Tillerson urges calm after 5 Arab nations sever diplomatic ties with Qatar

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the Gulf nations to work out their differences after five countries severed ties with Qatar Monday for allegedly embracing several terrorist groups and its ties with Iran.
Tillerson, speaking alongside Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Sydney, said he did not believe the diplomatic crisis would affect the war against the Islamic State.
"I think what we're witnessing is a growing list of disbelief in the countries for some time, and they've bubbled up to take action in order to have those differences addressed," Tillerson said. "We certainly would encourage the parties to sit down together and address these differences."
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen all announced they would withdraw their diplomatic staff from Qatar, which is home to a major U.S. military base used for the air campaign against ISIS. Saudi Arabia also said Qatari troops would be pulled from the ongoing civil war in Yemen.
All the nations also said they planned to cut air and sea traffic. Saudi Arabia said it also would shut its land border with Qatar, effectively cutting off the country from the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.
Yemen's internationally recognized government said it would follow Saudi Arabia and supported the kingdom's decision to remove Qatari troops from the Gulf coaltion fighting the war.
Qatar had appeared unperturbed by the growing tensions. On May 27, Qatar's ruling emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, called Iranian President Hasan Rouhani to congratulate him on his re-election.
The call was a clear, public rebuttal of Saudi Arabia's efforts to force Qatar to fall in line against the Shiite-ruled nation, which the Sunni kingdom sees as its No. 1 enemy and a threat to regional stability. Qatar shares a massive offshore gas field with the Islamic Republic.
Saudi Arabia said it took the decision to cut diplomatic ties due to Qatar's "embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilizing the region" including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, the Islamic State group and groups supported by Iran in the kingdom's restive eastern province of Qatif. Egypt's Foreign Ministry accused Qatar of taking an "antagonist approach" toward Egypt and said "all attempts to stop it from supporting terrorist groups failed."
The tiny island nation of Bahrain blamed Qatar's "media incitement, support for armed terrorist activities and funding linked to Iranian groups to carry out sabotage and spreading chaos in Bahrain" for its decision.
Qatar said later Monday there was "no legitimate justification" for the Arab nations to cut ties.
The crisis comes after U.S. President Donald Trump's recent visit to Saudi Arabia for a summit with Arab leaders. Since the meeting, unrest in the region has grown.
At that Saudi conference, Trump met with Qatar's ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
"We are friends, we've been friends now for a long time, haven't we?" Trump asked at the meeting. "Our relationship is extremely good."

Al Gore: Trump's Paris climate decision 'reckless,' indefensible’

Another Idiot is back.

Former Vice President Al Gore, a champion of environmental issues, on Sunday blasted President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, saying the move was “reckless” and “indefensible."
“It makes no sense to me,” Gore told “Fox News Sunday.” “I think that it was a reckless decision, an indefensible decision.”
Trump, citing economic reasons, decided last week not to join six other industrial nations in reaffirming their country's commitment to the accord -- an effort to curb global warming by reducing greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.
Gore talked in person to Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election. Gore said Sunday that the substance of their conversations will remain confidential, but made clear he tried to convince Trump to stay in the Paris deal.
“I did my best to persuade him that it was in the country’s best interest,” said Gore, whose 2006 documentary  “An Inconvenient Truth” warns about the dangers of global warming. “Climate change is real. … The president won’t say it, but it’s true.”
Gore argued Sunday that reducing carbon emissions is a global challenge and that Trump’s decision to withdraw from the accord has hurt America’s stature.
“I think it undermines our nation’s standing in the world and isolates us and threatens to harm humanity’s ability to solve this crisis in time,” he said.
Earlier on “Fox News Sunday,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt responded to such claims, saying: “We’re the United States. We’ll always have a seat at the table.”

London attacks: Trump vows to protect US from 'vile enemy'

President Donald Trump spoke out on the latest London terror attacks on Sunday night, vowing to do whatever was needed to protect his country from a "vile enemy."
Giving his first public comments on the attacks, Trump said, "This bloodshed must end, this bloodshed will end." He was appearing with First Lady Melania Trump at a fundraiser for Ford's Theater in Washington, the site of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
"America sends our thoughts and prayers and our deepest sympathies to the victims of this evil slaughter and we renew our resolve, stronger than ever before, to protect the United States and its allies from a vile enemy that has waged war on innocent life, and it's gone on too long," Trump added. "As president I will do what is necessary to prevent this threat from spreading to our shores and work every day to protect the safety and security to our country, our communities and our people."
The president said he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to express America's "unwavering support" and offer aid. He tweeted a string of comments in the hours after the attack, offering help for the U.K. and criticizing political correctness, among other things.
The attacks at London Bridge and nearby Borough Market killed at least seven people and wounded nearly 50 others Saturday night. Police said they shot and killed the three attackers.
After more than 20 people were killed in the suicide bombing last month at a concert in Manchester, England, Trump condemned the assault as the act of "evil losers" and called on nations to band together to fight terrorism.
Earlier Sunday, Trump had criticized London's mayor after he sought to reassure residents about a stepped-up police presence following the attack, the third in the country in past three months, arguing on Twitter for leaders to "stop being politically correct" and focus on "security for our people."
The mayor's spokesman said he was too busy to respond to Trump's "ill-informed" tweet.
In a series of tweets that began late Saturday, Trump also pushed his stalled travel ban, mocked gun control supporters and pledged that the United States would be there to help London and the United Kingdom.

