Thursday, March 30, 2017
Sorry, Not Sorry: New York Times tells Trump it did not apologize for coverage
Stop buying this Crap. |
President
Trump tweeted Wednesday that The New York Times “apologized” to its
readers for its election coverage, but the paper said it did no such
thing.
Trump was likely referring to the November letter from the paper’s embattled publisher, Arthur O. Sulzberger that was released shortly after the election. Sulzberger promised readers that the paper would “reflect” on its coverage and rededicate itself to reporting on “America and the world” honestly.
Trump sent out the tweet Wednesday and The Times’ communication team tweeted back and called his tweet incorrect.
".@realdonaldtrump False, we did not apologize. We stand by our coverage & thank our millions of subscribers for supporting our journalism," the tweet read.
New York Post columnist and former Times reporter Michael Goodwin wrote at the time that the Sulzberger likely issued the statement, "because it [The Times] demonized Trump from start to finish, it failed to realize he was onto something. And because the paper decided that Trump’s supporters were a rabble of racist rednecks and homophobes, it didn’t have a clue about what was happening in the lives of the Americans who elected the new president."
Trump has been critical of The Times in the past. Earlier this year, a Times reporter had to apologize for calling First Lady Melania Trump “a hooker.”
Trump was likely referring to the November letter from the paper’s embattled publisher, Arthur O. Sulzberger that was released shortly after the election. Sulzberger promised readers that the paper would “reflect” on its coverage and rededicate itself to reporting on “America and the world” honestly.
Trump sent out the tweet Wednesday and The Times’ communication team tweeted back and called his tweet incorrect.
".@realdonaldtrump False, we did not apologize. We stand by our coverage & thank our millions of subscribers for supporting our journalism," the tweet read.
New York Post columnist and former Times reporter Michael Goodwin wrote at the time that the Sulzberger likely issued the statement, "because it [The Times] demonized Trump from start to finish, it failed to realize he was onto something. And because the paper decided that Trump’s supporters were a rabble of racist rednecks and homophobes, it didn’t have a clue about what was happening in the lives of the Americans who elected the new president."
Trump has been critical of The Times in the past. Earlier this year, a Times reporter had to apologize for calling First Lady Melania Trump “a hooker.”
Trump travel ban: Hawaii judge extends hold on implementing executive order
A federal judge in Hawaii issued an extension on his order blocking President Trump’s travel ban hours after hearing arguments Wednesday.
Hawaii contends the travel ban discriminates against Muslims and hurts the state’s tourist-dependent economy. State Attorney General Douglas Chin argued that the ban’s implied message is like a “neon sign flashing ‘Muslim ban, Muslim ban” that the government did not bother to turn off.
Extending the temporary order until the state's lawsuit was resolved would ensure the constitutional rights of Muslim citizens across the U.S. are vindicated after "repeated stops and starts of the last two months," the state has said.
The Trump administration had asked Judge Derrick Watson, a federal judge in Hawaii, to narrow his ruling to cover only the part of the president’s executive order that suspends new visas for people from six Muslim-majority nations.
Justice Department told Watson the freeze on the U.S. refugee program had no effect on Hawaii. Watson rejected that argument, preventing the administration from halting the flow of refugees.
Earlier this month, Watson prevented the federal government from suspending new visas for people from Somalia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen and freezing the nation's refugee program. His ruling came just hours before the federal government planned to start enforcing Trump's executive order.
Trump called Watson's previous ruling an example of "unprecedented judicial overreach."
North Carolina lawmakers announce plan to repeal 'bathroom bill'
Stupid Sign, Stupid Idea! |
At a late-night press conference Wednesday, Republican lawmakers announced an agreement with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on legislation to repeal the law known as House Bill 2, which was enacted last year.
The law limits LGBT nondiscrimination protections and requires transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate.
The new proposal would repeal House Bill 2, but it would still leave state legislators in charge of policy on public restrooms. Local governments would be forbidden to pass nondiscrimination ordinances covering sexual orientation and gender identity until December 2020.
The announcement came after the NCAA said North Carolina sites won't be considered for championship events from 2018 to 2022 "absent any change" in House Bill 2, which it views as discrimination.
Local media outlets reported that the NCAA had set the state a noon Thursday deadline to make changes to House Bill 2 so it could be considered to host the organization's championships. North Carolina cities, schools and other groups have offered 131 bids for such events.
The law already has prompted some businesses to halt expansions and entertainers and sports organizations to cancel or move events, including the NBA All-Star game in Charlotte. An Associated Press analysis this week found that HB2 already will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years.
House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger said the new legislation would be voted on in the state Senate Thursday morning, with a vote in the state House to follow.
Moore and Berger said in a statement that the proposal "fully protects bathroom safety and privacy." Cooper said he supported the proposal, saying it was "not a perfect deal," but begins to repair the state's reputation.
It was unclear whether there were enough House and Senate votes to pass it. The Republican announcement followed several hours of private meetings among lawmakers, and with Berger and Moore shuttling between their corner offices at the Legislative Building.
Leaders of national and state gay rights groups said Wednesday evening they only want legislation that completely repeals HB2 and does nothing else. They have complained about previous compromise proposals -- that ultimately failed -- because they said it kept discrimination on the books against LGBT people.
Comey reportedly tried to expose possible Russia tampering before election
James Comey, the FBI director, was reportedly prepared to write an op-ed over the summer about information on Russia’s influence in the U.S. presidential election, but officials from the Obama administration blocked him from writing the piece.
Newsweek, citing two unnamed sources, reported on Wednesday that Comey pitched the idea in the White House’s situation room sometime between June and July.
The source told the magazine that there was a draft. Comey reportedly “held up a piece of paper in a meeting and said, ‘I want to go forward, what to people think of this?” He made the pitch in front on Secretary of State John Kerry and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the report said.
