Posts on Friday, November 15, 2019
Impeachment Day Two: Former Ambassador
Unconcerned by Ukrainian Efforts to Sway
2016 Election replies
Unconcerned by Ukrainian Efforts to Sway
2016 Election replies
The House Intelligence Committee on Friday continued its impeachment inquiry with the public testimony of Marie Yovanovitch, former ambassador to Ukraine. (Snip)
Yovanovitch described her perception that corrupt Ukrainian officials leveraged their relationship with the president’s private attorney, Rudy Giuliani in a “smear” campaign leading to her ultimate dismissal. She was unable, however, to cite much first-hand knowledge to support these perceptions.
(Snip)
In responding to Castor’s questions, Yovanovitch revealed she was unaware or unconcerned about any efforts within Ukraine to influence American voters.
“Our own U.S. intelligence community has conclusively determined that those who interfered in the election were in Russia,” Yovanovitch told the panel, echoing several criticisms of President Trump
Iranians are blasting their government for rationing gas and greatly increasing its price, with many concerned that the move will lead to inflation and greater hardship in a country where so many people are struggling to make ends meet. (Snip) The move comes amid crippling U.S. sanctions that have resulted in a devastating decline in Iran’s oil income -- with Iranian President Hassan Rohani complaining earlier this week that Iran is experiencing its most difficult times since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The unpopular decision to raise gas prices was announced at midnight -- without prior notice -- prompting some to compare the government to bandits.
Forget whether the math works. (It doesn’t.) Expecting billionaires to pay for all the nice things is bad for democracy.
One of the more exhausting rituals of presidential campaign season is the effort to make every new proposal “add up.” Sure, it’s better that politicians try to come up with a plan to pay for their wish lists. The problem is that the explanations are often a disguise that make the impossible seem possible, even practical. Fake budgets are the tribute that pandering pays to pragmatism.
You could confiscate the wealth of every billionaire and centimillionaire in the country and it wouldn’t come close to paying
In the waning days of the Obama administration, the U.S. intelligence community produced a report saying Russian President Vladimir Putin had tried to swing the 2016 election to Donald Trump.
The January 2017 report, called an Intelligence Community Assessment, followed months of leaks to the media that had falsely suggested illicit ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin while also revealing that such contacts were the subject of a federal investigation. Its release cast a pall of suspicion over Trump just days before he took office, setting the tone for the unfounded allegations of conspiracy and treason that have engulfed his first term.
The fiery exchange between Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., at Friday's impeachment hearing bore some resemblance to the memorable back-and-forth between Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that birthed Warren's "Nevertheless, she persisted" mantra. However, the way the media has treated both of those moments appears drastically different. During the second public impeachment hearing into President Trump's conduct with Ukraine, Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., attempted to yield his allotted time to Stefanik, but was immediately shut down by Schiff, citing House procedure.
America is in the middle of its greatest stock market rally ever but no one would know it due to the media. Today the DOW surpassed 28,000 for the first time in its history. This was the 115th all-time high since the 2016 election. After President Trump was elected the stock markets exploded. The markets are a gauge of the economy and include expectations of the future. On November 8th, 2016, the DOW stood at 18,332. Since that date, and after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, the DOW has soared. Today the DOW closed at another new all-time high of 28,005 – 9,673 points higher
Former United States ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s testimony on Friday revealed why she likely lost the confidence of President Donald Trump as the ambassador to Ukraine.Yovanovitch demonstrated she was indifferent or even averse to any corruption concerns surrounding Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden and even denied that Ukrainians were meddling in the 2016 election.Yovanovitch dodged direct questions about whether she thought former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden serving on the board of the corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma was wrong.“It was not the focus of what I was doing in that six month period,” she said when asked by Republican counsel Steve Castor
New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who is deciding whether to launch a Democratic presidential bid, is pouring $100 million into an online advertising campaign attacking President Trump. The campaign, which targets voters in four general election battleground states - Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - begins running on Friday, according to Bloomberg spokesman Jason Schechter. The former New York City mayor has already filed paperwork in at least two states to appear on presidential primary ballots.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to record levels on Friday, reaching 28,000 for the first time ever, after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said China and the U.S. were getting close to reaching a trade deal. The 30-stock average closed 222.93 points higher, or 0.7% at 28,004.89. It took the Dow just over four months to go from 27,000 for the first time to 28,000. Apple is the best-performing stock in the Dow since July 11, when the index first reached 27,000. In that time, Apple shares are up more than 30%. Intel, J.P. Morgan, United Technologies and
The Trump administration issued new rules Friday to require insurers and hospitals to disclose upfront the prices for routine healthcare tests and procedures, aiming to lower costs.
Speaking at a White House event, President Trump said consumers have a right to know what healthcare services will cost beforehand, so they can shop around.
