocumented how do you know how many there are?


----------



## Johnny b

Brigham said:


> If they are undocumented how do you know how many there are?


Good question. 
A link in the article leads to this:

* Methodology *
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2018/11/27/unauthorized-immigration-estimate-methodology/


----------



## Johnny b

Read it and weep 

* Trump is skeptical of climate change report because of his 'high levels of intelligence' *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ntelligence-climate-change-denial/2132448002/

Trump keeps repeating he's ultra intelligent...lol!

And this notable from the article:


> The president blamed the Federal Reserve for the closure of General Motors plants






> .... I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me.


His 'high level of intelligence' comes from his gut? SFB.
And that's the way it is. No one can tell him anything that's real, he doesn't want to hear.
That I would believe


----------



## Wino

Stable Genius = Horse's arse with no common sense. Those that boast how smart they are, are not. This administration is like one of our Fiesta or Rodeo Parades, which usually has many horse riders followed by a horse shovel brigade to clean up the mess left behind from the horses behind - this nation is going to need a YUGE shovel brigade to right this ship once this idiot is out of office.

We're still paying for the last prez that had a gut feeling about WMD.


----------



## Wino

Read the WaPo complete transcript at following link and then try to tell me this man is intelligent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...-transcript-annotated/?utm_term=.6141cfba7f79

His arrogance and ignorance are boundless.


----------



## Johnny b

Read it. Thanks for the link.

When he's not dodging the questions, much is nonsense or fabrication.
But there's been almost two years of that since he was inaugurated and at least a decade before.


----------



## Wino

Depressing to say the least this nation could elect a human stain of this nature. #sad


----------



## Johnny b

This is so wrong.......
There isn't going to be any correction to our political system with this attitude.

* Illinois Dem says she'd like to infect GOP colleague's family with 'broth of legionella' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...llinois-democrat-broth-legionella/2137492002/


----------



## ekim68

Two U.S. pipelines rack up violations, threaten industry growth



> MEDIA, PENNSYLVANIA (Reuters) - Energy Transfer LP (ET.N) and its Sunoco pipeline subsidiary have racked up more than 800 state and federal permit violations while racing to build two of the nation's largest natural gas pipelines, according to a Reuters analysis of government data and regulatory records.


----------



## Johnny b

Mr President, would you like some cheese with the whine?

* 'This is an illegal hoax': Trump calls for end to Mueller investigation after Cohen pleads guilty *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...rump-end-mueller-probe-cohen-plea/2158652002/



> After his former attorney pleaded guilty to lying in hopes of covering up potential Russian ties, President Donald Trump ended his Thursday lashing out at the special counsel investigation and calling for its demise.


----------



## Johnny b

* Michael Cohen's lawyers dropped a slew of intriguing bombshells about Trump in a new court filing *

https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-cohen-sentencing-memo-raises-problems-for-trump-2018-12


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting article:

* Under Trump, the Swamp Is Draining *

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/opinion/sunday/under-trump-the-swamp-is-draining.html

Cynicism at it's best and a new term to look up.
Kleptocracy was easy to understand, but * kakistocracy *? That I had to look up.

kakistocracy: a system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.

Those two terms define the Trump administration to a *T*

The worst possible politicians ripping off our society.


----------



## Wino

_



Kakistocracy

Click to expand...

_


> is a term that was first used in the 17th century; derived from a Greek word, it means, literally, government by the worst and most unscrupulous people among us. More broadly, it can mean the most inept and cringeworthy kind of government.


https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/american-kakistocracy/542391/


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump demands stiff prison sentence for his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, accuses Mueller of seeking 'lies' from witnesses *

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/tru...el-cohen-and-mueller-praises-roger-stone.html

Looks like Trump is nervous about something.

LOL!


----------



## ekim68

FCC panel wants to tax Internet-using businesses and give the money to ISPs



> A Federal Communications Commission advisory committee has proposed a new tax on Netflix, Google, Facebook, and many other businesses that require Internet access to operate.
> 
> If adopted by states, the recommended tax would apply to subscription-based retail services that require Internet access, such as Netflix, and to advertising-supported services that use the Internet, such as Google and Facebook. The tax would also apply to any small- or medium-sized business that charges subscription fees for online services or uses online advertising. The tax would also apply to any provider of broadband access, such as cable or wireless operators.


----------



## Johnny b

* Maria Butina pleads guilty to conspiracy as agent of Russia in USA *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...a-butina-pleads-guilty-conspiracy/2292276002/



> The plea agreement said that under his direction she "sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics."
> .....................
> Prosecutors accused her of interacting with groups such as the NRA, and exploiting those connections to try to advance Russian interests.
> .............
> Butina's Russian gun rights group called "Right to Bear Arms" hosted a delegation of former NRA presidents, board members and major donors in Moscow in 2015, where she arranged a meeting between NRA insiders and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.


I'd like to see a list of those NRA 'insiders' 

-----------------------------------
Edit and followup from the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...e8-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html?noredirect=on



> Butina admitted to working with an American political operative and under the direction of a former Russian senator and deputy governor of Russia's central bank to forge bonds with officials at the National Rifle Association, conservative leaders, and 2016 U.S. presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, whose rise to the Oval Office she presciently predicted to her Russian contact.


I'd also like to see a list of those 'conservative leaders' and their involvement with Butina.


----------



## Wino

Fairly certain that would include Ted Nugent, Wayne LaPeeAir(sp), Chris Cox - Ollie North would be if he'd been around NRA 2-3 years ago.


----------



## Johnny b

* Federal judge rules Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, but appeal will leave coverage intact for now *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...onstitutional-federal-judge-texas/2318733002/

Not a fan of the ACA.
It's a long term messed up economy that has helped bring about this entitlement and with a large segment of the US backing global trade wars that include favored trading partners and allies, and foreign policies that complicate terrorism, simply finding the ACA unconstitutional isn't a fix for health care nor it's costs. Real solutions don't seem to concern Congress.
Approval at the polls seem their immediate goals.


----------



## ekim68

Paul Ryan's long con



> House Speaker Paul Ryan's legacy can be summed up in just one number: $343 billion.
> 
> That's the increase between the deficit for fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2018 - that is, the difference between the fiscal year before Ryan became speaker of the House and the fiscal year in which he retired.
> 
> If the economy had fallen into recession between 2015 and 2018, Ryan's record would be understandable. But it didn't. In fact, growth quickened and the labor market tightened - which means deficits should've fallen. Indeed, that's exactly what happened in each of the five years preceding Ryan's speakership; from 2011 to 2015, annual deficits fell each year.


----------



## Johnny b

Bromance gone wrong.

* North Korea warns US sanctions could 'block the path to denuclearization forever' *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ock-path-denuclearization-forever/2334306002/



> Trump has frequently praised Kim, saying in September that the North's leader was "terrific" and that the two "fell in love" after their historic summit in Singapore in June.


----------



## Johnny b

Pension funds at risk

* A million pension checks risk huge cuts without this fix *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...s-pension-fund-millions-risk-cuts/2310061002/



> W. Thomas Reeder, director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., said the federal agency created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to protect pension benefits currently is looking at $56.2 billion in liabilities connected to multiemployer pension plans but only $2.3 billion in assets.
> 
> It's nearly a $54-billion shortfall, as of Sept. 30.
> 
> "We will be out of business without a change in the law by 2025,"


----------



## ekim68

CenturyLink blocked its customers' Internet access in order to show an ad



> CenturyLink briefly disabled the Internet connections of customers in Utah last week and allowed them back online only after they acknowledged an offer to purchase filtering software.
> 
> CenturyLink falsely claimed that it was required to do so by a Utah state law that says ISPs must notify customers "of the ability to block material harmful to minors." In fact, the new law requires only that ISPs notify customers of their filtering software options "in a conspicuous manner"; it does not say that the ISPs must disable Internet access until consumers acknowledge the notification.


----------



## ekim68

Coal Ash Dumps Are Contaminating Groundwater in 22 States



> Ten years ago today, the earthen wall of a coal ash impoundment in Kingston, Tennessee, ruptured, sending 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash slurry rushing across the countryside, destroying homes and chocking streams and wetlands with the toxic leftovers from burning coal for electricity. Luckily, no one died in the flood, but more than 30 workers have died after cleaning up the spill. Another 200 workers are now sick or dying from blood cancer and other illnesses linked to heavy metals such as arsenic, selenium and mercury that are found in coal ash. A ceremony and memorial to honor the workers is being held today in Harriman, Tennessee, and a class action lawsuit against an environmental contractor who hired the cleanup workers is winding through the courts.
> 
> The Kingston disaster was the worst coal ash spill in United States history and inspired environmentalists to push for tighter regulations over the past decade, but pollution from coal ash remains a widespread and ongoing problem. Across the country, coal ash, boiler slag and other combustion waste from power plants is stored in open air pits and impoundments, where rainfall creates a toxic slurry full of heavy metals. At least 67 coal ash dumps in 22 states are currently leaking harmful chemicals into groundwater and will require cleanup efforts in the coming year, according to recent data posted by power companies and compiled by environmental groups, who expect that additional leaking pits have yet to be publicly identified.


----------



## Johnny b

Corruption in the Trump 'universe'.....and the beat goes on.

* Probe of Trump's charity could crash 'like a Mack Truck' into his real estate empire *
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/do...arity-could-crash-mack-truck-his-real-n950576



> "There seems to be entanglements in terms of people and probably in terms of money," said Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor and NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst.
> 
> ................
> "It is likely that the investigation into the Trump Foundation has sufficiently overlapped with the Trump Organization that (state) investigators would be justified in extending their investigation into the Trump Organization," he said.


----------



## Johnny b

(yawn! the threats never end)

* Donald Trump, venting fury over budget fight, threatens to close U.S.-Mexico border *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...threatens-close-u-s-mexico-border/2430052002/



> WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump threatened Friday to close the U.S. border with Mexico if Democrats keep opposing funding for his proposed wall, but he did not spell out how he would carry out such a policy or its broader impact.


I wonder if Trump needs to open the government to do that?


----------



## ekim68

The EU Is Banning Almost All Coal Mining on Jan 1



> Every unprofitable coal mine in the European Union must cease production by the first day of 2019, the date on which all public funds for the mines will come to an end. In Spain, that means that 26 coal mines are about to close up shop, according to _Reuters_.


----------



## ekim68

The lies Comcast allegedly told customers to hide full cost of service




> Minnesota AG seeks refunds, saying thousands of Comcast customers were harmed.


----------



## ekim68

Shutdown could delay fix for camera on Hubble telescope



> Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 has been turned off due to hardware anomalies, according to an update from NASA.
> 
> "Hubble is still conducting science observations with its other instruments (one camera and two spectrographs) -- more than enough to keep the observatory active for the near future," Cheryl Gundy, deputy news chief at the Space Telescope Science Institute told UPI in an email.
> 
> There are concerns, however, that "engineers are unlikely to be able to fix the aging telescope until the ongoing U.S. government shutdown ends -- whenever that might be," according to the science journal Nature.


----------



## ekim68

How Is The Shutdown Affecting America? Let Us Count The Ways



> The U.S. government has been operating under a partial shutdown since Dec. 22. The shutdown, driven by a political battle over President Trump's demand that Congress approve funds for a wall along the border with Mexico, is touching the lives of Americans in myriad ways.


----------



## Johnny b

A bit of irony, from your link.
With Trump arguing for border security, he shuts down a process intended to make it more secure.



> The shutdown has also halted E-Verify, a federal program that aims to prevent immigrants from working in the U.S. illegally.
> 
> "There's an irony there," Julie Pace, an attorney specializing in employment and immigration law at the Cavanagh Law Firm in Phoenix, told NPR. "We have an electronic wall for E-Verify that should be being used, that the government has not funded."


----------



## Johnny b

Nepotism, anyone?

* Ivanka Trump reportedly being considered to head World Bank *

https://nypost.com/2019/01/11/ivanka-trump-being-considered-to-head-the-world-bank/



> Ivanka Trump's previous business experience includes her work with the Trump Organization and managing her own lifestyle and fashion brand.


----------



## Wino

Like Ivanka has the knowledge or ability.

What needs to happen is the whole family needs to be tried and jailed, forced to forfeit all their illegal operations, property and be forced to live like most of us so they can finally see what it's like to live in this country. Maybe exile to Moscow would work. But I would prefer prison with no access to twitter or internet.


----------



## Johnny b

Not exactly a surprise:

* Mueller Draft Report Says Trump 'Helped Putin Destabilize the United States', Watergate Journalist Says *

https://www.newsweek.com/mueller-re...n-destabilize-us-watergate-journalist-1289541



> Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein has said that he's been told that special counsel Robert Mueller's report will show how President Donald Trump helped Russia "destabilize the United States."


----------



## ekim68

President Trump can't stop U.S. coal plants from retiring



> (Reuters) - More U.S. coal-fired power plants were shut in President Donald Trump's first two years than were retired in the whole of Barack Obama's first term, despite the Republican's efforts to prop up the industry to keep a campaign promise to coal-mining states.


----------



## ekim68

Trump's shutdown is adding 20,000 cases per week to the record-high immigration court backlog




> People had likely waited years to get hearings scheduled, only to have them cancelled by the ongoing government shutdown.


----------



## ekim68

Supreme Court decides not to hear cases on transgender troops, DACA



> Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday opted to stay out of an appeal to the Trump administration's new restrictions for transgender troops.
> 
> By not acting on the transgender case, the administration can start enforcing its restriction on transgenders in the military.


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump admin planning for even longer shutdown *

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-admin-planning-even-longer-shutdown-n961961



> ....Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told agency leaders he wants to know what high-impact programs would be jeopardized if the shutdown lasts into March or even April........


----------



## ekim68

FCC accused of colluding with Big Cable to game 5G legal challenge



> US telecoms regulator the FCC has been accused of colluding with companies it is supposed to oversee in order to protect a controversial decision over new 5G networks.
> 
> Chair of the House Commerce chair, Frank Pallone, has sent a letter to FCC chair Ajit Pai asking for copies of communications between the FCC and the big telcos regarding legal challenges to the regulator's 5G order, which forces local governments to charge a flat fee for installing new base stations.


----------



## ekim68

Report: Americans got 26.3 billion robocalls last year, up 46 percent from 2017



> Americans are now getting so many robo-calls on a regular basis that many are simply choosing not to answer the phone altogether.


----------



## Johnny b

ekim68 said:


> Report: Americans got 26.3 billion robocalls last year, up 46 percent from 2017


Over 95% of my incoming calls on my land line are robo.
I don't answer the phone, I have an answering machine to do that and clear it periodically through the day.
I keep my cell phone turned off and only turn it on to call out. Except for 2fa, all messaging is ignored, dropped calls ignored and cleared, I don't give out the # .

The technology is there for the government to spy on us, why isn't that kind of tech used to stop/reduce the invasion of privacy by illegal robo callers? ( rhetorical question )


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Over 95% of my incoming calls on my land line are robo.
> I don't answer the phone, I have an answering machine to do that and clear it periodically through the day.
> I keep my cell phone turned off and only turn it on to call out. Except for 2fa, all messaging is ignored, dropped calls ignored and cleared, I don't give out the # .
> 
> The technology is there for the government to spy on us, why isn't that kind of tech used to stop/reduce the invasion of privacy by illegal robo callers? ( rhetorical question )


Conceptually, I agree 100%.

However, with the ability to hide/change source telephone numbers, the solution is a bit more problematic; but, over time it would be possible to crack down on the robo-calls. Legally, I think that this would require a law that would allow telecom companies to turn over the identified numbers to the Government and release the telecom companies form legal liability for this action. Then the government would have to issue mandatory blocking of the identified numbers.


----------



## Chawbacon

*Saints fan protests Super Bowl using billboards in Atlanta area*
https://saintswire.usatoday.com/2019/01/22/saints-fan-billboards-in-atlanta-to-protest-super-bowl/


> One of those fans going public with his vitriol is Matt Bowers, who owns a number of New Orleans car dealerships. Bowers bought billboard space in eight different locations surrounding Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of Super Bowl LIII; the messages include "Saints got robbed," "NFL bleaux it" and "They reffed up."


Being an EAGLES fan, I just find this humorous. 

However, I am wondering where the political anti-wall/barrier protesters are gathering???? After all, anyone who wants to go to the Superbowl should be allowed to enter... Right???? 

*Black Hawk helicopter and bomb-sniffing dogs: How Atlanta is protecting the Super Bowl*
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-2019-how-atlanta-is-protecting-the-big-game/


> There's obvious physical security, like seven miles of fencing that rings the stadium and bomb-sniffing dogs. Every arriving truck here gets an X-ray inspections by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.


----------



## ekim68

Wireless Carriers Busted Sharing User 911 Location Data



> Recent scandals involving companies like Securus and LocationSmart made it clear that cellular carriers are collecting and selling an ocean of user location data without any meaningful oversight. Several reports have highlighted how that data is then being routinely abused by everybody from ethically dubious local Sheriffs to bounty hunters. Subsequent investigations have shown how easy it is for bounty hunters and others to access this data, and how the FCC under several administrations has failed utterly to hold cellular carriers and data brokers accountable for any of it.


----------



## ekim68

Trump Administration is reportedly holding secret talks with Venezuelan Military



> In an effort to encourage defections from Venezuela's elected President Nicolas Maduro, the Trump administration is reportedly holding secret talks with members of the Venezuelan military as top U.S. cabinet officials continue to issue aggressive threats and push for regime change.


----------



## Chawbacon

*'Assman' displays name on truck's tailgate after license plate request denied*
https://www.foxnews.com/world/assma...s-tailgate-after-license-plate-request-denied


> A Canadian man whose real last name "Assman," was deemed "unacceptable" for a personalized license plate has taken it a step further and emblazoned the back of his truck with a giant design of the offending plate.


I don't care what your political leanings are.... this is just hilarious!

Really. Take a look at the picture of this guy's tailgate and enjoy the open mockery.


----------



## Wino

Had a cousin that married man with surname of Titsworth - they had three children one boy and two girls - wife and girls were all well endowed, but they looked forward to getting married after their high school and college years of harassment and teasing, and then cousin divorced him. He and I remained friends until his death - he was a much better person than cousin.


----------



## ekim68

China Has Abandoned a Cybersecurity Truce With the U.S., Report Says



> China largely abandoned a hacking truce negotiated by Barack Obama as President Donald Trump embarked on a trade war with Beijing last year, according to the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike Inc.


----------



## Chawbacon

ekim68 said:


> China Has Abandoned a Cybersecurity Truce With the U.S., Report Says


Blaming President Trump for China hacking attempts is a bit disingenuous. Granted, his trade policies will not help the situation; but, the Chinese never really stopped state sponsored cyber attacks. In point, let us look at an article from The Washington Times on this very issue dated September 2016, which is during the Obama era and after the vaunted cyber warfare truce.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/28/china-cyber-espionage-continues/


> U.S. Cyber Command recently reported within secret government channels that China is continuing aggressive cyber espionage against American companies.


We should throw in an article from the Washington Free Beacon as well dated March 2016, which is a scant six months after the cyber cease fire agreement. 
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-continuing-cyber-attacks-on-u-s-networks/


> Six months after China pledged to halt cyber espionage against the United States, Beijing's hackers continue to conduct cyber attacks on government and private networks, the commander of U.S. Cyber Command told Congress...
> 
> ...Despite the Chinese hacking activity, the Obama administration has taken no action against China for years of large-scale cyber attacks that officials say have cost the nation billions of dollars in stolen intellectual property and compromised networks...


To sum this up: There is plenty of blame to spread around where political parties are concerned; but, we need to stay focused on the bigger picture... China has been a bad actor on the cyber stage for a long time, is still a bad actor on the cyber stage, and will probably continue to be a bad actor on the cyber stage for the foreseeable future. What we truly need to learn from this, is that the U.S. (government agencies and private companies/individuals) needs to step up cyber security efforts across the board.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> ............
> 
> ................ What we truly need to learn from this, is that the U.S. (government agencies and private companies/individuals) needs to step up cyber security efforts across the board.


Agreed.
It's been a long term problem.


----------



## Johnny b

Forbes, a well respected business reporter:

* Under Trump's Tariffs, The US Lost 20,000 Solar Energy Jobs *

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamese...-tariffs-the-us-lost-20000-solar-energy-jobs/

Seems like Trump's Trade War has been affecting many industries and business activities negatively. Shocking.

tic toc.....there's primary coming.


----------



## Johnny b

Forbes, a well respected business reporter:

* Home And Auto Sales Could Be In For A Big Correction *

https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosm...es-could-be-heading-for-a-2008-9-style-crash/



> Homes and autos aren't selling that well lately. Total vehicle sales in the US dropped to 16.70 million units in January from 17.55 million in December of 2018. While that number is still above the long-term average (1993-2019 period), it's well-below the all-time high of 21.77 million reached in October of 2001.
> 
> ................
> In a recent note, Torsten Sløk, Chief International Economist and Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Securities, sees things headed south from here for both markets, due deteriorating conditions of buying vehicles and homes.
> 
> Coming at a time when the US economy is strong and unemployment at record low, the decline in auto and home sales raise fears that the two sectors may be in for a big and prolonged decline that parallels that of 2008-2009.


tic toc.........there's a primary coming


----------



## Johnny b

Reminds me of that old TV show....Beat the Clock 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042080/

Will the Trump family 'beat the clock' and own all of the US, or go home empty handed with only their previous winnings from questionable real estate deals?

tic toc.......a primary is coming.


----------



## Johnny b

* As tax refunds shrink, Republicans scramble to defend Trump tax cut *

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/23/tax-refunds-republicans-1182286



> Republicans are acutely aware that there's a public relations problem.


OK...that made me laugh!

tic toc......there's a primary coming


----------



## Drabdr

I never really read these very much. But I do miss Poochers.


----------



## Johnny b

I wish we knew something about Poochie.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Forbes, a well respected business reporter:
> 
> * Home And Auto Sales Could Be In For A Big Correction *
> 
> https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosm...es-could-be-heading-for-a-2008-9-style-crash/
> 
> tic toc.........there's a primary coming


On the all time high vehicle sales in 2001, that was due to most of the major automakers pushing promotions after 9/11, implementing 0% financing and/or extremely low interest rates. Further into the article the author discusses "pent down demand", which essentially means market over saturation due to low interest rates. Could it indicate an overall market downturn... perhaps, or perhaps not (shrug). Good article though, a very interesting read.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> * As tax refunds shrink, Republicans scramble to defend Trump tax cut *
> 
> https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/23/tax-refunds-republicans-1182286
> 
> OK...that made me laugh!
> 
> tic toc......there's a primary coming


Sigh... Just a hit piece by Politico.

The really sad thing here is that Politico and obviously Democrat leadership does not understand how taxes and tax refunds work. Some very simple points:

A tax refund is money that you overpaid to the government, which the government has gladly withheld as an interest free loan.
Keeping more of your money during the year, means overpaying less money to the government in taxes during the year.
Why would anyone expect to pay less money in taxes to the government and then expect to also receive a tax refund at the higher taxed rate?


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Sigh... Just a hit piece by Politico.
> 
> The really sad thing here is that Politico and obviously Democrat leadership does not understand how taxes and tax refunds work. Some very simple points:
> 
> A tax refund is money that you overpaid to the government, which the government has gladly withheld as an interest free loan.
> Keeping more of your money during the year, means overpaying less money to the government in taxes during the year.
> Why would anyone expect to pay less money in taxes to the government and then expect to also receive a tax refund at the higher taxed rate?



And yet it doesn't seem to be working out like that.
Because the new tax plan eliminates many taxes for deductions , many people are taxed against monies spent on taxation. Like State and property tax being an issue. Mortgages, too.

Personally, I saw this coming, have a great CPA and don't live on the edge of financial ruin with credit issues.

But many Americans do and Trumpites forgot (or did they  ) and now the Trump administration risks the imagery of rampant 'tax and spend' as they are willing to shut down the government as they argue for $billions to build a wall that does not address the drug problems nor crime issues in the US but adds a lot of social and moral issues..........and at the same time......plan a $80 million parade to make themselves look good.

All it takes is the perception of a 'let them eat cake' moment, and 'things change' becomes a real possibility.

tic toc


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> On the all time high vehicle sales in 2001, that was due to most of the major automakers pushing promotions after 9/11, implementing 0% financing and/or extremely low interest rates. Further into the article the author discusses "pent down demand", which essentially means market over saturation due to low interest rates. Could it indicate an overall market downturn... perhaps, or perhaps not (shrug). Good article though, a very interesting read.





> Could it indicate an overall market downturn... perhaps, or perhaps not (shrug)


Let me guess, even your observations went over your head?
More people are working, interest rates are low and sales that drive an economy are down. Read the stats, the issue is one of premature sales based on easy credit overwhelming need.
The concept of 'pent down demand' is referring to that aggregation of sales surpassing need.
Trump argued to continue keeping interest rates low.
But that only benefited his business model in keeping his own credit payments stable. 
The economy went 'hot'. Control was lost.

Problem now is, adjust the Prime upward and sales could easily take another hit on top of the current down turn. And that with an election coming. Oh the possibilities  
And since the economy is now reflecting a 'coolness' in several major sectors, the thought could swing to lower interest rates.
In an economy that is already pressuring the middle class to ignore saving for the future, it only acerbates the bleak future of retirement with images of greater poverty of an aged class that no longer has a working income. 
Or they become greeters at Walmart through their remaining 'golden' years 

Typical screw up when idiots run the show for their own benefit.

tic toc


----------



## ekim68

Intel kills 5G deal with China's Unigroup over U.S. security concerns



> Intel has halted a long-term plan to share 5G modem technology with a Chinese government-backed chipmaker, due in part to concerns over recent U.S. tensions with China, Nikkei reports. The deal was previously expected to expand Intel's opportunities in China's growing market, while aiding the Chinese government's plans to develop its own chip industry.


----------



## Johnny b

Donald Trump sweats bullets ?

* While in Hanoi, Donald Trump attacks Michael Cohen before testimony *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...trump-attacks-former-lawyer-hanoi/3001464002/

tic toc


----------



## Johnny b

US Congressman back pedals from obviously seen threat to Cohen and Cohen's family with weasel worded apology.

* 'I'm sorry': Rep. Matt Gaetz apologizes for tweeting apparent threat to Michael Cohen *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ter-apparent-threat-michael-cohen/3002635002/



> .... his viral tweet alleged Cohen had cheated on his wife and sparked calls for an ethics investigation.
> ......
> "I'm deleting the tweet & I should have chosen words that better showed my intent. I'm sorry."........
> 
> The apology followed criticism that Gaetz's tweet could be seen as intimidating a witness. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that members' comments "on social media or in the press can adversely affect the ability of the House Committees to obtain the truthful and complete information necessary to fulfill their duties."


A member of Congress threatening a witness! :down:
That attitude seems common in the days of Trumpism.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> US Congressman back pedals from obviously seen threat to Cohen and Cohen's family with weasel worded apology.
> 
> * 'I'm sorry': Rep. Matt Gaetz apologizes for tweeting apparent threat to Michael Cohen *
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ter-apparent-threat-michael-cohen/3002635002/
> 
> A member of Congress threatening a witness!
> That attitude seems common in the days of Trumpism.


