Was 'liars' remark directed at Haley? Palestinian ambassador won't say

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations on Friday would not clarify if a reference he made about two U.N. ambassadors as being liars was aimed at U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Instead of answering direct questions on the accusation, Ambassador Riyad Mansour said only that Haley’s speech Thursday to the U.N. Security Council was “not credible.”
Mansour had called a news conference to discuss the deteriorating situation on the Gaza-Israel border, where thousands of Palestinians protested Friday. Hundreds reportedly tried to storm into Israel during the weekly demonstration.
During the “Great March of Return,” Israeli security forces reportedly killed three Palestinians, with some 300 injured as they tried to break through the border fence from Gaza.
Referring to Thursday’s Security Council debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine question, Mansour told reporters that while he appreciated the support his delegation received at the council, he was not so impressed with two other delegations. Without referring to the U.S. and Israel by name, he went onto say that, “We challenge the liars who advocated lies in the Security Council yesterday.”

In an undated photo, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour converses with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley.  (Associated Press)

Haley’s speech during the Security Council on Thursday centered on the use of human shields by terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and ISIS. She said the terrorists hide behind innocent women, children and men to further their cause.
Haley in part said that, “Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.”

“Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.”

Upon being asked if he was calling Haley a liar, Mansour told reporters that Haley's speech on Thursday, “created a very strong resentment among the entire Palestinian nation.”
Pushed again for a yes-or-no answer by another journalist, Mansour said only that Haley’s speech was “not credible.”
He said, “With regard to Ambassador Haley, the fact that she goes on the tangent that she did, without saying a single word about who is creating this hardship, and the tragedy for the Palestinian people including children -- and not to site a single case of Palestinian children and their suffering at the hands of the Israeli occupying authority -- would make her whole story not credible, in addition to being extremely insensitive.”
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not respond to a Fox News request for comment, but a senior GOP congressional staffer said that, “The entire U.S. federal government, including even the Supreme Court, has been reviewing how much money we should be giving the Palestinians, because they spend it on terrorism, and how much money the Palestinians owe our citizens, again because of their terrorism. Now is probably not the best time for their officials to double-down on insulting our incredibly popular, incredibly influential U.N. ambassador, which is something they've been doing for months.”
In a February interview with a Palestinian news site, Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, reportedly told Haley to “shut up,” in response to her criticism of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
A few days later Haley shot back during a Security Council meeting with Abbas in attendance.
Haley said, “I will decline the advice I was recently given by your top negotiator, Saeb Erekat. I will not shut up. Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths.”

“I will decline the advice I was recently given by your top negotiator, Saeb Erekat. I will not shut up. Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths.”
- Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

The Palestinian envoy to the world body did, however, admit to calling his Israeli counterpart, Ambassador Danny Danon, a liar for his remarks at Thursday’s Security Council meeting.
In response to his Palestinian counterpart, Danon told Fox News in a statement that, “I will continue to proudly stand up for truth against attempts by the Palestinian representative to slander Israel at the U.N. as he advocates for the terrorists of Hamas, who cower behind women and children and use them as human shields.”

Ex-adviser to Clinton not confrontational in 2nd video, police say

Caren Z. Turner, a former financial adviser to Hillary Clinton, appeared in a viral video in which she confronted police officers in New Jersey.  (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)

The former adviser to Hillary Clinton whose roadside rant in New Jersey went viral in a video this week has surfaced in a second video -- but this time Caren Z. Turner "was not confrontational or rude in any way," police said.
The latest video shows Turner arriving at Tenafly, N.J., police headquarters to inquire about the status of the impounded car that was the catalyst for the confrontation seen in the previous video.
In stark contrast to her appearance in police dashcam footage recorded March 31 along Route 9W in Tenafly, Turner in the second video -- also recorded March 31, but later in the day -- was not disrespectful to officers, NJ.com reported, citing police officials.
The first video ignited a firestorm that resulted in Turner, 60, having to resign as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees bridges, tunnels and airports in the New York City area. She quickly apologized for her behavior, but was later censured by the authority, which she had also served as head of its ethics panel.
The new footage, released by police, shows Turner entering police headquarters, talking to someone at the front desk and waving to an officer.
According to Tenafly police Chief Robert Chamberlain, Turner had come to inquire about the legal requirements involving in retrieving the impounded vehicle.
"She was not confrontational or rude in any way," Chamberlain said. "She didn't drop any names, nor did she use her title to identify herself when she came into the department. She was at the department for approximately one hour."

"She was not confrontational or rude in any way. She didn't drop any names, nor did she use her title to identify herself when she came into the department. She was at the department for approximately one hour."

