UN agency says Iran in compliance of landmark nuclear deal

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The U.N. nuclear agency says that Iran has taken its heavy water producing plant offline for maintenance, a move that keeps it from violating a landmark nuclear agreement by keeping the amount of the reactor coolant under the limits proscribed by the deal.
A confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency seen by The Associated Press said Friday that a May 27 inspection showed "the plant ... shut down" for maintenance. It says Tehran's heavy water stockpile then was 128.2 metric tons, just under the limit of 130 metric tons (over 143 tons.)
Heavy water cools reactors that can produce plutonium used to make the core of nuclear warheads. The IAEA last year said that Tehran had slightly exceeded the limit, but later said it was again in compliance.

Reports: Sessions offered to resign amid tensions with Trump

The relationship between President Trump and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has become so frayed, Sessions recently suggested that he could resign from his post, multiple media reports said on Tuesday.
Trump reportedly turned down the offer. The reported offer was not a formal one, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump has been angry with Sessions-- one of his most vocal and earliest supporters-- ever since Sessions recused himself in March from the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible connections between Moscow and Trump campaign aides.
Sean Spicer, the top White House spokesman, declined to say Tuesday whether Trump has confidence in Sessions.
"I have not had that discussion with him," Spicer told reporters during a White House briefing, adding: "if I haven't had a discussion with him about a subject, I tend not to speak about it."
Charles Krauthammer, a contributor on Fox News, told “Special Report” that the last time Spicer said he did not speak to Trump about a member of his administration, then-FBI Director James Comey was fired days later.
“This is really bad,” Krauthammer said. He went on, “If you can’t absorb this one issue on which he disagrees and you have to get rid of him, no one is safe (in the White House).”
ABC News reported that the frustrations between Trump and Sessions is mutual. The Justice Department declined to comment for the ABC report. FoxNews.com could not immediately confirm reports.
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that Sessions told Trump that he needed more freedom to do his job successfully and he could resign if that was what Trump wanted.
A source told the paper the conversation occurred right before Trump’s overseas trip.
On Monday, Trump took to Twitter to publicly criticize the department's legal strategy in defending his proposed travel ban barring the entry of people from certain Muslim-majority countries.
"The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.," Trump tweeted Monday, ignoring the fact that he oversees the department and signed the second version of the ban.
"The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court - & seek much tougher version!" he added.
Trump has denied any collusion with Russia, deriding the story as a "witch hunt" and "fake news" invented to explain away the Democrats' loss in November.
The New York Times reported Monday that Trump partially blames Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the investigation for the eventual appointment of a special counsel.

Anthem Insurance Pulls Out of Ohio Obamacare

Another sure sign Obamacare is on it’s way out as the nation’s second largest health insurance company says it’s done with the legislation.
Anthem announced on Tuesday it will no longer be part of the “Affordable Care Act” in Ohio by next year.
This comes after both Aetna and Humana pulled out of the market earlier this year.
Insurance companies say it’s due to the health care law’s uncertain future, unpredictable marketplace, and cost.
Anthem’s CEO is now weighing whether to remove the company entirely from Obamacare.

President Trump: No Funds to Radical Ideologies

President Trump reiterates there cannot be funding for “radical ideologies” as Middle Eastern leaders cut diplomatic ties to Qatar.
During President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia last month, he said the world needed to strip terrorists organizations of their access to funds.
The President took to twitter on Tuesday to applaud those countries for refusing to fund extremism.
Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates all say they refuse to support extremist groups in the country.
Qatar denies any support of radical extremism, saying the crisis is “fabricated.”

