Charlie Sheen Cartoons

Russian diplomats expelled in connection with cyber hacks depart US

The 35 Russian diplomats expelled by President Obama in connection with cyber-attacks during the 2016 White House race departed Sunday from a Washington, D.C.-area airport.
The State Department confirmed shortly after noon that the diplomats and their families had departed from Dulles International Airport, about 30 miles west of the nation’s capital.
Earlier in the day, Russian news agencies reported the departure, based on information from the Russian embassy.
The diplomats were suspected spies, and their removal was part of the sanctions announced Thursday by Obama that also included the shuttering of Russian compounds in Maryland and New York.
The cyberattacks were emails made public after being stolen from the Democratic National Committee and from the campaign of the party’s presidential nominee, Hilary Clinton.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will not take immediate retaliatory action, instead waiting for President-elect Donald Trump, who defeated Clinton and will replace Obama, to takes office on Jan. 20.

In control of Washington, GOP-run Congress sees mandate -- starting with end to ObamaCare

The 115th Congress begins Tuesday with a full slate of business, though nothing will be more politically important or pressing for Republicans than repealing ObamaCare.
With Donald Trump set to officially become president on Jan. 20, Republican leaders in the House and Senate will begin repeal efforts shortly after Congress’ 59 new members -- seven senators and 52 House members -- are sworn in and the formalities are concluded.
The GOP, which now controls both Capitol Hill and the White House, has made dismantling the 2010 health care law a priority almost since it was signed by President Obama.
Lawmakers will also look at a tax overhaul, reversing Obama-era environmental regulations and other conservative priorities.
However, such efforts will have to share center stage with the Senate confirmation hearings for Trump’s Cabinet picks in the days and months that follow the president-elect’s swearing-in.
It should be easier for Republicans to move nominations after Democrats changed the Senate's filibuster rules in 2013. Still, Democrats have pledged to fight many of the nominations, highlighting what they call the hypocrisy of Trump’s populist message and his wealthy, corporate-favoring nominees for several posts.
Perhaps the biggest wild card in the new Congress’s early weeks will be what to do about Russia’s involvement in several cyberattacks during this year’s presidential race -- in which Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Trump has been skeptical about Russia’s involvement, while top GOP Sens. including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Arizona’s John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have called for hearings on the issue and proposed sanctions beyond what President Obama imposed last week.
McCain told Fox News on Wednesday that he also wants to permanently station U.S. soldiers in the Baltic Sea countries bordering Russia and increase aid to neighboring Ukraine against Russian aggression -- to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin knows “this kind of interference will be responded to."
How GOP leaders and Trump negotiate the issue will likely depend on the outcome of the president-elect’s meeting this week with U.S. intelligence officials.
Republicans will face other obstacles from Democrats, beyond the Cabinet conformations.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have already made efforts to stop proposed changes to entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid and to ObamaCare. Those efforts include a planned national “Day of Action” on January 15.
“Bring it on,” Schumer said in November, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to make repealing ObamaCare a first order of business.
And Obama is scheduled to visit congressional Democrats on Wednesday to discuss ways to save his signature legislation.
Republicans likely won’t be able to replace ObamaCare in its entirety for several years, considering they would need an alternative program for the roughly 22 million Americans who would lose their current health insurance.
In addition, Trump and both parties have expressed interest in a large transportation bill to create jobs and to fix the country’s aging infrastructure. But a clear plan has yet to emerge, with the estimated, billion-dollar price tag a likely sticking point among fiscal conservatives on the Hill.
The new Senate will have 52 Republicans, 46 Democrats and two Independents who caucus with the Democrats. The House will have 241 Republicans and 194 Democrats.
The Senate plans to begin repealing ObamaCare on Tuesday with consideration of a procedural measure that will shield them from Democratic filibuster legislation annulling much of that statute.
Lawmakers will then spend the next few months working on legislation canceling broad swaths of the law. Provisions that are most likely to go are the law's mandate that people buy health insurance or face IRS fines, as well as its expansion of Medicaid coverage to more lower-earning Americans.
Republicans will then begin the more complicated task of building a new system. The GOP will have to craft new programs for the nation's $3 trillion health care system and make sure insurance markets don't collapse while the transition is under way.
McConnell, Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also want a massive tax overhaul, with the goal of simplifying a complicated tax code that rewards wealthy people with smart accountants as well as corporations that can easily shift profits and jobs overseas.
It would be the first major tax overhaul in 30 years. Trump has also advocated a tax overhaul, but with fewer details. He promises a tax cut for every income level, with more low-income families paying no income tax at all.
Waiting in the wings will be confirmation hearings to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died 11 months ago.
McConnell blocked consideration of Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, saying the next president should make the pick. The strategy paid off, and the Republican Senate will consider whomever Trump nominates.

