Day: December 24, 2016

Israel’s Netanyahu lashes out at Obama over UN vote

In this Dec. 11, 2016, file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem. Netanyahu lashed out at President Barack Obama on Saturday, Dec. 24, accusing him of a “shameful ambush” at the United Nations over West Bank settlements and saying he is looking forward to working with his “friend” President-elect Donald Trump.

Israela s Netanyahu lashes out at Obama over UN vote

Israel’s prime minister lashed out at President Barack Obama on Saturday, accusing him of a “shameful ambush” at the United Nations over West Bank settlements and saying he is looking forward to working with his “friend” President-elect Donald Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments came a day after the United States broke with past practice and allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation” of international law.

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The big issue: End of an era

One-star US Marine Gen Russell Sanborn and Lt Gen Thongchai Sarasuk, director of Joint Operations, shake hands after the Initial Planning Conference last August for the Cobra Gold 2017 war games. Planning for the third Cobra Gold war games since the 2014 coup d’etat is pretty much complete, and it is going to show better than any other public event the diminishing passion of the long US-Thailand affair.

Milwaukee man asks 7th Circuit to review “stingray,” secret cell phone ruling

A dissenting opinion by a federal appeals court judge on police use of secret cellphone tracking technology has convinced a Milwaukee man to take his case a step further. The Milwaukee Journal reports that attorneys for Damian Patrick filed a petition this week asking for a rehearing in front of the full U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, following a split decision in November by the court’s three-judge panel.

Republicans on taxes: Cut rates, brackets but what about deficit

Congressional Republicans are planning a massive overhaul of the nation’s tax system next year, a heavy political lift that could ultimately affect families at every income level and businesses of every size. Their goal is to simplify a complicated tax code that rewards wealthy people with smart accountants, and corporations that can easily shift profits – and jobs – overseas.

Trump vows to dissolve charitable foundation

US President-elect Donald Trump has said he intends to dissolve his controversial philanthropic foundation to avoid any conflicts of interest with his presidency. Mr Trump’s sprawling portfolio of US and overseas business interests and holdings, as well as his Donald J Trump Foundation, have come under increased scrutiny in the weeks since his election.

Patrick J. Buchanan: Europe’s future — Merkel or Le Pen?

The terrorist who hijacked a truck in Berlin and ran over and killed 12 people, maiming and wounding 48 more, in that massacre in the Christmas market, has done more damage than he could imagine. Since the perpetrator is a jihadist from Tunisia who had no right to be in Germany, and had been under surveillance, the bell could begin to toll not only for Angela Merkel but for the European Union.

Klobuchar will run again for Senate, rules herself out for governor’s race

Duty-Bound: U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar turned down calls urging her to run for governor, saying instead that her experience is need at a pivotal time in Washington. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will run for re-election in 2018, ruling herself out for Minnesota’s next race for governor as she prepares to challenge the new Trump administration and look for ways to work with Republicans leading Congress.

Executions dwindle to 25-year low in U.S.

A year that began with the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the death penalty in one of the most active capital punishment states ended with the country reaching modern lows in executions and death sentences, the most glaring signs yet about how the practice has dwindled in America today. Still, even as capital punishment has declined in both sentencing and practice, there were also signs this year of its persistence from lawmakers, judges and the public, reminders that the death penalty is far from fading away.

This Christmas my prayers are for the people of Aleppo

It is a Christmas accompanied by the horrors of mass executions of women and children, airstrikes and barrel bombing of civilians – and mostly world silence in response. Americans witnessed neatly edited clips of human suffering in Aleppo as its residents made heartbreaking pleas for the world to save them.

DAPL Protesters Chain Themselves To Bank Financing Pipeline

People march in Oceti Sakowin camp during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 27, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith A handful of anti-pipeline demonstrators were arrested Friday after chaining themselves to the doors of one of the banks financing the contentious Dakota Access Pipeline .

Sanders’ bid, Hardwood tragedy top Vermont stories for 2016

In this May 26, 2015 file photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., formally announces in Burlington, Vt., that he he will seek the Democratic nomination for president while his grandson, Dylan Driscoll, 3, lays in the shade by the stage. Sanders’ strength in the primaries was chosen 2016’s top state story in a poll of journalists at Associated Press member newspapers and broadcasters in Vermont.

Voters: Keep N Carolina 2017 remapping, election schedule

Voters who sued successfully in striking down nearly 30 North Carolina House and Senate districts say they would suffer greatly if federal judges delayed enforcing their ruling directing new boundaries be drawn in March and a fall special election in altered districts. The voters filed a response Friday to a motion this month from Republican legislators asking the court’s redistricting and election schedule be set aside.

Critics say a popular vote would take power from the ‘white establishment’ – but it might not

Bill O’Reilly doesn’t want the Electoral College – or the disproportionate power it brings rural, white voters – to disappear. In a two-and-a-half minute introduction to the segment, the conservative Fox News anchor threw his support behind the system, insisting its survival was necessary to ensure that voters in predominantly rural states are not overrun by a growing population of minorities in city centers.

Obama just made it harder for Trump to create a Muslim registry

Outgoing President Barack Obama has made no secret of the fact that he thinks Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again plan to create a database of Muslims in the United States is a bad idea, but once the president-elect takes office, there won’t be anything he can do to stop him. On his way out the door, however, Obama did put an obstacle in Trump’s way.