Qatar Cartoons

As Gulf states cut ties with Qatar, Trump team debates Muslim Brotherhood terror designation

There’s a battle inside the Trump administration over what to do about the Muslim Brotherhood, the group at the center of Monday’s pivotal decision by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to cut ties with Qatar over allegations it supports terrorism, experts familiar with the situation say.
The debate reaches deep inside Washington politics, where Qatar has poured money in recent years, deepening a rift in American policy circles over what to do about the Muslim Brotherhood. The immensely influential group has long been considered a supporter of terrorism by several key American allies including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The camps inside the White House, according to sources, break down to two groups: On one side is a political group led by Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and the other side is led by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Generals McMaster and Mattis are said to be concerned about America’s deep military commitment to Qatar, where the U.S. operates a key airbase; Bannon is said to want to push for an official designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Arab nations cut ties with Qatar in new Mideast crisis
When asked if the U.S. is considering changing its position, a State Department official told Fox News: “The Muslim Brotherhood is not a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
The sources say there was a high-level White House meeting between the two factions about two months ago, and the Bannon team gave way amid significant pushback. And it wasn’t just from the national security team.
“The real pushback was in the public. Several dozen analysts writing pieces online how this would destroy our diplomatic relations and diminish American influence around the world,” said Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, “they argued it would look Islamophobic.”
For example, the prestigious Brookings Institute, which considers itself non-partisan, said “there is not a single American expert on the Muslim Brotherhood who supports designating them as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
Shadi Hamid, a Brookings Senior Fellow, wrote on the Institute’s website that most Islamists belong to “mainstream Muslim groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Hamas denies Qatar to expel leaders, but says some to move
“Mainstream Islamist groups accept the nation-state and work within the structures of the nation-state,” he wrote. “These groups are not stoking revolution or orchestrating terrorist attacks.”
Experts who have had close ties to Bannon worry that such analysis is getting through to the president.
“There is now a real danger that President Donald Trump, who came to office promising a very different approach to the whole phenomenon of what he called radical Islamic terrorism at the time, and is now calling Islamist extremism, is being subjected to some of the same seduction that the Brothers were able to engage in during past presidents,” said Frank Gaffney of the right-leaning Center for Security Policy.
Gaffney argued that such influence is suspect because Brookings, like some other big Washington think-tanks, has taken millions in funding from Qatar, the country accused of supporting terrorism by many of its neighbors. Qatar gave Brookings a $14.8 million, four-year donation in 2013, and has helped fund a Brookings affiliate in Qatar and a project on United States relations with the Islamic world.
“I think at best they are useful idiots when it comes to what the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to do,” Gaffney told Fox News, “at worst they are absolutely on board with it.”
Schanzer could not speak specifically about Brookings, but “what I can say is that Qatar spends a lot of money to make sure their perspective is heard in Washington.”
He says that’s problematic “because at the very least certain aspects of the discussion are being omitted because of a patron-client relationship.”
Those aspects of the discussion involve a growing belief among prominent former officials that at least some factions of the Brotherhood deserve greater scrutiny than the U.S. has subjected the group to in recent years.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served six presidents, including President Obama, recently told Fox News that the terrorist group Hamas is a direct offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Muslim Brotherhood is generally regarded as the ideological forerunner of both al-Qaeda and ISIS,” Gates said. “It seems to me, by and large, if it looks like a duck and it walks like a duck, maybe it's a duck.”
Gaffney goes even further, “I think what we’re dealing with is not terrorism anymore. What the Brits are facing is an actual Islamic insurgency.”
But the Brotherhood is not a “homogeneous” organization, said Schanzer.
“The Brotherhood in Tunisia is a political, non-violent organization and the Prime Minister of Morocco is in a Muslim Brotherhood arm,” he said, “On the other hand you’ve got two violent factions in Egypt and the Brotherhood in Yemen has long standing ties to Al Qaeda. These are the kinds of differences that a treasury designation process could highlight.”
That’s why Gates cautions the Trump administration to get more information before an official declaration of the Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
“I'm not sure we've investigated potential financial channeling from using Muslim Brotherhood resources and their networks to channel money to terrorist groups,” Gates said, “And I think if that's not already being done, that's a potential lucrative intelligence target.”
Schanzer agrees. He told Fox News there is a possible compromise solution.
“Task Treasury to research the various factions of the Brotherhood to determine which are supporting terrorism,” he said, “let the intelligence do the talking, and potentially lower the political temperature.”