Democrats Easy on Terrorism Cartoons

Supreme Court could rule within days on lifting temporary stay on travel ban

The Supreme Court could rule within days on whether to lift a temporary stay on President Trump's revised executive order banning travel from six mostly Muslim countries.
The issue has become a major test of presidential power, especially in the area of immigration. At issue is whether the ban violates the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and 14th Amendments, and the ban on nationality discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas contained in a 65-year-old congressional law.
The Justice Department filed the ruling request with the justices late Thursday, also asking that the federal policy be enforced while the larger issues are litigated.
A federal appeals court in Virginia last month ruled against Executive Order 13769, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States." A majority of the 4th Circuit appeals court cited then-candidate Trump's campaign statements proposing a ban "preventing Muslim immigration."
The Trump administration said that ruling was flawed on several legal fronts, and asserted the president's broad authority over immigration matters.
But groups opposing the ban were confident the Supreme Court would eventually side with them and lower courts to strike down the executive order.
There was no timetable on how quickly the Supreme Court would issue a final ruling in the case.
Two federal appeals courts had been considering the issue. A ruling from the San Francisco-based 9^th Circuit is still pending, but the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to get involved in the issue now.
The justices have the discretion to wait indefinitely to decide the broader merits of the case, but will issue an order in the meantime on whether the ban can be temporarily enforced. The federal government asked the high court to allow the order to go into effect now, and proposed oral arguments be held in October.
The White House frames the issue as a temporary move involving national security. A coalition of groups in opposition call the order blatant religious discrimination, since the six countries involved have mostly-Muslim populations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.      
This is the White House's second effort to impose a travel ban. An order issued a week after President Trump took office was also quickly blocked from taking effect. Nationwide protests were held in many cities and airports.
Rather than continue defending that executive action in the courts, the administration issued its revised order March 6, which included removing Iraq from the original list of banned countries. It also lifted the indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, many fleeing a years-long civil war there.
Officials say the new executive order only applied to foreign nationals outside the U.S. without a valid visa.
The appeals court took the president to task for what he said about a travel ban-- both before and after he took office.
Chief Judge Roger Gregory called it an "executive order that in text speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.”
A major sticking point for the justices will be navigating how much discretion the president really has over immigration. Courts have historically been deferential in this area, and recent presidents including Carter, Reagan and Obama have used it to deny entry to certain refugees and diplomats, including from nations such as Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
A 1952 federal law-- the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed in the midst of a Cold War fear over Communist influence-- gives the chief executive broad authority.

Spending bills, debt ceiling complicate Hill Republicans' efforts on taxes, ObamaCare

The GOP-controlled Congress returns Monday in what members and top staffers say will be one of the busiest Junes in years —  as Republicans try to pass ObamaCare reform or another top item on President Trump’s legislative agenda.
Their goal to give Trump -- and themselves -- a major win during the president’s first year in office continues to be complicated by additional legislative challenges and the ongoing Capitol Hill investigations into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential elections.
Lawmakers are way behind on the annual spending legislation to keep the government fully operational past September and likely will have to pass another stop-gap measure.
In addition, they recently were informed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that they will have to raise the federal government's borrowing limit before August, a daunting task ripe for brinkmanship.
Senate Republicans say they are working daily behind closed doors to craft an ObamaCare overhaul bill, following the House last month passing its version. However, Republicans appear less than optimistic about crafting a bill that at least 51 of its 52 senators will sign.
“I don't see a comprehensive health care plan this year," North Carolina GOP Sen. Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate's Intelligence committee, on Friday told a hometown TV station. "At the end of the day, this is too important to get wrong."
Still, Trump and essentially every elected Washington Republican campaigned on repealing and replacing ObamaCare. So failing in that effort would be a big problem with voters, ahead of the 2018 midterm races in which Democrats are trying to win about two dozen more House seats to retake the chamber.
"We just need to work harder," Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, told KFYO radio in Lubbock over the week-long congressional recess that ends Sunday.
And he pledged to complete the health care “by the end of July at the latest."
Congress has yet to unveil a plan to overhaul the U.S. tax code -- another Trump campaign promise -- even though the president recently tweeted that the plan is ahead of schedule.
"The president keeps saying the tax bill is moving through Congress. It doesn't exist," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said mockingly on Friday. 
Seven legislative weeks are left before Congress scatters for the five-week August recess.
Healthcare and taxes are enormously difficult challenges, and the tax legislation must follow -- for procedural reasons -- passage of a budget, no small task on its own.
Looming over everything is the investigation into allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and connections with the Trump campaign.
Former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump, is scheduled to testify before the Senate on Thursday.
"The Russia investigation takes a lot of oxygen, it takes a lot of attention," said Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a veteran lawmaker.
Trump has hired an outside attorney and reportedly dedicated an entire team to the issue -- in an apparent attempt to limit the amount of distraction the issue is creating for his legislative agenda.
Cole also argued that Republicans have not gotten the credit they deserve to date for what they have accomplished: voting to overturn a series of Obama regulations and reaching compromise last month on spending legislation for the remainder of the 2017 budget year that included a big increase for defense.
The biggest bright spot for the party and for Trump remains Senate confirmation in early April of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose elevation goes far to placate conservatives frustrated with inaction on other fronts.
Historically, Capitol Hill has been at its busiest and most productive in the early days of a new president's administration, during the traditional honeymoon. But with his approval ratings hovering around 40 percent, Trump never got that grace period, and although his core supporters show no signs of abandoning him, he is not providing the focused leadership usually essential to helping pass major legislation.
In the Senate, Republicans' slim 52-48 majority gives them little room for error on healthcare and taxes, issues where they are using complicated procedural rules to move ahead with simple majorities and no Democratic support. Trump's apparent disengagement from the legislative process was evident this past week when he demanded on Twitter that the Senate "should switch to 51 votes, immediately, and get Healthcare and TAX CUTS approved, fast and easy."
In fact that's exactly how Republicans already are moving. But the trouble is within their own ranks as Senate Republicans disagree over how quickly to unwind the Medicaid expansion under Obama's health law as well as other elements of the GOP bill.
For some Republicans, their sights are set on the more immediate and necessary tasks of completing the annual spending bills that are needed to avert a government shutdown when the budget year ends September 30, and on raising the debt ceiling to avert a first-ever default.