A routine traffic stop involving Turner’s daughter and three friends had prompted the former commissioner to intervene.
As seen on the dashcam footage, Turner pulls rank, insists the officers call her “commissioner” rather than miss, and tells the officers to “shut the f--- up.”
The Port Authority Board formerly censured Turner on Thursday, citing several ethics rules violations relating to the March 31 incident.
Turner issued an apology for her actions, but seemed to imply that the officers were partially at fault for what ensued.
“I let my emotions get the better of me and regret my tone toward the police officers and use of off-color language,” she said in a statement.
She added: “(A)t no point did I violate the Port Authority’s Code of Ethics or ask for special treatment for anyone involved, nor did I suggest, in any way, that I would use my position at the Port Authority to affect the outcome of the violations issued to the driver.”
Turner has served as a financial adviser to Clinton and other Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Kirtsen Gillibrand of New York and former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.

Dems fear GOP wins in California because of state's primary system, Hoyer says: report

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., thinks Democrats can pick up more than 50 seats in the upcoming midterm elections.  (Reuters)

California's "jungle" primary system has Democrats worried that Republicans could win some of the Golden State's congressional seats in midterm elections, a top House Democrat said Friday.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., speaking to USA Today, said Democrats have a shot at winning in more than 50 congressional districts nationwide -- enough to take control of the House from the GOP.
Democrats need to win 24 seats to flip the House, according to the New York Times, while maintaining the 194 seats they currently hold.
But California’s primary system, in which the top two vote-getters face off in the general election, regardless of party, has Democratic leaders concerned, Hoyer said.
Because of the state's system, if multiple Democrats run in a primary, the party's votes could be so split up that two Republicans could finish first and second and face off in the general election, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“It’s a concern about having a Democrat in the final two,” Hoyer told USA Today. “We are focused on that and trying to make sure that we have at least one, maybe two, that really we think are viable. In some areas, we have like five or six Democrats and two or three Republicans and that makes it challenging.”
Democratic leaders are speaking candidates about the problematic election style, according to the paper.
Hoyer is still fending off backlash from a secret recording released Thursday by the Intercept, in which a voice identified as Hoyer is heard pressuring progressive candidate Levi Tillemann, a 36-year-old entrepreneur running in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District in Denver, to drop out of the race in favor of party-backed Jason Crow.
Hoyer addressed the controversy, telling the paper the focus is on having a Democrat in tough districts that are capable of winning.
“What is really important from our perspective is making sure that we have a Democrat that can win in districts that are tough,” he said. “We pretty much key off what the locals think is the strongest position we can be in.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came to her colleague’s defense, telling reporters during her weekly news conference that “in terms of candidates and campaigns, I don’t see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in — a conversation about the realities of life in the race as to who can make the general election.”
Hoyer and other Democrats have suggested that liberals' disdain for President Donald Trump could give the party the boost it needs in the midterms, but a report from the Brennan Center for Justice suggests otherwise.
The report suggests Democrats would have to win the national popular vote for congressional districts by a nearly 11 percentage point margin over Republicans in gerrymandered districts in key states that favor the GOP – something that hasn’t been done in more than 40 years.
“It would be the equivalent of a tsunami,” said Michael Li, a senior counsel who heads up redistricting work for the center, which is based at New York University's School of Law.
“Democrats would have to win larger than any sort of recent midterm wave — almost double what they got in 2006 — in order to win a narrow majority.”

Comey FBI Man Cartoons

Comey denies release of memo contents was a 'leak,' addresses Dem-funded dossier in Fox News interview

