Canada's Trudeau corrects woman for using 'mankind' at town hall

Liberal Idiot

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau corrected a woman on her language when she asked a question during a town hall Friday.

The unidentified woman asked Trudeau whether the Canadian government could ease regulations on volunteering with religious organizations, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

"So, that’s why we came here today to ask you, to also look into the policies that religious charitable organizations have in our legislation so that it can also be changed because maternal love is the love that’s going to change the future of mankind,” said the woman, who was reportedly affiliated with the World Mission Society Church of God.

Justin Trudeau correcting a girl for saying "mankind" because it's offensive is truly amazing pic.twitter.com/SDCcpSXhkB

— Ben McDonald (@Bmac0507) February 5, 2018

Trudeau immediately corrected her.
“We like to say ‘peoplekind,' not necessarily ‘mankind,' because it’s more inclusive,” he said.
The crowd clapped after Trudeau’s comments.
The Canadian government has cracked down on language inclusivity over the last week.
Canada’s Senate passed a bill Thursday to make the country’s national anthem gender neutral. The bill changes the second line of “O Canada” from “true patriot love, in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command.”

Intelligence Committee approves release of Dems’ rebuttal to FISA memo

The House Intelligence Committee on Monday approved the release of the Democratic rebuttal to the highly-publicized GOP memo that alleges government surveillance abuse during the 2016 campaign.

"We think this will help inform the public of the many distortions and inaccuracies in the majority memo," California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters.

The vote was unanimous, he said.
Schiff said Democrats have given the DOJ and the FBI a copy of their counter-memo and have asked them to tell them what redactions should be made for national security reasons.
On Friday, Republicans on the Intelligence Committee released the memo from Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., which claimed the FBI and DOJ would not have sought surveillance warrants to spy on onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page without the infamous, Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier.
The White House responded by saying the memo “raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the government’s most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens.”
President Trump – as he did for the original GOP memo – has several days to consider whether he should block the release for national security reasons.
The Nunes memo has fueled accusations from Republicans of bias against Trump by top FBI and Justice Department officials.
Schiff said Monday said Democrats want to make sure the White House "does not redact our memo for political purposes."
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, suggested Friday the president would be open to releasing the counter-memo.
“The administration stands ready to work with Congress to accommodate oversight requests consistent with applicable standards, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods,” Sanders said of the Democratic memo.

"Hey, we caught ‘em. Oh its so fun. We’re like the great sleuth."

TRUMP: 'DID WE CATCH THEM IN THE ACT OR WHAT?'
Schiff -- referencing how Nunes has said the GOP memo was “phase one” of the process to release information on government surveillance abuses -- argued the Democratic memo is “phase two.”
Earlier Monday, during a speech in Ohio, the president celebrated the release of the GOP memo.
“Oh, but did we catch them in the act or what,” the president said. “You know what I’m talking [about]. Oh, did we catch them in the act!”
He added: “They are very embarrassed. They never thought that they were going to get caught. We caught ‘em. Hey, we caught ‘em. Oh its so fun. We’re like the great sleuth.”

Pelosi blames ‘incompetent’ Republicans for 5th stop-gap budget bill

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi faulted GOP "incompetence" as second government shutdown looms.  (AP)

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Monday placed blame squarely on Republicans for being forced to pass yet another stop-gap funding bill amid Washington gridlock over immigration and border wall funding.

The fifth stop-gap, which will fund the government until March 23, has to be approved by Thursday in oder tom avert a shutdown.

