Conservative Blogger
Saturday, April 30, 2016
US weighing under-the-radar routes for Syrian refugees?
The Obama administration appears to be bowing to international pressure and pursuing under-the-radar “alternative” ways to bring in more Syrian and other refugees -- as soon as this year.
The latest indication that the administration is preparing to take in more than the 10,000 Syrians this year it already has committed to follows a March 30 “high-level meeting” on Syrian refugee admission in Geneva, Switzerland -- convened by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
At the meeting, attended by State Department officials, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called for countries to pursue “alternative avenues” for refugees – such as student and work visas, and expanded family reunification programs.
“These pathways can take many forms: not only resettlement, but also more flexible mechanisms for family reunification, including extended family members, [labor] mobility schemes, student visa and scholarships, as well as visa for medical reasons,” Grandi said. This followed an adviser suggesting the U.S. ask universities to offer scholarships to Syrian students, and help Syrian-Americans bring in their extended families outside the “time-consuming” refugee resettlement process.
The State Department immediately issued a media note reaffirming the “commitment to resettle at least 10,000 Syrians in FY 2016 and increase the total number of resettled refugees from around the world to 100,000 by the end of FY 2017.”
Additionally, in a wordy statement, the State Department appeared to agree with many of Grandi’s conclusions.
“The United States joins UNHCR in calling for new ways nations, civil society, the private sector, and individuals can together address the global refugee challenge. The United States encourages other countries to consider expanding resettlement and other forms of admissions for all refugee populations, ensuring that more of those in need have the opportunity to start their lives anew in safety and with dignity,” the note said.
Nayla Rush, senior researcher at the Center for Immigration Studies, said she thinks the administration is “100 percent” behind the idea.
“My fear is they aren’t really going to let anyone know about it,” Rush said.
Unclear is whether the refugees can be properly vetted, especially if they come in through an array of different visa programs. The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower immigration levels, reported on the U.N. meeting earlier this week.
In its media note, the State Department said the U.S. “has created a program to allow U.S. citizens and permanent residents to file refugee applications for their Syrian family members.”
Rush believes this is a sign the Obama administration is already expanding the family reunification program.
“Why create a family reunification program for Syrian refugees when refugees in the U.S. are already entitled to ask for their spouse and unmarried children under 21 to join them? Unless of course, the aim is to widen family circles to include aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, grandmothers and grandfathers,” Rush said in a blog post on the subject
The State Department did not say if it was looking at expanding the student visa or family reunification programs, but told FoxNews.com that Syrians being considered on non-immigrant and immigrant visa categories must be considered in accordance with U.S. immigration law.
The department has worked with the Syrian Consortium for Higher Education in Crisis since 2012 to help students and scholars impacted by the bloody civil war. A State Department official said this consortium includes U.S. colleges that have committed to hosting Syrian students and scholars. The official said “several immigrant visa options” are available to Syrians, including family-sponsored visas.
Shuffling potential refugees into other programs could prove problematic.
On one hand, standard immigration vetting often requires a higher degree of documentation, as officials are more likely to waive requirements for asylum-seekers or refugees who are assumed to have fled their homes quickly. However, the Obama administration repeatedly has heralded its two-year process for refugees as one of the most rigorous in existence. Standard immigration programs usually take much less time.
Any attempt to expand the process could encounter opposition from Congress. In November, the House passed a bill to enhance Syrian refugee screening, but the legislation stalled in the Senate amid Democratic opposition.
Last month, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who co-authored the bill, wrote in a FoxNews.com op-ed that the Syrian refugee crisis risked becoming a “terrorist Trojan horse.”
Senator seeks secret memo used as ‘loophole’ for Obama regs
The Obama administration is facing pressure from Congress to release a secret Reagan-era memo allegedly used to this day to shield a slew of executive actions and regulations from congressional scrutiny.
At issue is a 1983 memorandum of understanding (MOU) that permits the Treasury Department to “escape” a review of economic costs and benefits when it comes to IRS rules.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says this has helped the administration pursue a range of unilateral changes – and he wants the memo made public.
“This non-public MOU between the Treasury and White House further cloaks the regulatory process in secrecy and decreases regulatory transparency at a time when the Executive Branch is attempting to achieve a great deal of policy through regulatory measures generally and tax regulations specifically,” Hatch wrote to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.
In the letter, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee argued the memo has been used by the Executive Branch to skirt congressional scrutiny for changes on everything from corporate taxes to ObamaCare. Committee sources told FoxNews.com the memo is a “loophole” being abused in order to reduce transparency.
According to Hatch, the 1983 guidance generally allows IRS rules to get around what’s known as the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
Under that law, Congress typically has the authority to review and rescind “major” federal regulations -- those with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more. If a rule is listed as “non-major,” the cost-benefit analysis is not required.