Former FBI Director James Comey on decision-making process in the Hillary Clinton email investigation, origins of the anti-Trump dossier, memos of conversations with President Trump and new book 'A Higher Loyalty.'
Former FBI Director James Comey, in a wide-ranging interview with Fox News on Thursday, defended sharing his memos about conversations with President Trump with multiple people, while denying it was a “leak.”
“That memo was unclassified then,” Comey told anchor Bret Baier during an appearance on “Special Report.” “It's still unclassified. It's in my book. The FBI cleared that book before it could be published.”
Comey acknowledged giving the memos to at least three people including his friend, Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman. He said he sent Richman a copy of the two-page unclassified memo and “asked him to get the substance of it out to the media.”
“The reason I'm smiling, Bret,” Comey said. “I don't consider what I shared Mr. Richman a leak.”
In addition to Richman, Comey said he gave the memos to other members of his “legal team,” including David Kelly and former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
“I gave the memos to my legal team after I gave them to Dan Richman -- after I asked him to get it out to the media,” he said.
COMEY MEMOS SHARED MORE BROADLY THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
He also claimed the memos were personal, not official.
“I didn't consider it part of an FBI file... It was my personal aide-memoire,” Comey said.
The former FBI director said he kept two copies of the memos, one in his personal safe at home and another one at the FBI.
“I always thought of it as mine, like a diary,” he said.
Comey confirmed that the Justice Department's inspector general has interviewed him about his handling of the memos.
“And I expect a report on them,” Comey said. “Not on the handling of classified information because that's frivolous, but on, ‘Did I comply with policy? Did I comply with my employment agreement?’”
Earlier Thursday, Trump accused Comey of being a “liar and a leaker” who is “guilty of crimes.”
“He leaked classified information to get a special counsel and leaked the memos which are classified – the memos were about me and he didn’t write those memos accurately. He wrote a lot of phony stuff,” Trump said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
Comey responded by calling it a “false statement” and saying Trump is “just wrong.”
“Facts really do matter, which is why I'm on the show to answer your questions,” he said.
Comey also denied knowing who was behind the leak about the infamous anti-Trump dossier that was later revealed to have been used to obtain a surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Comey also claimed he never knew exactly who funded the dossier.
Asked when he learned that the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign funded Steele's work, Comey said: “I still don't know that for a fact.”
He went on to say, “I have only seen it in the media. I never knew exactly which Democrats had funded.”
Asked about FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page – whose anti-Trump text messages have been seized upon by Republicans -- Comey said he would have “removed both of them from any contact with significant investigations” had he been aware of the texts.
“It was such poor judgment,” he said.
Pressed on whether Strzok and Page's work should be questioned, Comey acknowledged, “It’s a reasonable question to ask.”
“And I can tell you this. When I saw the text, I was deeply disappointed in them,” he said. “But I never saw any bias, any reflection of any kind of animus towards anybody.”
Comey is doing television interviews to promote his new book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” in which he blasted the president for everything from his integrity to his height, skin and hair.
TRUMP SAYS COMEY ‘GUILTY OF CRIMES’
During his earlier interview on Fox News on Thursday, Trump specifically slammed the memos that Comey leaked to Richman to spur a special counsel appointment.
Fox News reported this week that during Comey's time at the FBI, Richman was a “special government employee” on an unpaid basis. Sources familiar with Richman’s FBI work said Comey assigned him to “special projects.”
On Thursday, Comey was asked why he didn't reveal hiring Richman as a special government employee for the FBI. Comey responded, “It wasn't relevant.”

Cosby's downfall traced to Hannibal Buress' 2014 jokes about him

Comedian Hannibal Buress, seen at an event in Pasadena, Calif., in 2014, is credited with broadening awareness of the allegations that Bill Cosby faced.  (Reuters)

Bill Cosby's conviction on sexual assault charges drew a range of reactions on social media Thursday -- including acknowledgement of another comedian whose 2014 jokes about Cosby have been credited with raising awareness of the allegations Cosby faced.
Thousands of people on Twitter and other sites lauded comedian Hannibal Buress, who called Cosby a rapist during a stand-up set at a Philadelphia comedy club that was recorded and which went viral at the time.
"Took a dude to make some jokes" to bring down Cosby, one Twitter user wrote Thursday. "This is what happens when you don’t believe women."
“Hannibal Buress changed history,” New York Post columnist John Podhoretz tweeted.
In the 2014 routine, Buress mocks Cosby's public scolding of the black community for bad behavior, alleging that Cosby has some shortcomings of his own.
“‘Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom,’ " Buress says, impersonating Cosby.
"'Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby,'" Buress replies in his own voice. "So, brings you down a couple notches. I don’t curse on stage. But yeah, you’re a rapist.”

"Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a couple notches. I don’t curse on stage. But yeah, you’re a rapist."

Buress then encourages audience members to research Cosby's legal history online.
“When you leave here, Google 'Bill Cosby rape,'" he says. "That [expletive] has more results than Hannibal Buress.”
Cellphone video of the performance, first featured on Philadelphia magazine's website, went viral.
At the time, Buress got hate mail from many Cosby fans as well as praise from others calling him a “feminist hero,” the Washington Post reported.
“I got a lot of flak for that. I had people writing me awful things: ‘Bill Cosby’s not a rapist, Hannibal, you are.’ What?! That’s not how that works!” Buress said in his 2016 Netflix special, according to the Post.

“I got a lot of flak for that. I had people writing me awful things: ‘Bill Cosby’s not a rapist, Hannibal, you are.’ What?! That’s not how that works!”
- Hannibal Buress, in a 2016 Netflix special