“Hospitals will soon be required to publish the price of everything from individual medical supplies to the total cost of common procedures,” the president said. “After many years, we will have transparency.” The healthcare industry is promising a fight.
Seven weeks ago, after the White House released its official summary of a July 25 phone call between President Trump and the Ukrainian President, the New York Times noted that the two had previously spoken on April 21 and wrote the following about that conversation:
When Ukraine elected its new leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, on April 21, Mr. Trump seized on the moment as an opportunity to press his case... (Snip) There’s not the slightest indication that he “seized on the moment as an opportunity to press his case,” nor any reference to Joe Biden, Rudy Giuliani, or anything else suggested in the Times story.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired a new kind of rocket at Israel with a massive 300 kilogram (660 lb) warhead that left a huge crater where it exploded in southern Israel, Channel 12 reported Friday.
The rocket, which carried significantly more explosives than most of the missiles fired by the terror group, landed in an open area in an Israeli community on the outskirts of Gaza and left a crater with a diameter of 16 meters (52 feet) and 2 meters (6 feet) deep.
Channel 12 said the size of the rocket surprised Israel and noted that it was developed locally with the assistance of Iranian engineers.
The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified Friday about President Donald Trump firing her amid an alleged “smear campaign,” but firing ambassadors appointed by former presidents is commonplace. Former President Barack Obama fired all ambassadors appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2008, The Washington Post previously reported. Yovanovitch testified Friday that the Trump administration, including the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, “kneecapped” her. She said State Department leaders did not support her after being recalled in May. “Political ambassadors sometimes are permitted to stay on briefly during a new administration,
CNN reported Thursday evening that top Democrats are privately acknowledging that the impeachment hearings will do little to persuade the vast majority of the public that President Trump committed an impeachable offense. According to CNN, in a private meeting earlier this week, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants were skeptical about the prospects of a dramatic shift in opinion even as public impeachment hearings began this week, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter." Nevertheless, they intend to carry on, in the hopes that things might change.
Democrats have tried various shifts in narratives in order to find something that would stick,
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified Friday that the Obama administration was so concerned about Hunter Biden’s job on Burisma’s board of directors that she was asked prep questions about the issue by White House staffers before her 2016 Senate confirmation.
In response to questions from GOP counsel Stephen Castor, Yovanovitch testified at the House Intelligence Committee’s second public impeachment hearing that she had been informed about the lucrative gig Hunter Biden landed with the petroleum producer — which paid the son of then-Vice President Joe Biden as much as $50,000 a month despite his seeming lack of relevant experience —
Google is secretly blacklisting certain sites to prevent them appearing in search results - despite publicly denying doing so - according to an investigation.
The Wall Street Journal report claims that the search giant has been blacklisting certain spam sites since the early 2000s, as well as those featuring child abuse or copyright infringement, to prevent them appearing in search results.
The newspaper also reported that conservative publications have been blacklisted in Google News, and said that it had seen documents to support this claim, fuelling cries of political bias.
Right-wing websites The Gateway Pundit and The United West included on a list of hundreds of websites that wouldn't appear in Google News
When Ryusuke Sekino was born, he only weighed 258 grams (9 ounces). The Japanese child was one of the tiniest babies ever born to survive.
Only 22 cm (8.7 inches) long at birth, he was born after 24 weeks and five days of gestation.
His first few months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Nagano Children's Hospital were difficult. Due to his size, doctors say that he was hard to treat. For example, his blood vessels were thinner than a needle.
Among the life-saving equipment used was the Neurally Adjusted Ventilatory Assist (NAVA) ventilation system
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch compared herself to the diplomats and contractors killed in Benghazi in her opening statement in the second public impeachment inquiry on Friday. “We make a difference everyday,” she said in a defense of herself and diplomats serving around the world. She continued: We are people who repeatedly uproot our lives, who risk and sometimes give our lives for this country. We are the 52 Americans, who, 40 years ago this month, began 444 days of deprivation, torture, and captivity in Tehran. We are the dozens of Americans stationed at our embassies in Cuba
North Korea lifted a whole mountain several metres off the ground with a mega-powerful hydrogen bomb, scientists have revealed.
The explosion was seventeen times more powerful than the atom bomb that wiped out the Japanese city of Hiroshima in World War II.
It not only sent the mountain flying upwards, it also shifted it sideways by more than a foot (half a metre).
Space-based radar (above) showed the blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea’s mountainous north-west also created a crater 433ft (132 metres) wide.
The blast two years ago was the last of six that North Korea has carried out in a system of tunnels dug deep below Mount Mantap.
