Presumptuous Politics

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Trump's Mexico gamble pays off as he tries his hand at insta-Diplomacy

Donald Trump’s critics said his hastily arranged visit to Mexico was an act of desperation, a Hail Mary pass, the sign of an erratic campaign.
But he got the world’s attention.
And the gamble paid off.
Trump used his showman’s instincts to create a television moment, setting the stage for his Arizona speech on immigration. Once President Enrique Pena Nieto extended the invitation (with Hillary Clinton declining), Trump had a chance to portray himself as a dealmaker, a bold negotiator willing to meet the adversary on his foreign turf.
What was the downside? I suppose Pena Nieto could have used the occasion to rip Trump (as the out-of-office Vicente Fox did). But a guy with a 23 percent approval rating would probably want to show that he could do business with a potential American president.
Just having a bland we-agreed-to-disagree statement would help Trump by showing him doing business on the international stage. And he got more than that.
Pena Nieto was gracious in his remarks, saying he and Trump had an “open and constructive” conversation. And when he said both countries should invest more to make the border safe, well, it wasn’t exactly thumbing his nose at Trump’s oft-repeated demand that Mexico would pay for the wall. (Trump said they didn’t discuss that, but Pena Nieto contradicted his account, saying he made clear Mexico wouldn’t pay.)
And Trump not only moderated his tone, talking about the two countries “working beautifully together,” he said he had told Pena Nieto that illegal immigration must end and NAFTA must be renegotiated. He even called the Mexican leader a “friend.” So the Republican nominee didn’t back off his positions, but showed he could calibrate his language and play in this arena.
It’s hard to imagine that the excursion could have gone better for Trump. It’s not that his insta-diplomacy will suddenly make Trump popular among Hispanic voters, but it adds to the sense that he can be reasonable, that he isn’t some hothead who will drag us into a trade war.
Clinton, as a former secretary of State, doesn’t need to do this sort of thing. But she is also too risk-averse to stage such a meeting without the details having been negotiated in advance.
Trump’s challenge in his Arizona speech was just as great: how to reconcile his tough primary rhetoric, especially about kicking out all the people who are in this country illegally, with the electoral reality that he needs to expand his base.
The problem is that there were a cacophony of sometimes contradictory voices speaking on his behalf, and it fueled a sense of confusion on what Trump himself described as a “softening” of his approach.
It also didn’t help that Trump’s people kept denying there was any change in policy on deportation, even as they kept using language that signaled such a change.
On Sunday’s “Media Buzz,” Mike Huckabee, a top Trump surrogate, told me Trump “realizes it’s utterly impractical to try to deport 11 million people, just to round them up. That’s not going to happen.” That seemed pretty clear.
Such mass roundups were never realistic, and probably less important than Trump’s signature plan for a border wall. But pressure built to the point that Trump had to make the once-delayed speech last night. But pressure built to the point that Trump had to make last night’s much-anticipated speech.
After announcing a series of get-tough measures, Trump essentially rescinded his previous policy of mass deportations of illegal immigrants, except for those who have committed crimes. He said he would figure out what to do with them after all the other steps have been implemented, which he acknowledged would take "several years."
In effect, he kicked that can down the road—which amounts to a bow to reality—while vowing to be more aggressive across the board on the immigration problem.
Will that matter? It wasn’t even the day’s biggest story. Some of Trump’s strongest detractors, including Charles Krauthammer and Steve Hayes with me on the “Special Report” panel, were praising not only Trump’s demeanor in Mexico but calling it the best day of his campaign. That visual will overshadow the retreat from a deportation plan that even many supporters thought would never be carried out. So with Hillary Clinton’s American exceptionalism speech all but blotted out, Trump, in Beltway parlance, won the day.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Trump doubles down on 'impenetrable, physical' wall during immigration speech

