A Nobel Prize nomination for Trump? One more nonsensical reason for the media to attack him

This past week, 18 Republican members of Congress nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to “end the Korean War, denuclearize the Korean peninsula, and bring peace to the region.” You’d think the media would applaud this potential honor – right?

Strangely enough, no.

The left-wing New York Daily News headlined its article: “Republican stooges push for Trump to win Nobel Prize as critics bash the idea.”
Lefty Splinter News ran its own tastefully understated anti-Trump headline: “Some Dumb--- Congressmen Nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
CNN ran a piece in a similar vein: “Trump’s possible Nobel Prize nomination mocked.” It began with National Correspondent Jeanne Moos sarcastically asking, “Trump, Nobel laureate?” She then cut to comedian Dana Carvey humorously impersonating Trump during his acceptance speech: “I love prizes, I love Cracker Jacks.”
Moos followed with anti-Trump comedian Seth Meyers commenting that Trump supporters chanting “Nobel,” was “like going to a monster truck rally and chanting Pulitzer.”
CNN clearly was not pleased.
Neither was Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, doing his impression of the better Dana – Carvey. Milbank wrote up his version of the Trump acceptance speech, but delivered it via column, without the same voice or wit. “I love Norwegians!” he wrote. “I want more immigrants from Norway and others who have the same merit-based complexion that Norwegians have.”
Everyone wanted a piece of the joke. Conan O'Brien told his TV audience: “A group of House Republicans has nominated president Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah. As evidence they pointed out that Trump has managed to avoid an all-out war with North Korea and Melania.”
Of course, all of this quasi-news and comedy downplays a very real fact – President Trump accomplished something important.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in was among those who supported the idea of the peace prize for President Trump, saying: “It’s really President Trump who should receive it; we can just take peace,” The New York Times reported.
Back when President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, even some in the media were stunned. “Today” Co-Host Matt Lauer (pre-scandal) called it out: “We’re less than a year into the first term of this president and there are no – I'm not trying to be, you know, rude here – no major foreign policy achievements, to date.”
Lauer was right. Obama won the Peace Prize shortly after taking office. The reason? The prize was for something he hadn’t done, "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." He was the fourth U.S. president to receive the award. Presidential wannabe Al Gore also won in 2007.
2. Brokaw Story Gets Worse: Sexual misconduct allegations escalated against former NBC anchor and current Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw. First he denied the allegations in a letter that “couldn’t be stronger,” according to The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple.
But Wemple followed by detailing the disturbing charges. He noted: “The 20-plus-year anchor of ‘NBC Nightly News’ isn’t on trial here.” Then he added, “NBC News, however, enjoys no such casual luxury.”
NBC has a major problem with transparency, a word often demanded from politicians by journalists. It had the same problem with the demotion of anchor Brian Williams. There is an identical issue involving the disastrous Joy Reid investigation at sister network MSNBC.
Brokaw was hit with back-to-back exclusives about the alleged support he received from women.
The New York Post reported how “NBC staffers felt pressured to sign letter defending Brokaw.”
Variety broke its own story about the support letter. Headlined: “NBC News Urged Its Anchors to Report on Supportive Tom Brokaw Letter.” The combination undercut any support Brokaw received from it. A third woman also said Brokaw “gave her an unwanted ‘French kiss’ some 50 years ago.”
3. Just Desserts: The 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner will long be remembered for crossing the line. The April 28 media event went mostly as planned. Predictably liberal comedian Michelle Wolf was also predictably anti-Trump. She made the first of 25 references to “Trump” just 36 words into her pathetic monologue with a porn star joke that attacked all men, not just the president.