Donald Trump is returning to Britain in less than three weeks' time for his third visit to the UK in just over a year, the White House revealed today.The US President and his First Lady Melania - as well as their huge security entourage - will land on December 2 and stay until December 4 for a NATO meeting near London.He will be received by the Queen at Buckingham Palace, having lavished praised on the monarch after previous meetings, calling her an 'incredible, sharp and beautiful' woman.As well as a challenge for British police and security services,
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday to defend his right as commander in chief to appoint ambassadors — even as former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified in the Democratic Party’s dog and pony impeachment show trial.It was all enough to prompt a reaction from Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who accused Trump of “witness intimidation.”Schiff may have been perusing social media during a hearing that could have doubled as a therapy session for the former ambassador, it was clear Yovanovitch was not — thus how could she be intimidated? At least, not until Schiff brought it to her attention.
Former CIA Director John Brennan sent President Trump a very ominous warning on Friday in the middle of Schiff’s impeachment show trial. Disgruntled fired US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified on Friday on day two of the Adam Schiff show trial.Yovanovitch, an Obama holdover, was fired in May of this year and she perjured herself in last month’s closed-door testimony. President Trump torched the corrupt fired Ambassador on Friday in real time in a pair of tweets.“Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.
During the second half of questioning at Friday's impeachment inquiry hearing on Capitol Hill, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff shut down questioning of former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. Schiff did so after Ranking Member Devin Nunes yielded his time to Stefanik.
"The gentlewoman will suspend," Schiff asked.
"What is the interruption for this time?" Stefanik asked. "This is the fifth time you've interrupted duly elected members of Congress."
"You're gagging the gentle lady from New York?" Nunes asked
In the wake of Cleveland’s Myles Garrett ripping the helmet off of Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph and hitting him in the head with it, the 23-year-old defensive end was hit with a historic suspension by the NFL and may face additional discipline off the field.
That’s assault, Myles Garrett should not play another game this season. pic.twitter.com/rH4ko6lAdV
— Maximiliano Bretos (@MaxBretosSports) November 15, 2019
With 10 games already in the books for the 4-6 Browns, Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft, has six games left to play this season.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar wants you to think her struggles to gain momentum in her presidential bid are due to her sex — and the bias of the American public.
The Democrat took a swipe at fellow White House contender Pete Buttigieg, who leads her, by saying the South Bend mayor likely wouldn’t have garnered the support he has — given his light resume (in her opinion) — if he were a woman. Last weekend, Klobuchar doubled down on her thesis in an interview with CNN.
“I’m focusing here on my fellow women senators — Senator Harris, Senator Warren and myself,” Klobuchar said.
A purported street-gang leader from Lombard is accused of seeking to send money to Islamic State militants in Syria. A complaint says 37-year-old Jason Brown gave $500 on three separate occasions to someone he believed would forward it to an IS fighter. But the middleman was cooperating with authorities and the supposed militant was an undercover law enforcement officer.
The charging documents say Brown, whose nickname is “Abdul Ja’Me,” is the leader of the AHK street gang that is based in suburban Bellwood. He is charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. His detention hearing is Nov. 21.
Brown was arrested Thursday after federal agents
When Jared Loughner shot Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the head, on January 8, 2011, an appalled America sought some sort of reason for this cruel action, and for some remedy. (Snip) When post-arrest pictures were released, showing him smirking and vague, I had little doubt what I was seeing. It did not take long to find out that my suspicions — that he was a user of mind-altering drugs — were justified. But in all the years since, this aspect of his past has been noted but not in any way acted upon.
Lest we forget: It was former President Barack Obama who turned loving America into a crime—an impeachable one. Obama successor President Donald Trump sincerely loves America—and that is his most unforgivable crime.
The Soviet-style Live Impeachment Inquiry, getting saturation coverage by all television networks—including Fox News—is a farce, proven by the fact that even with wall-to-wall coverage, only 13 million people tuned in on its Opening Day. Impeaching Trump has nothing to do with an “overheard” telephone call with the President of Ukraine, just as it
Immigration officials on Friday tied a third murder arrest in two months to sanctuary city policies in the Seattle area, saying an illegal immigrant who was twice shielded from deportation by King County slew a man “as he lay asleep in his own home.” The man Julio Cruz-Velazquez is accused of killing, Sam Nang Lam, a legal immigrant, according to authorities. Cruz-Velazquez has an extensive rap sheet that includes charges of second-degree rape last year—but it was pleaded down to second-degree assault. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked to be notified upon his release from jail
The man who told police the “devil came over him” the night he allegedly strangled his girlfriend to death in Trenton will remain in jail as his case moves through the courts, a judge ruled Thursday. Pablo Choc-Caal, 20, appeared before Judge Robert W. Bingham II in Superior Court of Mercer County for his detention hearing on a charge that he murdered Irma Patrona Ic-Maaz, 18, by choking her with an extension cord. Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci moved to hold Choc-Caal at the Mercer County Correctional Center through future court proceedings. Petrucci said holding Choc-Caal in jail
LGBT activists have weaponized two scientific societies to cut off a major Mormon university from their international community of scientists. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Washington, D.C., and the Geological Society of America (GSA) in Colorado pulled job ads from Brigham Young University (BYU) after facing complaints over BYU's Honor Code, which prohibits homosexual conduct among students and staff. This is unlikely to stop with the AGU and GSA and is likely to lead to blacklisting far more schools than just BYU.
