Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Cartoons

President of university founded by Jefferson asked to not quote Jefferson (IDIOTS)

The president of the university founded by Thomas Jefferson is being asked to stop quoting Thomas Jefferson.
A Friday letter signed by 469 students and professors objected to University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan quoting the third U.S. president and Declaration of Independence author in a campus email because Jefferson owned slaves, The Cavalier Daily reported.
“I think that Jefferson is often celebrated for his accomplishments with little or no acknowledgement of the atrocities he committed against hundreds of human beings,” said Asst. Psychology Prof. Noelle Hurd, who drafted the letter.
MIDTERM OPTIONAL FOR STUDENTS DISTRAUGHT OVER TRUMP WIN
Though Jefferson penned the line “all men are created equal,” Hurd said Jefferson’s words “communicated to me a message of exclusion.”
The trouble started for Sullivan due to a Nov. 9 email she sent to try to urge unity following the presidential election.
NYU BRINGS BACK PROFESSOR WHO BLASTED PC CULTURE, GIVES HIM A RAISE
“Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that University of Virginia students ‘are not of ordinary significance only: they are exactly the persons who are to succeed to the government of our country, and to rule its future enmities, its friendships and fortunes,’” Sullivan wrote. “I encourage today’s U. Va students to embrace that responsibility.”
The student-professor response acknowledged that Jefferson's legacy had inspired some students and faculty to come to the University, however, "others of us came here in spite of it."

Politics Prof. Lawrie Balfour, who signed the letter, said Jefferson’s words have often troubled her during her 15-year tenure at the University.
“Again and again, I have found that at moments when the community needs reassurance and Jefferson appears, it undoes I think the really important work the administrators and others are trying to do,” Balfour said.
The Cavalier Daily could not immediately reach Sullivan for comment.
Jefferson, who also served as a U.S. vice president and secretary of state, founded the University of Virginia in 1819 and was involved with the University until his death in 1826.

Mayor says Chicago will 'always be a sanctuary city' in face of deportation threats

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised Monday to defy President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation orders and vowed that the city will always be a so-called sanctuary city.
Chicago laws prohibit government workers and police officers from asking the locals about their immigration status, according to the Chicago Tribune. Emanuel reaffirmed that the policy will continue.
"To all those who are, after Tuesday's election, very nervous and filled with anxiety as we've spoken to, you are safe in Chicago, you are secure in Chicago and you are supported in Chicago," Emanuel said. "Chicago will always be a sanctuary city."
Emanuel’s vow is likely to go head-to-head with Trump’s campaign promises to depot millions of illegal immigrants and block federal funding to sanctuary cities as well as building a wall along the Mexican border.
In an interview with “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Trump doubled down once again on his vow to build a wall along the southern border and to deport illegal immigrants.
"What we are going to do is get the people that are [criminals] and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers," Trump said. "We have a lot of these people. Probably two million, it could be even three million. We are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.

More on this...

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“After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized," Trump added, "we're going to make a determination on [other undocumented immigrants] ... But before we make that determination ... we want to secure our border.”
Emanuel didn’t address any of Trump’s campaign promises directly, but this was the most he’s spoken on the immigration issue as he tries to bolster support that had sharply decreased with the handling of the Laquan McDonald police shooting investigation.
"Now, administrations may change, but our values and principles as it relates to inclusion does not," Emanuel added. “People from all faiths, all backgrounds and all parts of the world have beaten their path to the city of Chicago because Chicago offers them and — more importantly, as the son and the grandson of an immigrant — their children and grandchildren a chance at the American dream."
Emanuel had urged any immigrants who are fearful of their legal status to contact the city’s 311 center to get information about legal resources and other programs.

