Kanye West says Obama never apologized for 'jackass' remarks

Following up a whirlwind week of pro-Trump tweets and freewheeling interviews, rapper Kanye West on Tuesday called out former President Barack Obama for failing to apologize for calling him a "jackass" multiple times.
The former president first used the epithet to describe West in leaked 2009 interview footage after the rapper famously interrupted singer Taylor Swift's VMA acceptance speech.
The Atlantic reported that Obama again called West a "jackass" in 2012, before acknowledging that West is 'talented.'
But Obama has never apologized for the remarks or clarified that he was kidding, West lamented in an interview with television personality Charlamagne tha God that was posted online Tuesday.
"I'm your favorite," West said, referring to Obama. "But I'm not safe. But that's why you love me. So just tell me you love me! And tell the world you love me. Don't tell the world I'm a jackass.
"You know, he never called me to apologize. The same person who sat down with me and my mom, I think should have communicated with me directly and been like, ‘Yo, Ye, you, you know what it is," West said. "I’m in the room and it was just a joke."
West also insisted he is Obama's favorite artist, and expressed regret that the former president sometimes seemed to favor other musicians.
“I’m your favorite artist," West said in the interview. "You play 'Touch the Sky' at your inauguration, and now, all of a sudden, Kendrick (Lamar) and Jay-Z and all the people you invite to the White House, like, now these your favorite rappers?”
West also stated, "I am the greatest artist of all time." He added that it therefore "makes sense" that Obama would like him, since the former president has "good taste."
But West was careful to note he hasn't completely soured on Obama.
"I love Obama," West said at one point in the interview. "I'm sure we'll hang out, go to Richard Branson's island, whatever, it'll be cool. I just think we were in a period where he had so much stuff to deal with, he couldn't deal with a wildcard like me."
The rapper's tone was markedly different from his Twitter posts last week.
"Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed," West tweeted Thursday.
He also posted his support for Trump on the social media site, saying he loves the president and admires his independent thinking, even though he does not always agree with him.
"I love the way Candace Owens thinks," West also tweeted. The post followed a lengthy string of pseudo-philisophical one-liners and platitudes, including "all you have to be is yourself" and "images are limitless and words aren't."
On Tuesday, West also turned up at the TMZ offices to film “TMZ Live," where he sparked outrage for suggesting that slavery was a "choice."
The interview format quickly deteriorated, with West shouting across the newsroom.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years," West began. "For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice. Like, you were there for 400 years and it’s all of you all? Like, we’re mentally in prison. Like, slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks,” he said. “So prison is something that unites us as one race, blacks and whites being one race. We’re the human race.”

Mueller told Trump legal team a presidential subpoena could be possible, ex-attorney says

Special counsel Robert Mueller told President Trump's legal team that he could subpoena the president to appear before a grand jury if Trump refuses an interview with Mueller's team, Trump's former lead attorney told The Associated Press Tuesday night.
John Dowd told the AP that Mueller raised the possibility of a subpoena during a meeting with Trump's legal team in March. According to accounts of the meeting first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by Fox News, Dowd retorted: "This isn’t some game. You are screwing with the work of the president of the United States."
Dowd resigned as Trump's lead lawyer weeks later amid a dispute over how to answer Mueller's request for a presidential interview.
The meeting appears to have been the first time Mueller raised the possibility of compelling Trump to testify as part of his investigation into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials ahead of the 2016 election.
The Post report came one day after Fox News, The New York Times and other outlets obtained a list of questions that Trump's legal team believes Mueller wishes to ask him. The Post reported that attorney Jay Sekulow compiled the list after Mueller's team gave the president's lawyers detailed information about what they wished to discuss.
The possible questions cover Trump's interactions with key figures in the Russia saga -- including former FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
The queries also touch on Trump's businesses and his discussions with his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, about a possible Moscow real estate deal. Cohen's business dealings are part of a separate FBI investigation.
One question asks what discussions Trump may have had regarding "any meeting with Mr. Putin," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Another question asks what the president may have known about a possible attempt by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to set up a back channel with Russia before Trump's inauguration.
On Tuesday morning, Trump said it was "disgraceful" that the list of potential questions had been leaked to the media. In a brief phone conversation with Fox News, Dowd denied that he had leaked the list to the media and denied that he was the source of the initial Washington Post report on the Mueller meeting.

