Monday, February 27, 2017

Kimmel Cartoons





Spicer checks WH staffers' phones for leaks, vows more searches coming


As the Trump administration hunts for the source of a series of politically embarrassing leaks that have plagued the young administration, dozens of White House staffers have had their phones searched in what is being termed “recess” compared to what may be planned, two top administration officials told Fox News.
One official told Fox that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called nearly two dozen staffers into his office and demanded the staffers’ cell phones in order to check for evidence of leaks. Spicer warned that the initial search would be “recess” compared to what awaits staffers in round two of the investigation, if the leaker – or leakers – aren’t discovered.
A second senior administration official confirmed the first official's account to Fox, adding that staffers were instructed to place their phones on a desk as soon as they walked in.
Spicer also deleted the Confide app from his phone to show that high-ranking officials weren’t immune to rules and regulations, Fox News learned.
Spicer's action was first reported by CNN.
Confide is an encrypted messenger app that does not allow forwarding of a message or for screenshots to be taken of messages. It also deletes a message after it’s been sent. According to CNN, Spicer told the group of aides that using the app for White House communications violates the Federal Records Act.
The entire cellphone search and lecture on communications was done with White House counsel Don McGahn standing by, according to CNN. Politico reported that Spicer consulted McGahn prior to calling the “emergency meeting,” Politico reported.
Staffers had not only their work phones searched, but also whatever other electronics were on them when they entered Spicer’s office, according to Politico.
Ironically, Spicer’s warning about leaking quickly leaked to the press.
President Trump and his top advisers have grown increasingly frustrated as unnamed and anonymous sources continue to populate a deluge of negative press. Politico reported that the mood inside the communications department has grown tense, with a Spicer deputy being driven to tears during a recent meeting. Spicer and the deputy denied the report.

School: No More Music Composed by White Guys




By Todd Starnes
I have some bad news for all of you Burt Bacharach fans.
The Spring Lake Park High School in Minnesota has decided to stop purchasing music composed by white guys -- at least for the time being.
Click here to get a copy of Todd's newest book - The Deplorables' Guide to Making America Great Again!
"We made a commitment this year to only buy music from composers of color," marching band director Brian Lukkasson told National Public Radio.
And the truth is Burt Bacharach is about as white as a jar of Duke's Mayonnaise.
The marching band also pledges to toot their horns to at least one musical selection composed by a lady.
Apparently, some of the teenage musicians were terribly offended and downright disturbed because they were performing music composed by white folks.
"There's a kind of an ideological segregation of who can and cannot be in band, based on who the composers are, and what the music is like," student Kia Muleta told the radio network partially funded by your tax dollars.
"I really, really want other students of color to be able to feel like they are welcomed and appreciated anywhere, that they don't have to check themselves at the door," she added.
I have no idea what that means - but whatever.
"The more you practice talking about race, culture and ethnicity, the more comfortable you are," band director Nora Tycast said.
It sounds to me like racism disguised as diversity.
Mr. Holland's opus it is not.

Judge Jeanine: Officers Supporting Sanctuary Cities Have 'Blood' on Their Hands


In her opening statement on "Justice," Judge Jeanine Pirro called out police officers who support sanctuary cities.
The judge said that these officers have a decision to make, and if that decision is tough, "get the hell out of law enforcement," she said.
"I hate to say this; everyone of you in law enforcement who bought into this liberal nonsense also has blood on your hands," Pirro said.

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She continued with the heated attack on these officers.
"If this is a tough one for you and you are going to start listening to the ACLU or some liberal mayor who doesn't give a damn about you, your contract or your oath, directing that you release the wanted criminal alien out the side door, then maybe you should rethink this and go into social work," she said.
"You are too damn dumb to be in law enforcement."

GOP Congress back to work with mandate: end ObamaCare, use majority to fulfill promises

Rep. Leonard Lance on town hall protests, president's agenda

Congressional lawmakers begin returning to Washington on Monday after a tense week-long recess in which Republicans got an earful about ObamaCare and other issues and ahead of President Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress.
With the GOP controlling both chambers of Congress and now the White House, Republican lawmakers’ first trip home this session could have been a victory lap. They were instead accused in the media of having done little in roughly their first three weeks. And several were confronted at town hall meetings about plans to replace ObamaCare if and when it’s dismantled.   
The president will have his say Tuesday night. Majority Republicans in the House and Senate will be closely watching the prime-time address for guidance, marching orders or any specifics Trump might embrace on health care or taxes, areas where some of his preferences remain a mystery.
Treasure Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Sunday told Fox News that the speech will include Trump’s plan for corporate and individual tax reform. He also suggested that the president is not sold on House Republicans’ so-called “border tax adjustment plan” to tax exports to essentially offset proposed tax cuts.
Trump is expected to deliver his fiscal 2018 budget to Congress in mid-March.
Congressional Republicans insist they are working closely with the new administration as they prepare to start taking votes on health legislation, with the moment finally upon them to make good on seven years of promises to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
House Republicans hope to pass their legislation by early April and send it to the Senate, with action there also possible before Easter.
Republicans will be "keeping our promise to the American people," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said as he sent lawmakers home for the Presidents Day recess armed with informational packets to defend planned GOP changes to the health law.
However, the recess was dominated by raucous town halls in which Republicans -- including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, a favorite of the Tea Party movement -- faced tough questions about their plans to replace the far-reaching law with a new system built around tax credits, health savings accounts and high-risk pools.
Among the important, unanswered questions are what will be the overall cost and how many people will be covered.
There's also uncertainty about how to resolve divisions among states over Medicaid money, with at least a couple of GOP plans circulating, including one by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford.
The lack of clarity created anxiety among voters who peppered the lawmakers from coast to coast with questions about what would become of their own health coverage and that of their friends and family.
It has forced Republicans to offer assurances that they don't intend to take away the law and leave nothing in its place, even though some House conservatives favor doing just that.
"I think we have a responsibility in Washington to try to make the system better,” GOP Rep. Leonard Lance told an overflow crowd last week in his politically divided New Jersey district.
Many Republicans say that how they will handle health legislation will set the stage for the next big battle, over taxes. And the GOP's early plans for major infrastructure bill do not appear on the table.
Senators also will be weighing the nomination of federal appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump's pick for the Supreme Court. Hearings soon will get under way in the Senate Judiciary Committee; floor action is expected before Easter.
Despite Gorsuch's sterling credentials, Democrats are under pressure from their liberal supporters to oppose him, given voters' disdain for Trump and the GOP's refusal last year to allow even a hearing for Obama's nominee for the high court vacancy, federal appeals Judge Merrick Garland.
Yet some Democrats are already predicting that one way or another, Gorsuch will be confirmed. Even if he doesn't pick up the 60 votes he needs, McConnell could use a procedural gambit to eliminate Democrats' ability to filibuster Gorsuch, an outcome that Trump has endorsed.
The Senate has confirmed 14 Cabinet and Cabinet-level officials, fewer than other presidents at this point.
Next up will be financier Wilbur Ross for Commerce secretary, Rep. Ryan Zinke to lead the Interior Department, retired neurosurgeon and 2016 GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson to be Housing secretary and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry at the Energy Department.
How Democrats vote will be telling, given the extreme pressures on them to oppose Trump at every turn.

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