North Carolina gov.-elect sues over law stripping his powers

North Carolina's incoming Democratic governor sued Friday over a new law passed by Republican legislators to limit his powers as he prepares to take office.
In his lawsuit, Gov.-elect Roy Cooper asks a Wake County judge to block a law that ends the control governors exert over statewide and county election boards from taking effect Sunday, when he'll be sworn in.
The lawsuit says the Republican-led legislature's radical changes two weeks ago to the administration of election laws are unconstitutional because they violate separation of powers.
The changes convert the state elections board from one that governors have controlled into a bipartisan body with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. County election boards would have two members from each party, rather than the current three members with a majority from the governor's party.
On Friday afternoon, a judge was hearing arguments by lawyers representing Cooper who are seeking an emergency ruling to halt the law from taking effect.
In a statement, Cooper argued that the new law could create longer lines at polling places, less early voting and general difficulty for voters.
"This complex new law passed in just two days by the Republican legislature is unconstitutional and anything but bipartisan," he said. "A tie on a partisan vote would accomplish what many Republicans want: making it harder for North Carolinians to vote."
But the Republican leader in the state Senate, Phil Berger, released a statement saying Cooper was trying to preserve his own power, not do what's best for voters.
"Given the recent weeks-long uncertainty surrounding his own election, the governor-elect should understand better than anyone why North Carolinians deserve a system they can trust will settle election outcomes fairly and without the taint of partisanship," he said.
Cooper's lawsuit makes good on his previous threats to take Republicans to court over laws passed during two December special sessions. Another of the laws requires Cooper's Cabinet choices to be confirmed by legislators. The state constitution gives the Senate the ability to "advise and consent" to the governor's appointees by a majority vote, but that provision hadn't been used in at least several decades.
Cooper won the November election against outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory by about 10,000 votes. The transition was made bumpier by a protracted debate over vote-counting. McCrory didn't concede until a month after the election.

Obama's full-blown, year-end temper tantrum

Let’s be honest: President Obama is throwing a good old-fashioned foot-stomping world class temper tantrum. He is just beside himself that the stupid American voter elected Donald Trump. How could the country willfully dismiss the erudite recommendation of nearly every news organization in the nation – as well as Obama’s personal plea that not electing Hillary would be a personal insult to him? How could young people not respond to Obama’s call to “bend the arc of history in a better direction?” It is beyond comprehension.
But it happened, and Obama is having an extremely difficult time dealing with what may be his first-ever serious setback. This is a man described by his closest advisor, Valerie Jarrett, as “just too talented to do what ordinary people do.” More flattering, Jarrett noted that “I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. …” He is so smart, said Jarrett, that “he’s been bored to death his whole life.”
Very few people surround themselves with people capable of such uncompromising adoration. It isn’t healthy. But Obama is different. He has been told over and over – even by the Nobel Committee that awarded him their coveted Peace Prize on spec– that he is extraordinary. So when a man like The Donald bests him, a man Obama clearly considers a joke, he is undone.
That is certainly the way he is behaving. Not for Obama the normal gracious withdrawal into political stasis; no, he wants to prove in these waning weeks of his presidency that he was right all along. That his agenda is what The People want, even if they don’t know it. That putting America’s valuable natural resources permanently off limits is the correct thing to do, because only Obama can see the future. That taking over vast swatches of the west is in the best interests of the reluctant residents there, because only Obama will protect our environment. That publicly confronting Russia for cyber misbehavior after years of looking the other way is called for, even if it complicates diplomacy in a number of theaters. Because Obama knows best.
He also knows what is best for Israelis. Upending long-standing tradition, he has allowed our only true ally – and the only democracy -- in the Middle East to be further isolated and compromised, in the interests, we are told, of seeking a meaningful peace. The reality is that Obama fully expected that by dint of his winning personality, superior insight and sympathy for the Muslim people, to conquer the divides in that region.
He was shocked that his Cairo speech did not cause the waters to part, and the wounds to heal. And he is angry that, in his mind, Bibi Netanyahu has stood between him and fulfilling this key legacy achievement. As he revealed in 2010 to an interviewer with Time magazine, “[Getting peace in the Middle East] is just really hard”; notably, this came as a surprise.
Make no mistake: we do need to rein in Russian misbehavior. Putin is a dangerous adversary and should never have been allowed out of the penalty box inflicted by drooping oil prices. But, Obama gave him running room by putting him in charge of the Syrian debacle and making him a key figure in the Iran nuke deal. So important were those quests to Obama that our president chose to ignore Moscow’s serial aggressions and misbehavior. Indeed, after the conclusion of the Iran accord, Obama called Putin to thank him for his help. Is it any wonder that an emboldened Putin felt he could act out his hostility to Hillary Clinton?
Obama is having a difficult time passing the baton, because he thinks the baton should be his in perpetuity. Unlike most of his predecessors, Obama intends to stay involved in his party’s politics, and to continue living in the nation’s capital, better to keep his finger on the pulse. Whether Democrats want him involved, since after eight years of his leadership the party’s pulse is barely discernible, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has once again outfoxed President Obama. His response to Obama’s eviction of 35 diplomats and other grave-sounding but ultimately unimportant retaliatory measures? Instead of engaging in traditional diplomatic tit for tat, the Russian leader has invited the children of U.S. diplomats to the Kremlin for a holiday party. Who looks like the adult in the room?

