Friday, November 27, 2015

making fun of the new york times cartoon


Trump called out for appearing to mock disability


2016 Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump defended himself Thursday after being criticized for a speech in which he appeared to mock a reporter with a disability – although the business mogul says his mimicking had nothing to do with the reporter’s condition.  
Jay Ruderman of the Ruderman Family Foundation in Boston said the Republican presidential contender should apologize to Serge Kovaleski of The New York Times and the public.
Trump was challenging recollections by Kovaleski and many others about the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. Trump has been criticized for claiming that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey were seen celebrating the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
Trump and his supporters have cited articles written at the time that appeared to back Trump’s claims, at least to an extent.
In 2001, Kovaleski, then with The Washington Post, and another Post journalist wrote a week after the 9/11 attacks about authorities in New Jersey detaining and questioning "a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks."
Trump has pointed to the Post story as backing up his claim and took issue with Kovaleski's recent statement that he did not remember anyone alleging that large numbers of Muslims were celebrating.
Kovaleski has a congenital condition that affects joint movement. In a speech Tuesday in South Carolina, Trump said: "poor guy, you oughta see this guy," and gestured in a jerky fashion as he imitated the reporter.
“‘Uh, I don't know what I said, uh, I don't remember.’ He's going like, I don't remember,’" Trump said, while shaking.
After Trump’s latest comments, The New York Times expressed outrage afterward that Trump would "ridicule the appearance of one of our reporters."
Ruderman said Trump would benefit from a "series of sensitivity training sessions" and offered to provide them.
"It is unacceptable for a child to mock another child's disability on the playground, never mind a presidential candidate mocking someone's disability as part of a national political discourse," he said.
However, in a statement released to Twitter, Trump denied that he had mocked Kovaleski’s disability.
“I have no idea who this reporter, Serge Kovalski [sic] is, what he looks like is his level of intelligence,” Trump said.
“In my speech before over 10,000 people in Myrtle Beach, SC, I merely mimicked what I thought would be a flustered reporter trying to get out of a statement he made long ago,” Trump said.
Trump went on to cite his respect for disabled people and how he has spent millions of dollars making his buildings handicapped accessible. He then went on to criticize the New York Times for attacking him on the issue.
“”This is just another example of the dishonest New York Times trying to make a story out of nothing. They should focus on the survival of their newspaper and not on dishonest and very bad reporting about me,” Trump said.

'Needless experiment': Cities weigh gov't-backed broadband, critics see tax $$ at risk


A push by cities across the country to get into the business of the Internet is raising concerns that local governments, with Washington’s blessing, are meddling where they are not needed -- and wasting taxpayer dollars in the process.
The push was fueled earlier this year, when President Obama in January introduced a plan for municipal broadband projects which, according to the administration, would encourage “competition and choice” while offering a “level-playing field” for high-speed Internet access.
But critics say municipal broadband projects – or Internet services provided at least in part by local governments -- are an example of government overreach, and a bid to compete with private service providers that have successfully operated for years.
“This is a case of local bureaucrats saying that this is a high-tech ‘sexy’ project that will win voters, but it’s actually a needless experiment,” Kevin Glass, director of policy and outreach at the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, told Fox News.
Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission issued an order aimed at laws that restricted community broadband in two states, North Carolina and Tennessee. The FCC overturned those laws, and in the process created a framework for 20 states to break down other barriers restricting community broadband services. President Obama urged the FCC action, which passed on a narrow 3-2 vote.
The FCC’s ruling and the president’s policy are now encouraging local governments to expand these projects. Newark, Del., is one of the cities tapping into the idea of creating its own broadband Internet service for residents
“We’re certainly not looking to take anything away from the private sector,” Ricky Nietubicz, community affairs officer for the city, told Fox News. “It’s a huge project, so we want to make sure we’re going into this with eyes wide open.”
Newark’s City Council has implemented a feasibility study to look at the potential costs and subscription rates for the community.
“Within the next four-to-six weeks, we’ll make a decision whether or not to proceed,” Nietubicz said.
But Glass said that Newark already has some of the fastest Internet speeds in the nation.
“This is a case on how politicians are not going to be dissuaded, even in a situation where there is no need at all,” Glass said. “The only thing this is going to do is be a waste of taxpayer money, and when they fail, it’s an absolute disaster.”
Watchdog.org reports that the local council in Georgia’s Peachtree City also could vote next week on a $3.2 million bond to pay for a local broadband system.
And according to Glass, Provo, Utah already implemented a municipal broadband program that reportedly cost the city $39 million, and ultimately was sold to Google for a whopping $1.
“They built this massive project for millions of dollars, but sold it to Google to get out,” Glass explained. “They’re still on the hook to pay, but were willing to cut their losses.”
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, who voted against the FCC plan earlier this year, told Fox News the projects are “expensive and difficult to maintain,” in reference to the attempt in Utah.
“From a federal level it is interesting, because we have a disagreement over whether or not the federal government can do anything one way or another,” he said.
Pai dissented on the FCC decision in February based on the rationale that there was no clear federal law allowing the agency to preempt state laws in this area.
The FCC order issued in February is currently being argued in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. According to Pai, the Department of Justice typically signs onto FCC briefs – but not this time.
Pai provided a letter written by a Justice Department attorney to the court notifying them that they wouldn’t take a position on these cases. The letter is dated Nov. 5, 2015. The Justice Department has not responded to a request from Fox News for comment.
“It is exceptionally rare to have the Department of Justice refuse to sign onto an FCC brief, but this says that the DOJ doesn’t trust that this is legal,” Pai said. “President Obama’s own Department of Justice implicitly is questioning whether or not this is government overreach. “
Colorado is another state considering a municipal broadband project, and Kevin Fellman, a Colorado-based attorney whose practice focuses on communications and broadband utility issues, said most local governments just want better and more affordable broadband Internet -- and the governments have the access to promote just that.
“These communities want to use this as an economic development tool,” Fellman told Fox News. “Anyone that wants to be involved in creating more broadband infrastructure should be able to do that.”
But Pai also raised privacy concerns: “How and to what extent can you restrict what activity and communications go on in these internets if the government is in control?”
FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, who also dissented on this year’s order, said it’s “dreadful public policy to encourage municipal governments to become communications carriers.”
“Municipal broadband networks have a track record of overpromising and under-delivering, wasting taxpayer money while also harming any current or potential private competitors,” he said in a statement to Fox News.

