Posts on Thursday, May 9, 2019
Insisting that a fiscally responsible state government can also aid those in need, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent California lawmakers a revised budget Thursday that builds on his efforts to address poverty and homelessness while forecasting the largest tax revenue windfall in state history. That windfall, Newsom said, will trigger the first-ever payment into a special cash reserve fund for schools and community colleges — a $389-million deposit stashed away specifically for education needs during a future recession. He also proposed an increase in spending on helping the homeless, raising the total state investment in the upcoming budget year to $1
Blue Origin is now in the running to put Americans back on the moon by 2024. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has revealed the ambitious next steps for his aerospace company at a highly-secretive media event in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. During the event, which kicked off at 4 p.m., the billionaire and Blue Origin founder started off by sharing elaborate concept images of self-sustaining space habitats reminiscent of the film Interstellar, with lush greenery and futuristic homes within its walls. But, the real star of the talk turned out to be something much closer to home – the moon. On
Former FBI Director James Comey has said he believes Donald Trump could be charged with obstruction of justice when he leaves the White House based on the findings of the Mueller report. Comey sat down with Anderson Cooper at a CNN town hall in Washington, DC, on Thursday night, exactly two years to the day after he was fired by the president. The former FBI head made it clear that there is no love lost between him and President Trump, whom he described as a ´chronic liar´ and who on more than one occasion displayed a ´corrupt intent to interfere´
Attorney General William Barr joked about a contempt of Congress vote on Thursday. During a farewell ceremony for his Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Barr poked fun at House Democrats. “You like records,” Barr said at the Justice Department event, referring to Rosenstein. “This must be a record for an attorney general being proposed for contempt within a hundred days of taking office.” (Tweet/Video) After the Justice Department defied a subpoena to hand over special counsel Robert Mueller´s full, unredacted report for the Russia investigation, the House Judiciary Committee voted to cite Barr for contempt of Congress on Wednesday, but
Fired FBI Director James Comey said Thursday evening in a CNN town-hall-style appearance with Anderson Cooper that Trump could be indicted after his presidency. Comey, who leaked classified memos to the New York Times through a friend, called the President a “chronic liar” and said Trump likely committed crimes and he could be indicted after his presidency. Anderson Cooper threw leaker Comey a softball and asked him, “Do you think he [Trump] should be charged when he is out of office – based on what Mueller has shown?” Comey said the Justice Department should take a serious look at that.
Far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) attacked President Donald Trump on Thursday over joking remarks that he made on Wednesday night at a campaign rally in Florida. (Video) While talking about what border agents can do about illegal aliens who are crossing over the southern border, Trump said: "Don´t forget, we don´t let [border security agents] and we can´t let them use weapons, we can´t. Other countries do, but we can´t. I would never let them do that." At that moment a person in the crowd shouted a remark that was difficult to hear on a video of the rally. A
On Thursday, fanatic feminist Lauren Duca, who has hitherto had a rather hostile perspective toward men, suddenly issued a highly-unlikely plea, begging men to get more involved in fighting against the state of Georgia adopting the “heartbeat bill” which outlaws abortion once the baby shows it has a heartbeat. Duca pleaded, “Hey, all men? We need you to show up for this fight.” (Video/Tweet) On Tuesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, ignoring threats from the Hollywood community that they would boycott his state if he signed the so-called “heartbeat bill” which would ban abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
Coup Plotter Rod Rosenstein Takes a Veiled Shot at James Comey During Farewell Ceremony (Video)
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Coup plotter Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave a farewell speech on Thursday following his resignation from the Department of Justice and lectured his fellow colleagues on decency and justice. “I represent the United States,” Rosenstein boasted Thursday as he was honored with a farewell ceremony. Rosenstein, who plotted to wear a wire and oust President Trump by invoking the 25th Amendment had the nerve to say, “This department stands apart from politics.” “For us, the rule of law is not just a talking point,” he said. “Many people have the luxury of dismissing facts that are inconsistent with their pre-existing
Ahead of the second summit in Hanoi, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un requested as part of the agreement between the countries moving forward that the U.S. send "famous basketball players" to normalize relations between the two countries, according to two U.S. officials. The request was made in writing, officials said, as part of the cultural exchange between the two countries, and at one point the North Koreans insisted that it be included in the joint statement on denuclearization. The North Koreans also made a request for the exchange of orchestras between the two countries. “While we did not reach
Dozens, if not hundreds, of STEM School Highlands Ranch students walked out in anger Wednesday evening after two congressional Democrats and a far-left group politicized a vigil for a student who was killed during a mass shooting at the Colorado school Tuesday. According to students who attended the event, the speakers at the vigil — Democrat Rep. Jason Crow, Democrat. Sen. Michael Bennet and Laura Reeves, an activist with the gun-control group Moms Demand Action — all sought to exploit 18-year-old student Kendrick Castillo’s death to score political points against the gun lobby and drum up more votes for Democrats.