London terror: Saturday attacks a tipping point in campaign to destroy the West

There is no longer any doubt: the mayhem in London Saturday night has raised terrorism to a new threat level to the Western world.
The methods, and reported reference to Allah by one of the knife wielders points to Islamic perpetrators, though no official statements have been issued. Yet the van that plowed into pedestrians on the historic London Bridge, the knife attacks near Borough Market – carried out nearly simultaneously – reflect the same boldness and brazenness on the part of the twisted warriors of the Islamist campaign to destroy Western civilization and force us all to worship their version of God.
Coming only a few days before British voters go to the polls for a June 8 snap election, and just months after a similar vehicular attack on Westminster Bridge, the weekend violence is certain to have an effect on turnout and, quite possibly, the makeup of parliament and the next British government.
“My view is that we are no longer facing random acts of terrorism,” says Frank Gaffney, a terror expert who is president of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy. “We have reached a tipping point. This is now an insurgency.”
Gaffney, who has warned of the dangers of Islamic extremism for years, thinks this latest spate of attacks is the natural evolution of years of recruitment among British Muslims by terror cells like ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda.
“The Muslim terrorist population in Britain and Europe no longer feels constrained to live by stealth,” Gaffney says. “They have built an infrastructure, they have put it in place, and now they are moving up to the next level.”
Gaffney calls the new phenomenon “Sharia Supremacism.” And he warns that the United States is on the same trajectory.
He’s right.
For far too long, Western societies, including in the United States, have tried to rationalize what has now become an avalanche of violent hatred of democratic freedom, basic human rights, and freedom to choose if and how to worship. We have asked if some of this is our fault, if we haven’t listened to the voices of religious extremism, or if we have failed to understand their message. The result in Britain: government officials estimate there are more than 20,000 jihadists living among the population.
Here’s their message: We hate you and want to kill you.
Gaffney is among an emerging group of terrorism experts who now downplays the ideological differences between Shi’a and Sunni Muslim extremists. Yes, ISIS is peopled by Sunni killers and Hezbollah soldiers are Shi’a. The two Muslim sects dislike each other and have killed one another – always in Allah’s name, of course.
But here’s the thing, as Gaffney sees it: “Shi’as and Sunnis have had serious differences for centuries, but what we are seeing now is a global alliance, they are perfectly capable of making common cause to take down the West. And I think it will get worse before it gets better.”
For British voters, this week’s election may come down to one central issue: who will call these soldiers of Islam what they really are – savages – and keep us safe?

Trump uses suspected London terror attacks to again make case for US travel ban

President Trump responded Saturday evening to suspected terror attacks in London by vowing U.S. support and apparently using the incidents to bolster his legal argument for a travel ban into the United States.
Trump has tweeted three times since the first incident was reported on the London Bridge shortly after midnight local time.
“Fears of new terror attack after van 'mows down 20 people' on London Bridge …,” the president retweeted from the news aggregator DrudgeReport.com.
A second incident was reported in London shortly after the bridge incident -- multiple stabbings at the nearby Borough Market.
London police said about an hour after the attacks that they are terror related. They also said a third incident, in a southern part of the city named Vauxhall and thought to be connected to the other attacks, has been ruled out as a terror strike.
Trump later tweeted: “We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!”
Trump's executive order to impose a temporary travel on six mostly Muslim nations, training grounds for radical Islamic terror groups, is being held up in federal courts and appears headed to the Supreme Court.
His most recent tweet was: "Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U. K., we will be there - WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!"
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the incidents are being treated as potential terror attacks.
The White House said Trump spoke with May and personally offered his condolences for "the brutal terror attacks."
Trump also praised the "heroic response of police and other first- responders," according to the White House.
The incidents come nine days after a suicide bomber with apparent ties to terror groups killed 22 people and injured scores of others outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.
Within minutes of the first incident, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the president had been apprised.
The State Department said the United States "condemns the cowardly attacks targeting innocent civilians," which the agency understands are being treated by local authorities as terror incidents.
An agency spokeswoman also said the U.S. "stands ready to provide any assistance" and expressed support for the victims and their families.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement in which an official said the agency is "closely monitoring the ongoing situation."
The agency also said it so far has no information to indicate a "specific, credible terror threat in the United States."
Homeland Secretary John Kelly told Fox News said such a attack is "right around the corner" in the United States and that DHS and other domestic law enforcement agencies are working tirelessly to prevent another one here.
He repeated that the biggest threats remain explosives on airplanes and people in the U.S. being "radicalized" and committing attacks on American soil.
"I do toss and turn all night," Kelly also said.
DHS also urged Americans in the area to "heed direction from local authorities and maintain security awareness."
In addition, the agency is encouraging American citizens who need assistance to contact the U.S. Embassy in London and follow State Department guidance.

