Month: December 2016

Trumps pick for 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.

You Won’t Believe Who Obama Is Blaming NOW for Trump’s Historic Win

What is it with liberals and not taking responsibility for their failures? Hillary Clinton blamed it on Trump, she blamed it on the Russians, she blamed it on the media and she blamed it on Americans in general intimating they were just too damned stupid to vote for her. And here comes Barack Hussein Obama who does he blame pretty much the same list with special emphasis on the media.

How Marine training helped a talking dinosaur come to market – CNET

CEO of smart-toy startup credits time in the Marine Corps Reserves for skills he took to the tech and toy industries. “They are really good at making decisions quickly, and without a lot of information available, which in the startup world is extremely helpful,” said Coolidge, who has successfully applied his US Marine Corps Reserve training to the market battle in the AI toy arena.

Putin won’t let up. That’s a letdown.

This year’s rendition of the annually and famously long newser ran relatively brief; Putin didn’t speak for four hours this time . But the press conference was not short on defensive quips from the Russian president, who maintains that Moscow is to blame neither for the 2014 war in Ukraine, nor for poor relations between Russia and the United States.

Lawmaker proposes involuntary commitment for drug treatment

Those struggling with drug addiction could be hospitalized against their will under a bill being proposed by a New Hampshire lawmaker. State Sen. Jeb Bradley, a Republican from Wolfeboro, is proposing amending the state law that allows authorities to involuntarily commit people suffering from serious mental illness who pose a threat to themselves.

Why Security Council Resolution 2334 Matters a Lot More Than We Think

Those who long ago succumbed to cynicism and hopelessness when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can find many reasons to discount the importance of Security Council Resolution 2334, passed unanimously on December 23. It is certainly true that Israel will ignore and indeed work actively to undermine the Resolution just as it has ignored innumerable other resolutions demanding a halt to settlement construction or expansion. As one activist tweeted shortly after its passage, in all likelihood Israel will expand the seizure of Palestinian land and construction of settlements just to thumb its nose at the UN and to demonstrate the irrelevance of the UN when it comes to the Occupation.

Year-End Best Books in Race and Religion in American History

With all the memes wishing a good riddance to 2016, and John Oliver’s epic send-off to this annus horribilis, it may seem small comfort that this was a year that might be remembered as one of the most important in a long time in my corner of the scholarly universe: for works that illuminate race and religion in America, and for books reinterpreting African American religious history for a new, more disillusioned generation. If you surmise this could be self-serving, very well, it is.

The Latest: Obama sends Kwanzaa greetings from Hawaii

President Barack Obama laughs with his daughter Malia as they eat shave ice in front of Island Snow Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016, during the first family’s annual vacation. Obama is emphasizing the principles enshrined in the Kwanzaa holiday: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

The fight to save Medicare and Medicaid begins in January

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… You’ve heard a lot less from Republicans, including popular vote loser Donald Trump, about plans to privatize Medicare and gut Medicaid under the new administration. In fact, House Speaker Paul Ryan has seemed to cool off a bit on the whole idea.

The Women On The Fox Couch Say Obama’s A Commie

So says Kennedy crossing her legs on the Fox News Outnumbered Couch at the Roger Ailes Memorial Mini-skirt Extravaganza. As my colleague Heather sums up this clip, the Outnumbered cast also blamed Obama for any FUTURE partisan gridlock, because it’s clearly his goal in his emeritus years to make it “hard” for Trump to “govern.”

10 Things to Know for Today

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, arrive for an event to thank service members and their families at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. Ministry of Emergency Situations employees prepare rescue boats at a pier just outside Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016.

Take @realDonaldTrump seriously: Don’t dismiss Trump’s…

As someone who spends a frankly unhealthy amount of my day on Twitter, I have to say that it concerns me how much time President-elect Donald Trump spends on Twitter. That particular social-media platform is many things, few of them good: a miserable time suck, a forever-grinding outrage machine, a vehicle for harassment.

Trump Will Inherit 100+ Court Vacancies

Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans to reshape judiciary – Donald Trump is set to inherit an uncommon number of vacancies in the federal courts in addition to the open Supreme Court seat, giving the president-elect a monumental opportunity to reshape the judiciary after taking office.

Boeing Sends Sub-Hunters to Norway

Earlier this year, Boeing Defense head Leanne Caret laid out a plan to refocus Boeing’s efforts away from fighter jet production, and toward the sale of auxiliary aircraft such as transports and surveillance and maritime patrol aircraft. Earlier this year, we told you about Boeing’s big $3.2 billion sale of nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to Great Britain.

Obama’s exit interview: Hope and change can still win elections

Arguing that Americans still subscribe to his vision of progressive change, President Barack Obama asserted in an interview recently he could have succeeded in this year’s election if he was eligible to run. “I am confident in this vision because I’m confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it,” Obama told his former senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview for the “The Axe Files” podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

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Republicans are united on repealing President Barack Obama’s health care law, but ideologically and practically speaking, they’re in different camps over replacing it. Getting the factions together won’t be easy.

Netanyahu offers condolences to Russia over plane crash

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change at Le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris, France, on November 30, 2015. The day after upbraiding the Russian ambassador over a UN Security Council vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday sent his sympathies to Moscow for a military plane crash in which 92 people are believed to have perished.

Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel has all sides on edge

If 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 US 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.