George H.W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, dead at 94

Former President George H.W. Bush, who spent a lifetime in public service and as the nation's leader scored a decisive victory over Saddam Hussein but battled a faltering economy, died Friday at age 94.
Family spokesman Jim McGrath said Bush died shortly after 10 p.m. Friday, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush.
He is survived by five children, including former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. A sixth child died in early childhood. The late former president also is survived by 17 grandchildren.
Former President George W. Bush issued the following statement upon his father's death:
"Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41's life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens."
President Trump, who is in Argentina attending the G-20 summit, also issued a statement on behalf of himself and first lady Melania Trump. It read in part:

"Melania and I join with a grieving Nation to mourn the loss of former President George H.W. Bush, who passed away last night.
"Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service — to be, in his words, “a thousand points of light” illuminating the greatness, hope, and opportunity of America to the world."

George H.W. Bush was known for his gentlemanly demeanor, dedication to traditional American values, willingness to take on foreign despots like Iraq's Hussein and Panama's Manuel Noriega, and presiding over the breakup of the Soviet Union.

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 1989, file photo, President George H.W. Bush raises his right hand as he is sworn into office as the 41st president of the United States by Chief Justice William Rehnquist outside the west front of the Capitol as first lady Barbara Bush holds the Bible for her husband. Bush died at the age of 94 on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)

In childhood, he was nicknamed "have half" for his generosity in offering other youngsters half of whatever he had. After leaving office, he was often referred to as "41" – shorthand for his status as America's 41st president and to distinguish him from his son and fellow president, George W., who was known as "43."
George Herbert Walker Bush was born June 12, 1924 in Milton, Mass., the son of Dorothy Walker Bush and Prescott Bush, a banker who later became a Republican senator from Connecticut. The family, which included four sons and one daughter, was wealthy and politically active.
Bush attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. and after graduating on his 18th birthday, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He was commissioned that same year, becoming the youngest pilot in the Navy, and flew 58 combat missions in the Pacific. In 1944, he was hit by anti-aircraft fire 600 miles south of Japan but managed to bail out, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals.

Former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, who died in April. (FNC)

On January 6, 1945, the 20-year-old Bush married 19-year-old Barbara Pierce of Rye, N.Y., whom he had met at a Christmas party three years earlier. They had four sons, George, Jeb, Neil and Marvin, and two daughters, Robin and Dorothy. Robin died of leukemia at age 3.
Following World War II, he enrolled at Yale University, where his first son, George W., was born. Bush graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics and was captain of the varsity baseball team.

He and Barbara then moved to Texas where he worked in the oil business and was elected to two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. After losing a campaign for the Senate in 1970, Bush was appointed to a series of high-level political positions: U.S. Ambassador to the UN, chairman of the Republican National Committee, Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 1980 he was elected to the first of two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president and in 1988 was nominated by the Republicans to carry the party's banner, with Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate, in that year's presidential election.

FILE - In this Nov. 3, 1980 file photo, former President Gerald Ford lends his support to Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and his running mate George H.W. Bush, in Peoria, Ill. Bush died at the age of 94 on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush. (AP Photo/File)

"This is America…a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky," he said in his convention acceptance speech and the "thousand points of light" phrase came to be associated with his administration.

"This is America … a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky."
— Former President George H.W. Bush

George Bush waves to a crowd of supporters Nov. 5, 1988. Bush and his running mate Dan Quayle defeat Michael Dukakis in the Presidential election. His efforts to reduce the deficit failed while creating the lowest growth period since the Great Depression. (Photo by Cynthia Johnson/Liaison)

At his Jan. 20, 1989 inauguration following his defeat of Democrat Michael Dukakis, Bush declared "a new breeze is blowing and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn … the totalitarian era is passing."
And, in fact, the world did dramatically change with the end of the Cold War, the breakup of the Soviet empire and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
But Bush faced new international challenges, as well. In 1989 he sent American troops to Panama to depose that country's leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega, who was returned to the U.S. to stand trial as a drug trafficker. In 1990, he put together a 30-nation coalition to oppose Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and in early 1991 launched Operation Desert Storm, a 100-hour land battle that routed the Iraqi army.

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 1991, file photo, President George H.W. Bush talks to reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House after meeting with top military advisors to discuss the Persian Gulf War. From left are, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, Vice President Dan Quayle, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, the president, Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Colin Powell. Bush died at the age of 94 on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

But Bush – who once famously said "Read my lips: no new taxes" -- was faced with economic discontent at home. Trying to reduce the deficit, he signed a bill to raise taxes and also had to deal with failing savings and loans.
On the judicial front, he made two Supreme Court appointments – David Souter in 1990 and Clarence Thomas in 1991.

