Trump administration aims to trim rules on offshore drilling

The Trump administration on Friday proposed to rewrite or kill rules on offshore oil and gas drilling that were imposed after a deadly 2010 rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The administration said the rules are an unnecessary burden on industry and rolling them back would encourage more energy production.

An offshore-drilling group welcomed the proposed rollback, while environmentalists said President Donald Trump would raise the risk of more deadly oil spills.
The Obama administration imposed tougher rules in response to the April 2010 explosion on a drilling rig used by BP called the Deepwater Horizon. The accident killed 11 workers and triggered a massive oil spill.
The Obama rules required more frequent inspections to prevent oil spills and dictated that experts onshore monitor drilling of highly complex wells in real time.
Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said in a statement that the Trump administration's rollback was a step toward regulatory reform. He said safety experts in the offshore energy industry would now have the chance to comment on the regulations and "assure the nation's offshore energy resources are developed safely and expeditiously."
But Miyoko Sakashita, ocean-program director for an environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, said rolling back drilling-safety standards was a recipe for disaster.
"By tossing aside the lessons from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Trump is putting our coasts and wildlife at risk of more deadly oil spills," Sakashita said in a statement. "Reversing offshore safety rules isn't just deregulation, it's willful ignorance."

Disputed Virginia House race may be decided Thursday

RICHMOND, Va. –  As Democrats and Republicans continued partisan sniping Friday over a House seat that could determine the balance of power in the Virginia House of Delegates, state elections officials moved to break the deadlock by scheduling a random drawing to pick the winner.
The Virginia Board of Elections said it will pick the winner's name in the Newport News-based 94th District next Thursday, unless a recount court decides to intervene.
The race between Democrat Shelly Simonds and Republican Del. David Yancey has seesawed since the Nov. 7 election. Initially, it appeared that Yancey had won by 10 votes, but a recount put Simonds ahead by a single vote.
A three-judge recount court later declared the race a tie after agreeing with the Yancey campaign that a disputed ballot was a vote for him. On Wednesday, Simonds asked the court to reconsider, but the panel has not yet responded.
The fight over the seat has been intense as Republicans try to hold on to a majority in the House after a bruising election in which Democrats erased the 66-34 advantage held by Republicans, as voters vented anger toward Republican President Donald Trump.
During a conference call with reporters Friday, GOP House Leader Kirk Cox — who hopes to become the next speaker of the House — criticized Democrats for causing "politically motivated delays" in deciding the 94th District race.
"Democrats have sought to delay and obstruct at every turn," Cox said.
"They've sought to litigate their way to victory."
Cox called Simonds' legal action a "deliberate strategy to make it more difficult for the House to organize smoothly" when the legislature reconvenes on Jan. 10.
He said that even if the winner's name is pulled Jan. 4, the House will not be able to seat the winner by the opening day of the legislative session if the loser asks for a recount. That would leave Republicans with a 50-49 majority as the session opens.
Simonds said Yancey is to blame for the delay.
"We won the recount ... it should have been over, and the next day, the Yancey team pulled a stunt. So this delay is squarely on him," she said Friday.
If Simonds ultimately wins, the House would be evenly split, 50-50, between Democrats and Republicans. If Yancey wins, the Republicans would have a 51-49 edge.
The state Board of Elections had been scheduled to pick the winner's name out of a glass bowl on Wednesday, but postponed the drawing after Simonds filed her legal challenge.
The result is one of two House races still in limbo.
A lawsuit is pending over ballots in a hotly contested race in the 28th District in the Fredericksburg area.

State Department releases Huma Abedin emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop

The State Department on Friday released a batch of work-related emails from the account of top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin that were discovered by the FBI on a laptop belonging to Abedin's estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, near the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.

At least four of the documents released Friday are marked "classified."

One November 2010 document that was released shows Abedin forwarding an email to an address titled “Anthony Campaign.”
Former FBI Director James Comey said during a congressional hearing earlier this year that he believed Abedin regularly forwarded emails to Weiner for him to print out so she could give them to Clinton.
Comey famously said in July 2016 that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified emails on a private server.
That 2010 email was a “callsheet” to Clinton about her upcoming call to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to warn about an imminent leak of U.S. diplomatic cables -- so-called Cablegate -- from WikiLeaks.
The rest of the document is redacted and marked classified as of August 2015.
Abedin is a longtime aide to Clinton who worked at the State Department and on Clinton’s campaign.
The emails indicate that Clinton was still invested in party politics despite her cabinet position. In one April 2011 email, Abedin informs her that Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had been selected as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
“Is she leaving the Congress?” Clinton replied.
It also shows Abedin in her role as Clinton’s gatekeeper.
“Love when people send her schedule stuff direct,” Abedin sarcastically wrote in an email to a colleague in December 2011, after someone emailed Clinton directly to ask her to speak at a conference.
At the time of the emails, Abedin was married to Weiner, a onetime Democratic congressman who began a 21-month prison sentence last month after being convicted of sexting a 15-year-old girl.
Abedin has since filed for divorce.
The Abedin emails jolted the 2016 presidential race after Comey told Congress just days before the election that FBI agents had found more of Clinton’s messages.
The emails were found on Weiner’s laptop, as the FBI investigated its sexting case against him.
The discovery of the records reopened the case against Clinton several months after Comey said he wasn’t recommending any charges be filed in the case.
HUMA ABEDIN'S COUSIN CONVICTED IN FRAUD CASE INVOLVING FAKE EMAILS
The conservative group Judicial Watch filed suit against the State Department for all official department emails sent or received by Abedin on a non-state.gov email address.
“This is a major victory,” the group’s president, Tom Fitton, said in a Friday statement. “After years of hard work in federal court, Judicial Watch has forced the State Department to finally allow Americans to see these public documents.”
Fitton added, “That these government docs were on Anthony Weiner’s laptop dramatically illustrates the need for the Justice Department to finally do a serious investigation of Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s obvious violations of law.”

Climate Change Cartoons

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."

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

"Bundle up!" the president added.
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

“Staying at Drexel in the eye of this storm has become detrimental to my own writing, speaking and organizing,” he wrote.
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

In another instance, Ciccariello-Maher in March said he wanted to “vomit or yell” after seeing an airline passenger giving up a first-class seat to a U.S. military service member. On Christmas Eve last year, he said that all he wanted for the holidays was a “white genocide.”
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.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is heading the investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.  (AP)

"I can only tell you that there is absolutely no collusion," Trump said. "Everybody knows it. And you know who knows it better than anybody? The Democrats. They walk around blinking at each other."
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.”

Trump praised former Attorney General Eric Holder telling The New York Times that he "totally protected" former President Obama.  (Reuters)

“And I have great respect for that, I’ll be honest," Trump said.
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.”