LGBT activists complained that the geological societies had listed a job posting from BYU on their job boards.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) interrupted Rep. Elaine Stefanik (R-NY) as she asked him Friday whether he would continue to interrupt Republican questions to witnesses, as in earlier hearings. The setting was the second day of public hearings in the “impeachment inquiry” into President Donald Trump. Stefanik raised a point of order after both Schiff and ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) had delivered their opening statements. Schiff initially ruled Stefanik was not recognized by the chair, when she raised a parliamentary inquiry, but when she changed her question to a point of order,
The usurping group of FBI and DOJ officials we have called “the small group” have an established set of media operatives and outlets aligned to assist their narrative. Tonight Devlin Barrett (Lisa Page and Peter Strzok’s favorite narrative engineer) publishes a report in the Washington Post highlighting their concerns.According to the WaPo Inspector General Michael Horowitz is not allowing the ‘small group’ to provide written rebuttals to the IG report on FISA abuse during their principal reviews. The outline by Devlin on behalf of the group also confirms our timeline.
(Via Washington Post) The Justice Department Inspector General’s office has told witnesses who are set to review draft sections
Within the current claims of the Democrats there is a baseline action that needs to exist for any “bribery” or “undue influence” claim to exist. Meaning there had to be pressure by President Trump upon the government of Ukraine to initiate an investigation of Joe Biden.The call transcript between President Trump and President Zelenskyy doesn’t show such a request. Ukraine President Zelenskyy said there was never such a request by President Trump; and now Ukraine Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko says there was never such a request from U.S. Ambassador Sondland on behalf of President Trump:
(Via Daily Mail) The Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystaiko told Ukrainian reporters
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is appearing before Congress on Friday to cap off the first week of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. It follows the testimony earlier this week from U.S. chargé d'affaires in Ukraine Bill Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe George Kent.
Democrats have been moving quickly with their impeachment probe. Sparked by a whistleblower complaint, the investigation has centered on whether the president improperly used his office to pressure Ukranian President Voldomyr Zelensky into ordering investigations -- including into the family of 2020 contender Joe Biden -- that could have been politically beneficial to his reelection campaign
The Indiana Supreme Court suspended Judges Andrew Adams, Sabrina Bell, and Bradley Jacobs after a drunken incident at a White Castle in May.(Snip) After a verbal exchange between Judge Bell and Vazquez, a physical confrontation ensued. At one point, Judge Jacobs had Kaiser contained on the ground. With his fist raised back, Judge Jacobs said, “Okay, okay, we’re done, we’re done,” or “This is over. Tell me this is over,” or words to that effect. At another point during the confrontation, Judge Adams kicked Kaiser in the back. The confrontation ended when Kaiser pulled out a gun, shot Judge Adams once, and shot Judge Jacobs twice.
On Thursday, President Trump flipped another U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals into a conservative majority, as the Senate confirmed the nomination of White House attorney Steven Menashi to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals now has seven judges appointed by Republican presidents and six by Democrats. Democrats flailed about in hysteria over the Menashi nomination, in which he was confirmed 51-41 in a party line vote only excepted by Susan Collins of Main, who voted against Menashi. Menashi, 40, was viciously attacked by Democrats; Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer raged, “
Former Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti was a “Jeopardy!” question Thursday — and none of the three contestants could come up with the answer.
WATCH:(Tweet/Video) The $800 clue, in a category labeled “Lawyers, Law, & Legality,” read, “This lawyer’s star rose while repping Stormy Daniels but fell after he was accused of trying to extort millions from Nike in 2019.”None of the three contestants were able to come up with Avenatti’s name, prompting host Alex Trebek to say, “His name, quickly forgotten obviously, Michael Avenatti.”
What Trump wanted
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In an unflattering column about President Trump called “Incompetence is not an impeachable offense,” Marc Thiessen writes:
What we saw on display Wednesday were two dedicated, experienced career foreign policy officials who had been desperately trying to figure out what the president wanted — and inferring his intentions based on snippets of information from others. But their efforts to divine Trump’s desires presume that the president knew what he wanted.
It’s not clear he did. His handling of Ukraine seemed less the execution of an intelligible plan than a chaotic mishmash of constantly changing urges and demands.
On Thursday night, the underdog Cleveland Browns met the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the Browns showed up, beating the Steelers 21-7 in a pretty decisive victory.