Here’s the rub: The 1983 memo, according to Hatch, generally describes IRS rules as not “major.”
This may have helped smooth the way for major regulations. In fact, neither the Employee Individual Health Care Mandate nor the Employee Health Care Mandate was listed as major by the administration or agencies.
Hatch said, given the sheer number of regulations, more scrutiny is needed by Congress. In his letter, he cited as an example a rule that controls the type of font companies can use for the word “turkey” when marketing “turkey ham.”
But it is larger issues that are of real concern. Committee sources note the memo takes on new importance in light of a host of new regulations issued by the Treasury Department aimed at tackling corporate inversions.
Hatch said he recognized why the IRS would want to issue new rules without undue interference from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), but those justifications do not allay his concerns.
The letter was first reported by The Washington Times.
Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy with the conservative American Action Forum (run by former Congressional Budget Office head Doug Holtz-Eakin), said the memo may have been originally used to let the IRS make “ministerial” changes to tax law that occur annually.
“If you were to tell the average person that the Congress has not been able to vote on any major tax proposed by the administration, I think they would be very surprised,” Batkins said.
The office learned of the memo through correspondence between the committee and the administration.
The Treasury Department has until May 12 to respond. A representative with the department did not respond to a FoxNews.com request for comment.
Trump brushes off protests to address Calif. GOP, likens arrival to ‘crossing the border’
Donald Trump brushed aside yet another protest Friday — even joking that "it was fun" — and told a gathering of California Republicans that he's winning "landslides" on the road to what he described as a record-setting performance in the GOP primaries.
Trump addressed the California GOP convention as part of a very visible push to win what could be a decisive primary in the state next month.
He only used the top of his speech to address the demonstrations that have followed him since he got to the state and that delayed Friday’s address by about an hour.
“That was not the easiest entrance I’ve ever made. … It felt like I was crossing the border actually,” Trump said.
But he said despite being told it would be easier to skip the speech, he couldn’t “let these people down.”
“It was fun. It was a little different,” Trump said, later adding he had to get through “dirt and mud and under fences” to get in, and would do the same to get out.
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The bulk of his speech was otherwise standard Trump fare, as the front-runner blasted what he called a “rigged” delegate system while mocking rival Ted Cruz as having “no path to victory.”
Cruz, earlier in the day, said "Donald is desperately trying to convince everyone that the race is over."
Before Trump even arrived on Friday, protesters packed the area outside the hotel venue in Burlingame, Calif. Protesters could be seen breaking through barricades, as well as picking them up and tossing them aside, as they moved toward the front of the hotel.
One Trump supporter told Fox News he was confronted by the protesters. “I got punched, beat up, eggs thrown [at] me. … I got spit on,” he said.
A dozen protesters also linked arms to block the road in front of the hotel near San Francisco International Airport, but no one was using the street because police had already closed it to traffic. Protesters also draped a large "Stop Hate" banner outside the hotel. At least one could be seen waving the Mexican flag.
In Southern California the night before, violent demonstrations led to 17 arrests as the Republican presidential contender brought his campaign to conservative Orange County on Thursday.
While Trump held a rally at a fairgrounds amphitheater, dozens waved anti-Trump signs outside in what were initially mostly peaceful protests and traded insults with masses of the candidate's supporters who had lined up to see him. Later in the evening, however, the protests swelled and grew rowdy and spilled into the streets.
One Trump supporter had his face bloodied in a scuffle as he tried to drive out of the arena. One man jumped on a police car, leaving its front and rear windows smashed and the top dented and other protesters sprayed graffiti on a police car and the Pacific Amphitheatre's marquee.
Dozens of cars -- including those of Trump supporters trying to leave -- were stuck in the street as several hundred demonstrators blocked the road, waved Mexican flags and posed for selfies. Some protesters badgered Trump's fans as they walked to their cars in the parking lot.
Police in riot gear and on horseback pushed the crowd back and away from the venue. There were no major injuries and police did not use any force. The crowd began dispersing about three hours after the speech ended.
Seventeen people were arrested, Costa Mesa police Sgt. Mike Manson said.
Trump has drawn large crowds across the country, with some of his events marred by protests and scuffles. The Pacific Amphitheatre was filled to its capacity of about 8,000 and a couple thousand more were turned away, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Stichter said.
Earlier this week, a Trump rally in nearby Anaheim turned contentious when his supporters and protesters clashed, and several people were hit by pepper spray. Trump was not present.
Cruz says Indiana will decide GOP race
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz declared Friday that the 2016 race for the Republican presidential nomination will be decided next week in Indiana – making clear he's staking his underdog bid on a strong performance there.