Trump considering Ingraham, others for White House press secretary

Conservative radio host and author Laura Ingraham is among the potential candidates being considered for the position of White House press secretary under the Donald Trump administration, according to a senior source within the Trump transition team.
Ingraham has been a vocal Trump supporter and spoke at the Republican National Convention in July. While a Republican source close to Ingraham added that it is a “possibility,” other sources said there are other candidates also being eyed for the position. Sean Spicer, who is chief strategist and communications director for the Republican National Committee, and Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller also are being considered.
A senior aide to the Trump team added that while Ingraham is being considered, there is friction between those who want people from the RNC to run the White House versus those who want Trump campaign figures to run it.
There has been widespread speculation about whom Trump will pick to fill the various positions in his administration during the frantic period between the election and inauguration. President-elect Trump already has chosen RNC Chairman Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff, and controversial former Breitbart head Steve Bannon as chief strategist.
A senior Trump aide confirmed to Fox News that Richard Grenell, former U.S. spokesman at the U.N. under the Bush administration, is being considered for the position of U.N. ambassador. Should Grenell be chosen, it would make him the first openly gay U.S. ambassador.
For other positions, the source said banker Steven Mnuchin is being considered for Treasury secretary, while Ben Carson is being considered for either secretary of Education or Health and Human Services.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani are all being considered for Cabinet picks, while retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn is also being considered for a top post in the administration. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is also being considered for a top post, but it is not clear what that could be.

Giuliani favorite for Trump's secretary of state, says 'I won't be attorney general'

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the favorite to be secretary of state in President-elect Donald Trump's administration, a senior Trump transition official said Monday.
The official told the Associated Press there was no real competition for the job and that it was Giuliani's if he wanted it. However, a second official cautioned that John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, remained in contention for the job.
A senior source told Fox News that Giuliani was being considered for the secretary of state job, but said the choice was not locked in. The source added that Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., one of Trump's earliest Washington supporters, was getting a lot of say in the selection of officeholders.
Giuliani, a top Trump surrogate, said he "won't be attorney general" in a Trump administration at a Washington event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. The former federal prosecutor had been seen as a top contender for the Justice Department post before Trump's election last week.
Giuliani said he thought Bolton "would be a very good choice" for secretary of state. But asked if there was anyone better, he replied with a mischievous smile: "Maybe me, I don't know."
During the event, Giuliani said that defeating the ISIS terror group was Trump's top foreign policy priority, though he did not go into specifics of the president-elect's plan. The former mayor also discussed Russia's global power and influence.
"Russia thinks it’s a military competitor, it really isn’t," Giuliani said. "It’s our unwillingness under Obama to even threaten the use of our military that makes Russia so powerful."
Giuliani, 72, would be an out-of-box choice to lead the State Department due to his lack of extensive foreign policy experience. Known for his hard-line law-and-order views and brusque manner, he would set a very different tone than previous holders of the job, including Trump's ex-rival Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.
Bolton has years of federal government experience, but he has also raised eyebrows with some of his hawkish stances, including a 2015 op-ed in The New York Times in which he advocated bombing Iran to halt the country's development of nuclear weapons.
Trump was also considering Monday whether to inject new diversity into the GOP by recommending a woman to lead the Republican Party and an openly gay man to represent the United States at the United Nations.
The moves, among dozens under consideration from his transition team, follow an intense and extended backlash from Trump's decision on Sunday to appoint Steve Bannon, a man celebrated by the white nationalist movement, to serve as his chief strategist and senior adviser.
"After winning the presidency but losing the popular vote, President-elect Trump must try to bring Americans together — not continue to fan the flames of division and bigotry," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. She called Bannon's appointment "an alarming signal" that Trump "remains committed to the hateful and divisive vision that defined his campaign."
His inauguration just 66 days away, however, Trump focused on building his team and speaking to foreign leaders. He remained sequestered in Trump Tower in New York.
Inexperienced on the international stage, the Republican president-elect spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone. His transition office said in a readout that "he is very much looking forward to having a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia." Trump has spoken in recent days with the leaders of China, Mexico, South Korea and Canada.
At the same time, Trump was considering tapping Richard Grenell as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He would be the first openly gay person to fill a Cabinet-level foreign policy post. Grenell, known in part for aggressive criticism of rivals on Twitter, previously served as U.S. spokesman at the U.N. under President George W. Bush.
Trump was also weighing whether to select Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, a niece of chief Trump critic and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney. She would be the second woman ever to lead the Republican National Committee — and the first in four decades.
"I'll be interested in whatever Mr. Trump wants," McDaniel told The Associated Press on Monday, adding that she was planning to seek the Michigan GOP chairmanship again.
Appointing McDaniel to run the GOP's political arm could be an effort to help the party heal the anger after a campaign in which Trump demeaned women. The appointment of Grenell, who has openly supported same-sex marriage, could begin to ease concerns by the gay community about Vice President-elect Mike Pence's opposition to same-sex marriage during his time as Indiana governor.
The personnel moves under consideration were confirmed by people with direct knowledge of Trump's thinking who were not authorized to publicly disclose private discussions. They stressed that the decisions were not final.

