State Department reviewing Obama admin's last-minute decision to send Palestinians $221M

The State Department announced Tuesday that it will review the last-minute decision by former Secretary of State John Kerry to send $221 million to the Palestinians late last week over the objections of congressional Republicans.
The department said it would look at the payment and might make adjustments to ensure it comports with the Trump administration’s priorities.
Kerry formally notified Congress that State would release the money Friday morning, just hours before President Trump took the oath of office.
Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers — Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee — had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated.
Granger released a statement Tuesday saying, “I am deeply disappointed that President Obama defied congressional oversight and released $221 million to the Palestinian territories.”
She added: “I worked to make sure that no American taxpayer dollars would fund the Palestinian Authority unless very strict conditions were met. While none of these funds will go to the Palestinian Authority because of those conditions, they will go to programs in the Palestinian territories that were still under review by Congress. The Obama Administration’s decision to release these funds was inappropriate.”
The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money, which comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development and is to be used to fund humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms and to help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress.
The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month.
Trump appears to be approaching the Middle East differently then the Obama administration.
For example, some members of Trump’s administration have been split on whether to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
The Washington Post noted that most of the world doesn’t recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. East Jerusalem is also considered “occupied territory,” which Palestinians hope to call their capital if a two-state solution is ever reached.
Trump’s next ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, supports Israeli settlements and other changes to U.S. policies in the region.
Friedman said he looked forward to carrying out his duties from "the U.S. embassy in Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem," even though the embassy is in Tel Aviv.  Trump advisers have said that the president-elect will follow through on his call for moving the embassy.

Trump to order construction of US-Mexican border wall; reportedly to suspend refugee program

President Trump today is expected to order the construction of his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and take other actions on immigration, a main cornerstone of his presidential campaign.
Trump is planning a visit to the Department of Homeland Security, where he will roll out executive actions on immigration.
Staying true to form, Trump took to Twitter Tuesday night, and posted, “Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!”
Trump's push for a border wall started with his campaign announcement back in June 2015.
"I would build a Great Wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall, mark my words," Trump said at the time.
His wall announcement a rally cry for both his supporters and opponents. His supporters saw a candidate speaking plainly about border security, while his opponents called the plan divisive.
The New York Times reported that Wednesday's order will be signed the same day the Mexican foreign minister,  Luis Videgaray,   arrives in Washington prior to his country’s president’s trip at the end of the month.
Trump also expected to move forward with plans to curb funding of sanctuary cities that don't arrest or detain immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, which could cost individual jurisdictions millions of dollars.
A source told The Wall Street Journal that Trump, later this week, may order the suspension of entries to the U.S. from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.
Other executive actions expected Wednesday include bolstering border patrol agents and ending what Republicans have argued is a catch-and-release system at the border. Currently, some immigrants caught crossing the border illegally are given notices to report back to immigration officials at a later date.
Trump's insistence that Mexico would pay for the wall was among his most popular proposals on the campaign trail, sparking enthusiastic cheers at his raucous rallies. Mexico has repeatedly said it will not pay for any border wall and Trump has not provided specific details about the project.
Earlier this month, Trump said the building project would initially be paid for with a congressionally approved spending bill and Mexico will eventually reimburse the U.S., though he has not specified how he would guarantee payments.
The reported that the low-ball project estimate is $10 billion. The Government Accountability Office reportedly said it may cost $6.5 million per mile for a single-layer of fencing.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday that Trump’s priority is focusing on those “who pose a threat to people in our country.”