That wouldn’t be big news, normally. But at the end of the game, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett got into an altercation unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my decades of watching football. (snip) Where this became far different and more dangerous than your typical football scuffle is that, during the entanglement, Myles Garrett actually reared back and attempted to windmill-tomahawk slam the helmet he was holding on top of Mason Rudolph’s exposed skull with furious gusto.
Anyone testifying against the
President, in the Democrat's
impeachment scam, are part of the
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President, in the Democrat's
impeachment scam, are part of the
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President is guilty of many things. He's guilty of putting America first, and he's guilty of loving his country and being loyal to America. Those are crimes to globalists who have no loyalty to the United States, Constitution, American people.The first day of the Democrat’s impeachment scam opened with self-proclaimed American patriots airing their personal disagreement with the President’s foreign policy as it pertains to Ukraine. And, not one so-called witness offered any tangible proof that the
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch will appear before House lawmakers beginning at 9 a.m. Friday for the second public hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
How to watch The House Intelligence Committee will stream video on YouTube, and PBS will carry the hearings live, as will C-SPAN3, C-span.org and C-SPAN Radio. Viewers can also watch the livestream on NYPost.com. NBC, ABC and CBS plan to interrupt regular broadcasting with special reports on the hearings.
During a visit to Britain this week, Hillary Clinton explained why she and daughter Chelsea chose not to include Margaret Thatcher in their new book featuring “gutsy women” – and why the teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg did make the cut. In Clinton’s view Britain’s first prime minister did not do enough to knock down “barriers for others.” The former Democratic presidential nominee did give a nod to Thatcher’s willingness to change the way she dressed, spoke and wore her hair, alluding to one of the most dramatic makeovers in 20th century politics.
While Democrats pretend to care about stopping foreign interference into our elections to preserve the integrity of our democracy, they conveniently turn a blind eye to their own election meddling. The rest of us can see with our own eyes.
First, it was the #RussiaHoax manufactured by a cabal of anti-Trump foes: former FBI Director James Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Andrew McCabe, John Brennan and others who took Democrat-funded opposition research -- sourced from Russia and an ex-British spy -- and used the "unverified and salacious" dossier to trigger multiple criminal investigations into Donald Trump and his associates to stop him from getting elected.
The Mueller report accomplished nothing.
Whether you thought that the two-year, $32 million investigation was warranted or not, the report promised to establish a factual record that both sides could accept, especially on the explosive charge that Donald Trump had conspired with the Russians to win the American presidency.
It did indeed establish such a record, at great length, after a formidable team of investigators and prosecutors searched high and low for evidence and got extensive cooperation from the White House (but only answers to written questions from President Trump).
The report explained at the outset that the investigation examined whether contacts between Russians and the Trump team “involved or resulted in
The impeachment circus has begun – and President Trump must take advantage of a unique opportunity to seize the center ring.
Not another wave of off-the-wall tweets. Not another raucous, ranting rally.
Rather, the most powerful public relations tool of his office: the nationally televised presidential address.
No other platform packs the punch of a speech from behind the Resolute Desk. The Oval Office setting would underscore Trump’s role as chief executive, commander in chief and head of state, against whom a highly politicized impeachment should not be undertaken cavalierly. It separates the gravity of the office from
Kay S. Hymowitz joins City Journal editor Brian Anderson to discuss Pennsylvania’s Williamson College of the Trades, a three-year school for young men offering a debt-free path to high-paying work—and the life skills to help them get there.
“Trade schools” have long had a stigma in American culture, but Williamson is no ordinary trade school: students wake up early to the sound of reveille and attend academic classes in coats and ties. As Hymowitz writes in City Journal’s autumn issue, “With its old-timey rituals, rigorous scheduling, and immersive culture, Williamson has a military-school feel.” But according to the students she interviewed, the prospect of a good-paying career
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said that if he is elected, he would give a “very, very important role” in White House to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Sanders, a senator from Vermont, said this in a joint interview with Ocasio-Cortez last week to ABC News, adding that the Bronx-Queens freshman congresswoman has ideas that “are resonating all over this country,” and: “If I am in the White House, she will play a very, very important role. No question.”
“I don’t want you to hear this, because your head will explode,” Sanders said in jest to Ocasio-Cortez, before adding, “I don’t know of any person … who has had
A federal judge ruled Thursday that 25-year-old Hoda Muthana, who lived in Alabama but left the U.S. in 2014 to join ISIS, is not an American citizen and therefore the country is not required to repatriate her.
Muthana is the daughter of Yemen’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmed Ali Muthana. Judge Reggie Walton ruled that because Hoda was born while Ahmed Ali still had diplomatic status, Hoda could not be considered a U.S. citizen. Ahmed Ali has since become a naturalized citizen.