Donald Trump, fresh off a hastily-arranged visit to Mexico where he met with the country's president, doubled down Wednesday night on his vow to build a "great wall" along the southern border -- and make Mexico pay for it -- while outlining a more focused mission for the deportation force he's promised to create.
In a speech in Phoenix meant to clarify his immigration positions after appearing to soften his stance, the Republican presidential nominee outlined a hardline set of proposals for tackling illegal immigration. He did not, however, definitively call for removing all illegal immigrants in the country.
Rather, Trump vowed to focus first on deporting the estimated 2 million "criminal aliens" on day one, while also prioritizing certain groups like gang members and visa overstays for removal. He said, though, that any illegal immigrant could be subject to deportation under his administration.
"There will be no amnesty," he said, adding that no illegal immigrant would be legalized without first leaving and coming in through the front door.
"For those here illegally today, who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only. To return home and apply for reentry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system I outlined above," he said.
Trump said that America’s current immigration system “serves the needs of wealthy donors, political activists and powerful politicians."
“Let me tell you who it does not serve, it does not serve you the American people. It doesn’t serve you,” he said.
In his speech, Trump also promised to end "catch and release," to increase the number of ICE and border patrol agents, block funding for sanctuary cities, and create a deportation task force that he said would be focused on deporting criminal aliens.
He also promised to cancel President Obama's "illegal" executive actions, and to enforce current immigration laws and accused Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of not having a plan on immigration, saying she would give "ObamaCare, Social Security and Medicare to illegal immigrants, breaking the federal budget."
When he talked about deporting criminal aliens who had "evaded justice," he also said Clinton had evaded justice.
"Maybe they'll be able to deport her too," he quipped.
He told the vibrant crowd that there are some immigrants who will be unable to assimilate into American society.
“It’s our right as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants we think are the likeliest to thrive and flourish and love us,” he said.
Amid rumors he was considering softening his trademark position on building a wall on the southern border, Trump made his position very clear.
"We will build a great wall along the southern border," he said to cries of "build the wall" from the boisterous crowd. "And Mexico will pay for the wall."
He later said the wall would be "impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful."
Trump’s speech comes after he met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto earlier in the day and asserted America’s “right” to build a border wall during a hastily-arranged visit to Mexico City.
While both leaders adopted a measured and respectful tone, with Trump calling it a "substantive, direct and constructive exchange of ideas," there was disagreement on the question of the wall.
While Trump told reporters “we didn’t discuss payment of the wall,” Pena Nieto later contradicted Trump and said the subject was among those discussed. He also tweeted that he made it clear "that Mexico will not pay for the wall."
Trump has been accused of stoking tensions on the subject ever since he announced his campaign in June of last year in which he accused Mexico of not sending their best people across the border.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” he said.
In recent weeks, Trump has been accused of softening his tone on the subject, and had been forced to clarify whether he favored a path to citizenship for those here legally, and whether he still planned to build a wall.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick Cartoons (Hopefully soon to be unemployed)

Kaepernick social media posts laud Black Lives Matter, Black Panthers since dating activist DJ

Piece of Crap.

NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s conversion to social activism coincided with his romancing of a hip hop DJ of Egyptian descent who has frequently spoken about perceived racial injustices and “Islamaphobia” in the U.S.
Kaepernick, 28, who has come under fire for his decision to remain seated during the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner before San Francisco 49ers games, reportedly began dating Hot 97 DJ and MTV host Nessa Diab in July 2015. A few months later, his social media posts began to reflect the Black Lives Matter and Muslim activism of Diab.
"History!" Kaepernick wrote on Instagram Oct. 15, when he marked 50 years since the Black Panther Party was founded.
Kaepernick has posted 170 photos or videos on his Instagram account in the four years since he created it. Most of his first 128 posts were pics of him in football gear, publicity photos or shots taken with friends. But 31 of his last 42 posts have strong social justice connotations, often featuring quotes from radical Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, Black Panthers founder Huey Newton and cop killer Assata Shakur. During a Sunday news conference about the flag flap, Kaepernick dressed in a black hat with a large, white “X” and a T-shirt that featured photos of Cuban despot Fidel Castro and Malcolm X.
Kaepernick, who was notably photographed with Bible quotes tattooed on his biceps when he first came into the league, also posted a greeting in July acknowledging “a lot of people” who he knew fasting during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and wishing them “a Happy Eid!” He also was heavily critical on social media of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims.
Diab’s Twitter and Instagram account is a mish-mash of black activism, celebrity pics and the occasional defense of Islam. She frequently retweets Black Lives Matter supporter and newspaper columnist Shaun King on race-related issues. On Aug. 18, Diab retweeted another user’s musings that black athletes face a backlash for expressing political opinions with the added comment “YESSSSSS.” She defended Kaepernick in an Aug. 28 tweet, writing, “I’m always proud of him and always will be @Kaepernick7 . Please take the time to UNDERSTAND what he is saying,” followed by a link to a transcript of his news conference.
Diab said in a March 2014 interview that she spent many of her formative years in Saudi Arabia, after her dad was transferred there from a job in California. She described being in the Kingdom during the Gulf War and how the threat of bombings later colored her impression of American tragedies.
“When 9/11 happened, it didn’t surprise me at all,” Diab said on the Guy Code Podcast. “’Wow. Mmkay. This is what we went through, probably, every couple months.’”
On the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Diab posted a quote on Instagram from President Obama saying in part “ISIL does not speak for Islam.” Diab added: “Had to repost @ebroski on this and also check those comments out #knowledgeispower #enlightenment.”
Posting about Alton Sterling’s controversial shooting by police officers, Diab remarked “they will also try to discredit the store owner’s account of what occurred because he’s Muslim and we know Islamaphobia is at an all-time high in this country.”
Diab said her parents, who were originally from Egypt, were highly educated, but denied some jobs in the U.S. “because they have an accent.”
Kaepernick said on Sunday that his sitdown is for “people that are being oppressed” and he'll end the protest when “I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent.”
Kaepernick said he planned further activism beyond the seated demonstration.

