Leaked meeting notes show how panicked Iranian regime considered stopping deadly protests: 'God help us'

A leaked report provided to Fox News shows how Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with political leaders and heads of the country's security forces to discuss how to tamp down on the deadly nationwide protests.

The report covered several meetings up to December 31 and was provided to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) from what it said were high level sources from within the regime. 

The meeting notes, which have been translated into English from Farsi, said the unrest has hurt every sector of the country's economy and “threatens the regime’s security. The first step, therefore, is to find a way out of this situation.”
The report added, “Religious leaders and the leadership must come to the scene as soon as possible and prevent the situation (from) deteriorating further.” It continued, “God help us, this is a very complex situation and is different from previous occasions.”
As the protests continue to spread, the total number dead rose Monday to at least 13, including a police officer shot and killed with a hunting rifle in the central city of Najafabad.
According to NCRI sources and reports from within Iran, at least 40 cities across Iran witnessed protests Monday, including in the capital city of Tehran. These reports state that slogans heard included “Death to the dictator,” and “the leader lives like God while the people live like beggars.”
The regime's notes claimed protesters “started chanting the ultimate slogans from day one. In Tehran today, people were chanting slogans against Khamenei and the slogans used yesterday were all against Khamenei.”
The notes added that the intelligence division of the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is “monitoring the situation” and “working all in coordination to prevent protests.”
It says that a “red alert” has not yet been declared, which would lead to direct military intervention in the protests. But it then predicted that sending IRGC or the Bassij forces would “backfire” and would further “antagonize the protesters.”
Messages of support for the protesters from President Trump and other administration officials were also mentioned in the report. “The United States officially supported the people on the streets.” The notes continued by saying the U.S. and the West “have all united in support of the Hypocrites,” the regime’s pejorative description of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) which is one of the groups making up the NCRI.
The meeting notes that the leader of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi, and the “Infidels,” which the translation says refers to "the West," “are united for the first time.” It continued, “Maryam Rajavi is hoping for regime change,” saying the protests are “definitely organized,” and “the security forces report that the MEK is very active and is leading and directing them.”
The notes also warn that all those affiliated with leadership “must be on alert and monitor the situation constantly,” continuing, “the security and intelligence forces must constantly monitor the situation on the scene and conduct surveillance and subsequently report to the office of the leadership.”

Happy New Year 2018 Cartoons

With new year, California's recreational pot laws take effect

Real Classy

Real Classy

The new year in California brings broad legalization of recreational marijuana – a much-anticipated move two decades after the state was the first to allow the use of the drug for medicinal purposes.

California joins states such as Colorado -- as well as Washington, D.C. -- where pot is permitted for recreational purposes even as the federal government continues to regard the drug as a controlled dangerous substance, like LSD and heroin.

Legalized marijuana is expected to become a $3.7 billion business in California in 2018 and grow to $5.1 billion in 2019 -- comparable to the revenue generated by beer sales, Business Insider reported.
The boost to California's economy could generate more than $1 billion in tax revenue for the state each year, the Hill reported.
National trend
Twenty-nine states have adopted medical marijuana laws, while seven other states have legalized recreational use of pot.
Marijuana will now be legal in California for adults age 21 and older, and people will be permitted to grow up to six plants and possess an ounce of pot.
The new state laws -- approved by voters in 2016 with the passage of Proposition 64 -- were met with joy by some Californians who swapped their champagne glasses for blunts of pot on New Year's Eve.
“This is something we've all been waiting for,” said Johnny Hernandez, a tattoo artist, who celebrated the arrival of 2018 by smoking “Happy New Year blunts" with his family members.
"It is something that can help so many people and there's no reason why we should not be sharing that,” he added, hoping that the new laws will remove the stigma surrounding the marijuana use.
"People might actually realize weed isn't bad. It helps a lot of people,” he said.
Unintended consequences?
But authorities remain tense amid the legalization, saying the more liberal attitude toward the drug might bring about problems such as stoned drivers, negatively impact young people, increase the cost of policing and prop up the existing black market – as taxes and fees could raise the retail pot price by as much as 70 percent.
"There's going to be a public-health cost and a public-safety cost enforcing these new laws and regulations," said Jonathan Feldman, a legislative advocate for the California Police Chiefs Association. "It remains to be seen if this can balance itself out."
Despite the legalization, it will take time until non-medical pot will be widely available across California. Only 90 businesses so far have acquired a state license to sell pot, most located in San Diego, Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Palm Springs area.
License lag
Residents of Los Angeles and San Francisco will not be able to find recreational pot Jan. 1 as local regulations were not approved in time, so neither city has issued the licenses needed to get state permits for selling recreational pot.
Fresno, Bakersfield and Riverside, meanwhile, have banned the sale of recreational pot.
As part of regulations paving the way to recreational pot in California, other strict laws will take effect on the strains known as Sweet Skunk, Trainwreck and Russian Assassin.
Some business owners are also concerned that once the state starts fully regulating the industry, there could be a shortage of state-approved cannabis in California.
Jamie Garzot, founder of a cannabis shop in Northern California's Shasta Lake, said she is worried that once the current cannabis crop dries up, there will be a shortage of pot that meets the regulations.
”Playing in the gray market is not an option," she said. "California produces more cannabis than any state in the nation, but going forward, if it's not from a state-licensed source, I can't put it on my shelf. If I choose to do so, I run the risk of losing my license."