But soon after Buress’ viral jokes, the allegations against Cosby became common knowledge, and his accusers were galvanized.
More than 60 women have spoken out against Cosby, including 35 accusers who told their story to a “culture that wouldn’t listen,” the Cut magazine reported.
Before then, Cosby's accusers were met with skepticism, threats and attacks on their character, the magazine reported.
COSBY GUILTY: JURY RULES COMEDIAN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ANDREA CONSTAND
In 2005, former basketball star Andrea Constand alleged that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her. But it was not until Thursday, 13 years later, that Cosby was convicted -- although the former sitcom star's lawyer said he plans to file an appeal.
Constand's was the only criminal case to arise from more than 60 women who made allegations against Cosby.
Barbara Bowman had also been telling her story for nearly 10 years, the Post reported.
“Why wasn’t I believed? Why didn’t I get the same reaction of shock and revulsion when I originally reported it?” she wrote in the Post after the Buress joke. “Why was I, a victim of sexual assault, further wronged by victim-blaming when I came forward? The women victimized by Bill Cosby have been talking about his crimes for more than a decade. Why didn’t our stories go viral?”
Cosby, who had repeatedly denied the allegations, could now face up to 10 years in prison for each of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

NBC News' Tom Brokaw allegedly made several unwanted sexual advances toward women, including anchor

Tom Brokaw made unwanted sexual advances against multiple women in the 1990s, a Thursday report claimed.  (Reuters)

Legendary NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw allegedly made unwanted sexual advances against multiple women in the 1990s, a bombshell set of reports revealed Thursday, months after a separate set of accusations led to the downfall of longtime “Today” anchor Matt Lauer.
According to The Washington Post, Brokaw, now 78, made unwanted moves on Linda Vester, a former NBC correspondent and former Fox News anchor, twice during the 1990s, including a move to forcibly kiss Vester, who was in her 20s at the time.
The report also detailed the claims of an anonymous woman who told the outlet Brokaw acted inappropriately toward her during her time as a production assistant in the 1990s. Brokaw was the anchor of “NBC Nightly News” at the time.
He has denied all the accusations against him.
“I met with Linda Vester on two occasions, both at her request, 23 years ago, because she wanted advice with respect to her career at NBC,” Brokaw said in a statement issued by NBC that was provided to The Post. “The meetings were brief, cordial and appropriate, and despite Linda’s allegations, I made no romantic overtures towards her, at that time or any other.”
Before the accusations against him went public, he actually spoke out about the #MeToo movement on MSNBC -- without mentioning his own behavior. “I do think we need to have a healthier, well-defined dialogue, if you will, and I’m not sure how we launch into it,” he said in December 2017.
A Fox News request for comment was not immediately returned by NBC.
Lauer’s former co-host, Ann Curry, who left amid turmoil inside the network, also said in The Post report that she told network management about complaints regarding Lauer's alleged sexual harassment, in 2012. However, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack previously said there were no formal complaints lodged against Lauer in his two decades with the network.
“I am speaking out now because NBC has failed to hire outside counsel to investigate a genuine, long-standing problem of sexual misconduct in the news division,” Vester told The Post.
Vester spoke of an alleged January 1994 incident in a New York hotel room with Brokaw. She had plans to leave New York ahead of an impending snowstorm but Brokaw discouraged her, she said, and suggested that the two get a drink.
“I only drink milk and cookies,” Vester claimed she said as a way of skirting Brokaw’s alleged intentions.
“It was the only thing I could think of at the time, hoping the reference to milk and cookies would make him realize I was 30 years his junior and not interested,” Vester said.
But when plans to travel to Washington D.C. got canceled, Vester said, Brokaw tried again in a 3 a.m. phone call to her hotel room.
“Once in my room . . . I received three phone calls,” she told The Post, citing diary entries she made at the time. “One from a friend, another from a source; the third was Tom Brokaw. He said to order milk and cookies and he was coming over.”
“My career at NBC would be over before it even got going,” Vester said she remembered thinking if she turned Brokaw down. The anchor soon knocked on her door.
“What do you want from me?” Vester claimed she asked Brokaw.
“An affair of more than passing affection,” Brokaw allegedly replied.
“But you’re married,” she said. “And I’m Catholic.”
Brokaw urged Vester to sit next to him on the sofa, she claimed. He proceeded to press “his index finger to my lips and said, ‘This is our compact,’” The Post said she wrote in her diary.
“My insides shook,” Vester said. “I went completely cold.”
Brokaw then allegedly placed his hand on the back of her neck and grabbed her head in order to “show” Vester “how to give a real kiss.”
"I could smell alcohol on his breath, but he was totally sober," Vester told Variety in a detailed account of the alleged interaction. "He spoke clearly. He was in control of his faculties."
Vester said she forcefully wiggled away from Brokaw in reply.
“I said ‘Tom . . . I don’t want to do that with you,’” she wrote.
Following a brief silence, Brokaw decided to leave, Vester claimed. “I think I should go,” she said he said.
A similar incident between Brokaw and Vester took place over a year later in London, Vester claimed, but she again avoided Brokaw’s advances.
A second woman, who once served as a production assistant at NBC News, claimed Brokaw encountered her in a hallway in the mid-1990s and encouraged her to meet him on the side of the walkway. Brokaw then allegedly held her hands, spoke of how cold they were, and proceeded to place them under his jacket.
“He put my hands under his jacket and against his chest and pulled me in so close and asked me, ‘How is your job search going?’” she told The Post. After replying, Brokaw allegedly suggested the woman “come into my office after the show and let’s talk about it.”
The woman said the implication in the conversation was obvious and she skipped the invite. She ultimately left the network.
Neither Vester nor the anonymous woman reported the incidents at the time, The Post reported.
Brokaw stepped down as an NBC news anchor in 2004.
Curry described in detail the claims against Lauer.
“A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her,” Curry said. “She was afraid of losing her job… I believed her.” The anonymous woman, Curry told The Post, said she was “sexually harassed physically” by Lauer.
“I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women,” she said.
Lack was not with the network during the time Curry said she went to management.
In interviews with The Post, 12 NBC employees claimed to have been sexually harassed by Lauer, who was fired in November 2017.
Lauer exposed himself to one woman while the two were in his office and asked her to touch him, an anonymous woman told The Post.
Another said they had sex in the middle of the day in his office.
Lauer, who has remained mostly mum following the allegations last year, provided a forceful response to The Post.
“I have made no public comments on the many false stories from anonymous or biased sources that have been reported about me over these past several months,” he said. “I remained silent in an attempt to protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost. But defending my family now requires me to speak up.
“I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC,” he continued. “However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false.”