GINGRICH: WHY AREN'T CLINTON TIES PART OF RUSSIA PROBE
He would likely have pitched the op-ed to The New York Times.
The question of collusion between Russian interests and Trump’s campaign continues, despite repeated assertions by the president’s spokesman that it’s case closed.
Sean Spicer angrily dismissed inquiries about the matter Tuesday, declaring that “every single person who’s been briefed on this, as I’ve said ad nauseam from this podium … have been very clear that there is no connection between the president or the staff here and anyone doing anything with Russia.”
Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee announced Wednesday they are expanding their investigation of Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential campaign and beyond, vowing to remain independent and “get to the bottom of this” – amid mounting controversy over a similar probe on the House side.
The senators announced they are now scheduling interviews and reviewing thousands of sensitive documents, and are prepared to issue subpoenas if necessary.
Spicer’s claim that even Democrats who have been briefed on the matter agree there was no collusion is at odds with statements from Democrats. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and a recipient of classified briefings, has said “there is more than circumstantial evidence now” of a relationship between Russian interests and Trump associates.
Michael Flynn was fired as national security adviser when his pre-inauguration contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. emerged. As for “staff here” being in the clear, as Spicer put it, they have neither been identified as targets of the investigations nor ruled out.
A close adviser to Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner, has agreed to talk to lawmakers about his business dealings with Russians. Other Trump associates have volunteered to be interviewed by the House and Senate intelligence committees as well.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Shutdown threat returns after ObamaCare repeal meltdown
The specter of another government shutdown is emerging on Capitol Hill, amid concerns that Republican leaders who failed to unite the party last week on an ObamaCare overhaul will likewise struggle to finalize a spending package before the April 28 deadline.
“We should not take things for granted, especially after what happened last week,” Oklahoma GOP Rep. Tom Cole told Fox News. “The last thing we need is a self-inflicted crisis. … There frankly isn’t much time.”
Voters largely blamed congressional Republicans for the last shutdown, in 2013, when they engaged in a budget standoff with Senate Democrats and President Obama over ObamaCare funding.
Much of the federal government shuttered from Oct. 1-16, during the fight driven by Tea Party sage Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the conservative Heritage Foundation -- both influential in sinking House Speaker Paul Ryan’s ObamaCare overhaul bill.
To avoid a repeat this year, Congress is eyeing a short-term measure known as a continuing resolution. This could bundle the roughly 12 spending bills together, despite Ryan, R-Wis., pledging last year to try to end that practice.
Cole, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has jurisdiction over the spending bills that fund all federal agencies, voiced concern about that approach and said these bills should have been done late last year.
But this year’s spending bill standoff is now emerging as a sequel to the clash over an ObamaCare replacement, with Ryan again having to juggle the interests of the chamber’s moderate Republicans with those of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus.
About 20 of the Freedom Caucus’ roughly 35 members opposed Ryan and President Trump’s ObamaCare overhaul plan, arguing it didn’t fully repeal and replace the struggling 2010 health care law. Ryan and Trump got no support from House Democrats to get the requisite 216 House votes to pass their plan, which they scrapped Friday.
In this year’s budget battle, Ryan will likely need Democratic support, which will be tough to get if Republicans try to use the package to defund Planned Parenthood and seek spending cuts elsewhere. All this comes before debate even begins over the budget plan for next year, which Trump wants to include billions more for the military, and a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
And any compromise on spending cuts will almost certainly spark opposition from the Freedom Caucus.
“Republicans have always needed help from the Democrats,” Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House’ second-ranking Democrat, said Tuesday. “They never came up with … votes on their own.”
He and Cole agreed this week on at least one point: that GOP-led House committees should have agreed months ago on spending bills.
“They had time to figure it out,” Hoyer said. “They haven't figured it out.”
The House now has 237 Republicans, 193 Democrats and five vacant seats, which means Ryan needs 216 votes to pass legislation.
The Republican-led Senate also is behind on its spending bills, having largely been consumed by confirmation hearings for the Trump administration and now getting the votes to install Judge Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
The budget problem is further compounded by Congress taking a roughly two-week recess starting Friday. House and Senate appropriators purportedly will have a bill ready in the final week of April -- which doesn't leave much time before the deadline.
Ryan signaled Tuesday that congressional Republicans would still revisit ObamaCare, suggesting some foes of the last bill have offered to compromise but making clear that the more immediate focus is on tax reform and other big policy issues.
“We want to get this right. We are going to keep talking to each other,” he said. “But I’m not going to put a timeline on it.”
Planned Parenthood videos: Anti-abortion activists charged with 15 felonies for secret tapes
Two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood were charged with 15 felonies, California prosecutors announced Tuesday.
State Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the charges against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt. Becerra said the two used a fictitious bioresearch company to meet with women's health care providers and covertly record them.
Prosecutors said they invaded the privacy of medical providers by filming without consent.
Daleiden and Merritt allegedly filmed 14 people without permission between October 2013 and July 2015 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Dorado counties. One felony count was filed for each person and the 15th was for criminal conspiracy to invade privacy.
Daleiden called the charges “bogus” and that they were coming from “Planned Parenthood's political cronies."
"The public knows the real criminals are Planned Parenthood and their business partners," Daleiden said.
Planned Parenthood said in a tweet that the charges send a “clear message… You can’t target women & health care providers without consequences.”
Daleiden and Merritt had previously been indicted in Texas on similar charges in January of 2016, but all of the charges were eventually dropped by July as prosecutors said a grand jury had overstepped its authority. The grand jury had originally been convened to investigate Planned Parenthood, but after finding no wrongdoing turned around and indicted Daleiden and Merritt instead.
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