Hillary Clinton backer paid $500G to fund women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct before Election Day, report says

Image captured Hillary Clinton holdings hands with close friend and Esprit Clothing founder Susie Tompkins Buell.

Esprit Clothing founder Susie Tompkins Buell, liberal political donor.

One of Hillary Clinton’s wealthy pals paid $500,000 in an unsuccessful effort to fund women willing to accuse President Trump of sexual misconduct before the 2016 election, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Susie Tompkins Buell, the founder of Esprit Clothing and a major Clinton campaign donor for many years, gave the money to celebrity lawyer Lisa Bloom who was working with a number of Trump accusers at the time, according to the paper’s bombshell report.

Bloom solicited donors by saying she was working with women who might “find the courage to speak out” against Trump if the donors would provide funds for security, relocation and possibly a “safe house,” the paper reported.
Former Clinton nemesis turned Clinton operative David Brock also donated $200,000 to the effort through a nonprofit group he founded, the paper reported in an article entitled, “Partisans, Wielding Money, Begin Seeking to Exploit Harassment Claims.”
Bloom told the Times that the effort was unproductive. One woman requested $2 million then decided not to come forward. Nor did any other women.
Bloom said she refunded most of the cash, keeping only some funds for out-of-pocket expenses accrued while working to vet and prepare cases.
The lawyer told the paper she did not communicate with Clinton or her campaign “on any of this.”
She also maintained that she represented only clients whose stories she had corroborated and disputed the premise that she offered money to coax clients to come forward, the paper reported.
“It doesn’t cost anything to publicly air allegations,” Bloom said. “Security and relocation are expensive and were sorely needed in a case of this magnitude, in a country filled with so much anger, hate and violence.”
The Times article said it learned of Buell and Brock's connection to Bloom from two Democrats familiar with the financial arrangements who also said Bloom’s law firm kept the money from Brock's nonprofit group but refunded the $500,000 that Buell contributed.
Brock declined comment, according to the paper.
Clinton campaign representatives said they were unaware of his work with Bloom.
Buell would not comment on the financial arrangement, according to the Times.
Still, she claimed she was frustrated that Trump had escaped the repercussions that have befallen many other powerful men accused of similar misconduct.
The Times article expanded on a report in The Hill two weeks ago that said that worked with campaign donors and tabloid media outlets during the final months of the presidential election to arrange compensation for the alleged Trump victims and a commission for herself, offering to sell their stories.
In one case Bloom reportedly arranged for a donor to pay off one Trump accuser’s mortgage and attempted to score a six-figure payout for another woman.
The woman with the mortgage ultimately declined to come forward after being offiered $750,000, The Hill reported.
The paper reported reviewing one email exchange between one woman and Bloom that suggested political action committees supporting Hillary Clinton were solicited, without naming which ones.
Bloom, who is the daughter of famous attorney Gloria Allred and, like her mother, specializes in representing women in sexual harassment cases, worked for four women who were considering accusing Trump. Two went public, and two declined.

Trump voices optimism for 2018 while also calling out 'haters' and 'Fake News Media'

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron arrive for a New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Dec. 31, 2017.