Kim Jong Un, South Korea's Moon Jae-in readying joint announcement after historic summit

South Korea on Friday said it is working on a joint statement with North Korea about the outcome of the historic meeting between President Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Kim and Moon, after their afternoon session, are expected to jointly announce the outcome of their meeting.
Kim told Moon that he feels like he’s “firing a flare at the starting line in the moment of (the two Koreas) writing a new history in North-South relations, peace and prosperity.”
Kim also promised Moon he "won't interrupt" his "early morning sleep anymore," referring to missile tests, South Korea said.
The leaders walked unaccompanied to a bridge on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, a border truce village.
It was the first time a member of the Kim dynasty was known to set foot on South Korean soil since 1953. The two men shook hands and smiled for news cameras.
Kim and Moon planted a pine tree together as a symbol of peace before resuming their second meeting of the summit. Kim and Moon have also unveiled a stone plaque placed next to the tree that was engraved with a message saying "Peace and Prosperity Are Planted."
The summit is drawing measured responses from world leaders.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he welcomes the summit but doesn't expect any major breakthroughs.
"I am very encouraged by what's happening," Johnson told reporters Friday. "I don't think that anybody looking at the history of North Korea's plans to develop a nuclear weapon would want to be over-optimistic at this point."
China has welcomed the summit, saying it applauds the countries' leaders for taking a "historic step" toward peace.
After the anticipated announcement, the leaders will be joined by their wives at a dinner banquet in South Korea scheduled for 6:30 p.m. 

Russia's Interference Cartoons

Rudy Giuliani takes over talks with Mueller on possible Trump interview

Rudy Giuliani, the newest arrival to Donald Trump's legal team, has taken over talks with Special Counsel Robert Mueller about a possible interview of the president, Fox News has learned.
The negotiations between Giuliani and the Mueller team have been called ongoing. The president is said to remain skeptical of the idea of an interview, but has not ruled one out.
In a statement to Fox News, Giuliani said his objective "is to end this investigation and distraction from the critical issues facing our President as quickly as possible. The President has produced 1.2 million documents that is historically unprecedented. We believe it presents overwhelming proof that the President did not collude with regard to the 2016 election.
"If anything else is needed," Giuliani added, apparently referring to a potential Trump interview by Mueller, "we will consider it if there is an open mind as to the merits."
Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney and onetime mayor of New York City, joined Trump's legal team last week and proclaimed his intent to bring the Mueller investigation to a swift end. He replaced John Dowd, who resigned last month.
Mueller has told Trump's legal team that the president is not a target of his investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The president is currently a subject of the probe — a designation that could change at any time.

Judge rules New York City bar can refuse service to Trump supporter wearing MAGA hat

A bar patron sued claiming he was refused service and kicked out for wearing a MAGA hat and supporting Trump.  (Reuters)

A Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday that kicking a Trump supporter out of a bar does not violate the law – because the law does not protect against political discrimination.
Greg Piatek of Philadelphia claims he was refused service and then eventually removed from a New York City bar in January 2017 for wearing a “Make American Great Again” hat, in a lawsuit against the establishment.
“Anyone who supports Trump — or believes in what you believe — is not welcome here! And you need to leave right now because we won’t serve you!” Piatek claims the staff of The Happiest Hour told him.
SCHOOL DISTRICT APOLOGIZES AFTER TEACHER BANS MAGA SHIRTS
Piatek claimed the incident “offended his sense of being an American,” the New York Post reported.
The lawyer representing The Happiest Hour, Elizabeth Conway, argued that he was not discriminated against because only religious – not political – beliefs are protected under state and city discrimination law.
“Supporting Trump is not a religion,” Conway argued.
Piatek’s attorney Paul Liggieri responded in court, “The purpose of the hat is that he wore it because he was visiting the 9/11 Memorial.”
“He was paying spiritual tribute to the victims of 9/11. The Make American Great Again hat was part of his spiritual belief,” Liggieri claimed. "Rather than remove his hat, instead he held true to his spiritual belief and was forced from the bar,” Liggieri told Justice David Cohen, the New York Post reported.
The judge pressed Liggieri on the spiritual nature of his client's belief, saying the bar staff would not be aware of Piatek’s specific religious philosophies.
“How many members are in this spiritual program that your client is engaged in?” the judge asked.
“Your honor, we don’t allege the amount of individuals,” Liggieri said.
“So, it’s a creed of one?” the judge asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Liggieri replied, the New York Post reported.
The judge eventually made a ruling on the matter, saying the incident amount to nothing more than a “petty slight,” the New York Post reported.
“Plaintiff does not state any faith-based principle to which the hat relates,” Judge Cohen said. “Here the claim that plaintiff was not served and eventually escorted out of the bar because of his perceived support for President Trump is not outrageous conduct.”
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Piatek was suing for unspecified emotional damage and will review with Liggieri to determine whether or not to appeal the verdict.
The Happiest Hour denied that Piatek had been removed in the first place, stating Piatek “was sufficiently pleased with his service at the bar [and] that he added” a $36 tip onto the $186 tab, according to the New York Post. The bar owners suggest Piatek’s lawsuit was a “publicity stunt.”

Clinton cursed about 'disgusting' Trump during debate prep, book claims

Oct. 9, 2016: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question from the audience during their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis.  (Reuters)

Hillary Clinton went on a “f***-laced fusillade” against “disgusting” Donald Trump during a 2016 debate preparation session amid her frustration of appearing inauthentic to voters, a new book about the presidential campaign claims.
New York Times reporter Amy Chozick released her new bombshell book, “Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling” on Tuesday.
THE NEW YORK TIMES’ LEAD 2016 CLINTON CAMPAIGN REPORTER ADMITS CRYING AFTER TRUMP’S VICTORY
The inside story of the campaign details how Clinton, struggling to portray herself as genuine to voters during the 2016 campaign, unleashed a profanity-laced tirade about Trump to her aides to prove that she can be authentic.
“Aides understood that in order to keep it all together onstage, Hillary sometimes needed to unleash on them in private,” Chozick wrote in the book, according to the Guardian.
“‘You want authentic, here it is!’ she’d yelled in one prep session, followed by a f***-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”

“‘You want authentic, here it is!’ [Clinton] yelled in one prep session, followed by a f***-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”

VIDEO SHOWS EX-CLINTON AIDE IN PROFANITY LACED CONFRONTATION WITH COPS
Chozick’s book points out that the campaign struggled to bridge the generational gap between the staffers and the Clinton family, prompting disagreements on simple campaign strategy or how to deal with Trump’s attacks on Bill Clinton and his sexual assault allegations.
Clinton reportedly “erupted” upon hearing that actress Lena Dunham, one the biggest supporters and main surrogates of the campaign, said she was “disturbed by how, in the 1990s, the Clintons and their allies discredited women” who accused the former president of sexual misconduct.
BILL CLINTON ‘CASUALLY ENCOURAGED’ TRUMP TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT BEFORE 2016 RACE: BOOK
The generational gap also led to campaign manager Robby Mook, 36, always “respectfully” listening to Bill Clinton, but mocking him behind his back and perceiving him as “a relic, a brilliant tactician of a bygone era.”
But the former president repeatedly warned the campaign about Trump’s appeal to voters and knew that “Trump had a shrewd understanding of the angst that so many voters – his voters, the white working class whom Clinton brought back to the Democratic Party in 1992 – were feeling,” Chozick writes in her book.
Meanwhile, the accusations of a toxic Clinton campaign environment come on the heels of this week's controversy involving a former Clinton financial adviser who was forced to resign from her current job after berating some New Jersey police officers.
"You may shut the f--- up!" Caren Z. Turner, 60, a former financial adviser to Clinton and other Democrats -- who was forced to resign from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- shrieked at an officer, according to a police dash cam video released Monday.