Sorry; but, I do not see the ominous threat here. Sound more like a political hit job by Gaetz, via an infidelity accusation. If Gaetz cannot back up his claims, then I would expect legitimate ramifications at the voting box. Here is the concerned tweet...


> " Hey @MichaelCohen212 - Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?" Gaetz wrote in the since-deleted tweet. "Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison. She's about to learn a lot..."


Unless you are saying that the timing of the tweet could be considered a threat.... ok... I can see that point of view; but, I highly doubt that an ethics investigation would result in disciplinary actions.


----------



## Chawbacon

OK... I have to give credit to the fire fighters here. Personally, I would not have been able to resist the Whack-A-Mole effect. *

A team of firefighters heroically rescued a distressed fat rat that was trapped in a sewer grate*
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...in-a-sewer-grate/ar-BBU7jiv?OCID=ansmsnnews11


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Sorry; but, I do not see the ominous threat here. ..............................


I believe you 

But, there it was for all to see.
And if that's not bad, here's Ohio's favorite ex-coach that ignored the safety of his students as a perverted sports doctor violated them sexually, position on remorse:

* Analysis: For President Trump, Cohen's allegations were explosive. Will they matter? *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...mony-change-voter-attitudes-trump/3001704002/



> Cohen, 52, looked tense and exhausted, but he generally spoke with a calm and emphatic tone. He began by apologizing, expressing regret for his willingness to do Trump's dirty work and for lying to Congress. He described a life and a livelihood now turned upside down. Worried about attacks, he said he now insists that his wife and children walk ahead of, not beside, him when they go out.
> 
> One of the few times he openly bristled was when Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, accused him of lacking remorse.


Ironic that Jordan never once had remorse for ignoring the safety of the boys in his wrestling squad.
But then, that is what Congress has become, a kinship among hypocrites.

Do Trump supporters care about these allegations?
I suspect not at all.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> OK... I have to give credit to the fire fighters here. Personally, I would not have been able to resist the Whack-A-Mole effect. *
> 
> A team of firefighters heroically rescued a distressed fat rat that was trapped in a sewer grate*
> https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...in-a-sewer-grate/ar-BBU7jiv?OCID=ansmsnnews11


At least that article had meaning for someone


----------



## Johnny b

This morning I had the local police remove a racoon that was possibly rabid.
Animal control refused to respond.

The officer said he'd return the red MAGA cap to the critter if it survived  ( just kidding about the cap )


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Do Trump supporters care about these allegations?
> I suspect not at all.


Well, I cannot speak for the all-in Trump supporters; however, in my personal view as a mostly support Trump individual, the accusations by Cohen are much more concerning, and have a lot more potential to be true than any of the Russian collusion allegations. But again, we come back around to the production of proof, as opposed to the seriousness of the allegations. Produce the proof and Cohen will probably change the minds of many Trump supporters. But, said proof will have to be a legitimate threat (break your legs, or burn down your business kind of threats), otherwise the threat would simply be viewed as a part of doing business.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Well, I cannot speak for the all-in Trump supporters; however, in my personal view as a mostly support Trump individual, the accusations by Manafort are much more concerning, and have a lot more potential to be true than any of the Russian collusion allegations. But again, we come back around to the production of proof, as opposed to the seriousness of the allegations. Produce the proof and Manafort will probably change the minds of many Trump supporters. But, said proof will have to be a legitimate threat (break your legs, or burn down your business kind of threats), otherwise the threat would simply be viewed as a part of doing business.


Just 'Doing business'?
Like breaking up families that seek sanctuary to instill fear as a deterrent? 
Like ignoring the sexual abuse of those children that were separated from their families?
Like mistreating those children by allowing sickness to advance to death?

Trump....just doing business.
So long as it isn't applied to 'your' family 

Gaetz couldn't have been more obvious as Cohen was about to testify unless he pulled a gun and made the same statement 

And obvious he was as he realized if he didn't walk back the threat, he was going to have both a political and a legal problem.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Just 'Doing business'?
> Like breaking up families that seek sanctuary to instill fear as a deterrent?
> Like ignoring the sexual abuse of those children that were separated from their families?
> Like mistreating those children by allowing sickness to advance to death?
> 
> Trump....just doing business.
> So long as it isn't applied to 'your' family
> 
> Gaetz couldn't have been more obvious as Cohen was about to testify unless he pulled a gun and made the same statement
> 
> And obvious he was as he realized if he didn't walk back the threat, he was going to have both a political and a legal problem.


Sigh... No. I believe in the rule of law.

Plus you are mixing apples and oranges here. The family border separation policy was due to liberal demands (via media outrage and the court system) back when Reagan was in office. Trump has simply been enforcing our existing laws on that particular issue. Novel concept for a President, right?  That issue is completely separate in context and completely separate in time from past threats that Trump has been accused of making by Cohen, while Trump was a citizen running a business.

My apologies for referencing Manafort above. That should have been Cohen. I will correct the post shortly.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Sigh... No. I believe in the rule of law.
> 
> Plus you are mixing apples and oranges here. The family border separation policy was due to liberal demands (via media outrage and the court system) back when Reagan was in office. Trump has simply been enforcing our existing laws on that particular issue. Novel concept for a President, right?  That issue is completely separate in context and completely separate in time from past threats that Trump has been accused of making by Cohen, while Trump was a citizen running a business.
> 
> My apologies for referencing Manafort above. That should have been Cohen. I will correct the post shortly.





> Plus you are mixing apples and oranges here.


?
You brought up the subject of 'just doing business'.
Obviously you didn't like expanding beyond the verbal threats of Gaetz.
But threats have become a way of life for Trump and his 'machine'.
From abusing people desperately seeking the safety of sanctuary to business not conforming to Trump's Trade War policies.

And posting sophistry in place of recognizable reality is not critical thinking.
Reagan did conspire to abuse, but it was more to his cocaine distribution network ( the Iran-Contra scandal) where he funded a War in Nicaragua that Congress wouldn't support. 
Trump merely applied his own interpretation of past legislation to rationalize his crimes against humanity. And the Trumpites rallied around that 'institutional racism' you've probably forgotten that you introduced months ago.



> Novel concept for a President, right?


Indeed. I can't think of a more brutal President of the past in US history. Can you?
Could he be only the second worst ? (  )



> That issue is completely separate in context and completely separate in time from past threats that Trump has been accused of making by Cohen, while Trump was a citizen running a business.


What are you now discussing?
I present a pattern of inhumanity/imorality in Trump ( that seems to follow him through his life ) and you claim it doesn't count because he's no longer just a citizen? lol!

Personally, I judge a candidate by his/her life experiences and morality.
So...how the hell did Trump make it into the Oval Office?  ...
Obviously because a lot of voters felt the same as Trump. 
Mulligans here, mulligans there, mulligan mulligans everywhere. LOL! 
Don' need no stinkin' morals 

I was listening to my car radio today when I came across a talkradio station.
Some guy was claiming Trump was the emissary for the next coming of Christ ( this is/was no joke or put-on ). 
Our society is sick. Trump is a symptom.


----------



## Johnny b

> Trump was the emissary for the next coming of Christ


I decided to follow up on that thought:

Since 'Google is my friend'
I googled the above quote.

https://www.google.com/search?clien...as+the+emissary+for+the+next+coming+of+Christ

Some might find this an interesting read:

*Evangelicals recast Trump as an Old Testament king. Will he usher in second coming? *
https://www.kentucky.com/living/religion/paul-prather/article205469924.html



> He says top evangelicals - circles in which I decidedly do not travel -support Trump because they believe him to be the 21st century embodiment of the Old Testament monarch Cyrus.
> 
> In their minds, Trump's willingness to go against the grain means he can support biblical mandates and even fulfill biblical prophecies that may usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ.
> 
> For those of you rusty on your Old Testament, Cyrus was a Persian king who allowed the Jews to return from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple.
> 
> Today, for many evangelicals, Cyrus represents the idea that God, moving in his mysterious ways, can sovereignly use an ungodly leader to accomplish godly ends.


( sigh! )


----------



## Johnny b

The guy that had his name listed as author to the book "Art of the Deal" just got 'shot down' in Vietnam by a short fat dictator that goes by the nickname, 'Little Rocket Man.




* Takeaways from Donald Trump's abruptly ended summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...aways-collapsed-talks-north-korea/3008706002/

Cryptically, Trump responded


> "I have not committed."


As Trump typically doesn't finish sentences nor follow his own thought's, pundits are probably wondering if Trump left out the words "yet" and "been" (  )


----------



## Johnny b

Not so funny:
Trump defends one of the worlds worst dictators.

* 'I don't believe he knew about it.' Trump defends Kim Jong Un on Otto Warmbier's death *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...im-jong-un-his-word-otto-warmbier/3001504002/



> President Donald Trump said Thursday he did not hold Kim Jong Un responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier, the U.S. college student who died after being imprisoned in North Korea.
> 
> In 2016, Warmbier, then 21 years old, was arrested and accused of committing a "hostile act" as he tried to leave North Korea. He was sent home to his parents in Ohio in June 2017 in a coma with a massive brain injury and died afterward.
> ....................
> "I don't believe he knew about it," Trump said of Kim. "He tells me that he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word."


IMO, blindly taking the word of hostile dictators is not in the best interests of our society.

Putin smiled.


----------



## Wino

I expect we will soon learn that it was Un that "walked" rather than Trump. I also believe the infatuation Trump has for NK despot is a bit sick. I suspect their favorite song is "My Heart Will Go On" (theme from Titanic movie) - the words almost echo Trumps comments regarding their relationship. In either case, they both are destructive to their respective nations on a grand scale - make that YUGE!!


----------



## Johnny b

The bromance is over 

Photo says it all:










But you can read it here:

* North Korean official contradicts President Trump's account of failed nuclear negotiations *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-nuclear-sanctions-summit-vietnam/3016828002/

This photo also seems to have a lot of meaning (  )










I suspect someone's going to be looking for a new job soon


----------



## Johnny b

I wonder if Trump still expects a Nobel Peace Prize?


----------



## Johnny b

Exactly why I don't like 'oped' pieces......many are simply worthless lies for the sake of a biased headline.

This popped up in reference as a support of Trump's Tax cuts in face of the present refund complaints:

* Democrats' anti-Trump tax cut talking point just collapsed - tax refunds are up this year *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...-refunds-irs-kamala-harris-column/3026996002/

If you didn't read the whole article, you would miss at the end of it:


> And here's the thing: We still don't have enough data to draw conclusions! Last week, average refunds were cumulatively down 17 percent. Two weeks ago, they were down 9 percent. The average refund could go up further or back down next week, as data naturally fluctuates. These numbers won't be clear until filing season ends.


For those afflicted with 'New Math', tax refunds are NOT currently UP as the headline states. Wilford posts one claim and clarifies it with the opposite.
If somebody didn't read the whole article, they're stuck with a false impression.

Wilford speaks with 'forked tongue'.


----------



## Wino

Forked tongues are a required prerequisite to work at USA Today - kinda like Breitbart or WND or anywhere Trumpism is supported.


----------



## ekim68

[URL='https://gizmodo.com/how-an-investigation-of-fake-fcc-comments-snared-a-prom-1832788658']How an Investigation of Fake FCC Comments Snared a Prominent D.C. Media Firm [/URL]



> Millions of records that the FCC's top lawyer once fought to hold back from state law enforcement officials now serve as key evidence in a year-long probe into cases of Americans being impersonated during the agency's latest net neutrality proceeding.


----------



## ekim68

The Making of the Fox News White House




> Fox News has always been partisan. But has it become propaganda?


----------



## ekim68

The biggest political scandal in American history



> Even without seeing Robert Mueller's report, or knowing what prosecutors with the Southern District of New York have unearthed, or what congressional investigators will find, we already have witnessed the biggest political scandal in American history.


----------



## Johnny b

Tucker Carlson just made the news.
Doesn't sound like much of an upstanding conservative to me 

* Tucker Carlson refuses to apologize amid uproar over past comments on 'extremely primitive' women *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...love-sponge-comments-spark-uproar/3127666002/



> Media Matters, a self-described "progressive media watchdog," published clips and transcripts from appearances Carlson made between 2006 and 2011 on a popular shock-jock radio program called "Bubba the Love Sponge."
> 
> In two appearances, Carlson jokingly downplayed the crimes of cult leader - and convicted child sex offender - Warren Jeffs. In other clips, he calls women "extremely primitive," says he feels "sorry for unattractive women," uses the c-word to describe two women, calls one woman a "pig" and refers to two other women as "whores."


Bubba the Love Sponge .....
If anyone remembers....Bubba is Todd Alan Clem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubba_the_Love_Sponge

And this is one of the things he's remembered for:
* Hulk Hogan sex tape *
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubba_the_Love_Sponge#Hulk_Hogan_sex_tape


> In early 2012, it was reported that Clem had filmed his then-wife Heather Clem and Hulk Hogan having sex in his bedroom. Subsequently, on October 4, 2012, Gawker released a short clip of the video.[63] In this video, Clem can be heard saying that the couple can "do their thing" and he will be in his office. Furthermore, at the end of the video, Clem can also be heard telling Heather, "If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket"


And today, we find out that Mr Carlson liked to express his own thoughts with the Bubba.

Maybe like Trump, there's a lot of perverted liberalism in his shadowy past? 

So who is Warren Jeffs?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Jeffs

^^^^^
A Trumptonian future? hmmmmm.


----------



## GrinHulk

https://www.southbendtribune.com/ne...cle_35122979-a285-5c94-9d69-9b93ac4db9e6.html

Swab tests about to be implemented soon. They're starting it out in Michigan. Easier to find out junkies on the road now.

More stuff to know about swab/saliva drug test:
https://testcountry.com/blogs/drug-testing/how-does-a-saliva-drug-test-work


----------



## Johnny b

Tucker Carlson is back in the news this morning.

More of his thoughtful beliefs in xenophobia, racism and misogyny caught on tape:

* After Tucker Carlson says he won't 'bow to the mob,' Media Matters surfaces more radio remarks *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...son-leftist-mob-bubba-love-sponge/3135301002/

And here he is defending the indefensible with Fox News ( his employer ) giving him a platform to make his claims and statements acceptable.

* Tucker Carlson: We will never bow to the leftist mob's attempts to silence us, no matter what *
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tuc...st-mobs-attempts-to-silence-us-no-matter-what

Imagine that.......the spreading of hate is no longer to be criticized. ( so says the Trump propaganda machine )


----------



## ekim68

U.S. to start making parts for ground-launched cruise missile systems



> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will start initial production on parts for ground-launched cruise missile systems, the Pentagon said on Monday, after Washington announced it plans to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.


----------



## Johnny b

Is your trusted local news source legit, you might ask?

* GOP funds messaging sites that look remarkably like trusted local news *

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/local-news-imitation-sites-deal-in-gop-political-messaging/



> A variety of Republican Party messaging websites have been popping up, styled after local news sites. These sites claim to be "unbiased," but they are actually funded by Republican donors, candidates, and organizations.


----------



## Johnny b

Mueller's report possibly coming soon:

*House calls for public release of Robert Mueller's final report in 420-0 vote *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ublic-release-mueller-report-vote/3161577002/



> By a vote of 420-0, the House passed a nonbinding resolution urging for the public release of "any report" Mueller provides to Attorney General William Barr, except the portions "expressly prohibited by law." And they insisted that Congress should receive the whole thing.


----------



## Wino

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ublic-release-mueller-report-vote/3161577002/

Unfortunately, blocked in the Senate by McCain's ex-buddy.


----------



## Johnny b

Disappointing but not surprising.

Trump alone has a lot to hid.
I suspect the collusion goes far deeper than even what the press has been reporting.
A 'who knew what and when' could potentially destroy a lot of DC politicians.


----------



## Chawbacon

Wino said:


> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ublic-release-mueller-report-vote/3161577002/
> 
> Unfortunately, blocked in the Senate by McCain's ex-buddy.


Well, not really blocked. Graham essentially said fine, we will vote on this; but, only if there is an amendment that looks into how the investigation was conducted. I guess that Schumer was afraid of that specific investigation and subsequently refused to add it as an amendment.



> Graham pointed to controversies surrounding a surveillance warrant on Trump aide Carter Page and text messages by two FBI employees that were critical of President Donald Trump.
> 
> "We let Mueller look at all things Trump, related to collusion and otherwise," Graham argued on the Senate floor. "Somebody needs to look at what happened on the other side and find out if the FBI and the DOJ had two systems."
> 
> Schumer declined to include Graham's proposed amendment...


----------



## ekim68

Cyber-espionage warning: Russian hacking groups step up attacks ahead of European elections



> Russian state-backed hacking groups are actively targeting governments, media and political parties across Europe as part of a cyber espionage campaign ahead of the European Union elections in May - and a series of national elections set to place across this year.
> 
> Threat researchers at cybersecurity company FireEye have issued a warning about ongoing malicious activity targeting Europe during 2019, with the two groups behind the attacks thought to be linked to the Kremlin.[/url]


----------



## Johnny b

* The end for Obamacare? Trump administration says it will ask a court to throw out entire health law *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...es-texas-judge-obamacare-decision/3273842002/


----------



## Chawbacon

*Charges dropped against Jussie Smollett, attorneys say*
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/j...cy-chicago-court-appearance-today-2019-03-26/

What the ?????


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> *Charges dropped against Jussie Smollett, attorneys say*
> https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/j...cy-chicago-court-appearance-today-2019-03-26/
> 
> What the ?????


It will be interesting to see how that story eventually turns out.
Looks like all it took was $10K to make his problems disappear.


----------



## ekim68

Brexit: What just happened?



> Members of Parliament have rejected eight different proposals on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union (EU).
> 
> The plans - proposed and then voted on during a turbulent day in Westminster - ranged from holding a second referendum to leaving the EU without a deal on 12 April.


----------



## Bastiat

ekim68 said:


> Brexit: What just happened?
> :


Read the Post editorial from Jeremy Hunt here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...d346f0ec94f_story.html?utm_term=.eb0e067ba87e

In essence he tells us to chill, Britain will always have our back.


----------



## Johnny b

Avenatti back in the news:

* Michael Avenatti charged with stealing millions from clients to pay for his coffee business and jet *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...cted-36-counts-fraud-embezzlement/3434335002/


----------



## Chawbacon

*Coffee not essential for life, Swiss government says*
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47898537


> The government now says coffee is "not essential for life" so doesn't need to be included in the emergency reserves.
> 
> "Coffee contains almost no calories and therefore does not contribute, from the physiological perspective, to safeguarding nutrition," the Federal Office for National Economic Supply said (in German).


Obviously the Swiss government has forgotten that coffee is an essential requirement for those people running their prominent banking systems.


----------



## Johnny b

* Uneasy about the economy, some businesses hold off on hiring *

https://www.daytondailynews.com/bus...esses-hold-off-hiring/gLWcHoz4bZCDTV4AR7fnVJ/

Something is happening in the small business community that is unexpected with all the hullabaloo about Trump's fantastic 'job creation'.



> Small business owners who are uneasy as they see signs of a weakening economy have cut back on hiring in recent months and found ways to get work done without adding employees. The latest evidence of a hiring slowdown came last week, when payroll provider ADP said its small business customers created just 6,000 jobs in March.
> 
> February's tally of 19,000 new jobs was also weak and down sharply from January's 98,000; ADP's small business numbers also fluctuated throughout 2018. The report, as well as the most recent jobs report from the Labor Department, clearly shows that small business hiring has lagged behind job creation at larger companies.


This is significant because small businesses have been historically responsible for most jobs.

I suggest reading the whole article.


----------



## Johnny b

*Exclusive: Donald Trump Has Ordered Thousands More Troops to Mexican Border, New Deployment Document Suggests *

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-troops-border-mexican-nielsen-1397532



> our Defense Department sources told Newsweek the document appears to show between 9,000 to 10,000 more U.S. forces heading to the southwest border over the next few months; however, the Pentagon said Tuesday the document is misleading as not every individual service member in a unit selected to deploy will go.


----------



## Johnny b

*President Trump still facing swirl of investigations even after Robert Mueller's probe has ended *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-trump-legal-peril-investigations/3486106002/



> Prosecutors in a half-dozen federal, state and city jurisdictions are pursuing overlapping inquiries focused on how Trump operated his namesake business empire, how a porn star was paid off in the final weeks of his campaign and how his inaugural committee raised money. New York state alone has three agencies conducting investigations.
> 
> At least six congressional committees are studying Trump's personal finances, his inauguration committee, his business practices before he took office and his conduct since assuming the presidency, seeking evidence of what senior Democrats have called corruption or abuse of his office.


That's not going to look good as GOP campaign material.


----------



## ekim68

Utah Bans Police From Searching Digital Data Without A Warrant, Closes Fourth Amendment Loophole



> Alexa, get a warrant.
> 
> In a major win for digital privacy, Utah became the first state in the nation to ban warrantless searches of electronic data. Under the Electronic Information or Data Privacy Act (HB 57), state law enforcement can only access someone's transmitted or stored digital data (including writing, images, and audio) if a court issues a search warrant based on probable cause. Simply put, the act ensures that search engines, email providers, social media, cloud storage, and any other third-party "electronic communications service" or "remote computing service" are fully protected under the Fourth Amendment (and its equivalent in the Utah Constitution).


----------



## Bastiat

ekim68 said:


> Utah Bans Police From Searching Digital Data Without A Warrant, Closes Fourth Amendment Loophole


That mimics the federal statute which contains the same requirement for a probable cause search warrant. The Supreme Court two years ago, I think, required a warrant to search a cellphone. One of the humorous exchanges during oral argument, at least to me, was a question from Chief Justice Roberts as to why someone would need two cellphones. The lawyer explained that people have two, one for work and one personal so as to keep private data separate. It was an ahh moment for the Court.


----------



## ekim68

Do you have two cellphones?


----------



## Johnny b

* FBI arrests member of armed civilian group that detained migrants *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-leader-larry-hopkins-john-horton/3531834002/



> Hopkins was with the United Constitutional Patriots, a group that drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union and New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas after it began detaining people they encounter who crossed into U.S. territory.
> 
> "This is a dangerous felon who should not have weapons around children and families," Balderas said Saturday in a statement. "Today's arrest by the FBI indicates clearly that the rule of law should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officials, not armed vigilantes."


----------



## Bastiat

ekim68 said:


> Do you have two cellphones?


Yes. A work iPhone that I absolutely hate and my personal phone which is Windows based.


----------



## Johnny b

* We found 85,000 cops who've been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records. *

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/n...ng-misconduct-records-police-cops/3223984002/



> Officers have beaten members of the public, planted evidence and used their badges to harass women. They have lied, stolen, dealt drugs, driven drunk and abused their spouses.
> 
> Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds.


I suspect many are reflecting job related stress. Doesn't excuse it. But it is a human reaction for guardians of an already fractured society.

Solving their problems also involves society's problems.


----------



## Johnny b

Take this with a 'grain of salt', but the conversation was verified:

* Michael Cohen was secretly recorded by actor Tom Arnold talking about his crimes and Trump *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...es-trump-recorded-call-tom-arnold/3564902002/

All because of a porn star? lol!


----------



## ekim68

U.S. charges first major drug distributor, former CEO over opioid crisis



> April 23 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors have indicted a wholesale drug distributor and two former executives on criminal conspiracy and fraud charges, in the first federal case related to the U.S. opioid crisis.


----------



## Johnny b

KKK is coming to Dayton Ohio this month:

* Klan group won't agree to all of Dayton's terms for rally *

https://www.whio.com/news/local/kla...ayton-terms-for-rally/rbuFijC6dsuUOPDhSNonzI/


----------



## Wino

Johnny b said:


> KKK is coming to Dayton Ohio this month:
> 
> * Klan group won't agree to all of Dayton's terms for rally *
> 
> https://www.whio.com/news/local/kla...ayton-terms-for-rally/rbuFijC6dsuUOPDhSNonzI/


Refreshing to know Texas isn't the only backward state with idiots about.


----------



## Wino

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/05/03/ohio-congressional-map-declared-unconstitutional/

If you can't win their hearts and minds, just make voters districts irrelevant - it's the republican way.:notworthy:


----------



## Johnny b

Something to watch:

* California bill: President Trump won't appear on ballot unless he releases tax returns *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...allot-unless-tax-returns-released/1095702001/


----------



## Wino

https://www.vox.com/world/2019/5/3/18528148/pentagon-military-sexual-assault-report-shanahan

Suspect this increase is the "Trump Effect".


----------



## Wino

Johnny b said:


> Something to watch:
> 
> * California bill: President Trump won't appear on ballot unless he releases tax returns *
> 
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...allot-unless-tax-returns-released/1095702001/


Can't read your link as I refuse to white list or unblock ad killer. Hope Newsom will sign the law this go round. Following is another link with some additional input (I think, since I can't read yours).

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019...trump-from-primary-unless-taxes-released.html


----------



## Johnny b

Hey Wino .....it's pretty much the same.

Strange though. I use Adblock plus with no exclusions and NoScript set to block all scripting at the USAToday site. And the site works with the exception of videos and image slides ( which I'm seldom interested in ).


----------



## storage_man

It doesn't make a difference. I haven't seen over the last 30 years anybody but a Democrat win Kali's Electoral Votes. But it will turn into another lawsuit just like the one in the "Ohio" redistricting. Got to keep those Attorney's employed !


----------



## Johnny b

storage_man said:


> It doesn't make a difference. I haven't seen over the last 30 years anybody but a Democrat win Kali's Electoral Votes. But it will turn into another lawsuit just like the one in the "Ohio" redistricting. Got to keep those Attorney's employed !


Of course it makes a difference.

At a minimum, it's bad press leading into the primaries.
The subject? 
"What's he got to hide" will be on many people's minds.

And main stream media will be there to dredge up Trump's past. All over again.
And I doubt the topic of collusion with Russia will be ignored.


----------



## Wino

Not mention Turnips extreme support for right wing mullets per his whiny post regarding his base being maligned or barred by social media. Twitter should kick his fat butt off due to his hate tweets.


----------



## Bastiat

storage_man said:


> Got to keep those Attorney's employed !


Yes you do and we appreciate it.


----------



## ekim68

I didn't think this would happen....


Two Reuters reporters freed in Myanmar after more than 500 days in jail



> YANGON (Reuters) - Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act walked free from prison on Tuesday after more than 500 days behind bars.


----------



## ekim68

'It's Fox News viewers vs. everyone else,' new poll concludes



> "Propaganda works," was the provocative conclusion reached by Recode co-founder Kara Swisher, who tweeted out this chart on Tuesday summarizing the findings of a recent NBC News/WSJ poll:


----------



## ekim68

Here they go again....


B-52s added to aircraft carrier strike group rushing to Middle East to confront Iran threats



> WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is rushing additional military muscle, including B-52 bombers, to the Middle East to counter Iranian threats to U.S. troops on the ground and at sea, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.


----------



## Lanctus

ekim68 said:


> Here they go again....
> 
> 
> B-52s added to aircraft carrier strike group rushing to Middle East to confront Iran threats


This is why we can't have nice things.


----------



## Wino

This is why it is scary to have an imbecil POTUS.