San Francisco Cartoons

San Francisco announces needle cleanup team amid crackdown on street littering

San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrel

The Mayor of San Francisco announced Monday the hiring of 10 workers who will clean up needles strewn in the streets.
San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell said the needle-cleanup team will focus solely on responding to resident complaints and remove needles and syringes from “hot spots” daily.
He told The San Francisco Examiner that city residents will feel the impact of the new team “without a doubt” and assured that “If they don’t, we will fund more.”
About 275,000 needles are collected every month by the Public Health Department and nonprofit organizations focused on providing syringes and safe disposal.
The mayor said discarded syringes are among the top litter complaints in the city with a growing problem of homelessness.
The city will give $750,000 to the AIDS Foundation, which will hire the new team of cleaners, Barbara Garcia, the public health director, said. The cleaners will begin their work sometime in June.
The new initiative is part of a larger effort by the mayor to fix the state of city streets. He recently vowed to combat the problems of tent camps, and stinky urine and trash across the city.
Farrell is expected to present a street-cleaning effort in his June 1 city budget proposal. Last week, the city board approved an additional $1.1 million funding increase for street cleaning, but Farrell said he will veto the proposal because he’s in favor of a comprehensive citywide plan, the Examiner reported.
"The trash, our homeless, the needles, the drug abuse on our streets, I've seen it all in our city and it's gotten to the point where we need to really change course," Farrell said in a recent interview.
"We've gone away from just being compassionate to enabling street behavior and that, in my opinion, is a shift that's unacceptable.”

Trump answers Netanyahu bombshell on Iran: ‘Not an acceptable situation’

President Trump called the Iran nuclear deal a “horrible agreement for the United States” in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bombshell allegations about Tehran's covert activity – but stopped short of saying whether he'd abandon the deal ahead of a looming deadline.
The president addressed the claims during a Rose Garden press conference Monday afternoon, moments after Netanyahu held a dramatic presentation revealing intelligence he says shows Iran is lying about its nuclear weapons program.
“That is just not an acceptable situation,” Trump said.
Trump said Netanyahu’s claims show Iran is “not sitting back idly."
"They're setting off missiles which they say are for television purposes," Trump said. He added: "I don't think so.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders responded, “The United States is aware of the information just released by Israel and continues to examine it carefully. This information provides new and compelling details about Iran’s efforts to develop missile-deliverable nuclear weapons. These facts are consistent with what the United States has long known: Iran had a robust, clandestine nuclear weapons program that it has tried and failed to hide from the world and from its own people. The Iranian regime has shown it will use destructive weapons against its neighbors and others. Iran must never have nuclear weapons.”
Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to exit the Iran deal, which was signed during the Obama administration. A crucial deadline for re-certifying the deal is on the horizon.
Netanyahu clearly intended for Trump to see his presentation, as he noted that Trump would soon make a key decision on the Iran deal.
“I’m sure he’ll do the right thing,” Netanyahu said.
On Monday, Trump suggested he could seek to negotiate a new agreement, something he discussed during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Washington last week.
“So we'll see what happens,” Trump said, when asked about the announcement. “I'm not telling you what I'm doing. [A lot] of people think they know. And on or before the 12th, we'll make a decision.”
The president made the comments during a joint press conference with visiting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
Trump said that overall, “what we've learned has really shown that I have been 100 percent right.”
Netanyahu said during his earlier presentation that new intelligence shows Iran lied about never having nuclear weapons and lied again by not coming clean under the terms of the 2015 deal. "The Iran deal ... is based on lies," he said.
The information was obtained within the past 10 days, Israeli officials told Fox News. Netanyahu said the files were moved to a "highly secret" location in Tehran, and contained materials spread over 55,000 pages and 55,000 files on 183 CD's.
"The nuclear deal gives Iran a clear path to producing an atomic arsenal," Netanyahu said Monday.
NETANYAHU SAYS IRAN ‘BRAZENLY LYING’ AFTER SIGNING NUCLEAR DEAL
Netanyahu's statement came on the heels of a missile attack in northern Syria that killed nearly 26-pro-government fighters, mostly Iranians, according to a Syria war monitoring group. Israel had no comment on the strike, but there was widespread speculation that Israel was behind it. Tehran has sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters to back Assad's forces in Syria's seven-year civil war.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon on Monday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United States “had nothing to do with the strike last night.”
Mattis also said the evidence cited by Netanyahu on Monday did not come up during his discussions with the Israeli minister of defense last week. But he said parts of Iran nuclear deal “certainly need to be fixed.”
“The Iran Deal was and has always been a foreign policy debacle. But today’s stunning intel presentation from @netanyahu provides even more troubling context. All along it was built on a crumbling foundation of lies, deception, and naivete. This 'deal' should be shredded,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., tweeted.
Israel and Iran are arch-enemies, and Israel has said repeatedly it would not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria. Iran, which is backing the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has accused Israel of carrying out another airstrike in Syria this month that killed seven Iranian military advisers and vowed revenge.