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In addition, Walton ruled that Ahmed Ali cannot provide financial aid to his daughter, who escaped from ISIS to a Kurdish refugee camp in 2018. Hoda
The greatest documents in American history never lose their ability to astonish. They deserve, and repay, careful study, and inevitably have contemporary resonances no matter how long ago they were written or uttered.
There’s no doubt that Ronald Reagan’s “A Time for Choosing” belongs in the top ranks of American speeches. It is among the most significant political speeches ever given by a non- officeholder and non-presidential candidate. It heralded the beginning of the political career of a man who would go on to be a successful two-term president, and it remains an extraordinarily powerful and cogent expression of a deeply held worldview.
A US court has ruled that a man can have a license plate with the phrase “IM GOD”.
According to court documents in a federal court in the state of Kentucky, Ben Hart, who identifies as an atheist, applied for the license plate in 2016 but was denied.
Back then, the state transportation department said the request went against its anti-discrimination guidelines.
After getting legal support from the Kentucky American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Hart challenged the decision in U.S. District Court in Frankfort and won.
A judge ruled that “vanity plates” are considered private speech which is protected by the US First Amendment.
Aidyn Sucec remembers how much better he felt toward the end of eighth grade when, after years of struggling with his identity, he told his family he was transgender. It was the spring of 2017, and Aidyn’s anxiety and depression began to lift as people embraced the teenager as “him.”
“My family and friends began to recognize me as who I am,” Aidyn, who’s now 16, said in court documents.
Before Aidyn, who was designated female at birth, started at Brownsburg High School in Brownsburg, Indiana that fall, his mother, Laura Sucec, worked with school officials to make sure his new name and gender would be logged into Brownsburg’s database.
GLAAD, an organization that seeks to accelerate “acceptance of the LGBT community” in American culture, released its 2019 report, Where We Are on TV, and applauded the TV and cable entertainment industries for adding more LGBT characters to their programs.
“Of the 879 regular characters scheduled to appear on broadcast scripted primetime television this season, 90 (10.2 percent) are LGBTQ,” states the report. (Emphasis added.)
There are also some 30 recurring LGBTQ characters, making a total of 120. That’s up from last year’s 113 regular and recurring LGBTQ roles.
On hearing the State Department's George Kent and William Taylor describe President Donald Trump's withholding of military aid to Ukraine, The New York Times summarized and solemnly endorsed their testimony:
"What clearly concerned both witnesses wasn't simply the abuse of power by the President, but the harm it inflicted on Ukraine, a critical ally, under constant assault by Russian forces." "'Even as we sit here today, the Russians are attacking Ukrainian soldiers in their own country, and have been for four years,' Taylor said. 'I saw this on the front line last week; the day I was there a Ukrainian soldier was killed and four more wounded.'"
If you were lost in the maze of hearsay and speculation during the first day of the impeachment inquiry, you can certainly be forgiven for your confusion. The sharp contrast between the vague stream of guesses and characterizations on the one hand and the melodramatic expressions of alarm and concern on the other, as expressed by U.S. Representative Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) marquee witnesses, was disconcerting. Acting Ambassador William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent were the two main actors in this schizophrenic display.
Throughout the performance, Republican lawmakers repeatedly made the point that neither witness had any first-hand knowledge of the events they described. Instead, these “witnesses” offered
Amid the consensus that Wednesday’s congressional testimony by the Beltway version of the Duke brothers (that’s a “Trading Places” reference, millennials) fell flat without any “pizazz,” Democrats undoubtedly are scrambling to create some fireworks next week.
House Intelligence Committee chairman and Hollywood wannabe-screenwriter Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) must be channeling his inner creative genius to fabricate a dramatic role for what Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) called “the low-rent Ukrainian sequel” to the boarded-up Trump-Russia collusion theater. One can only guess who will grab the spotlight; performances from eight more impeachment accomplices begin Tuesday.
Unfortunately for the tightly scripted Schiff, one name continues to make an unwanted cameo appearance: Hunter Biden.
Speaking on wealth creation, President John F. Kennedy famously noted that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” This assertion reveals a fundamental truth behind the power of the free market: when wealth is created in a true capitalist system, it inevitably spreads to all levels of society.
The veracity of this is proven in The Capitalist Manifesto -- a simple text from influential supply-siders Ralph Benko and William Collier -- published earlier this week. The text expertly defines how “True Capitalism” stands in direct opposition to its enemy from the left -- socialism -- and its enemy from within -- crony capitalism. The authors contrast “True Capitalism” to the “New Feudalism”
Taking off the woke glasses
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Sadly, common sense is not at all common in this day and age. Even the most “commonest” of sense is lacking. Take bad behavior. When I was a kid, anything “fresh” towards my parents was hastily squelched. Once, my mom overheard me utter a remark geared towards her to a neighborhood playmate. “What she doesn’t know, won’t hurt her,” was voiced secretively in regard to spending lunch money allocations on something other than lunch. Well, by my mother’s reaction, one would think I had committed high treason. Punishment was both swift and harsh enough to produce its objective. That was, in this case, respect for your mother
An interesting unintended admission is repeated by Democrats regarding Joe Biden. The Democrats keep saying that President Trump wanted dirt on Joe Biden. This raises the question: “Is this an acknowledgement that there is dirt?”