----------



## Johnny b

Sadly, Bill doesn't appear to visit TSG CT anymore.
After all the Tony Robins controversy we indulged in, 
it looks like our suspicions had merit.
So Bill, this post is for you 

* Self-help guru Tony Robbins accused of sexual misconduct, berating victims of rape *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...misconduct-buzzfeed-investigation/3706737002/

--------------------

* Leaked Records Reveal Tony Robbins Berated Abuse Victims, And Former Followers Accuse Him Of Sexual Advances *

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janebradley/tony-robbins-self-help-secrets



> A yearlong investigation by BuzzFeed News, based on leaked recordings, internal documents, and dozens of interviews with fans and insiders, reveals how Robbins has berated abuse victims and subjected his followers to unorthodox and potentially dangerous techniques. And former female fans and staffers have accused him of inappropriate sexual advances.


And it appears Donald Trump was one of his clients. (    )


----------



## ekim68

Teva and Other Generic Drugmakers Inflated Prices Up to 1,000%, State Prosecutors Say



> Leading drug companies including Teva, Pfizer, Novartis and Mylan conspired to inflate the prices of generic drugs by as much as 1,000 percent, according to a far-reaching lawsuit filed on Friday by 44 states.
> 
> The industrywide scheme affected the prices of more than 100 generic drugs, according to the complaint, including lamivudine-zidovudine, which treats H.I.V.; budesonide, an asthma medication; fenofibrate, which treats high cholesterol; amphetamine-dextroamphetamine for A.D.H.D.; oral antibiotics; blood thinners; cancer drugs; contraceptives; and antidepressants.


----------



## Johnny b

* Morgan Stanley explains how Tesla could become a $10 stock *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morgan-stanley-tesla-bear-case-10-stock-120643823.html



> Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas cut his bear case outlook scenario on Tesla's stock from $97 to $10 in a note published Tuesday. This worst-case scenario would represent an about 95% decline from Monday's closing price of $205.36 per share.


Sounds like a pot smoking CEO soesn't make the best decisions


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny b said:


> * Morgan Stanley explains how Tesla could become a $10 stock *
> 
> https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morgan-stanley-tesla-bear-case-10-stock-120643823.html
> 
> Sounds like a pot smoking CEO soesn't make the best decisions


How many CEOs and Execs are secret smokers/imbibers, where their recreational use has nothing to do with their industrial prowess and businesses?


----------



## Wino

I'm fairly confident if Cheetolini smoked a J his thinking ability would be improved considerably - to the point one may actually make sense of his word salads.


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> How many CEOs and Execs are secret smokers/imbibers, where their recreational use has nothing to do with their industrial prowess and businesses?


A better question is.....how does recreational drug abuse affect decision making of CEOs and Execs?

The problem is your question attempts to address absolutes.
The degree of abuse and the physical and mental strengths of the individual are variables that won't adhere to an absolute, other than there will be an effect of some degree, more to the negatives than the positives.
Sometimes to the extremes of negativity.

Musk has presented himself as a heavy user of at least pot. And he's been acting irrational. From falsely calling a hero a 'pedo' to incredible stock price manipulation in full view of the SEC. His automobile product has safety concerns, imo, that go beyond reason and his decision making concerning management of Tesla Auto lately has been erratic.

Substance abuse simply leads to poor decision making.
For some, it's worse than for others.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.
IMHO, this one says more 











> The full experience: Tesla founder Elon Musk was seen smoking a joint in Joe Rogan's podcast recording studio, hours before the share price dropped by nine per cent


----------



## Lanctus

Correlation vs Causation. He smokes pot, but it has no proven affect on his leadership ability. In fact, considering his success with space travel and starting Tesla, one could argue that it makes him a better leader. However, we run into the correlation vs causation argument on both ends.



Johnny b said:


> Musk has presented himself as a heavy user of at least pot. And he's been acting irrational. From falsely calling a hero a 'pedo' to incredible stock price manipulation in full view of the SEC. His automobile product has safety concerns, imo, that go beyond reason and his decision making concerning management of Tesla Auto lately has been erratic.


You are trying to attribute his use of pot and being "irrational". Where's your proof of the two being related? What is Trump's excuse for his irrational behavior? What about his manipulation of virtually everything he touches? See, I can cherry pick behavior and pictures, but that proves nothing.



Johnny b said:


> The degree of abuse and the physical and mental strengths of the individual are variables that won't adhere to an absolute, other than there will be an effect of some degree, more to the negatives than the positives.


You seem to be of the opinion that drug use of any kind constitutes "abuse". Why do you think that? What part of your opinion links the two leading into "poor decision making"?

You talk a lot about the lack of absolutes, yet your "black and white" stance on this issue that drugs are bad sounds a lot like an absolute. Can you clarify?


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> Correlation vs Causation. He smokes pot, but it has no proven affect on his leadership ability. In fact, considering his success with space travel and starting Tesla, one could argue that it makes him a better leader. However, we run into the correlation vs causation argument on both ends.
> 
> You are trying to attribute his use of pot and being "irrational". Where's your proof of the two being related? What is Trump's excuse for his irrational behavior? What about his manipulation of virtually everything he touches? See, I can cherry pick behavior and pictures, but that proves nothing.
> 
> You seem to be of the opinion that drug use of any kind constitutes "abuse". Why do you think that? What part of your opinion links the two leading into "poor decision making"?
> 
> You talk a lot about the lack of absolutes, yet your "black and white" stance on this issue that drugs are bad sounds a lot like an absolute. Can you clarify?


You can argue all you want for recreational usage of drugs.
It's becoming legal.
But that changes little concerning the abuse.
As much as you can post data from pot friendly sources, I can post the negatives from abuse from medical sources.



> In fact, considering his success with space travel and starting Tesla, one could argue that it makes him a better leader. However, we run into the correlation vs causation argument on both ends.


No, the argument exists he could be a better leader if there was no drug abuse 



> You are trying to attribute his use of pot and being "irrational".


Not trying, observing.



> Where's your proof of the two being related?


His current actions do not seem consistent with his past. He smokes dope in front of a camera as his auto business goes into economic peril. 
Pretty damn obvious 



> What about his manipulation of virtually everything he touches? See, I can cherry pick behavior and pictures, but that proves nothing.


I suggest you read and follow the news concerning the business decisions he's recently been making. I don't need to cherry pick, he's leaving a trail of bad decisions.

And there's a lot of attention of it.
( just a general search should convince you Musk is off his game and pot is one of the distractions)
https://www.google.com/search?sourc...1..gws-wiz.....0..0i131j0j0i22i30.lgeDpX1zmVU

The above is nothing new, it's been going on for several years.

USAToday:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...o-elon-musk-marijuana-controversy/1222499002/



> You seem to be of the opinion that drug use of any kind constitutes "abuse".


And I think you are rationalizing something you feel guilty of.
Read what I post, not what you want to read.
Medical marijuana exists for legal usage. So do opioids.
Medical reasons are not abuse.
Have I used pot? No.
Have I used opioids? Yes. Pain control.

We live in a society driven to abuse drugs for the purpose of seeking pleasure and happiness. Obviously, many can't find it with out a chemical solution. And abuse becomes the path to that goal.



> Why do you think that? What part of your opinion links the two leading into "poor decision making"?


Observation.
Impaired judgement.
If you like web links here's two:
https://www.foundationsrecoverynetwork.com/ways-drugs-can-cause-impaired-judgment/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430678/

And that's not even touching on addiction.



> You talk a lot about the lack of absolutes, yet your "black and white" stance on this issue that drugs are bad sounds a lot like an absolute. Can you clarify?


Sure.
You either didn't understand what I posted, or intentionally presented a fallacious argument.
There was no 'black and white' argument.
You are the one making an argument of an absolute. An argument to rationalize drug abuse with out downsides.
I'm just pointing out how it's affected a CEO.
He makes bad judgements 
Acts irrational. LOL!
And smokes pot in front of a camera during an interview......ha ha ha ha!

BTW....your " Correlation vs Causation " argument is a fallacy in regards to the topic.

Correlation, causation, and association - What does it all mean???
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...usation-and-association-what-does-it-all-mean


----------



## Johnny b

More on Tesla:

* There's a 'crisis of confidence' in Tesla *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/theres-a-crisis-of-confidence-in-tesla-162058956.html

A lot of details too long to copy and paste, but this sums it up:



> Tesla's stock is down more than 40% this year. The move is probably 100% justified by the company's weak fundamentals and Musk's ongoing erratic management style. At this point it's unclear as to what will stop the Tesla stock blood-letting.


Lesson to be learned from Elon......
smoke'em while you can still afford 'em


----------



## Johnny b

Elon again!

* Scott Galloway: 'This is the year Tesla comes undone' *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/scott-galloway-this-is-the-year-tesla-comes-undone-103129707.html



> "This is the year Tesla comes undone," Scott Galloway, an NYU professor, tells Yahoo Finance On the Move. "This company could get cut in half. And if you didn't know it had been cut in half, you would look at it and go, 'for an automobile company, it's overvalued.'"
> 
> Besides being overvalued, Galloway states Tesla faces "catastrophic senior level turnover," with a CEO [referring to Elon Musk] that has "absolutely no control of his emotions," and the "weakest board in America;" this, in Galloway's words, adds up to a "sub $100 stock price."


----------



## ekim68

One Republican's Objection Delays Disaster Relief Bill Once Again



> WASHINGTON - A Republican House member on Friday blocked final passage of a long-delayed disaster relief package, ensuring that communities and farmers ravaged by natural disasters would have to wait for the measure to reach President Trump's desk.


----------



## Wino

Roy is in a gerrymandered district (#21) as are all 5 districts surrounding SATX/Bexar County. Even with gerrymandering, the reptilians are barely winning these in bright red Texas - #21 was 3% and #22 was less than 1% (around 800 votes).


----------



## Johnny b

Tesla in financial news again:

* Tesla Points Lower Again and Could Test Key Support *

https://realmoney.thestreet.com/inv...rt-14974409?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo



> The electric carmaker's long-term chart indicates it could plunge to as low as $42 a share as momentum readings show no slowing in the stock's decline.
> 
> .............
> 
> Bottom line strategy: A downside price target of $42 on TSLA is a lot to take in. Maybe too hard to believe among loyal investors and customers, but after living through the 1973-74 bear market I have learned to never rule out bearish targets just because...


On the flip side:

* The Legal Marijuana Industry Is Soaring-And 2019 Could Be Its Best Year Yet *
http://fortune.com/2018/12/27/legal-marijuana-industry-sales/

Hmmmmm? I see lots more bad decisions on the horizon  (  )


----------



## Johnny b

* China Gears Up to Weaponize Rare Earths in Trade War *

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...re-earths-dominance-in-trade-war?srnd=premium



> The threat to weaponize strategic materials ratchets up the tension between the world's two biggest economies before an expected meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump at the G-20 meeting next month.
> 
> ..............
> 
> China is "seriously" considering restricting rare earth exports to the U.S. and may also implement other countermeasures, the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, said in a tweet. An official at the National Development & Reform Commission told CCTV that people in the country won't be happy to see products made with exported rare earths being used to suppress China's development.


----------



## Johnny b

* China Puts U.S. Soy Buying on Hold as Tariff War Escalates *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-puts-u-soy-purchases-065304528.html



> There are signs China is replacing U.S. soybeans with Brazilian supplies. The premium paid for soybeans loading at Paranagua port more than doubled over the past month as the pace of exports has accelerated in the past weeks.
> 
> "Brazil will supply China almost exclusively from now on," said Pedro Dejneka, a partner at Chicago-based MD Commodities.


* U.S. Soy Exporters Say the Loss of Chinese Market Share May Be Permanent *
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-say-china-market-share-loss-may-be-permanent

Too much to copy and paste.

It's rather obvious Trump isn't a friend of capitalism.
Opportunism has been his game at the destruction of many of his business ventures and bankruptcy his way out.
The problem now, as President, is... large segments of our society are at risk of bankruptcy because of his ( malicious ) opportunism.


----------



## Wino

Rare earth minerals from China will affect much.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/30/investing/rare-earths-china-trade-war/index.html

As for tax cuts, not much to crow about.

https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-tax-cut-effects-20190529-story.html

I'd say our economy would be much better if not for Turnip. Also, believe even without his "tax cuts" for corporations our economy was on a steady footing and rising - Turnip would basically have had to do nothing to get where we are now, instead he starts a trade war, compounds cost to Americans with ridiculous tariffs, and talks of more wars, reneges on trade deals, rolls back environmental protections. He in essence is returning this nation to the 19th century. Can't tell the truth even when it would be good he embellishes shamelessly along with taking credit for things he inherited and had naught to do with. The man is a literal walking talking scumbag. I predict our economy under this pig will crash stupendously, the likes of which we have never seen.


----------



## Johnny b

* Chase bank is quietly adding a forced arbitration clause to some credit cards *

https://www.fastcompany.com/90357331/chase-adds-forced-arbitration-clause-to-slate-credit-cards



> This arbitration agreement provides that all disputes between you and Chase must be resolved by BINDING ARBITRATION whenever you or we choose to submit or refer a dispute to arbitration. By accepting this arbitration agreement you GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT (except for matters that may be taken to a small claims court). Arbitration will proceed on an INDIVIDUAL BASIS, so class actions and similar proceedings will NOT be available to you.


In other words, if the Bank screws you, you're _really_ screwed


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump announces tariffs on Mexico in effort to stop migrants coming to the US *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ant-influx-across-southern-border/1293319001/



> A 5% tariff will begin on June 10, but would be removed if Mexico takes "effective actions" to alleviate the "illegal migration crisis," which will "be determined in our sole discretion and judgment," Trump said in a separate statement issued by the White House shortly after Trump's tweet. However, "if the crisis persists" tariffs will increase to 10% on July 1, Trump also said in the statement.
> 
> The tariffs will continue to increase to 15% on Aug. 1, 20% on Sept. 1 and 25% on Oct. 1, if Mexico does not take action "to dramatically reduce or eliminate" the number of migrants against the migrants traveling through its territory to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also said that tariffs will permanently remain at 25% until Mexico "substantially stops" the flow of migrants coming to the United States illegally through its territory.


----------



## Bastiat

Johnny b said:


> * Trump announces tariffs on Mexico in effort to stop migrants coming to the US *


What a putz. More damage to American business. I wonder if we will bailout the affected business like the affected farmers.


----------



## Johnny b

> The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.


Obviously one of Trump's flawed traits, but how about his followers?
Doesn't say much for them, either


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump's Mexico tariffs would cripple U.S. automakers *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumps-mexico-tariffs-will-cripple-us-automakers-090832418.html



> Torsten Slok, the chief economist and managing director at Deutsche Bank Securities, explains that means two-thirds of companies producing goods in Mexico are producing products for their own supply chain and other manufacturers.
> 
> "U.S. trade with Mexico is all about cars. This would cripple the auto industry," he said. "It would bring car production to a halt pretty quickly."
> 
> Slok cites trade data that shows 35% of U.S. auto exports, from a value added standpoint, consist of parts manufactured in Mexico.


----------



## Wino

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that this troglodyte POTUS is doing his best to destroy this nation with his imbecilic actions?? I see this nation going the way of Trumps casinos - straight down the toilet.


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny b said:


> And I think you are rationalizing something you feel guilty of.


You imply that which doesn't exist. Diagnosed by no less than two rheumatologists, I have suffered from ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and fibromyalgia for the better part of 15 years. My life is unrelenting pain without cure. My doctors tried opiods, but that made me extremely sick. So I have to use medical marijuana in order to function. I don't have to explain myself to anyone, least of all about medical conditions, but I want others to know so there is understanding and not prejudice or persecution.


----------



## storage_man

Johnny b said:


> * Chase bank is quietly adding a forced arbitration clause to some credit cards *
> 
> https://www.fastcompany.com/90357331/chase-adds-forced-arbitration-clause-to-slate-credit-cards
> 
> In other words, if the Bank screws you, you're _really_ screwed


I'm with you - Chase one of the worse banking experiences you have. They will never see me again.


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> You imply that which doesn't exist. Diagnosed by no less than two rheumatologists, I have suffered from ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and fibromyalgia for the better part of 15 years. My life is unrelenting pain without cure. My doctors tried opiods, but that made me extremely sick. So I have to use medical marijuana in order to function. I don't have to explain myself to anyone, least of all about medical conditions, but I want others to know so there is understanding and not prejudice or persecution.


I do imply what obviously exists.
There is no objection by me concerning medical marijuana by prescription, but you definitely have an issue when I criticize abuse.

Sorry to hear you have medical issues. But that's a whole different situation from recreational abuse.

I too have unusual medical problems. I would not like to trade with you, nor would like to trade with me. 
But I do not use my condition to rationalize.....anything.
Nor am I going to post them.


----------



## Johnny b

storage_man said:


> I'm with you - Chase one of the worse banking experiences you have. They will never see me again.


I had issues with Chase in the distant past, also.
No losses, but a complete lack of trust.
I never went back.


----------



## Johnny b

Looks like Trump isn't very popular in England:

* More than 10,000 police officers called in to protect Trump during visit to UK *

https://thehill.com/policy/internat...icers-called-in-to-protect-trump-during-visit



> The Times reports that police chiefs in Britain are expected to spend £25 million, or roughly $31,600,000, on security costs related to the president's visit.
> ..............
> 
> According to the British publication, more than 250,000 protesters are expected to attend demonstrations during the president's visit.



That's almost as many as at his inauguration!


----------



## Lanctus

Johnny b said:


> I do imply what obviously exists.
> There is no objection by me concerning medical marijuana by prescription, but you definitely have an issue when I criticize abuse.
> 
> Sorry to hear you have medical issues. But that's a whole different situation from recreational abuse.
> 
> I too have unusual medical problems. I would not like to trade with you, nor would like to trade with me.
> But I do not use my condition to rationalize.....anything.
> Nor am I going to post them.


While it probably doesn't matter at all to you, I used to respect you. Even when you were beating down on others, you had some good points. No longer. I don't use my position to belittle or condescend others, even if I don't agree with them. This started off with attacks on Elon, and ended with attacks on myself. I could continue to debate you, but there are plenty of examples via others who have, that show it does nothing but encourage you to hit back. I don't care what you feel you have to prove or why (I expect you to quote this and respond in kind, denying you have anything to prove), but I won't be your pinata. Find someone else. Good day.


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> While it probably doesn't matter at all to you, I used to respect you. Even when you were beating down on others, you had some good points. No longer. I don't use my position to belittle or condescend others, even if I don't agree with them. This started off with attacks on Elon, and ended with attacks on myself. I could continue to debate you, but there are plenty of examples via others who have, that show it does nothing but encourage you to hit back. I don't care what you feel you have to prove or why (I expect you to quote this and respond in kind, denying you have anything to prove), but I won't be your pinata. Find someone else. Good day.





> I don't use my position to belittle or condescend others,


Looks to me like you just did.



> This started off with attacks on Elon, and ended with attacks on myself.


Interesting comparison.
As I posted, the abuse of drugs leads to bad decisions.
I'll stand by that statement.
And I neither projected or intended criticism on you for using prescription medication for your health issues.
Your reaction is erratic to my comments and logic.

Even while under opiods for pain control after outpatient surgery, I realized it was not safe to drive.
You really think that the drugs weren't having an effect?
BS if you don't.
If you are under heavy medication with disclaimers about driving or using machinery, there is an obvious reason 

BTW, my position on drug abuse is well known at TSG under my original screen name and it hasn't changed one iota. And I posted a lot 
Rationalizing medical marijuana to get high is offensive to me.
If you want to get high and say that's why you want to smoke or eat it, just go do it and quit whining.

There are and have been others at TSG that were honest about it and we still converse rationally.
You, apparently not so much.



> but I won't be your pinata


Actually, it looks like you made yourself one.
You don't seem to be able to comprehend what I've posted.


----------



## Johnny b

Lanctus said:


> While it probably doesn't matter at all to you, I used to respect you. ........................


I saved this for last.

I'm terribly hurt 

Maybe you ought to just address what I post. Not what you imagine I post ..........


----------



## Johnny b

* U.S. manufacturing struggling as orders, shipments decline *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-factory-orders-fall-shipments-140354845.html



> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for U.S.-made goods fell in April and shipments dropped by the most in two years, indicating continued weakness in manufacturing activity that could undercut the broader economy.


----------



## Johnny b

More on Tesla and an analogy to red and blue 'pills'

* Tesla stock: Barclays revisits 'the red pill/blue pill debate' *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-stock-analysts-good-bad-150424860.html












> "You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want believe," Morpheus tells Neo. "You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland. And I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."


----------



## Johnny b

Well well well.
I remember this person being promoted a decade ago. A quack. A nut. And obviously a health hazard to his followers.
The 'Health Ranger' Mike Adams just got kicked out of Facebook.

* Facebook bans health and conspiracy site Natural News *

https://arstechnica.com/science/201...-far-right-conspiracies-banned-from-facebook/



> Conspiracist founder compares Zuckerberg to Hitler, urges Trump to declare war.


A little more on Adams:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_News


----------



## ekim68

Hong Kong media say controversial extradition bill may be suspended



> HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong media reported on Saturday the city's government would suspend a proposed law on extradition to mainland China that sparked widespread anger and violent protests, with leader Carrie Lam planning to address reporters later in the day.


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump's latest government overhaul aims to cut advisory panels by one-third *
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/14/politics/trump-government-advisory-committees/index.html



> President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans to slash the formal system for advising regulators on nearly every area of federal policy.
> The President signed an executive order directing each agency to "terminate at least one-third of its current" advisory committees by the end of September.
> 
> ............
> "How do you maintain what's supposed to be the gold standard in merit review around the world when you have to eliminate a third of the merit review panels?"


----------



## Johnny b

* $1 billion worth of cocaine seized in record Philadelphia bust, feds say *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...llion-seized-port-of-philadelphia/1490982001/



> PHILADELPHIA - Federal authorities intercepted a record 16.5 tons of cocaine onboard a ship at the port of Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
> 
> The drugs have a street value of $1 billion, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.




Well, that load obviously didn't come across our southern border on the backs of immigrants. 
16.5 tons of it. All in one delivery.
That's a society in trouble.


----------



## ekim68

Prisons Are Banning Books That Teach Prisoners How to Code




> Oregon prisons have banned dozens of books about technology and programming, like 'Microsoft Excel 2016 for Dummies,' citing security reasons. The state isn't alone.


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting article here:

* Trump threatened Time journalist with prison over Kim Jong Un letter *

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/21/media/time-photographer-trump-threat/index.html


----------



## ekim68

Bogus Brexit murder plot and other lies planted online by Russian accounts: study



> LONDON (Reuters) - In August 2018, Spanish authorities uncovered a plot by anti-Brexit campaigners to assassinate leading Brexiteer and now favorite to be Britain's next prime minister, Boris Johnson. Or did they?
> 
> That story and others like it were created by a network of social media accounts operating from Russia which have attempted to seed false narratives across 30 different online platforms, a study by the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab has found.


----------



## ekim68

US firms circumventing ban on sales sales to Huawei: report



> American technology firms are still selling components to Chinese technology giant Huawei despite a ban imposed by President Donald Trump on national security grounds, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
> 
> The report, citing unnamed sources, said US chip makers and others have found ways to continue sales, getting around the sanctions by selling goods made outside the United States.


----------



## ekim68

Amid measles outbreak, New York closes religious exemption for vaccinations - but most states retain it



> New York recently became the fifth state - after California, Maine, Mississippi and West Virginia - to enact a law requiring children in public school to be vaccinated unless they have a valid medical reason. Legislatures in several other states are considering similar legislation. Most states (44), however, allow children to be exempt from vaccinations due to religious concerns, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. And one state, Minnesota, allows for a broader exemption based on personal beliefs but does not explicitly mention religion.


----------



## Wino

Organized religion will be the death of us all.


----------



## Brigham

Wino said:


> Organized religion will be the death of us all.


Wino, Have you seen Pat Condell on you tube. He is an ex standup comedian and he has lots of quotes about religion. Once I started reading them, I was unable to stop.


----------



## Bastiat

Wino said:


> Organized religion will be the death of us all.


Some would argue that's the point.


----------



## ekim68

India staring at a water apocalypse



> A combination of climate change, bad policies and political apathy is steadily pushing India into a catastrophic water crisis that threatens stability in South Asia.
> 
> Recent studies document that glaciers feeding the Indian subcontinent's rivers will recede rapidly, while rapid ground water depletion poses an existential challenge to agriculture.


----------



## Chawbacon

*'Mini AOC' ends parody videos after receiving 'death threats,' 'harassment' from the left, family says
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainme...-receiving-death-threats-harassment-from-left*


> "The Left's Harassment and death threats have gone too far for our family. We have been getting calls on our personal phone numbers," Martinez's stepfather Salvatore Schachter tweeted. "For our safety and for our child's safety, we deleted all Mini AOC accounts."


This is quite sad. The videos were cute and a little bit funny; but, nothing earth shattering enough to warrant death threats.


----------



## ekim68

Hong Kong Protests Show Dangers of a Cashless Society



> It can be easy to take cash for granted, especially in a wealthy, developed economy. Those fortunate enough to live in a stable society usually suffer no lack of payment options. They are getting more advanced all the time, with financial technology (fintech) companies constantly developing new ways to quickly and cheaply make purchases and send money. It sometimes seems the days of old-fashioned cash, with its dormant physicality, are numbered.
> 
> Allowing cash to die would be a grave mistake. A cashless society is a surveillance society. The recent round of protests in Hong Kong highlights exactly what we have to lose.


----------



## ekim68

Otto Warmbier's family make claim for North Korean ship 'Wise Honest' seized by US



> WASHINGTON -The parents of Otto Warmbier, an Ohio man who died after being imprisoned in North Korea, filed a legal claim Wednesday seeking the rights to a North Korean cargo ship seized by U.S. authorities.
> 
> Cynthia and Frederick Warmbier argued in the five-page filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that it could stake a claim to the ship and use it to help pay for a $500 million judgment they have against North Korea for their son's death.


----------



## Johnny b

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz seems to be caught up in the Epstein sex ring.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ein-court-sex-trafficking-charges/1671254001/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/alan-...-charges-ill-wait-to-see-what-the-evidence-is

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffr...witz-and-pals-accused-of-sex-trafficking-ring

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232312102.html


----------



## Johnny b

Looks like a lot of the rich and famous are sweating over the Epstein charges..
From Bill Clinton to Donald Trump and a host of 'others'.

* Column: Epstein sex trafficking charges could shine light on Clinton, Trump. Time for bipartisan revulsion. *

https://www.chicagotribune.com/colu...0190708-gyr2bxudgjhrnnvbwcgmhoujdm-story.html


----------



## ekim68

Instagram to notify users comments might be offensive before they are posted



> Instagram will start notifying users their comments may be offensive before they are posted in an effort to curb cyber bullying.
> 
> The company said Monday it started rolling out the artificial intelligence feature in the past few days.


----------



## ekim68

Data Broker LocationSmart Will Fight Class Action Lawsuit Over Selling AT&T Data



> A broker that helped sell AT&T customers' real-time location data says it will fight a class action lawsuit against it. The broker, called LocationSmart, was involved in a number of data selling and cybersecurity incidents, including selling location data that ended up in the hands of bounty hunters.