“That is just not an acceptable situation."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday ratcheted up the Trump administration's rhetoric against Iran and offered warm support to Israel and Saudi Arabia in their standoff with Tehran.
"The United States is with Israel in this fight," Pompeo said.
The 2015 deal gave Iran relief from crippling sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Netanyahu has been a leading critic of the agreement, saying it fails to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons capability and welcoming Trump's pledges to withdraw from the deal if it is not changed.
Both Trump and Netanyahu say the deal should address Iranian support for militants across the region and Iran's development of long-range ballistic missiles, as well as eliminate provisions that expire over the next decade.
On Monday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the time when Iran's enemies can "hit and run" is over.
"They know if they enter military conflict with Iran, they will be hit multiple times," he said, according to his website. He did not specifically refer to the latest attack in Syria.
Trump on Monday also floated the idea of holding his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Koreas.
"There's something that I like about it because you are there, you are actually there," Trump said. "If things work out there's a great celebration to be had on the site, not in a third-party country."
A Trump-Kim meeting would be the first U.S.-North Korean leadership summit in more than six decades of hostility since the 1950-53 Korean War. Trump has previously said that five locations were being considered, but on Friday said the choice had been narrowed to two or three.
Monday was the first time he'd publicly specified potential locations for the meeting, slated for May or early June. He added that the Southeast Asian city state of Singapore was also in the running.

Rapper with ties to Snoop Dogg issues 'Crip alert' for Kanye West

A California rapper on Sunday ordered local gang members to attack Kanye West over his support for President Donald Trump.
Daz Dillinger, a cousin of legendary rapper Snoop Dogg, issued a “Crip alert” for gang members in an Instagram video.
"We are in one boat and they’re killing all of us. He jumps over there and says 'Master, I'm your side,’” he said about West in the now-deleted clip, TMZ reported. "I'm with you master Trump. Burn all these n------."
“Yo national alert, all the Crips out there, y’all f--- Kanye up,” Dillinger continued, referring to the infamous Crips gang in California. “Better not ever see you in concert; better not ever see you around the LBC; better not ever see you around California.”
The rapper went on to mention the city where West lives, saying: “Stay in Calabasas, ya hear me? ‘Cuz we got a Crip alert for Kanye … All the Crips out there — you see him, bang on his ass, f--- his a-- up. ”
The backlash shortly followed with numerous people expressing concern about the rapper ordering violent gang members to attack West. Dillinger reportedly also made other messages directed at West over Sunday and Monday.
Other rappers also weighed on the topic, according to Page Six. “What the f--- is going on,” 50 Cent wrote on Instagram. “Daz Told the crips to f--- Kanye up…Crips Vs Kardashian’s…get the strap.”
Snoop Dogg’s cousin responded to backlash on Monday, posting on Instagram: “FREEDOM OF SPEECH FUC KANYE THIS CRIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP THE REVOLUTION IS ON NOW [sic].”
Late Monday evening he also posted another video, captioned: “Stick and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt me.”
Dillinger is a well-known rap artist who is still releasing music together with his cousin Snoop Dogg.
Snoop Dogg has been also critical of West showing support for President Trump, mocking him in multiple Instagram posts, including a fake tweet from former President George W. Bush saying “Kanye West does not care about black people.”

Mueller's questions for Trump leaked to NYT, in latest unexplained disclosure from Russia probe

A lengthy list of questions for President Trump from special counsel Robert Mueller has been leaked to The New York Times, marking the latest in a string of apparently deliberate disclosures from the ongoing probe into Russian involvement in the U.S. presidential election.
The paper, saying only that it had "obtained" the questions without specifying how, called some of the questions "tantalizing" and suggested they reveal that Mueller may have uncovered pre-election outreach by Trump's campaign to Russian officials.
The questions also reportedly cover Trump's motivations for firing FBI Director James Comey a year ago, as well as his reaction to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal from the Russia investigation.
In one question obtained by the Times, Mueller asks what Trump knew about campaign staff, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, reaching out to Moscow.
Leaks in the Mueller probe have been suspected for several months, leading The New York Post to ask last year if Mueller is "playing politics with his prosecutions."
The news of the indictments of Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, for example, came in media reports days in advance. Although some commentators have praised Mueller for clamping down on leaks, Republicans have sharply criticized the disclosures seemingly coming from within Mueller's ranks.
Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, the leader of the House’s top investigative committee, slammed Mueller in October for allowing the news media to learn that he and his legal team had charges in their Russia investigation.
“In the only conversation I’ve had with Robert Mueller, I stressed to him the importance of cutting out the leaks,” Gowdy, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s kind of ironic that the people charged with investigating the law and the violations of the law would violate the law.”

Although Mueller's team has indicated to Trump's lawyers that he's not considered a target, investigators remain interested in whether the president's actions constitute obstruction of justice and want to interview him about several episodes in office. The lawyers want to resolve the investigation as quickly as possible, but there's no agreement on how to do that.
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow declined to comment to The Associated Press on Monday night, as did White House lawyer Ty Cobb.
Mueller has brought several charges against Manafort, but none are for any crimes related to Russian election interference during the 2016 campaign. And he has denied having anything to do with such an effort.