ST. PETERSBURG — Salvador Dalí knew he’d never entirely die. He knew he’d stay alive not just through his legacy and artwork. Somehow, the Surrealist knew he’d be back. Now he is, thanks to the Dalí Museum’s new digital experience “Dalí Lives.” It opens to the public on Saturday, which would have been the artist’s 115th birthday. Dalí’s likeness appears on three screens throughout the museum thanks to artificial intelligence technology revealed at a media preview Thursday. The permanent installation is a collaboration between the museum and Goodby Silverstein and Partners of San Francisco. It began with hundreds of interviews,
RUSH: Ralph in Tampa. You’re next, sir.[Snip]Tom Friedman came up with an idea, and his idea is for the Republicans, the Never Trump Republicans to get together and find a Never Trump Republican, moderate Republican to somehow get on the presidential ballot as an independent. That only Trump will win the nomination. They don’t want a nomination fight. That’s not what they want. They want a Republican third-party candidate. But they don’t want this person to win. The Friedman idea — let me attach a name to it. Somebody like Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, who hates Trump, or Mitt Romney,
An 11-year-old girl is in a coma after she was hit by a car while getting off the school bus in Minneapolis last week. Shianne Park lays in her hospital bed surrounded with love from her classmates and from her mother, Latonya Williams. Though doctors didn´t think the girl would make it, her family never lost hope. "I say ´Everything´s going to be OK for you. Just come on home. It just ain´t your time yet. God ain´t ready for you, just come on home,´" She said. Shianne was hit as she got off the bus and crossed the street.
Beloved Dog Walker Killed, Along With 5 Dogs, When Parolee Allegedly Fleeing Police Slams Into Car
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A beloved California mom and dog walker was killed Tuesday when a man leading police in a high-speed car chase barreled into her car, killing her and five of the six dogs she was bringing to a local park. On Tuesday, just after 11:30 a.m., Jessica Bingaman, 41, of Long Beach, was driving northbound on Temple Ave. in her 2013 Ford Escape with six dogs inside when her small SUV was allegedly struck by a stolen van driven by Javier Olivarez, 43, of Los Angeles, the Long Beach Police Department says in a news release.
A California dog walker and five dogs were killed Tuesday morning when the car they were traveling in was stuck by another motorist involved in a police chase. Officers with the Long Beach Police Department discovered a vehicle that was reported stolen at an intersection about 11:30 a.m. Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver, later identified as 43-year-old Javier Olivarez, refused to stop. A short police chase began, but abruptly ended when Olivarez allegedly crashed into a black 2013 Ford Escape driven by 41-year-old Jessica Bingman. Bingman, a popular dog walker in the area, was transporting
Congressman Jerry Nadler is not a particularly bright man. Granted, when put up against some of the even more foolish members of the U.S. Congress, he can appear somewhat competent, but there are increasing whispers throughout D.C. that he’s just fallen for a Trump trap BIG TIME. (Snip) President Trump has manipulated the Democrats into now demanding what he wanted all along – full disclosure. Congressman Nadler was likely hoping for a bit of attention, some easy political points, a lot of posturing, but, in the end, there’s no way he wanted to fully give President Trump the
The Southern District of New York has released a criminal complaint to accompany the seizure of a North Korean freighter “Wise Honest” (Full pdf below). The freighter was seized by Indonesian authorities on/around April 2, 2018 [media story here]. However, the background story of Wise Honest is more interesting.(Snip) In 2017 and 2018 there were some maritime collisions that seemed to align with the possibility of these training exercises. In June 2017 The USS Fitzgerald was one such example near the coast of Japan. On page 19 of the indictment the DOJ outlines how vessel Wise Honest
A Shawano man was arrested and charged after he went to the police department to claim a backpack containing meth that he left at the Shawano Library. Photo: Shawano County Jail Joel Mullin-Romo, 31, is charged with Possession of Methamphetamine in Shawano County. On May 6, police were called to the Shawano Library after a staffer found a backpack. It was partially unzipped and a white powder was visible. Police looked inside the bag and found three small bags containing meth, clear glass nun chucks, and other items. "Among all the personal items she found 1.9 grams of methamphetamine," says Shawano Police Chief Dan Mauel.