Emails shed light on Abedin involvement in foundation work – and aides' frustration with Clinton

Huma's warnings damaging to Clinton in new emails

Newly released State Department emails shed light on top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s close dealings with Clinton Foundation matters while she was working at the State Department – as well as aides' frustration with their boss’s email practices.
Emails obtained by Fox News show how Abedin used her State Department email address to deal with issues relating to a Clinton Global Initiative event. In an email dated Sept. 16, 2009, Abedin was forwarded an email chain about how campaign donor Geri Shapiro first accepted an invitation to an event, but then declined when she discovered that her husband was not allowed to attend.
Abedin responded from her State Department email: “Why was she invited in the first place?”
The emails, first obtained by Citizens United, come as new questions are being raised about the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and State Department when Clinton was secretary of state. Critics say recent email dumps show donors who gave significant amounts to the Clinton Foundation calling in favors and being given preferential treatment by the State Department, with Abedin frequently acting as point person. Abedin had a special arrangement allowing her to work for the foundation while at State.
Although Clinton has claimed there was “no connection” between the foundation and her work at the department, Republican critics have jumped on the recent revelations, with Donald Trump accusing Clinton of having engaged in “pay for play” activities.
The New York Times editorial board on Tuesday called for the Clintons to cut ties to the foundation if Hillary wins. While Bill Clinton has said he will resign from the board if his wife wins, and the foundation will no longer accept foreign and corporate donations, the board called for the end to such donations immediately, and said the Clintons may need to do more.
“If Mrs. Clinton wins, Bill and Chelsea Clinton should both end their operational involvement in the foundation and its affiliates for the duration of her presidency, relinquishing any control over spending, hiring and board appointments,” the editorial board said.
Meanwhile, more information is coming to light about how Clinton's own staff viewed her personal email habits.
Emails seen by The Daily Caller show Abedin and Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills discussing how somebody had emailed the secretary about a job. “Personally, I think it’s outrageous that staff go straight to her on this stuff,” Abedin wrote in the April 2009 exchange, according to The Daily Caller.
Mills responded: "This is unbelievable, and she also should not be giving her email to everyone – b/c she will get stuff like this."
Abedin explained that emails were being automatically forwarded from Clinton's old Senate account and IT would have to "fix" it. However, she complained that Clinton would take her unsecure BlackBerry everywhere, even the "shower."
Clinton has been frequently criticized for what critics say was a dismissiveness of serious security concerns surrounding the use of her private email server while the nation’s top diplomat. In July, FBI Director James Comey described Clinton as “extremely careless” in her handling of sensitive material, but did not recommend charges against her.
The emails obtained by Fox News also show concerns about email security, on a trip to Moscow in December 2009. Abedin wrote that they would be leaving their BlackBerry phones on the plane.
“Want to make sure DC is aware that those of us in the Russia traveling party will be leaving blackberries on the airplane once we tough down in moscow tonite [sic],” Abedin wrote.
When an aide noted that her clintonemail.com address should work if Russian officials are taking their BlackBerrys away, Abedin responded: “Its for security reasons. I don’t want to use that one either.”

FBI to release Clinton probe files, as candidate pressed to answer new questions ‘under oath’