Trump praises Putin over response to US sanctions, calls him 'very smart'

President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter Friday to praise Russian President Vladimir Putin for not retaliating against new penalties imposed by the Obama administration for Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. election – going so far as to call Putin “very smart.”
“Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!” Trump tweeted.
The tweet comes after Putin announced earlier in the day that he would not kick out American diplomats despite President Obama’s announcement Thursday that his administration will expel 35 Russian intelligence operatives and close down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York, among other actions.
Trump later sent another tweet that criticized two major networks while prasing Fox News.
While the Russian premier condemned the sanctions imposed on his country, calling them “unfriendly,” he said he would not retaliate and was instead looking to rebuild Russian-U.S. relations with the incoming Trump administration.
"We will not expel anyone. We will not prevent their families and children from using their traditional leisure sites during the New Year's holidays. Moreover, I invite all children of U.S. diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas children's parties in the Kremlin," Putin added.
Trump has taken heat for not criticizing Putin, and for doubting U.S. intelligence suggesting the Russians interfered in the election to sway the vote Trump’s way. Trump called for the U.S ”to move on to bigger and better things” in a statement Thursday in response to the Obama sanctions.
The restrained response from Putin was a marked contrast from noises from the Kremlin earlier Friday, when Putin’s deputies pushed for a stronger response. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for Russia to kick out a group of U.S. diplomats, and suggested blocking the Americans from using their summer retreat on the outskirts of Moscow and a warehouse south of Moscow. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged earlier in the day that the outgoing administration has become immersed in "anti-Russian death throes."
Trump has said he is keeping an open mind on the issue, and will meet with leaders in the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the issue.
Obama also announced Thursday that the U.S. had sanctioned the GRU and the FSB -- two of Russia's intelligence services as well as other entities and individuals associated with the GRU. The cybersecurity firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate the hack of its emails earlier this year concluded the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.

Mayor De Blasio Cartoons

NYPD to allow Sikh officers to wear turbans and beards while on duty

In a gesture of goodwill to the city’s burgeoning Sikh population, the New York City Police Department will soon allow officers who are members of the religion to wear blue turbans and beards while on duty.
The announcement was made by NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill on Wednesday shortly after the police academy’s graduation ceremony at Madison Square Garden.
"We're making this change to make sure that we allow everybody in New York City that wants to apply and have the opportunity to work for the greatest police department in the nation," O’Neill told the media as he was flanked by NYPD officers wearing blue turbans with badges on them.
Sikh officers will now be permitted to wear turbans in place of the traditional police cap and grow beards up to a half-inch long for religious reasons, provided that they first get approval from a commanding officer. The turbans also must be navy blue and have the NYPD insignia attached.

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FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016 file photo, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill speaks to new graduates of the Police Academy during their graduation ceremony in New York. The New York Police Department is now allowing Sikh (seek) officers to wear turbans in place of the traditional police cap and grow beards up to a half-inch long for religious reasons. O'Neill announced the new rules that affect all religious members on Wednesday following a graduation ceremony for new police recruits. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Before, Sikh officers had to fit their turbans under their department issued cap. Beards were forbidden because they interfered with wearing gas masks.
"I thought it was about time that we did that," O’Neill told DNA Info. "Hopefully, with this change in policy, we're going to be able to get more people to apply."
O’Neill added that there are about 160 Sikhs serving in the police department.
If the NYPD officially enacts the policy, it will join a small group of law enforcement agencies that permit their ranks to wear a beard and turban, which includes police departments in Washington D.C. and Riverside, California as well as the United States Army. Since the 1990s, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have permitted beards and turbans and earlier this year allowed Muslim “Mounties” to wear a hijab.
Members of the Sikh Coalition – a group that aims to protect Sikh’s religious freedoms in the U.S. – said that until a written policy is implemented it’s difficult to weigh in on the merits of the change and the impact it will have on the community. The group did, however, say that O’Neill’s words sent “a powerful message” to the rest of the country.
"The NYPD's refusal to hire turbaned and bearded Sikhs allows other employers to justify refusing to hire Sikhs,” Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition’s Legal Director, said in a statement sent to FoxNews.com. “If the NYPD's new policy indeed allows for Sikhs to maintain unshorn beards and turbans, that sends a powerful message to the rest of America that Sikhs are an important part of our nation's fabric."