President Donald Trump and his family said goodbye to 2017 with a lavish New Year's Eve party at his private club in Florida.

"It will be a fantastic 2018," Trump said, as he entered the gilded ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump and son Barron.

Asked for his reaction to North Korea leader Kim Jon Un's remarks about having a nuclear button on his desk, Trump responded by saying, "We'll see."
Guests at the party included senior White House advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Trump's sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Since taking office, President Trump has made frequent visits to his for-profit properties. He has refused to divest from his real estate and hotel empire, drawing criticism from ethics experts.
Earlier in the day, Trump wished a happy new year to the people who elected him to the White House -- and those who kept him in the headlines.
"As our Country rapidly grows stronger and smarter, I want to wish all of my friends, supporters, enemies, haters, and even the very dishonest Fake News Media, a Happy and Healthy New Year. 2018 will be a great year for America!," Trump tweeted.
He followed up more than an hour later: "HAPPY NEW YEAR! We are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and much faster than anyone thought possible!"
The president is spending the holidays in Palm Beach, where he told reporters outside, "We are going to have a tremendous year. Stock market, I think, is going to continue to go up. Companies are going to continue to come into the country."
Also Sunday, the president tweeted out a compilation video showing him meeting U.S. service members, visiting flood zones in Texas and signing the GOP-backed tax overhaul package into law.
Trump has called out his critics in holiday tweets before. In November 2013, he posted: "Happy Thanksgiving to all--even the haters and losers!"
The president on Sunday cited his success in placing a new justice on the Supreme Court, his efforts to cut regulations and his big win on overhauling taxes. He's called for more progress in 2018, including the passage of a massive infrastructure bill, although analysts say it could prove difficult given how the GOP-led Senate will hold a very slim 51-49 majority.
The White House said Trump has been briefed on New Year's Eve security precautions around the country and will continue to monitor those efforts.

A New Year's Eve to remem-brrrr in New York

New Year's Eve revelers at Times Square in New York City dressed appropriately. From left are Elena Bardunniotis, Dominic Manshadi and Sarah Thompson, of Long Beach, Calif.

A temperature of 10 degrees Fahrenheit as the ball dropped made the welcoming of 2018 the second-coldest New Year’s Eve on record in the Big Apple.

The glittering crystal ball dropped with a burst of confetti and dazzling fireworks as revelers said goodbye to 2017.

With much of the East Coast experiencing a recent snap of frigid, Arctic weather, the traditional celebration was less crowded than in past years. Some of the metal pens, usually packed with people, were only half-full.
Some revelers, bundled up in hats, gloves, face masks and numerous layers of clothing, jogged to keep warm, others bounced and danced. Some stood and shivered.

Revelers watch rehearsals of New Year's celebrations in Times Square, New York City, Dec. 31, 2017.  (Associated Press)

But those who showed up were there to watch the traditional drop of a Waterford Crystal ball down a pole atop 1 Times Square.
This year, the ball was 12 feet in diameter, weighed 11,875 pounds and was covered with 2,688 triangles that changed colors like a kaleidoscope, illuminated by 32,256 LED lights. When the first ball drop happened in 1907, it was made of iron and wood and adorned with 100 25-watt light bulbs.
The first celebration in the area was in 1904, the year the city's first subway line started running.
Taking no chances
After two terrorist attacks and a rampaging SUV driver who plowed into a crowd on the very spot where the party takes place, police were taking no chances.
Security was tighter than ever before. Garages in the area were sealed off. Detectives were stationed at area hotels working with security officials to prevent sniper attacks.

New York City Police Emergency Service Unit officers stand on guard in Times Square during New Year's Eve celebrations, Dec. 31, 2017.  (Associated Press)

Thousands of uniformed officers lined the streets. Concrete blocks and sanitation trucks blocked vehicles from entering the secure area where spectators gathered. Partygoers passed through one of a dozen checkpoints where they were screened and then screened again as they made their way to the main event.
At 48th Street and Seventh Avenue, Chris Garcia, his girlfriend, Zayra Velazquez, and her brother Edgar Valdez stood rigidly, having waited in the cold for almost six hours. Valdez said he felt "pretty safe" at the event.
"They checked us pretty good," he said. "Police checked what we had, and another scanned us with metal detectors."
The police department estimates that it costs $7.5 million to protect the event.
Chilly past
The frostiest ball drop on record was 1 degree Fahrenheit, in 1907. In 1962 it was just 11 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and in 1939 and 2008 it was 18 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remle Scott and her boyfriend, Brad Whittaker, of San Diego, arrived shortly after 9 a.m., saying they were trying to keep a positive attitude as temperatures hovered in the teens. Each was wearing several layers of clothing.
"Our toes are frozen, so we're just dealing with it by dancing," Scott said.