Hillary Clinton is facing the possibility of new revelations on her personal email scandal on multiple fronts, as the FBI prepares to release some of the documents from its investigation in a matter of days – and a watchdog group sends the Democratic presidential nominee a detailed set of questions she’s expected to answer “under oath” by next month.
The FBI files are being released in response to a number of Freedom of Information Act requests.
Law enforcement sources told Fox News that FBI and Justice Department officials are still in the process of determining what exactly will be released to the public as part of this response.
Fox News is told the release could come as early as this week.
The FBI’s report on the probe, which ultimately recommended no charges be filed, was first sent to the Justice Department in July. The DOJ dropped the case in response, though FBI Director James Comey concluded Clinton nevertheless had been “extremely careless” in her handling of sensitive information. The FBI interviewed Clinton for several hours at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., before announcing the decision to close the investigation.
So far, the FBI has only provided portions of these investigative documents to Congress.
The decision to make public some of them comes as Republican lawmakers have pressured the FBI to loosen restrictions on the files. It’s unclear what details will be revealed, though one lawmaker who has viewed the files – Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. – recently said they show Clinton’s team went to great lengths to delete her emails.
Meanwhile, Judicial Watch announced Tuesday that it has submitted 25 questions to Clinton about her email set-up and practices, on the heels of U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan allowing the conservative group to do so.
Clinton is under court order to answer the questions, under oath, within 30 days – putting the deadline at Sept. 29, well before the election.
The Judicial Watch questions span everything from why Clinton created a private email system to whom she consulted to whether she had any discussions about the possibility the practice violated recordkeeping laws.
The line of questioning focuses in large part on the recordkeeping law aspect, asking how Clinton preserved her emails and whether FOIA and other requests for her messages were granted or denied.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, also asks about any hacking attempts and why Clinton continued to use her clintonemail.com in the face of such risks.
One of the questions also asks: “After your lawyers completed their review of the emails in your clintonemail.com email account in late 2014, were the electronic versions of your emails preserved, deleted, or destroyed? If they were deleted or destroyed, what tool or software was used to delete or destroy them, who deleted or destroyed them, and was the deletion or destruction done at your direction?”
This comes after Gowdy told Fox News last week that Clinton’s team used a program known as BleachBit to delete her private emails and try to prevent their recovery.
“They didn't just push the delete button. They had them deleted where even God can't read them,” Gowdy said.
Yet some additional emails have been recovered. The State Department has said the FBI provided it with about 14,900 emails purported not to have been among those previously released.
Notably, the department says about 30 emails that may be related to the 2012 attack on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, are among the thousands of emails recovered.
Government lawyers told U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta Tuesday that an undetermined number of the emails among the 30 were not included in the 55,000 pages previously provided by Clinton. The State Department's lawyer said it would need until the end of September to review the emails and redact potentially classified information before they are released.
Mehta questioned why it would take so long to release so few documents, and urged that the process be sped up. He ordered the department to report to him in a week with more details about why the review process would take a full month.
The hearing was held in one of several lawsuits filed by Judicial Watch.

Trump agrees to meet with Mexican president

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had accepted an invitation to visit Mexico from President Enrique Pena Nieto ahead of his immigration policy speech in Arizona.
President Nieto confirmed that Trump accepted the invitation and that the two would meet in private Wednesday.
The visit will come as Trump looks to clarify his stance on immigration, which is the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. Trump has called for the deportation of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. and building a wall along with country’s Mexican border and having Mexico pay for the wall.
Recently, Trump has signaled he would soften his stance a bit after meetings with Hispanic leaders and a special “Hannity” town hall last week.
Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on “Fox News Sunday” that Trump wants to find “the fair and humane way” to address the issue, which includes whether to separate families to enforce federal law.
Last week, Mexican President Nieto — who has been critical of Trump's insistence that Mexico would pay for the wall — invited both the Republican nominee and Democrat Hillary Clinton to visit his country. Trump confirmed on Twitter late Tuesday that he had accepted Nieto’s invitation.
Clinton’s campaign said in a statement that Trump’s trip to Mexico ultimately doesn’t matter in the long run.
"From the first days of his campaign, Donald Trump has painted Mexicans as 'rapists’ and criminals and has promised to deport 16 million people, including children and U.S. citizens. He has said we should force Mexico to pay for his giant border wall. He has said we should ban remittances to families in Mexico if Mexico doesn't pay up.
“What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions."
A senior campaign official told Fox News that Clinton will meet with Nieto at the "appropriate time."
The Washington Post first reported the potential of a trip.
Trump is scheduled to speak on immigration Wednesday evening in Phoenix. He was already out West on Tuesday for a campaign stop near Seattle, conceivably giving him enough time to jet down to Mexico for a brief visit before the evening speech.
Foreign trips by presidential candidates, even to a neighboring country such as Mexico, are an enormous logistical and security undertaking. It's unclear whether Trump could receive clearance from Secret Service to make the trip or whether his small campaign team could organize the logistics in time for even a short visit.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser, has been among those pushing Trump to make the trip, according to a person familiar with their conversations. Christie made his own successful trip to Mexico City in September 2014, and has a warm relationship with the Mexican president.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Anthony Weiner & Huma Abedin Cartoons