Trump says John Kerry should be prosecuted for talking to Iran amid rising tensions By Camilo Montoya-Galvez May 9, 2019 / 4:54 PM / CBS News As tensions with Iran escalate, President Trump accused a top Obama-era official, former Secretary of State John Kerry, of violating the law by talking with the Iranian government and said he should be prosecuted for allegedly advising the government in Tehran not to negotiate with the Trump administration. "John Kerry speaks to them a lot," Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House Thursday, referring to the Iranian government. "John Kerry tells them not to call. That´s a violation of
Rupert Murdoch opened Fox Corp.’s Investor Day presentation on Thursday with a promise that the slimmed-down company will be a Wall Street growth story. Murdoch, Fox Corp. chairman, told the crowd in New York that he decided to sell most of his Hollywood assets to Disney in order to make the most out of all that he had assembled over the past few decades. “We were pivoting at a pivotal moment while staying true of course to our principles and our purpose,” he said. Murdoch asserted that the 20th Century Fox studio and other assets were better off under the
President Trump on Thursday indicated that talk he is growing frustrated with national security adviser John Bolton is untrue, describing his famously hawkish aide as giving him "good advice.""John is very good. He has strong views on things but that´s okay," Trump told reporters at the White House.According to a Wednesday report, Trump has been complaining recently that Bolton wants to get him "into a war" and that aides misled him about the resilience of Venezuela´s socialist leader Nicolás Maduro, against whom U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó attempted a failed military uprising last week."I actually temper John, which is pretty
A Pinochet Could Help Venezuela
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One hears and reads comments to the effect that Venezuelans "asked for" what they have in the way of strongman government since they voted for it. This is a woefully shortsighted and uninformed view of what´s happening, and what has happened, in the northernmost country of South America. Hugo Chávez, as Barack Obama here, probably did win his first election reasonably cleanly and fairly. It´s not likely he won fairly after that, and it´s certain that Chávez´s anointed successor, Nicolás Maduro, did not win fairly in last year´s elections. We´ve seen this script wherever communism establishes a firm foothold.
Declared 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden’s lengthy record bit him in the behind again on Thursday, as racially charged comments from Biden back in 2007 began to recirculate online. (Video) When Biden was asked by The Washington Post about the discrepancy in school performance in Iowa compared to schools in Washington, D.C., the Democrat cited the high population of African-Americans and other minorities in the D.C. area. "There´s less than one percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than four of five percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it
The U.S. has seized a North Korean cargo ship, alleging the Hermit Kingdom violated international sanctions. The Justice Department said it’s the first time the U.S. has seized a North Korean cargo vessel for violating sanctions. “This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement. The ship, named the Wise Honest, illegally transported coal and delivered heavy machinery to North Korea, according to the Justice Department. Maintenance for the ship, one of North Korea’s largest cargo ships, was paid for in U.S. dollars through unwitting U.S. banks. The seizure
In 2007 Denver voters approved a ballot initiative that made arrests for marijuana possession the city´s "lowest law enforcement priority." The margin of victory was 14 percentage points. On Tuesday, Denver voters approved a similar ballot initiative for psilocybin mushrooms. It won by a single percentage point, according to the "final unofficial results." The direct practical consequences of that surprising outcome, which became clear yesterday evening after several news outlets (including Reason) erroneously reported that voters had rejected the measure, will be modest. But approval of the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative is symbolically and politically important, since this
Beijing - As Chinese and American officials try to reach a trade deal, Xi Jinping faces a painful, possibly damaging, choice: to try to protect his aura of indomitability or retreat after President Trump accused China of reneging on the terms of a draft agreement and threatened to raise tariffs. The stakes rose sharply for the Chinese leader this week after Mr. Trump and his chief trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, publicly accused China of backing down on commitments. The sticking point appeared to be a late decision by Mr. Xi to reject American demands that China change laws constraining American businesses.
The House Judiciary Committee has voted out the Equality Act of 2019. It now heads for a vote on the House floor with 240 co-sponsors, which means its passage is virtually certain. The legislation amends all major civil rights law, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" along with race, sex and religion as classes that are protected from discrimination. There is so much wrong here it is hard to know where to start.
When Tiger Woods won The Masters this year it shocked the world. His glory days were long since gone; injuries had relegated him to forever live in past accomplishments – his career was pretty much over, he just hadn’t retired yet. Then he did it, he came back and won. Nearly everyone was not only shocked, they were excited. Americans love a great comeback story. In the midst of that celebration, something happened to turn a lot of people away from that happiness – the president of the United States joined in. First came a tweet congratulating Woods.
With President Donald Trump not playing the Democrats’ impeachment games (and rightfully so), states have done their part in fighting this administration. Washington State and New Jersey have passed laws keeping presidential candidates off the ballot if they don’t release their taxes. Well, it’s not like any Republican candidate was going to win those states anyway, but it’s all part of the two-year long temper tantrum over Hillary Clinton’s shocking election loss in 2016. Taxes remain another front in the ongoing crusade to impeach Trump. Democrats don’t have Russian collusion anymore; that was nuked by the Mueller report.