"Our toes are frozen, so we're just dealing with it by dancing."

- Remle Scott, a Times Square visitor from San Diego, Calif.

Some wore red scarfs that read "Happy New Year" and others donned yellow and purple hats as a pizza deliveryman sold pies to the hungry crowd.
In a prime viewing spot near 42nd Street, Alexander Ebrahim grinned as he looked around at the flashing lights of Times Square.
"I always saw it on TV, so I thought why not come out and see it in person," the Orange County, California, resident said. "It's an experience you can never forget."
Michael Waller made a snap decision on Saturday evening to drive straight from Columbus, Ohio. He made it to Times Square at 8 a.m. and waited all day in front of the ball.
"I didn't want to stay home for this, by myself," he said.
Just minutes after midnight, partygoers started to drain from the area as if a giant tub stopper has been pulled up.
And immediately the cleanup began, led by a small army of city employees -- including more than 200 sanitation workers.
Crews removed more than 44 tons of debris last year.

Iran Nuke Deal Cartoons,Thanks to Obama.

Iran protests turn deadly as 2 killed amid warnings from the regime

The growing unrest over the economic woes plaguing Iran turned deadly overnight as two protesters were killed at a rally amid warnings from the country’s government that anyone who disrupts order and breaks the law “must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price.”

The deaths were the first of the demonstrations, which began Thursday and appear to be the largest to strike the Islamic Republic since the protests that followed the country's disputed 2009 presidential election.

"On Saturday evening, there was an illegal protest in Dorud and a number of people took to the streets responding to calls from hostile groups, leading to clashes,” said Habibollah Khojastehpour, the deputy governor of the western Lorestan province, according to Sky News. “Unfortunately in these clashes two citizens from Dorud were killed."
Khojastehpour told state television that "no shots were fired by the police and security forces” and “foreign agents” and “enemies of the revolutions” were to blame.

Dec. 30, 2017: The protests have spread to Iranian's capital of Tehran.  (Reuters)

A Revolutionary Guards Telegram channel blamed the deaths on "people armed with hunting and military weapons" who "entered the protests and started shooting randomly toward the crowd and the governor's building,” according to Sky News, adding that six people also were wounded.
Videos circulating on social media late Saturday appeared to show fallen protesters in Doroud as gunshots sounded in the background, although the footage could not be independently confirmed.
The killings came as interior minister Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli warned Iranians about participating in the protests.
"Those who damage public property, disrupt order and break the law must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price," Sky News quoted Fazli as saying early Sunday on state television.
TRUMP REDOUBLES SUPPORT OF IRAN PROTESTS, SAYING THE 'WORLD IS WATCHING'

Dec. 30, 2017: In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, anti-riot Iranian police prevent university students from joining other protesters in Tehran, Iran.  (AP)

The CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram, which protesters have used to plan and publicize demonstrations, according to the Associated Press, also said Sunday that Iran has been "blocking access... for the majority of Iranians." Iranians said the app is now inaccessible by mobile phone networks.
Thousands have taken to the streets of cities across Iran, beginning on Thursday in Mashhad, the country's second-largest city and a holy site for Shiite pilgrims.
At least 50 protesters have been arrested since Thursday, authorities said Saturday. State TV said some protesters chanted the name of the U.S.-backed shah, who fled into exile just before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and later died, according to the Associated Press.
The protests have also spread to Iran’s capital of Tehran, and on Saturday, tens of thousands of government supporters marched in cities to show their support for the regime, Sky News reported.
On Sunday, the semi-official ILNA news agency reported that authorities have arrested some 80 protesters in the city of Arak, some 173 miles south of Tehran.
President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that Iranians are “fed up with [the] regime’s corruption [and] its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad.”
Texas Rep. Will Hurd said a day later that the “Iranian regime is of course trying to suppress the fact that protests against their tyrannical reign are popping up across Iran.
“The Ayatollahs are out of touch with their citizens and are exporting terror abroad,” the Republican congressman wrote in a message on his Facebook page. “We should support a free and peaceful Iran. We should support the people of Iran who have had enough.”
But Iran has dismissed American support for the protests.
“Iranian people give no credit to the deceitful and opportunist remarks of U.S. officials or Mr. Trump," Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Saturday, according to a state television report.
Iran's economy has improved since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the end of some international sanctions. Tehran now sells its oil on the global market and has signed deals to purchase tens of billions of dollars' worth of Western aircraft.
That improvement has not reached the average Iranian, however. Unemployment remains high, and official inflation has crept up to 10 percent again. A recent increase in egg and poultry prices by as much as 40 percent, which a government spokesman has blamed on a cull over avian flu fears, appears to have been the spark for the economic protests.
While the protests have sparked clashes, Iran's hard-line paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its affiliates have not intervened as they have in other unauthorized demonstrations since the 2009 election.
Some analysts outside of Iran have suggested that may be because the economic protests initially just put pressure on the administration of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose administration struck the nuclear deal.

Merkel calls for unity as nearly half of Germans want her gone

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel lamented her country's social divisions in a New Year’s address Sunday, but emphasized her commitment to forming a unified government in 2018.  

Merkel’s comments came three months after her party suffered major blows at the polls, in which the centrist "grand coalition" between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), which has run Germany since 2013, fell apart.

Nevereheless, Merkel indicated her willingness to tackle the challenges of the future by forming a new government, which means again reaching out to her former political partners, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Many Germans have expressed concern over the social changes taking place within the country. The most contentious issue has been an influx of asylum-seekers that has caused many conservatives to question her leadership.
A poll released Sunday, revealed that nearly 50 percent of Germans would prefer that Merkel resign immediately.
But in Sunday's speech she pointed to falling unemployment and rapid economic growth as reasons for optimism, and cited among her priorities the need to safeguard prosperity, improve education and the use of digital technology, strengthen families and elderly care, even out regional imbalances and ensure security.
Merkel reiterated the need for Europe to work together and defend its external borders.
Addressing the increasingly tense debate in Germany that's seen some political opponents describe her as a "traitor," Merkel urged her fellow Germans to focus more on what they have in common, and to "respect each other more again."
Talks to form a new coalition government between CDU/CSU and SPD are scheduled to begin Jan. 7.

Ex-Sheriff David Clarke denies facing FBI probe, calls reports 'fake news'

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke accused the media of misreporting about an FBI warrant from earlier this year  (Admin)

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke lashed out Saturday at what he called the “lying lib media,” after multiple reports claimed he was under investigation by the FBI.

Clarke dismissed the reports as “fake news.”

According to the Washington Examiner, several news organizations reported Friday that an FBI search warrant in March allowed the agency to look into Clarke’s personal email.
Clarke, who resigned as a sheriff in August, tweeted, “BREAKING NEWS! When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up FAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is go right at them. Punch them in the nose & MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD. Nothing gets a bully like LYING LIB MEDIA’S attention better than to give them a taste of their own blood #neverbackdown”
The tweet included a Photoshopped image of Clarke and President Donald Trump in a “wrestling match” against CNN. In the photo, Trump is shown restraining a wrestler who has a CNN logo for a face, while Clarke is shown kicking that face.
In another tweet, Clarke wrote, “LYING Lib media spreads FAKE NEWS about me and @realDonaldTrump to fool their liberal followers into believing LIES because as Mrs. Bill Clinton once said, ‘Look, the average DEMOCRAT VOTER is just plain STUPID. They’re easy to manipulate.’Classic!”
Despite the FBI’s search warrant in March, which related to an intimidation lawsuit, the agency’s probe closed in May, according to several news outlets.
According to the Washington Examiner, Clarke’s incendinary tweets were reported to Twitter as being in violation of its content policies, but the social media site's operators did not agree.
Clarke tweeted Saturday evening, “Winning against LYING LIB MEDIA and Whiney SNOWFLAKES again. Like @realDonaldTrump said, we’ll win so much we’ll get tired of winning. Not yet however. Diaper wearing lefty didn’t like my metaphor reference to punching LYING LIB MEDIA in the nose. Twitter said no violation. Duh.”