----------



## ekim68

European Commission rules that UK dwelling EU citizens can still hold .eu domains after Brexit



> What Brexit really means for the UK -- whenever it may end up happening -- still remains to be seen. But a new ruling by the European Commission means that even after leaving Europe, UK citizens will still be able to hold .eu top-level domains after leaving the European Union.


(As an aside to Brigham, is Brexit falling apart?)


----------



## storage_man

Johnny b said:


> Looks like a lot of the rich and famous are sweating over the Epstein charges..
> From Bill Clinton to Donald Trump and a host of 'others'.
> 
> * Column: Epstein sex trafficking charges could shine light on Clinton, Trump. Time for bipartisan revulsion. *
> 
> https://www.chicagotribune.com/colu...0190708-gyr2bxudgjhrnnvbwcgmhoujdm-story.html


I hear he was found beat up & bloody in his cell ? Maybe he had a visitor from Arkansas ?


----------



## ekim68

Hot weather cuts French, German nuclear power output



> PARIS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Scorching temperatures across Europe coupled with prolonged dry weather has reduced French nuclear power generation by around 5.2 gigawatts (GW) or 8%, French power grid operator RTE's data showed on Thursday.
> 
> Electricity output was curtailed at six reactors by 0840 GMT on Thursday, while two other reactors were offline, data showed. High water temperatures and sluggish flows limit the ability to use river water to cool reactors.


----------



## ekim68

A Quarter of Humanity
Faces Looming Water Crises



> BANGALORE, India - Countries that are home to one-fourth of Earth's population face an increasingly urgent risk: The prospect of running out of water.
> 
> From India to Iran to Botswana, 17 countries around the world are currently under extremely high water stress, meaning they are using almost all the water they have, according to new World Resources Institute data published Tuesday.


----------



## Wino

storage_man said:


> I hear he was found beat up & bloody in his cell ? Maybe he had a visitor from Arkansas ?


Looks like an ex-occupant of Trump Towers or the Kremlin decided Epstein had to go. I smell an orange rat. LOL

Can't say I'm sad the pedo is in the hereafter.


----------



## Johnny b

I suspect a number of individuals feel relieved, in both political parties.
And for same or similar reasons.


----------



## valis

Wino said:


> Looks like an ex-occupant of Trump Towers or the Kremlin decided Epstein had to go. I smell an orange rat. LOL
> 
> Can't say I'm sad the pedo is in the hereafter.


'Suicide'.

Uh huh. In federal custoday. On 24 hour suicide watch. A day after some VERY big names were dropped.

Yup, I am buying that.


----------



## Johnny b

Conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day on this one.

Was Epstein assassinated or was he 'allowed' to commit suicide?

I suspect the public will never know for sure.


----------



## Wino

Other than some of his cohorts not getting their comeuppance, I say good riddance to bad rubbish.


----------



## valis

Oh absolutely. No worries whatsoever. I am just saying that was no suicide.

Man, there were some HUGE names released. Prince Edward? Holy crap.


----------



## Wino

Sometimes a suicide is just a suicide. I believe this is one of those times. Epstein, like his cohorts, are all rich cowards. The thought of finally facing the music must have weighed heavily on his fragile ego, so he takes the easy way out. Wealth doesn't always get you off scot free or buy happiness or make one special - generally just buys time. OJ & Cullen Davis were exceptions.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Sometimes a suicide is just a suicide. I believe this is one of those times. Epstein, like his cohorts, are all rich cowards. The thought of finally facing the music must have weighed heavily on his fragile ego, so he takes the easy way out. Wealth doesn't always get you off scot free or buy happiness or make one special - generally just buys time. OJ & Cullen Davis were exceptions.


Sometimes.

I had to look up Davis.

You might find the investigative reporter that exposed the link between the crack cocaine epidemic, Ronald Reagan, Ollie North and the Iran Contra scandal, interesting.
Gary Webb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb
Shot in the head twice.

Ruled a suicide 

And then Ollie North became a American hero.


----------



## valis

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Casolaro


----------



## valis

Rich and powerful play by an entirely different set of rules that we plebes will never understand. Their laws are not ours.


----------



## Johnny b

valis said:


> Rich and powerful play by an entirely different set of rules that we plebes will never understand. Their laws are not ours.


Unfortunately so.

Old saying still true: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.


----------



## valis

Johnny b said:


> Unfortunately so.
> 
> Old saying still true: Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.


Indeed.


----------



## Wino

We all know (even Trump supporters) that the rich have rights we peons only dream of and wish for.


----------



## ekim68

Is there a body?


----------



## Johnny b

This is funny on many levels, no matter your politics

* Epstein had bizarre painting of Bill Clinton in dress, heels in townhouse *

https://nypost.com/2019/08/14/epste...-of-bill-clinton-in-dress-heels-in-townhouse/












> "It was hanging up there prominently - as soon as you walked in - in a room to the right," a source told The Post. "Everybody who saw it laughed and smirked."
> 
> In it, the former president can be seen lounging on a chair in the Oval Office - pointing toward the viewer - while wearing red heels and a blue dress similar to the one Monica Lewinsky famously donned during their White House hookup.


Not funny was this:


> Epstein, 66, also kept a mannequin hanging from the ceiling - dressed up in a wedding gown, the source said, noting how the doll was situated above a staircase.


----------



## storage_man

It was Arkincide ! No suicide, the guards that were working that night work part time for the Clinton foundation as security guards. Simple, they are not going to say anything, and the Clinton machine keeps going. Lets see is that # 47 ? https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/08/here-it-is-complete-list-of-clinton-associates-who-allegedly-died-mysteriously-or-committed-suicide-before-testimony-including-jeffrey-epstein/ Yep sure looks like it.


----------



## Johnny b

storage_man said:


> It was Arkincide ! No suicide, the guards that were working that night work part time for the Clinton foundation as security guards. Simple, they are not going to say anything, and the Clinton machine keeps going. Lets see is that # 47 ? https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/08/here-it-is-complete-list-of-clinton-associates-who-allegedly-died-mysteriously-or-committed-suicide-before-testimony-including-jeffrey-epstein/ Yep sure looks like it.


There is nothing at the link you provided in reference to the prison guards being security guards for the Clinton Foundation.

And most of the claims at that site have been debunked in the past.

And this is what I found about gatewaypundit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_Pundit


> The Gateway Pundit is an American far-right[2][3] news and opinion website. It was founded after the 2004 United States presidential election,[4] according to its founder, Jim Hoft, to "speak the truth" and to "expose the wickedness of the left".[5] It came to notice in 2016 for its favorable coverage of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and was later granted press credentials in the Trump White House.[6] The website is known for publishing falsehoods and spreading hoaxes.[7]
> 
> The Gateway Pundit is known as a source of viral falsehoods and hoaxes.[3][13][14] It has been described as a fake news website.[15] As a result of a number of lawsuits against The Gateway Pundit over its false stories, it was reported in March 2018 that Jim Hoft had told his writers to be more careful: "I don't want any more lawsuits so we have to be really careful with what we put up."[16] Hoft stated that he believes the lawsuits "are part of a multi-pronged effort to attack media outlets on the right."[16]


And this ( too much to copy and paste)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_Pundit#Misidentifying_shooters_and_terrorists

You complain about fake news and then post crap like that?
Credibility?
WOW.....


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> And this is what I found about gatewaypundit:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateway_Pundit


You have a valid point here Johnny; however, I am curious about your opinion of Wikipedia's description of CNN not including a "fake news" section like it did for Pundit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN

After all, CNN ran multiple fake news stories about President Trump colluding with Russia every single day for two years. So, it seems like Wikipedia has a credibility problem itself (asides from the obvious open editing issues).


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> You have a valid point here Johnny; however, I am curious about your opinion of Wikipedia's description of CNN not including a "fake news" section like it did for Pundit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN
> 
> After all, CNN ran multiple fake news stories about President Trump colluding with Russia every single day for two years. So, it seems like Wikipedia has a credibility problem itself (asides from the obvious open editing issues).


First, I seldom use CNN as a source and when I do, I double check other sources.
Second, it's been obvious from Trump's own words, there was and still is protectionism by Trump and his administration, of the Russian intrusion into our electoral process. At a minimum, think 'Moscow Mitch (  ) 
Third, Trump supporters seldom seem able to distinguish intentional fakery from unintentional error. One is self corrected, the other isn't.

The question should be, is CNN biased and does it alter the slant of their news broadcasting?
I think it does. 
It obviously reports more of the negatives of the Trump administration than positives, but 
that is a reality.
The 'good' is an expectation without needed rhetoric.
The 'bad' needs exposure in order to be addressed.

And that's where Trumpism falters. It exists on lies and propaganda and the need to call the exposure 'fake news' and like you try, associate those that expose the lies and propaganda the very same.

It's the success of BS Receptivity. Tell absurd lies long enough based on half truths, and those of weak minds become receptive. Morality and ethics become irrelevant.

CNN often presents a biased view of events. The reality of what is 'bad'.
GatewayPundit fabricates false claims for political reasons and repeats them even after being debunked.

In a way, similar to your Iraqi WMD claims. 

As to Wikipedia, no wonder you don't like it


----------



## ekim68

A Wave of Solidarity With Kashmir Is Spreading Across the Globe



> Tragedy is unfolding in Kashmir. Split between India and Pakistan, the state has been under military occupation as a result of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 and a war between the two powers the following year. On August 5, however, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party-led government (BJP) annulled laws that framed a fragile autonomy for people living on the Indian side. Law 370 - which conferred autonomy upon the state over all matters with the exception of defense, foreign affairs and communication - and 35A, which prevented non-residents from purchasing property, were scrapped by Indian Home Secretary Amit Shah. This would allow Indians to buy land in Kashmir, which has been a key point of a Hindu supremacist agenda bent on marginalizing Muslims throughout South Asia.


----------



## ekim68

Pentagon conducts 1st test of previously banned missile



> WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military has conducted a flight test of a type of missile banned for more than 30 years by a treaty that both the United States and Russia abandoned this month, the Pentagon said.


----------



## ekim68

Indonesia will build its new capital city in Borneo as Jakarta sinks into the Java Sea



> A jungle-covered area on the east of Borneo island is set to be transformed into Indonesia's new capital city.
> 
> Concerns over the sustainability of the congested and rapidly sinking political center of Jakarta prompted the need for a new capital. The relocation was announced Monday by President Joko Widodo.


----------



## Johnny b

Moscow Mitch still upset about being linked to the Russians.
He made the linkage and owns the title when he refused to consider legislation protecting our election process from Russian involvement.

* 'Over the top:' McConnell still mad about #MoscowMitch, calls attention to 2020 election *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...h-over-top-smear-and-unbelievable/2207022001/


----------



## Johnny b

* Senator wants Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to potentially face prison term *
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...ison-term-2019-09-03?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo



> "Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly lied to the American people about privacy. I think he ought to be held personally accountable, which is everything from financial fines to - and let me underline this - the possibility of a prison term."
> 
> 
> 
> Those are the words of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who said Facebook Inc.'s chief executive should face serious consequences for misuse of consumers' personal data.
> 
> "He hurt a lot of people," Wyden told Portland's Willamette Weekly newspaper in an interview published last week.
Click to expand...

Interesting


----------



## Johnny b

Looks like Trump has been wasting his time criticizing Obama on petty stuff.

This was a serious misrepresentation by the Obama administration about financing student loans and it's going to cost taxpayers a bundle.

* Did the Obama administration commit 'the biggest accounting fraud in history' with student loans? Experts weigh in *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-administration-student-loans-experts-113140861.html



> In 2010, Democrats "nationalized the market to help pay for Obama Care," WSJ asserted. "The Congressional Budget Office at the time forecast that eliminating private lenders would save taxpayers $58 billion over 10 years. This estimate was pure fantasy, and now we're seeing how much."
> 
> The WSJ op-ed also highlighted the rising number of severely delinquent student loans since then and blamed the Obama administration for expanding plans in 2012 for new borrowers "to reduce defaults, buy off millennial voters and disguise the cost of its student-loan takeover."
> 
> The editorial board then added: "This may be the biggest accounting fraud in history."
> 
> WSJ argued that eliminating private lenders from the student loan market severely hurt Americans and that by using fair-market accounting, it becomes clear that student loans will actually cost taxpayers nearly $307 billion over the next 10 years.


Too much of interest to copy and paste.

But the last paragraph should get your attention:



> "And so they recreated the worst aspects of the subprime mortgage lending crisis," he stated. "They gave anyone who walked up a loan, without any notion of their capacity to repay."


Some here think I'm too critical of Trump.
Those here at TSG back in the day when Obama was first elected might remember, I ( as Jack Stone) wasn't a supporter of Obama and didn't vote for him. Too much the socialist, imo.

Personally, I don't think I'm critical enough of Trump (  )


----------



## ekim68

The share of Americans with health insurance just dropped for the first time since the Great Recession



> The share of people with health insurance fell last year for the first time since the Great Recession, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
> 
> Approximately 27.5 million Americans, or 8.5% of the population, were without health coverage at some time last year, the data showed. That's up from the 25.6 million Americans, or 7.9% of the population, in 2017. It's the first annual increase since 2009.


----------



## Chawbacon

*A Georgia man shot and killed 3 masked teens as they tried to rob him at his home, police say*
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/17/us/georgia-teen-would-be-robbers-shot/index.html


> A Georgia homeowner shot and killed three teens as they approached his residence with their faces covered, authorities said.
> 
> The masked teens -- a 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds -- approached three residents around 4 a.m. Monday at the front yard of a home just outside Conyers and tried to rob them, the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office said.
> 
> One of the would-be robbers took out a gun and fired shots at them before one of the residents returned fire, authorities said.
> 
> "The victims of the attempted robbery were all uninjured, but the three attempted robbery suspects were all shot during the exchange of gunfire and succumbed to their injuries, one on scene and two at a local hospital after being transported," the sheriff's department said in a news release.


I truly feel and pray for the families of these teens. To loose a loved one at that age is tragic.

What I do not understand though, are the thought processes espoused by the people being interviewed, essentially stating that the reaction to this criminal act by a private citizen was excessive. It almost seems that we need outreach programs that explain the varying degrees to which stupid hurts.


----------



## Johnny b

Loss of life is always tragic and the reason always of importance.
From afar, this looks like a scenario of self defense during an attempt of a crime.
And it it occurred at the residence of a home owner, the would be victim.

In Ohio we have the Castle Doctrine where a home owner does not have to retreat before using force to defend them self, in the home, or even a vehicle.

From what I read, the Georgia case is more a classic case of self defense after an assault initiated by the three teens.
One of the reasons for the Second Amendment, is the right of the citizen to be able to defend him/her self.
In this case, a life or death scenario.

I didn't read, haven't read beyond your news article. What are these interviewees espousing?


----------



## Johnny b

I really hate seeing this.
I grew up on a farm, operated a family farm among other things and spent a lot of time outdoors.

* There are 3 billion fewer birds in North America now than there were in 1970 *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...birds-north-america-now-than-1970/2365747001/

Many reasons but this stood out:



> The cause is primarily habitat loss, as birds are losing the places they need to live, find food, rest and raise their young.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Loss of life is always tragic and the reason always of importance.
> From afar, this looks like a scenario of self defense during an attempt of a crime.
> And it it occurred at the residence of a home owner, the would be victim.
> 
> In Ohio we have the Castle Doctrine where a home owner does not have to retreat before using force to defend them self, in the home, or even a vehicle.
> 
> From what I read, the Georgia case is more a classic case of self defense after an assault initiated by the three teens.
> One of the reasons for the Second Amendment, is the right of the citizen to be able to defend him/her self.
> In this case, a life or death scenario.
> 
> I didn't read, haven't read beyond your news article. What are these interviewees espousing?


No problem. You would have to watch the associated video clip to garner the verbal complaints. 
If I remember correctly, and I am severely paraphrasing here, the complaints were:

You do not need that much firepower to defend yourself (possible assault rifle).
There is no excuse for killing children (because they were teenagers).
Some of them were shot in the back (note - that accusation had not been corroborated by the news agency).


----------



## ekim68

War.... What is it good for?....


U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> No problem. .............
> [/LIST]


Thanks for the reply.
I've seen similar elsewhere.


----------



## Johnny b

Talk about mixed up extremist Republicans!!!!!!!!!
(Hard to believe, but I read it on the Internet so it must be true)

*Forget Greenland - Arizona GOP challenger wants to annex Mexico. And (LOL) he's serious. *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...ccarthy-trump-annex-mexico-column/2378735001/



> What's not to like about U.S. senator-wannabe Daniel McCarthy's plan to annex Mexico?
> 
> Nice beaches. Plenty of oil. A surplus of hard-core drugs that Americans devour. No need for a border wall.
> 
> And letting nearly 130 million Mexicans become U.S. citizens? Priceless.
> 
> Think it's crazy? No. This wealthy Arizona dude, who's challenging Arizona Sen. Martha McSally in the Republican primary, is serious as hell.
> 
> McCarthy beat McSally to the punch with that awing idea this week, telling a radio station, as reported by RealClear Politics, that "adding some 'beachfront property' to U.S. territory might be nice."
> 
> "Clearly 30 million Mexican illegal immigrants want to be United States citizens, probably half the country wants to be United States citizens," said McCarthy, the owner of a cosmetics company.


Lincoln would be turning in his grave and Trump mumbling something incoherent as usual with a puzzled frown.

I think all McCarthy will achieve are lumps as a designated pinata. lol!


----------



## ekim68

China Boosts Government Presence at Alibaba, Private Giants



> The government of one of China's top technology hubs is dispatching officials to 100 local corporations including e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the latest effort to exert greater influence over the country's massive private sector.


----------



## ekim68

We finally got one! Russian 'fesses up to cracking bank servers, netting big bucks



> On Monday, Andrei Tyurin, a 35-year-old Russian national, pleaded guilty in New York to charges of computer intrusion, bank and wire fraud, and online gambling in connection with a sustained hacking campaign targeting US financial institutions.


----------



## ekim68

The Sackler family is trying to shield billions in opioid profits through Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, states say



> The vast wealth of the Sackler family was thrust into the spotlight Friday in Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy case, as two dozen states and the District of Columbia sought to block the family from winning a nine-month reprieve against OxyContin lawsuits.


----------



## Johnny b

* Judge orders White House to preserve records of Trump's dealings with foreign leaders *
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/05/judge-trump-records-foreign-leaders-031255



> U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued the order Thursday, directing that White House officials not destroy records of "meetings, phone calls, and other communications with foreign leaders."
> 
> The judge's order also appears to specifically address reports that the Trump White House set up a special system to limit access to certain records of presidential conversations with foreign leaders.


----------



## Johnny b

Although an opinion piece, it's amazing that it was published at Fox News:

* Mary Anne Marsh: All roads lead to Donald Trump as more learned in impeachment inquiry *
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mary-anne-marsh



> The evidence that has emerged in the past two weeks alone makes it clear to me that Donald Trump has sought assistance from a foreign government for his 2020 campaign. Trump's decision to seek that assistance has put him in peril of losing the office he is desperate to keep.
> 
> It's also clear to me it's not the first time.
> 
> It's the third time … at least.
> 
> You can draw a straight line from Trump standing on a stage in Miami on July 27, 2016, when he said "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,"


And this poll:

* Fox News Poll: Biden bests Trump by nine points in Wisconsin *
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-biden-bests-trump-by-nine-points-in-wisconsin


----------



## Johnny b

* New Poll Shows 20-Point Increase in Support for Impeachment Inquiry-Among Republicans *

https://slate.com/news-and-politics...increase-impeachment-inquiry-republicans.html


----------



## ekim68

Another insurer will dump coal and oil sands



> Axis Capital Holdings Ltd AXS, +0.69% is the latest insurer to give up profit potential from coal and oil sands, a departure it says supports the transition to a low-carbon economy.
> 
> Axis said Wednesday it will not provide new insurance or facultative reinsurance for construction and infrastructure for new thermal coal plants or mines, nor for oil sands extraction and pipeline projects.


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting article:

* No, Putin Doesn't Like Impeachment *
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/20/vladimir-putin-russia-impeachment-trump-229861



> There are many ways in which the Ukraine affair is terrifying the Kremlin, because it threatens to unwind what little progress Russia has made in recent years and undercuts its wider goals. Putin's long-term goal is pretty clear: He wants the United States to conclude a "big deal" that would revise the outcome of the Cold War and limit the strategic threat that he believes the West poses to Russia through its military expansion, double standards in foreign affairs and liberal values.


Their man in the White House is in jeopardy.


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump Says Impeachment Probe Against Him Is the Same as a 'Lynching' *
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-says-impeachment-probe-against-him-is-the-same-as-a-lynching

Yeah, the law seem so unfair to criminals


----------



## ekim68

Didn't see this coming...  


Russian agent Butina released from U.S. prison, deported



> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Convicted Russian agent Maria Butina was released from a Florida prison on Friday after serving most of her 18-month sentence for conspiring to influence U.S. conservative activists and infiltrate a powerful gun rights group, and taken into custody by immigration officials to be deported to her native country.


----------



## Johnny b

Getting her out of the country as the Impeachment process has just been allowed access to the Mueller investigation, that resulted in her arrest, sounds suspicious.

As a participant of illegal Russian intrusion with regard to support of Trump's campaign, the House impeachment no longer has access to her testimony on any relevant facts she might know.

The question is, who initiated the order to deport her?


----------



## Johnny b

* Army Officer Who Heard Trump's Ukraine Call Reported Concerns *

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/politics/Alexander-Vindman-trump-impeachment.html



> The top Ukraine expert at the White House will tell impeachment investigators he twice reported concerns about President Trump's pressure tactics on Ukraine, acting out of a "sense of duty."


----------



## ekim68

The Drone Wars Are Already Here



> The skies of Syria, Yemen, and Libya swarm with armed and dangerous unmanned aerial vehicles. And the technology is spreading farther and farther afield.


----------



## ekim68

Ukraine expects U.S. military aid to keep flowing despite Trump impeachment battle



> KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine expects the United States to maintain or even increase military aid to Kiev next year despite the issue being part of a political battle in Washington over the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Defence Minister Andriy Zahorodniuk told Reuters.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Getting her out of the country as the Impeachment process has just been allowed access to the Mueller investigation, that resulted in her arrest, sounds suspicious.
> 
> As a participant of illegal Russian intrusion with regard to support of Trump's campaign, the House impeachment no longer has access to her testimony on any relevant facts she might know.
> 
> The question is, who initiated the order to deport her?


Not that I disagree with you here Johnny (not sure why she deserves be released early); but, how does the *Ukraine bribery* *impeachment process* grant Congress access to the* Muller investigation on Russian election interference*?


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Not that I disagree with you here Johnny (not sure why she deserves be released early); but, how does the *Ukraine bribery* *impeachment process* grant Congress access to the* Muller investigation on Russian election interference*?


Knowledge of mutual acquaintances. 
Butina was a conduit of Russian monies into Trump's campaign.
As were the two Ukrainian pals of Giuliani , Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
Manafort made a lot of illegal money out of the Ukraine at the height of it's corruption.
Manafort was Trump's campaign manager at one time and this popped up recently:

* He's back! Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort resurfaces - at the heart of Ukraine inquiry *
https://www.salon.com/2019/11/09/he...t-resurfaces-at-the-heart-of-ukraine-inquiry/

With all those millions of dollars flowing into the Trump campaign, It seems odd to let go of persons of interest that might know further of Russian interference and mutual acquaintances.

If you didn't notice, Butina didn't serve all of her 18 month sentence, was released suddenly and deported.
It's not proof of anything, but does look suspicious.
I think Putin wanted her back, badly


----------



## ekim68

The org that doles out .org websites just sold itself to a for-profit company



> Today, the Public Interest Registry (PIR), which maintains the .org top-level domain, announced that it will be acquired by Ethos Capital, a private equity firm (via _Domain Name Wire_). This move will make PIR, previously a non-profit domain registry, officially part of a for-profit company - which certainly seems at odds with what .org might represent to some. Originally, ".org" was an alternative to the ".com" that was earmarked for commercial entities, which lent itself to non-profit use.


----------



## ekim68

Coal power becoming 'uninsurable' as firms refuse cover



> The number of insurers withdrawing cover for coal projects more than doubled this year and for the first time US companies have taken action, leaving Lloyd's of London and Asian insurers as the "last resort" for fossil fuels, according to a new report.
> 
> The report, which rates the world's 35 biggest insurers on their actions on fossil fuels, declares that coal - the biggest single contributor to climate change - "is on the way to becoming uninsurable" as most coal projects cannot be financed, built or operated without insurance.


----------



## ekim68

Reddit bans accounts, suspects possible UK vote interference



> LONDON - The prospect of Russian interference in Britain's election flared anew Saturday after the social media platform Reddit concluded that people from Russia leaked confidential British government documents on Brexit trade talks just days before the general U.K. vote.
> 
> Reddit said in a statement that it has banned 61 accounts suspected of violating policies against vote manipulation. It said the suspect accounts shared the same pattern of activity as a Russian interference operation dubbed "Secondary Infektion" that was uncovered earlier this year.


----------



## ekim68

Fox News Is Now a Threat to National Security



> Monday's split-screen drama, as the House Judiciary Committee weighed impeachment charges against President Trump and as the Justice Department's inspector general released a 476-page report on the FBI's handling of its 2016 investigation into Trump's campaign, made one truth of the modern world inescapable: The lies and obfuscations forwarded ad infinitum on Fox News pose a dangerous threat to the national security of the United States.


----------



## Wino

Was there ever any doubt - past and present?????? That would be an axiom in the true sense of the word.


----------



## Johnny b

Ditto.


----------



## ekim68

Turkey is getting military drones armed with machine guns



> A drone with a machine gun attached can hit targets with high precision, according to its makers. Turkey is set to become the first country to have the drone, when it gets a delivery this month.


----------



## ekim68

ekim68 said:


> The org that doles out .org websites just sold itself to a for-profit company


More on this....


ICANN demands transparency from others over .org deal.


----------



## Ciberblade

The hinges on this door seem to have rusted. I hadn't heard about the .org deal. Interesting.


----------



## ekim68

Fresh Cambridge Analytica leak 'shows global manipulation is out of control'



> An explosive leak of tens of thousands of documents from the defunct data firm Cambridge Analytica is set to expose the inner workings of the company that collapsed after the _Observer_ revealed it had misappropriated 87 million Facebook profiles.
> 
> More than 100,000 documents relating to work in 68 countries that will lay bare the global infrastructure of an operation used to manipulate voters on "an industrial scale" are set to be released over the next months.
> 
> It comes as Christopher Steele, the ex-head of MI6's Russia desk and the intelligence expert behind the so-called "Steele dossier" into Trump's relationship with Russia, said that while the company had closed down, the failure to properly punish bad actors meant that the prospects for manipulation of the US election this year were even worse.


----------



## Johnny b

* Misleading political ads are the user's problem to avoid, Facebook says *
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...are-the-users-problem-to-avoid-facebook-says/

Trump grins and Putin smiled.


----------



## ekim68

Virginia Becomes the 38th and Final State Needed to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment



> Since Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, the proposal to enshrine gender equality in the Constitution has languished in state legislatures, failing to rack up the approvals in the three-quarters of states required of Constitutional amendments-until now. On Wednesday, Virginia became the 38th state to pass a resolution to ratify the ERA in its newly elected Democratic state legislature.