Liberal Bill Maher Cartoons

Bill Maher: HBO host slammed for use of the N-word

Liberal ?

Bill Maher, the HBO late-night host of “Real Time,” was criticized widely on social media after an interview with a Nebraska senator that aired Friday night where the host joked that he is a “house [expletive].”
Maher was having a back-and-forth with Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., and the senator invited the liberal talk-show host to visit his state.
“We’d love to have you work in the fields with us,” Sasse joked.
Maher responded, “Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house [expletive].”
Some in the audience groaned and a few clapped. Maher appeared to quickly reassure the audience and said, “No, it’s a joke.”
Sasse did not address the comment and the two moved on to another subject. Sasse faced some criticism on social media for not quickly condemning the host’s comments.
Deray Mckesson, an activist for Black Lives Matter, took to Twitter, saying, “But really, @BillMaher has got to go. There are no explanations that make this acceptable.”
The New York Times reported that the word was not cut out during HBO’s rebroadcast at midnight.
Maher was criticized last month for comments he made about President Trump and his daughter Ivanka.
Maher made his most recent controversial comments the same week Kathy Griffin faced fallout for a video showing her posing with a likeness of Trump’s severed head.
Griffin says the video was meant to be a pointed comeback to Trump's remark last summer that journalist Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of wherever."

Secretary Mattis Arrives in Singapore to Talk North Korea with Asian Leaders

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, right, meets U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for a bilateral meeting at the Istana or Presidential Palace in Singapore on Friday, June 2, 2017. On Friday Mattis indicated that the Trump administration is aiming for continuity in Asia policy, sticking broadly with the approach its predecessors have taken by emphasizing diplomacy and cooperation with allies. (AP Photo/Joseph Nair)

Defense Secretary James Mattis travels to Singapore as he hopes to convince Asian countries for greater cooperation in dealing with North Korea.
Mattis arrived early Friday ahead of his policy speech at an international security conference on Saturday.
Sources indicate he will stress the threats Pyongyang poses and reiterate the importance that Asia Pacific countries work together to counter its nuclear program.
Officials say he’ll also meet with several Asian counterparts during his visit in hopes of reinforcing international order, while also seeking a peaceful, prosperous and free Asia.

‘Convicted Terrorist Shows More Integrity Than de Blasio’

New York, NY – Claire Hardwick, OAN Political Correspondent
While Oscar Lopez Rivera has decided to not accept the national freedom hero award, Nicole Malliotakis said this terrorist has shown more integrity than the New York City Mayor.
In the final days of his presidency, President Obama suspended the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, the one time leader of the F.A.L.N. and a convicted terrorist.
The Puerto Rican Day Parade Committee chose to honor him with the National Freedom Hero Award, causing politicians, first responders, law enforcement, and sponsors to drop out of the parade
Nicole Malliotakis, a NYS Assemblywoman and GOP candidate for NYC Mayor, said this decision put the Puerto Rican People in a very tough position.
“I believe the majority of people from Puerto Rico believe that Oscar Lopez Rivera doesn’t represent them, and they are also very upset this is taking away from what is supposed to be a celebration about a beautiful island, its culture, its beautiful people, music food, all of the things Puerto Rico has contributed and the individuals we have celebrated,” Malliotakis said.
But despite all of this, Malliotakis said Mayor de Blasio still chose to march with him and give him this award.
And it was Rivera, a convicted terrorist, who had to decide to do the right thing for the Puerto Rican people.
“I think it is completely outrageous and shows how far city government has gone astray when we have both the speaker of the city council as well as the mayor who have spoken and said it is okay for an individual who was the leader of an organization that claimed responsibility for over 100 attacks in our nation, most of which occurred right here in nyc, to be the honoree is a sad situation,” Malliotakis said.
Malliotakis said the people of New York have not forgotten the F.A.L.N terrorist attacks, and they will will not forget de Blasio’s total lack of leadership on this decision.

President Trump Signs Bills for Officers and Vets

President Trump signs two bills including one that encourages law enforcement agencies to hire veterans.
The “American Law Enforcement Heroes Act of 2017” and the “Public Safety Officer Benefits Improvement Act of 2017” were both signed Friday at the White House after congressed passed them in May.
The heroes act authorizes the Justice Department’s community policing program to use funds to hire veterans.
The Benefits Act aims to reduce waiting times for the families of officers killed in the line of duty to receive survivor benefits.

National Debt Ceiling Cartoons

Paris Agreement on climate change: Pence says Trump 'fighting for American jobs'

Vice President Mike Pence praised President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, telling Fox News' "Hannity" Thursday that the president was "fighting for American jobs."
Pence spoke to Fox News' Sean Hannity hours after Trump announced the U.S. was "getting out" of the deal, which the president described as "very unfair at the highest level to the United States."
US WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT AS TRUMP CALLS IT 'UNFAIR'
Pence described the 2015 agreement "a bad deal from the moment it was signed by the [Obama] administration."
"This is an agreement that puts an enormous burden on American consumers [and] on the American economy while allowing countries like India and China to virtually get off scot-free for a decade or more," Pence said.
The vice president also noted that the agreement amounted to "an international treaty that was never submitted to the Senate, probably because it never would have had a chance there."
Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement was greeted with dismay by many world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who reportedly called Trump to tell the president that the deal could not be renegotiated.
However, Pence insisted that the United States could re-enter the accord "under terms that will put the American economy and the American people first."
The vice president stressed that Trump had decided to withdraw from the deal after "after listening to all sides," including European leaders who had pressed the president to stay in the agreement during Trump's foreign trip last week.
"The president has demonstrated his commitment not just to keep his word, but to put American workers, American consumers, American energy, and the American people first," Pence said. "The American people get it ... This is a President who is fighting for the American people, fighting for American jobs ... America is back because they have a President in President Donald Trump who is fighting every day for them."