The missile’s development, which reportedly began under former US President Barack Obama, was aimed to avoid civilian casualties during US campaigns in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. The US government has developed a secret missile to launch pinpoint airstrikes against terrorists and their leaders “with no explosion”, the Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper cited unnamed US officials as saying that the use of the specially designed new missile with “extraordinarily accurate intelligence about a target’s location and surroundings” will help “drastically” reduce damage and minimise
“I think we are a superior branch,” House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared Wednesday. In an interview with Washington Post Live, Pelosi was asked if Congress is currently functioning as a coequal branch of government – to which, Pelosi responded that her Legislative branch (Congress) is “superior” to the Executive and Judicial branches: (Video) Question: “Is Congress, at this moment in history, actually functioning as a coequal branch?” Rep. Pelosi: “I think we are a superior branch, quite frankly. We have the power to make the law and the president enforces the law. So we have a big role,
U.S. authorities have seized a North Korean ship that was transporting coal in violation of international sanctions, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. The North Korean ship, the Wise Honest, is the first seized by U.S. authorities over sanctions violations. It is now approaching U.S. territorial waters accompanied by the U.S. Marshals and Coast Guard. (Snip) A civil complaint seeking the ship’s forfeiture was filed in the Southern District of New York on Thursday after the ship was taken into U.S. custody. The complaint indicates that a warrant was issued for the seizure in July 2018, after Indonesian authorities seized the
The anti-Chick-fil-A protests that started in 2012 have taken a new twist—this time with the restaurant chain being likened to “pornography.” Left-wing activists condemned the popular company seven years ago due to Dan Cathy, the company’s president and CEO, supporting the traditional definition of marriage. Ironically, faculty at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are likening the Christian-friendly business to sexually explicit films. “We don’t sell pornography in the bookstore and we don’t have a Hooters on campus—we already pre-select those kind of things based on our existing values,” Academic Senate Vice Chair
Seoul, South Korea - North Korea fired two suspected short-range missiles toward the sea on Thursday, South Korean officials said, its second weapons launch in five days and a possible warning that nuclear disarmament talks with Washington could be in danger. South Korea´s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapons flew 260 miles and 167 miles, respectively. It said it is working with the United States to determine more details, such as the types of weapons that were fired. (Snip) The latest launches came as U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun visits South Korea, and hours after the North described its firing of rocket
A Florida law enforcement officer is being praised for way he treated a little boy who called 911 asking for a friend because he was lonely. The boy, who has not been named, phoned the emergency operator on Tuesday from his family home in Tallahassee, Florida, without his mother´s knowledge after they had a verbal disagreement, police told DailyMail.com. The Tallahassee Police Department said she was surprised when a cop, named as Officer White, arrived at the house to play with the boy and teach him the proper use for calling 911. The police department shared touching photographs of their
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt because he refused to break the law and make the full report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller available to Congress. (Video) To be sure, Barr is bound by the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), which prohibits the disclosure of grand jury material. He has placed a version of the Mueller report in a secured room on Capitol Hill and granted access to “congressional leaders of both parties, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of intelligence and judiciary committees in the House
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who thinks President Trump is a Russian agent (and, yes, I will mention this every day until the primary), has made another farfetched comparison. On Twitter, he put special counsel Robert Mueller´s Russia investigation on par with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terror attacks by way of condemning Trump´s relationship with Vladimir Putin. (Tweet) It didn´t take someone with years of foreign policy experience to note that one of these things is not like the others. The first two resulted in real death and real tragedy. (Tweets) Swalwell is polling near the
So just weeks after the Mueller investigation closed out the possibility that President-Trump-secretly-colluded-with-the-Russians-to-steal-the-election-from-Hillary-Clinton, here we go again... Only this time it´s not the never-gonna-get-over-it Democrats returning to the scene of the crime, ad nauseam, it´s Republicans on the Senate intelligence committee, led by North Carolina´s Sen. Richard Burr, who sounds like his first name is better pronounced as ´Aaron.´ Here´s the New York Times´s report: WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son
I am already on the record that Joe Biden won’t get the Democrats’ nomination, and now – for a brand-new reason -- I am beginning to hope that I am wrong. In addition to his other weaknesses as a candidate – low intelligence, gaffe proneness, advanced age, his scandals in Ukraine and China enriching his famaily, and his brand new advocacy of taxpayer-funded health care for illegals, there is a sleeper issue that could fatally weaken him if gets the party’s nod and ruins against President Trump. As most AT readers realize, high levels
President Donald Trump pulled a bar graph out of his pocket that represents disaster relief spending, during his Wednesday night rally in Panama City Beach, Florida. Natural disaster relief appeared to be a hot topic, with Hurricane Michael hitting the panhandle six months ago. In that time, FEMA has directed more than $1.1 billion in federal funds toward response and recovery efforts, according to a FEMA press release from April. WATCH: (Video) “We are building a lot of things. We’re doing a lot of things that includes additional Hurricane Michael relief funding immediately. The money is coming immediately, no games,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told a news conference on Thursday that she agrees with House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) that the nation is in a constitutional crisis, and she hinted that more contempt citations may be coming against the Trump administration: On Wednesday, Nadler´s committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt, and that recommendation now goes to the full House: (Video)"In terms of timing, when we´re ready, we´ll come to the floor," Pelosi said, referring to a vote by the full House on the contempt citation against Barr. "And we´ll just see, because there might
ST. PETERSBURG — The twin golden spires of the Sunshine Skyway bridge meet at the entrance of Tampa Bay, forming our most iconic symbol. It also marks our greatest tragedy. It was 39 years ago that the storm-blinded freighter Summit Venture crashed into the support columns of the old Sunshine Skyway bridge, causing a 1,200-foot span of the bridge to collapse into the bay. At 7:33 a.m., 35 lives were lost. They died in the six cars, truck and Greyhound bus that fell 150 feet into the water below. The bus took 26 lives. Nine people died in the other vehicles.