----------



## Johnny b

Putin smiles.
Could this be a 'leader for life' movement?

* Russian government resigns as Putin proposes reforms that could extend his grip on power *
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/15/euro...esigns-vladimir-putin-reforms-intl/index.html



> The entire Russian government is resigning, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced Wednesday, after Vladimir Putin proposed sweeping reforms that could extend his decades-long grip on power beyond the end of his presidency.


----------



## Johnny b

* Tylenol a cancer risk? California considers warning on common painkiller acetaminophen *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-california-acetaminophen-warning/4537047002/



> One of the most commonly used drugs on the market may be deemed a carcinogen by California.
> 
> Acetaminophen, an active ingredient in popular pain-relief medications like Tylenol, Excedrin and Midol, has been on the state's list of drugs under review for years because of tenuous links to cancer.
> 
> In the spring, a panel of scientists appointed by the governor will conduct a public hearing to determine whether acetaminophen - known in other countries as paracetamol - will be added to a list of about 900 chemicals the state considers a cancer risk. A California law called Proposition 65 requires the state to warn its residents about chemicals that may cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.


----------



## ekim68

ekim68 said:


> More on this....
> 
> 
> ICANN demands transparency from others over .org deal.


More on this:


The Attempted Corporate Takeover of .Org


----------



## ekim68

And yet more on this....


Sale of .org domain registry delayed by California attorney general



> The .org domain takeover has been delayed, at least for now.
> 
> California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) demanding more information about the private equity takeover of the .org domain registry.


----------



## ekim68

And more on this..


Internet Society gets tetchy over .org sale delay, half-threatens ICANN over deadlines and jurisdiction



> The operator of .org has responded aggressively to a further delay in its controversial sale of the registry to a private equity firm, warning DNS overseer ICANN not to spike the deal.
> 
> In a letter, the Internet Society's Public Interest Registry (PIR) - which oversees .org - refused a request to hand over crucial confidential information to California's Attorney General, who is probing the sale, and also rejected a further delay in the process, insisting that ICANN make a decision by the end of February.
> 
> And then it backed down on both threats.


----------



## Johnny b

And so it goes......

* Watchdog: Trump administration lacks strategy to fight Afghanistan's dangerous heroin trade *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ategy-fails-prioritize-drug-trade/4611475002/



> 'A problem that has defied us'


Too much to copy and paste.
This problem obviously did not start under the Trump administration, but it's his to address or ignore.


----------



## Wino

Nor has any past or future administration had/have a strategy to stop the drug trade, not only in Afghanistan, but anywhere in the world. Our chances of ending drugs is futile. Kinda on par with our "defeat" of Vietnam in the past and Russia and USA defeat of Taliban. Our silly drug war is about as effective as our silly wall on southern border. Tilting at windmills and killing all the birds. LOL


----------



## Johnny b

I saw in local news ( Ohio in general ) several weeks ago, Mexican Meth is taking a lead with drug abusers.
Supposedly higher purity.

If there wasn't a potential market for it, sales wouldn't occur at recent levels.
Reality........
Cutting off supplies doesn't convince users to stop, it just increases the price.


----------



## ekim68

ekim68 said:


> And more on this..
> 
> 
> Internet Society gets tetchy over .org sale delay, half-threatens ICANN over deadlines and jurisdiction


And yet, more.... !


Company buying .org offers to sign a contract banning price hikes


----------



## ekim68

JP Morgan economists warn of 'catastrophic' climate change



> Human life "as we know it" could be threatened by climate change, economists at JP Morgan have warned.
> 
> In a hard-hitting report to clients, the economists said that without action being taken there could be "catastrophic outcomes".
> 
> The bank said the research came from a team that was "wholly independent from the company as a whole".


----------



## Johnny b

As you may know, I have an interest in the subject of global warming/climate change.

It would be interesting to read a copy of that client report since so many other comments can be found at other sites, pro and con on it.

From your link, this stood out:



> To mitigate climate change net carbon emissions need to be cut to zero by 2050. To do this, there needed to be a global tax on carbon, the report authors said.


That's merely another vector of government taxation.
Essentially a use tax.

Mackie and Murray have been quoted in earlier articles:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-warn-of-black-swan-risks-from-climate-change



> "Given that wealth is likely to grow over the coming 80 years, even sizable losses in wealth still leave future generations wealthier than the current generation," Mackie and Murray wrote. "This raises the question of whether it will be possible for governments to push through difficult climate policies on the basis of counterfactual losses."


You just read an example of global warming BS Receptivity from economists.
What they really mean is you'll feel wealthier because of inflation.
With the pace of Trump's increasing indebtedness and the socialist movement further inundating the world in everlasting debt, a wealthy future is merely the politicians promise. 
Now add a carbon tax


----------



## ekim68

House passes historic anti-lynching bill after Congress's century of failure



> The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would make lynching a federal hate crime, more than 100 years since the first such measure was introduced in Congress.


----------



## Wino

Will never get past Moscow Mitch.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Will never get past Moscow Mitch.


All depends on whether it's Putin approved.


----------



## ekim68

Coke and Pepsi sued for creating a plastic pollution 'nuisance'



> California environmental group says much of the tons of plastic in the oceans can be traced back to the 10 companies they are suing


----------



## Johnny b

The coming oil price war:

* The Oil Price War Is Turning Into a Debt War *
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...abia-s-price-war-worked-once-but-may-backfire



> In a war of attrition, the winner isn't the force with overwhelming power, but the one with the greatest capacity to sustain damage.
> 
> The current price war in the oil market is little different. Brent crude fell the most since the 1991 Gulf War Monday, dropping 31% in a matter of seconds, after Friday's OPEC+ meeting broke up in disarray and Saudi Arabia slashed its crude prices and promised a surge in output.


Much more, too much to copy and paste.
A worthwhile read.

This stands out:



> Countries embarking on wars often expect they'll be over in a few months, only to discover their opponents were stronger than they thought. Should this turn into a prolonged fight, Moscow is unlikely to be the first player to fold.


It will be interesting to see how Trump responds


----------



## Johnny b

It's looking like a wild ride on the stock market today.

COVID-19 + an oil price war.

* FTSE nosedives as oil shock wipes billions off stocks on 'Black Monday' *
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftse...navirus-oil-price-markets-open-081657287.html

Dow Futures down -1255 at this time.


----------



## ekim68

Teleconference apps and new tech surge in demand amid coronavirus outbreak



> (Reuters) - Global downloads of business apps including Tencent Conference, WeChat Work, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Slack have risen nearly five fold since the start of the year, data showed, as the coronavirus outbreak changes how corporations work.


----------



## ekim68

Feds to drop case against two Russian companies accused of 2016 election meddling



> WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is moving to drop charges against two Russian companies that were accused of funding a social media campaign to sway American public opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
> 
> Prosecutors said they concluded that a trial, against a corporate defendant with no presence in the United States and no prospect of meaningful punishment even if convicted, would likely expose sensitive law enforcement tools and techniques, "potentially undermining their effectiveness."


----------



## Wino

ekim68 said:


> Feds to drop case against two Russian companies accused of 2016 election meddling


I suspect it has more to do with "potentially undermining their (client)" the orange menace.


----------



## ekim68

Weeks Before Virus Panic, Intelligence Chairman Privately Raised Alarm, Sold Stocks



> The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned a small group of well-connected constituents three weeks ago to prepare for dire economic and societal effects of the coronavirus, according to a secret recording obtained by NPR.


----------



## Johnny b

* Doctors hoard unproven COVID-19 meds by writing prescriptions for selves, families *

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...by-writing-prescriptions-for-selves-families/



> A nationwide shortage of two drugs touted as possible treatments for the coronavirus is being driven in part by doctors inappropriately prescribing the medicines for family, friends, and themselves, according to pharmacists and state regulators.
> 
> "It's disgraceful, is what it is," said Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, which started getting calls and emails Saturday from members saying they were receiving questionable prescriptions. "And completely selfish."
> 
> Demand for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine surged over the past several days as President Donald Trump promoted them as possible treatments for the coronavirus and online forums buzzed with excitement over a small study suggesting the combination of hydroxychloroquine and a commonly used antibiotic could be effective in treating COVID-19.


----------



## Chawbacon

ekim68 said:


> Weeks Before Virus Panic, Intelligence Chairman Privately Raised Alarm, Sold Stocks


Yeah. The writing on the wall was pretty obvious that Covid-19 was going to be really bad. Some Republicans and Democrats alike sold off stock before Covid-19 fully impacted the United States.

Here is the flipside of that coin:


> *GOP eager to hear from Senate colleagues on stock sales before COVID-19 hit*
> https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/20/gop-eager-hear-sens-richard-burr-kelly-loeffler-st/
> Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, and Sen. James Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, have also been accused of selling off interests before the market crash.


----------



## Johnny b

Opinion piece:

* This Is Trump's Fault *
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/a...-paying-the-price-for-trumps-failures/609532/



> * The president is failing, and Americans are paying for his failures. *
> 
> I don't take responsibility at all," said President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden on March 13. Those words will probably end up as the epitaph of his presidency, the single sentence that sums it all up.
> 
> Trump now fancies himself a "wartime president." How is his war going? By the end of March, the coronavirus had killed more Americans than the 9/11 attacks. By the first weekend in April, the virus had killed more Americans than any single battle of the Civil War. By Easter, it may have killed more Americans than the Korean War. On the present trajectory, it will kill, by late April, more Americans than Vietnam. Having earlier promised that casualties could be held near zero, Trump now claims he will have done a "very good job" if the toll is held below 200,000 dead.
> 
> * The United States is on trajectory to suffer more sickness, more dying, and more economic harm from this virus than any other comparably developed country. *
> 
> That the pandemic occurred is not Trump's fault. *The utter unpreparedness of the United States for a pandemic is Trump's fault. *
> 
> Trump failed. He is failing. He will continue to fail. And Americans are paying for his failures.


And much more, too much to copy and paste.

Trump: It's always someone else's fault.


----------



## Wino




----------



## Johnny b

It appears we were lucky Bloomberg got no traction in the Democratic Primaries:

It's a long article, but worth reading to see the despicable character of Michael Bloomberg.

NPR:
* Bloomberg News Killed Investigation, Fired Reporter, Then Sought To Silence His Wife 

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/14/8285...-fired-reporter-then-sought-to-silence-his-wi*


----------



## ekim68

ekim68 said:


> And yet, more.... !
> 
> Company buying .org offers to sign a contract banning price hikes


And more on this:


ICANN delays .org sell off after California's attorney general intervenes at last minute, tears non-profit a new one over sale


----------



## Brigham

One of the things that seems to be forgotten is that in the UK the "normal" death rate is about 1700 per day.


----------



## Wino

Brigham said:


> One of the things that seems to be forgotten is that in the UK the "normal" death rate is about 1700 per day.


Before or after CV-19?


----------



## ekim68

ekim68 said:


> And more on this:
> 
> ICANN delays .org sell off after California's attorney general intervenes at last minute, tears non-profit a new one over sale


Finally a little spine from ICANN... 


ICANN finally halts $1.1bn sale of .org registry, says it's 'the right thing to do' after months of controversy


----------



## Brigham

Wino said:


> Before or after CV-19?


Before. Thats why I said (normal)


----------



## ekim68

US reversal prevents UN vote on pandemic truce



> The United States on Friday stunned other members of the UN Security Council by preventing a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said.


----------



## ekim68

Never mind the anti-trust laws, we weren't using them anyway..... 


T-Mobile will retire Sprint brand and unify retail stores in mid-summer


----------



## ekim68

Prince Charles wants furloughed workers to pick berries. Farmers wonder if Brits are up to the task.



> LONDON - You know you have worries when the future king is warning about food security. Prince Charles this week implored workers furloughed by the pandemic to get out into the fields and "pick for Britain."


----------



## Wino

You first, Charlie, ol' boy !!


----------



## ekim68

Police see uptick in speeding, fatal crashes amid pandemic



> Stay-at-home orders are keeping more people off the roads, but police across the country are reporting a rise in reckless driving.
> 
> In Connecticut, traffic has been cut in half compared to last year, but fatal motor vehicle accidents are up by about 40%.


----------



## ekim68

House Leaders Strike Deal to Protect U.S. Web Browsing Data From Warrantless Surveillance



> After three days of negotiations, House lawmakers have struck a deal on an amendment to protect innocent Americans from being spied on by their own government online.


----------



## ekim68

Caught on camera, police explode in rage and violence across the US



> Over the past 72 hours, people across the US have captured what may be the most comprehensive live picture of police brutality ever.


----------



## Wino

Welcome to Trump's dystopia.


----------



## Johnny b

Martial Law is 'just around the corner'.
With that the suspension of Habeas Corpus.
Arrests with out legal cause will begin.

I suspect that will also be the excuse to suspend the coming election.


----------



## ekim68

U.S. police have attacked journalists more than 110 times since May 28



> "Although in some incidents it is possible the journalists were hit or affected accidentally, in the majority of the cases we have recorded the journalists are clearly identifiable as press, and it is clear that they are being deliberately targeted."


----------



## ekim68

U.K. Willing To Admit Nearly 3 Million From Hong Kong If China Adopts Security Law



> U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that he would be willing to allow more than 2.8 million people from Hong Kong to live and work in the U.K. if China implements a controversial proposed national security law on the former British colony.
> 
> The law could take effect as soon as this month, and would expand mainland China's control over Hong Kong.


----------



## ekim68

It's Official: U.S. Economy Is In A Recession



> It may seem obvious, with double-digit unemployment and plunging economic output. But if there was any remaining doubt that the U.S. is in a recession, it's now been removed by the official scorekeepers at the National Bureau of Economic Research.


----------



## Johnny b

Fox News caught faking it lol!

* Fox News removes altered photos of Seattle protest zone *
https://apnews.com/8a8676ff7b743506ac08f28d54e10d75

Not surprising.

edit:
more on the subject:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/media/seattle-fox-news-autonomous-zone-protest/index.html



> The narrative that took hold this week in right-wing circles was one in which armed members of Antifa seized a section of Seattle. City officials have said they have not interacted with members of Antifa, a network of loosely affiliated groups that have a history of violently clashing with right-wing organizations.
> "It's not an armed takeover," Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said on CNN Thursday night. "It's not a military junta."
> President Trump has, however, seemingly seized on reports in right-wing media, calling the protesters "domestic terrorists" and threatening to use federal force to clear them out of the area.
> Despite a description by the President that is at odds with the reality on the ground, Fox News has continued to present the situation as dangerous. Its publishing of altered and misleading images on its highly-trafficked website was the latest - and arguably the most egregious - example of that.


----------



## Wino

Faux News will report anything that makes the orange putz look like he said something truthful even if they have to lie.


----------



## Johnny b

eBay, the dark side:

*Former eBay employees allegedly used cockroaches, spiders, and a gruesome mask to harass a couple *
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/tech/ebay-cyberstalking/index.html



> Six former eBay employees face charges for cyberstalking and tampering with evidence after, according to federal prosecutors, they harassed a Boston-area couple who ran a news site that was at times critical of the company.


----------



## Johnny b

* Barr Abruptly Seeks to Fire U.S. Attorney Who Investigated Trump Associates *

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/nyregion/us-attorney-manhattan-trump.html


----------



## Johnny b

* Intel report warns that far-right extremists may target Washington, D.C. *

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/...-right-extremists-target-washington-dc-329771


----------



## Johnny b

* Trump attacks mail-in voting with new series of false claims *

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/22/trump-mail-in-voting-fraud-claims


----------



## Johnny b

Confusion in high places:

*Trump Defends China Trade Deal After Adviser Says It's 'Over' *

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/business/economy/trump-navarro-china-trade-deal.html


----------



## ekim68

The Hajj Pilgrimage Is Canceled, and Grief Rocks the Muslim World



> The coronavirus pandemic upended the plans of millions of Muslims, for whom the once-in-a-lifetime trip is a sacred milestone.


----------



## Johnny b

Looks like Tesla (electric automobiles) has a problem with customer satisfaction.

* Teslas are the most unreliable new cars in the US, survey finds *
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/06/teslas-are-the-most-unreliable-new-cars-in-the-us-survey-finds/


----------



## ekim68

The data is in: Fox News may have kept millions from taking the coronavirus threat seriously



> It's another one of those Trump Era realities best described as unsurprising but nevertheless shocking.
> Three serious research efforts have put numerical weight - yes, data-driven evidence - behind what many suspected all along: Americans who relied on Fox News, or similar right-wing sources, were duped as the coronavirus began its deadly spread.


----------



## Johnny b

* 'Indefensible': Trump slammed for sharing video where supporter yells '***********' at protesters *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...video-supporter-yells-white-power/3274070001/


----------



## Wino

................but................but.............they're good people !!


----------



## ekim68

AT&T Ditches $15 TV Service It Used As Regulator Bait To Seal Time Warner Merger



> You may be shocked to learn this, but nearly all of the promises AT&T made in the lead up to its $86 billion merger with Time Warner wound up not being true.


----------



## Johnny b

(note: I found that unless NoScript is set to *block* CNN javascript at this CNN link, it reverts back to a blank page with the message 'Error' )

Putin essentially will become President of Russia for life.

*Putin's ploy to extend rule backed by Russians: live updates *
https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-referendum-putin-07-01-20-intl/index.html

Trump must be green with envy


----------



## Johnny b

Nothing new, but worth a look 

* From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers, Trump's phone calls alarm US officials *

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/politics/trump-phone-calls-national-security-concerns/index.html

An excerpt:


> In hundreds of highly classified phone calls with foreign heads of state,...............
> .......................
> The calls caused former top Trump deputies -- including national security advisers H.R. McMaster and John Bolton, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and White House chief of staff John Kelly, as well as intelligence officials -- to conclude that the President was often "delusional,"


Like we weren't already aware


----------



## Johnny b

I don't see this ending well:

* 'You've been warned': Florida sheriff says he may deputize gun owners against protesters *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ize-gun-owners-against-protesters/5357157002/


----------



## ekim68

Inside the Plot to Kill the Open Technology Fund



> This U.S. program provides encryption technologies to journalists and activists living under repressive regimes. But a Trump appointee wants to tear it all down.


----------



## Johnny b

*GOP Sen. Grassley: Congress may override Trump veto on removing Confederate names from military bases*
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-confederate-named-military-bases/5386880002/

in response, Trump threatens veto over defense spending bill::

* GOP senators downplay Trump's veto threat over renaming military bases *
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/poli...rump-veto-threat-confederate-bases/index.html


----------



## Wino

Grassley is a wussie - he's even refusing to go to Turnips RNC party due to CV-19.


----------



## Johnny b

A loon speaketh 

* Kanye West says he no longer supports President Trump, details his own run for office *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/ente...-support-details-presidential-run/5396561002/



> Kanye West continues to deliver sensational details about his 2020 presidential run, despite an apparent lack of an actual campaign.
> 
> The rapper, 43, said in a "rambling" interview Tuesday with Forbes that he contracted the coronavirus in February, no longer supports President Donald Trump and plans to run as a member of the "Birthday Party."
> 
> "Because when we win, it's everybody's birthday," West explained to the outlet.


🤪


----------



## ekim68

Israeli Court Rules NSO Group Can Continue Exporting Spyware



> NSO Group will be allowed to keep exporting its powerful hacking and surveillance tech after what Amnesty Internatioal calls a "disgraceful ruling."


----------



## Johnny b

It's crazy time, USA

Kanye West's position on abortion as a Presidential hopeful:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/ente...ent-rally-harriet-tubman-abortion/5469501002/



> West clarified he would fight to keep abortion legal, but outlined an option he called "maximum increase."
> 
> "The maximum increase would be everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars or something in that range," said West. "If you had opportunity to be given a million dollars, just for being pregnant, would you have considered it? And then everybody would start having children, the greatest gift of life."


In the early stages of a national economic failure, I wonder where He's going to get those millions of millions?


----------



## Johnny b

* Briggs & Stratton files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as pandemic weighs on business *
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/b...-business-2020-07-20?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo



> Briggs & Stratton Corp. BGG, -5.26% said Monday it has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reached an agreement to sell most of its assets to KPS Capital Partners.


----------



## ekim68

UK and US say Russia fired a satellite weapon in space



> The US and UK have accused Russia of testing a weapon-like projectile in space that could be used to target satellites in orbit.
> 
> The US State Department described the recent use of "what would appear to be actual in-orbit anti-satellite weaponry" as concerning.


----------



## Johnny b

LOL!

(sigh!)

You can't make up headlines like this.
Or can you?

* Trump's New Favorite COVID Doctor Believes in Alien DNA, Demon Sperm, and Hydroxychloroquine *
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stell...-alien-dna-demon-sperm-and-hydroxychloroquine

It's a brave new world 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...dia-congress-debates-new-stimulus/5525204002/


> Fauci's interview came hours after Trump retweeted a post that said Fauci had "misled the American public" on the drug, among other things. When asked if he believed that Fauci misled the public, Trump dismissed the accusation before praising Fauci's approval rating.
> 
> "He's got this high approval rating, so why don't I have a high approval rating with respect - and the administration - with respect to the virus?" he asked.
> 
> "It sort of is curious - a man works for us, with us very closely, Dr. Fauci and Dr. (Deborah) Birx, also highly thought of - and yet they're highly thought of, but nobody likes me.
> 
> It can only be my personality," he added.


----------



## ekim68

US officials: Russia behind spread of virus disinformation



> WASHINGTON (AP) - Russian intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November, U.S. officials said Tuesday.


----------



## Johnny b

Good find.
Russia is not a friend of the US nor are US politicians that protect and promote their influence.


----------



## Johnny b

An Ohio embarrassment has been stripped of his title. :up:

* Ohio speaker Householder indicted in federal bribery case; title stripped in 90-0 vote *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...y-case-house-speaker-job-stripped/5544693002/


----------



## ekim68

'We Are Your Family Now': What It's Like to Lose a Loved One to QAnon



> Millions of Americans are grieving the loss of mothers, fathers, partners and siblings to an extremist conspiracy cult quickly gaining power in media and politics


----------



## Johnny b

* The U.S. Power Grid Is Nowhere Near Ready for Mass-Scale EV Acceptance - Not By a Long Shot *

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-n...electric-we-d-be-beyond-screwed-ar189154.html


----------



## Johnny b

* 7-Eleven Owner to Buy Marathon Gas Stations for $21 Billion *
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-eleven-owner-buy-marathon-225123472.html



> Seven & i Holdings Co., the world's largest convenience-store franchiser, agreed to buy Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s Speedway gas stations for $21 billion, betting that an expanded U.S. footprint will deliver growth amid the uncertainty of the pandemic.


----------



## ekim68

Facebook Must Better Police Online Hate, State Attorneys General Say



> Twenty state attorneys general on Wednesday called on Facebook to better prevent messages of hate, bias and disinformation from spreading, and said the company needed to provide more help to users facing online abuse.


----------



## Johnny b

Corruption in Ohio:

* Super lobbyist Neil Clark and federal investigations: What's going on? *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...ns-whats-going-on/5DHESFE5YJG7ZMALFHUX3KNHN4/

From online charter schools to payday lending industry to a conspiracy to elect Larry Householder as House speaker and deliver and defend a $1.3 billion bailout bill for Akron-based FirstEnergy, Clark's been a busy guy.



> Clark is among five men who are being arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court on racketeering charges in what U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said is likely the biggest bribery scheme in Ohio history.


----------



## Wino

I see your Gov. DeWine has found a way NOT to be seen with the orange ogre - CV-19 - whether he's infected or not is moot.


----------



## Johnny b

It's too bad.
He didn't seem as crazy as his fellow Republicans when it came to Covid.

But he does tilt toward Trump in other matters. Just not very vocal about it.

There was a time when Ohio had an image of pragmatism.
But that would have been in a different century 
Too many loons now. A lot of Tea Party fanatics.


----------



## Johnny b

On a re-test, Dewine tested negative.

*Gov. Mike DeWine tests negative for COVID-19 in 2nd test *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...e-for-coronavirus/PPBI5EHY4FFV7ONLJRT7E2PUQI/


----------



## Johnny b

Nothing worth reading:










https://www.forbes.com/sites/randal...s-indeed-designed-to-hurt-biden/#3c5b31966397



> When it was pointed out that he actually can't win in 2020-that he won't be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn't feasible-and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: "I'm not going to argue with you. Jesus is King."
> 
> West says that he's "designing a school within the next month" and that "I'm meeting with Betsy DeVos about the post-Covid curriculum."
> 
> "I like Kanye very much," President Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday.


Nutters


----------



## Johnny b

* 
House Democrats can sue to force ex-Trump counsel Don McGahn to testify, appeals court says
*
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...hn-can-forced-testify-court-rules/3318278001/



> House Democrats can sue to force former White House counsel Donald McGahn to testify before Congress about potential obstruction of justice by President Trump during the Russia investigation, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.


'Obstruction of justice'
The 'gift' that keeps on giving


----------



## Johnny b

*Kodak Shares Plunge After US Freezes $765 Million Loan As Financial Allegations Raise 'Serious Concerns' *

https://www.thestreet.com/investing...-amid-probe?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo



> The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. said it will not proceed with a $765 million loan to Kodak, aimed at helping it produce pharmaceuticals for the government, until 'allegations of wrongdoing are cleared.'


It would be very interesting to see the names of those that were 'convertible debt holders' and any undue influences they may have had on Trump's pet project.

* Kodak convertible debt holders cash in on stock rally *
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3598903-kodak-convertible-debt-holders-cash-in-on-stock-rally



> Holders of Kodak's (NYSE:KODK) 5.00% Secured Convertible Notes due 2021 are exercising their rights to convert $95M of the Notes into ~29.9M common shares, worth almost $654M based on Friday's close of $21.85.
> 
> The stock rocketed as high as $60 (23-fold) last week after the company secured a $765M loan from the U.S. government to support the manufacture of generic drug ingredients.


----------



## Johnny b

Ohio seems to be the current capital of corruption, outside of DC of course.

The speaker of the Ohio House was removed from his position of Speaker because of his role in the largest criminal fraud ever played on the Ohio resident.

BUT.....

Householder can NOT be removed at this time, from the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee which is described as:


> the body that investigates and rules on ethics and lobbying matters for the Ohio General Assembly


This crooked politician gets to have investigative input on crimes he's committed.
I suspect Trump is envious!

* Indicted former Ohio House Speaker will remain on ethics panel *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...n-on-ethics-panel/4QB47DH5MJBQZGGCL4P7NHW53Q/










:down:


----------



## ekim68

Public assessments of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak



> Three-quarters of Americans say that "not enough people following social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines" is a major reason the coronavirus outbreak has continued in the United States - the most commonly cited major reason among the six asked about in the survey.


----------



## ekim68

The Recession Is About to Slam Cities. Not Just the Blue-State Ones.



> Those with budgets that rely heavily on tourism, sales taxes or direct state assistance will face particular distress.


----------



## Wino

A reckoning is coming and it will be yuge !!


----------



## Johnny b

But but but....Trump has saved millions of lives...............


----------



## Wino

Johnny b said:


> But but but....Trump has saved millions of lives...............