Huma Abedin separates from Anthony Weiner after latest sexting report

Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin announced Monday she is separating from husband and former Congressman Anthony Weiner, after a new report that he had sent explicit photos to a woman multiple times over the last 19 months.
"After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband," Abedin said in a statement. “Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life. During this difficult time, I ask for respect for our privacy."
A New York Post report published late Sunday claimed Weiner sent pictures to the unidentified woman, and described his sexual fantasies and masturbation in messages to her, calling her "literally a fantasy chick."
One of the photos Weiner sent the woman showed his underwear-clad crotch as his son Jordan slept next to him in bed.
Weiner, 51, took his Twitter account down Monday after admitting to the Post that he and the woman "have been friends for some time." He added that their conversations were "private ... and were always appropriate."
Weiner's latest correspondent, who described herself to the Post as a supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association, has two adult children and lives with a boyfriend who routinely travels for work.
Weiner spent 12 years in the House of Representatives before resigning in June 2011 after posting an explicit image of himself on his Twitter account. At the time, he admitted that he had "exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women" over the previous three years.
With Abedin's public support, Weiner entered the New York City mayoral race in 2013. However, his campaign collapsed when a second woman, Sydney Leathers, came forward to claim Weiner had sent her more explicit photos while using the alias "Carlos Danger." Weiner finished fifth in the Democratic primary with just five percent of the vote.
In a recent interview with Vogue, Abedin talked about how her Muslim faith, and a network of friends and colleagues, helped her through the scandals.
Weiner, meanwhile, recently sidestepped a reporter's question when asked by The New York Times Magazine whether he was still engaging in sexting.
"I'm not going to go down the path of talking about any of that," Weiner reportedly said.
After Abedin announced her separation, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in on the drama Monday afternoon.
"Huma is making a very wise decision. I know Anthony Weiner well, and she will be far better off without him," Trump said.
"I only worry for the country in that Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told? It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this,” he said.

ObamaCare coverage options disappearing across country, report finds

Next president may face ObamaCare meltdown

Nearly a third of U.S. counties will be left with just one insurance option next year on the ObamaCare exchanges, according to a new analysis fueling warnings about the impact of the insurance company exodus from markets across the country.
The Kaiser Family Foundation study found residents in Pinal County, Ariz., are even at risk of having no insurance options on the exchanges, which provide subsidized plans.
Republicans seized on the report Monday to claim that the health care overhaul is not providing the choices promised by President Obama and others.
"The president repeatedly promised that his health care law would provide more choices, ‘bend the cost curve,’ and allow Americans to keep the plans they liked and could afford. He failed to live up to those promises, and families are paying the price," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said in a statement, noting the majority of counties in Missouri could be left with just one insurance option on the exchanges.
The Kaiser Family Foundation study found that overall, 31 percent of counties will have just a single insurance option within the Affordable Care Act exchanges. That's up from 7 percent this year -- and underscores a problem many analysts have been warning about for years.
Further, about six in 10 counties could have two or fewer marketplace insurers in 2017, with the “bulk of the increase in single-insurer counties” the result of UnitedHealth Group’s exit, the study, released Sunday, reveals.
Indeed, six years after ObamaCare was signed into law, America’s major medical insurers, concerned about their own bottom line, have started to pull the plug on a variety of services and options available to consumers. Citing major losses, the top five insurers – Humana, Anthem, Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, and Blue Cross Blue Shield – have threatened to pull out of the exchanges and have selectively started to do so in many counties.
Near Phoenix, in Pinal County, Ariz., 400,000 residents are likely to have no insurer options on the marketplace next year. Both UnitedHealth and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona plan to exit the area.
“As a rural area of our state in which 18 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, the impact will be felt particularly hard,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote in an opinion piece for FoxNews.com.
“My office has received countless other letters and phone calls from concerned Arizonans who have been left with fewer options, less access and decreased quality of care under ObamaCare,” McCain wrote. He added, “But this frustration is not unique to Arizona.”
Arizona had eight insurers operating in various parts of the state this year, but four are leaving entirely — Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Health Choice. Two more, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Health Net, are scaling back their participation.
“Clearly this is a big concern for consumers,” Allen Gjersvig, director of navigator and enrollment services for the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers, told Kaiser.
He isn’t holding out much hope another insurer will step in, adding, “Things could change, but it’s not probable.”
When ObamaCare was first pitched to the public, the administration pushed the narrative that marketplaces would thrive and Americans who had been unable to afford medical coverage in the past would finally be able to do so.
While some aspects have been a success – 20.3 million Americans signed up for ObamaCare as of March 2016 – the unbalanced model of getting healthy younger people to foot the bill for older or sicker people who often require more coverage has presented a problem for ObamaCare and threatens its very existence.
The new report found that as insurers pull out, several states are now likely to have just a single insurance option across all counties.
“Given what is known at this time of entrants and exists, four additional states are likely to have a single marketplace insurer in all counties: Alabama, Alaska, Oklahoma and South Carolina, for a total of five states (including Wyoming, which already had one insurer in the states),” the Kaiser report said.
States with “significantly more single-insurer counties in 2017,” include Mississippi, Arizona, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee.
An analysis from the consulting firm Avalere found a similar problem, with the number of states with one marketplace insurer growing.
The health and sustainability of ObamaCare has also been a hot topic on the campaign trail. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has praised the ACA and said she hopes to improve on it.
Donald Trump has slammed the ACA’s instability. Stephen Miller, Trump’s national policy adviser, said ObamaCare is an example of Clinton’s “disastrously poor judgment.”
“Every policy she touches only produces more calamity,” Miller said in a written statement. “In this case, it means higher prices, fewer choices and less control over one’s most private medical decisions.”