A former intelligence analyst and Afghanistan veteran has been charged with leaking classified information to the media. Daniel Everett Hale, 31, of Nashville, Tenn., was arrested on Thursday federal charges. The reporter that Hale leaked this information to is not named in the indictment but the charging document identifies him as Jeremy Scahill of The Intercept, an outspoken critic of America’s military activities overseas. Hale "printed off a series of Secret and Top Secret documents through his position with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, many of which he then provided to the reporter." The day that Hale is alleged to have
The second suspect in the Colorado school shooting, Maya McKinney, was listed in court records as a 16-year-old female, but identifies as a male and prefers to be called Alec. McKinney was shackled at the wrists and ankles Wednesday when he appeared in court and responded to the judge’s questions in a clear but quiet voice, saying, “Yes, your honor,” and, “No, your honor.” His mother sat at his side. The teen’s lawyers asked that the pronoun “he” be used for their client.
Colorado students walked out of an event billed as a vigil for Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old killed in a shooting at his school on Tuesday, when prominent speakers attempted to turn it into a rally for gun control. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) each took a turn calling for gun control at the Douglas County event before students streamed out in protest.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled a scheduled meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in order to go to Baghdad on a sudden unannounced visit. His purpose was to warn Iraq’s leaders about a “very specific” threat of Iranian attacks which, he said, “were imminent.” Secretary Pompeo told reporters after his meetings that he wanted assurances that Iraq is “able to adequately protect Americans in their country." Secretary Pompeo’s warning followed the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East. The Pentagon has also sent nuclear-capable B-52s to the region. There are approximately 5,200
The Huelefant in the Parlor
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The grand battle of the Trade Avengers in Washington really isn´t that important in the grand scheme of things. What matters is the implosion of America´s technological predominance, exemplified by the Trump Administration´s strategic humiliation over Fifth Generation (5G) mobile broadband. In 1258 the Mongols appeared before the gates of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Dynasty. Caliph Al-Musta´sim assumed that the capital´s 12-foot-thick walls would protect the city against lightly-armed Mongol horsemen, but the Mongols brought with them a thousand Chinese siege engineers. The Chinese mercenaries breached the walls within three weeks and the Mongols killed most of
Vatican City - Pledging that clerical sexual abuse should “never happen again,” Pope Francis on Thursday issued a sweeping new law aimed at holding leadership more accountable while overhauling how the Roman Catholic Church deals with accusations of abuse and coverup. The rules — a mix of common-sense requirements and more technical provisions — are the church’s first major step to formalize all stages of fielding and investigating abuse claims, a process that has long been subject to improvisation. When the rules come into force June 1, priests and nuns will be required for the first time to report abuse accusations to church
There are numerous media reports about the Senate Intelligence Committee filing a subpoena for additional testimony from Donald Trump Jr. However, there’s something a little, well, ‘off’ about how the story is being presented…. zero official verification.Without any verification, and with only vague references to anonymous sourcing, CTH would advise to wait-and-see on this one. DJT-jr has been used more than once for leak hunting. The AP Article is HERE. That said, Trump Jr. did retweet this message:
Maybe you didn’t jump for joy when Mike Fiers of the Oakland Athletics pitched the 300th no-hitter in Major League Baseball history the other night. Nobody cheers when a freelance coder finishes her 300th gig; or when a pundit publishes his 300th column; or when a politician makes his 300th gaffe. (OK, maybe that last one some do.) Nevertheless, a no-hitter remains a rare and wonderful gem. As regular readers know, I consider baseball the finest and most pure of professional sports. But you needn’t agree, or even be a sports fan, to admire both the rarity
Maybe Joe Biden’s footprint in the 2020 campaign is bigger than we predicted. Ever since the former veep jumped into the race, another candidate has become very, very silent. The Daily Beast wonders why we’ve heard more about a Starbucks cup on the Game of Thrones set than we have about former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who spent a lot of time raising his political profile before mid-April. Schultz’ spokesperson says that the independent candidate has taken some time off after back surgery,
I like a lot of Austen Fletcher’s videos but this one is a bit different than most. In this clip, Fletcher isn’t at a campus talking to people, he’s at an event in West Hollywood called “#Walk Away” which is aimed at encouraging LGBT people to consider distancing themselves from the Democratic Party.The event was put on by Brandon Straka who says he was a Hillary voter who, like a lot of Democrats, was distraught after the last election. But as he started talking to people to find out why they voted for Trump he found they weren’t haters
Sure, The Avengers: Endgame is a conservative movie, just like Star Wars and Star Trek. “Not Star Trek!” shriek its doughy fanboys, who go on to point out how that cinematic universe embraces collectivism: the characters all conform, have no money and don’t believe in God. Fine, then Star Trek is a millennial movie series. No, scratch that – Captain Kirk used to get babes and millennials are famously barren. Now, it’s not like Avengers is blatant about its politics, as if the characters chose up sides in some sort of civil war. Oh wait, they did do that a few movies