April 20, 2017: President George H.W. Bush received a visit at the hospital from his son George W. Bush. (@GeorgeHWBush/Twitter)

Although occasionally criticized for his lack of eloquence – such as referring to a focus on the larger picture as "the vision thing" – Bush's comments also could be endearingly frank.
Referring to his dislike for a particular vegetable, he once said, "I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."
Following his defeat by Bill Clinton in the 1992 election, George and Barbara Bush moved to Houston, where he had long maintained a hotel room as his legal address. They also spent time in Kennebunkport, Maine, where the Bush family has long had a waterside home.

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2009, file photo, President George W. Bush, center, poses with President-elect Barack Obama, second left, and former presidents, George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton, second right, and Jimmy Carter, right, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Bush has died at age 94. Family spokesman Jim McGrath says Bush died shortly after 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

He made appearances on behalf of his son, George W., during his administration and in 2005 joined forces with Bill Clinton, the man who defeated him, to help those devastated by Hurricane Katrina and by the Asian tsunami.
 ""Because you run against each other, that doesn't mean you're enemies," Bush said at the time, summing up his political philosophy. "Politics doesn't have to be uncivil and nasty."

Active until his last years, when his health confined him to a wheelchair, Bush celebrated his 90th birthday jumping out of a helicopter.
More recently, Bush joined the four other living ex-presidents in the fall of 2017 for a concert in Texas to benefit victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

California Ballot harvesting Cartoons

Giuliani calls timing of Mueller’s latest Cohen bombshell ‘hardly coincidental’

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, criticized the timing of Michael Cohen's guilty plea on charges of lying to Congress: just before the president was about to leave for a high-stakes G-20 summit in Argentina.
Giuliani issued a statement Thursday saying Mueller's office was proving Trump's former lawyer lied to Congress by using documents that were already voluntarily disclosed by the Trump Organization "because there was nothing to hide."
"It is hardly coincidental that the Special Counsel once again files a charge just as the President is leaving for a meeting with world leaders at the G20 Summit in Argentina," Giuliani said.
Giuliani's statement called out Mueller's office for playing politics with the surprise announcement. Giuliani pointed to a similar decision in July when the Department of Justice announced that 12 Russian intelligence officers were to be indicted for allegedly hacking the Democratic National Committee and others.
The July indictment was announced days before Trump was slated to hold a key summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Trump was meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in Britain at the time of the announcement.
Politico spoke to White House officials who hoped the G-20 summit would showcase Trump's ability to negotiate. Trump's upcoming Saturday lunch with China's President Xi Jinping is seen by some to be a make-or-break meeting between the two leaders. Trump also called off a meeting with Putin over the recent naval clash with Ukraine.
Cohen confessed in a surprise guilty plea Thursday that he lied to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal he pursued on Trump’s behalf during the heat of the 2016 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He said he lied to be consistent with Trump’s "political messaging."
GREGG JARRETT: COHEN GUILTY PLEA DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SHOW WRONGDOING BY TRUMP
The agreement made clear that prosecutors believe Trump's former lawyer was continuing to pursue the Trump Tower Moscow project weeks after his boss had clinched the Republican nomination for president and well after the point that Cohen has publicly acknowledged.
According to a report by BuzzFeed News, Trump’s company planned to give the tower's penthouse to Putin as they worked on a real estate deal for the building during the 2016 campaign. The claim was sourced by four people, including one of the plan’s creators.
But the plan would have been a “stupid idea,” the source told Fox News on Thursday night, adding that the president “never heard of it.”
Fox News is told Trump's legal team was unaware of such a plan.
Plans for constructing the building were ultimately scrapped.
There is no clear link in the court filings between Cohen’s lies and Mueller’s central question of whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. And nothing said in court, or in associated court filings, addressed whether Trump or his aides had directed Cohen to mislead Congress.
Giuliani told CNN that "neither of the two versions from Michael Cohen creates a problem for what the president testified."

Hundreds of US troops on alert in Uruguay to protect Trump at G20

Departing the White House, President Trump blasts his former attorney Michael Cohen as 'weak,' uses Twitter to cancel scheduled meeting with Russian President Putin; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Some 1,000 American troops and aircraft based in Uruguay are on alert to protect President Trump as he attends the G20 summit in Argentina this week.
The protection for Trump, who will do a 48-hour diplomatic blitz of high-level meetings with foreign leaders at the summit, was assured after the Uruguayan government approved the entry of American troops after much debate in the country.
Earlier this month, Uruguay’s Senate approved a law that allowed the U.S. to deploy its military in the country as an effort to provide security for the G20 summit.
The bill authorized the entry into Uruguay of three U.S. fuel cargo aircraft, two transport aircraft and three AWACS planes as well as 400 U.S. military personnel and civilians who would be the crew and provide support and maintenance.
But the measure didn’t pass without any controversy, with Uruguay’s left-wing groups and trade unions speaking out about the presence of American troops, deeming them a risk to Uruguay’s safety.
“The armed forces of the United States have not been and will not be welcome in Latin America,” said Constanza Moreira, a left-wing politician, who eventually voted in favor of the bill.