Congress Must Act To Address The National Debt Ceiling

Washington, DC – Kendall Forward, OAN Political Correspondent
With everything going on in Washington, D.C. the national debt ceiling is an issue Congress can’t ignore much longer.
So much so, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin asked Congress to raise or suspend the ceiling before leaving for summer recess in August.
The cap on U.S. borrowing is currently set at $19.81 trillion. But, the Treasury Department is running out of ways to keep it below the limit, while floating the bills for the nation’s obligations and past lawmakers’ commitments, in full and on time.
Adjunct Professor at George Washington University, Gary Nordlinger says, “it is without a doubt the most important thing that can happen in the us.” He adds it’s critical to keeping a strong economy, saying “if we don’t have the debt ceiling increase then the United States defaults on the interest on its debts and all of the sudden the dollar goes from being the universal currency of the world to being junk.
He says Congress must come together to act quickly and efficiently in addressing Secretary Mnuchin’s concerns and raise or suspend the ceiling. He’s confident the budget will push through, then Congress must act to pull the reigns back on spending with more fiscally responsible policies.

Groups Urging DOJ to Probe Planned Parenthood on Alleged Secret Tapes

More than a dozen pro-life groups and conservative organizations call on the Justice Department to investigate if Planned Parenthood illegally sold fetal tissue from abortions.
In a letter to the attorney general and acting FBI director, the groups asked the department to look into secretly taped videos that appeared to show the company’s staff discussing the issue.
The groups say the Obama administration turned a blind eye to the wrong doing and call for an investigation into the practices surrounding the scandal.

President Trump Pulls U.S. Out of Paris Climate Agreement

President Trump promises to negotiate a better deal after pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord.
He made the announcement from the White House Thursday.
The President said the agreement allows other countries to gain financial advantage over the United States, so pulling out will help the U.S. compete on a global level.
He said starting now all implementation of the non-binding accord will stop, which will in turn bring money and jobs back to the U.S..
The President worked with EPA Director Scott Pruitt to come to the decision.
President Trump has long said the Obama-era deal adds more regulations that hurt american businesses.

Hillary Clinton Cartoons

Clinton calls out Russia for election loss

President Trump needs to put this piece of trash in prison.

Hillary Clinton came out swinging Wednesday, ripping Russia for her November loss to President Trump and accusing the White House of colluding with Moscow in weaponizing technology to bring her campaign down.
Clinton linked Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections to Trump and said she hoped investigators would be able to unmask a plot to interfere in the U.S. elections.
"I take responsibility for every decision I made, but that's not why I lost,” she said at the annual Code Conference in California. “Anti-American forces are going after our economy and they are going after our unity as a nation."

“Anti-American forces are going after our economy and they are going after our unity as a nation."

Clinton described how a Russian-led misinformation campaign was launched against her using social media networks like Facebook that weren’t able to cut through the “fake news” circulated on the sites.
"What we saw in this election particularly the first time we had the tech revolution really weaponized politically," she said. "It was aimed at me but it's a much deeper, more persistent effort to literally turn the clock back on so much of what we have achieved as a country."
She also didn’t hold back when asked who she thought was responsible for directing the Russians.
“I’m leaning Trump,” she said.
Clinton said she and her campaign repeatedly tried to bring up Russia’s interest in the U.S. election but said her claims were largely ignored.
"Putin wants to bring us down," Clinton said. "It's way beyond me. .... I believe that what was happening to me was unprecedented. Over the summer we went and told anyone we could find that the Russians were messing with the election and we were basically shoo'd away. .... We couldn't get the press to cover it."
Clinton also took issue with a 2010 Supreme Court decision that opened up campaign spending.
“The first time you saw the tech revolution really weaponized politically… you had Citizens United come to its full fruition,” she said. “So unaccountable money flowing in against me, against other Democrats in a way we hadn’t seen. You had effective suppression of votes.”
In the Citizens United v Federal Election Commission ruling, the justices ruled that political spending is protected under the First Amendment. The ruling made it legal for corporations, unions and special interest groups to funnel unlimited amounts of money to candidates – just as long as it was done independently. The high court decision led to a boom in super PACs.
Clinton also claimed she was treated unfairly for accepting millions of dollars in speaking fees from Wall Street firms amid an increasingly competitive race with self-proclaimed "democratic socialist" Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and then Trump.
“I have to say… I never thought someone would throw out my entire career because I made a couple of speeches,” she said. “Men got paid for speeches they made… I got paid for the speeches I made.”

President Trump Meets with Two New Candidates for FBI Director Role

President Trump meets with more candidates as he continues his search for a new FBI director.
At the White House Tuesday, he met with former head of the TSA John Pistole and former Assistant Attorney General Chris Wray to discuss the position.
According to administration officials, the meetings will continue until President Trump finds the “right leader.”
Pistole previously worked at the FBI for more than 20 years and served as Deputy Director for the last six.
Wray previously worked under ousted FBI director James Comey at the Justice Department when Comey was the Deputy Attorney General.

President Trump to Pull U.S. Out of Paris Climate Agreement

President Trump is expected to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, fulfilling another one of his campaign promises.
In a tweet Wednesday morning, the President said he will be announcing his official decision in the next few days.
On the campaign trail President Trump said the Obama-era deal adds more regulations that hurt American businesses.
According to inside sources, EPA director Scott Pruitt is leading the effort to remove the U.S. from the deal.