The US admissions scandal has seen dozens of people charged following claims wealthy parents paid bribes to get their children places at elite colleges. But how much does which university you attend really matter? Not much, according to research - and it looks as if it matters least of all for those from the most privileged backgrounds Many affluent parents may be spending a huge amount of time, money, and energy to secure a bumper-sticker-worthy college place, with little by way of tangible results. Instead, it is those from the most deprived backgrounds who stand to gain most but are least able to access
In his first TV interview since the Mueller report was released, former FBI Director James Comey told CBS News Wednesday morning that he disagrees with Attorney General William Barr, who thinks that "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign. "Yeah, I have no idea what he´s talking about," Comey said. "The FBI doesn´t spy. The FBI investigates. We investigated a very serious allegation that Americans might be hooked up with the Russian effort to attack our democracy. The Republicans need to breathe into a paper bag. “If we had confronted the same facts with a different candidate, say, a Democratic candidate
A newly released poll of likely voters in Louisiana’s upcoming gubernatorial election found that Republican candidate Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-LA) is surging into a near statistical tie with incumbent Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards, a potential sign of serious problems for the Democrats in a deep-red state that President Donald Trump will visit next week. The upcoming governor’s race in the fall in Louisiana marks one of the biggest regularly scheduled general elections between now and November 2020, when President Trump will face off against whomever the Democrats nominate from their growing field of presidential candidates, now totaling more than 20. The
Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour was ripped on social media after posting a selfie with Roger Waters on a private jet with an accompanying text extolling the Pink Floyd frontman’s “empathy” and “personal risk” in standing up for the Palestinians. Sarsour wrote: Kind, compassionate, humble, active listener — that’s Roger Waters. I spent the entire day with him yesterday and we had great conversations about injustice, empathy, morals. He listened intently as I shared with him my story, what I believe, what hurts, what we must do to make this world a better place. We won’t always agree on everything but Roger
Not one GOP senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee was willing to publicly align himself or herself on Wednesday evening with the panel’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), after Burr made the determination, against indications from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to issue a subpoena to Donald Trump Jr. to testify again on the Russia probe. News broke late Wednesday afternoon that Burr had issued Trump, Jr. a subpoena to try to compel the president’s eldest son to testify again. The subpoena is in contravention of a previous promise Burr made to Trump, Jr. that he would only need to testify
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla.— President Donald Trump promised a swift infusion of federal aid to the Florida Panhandle seven months after devastating Hurricane Michael as he rallied supporters Wednesday for his re-election. Trump addressed a crowd of thousands at an outdoor amphitheater, looking to rally loyalists in the reliably Republican corner of the swing state as he kicks his 2020 efforts into high gear. Federal emergency funds to the area hit by the Category 5 hurricane and elsewhere have been caught up in a Washington standoff over Trump´s opposition to more hurricane aid for Puerto Rico. (Photos) "You´re getting your
Jackson Lee: ‘Saturday Night Massacre of Rejection’ Underway—I Don’t Think Trump ‘Is Going to Last’
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Wednesday on MSNBC’s “All In,” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) said she agreed with Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and several of her other colleagues’ assessment a “constitutional crisis” was underway given the Trump administration was not cooperating fully with congressional Democrats’ effort to investigate the White House. However, she offered an additional term to describe what she saw as what was underway because of the administration’s “rejection” of congressional Democrats’ requests. “[I] saw this coming and mentioned the constitutional crisis was pending over the last couple of weeks,” Jackson Lee said. “When I concluded my remarks today in the hearing,
Top Republican Senators and Representatives slammed Senate Intel Chairman Richard Burr for issuing Donald Trump Jr. a subpoena over ‘Russia matters.’The GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer questions about his prior testimony to Senate investigators related to the Russia investigation by May 15. Axios reported on the subpoena of Don Jr., the first subpoena of one of President Trump’s children (that we know of), citing “sources with direct knowledge.” The Senate Intel Panel, chaired by RINO Richard Burr (R-NC) and co-chaired by the incredibly corrupt Mark Warner (D-VA) are purposely dragging out the Russia investigation and
President Donald Trump’s outside political machine is setting a $300 million fundraising goal and is pitching major GOP donors on a plan to target six swing states that are likely to decide the 2020 election, according to people familiar with the group’s blueprint. The news comes after weeks of questions — some voiced by Republicans close to the president — about whether the organization is prepared for the presidential campaign. And it follows the appointment of a prominent new chairwoman, ex-Trump cabinet member and former WWE executive Linda McMahon.