"The armed forces of the United States have not been and will not be welcome in Latin America."
— Constanza Moreira, left-wing Uruguayan lawmaker who ultimately OK'd the troops' presence

“I am against it. They didn’t give me freedom of action. This is what I call the club of the rich. We don’t support rich clubs. Uruguay has nothing to do with the G20. I do not understand why Uruguay is being used as a base of operations,” she added, according to left-leaning People’s Dispatch.
One of the largest trade unions in the country, PIT-CNT, also released a statement opposing the presence of American troops, claiming they represented “a risk to national sovereignty” and that it didn’t make sense logistically as the summit will be held in neighboring Argentina.
At the G20 summit, Trump has jam-packed eight meetings with foreign leaders, but on Thursday he announced that he will cancel a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin over Russia's tensions with Ukraine after the Russian military seized three Ukrainian naval ships.
The White House also said the meetings with the leaders of Turkey and South Korea would be substituted with informal conversations, while a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be held jointly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Democrat, #MeToo activist was drunk, 'overly familiar' with male staffer, but no evidence of groping: report

California state Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia was "overly familiar" with a former legislative male staffer, an investigator said, according to a letter this week from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Assemblywoman Garcia's website)

An investigator found that a California Democrat who was at the forefront of the #MeToo movement was "overly familiar" with a male former legislative staffer who accused her of misconduct, according to a letter this week from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.
But there's not enough evidence to substantiate allegations that Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, groped Daniel Fierro at a 2014 legislative softball game in Sacramento, the investigator said.
The findings were outlined in a letter from Rendon, which says the Assembly speaker will take "appropriate remedial action." His spokesman, Kevin Liao, said that action hasn't been determined.
Rendon's letter outlining the findings said investigators concluded Garcia was inebriated, grabbed Fierro's arm for support and put her hand on his back. It said she was "overly familiar" in a way she would not have been if she was sober.
But it said the evidence doesn't support a finding that she touched Fierro on his buttock or genitals or that the encounter was sexual.
Garcia, who represents southeastern Los Angeles County's 58th Assembly District, said in a statement she disagrees with some of the findings but did not elaborate.
Fierro first complained earlier this year that Garcia drunkenly groped him at the 2014 softball game, The Sacramento Bee reported. Garcia denied the allegation.
The investigator repeated earlier findings. The Assembly said in May an outside investigator found no evidence substantiating the allegation.
The investigator also said Garcia did not retaliate against him for filing a complaint.
But Fierro said the investigator didn't interview at least one witness he reported and alleged that Garcia retaliated against him by trying to prevent him from getting consulting contracts. Fierro, a political communications consultant from Cerritos, said he was "annoyed at the whole process," the Bee reported.
When Fierro appealed the decision, the Assembly Rules Committee's top Democrat and Republican authorized "further investigation."
Garcia took a three-month leave of absence after the groping allegation surfaced and returned to work last month after some of the initial investigation's findings became public. The findings said Garcia frequently used vulgar language in the office, asked staff to perform personal errands and disparaged her colleagues, the Bee reported.
She was required to attend sensitivity training and stripped of her committee assignments, according to the paper.
Although she was cleared of groping Fierro, the investigator found she used vulgar language in violation of the Assembly's sexual harassment policy.
"I again apologize if language I used in the past made anyone feel uncomfortable," she said in a statement.
Garcia recently won re-election to a fourth term in the Assembly, defeating Republican Mike Simfenderfer. Her district covers parts of Montebello, Artesia, Cerritos and Bell Gardens.

Paul Ryan questions California's 'bizarre' vote-counting process

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., didn't accuse California election officials of wrongdoing but described the state's Election Night results as "bizarre." (Associated Press)

House Speaker Paul Ryan questioned the legitimacy of California’s ballot-counting process Thursday, adding to claims from many Republicans that the state’s election procedures are flawed.
“It defies logic to me,” Ryan told the Washington Post. “We had a lot of wins that night, and three weeks later we lost basically every contested California race. This election system they have, I can’t begin to understand what ballot harvesting is.”