It was like watching reruns of “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” (Heaven help you.) For three years running, the so-called neutral White House Correspondents Association plucked its comedians from Comedy Central, the land of little-known, anti-conservative comics. Wolf was deservedly obscure, so much so that the journalist association that hired her apparently didn’t even do a background check and missed numerous offensive tweets.
When she hit the stage, journalists realized she went too far. Her attacks on White House women seemed particularly tone deaf for the #MeToo era. ABC Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl was critical. Karl is the 2019 president of the association and he called the jokes “mean-spirited.”
But this is 2018 and anti-Trump comments always have media supporters. Seth Meyers and Noah soon chimed in on Wolf’s side. Stephen Colbert joined them.
A common theme of the defense of Wolf was echoed by NBC’s “Today” Co-host Savannah Guthrie, who quoted defenders arguing that “the president has said much worse.” Of course, the president is also a partisan and Wolf was hired by so-called neutral journalists.
4. It’s Porn Star Time: The only thing CNN likes more than a porn star is her lawyer. The network spent 41 minutes ogling a strip club performance by alleged former Trump paramour Stormy Daniels in March.
The CNN reporter team rained 1,500 words and maybe a lot of dollar bills in pursuit of their “journalism.” “Screens around the club advertised Daniels' performance with revealing photos and the slogan ‘#MAGA – Make Adult Great Again,’” said reporter Hadas Gold.
If Daniels raked in the cash performing, her lawyer Michael Avenatti raked in the media coverage. Avenatti appeared on March 7 for the first time and has visited the supportive CNN team 59 times total – in just about two months. Anderson Cooper’s program accounted for 19 of those appearances.
CNN wasn’t quite done with Daniels, however. The CNN Politics Twitter account commented Thursday: “President Trump makes no mention of the porn star payment storm at the National Day of Prayer.” Neutral journalism doesn’t have a prayer some places.
CNN Editor-at-large Chris Cillizza followed up the Thursday press conference by saying President Trump “is a boss no one should be willing to work for. That includes Sarah Sanders.” His piece was headlined: “Why Sarah Sanders should quit.”
As a side note about how the media really work: Avenatti isn’t shy in the self-promotion department, allegedly pushing MSNBC for a job after the court battle is over. Interestingly, he’s had eight appearances on MSNBC in just four days.
5. Harassing a High School Student: One of the most idiotic stories of the week came courtesy of a Twitter war. Utah teen Keziah Daum was criticized for “cultural appropriation” for wearing a Chinese-style dress to her high school prom.
Twitter user Jeremy Lam gathered more than 40,000 retweets and 176,000 likes for his whine about what she wore. “My culture is NOT your g------ prom dress,” he posted. That set in motion a mob frenzy of attacks and stories, many of which got the most basic elements of the issue wrong.
The New York Times wrote: “Teenager’s Prom Dress Stirs Furor in U.S. – but Not in China.” Like many media outlets, The Times seemed to blame Daum for wearing the dress rather than Lam for his bullying reaction to what a high school student wore to prom. Yahoo wrote a similar headline: “Teen defends Chinese prom dress that sparked cultural appropriation debate: 'I would wear it again.'”
The dress didn’t “stir” or “spark” anything. That’s victim-blaming.
Cosmo, theoretically a pro-women site but really a pro-loon site, was worse. “Girl Slammed on Twitter for Culturally Appropriating Her Prom Dress Says She Would Wear it Again.” Even the Chinese admit it was “cultural appreciation, not appropriation.”
That was a point so clear that ABC’s lefty Anchor George Stephanopoulos got it right, saying: “It seems like, to me, I don’t know, on the right side of the line.”
When George thinks the left has gone too far, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

