Pentagon Sends $200 Million To Ukraine

FILE – The Pentagon is seen in this aerial view in Washington, in this March 27, 2008 file photo. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:12 PM PT — Fri. July 20, 2018

The Pentagon is sending $200 million to Ukraine to assist the country with its self-defense capabilities.
The Defense Department issued a statement Friday, saying the move reaffirms the country’s relationship with Ukraine.
The funds bring the total aid to Ukraine up to $1 billion since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. must take action against Russia’s destabilizing activities, including its illegal occupation of Ukraine.
The latest allocations of funds comes as President Trump has been criticized for being too lenient on Russia.
However, the additional resources are an effort to defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Whoopi Goldberg Cartoons

The ongoing feud between Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro and “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg spilled into its second day on Friday, with each telling her version of Pirro’s headline-grabbing appearance on the ABC News talk show.

Judge Jeanine Pirro, Whoopi Goldberg dispute from 'The View' spills into second day

The ongoing feud between Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro and “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg spilled into its second day on Friday, with each telling her version of Pirro’s headline-grabbing appearance on the ABC News talk show.
Pirro appeared on “The View” Thursday morning to promote her new book, “Liars, Leakers & Liberals,” and the heated exchange occurred when the Fox News host accused Goldberg of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” A visibly angry Goldberg ended the segment by shouting, “Say goodbye. I’m done.”
A verbal disagreement occurred off-camera following Pirro’s appearance on the program.
Pirro has appeared on both “Hannity” and “Fox & Friends” to tell her side of the story, while Goldberg offered her rebuttal at the opening of Friday’s episode of “The View.”
Pirro called the backstage altercation “abuse.” Goldberg has admitted to using profanity – while also accusing Pirro of using inappropriate language – during the intense exchange.
Pirro has denied doing anything to provoke the liberal panel before the chaos ensued – but Goldberg claims she was upset that CNN’s Ana Navarro was a guest co-host, filling in for Joy Behar.

Pirro didn’t deny that she was peeved over the swap – but blamed ABC News for a lack of transparency.
“’The View’ was disingenuous in not telling us who was hosting,” Pirro told Fox News. “They didn’t tell anyone that one of the most rabid anti-Trump, anti-Fox people was going to be sitting next to me and interviewing me.”
Pirro said during her “Fox & Friends” appearance that an ABC News producer called her after the incident. Fox News has confirmed that ABC News attempted to speak with Pirro to no avail.
“I haven’t had a chance to return the call,” Pirro said. “I’ve always liked you, Whoopi, and I don’t understand where the anger comes from. I went to have a conversation and I wasn’t allowed to have a conversation. I didn’t deserve to be thrown out. We can’t treat people like that.”
ABC News declined comment.

California State Breakup Cartoons

Pres. Trump Signs Executive Order On Job Training

President Donald Trump holds up an Executive Order he signed that establishes a National Council for the American Worker, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 4:08 PM PT — Thurs. July 19, 2018

President Trump signs an executive order promoting job training at a Pledge to America’s Workers event at the White House Thursday.
The executive order establishes a national council for U.S. workers and aims to equip students and workers with skills they need to thrive in the modern economy.
The council will help ensure Americans have access to affordable and relevant job training.
A number of company representatives at the event, including General Motors and Lockheed Martin, signed a pledge to help advance workforce development.
The president says the pledge will help provide nearly four million new job opportunities to American students workers over the next five years.

California's Supreme Court thinks the people of my state are irrelevant – We can't even vote on a breakup

The right of Californians to self-government and democracy suffered a serious blow Wednesday when the state Supreme Court ordered that a proposition asking voters if they want to break the most populous state in the nation into three states must be removed from the November ballot.
The state’s highest court ruled that while ballot measures can be used to amend the California constitution, more significant revisions to the constitution require action by the state Legislature.
Ruling on a lawsuit by an environmental group seeking the block the vote on breaking up the state, the court wrote that “the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”
But in fact, it appears that the proposition was yanked off the ballot because it was too big a threat to the established power structure of state government in Sacramento.
Consider the irony. The initiative easily qualified for the ballot – with over twice the number of required signatures, from every county in the state – because many voters believe they don’t have a say in how they are governed, and believe their elected representatives don’t represent them. It’s clear they are right.
The elites in Sacramento were afraid of their failures being exposed and couldn’t face the scathing rebuke they could have received from voters in November. So they flexed their political muscle and went running to the courts to avoid the light being shined on the truth.