Obama Palestinian Cartoons

Minnesota Gov. Dayton collapses while delivering State of the State speech

ST. PAUL, Minn. –  Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton's top staffer said he was OK and planned to return to work Tuesday after he collapsed during his State of the State speech.
The 69-year-old Democrat struck his head on a lectern Monday night after stumbling over his words and collapsing roughly 40 minutes into the annual address. He appeared conscious as he was helped into a back room within several minutes, and later walked out of the Capitol on his own.
Dayton's chief of staff Jaime Tincher said Dayton quickly recovered and returned home to spend time with his son and grandson after a routine check by emergency medical technicians at the governor's residence in St. Paul. She said Dayton would return to the Capitol Tuesday morning for a planned event to release a detailed budget proposal.
Monday night's episode raised new questions about Dayton's health as he is about to turn 70 — his birthday is Thursday — and as he moves into his final two years in office facing a newly GOP-controlled Legislature. He is not seeking re-election.
Dayton was hospitalized in February 2016 after he fainted at a hot and crowded event. His office said at the time that he had been feeling pressure in his lower back — he had undergone elective back surgery the previous December — before he lost consciousness. Dayton spent just a day in the hospital, and said afterward he had been treated for dehydration.
In addition, a series of back and hip surgeries in recent years has left him with a permanent limp.
The governor fell about three-fourths of the way through his speech as he laid out the opening salvo in a brewing battle with Republican legislative majorities over where to bring the state after November's elections, including his proposal for a state-run public health care option for all Minnesota residents.
Dayton appeared to stumble as he first entered the House chamber, but joked it away, saying he should have attended the walkthrough. But he appeared to lose his place in his remarks roughly 40 minutes into his speech, trailing off in the middle of a sentence before pausing to take a long drink of water from a bottle he had below the lectern.
When he tried to resume his address, he spoke only a few slurred words before his shoulders appeared to shake and he crumbled behind the lectern, striking his head. A frantic voice could be heard over the microphone saying "get him to the ground. Get him to the ground please" as those around Dayton rushed to assist him.
Daudt and fellow Republican legislative leaders declined to comment on Dayton's speech, instead only offering their prayers for his health and safety.
"That's our whole focus right now, just praying for our governor," Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said.
Dayton is facing an all-Republican Legislature his final two years in office after the GOP took control of the Senate in November and added to their House majority.
Facing a unified GOP front for his final two years in office — Republicans took back control of the Senate and strengthened their House majority in November — Dayton has increasingly looked to the past as he seeks to cement his legacy.
Dayton entered office in 2011 facing a $6 billion budget deficit. After a stalemate with Republican majorities led to a 20-day government shutdown that year, he and Democrats united to control the Capitol in 2013. They raised taxes on the state's wealthiest earners, increased the minimum wage and legalized same-sex marriage.
The state has posted several years of surpluses, and the governor has pointed to that financial stability as a hallmark of his six years in office, insisting he'll safeguard against a return to painful budget shortfalls.
"In 2010, I campaigned for governor on the promise of a better Minnesota. Now, and two years from now, I expect to be judged by you, the people of Minnesota, on how well I have kept that promise," he said during his remarks. "In my first inaugural address, I promised that I would 'clean up the state's financial mess.' I have kept my word."

In final act as president, Obama commutes 330 drug sentences

The Idiot.