“It gives me great comfort that this primary is going to be decided by the Midwestern common sense of the Hoosier State,” Cruz said during a one-hour Fox News-hosted town hall in downtown Indianapolis.
Cruz, speaking with anchor Sean Hannity, did not say definitively whether he would drop out if he loses Indiana on Tuesday, but described the "heartland" state as critical.
Cruz trails front-runner Donald Trump by hundreds of delegates. Currently, the delegate count has Trump leading with 994, Cruz in second with 566 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich in third with 153. Cruz, at this point, cannot reach the requisite 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination before the July convention.
But Cruz said, “Here’s the simple reality – I believe nobody is going to get to 1,237.”
Cruz told the crowd Trump is one of the “greatest frauds in modern electoral history” and is “pretending to be an outsider.”
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“Those comments reveal everything you need to know about Washington,” Cruz said. “Listen, we don’t have two parties in Washington. We have one corrupt bipartisan mess in Washington.”
Cruz called Boehner’s comments “striking,” adding the former house speaker was “letting out his inner-Trump.”
“He praised Hillary Clinton and he praised Donald Trump. He said, Donald is my friend, we go texting, we go golfing, he’s my buddy,” Cruz said.
He added, “I don’t know Boehner. I don’t think we’ve said 50 words to each other in our lives.”
Cruz gave “credit” Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, saying “he is an honest socialist. He actually says what he believes.”
Former HP businesswoman Carly Fiorina, whom Cruz tapped earlier this week to be his running mate, also joined him at the event. Fiorina had been a GOP White House contender before dropping out of the race.
Fiorina kept up the attack on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, and Trump.
“Donald Trump’s contributed seven times to Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina said. “I’m sorry, it is not a choice or a contrast when Donald Trump agrees with Hillary Clinton on so many positions.”
Fiorina said that both Trump and Clinton are both “the ultimate insiders.”
“When Ted Cruz is the president of the United States, I suspect Hillary Clinton will be prosecuted.”
She added, “How long have Republicans and conservatives said we can only win by presenting a clear contrast, so here it is – people of Indiana, Cruz-Fiorina, Trump-Clinton.”
At a separate address in California, though, Trump mocked Cruz's decision to announce Fiorina as his running mate. "I like Carly, but when she left she had no votes," he said.
Speaking to California Republicans, Trump said of Cruz: "He has no path to victory."
Friday, April 29, 2016
Calif. lawmakers strike down resolution to honor actor John Wayne
The California Assembly refused to pass a resolution Thursday which would have set aside a day to honor renowned actor John Wayne because of statements he made about racial minorities and his support for the anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee and John Birch Society.
Wayne, who grew up in Glendale, Calif., grew into the star of movies including The Alamo," ''The Green Beret," and "True Grit," for which he won an Academy Award, while portraying the gruff, rugged cowboys and brave soldiers who were his stock in trade.
Assemblyman Matthew Harper, R-Huntington Beach, sought to declare Mary 26, 2016, as John Wayne Day to mark the day the actor was born. However, opposing lawmakers quickly railed against the resolution citing racial comments he made throughout his life.
"He had disturbing views towards race," objected Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, leading off a 20-minute debate.
Alejo cited a 1971 interview with Playboy in which Wayne talked disparagingly about blacks.
"I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people," he told the magazine.
Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, who is black, said he found Wayne’s comments personally offensive. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, cited his comments defending white Europeans' encroachment on American Indians who Wayne once said "were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."
The resolution fell on a 35-20 vote to what Harper called the “orthodoxy of political correctness.”
"Opposing the John Wayne Day resolution is like opposing apple pie, fireworks, baseball, the Free Enterprise system and the Fourth of July!" he said later in a written statement.
Harper said he sought the resolution, ACR137, to keep up with a Texas resolution commemorating Wayne's birthday a year ago.
He represents the legislative district that includes John Wayne Airport in Orange County. The airport, among the largest in California, was renamed after Wayne's death in 1979 and hosts a nine-foot-tall statue of the actor.
"I think the assemblyman would know if there was a cross word about having the airport named after him," said Harper's spokeswoman, Madeleine Cooper.
Those who supported Harper’s resolution said Wayne was an American hero whose family created a namesake cancer foundation after his death.
"He stood for those big American values that we know and we love," said Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach.
Lawmakers have honored others despite controversies that eventually clouded their legacies, said Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine. Wagner cited President Franklin Roosevelt, who has been honored despite his internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
"Every one of us is imperfect," Wagner said.
Boehner unleashed: Ex-speaker calls Cruz 'Lucifer,' 'miserable son of a b----'
So, Mr. Speaker, how do you really feel?