A legend in his own mind !!🤬


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> A legend in his own mind !!🤬


Indeed.
A tale of horror.


----------



## Johnny b

Robert F. Kennedy Jr, an anti-vaxxer, takes the position that fact checking is unconstitutional.
(an argument for ignorance)

* Anti-vaccine group sues Facebook, claims fact-checking is "censorship" *
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...-facebook-claims-fact-checking-is-censorship/

( well, I don't particularly like Facebook either, but.....to argue that the truth about facts and claimed facts should be intentionally withheld from the public on constitutional grounds is an argument FOR ignorance that can kill. That battle already rages on with Trump and the pandemic he denied)


----------



## ekim68

QAnon groups hit by Facebook crack down



> Facebook on Wednesday banned about 900 pages and groups and 1,500 ads tied to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon, part of a sweeping action that also restricted the reach of over 10,000 Instagram pages and almost 2,000 Facebook groups pushing the baseless conspiracy theory that has spawned real-world violence.


----------



## Johnny b

The people at 'Fox and Friends' have it so difficult LOL!

Some perverse humor here.
Just remember though. Fox and Trump serve the interests of each other.
(on with the circus)

* "Hannity Has Said to Me More Than Once, 'He's Crazy'": Fox News Staffers Feel Trapped in the Trump Cult *
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/08/sean-hannity-fox-news-staffers-feel-trapped-in-trump-cult

One of many funny excerpts:


> Hannity chose this life, so no one felt sorry for him, but the stress took its toll. "Hannity would tell you, off-off-off the record, that Trump is a bat(bleep) crazy person," one of his associates said.


(edited for sensitivity  )


----------



## Johnny b

Tucker Carlson argues for US Military intervention into our Constitutional rule of law.
Quite the sophist.






Look to a National leader on the far left of the image below.
That is a result of military intervention into a society.
Carlson may not like socialism, but he does appear to favor an armed military solution to our political issues.
He rants on the power of the voter and then argues to hand that power to the Military.
And then claims we should fear the military if we don't give them domination over our lives.










ie. Trump becomes the new Stalin.


----------



## Wino

Trump has the potential to be worse than a Stalin or a Pol Pot, but without the smarts. He is a useful conveyance for the dark side of humanity.


----------



## Johnny b

Fox News, Tucker Carlson......and their support of vigilantism.
( I had to go to a MSNBC clip for Carlson's recorded comments )


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> ..................................He is a useful conveyance for the dark side of humanity.


Indeed.


----------



## ekim68

RNC Gave Prime Time to Vigilantes. The Next Day a Gunman Shot BLM Protesters.



> The opening night of this week's Republican National Convention (RNC) prominently featured a speech by Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the wealthy white couple who illegally brandished firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis, Missouri.
> 
> Then, just one day after the McCloskeys' RNC speech, a white gunman killed two people and injured a third at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.


----------



## ekim68

China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims



> China has secretly built scores of massive new prison and internment camps in the past three years, dramatically escalating its campaign against Muslim minorities even as it publicly claimed the detainees had all been set free. The construction of these purpose-built, high-security camps - some capable of housing tens of thousands of people - signals a radical shift away from the country's previous makeshift use of public buildings, like schools and retirement homes, to a vast and permanent infrastructure for mass detention.


----------



## ekim68

Zuckerberg acknowledges Facebook erred by not removing a post that urged armed action in Kenosha



> Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in a video post Friday that the company erred by not taking down an event listing for a militia group that encouraged armed civilians to defend the streets of Kenosha, Wis., from civil unrest before the fatal shooting of two people this week.


----------



## ekim68

Netanyahu Privately Condoned U.S. Plan to Sell Arms to U.A.E., Officials Say



> The package being pushed by the Trump White House - which could shift the military balance in the Middle East - includes an electronic warfare plane, the EA-18G Growler.


----------



## ekim68

Talks between Afghan government and Taliban open in Qatar



> *Doha, Qatar *- After nearly two decades of war that has killed tens of thousands, peace talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban have opened in Qatar's capital.


----------



## Wino

I wish them success. IMO we should have departed Afghanistan 24 hrs. after Bin Laden was killed. And should NEVER have gone into Iraq for non-existent WMD. This nation paid an enormous price for GWB folly. We're paying a bigger price for DJT - our democracy for autocracy bordering on, if not complete, fascism.


----------



## Johnny b

There are so many things that never should happened, especially since DJT took office.
I watched a video of Jake Tapper interviewing and questioning why a group of Trump supporters weren't wearing masks.

Responses: too difficult to understand OTHER people talking, Covid-19 doesn't exist ( it's a fake disease used to destroy the US) and a religious fanatic that reasoned when it was time to die, he would die.

The upcoming election shouldn't be close, but it looks like it will be.

There are simply too many .......deniers, conspiracy theorists, militias( that actually violate one of the original purposes of the 2nd Amendment), political extremists and of course, the ignorant easily swayed by emotion. Toss in evangelical fundamentalists and you now have a crowd worshiping a politician posing as an emissary of God. 

It used to be said the US was a nation of laws.
And then Bill Barr rewrote them to mean everyone else.

No matter who wins the 2020 election, I see bad times ahead. ( Yeah, a whole lot worse  )


----------



## ekim68

Hate Speech on Facebook Is Pushing Ethiopia Dangerously Close to a Genocide



> Ethnic violence set off by the assassination of a popular singer has been supercharged by hate speech and incitements shared widely on the platform.


----------



## ekim68

"I Have Blood on My Hands": A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation 



> The 6,600-word memo, written by former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang, is filled with concrete examples of heads of government and political parties in Azerbaijan and Honduras using fake accounts or misrepresenting themselves to sway public opinion. In countries including India, Ukraine, Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador, she found evidence of coordinated campaigns of varying sizes to boost or hinder political candidates or outcomes, though she did not always conclude who was behind them.


----------



## Johnny b

Good post ^^^

https://forums.techguy.org/threads/facebook-i-have-blood-on-my-hands.1250529/post-9740688


----------



## Johnny b

* "It affects virtually nobody": Trump erases coronavirus victims as US death toll hits 200,000 *
https://www.vox.com/2020/9/22/21450772/trump-swanton-ohio-rally-coronavirus-affects-virtually-nobody



> "It affects virtually nobody," Trump said of the coronavirus. "It's an amazing thing."


(  )


----------



## Wino

> The NAD sued the Trump administration, arguing that its refusal to provide on-screen interpreters during COVID-19 briefings was illegal and put members of the deaf community at risk as some people struggled to receive pertinent health and safety information about the pandemic.


Marlee Matlin saying this is a great victory forcing WH to have a signer. I say it's the worst thing that could happen. There NOT being a signer at CV-19 briefings probably saved thousands of deaf people lives that may have drank Clorox or injected Lysol are stuck a UV light up their rectum. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it!!


----------



## ekim68

Facebook's Oversight Board won't launch in time to oversee the election - and activists aren't happy



> It's been more than a year since Facebook pledged to launch its independent Oversight Board - but with the US election approaching fast, tech critics are getting antsy.


----------



## Johnny b

Something different for a change, almost.

* Audi considering electric car venture with China's FAW: Automobilwoche *
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/audi-considering-electric-car-venture-092521926.html

This will be the sharing of electromotive/automotive technology.


> German premium brand Audi is in talks with long-term partner FAW Group [SASACJ.UL] about creating a second joint venture to build electric cars on its PPE platform in China, Germany's Automobilwoche reported on Saturday.


And then there is this:

* Ford, Volkswagen Sign Agreements for Joint Projects On Commercial Vehicles, EVs, Autonomous Driving *
https://media.ford.com/content/ford...wagen-sign-agreements-for-joint-projects.html


> *DEARBORN, Mich., and WOLFSBURG, Germany - June 10, 2020* - Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen AG today signed agreements that expand their global alliance to meet rapidly evolving needs of their respective customers in Europe and other regions by leveraging complementary strengths in midsize pickup trucks and commercial and electric vehicles.


( Note: Audi is part of the VW group
https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/group.html )

Which begs the questions:
Who is benefiting the most and why hasn't Trump made any comments about this new connection between Ford and a Chinese manufacturer?


----------



## Johnny b

Ohio Republican Governor that has been credited for his stance on promoting health and safety issues during the Covi-19 pandemic was recommended to be charged ( since dropped ) for, among other things, acts of terrorism.......by another supposedly 'Republican' Ohio State Rep.

* Lawmaker demands charges against governor over virus orders *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...over-virus-orders/BLK6AGDGXVDO7ONOTQMGVT7Y4E/



> Becker filed to have the prosecutor charge DeWine with 10 different crimes, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, complicity, terrorism, inducing panic and interfering with civil rights.


And yet, no complaints about Trump.
He actually supports Trump.

This is a cashed link to his support of Trumpism:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-d

This guy supports the policies that are currently killing many American citizens and at the same time claims the moral values of 'right to life'.


----------



## Johnny b

* Feds charge six militia members in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, court records show *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...nst-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer/5923650002/

edit:
From another link, the six are Ty Garbin, Barry Croft, Adam Fox, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta.
https://www.complex.com/life/2020/10/fbi-busted-militia-plan-kidnap-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer


----------



## Wino

Trump's World.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> * Feds charge six militia members in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, court records show *
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...nst-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer/5923650002/
> 
> edit:
> From another link, the six are Ty Garbin, Barry Croft, Adam Fox, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta.
> https://www.complex.com/life/2020/10/fbi-busted-militia-plan-kidnap-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer


I saw that story and am completely disgusted by those individuals. They need to go to prison for a long time. Simply put - We cannot condone violence against political figures in a civil society.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> I saw that story and am completely disgusted by those individuals. They need to go to prison for a long time. Simply put - We cannot condone violence against political figures in a civil society.


Although I gave you a thumbs up on that one, apparently a lot of that militia's attitude came from Trump tweeting 'Liberate Michigan'.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/n...other-states-democratic-governors/5152037002/

Any criticism for the instigator?


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Although I gave you a thumbs up on that one, apparently a lot of that militia's attitude came from Trump tweeting 'Liberate Michigan'.
> 
> https://www.detroitnews.com/story/n...other-states-democratic-governors/5152037002/
> 
> Any criticism for the instigator?


Yep! Simply disgusting people. As a country, we are no where near the need of having to take up arms against the government. The responsible action is to go vote and change the local government in a responsible fashion.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Yep! Simply disgusting people. As a country, we are no where near the need of having to take up arms against the government. The responsible action is to go vote and change the local government in a responsible fashion.


That doesn't look like a criticism of Trump, imho  .


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> * Feds charge six militia members in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, court records show *
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...nst-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer/5923650002/
> 
> edit:
> From another link, the six are Ty Garbin, Barry Croft, Adam Fox, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta.
> https://www.complex.com/life/2020/10/fbi-busted-militia-plan-kidnap-michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer


Well this is interesting... Looks like one of the leaders here (Robby Starbuck) is an Anarchist. Not very likely that he, or the group members, will be supporters of President Trump. Regardless, they are still despicable people.


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1314281015591022592


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> That doesn't look like a criticism of Trump, imho  .


My mistake. The "Yes" was supposed to be for another post. :X3:


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Well this is interesting... Looks like one of the leaders here (Robby Starbuck) is an Anarchist. Not very likely that he, or the group members, will be supporters of President Trump. Regardless, they are still despicable people.
> 
> [.................


'Not very likely' is in the same realm of 'if'.

The Boogaloo movement has been associated with the attempted Whitmer kidnapping:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n...y-allegations-tied-boogaloo-movement-n1242670

Elements of Boogaloo range from anti-government to promoting a race war to even support of Trump through law and order verbiage.
Their goal is to destroy a democratically elected government by any means, any excuse.

Trump has avoided commenting about the Boogaloo movement.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> My mistake. The "Yes" was supposed to be for another post. :X3:


Maybe you shouldn't have quoted and replied to my post? LOL!


----------



## ekim68

Cyber Command has sought to disrupt the world's largest botnet, hoping to reduce its potential impact on the election



> In recent weeks, the U.S. military has mounted an operation to temporarily disrupt what is described as the world's largest botnet - one used also to drop ransomware, which officials say is one of the top threats to the 2020 election.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> 'Not very likely' is in the same realm of 'if'.
> 
> The Boogaloo movement has been associated with the attempted Whitmer kidnapping:
> 
> https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n...y-allegations-tied-boogaloo-movement-n1242670
> 
> Elements of Boogaloo range from anti-government to promoting a race war to even support of Trump through law and order verbiage.
> Their goal is to destroy a democratically elected government by any means, any excuse.
> 
> Trump has avoided commenting about the Boogaloo movement.


Yeah. That is a nice little article designed to instill irrational fear and panic into the reader. To bad it does not change the fact that the individuals associated with the Whitmer kidnapping were no where near Trump supporters.

Nice try though Johnny.


----------



## prunejuice

I think as far as the "Boogaloo Movement" goes, Ringo Starr probably said it best...


----------



## Johnny b

It appears McConnell has a health problem.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/22/politics/mitch-mcconnell-bruised-hands/index.html


----------



## ekim68

National Guard called in to thwart cyberattack in Louisiana weeks before election



> (Reuters) - The Louisiana National Guard was called in to stop a series of cyberattacks aimed at small government offices across the state in recent weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the events, highlighting the cyber threat facing local governments in the run up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Yeah. That is a nice little article designed to instill irrational fear and panic into the reader. To bad it does not change the fact that the individuals associated with the Whitmer kidnapping were no where near Trump supporters.
> 
> Nice try though Johnny.


You're just upset the connection was realized and published, Jack.
It's been common knowledge support for Trump does come from violent extremists. Not just the fascist leaning elements.

And now in Ohio, there appears to have been a conspiracy to arrest/kidnap our Republican Governor for treason concerning his policies on Covid-19.
Details have yet to come out.
The potential for violence from the extreme right wing is definitely there and obviously opposed to a democratic society.

* Piqua resident reports plot to kidnap or arrest Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...est-ohio-governor/NV63Q6DLSBFCHDWLSWHF57KF2E/



> "The plot did not materialize and the governor was not in danger at all," Becker said. "But the plan was, and this is what gets scary, is they were planning to arrest the governor at his home, put him on trial for tyranny and with the potential penalty for that being either execution or exile."


The issue isn't to spread fear, Jack.
It's to be/make aware of what the extremist right wing elements are planning.
Trumpism is a mental disorder that seems acceptable by many new age republicans.

BTW, the Governor of Ohio is a Republican and has even supported Trump in the past.
He is also hated in Ohio by Trump supporters because he initially took a practical approach to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.


----------



## ekim68

Biden Beats Trump


----------



## Wino

It's all over except for the Trump whining and crying !!


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> It's all over except for the Trump whining and crying !!


In a perverse way, I'd like to hear him out.......all the way out of the Oval Office


----------



## ekim68

Asia forms world's biggest trade bloc, a China-backed group excluding U.S.



> Fifteen Asia-Pacific economies formed the world's largest free trade bloc on Sunday, a China-backed deal that excludes the United States, which had left a rival Asia-Pacific grouping under President Donald Trump.


----------



## bartino11

New Zealand has just elected one of the most diverse parliaments in the world


----------



## Wino

Our idiot prez made a YUGE boo boo when he cancelled TTP. That along with most everything he's done has been catastrophic to the good of USofA. Good riddance to bad rubbish come Jan. 20, 2021.


----------



## Johnny b

Real opportunity.
Real progress.
Support of a technological future based on science and engineering.
More American jobs.
And a cleaner environment.

Exactly what outgoing Trump refused to accept.

It starts here:

* GM dumps Trump in his attempt to bar California from setting emissions *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2020/11/23/gm-trump-california-emissions-biden/6401627002/

A future that favors electrification over oxidation.



> "GM's decision reinforces how shortsighted the Trump Administration's efforts to erode American ingenuity and America's defenses against the climate threat truly are," Biden said in a statement. "In addition to advancing our ambitious climate goals, this decision will have a positive ripple effect as our nation strives to outcompete our global competitors, create good-paying union jobs here at home, and reclaim our place as leaders in innovation and manufacturing - all of which will be priorities in my administration."


----------



## ekim68

How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon



> In November 2017, a small-time YouTube video creator and two moderators of the 4chan website, one of the most extreme message boards on the internet, banded together and plucked out of obscurity an anonymous and cryptic post from the many conspiracy theories that populated the website's message board.
> 
> Over the next several months, they would create videos, a Reddit community, a business and an entire mythology based off the 4chan posts of "Q," the pseudonym of a person claiming to be a high-ranking military officer. The theory they espoused would become Qanon, and it would eventually make its way from those message boards to national media stories and the rallies of President Donald Trump.


----------



## Johnny b

* Ted Cruz Got $35 Million For Billionaire Fracking Donors In Last COVID-19 Aid: Report *
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/wilk...illion-loan-coronavirus-relief-040634919.html



> .......................The Wall Street Journal reports that the last time around, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) helped manipulate the aid program to get $35 million for Texas billionaire fracking brothers who are major Cruz contributors.
> 
> Dan and Farris Wilks collected the windfall even though their businesses were busy buying stakes in six other fracking companies, according to corporate records, the Journal reported.


----------



## ekim68

Russia may fine citizens who use SpaceX's Starlink Internet service



> Russia is planning its own Internet from space plan, called Sphere.


----------



## Wino

Geeze!! Putie acting like he's Trump !!


----------



## ekim68

Capitol riot suspect plotted to sell stolen Pelosi laptop to Russian intelligence, authorities say



> A Pennsylvania woman accused of being one of the Capitol rioters told a former "romantic partner" that she planned to steal a laptop computer from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and sell it to Russian intelligence, court documents revealed Monday.


----------



## Wino

Is this the same one that said "infamy better than obscurity" ? If so, she and her Trumpy idol have succeeded .


----------



## ekim68

Capitol riot arrests: See who's been charged across the U.S.



> Federal prosecutors continue to charge participants in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, adding to dozens of arrests that took place in Washington D.C. that day.
> 
> USA TODAY is gathering details of those cases as the FBI continues to identify the people responsible for the attack that left five people dead and sent lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence fleeing to shelter.


----------



## Wino

So far, three from my city arrested for the Trump Insurrection.


----------



## Johnny b

Tesla and how they make a buck. And it's not from selling cars.

* Tesla's dirty little secret: Its net profit doesn't come from selling cars *
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/31/investing/tesla-profitability/index.html



> It's a lucrative business for Tesla -- bringing in $3.3 billion over the course of the last five years, nearly half of that in 2020 alone. The $1.6 billion in regulatory credits it received last year far outweighed Tesla's net income of $721 million -- meaning Tesla would have otherwise posted a net loss in 2020.
> "These guys are losing money selling cars. They're making money selling credits. And the credits are going away," said Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research and one of the biggest bears on Tesla (TSLA) shares.


also:

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-n...for-every-car-delivered-in-2020-ar190885.html



> If you don't look very deep, it would look like Tesla did pretty good in 2020. It delivered a total of 499,500 cars and posted a net income of $721 million. That's pretty good for Tesla, right? Well, it would be, except that Tesla also received $1.6 billion in regulatory credits, and that's how it managed to post a profit. *Without the $1.6 billion in regulatory credits, Tesla would have posted a loss to the tun of $879 million. * The biggest bit here is that Tesla can't sustain itself like this very long. As established by Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research to CNN Business,


Most of the auto manufacturers are soon to be producing their own versions in competition with Tesla and won't have the current need to buy those credits. They'll be making their own.


----------



## Wino

So if I have any Tesla stock - I should consider selling??😤


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> So if I have any Tesla stock - I should consider selling??😤


lol!

I don't give that kind of financial advice, but I can see how being in love with it probably won't end well ....


----------



## Wino

Johnny b said:


> lol!
> 
> I don't give that kind of financial advice, *but I can see how being in love with it probably won't end wel*l ....


Kinda like voting for Trump !! 🤪


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Kinda like voting for Trump !! 🤪


uhmmmm.......yeah sorta 

Tesla is a crap shoot, Trump was a guarantee for failure.


----------



## Johnny b

Republicans not 'Trump' ugh!

* How a leading anti-Trump group ignored a crisis in its ranks *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/nat...isis-in-its-ranks/WVRP57YEPNCY3PQ22DRN54SWLM/



> One of the best-known players in the so-called Never Trump movement is facing intense scrutiny that threatens to undermine the broader coalition's influence amid new revelations about its financial management and improper behavior involving a co-founder


----------



## Johnny b

Complain about the abuse of power and corruption concerning the inoculations for Covid-19 in Florida and this is what happens:

* "Shameful and inhumane": DeSantis threatens to withhold vaccine amid criticism *
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...thhold-vaccine-from-area-that-criticized-him/

Too much to copy and paste.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Complain about the abuse of power and corruption concerning the inoculations for Covid-19 in Florida and this is what happens:
> 
> * "Shameful and inhumane": DeSantis threatens to withhold vaccine amid criticism *
> https://arstechnica.com/science/202...thhold-vaccine-from-area-that-criticized-him/
> 
> Too much to copy and paste.


Good grief. Please read for comprehension. The statement was "If Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it,". This obviously a Tongue-In-Cheek statement. But should Manatee County decide to turn it down, they will have to answer to their voters.

There was an opportunity to vaccinate a community with a high percentage of elderly individuals (paraphrase of DeSantis from that interview). BUT it is not ok to vaccinate them because they live in an area that is predominately white and wealthy. Not to mention Republican of course...

So now you are jumping on the Critical Race Theory craziness?


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Good grief. Please read for comprehension. The statement was "If Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it,". This obviously a Tongue-In-Cheek statement. But should Manatee County decide to turn it down, they will have to answer to their voters.
> 
> There was an opportunity to vaccinate a community with a high percentage of elderly individuals (paraphrase of DeSantis from that interview). BUT it is not ok to vaccinate them because they live in an area that is predominately white and wealthy. Not to mention Republican of course...
> 
> So now you are jumping on the Critical Race Theory craziness?


Typical response.
Revert to weak sophistry by parsing and quoting out of context.



> This obviously a Tongue-In-Cheek statement.


Why is it only 'Tongue in Cheek' when someone less privileged dies from corruption, Jack?



> So now you are jumping on the Critical Race Theory craziness?


Critical Race Theory?
Do you really think medical treatments for a pandemic should be legislated according to race and financial status?
And is withholding them because of criticism a moral response?

That's pretty cold, Jack.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Typical response.
> Revert to weak sophistry by parsing and quoting out of context.


And even more reading comprehension issues??? You might need some medication.
That was a direct quote Johnny. Nothing that I quoted was out of context. Actually, a direct quote cannot be out-of-context, unless you are evaluating the statement itself and not the correctness of the direct quote.
Now you could argue that my evaluation was lacking context; but, I will respectfully disagree with that faulty assessment. 


Johnny b said:


> Why is it only 'Tongue in Cheek' when someone less privileged dies from corruption, Jack?


Why is it only "Corruption" when you can blame the death on a Republican?

Example: Why did the liberal media provide a 10 month cover up for Governor Cuomo on the nursing home deaths from COVID19? AP: Over 9,000 virus patients sent into NY nursing homes (apnews.com)

Where was the stellar investigating, reporting, and follow-up on people that were actually dying due to Cuomo's bonehead policy? Oh yeah, they were too busy making up false news about then President Trump, in order to earn awards based upon false narratives. 


Johnny b said:


> Critical Race Theory?
> Do you really think medical treatments for a pandemic should be legislated according to race and financial status?
> And is withholding them because of criticism a moral response?
> 
> That's pretty cold, Jack.


Of course not Johnny, and I have never advocated such a position.

The problem is that your argument is based upon emotion and not any actual policy adjustment. If you want to go down the path of this flawed argument... Explain why medical treatments SHOULD be legislated according to race and a lack of financial status? Why should an individual's skin color and tax bracket make a difference?

Additionally, the medical treatments were not withheld because of "criticism." NONE of the vaccines where withheld. The tounge-in-cheek statement was that the County use the vaccines, or decline the vaccines.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> And even more reading comprehension issues??? You might need some medication.
> That was a direct quote Johnny. Nothing that I quoted was out of context. Actually, a direct quote cannot be out-of-context, unless you are evaluating the statement itself and not the correctness of the direct quote.
> Now you could argue that my evaluation was lacking context; but, I will respectfully disagree with that faulty assessment.
> 
> Why is it only "Corruption" when you can blame the death on a Republican?
> 
> Example: Why did the liberal media provide a 10 month cover up for Governor Cuomo on the nursing home deaths from COVID19? AP: Over 9,000 virus patients sent into NY nursing homes (apnews.com)
> 
> Where was the stellar investigating, reporting, and follow-up on people that were actually dying due to Cuomo's bonehead policy? Oh yeah, they were too busy making up false news about then President Trump, in order to earn awards based upon false narratives.
> 
> Of course not Johnny, and I have never advocated such a position.
> 
> The problem is that your argument is based upon emotion and not any actual policy adjustment. If you want to go down the path of this flawed argument... Explain why medical treatments SHOULD be legislated according to race and a lack of financial status? Why should an individual's skin color and tax bracket make a difference?
> 
> Additionally, the medical treatments were not withheld because of "criticism." NONE of the vaccines where withheld. The tounge-in-cheek statement was that the County use the vaccines, or decline the vaccines.





> You might need some medication.


lol!
Stealing my lines already :up:



> Actually, a direct quote cannot be out-of-context.....


Well, I don't do alcohol, so I have never had to endue that fallacy 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoting_out_of_context



> unless you are evaluating the statement itself and not the correctness of the direct quote.


You mean like you projected with your response to the Ball/Toomey post I made?

Sophistry. meh.



> Now you could argue that my evaluation was lacking context


Sophistry 
Intentionally lacking critical context is merely another means of intentional misrepresentation, Jack.
I feel you do that often when supporting the sedition and insurrection of Republican supporters of Trump.
A lot of sophistry.



> Why is it only "Corruption" when you can blame the death on a Republican?


See what I mean.
You object to criticism of those politicians and leaders that you follow and support.
Conceptually, nothing wrong with that.
But leaders should take responsibility for their actions.
Trump ( and you ) deny responsibility and your new argument is because I don't post news articles in opposition to Democrat leadership.
Read the forum.
Fact.
I have started negative threads about extremist/leftist Democrat politicians in the past and they got no input from even the likes of you Trump worshipers.
The US has suffered the last 4 years under Republican leadership.
Greatly.
You want to criticize Cuomo?
Go right ahead. He is as responsible for his policy decisions just as much as any other politician.
But.....I don't have to comment on any subject just because you don't like my comments and replies to issues concerning the Trump nightmare.




> Where was the stellar investigating, reporting, and follow-up on people that were actually dying due to Cuomo's bonehead policy? Oh yeah, they were too busy making up false news about then President Trump, in order to earn awards based upon false narratives.


Whine, whine, whine 
Don't let the steppenwolf syndrome get you down.
Maybe you just need better news sources. lol!



> Of course not Johnny, and I have never advocated such a position.


You did identify your beliefs as being inline ( supportive ) with DeSantis's position of vaccine distribution. You even identified his remarks as 'Tongue in cheek'.

And you post here:


> The problem is that your argument is based upon emotion and not any actual policy adjustment.


