John Kasich Cartoons

Ohio's Kasich to speak at NAACP gathering, Trump skipping it

NAACP is nothing but All about Democrats.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich won't speak at the Republican National Convention where Donald Trump is set to become his party's presidential nominee, but he will speak to the NAACP national convention that Trump is bypassing.
Emmalee Kalmbach, a Kasich spokeswoman, confirmed Friday to The Associated Press that Kasich will speak in Cincinnati on Sunday, the day before the RNC begins across the state in Cleveland.
Kasich has declined to endorse Trump and doesn't plan to take part in GOP convention floor proceedings in his home state, where Kasich won the GOP primary and had hoped to challenge Trump in a contested convention before the businessman's delegate lead became insurmountable.
Trump irritated NAACP leaders earlier this week by turning down their invitation, citing scheduling conflicts with the Republican convention. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak to the NAACP on Monday.
"The governor considers it a great privilege for Ohio to host the NAACP's national convention, and he is honored to speak at their event," Kalmbach said by email.
Kasich had been listed among speakers invited to the NAACP convention that will open this weekend, but his office had been trying to work out a time for him to address the nation's oldest civil rights organization. The exact time hadn't been decided yet Friday morning.
NAACP President Cornell William Brooks told CNN earlier this week that Trump should have made the time for the civil rights leaders, especially so soon after videotaped killings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, followed by the killings of five Dallas police officers by a black sniper.
"We represent an occasion for those running for president to speak to the nation's most critical issues at a critical hour in this country," Brooks told CNN. He called the gathering a chance for Clinton and Trump to provide "a window into not only their policies, but into their heart and character as a candidate."
   Republican nominees John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 addressed the NAACP conventions.

At first official event, Pence, Trump set sights on Clinton, vow to restore prosperity, safety to America

Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence appeared on stage for the first time as a presidential and vice-presidential ticket Saturday, warning Americans about the perils of electing Hillary Clinton and vowing to make the country safe and prosperous again.
“I am here to introduce the man who will be my partner in the campaign and in the White House to fix the rigged system,” Trump said at a Hilton hotel in New York City. “I found a leader who will help us deliver a safe society and a prosperous society.”
Before bringing Pence on stage, Trump delivered a blistering stump speech that touted his agenda and attacked Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The real estate mogul argued that Clinton's failures as secretary of state have led to a rise in global terror attacks that are destroying the world.
“The Middle East is out of control,” said Trump, who planned to hold an event Friday announcing Pence as his running mate but was forced to postpone it because of Thursday's terror attack in Nice, France, that killed at least 84 people.
“Hillary Clinton led (President) Obama right down a horrible path. … Iraq, Syria, horrible," Trump said. "Now we’re seeing unrest in Turkey.”
Trump instead tweeted on Friday that he’d selected the 57-year-old Pence, taking away much of the drama that typically comes with announcing a vice presidential nominee.

2016 Election Headquarters

The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →

“I thank Donald Trump for having the confidence in us. I accept your invitation to run and serve as vice president of the United States,” Pence said Saturday.
“Let’s come together as a party, as a movement, to make America great again," Pence also said, while suggesting that he knew as early as Wednesday that he would be the nominee.
Pence, who also acknowledged growing up as a Democratic supporter, called Trump a “builder, a fighter and a patriot."
“Americans can choose a leader who will fight to make America great again, or we can elect someone who personifies failed establishment,” he said. “Seven-and-a-half years of Obama and Hillary Clinton weakened the world.”
He said Trump wants to cut taxes while Clinton plans to raise them and that Trump wants to repeal ObamaCare “lock, stock and barrel,” while Clinton is pushing a progressive agenda to expand government-backed, mandatory health insurance.
The selection of Pence, who went from dark horse to leading contender in a matter of days, should help Trump galvanize support from the party’s conservative base ahead of the Republican National Convention, which starts Monday in Cleveland.
Pence, a former member of the House Republican leadership, was among a handful of finalists in a public vetting process that included meetings and campaign events with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
He was selected from a relatively small short-list of candidates -- those liked by Trump and willing to stake their political future on the unconventional and unpredictable White House contender.
Top Trump advisers vigorously denied reports that Trump considered making a late change, with campaign chairman Paul Manafort saying Trump "never waffled once he made his decision."
Despite the claim, the Clinton campaign on Saturday released a web video contrasting clips of Trump touting his decisiveness with the timeline of the past few days. As the video ends, the words on the screen read, "Donald Trump. Always Divisive. Not so Decisive."
And Trump said Saturday that he locked onto Pence in early May when he won Indiana’s presidential primary, in large part due to Pence’s fiscal record -- delivering a balanced budget, creating a $2 million state surplus and allowing Indiana to have a AAA bond rating.
“That’s as good as it gets. The turnaround has been incredible,” said Trump, calling Pence’s early support for Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz his “single, greatest non-endorsement.”
Pence, who emerged relatively late in the vice presidential stakes, almost immediately gives the Trump campaign much-needed social conservative credentials without the kind of political baggage that Democrats had hoped to exploit in other finalists like Christie or Gingrich.
Still, the Clinton campaign has already gone on the attack, calling Pence “the most extreme pick in a generation.”
Pence, who spent 12 years in Congress and until Friday was in a tough gubernatorial re-election bid, could also help Trump with critical fundraising, considering his general election campaign has roughly $1.3 million in the bank as of the last filing.
Clinton’s campaign has $42 million and a network of donors assembled through the candidate’s lengthy career in politics.
Pence’s deputy chief of staff was a former spokesman for Koch Industries, and his chief of staff in Congress later ran the Koch brothers’ political umbrella organization.
Still, Pence is not without some negatives, particularly his handling last year of the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The original law allowed Indiana residents and companies being sued by a private party to cite their religious beliefs as a defense. The national criticism was so damaging that it forced Pence and the state legislature to revise the law to clearly prohibit businesses from denying services to customers based on their sexual preference or gender choice.
Some supporters thought Trump had top-tier candidates in Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and first-term Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, who might have helped Trump better connect with women voters.
However, both dropped out earlier this month. Corker declined after appearing with Trump at only one campaign event.
Pence, a Catholic, earned a law degree from Indiana University in 1986 and ran two unsuccessful congressional campaigns before getting elected in 2000.