John Boehner, the famously blunt ex-House speaker, left no doubt he's not a fan of fellow Republican Ted Cruz, leaping off the sidelines of the presidential race Wednesday night to unleash a stunning verbal lashing of the Texas senator, reportedly calling him “Lucifer in the flesh” and a “miserable son of a bitch.”
The longtime Ohio powerhouse had not been very outspoken on the race since retiring last year, but he held little back when asked about the Texas senator and underdog GOP presidential candidate during a forum at Stanford University.
“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life,” he said, according to The Stanford Daily.
He reportedly said he’s played golf with front-runner Donald Trump, describing them as “texting buddies,” and said his relationship with Ohio Gov. John Kasich “requires more effort” but they’re friends “and I love him.” He also said he’d vote for Trump in a general election – but not Cruz.
In an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly Thursday evening Cruz fired back at Boehner's comments.
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Cruz, speaking to reporters in Fort Wayne, Ind., also said he’s “never worked” with Boehner.
Cruz later said he’s met him “two or three times” (though he reportedly also worked as Boehner’s attorney for a case in 1998).
“Boehner’s comments reveal everything that is wrong with Washington,” Cruz said.
Boehner’s successor also made clear Thursday he does not share those views about Cruz.
“I have a much better relationship” with the senator, Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters, when asked about Boehner’s remarks.
Boehner’s scorching view of Cruz, whose anti-ObamaCare fight fueled the partial government shutdown in 2013, is not exactly a secret. He’s previously called him “Lucifer” and other choice words. And in the Ohio primary, Boehner said he voted for former colleague Kasich.
It’s unclear whether Boehner’s unflattering description will mean much in a GOP primary where the two leading candidates effectively are running against the Republican establishment.
Cruz, despite trailing in the delegate count and being mathematically eliminated from winning the nomination outright, is campaigning hard to force an open convention, renewing attacks on his rivals as Washington “insiders.”
He has openly sparred with congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Both Cruz and Trump on Thursday were continuing to barnstorm Indiana, which holds a critical primary next week. Cruz has a rally in Fort Wayne and South Bend, while Trump is hosting one in Evansville before planning to close the night in California, which votes in early June.
Cruz, in the run-up to the Indiana vote, on Wednesday made the unconventional move of announcing his running mate choice, former rival and ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina.
Trump, at a Fox News town hall, called the announcement a “waste of time,” noting how far behind Cruz is in the race. But Fiorina fired back, saying the race isn't over yet and "close doesn't count."
Kasich, meanwhile, is holding a town hall meeting Thursday in Oregon, where he is trying to stay competitive after striking a deal with Cruz to avoid Indiana and let the Texas senator take on Trump there next week.
White powder mailed to Trump's campaign office in New York deemed harmless
NEW YORK – An envelope containing a suspicious white powdery substance caused a scare when it was opened at a campaign office of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but it later was deemed to be harmless.
The envelope was mailed to Manhattan's Trump Tower, near Central Park, police said. A campaign staffer opened the envelope Thursday night and immediately called police.
Five Trump staff members working in the office and a police officer who responded were temporarily isolated and evaluated. The substance was tested, and a few hours later authorities said it wasn't hazardous but it would need to be tested some more for them to determine what it is.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks referred questions about the brief scare to the U.S. Secret Service, which didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Powders sent through the mail have been cause for concern since at least 2001, when anthrax-tainted letters were sent to media outlets and offices, killing five people.
In March, an envelope that contained a non-hazardous white powder and a threatening letter was mailed to the apartment of Trump's son Eric Trump, who has campaigned for him. The handwritten note, postmarked from Boston, said: "If your father does not drop out of the race, the next envelope won't be a fake."
Two days later, a threatening letter was sent to Trump's sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a judge who sits on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Pennsylvania. The FBI said at the time it was working alongside the Secret Service and the Marshals Service to investigate.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has been criticized by some political rivals and voters for his comments on topics including women, refugees and immigrants, such as when he said some Mexican immigrants in the U.S. illegally are "rapists."
At least 20 arrested following violent protests after Southern California Trump rally
Authorities in Southern California said early Friday that at least 20 people were arrested as protesters created havoc after a Donald Trump rally.
Costa Mesa police confirmed the arrests. Authorities said there were no major injuries and the big crowds had dispersed by 11 p.m. Thursday.
Dozens of protesters were mostly peaceful as the Republican presidential front-runner gave his speech inside the Pacific Amphitheater. The crowds began to get rowdy as the rally was over and demonstrators took to the streets.
One Trump supporter had his face bloodied in a scuffle as he tried to drive out of the area. One man jumped on top of a police car, leaving its front and rear windows smashed and the top dented in and other protesters sprayed graffiti on a police car and the venue’s marquee.
Dozens of cars -- including those of Trump supporters trying to leave -- were stuck in the street as several hundred demonstrators blocked the road, waved Mexican flags and posed for selfies.