Border Fence Cartoons

Trump repeats vow to build border wall, but admits 'there could be some fencing'

but admits 'there could be some fencing'

Published November 14, 2016

FoxNews.com

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Now Playing Trump shows signs of compromise on Affordable Care Act

President-elect Donald Trump, in his first television interview since his surprise election victory, repeated his vows to build a wall across America's southern border, deport criminal illegal aliens, and repeal and replace ObamaCare.
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP WILLING TO KEEP PARTS OF OBAMACARE
But Trump also appeared to back off from commiting to build a solid wall, telling CBS' "60 Minutes" the barrier might look more like a fence in spots.
"Certain areas, a wall is more appropriate," Trump told interviewer Lesley Stahl. "I'm very good at this, it's called construction."
Trump emphasized that securing the border is his very first immigration priority, but he also promised to deport people living in the country illegally who had committed crimes beyond their immigration offenses.
TRUMP'S PRESIDENTIAL PEN COULD REMAKE SUPREME COURT AGENDA
"What we are going to do is get the people that are [criminals] and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers," Trump said. "We have a lot of these people. Probably two million, it could be even three million. We are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.
After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized," Trump added, "we're going to make a determination on [other undocumented immigrants] ... But before we make that determination ... we want to secure our border.

Early in the GOP primaries, Trump had vowed to immediately deport all 11 million people living in the country illegally. But his comments Sunday echoed House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who told CNN that the Republican administration was "not looking for mass deportations."
"We are not going to do that," Ryan emphasized in the interview that aired earlier Sunday.
The real estate mogul also echoed remarks he made to the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, in which he said he favors keeping the prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of patients’ existing conditions, and a provision that allows parents to provide years of additional coverage for children on their insurance policies.
"It'll be just fine. We're not going to have, like, a two day period and we're not going to have-- a two-year period where there's nothing," Trump said.
Trump also appeared to back away from his promise to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over her use of a private email server. Trump made such a promise during the second presidential debate against Clinton during a rhetorical duel that ended with Trump saying if he was president, "you'd be in jail."
"She did some bad things, I mean she did some bad things," Trump said, to which Stahl responded, "I know, but a special prosecutor?"
"I don't want to hurt them, I don't want to hurt them," Trump said. "They’re, they’re good people. I don't want to hurt them."
Regarding another of his campaign promises, Trump vowed to nominate a Supreme Court justice that would be pro-life and pro-Second Amendment. However, the president-elect showed no interest in re-litigating last year's Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marraige, an issue of departure between him and Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
"It's irrelevant because it was already settled. It's law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done," Trump said, later adding, "I'm fine with that."
Trump touched on the protests that have broken out across the nation since his election, complaning that the coverage represented a "double standard."
"If Hillary had won and if my people went out and protested, everybody would say, 'Oh, that's a terrible thing,'" he said. "And it would have been a much different attitude. There is a different attitude."
However the president-elect said that he was "saddened" by reports that some of his supporters had harassed minorities since Tuesday's vote.
"And I say, 'Stop it.' ... I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: Stop it."
Trump also told "60 Minutes" he would eschew the $400,000 annual salary for the president, taking only $1 a year.

