Day: December 30, 2016

Coast Guard suspends search for missing plane with 6 onboard

In this Aug. 1, 2008 photo, Dublin Irish Festival honorary chairman John T. Fleming proposes at toast following the tapping of the first Dublin Stout Keg at Brazenhead in Dublin, Ohio. A flight-tracking service shows that a plane piloted by the Ohio executive with five other people onboard quickly lost altitude after taking off from Cleveland’s lakeshore airport.

Obama Expels Russian For Spying

In a rare, if not unprecedented news conference, Russian Consul General Sergey Petrov addressed the media after President Obama ordered four diplomats at that embassy to leave. One of the employees is a chef.

Disabled ABLE to save for future

When David Morgan and Abby Braithewaite want to put away money for their 6-year-old son Corwin’s future, it’s easy. “If he gets the same $50 check from his grandmother or his aunt on the East Coast it can just go into an account for him,” said Morgan, 43. “Nobody’s going to show up and ask him how much money is in it.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin just crushed President Obama by refusing to play games with international diplomacy. In addition, the Putin approach immediately negates the intention of the Obama effort to create crisis with Russia.

Mexican man charged with rape had 19 deportations, removals

This undated photo provided by the Geary County Detention Center In Junction City, Kan., shows Tomas Martinez-Maldonado. Records obtained by The Associated Press show that Martinez-Maldonado a Mexican national accused of raping a 13-year-old girl on a Greyhound bus that traveled through Kansas had been deported 10 times and voluntarily removed from the U.S. nine times since 2003.

Law Professor Vikram David Amar on Whether States Can Bar…

Law Professor Vikram David Amar on Whether States Can Bar Presidential Candidates from the Ballot if they Don’t Release Tax Returns Law professor Vikram David Amar has this column on whether it is constitutional for states to bar candidates for President from appearing on the ballot unless they reveal their income tax returns. He seems to lean to the idea that it would not be constitutional, although he is somewhat ambivalent.

Ex-Lawmaker Blasts Clinton for Being Too Insular

Former Rep. George Miller chastised the strategy of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which he called an “insular group of people who were smoking one another’s exhaust,” the East Bay Times reports. Said Miller: “We didn’t go to Wisconsin at the end of the campaign because they’re always with us? Michigan, where you saved the automobile industry and tens of thousands of jobs and you never went to tell them about it?” He added: “You never get to that point in my mind in politics.

McCrory Makes Last Attempt to Stick It To His Successor

“With just one day to go before he leaves office, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory threw a legal Hail Mary to the U.S. Supreme Court in another apparent effort to undermine his Democratic successor’s ability to govern,” the Washington Post reports. “McCrory filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to pause court-ordered special elections for more than two dozen state legislative districts in 2017 – special elections in which Democrats could have an opportunity to pick up seats in North Carolina’s GOP-dominated legislature.”

Russian diplomatic compunds in N.Y., Md. closed

About a half-hour before the noon deadline, caravans of diplomatic vehicles, some carrying boxes, left both Russian compounds under the watch of State Department agents. The 45-acre Maryland retreat boasts a brick mansion along the Corsica River in the bucolic Eastern Shore region.

paul Ryan Aims to Prevent Dem Gun Control – Sit-In’

House Speaker Paul Ryan is considering a fine of $2,500 for U.S. representatives who use recording devices on the floor of the House. In the event of a violation, the House sergeant-at-arms would hand down the fine, the goal being to take away the social media appeal of a “sit-in” by effectively blocking such a protest from outside view.

Ben Ferguson Claims Mormon Tabernacle Choir Performed at Obama Inauguration

During a segment on CNN tonight, conservative radio host Ben Ferguson made a claim about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir that was blatantly false and was later called out on it. Discussing the news that one of the members of the choir quit, stating that she can’t sing at the inauguration for President-elect Donald Trump , Ferguson opened up the discussion by invoking abortion while bringing up President Barack Obama .

Three striking findings for 2016 from Pew Research

Donald Trump has won the presidency after narrowly carrying a few states to put him above 270 electoral votes.But according… Senate Republicans refused to give President Obama’s pick to replace Supreme Court Justice Scalia even the courtesy of a… All credit here to Pew Research Center on its assessment of 16 interesting trends in 2016 . Here’s three that seemed particularly worth mulling, but there’s more where this came from.