Police in riot gear and on horseback pushed the crowd back and away from the venue. There were no major injuries and police did not use any force. The crowd began dispersing about three hours after the speech ended.
As helicopters circled overhead, protesters at one point shut down the entrance to the 55 freeway along Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Earlier Thursday, a half-dozen anti-Trump protesters taunted those waiting to get into the area. Trump supporters surrounded one man who wave a Mexican flag and shouted “Build that wall! Build that wall!” – a reference to Trump’s call to create a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico to stop illegal border crossings.
At one point, seven women wearing no shirts and Bernie Sanders stickers over their breasts entered the square outside the amphitheater. They said they were protesting Trump's lack of engagement on issues of gender equality and women's rights.
"I feel like he wants to make America great again, but certainly not for women, for the LBGTQ community or for the lower class," said one of the women, Tiernan Hebron. "He has, like, done nothing to help with gender equality or women's rights or reproductive rights or anything."
Many protesters told the Los Angeles Times that they were drawn to the streets to rail against Trump’s policies on immigration and his remarks about Mexican immigrants.
“This is the anger people have against Trump,” Jose Cruz told the LA Times. “It’s not because he’s white, it’s because of what he’s said.”
Trump has drawn large crowds across the country as he has campaigned for the White House and some of his events have been marred by incidents both inside and outside these venues.
Earlier this week, a Trump rally in nearby Anaheim, California turned contentious when his supporters and counter protestors clashed, leaving several people struck by pepper spray. Trump was not present.
Trump has drawn large crowds to most of his campaign events, and Thursday was no exception. The Pacific Amphitheatre was filled to its capacity of about 18,000 and many hundreds more were turned away.
Ly Kou, 47, of Ontario, said she likes Trump because he has vowed to put the country first.
"It's obvious that America loves Trump," said Kou, who is from Laos, as she pointed at the waiting throng. "This thing about him being racist? Look around the crowd."
Trump was traveling from the rally site to the state's Republican convention in Burlington in the San Francisco Bay area.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
After Confederate flag controversy, GOP House replaces US flag display with state coins
 | |
| Once again the minority shoves it down your throat. |
The Architect of the Capitol announced last September it would close off the tunnel that runs from the U.S. Capitol, under Independence Avenue and to the Rayburn House Office Building.
The memo declared that “construction will last for approximately one year with the majority of the work to take place nightly between the hours of 9:00 pm and 6:00 am.”
The AOC said the closure was necessary to renovate the tunnel’s ceiling, light fixtures, fire alarms and sprinklers.
And so as construction began, down came the flags of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories which embroidered the tunnel’s wall.
The tunnel looked pretty barren. The lack of flags accentuated the tunnel’s parabolic, curvature. The naked, vanilla wall still revealed a “shadow” of each flag and its state seal imprinted on the plaster. The exposed ceiling showed a network of nine parallel pipes running between the Capitol and Rayburn.
A few days ago, House Administration Committee Chairwoman Candice Miller, R-Mich., announced that the flags wouldn’t return when the tunnel’s work wrapped up. In place of the flags, the Architect of the Capitol would install reproductions of commemorative quarters issued by the U.S. Mint for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
“Each quarter serves as a reminder of the ideals, landmarks, and people from each state, as well as this nation’s great motto, ‘out of many, one,’” Miller said in a statement.
OK. No biggie. Just an aesthetic, “interior design” decision. Going for a different motif, right?
Perhaps.
But one of these flags was not like the others.
Forty-nine state flags seemed fine. But it was the flag from Mississippi that caused trouble.
Georgia adopted a new flag 13 years ago, dropping Confederate imagery. That left Mississippi as the only state emblem still depicting the Confederate battle flag. The upper left-hand corner of the banner features the deep blue cross cast against a red backdrop. Thirteen stars festoon the blue stripes.
The Mississippi flag has hung in the tunnel for years. A similar subterranean passageway stretching from the capitol and to the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office buildings continues to display the flags of all 50 states, including Mississippi.
But the Mississippi flag ignited a firestorm at the capitol after a massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, S.C. last June. Shooting suspect Dylann Roof later told police he began firing at black parishioners attending a Bible study in hopes of starting a race war.
A few days later, South Carolina GOP Gov. Nikki Haley ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol. And Haley’s decision set into motion a whirlwind of issues in Congress as lawmakers tried to usher annual spending bills to passage.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., crafted a little-known amendment to the appropriations bill that would fund the Interior Department. Huffman’s plan would prohibit the flying of the Confederate flag at many federal cemeteries. Without fanfare, the House approved Huffman’s amendment, hooking it the Interior spending bill.