“It’s kind of ironic that the people charged with investigating the law and the violations of the law would violate the law.”

The queries also touch on Trump's businesses and his discussions with his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, about a possible Moscow real estate deal. Cohen's business dealings are part of a separate FBI investigation.
One question asks what discussions Trump may have had regarding "any meeting with Mr. Putin," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Another question asks what the president may have known about a possible attempt by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to set up a back channel with Russia before Trump's inauguration.
Additional questions center on Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his discussions on sanctions against Russia with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition. Flynn is now cooperating with Mueller's investigators.
"What did you know about phone calls that Mr. Flynn made with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, in late December 2016?" reads one question. Another asks if there were any efforts to reach out to Flynn "about seeking immunity or possible pardon."
Flynn was fired Feb. 13, 2017, after White House officials said he had misled them about his Russian contacts during the transition period by saying that he had not discussed sanctions.
The following day, according to memos written by Comey, Trump cleared the Oval Office of other officials and encouraged Comey to drop the investigation into Flynn.

VA Hospital Cartoons

White House mystery: Where is Macron's gifted oak tree?

April 25: President Trump and President Macron shovel dirt onto a freshly planted oak tree as first lady Melania Trump watches on the South Lawn of the White House. The tree has since disappeared.  (Reuters)

A mystery is brewing at the White House about what happened to the oak tree President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron planted there last week.
The sapling was a gift from Macron on the occasion of his state visit.
News photographers snapped away Monday when Trump and Macron shoveled dirt onto the tree during a ceremonial planting on the South Lawn. By the end of the week, the tree was gone from the lawn. A pale patch of grass was left in its place.
The White House hasn't offered an explanation.
The oak sprouted at a World War I battle site that became part of U.S. Marine Corps legend. About 2,000 U.S. troops died in the June 1918 Battle of Belleau Wood, fighting a German offensive.
Reuters reported that the tree grew near the “Devil Dog” fountain. The nickname stems, in part, from the German moniker “Teufelhunden”, which means “devil dogs.”
It is reportedly believed that Germans used the nickname to descriibe the Marines who fought there due to their ferocity in the fight.

Utah VA hospital launches inquiry after vet's dad posts photo of 'unsanitary' room: report

The father of an Army veteran took to Twitter to show the conditions of a patient room at a Salt Lake VA facility.  (Stephen Wilson/Twitter)

The father of a U.S. Army veteran on Friday tweeted photos of what he called an “unsanitary and disrespectful” exam room that his son was forced to use during treatment for an ankle injury sustained in Iraq, KSL reported.
The pictures, which were released on Twitter, appear to show an overflowing trash bin and dirty bowls in a sink at the Veterans Affairs clinic in Salt Lake City. The photos were reportedly taken on April 5.
"I figured they would say, 'Oh, this room's not clean' and take me somewhere else, but they just kind of blew past it, didn't acknowledge it," Christopher Wilson, an Iraq-war veteran who served in the Army for six years, told the station. "They're doctors, right? So I figure one of them was going to say 'Let's go somewhere else' or 'Give us a minute to clean it,' but nothing."
Dr. Karen Gribbin, the chief of staff at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, on Saturday reportedly said that Wilson should not have been in the room. She said the rooms should be cleaned prior to each patient and called on an investigation.
Gribbin told the news station that she spoke with the veteran and apologized. She said generally "we have enjoyed very high patient satisfaction ratings at our facility."
She told the station that she thanked Wilson for bringing the matter to her attention.
"I do not want another veteran to experience this," she told the station.

Caravan asylum-seekers heading toward showdown as US officials say border crossing is full

U.S. immigration officials said Sunday that the San Diego border crossing where hundreds of Central American immigrants intended to apply for asylum was closed due to high capacity -- but many of the asylum-seekrs were preparing to wait overnight.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said earlier Sunday that the agency "reached capacity at the San Ysidro port of entry for CBP officers to be able to bring additional persons traveling without appropriate entry documentation into the port of entry for processing."
Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told Fox News in a statement that immigrants "may need to wait in Mexico as CBP officers work to process those already within our facilities."
Despite the announcement, about 50 people walked across a bridge and approached the port facility, but were not immediately accommodated by U.S. officials. They were being permitted to wait in passageways until room became available, and appeared prepared to wait overnight, according to Irineo Mujica, one of the organizers of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, an organization assisting the asylum speakers.
Another 50 prepared to camp outside a gate on the Mexican side of the border crossing with backpacks and blankets hoping to get their turn on Monday.
Immigration officials had warned that the San Ysidro border crossing may not be able hold many asylum-seekers if it faces too many at once. The port of entry, according to the agency, can hold about 300 people temporarily.
Roughly 200 people, including women and young children, were expected to turn themselves over to border inspectors after arriving in Tijuana last week, claiming they had a credible fear of persecution at home. Demonstrators gathered along the border to hold a rally in the hours before crossing over, with some people scaling the fence.
ASYLUM-SEEKING IMMIGRANT 'CARAVAN' POISED TO TEST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

