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Calif. lawmakers strike down resolution to honor actor John Wayne

The California Assembly refused to pass a resolution Thursday which would have set aside a day to honor renowned actor John Wayne because of statements he made about racial minorities and his support for the anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee and John Birch Society.
Wayne, who grew up in Glendale, Calif., grew into the star of movies including The Alamo," ''The Green Beret," and "True Grit," for which he won an Academy Award, while portraying the gruff, rugged cowboys and brave soldiers who were his stock in trade.
Assemblyman Matthew Harper, R-Huntington Beach, sought to declare Mary 26, 2016, as John Wayne Day to mark the day the actor was born. However, opposing lawmakers quickly railed against the resolution citing racial comments he made throughout his life.
"He had disturbing views towards race," objected Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, leading off a 20-minute debate.
Alejo cited a 1971 interview with Playboy in which Wayne talked disparagingly about blacks.
"I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people," he told the magazine.
Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, who is black, said he found Wayne’s comments personally offensive. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, cited his comments defending white Europeans' encroachment on American Indians who Wayne once said "were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."
The resolution fell on a 35-20 vote to what Harper called the “orthodoxy of political correctness.”
"Opposing the John Wayne Day resolution is like opposing apple pie, fireworks, baseball, the Free Enterprise system and the Fourth of July!" he said later in a written statement.
Harper said he sought the resolution, ACR137, to keep up with a Texas resolution commemorating Wayne's birthday a year ago.
He represents the legislative district that includes John Wayne Airport in Orange County. The airport, among the largest in California, was renamed after Wayne's death in 1979 and hosts a nine-foot-tall statue of the actor.
"I think the assemblyman would know if there was a cross word about having the airport named after him," said Harper's spokeswoman, Madeleine Cooper.
Those who supported Harper’s resolution said Wayne was an American hero whose family created a namesake cancer foundation after his death.
"He stood for those big American values that we know and we love," said Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach.
Lawmakers have honored others despite controversies that eventually clouded their legacies, said Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine. Wagner cited President Franklin Roosevelt, who has been honored despite his internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
"Every one of us is imperfect," Wagner said.

Boehner unleashed: Ex-speaker calls Cruz 'Lucifer,' 'miserable son of a b----'

So, Mr. Speaker, how do you really feel?
John Boehner, the famously blunt ex-House speaker, left no doubt he's not a fan of fellow Republican Ted Cruz, leaping off the sidelines of the presidential race Wednesday night to unleash a stunning verbal lashing of the Texas senator, reportedly calling him “Lucifer in the flesh” and a “miserable son of a bitch.”
The longtime Ohio powerhouse had not been very outspoken on the race since retiring last year, but he held little back when asked about the Texas senator and underdog GOP presidential candidate during a forum at Stanford University.
“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life,” he said, according to The Stanford Daily.
He reportedly said he’s played golf with front-runner Donald Trump, describing them as “texting buddies,” and said his relationship with Ohio Gov. John Kasich “requires more effort” but they’re friends “and I love him.” He also said he’d vote for Trump in a general election – but not Cruz. 
In an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly Thursday evening Cruz fired back at Boehner's comments.

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"I don't know John Boehner. He and I have never worked together," he said.  "If you think John Boehner is the kind of leader you want running in the Republican party, then Donald Trump is your guy."
Cruz, speaking to reporters in Fort Wayne, Ind., also said he’s “never worked” with Boehner.
Cruz later said he’s met him “two or three times” (though he reportedly also worked as Boehner’s attorney for a case in 1998).
“Boehner’s comments reveal everything that is wrong with Washington,” Cruz said. 
Boehner’s successor also made clear Thursday he does not share those views about Cruz.
“I have a much better relationship” with the senator, Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters, when asked about Boehner’s remarks. 
Boehner’s scorching view of Cruz, whose anti-ObamaCare fight fueled the partial government shutdown in 2013, is not exactly a secret. He’s previously called him “Lucifer” and other choice words. And in the Ohio primary, Boehner said he voted for former colleague Kasich.
It’s unclear whether Boehner’s unflattering description will mean much in a GOP primary where the two leading candidates effectively are running against the Republican establishment.
Cruz, despite trailing in the delegate count and being mathematically eliminated from winning the nomination outright, is campaigning hard to force an open convention, renewing attacks on his rivals as Washington “insiders.”
He has openly sparred with congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Both Cruz and Trump on Thursday were continuing to barnstorm Indiana, which holds a critical primary next week. Cruz has a rally in Fort Wayne and South Bend, while Trump is hosting one in Evansville before planning to close the night in California, which votes in early June.
Cruz, in the run-up to the Indiana vote, on Wednesday made the unconventional move of announcing his running mate choice, former rival and ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina.
Trump, at a Fox News town hall, called the announcement a “waste of time,” noting how far behind Cruz is in the race. But Fiorina fired back, saying the race isn't over yet and "close doesn't count." 
Kasich, meanwhile, is holding a town hall meeting Thursday in Oregon, where he is trying to stay competitive after striking a deal with Cruz to avoid Indiana and let the Texas senator take on Trump there next week.