But later the same night, Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., introduced an amendment to counter Huffman -- apparently at the behest of the Republican leadership. The Calvert amendment would trump Huffman’s idea. As a result, the House scheduled a vote on the Calvert amendment and the full Interior Department spending bill the next day.
They couldn’t have picked a worse day. It was the same day Haley would preside over a ceremony removing the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds.
The GOP brass worried it might not have the votes to pass the appropriations bill without attaching the Calvert amendment. Some Republicans simply couldn’t be on the record approving a bill that wiped out the display of the Confederate flag in federal cemeteries. By the same token, the optics were awful for the Republicans. They didn’t want to vote in favor of the Confederate flag just as Haley pulled down the Confederate flag.
The GOP yanked the entire Interior bill from the House calendar.
Then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, wanted a compromise.
“I want members on both sides of the aisle to sit down, and let’s have a conversation about how to address what, frankly, has become a very thorny issue,” Boehner said.
It was at that point Democrats knew they had somewhat unintentionally marched House Republicans into a political box canyon.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., pushed a resolution to “remove any state flag containing any portion of the Confederate battle flag” from the House side of the capitol. However, the resolution included a carve-out for lawmakers to continue displaying the flag inside their offices if they chose to do so.
If the House adopted Thompson’s resolution, officials would have to remove the Mississippi flag from the Rayburn tunnel. The effort would force Republicans to take a tough vote -- or pay a political price for not doing so.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., punted the resolution so the House wouldn’t have to deal directly with Thompson’s initiative. The House voted with McCarthy, sidestepping a direct up or down vote.
But while Republicans could a skirt a vote on the resolution, they couldn’t avoid the issue.
Democrats repeatedly tried to push a vote on Thompson’s resolution without success. Republicans knew how embarrassing the outcome of the issue would be: The House would most likely defeat the resolution.
That would help Democrats portray individual lawmakers -- now on the record on a specific roll call vote -- as voting in favor of maintaining the Mississippi flag. People would cry racism. Callousness. You name it. All of the things Republicans struggle with as a party that performs poorly with minority voters.
There was residual impact, too. Democrats made it clear they would try to hook a version of the Huffman amendment onto any of the remaining appropriations bills.
Variations of Huffman’s plan might not pertain directly to flying Confederate flags at federal cemeteries. But Democrats could sure include an amendment to ban the display of such a symbol at any other federal facility governed by the remaining spending measures.
Thus, the appropriations process ground to a halt. Republicans couldn’t risk taking a vote on such a toxic issue. The House put the appropriations cycle on ice until winter.
The maintenance of the Rayburn tunnel was long planned before this political dustup.
But last year, multiple sources confided in Fox that the timing and removal of the flags may prove fortuitous. With the refurbishment of the tunnel slated to run through this September, there was hope that the Mississippi legislature would vote to change the flag in its next session.
The Mississippi legislature concluded its 2016 session with multiple bills to redesign the state flag falling by the wayside.
Back in Washington, lawmakers stared at the start of annual appropriations bills in just a few weeks and a naked wall lining the Rayburn tunnel.
Could the summer of 2016 be a repeat of the summer of 2015?
That’s when Miller engineered the state coin idea, mothballing the flags.
“Given the controversy surrounding Confederate imagery, I decided to install a new display,” she said. “I am well aware of how many Americans negatively view the Confederate flag. And, personally, I am very sympathetic to these views. However, I also believe that it is not the business of the federal government to dictate what flag each state flies.”
And so the installation of the commemorative quarters.
As Miller says, each U.S. quarter is emblazoned with the phrase “E Pluribus Unum,” which means “out of many, one.”
The protracted banishment of the Mississippi flag forced the removal of all state flags from the Rayburn tunnel.
That would be “E Pluribus Non,” which means “out of many, none.”
Obama defends controversial comments about UK vote on EU exit
President Obama, speaking to reporters in London Friday, defended his prior comments urging British voters to remain in the European Union, following scathing criticism that he was meddling in the U.S. ally's affairs.
“I don’t believe the E.U. moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it,” Obama said at a press conference at 10 Downing Street, alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron.
In recent days Obama has provoked ire from some British lawmakers for getting involved in the “Brexit” debate – earning him the title of “most anti-British American president there has ever been.”
“I don’t believe the E.U. moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it.”“Brexit” refers to Britain’s possible exit from the European Union. Britain is set to have a referendum this summer on whether to remain in the 28-member bloc. If a majority votes to leave it, Britain will exit.
- President Obama
“The E.U. has helped to spread British values and practices across the continent,” Obama said, adding that “the single market brings extraordinary economic benefits to the United Kingdom.”
He cast a grim picture of the economic stakes, saying flatly that the U.S. would not rush to write a free trade deal with a newly independent Great Britain.