WASHINGTON –  In a last major act as president, Barack Obama cut short the sentences of 330 federal inmates convicted of drug crimes on Thursday, bringing his bid to correct what he's called a systematic injustice to a climactic close.
With his final offer of clemency, Obama brought his total number of commutations granted to 1,715, more than any other president in U.S. history, the White House said. During his presidency Obama ordered free 568 inmates who had been sentenced to life in prison.
"He wanted to do it. He wanted the opportunity to look at as many as he could to provide relief," Neil Eggleston, Obama's White House counsel, said in an interview in his West Wing office. "He saw the injustice of the sentences that were imposed in many situations, and he has a strong view that people deserve as second chance."
For Obama, it was the last time he planned to exercise his presidential powers in any significant way. At noon on Friday, Obama will stand with President-elect Donald Trump as his successor is sworn in and Obama's chapter in history comes to an end.
Even as Obama issued the commutations, the White House had been mostly cleared out to make way for Trump. In between carrying out their last duties, the few remaining staffers were packing up belongings as photos of Obama were taken down from the walls of the West Wing corridors.
The final batch of commutations — more in a single day than on any other day in U.S. history — was the culmination of Obama's second-term effort to try to remedy the consequences of decades of onerous sentencing requirements that he said had imprisoned thousands of drug offenders for too long. Obama repeatedly called on Congress to pass a broader criminal justice fix, but lawmakers never acted.
For Bernard Smith, it's a long-awaited chance to start over after 13 years away from his wife and children.
Smith was working at a restaurant in Maryland in 2002 when his brother asked him to obtain marijuana for a drug deal. Though it was his brother who obtained the crack cocaine that the brothers then sold along with the marijuana to undercover officers, Smith was charged with the cocaine offense, too.
His 22-year sentence was far longer than his brother's, owing to what the court called Smith's "extensive criminal history" prior to the drug bust. Smith still had 10 years on his sentence when he was notified Thursday that the president, on his last day in office, was giving him another chance.
"He's looking to turn his life around," said Michelle Curth, his attorney. "He's a good person who, like so many people, got involved in something he's been punished for already."
Curth said that Smith had learned his lesson and owned up to his crime — he asked for a commutation, she noted, not a pardon, which would have erased the original conviction. She said Smith hopes to get licensed in heating and air conditioning maintenance and has lined up family members to help with his adjustment.
But freedom for Smith is still two years away. Rather than release him immediately, Obama directed that he be set free in January 2019 — two years after Obama has left office — and only if Smith enrolls in a residential drug treatment program.
To be eligible for a commutation under Obama's initiative, inmates had to have behaved well in prison and already served 10 years, although some exceptions to the 10-year rule were granted. They also had to be considered nonviolent offenders, although many were charged with firearms violations in relation to their drug crimes.
Obama personally reviewed the case of every inmate who received a commutation, often poring over case files in the evenings or calling his attorneys into his office to discuss specifics. Although a backlog of cases remains as Obama leaves office, his administration reviewed all applications that came in by an end-of-August deadline, officials said.
Eggleston said Obama had been particularly motivated to grant clemency to inmates who had turned themselves around in prison. He said one inmate had trained and obtained a commercial driver's license through a prison program, despite having a life sentence that all but assured he'd never get to use it.
"The ones who really stuck home for the president and me are the ones who got their GED, they worked, they took courses in anger management, they took courses in getting over drug abuse issues, they remained in contract with their families," Eggleston said.
Obama has long called for phasing out strict sentences for drug offenses, arguing they lead to excessive punishment and incarceration rates unseen in other developed countries. With Obama's support, the Justice Department in recent years directed prosecutors to rein in the use of harsh mandatory minimums.
Earlier in the week, Obama commuted most of the rest of convicted leaker Chelsea Manning's sentence, arguing the Army intelligence analyst had shown remorse and already served a long sentence.
Yet Obama will leave office without granting commutations or pardons to other prominent offenders who had sought clemency, including accused Army deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He also declined to pardon former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Gutfeld Rips 'SNL's' Obama Farewell: 'Drooling Toadyism Is Not a Good Look'

One day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, “Saturday Night Live” bid farewell to President Barack Obama with a musical number.
At the conclusion of Saturday's episode, cast members Cecily Strong and Sasheer Zamata stood in front of a black-and-white portrait of the now former president and sang "To Sir, With Love."
The number is the theme to the 1967 movie of the same name, in which a group of students serenade their beloved teacher, played by Sidney Poitier.
At the end of the song, the duo held up a cup that said "World's Best President."
In his monologue on "The Five" today, Greg Gutfeld had some strong words for these Obama "groupies."
"While division and hate is scary, it's never as creepy as sickening love, something to keep in mind whether you adore Obama or Trump," Gutfeld said. "Drooling toadyism is not a good look on either side, and it paves the way for evil."
"Because while hate can drive people to do many things, love permits leaders to do all things, none of them good."

US quietly sent $221M to Palestinians in Obama's last hours

Officials said Monday that the Obama administration-- in its waning hours-- defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking.
A State Department official and several congressional aides told The Associated Press that the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning.
The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday.
The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.
In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations, the congressional aides said.
The aides and the State Department official weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.
Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers — Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee — had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations.
Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated.
The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the U.S.
Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress.
The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month.
Some of Trump’s incoming administration has been split on whether to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
The Washington Post noted that most of the world doesn’t recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. East Jerusalem is also considered “occupied territory,” which Palestinians hope to call their capital if a two-state solution is ever reached.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador, said Wednesday that she would back the embassy move, while Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee retired Marine Gen. James Mattis said he would “stick to U.S. policy” regarding Jerusalem.
Trump’s next ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, supports Israeli settlements and other changes to U.S. policies in the region.
Friedman said he looked forward to carrying out his duties from "the U.S. embassy in Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem," even though the embassy is in Tel Aviv.  Trump advisers have said that the president-elect will follow through on his call for moving the embassy.

Women March Cartoons