High School reverses American flag ban at football stadium

Students at Travelers Rest High School in South Carolina will once again be able to wave American flags at football games.
Principal Lou Lavely reversed his ban on Old Glory just a few hours after we posted a column about the controversial decision.
Click here to join Todd’s American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives!
The high school's stadium is named after my great uncle -- Chico Bolin, a decorated World War II Marine veteran.
Uncle Chico restarted the football program at Travelers Rest in 1949 - and named the team the Devildogs in honor of the Marines.
Following is the school district's complete statement:
"Today, after meeting with Travelers Rest student and faculty leadership, and with the benefit of time to reflect, Mr. Lavely has reached a different decision. He based this decision on current students’ request that he judge them on their own merits and not based on the actions of past students. As a result, effective immediately, students are allowed to bring the American Flag to any and all Travelers Rest High School events. Instead of restricting possession of the flag, the TRHS administration will, if needed, address the misuse of the Flag, or any other inappropriate behavior, on an individual basis.
“I fully support Mr. Lavely’s thoughtful reconsideration, and his willingness to respond to advice and input from his community,” said Superintendent Burke Royster. “I am appreciative of the Travelers Rest High School community for sharing its concerns and opinions on this matter in a respectful, civil manner. I also appreciate and applaud their desire to promote patriotism and service as a part of the culture of their school and am in agreement that students’ desire to carry and display the American flag should be encouraged and supported throughout the District.”
Uncle Chico, who passed away in 2007, lived long enough to see the school name its new football stadium in his honor – a decorated war hero who loved America.
So you can understand why our family was disturbed to learn that students and fans were initially blocked from entering the stadium with American flags.
This item appeared in the Greenville News:
“Several people posted about the incident on social media Saturday, claiming the student wasn’t allowed to carry the flag into Friday night’s Travelers Rest – Berea game because it might offend Berea’s large Hispanic community.”
Beth Brotherton, a spokesperson for Greenville County Schools, confirmed to me that several students who wanted to bring American flags were blocked from entering the stadium.
“The principal, in an effort to prevent any potential issue in this rivalry game, decided not to allow students to bring in full-sized American flags,” she told me. “They were turned away at the gate with the flag and told they were welcome to come in but they could not bring their flags with them.”
So here’s the back story: during last year’s game, some students allegedly flew Old Glory and hollered out, “Go home, go home.”
“The principal made a decision in terms of what he thought was best for student safety,” Ms. Brotherton said. “Because of prior incidents, that was not something he felt like was in the best interest of maintaining a good relationship between the two school communities.”
Travelers Rest Police Chief Lance Crowe disagreed with the principal’s decision and fired off a statement letting the locals know that the police department loves America and Old Glory.
“To my knowledge, every TRPD officer, except one, believes that barring the American flag from a football game is not a correct policy,” Chief Crowe wrote.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Trump calls Kaepernick's refusal to stand for national anthem 'terrible'

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick Monday, calling Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the national anthem "a terrible thing."
"I think it’s personally not a good thing," Trump told Seattle radio station KIRO when asked about the controversy. "I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him, let him try, it’s not gonna happen."
Kaepernick became the subject of national controversy over the weekend when he remained seated on the San Francisco bench during the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" prior to Friday night's preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.
While explaning his stance to reporters Sunday, Kaepernick criticized both Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"You have Hillary who has called black teens or black kids super predators, you have Donald Trump who’s openly racist," Kaepernick said. "We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally ... That doesn’t make sense to me because if that was any other person you’d be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?"
The Clinton campaign has not commented on Kaepernick's statements.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday he was confident President Barack Obama is aware of Kaepernick's actions, but hadn't spoken directly with the president about it.
"In general, what I can say is that I certainly don't share the views that Mr. Kaepernick expressed after the game in explaining his reasoning for his actions, but we surely would all acknowledge and even defend his right to express those views in the settings that he chooses," Earnest said. "That's what he's done, and even as objectionable as we find his perspective, he certainly is entitled to express it."
Kaepernick has characterized his actions as a protest at the state of race relations in America, not as a slight against men and women in the military.
"There's a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality," said Kaepernick, who is biracial and whose adoptive parents are white. "There's people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable. People are being given paid leave for killing people. That's not right. That's not right by anyone's standards."
In a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and 49ers CEO Jed York, Martin Halloran, the president of San Francisco's police union, said Kaepernick's statements showed "naiveté" and "total lack of sensitivity" toward police, along with an "incredible lack of knowledge" about officer-involved shootings.
"I only wish Mr. Kaepernick could see the emotional and psychological challenges that our officers face following a fatal encounter," Halloran wrote.
"Some are so affected they never return to the streets. In short, Mr. Kaepernick has embarrassed himself, the 49er organization, and the NFL based on a false narrative and misinformation that lacks any factual basis."