"Let me be clear, ultimately this is something that the British voters have to decide for themselves but ... part of being friends is to be honest and to let you know what I think," he said. "It affects our prospect as well. The United States wants a strong United Kingdom as a partner."
Obama spoke on the first day of a three-day visit to London, likely the last of this presidency. The visit comes two months before a June referendum on leaving the union.
Related Image
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, blasted Obama for weighing in on "Brexit."
(Reuters)
Obama described the votes as potentially damaging to the British economy. He said the U.S. is focused on writing a massive trade agreement with the European Union and would not prioritize a bilateral agreement with the UK. Britain would have to get "in the back of the queue," he said.
As he landed Thursday night, the president laid out his arguments in an op-ed in a London newspaper, harkening back to the "special relationship" forged by wartime allies President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. With that special status comes with leeway to interfere, Obama argued, writing that he was offering his thoughts with the "candor of a friend."
Obama's candor wasn't universally appreciated. In increasingly heated language, critics accused Obama of meddling in British business. London Mayor Boris Johnson, head of the Leave campaign, called Obama's advice "paradoxical, inconsistent, incoherent" and suggested Obama's background played a role.
Writing in The Sun newspaper, Johnson recounted a claim that a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was removed from the Oval Office after Obama was elected and returned to the British Embassy. The White House has said that a different Churchill bust is still in a prominent place in the presidential residence.
Johnson wrote that some said removing one of the busts "was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president's ancestral dislike of the British Empire, of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender."
Obama's late father was from Kenya, a former British colony that gained independence in the 1960s.
Obama has remained a broadly popular figure in Britain. In June 2015, three-quarters of Britons told pollsters they had confidence in his judgment on world affairs, according to a Pew Research survey.
That goodwill hasn't kept Britons in breaking from U.S. at key moments. In 2013, as Obama leaned on Cameron to join in threatened airstrikes in Syria, the House of Commons rejected the idea.
There have been other recent signs of stress on the relationship. British officials bristle over Obama's recent comments in the Atlantic magazine, in which he said he regretted trusting Europeans to stabilize Libya after the 2011 death of strongman Muammar Qaddafi. He specifically said Cameron had become "distracted by a range of other things" while Libya devolved into chaos.
Report: Clinton campaign cautiously begins considering running mates
 | |
| Pretty damn arrogant isn't she. |
Clinton’s team will grapple with complicated questions like whether the United States is ready for an all-female ticket, and whether her choice for vice president would be able to handle working in a White House in which former President Bill Clinton wielded significant influence on policy.
Campaign advisers and more than a dozen Democrats close to the campaign or the Clintons say the candidate does not have a front-runner in mind.
Among the names under discussion: Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, former governors from the key state of Virginia; Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who represents both a more liberal wing of the party and a swing state; former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a prominent African-American Democrat; and Thomas E. Perez, President Obama’s Labor secretary and a Hispanic civil rights lawyer.
But Mrs. Clinton is also open to a woman, campaign advisers said. One obvious possibility is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, hugely popular among progressive Democrats, though she has not been helpful to Clinton’s campaign, declining to endorse the former secretary of state.
White House poised to release secret pages from 9/11 inquiry
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| Oct. 12, 2012: Bob Graham speaks in Gainesville, Fla. The Obama administration will likely soon release at least part of a 28-page secret chapter from a congressional inquiry into 9/11. (AP) (The Associated Press) |
Those pages — now kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol — address specific sources of foreign support for some of the hijackers while they were in the United States.
Bob Graham, who was co-chairman of the bipartisan panel, and others say the documents point suspicion at the Saudis. They've denied allegations that they assisted in the attacks.
The former Democratic senator from Florida says an administration official told him that intelligence officials will decide in the next several weeks whether to release at least parts of the documents.
In front, Trump shows no signs of 'toning it down' on campaign trail
Donald Trump showed no signs Saturday of “toning it down” on the campaign trail, attacking the Republican establishment and presidential rivals -- after attempts to be “more presidential” and assurance from a top adviser a day earlier that the GOP front-runner would show more restraint.
Trump said at a rally in Bridgeport, Conn., that “being presidential is easy” but boring.
“I have to keep you people entertained and awake,” Trump told the crowd of about 1,000. “Have you seen Hillary Clinton using a teleprompter … . People starting yawning. It’s a disaster.”
He also returned to calling Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, “Crooked Hillary” and the argument that the Washington Republicans’ system of awarding delegates for primary and caucus wins is “rigged.”
Trump appeared unwilling to spare anybody on Saturday, suggesting GOP rival Ohio Gov. John Kasich change the spelling of his last name so that it could be more easily pronounced. And he returned to calling his closest primary rival, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, “Lyin’ Ted,” after referring to him as “Senator Cruz” after Trump’s commanding victory Tuesday in the New York primary.