Dr. Manny: How Newt Gingrich may help shape Trump's health care plan

Before President-elect Donald Trump hit the campaign trail vowing to repeal and replace ObamaCare, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had ideas of his own about the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act. With Gingrich shaping up to be a Trump advisor, a look at what the man who spent 20 years in the House of Representatives has said about ObamaCare in the past, as well as what he put forth during his own 2012 presidential bid, may offer insight into what Trump’s health care plan (THP) will look like.
Gingrich, who once advocated for a 100 percent insured nation, described the ObamaCare insurance mandate as unconstitutional during the 2012 campaign, but supported the idea in the past.
When pressed, Gingrich said he proposed mandates as a free-market alternative to Hillary Clinton’s plan and past plans mirroring what he considered to be socialized medicine, but he changed his stance when he discovered a plan based on tax breaks for individuals who purchase health insurance. The tax breaks-based plan would see unused credits go toward a pool for the uninsured who could use them to cover costs of whatever limited care is available should they become ill.
Gingrich also spent time on the campaign trail lauding his record on Medicare, which he said he helped save from bankruptcy. He enacted a budget measure known as the sustainable growth rate formula which reduces payments to physicians to balance the budget. The idea stems from his belief that the government can’t cut reimbursements if it can’t cut patient care costs. Gingrich again advocated for a credit-based or voucher-based system, in which the poor are given money to buy their own health care to lessen costs over time. This plan is not entirely different from that of current House Speaker Paul Ryan, who also put forth a plan that involves converting Medicare from an entitlement program and giving beneficiaries a certain amount of money to buy private health plans instead.
This type of reform would put the power in the hands of the states, which Gingrich feels could better address the shortcomings of Medicare in the present rather than the government scrambling to find a single solution over a longer period.
As recently as 2015, Gingrich went on record saying that he didn’t think ObamaCare should be repealed, and that congressional Republicans who say they want to overturn it aren’t being truthful.
He told a health conference that more minor parts of the law that aren’t working should be addressed, but the core parts have bipartisan support. The move signals that he hasn’t swayed too far from his original belief that the United States should be 100 percent insured. It also falls in line with Trump's plan to at least consider two provisions that President Obama suggested stay in place, which is to allow children to stay on their parents’ health plan until age 26, and to prohibit insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions.
In 2011, Gingrich told a CPAC audience that there are four necessary steps to take when considering how to best transform our health care system. The steps included medical education debt forgiveness, cuts to inefficient programs, a more transparent way to deliver products and a radical transformation away from population medicine to better personalize medicine, which would include modernizing the FDA.
I feel confident in saying that Gingrich will likely push for some of these ideas while advising the Trump administration on THP, and there is consensus along the party line for many of them. Medicare reform, more state power and less bureaucrats in the exam room seem like reasonable goals for the administration rather than tackling the task of inventing an entirely new health plan in four short years.
Dr. Manny Alvarez serves as Fox News Channel's senior managing health editor. He also serves as chairman of the department of obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. 

Four takeaways from Trump's decision to make Reince Priebus his chief of staff

Donald Trump has tapped Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, to be his White House chief of staff.
What does this say about the nascent Trump administration, other than blue laws not applying to presidential transitions?
Here are four takeaways:
1. Respect. Anyone closely following the election couldn’t miss that Priebus and Trump had a good working relationship – far smoother than the hot mess that was Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and ugly revelations of the Democratic National Committee chairs playing favorites.
Priebus didn’t stack the debate deck against Trump. In early October, after the release of the audiotape that nearly sank Trump’s campaign, Priebus held a 14-minute phone call with RNC members telling them, in effect, not to abandon ship.
Trump also owes Priebus and the RNC for a multi-year ground game that paid dividends last Tuesday.
In must-have Florida, for example, nearly 300,000 Republicans were added to the voter registration rolls since the 2012 election (Trump carried the state by 120,000 votes). Nearly 1,800 paid staff and trained organizers worked the Sunshine State; nearly 6.5 million volunteer voter contacts were made.
Small wonder the two hugged it out on Election Night.
Let’s chalk this up to professional respect – in that regard, little different than the simultaneous hiring of Steve Bannon as White House chief strategist and a soon-to-be announced role for Kellyanne Conway, the latter two key campaign insiders.
2. The Trump Card Is Andy Card. Going back to its modern-day inception during the Truman administration, there hasn’t been a standard-issue White House Chief of Staff.
Bill Clinton brought in a pal from his Arkansas kindergarten days – a Washington outsider from a Fortune 500 gas company whom everyone described as “nice”. Mack McLarty didn’t make it until the first midterm election, replaced by Budget Director Leon Panetta, the ultimate Beltway insider.
Barack Obama’s first chief of staff was Rahm Emanuel – like Panetta a product of Congress, but with an edgy temperament. Obama wanted a bad cop who’d keep a Democratic Congress in line.
If Trump’s choice echoes any recent presidency, it might be the Bush 43 White House.
Andy Card, President George W. Bush’s first chief of staff, was the timekeeper and gatekeeper. He controlled the schedule, oversaw the West Wing’s operations and made sure the trains ran on time. Widely respected around town for his political smarts and his personal integrity, Card lasted on the job for five-plus years (two years is more the norm).
This sounds like Priebus’ job role, with one added responsibility: he’ll be the one making calls to GOP congressional leadership and the extended world of the RNC to keep the troops in line.
3. Not All "Swamp" Creatures Are Alike. To those having a conniption because Trump went with someone who’s a Washington fixture, the choice is a reminder of the reality of life inside the White House: in order to fly the plane, you need someone in the cockpit who’s attended flight school.
Nearly six years as the RNC chair means Priebus knows how to run a political organization, can deal with oversized personalities and is sensitive to Washington’s rhythms.
Just as important: smart national committee chairmen keep their egos in check and do their best to stay out of the news. An effective White House chief of staff operates the same way (John Sununu’s penchant for generating bad headlines was a constant headache in the Bush 41 presidency).
4. A Collective Deep Breath. The choice of Priebus neither guarantees a successful first term nor assures the worst presidency since Harding.
What it is: a smart first step.
Once Trump is through with this first round of inner-circle hires – surrounding himself with much of the same crew that delivered the election – there will another round of appointments. At that point, we’ll find out who’s in charge of policy, communications, congressional relations and legal affairs. We’ll also know more about the various White House fiefdoms – i.e., which deputies have what portfolios.
Stay tuned. There’s never a dull day in the world of Donald Trump – even on Sundays.