Monday, August 29, 2016

China's President Cartoons

New emails reportedly show Clinton Foundation exec, State Dept. aide discussed access to China president

Chinese President Xi

Recently released emails appear to further show a direct connection between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, including efforts to get foundation donors seats to an official lunch with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
In emails dated December 2010, Clinton State Department aide Huma Abedin and then-top Clinton Foundation official Doug Band discussed potential guests for the lunch with the Chinese president -- including three executives from groups that had donated millions to the foundation, according to an ABC News report late Saturday.
Among the possible guests discussed were Bob McCann, then-president of wealth management at UBS; Judith Rodin, Rockefeller Foundation president, and Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek.
The emails reviewed by ABC News were obtained by the conservative group Citizens United through a Freedom of Information Act request.
UBS Wealth Management USA contributed $500,001 to $1 million to the foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation gave $10 million to $25 million and Western Union and its foundation gave $1 million to $5 million, according to ABC News.
Nearly two weeks after the Abedin-Band exchange, Band wrote a follow-up email that specifically asked that Rodin be seated at Vice President Biden’s table. "I'll ask," Abedin replied, according to the ABC News report.
Band declined comment to ABC News.
Josh Schwerin, a Hillary for American spokesman, said Sunday that the State Department’s actions under Clinton "were always taken with the intent to advance our foreign policy interests and with no other intent in mind than that."
Schwerin also repeated what the department has previously said: that its officials are "in touch with a wide range of outside individuals, organizations, nonprofits, NGOs, think tanks" and others as part of normal business.
An he called Citizens United "a right-wing group that's been attacking the Clintons since the 1990s" that is again "trying to make something out of nothing."
A representative for McCann told ABC News he did not attend the lunch. A representative for Ersek said he doesn't have a "record" of the event. And Rodin's office did not return a request for comment.
The State Department said it could not provide a list of attendees.
The new emails follow an Associated Press report last week that found more than half the people outside the government who met or spoke by telephone with Clinton while she was secretary of state had given money -- either personally or through companies or groups -- to the Clinton Foundation. The report was based on the review of a partial list of State Department schedules that the agency provided through a court order.
Earlier this month, newly-released documents showed the State Department, shortly after Clinton left the agency, considered buying land for a U.S. Embassy in Lagos from a company with ties to Gilbert Chagoury, who donated more than $1 million to the foundation. (The story was first reported by Fox News.)
And in 2011, foundation donor Rajiv K. Fernando was put on a sensitive U.S. intelligence advisory board without having any known related experience, according to ABC News. Fernando resigned within days, amid questions about his qualifications.
Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee running against Republican nominee Donald Trump. She currently leads the race by 6 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics.com polls average.

Two killed in Louisiana bus crash, driver in US illegally, cops say

An out-of-control bus driven by an illegal immigrant carrying flood recovery volunteers hit a fire truck and firefighters who had responded to an earlier crash Sunday morning on a Louisiana interstate, killing two people and injuring 36, according to state police.
The ladder truck from St. John the Baptist Parish, located west of New Orleans, had parked across the right lane of Interstate 10 to block traffic while police investigated an earlier crash involving a pickup truck that had skidded on the wet road, crashing into both guardrails about 6:40 a.m., Trooper Melissa Matey told local media.
The bus hit the fire truck, then hit a car, and then veered behind the fire truck and into the pickup truck, knocking three firefighters who were standing near the guard rail into the water below, Matey said.
Matey said the driver, identified as Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, 37, of Honduras, was an employee of that company.
"He is in this country illegally from Honduras. He has no driver's license. He had minor injuries," she said.
Rodriguez will be booked in the St. John the Baptist jail and will be charged with two counts of negligent homicide, reckless operation, and no driver's license, Fox 8 reported. Police told the television station that additional charges are forthcoming.
Matey said the wreck killed Jermaine Starr, 21, of Moss Point, Mississippi, a back-seat passenger in the Camry, and St. John the Baptist Parish district Fire Chief Spencer Chauvin. The injured included the other two firefighters, the bus driver, 24 bus passengers and a total of nine people in the car and pickups.
Firefighter Nicholas Saale, 32, of Ponchatoula, and Camry passenger Vontravous Kelly of Moss Point, Mississippi, are in critical condition, she said. The Camry's other two occupants, driver Marcus Tate, 35, and David Jones, both of Moss Point, are in serious condition.
Other injuries — including the Titan's two occupants, who suffered minor injuries in the original crash — ranged from minor to moderate, Matey said.
Matey said the bus was taking flood recovery workers from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and belonged to a company with two names: AM Party Bus and Kristina's Transportation LLC, both at the same address in Jefferson, about 30 miles from New Orleans in Jefferson Parish, Matey said.
No listing in Jefferson was available. A call by the Associated Press to Kristina's Transportation in Destrehan, 12 miles from Jefferson in St. Charles Parish, was not answered Sunday. A woman who answered the phone at AM Party Bus of New Orleans told the AP was only authorized to take booking calls.
“This is a very sad day for all first responders in Louisiana,” Colonel Mike Edmonson, Louisiana State Police Superintendent said in a statement obtained by Fox 8. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the St. John the Baptist Fire Department. Louisiana has the “Move Over” law in place to protect our first responders on our roadways. Please adhere to this law and slow down when approaching emergency vehicles and disabled vehicles on the road.”