If there is no wrongdoing, then there is no dirt for Trump to get, and no problem for Joe. This same logic was used extensively in investigating the President. Yet, in response to the President’s simple request for an investigation, the Democrats pulled out a proven, well-worn tactic. A long-standing maneuver of accusing the accuser.
Blaming the accuser - it's a tried and true, successful and slick maneuver. Hillary Clinton
Liberals and the Moral Compass
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Can a modern liberal have a moral compass? The answer is both "yes" and "no." It depends on what you think a moral compass is.
Let's start by talking about what a moral compass is in the eyes of social conservatives. Here I mean "social conservative" in its broadest possible sense — not merely a synonym for American Christians with orthodox beliefs, but a blanket description of anyone who believes in a moral standard underpinned by something not of human making. By this definition, all serious Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and even Muslims are "social conservatives." They believe in a moral code that comes from
My late dad, Dr. Rev. Lloyd E. Marcus, often quoted the Book of Joshua: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (24:15).
Mary and I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Pastor Mike and his family. Over the 20 years that I have known Pastor Mike, he has always lived by, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." While the women prepared the feast, Pastor Mike and I chatted.
He shared his burning desire to encourage pastors to return to boldly preaching the word of God. Pastor Mike presented an interesting theory. Church attendance nationwide is down.
A federal court has partially reversed a lower court’s decision to prohibit prayers being broadcast on loudspeakers ahead of Christian schools’ sporting events, ruling that the ban violated free speech and free exercise rights.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) rule prohibited prayer at the Citrus Bowl prior to a state championship game between two Christian schools.
In Wednesday’s decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit ruled that Cambridge Christian School’s argument has merit and litigation could continue, a press release from the First Liberty Institute, which is representing the school, said.
Rashida Tlaib Faces Expanded House
Ethics Panel Review of
Possible Campaign Finance Violations replies
Ethics Panel Review of
Possible Campaign Finance Violations replies
The House Ethics Committee on Thursday announced it has expanded its examination of possible campaign finance violations by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
The committee released a series of eyebrow-raising messages in which the freshman congresswoman asks for congressional campaign money to help relieve her personal financial struggles.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Tlaib paid herself $17,500 from her campaign bank account following her election in 2018. Lawmakers are prohibited from compensating themselves using campaign funds once they are elected.
Wednesday’s highly anticipated public impeachment hearing amounted to a ratings flop, with only 13 million viewers tuning in, according to reports.
The hearing, which featured Bill Taylor, acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior State Department official, was teased as a “bombshell, given House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) allocating Democrats more time to dominate and minimize GOP voices in the first hour. Nonetheless, Democrats failed to live up to the hype, as reflected in viewership.
U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor admitted in the impeachment inquiry Wednesday that “he has no reason to doubt” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s repeated denials that there was pressure, conditions, or blackmail to investigate his political rivals proposed by President Donald Trump during the July 25 that triggered the probe.
The admission by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Taylor contradicts allegations that he himself promoted, suggesting that Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate White House hopeful Joe Biden and his son’s relation to corruption-linked Ukrainian company Burisma.
Cleveland Browns player Myles Garrett is likely facing one of the longest suspensions in NFL history after ripping off the helmet of Mason Rudolph and clobbering the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback with it in the closing seconds of Thursday's game. Garrett was one of three players ejected for the wild melee but faces the harshest penalty because he appeared to be the main instigator. (snip) Defensive end Garrett got tangled up with Rudolph after a play and pulled Rudolph's helmet off by the facemask. While being restrained by Steelers offensive linemen David DeCastro, Garrett then swung it wildly overtop and clobbered Rudolph on the head with it.
NBC News and Reuters are bearing the anti-Trump #Resistance’s rage because they dared to publish an uncomfortable truth.
“Consequential, but dull: Trump impeachment hearings begin without a bang,” reads the headline to a Reuters article co-authored by reporters Jeff Mason and Patricia Zengerle.
Mason himself shared the story on Twitter Wednesday evening.
Consequential, but dull: Trump impeachment hearings begin without a bang https://t.co/ShiVlzppn1
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) November 14, 2019
NBC, meanwhile, published an analysis authored by reporter Jonathan Allen titled, “Plenty of substance but little drama on first day of impeachment hearings.”
Elizabeth Warren’s seemingly inexorable rise and Joe Biden’s dogged resilience have been the two major stories of the Democratic primary so far.