“The reason Congress is facing a 5th stop-gap budget bill is because the Republican majority is incompetent,” Pelosi said in a statement. “And it is their incompetence that is placing in doubt how quickly our men and women in uniform can have the resources they need to keep our country safe.”
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told Fox News he expects the bill to pass with Republican votes only during the House vote tomorrow. Democrats have conveyed their displeasure with legislation—once again-- that doesn’t address former President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects young immigrants from deportation.
There is also talks within the Senate to increase spending “caps,” providing a boost to domestic and Pentagon programs. It would then be followed by a more detailed spending bill, which would be negotiated over an extended period of time.
"We are making real headway in our negotiations over spending caps and other important issues," said Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The bill would be paired with a full-year, $659 billion Pentagon spending bill – an idea Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quickly shot down, claiming it “would be barreling head first into a dead-end."
Last month, the government briefly shutdown after leaders on Capitol Hill failed to come to an agreement after weeks of finger pointing and casting blame across the aisle for many of the same reasons: DACA and border wall funding.
The two-year deal would increase caps on spending stemming from the failed 2011 budget deal, in which Republicans would seek roughly a $80 billion increase per year in defense spending, while offering Democrats about $60 billion in nondefense programs. However, details are kept close and subject to change.
In addition to hurricane aid funding, health care and money for President Trump’s border wall, the final cost would near $400 billion. The total cost of the 2018-19 budget years would mimic the deficit impact of last year’s tax measure over that period.
The Congressional Budget Office said Trump’s tax reform will account for about $700 billion in the red for 2018, before seeing any fresh increase from the legislation. And, with next year’s deficit already estimated to reach $975 billion, the potential agreement would represent the first $1 trillion-plus deficit since Obama’s first term.

Anti Trump Dossier Cartoons

Democratic National Committee fundraising hits wall as GOP sits flush ahead of midterm elections

The Democratic National Committee entered the midterm elections year "dead broke," with a paltry $400,000 in party coffers, according to federal records.

The committee finished 2017 with roughly $6.5 million in available cash and about $6.1 million in debt, according to recently released Federal Election Commission filings. That leaves a balance of just $422,582 to start a year that will culminate in midterm elections, in which Democrats are hoping to recapture a majority in the House.

The DNC’s fundraising challenges have been well known since shortly after the 2016 elections, when President Trump defeated front-running Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The committee has been rocked by turmoil, including the resignation of chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz amid leaked emails some say showed DNC brass "rigged" the primaries so Clinton would defeat Sen. Bernie Sanders.
In addition, the selection in February 2017 of former Obama administration official Tom Perez to replace Wasserman Schultz, over Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, sparked discord about the party continuing to hew to its establishment power base. More recently, the DNC has emerged as a key figure in the Russia collusion investigation, amid revelations it helped fund the so-called “anti-Trump” dossier that apparently led, at least in part, to the start of the probe.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez speaks at Ralph Northam's election night rally on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, November 7, 2017.  (REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein)

Party officials say the funding figures are not as dire as they may appear, as donors are more likely to give to individual candidates than to monolithic groups like the DNC or its counterpart, the Republican National Committee.
GOP LAWMAKER BLASTS DOSSIER WHICH MEMO SAYS LED TO TRUMP SPYING OPERATION
“Democratic candidates across the country are out-hustling and out-organizing Republican incumbents, many of whom have not faced a competitive challenge in a very long time and are struggling to find those old campaign muscles,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Friday, pointing to Republican incumbents trailing their Democratic challengers in fundraising in dozens of House races.
Still, the DNC’s money woes come at critical time, as it tries to retake the House and mount a longshot bid to retake the Senate.
The RNC raised $132 million through last year, double the DNC’s $66 million, which along with group’s minimal cash led The Intercept reporter Ryan Grim, among the first to report the story, to tweet that the DNC is “dead  broke.
Democratic Party aides said in response to the new numbers that the DNC's 2017 haul was more than what the party raised in previous off-election years, including the year ahead of the 2006 midterms, when Democrats regained control of Congress and years when former President Barack Obama helped raise money.

North Korean propaganda fliers found in mountains near Seoul: report

North Korean propaganda fliers were reportedly found Saturday in the mountains near South Korea's capital as the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics approaches.

The leaflets found near Seoul show the logo of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang and their two mascots standing beneath the Olympic rings, Reuters reported Monday, citing NK News.

“Welcome, guests from Pyongyang!” the fliers read. The report said the fliers were likely dropped from balloons flown across the border from North Korea. The leaflets also welcome North Korean athletes, cheerleaders and performance artists, the report said.
On the opposite side of the fliers, the Winter Olympics mascots appear to be running together, saying “Let’s Go to Kaesong! Let’s go to Mount Kumgang!”
The message refers to the closed inter-Korean industrial zone and the failed inter-Korean tourist area located in North Korea, Reuters reported.
The discovery of the fliers comes as North Korea announced plans to send a high-ranking delegation to South Korea this week as part of its rapprochement with South Korea during the Olympics.
The Koreas' reconciliatory mood follows a year of heightened tensions over North Korea's advancing nuclear and missile programs. Some experts say the North may want to use its Olympic-related overture as a way to weaken U.S.-led international pressure and sanctions.