A demonstration on the border in Tijuana, Mexico, as a caravan of Central Americans prepares for their border crossing.  (AP )

"The only thing I would tell Mr. Trump is to have a conscious and to look at all the people and the way they suffer. Because the people, they are coming from those countries, they are not doing it for pleasure," Osman Salvador Ulla Castro, who is from Honduras, told Fox News. "They face danger and extortions and they are looking for a better life."
The Border Patrol said Saturday that several groups of families from the caravan earlier tried to enter the U.S. illegally by scaling parts of the "dilapidated scrap metal border fence" near San Ysidro.

People climb the border wall fence as a caravan of migrants and supporters reached the United States-Mexico border near San Diego, California, U.S., April 29, 2018.  (REUTERS/Mike Blake)

"In several of these incidents, children as young as 4 years old, and in one case a pregnant female, were detected entering the United States illegally through a dark, treacherous canyon that is notorious for human and drug smuggling," U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Chief Patrol Agent Rodney Scott said. "As a father myself, I find it unconscionable that anyone would expose a child to these dangerous conditions."
The Trump administration has been tracking the caravan since it started March 25 near the Guatemala border, calling it a threat to the U.S., in addition to promising a swift response.
The administration has also claimed the caravan represented a deliberate attempt to overwhelm the U.S. legal system and the courts.
CARAVAN'S ASYLUM-SEEKERS SNUB US WARNINGS AS THEY HEAD TOWARD BORDER
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said last week that asylum claims would be resolved "efficiently and expeditiously," but that the asylum-seekers should seek it in the first safe country they reach, including Mexico.
Asylum-seekers typically are separated from their children and held up to three days at the border before being turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If they pass an asylum officer's initial screening, they may be detained for several months until their court hearing or released with ankle monitors.
Nearly 80 percent of asylum-seekers passed the initial screening from October through December, according to the latest numbers available, but few are likely to eventually win asylum.
Any asylum seekers making false claims to U.S. authorities could be prosecuted, as could anyone who assists or coaches immigrants on making false claims, according to Nielsen.

Members of a caravan from Central America walk next to the border fence between Mexico and the U.S., before a gathering in a park and prior to preparations for an asylum request in the U.S., in Tijuana, Mexico April 29, 2018.  (REUTERS/Edgard Garrido)

Administration officials and their allies claim asylum fraud is growing and that many who seek it are coached on how to do so.
U.S. immigration lawyers who went to Tijuana have denied coaching people in the caravan, but have said they have been providing one-on-one counseling to assess the merits of their cases and how asylum works in the U.S.
ASYLUM-SEEKING IMMIGRANT 'CARAVAN' POISED TO TEST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
"Like how to defend myself with immigration, how to carry myself," a 16-year-old unaccompanied minor from Honduras told Fox News on Saturday regarding the meetings he's had with lawyers.
Central American migrants sit on top of the border wall on the beach in San Diego during a gathering of migrants living on both sides of the border, Sunday, April 29, 2018.  (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Heather Crone, of U.S. advocacy group Show Up for Racial Justice, said Sundays he's found 80 people in America who have agreed to sponsor caravan members if they're released while their petitions are pending.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has called the caravan "a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system," pledging to send more immigration judges to the border to resolve cases if needed.

Correspondents' Association throws comedian under bus over jokes on Sanders' appearance

The White House Correspondents’ Association distanced late Sunday from comedian Michelle Wolf, echoing fellow journalists’ and President Donald Trump’s criticism for her vulgar and personal” comedy routine on Saturday.