Over the next and more intense period of campaigning in the early states, the story could be very different. The two will probably have to confront their vulnerabilities to a greater extent than they have to this point, and they face challengers who are well positioned to exploit them.
Pete Buttigieg’s lead in a recent Monmouth University poll of Iowa is as good a time as any to mark the beginning of a new phase of the race.
Until now, the front-runners in the topline poll numbers
“Climate migrants” are defined as those individuals in the world who’ve suffered some sort of weather-related disaster and are, therefore, in the eyes of the left, in the minds of radicals like Sen. Bernie Sanders, are worthy of automatic entry into the United States.
Well, there’s a large pool of people for ya.
Leave it to the left to use environmentalism as a tool to pry wide U.S. borders. “Immigration is not a threat to national security,” Sanders put forth, in his recently released immigration plan, “A Welcoming and Safe America for All.” Say what?
“[N]o human being is illegal,” the Vermont senator went on. Say what?
The Trump administration is preparing to submit court filings as early as next week as a necessary step toward seizing private land in Texas for its wall on the border with Mexico, NBC reported Thursday. Administration officials still haven’t said how much the government will compensate affected landowners.
“I still think we’re on track to get the land we need for 450 miles” of border wall, Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan told reporters on Thursday.
The government may file to appropriate the land in federal court in Texas under the Declaration of Taking Act, which would expedite the appropriation process.
Nikki, Rex, and the General
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According to the Washington Post, Nikki Haley claims in her new book that Rex Tillerson and Gen. John Kelly tried to recruit her to undermine President Trump in an effort to “save the country.” President Trump has tweeted an endorsement of Haley’s book and urged his followers to order a copy or attend her book tour.
Has Trump read the book or is he relying on the “fake news Washington Post” in endorsing it?
In the Washington Post’s report, Tillerson and Kelly are lumped together. However, there may have been a difference between Tillerson’s approach to Trump and Kelly’s approach.
Tillerson seems to have wanted to implement his version
When your two marquee witnesses concede that they did not actually witness anything, the words “But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night” normally follow. William Taylor and George Kent did not reveal their hotel accommodations to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday but one can safely rule out the Mayflower, Trump International, and the Washington Hilton. The Holiday Inn Express in Silver Spring seems a good bet — but that’s just speculation.
Speculation, based on hearsay, passed for fact-based testimony on Capitol Hill this week.
“I’m here to tell you what I know,” Taylor informed in his baritone, God voice.
In Big Tech’s latest usurpation of personal privacy, Google admitted this week that they’ve been secretly vacuuming up the detailed health records of at least 50 million Americans in 21 states.
This was not a voluntary confession. It wasn’t until Monday, after the Wall Street Journal broke the story, that Google issued a typically infuriating statement.
“We understand that people want to ask questions,” it read in part.
How benevolent.
The Orwellian translation:
A familiar sight during the holiday season is the iconic red kettle used by The Salvation Army for donations. Volunteers stand next to the kettle and ring a bell as passersby walk into grocery stores or retail stores. Who would protest when a British singer announced her agreement to partner with the international charity? The perpetually outraged Twitter mob, of course. Singer Ellie Goulding set off a firestorm on social media among LGBTQ activists when she posted the announcement of her collaboration with the Christian charity. She agreed to sing as the halftime act for the Dallas Cowboys – Buffalo Bills Thanksgiving Day game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Americans had a front-row seat for Day One of impeachment inquiry hearings in the House on Wednesday. But missing from the testimony on Capitol Hill was the “witness” who started it all. Six grueling hours of testimony by two hearsay witnesses shed little light on the allegations against President Trump.
Neither George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe nor William Taylor, the charge d’affaires in Kiev had firsthand information and both clearly had an ax to grind over their differences with the president on foreign policy.
More interesting than their testimony was the complete whitewashing of any reference to the original whistleblower, whose second-hand allegations so deeply concerned
Even though LASIK has been around for 20 years in the U.S., one former FDA adviser has said the procedure should be taken off the market.
Dr. Morris Waxler originally voted to approve the eye surgery, but he’s changed his mind.
"Essentially we ignored the data on vision distortions that persisted for years," the retired FDA adviser told CBS News.
"I re-examined the documentation … and I said, 'Wow this is not good,'" he added. LASIK surgery uses a special laser to reshape the cornea to improve the eye’s “focusing power,” according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The House Ethics Committee revealed on Thursday that it is investigating Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) over whether his relationship with a member of his staff breaks House rules.
Hastings has admitted to being in a relationship with his aide, Patricia Williams, who serves as his deputy district director.
The committee is now investigating whether Hastings violated House rules with that relationship and if he received any improper gifts from that employee.
The House last year adopted a rule preventing members of Congress from having a sexual relationship with a member of their staff.