The article addressed policy. That is the problem in Fla. It's become discriminatory on a racial and financial basis.

You often use terms that come back to bite you.
What is being seen in Fla is exactly the type of activity that generated CRT decades ago, and is representative of institutional racism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory

That's two concepts that the 'new' Republican Party under Trump have practiced. Rather openly, imo.



> Explain why medical treatments SHOULD be legislated according to race and a lack of financial status?


BS 
The issue is for you to present an argument as to why treatments are being distributed favoring a privileged sector of the population.
Why do you support that policy?
And address that Governor's position of projecting threats of withholding because of criticism.



> Why should an individual's skin color and tax bracket make a difference?


Indeed. Why?
And why do you support it?
I brought that issue to the forum's attention.
Asking me to address a question that's only relevant to you seems rather disrespectful in an 'honest ' debate.
But then, I guess it's because I don't criticize Democrats enough.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Well, I don't do alcohol, so I have never had to endue that fallacy
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoting_out_of_context


OK. It seems I need to clarify. Let's see.... I failed to relay that the actual text cannot be out-of-context in and of itself, if spelled correctly. It take an individual to deliberately screw up the intent of the quote by adding, or leaving out context. Thanks for the link though. 


Johnny b said:


> See what I mean.
> You object to criticism of those politicians and leaders that you follow and support.
> Conceptually, nothing wrong with that.
> But leaders should take responsibility for their actions.
> Trump ( and you ) deny responsibility and your new argument is because I don't post news articles in opposition to Democrat leadership.
> Read the forum.


Wrong again my friend. I have criticized politicians that I generally agree with on policy when I find that their positions do not agree with my viewpoints. Perhaps you should take your own advice and "Read the Forum." As I have acknowledged previously, I do not have the spare time to peruse the forum and consume all of the content. That would be nice though. 


Johnny b said:


> You want to criticize Cuomo?
> Go right ahead. He is as responsible for his policy decisions just as much as any other politician.
> But.....I don't have to comment on any subject just because you don't like my comments and replies to issues concerning the Trump nightmare.


You are completely missing the point Johnny. How can you blindly trust these articles coming from the liberal media when they have been proven factually wrong (deliberately so) so many times when it comes to Trump and other Republicans. And you blindly ignore the disparity in reporting when it comes to Democrats vs Republicans. So yes, I will criticize Cuomo. He intentionally ordered somewhere around 9,000 Covid19 positive patients back to Nursing Homes. Go look at his excuse Johnny, you will find it enlightening. And YES, I will criticize the media for their multiple failures where it comes to misreporting, lack of reporting, and lack of honesty.


Johnny b said:


> The article addressed policy. That is the problem in Fla. It's become discriminatory on a racial and financial basis.


And you jumped on the Bash a Republican band wagon without waiting for all of the facts to come out. If it is proven that the policy is discriminatory on a financial basis, then the policy needs to be changed.


Johnny b said:


> You often use terms that come back to bite you.
> What is being seen in Fla is exactly the type of activity that generated CRT decades ago, and is representative of institutional racism.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory


So you support CRT now?

Guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you were the one who claimed that I did not deserve forgiveness since I generally supported Trump's policies. Unlike you, I can respect that you have a different opinion than mine and disagree with that opinion at the same time. 


Johnny b said:


> BS
> The issue is for you to present an argument as to why treatments are being distributed favoring a privileged sector of the population.
> Why do you support that policy?
> And address that Governor's position of projecting threats of withholding because of criticism.


I do not support any policy of favoring, as you well know. The real question is why do you support that same type of distribution favoritism based upon a lack of privilege, lack of skin pigment, lack of citizenship status, et... ?

And again with the reading comprehension Johnny. 
You know full well that the Governor did NOT threaten to withhold vaccines. He basically said that if the County did not want the vaccine, then the vaccine would be redistributed. Find the direct quote that says otherwise.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> OK. It seems I need to clarify. Let's see.... I failed to relay that the actual text cannot be out-of-context in and of itself, if spelled correctly. It take an individual to deliberately screw up the intent of the quote by adding, or leaving out context. Thanks for the link though.
> 
> Wrong again my friend. I have criticized politicians that I generally agree with on policy when I find that their positions do not agree with my viewpoints. Perhaps you should take your own advice and "Read the Forum." As I have acknowledged previously, I do not have the spare time to peruse the forum and consume all of the content. That would be nice though.
> 
> You are completely missing the point Johnny. How can you blindly trust these articles coming from the liberal media when they have been proven factually wrong (deliberately so) so many times when it comes to Trump and other Republicans. And you blindly ignore the disparity in reporting when it comes to Democrats vs Republicans. So yes, I will criticize Cuomo. He intentionally ordered somewhere around 9,000 Covid19 positive patients back to Nursing Homes. Go look at his excuse Johnny, you will find it enlightening. And YES, I will criticize the media for their multiple failures where it comes to misreporting, lack of reporting, and lack of honesty.
> 
> And you jumped on the Bash a Republican band wagon without waiting for all of the facts to come out. If it is proven that the policy is discriminatory on a financial basis, then the policy needs to be changed.
> 
> So you support CRT now?
> 
> Guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you were the one who claimed that I did not deserve forgiveness since I generally supported Trump's policies. Unlike you, I can respect that you have a different opinion than mine and disagree with that opinion at the same time.
> 
> I do not support any policy of favoring, as you well know. The real question is why do you support that same type of distribution favoritism based upon a lack of privilege, lack of skin pigment, lack of citizenship status, et... ?
> 
> And again with the reading comprehension Johnny.
> You know full well that the Governor did NOT threaten to withhold vaccines. He basically said that if the County did not want the vaccine, then the vaccine would be redistributed. Find the direct quote that says otherwise.





> OK. It seems I need to clarify.


I seem to frequently need to point that out.
You seem to frequently project absolutes with exceptions.
Surely you see the contradiction to that?

Apparently not.
You follow with:


> I failed to relay that the actual text cannot be out-of-context in and of itself, if spelled correctly.


But:


> It take an individual to deliberately screw up the intent of the quote by adding, or leaving out context.


Adding context?
You mean like bizarre interpretations?
Or perhaps attempts of sophistry?
Isn't that what you strive to achieve with all those apologetic responses in support of Trumpism?
Facts never seem to get in your way LOL!



> ...or leaving out context


Ahhh....those nasty facts again lol!





> I have criticized politicians that I generally agree with on policy when I find that their positions do not agree with my viewpoints.


Perhaps you even believe that......but....you have demonstrated a pattern of support of this new conservatism in this forum.
You have defended Trump. You challenge and demean those that are concerned about the lawlessness of the Trump administration.
And what I can only define as a 'time waster', you have frequently repeated challenges of known outcomes.

Here we go 


> You are completely missing the point Johnny. How can you blindly trust these articles coming from the liberal media when they have been proven factually wrong (deliberately so) so many times when it comes to Trump and other Republicans.


I don't. 
I read multiple sources.
I don't know what sources you read, but I have noticed how your support of Trumpism is frequently at odds with documented facts.
Having watched Trump speak in front of an angry mob, inciting it to attack the Capital, and reading your attempt to vindicate Trump's innocence, it's rather obvious you only read sources that support your own political viewpoint.
And that bleach/uv light video ......lol!
How anyone can claim it didn't happen is way beyond contextual issues 






Trump....what a moron.
OMG....that's a CNN clip 



> And you blindly ignore the disparity in reporting when it comes to Democrats vs Republicans.


See what I mean about alcoholic beverages being a negative.
First....I'm not a reporter.
I'm a member of TSG posting in a forum designated for controversial topics.
Any disparity you think that occurs is only because of the leadership of the last 4 years.
Democrats were not the national leaders.
Controversies were the hallmark of Trump's administration.
He appealed to the worst elements of our society.
Even you inadvertently argued for a purge of the Republican Party recently when a Republican Senator didn't meet your political objectives.




> After all, you were the one who claimed that I did not deserve forgiveness since I generally supported Trump's policies.


As I remember, that entailed your position of acceptable deaths from Covid-19.
I really can't forgive anyone on issues like that.
But then I don't support anyone that claims he is above the law and can shoot someone at will on 5th Avenue...just to get more votes 

I'm not a Trumpie, Jack.
I think good morals and ethics are important.



> And you jumped on the Bash a Republican band wagon without waiting for all of the facts to come out.


No, the issue I referred to is one of privilege being extended to those of color ( white ) and wealth in times of a pandemic.
And to show how intellectually dishonest you are, you presented this question:



> So you support CRT now?


But it was preceded by this comment by you:


> If it is proven that the policy is discriminatory on a financial basis, then the policy needs to be changed.


CRT is a liberal argument for correcting a wrong.
So while you try to label me a leftist, you make a similar argument.
Out of convenience, obviously.

Wow. Trumpism.
Sophistry and fallacies galore......with contextual issues from time to time 

My position:
The corruption in Florida should end.

You just don't like it being pointed out. 



> I do not support any policy of favoring, as you well know.


Ahhh.....Is that why you defend Trump and Trumpism so vigorously?



> You know full well that the Governor did NOT threaten to withhold vaccines.


https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/p...0210217-cgew27q23fhknh7rpr3h4sf5dy-story.html

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/02/...withhold-covid-vaccines-distribution-critics/


> "If Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it. We're totally happy to do that. So anyone that's saying that, let us know. If you want us to send to Sarasota next time or Charlotte or Pasco or wherever, let us know, we're happy to do it," he said.


Speaks for itself.

At 2:29 SeSantis speaks but the lead in is important.






Not exactly a Republican friendly video 

Jack, time to admit it...Trump lost the election


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny, I was going to take the time to respond individually to all of your off-the-wall interpretations in that post. Then I realized that you are simply being obtuse, or your blind hatred for Trump and his supporters prevents you from being intellectually honest. To watch those videos objectively and to come away with your conclusions as the one and only truth is simply incomprehensible.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Johnny, I was going to take the time to respond individually to all of your off-the-wall interpretations in that post. Then I realized that you are simply being obtuse, or your blind hatred for Trump and his supporters prevents you from being intellectually honest. To watch those videos objectively and to come away with your conclusions as the one and only truth is simply incomprehensible.


Tough times being a loyal Trumpist?



Damn those videos


----------



## Wino

Disinfectant injection and insertion of UV lighting - discussion with Trumpies is similar to my talking to my bathroom door while sitting on my porcelain throne with one exception - the door never gives me a silly response. 🤪


----------



## Johnny b

Not a surprise:

* Dominion Voting Systems sues MyPillow Inc. CEO Mike Lindell *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...illow-ceo-mike-lindell-defamation/4538784001/


----------



## Johnny b

I'll probably be criticized for not posting conspiracy theories about Biden, but here goes anyway (  )

* Supreme Court refuses to step in to stop turnover of Trump financial records *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-court-refuses-step-halt-turnover/3685217001/

And that's a Court Trump is credited with stacking.

Citizen Trump is going to make many lawyers wealthy, or at least wealthier.
They better argue for advance payments or risk having a 'Giuliani' done on them


----------



## Wino

Brings tears to my eyes when you post good news stories !!


----------



## Johnny b

* White nationalists are once again using Christian symbols to spread hate

Using Christianity to justify hate *

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ian-symbols-send-messages-racists/4457702001/












> A screaming man with his fist raised, a Byzantine cross emblazoned in red on his T-shirt. A white flag with a lone green pine tree and the words "An Appeal to Heaven" fluttering over the angry crowd. The Christian flag whipping in the wind from a parked pickup.
> 
> Those images on display at the Jan. 5-6 rally and riot in Washington, D.C., have raised concerns that some of former President Donald Trump's most ardent and dangerous supporters, including groups such as the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, QAnon, 3 Percenters and America Firsters*,* are cloaking themselves in Biblical language to justify their actions.


----------



## Wino

Atheist are better christians than most christians that profess to be christians ! And that's a fact.


----------



## Johnny b

Wino said:


> Atheist are better christians than most christians that profess to be christians ! And that's a fact.


Has been for quite a while. Centuries.


----------



## Johnny b

* Texas Power Firm Hit With $2.1 Billion Bill Files for Bankruptcy *

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-power-firm-files-bankruptcy-074327879.html



> The largest power generation and transmission cooperative in Texas filed for bankruptcy in the wake of power outages that caused an energy crisis during the winter freeze last month.
> 
> Brazos Electric Power Cooperative filed for Chapter 11 in Texas after racking up an estimated $2.1 billion in charges over seven days of the freeze. Last year, it cost cooperative members $774 million for power for all of 2020.


----------



## Johnny b

Trump's messages were included in a hack of another hate web site.

*Trump's is one of 15,000 Gab accounts that just got hacked *

https://arstechnica.com/information...site-has-been-hacked-and-70gb-of-data-leaked/



> The founder of the far-right social media platform Gab said that the private account of former President Donald Trump was among the data stolen and publicly released by hackers who recently breached the site.
> 
> .................
> .................
> Gab has long been criticized as a haven for hate speech. In 2018, Google banned the Gab app from its Play Store for terms of service violations. A year later, web host GoDaddy terminated service to Gab after one of its users took to the site to criticize the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society shortly before killing 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue.
> 
> Gab has also been investigated by Pennsylvania's attorney general. In January, the Anti-Defamation League called on the US Justice Department to investigate Gab for its role in the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol.


----------



## Johnny b

News in Ohio:

* FirstEnergy pumped $1M into backing DeWine, records show *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/loc...wine-records-show/ZHCCGM5E6JB4RDNKUKZK7KYKEQ/



> Energy company at center of bribery scandal won't disclose all its political giving.


Known so far:


----------



## Johnny b

More on bribery under Dewine:

* Disclosures say Ohio regulator paid $4.3M acted on behalf of FirstEnergy *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/loc...lf-of-firstenergy/VCRST7E5YZEFVESGFMBAGE7P6A/



> An Ohio utility regulator who was paid $4.3 million acted "at the request or the benefit of (FirstEnergy) as a consequence of receiving such payment," according to detail buried in a previous disclosure made by FirstEnergy to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
> .............
> An Ohio utility regulator who was paid $4.3 million acted "at the request or the benefit of (FirstEnergy) as a consequence of receiving such payment," according to detail buried in a previous disclosure made by FirstEnergy to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The disclosures don't specifically name attorney Sam Randazzo. Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Randazzo chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in February 2019 and he started the job in April 2019.


Corruption seems alive and well in Ohio.... ....


----------



## Johnny b

Looks like Jim Jordan has something to be nervous about....again.

* State medical board reopens 91 sex assault cases in wake of OSU abuse scandal *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/new...osu-abuse-scandal/NU233TQEMRBLXC4XVNZGQOK3CA/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jordan_(American_politician)
excerpt:


> In early June 2018, at least eight former wrestlers said that Jordan had been aware of, but did not respond to, allegations of sexual misconduct by Strauss. Jordan's locker was next to Strauss's, and Jordan spent so much time in the locker room that he created and awarded a "King of the Sauna" certificate to the member of the team who spent the most time in the sauna "talking smack".


That kind of news is one way (ouch) to start a re-election campaign 

I wonder what else he conveniently doesn't remember?


----------



## Johnny b

Jordan is from Urbana and so is Vitale.

* Nino Vitale campaign corrects report that claimed contribution from Black caucus *
https://www.daytondailynews.com/loc...-campaign-account/C52Q3URVHJEPNMLEWES343WEFI/

excerpts: 


> State Rep. Nino Vitale, who raised eyebrows by claiming he is "darker" than many Black legislators, reported that the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus donated $2,000 to his campaign fund last year.
> 
> The caucus said Vitale's report is false.
> .............
> Vitale has been an outspoken critic of public health orders, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Gov. Mike DeWine.
> ...............
> In May, Vitale made national news when he said he wouldn't wear a mask to protect against the spread of COVID-19 because it would cover "the image and likeness of God."


OK.....imo, he acts like a nutjob.
But what does that say about those that elected him?
Urbana----->'Gym' Jordan and Vitale the loon.
I remember a time when the term 'conservative' related to common sense and values.
A long time ago.


----------



## Johnny b

So our RINO Trumpie friends don't feel left out and complain I'm biased, some 'dirt' on a Democrat.

* Female aide claims New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo inappropriately touched her at governor's mansion: report *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ale-aide-report-new-york-governor/6950504002/


----------



## ekim68

Shootings never stopped during the pandemic: 2020 was the deadliest gun violence year in decades



> Until two lethal rampages this month, mass shootings had largely been absent from headlines during the coronavirus pandemic. But people were still dying - at a record rate.


----------



## Johnny b

Voltswagen..................

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/29/vw-accidentally-leaks-new-name-for-its-us-operations-voltswagen.html



> Volkswagen is expected to change the name of its operations in the U.S. to "Voltswagen of America," emphasizing the German automaker's electric vehicle efforts.
> A now unpublished press release called the change a "public declaration of the company's future-forward investment in e-mobility."
> The release said "Voltswagen" will be placed as an exterior badge on all EV models with gas vehicles having the company's iconic VW emblem only.


----------



## ekim68

The rise of domestic
extremism in America



> Domestic terrorism incidents have soared to new highs in the United States, driven chiefly by white-supremacist, anti-Muslim and anti-government extremists on the far right, according to a Washington Post analysis of data compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.


----------



## ekim68

Report: China, Russia fueling QAnon conspiracy theories



> Foreign-based actors, principally in China and Russia, are spreading online disinformation rooted in QAnon conspiracy theories, fueling a movement that has become a mounting domestic terrorism threat, according to new analysis of online propaganda by a security firm.
> 
> The analysis by the Soufan Center, a New York-based research firm focused on national security threats, found that nearly one-fifth of 166,820 QAnon-related Facebook posts between January 2020 and the end of February 2021 originated from overseas administrators.


----------



## ekim68

How Lies on Social Media Are Inflaming the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict



> In a 28-second video, which was posted to Twitter this week by a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip appeared to launch rocket attacks at Israelis from densely populated civilian areas.
> 
> At least that is what Mr. Netanyahu's spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, said the video portrayed. But his tweet with the footage, which was shared hundreds of times as the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis escalated, was not from Gaza. It was not even from this week.


----------



## ekim68

Israel's operation against Hamas was the world's first AI war



> Having relied heavily on machine learning, the Israeli military is calling Operation Guardian of the Walls the first artificial-intelligence war.
> 
> "For the first time, artificial intelligence was a key component and power multiplier in fighting the enemy," an IDF Intelligence Corps senior officer said. "This is a first-of-its-kind campaign for the IDF. We implemented new methods of operation and used technological developments that were a force multiplier for the entire IDF."


----------



## ekim68

Netanyahu Ousted as Israeli Parliament Votes in New Government



> An unlikely coalition prevailed against the country's longest-serving leader. Now it must get its disparate factions to work together.


----------



## Johnny b

It looks like sedition and insurrection is being downgraded to a misdemeanor.

* Virginia couple plead guilty in U.S. Capitol riot, setting precedent *
https://news.yahoo.com/virginia-couple-plead-guilty-u-222018229.html



> A Virginia couple on Monday pleaded guilty to demonstrating unlawfully in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, a misdemeanor with a sentence of up to six months, in a plea deal that could set a benchmark for hundreds of other cases.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> It looks like sedition and insurrection is being downgraded to a misdemeanor.
> 
> * Virginia couple plead guilty in U.S. Capitol riot, setting precedent *
> https://news.yahoo.com/virginia-couple-plead-guilty-u-222018229.html


Probably because January 6th was not an insurrection, regardless of how many times you want to tell yourself that, or listen to the liberal echo chamber claiming that it was. January 6th was a protest that turned into a conflict with aspects of a riot (which was completely unjustified and should have been met with overwhelming force). However, note that no one burned down the Capital on January 6th, as opposed to the constant recurring BLM and Antifa riots that have been seen across the country since last summer.

Back on the so called insurrection... Exactly how many insurrections have you seen in history where the insurrectionists entered a government building without any guns? Just wondering.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Probably because January 6th was not an insurrection, regardless of how many times you want to tell yourself that, or listen to the liberal echo chamber claiming that it was. January 6th was a protest that turned into a conflict with aspects of a riot (which was completely unjustified and should have been met with overwhelming force). However, note that no one burned down the Capital on January 6th, as opposed to the constant recurring BLM and Antifa riots that have been seen across the country since last summer.
> 
> Back on the so called insurrection... Exactly how many insurrections have you seen in history where the insurrectionists entered a government building without any guns? Just wondering.


I see you've become cautious and use the term....'probably'.
Were you chanting ( at home while watching the TV of course  ) along with the rebels to hang Vice President Pence because he wouldn't throw the election in favor of Trump?
Did you approve of the physical intervention of a constitutional process?
Did you approve of bringing pipe bombs or even firearms to the event?
Weapons were brought to the event.

It was a failed insurrection 
Are you sad? 

Do you use this logic as an excuse for an attempted overthrow of a legal government?


> However, note that no one burned down the Capital on January 6th, as opposed to the constant recurring BLM and Antifa riots that have been seen across the country since last summer.


Trump lost the election and Trumplicans need to get over it.


----------



## Wino

JB - Some righties are beyond redemption - get over it!!


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> I see you've become cautious and use the term....'probably'.
> Were you chanting ( at home while watching the TV of course  ) along with the rebels to hang Vice President Pence because he wouldn't throw the election in favor of Trump?
> Did you approve of the physical intervention of a constitutional process?
> Did you approve of bringing pipe bombs or even firearms to the event?
> Weapons were brought to the event.
> 
> It was a failed insurrection
> Are you sad?
> 
> Do you use this logic as an excuse for an attempted overthrow of a legal government?
> 
> Trump lost the election and Trumplicans need to get over it.


I really enjoy all of the rhetorical questions that you throw out, truly amusing.

On the pertinent portions of your questions though...

Yes, weapons were brought to the capitol. The crazy guy with the barbarian outfit had a spear or something, and I believe that there were some baseball bats, knives, and bear spray; however, I am not aware of any guns that were brought inside the capital by the protestors.

Regardless... How many bullets were fired by your so called "Insurrectionists?"

My point here is that if the intent was truly to commit an insurrection, bullets would have been fired by the Insurrectionists. Really difficult to conduct a physical insurrection without the use of serious firepower. These were obviously protestors that took their protest too far, and are lucky that they did not go home in pine boxes by the hundreds. Again, you can mislabel the protestors all you want; but, rational minded people will see through the veiled attempt at misdirection. Good try though.


----------



## Chawbacon

I heard about this on the radio while driving today. If what Lindell says is true and if they have the packet captures to prove it, this truly puts the United States into the arena of a constitutional crisis (and the resulting potential scenarios truly cause me to pause with concern). Basically because our Founding Fathers never thought that a Presidential election could possibly be stolen.

More to be determined...

Mike Lindell To Present Evidence From Experts At 'Cyber Forensic Symposium' Event In July (thefreedomtimes.com)


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> .......................
> 
> Yes, weapons were brought to the capitol. ..........................


Yes, they were.
Some even improvised on the spot.

Trump lost the election and a 'wild party' invite was a loser's attempt at overthrowing the election results......sedition and attempted insurrection.

Since you don't prefer reliable news sources:

Dated Dec. 19, 2020
* Trump promises 'wild' protest in DC on Jan. 6, the day Congress to count electoral votes *
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/trump-p...n-6-the-day-congress-to-count-electoral-votes

And now, a news source you love to hate (  )
Dated Dec. 31, 2020
* Jan. 6 protests multiply as Trump continues to call supporters to Washington *
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...73b19c-4acc-11eb-839a-cf4ba7b7c48c_story.html

Notice the detail that Fox seemed to ignore?
Like:


> Four seemingly competing rallies to demand that Congress overturn the results of the presidential election, which their participants falsely view as illegitimate, are scheduled on the day Congress is set to convene to certify electoral college votes, declaring President-elect Joe Biden the winner.


Trumplicans........



> Threats of violence, ploys to smuggle guns into the District and calls to set up an "armed encampment" on the Mall have proliferated in online chats about the Jan. 6 day of protest. The Proud Boys, members of armed right-wing groups, conspiracy theorists and white supremacists have pledged to attend.


Sedition:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sedition


> incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority


Insurrection:
https://dictionary.findlaw.com/definition/insurrection.html


> *:* the act or an instance of revolting esp. violently against civil or political authority or against an established government
> _;also_
> *:* the crime of inciting or engaging in such revolt [whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or against the authority of the United States…shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years "_U.S. Code_"]


Yep, that's the imagery of Donald J Trump leading up to and on January 6, 2021, and supported by a mob of radicalized Trumplicans.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> I heard about this on the radio while driving today. If what Lindell says is true and if they have the packet captures to prove it, this truly puts the United States into the arena of a constitutional crisis (and the resulting potential scenarios truly cause me to pause with concern). Basically because our Founding Fathers never thought that a Presidential election could possibly be stolen.
> 
> More to be determined...
> 
> Mike Lindell To Present Evidence From Experts At 'Cyber Forensic Symposium' Event In July (thefreedomtimes.com)


Mike Lindell LOL!

Jack, you seem unusually desperate these days.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Mike Lindell LOL!
> 
> Jack, you seem unusually desperate these days.


Nah... Not desperate. Just willing to hear both sides of the narrative. But, I do like how you just dismiss Lindell out of hand. Nice tactic. 

At least Lindell is putting his chips on the table though (unlike like the various county election boards).
Mike Lindell's Cyber Symposium Scheduled for August 10, 11, 12 (commdiginews.com)

It should prove, or disprove, any questions about the validity of his data at a National/International level event. Although, if the results are truly negative for the Democrats, the Liberal media will either not cover the results, take every piece of provided information as far out of context as possible, call the audit itself fraudulent, or dismiss the results as crazy talk. Sounds like some of your tactics Johnny.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> Nah... Not desperate. Just willing to hear both sides of the narrative. But, I do like how you just dismiss Lindell out of hand. Nice tactic.
> 
> At least Lindell is putting his chips on the table though (unlike like the various county election boards).
> Mike Lindell's Cyber Symposium Scheduled for August 10, 11, 12 (commdiginews.com)
> ..................


Your argument just keeps looking more and more desperate, Jack.

Quit crossing you fingers and tapping the tips of your shoes together.

You need to come to grips with reality. ...

( Trump lost )


----------



## Johnny b

Trumplican insanity continues:

* Homeland Security warns of 'increasing but modest' threat of violence from Trump conspiracy *
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hom...erate-threat-violence-trump/story?id=79324751



> The Department of Homeland Security said Friday they have observed "an increasing but modest level of activity online" by people who are calling for violence in response to baseless claims of 2020 election fraud and related to the conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump will be reinstated.


----------



## Johnny b

Cuomo has resigned.

*Cuomo resigns after probe finds he sexually harassed 11 women *

https://news.yahoo.com/cuomo-resigns-following-finding-he-sexually-harassed-11-women-161253991.html


----------



## Johnny b

Ted Cruz.....caught in a lie.

* Ted Cruz, NY Post Falsely Pass Off Black Hawk Helicopter Video as a Taliban Hanging *

https://www.thewrap.com/afghanistan-helicopter-cruz-crenshaw/


----------



## Johnny b

Since the Alex Jones thread is locked, this news article will go here.

