Friday, December 29, 2017
Paris Climate Accord
President Trump mocked the Paris Climate Accord he rejected earlier this year in a tweet highlighting the chilly temperatures in his home region.
"In the east, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record," Trump wrote. "Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against."
"Bundle up!" the president added.In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017
Fox News Meteorologist Rick Reichmuth said New Years Eve revelers coming to watch the ball drop in Times Square will encounter a high of 20 degrees and low temperatures in the teens after sunset.
He said the conditions in the traditional security "pens" ball drop viewers must stay in could be "dangerous" as the temperatures drop.
On Wednesday, North American wind chills ranged from 19 degrees in Washington to minus-20 in Fargo, N.D. and even as low as minus-39 degrees in Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories, Reichmuth reported.
Professor who blamed 'Trumpism' for Las Vegas massacre resigns
A far-left Drexel University professor -- known for
making inflammatory remarks on social media -- is resigning from his
teaching job, blaming a right-wing “internet mob” for alleged
“harassment.”
George Ciccariello-Maher, an
associate professor of politics and global studies at the Philadelphia
school, will be leaving next year, he said in a statement Thursday.
He blamed “right-wing, white supremacist media outlets and internet mobs” that allegedly harassed him for nearly a year.After December 31st, 2017, I will no longer work at Drexel University. pic.twitter.com/bAM37dbv1q— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) December 28, 2017
The professor had drawn attention for a series of inflammatory remarks. Most recently, he was placed on administrative leave after he blamed the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre of 58 people on the “narrative of white victimization” and “Trumpism.”
Some guy gave up his first class seat for a uniformed soldier. People are thanking him. I'm trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul.— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) March 26, 2017
The constant controversy created a backlash for the university, prompting an inquiry into the professor's behavior after donors started reconsidering their partnership with the institution.
The university’s provost reportedly wrote to Ciccariello-Maher that "at least two potential significant donors to the university have withheld previously promised donations” while a number of prospective students reversed their decisions to attend Drexel.
In the resignation announcement, Ciccariello-Maher said that “we are at war” and accused conservatives of “targeting campuses with thinly veiled provocations disguised as free speech.”
He added: “In the face of aggression from the racist Right and impending global catastrophe, we must defend our universities, our students, and ourselves by defending the most vulnerable among us and by making our campuses unsafe spaces for white supremacists.”
Drexel previously defended the professor’s right to free speech, but stressed that his views did not reflect those of the institution.
Huma Abedin's cousin convicted in fraud case involving fake emails
A first cousin of Huma Abedin, a former aide to
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and soon to be ex-wife of
disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, was convicted Tuesday in a
fraud case involving fake emails.
Omar Amanat, 44, and his colleague
Kaleil Tuzman face more than a decade in prison after a jury in New York
City found the pair guilty of cooking the books and defrauding
shareholders of the technology company Kit Digital between 2010 and
2012.
Amanat’s brother, Irfan Amana, was also arrested in the
United Arab Emirates and faces charges of fraud with the same tech
firm, the New York Post reported. Judge Paul Gardephe revoked Amanat’s bail after Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said he was a flight risk, and chastised the father of six children for his "disregard and a disdain for the courts and legal process."
"The evidence of their criminal schemes was so overwhelming that Amanat actually tried to fool the jury by introducing fake emails into the record as exculpatory 'evidence' in this trial," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a release. "Unfortunately for Tuzman and Amanat, the jury saw through their tangled web of lies, convicting them on all counts."
Evidence against Amanat that involved him telling a government informant of his relation to Abedin was withheld from the jury after his defense lawyers successfully argued it could unfairly influence the jurors.
"Again, particularly in New York, jurors are likely to have strong opinions regarding the Clinton campaign and certain individuals connected to the campaign," the lawyers wrote. "Both supporters and those politically opposed to Secretary Clinton could have reasons to be prejudiced against Mr. Amanat based on his indirect connection to her."
According to the Post, the mothers of Abedin and Amanat are sisters.
Amanat was a successful tech entrepreneur and owned stakes in a film studio that produced Hollywood blockbusters such as the “Twilight” movies.
In November, Abedin's estranged husband, Weiner, began serving a 21-month sentence following his conviction of sending sexual texts to a 15-year-old girl.
Trump rails against North Korea and China, says Mueller will be 'fair,' during wide-ranging interview
President Trump railed against
"nuclear menace" North Korea and fumed at the reports China illegally
delivered oil to the Hermit Kingdom, exclaiming "That wasn't my deal!"
during a wide-ranging interview Thursday with an outlet he's long
derided.
During an impromptu talk with a New York Times reporter,
Trump said his stance on trade with China has “been soft” in order to
encourage the country to help bring an end to the North Korean nuclear
threat.
But after a South Korean report Wednesday said U.S. spy satellites caught Chinese ships illegally sending oil to North Korean boats
dozens of times since October, Trump told The Times that sort of
transaction wasn't acceptable, adding “the only thing more important to
me than trade is war.”“Oil is going into North Korea. That wasn’t my deal!” Trump said. “If they’re helping me with North Korea, I can look at trade a little bit differently, at least for a period of time. And that’s what I’ve been doing. But when oil is going in, I’m not happy about that.”
He added: “We have a nuclear menace out there, which is no good for China."
The comment followed a tweet from Trump earlier Thursday saying: “Caught RED HANDED – very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!”
In addition to China and North Korea, Trump spoke to The Times about several other topics that have shadowed his first year in the White House, including special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. Trump said he believed he was “going to be treated fairly” by Mueller and ultimately be vindicated.
He added he believed the investigation was meritless, calling it a “ruse” devised by members of the Democratic Party “as an excuse for losing an election,” and lamented the inquiry made “the country look very bad."