Wrong and Vile: OAN Breaks Down Backlash Over Griffin Photo Firestorm

Kathy Griffin

CNN fired comedian Kathy Griffin from its annual New Year’s Eve broadcast on Wednesday after she drew strong criticism for posing in photographs holding up the likeness of a bloody, severed head resembling U.S. President Donald Trump.
The network announced the termination after earlier criticizing the photos as “disgusting and offensive.”
Griffin posted a videotaped apology on Tuesday night amid a public outcry from Republicans and Democrats alike over the images, including condemnation from Trump.
“Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself,” Trump wrote. “My children, especially my 11-year-old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!”
The U.S. Secret Service, responsible for presidential security, has opened an inquiry into the posting of Griffin posing with the severed-head replica, a spokesman in Los Angeles said when asked whether the agency was looking into the incident as a potential threat on the president’s life.
“We’re aware of it and we’re investigating it,” the spokesman, George Fernandez, told Reuters. He declined to elaborate.
Griffin, 56, a two-time Emmy-winning performer known for her deliberately provocative brand of humor, has appeared since 2007 as co-host of CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast from Times Square in New York with anchor Anderson Cooper.
CNN did not make clear whether it was cutting its New Year’s Eve deal with Griffin for just the upcoming 2017 broadcast or for good.
The furor also cost Griffin a show at the Route 66 Casino Hotel outside Albuquerque, New Mexico. Management of the Laguna Pueblo tribe-operated establishment decided to cancel a one-night appearance by Griffin scheduled for July 22, a spokesman said.
Griffin apologized profusely in a video message posted to her official Twitter account late on Tuesday, saying that as a comic she routinely seeks to “cross the line” but realized in this case, “I went too far.”
“The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it,” she said, adding that she was seeking to have the images taken down from social media.
“I beg for your forgiveness,” she concluded. “I made a mistake and I was wrong.”
‘VILE AND WRONG’
Celebrity news website TMZ published a behind-the-scenes video on Tuesday of Griffin posing with the model head for a photo shoot. She was seen reviewing the images with photographer Tyler Shields and jokingly saying, “We have to move to Mexico today because we’re going to go to prison, federal prison.”
TMZ posted an image from the shoot on Twitter.
“This is vile and wrong,” Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wrote on Twitter. “It is never funny to joke about killing a president.”
Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., called on sponsors of Griffin to condemn the comedian.
At his daily briefing with reporters in Washington, presidential spokesman Sean Spicer declined to answer directly when asked whether it was appropriate for Trump to have hosted a White House visit by rocker Ted Nugent last month despite violent remarks the musician made in 2012 about then-President Barack Obama.
Secret Service agents met with Nugent after the performer told a National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis that he would be “dead or in jail” if Obama were re-elected. He also declared, “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November.” The Secret Service later said the matter had been resolved with no further action.
“To be honest with you, I’d have to look back and see what those statements were and what the reaction was at the time,” Spicer said when pressed for a comment on Wednesday.
Griffin’s firing by CNN drew widely divergent reactions, with one Twitter follower, Anand Elgie, calling her termination “over reaction,” adding: “she had a bad moment of judgment… Trump bring out the worse in us all.”
Another, Mark Dice, said CNN should have acted sooner. “The fact that you waited this long proves your network endorses the assassination of our president. You are the enemy of the people!!!”

Operation Fight With Fire #StandWithSean

From MediaEqualizer.com:
Working Together, Against the Suppression of the First Amendment by the Left
NEW YORK, NY, May 30, 2017 – Today, conservatives stand together with #StoptheScalpings to push back against the attempt to silence those who dare to ask tough questions and pursue the truth. Sean Hannity, of Fox News, took it upon himself to delve deeper into a story, one that left many unanswered questions requiring further investigation.
#StopTheScalpings is part of the Media Equality Project, a new organization launched by Brian Maloney and Melanie Morgan, two longtime talk show hosts, political and media analysts.
The DNC, mainstream media, George Soros, and Media Matters for America, deemed Sean Hannity’s pursuit of the facts too close for comfort. In an effort to protect their ilk, and the secrets they keep, they have created a false narrative. They have defamed Hannity’s character, his work and political positions.
Media Matters has now targeted Sean Hannity’s advertisers all in a back door effort to remove financial support for the show. They do this to silence his voice, because it does not speak in unison with their own.
For months there has been a widespread media narrative advancing a conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign and the Russians colluded to release the DNC emails to Wikileaks, to hurt Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Continue reading from MediaEqualizer.com

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Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel Cartoons

Why does Vox have a problem with masculine Marines?