Trump pulls brakes on $13B Obama-backed rail-tunnel plan

An Obama-era plan to have the federal government finance half of a $13 billion rail tunnel project ran into a red light Friday from the Trump administration.

The plan, proposed under President Barack Obama in 2015, includes revitalizing a deteriorating Amtrak tunnel connecting New Jersey to New York City, repairing damage to a dual-tunnel conduit, and reconstructing the New Jersey railroad network’s aging Portal Bridge, Crain’s New York Business reported.

Amtrak, which owns most of the rail tunnels and tracks between Boston and Washington, D.C., contends that the existing tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City is damaged and could fail within 10 to 15 years, threatening daily rail transportation in the Northeast.
The original Obama-era plan called for costs to be split among New York state, New Jersey and the federal government.
'A local project'
But in a letter Friday, the Trump administration notified New York and New Jersey that the Obama-era deal was now "non-existent" because the states recently requested that their portions be covered by loans from the federal government -- meaning Washington would supply all of the initial funding for what the Trump White House is calling "a local project."
"Your letter also references a non-existent '50/50' agreement between USDOT, New York, and New Jersey. There is no such agreement," wrote K. Jane Williams, deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. "We consider it unhelpful to reference a non-existent 'agreement' rather than directly address the responsibility for funding a local project where nine out of 10 passengers are local transit riders."

"We consider it unhelpful to reference a non-existent 'agreement' rather than directly address the responsibility for funding a local project where nine out of 10 passengers are local transit riders."

- K. Jane Williams, deputy administrator, Federal Transit Administration

The letter raises questions about whether the so-called Gateway project will be included in a $1 trillion national infrastructure plan that President Donald Trump is expected to unveil in January.
Gateway Development Corp., the project overseer composed of representatives of New York, New Jersey and Amtrak, dismissed Williams' letter as "posturing," adding in a statement Friday that "we are confident that the Trump Administration will engage with us as the President turns to infrastructure in 2018."
Tens of thousands of commuters
Proponents view Gateway as crucial for revitalizing rail service in the New York City metro area, where multiple lines, including Amtrak, carry tens of thousands of commuters into the city each day -- in one of the nation's key economic regions.
They also note that having states borrow from the federal government to finance infrastructure projects is not unprecedented. Some allege that the Trump administration's action is simply a political maneuver to put pressure on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a key supporter of the plan, Crain's reported.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is a key supporter of the $13 billion Obama-era Gateway rail-tunnel proposal.  (Associated Press)

New York business leaders have been adamant about the project's importance, on account of the region’s economy, which provides a large chunk of the U.S.’ GDP and sends hundreds of billions of tax dollars to the federal government every year.

Why should taxpayers in South Dakota or South Carolina have to chip in for a rail tunnel for Jersey commuters who work in New York? Pay for the damn project out of the fare box or forget it. https://t.co/KkUWq4iwzI

— Scott St. Clair (@PiperScott1949) December 31, 2017

On Saturday, Crain's noted that a "senior [Trump] administration official" clarified that the project's importance was not in dispute. The administration mostly objected to the federal government being relied upon to supply funds for New York and New Jersey's shares of the costs.
The official noted that for other projects underway in Hawaii and Maryland, federal loans compose only a fraction of the capital investment, Crain's reported.

Weiner Abedin Cartoons

DOJ not appealing transgender military ruling, but not abandoning case

The Department of Justice said it would not appeal the rejection of its stay request in the transgender military case, however, officials told Fox News the DOJ was not abandoning the case, either.

A federal judge earlier this month rejected President Trump's call to delay the enlistment of transgender people in the military, setting a date of Jan. 1, 2018 by which the military must allow enlistment.

The DOJ says it is holding its appeal until the completion of a Department of Defense study that advocates maintain will aid litigation of the case on its merits.
"The Department of Defense has announced that it will be releasing an independent study of these issues in the coming weeks," the official told Fox News. "So rather than litigate this interim appeal before that occurs, the administration has decided to wait for DOD's study and will continue to defend the President's lawful authority in district court in the meantime."
Jake Gibson is a producer working at the Fox News Washington bureau who covers politics, law enforcement and intelligence issues.

Trump administration aims to trim rules on offshore drilling

The Trump administration on Friday proposed to rewrite or kill rules on offshore oil and gas drilling that were imposed after a deadly 2010 rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The administration said the rules are an unnecessary burden on industry and rolling them back would encourage more energy production.