Cleveland beefs up security measures in wake of Nice terror attack

The area around the Republican National Convention site in Cleveland increased security measures Friday to thwart a similar attack to what occurred in Nice, France Thursday, adding concrete traffic dividers and tall metal fences.
According to Reuters, security experts said police, U.S. Secret Service agents and other law enforcement officials have viewed vehicles – similar to the truck that plowed through a crowd during Bastille Day festivities in Nice killing 84 revelers – as a potential threat since the early stages of planning for the convention.
However, the decision to add the protective barriers around the Quicken Loans Arena was taken before the attack. Ron Rowe, a high-ranking agent with the Secret Service, said Tuesday that some of the barriers would be going up that day, according to Reuters.
Security officials have mostly focused on stopping a car or truck bomb similar to one that hit the World Trade Center in 1993 and the Oklahoma City federal office building in 1995.
"A vehicle-borne attack is always something you're concerned about," Jason Porter, vice president for the central region of security provider Pinkerton, said.
Officials haven’t said whether the Nice attack had altered their plans for Cleveland, but did confirm earlier in the week that the Dallas police shootings did.

2016 Election Headquarters

The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →

Police Chief Calvin Williams noted the city had changed its security plans in light of last week’s murder of five police officers in Dallas but said he would not elaborate for obvious reasons.
Williams said planning has been exhaustive and “Cleveland is prepared. We invite people to come here enjoy the convention, exercise your constitutional rights and we’re here to assist you in doing that.”
The 74 different agencies providing security will be overseen and coordinated by the US Secret Service. “I don’t sleep well to begin with,” said Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy. He added that when there is an event the size of a convention, with all of its tension and dynamics, an emergency is unavoidable.
“Every event has some incident. The key is: do you have a good plan in place? Do you have good leadership that can adapt and be flexible to whatever is thrown your way? And I'm confident that here in Cleveland we have that," Clancy said.

Tensions rise between US, Turkey after failed coup as flights from key airbase are grounded

The U.S. and Turkey traded harsh words Saturday in the wake of a failed military coup against the Ankara government, while all air missions against the ISIS terror group out of Turkey were grounded.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed that power had been cut to the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, near the Syria border. Cook also confirmed that Turkey had halted all military flights out of the base, including those by its own jets.
The Pentagon said it was trying to get permission to resume air operations from the base, while adjusting mission operations in the meantime.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavosoglu, for the second time in as many days following the attempted takeover, that left at least 265 people dead and 1,400 wounded.
Despite the support for Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government by the Obama administration during the coup, the country's labor minister suggested Washington was behind the uprising. Meanwhile, Erdogan himself bluntly requested the extradition of Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan blamed for inspiring the coup, saying, "If we are strategic partners, then you should bring about our request."
Although he didn't outline any threat, Erdogan's emphasis on U.S.-Turkish counterterrorism cooperation raised the prospect of a prolonged closure of Incirlik if he didn't get his way.
Stung by the criticism, the State Department fired back. In a readout of the telephone call between Kerry and Cavosoglu, the department said Kerry told his fellow diplomat, "public insinuations or claims about any role by the United States in the failed coup attempt are utterly false and harmful to our bilateral relations."
Kerry reiterated U.S. support for Turkey's democratically elected government, according to the State Department readout, and urged authorities to respect the rule of law and safeguard civilian life as they respond to the coup attempt. Kerry also said Turkey needed to respect due process as it investigates those it believes were involved in the plot.
Earlier, on a visit to Luxembourg, Kerry told reporters the U.S. would entertain an extradition request for Gulen if the Turks provided evidence of wrongdoing. Erdogan has long accused Gulen, a former ally, of trying to overthrow the government, but Washington has never found the claims compelling.
"We fully anticipate that there will be questions raised about Mr. Gulen," Kerry told reporters. "And obviously we would invite the government of Turkey, as we always do, to present us with any legitimate evidence that withstands scrutiny. And the United States will accept that and look at it and make judgments about it appropriately."
A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, said Turkey was preparing a formal extradition request with detailed information about Gulen's involvement in illegal activities. He said the coup attempt was seen as "one more thing to add to an already extensive list."
In a statement, Gulen said he condemned, "in the strongest terms, the attempted military coup in Turkey" and sharply rejected any responsibility or knowledge of who might be involved.
Kerry said the U.S. had no indication beforehand of the coup attempt, which began as he and Russia's foreign minister were in a Russian government villa in Moscow, locked in negotiations over Syria.
"If you're planning a coup, you don't exactly advertise to your partners in NATO," Kerry said. "So it surprised everyone. It does not appear to be a very brilliantly planned or executed event."
Late Saturday, the State Department also issued a new travel warning, suggesting U.S. citizens "reconsider travel to Turkey at this time."