Russia ‘always denies bad news’, says former British ambassador

Britain’s former ambassador to Russia has said the country “always denies bad news” as he backed the US decision to expel 35 Russian diplomats. Sir Andrew Wood said the West had moved to confront a Russia “which respects no rules, does not keep to its agreements and is determined to force is views on others – by force if need be”.

Russian hackers penetrated Vermont electric utility – Washington Post

WASHINGTON: A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont electric utility, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. The Russians did not actively use the code to disrupt operations of the utility, the officials told the Post, but penetration of the nation’s electrical grid is significant because it represents a potentially serious vulnerability.

Some power restored to North Carolina’s gov.-elect _ for now

Wake County Superior Court Judge Don Stephens blocked the new law, which would end the control governors exert over statewide and county election boards, as Gov.-Elect Roy Cooper is set to take office Sunday. Stephens ruled that the risk to future free and fair elections justified the temporary block and said he plans to review the law more closely Thursday.

Putin responds to US decision with unexpected warmth

The Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a message of unexpected warmth to the United States after President Barack Obama’s shock decision to expel 35 Russian diplomats over allegations of cyber hacking and meddling in the recent presidential election. Russia had been expected to retaliate by expelling American diplomats but in a surprising twist Mr Putin ruled that out and wished Americans a happy new year.

Trump on Putina s response to U.S. sanctions: a I always knew he was very smarta

After President Barack Obama on Thursday announced retaliatory measures against the Russian government for what the U.S. has concluded were efforts to interfere in the election, President-elect Donald Trump’s response was terse and dismissive, saying it was time to “move on to bigger and better things.” But after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he would not respond in kind to the U.S. actions – preferring to wait until the new administration takes office – Trump weighed in with high praise.

Trump: Putin ‘very smart’ for decision to withhold sanctions

Earlier, Putin discarded a recommendation from his government to impose restrictions on the US in retaliation of President Barack Obama’s decision to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the US presidential election. Trump immediately pinned the tweet to the top of his profile, meaning it is the first thing those visiting his page will see.

Politico: Putin Move on US Diplomats Poses Test for Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to not retaliate against the United States for President Barack Obama’s decision to expel 35 diplomats and close two compounds over hacking may prove to be a test for President-elect Donald Trump, experts say. Will Trump reduce or rescind Obama’s orders, as Moscow wants, after his inauguration next month, or will he risk angering Putin by keeping – if not strengthening – the sanctions? “If Trump doesn’t do what Putin wants, then we are where we are today – and, frankly, it’s a place where I believe we haven’t been firm enough with Russia,” Evelyn Farkas, a former Obama administration Pentagon official, told Politico.

Ex-CIA Officer: Putin Not Retaliating Against US an ‘Opportunity’ for Trump

The mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from the United States is a calculated political move by President Barack Obama – but it is also a solid one, retired CIA operations officer Scott Uehlinger tells Newsmax TV. “This may surprise you, but I actually believe the sanctions are appropriate given basically Russian espionage activity in this country that’s been going on for more than 10 years,” Uehlinger said Friday to Miranda Khan on “Newsmax Prime.”

Trump praises Putin’s response to sanctions, calls Russian leader ‘very smart!’

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday expressed his appreciation to Vladimir Putin over the Russian president’s announcement that he would not expel American diplomats in response to new U.S. hacking sanctions as a gesture to the incoming administration.  The tweet is Trump’s latest nod to Putin, whom he has praised as a strong leader – inspiring considerable backlash from American politicians from both parties who call the Russian president an authoritarian leader who poses a danger to U.S. interests.

2016 Golden Duke Awards Winners Announced

TPM is pleased to announce the winners of the Tenth Annual Golden Duke Awards recognizing the year’s best purveyors of public corruption, outlandish behavior, The Crazy, nonsense and all relevant betrayals of the public trust. The awards are named in honor of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who epitomizes the iconic modern scandal.

Continue reading Netanyahu makes Trump his chump

For those of you confused over the latest fight between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, let me make it simple: Barack Obama and John Kerry admire and want to preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel. I have covered this issue my entire adult life and have never met two U.S. leaders more committed to Israel as a Jewish democracy.

Judge puts stay on bill limiting Coopera s power –

A North Carolina judge granted a small victory to the state’s incoming Democratic governor on Friday, temporarily blocking a law by Republican lawmakers stripping him of control over elections in a legislative power play just weeks ago. Wake County Superior Court Judge Don Stephens blocked the new law, which would end the control governors exert over statewide and county election boards, as Gov.-Elect Roy Cooper is set to take office Sunday.