The White House Correspondents’ Association distanced itself late Sunday from comedian Michelle Wolf after her comedy routine on Saturday that some found vulgar and personal.
“Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people,” Margaret Taley, the WHCA president, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission.”
The backlash against the correspondents’ dinner was prompted over Wolf’s profanity-laced routine that targeted White House press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
"I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful," the former “Daily Show” writer said. "She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies."
"I'm never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders," the comedian continued. "Is it Sarah Sanders? Is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? Like, what's Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women?"
The WHCA president, who’s also a reporter of Bloomberg News, said members of the association expressed “dismay” and concern how Wolf’s routine at the event “reflects on our mission.”
Talev added that the association is “committed to hearing from members on your views on the format of the dinner going forward.”
The WHCA statement echoes President Donald Trump’s criticism of the event, which he didn’t attend and instead held a rally in Michigan, calling it “a very big, boring burst.”
Trump reiterated his views following the WHCA statement, tweeting: “The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a failure last year, but this year was an embarrassment to everyone associated with it. The filthy ‘comedian’ totally bombed (couldn’t even deliver her lines-much like the Seth Meyers weak performance). Put Dinner to rest, or start over!”
The jokes were also criticized by prominent journalists, with New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman praising the press secretary for not walking out amid attacks on her physical appearance.
“That @PressSec sat and absorbed intense criticism of her physical appearance, her job performance, and so forth, instead of walking out, on national television, was impressive.”
“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski called the jokes on Sanders “deplorable” and said the association owes Sanders an apology.
“Watching a wife and mother be humiliated on national television for her looks is deplorable. I have experienced insults about my appearance from the president. All women have a duty to unite when these attacks happen and the WHCA owes Sarah an apology,” she tweeted.
Wolf has since pushed back against the criticism, saying she didn’t mock Sanders’ appearance and joked about her “despicable behavior.”
“Why are you guys making this about Sarah’s looks? I said she burns facts and uses the ash to create a *perfect* smoky eye. I complimented her eye makeup and her ingenuity of materials,” Wolf tweeted.

Kathy Griffin Cartoons

Weinstein ‘believes he will be forgiven’ by Hollywood: Piers Morgan

Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman of the Weinstein Company, kicks off the Film Finance Circle conference with an informal discussion at the inaugural Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, October 15, 2007. REUTERS/Steve Crisp/File Photo April 29, 2018

Movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women, believes he will eventually be forgiven by Hollywood, according to television presenter Piers Morgan.
Once one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, Weinstein has been accused by more than 70 women of sexual misconduct, including rape.
Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.
Morgan told GQ magazine he had spoken to Weinstein at a clinic where he has been seeking treatment.
“I’ve spoken to Harvey in the clinic in Arizona, for about an hour. He’s fighting,” Morgan said.
“He’s a fascinating character. The apocalyptic symptom of the whole thing – the casting couch finally brought to judgment.
Morgan said he was not as surprised by some of the allegations.
“Listen, this has been the system since Hollywood existed,” Morgan said.
“It’s been a moral cesspit since the ’20s, and the idea that Harvey Weinstein is the only villain? Do me a favor.
“Look at Mel Gibson: ultimately Harvey believes he will be forgiven.”
Gibson sparked controversy in 2006 after unleashing an anti-Semitic tirade during his 2006 arrest for drunk driving, but has enjoyed recent success and was awarded a best director nomination for his film Hacksaw Ridge in 2017.
Weinstein said in a statement that he spoke with Morgan last year.
“I have immense respect for Piers Morgan and appreciate him. During our conversation, which was back in 2017, the only thought I conveyed was that my focus now and in the future is on my family,” Weinstein said.
“I did not talk about business or Hollywood. My priority is my family.”
The full GQ interview will be published on May 3.

Kathy Griffin White House Correspondence Dinner

What a joke the White House Correspondence's Dinner has become, laughable :-)

Comedian Kathy Griffin shocked attendees of the 2018 White House Correspondence Dinner on Saturday less than a year after posing for a photo with Trump's decapitated head.

Griffin, 57, turned up to the prestigious Beltway event wearing a racy yet elegant black vintage gown where she was greeted with bemused smiles and embraces from DC veterans, celebrities and journalist alike.

She became the ire of the Trump administration for the controversial image, and was even investigated by the Secret Service. 

But she seemed to have put the scandal behind her when she arrived at the lavish event.  

'I'm having the time of my life at the White House Correspondents Dinner!,' Griffin posted to her Twitter page along with a picture of herself and Washington, D.C., bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks April Ryan.

She also retweeted a message uploaded by MSNBC host Al Sharpton, who wrote: 'Talking with comedian Kathy Griffin at the 2018 White House Correspondent's Dinner.'

Griffin found herself mired in controversy last May following a photo-shoot where she was shown holding a fake severed head resembling President Donald Trump. 

Before attending Saturday's gala, Griffin told online publication Washington Blade -  who extended an invitation to the successful comedic star - that she was ready for whatever reaction her appearance might provoke. 

'I'm only going to bring my head, but that's attached to my body,' Griffin quipped to the Blade a day before the dinner. 

'I'm not sure the feds would find the joke is funny a year later as they didn't find it funny a year ago.' 

Initially apologetic for the disturbing photograph, taken by Tyler Shields, she retracted her statement after suffering a torrent of criticism she said was unwarranted.  

 'I really never thought that photo would take off at all. Like I've been doing 'shocking' things my whole career.' She called the fallout 'faux-outrage.'