California's Orange County may play key midterm election role

David Hernandez, left, Genevieve Peters, center, and Jennifer Martinez celebrate after the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to join the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the State of California's sanctuary cities law, March 27, 2018.  (Associated Press)

Once coveted as a conservative bastion in liberal California, Orange County has become a last stand for the state's Republicans.
Chased out of much of California by Democrats who hold every statewide office and a 39-14 advantage in U.S. House seats, the state's GOP is trying to hold its ground in a historically Republican stronghold.
Republican elected officials in a string of cities and two counties — Orange and neighboring San Diego — have passed ordinances or taken other actions in opposition to the state's so-called sanctuary law, enacted by the Democratic-run Legislature in response to Trump's calls for more deportations and a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Orange County is undergoing the biggest political challenge we've ever had," Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel, who lives in the county, told volunteers at the GOP headquarters.

"Orange County is undergoing the biggest political challenge we've ever had."

Ten years ago, the GOP held a 13-point edge in Orange County, but that's shriveled to 3 points while the number of independents, who tend to vote like Democrats in California, has climbed to 25 percent.
National Republican leaders, hoping to retain control of the House, have opened a 10,000-square-foot war room in an office tower near John Wayne Airport, filled with computers and phones in a last-ditch attempt to reach potential voters in the June 5 primary election.
It's in suburbs that "we are going to either hold the majority in '18, or lose the majority," said U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, who heads the party's campaign arm in the House.

U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers heads the GOP's campaign arm in the House.  (Associated Press)

The risks are plain for Republicans in the state that is home to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: Democrats dominate California politics, and midterm elections generally favor the party not in control of the White House.
President Donald Trump lost the state by more than 4 million votes in 2016.
Political observers say recent Democratic victories in Pennsylvania and Alabama, and House Speaker Paul Ryan's decision to retire at the end of the term makes likelier the prospect of Democrats gaining the 23 seats needed to take control of the chamber.

Rosie O'Donnell's donations to Dems exceeded limit: report

Rose O'Donnell exceeded the legal limit for campaign contributions to individual candidates, a report says.  (Associated Press)

Liberal comedian and inveterate Trump adversary Rosie O’Donnell exceeded the legal limit with campaign donations to five Democratic candidates, a new report finds.
Federal Election Commission rules dictate that an individual candidate may not receive more than $2,700 from any one person per election. (The limit applies separately to primaries, runoffs and general elections.)
The star appeared to put the onus on the candidates, not herself, to correct the alleged errors.

I don’t look to see who I can donate most to … I just donate assuming they do not accept what is over the limit

“If 2700 is the cut off – [candidates] should refund the money,” O’Donnell wrote in an email to the New York Post. “I don’t look to see who I can donate most to … I just donate assuming they do not accept what is over the limit.”

“If 2700 is the cut off – [candidates] should refund the money. I don’t look to see who I can donate most to … I just donate assuming they do not accept what is over the limit.”
- Rosie O'Donnell, in an email

O’Donnell told the paper that donating to anti-Trump candidates eases her anxiety.
U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., who defeated accused child molester Roy Moore, disclosed receiving $4,700 in campaign donations from O’Donnell.
According to filings, O’Donnell donated $3,600 to Conor Lamb, a Democrat who in March won a special election to fill a U.S. House vacancy in Pennsylvania. O'Donnell donated an additional $1,000 for Lamb’s current campaign for a different congressional district, because of Pennsylvania's redrawn congressional map.
O’Donnell has also donated $2,950 to U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and  $4,200 for the primary campaign of Lauren Underwood, a candidate for a U.S. House seat in Illinois.
She also donated $3,450 to Omar Vaid, a congressional candidate in a district that covers parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, fillings cited by the Post show.
O’Donnell told the Post she donates through the online liberal fundraising platform ActBlue, which, she assumed, “limits donations to the max allowed.”
Filings show that O’Donnell has donated more than $90,000 to 50 different federal candidates and committees during the 2017-18 election cycle. 

Sarah Sanders touts Trump CIA pick Haspel, blasts 'hypocrite' Dems who oppose nominee

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted Saturday that any Democrat who doesn’t support CIA director nominee Gina Haspel is a “hypocrite.”  (Associated Press)

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders forcefully entered the debate over President Donald Trump's choice for CIA director Saturday, tweeting that any Democrat who doesn’t back nominee Gina Haspel is a “total hypocrite.”
“There is no one more qualified to be the first woman to lead the CIA than 30+ year CIA veteran Gina Haspel,” Sanders tweeted. “Any Democrat who claims to support women’s empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite.”
Beginning Wednesday, Haspel faces a contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, ahead of what the White House acknowledges will likely be a close confirmation vote on the Senate floor.
Debate over Haspel's nomination is split between those who praise her experience and those who want her disqualified because of her role in the CIA’s harsh interrogation of terror subjects and destruction of videotapes showing waterboarding after 9/11.
Also backing Haspel's nomination recently was former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during an appearance last week on “Fox and Friends.”
“If you were not in a position of authority on September 11^th, you have no idea the pressures that we faced to try and make sure that this country wasn’t attacked again,” Rice said.