It takes a special kind of low life to smear the military on Memorial Day. And the folks who run the lefty website Vox – are that kind of low life.
They published a despicable hit piece accusing the Marine Corps of having a toxic masculinity problem -- compared them to a fraternity house.
Click here for a free subscription to Todd's newsletter: a must-read for Conservatives! 
Author Alex Ward said there was a fight for the soul of the Marine Corps. 
"There’s a 'toxic masculinity culture' in the Marine Corps, James Joyner, a professor at the Marine Command and Staff College, told me. That may be what is at the core of the women-in-infantry debate among Marine ranks: the identity crisis of a historically macho club now being forced to let in women," Ward wrote.
As if there's something wrong with demanding that our fighting men -- be masculine?
The story sparked widespread outrage among patriots on social media.
"Vox marks Memorial Day by crapping on the Marines," Twitchy declared.
‘Call me crazy but I'm pretty sure the Marine Corps is supposed to be both masculine and toxic," popular blogger Matt Walsh tweeted.
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But we're dealing with the kind of people who seem to want our Marines to prance into battle wearing high heels and camouflage rompers.
I am unfamiliar with Mr. Ward, but it sounds as if Vox has a toxic snowflake problem. Liberal newsrooms have a history of attracting writers who suffer from microaggressions at the mere mention of the military or anything patriotic.
That's the only reasonable explanation for why an American news publication would intentionally attack the military on Memorial Day.
Did you know President Obama was once an avid reader of Vox? Not surprising.
  I am all but certain the Vox report would've caused a meltdown in the Obama Pentagon -- think mandatory group hugs, essential oils and white wine spritzers.
But there are no white wine spritzers in Defense Secretary James "Mad Dog" Mattis' Pentagon.
"Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment (in American democracy) and kill every one of them until they’re so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact," the retired general once said.
And if that quote doesn't trigger the progressives, consider the general's opinion on men who beat up women:
"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling."
Oorah, Secretary Mattis! Oorah!
All that to say, I sincerely doubt our brave Marines are going to lose any sleep over the flatulent emissions coming from the emasculated pajama boys over at Vox.
  Semper Fi, America.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Trump, Germany's Merkel clash over trade, NATO and 'Western values'

Another Hillary Clinton?

Germany and the U.S. emerged from Memorial Day weekend in a war of words, as Chancellor Angela Merkel and her coalition partners attacked America’s reliability as a world power and President Trump fired back on Twitter.
Merkel said at a beer tent rally in Munich Sunday that Germany cannot "fully rely" on the U.S., and that continental Europe “really must take our fate into our own hands.”

Martin Schulz, head of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD), which is Merkel's coalition partner in the federal government, went further, calling Trump a "destroyer of all Western values."
“The chancellor represents all of us at summits [NATO and G7] like these,” said Schulz, seen as a challenger to Merkel in the upcoming September election. "I reject with outrage the way this man takes it upon himself to treat the head of our country's government.”
Trump countered on Tuesday, renewing his allegation Germany doesn't pay its full, 2 percent of GDP share toward defense -- a requirement of NATO membership. He also rapped the European economic powerhouse for its trade policies.
“We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military," Trump tweeted. "Very bad for U.S. This will change"

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President Trump talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi (2-L) at the G7 Summit in Taormina, Sicily, Italy May 27, 2017.  (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

Economists agree with Trump that the U.S. trade gap favors Germany by $67.8 billion per year. That trade deficit is the second largest after China's $310 billion advantage over the U.S.
MERKEL URGES EU TO CONTROL ITS OWN DESTINY, AFTER TRUMP VISIT, CLIMATE CHANGE DECISION
Trump has confronted Merkel over her country's failure to meet the NATO guidelines for defense expenditures. Germany is one of the 23 NATO members that has not met the 2 percent goal of defense spending. The European economic powerhouse ranked 15th among NATO members, spending a mere 1.2 percent of its gross national product on military defense.
The U.S., Greece, Poland, Britain and Estonia are the only NATO members who meet (or exceed) NATO’s criteria for armed forces spending. A Politico story published last week, titled "Trump's right about Germany," said "Merkel's economic policies really are hurting the U.S.”
MERKEL: EUROPE MUST STAY UNITED IN FACE OF ALLY UNCERTAINTY
It is not the first time that anti-American rhetoric has played a role in a German election campaign. Former social democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schröder mobilized voters around anti-American sentiments to win the 2002 election. In his memoir, “Decision Points,” President George W. Bush accused Schröder of reneging on German support for the U.S. in the Iraq war. That touched off a war of words between Bush and Germany’s then justice minister.
When he was foreign minister, Germany's current social democratic president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called Trump a "hate preacher." Steinmeier’s successor as foreign minister, the social Democrat Sigmar Gabriel, has pivoted away from the U.S and toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. Just days after the U.S and other world powers reached a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 to curb its atomic program, Gabriel went to Iran with a delegation of business leaders. He made a second trip last year to jump-start business deals with Iran.
This past week, Gabriel was engulfed in scandal after inviting a hard-line anti-Western, anti-U.S. Iranian cleric to the foreign ministry for a conference promoting religious peace. The extremist Iranian religious leader Hamidreza Torabi, a key organizer of the Quds event in Berlin, an anti-Western rally calling for the destruction of the Jewish state, appeared at the foreign ministry event.
Torabi sponsors buses for pro-Hezbollah and pro-Iranian regime activists to travel to Quds, which also serves as a gathering spot for boycott campaigns against Israel.
Although the U.S. has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, Merkel has declined to outlaw the Lebanese militant group. There are 950 active members and supporters of Hezbollah in Germany.
The Israeli Embassy told Fox News that Germany should have never invited Torabi to the conference.
“Any person who incites violence has no place in a dialogue that uses religions as a bedrock to bring peace, tolerance and understanding between people, nations and religions,” the ministry said. “Moreover, there is no doubt that a person who incites violence against Israel and Jews in the name of God, in the city of Berlin, has no place in such a dialogue, certainly not one organized by the German government.”
Torabi, who heads the Islamic Academy of Germany, held a poster in downtown Berlin at the 2016 anti-Israel Quds rally urging the “rejection of Israel” and terming the Jewish state “illegal and criminal.”