“It makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position,” Trump said. “So the sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country.”
Regarding the investigation and Attorney General Jeff Session’s recusal -- an event that ultimately led to Mueller's appointment -- Trump unexpectedly touted his predecessor’s attorney general, Eric Holder, to The Times. In what appeared to be a veiled shot at Sessions, Trump praised Holder for his “loyalty” to former President Barack Obama, saying Holder “totally protected him.”
Regarding his administration’s success’ during the year, Trump hailed his recently-passed tax bill, boasting he knows “the details of taxes better than anybody” and knows “the details of health care better than most.”
When asked about Alabama Republican Roy Moore’s recent failed Senate bid, Trump told the outlet he felt he had to give his endorsement “as the head of the party.”
Trump added he believed he’d “win another four years” in the White House, and that news outlets would eventually back him because otherwise “their ratings” would go “down the tubes.”
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Trump, top Republicans to plot road map for more legislative victories in 2018
September 5, 2017: House Speaker
Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., right, listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting
with Congressional leaders and administration officials on tax reform,
in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington.
(AP)
President Donald Trump and top
Republican congressional leaders will plot the 2018 political agenda in
January, gearing up for more legislative achievements in the wake of the
successful passage of the tax reform.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will be hosted by Trump
at the at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland early January,
the White House said.
The focus will be on the possible legislative
initiatives in 2018 before the political winds shift to the midterm
elections, potentially disrupting the legislative process amid fierce
all-out elections across the country.The gathering follows the first big legislative achievement for the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress who passed the $1.5 trillion tax plan this month that decreased individual tax rates for the middle class and axed taxes on corporations.
It is expected that health care reform will dominate the talks in January, as the passed tax cut bill repealed only the requirement, as part of the Obamacare, that all Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine – while leaving other features of the health care law still in place.
Republicans tried to repeal the Obamacare twice this year – both times coming up short with the votes in Congress to pass the legislation and breaking the promise of swift repeal once the White House is occupied by a Republican.
Already juggling a delicate majority in the Senate, Republicans’ efforts to repeal the law were met with unanimous opposition from the Democrats. But the president expects both sides on the aisle “will eventually come together” to work on creating a new health care plan.
“Based on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as part of our Tax Cut Bill, which essentially Repeals (over time) ObamaCare, the Democrats & Republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new HealthCare plan!” Trump tweeted earlier this week.
Other possible ideas for 2018 include an infrastructure bill aimed at upgrading aging roads, bridges and other transportation. The White House reportedly said Trump will release his infrastructure plan in January.
Ryan, meanwhile, might raise the issue of overhauling Medicaid and Medicare and other welfare program, although McConnell was skeptical of such reforms unless they have the support of the Democrats. Trump has signaled that he is open to pursue “welfare reform” next year as “people are taking advantage of the system.”
But as the White House and Republican congressional leaders plot the 2018 agenda, Congress will face a backlog from 2017.
By the end of January, Congress has to agree on a government funding bill to avoid a partial government shutdown. Politicians in Washington will also have to agree on sending additional aid to support the hurricane victims, lifting the debt ceiling, reviving the children’s health insurance program, and coming up with a legislation for the so-called “Dreamers” who were brought to the country illegally as children.
It's Mueller, his team and the FBI who are overdue for an investigation says Florida's Rep. Rooney
If anyone thought the week between Christmas and
New Years might provide respite in the war between President Trump and
his myriad critics, Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., has just opened a new
and important offensive.
“It’s been very frustrating that the
truth about what’s going on with this investigation into President Trump
isn’t coming out,” he told me from his hometown on the Gulf Coast.
The topic to which Rooney was referring is Special
Counsel Robert Mueller’s increasingly broad, unfocused — and taxpayer
funded — probe into what Trump, first as a candidate, then as
president-elect, was doing, and who he and his coterie of advisors were
talking to, and about what.Rooney, like many voters who elected Trump, thinks the investigation has, as he said on MSNBC Tuesday, gone “off the rails.”
The problem is, almost no one who agrees with him watches MSNBC.
To set the record straight, the first-term congressman — and former Ambassador the the Vatican — told Bellwether he thinks a thorough investigation is overdue — but of Mueller, his staff, and the FBI, not the president.
He is particularly alarmed by the negative comments from FBI agent Peter Strzok — whom Mueller had to fire — and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr were texting and saying about Trump, while pretending to be impartial.
In terms as strong as any used so far, Rooney says there are real questions about whether Mueller and the FBI can be trusted to do their jobs in a fair manner.
Mueller’s staff, for instance is composed of individuals who contributed by a 12-1 ratio for Hillary Clinton’s campaign over Trump’s.
That has given rise to suspicions that a so-called “deep state” of Obama-era holdovers in positions of authority is determined to hound Trump out of office.
“I would say maybe the deep state is more pervasive than Mueller realized, and as a result he is having a hard time finding the proper people,” Rooney told me.
He also lauds Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s pledge to investigate Mrs. Clinton’s complicated, and possibly improper, campaign contributions.
A supporter of Trump’s tax bill and his rollback of excessive regulations, Rooney concedes that the president’s bombastic public style both enrages and emboldens his critics, some of whom have called — less than a quarter of the way through his term — for his impeachment.
“It’s very unsettling that they are talking in these careless terms about impeachment,” Rooney laments. “All they’re doing is continuing to undermine faith in our great American institutional solidarity.”
Such strong language from a freshman congressman is both unusual and welcome. If Rooney thought his time at the Vatican put him in closer contact with the Divine, he may soon conclude his current gig is more about encountering just the opposite.
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