“If you were not in a position of authority on September 11th, you have no idea the pressures that we faced to try and make sure that this country wasn’t attacked again.”

If Haspel's nomination advances to the Senate, she would need backing from at least 50 senators. In the event of a tie, Vice President Mike Pence -- in his role as president of the Senate -- would cast the deciding vote.
With the likely absence of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is battling brain cancer and recuperating in Arizona after recent surgery, Republicans hold a 50-49 advantage in the Senate.
McCain, 81, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was instrumental in getting Congress to prohibit harsh interrogation techniques, including those used on terror suspects after 9/11, and has said that any CIA nominee must pledge to uphold the ban.
Meanwhile, Sanders' Saturday tweet drew some criticism, including from U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who objected to Sanders' linking of the Haspel vote to women’s empowerment or national security.
“Dear @PressSec: Perhaps I missed it, but I don’t see being complicit in torture as part of the agenda for either women’s empowerment or our national security.”
Walter Shaub, a former director of the U.S. Government Office of Ethics, tweeted a middle-ground response.
“@PressSec @morgfair Seems to me that people can legitimately object to her role in torture while also encouraging this administration to increase the diversity of its appointees,” Shaub tweeted.
Haspel, 61, is the first woman nominated for the CIA director position. If confirmed, she would replace former CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who was recently confirmed as U.S. Secretary of State.
Haspel, who joined the CIA in 1985, is currently the intelligence agency’s acting director.