Gregg Jarrett: Jared Kushner gets mugged by the media mob

“This nation was dedicated to freedom under law, not under mobs.”
So wrote the late Justice, Tom Clark, who gave me my first tour of the Supreme Court in the 1970s.  Justice Clark cared deeply about the role of the news media in holding our government accountable.  But he would be dispirited to see their embrace of “mobocracy,” as he once described it.
The mob as a ruling class is today’s mainstream media.  They assert political control by denigrating and vilifying.  No act by the Trump administration, however slight, will be spared a full-throated “scandal” as declared by the media.  All deeds are treated as crimes or impeachable offenses.  
The latest victim is President Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser, Jared Kushner.  His crime appears to be no crime at all.  He met with two foreign officials from Russia –an ambassador and a banker.  Back channel communications were allegedly discussed.  Mass hysteria in both print and television ensued.
There was no attempt at reasoned analysis, no context of historical precedence.
The media all but shouted, “off with his head!”   Execution first.  A trial with real or imagined evidence sometime later, if ever.
Back Channel Communications
The Washington Post ignited the media firestorm by publishing a story that Kushner met with Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to Washington, in December and allegedly sought a private communications channel with the Kremlin.
Within an hour, television reporters and pundits were declaring it a “bombshell” –their favorite description of anything related to Trump.  No one bothered to point out that nearly every recent president has established and relied on similar back channel contacts.
Notably, President John Kennedy depended on two sets of back channel communications with the Soviets to diffuse the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962.   His brother Bobby Kennedy arranged an urgent deal with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to remove the missiles in Cuba in exchange for the U.S. removing obsolete missiles in Turkey.  At the same time, the State Department commandeered ABC correspondent John Scali to work out other details with Soviet Embassy official Alexander Fomin.  A catastrophic nuclear exchange was averted.
But nowhere in the hyper-media coverage was this mentioned in the hours after the Kushner story broke.  Only two days later, in an opinion column by David Ignatius, did the Washington Post admit the value of secret contacts when he observed, “Such back channels can add stability and predictability in foreign relations.”  Few in the media have picked up on it.
It makes no difference whether the idea of a private communications channel was broached before or after President Trump took office.  It is a distinction without a difference.  As Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly observed, “It’s both normal, in my opinion, and acceptable.” 
So much for the “bombshell.”  More like a media dud.  Of course, they’ll never admit to it.
The Logan Act Charade
Because the Kushner meeting occurred after Trump was elected but before he took office, the media continues to claim that the Logan Act was violated.  Passed in 1799, it prohibits private citizens from interfering in diplomatic disputes with foreign governments.  Surely, Kushner violated that law, the media exclaimed.
But no one has ever been prosecuted under the Logan Act.  Therefore, it is legally inoperable because it has remained dormant for more than two centuries.  Prosecutors are not allowed to use a statute that has fallowed for such a long period of time.  In other words, it is dead.  It sits on the books of our criminal codes only as words collecting dust.  Nothing more.
Even if it was somehow germane and valid, Kushner was not acting as a private citizen as the Act requires.  He was serving as a representative of the incoming administration.  Other presidents have had discussions with foreign governments before taking office, including President Obama.
Yet the media seems oblivious to both the law and its application.
Security Clearance Form
The media continues to speculate that Kushner committed a crime by omitting his Russian meetings when he filled out his security clearance forms.  But the press almost never mentions that people are rarely prosecuted because it is exceedingly difficult to demonstrate that it was “knowingly falsified or concealed,” as the law demands.  
Have you ever seen one of these forms?  They are long and confusing.  Few people manage to fill them out correctly or completely.
Since violation is not a strict liability crime, the feds would have to prove “specific intent.”  That is, Kushner tried to deliberately deceive the government.  Incomplete paper work, by itself, is not a criminal act.
Significantly, the day after Kushner submitted his form, his attorney alerted the FBI it was in error and would be amended to include several meetings with foreign officials.  These circumstances hardly constitute a crime.  Immediate notification of a filing mistake vitiates any legal culpability.
But, again, journalists seem to conveniently overlook this.  The story is too good to let the facts get in the way.  
Kushner Not a “Target”   
Media madness switched gears into overdrive when it was reported that Kushner is a focus by the FBI in their Russian investigation.  But what does that really mean?
It means, quite simply, the Bureau would like to speak with him about his meetings with Russian officials.  It does not necessarily imply there is a scintilla of evidence that he committed any crimes.  If the feds had such evidence, he would have received a “target letter” as Justice Department rules require.
The media tends to forget (or not realize) that it is not a crime to talk with a Russian, including an ambassador.  After all, it is Kislyak’s job to meet as frequently as possible with current and incoming government officials.  Does he endeavor to influence those people and our government’s policies?  Of course.  That’s why he’s stationed in Washington.  Our ambassador in Moscow serves the same function.  It’s called diplomacy and advocacy.
Kushner also met with a Russian banker, Sergey Gorkov, the head of Vnesheconombank, which is the subject of U.S. sanctions.  Such a meeting, by itself, does not violate the sanctions order nor is it a crime.
Neither is it a crime to collude with a foreign government to influence an election.  As I explained in a recent column, there is no criminal statute prohibiting it.  President Trump insists there was no collusion.  But even if there was, it is not unlawful.
The lawyer for Jared Kushner says he is prepared to answer any and all questions.  Perhaps when he does, he will expose the media for its slanted coverage and hyperbolic headlines.  
The media deserves a good mugging.    
Gregg Jarrett is a Fox News Anchor and former defense attorney.