She said there were a few missteps, including a hastily put-together apology video followed by a 'disastrous' press conference with attorney Lisa Bloom in which she called Trump a 'bully' and only worsened the still-spiraling disaster.

Initially apologetic for the disturbing photograph, she retracted her apology after suffering a torrent of criticism she said was unwarranted

'My social media was so flooded that I really thought, 'OK, I am the most reviled person in the world right now,' she said. 'It's been a long time to sort of process that and figure out what's real and what isn't.' She added: 'I really do believe if it happened to me it can happen to you.'

During those dark days, Griffin said many colleagues like Anderson Cooper turned away but one celebrity reached out — Jim Carrey, someone she didn't know that well. He advised her to find the comedy in her absurd situation.

'It was really meaningful to me that he called,' she said. 'Jim's advice was right on, which is, 'Lean into this topic and you'll find the comedy.' And luckily I found a lot of comedy while hibernating.'

In November 2017,  Griffin told the Associated Press that Trump had executives place her on a 'Hollywood blacklist,' claiming that he he personally orchestrated the near ruin of her career. 

'I didn't know that the Trump machine had this apparatus ready to go and waiting for an incident like my photo because I've said controversial things my whole career and Trump himself has had me roast him,' Griffin said.

Griffin says she hopes to make her U.S. comeback by laughing about the disturbing photograph that got her in hot water with the feds and almost killed her career. But she also has this warning amid the jokes: 'If it happened to me it can happen to you.' (Still Crying) 'I'm trying to sort of get people to forgive me and get people to come back to me or give me a chance. And it's interesting. It's really like I'm starting all over again,' she said.

Griffin, who said many people still send her Bibles, acknowledges there are some places in America where she will never be welcomed again and that some TV shows won't ever invite her back. 'I still haven't won over the entire cast of 'The View,' she joked.

Hours before the White House Correspondent Dinner was scheduled to start, Griffin posted a tweet expressing her excitement for the event. 

Obama's insults may be a bond between Trump, Kanye West

Then-President-elect Donald Trump and Kanye West pose for a photo in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, Dec. 13, 2016.  (Associated Press)

Kanye West’s unexpected declaration of support for President Donald Trump this week set social media ablaze.
Many Trump critics were quick to doubt the sincerity of West, having in mind a history West’s public antics.
West, for instance, once famously blurted out on live television, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” He also famously interrupted Taylor Swift at an awards event.
And less than two weeks after the 2016 presidential election, West told a live audience at a show in San Jose, Calif., “If I would’ve voted, I would have voted on Trump.”

“If I would’ve voted, I would have voted on Trump.”

The response was meet with audible boos.
But a connection between the West and Trump had been formed even earlier: Both men had been publicly insulted by President Barack Obama.
In West's case, it happened after that awards event, the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Kanye West performs during the closing ceremony for the Pan Am Games, in Toronto, July 26, 2015.  (Reuters)

West ran up onstage, snatched the mic from Swift and said, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you … but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time!”
When asked about West's behavior before a TV interview, Obama, famed for his measured rhetoric, said:
“I thought that was really inappropriate. ... He’s a jackass.”

“I thought that was really inappropriate. ... He’s a jackass.”
- President Barack Obama, speaking about Kanye West in 2009

In Trump’s case, Obama devoted a segment of his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in 2011 to insulting Trump for exacerbating the rumor that Obama was not born in the U.S.

President Barack Obama's jokes targeted Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in 2011.  (Reuters)

Trump was seated in the audience.
“I know that’s he’s taken some flak lately – no one is prouder to put this birth-certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that’s because he can finally get back to the issues that matter, like: Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And – where are Biggie and Tupac?”
On Friday, West released a song titled “Ye vs. the People,” in which he doubled-down on his support for Trump.
“I know Obama was Heaven-sent,” West raps, “But ever since Trump won, it proved that I could be president.”

LAPD officer arrested for smuggling illegal immigrants across US-Mexico border

A Los Angeles Police Department officer was busted by the U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday after he was caught trying to smuggle two illegal immigrants into the U.S.
Officer Mambasse Koulabalo Patara was charged Wednesday with “violating immigration laws” and could face up to five years in prison if convicted, CBS2 reported.
The officer was driving Tuesday morning when he hit a checkpoint in Pine Valley about 12 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. Border Patrol agents interviewed Patara and two male passengers in his vehicle. Patara showed agents his badge and said he was off duty. When he was patted down, agents discovered his “service issued gun in his waistband,” the complaint stated.
Patara told border patrol agents that the two passengers in his vehicle, Herman Lopez and his nephew German Ramirez Gonzalez, were U.S. citizens. However, the two men admitted they were in the U.S. illegally.
One of the men told agents he has known the LAPD officer for years and was employed by him to work on his home in Fontana. The men were on their way back from a casino in Alpine and were on their way to another one in Campo at the time of the checkpoint.
The three men were taken to the Campo Border Patrol Station and arrested.
The LAPD told CBS2 that Patara was placed on paid administrative leave.