Democrat Hypocrite Cartoons

U.S. job growth picks up, unemployment rate falls to 3.9 percent

A help wanted sign is posted at a taco stand in Solana Beach, California

U.S. job growth increased less than expected in April and the unemployment rate dropped to near a 17-1/2-year low of 3.9 percent as some out-of-work Americans left the labor force.
The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday also showed wages barely rose last month, which may ease concerns that inflation pressures are rapidly building up, likely keeping the Federal Reserve on a gradual path of monetary policy tightening.
“Fed officials can rest easy that there is not any wage-based inflation on the horizon,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York. “There is no need to speed up the path of interest rates because inflation isn’t heating up in a worrisome manner.”
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 164,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported. Data for March was revised to show the economy adding 135,000 jobs instead of the previously reported 103,000. That was the fewest amount of jobs created in six months and followed an outsized gain of 324,000 in February.
While cold weather in March and April probably held back job growth, hiring is moderating as the labor market hits full employment. Employers, especially in the construction and manufacturing sectors, are increasingly reporting difficulties finding qualified workers.
The drop of two-tenths of a percentage point in the unemployment rate from 4.1 percent in March pushed it to a level last seen in December 2000 and within striking distance of the Fed’s forecast of 3.8 percent by the end of this year. It was the first time in six months that the jobless rate dropped.
But 236,000 people left the labor force in April, adding to the 158,000 who quit in March. The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one, fell to 62.8 percent last month from 62.9 percent in March. It was the second straight monthly drop in the participation rate.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising by 192,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate falling to 4.0 percent. Average hourly earnings rose 0.1 percent last month after a 0.2 percent gain in March. That left the annual increase in average hourly earnings at 2.6 percent.
The dollar shrugged off the employment data, rising to its highest level this year against a basket of currencies. Stocks on Wall Street rallied, with all three indexes closing more than 1.0 percent higher. U.S. Treasury yields were little changed after dropping to multi-week lows.
‘SUSTAINABLE PACE’
Sluggish wage growth and a slowdown in hiring threaten to undercut the Trump administration’s argument that its $1.5 trillion income tax cut package, which came into effect in January and is highlighted by a sharp drop in the corporate income tax rate, would boost wages and hiring.
Companies like Apple have used their tax windfall for share buybacks and dividends.
President Donald Trump cheered the drop in the unemployment rate on Friday.
“I thought the jobs report was very good. The big thing to me was cracking 4,” Trump told reporters. “That hasn’t been done in a long time … we’re at full employment. We’re doing great.”
Democrats, however, reiterated their criticism of the tax cuts, saying more than $390 billion in share buybacks had been announced since the passage of the tax bill.
“President Trump promised American families that they would see a $4,000 annual raise after the tax plan, so far, average weekly wages have increased $11.69,” Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich said.
But average hourly earnings could be understating wage inflation. The Employment Cost Index, widely viewed by policymakers and economists as one of the better measures of labor market slack, showed wages rising at their fastest pace in 11 years during the first quarter.
Inflation is flirting with the Fed’s 2 percent target.
The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, was up 1.9 percent year-on-year in March after a 1.6 percent rise in February.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged and said it expected annual inflation to run close to its “symmetric” 2 percent target over the medium term.
Economists interpreted symmetric to mean policymakers would not be too worried with inflation overshooting the target.
Two Fed officials who are currently voting members of the central bank’s rate-setting committee showed little concern on Friday about price pressures heating up and said they were keeping an open mind on the total number of rate increases needed this year.
The Fed hiked rates in March and has forecast at least two more increases for 2018.
Economists expect the unemployment rate will drop to 3.5 percent by the end of the year. Monthly job gains have averaged about 200,000 this year, more than the roughly 120,000 needed to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
A broader measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment, dropped to 7.8 percent last month, the lowest level since July 2001, from 8.0 percent in March.
Construction payrolls rebounded by 17,000 jobs last month after recording their first drop in eight months in March. Manufacturing employment increased by 24,000 jobs in April after a gain of 22,000 positions in March.
Payrolls for temporary help, seen as a harbinger of future permanent hiring, rose by 10,300 after falling by 2,100 in March. There was a modest gain in leisure and hospitality employment while wholesale traders laid off workers.
Government payrolls fell 4,000 in April amid a decline in education employment at state governments.
“The moderation in job gains over the past two months may mark the beginning of the slow deceleration to a sustainable pace of job gains, which we estimate to be around or a little below 100,000 per month,” said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.

Defense Bill Includes Authorization of Military Parade in Capitol

President’s Trump’s’ plans to hold a military parade in the nation’s capital are one step closer to taking place.
According to a summary of the National Defense Authorization Act released Friday, the bill will include a provision to authorize a military parade in the nation’s capital.
The provision would also authorize Defense Secretary Mattis to prohibit the use of certain units or equipment if it would hamper readiness.
The Defense Department is aiming to conduct the parade on November 11, which is the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of the first world war.
A full version of the defense bill is set to be released next week.

Trump to host South Korean president amid planning for U.S.-North Korea summit, White House says

The White House announced Friday that President Trump will host the South Korean president in late May, as plans progress for a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump and President Moon Jae-in will meet on May 22, the press release from Press Secretary Sarah Sanders' office said, marking the third summit for the pair.
The meeting “affirms the enduring strength” of the “alliance and deep friendship between our two countries,” the press release said.
It went on to say that the two leaders would “continue their close coordination of developments regarding the Korean Peninsula following the April 27 inter-Korean Summit,” referring to the recent historic meeting of North and South Korean leaders.
Trump and Moon are expected to talk about the president’s upcoming meeting with Kim, the leader of the Hermit Kingdom, the press release said.
The president on Friday shared new details about that meeting but without specifics. "We now have a date and we have a location,” Trump told reporters prior to leaving for Dallas, where he was set to speak at the National Rifle Association annual convention. “We'll be announcing it soon.”
Trump has previously said the summit with North Korea will unfold in May or early June.
A possible meeting between Trump and Kim came to light following a trip then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo took to the rogue nation over Easter weekend.
Trump later acknowledged that Pompeo, who has since been confirmed as secretary of state, had met with Kim.
“Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed,” Trump tweeted. “Details of the Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!”