DNC deep in debt as RNC builds up $20 million war chest


The Republican National Committee keeps building its cash advantage over its Democratic rivals, strengthening the party’s position going into the election year – with the latest monthly reports showing the DNC with a major debt, while the RNC has accrued a $20M war chest.
The Republicans announced last week that they had raised $8.7 million in October, which they say broke a record for presidential off-year fundraising record.
“With just under a year until Election Day 2016 we’re seeing great enthusiasm for the GOP,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a press release.
Figures show the Republicans now have over $20 million cash on hand, with only $1.8 million in debts owed. The RNC has raised a total of $89.3 million to date in the current election cycle.
The figures stand in stark contrast to the DNC, that has only $4.7 million cash in hand, with $6.9 million in debts owed, putting the DNC in the red, according to FEC figures. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Democrats have so far raised $53.2 million this election cycle, significantly less than their Republican counterparts.
The DNC raised just shy of $4.5 million in October, but spent approximately $5.2 million.
The nearly $7 million in debt the DNC now has was in part due to a $2 million loan from union-owned Amalgamated Bank, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
The release of the numbers could increase pressure on DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and could hamper the DNC’s push to retake the House and Senate, while also keeping the White House in 2016.
The Democratic National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.
One Republican strategist said that the number show the DNC is simply unable to get its act together, and that Democrats will have to rely on other sources of support in 2016 as a result.
“What is clear is that the future Republican presidential nominee can count on strong support from its party while the Democrats will have to resort to only relying on outside resources because the DNC simply can’t get its act together,” Ron Bonjean, an unaligned GOP strategist, told FoxNews.com.

FBI using elite surveillance teams to track at least 48 high risk ISIS suspects


With as many as 1000 active cases, Fox News has learned at least 48 ISIS suspects are considered so high risk that the FBI is using its elite tracking squads known as the mobile surveillance teams or MST to track them domestically. 
“There is a very significant number of people that are on suspicious watch lists, under surveillance,"  Republican Senator Dan Coats said.  
Coats, who sits on the Select Committee on Intelligence, would not comment on specifics, but said the around the clock surveillance is a major commitment for the bureau. "The FBI together with law enforcement agencies across the country are engaged in this. It takes enormous amount of manpower to do this on a 24-7 basis.  It takes enormous amount of money to do this," Coats explained.
These elite FBI teams are reserved for espionage, mob violence and high priority terrorism cases, like a joint terrorism task force case last June, where a 26 year old suspect Usaama Rahim, was killed outside a Massachusetts CVS.  When a police officer and FBI agent tried to question him, the Boston Police Commissioner said Rahim threatened them with a knife, and was shot dead.
With at least a dozen agents assigned to each case, providing 24/7 coverage, this high level of surveillance reflects the severe risk associated with suspects most likely to attempt copycat attacks after Paris.
"It is a big resource drain.  Yes it is.  Almost overwhelming,"  Coats said when asked about the demand placed on the FBI.   "There will be a lot of people over the Thanksgiving weekend that will not be enjoying turkey with their family.  They'll be out there providing security for the American people and the threat is particularly high during this holiday period."
One of the lessons of Paris is that the radicalization process can be swift.  According to published reports, friends of the female suspect who was killed in the siege of Saint Denis, Hasna Ait Boulahcen, abandoned her party life only a month before joining her cousin, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the plot's on the ground commander.  He was also killed in the siege.
The FBI Director James Comey has consistently drawn attention to this phenomenon, calling it the "flash to bang," that the time between radicalization and crossing the threshold to violent action can be very short. Last week, in a rare public appearance with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Comey would only say that "dozens" of suspected radicals have been under "tight surveillance."
"Together we are watching people of concern using all of our lawful tools.  We will keep watching them and if we see something we will work to disrupt it,"  Comey said.
Contacted by Fox News, an FBI spokesman had no comment on the high risk cases, nor the use of elite surveillance teams.

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