“I sorta don’t like toning it down,” Trump said Saturday.
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On Saturday, Democratic candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was in Baltimore, where he continued to criticize Clinton for being supported by Wall Street and million-dollar PACs, or political action committees.
He was scheduled to make a stop in Wilmington, Del., late Saturday, while Clinton visited the Orangeside diner in New Haven, Conn., where she largely focused on such economic issues as family leave, equal pay for women and increasing the minimum wage to $15 hourly.
“We need paid family leave because it's the most important part of anyone's life,” she said. "Equal pay? We shouldn't be talking about it in 2016. It's almost embarrassing.”
Kasich was in Rhode Island, while Cruz, the most conservative in the GOP field, was in Indiana, ahead of that state’s May 3 primary.
Cruz finished third in the New York primary and is not projected to do well Tuesday, according to most polls.
Those polls show Trump with double-digit leads in Tuesday’s races.
Clinton also leads in all five states but by single-digit margins in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to several polls.
Trump will look to increase his delegate count toward getting 1,237 of them to secure the GOP nomination before the party’s convention in July. He now has 845 pledged delegates, followed by Cruz with 559 and Kasich with 148.
Clinton has 1,428 pledged delegates, compared to 1,153 for Sanders, toward securing their party’s presidential nomination with 2,383 delegates.
Earlier Saturday, at a rally in Waterford, Conn., Trump made similar, sarcastic remarks about appearing more presidential, a move his campaign and wife Melania apparently have urged him to make.
Trump’s new senior adviser, Paul Manafort, privately assured Republican National Committee officials at their spring meeting in Florida this week that the candidate knows he needs to tone down the vitriol and that Trump is merely “projecting an image.”
“The part that he’s been playing is now evolving,” Manafort said. “The negatives will come down. The image is going to change.”
Friday, April 22, 2016
Trump 'chalking' prompts hand-wringing at Wisconsin campus
The Donald Trump campus chalking conspiracy continues.
The University of Wisconsin Lacrosse is the latest campus where messages touting the polarizing developer's presidential bid were taken as "micro-aggressions" by college students apparently seeking shelter from disparate political beliefs.
"All Lives Matter," "Build the wall" and "Stop Illegal Immigration" were among the messages inscribed in chalk around the grounds earlier this month, prompting the school to send its "Hate Response Team" to investigate, according to EAGnews.org.
The investigative group even posted a message on its Facebook page to quell the worries of the student body.
"While we respect peoples’ right to express their opinions, we also recognize that some communities on campus experience these messages as discriminatory or hostile,” read the message.
“All manifestations of prejudice and intolerance are contradictory to our mission as a university. If you experience any bigotry on or off campus, please turn to trusted friends and/or campus resources for support. Again, please remember that members of our Hate Response Team are here to support the individual and collective impacted by hate/bias and to stand up against all forms of oppression.”
The HRT has also encouraged the student body at UW-LaCrosse to file reports on any “micro-agressions” or hate crimes they encounter.
Pro-Trump chalk messages have appeared on college campuses at Emory University, in Atlanta, Depaul University in Chicago, University of California San Diego and other schools around the country.
"The episodes at Emory and other campuses illustrate the power of a humble stick of chalk, a utensil used by college students for decades," the New York Times reported in a story about the phenomenon that ran on April 1.
The University of Wisconsin Lacrosse is the latest campus where messages touting the polarizing developer's presidential bid were taken as "micro-aggressions" by college students apparently seeking shelter from disparate political beliefs.
"All Lives Matter," "Build the wall" and "Stop Illegal Immigration" were among the messages inscribed in chalk around the grounds earlier this month, prompting the school to send its "Hate Response Team" to investigate, according to EAGnews.org.
The investigative group even posted a message on its Facebook page to quell the worries of the student body.
"While we respect peoples’ right to express their opinions, we also recognize that some communities on campus experience these messages as discriminatory or hostile,” read the message.
“All manifestations of prejudice and intolerance are contradictory to our mission as a university. If you experience any bigotry on or off campus, please turn to trusted friends and/or campus resources for support. Again, please remember that members of our Hate Response Team are here to support the individual and collective impacted by hate/bias and to stand up against all forms of oppression.”
The HRT has also encouraged the student body at UW-LaCrosse to file reports on any “micro-agressions” or hate crimes they encounter.
Pro-Trump chalk messages have appeared on college campuses at Emory University, in Atlanta, Depaul University in Chicago, University of California San Diego and other schools around the country.
"The episodes at Emory and other campuses illustrate the power of a humble stick of chalk, a utensil used by college students for decades," the New York Times reported in a story about the phenomenon that ran on April 1.
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