Kimmel says libs excel as late-night hosts because job requires 'intelligence'

What a Idiot.

Why are so many late-night talk-show hosts liberal? Just ask Jimmy Kimmel.

“Because it requires a level of intelligence,” Kimmel, host of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” told an audience Saturday night.

The occasion was an episode of “Pod Save America,” an openly progressive podcast created by former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Daniel Pfeiffer.
It describes itself as “a no-bulls--- conversation about politics that breaks down the week’s news and helps people figure out what matters and how to help.”
Social media users quickly jumped to criticize Kimmel for equating conservative politics with a lack of intelligence.
“Really? Because Kimmel's a host and is stupid enough to think political party is a proxy for intelligence. Tribalism makes people dumb,” Shoshana Weissmann wrote.
National Review magazine columnist Dan McLaughlin tweeted: “This is what Kimmel, a college dropout, really thinks of anyone who isn't liberal & watches his show.”
“That moment when Jimmy Kimmel called half the country (and his potential audience) unintelligent,” Josh Jordan wrote.
‏Kimmel has long attacked Republican-minded people, saying last year that he would not be too upset if Republican-leaning viewers stopped watching his show over his views on health care and guns.
“As a talk show host, [losing viewers is] not ideal, but I would do it again in a heartbeat," Kimmel told CBS.
"I don't say I don't mind. ... I want everyone with a television to watch the show. But if they're so turned off by my opinion on health care and gun violence, then I don't know, I probably wouldn't want to have a conversation with them anyway," he added. "Not good riddance, but riddance."
Kimmel also received assistance from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in helping to criticize the GOP's Obamacare replacement plan, which was introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., according to the Daily Beast.
Schumer reportedly “provided technical guidance and info about the bill, as well as stats from various think tanks and experts on the effects of [the bill].”

After defeat of ISIS, US redeploying forces from Iraq to Afghanistan

The U.S. military is pulling its forces from an American-led coalition base in Iraq and shifting them to Afghanistan following the defeat of Islamic State group militants in the country.

Western contractors at the base say U.S. troops began the drawdown over the past week, with groups of soldiers leaving the base on daily flights. The exact scale of the redeployment was unclear.

According to various estimates, as of 2016, there were more 5,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Iraq, with nearly 4,000 deployed to support and assist local groups fighting ISIS militants. The remaining personnel included special operations forces, logistics workers and troops on temporary rotations, the BBC reported.
Iraqi officials reportedly said their government reached an agreement with the U.S.-led coalition to reduce the number of troops in Iraq.
The reported military buildup in Afghanistan is the latest sign of a growing U.S. focus on Afghanistan as the primary conflict.
The White House reportedly signed off in August on deploying an additional 4,000 troops in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Army is also floating plans to increase the total U.S. force in the country by 1,000 in a bid to boost Afghan forces' fight against the Taliban, the Washington Post reported.
President Donald Trump introduced a new Afghanistan strategy in August, hinting at relaxing the rules of engagement, acceleration of strikes and other military actions aimed at producing “an honorable and enduring outcome” in Afghanistan.
He warned against premature drawback of troops, referencing to the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw forces from Iraq in 2011.
“A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11th.”
Since Trump took office, the number of troops has nearly doubled in Afghanistan – from 8,500 in early 2017 to 14,000 today.

Pelosi Crumbs Cartoons

WH Deputy Secy On Possible Deputy AG Firing: ‘We Expect No Changes’

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein listen the national anthem during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. President Donald Trump, dogged by an unrelenting investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia, lashes out at the FBI and Justice Department as politically biased ahead of the expected release of a classified Republican memo criticizing FBI surveillance tactics. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

During an interview on Friday Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah reaffirmed the white house confidence in Rosenstein, after the President declined to give reporters a definitive answer on the matter.
Rosenstein’s primary role for the investigation is to oversee Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his Russia probe, which is in turmoil after the release of the House Intelligence Committee memo showed a violation of FBI surveillance of the Trump Administration.