An offshore-drilling group welcomed the proposed rollback, while environmentalists said President Donald Trump would raise the risk of more deadly oil spills.
The Obama administration imposed tougher rules in response to the April 2010 explosion on a drilling rig used by BP called the Deepwater Horizon. The accident killed 11 workers and triggered a massive oil spill.
The Obama rules required more frequent inspections to prevent oil spills and dictated that experts onshore monitor drilling of highly complex wells in real time.
Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said in a statement that the Trump administration's rollback was a step toward regulatory reform. He said safety experts in the offshore energy industry would now have the chance to comment on the regulations and "assure the nation's offshore energy resources are developed safely and expeditiously."
But Miyoko Sakashita, ocean-program director for an environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, said rolling back drilling-safety standards was a recipe for disaster.
"By tossing aside the lessons from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Trump is putting our coasts and wildlife at risk of more deadly oil spills," Sakashita said in a statement. "Reversing offshore safety rules isn't just deregulation, it's willful ignorance."

Disputed Virginia House race may be decided Thursday

RICHMOND, Va. –  As Democrats and Republicans continued partisan sniping Friday over a House seat that could determine the balance of power in the Virginia House of Delegates, state elections officials moved to break the deadlock by scheduling a random drawing to pick the winner.
The Virginia Board of Elections said it will pick the winner's name in the Newport News-based 94th District next Thursday, unless a recount court decides to intervene.
The race between Democrat Shelly Simonds and Republican Del. David Yancey has seesawed since the Nov. 7 election. Initially, it appeared that Yancey had won by 10 votes, but a recount put Simonds ahead by a single vote.
A three-judge recount court later declared the race a tie after agreeing with the Yancey campaign that a disputed ballot was a vote for him. On Wednesday, Simonds asked the court to reconsider, but the panel has not yet responded.
The fight over the seat has been intense as Republicans try to hold on to a majority in the House after a bruising election in which Democrats erased the 66-34 advantage held by Republicans, as voters vented anger toward Republican President Donald Trump.
During a conference call with reporters Friday, GOP House Leader Kirk Cox — who hopes to become the next speaker of the House — criticized Democrats for causing "politically motivated delays" in deciding the 94th District race.
"Democrats have sought to delay and obstruct at every turn," Cox said.
"They've sought to litigate their way to victory."
Cox called Simonds' legal action a "deliberate strategy to make it more difficult for the House to organize smoothly" when the legislature reconvenes on Jan. 10.
He said that even if the winner's name is pulled Jan. 4, the House will not be able to seat the winner by the opening day of the legislative session if the loser asks for a recount. That would leave Republicans with a 50-49 majority as the session opens.
Simonds said Yancey is to blame for the delay.
"We won the recount ... it should have been over, and the next day, the Yancey team pulled a stunt. So this delay is squarely on him," she said Friday.
If Simonds ultimately wins, the House would be evenly split, 50-50, between Democrats and Republicans. If Yancey wins, the Republicans would have a 51-49 edge.
The state Board of Elections had been scheduled to pick the winner's name out of a glass bowl on Wednesday, but postponed the drawing after Simonds filed her legal challenge.
The result is one of two House races still in limbo.
A lawsuit is pending over ballots in a hotly contested race in the 28th District in the Fredericksburg area.

State Department releases Huma Abedin emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop

The State Department on Friday released a batch of work-related emails from the account of top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin that were discovered by the FBI on a laptop belonging to Abedin's estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, near the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.

At least four of the documents released Friday are marked "classified."