Trump says he'll deliver speech in Arizona on immigration

Kellyanne Conway on alt-right, keeping Trump on message

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced late Sunday he'll be making a speech on illegal immigration on Wednesday in Arizona, after a week of speculation that he might be softening his promise to deport 11 million people living in the United States illegally.
The announcement of the speech, posted in a Tweet, was initially set for last week in Phoenix, but was pushed back as Trump and his team wrestled over the details of what he would propose. There has been debate within his campaign about immigrants who haven't committed crimes beyond their immigration offenses.
The candidate's evolving stance hasn't made it easy for top supporters and advisers, from his running mate on down, to defend him or explain some campaign positions.
On Sunday, Trump’s campaign and his supporters were challenged again to explain the candidate’s evolving policy but appeared to find solid ground in arguing it was the opposite of Hillary Clinton’s plan.
“There are very few issues where they're more different,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told “Fox News Sunday.” “In fact, Hillary Clinton is to the left of Barack Obama on immigration.”
Trump won the GOP primary largely by appealing to the party’s conservative base with vows to deport all of the country’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants and to build a wall along the entire southern-U.S. border and have Mexico pay for the construction.
However, Trump has in recent weeks appeared to search for a less austere approach, knowing that he’ll need some support from Hispanic and other minority voters to win the General Election race against Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Conway said Trump indeed wants to find “the fair and humane way” to address the issue, which includes whether to separate families to enforce federal law.
But she made clear that Trump still intends to build the wall and that he supports neither amnesty nor legalization for people who entered the country illegally.
“We all learned in kindergarten to stand in line, to wait our turn,” said Conway, who argued Trump has stopped talking about a deportation “force” to remove people.
“Give Donald Trump credit for at least trying to address a complex issue and not pretending like Hillary Clinton does, that we don't have these problems,” she said.

The Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Clinton leading Trump by 6 percentage points. Such polls also indicate Clinton is ahead in some of the most competitive and pivotal states, with 72 days remaining before Election Day. The nominees’ first presidential debate is set for Sept. 26.
“The real issue is look at the two plans,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told NBC’s “Meet the Press." “Look at where Hillary Clinton is. She wants to put Barack Obama's immigration plan on steroids. The issue is that this is an election of choices: One, allow everyone in through complete amnesty, or number two, a tough plan that's fair and humane.”
The Clinton campaign argues that Trump’s plan remains as “dangerous” as before, despite efforts to make it seem different.
“He may try to disguise his plans by throwing in words like ‘humane’ or ‘fair,' " said campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri. “But the reality remains that Trump’s agenda echoes the extreme right’s will -- one that is fueling a dangerous movement of hatred across the country.”
GOP vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence said Sunday the main tenets of Trump's immigration plan will include building the wall, no path to legalization or citizenship and stronger border enforcement.
The nominee and Indiana GOP governor also sought to distinguish Trump’s position from Clinton’s.
“It is going to be fair. It is going to be tough,” Pence told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He has said that very consistently -- the contrast with Hillary Clinton, who supports amnesty, open borders, who wants to implement executive amnesty again on Day One, even though the Supreme Court of the United States rejected it.”
Pence did not answer questions on whether the campaign’s position, as Trump has said, is that children born to people who are in the U.S. illegally are not U.S. citizens.
Native-born children of immigrants, even those living illegally in the U.S., have been automatically considered American citizens since the adoption of the 14th Amendment in 1868.
Pence also could not definitively say whether Trump was sticking with his vow to remove those living in the U.S. illegally, with the help of a deportation force.
“What you heard him describe there, in his usual plainspoken, American way, was a mechanism, not a policy," the nominee said.
Trump has focused lately on deporting people who are in the U.S. illegally and who have committed crimes. But who Trump considers a criminal also remained unclear Sunday.
Pressed on the question, Priebus replied: "I just don't speak for Donald Trump."

Thursday, September 1, 2016

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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Monday, August 29, 2016