The elites in Sacramento were afraid of their failures being exposed and couldn’t face the scathing rebuke they could have received from voters in November. So they flexed their political muscle and went running to the courts to avoid the light being shined on the truth.

That truth is that the state Legislature has failed the people of California. Here are 10 reasons why:
1)      Californians no longer have a say in how we are governed. We are pawns in the hands of a few powerful elites that don’t have our best interests in mind.
2)      State government takes in record amounts in taxes, and rewards the average Californian with oppressive regulations, failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and unaffordable housing.
3)      The state prides itself on being the fifth-largest economy in the world, yet that means nothing to people living in bankrupt towns and to citizens in communities where they can’t drink water out of their taps.
4)      While the state continues to build an expensive, unwanted high-speed rail to nowhere, the average Californian is just trying to get to work every day on roads that are in disrepair and in areas where unchecked growth has created utter gridlock.
5)      Our urban areas suffer from crime, homelessness, filth and human waste on the streets. U.S. News & World Report recently ranked California 50^th in overall quality of life.
6)      People are leaving California in record numbers – in search of lower taxes, greater opportunity and futures that are successful and sustainable.
7)      Businesses are departing California seeking business-friendly states where they can invest and expand.
8)      Many retirees can no longer justify staying in California, where their fixed incomes aren’t sufficient. Housing and other costs of living are lower in other states such as Florida, Nevada and Texas.
9)      Millennials – our future – love the California weather and lifestyle, but can’t afford to stay in the state. So they are taking their dreams, their talents, their ambitions and their future family roots elsewhere.
10)   California will remain ignored in presidential elections because candidates will assume whoever the Democrats nominate will carry the state. Candidates for federal office on both sides of the political aisle will continue to come to the state to throw their parties and pick our pockets, not really caring what our problems or ideas are, and with no intent to take solutions back to Washington. Electoral relevance was another goal of the ballot proposition that will not be realized.
In spite of all the “what-ifs” about the proposition to break up the state, they pale in comparison to all the “what is” in California. Right now we have utter failure. And the trail of responsibility leads right back to the halls of the state Capitol.
State officials knew they couldn’t answer for these failures or risk this threat to their power, so they went to the courts, cried “foul” and won. The state Supreme Court has, in effect, deemed the people of California irrelevant.
But the people of California see this for exactly what it is. It is the validation that we were on to something truthful. That we were accurate in knowing that Sacramento does not have our best interests in mind. We were right. And this ruling proves it.
Opponents of the ballot proposition believed a question like this should more appropriately be handled in the courts and via the legislative process. They said this was too important an issue to trust to the hands of the voters. They couldn’t be more wrong.
I trust my neighbors and fellow citizens in California far more than the ruling class in Sacramento to know what the needs and priorities of my community are. I trust those who love this state like I do to know how to improve it, to address its problems and to find practical solutions for the problems that state government has created. I trust I’m not alone in believing that California can do better.
Six judges just silenced California voters. I, for one, will not forget this injustice and hope my fellow Californians won’t either. They have been wronged. And they should be outraged.
When the courts usurp the rights and the voice of the people it is a dark day for democracy. Liberties that are revoked are rarely reinstated.
The author served as a spokesperson for the ballot initiative to break California into three states.
Peggy Grande is author of "The President Will See You Now", a keynote speaker and a specialty project consultant. She was the executive assistant to president Ronald Reagan from 1989 – 1999.