Trump's appointment of Bannon receives wave of criticism

Trump names Priebus chief of staff, Bannon chief strategist

President-elect Donald Trump announced Sunday that Reince Priebus would serve as his chief of staff and campaign CEO Stephen Bannon would serve as his chief strategist senior counselor.
Trump’s selection of Priebus was mostly met with praise. White House insiders like Dylan Axelrod, the top White House adviser to President Obama, and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham praising Trump for the appointment. However, it was the Bannon move that drew the most criticism.
Bannon’s past came under fire almost immediately after Trump’s announcement. The Southern Poverty Law Center tweeted controversial stories that had been published on Breitbart during Bannon’s tenure.
“Stephen Bannon was the main driver behind Breitbart becoming a white ethno-nationalist propaganda mill,” the hate-watch group said in a statement on Twitter. “Trump should rescind this hire. In his victory speech, Trump said he intended to be president for 'all Americans.' Bannon should go.”
The Anti-Defamation League also expressed its outrage over Bannon’s appointment, calling it a “sad day.”
"We call on President-elect Trump to appoint and nominate Americans committed to the well-being of all our country's people," the group’s chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt said, according to The Washington Post.
California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted: “Selection of Steve Bannon for senior WH role unsurprising but alarming. His alt-right, anti-Semitic, misogynistic views don't belong in WH.”

• And John Weaver, a Republican strategist who worked for Ohio Gov. John Kasich's presidential campaign, tweeted, "The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant, America."

The Council of American-Islamic Relations called Bannon an "anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist and White nationalist alt-right extremist."
Bannon was the executive chairman of Breitbart News and under his reign the website pushed a nationalist, anti-establishment agenda and became one of the leading outlets of the so-called alt-right -- a movement often associated with white supremacy and a defense of "Western values."
Bannon, who became campaign CEO in August, pushed Trump to adopt more populist rhetoric and paint rival Hillary Clinton as part of a global conspiracy made up of the political, financial and media elite, bankers bent on oppressing the country's working people -- a message that carried Trump to the White House but to some, carried anti-Semitic undertones.
An ex-wife of Bannon said he expressed fear of Jews when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago, according to court papers reviewed this summer by The Associated Press. In a sworn court declaration following their divorce, Mary Louise Piccard said her ex-husband had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he "didn't want the girls going to school with Jews."
A spokeswoman for Bannon denied he made those statements.
Bannon thanked Trump for the job, saying he and Priebus will extend their partnership in Washington to “help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda.”
“I want to thank President-elect Trump for the opportunity to work with Reince in driving the agenda of the Trump Administration,” he said. “We had a very successful partnership on the campaign, one that led to victory. We will have that same partnership in working to help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda.”
Neither Priebus nor Bannon bring significant policy experience to their new White House roles.
Bannon was notably given top billing in the press release announcing the appointments, a curious arrangement giving that White House chief of staff is typically considered the most powerful West Wing job.
Chiefs of staff in particular play a significant role in policy making, serving as a liaison to Cabinet agencies and deciding what information makes it to the president's desk. They're often one of the last people in the room with the president as major decisions are made.