White powder mailed to Trump's campaign office in New York deemed harmless

NEW YORK –  An envelope containing a suspicious white powdery substance caused a scare when it was opened at a campaign office of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but it later was deemed to be harmless.
The envelope was mailed to Manhattan's Trump Tower, near Central Park, police said. A campaign staffer opened the envelope Thursday night and immediately called police.
Five Trump staff members working in the office and a police officer who responded were temporarily isolated and evaluated. The substance was tested, and a few hours later authorities said it wasn't hazardous but it would need to be tested some more for them to determine what it is.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks referred questions about the brief scare to the U.S. Secret Service, which didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Powders sent through the mail have been cause for concern since at least 2001, when anthrax-tainted letters were sent to media outlets and offices, killing five people.
In March, an envelope that contained a non-hazardous white powder and a threatening letter was mailed to the apartment of Trump's son Eric Trump, who has campaigned for him. The handwritten note, postmarked from Boston, said: "If your father does not drop out of the race, the next envelope won't be a fake."
Two days later, a threatening letter was sent to Trump's sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a judge who sits on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Pennsylvania. The FBI said at the time it was working alongside the Secret Service and the Marshals Service to investigate.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has been criticized by some political rivals and voters for his comments on topics including women, refugees and immigrants, such as when he said some Mexican immigrants in the U.S. illegally are "rapists."

At least 20 arrested following violent protests after Southern California Trump rally

Authorities in Southern California said early Friday that at least 20 people were arrested as protesters created havoc after a Donald Trump rally.
Costa Mesa police confirmed the arrests. Authorities said there were no major injuries and the big crowds had dispersed by 11 p.m. Thursday.
Dozens of protesters were mostly peaceful as the Republican presidential front-runner gave his speech inside the Pacific Amphitheater. The crowds began to get rowdy as the rally was over and demonstrators took to the streets.
One Trump supporter had his face bloodied in a scuffle as he tried to drive out of the area. One man jumped on top of a police car, leaving its front and rear windows smashed and the top dented in and other protesters sprayed graffiti on a police car and the venue’s marquee.
Dozens of cars -- including those of Trump supporters trying to leave -- were stuck in the street as several hundred demonstrators blocked the road, waved Mexican flags and posed for selfies.
Police in riot gear and on horseback pushed the crowd back and away from the venue. There were no major injuries and police did not use any force. The crowd began dispersing about three hours after the speech ended.
As helicopters circled overhead, protesters at one point shut down the entrance to the 55 freeway along Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Earlier Thursday, a half-dozen anti-Trump protesters taunted those waiting to get into the area. Trump supporters surrounded one man who wave a Mexican flag and shouted “Build that wall! Build that wall!” – a reference to Trump’s call to create a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico to stop illegal border crossings.
At one point, seven women wearing no shirts and Bernie Sanders stickers over their breasts entered the square outside the amphitheater. They said they were protesting Trump's lack of engagement on issues of gender equality and women's rights.
"I feel like he wants to make America great again, but certainly not for women, for the LBGTQ community or for the lower class," said one of the women, Tiernan Hebron. "He has, like, done nothing to help with gender equality or women's rights or reproductive rights or anything."
Many protesters told the Los Angeles Times that they were drawn to the streets to rail against Trump’s policies on immigration and his remarks about Mexican immigrants.
“This is the anger people have against Trump,” Jose Cruz told the LA Times. “It’s not because he’s white, it’s because of what he’s said.”
Trump has drawn large crowds across the country as he has campaigned for the White House and some of his events have been marred by incidents both inside and outside these venues.
Earlier this week, a Trump rally in nearby Anaheim, California turned contentious when his supporters and counter protestors clashed, leaving several people struck by pepper spray. Trump was not present.
Trump has drawn large crowds to most of his campaign events, and Thursday was no exception. The Pacific Amphitheatre was filled to its capacity of about 18,000 and many hundreds more were turned away.
Ly Kou, 47, of Ontario, said she likes Trump because he has vowed to put the country first.
"It's obvious that America loves Trump," said Kou, who is from Laos, as she pointed at the waiting throng. "This thing about him being racist? Look around the crowd."
Trump was traveling from the rally site to the state's Republican convention in Burlington in the San Francisco Bay area.

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After Confederate flag controversy, GOP House replaces US flag display with state coins

Once again the minority shoves it down your throat. 