US military deaths in Niger attributed to complacency, lack of training, culture of excessive risk: report

A classified Pentagon report attributes the deaths of four U.S. soldiers -- who were ambushed during an operation in Niger in October -- to a list of military shortcomings, including complacency and a lack of training.
In addition, low-level commanders took shortcuts to approve operations – with at least one officer lifting orders from a different mission and pasting them onto the “so-called concept of operations to gain approval,” officials familiar with the report told the Wall Street Journal.
President Donald Trump approved recommendations granting lower-level military commanders the ability make decisions, but the move was not seen as a contributing factor in the Niger deaths, the Journal reported, citing information from the sources.
The report also cited a culture of excessive risk, according to the paper.
Initially, the mission on Oct. 3, 2017, that ultimately sent the Army Special Forces team, along with Nigerian soldiers, into a deadly ambush, was a planned meeting with local officials. However, the team was redirected to assist in a search for Doundou Chefou, a militant suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an American aid worker.
Upon returning, the team was later attacked by Islamic State-linked militants in a village near Tongo Tongo, resulting in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and four Nigerien troops on Oct. 4.
The slain U.S. military members were identified as Sgt. La David Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright.
The report also includes measures from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis aimed at preventing a similar incident from happening again, including, “reinforce normal protocols within the chain of command,” the sources told the Journal.
The months-long investigation consists of testimony, diagrams, maps and video from the helmet cameras of the soldiers, as well as statements from Mattis, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and from the Africa Command, the paper reported.
Families of the fallen military heroes will be briefed on the 6,000-page report, along with lawmakers, before a declassified version is released to the public in the coming days, the paper reported.

Maxine Waters Cartoons

Maxine Waters tells Trump to resign, 'just get out' at TIME 100 Gala honoring her

IDIOT

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who has long called for Trump's removal from office, said at the TIME 100 Gala Tuesday night that she wants him to resign.  (AP)

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., called on President Trump to "please resign" at the TIME 100 Gala on Tuesday night, so that she "won't have to keep up this fight of your having to be impeached."
Waters was prompted by a questioner who asked her if she had some advice for Trump.
"I don’t think you deserve to be there," Waters said, referring to the president. "Just get out.”
The annual event in New York assembles celebrities and prominent figures to celebrate the world's 100 most influential people according to TIME.
In the 2018 TIME 100, Waters was named as one such influencer. Actor Yara Shahidi praised Waters as "so eloquent in letting the world, particularly the white men of Congress who dare test her acumen, know that she is not here for any nonsense."
TUCKER: HOW DID MAXINE WATER AFFORD A $4.3 MANSION AFTER WORKING 40 YEARS IN GOVERNMENT?
Tuesday night's comments were relatively tame for Waters, who has previously called Trump the "most horrible man I've ever seen in my life."
Last month, Trump said Waters suffers from a 'very low IQ' and called on her to take an IQ test.
Waters responded that either the Russia investigation, or the allegations of porn star Stormy Daniels, will ultimately bring Trump down.
"I'm not going to be intimidated by him," Waters said.

Video shows ex-Clinton aide in profanity-laced confrontation with cops

A video released Tuesday shows Caren Z. Turner, a former finance committee member for Hillary Clinton, in a confrontation with police officers over her daughter's traffic stop.  (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)

Police released a video Tuesday showing a former financial adviser to Hillary Clinton getting involved in a heated, profanity-laced confrontation with several officers.

"You may shut the f--- up!" the woman, Caren Z. Turner, 60, shrieks at an officer at one point.

Port Authority ethics chairwoman Caren Turner resigned after being caught on video berating and threatening officers :https://t.co/COYjoI1UMo pic.twitter.com/ISTdZbzu73

— POLITICO (@politico) April 24, 2018

Most recently, Turner has been a commissioner with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and was chairwoman of its ethics committee, Politico reported. She was forced to resign last week because of the interaction with police during Easter weekend.
“The Port Authority has zero tolerance for ethics violations,” PA spokesman Ben Branham told the website.

“The Port Authority has zero tolerance for ethics violations.”

- Ben Branham, spokesman, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

According to a police report from March 31, Turner's daughter had been pulled over by police while driving, but allegedly could not provide proof of insurance or registration. So Turner was called to the scene to help resolve the matter, NJ.com reported.
Police video then shows Turner demanding to know what was going on, and brandishing her credentials as a Port Authority commissioner. 
"I need to know," Turner repeatedly tells the officers, demanding information about the traffic stop.
The officers tell her that they are under no legal obligation to provide details because her daughter and the daughter's passengers were all over age 18.
Turner appears to grow increasingly frustrated, and demands that the officers refer to her as “Commissioner” rather than “Miss.”
In the police report, an officer writes that he advised Turner "to speak with the driver of the vehicle for more information,” based on the way she was “attempting to misappropriately user her professional position to gain authority in this situation.”
When an officer attempts to end the conversation, Turner says: “You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the f--- up!”

“You may not tell me when to take my child. You may shut the f--- up!”