Charlie Sheen's Trump death wish: How Twitter is turning political debate toxic

The politics of hate is getting out of control.
For all the positive aspects of social media, the amount of venom being spewed there threatens to desensitize us all.
Take Charlie Sheen. Okay, he’s a liberal Hollywood guy who hasn’t exactly led an exemplary life. He has a history of alcohol and drug problems. He was kicked off his CBS show and living with a couple of call girls. He belatedly admitted he had HIV as the National Enquirer was about to report it.
Oh, and he doesn’t like Donald Trump.
So after the sad deaths of Carrie Fisher and her mom, Debbie Reynolds, Sheen tweeted this:
“Dear God; Trump next, please! Trump next, please!” And on and on.
That’s right, this screwed-up actor wished death on the next president of the United States.
When I took to (where else) Twitter to denounce this, here are some of the responses I received:
Lanark: ‏ No. Should be listened to. By God.
rjlarios@hotmail.com:Trump is a menace to the USA and the entire world!! He could be the cause of millions of deaths so why shouldn't he go first!
Chris Bavelles: its not about political differences it's about something so much worse. I applaud Charlie for tweeting out. And so should you.
Shawn: It's Trump, he's human garbage, it's just like emptying the trash in your house.
Lovely. So some folks think it’s perfectly all right to urge the death of the president-elect, and joined Sheen in that wish.
And then there were some like this:
michael cuviello: I did not hear the outtrage over what the Trump campaign guy said from the right.
This is unfortunately typical of what passes for debate on social media. If you decry something ugly that someone tweeted, some people say: Yeah, but what about so-and-so saying such-and-such at the other end of the political spectrum? What about that, huh?As if that somehow justifies the offensive words by someone on your side.
In this case, the reference was to Trump’s former New York co-chairman Carl Paladino, a onetime gubernatorial candidate and member of the Buffalo school board, which called for his resignation.
Paladino had said he hoped President Obama would die of mad cow disease. As for Michelle Obama, “I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”
This racist garbage was followed by a Paladino apology, and the Trump campaign denounced the remarks. I had been on vacation when this was reported.
To be clear, I have no problem with people using strong language and venting their political views. If Charlie Sheen wants to rail against Trump and his policies—his dad, Martin Sheen, joined in an anti-Trump election ad—that’s his right.
But when you start calling for people to die, or unload with racist or misogynist or anti-Semitic sentiments, decent folks have every right to declare that unacceptable.
Sheen’s remarks barely caused a ripple, perhaps because they were aimed at Trump, who has been the target of an unprecedented level of negative coverage. If a celeb as well known as Sheen had called for Obama’s death, there would have been a barrage of headlines.
Or perhaps it reflects the fact that Twitter has become such a toxic stew that even the most outrageous stuff rarely bubbles up to the top.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. 

Spicer hints Obama's Russian sanctions 'politically motivated'

Sean Spicer, the incoming White House communications director, suggested Sunday that President Obama’s imposing Russian sanctions related to email hacking was politically motivated, considering China recently did far worse without punishment.
“Maybe it was; maybe it wasn't,” Spicer said on ABC’s “This Week.” “China took over a million records. And a White House statement wasn't even issued. … So there is a question about whether there's a political retribution here versus a diplomatic response.”
Obama, a Democrat leaving office next month after two terms, has insisted the hacking probe is non-political, saying, “There is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action."
But he also has made clear his belief that the Russian hacking "create(d) more problems for the Clinton campaign than it had for the Trump campaign."
Obama’s announcement Thursday of the sanctions follows the U.S. intelligence community making statements that connect Russia to the hacking and releasing of emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, the campaign chairman for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Clinton supporters argue that the emails contributed to Clinton's defeat by Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Spicer insisted several times Sunday that Trump will decide after meeting this week with U.S. intelligence officials about whether Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin were indeed involved.
Meanwhile, he suggested that Americans, including the mainstream media, immediately and overwhelming accepted the assumption about Russia’s involvement without all of the facts.
“Everyone in the media wants to jump forward and make a conclusion based off...anonymous sources that are coming out of the intelligence community,” Spicer said.
He also argued that the Obama administration’s report on the sanctions was supposed to prove Russia’s involvement but instead pointed out lapses in the DNC’s Internet security.
“What this says is that the DNC had a problem with their IT security and people tried to hack it and that (the DNC) needs to do a better job of protecting it,” Spicer said.
He also seemed to suggest that Obama’s punitive actions on Russia were politically motivated, considering their severity and because they’ll be put in Trump’s lap when he takes over the White House in three week.
“You haven't seen a response like that in modern history for any action,” Spicer said about Obama expelling 35 Russian diplomats and closing separate Russian compounds in Maryland and New York.
He argued that Obama took no known action two years ago when China took the million-plus records that included sensitive data on federal employees including him.
“They sent everyone who had worked in the government a letter saying that you’ll get free monitoring of your credit,” Spicer said. “That's all they did.”