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Sikh men march down Broadway during the annual Sikh Day parade in New York, April 19, 2003. The Sikh religion has a following of over 20 million people worldwide and is ranked as the worlds 5th largest religion. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton SS/HB - RTRM3CF

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion that originated in the 15^th century in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. Male observant Sikhs often cover their heads with turbans — which are considered sacred — and refrain from shaving their beards.
While the majority of the world's 30 million Sikhs live in India, the Sikh Coalition estimates that there are between 500,000 and 1 million members of the religious group living in the U.S., with the majority residing in the tri-state area around New York City.
"This has been a careful process that we've been working with the Sikh officers to try to make sure we get this done," O'Neill said of the NYPD’s new policy. "We want to make the NYPD as diverse as possible and I think this is going to go a long way to help us with that."
The NYPD will offer an entrance exam to the police academy in January – the first time the nation’s largest police force has done so in about a year and a half.

Conway says Trump will have a 'much stronger relationship with Israel'

President-elect Donald Trump's incoming counselor said Thursday that Trump “does believe it’s time to move on and look forward to the next administration.”
In an interview on Fox News' "Hannity," Kellyanne Conway discussed the US sanctions imposed on Russia. Russia has responded to the sanctions by threatening to retaliate and has said the move was done to hurt the incoming administration.
“We have complicated relations with Russia. We have for decades as the United States,” Conway said. “President-elect has made it clear that he is willing to work with countries who want to work on big solutions together.”
Conway also discussed the relationship between the US and Israel saying, “You will see President Trump having much stronger relationship with Israel.”
Conway said Israel is America’s greatest friend and that “we want our friends in Israel to know that help is on the way.”
“You see this flurry of activity by a tough President Obama as he exits the office,” Conway said. “You can’t put daylight between the US and Israel.”
“We do wonder about the rush to do all these things the next couple of weeks by the Obama administration,” Conway added.
“January 20th will be here quickly and it’s very important to all of us,” Conway said of the Trump administration taking office. “I think it’s important to America that you see that peaceful transition of power from administration to administration. “

Trump responds to sanctions against Russia, says it's time to 'move on'

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday “it’s time for our country to move on to bigger and better things” after the Obama administration issued sanctions against Russia for its alleged 2016 election hacking.
“It's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things,” Trump said in a written response released four hours after the announcement. “Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation."
The Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia’s intelligence services, while ejecting dozens of intelligence operatives from the U.S. as part of a response to what it says are efforts by Moscow to influence the election.
Using an executive order, President Obama sanctioned the GRU and the FSB -- two of Russia's intelligence services as well as other entities and individuals associated with the GRU. The cybersecurity firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate the hack of its emails earlier this year concluded the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.
In addition to the sanctions, the State Department has declared 35 Russian intelligence operatives "persona non grata" in the U.S., giving them 72 hours to leave, and is shutting down two Russian compounds in Maryland and New York.
The Maryland property is a 45-acre property at Pioneer Point, and was purchased by the Soviet government in 1972.
The New York property is on Long Island and is 14 acres and was purchased by the Soviet government in 1954.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said in response to the announcement that Moscow will consider retaliatory measures.
 "We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect," Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
The Russian Embassy in the UK took a different approach, tweeting out a picture of a lame duck and blasting what it called "Cold War deja vu."
The Treasury Secretary meanwhile has named two individuals -- Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev and Aleksey Alekseyevich Belan -- it says were involved in "malicious cyber-enabled activities."
"These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior," Obama said in a statement.
Obama also announced that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI will release declassified information on Russian cyberactivity to help "identify, detect and Russia's global campaign of malicious cyber activities."
Obama also said that the administration will be providing a report to Congress "in the coming days" about Russian attempts to interfere in the election, as well as previous election cycles.
The president also hinted that his administration intends to do more to hold Russia accountable.
"These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia's aggressive activities," Obama said. "We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized."
U.S. intelligence services have concluded that the Russians interfered in the election to try and help President-elect Donald Trump win. Trump has dismissed the conclusions.
However, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. welcomed the move in a statement.
"Russia does not share America's interests. In fact, it has consistently sought to undermine them, sowing dangerous instability around the world. While today's action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia," Ryan said.
Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY., also praised the move in a statement late Thursday.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-TX., called Obama's actions "long overdue," while House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said he's been "urging" Obama for years to take action and that this "indecision and delay" explains why "American's influence has collapsed."

Putin spokesman says Russia weighs retaliation after sanctions

The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday Moscow will consider retaliatory measures following the new round of U.S. sanctions put in place by President Obama.
Russia also continued to deny accusations by the U.S. that it hacked and stole emails in order to aide in Trump’s win. Trump commented on the matter saying the U.S. should move on. Trump is planning on meeting with U.S. intelligence leaders next week to learn more.

Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that the measures signal Obama’s “unpredictable” and “aggressive foreign policy.”
The spokesman added that Putin would order “appropriate” retaliation for the sanctions.
"We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect," Peskov said.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took to Twitter to call out the new round of U.S. sanctions against his country, saying the Obama administration is “ending its term in an anti-Russia agony.”
The Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia’s intelligence services, while ejecting dozens of intelligence operatives from the U.S., as part of a response to what it says are efforts by Moscow to influence the 2016 presidential election.