This is a story about flags, coins, congressional spending bills and a tunnel. But sometimes there’s more than meets the eye behind what appears to be a rather innocuous series of seemingly non-related events.
The Architect of the Capitol announced last September it would close off the tunnel that runs from the U.S. Capitol, under Independence Avenue and to the Rayburn House Office Building.
The memo declared that “construction will last for approximately one year with the majority of the work to take place nightly between the hours of 9:00 pm and 6:00 am.”
The AOC said the closure was necessary to renovate the tunnel’s ceiling, light fixtures, fire alarms and sprinklers.
And so as construction began, down came the flags of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories which embroidered the tunnel’s wall.
The tunnel looked pretty barren. The lack of flags accentuated the tunnel’s parabolic, curvature. The naked, vanilla wall still revealed a “shadow” of each flag and its state seal imprinted on the plaster. The exposed ceiling showed a network of nine parallel pipes running between the Capitol and Rayburn.
A few days ago, House Administration Committee Chairwoman Candice Miller, R-Mich., announced that the flags wouldn’t return when the tunnel’s work wrapped up. In place of the flags, the Architect of the Capitol would install reproductions of commemorative quarters issued by the U.S. Mint for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
“Each quarter serves as a reminder of the ideals, landmarks, and people from each state, as well as this nation’s great motto, ‘out of many, one,’” Miller said in a statement.
OK. No biggie. Just an aesthetic, “interior design” decision. Going for a different motif, right?
Perhaps.
But one of these flags was not like the others.
Forty-nine state flags seemed fine. But it was the flag from Mississippi that caused trouble.
Georgia adopted a new flag 13 years ago, dropping Confederate imagery. That left Mississippi as the only state emblem still depicting the Confederate battle flag. The upper left-hand corner of the banner features the deep blue cross cast against a red backdrop. Thirteen stars festoon the blue stripes.
The Mississippi flag has hung in the tunnel for years. A similar subterranean passageway stretching from the capitol and to the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office buildings continues to display the flags of all 50 states, including Mississippi.
But the Mississippi flag ignited a firestorm at the capitol after a massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, S.C. last June. Shooting suspect Dylann Roof later told police he began firing at black parishioners attending a Bible study in hopes of starting a race war.
A few days later, South Carolina GOP Gov. Nikki Haley ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol. And Haley’s decision set into motion a whirlwind of issues in Congress as lawmakers tried to usher annual spending bills to passage.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., crafted a little-known amendment to the appropriations bill that would fund the Interior Department. Huffman’s plan would prohibit the flying of the Confederate flag at many federal cemeteries. Without fanfare, the House approved Huffman’s amendment, hooking it the Interior spending bill.
But later the same night, Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., introduced an amendment to counter Huffman -- apparently at the behest of the Republican leadership. The Calvert amendment would trump Huffman’s idea. As a result, the House scheduled a vote on the Calvert amendment and the full Interior Department spending bill the next day.
They couldn’t have picked a worse day. It was the same day Haley would preside over a ceremony removing the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds.
The GOP brass worried it might not have the votes to pass the appropriations bill without attaching the Calvert amendment. Some Republicans simply couldn’t be on the record approving a bill that wiped out the display of the Confederate flag in federal cemeteries. By the same token, the optics were awful for the Republicans. They didn’t want to vote in favor of the Confederate flag just as Haley pulled down the Confederate flag.
The GOP yanked the entire Interior bill from the House calendar.
Then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio,  wanted a compromise.
“I want members on both sides of the aisle to sit down, and let’s have a conversation about how to address what, frankly, has become a very thorny issue,” Boehner said.
It was at that point Democrats knew they had somewhat unintentionally marched House Republicans into a political box canyon.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., pushed a resolution to “remove any state flag containing any portion of the Confederate battle flag” from the House side of the capitol. However, the resolution included a carve-out for lawmakers to continue displaying the flag inside their offices if they chose to do so.
If the House adopted Thompson’s resolution, officials would have to remove the Mississippi flag from the Rayburn tunnel. The effort would force Republicans to take a tough vote -- or pay a political price for not doing so.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., punted the resolution so the House wouldn’t have to deal directly with Thompson’s initiative. The House voted with McCarthy, sidestepping a direct up or down vote.
But while Republicans could a skirt a vote on the resolution, they couldn’t avoid the issue.
Democrats repeatedly tried to push a vote on Thompson’s resolution without success. Republicans knew how embarrassing the outcome of the issue would be: The House would most likely defeat the resolution.
That would help Democrats portray individual lawmakers -- now on the record on a specific roll call vote -- as voting in favor of maintaining the Mississippi flag. People would cry racism. Callousness. You name it. All of the things Republicans struggle with as a party that performs poorly with minority voters.
There was residual impact, too. Democrats made it clear they would try to hook a version of the Huffman amendment onto any of the remaining appropriations bills.
Variations of Huffman’s plan might not pertain directly to flying Confederate flags at federal cemeteries. But Democrats could sure include an amendment to ban the display of such a symbol at any other federal facility governed by the remaining spending measures.
Thus, the appropriations process ground to a halt. Republicans couldn’t risk taking a vote on such a toxic issue. The House put the appropriations cycle on ice until winter.
The maintenance of the Rayburn tunnel was long planned before this political dustup.
But last year, multiple sources confided in Fox that the timing and removal of the flags may prove fortuitous. With the refurbishment of the tunnel slated to run through this September, there was hope that the Mississippi legislature would vote to change the flag in its next session.
The Mississippi legislature concluded its 2016 session with multiple bills to redesign the state flag falling by the wayside.
Back in Washington, lawmakers stared at the start of annual appropriations bills in just a few weeks and a naked wall lining the Rayburn tunnel.
Could the summer of 2016 be a repeat of the summer of 2015?
That’s when Miller engineered the state coin idea, mothballing the flags.
“Given the controversy surrounding Confederate imagery, I decided to install a new display,” she said.  “I am well aware of how many Americans negatively view the Confederate flag. And, personally, I am very sympathetic to these views. However, I also believe that it is not the business of the federal government to dictate what flag each state flies.”
And so the installation of the commemorative quarters.
As Miller says, each U.S. quarter is emblazoned with the phrase “E Pluribus Unum,” which means “out of many, one.”
The protracted banishment of the Mississippi flag forced the removal of all state flags from the Rayburn tunnel.
That would be “E Pluribus Non,” which means “out of many, none.”