Vote on Israel could spur further action – or trouble for UN

The U.S. green light that allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem could spur moves toward new terms to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it also poses dangers for the United Nations with the incoming Trump administration and may harden Israel’s attitude toward concessions.

As Obama accomplished policy goals, his party floundered

In boasting about his tenure in the White House, President Barack Obama often cites numbers like these: 15 million new jobs, a 4.9 per cent unemployment rate and 74 months of consecutive job growth. That’s the number of spots in state legislatures, governor’s mansions and Congress lost by Democrats during Obama’s presidency.

It’s Official: Obama Is Way Worse Than Jimmy Carter

Obama had barely lowered his hand after being sworn in back in 2009 that Glenn Reynolds proposed that a re-run of the Carter presidency was likely a best case scenari o for the lightworker, and while this has been manifestly true for quite a while now, yesterday’s UN vote seals the deal. I dimly recalled that Carter made a similar move in his last year in office, voting to abstain on a UN resolution that sounds identical to the one passed yesterday.

Amid the big headlines in 2016, 1 story trumped them all

Donald Trump surprised the nation by winning the White House, a victory made possible in part by becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania since 1988. The businessman edged Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 44,000 votes with help from rural and exurban precincts that saw more than 80 percent turnout.

Trump confidant says Michelle Obama belongs with African gorillas, wishes death upon the president

Carl Paladino, a former co-chair of Donald Trump’s campaign and the man New York Republicans elected as their gubernatorial nominee in 2010, told a local newspaper in Buffalo that he hopes President Obama catches mad cow disease and dies, and that Michelle Obama is a man and should be “let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.” The remarks came as answers to a questionnaire by Buffalo alt-weekly ArtVoice , which sent a harmless 4-question survey to local officials and city residents .

What do CBS News correspondents predict will happen in 2017?

“Face the Nation” host John Dickerson prepares for the show from the Face the Nation desk on October 30th, 2016 “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson will discuss predictions for 2017 with a panel of CBS News correspondents in a segment that will air Sunday. CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent Jeff Pegues said that he predicts FBI Director James Comey will stay in his job despite the blowback he received from how he handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails and the last-minute discovery of related emails a week before the election.

Teen Vogue Writer Takes Tucker Carlson to Woodshed

Teen Vogue writer Lauren Duca faced off with Tucker Carlson of Fox News Friday night in a fierce back and forth about Ivanka Trump and various things that Duca has written critical of Donald Trump. During the heated discussion, Duca told off Carlson for interrupting her and said, “You’re actually being a partisan hack that’s just attacking me ad nauseum and not allowing me to speak.”

Banksters Pay $12.5 Billion to Settle Probes

Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank and Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse have agreed to pay a collective $12.5 billion to settle litigation stemming from their bundling of risky subprime and Alt-a mortgages during the mid-2000s credit bubble, which resulted in a severe housing collapse, billions of dollars of investor losses and widespread claims of deception. The agreements, struck just before a new administration takes the White House, adds resolution to the Obama administrations efforts to hold Wall Street’s largest banks accountable for their activities during the bubble and bust of the U.S. housing market.

Banksters Pay $12.5 Billion to Settle Probes

Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank and Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse have agreed to pay a collective $12.5 billion to settle litigation stemming from their bundling of risky subprime and Alt-a mortgages during the mid-2000s credit bubble, which resulted in a severe housing collapse, billions of dollars of investor losses and widespread claims of deception. The agreements, struck just before a new administration takes the White House, adds resolution to the Obama administrations efforts to hold Wall Street’s largest banks accountable for their activities during the bubble and bust of the U.S. housing market.

Sanders Says Trump’s “Dangerous” Nuclear Arms Race Talk Must Be Challenged

Deriding President-elect Donald Trump as the ‘Twitter-in-Chief,’ Sen. Bernie Sanders said recent comments on a nuclear arms race must be challenged by members of both major parties. Sen. Bernie Sanders has made it known that Donald Trump should not go unchallenged by his congressional colleagues as troubling comments by the President-elect about nuclear weapons this week sparked alarm across the United States and the world.

Sanders Says Trump’s “Dangerous” Nuclear Arms Race Talk Must Be Challenged

Deriding President-elect Donald Trump as the ‘Twitter-in-Chief,’ Sen. Bernie Sanders said recent comments on a nuclear arms race must be challenged by members of both major parties. Sen. Bernie Sanders has made it known that Donald Trump should not go unchallenged by his congressional colleagues as troubling comments by the President-elect about nuclear weapons this week sparked alarm across the United States and the world.

Sandersa bid, Hardwood tragedy top Vermont stories for 2016

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ strength in the Democratic presidential primaries has been chosen the top Vermont story of the year for 2016 in a poll of journalists at Associated Press member newspapers and broadcasters. Second place went to something much more tragic: the October deaths of five Harwood Union High School students in a crash caused by a wrong-way driver on Interstate 89. Others on the top 10 list included the alleged “Ponzi-like” scheme to defraud foreign investors in development projects in northern Vermont; Republican Phil Scott’s victory in the gubernatorial race; and the failed effort to legalize marijuana.