"It defies logic to me. We had a lot of wins that night, and three weeks later we lost basically every contested California race."
— House Speaker Paul Ryan

"Ballot harvesting" is when a third party collects completed ballots from voters and hands them over to election officials. The practice was legal for the first time in California this year.
Ryan has not accused California of any wrongdoing.
Californa took longer than other states to finish counting ballots cast Nov. 6, prompting criticism from many Republicans. By Election Night millions of ballots that were mailed in still needed to be hand-counted.
Alex Padilla, the state's top election official, fired back at Ryan on Twitter, saying the state makes sure "every ballot is properly counted and accounted for. That’s not 'bizarre,' that’s DEMOCRACY.”
“It shouldn’t ‘defy logic’ that elections officials are meticulous in counting every eligible ballot,” Padilla continued, the Mercury News of San Jose reported. “California works to ensure every ballot is counted properly and every ballot is accounted for. In the most populous state in the nation — and the state with the largest number of registered voters — this takes time.”
Democrats flipped six House seats across the state on Election Night. Most of California’s outstanding ballots were those received by mail or received after Election Day. Others were provisional ballots, which are submitted when voters show up to the wrong polling location, or when their name isn’t on the rolls.
The state also allows same-day voter registration, adding to the number of ballots that needed to be verified and counted.
“The way the absentee ballot program used to work and works now, it just seems pretty loosey-goose,” Ryan said. “Point being, when you have candidates that win the absentee ballot vote, win the day of the vote and then lose three weeks later because of provisionals, that’s really bizarre. And so I just think that’s a very, very strange outcome.
“When you win the absentee ballots and you win the in-person vote, where I come from, you win the election,” Ryan added.

“When you win the absentee ballots and you win the in-person vote, where I come from, you win the election.”
— House Speaker Paul Ryan

In an email to supporters, Orange County Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker gave his account of what happened.
“The number of election day vote-by-mail drop-offs was unprecedented — over 250,000," Whitaker wrote, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "This is a direct result of ballot harvesting. That directly caused the switch from being ahead on election night to losing two weeks later.”
The Republican Party’s losses in the county were “catastrophic,” Whitaker said, referring to the once-reliability GOP stronghold that saw Democrats sweep House races, effectively turning the county blue.

Gov Motors GM Cartoons

Should Trump be warning of retaliation over GM layoffs?

President Trump is pointing fingers on the economy.
The country's sustained boom, of course, has been one of his major selling points, with jobless numbers not seen in decades and a stock market that soared until the recent downturn.
But some recent bursts of bad news have Trump slamming both General Motors and his hand-picked Fed chairman.
It's not hard to grasp why the president is hitting the giant automaker after its announcement that it would cut 15,000 jobs and close plants in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland (but not Mexico and China). He's obviously trying to pressure the company.
But I'm surprised there's not more of a backlash against this tweet:
"The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get! We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including for electric cars."
How can the president talk about retaliating against one particular company because he doesn't like its policies? Federal subsidies usually go to whole industries, not particular corporations. GM would have a pretty good lawsuit if it was singled out for punishment.
And if Barack Obama, who engineered the 2009 federal bailout of GM, had made such a comment, the right would have exploded. There would have been an uproar about picking winners and losers.
As a career businessman, Trump should understand that CEO Mary Barra has to do what's in the best interests of her company and her shareholders. She's making these moves because many of her cars aren't selling well. (Know anyone who has a Chevy Cruze?)
In fact, like other American carmakers, GM is all but getting out of the business of making passenger sedans, which is dominated by the Japanese, in favor of SUVs, trucks and electric and hybrid cars.
As the Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial page put it yesterday, "President Trump believes he can command markets like King Canute thought he could the tides. But General Motors has again exposed the inability of any politician to arrest the changes in technology and consumer tastes roiling the auto industry."
This isn't the first time Trump has scolded corporations; he questioned Amazon postal subsidies (Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post) but hasn't done anything about it.
The only subsidies involving GM actually go to consumers who get a $7,500 tax credit for buying battery-powered or hybrid cars (much of this has gone to Tesla buyers). But the credit is greatly reduced after a company’s first 200,000 vehicles, and GM has already sold 190,000 such cars.
Meanwhile, Trump went after his Fed chairman, Jerome "Jay" Powell, in a Post interview.
"So far, I'm not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay," the president said. "Not even a little bit. And I'm not blaming anybody, but I'm just telling you I think that the Fed is way off-base with what they're doing."
Actually, he is blaming someone. And while it's not unusual for presidents to be frustrated with the Federal Reserve for tapping on the brakes, Trump, of course, doesn't hold back — even when it's his guy.
"I'm doing deals, and I'm not being accommodated by the Fed. They're making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me."
Yes, we can't have Government by Gut. But Trump's gut did get him elected. It does not, however, have the power to reverse industry layoffs or force an independent agency not to hike interest rates.