If Democrats are going to run in 2020 on a platform of driving the U.S. into socialism, they are likely to get thumped hard at the ballot box. Results of a Monmouth University Poll released this week show that 57 percent of the country says socialism is not compatible with American values. Only 29 percent say it is. It’s alarming that socialism has penetrated as deeply as it has into our politics. For decades, Americans clearly understood what socialism is, and widely rejected it. And, despite the media’s grade-school infatuation with socialist politicians and policies, maybe they still are.
A liberal Washington Post columnist is blaming two foot surgeries and anti-President Trump views among the reasons the White House has cut him off at the knees. Dana Milbank announced in a column Wednesday that the press office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has stripped him of his press pass. In a pretty sappy column, he explained that for the last 21 years he has had a “front-row seat to history.” I won’t bore you with the various moments in history that have touched him, but he said he’s not the only reporter who is suffering the loss. The new rule
Watching the recent and laughably hypocritical social media authorities´ crackdown on "hate speech" (which means "speech that we don´t like"), one is reminded strikingly of a confrontation recorded in the Gospels between Jesus Christ and the Pharisees. Christ directed attention to the longstanding Pharisaical pretension to be just and holy men, although He in His omniscience saw them privately indulging in the very vices they publicly condemned
Democrats have grown infuriated by Attorney General William Barr´s indifference to their hysteria over the Trump-Russia collusion narrative. Barr recently released a brief summary of special counsel Robert Mueller´s conclusions that Donald Trump did not collude with the Russians to warp the 2016 election. Barr added that Mueller had not found enough evidence to recommend that Trump be indicted for obstruction of justice for the non-crime of collusion.
The first known use of the phrase "man´s inhumanity to man" is in a poem by Robert Burns in 1784. (snip) Watching and enduring the Democrats´ venomous drive to destroy President Trump brings the phrase to mind. They are characterized by an infantile inability to accept the results of the 2016 election. From the moment Trump became the nominee, they set out to wreak havoc on his candidacy, then his presidency, his life, and his family. Without even the hint of a crime committed, they set in motion an "investigation" that was really an attempted coup
What do Stacey Abrams, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris have in common beyond their party affiliation and delusional presidential aspirations? They are actively promoting a conspiracy theory about a nationwide voter suppression scheme they claim has already cost the Democrats key contests in 2018. Harris became the latest to join the chorus when she told an NAACP gathering, “Let’s say this loud and clear: Without voter suppression, Stacey Abrams would be the governor of Georgia. Andrew Gillum is the governor of Florida.” Ironically, the probable effect of such evidence-free claims will be to depress Democratic turnout in 2020.
2020 Democrats play to lose
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The Republicans’ 2016 field of 17 major candidates for president has been succeeded by the Democrats’ field of 20 and still growing. Many are untried and untested, and many more seemingly have no hope of winning their party’s nomination. So why the pile-on? The answer is President Trump. All by himself, he redefined what it meant to be fit to hold office. He won while at the same time doing and being what had made others seem unfit for office before him. Ronald Reagan was 69 when he was elected as president. He had been divorced.
After a snowy and soggy April, water levels on all five Great Lakes rose by more than a half-foot and are forecast to remain well above their average this summer, with two anticipated to break record highs, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Between April and May, each of the lakes rose at least 6 inches and stands more than a foot above its monthly average. Lakes Michigan and Huron, measured together because they are connected at the Straits of Mackinac, rose 9 inches in a month and are more than 2 feet above their monthly average.
Former Republican Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) on Monday appeared to voice an unwillingness to launch a 2020 primary challenge against President Trump, saying that he didn´t really see a path for a presidential candidacy. "I think for someone to undertake that, they have to feel there´s at least somewhat of an opportunity to actually be elected," Corker, a fierce critic of Trump´s, told reporters after a speech at the Nashville Rotary Club, according to The Times Free Press. "I see no point in just doing it to [run], you know, I just don´t."
The House Judiciary Committee met Wednesday to consider holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt for refusing a congressional subpoena demanding that he fully release the Mueller report. A lightly redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election has been public for many weeks, with printed versions leading the best-seller lists. A version of the report that is 98.5% unredacted, with 99% unredacted in the “obstruction” section, has been available to Congress for several weeks. But not one congressional Democrat has bothered to go to the secure facility to read it.