* Alex Jones appears to take ivermectin during a bizarre COVID-19 rant in which he defended Joe Rogan and called Fauci a 'murderer' *
https://news.yahoo.com/alex-jones-appears-ivermectin-during-014710916.html









( isn't that the National Socialist fist pumping that Trump has made popular? )



> "You want to suppress me, you want to kill me," he said. "You think I'm easy to kill?"
> ...........
> He also shouted about how ivermectin has helped him and his family but that Fauci "doesn't want you to know because he wants the planet for himself and he wants you dead."


https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2020/03/alex-jones-dwi/

https://www.statesman.com/news/2020...ol-tests-for-alex-jones-in-child-custody-case

https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/202...ones-stop-selling-fake-coronavirus-treatments

* Alex Jones Says Modern Weed Too Strong, George Soros To Blame  *
https://www.thefix.com/alex-jones-says-modern-weed-too-strong-george-soros-blame

What a buffoon.


----------



## Tildy

just a thought


----------



## Johnny b

* Chris Christie - a possible 2024 presidential contender - takes direct aim at Trump *
https://news.yahoo.com/chris-christ...nder-takes-direct-aim-at-trump-161839996.html



> Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie denounced former President Donald Trump in a speech Thursday night and said the GOP must rid itself of him and his cult of personality.


lol!
( listen for the deep breathing just before the screeching begins )

I wouldn't vote for him, either


----------



## Wino

Cristie about 5-6 years too late with that truism. Kinda reminds me of Karla Faye Tucker finding religion AFTER she was captured and convicted.


----------



## Johnny b

IMO, Christie has always been the opportunist from New Jersey.
A question I think is relevant, is....can Christie become more effective as a populist than Trump? 
He's really more of an 'old school' politician.
( It was pretty funny what he did to Trump's son-in-law father and expect a future with crazy Donald )

Trump has the hate sector pretty much wrapped up and worshiped as an emissary of God, which are going to be hard to beat if that's the game Christie needs to play.



> Cristie about 5-6 years too late with that truism.


Yeah


----------



## Wino

Johnny b said:


> IMO, Christie has always been the opportunist from New Jersey.
> A question I think is relevant, is....can Christie become more effective as a populist than Trump?
> He's really more of an 'old school' politician.
> ( It was pretty funny what he did to Trump's son-in-law father and expect a future with crazy Donald )
> 
> *Trump has the hate sector pretty much wrapped up and worshiped as an emissary of God,* which are going to be hard to beat if that's the game Christie needs to play.
> 
> Yeah


I'll never understand how a man that has never read a bible, is not religious in anyway, worships himself, never attends church services unless a photo op, has no christian qualities or beliefs, is considered an emissary of god by angelico's or by anyone of sound mind.🤪
As for Christie - opportunist is an apt description and he has little future in politics no matter his efforts - he is TT - Trump Tainted.🤬


----------



## Johnny b

Florida in the news.

* Anti-Mask Florida Official Dies of COVID-and Takes GOP Software Secrets With Him *
https://www.thedailybeast.com/gregg...covid-and-takes-gop-software-secrets-with-him



> Gregg Prentice, who was 61, led the Hillsborough County Election Integrity Committee-and his sudden death has sent the local GOP scrambling as it no longer has access to essential campaign finance software without his help.
> 
> Along with others in the Hillsborough County Election Integrity Committee, Prentice was a vociferous critic of the vaccine, mask mandates, and COVID-prevention measures. He railed against top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, vowing in a Twitter post to "end Faucism." He also insisted the U.S. needs "more socialist distancing than we do social distancing" and that the pandemic was created to destroy small businesses.


And then the conspiracy theories started.


----------



## Johnny b

Interesting financial article on failed Chinese EV startups.
Pseudo capitalism, government intrusion and unrealistic expectations during a pandemic.
What could ever go wrong?
Not mentioned was the potential element of fraud like with our own Nikola.

* Deserted Factories Show How China Electric Car Boom Went Too Far *
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/deserted-factories-show-china-electric-210000505.html



> There are some 846 registered automobile manufacturers in China, and more than 300 of them churn out new-energy cars, loosely defined as electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids. The vast majority are names unrecognizable elsewhere. In 2020 alone, the country added new production capacity of around 5 million units, about four times the actual number of EVs sold in China that year. According to regulators, almost half that capacity wasn't in use.
> .........
> "This is kind of the classic capitalist competitive shakeout," said Gary Dvorchak, a Beijing-based managing director at investment advisory Blueshirt Group LLC. "You get a zillion companies and then you have an oversupply situation.* The process of failing is typically a lot slower in China because companies get government support.* ( edit: bolding mine ) But eventually, some have to die and the pain inflicted to get those deaths to happen can be high."


----------



## Johnny b

Since the 'Alex Jones found innocent' thread is closed, this one will have to do as a new thread is not warranted:

* Alex Jones will have to pay families in lawsuits over Sandy Hook shooting, judge rules *
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...families-lawsuits-over-sandy-hook/5952386001/



> An Austin judge has issued default judgments against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, citing his pattern of bad faith in dealing with lawsuits by parents of two children killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.
> ..................
> It's no longer a matter of whether Jones writes a check to the parents, said Bill Ogden, a lawyer for the parents. "It's now how big a check is it going to be."


Looks like he might need to sell one hell of a lot more of his fake Covid cures.


----------



## Wino

Again, I love articles with a happy ending !!
Kraken lawyer next, then Rudy, then pillow guy, then orange pustule, all on the horizon.


----------



## Johnny b

Missouri.

* Missouri governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website *
https://missouriindependent.com/202...-of-reporter-who-found-flaw-in-state-website/

Parson appears to be angered that a flaw in one of Missouri's web sites was found.
And it involves identifying members of school boards.

What would be his purpose? The real purpose.

* Missouri attorney general sues schools over mask mandate *
https://themissouritimes.com/missouri-ag-suing-schools-over-mask-mandate/


> Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a class action lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to prevent public schools from implementing mask mandates.


I see the potential of 'Trump nutter-brigades' and 'covid cultists' pressuring identifiable school boards members in a way that risks the lives of school children.
For politics and political control.
Sad state of affairs when a governor tries to hide that kind of activity.


----------



## Johnny b

* A lawyer for a Capitol riot suspect and InfoWars host compared his conduct on January 6 to 'Jesus Christ or the Dalai Lama' *
https://news.yahoo.com/lawyer-capitol-riot-suspect-infowars-151844555.html


----------



## Johnny b

Elements of the Trump movement call for military invasion of Australia.
( not a joke )

* U.S. Conservatives Want to Save Australia From 'COVID Tyranny.' Australians Aren't Interested *
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-conservatives-want-save-australia-132246016.html


----------



## ekim68

Drone used in attack on US electrical grid last year, report reveals



> A US intelligence report has revealed that a drone was used in an attempt to disable an electrical substation in Pennsylvania last year, in the first known attack of its kind


----------



## Wino

I'd expect targeted kamikaze attacks with drones. Apparently, this perp is too poor to lose his toy and wanted it back.


----------



## Johnny b

The 'Alex Jones is Innocent' thread is closed....so here's the latest:

* Alex Jones Loses Sandy Hook Families' Lawsuits Over Conspiracy Theories *
https://news.yahoo.com/alex-jones-loses-sandy-hook-165522290.html


----------



## Johnny b

* Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty of all charges in Wisconsin murder trial *

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/jury-rittenhouse-murder-trial-deliberate-fourth-day-2021-11-19/



> A jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on Friday on all charges relating to his fatal shooting of two men and wounding of a third with a semi-automatic rifle during chaotic 2020 racial justice protests in Wisconsin, determining that the teenager acted in self-defense.


----------



## Wino

What a load of BS !!


----------



## Chawbacon

Wino said:


> What a load of BS !!


Why a load of BS Wino?

The video evidence and personal testimony clearly indicated that self-defense was a sound presumption.

Now I will say that Rittenhouse was guilty of being stupid, by putting himself into a situation where he did not have adequate training. But, we do not have a law that would allow people to be imprisoned for being stupid. They have to actually break the law.


----------



## Chawbacon

Johnny b said:


> Missouri.
> 
> * Missouri governor vows criminal prosecution of reporter who found flaw in state website *
> https://missouriindependent.com/202...-of-reporter-who-found-flaw-in-state-website/
> 
> Parson appears to be angered that a flaw in one of Missouri's web sites was found.
> And it involves identifying members of school boards.
> 
> What would be his purpose? The real purpose.
> 
> * Missouri attorney general sues schools over mask mandate *
> https://themissouritimes.com/missouri-ag-suing-schools-over-mask-mandate/
> 
> I see the potential of 'Trump nutter-brigades' and 'covid cultists' pressuring identifiable school boards members in a way that risks the lives of school children.
> For politics and political control.
> Sad state of affairs when a governor tries to hide that kind of activity.


Well, this Governor obviously has no clue about websites and standard viewable code. Even if information had been saved off of the site, there was obviously no evidence of ill-intent by the reporter identifying the flaw. If any laws were broken, it would have been exposing PII. I don't know if he is that stupid, or if he is deliberately using the Democrat playbook of using the authorities to silence a potential political threat.


----------



## ekim68

Israel and Iran Broaden Cyberwar to Attack Civilian Targets



> Iranians couldn't buy gas. Israelis found their intimate dating details posted online. The Iran-Israel shadow war is now hitting ordinary citizens.


----------



## Johnny b

Chawbacon said:


> ................ But, we do not have a law that would allow people to be imprisoned for being stupid. They have to actually break the law.


Actually, if 'actually' is the same as reality, there is responsibility that can be intertwined with 'stupidity'.
In the case of loss of life, it's called manslaughter.

Rittenhouse armed himself and entered an event that was essentially lawless.
An event in a different state.
He had no official standing in any law enforcement agency, his actions were all of his own choosing. He chose to insert himself into a dangerous situation.

He carried a military style firearm as a challenge to looters. Apparently, the challenge was accepted and two people died for it.

It may not have been premeditated, but he did 'beg' for a challenge.
With out any official standing, with out any personal involvement in that community, he killed two human beings.
Rittenhouse got off legally, but he was no innocent.


----------



## Johnny b

Tucker Carlson and his 'best' buddy, Hunter Biden ( lol... )

* Tucker Carlson Turned to President Biden's Son Hunter Biden For Help Getting His Son Into College *
https://news.yahoo.com/tucker-carlson-turned-president-biden-001307334.html


----------



## mohittomar13

Sad news.
*
Man killed in Pakistan, beaten, and body burnt. Autopsy report claims about 90% of the bones were broken before he finally succumbed to his injuries.*

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ana-tortured-killed-alleged-blasphemy-sialkot


----------



## Johnny b

Share a blunt with Joe Rogan and change your occupation to 'influencer'



* Tesla's Musk says he is 'thinking of' quitting his jobs *
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/12/10/elon-musk-considers-quitting/

uh-huh


----------



## Johnny b

Seriously......
I think civilization is doomed.

* This "90 Day Fiancé" Star Has Probably Made More Than Your Annual Salary In One Week By Selling Her Farts *
https://news.yahoo.com/90-day-fianc-star-made-043046145.html

(edit: I removed link and image )


----------



## Johnny b

* Chris Wallace Announces Exit From Fox News, Will Join CNN+ *

https://news.yahoo.com/chris-wallace-announces-exit-fox-150524852.html

:up:


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## Johnny b

Something of interest in Florida?

* Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted $100k donations from University of Florida trustees or they'd lose their appointments, Democratic Florida commissioner alleges *
https://www.businessinsider.com/ron...d-trustees-donations-100k-nikki-fried-2021-12


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## Johnny b

* Trump ally Stone to invoke right against self-incrimination at Jan. 6 panel, lawyer says *
https://www.reuters.com/legal/gover...-incrimination-jan-6-panel-lawyer-2021-12-16/

Hmmmm! Innocent people don't need to do that.


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## Johnny b

It's almost too bad the Alex Jones thread was closed (  )

* Alex Jones Claimed He Feared for His Life as Wife Attacked Him *
https://www.thedailybeast.com/alex-...his-life-as-wife-erika-wolff-jones-struck-him

Alex seems to have a negative effect on many he comes in contact with.

And I imagine his kind words this Christmas season about his friend Donal J Trump will also endear him to many. No doubt


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## Wino

Poor Alex !! He's having a tough year !


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## ekim68

A Chinese Satellite Just Grappled Another And Pulled It Out Of Orbit



> A Chinese satellite was observed grabbing another satellite and pulling it out of its normal geosynchronous orbit and into a "super-graveyard drift orbit." The maneuver raises questions about the potential applications of these types of satellites designed to maneuver close to other satellites for inspection or manipulation and adds to growing concerns about China's space program overall.


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## valis

ekim68 said:


> A Chinese Satellite Just Grappled Another And Pulled It Out Of Orbit


Well....thats not good...didnt know that was even possible...


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## Wino

valis said:


> Well....thats not good...didnt know that was even possible...


Obviously you haven't watched NetFlix "Don't Look Up!!" LOL


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## valis

Wino said:


> Obviously you haven't watched NetFlix "Don't Look Up!!" LOL


This is correct but Ive heard good things about it.

Got Paramount a couple years back and cancelled Netflix.


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## Brigham

valis said:


> Well....thats not good...didnt know that was even possible...


Of course it is possible. SPECTRE did it in one of the James Bond films, and you know how true they are.


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## Johnny b

Collusion in the Supreme Court?

Something to follow:

* New Emails Suggest Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Was Communicating With Ron DeSantis - For Some Strange Reason *
https://news.yahoo.com/emails-suggest-supreme-court-justice-203522175.html


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## Johnny b

Covfefe? 

NO!!!!

Gazpacho :up:


And all the rest was history lol!


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## Wino

Johnny b said:


> Covfefe?
> 
> NO!!!!
> 
> Gazpacho
> 
> And all the rest was history lol!


Falls right in line with "Bowling Green Massacre" and "Alternate Facts" - lip trash from ignorant righties.


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## Johnny b

* Marathon's Huge Louisiana Refinery Rocked by Explosion, Fire *
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...uisiana-oil-refinery-rocked-by-explosion-fire


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## ekim68

3 Men Plead Guilty in Plot to Attack U.S. Power Grid



> The men believed that by knocking out power across the country, economic and civil unrest would spread, creating the potential for a race war and the opportunity for white leaders to rise, prosecutors said.


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## ekim68

Russia faces financial meltdown as sanctions slam its economy



> Russia was scrambling to prevent financial meltdown Monday as its economy was slammed by a broadside of crushing Western sanctions imposed over the weekend in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
> 
> President Vladimir Putin was due to hold crisis talks with his top advisers after the ruble crashed to a record low against the US dollar, the Russian central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20%, and the Moscow stock exchange was shuttered for the day.


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## ekim68

Two Russian oligarchs call for an end to Putin's war



> Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska have broken ranks with the Kremlin and called for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.
> Fridman, who was born in western Ukraine, wrote in a letter to staff that he wanted the "bloodshed to end."


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## Johnny b

Video at the link showing Ukrainian abilities at destroying Russian tanks:

https://news.yahoo.com/russian-tanks-come-under-attack-102829861.html



> Footage posted to Twitter shows a large convoy of stationary tanks in Skybyn, before several explosions are seen. The convoy then moves in the opposite direction to Kyiv, as smoke is seen rising from a number of damaged tanks.
> 
> The intelligence service said the attack caused a retreat of Russian forces and that a Russian colonel died in the attack.


:up:


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## Johnny b

* Russian troops stranded in 40-mile convoy could freeze to death in 'metal tank refrigerators' *
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-troops-convoy-freezing-death-b2031696.html

* More Russian troops were killed in Ukraine in 2 weeks than U.S. troops in entire Iraq War, U.S. estimates *
https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian...illed-in-ukraine-in-2-weeks-than-us-troops-in


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## ekim68

Chinese plot to smear US Congress hopeful unveiled



> Unsealed files have revealed a plot by five people working on behalf of Chinese secret police to stalk and harass a US military veteran running for Congress, and to spy on an artist.


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## ekim68

Russia accused of bombing a Ukrainian shelter and kidnapping citizens



> LVIV, Ukraine -
> Ukrainian officials on Sunday accused Russia of bombing an art school in the besieged city of Mariupol where hundreds had taken shelter, as President Volodymyr Zelensky charged that Moscow's relentless assault on the city "will go down in history" as a war crime.


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## Johnny b

World famine projected from Russian war with Ukraine:

* Fertilizer prices just hit a record high sparking fears of global starvation and the worst food insecurity level since World War II *
https://fortune.com/2022/03/21/fertilizer-prices-record-high-food-crisis-middle-east-starvation/



> Farmers worldwide are feeling the sting of sanctions, as the Ukraine War has sent fertilizer prices soaring to new all-time highs, prompting concerns over a global food shortage.


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## Johnny b

Statistics often are exaggerated during wars, but if only half of this one is correct, it's still a large loss in a relatively short period.

* Ukraine says Russian general killed in the war *
https://thehill.com/policy/international/599861-ukraine-says-russian-general-killed-in-the-war



> NATO estimates around 40,000 Russians have been killed since the beginning of the invasion.


Also in the article it mentions 7 Russian generals killed in combat and one Col. Yuri Medvedev killed by his own Russian soldiers.


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## valis

Johnny b said:


> Statistics often are exaggerated during wars, but if only half of this one is correct, it's still a large loss in a relatively short period.
> 
> * Ukraine says Russian general killed in the war *
> https://thehill.com/policy/international/599861-ukraine-says-russian-general-killed-in-the-war
> 
> Also in the article it mentions 7 Russian generals killed in combat and one Col. Yuri Medvedev killed by his own Russian soldiers.


Saw that too. Think they ran him over with a tank matter of fact.

Morale may be dropping.


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## Bastiat

valis said:


> Saw that too. Think they ran him over with a tank matter of fact.
> 
> Morale may be dropping.


Apparently, crosswalks are not well marked in Ukraine.


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## Johnny b

In the news, Marjorie T Greene reports Jimmy Kimmel to police for telling a joke.

*Marjorie Taylor Greene Reports Jimmy Kimmel Joke To Capitol Police *
https://deadline.com/2022/04/marjor...y-kimmel-slap-joke-capitol-police-1234996269/

Well....it made me laugh


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## ekim68

Photos Indicate Russian Looting of Radioactive Materials from Ukraine's Chernobyl



> The scale of Russia's looting of Ukraine has become clearer with new photos indicating Russian theft of hazardous materials from a site near Chernobyl's nuclear power plant, and another image from Belarus adding to evidence that Russian soldiers mailed looted goods home.
> 
> VOA has obtained exclusive photos of a nuclear laboratory from which a Ukrainian official says Russian troops stole radioactive material that could be harmful if mishandled.


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## Johnny b

* Macron declares victory in French election that had Europe on edge *
https://news.yahoo.com/macron-france-election-marine-le-pen-183943781.html



> At 8 p.m. French time, local media reported that, based on early results, Macron had won with 57.9% of the vote.


:up:


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## Wino

Good news. At least the French aren't as stupid as we !! Who knew !! LOL


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## MakeTopSite

Russia's state TV tells viewers 'we're all going to die someday': Nuclear war is 'most probable outcome', viewers are told.

Vladimir Putin will launch an all-out nuclear war on the West rather than accept defeat in Ukraine, Russia's chief propagandists have declared, in just the latest chilling threat coming from Moscow.

Margarita Simonyan, editor of state broadcaster RT and one of the Kremlin's highest-profile mouthpieces, declared on TV last night that the idea of Putin pressing the red button is 'more probable' than the idea that he will allow Russia to lose the war.

'Either we lose in Ukraine,' she said, 'or the Third World War starts. I think World War Three is more realistic, knowing us, knowing our leader.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...e-TV-says-nuclear-strike-probable-losing.html

😯


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## Johnny b

MakeTopSite said:


> Russia's state TV tells viewers 'we're all going to die someday': Nuclear war is 'most probable outcome', viewers are told.
> 
> Vladimir Putin will launch an all-out nuclear war on the West rather than accept defeat in Ukraine, Russia's chief propagandists have declared, in just the latest chilling threat coming from Moscow.
> 
> Margarita Simonyan, editor of state broadcaster RT and one of the Kremlin's highest-profile mouthpieces, declared on TV last night that the idea of Putin pressing the red button is 'more probable' than the idea that he will allow Russia to lose the war.
> 
> 'Either we lose in Ukraine,' she said, 'or the Third World War starts. I think World War Three is more realistic, knowing us, knowing our leader.
> 
> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...e-TV-says-nuclear-strike-probable-losing.html
> 
> 😯


Do you think appeasing Russian Imperialism will stop Putin's aggression, or merely speed it up?


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## MakeTopSite

Johnny b said:


> Do you think appeasing Russian Imperialism will stop Putin's aggression, or merely speed it up?


I worry it will speed it up. Appeasing tyrant will hardly stop him.


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## Johnny b

MakeTopSite said:


> I worry it will speed it up. Appeasing tyrant will hardly stop him.


------>Appeasing tyrant will hardly stop him.
Indeed.


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## Johnny b

Laura Ingram blames the non-fascist media for the Buffalo mass shooting even though it was inspired by fellow Fox News actor, Tucker Carlson and a long list of Republican politicians.

https://news.yahoo.com/laura-ingraham-names-real-accomplices-112916464.html


> The Fox News host blasted Democratic efforts to restrict hate speech that incites the kind of violence perpetrated by the white suspected gunman who left a racist online manifesto before his attack on a supermarket.


If you watch the video at the above link, you'll hear her sophistry advocating the right to advocate violence while denying it's the goal.


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## Johnny b

Rather than start a new thread on a burned out politician, this thread will do:

It's looking like H Clinton might have a legal problem.

* Clinton OK'd leak to reporter about alleged Trump-Russia tie, her campaign manager says *
https://news.yahoo.com/clinton-okd-...-tie-her-campaign-manager-says-200540563.html



> Hillary Clinton personally approved leaking to the media information alleging a connection between Donald Trump and a Russian bank in 2016, which the campaign itself had not fully confirmed, according to testimony Friday by Clinton's campaign manager.


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## Wino

No doubt in my mind there was a Russian connection. Would explain the fawning DJT for Putin and their clandestine meetings after the elections. Not to mention many of his minions catering to Putin, the likes of Flynn and Manafort et al. This Durham trial is much ado about nothing and Clinton has little to worry about.


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## Johnny b

Wino said:


> No doubt in my mind there was a Russian connection. Would explain the fawning DJT for Putin and their clandestine meetings after the elections. Not to mention many of his minions catering to Putin, the likes of Flynn and Manafort et al. This Durham trial is much ado about nothing and Clinton has little to worry about.


While Trump obviously demonstrated 4 years of a 'not so secret' alliance with the Russians, Clinton now has her problems.
Did she direct Sussmann to lie to the FBI?
Time will tell, but I suspect she did.
She's a politician and it appears she got caught playing a campaign 'dirty trick'.
Nothing unusual in US politics.
Trouble was, the initial target was the FBI.

Trump could lie for 4 years, and being President, he was legally immune.

Biden has allowed the investigation to proceed up to this new revelation.
I suspect he thinks a coverup would do harm to his administration, but being neutral a wiser path.
There's always the possibility of a pardon at the end of his Administration.


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## Wino

I predict there will be no need for a pardon. Not defending Clinton as I despise the woman. On the other hand, I voted for her as she was heads above Trump in ability, intelligence, compassion, or any asset you can think of better than DJT. I seriously doubt that I will ever rue my vote for her over DJT..

Of more interest is the Shrub faux pas regarding Iraq war vs. Ukraine war. I thought very telling. His crimes make Hillary's boo boo insignificant IMHO. Both should suffer the punishment - Bush first, tho!


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## Johnny b

:down:
This is shameful.

* An Oklahoma state rep proposed legislation that would mandate young men get mandatory vasectomies *
https://news.yahoo.com/oklahoma-state-rep-proposed-legislation-154326130.html

https://www.okhouse.gov/members/District.aspx?District=93

The Democrat Party needs to reject this individual or be stained the same way as Trumpism.

:down:


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## Johnny b

* Oklahoma Legislature Passes Bill Banning Almost All Abortions *
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/us/oklahoma-ban-abortions.html

If you read all the article, you'll find it's not pro-life, it's pro birth.
Even in cases of rape and incest.


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## Johnny b

Elon Musk isn't popular with everyone.....obviously.

* Tesla's Full Self-Driving made this man so mad he's running for Senate *
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/0...uns-on-anti-tesla-full-self-driving-platform/



> O'Dowd and the Dawn Project claim that every eight minutes, a Tesla running FSD commits a critical driving error-making contact with an object, disobeying traffic signs or signals, disobeying safety personnel or vehicles, or making dangerous maneuvers that cause others to have to take evasive action. O'Dowd's campaign also claims that safety defects in FSD cause malfunctions about once every 36 minutes in city driving.


However, the article doesn't address the statistics of human driving error.


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## Johnny b

Big changes coming in the way Ford is going to sell it's electric vehicles.

* Ford wants to sell EVs online only and at a set price *
https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/02/ford-wants-to-sell-evs-online-only-and-at-a-set-price/



> In the future, dealers won't hold any inventory, he added. Instead, the vehicles will ship directly to the customer, with remote pickup and delivery.
> 
> "Their business will change a lot," Farley said. "There will be a lot of winners and losers, and I believe, consolidation."
> 
> He did not give a timeframe for the shift to online sales or elaborate on Ford's plans for its dealer network.


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## Johnny b

* Poll: Half of Americans now predict U.S. may 'cease to be a democracy' someday *
https://news.yahoo.com/poll-half-of...ease-to-be-a-democracy-someday-090028564.html

imo....someday soon.


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## Johnny b

Interesting article.
A Supreme Court Justice that seems to put revenge above the law.

* Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told his law clerks in the '90s that he wanted to serve for 43 years to make liberals' lives 'miserable' *
https://www.businessinsider.com/cla...ks-he-wants-to-make-liberals-miserable-2022-6



> "The liberals made my life miserable for 43 years," a former clerk remembered Thomas - who was 43 years old when confirmed - saying, according to The New York Times. "And I'm going to make their lives miserable for 43 years."


Let me guess.....he didn't vote for Joe....


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## ekim68

Timestamp.....!


Biden says US forces would defend Taiwan from Chinese invasion



> United States President Joe Biden has said US forces would defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, the strongest indication yet of a shift away from Washington’s decades-long policy of strategic ambiguity toward the island democracy.


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## Bastiat

Johnny b said:


> Interesting article.
> A Supreme Court Justice that seems to put revenge above the law.
> 
> * Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told his law clerks in the '90s that he wanted to serve for 43 years to make liberals' lives 'miserable' *
> Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told his law clerks in the '90s that he wanted to serve for 43 years to make liberals' lives 'miserable'
> 
> 
> 
> Let me guess.....he didn't vote for Joe....


 As an attorney I can tell you that if you read Thomas' opinions (until recently mostly dissenting opinions) you quickly realize what a moron he is. His legal acumen, logic and support of his arguments based on legal precedent is so lacking as to make his "opinions" useless for future consideration. The man quotes from legal treatises from the Middle Ages! Legal theory from a time when bloodletting was a medical treatment and women were burned as witches! I have spoken about his opinions with conservative legal scholars who just shake their heads and change the subject.


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