Trump invites Putin to Washington despite U.S. uproar over Helsinki summit

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they hold a joint news conference after their meeting in Helsinki, Finland July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor July 20, 2018

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this autumn, the White House said on Thursday, a daring rebuttal to the torrent of criticism in the United States over Trump’s failure to publicly confront Putin at their first summit for Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election.
Four days after Trump stunned the world by siding with Putin in Helsinki over his intelligence agencies, the president asked national security adviser John Bolton to issue the invitation to the Russian leader, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.
What happened at Monday’s one-on-one between Trump and Putin with only interpreters present remained a mystery, even to top officials and U.S. lawmakers who said they had not been briefed.
Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, said in response to a question at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado: “Well, you’re right, I don’t know what happened at that meeting.”
The coveted invitation was sure to be seen as a victory by Putin, whose last official visit to the United States was in July 2007, when he spent two days at the Bush family compound.
Both Trump and Putin earlier on Thursday praised their first meeting as a success and blamed forces in the United States for trying to belittle its achievements, Trump citing discussions on counterterrorism, Israel’s security, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace and North Korea.
In one Twitter post, Trump blamed the media. “The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.”
In Moscow, Putin said the summit “was successful overall and led to some useful agreements” without elaborating on the agreements.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer criticized the invitation. “Until we know what happened at that two hour meeting in Helsinki, the president should have no more one-on-one interactions with Putin. In the United States, in Russia, or anywhere else,” he said in a statement.
Coats, who on Monday roundly defended the intelligence agencies’ findings of Russian meddling, also advised against a one-on-one meeting with Putin, saying he “would look for a different way of doing it.”
An official visit by a Russian president to the United States is a rare event: the last time was in June 2010 with Dmitri Medvedev, now Russian prime minister.
A senior White House official said Bolton extended the official invitation to Putin on Thursday via his Russian counterpart. No date has been set and it was unclear whether it would be timed for the U.N. General Assembly in late September.
REJECTION OF PUTIN PROPOSAL
The week was one of the toughest for Trump since he took office 18 months ago as aides struggled with damage control and convincing Americans that the president did not favor Russian interests over his own country’s. Forty-two percent of registered voters said they approved of Trump’s overall job performance, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll taken after the summit.
Bolton on Tuesday laid out four talking points for the crisis-hit White House, according to one official: that Trump stress he supports U.S. intelligence agencies, that there was never any Russian collusion with his campaign, that Russian meddling is unacceptable and the United States is doing everything it can to protect elections in 2018 and beyond.
With Trump under fierce criticism in the United States, the White House on Thursday rejected Putin’s proposal that Russian authorities be present for the questioning of Americans it accuses of “illegal activities,” including a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow.
It was the latest about-face in a week of multiple reversals. Critics complained that Trump was given ample opportunity at a joint news conference on Monday to scold Putin over Russian interference in the election but instead accepted Putin’s denials over the word of American intelligence agencies.
Trump on Tuesday said he misspoke during the news conference. On Wednesday, Trump answered “no” to a reporter’s question on whether Russia was still targeting the United States, only to have Sanders say later he was saying “no” to answering any questions – not to the question itself.
Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers grappled with Trump’s conflicting statements as they discussed ways to show their opposition to what they saw in Helsinki, including strengthening sanctions.
On Monday, Putin described the proposal when he was asked about the possible extradition of 12 Russian intelligence officers indicted in the United States on charges of interfering in the 2016 election by carrying out cyber attacks on Democratic Party networks.
Putin indicated he would permit American law enforcement officials to observe questioning by Russian officials of the indicted Russians and vice versa for Russian investigations. He mentioned London-based financier Bill Browder, a onetime investor in Russia who said he exposed corruption there. Standing alongside Putin, Trump called the idea “an incredible offer.”
Sanders on Thursday said, “It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it,” a day after saying the proposal was going to be discussed by Trump’s team. “Hopefully President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt.”

