Letter writer fears return to 19th century rape of land

Donald Trump's pick of fossil fuel-friendly Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to serve as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency means we can finally start plundering the planet again without regard to the consequences. Let's emulate the regulation-free 19th century when we raped and pillaged the environment to enrich the greedy robber barons - the 1 percent of their day.

Trump Imitates Putin, but the U.S. Isn’t Russia

If Vladimir Putin gave a damn about American public opinion, he'd encourage Donald Trump to make at least a symbolic gesture to prove he's not the Russian strongman's vassal. So far, there's no sign either party to their oddly one-sided alliance feels the need.

Obama Boasts of Third Term: I Could Have Won

President Barack Obama believes he could have won a third term in office, if given the opportunity, telling former adviser David Axelrod that he would have been able to mobilize the majority of voters around his vision for America. "What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and and full of energy and dynamism," Obama said.

Huckabee: UN Trying to Push Israel Into a ‘Suicide Pact’

With its resolution on Israel, the United Nations is attempting to push Israel into "accepting borders that would essentially be a suicide pact," and the Obama administration was most likely behind the vote, former Gov. Mike Huckabee said Tuesday. "Silence is agreement, and by the U.S. being silent and abstaining [from the vote], they did agree to it, and I think they helped orchestrate it," Huckabee, a strong advocate of Israel, told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.

Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate

If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama's approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for U.S. ambassador. The bankruptcy lawyer and son of an Orthodox rabbi is everything Obama is not: a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements, opponent of Palestinian statehood and unrelenting defender of Israel's government.

Obama Says He Would Have Won The Election Against Trump

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Kennedy Center Honors Reception at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 4, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas President Barack Obama believes he would win re-election if he were able to run for a third term, according to a CNN interview published Monday.

David Friedman, Donald Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel, has all sides on edge

In this photo provided by Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP, David Friedman, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's choice for ambassador to Israel. NEW YORK - If U.S. President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama's approach to Israel, he may have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for ambassador.

Japan’s Abe to visit Pearl Harbor memorial

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will fly to Hawaii this week for the express purpose of visiting the site of the surprise attack on a U.S. naval base 75 years ago that killed 2,400 Americans and drew the country into World War II. The visit is a sign of how far public opinion in Japan has moved that Abe can make the trip to the memorial, accompanied by President Barack Obama, to offer condolences to the victims.

Trump inaugural puts artists in quandary

Several months ago, before the presidential election, San Francisco poet and author Dean Rader found himself engaged in a philosophical debate with some of his fellow poets: If Donald Trump were to win the presidency, and if he asked one of them to compose a poem to be read at the inauguration, would they do it? On the one hand, none of them supported Trump for the presidency. Rader didn't know many politically conservative poets, in general, and his friends found the prospect of Trump's election to be "terrifying" and offensive.

Capitol Facts

Question the timing all you want, but last week's legal filing by Attorney General Lisa Madigan to stop paying state employee wages without an official appropriation is long overdue and is completely consistent with a 2016 Illinois Supreme Court ruling and with her opposition to a similar lawsuit brought by social service providers. Monday, January 30, 2017 On a fairly regular basis back in the day, state Sen. Barack Obama would walk up to the Senate press box and bum cigarettes off me.

Thanassis Cambanis: Moscow is ready to rumble

It should come as no surprise that many Russians will mourn this month, a quarter century after Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union and overnight, one of the great world empires simply dissolved. Today a tense realignment is underway, as a resurgent Russia jostles to the table and upends American nostrums about the post-Cold War order.

CIA chief warns against in-kind retaliation for Russian hacking – NPR

Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan has warned the U.S. government against a tit-for-tat response to Russian hacking during the presidential election. "I don't think we should resort to some of the tactics and techniques that our adversaries employ against us.

Cotton: Say, Why Did Obama Reject Republicans’ Proposal to Fight Russian Disinformation?

In light of the Left's fresh obsession with combating the alleged crisis of "fake news," as well as getting to the bottom of Moscow's malign influence and meddling, the Senator from Arkansas raises a rather interesting point , doesn't he? Via Politico : The White House opposed a Republican-led push earlier this year to create an executive-branch task force to battle Russia's covert information operations, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.

Canada-U.S. trade not broken so no need for Trump to fix it: Freeland

But Canada's trade minister says the world-leading trade relationship between Canada and the United States need not be on the president-elect's to-do list. "I think the reality is the trading relationship with Canada is the farthest possible thing from being broken.