NBC Lost $69 Million Bet on Megyn Kelly

NBC is losing its $69 million gamble to steal Megyn Kelly from her conservative Fox News throne and remold her as a mainstream superstar on the Peacock Network, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Since joining NBC’s flagship morning show "Today," Kelly averages just 2.4 million viewers per episode, which is 18 percent below what the hour was drawing last season, according to Nielsen media research cited by the Journal. Even worse, the ratings have further plummeted for the past two months to a low of 1.9 million.

Andrew Tyndall, a TV news analyst and consultant, told the Journal: "[NBC News Chairman] Andrew Lack made the mistake with Megyn Kelly [from the beginning] with the decision to hire her to an anachronistic celebrity contract in the mistaken belief that star quality could turn into ratings gold."

In an interview with the Journal, Kelly said erroneous portrayals of her in the media are to blame.
"I need to introduce myself to people who don’t know me or know some bastardized version of me that they’ve gotten from a website or a TV show. There are definitely some who only know me through some caricature they learned about on ‘The Daily Show,’” she said.
New York magazine has reported that Kelly's long jump from "The Kelly File" on Fox News to NBC was fueled by unhappiness over a long-running feud with Donald Trump, ex-CEO Roger Ailes' sex harassment scandal, and strained relations with boss Rupert Murdoch.

But her NBC debut with a Sunday evening "Dateline"-style newsmagazine show last year was dubbed "a disaster" by Variety.

As well, she was ridiculed for interviewing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones despite a backlash that cost the show advertisers and led to Kelly being dropped as host for an event by an organization founded by parents of children killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, violence which Jones labeled a hoax.

Conservative Texas versus Liberal California Cartoons

Court upholds Texas' law in another big voter ID ruling

The American flag and the Texas state fly over the Texas State Capitol in Austin, March 14, 2017.

Texas' voter ID law that was twice blocked over findings of discrimination can stay in effect for the 2018 elections, a U.S. appeals court ruled Friday.
It was the second major ruling over voting rights in the U.S. this week after an Arkansas judge on Thursday blocked that state's voter ID measure as unconstitutional.
But in a 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the Texas law that critics have slammed as one of the toughest voter ID measures in the nation was seen as a suitable replacement for the original 2011 law that a federal judge had likened to a "poll tax" on minority voters.
The biggest change to the Texas law — which accepts handgun licenses as sufficient identification to vote, but not college student IDs — is that voters without any acceptable photo ID can still cast a ballot so long as they sign an affidavit. Opponents and a federal judge in Texas balked at the revisions, saying criminal penalties tied to lying on the affidavit could have a chilling effect on voters.

The biggest change to the Texas law ... is that voters without any acceptable photo ID can still cast a ballot so long as they sign an affidavit.

U.S. Circuit Jones Edith Jones said the lower court went too far.
"The district court relied too heavily on evidence of Texas's state-sponsored discrimination from a bygone era," Jones wrote in her majority opinion.
The revisions to Texas' law were also supported by the U.S. Justice Department — a move that amounted to a complete reversal for the federal government, which under former President Barack Obama had joined minority rights groups in suing over the law. But two months after Donald Trump took office, the Justice Department abandoned the argument that Texas passed voter ID rules with discrimination in mind and said the changes should satisfy the courts.
Opponents bristled at the ruling but didn't immediately indicate their next step.
"We continue to firmly believe that the Texas photo ID law is one of the most discriminatory and restrictive measures of its kind," said Kristen Clarke, president of the Washington-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit.
Texas first passed the voter ID law in 2011, the same year the GOP-controlled Legislature adopted voting maps that were also struck down as discriminatory. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday's ruling "removes any burden on voters who cannot obtain a photo ID."

The law was twice shot down by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos — an appointee of then-President George W. Bush — who ruled that the strict requirements disadvantaged minorities and effectively dampened the electoral power of Texas' surging Hispanic population. She also disapproved of the modified version, which makes knowingly lying on the affidavit to vote a misdemeanor.
Democrats said that provision could keep people home on Election Day over fears of incorrectly filling out a form. Republicans call those concerns unfounded but have also supported aggressive action against voter fraud, which is rare. Earlier this year, a Texas woman was sentenced to five years in prison for voting in the 2016 presidential election when she was ineligible because she was on probation.
Thirty-four states have laws requiring or requesting that voters show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Arkansas' newly blocked law would have required officials to provide photo identification to voters free of charge if they didn't have any other photo ID. It also would have let voters without ID to cast provisional ballots by signing affidavits.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Alice Gray, however, ruled there was no guarantee those provisional ballots would be counted and that they would face greater scrutiny.