As upstart Ocasio-Cortez hits campaign trail with Bernie Sanders, high profile spurs fears of Dem rift

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is hitting the national campaign trail this week with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to stump for other left-wing candidates, even as the upstart 28-year-old democratic socialist's rising profile continues to rankle top Democrats.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are expected to campaign on July 20 for two congressional candidates seeking to unseat Republican incumbents in Kansas: James Thompson in Wichita, and former Sanders delegate Brent Welder in the suburbs of Kansas City.
But Ocasio-Cortez is also set to support several progressives seeking to supplant Democratic incumbents elsewhere -- alarming Democratic leaders and pundits who worry that her rising national profile and far-left politics might fracture the party ahead of critical midterm elections.
DEFEATED 10-TERM INCUMBENT JOE CROWLEY SEEKS TO EASE TENSIONS AFTER OCASIO-CORTEZ'S SHOCK WIN
On July 28 and 29, Ocasio-Cortez will visit Michigan to lend her national spotlight to Abdul El-Sayed, 33, a progressive candidate for governor. She will travel throughout Michigan, stopping in places including Grand Rapids, Flint and Detroit.
El-Sayed is Detroit’s ex-public health commissioner, and looks to upset Democratic former State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer.
"Alexandria’s victory was a proof of concept for campaigns like ours,” El-Sayed told The Washington Post.

"If her win makes her into ... the new face of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party's not going to have a very bright future."
- Former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman

Ocasio-Cortez has also endorsed other progressives seeking to take down incumbent Democratic lawmakers, including and Delaware Sen. Tom Carper and Reps. Stephanie Murphy of Florida, Adam Smith of Washington, and Michael Capuano of Massachusetts.
WATCH: JOE LIEBERMAN SAYS DEMS WON'T HAVE A 'BRIGHT FUTURE' IF OCASIO-CORTEZ IS THEIR MODEL
In Kansas' Republican-leaning 4th District, where Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will team up Friday, Thompson came close to winning in a special election last year, and is taking his second shot at unseating GOP Rep. Ron Estes.
Meanwhile, far-left Welder is running against GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder, whom President Trump endorsed on Twitter this week as someone who has voted for "$5 BILLION for Border Security" and who "loves our Military and Vets."
Welder, who worked as a labor lawyer and wants a $15 minimum wage and touts a "Medicare for All" platform, has polled ahead of Yoder, and his 3rd District went to Hillary Clinton by a slim margin in 2016.
Primaries in both Kansas and Michigan take place Aug. 7.
“It’s a huge boost to our campaign to welcome Senator Sanders and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez to Wichita,” Thompson said in a statement. “The interest and enthusiasm here has been electric.”
But even as the progressive pair seek to export their brand of progressive politics to the Sunflower State and beyond, top Democratic leaders have increasingly sounded the alarm.
Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., charged this week that Ocasio-Cortez was overly idealistic.
"Meteors fizz out,” Hastings said. “What she will learn in this institution is that it’s glacial to begin with, and therefore no matter how far you rise, that’s just how far you will ultimately get your comeuppance.
“You come up here and you’re going to be buddy-buddy with all the folks or you’re going to make them do certain things?  Ain’t happening, O.K.?” Hastings added.
And Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., said that Ocasio-Cortez's decision to pubicly feud with longtime Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., even after she defeated him in a shocking primary contest last month was upsetting Democrats in the House.
"She’s not asking my advice,” Pascrell said. "I would do it differently, rather than make enemies of people.”
Rep. Lacy Clay, D-Mo. -- who is facing a primary challenge from the left by community activist Cori Bush, who has Ocasio-Cortez's backing -- was more direct.
“Once an election is over and you win, why are you still angry?” Clay asked. “I think it’s a lack of maturity on her part, and a lack of political acumen, for her to be that petty."
That sentiment was echoed by former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was the Democratic Party's candidate for vice president in 2000, in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
"When I see somebody who really says she's a socialist -- she's a very captivating, charismatic candidate -- when you look at those policies, those policies will not be supported in many places across America," Lieberman said.
"If her win makes her into what Kellyanne Conway called the new face of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party's not going to have a very bright future," he added.
Lieberman wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for voters to reject Ocasio-Cortez in the November elections.