One November 2010 document that was released shows Abedin forwarding an email to an address titled “Anthony Campaign.”
Former FBI Director James Comey said during a congressional hearing earlier this year that he believed Abedin regularly forwarded emails to Weiner for him to print out so she could give them to Clinton.
Comey famously said in July 2016 that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified emails on a private server.
That 2010 email was a “callsheet” to Clinton about her upcoming call to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to warn about an imminent leak of U.S. diplomatic cables -- so-called Cablegate -- from WikiLeaks.
The rest of the document is redacted and marked classified as of August 2015.
Abedin is a longtime aide to Clinton who worked at the State Department and on Clinton’s campaign.
The emails indicate that Clinton was still invested in party politics despite her cabinet position. In one April 2011 email, Abedin informs her that Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had been selected as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
“Is she leaving the Congress?” Clinton replied.
It also shows Abedin in her role as Clinton’s gatekeeper.
“Love when people send her schedule stuff direct,” Abedin sarcastically wrote in an email to a colleague in December 2011, after someone emailed Clinton directly to ask her to speak at a conference.
At the time of the emails, Abedin was married to Weiner, a onetime Democratic congressman who began a 21-month prison sentence last month after being convicted of sexting a 15-year-old girl.
Abedin has since filed for divorce.
The Abedin emails jolted the 2016 presidential race after Comey told Congress just days before the election that FBI agents had found more of Clinton’s messages.
The emails were found on Weiner’s laptop, as the FBI investigated its sexting case against him.
The discovery of the records reopened the case against Clinton several months after Comey said he wasn’t recommending any charges be filed in the case.
HUMA ABEDIN'S COUSIN CONVICTED IN FRAUD CASE INVOLVING FAKE EMAILS
The conservative group Judicial Watch filed suit against the State Department for all official department emails sent or received by Abedin on a non-state.gov email address.
“This is a major victory,” the group’s president, Tom Fitton, said in a Friday statement. “After years of hard work in federal court, Judicial Watch has forced the State Department to finally allow Americans to see these public documents.”
Fitton added, “That these government docs were on Anthony Weiner’s laptop dramatically illustrates the need for the Justice Department to finally do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s obvious violations of law.”

Climate Change Cartoons

Paris Climate Accord

President Trump mocked the Paris Climate Accord he rejected earlier this year in a tweet highlighting the chilly temperatures in his home region.
"In the east, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record," Trump wrote. "Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against."

In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

"Bundle up!" the president added.
Fox News Meteorologist Rick Reichmuth said New Years Eve revelers coming to watch the ball drop in Times Square will encounter a high of 20 degrees and low temperatures in the teens after sunset.
He said the conditions in the traditional security "pens" ball drop viewers must stay in could be "dangerous" as the temperatures drop.
On Wednesday, North American wind chills ranged from 19 degrees in Washington to minus-20 in Fargo, N.D. and even as low as minus-39 degrees in Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories, Reichmuth reported.

Professor who blamed 'Trumpism' for Las Vegas massacre resigns

A far-left Drexel University professor -- known for making inflammatory remarks on social media -- is resigning from his teaching job, blaming a right-wing “internet mob” for alleged “harassment.”

George Ciccariello-Maher, an associate professor of politics and global studies at the Philadelphia school, will be leaving next year, he said in a statement Thursday.

He blamed “right-wing, white supremacist media outlets and internet mobs” that allegedly harassed him for nearly a year.

After December 31st, 2017, I will no longer work at Drexel University. pic.twitter.com/bAM37dbv1q

— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) December 28, 2017

“Staying at Drexel in the eye of this storm has become detrimental to my own writing, speaking and organizing,” he wrote.
The professor had drawn attention for a series of inflammatory remarks. Most recently, he was placed on administrative leave after he blamed the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre of 58 people on the “narrative of white victimization” and “Trumpism.”

Some guy gave up his first class seat for a uniformed soldier. People are thanking him. I'm trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul.

— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) March 26, 2017

In another instance, Ciccariello-Maher in March said he wanted to “vomit or yell” after seeing an airline passenger giving up a first-class seat to a U.S. military service member. On Christmas Eve last year, he said that all he wanted for the holidays was a “white genocide.”
The constant controversy created a backlash for the university, prompting an inquiry into the professor's behavior after donors started reconsidering their partnership with the institution.
The university’s provost reportedly wrote to Ciccariello-Maher that "at least two potential significant donors to the university have withheld previously promised donations” while a number of prospective students reversed their decisions to attend Drexel.
In the resignation announcement, Ciccariello-Maher said that “we are at war” and accused conservatives of “targeting campuses with thinly veiled provocations disguised as free speech.”
He added: “In the face of aggression from the racist Right and impending global catastrophe, we must defend our universities, our students, and ourselves by defending the most vulnerable among us and by making our campuses unsafe spaces for white supremacists.”
Drexel previously defended the professor’s right to free speech, but stressed that his views did not reflect those of the institution.