Trump rips DOJ for 'watered down' travel ban, seeks swift court hearing

President Trump called out the Justice Department on Monday morning for pushing a “watered down” version of his controversial travel ban executive order, while also urging the DOJ to seek an expedited hearing in front of the Supreme Court to begin the ban's enforcement.
Trump’s travel ban – placing temporary restrictions on travel from several Muslim-majority countries – has been blocked by the courts since Trump signed the original executive order in January. He signed a revised travel ban in March, and that also was blocked from implementation by judges.
“People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!” Trump wrote in the first of four tweets. “The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C. The Justice Dept. should ask for an expedited hearing of the watered down Travel Ban before the Supreme Court - & seek much tougher version!”
“In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!”
A Department of Justice spokesperson declined to comment on Trump's tweets.
Trump’s tweets come in the wake of Saturday’s deadly London attacks, and an increasing string of Islamist assaults around the globe.
Both versions of the Trump travel ban prompted nationwide protests and fierce Democratic opposition. The ban's themselves were "watered down" versions of Trump's campaign proposal of a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

NSA contractor accused of leaking top secret report on Russian hacking efforts

Reality Leigh Winner IDIOT

A federal contractor was arrested over the weekend and accused of leaking a classified report containing "Top Secret level" information on Russian hacking efforts during the 2016 presidential election.
Reality Leigh Winner, 25, appeared in U.S. District Court in Augusta, Ga., to face one charge of removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet, the Justice Department said Monday.
Winner's arrest was announced shortly after the Intercept website published a story detailing how Russian hackers attacked at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent so-called "spear-phishing" emails to more than 100 local election officials at the end of October or beginning of November.
The Justice Department did not specify that Winner was being charged in connection with the Intercept's report. However, the site noted that the National Security Agency (NSA) report cited in its story was dated May 5 of this year. An affidavit supporting Winner's arrest also said that the report was dated "on or about" May 5.
The Intercept contacted the NSA and the national intelligence director's office about the document and both agencies asked that it not be published. U.S. intelligence officials then asked The Intercept to redact certain sections. The Intercept said some material was withheld at U.S. intelligence agencies' request because it wasn't "clearly in the public interest."
The report said Russian military intelligence "executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016 evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions, according to information that became available in April 2017."
The hackers are believed to have then used data from that operation to create a new email account to launch a spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations, the document said. "Lastly, the actors send test emails to two non-existent accounts ostensibly associated with absentee balloting, presumably with the purpose of creating those accounts to mimic legitimate services."

The document did not name any state.

The information in the leaked document seems to go further than the U.S. intelligence agencies' January assessment of the hacking that occurred.
The Washington Examiner reported that Winner worked for Pluribus International Corporation and was assigned to a U.S. government facility in Georgia. She had held a top-secret classified security clearance since being hired this past February. The affidavit sworn by FBI agent Justin Garrick said that she had previously served in the Air Force and held a top-secret security clearance.
Late Monday, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange tweeted his support for Winner.inner's attorney, Titus Thomas Nichols, declined to confirm whether she is accused of leaking the NSA report received by The Intercept. He also declined to name the federal agency for which Winner worked.
"My client has no (criminal) history, so it's not as if she has a pattern of having done anything like this before," Nichols told the Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. "She is a very good person. All this craziness has happened all of a sudden."
Garrick said in his affidavit that the government was notified of the leaked report by the news outlet that received it. He said the agency that housed the report determined only six employees had made physical copies. Winner was one of them. Garrick said investigators found Winner had exchanged email with the news outlet using her work computer.
Garrick's affidavit said he interviewed Winner at her home Saturday and she "admitted intentionally identifying and printing the classified intelligence reporting at issue" and mailing it to the news outlet.
Asked if Winner had confessed, Nichols said, "If there is a confession, the government has not shown it to me."
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, praised the arrest in an appearance on Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum."
"When you have classified information, you cannot put that out there just because you think it would be a good idea," Chaffetz said. "I want people in handcuffs and I want to see people behind bars."
Chaffetz also criticized federal agencies for failing to protect sensitive information after a series of high-profile leaks.
"They have hundreds of thousands of people that have security clearances," Chaffetz said. "There are supposed to be safeguards in there ... But how many times do we have to see this story happen? They obviously don’t have the safeguards."