- Caren Z. Turner, in video of confrontation with police

Allegations of a code of ethics violation prompted the Port Authority’s inspector to investigate. Turner resigned after learning of the investigation, the Port Authority said in a statement Monday.
A spokesman for the Port Authority called Turner’s actions “indefensible.”
Turner has yet to comment on her resignation or the allegations of violating the board’s code of ethics. Her name and photo have reportedly been removed from the Port Authority website.
Turner was appointed to the Port Authority by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. A Democrat, she had previously served on finance committees for Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.

Comey's memo leak contact had 'special government employee' status at FBI

The Columbia law professor James Comey used as a go-between last year to leak the contents of sensitive memos to the media confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that he previously worked as a “special government employee” (SGE) for Comey’s FBI on an unpaid basis.
The professor, Daniel Richman, confirmed the special status in response to an inquiry from Fox News, while referring other questions, including on the scope of his work, to the FBI.
"I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay)," Richman wrote in an email.
Richman emerged last year as the former FBI director’s contact for leaking memos documenting his private discussions with President Trump – memos that are now the subject of an inspector general review over the presence of classified material. Sources familiar with Richman’s status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building. Richman’s status was the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding.

Sources familiar with Daniel Richman’s status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building.

While Richman's portfolio included the use of encrypted communications by terror suspects, the sources said Richman also was sent talking points about the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Those talking points attempted to compare and contrast Clinton's use of an unsecured personal server exclusively for government business with the case of retired Gen.David Petraeus, who shared classified information with his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell, as well as the case brought against the late Sandy Berger. The former national security adviser under President Clinton pleaded guilty to the unauthorized removal and retention of classified material from the National Archives.
Incidentally, another “special government employee” who has come under scrutiny was Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, among others, previously questioned Abedin's special status that allowed her to work at the Clinton State Department and private-sector entities at the same time.
Lawmakers are only beginning to raise questions about Richman’s status. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” said the information about Richman and his special FBI status first emerged during closed-door testimony by Comey's former chief of staff James Rybicki before the House oversight and judiciary committees.
"[D]uring that deposition, it was brought out that Daniel Richman, the guy who information was leaked through to The New York Times, had this special status called special government employee status, where he could sort of come and go in the FBI,” Jordan said. He said he could not speak to the significance, but "it seems kind of interesting that the guy who Comey leaks to is a good friend, who had this sort of unfettered access into the FBI."
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., also raised questions about the status.
"It's certainly interesting that Director Comey would offer a special job and give full access to his friend when there are 35,000 employees at the FBI. And it isn't just that he gave these memos to a friend--he gave them to another FBI employee he had hand-picked to act as a 'special government employee' of the FBI. The question becomes: how many other people did he give these memos to?" he told Fox News in a statement.
According to the Office of Government Ethics, a special government employee is "an officer or employee who is retained, designated, appointed, or employed to perform temporary duties, with or without compensation, for not more than 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days."
Fox News first reached out on Friday to Richman, who initially declined to comment on his special status with the FBI. Based on new information, Fox Newson Tuesday provided detailed questions about his responsibilities under the "special projects" portfolio -- and whether they included the Clinton investigation, the Russian counter-intelligence probe, andcontact with the media on behalf of senior FBI leadership.
Similar questions were provided to the publisher of Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty." There was no immediate response.
Richman does appear in cryptic text messages between demoted FBI agent Peter Strzok and re-assigned FBI lawyer Lisa Page on Nov. 2, 2016 a week before the election. Texting about a New York Times report, Page writes, "Jesus. Another article pushed by nyt on this. Richman is a friend of Comey and [former FBI general counsel James] baker.”
This may be a reference to a Nov. 1, 2016 story headlined, "FBI's Email Disclosure Broke a Pattern Followed Even This Summer,” that quotes Richman on Comey's decision to re-open the Clinton email case before the election.
He says in the article, “Those arguing that the director should have remained silent until the new emails could be reviewed — even if that process lasted, or was delayed, until after the election — give too little thought to the governing that needs to happen after November. If the F.B.I. director doesn’t have the credibility tokeep Congress from interfering in the bureau’s work and to assure Congress that a matter has been or is being looked into, the new administration will pay a highprice.”
Richman’s Columbia bio page says he “served as a consultant to the Department of Justice” and he is “currently an adviser to FBI Director James B. Comey.”
Fox News first reached out to the FBI on Monday about Richman’s status and followed up Tuesday with detailed questions -- regarding his responsibilities under the “special projects” mandate, his security clearance, physical access to the bureau and whether he was the only special government employee during Comey's tenure. The FBI had no comment on Richman or Fox News' specific questions about his work for the bureau. A spokesperson said the FBI has employed a number of “special government employees” on an unpaid basis, and challenged the notion anyone has “unfettered” FBI access.