Sacramento’s Biggest Gasbags
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Sacramento- Don’t be alarmed by soaring California gasoline prices, which have topped $4 a gallon at most gas stations around the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders are on the job, as they sniff out the culprit behind rising prices. They are pretty sure it has something to do with bad corporate behavior, based on their latest public statements. Stay tuned — but you might not want to buy that giant gas-sucking SUV just yet. The cause of the high prices is obvious to those of us familiar with the state’s gasoline-related policies. In 2017, then-Gov. Jerry Brown
I am so old, I actually remember when Chappaquiddick happened. Some years later, I looked into the facts and found that they are quite clear: Senator Ted Kennedy, then 37 years old, drove his car off a bridge and saved himself, leaving a young woman to die, when she could have been rescued if he had simply called for help like a normal human being. Instead, he tried to convince his cousin to take the fall and, failing that, lawyered up. Ted Kennedy is not history’s most contemptible man, but he is easily in the bottom one percent.
What’s the matter with Bernie?
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Who’s the biggest loser? Joe Biden’s third try for the White House might look as doomed as Hillary Clinton’s run in 2016, but so far, Biden has followed a different and more promising trajectory. Instead, it’s Bernie Sanders who’s shaping up to be the Dems’ high-profile also-ran. Clinton peaked in popularity — and polling — ahead of her 2015 announcement. Her status as the assumed nominee helped her clear the field. Only the villain from The Wire dared challenge her in the establishment lane at any length; big names like Biden, John Kerry and Andrew Cuomo
It is increasingly dispiriting to hope, even in the #MeToo era, that the mainstream media will ever fully divest from the Camelot myth. The latest example is Tuesday night’s deplorably named ABC News special “The Girl in the Car” — a cheap riff on such blockbuster titles as “The Girl on the Train,” “Gone Girl,” etc. — ostensibly about Mary Jo Kopechne, but really, as always, about keeping the Kennedy legacy intact. The show opened with a howler of a premise, a disembodied voice intoning, “There’s still so much mystery about what happened that night.” Really? Is there?
Last week a man opened my front door and walked into the house without asking anyone´s permission. He took a wallet from a bowl in the kitchen and drove to a local bank, where he used the driver´s license and the bank card contained in the wallet to deposit a check he also found there. Then he came back to the house and took a beer from the refrigerator. How many crimes did he commit? Trespassing? Robbery? Identify theft? Bank fraud? The answer is zero, because I am in fact the man in question,
For the past 21 years, I have had the high privilege of holding a White House press pass, a magical ticket that gives the bearer a front-row seat to history. I was in the White House the night Bill Clinton admitted his affair with Monica Lewinsky, and the day he was impeached. I was there on Sept. 11, 2001, and the fearful days thereafter, when we were trained to use escape hoods. I watched George W. Bush make the case for the Iraq War and Barack Obama pitch his remedies for the market crash.
The FBI is currently investigating nearly 850 people across the United States as possible domestic terrorists, and the number of cases targeting white supremacists, white nationalists and other racially-motivated extremists has jumped in the past six months, federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday. “In fact, there have been more arrests and deaths in the United States caused by domestic terrorists than international terrorists in recent years,” the head of the FBI´s counterterrorism division, Assistant Director Michael McGarrity, told a House panel Wednesday. He warned that hatred and extremist ideology
The U.S. Army has decided to go back the very classic design of the uniforms they wore back in World War II. “This uniform is one of the most admired and recognizable uniforms in the Army’s history. It was worn by soldiers during WWII and the Korean War,” Army spokeswoman, Heather J. Hagan, told The Daily Caller on Wednesday. “The reintroduction of this uniform is meant to inspire trust and confidence in our soldiers’ professionalism and readiness,” she added.
The FBI has turned down a request from The Washington Times to disclose whether it has received any opposition research from Daniel J. Jones, the former Senate Democratic staffer who raised $50 million to investigate President Trump. Mr. Jones has spread the discredited Alfa Bank server conspiracy, which says Russia’s largest commercial bank supposedly had a direct link to the Trump campaign via a computer network. The FBI said The Times’ request under the Freedom of Information Act has been closed. The action should not be construed as acknowledging that the material does or doesn’t exist, the bureau said
Masked Venezuelan intelligence police detained the vice president of the National Assembly late Wednesday in a dramatic operation in eastern Caracas, marking the first senior opposition official taken into custody by the socialist government in retaliation for a failed military uprising last week aimed at ousting President Nicolás Maduro. Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano live-tweeted the detention, saying his van was surrounded by forces from Venezuela’s SEBIN police force. When he refused to exit, Zambrano said, his vehicle was forcibly towed to the infamous Helicoide prison, a notorious holding area for political prisoners. The move came after Zambrano
President Trump traveled to the Florida Panhandle to fire up his staunch supporters with fiery rebukes of congressional Democrats, who he accused of blocking additional disaster aid for the storm-hit region and wanting to give Puerto Rico "more and more" federal aid. Holding up a paper chart which purportedly showed that the hurricane-battered island has received more federal assistance than states in the mainland, Mr. Trump told the boisterous crowd, "what the Democrats want to do, they want to give more and more." "They complain, they want more money," Mr. Trump said, referring to Puerto Rico´s government, which he has