President Trump Announces Initiative for Air Traffic Control Reform

President Trump spoke in the East Room of the White House on Monday to kick off a plan for air traffic control reform.
Under the President’s new plan, the air traffic control system would be privatized and run by a non-governmental, non-profit corporation.
A similar plan has been adopted by more than 60 countries around the globe, including Canada.
The Trump administration’s initiative comes after a $7 billion dollar modernization plan by the Obama administration.
“They didn’t know what the hell they were doing,” President Trump said.
The new proposal by President Trump will now go to Capitol Hill where lawmakers will work towards a bill that could ultimately be passed and signed into law.

Al Gore Cartoons

Portland pro-Trump, anti-Trump demonstrations converge, sparking violence

Violence broke out in Portland, Oregon, as groups of demonstrators both supporting and opposing President Trump converged downtown Sunday amid escalating tensions.
Police said people hurled bricks and at least one gas bottle at officers in Chapman Square. Law enforcement fired back with "less-lethal chemical munitions," according to police.
WARNING: PROTEST VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANITY
Officers arrested at least 14 people and confiscated various weapons, including what appeared to be a knife, brass knuckles and a homemade slingshot. They also had to dodge balloons filled with a foul-smelling liquid, Fox 12 reported.
In addition, officers detained a large crowd several blocks north of the pro-Trump rally. Several journalists at the scene said they were blocked in, along with demonstrators, and were told by officers that they were detained pending investigation for disorderly conduct. A Portland Tribune reporter tweeted that she was held but eventually released after police took photos of her ID.
Crowds at the demonstrations swelled to several thousand. Much of the city has been on edge after the deadly stabbing of two men who tried to stop another man's anti-Muslim tirade just over a week ago.
Last week Mayor Ted Wheeler unsuccessfully tried to have the permit for the pro-Trump revoked, saying it could further enflame tensions. Federal officials said there was "no basis" to revoke the permit on federal land, Fox 12 added.
DETAILS ON STABBING SUSPECT'S LIFE EMERGE
The free-speech rally organized by a conservative group called Patriot Prayer drew hundreds to a plaza near City Hall. Rally organizer Joey Gibson told the crowd that the goal was to wake up the liberty movement. "It's OK to be a conservative in Portland," he said.
Demonstrators chanted "USA" and held supportive banners.
The group was met by hundreds of counter-protesters organized by immigrant-rights, religious and labor groups. Many of them filled the steps of City Hall, drummed and played music and held signs, some of which read "Our city is greater than hate" and "Black lives matter." Some chanted "love, not hate" and "Go home, fascists."
"We build our hope and our stamina for justice by showing up," the Rev. Diane Dulin of the United Church of Christ said in a statement ahead of the rally.
The suspect in the light-rail stabbings, Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, attended a similar rally in late April wearing an American flag around his neck and carrying a baseball bat. Police confiscated the bat, and he was then caught on camera clashing with counter-protesters.
BROTHER OF DISMEMBERED BOY'S KILLER FOUND DEAD, POLICE SAY
On May 26, Christian killed two men and injured another on the light-rail train when they tried to help after he verbally abused two young women, one wearing a hijab, investigators said. Christian has been charged with aggravated murder and other counts.
In a video posted on Facebook, Joey Gibson of the group Patriot Prayer condemned Christian and acknowledged that some rallies have attracted "legitimate Nazis." He described Christian as "all crazy" and "not a good guy."
Mat dos Santos, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, has said it was wrong and unconstitutional for Wheeler to try to stop the demonstrations based on the viewpoint of the organizers.

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.

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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.

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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.

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