Obama defends controversial comments about UK vote on EU exit

President Obama, speaking to reporters in London Friday, defended his prior comments urging British voters to remain in the European Union, following scathing criticism that he was meddling in the U.S. ally's affairs.
“I don’t believe the E.U. moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it,” Obama said at a press conference at 10 Downing Street, alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron.
In recent days Obama has provoked ire from some British lawmakers for getting involved in the “Brexit” debate – earning him the title of “most anti-British American president there has ever been.”

“I don’t believe the E.U. moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it.”
- President Obama

“Brexit” refers to Britain’s possible exit from the European Union. Britain is set to have a referendum this summer on whether to remain in the 28-member bloc. If a majority votes to leave it, Britain will exit.
“The E.U. has helped to spread British values and practices across the continent,” Obama said, adding that “the single market brings extraordinary economic benefits to the United Kingdom.”
He cast a grim picture of the economic stakes, saying flatly that the U.S. would not rush to write a free trade deal with a newly independent Great Britain.
"Let me be clear, ultimately this is something that the British voters have to decide for themselves but ... part of being friends is to be honest and to let you know what I think," he said. "It affects our prospect as well. The United States wants a strong United Kingdom as a partner."
Obama spoke on the first day of a three-day visit to London, likely the last of this presidency. The visit comes two months before a June referendum on leaving the union.

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Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, blasted Obama for weighing in on "Brexit." (Reuters)

Polls suggest it will be a close-fought race, with most phone surveys indicating a lead for the Remain campaign while some online polls put the Leave camp ahead.
Obama described the votes as potentially damaging to the British economy. He said the U.S. is focused on writing a massive trade agreement with the European Union and would not prioritize a bilateral agreement with the UK. Britain would have to get "in the back of the queue," he said.
As he landed Thursday night, the president laid out his arguments in an op-ed in a London newspaper, harkening back to the "special relationship" forged by wartime allies President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. With that special status comes with leeway to interfere, Obama argued, writing that he was offering his thoughts with the "candor of a friend."
Obama's candor wasn't universally appreciated. In increasingly heated language, critics accused Obama of meddling in British business. London Mayor Boris Johnson, head of the Leave campaign, called Obama's advice "paradoxical, inconsistent, incoherent" and suggested Obama's background played a role.
Writing in The Sun newspaper, Johnson recounted a claim that a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was removed from the Oval Office after Obama was elected and returned to the British Embassy. The White House has said that a different Churchill bust is still in a prominent place in the presidential residence.
Johnson wrote that some said removing one of the busts "was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president's ancestral dislike of the British Empire, of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender."
Obama's late father was from Kenya, a former British colony that gained independence in the 1960s.
Obama has remained a broadly popular figure in Britain. In June 2015, three-quarters of Britons told pollsters they had confidence in his judgment on world affairs, according to a Pew Research survey.
That goodwill hasn't kept Britons in breaking from U.S. at key moments. In 2013, as Obama leaned on Cameron to join in threatened airstrikes in Syria, the House of Commons rejected the idea.
There have been other recent signs of stress on the relationship. British officials bristle over Obama's recent comments in the Atlantic magazine, in which he said he regretted trusting Europeans to stabilize Libya after the 2011 death of strongman Muammar Qaddafi. He specifically said Cameron had become "distracted by a range of other things" while Libya devolved into chaos.