Month: January 2017

Even Dylann Roof’s Shoes Are RacistBy Jason Ryan

The Emanuel A.M.E. Church killer put white supremacist symbols on footwear throughout the trials to determine whether he lives or dies, the FBI said. CHARLESTON, South Carolina-Even as a jury considers sentencing Dylann Roof to death for the killing of nine black worshipers, the 22 year old has worn shoes adorned with racist symbols to court these past two months.

US designates election infrastructure as ‘critical’

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Friday that he’s designating U.S. election systems as critical infrastructure, a move that will provide more federal help for states to keep election systems safe from tampering. “Given the vital role elections play in this country, it is clear that certain systems and assets of election infrastructure meet the definition of critical infrastructure, in fact and in law,” Johnson said in a statement released to The Associated Press.

Congressman: Obama not creating Grand Canyon monument

President Barack Obama has decided against creating a national monument covering areas of public land around Grand Canyon National Park, an Arizona congressman said Friday. Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva said White House Council on Environmental Quality officials told him of the decision during a meeting earlier this week.

5 dead, 8 wounded in airport shooting; US veteran arrested

An arriving airline passenger with a gun in his luggage opened fire in the baggage claim area at the Fort Lauderdale airport Friday, killing five people and wounding eight before throwing his weapon down and lying spread-eagle on the ground, authorities and witnesses said. The gunman – identified by authorities as 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, of Anchorage, Alaska, an Army National Guard veteran who served in Iraq – was immediately taken into custody.

The Latest: Report says Russians will continue to target US

U.S. intelligence officials are predicting that Russia will continue to develop capabilities to help President Vladimir Putin target the United States. A new declassified report says that immediately after Election Day, Russian intelligence began a spear-phishing campaign against U.S. government employees and individuals associated with U.S. think tanks or nonprofit organizations working in the fields of national security, defense and foreign policy.

Florida Shooting: Suspect Terrorized Travelers With A Handgun,…

There are new eyewitness details from the tragic shooting that occurred at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Jan. 6. The shooter, who authorities say killed 5 people and injured 13, used a handgun when opening fire, according to an individual who claims he was at the center of the tragedy. A witness at the Fort Lauderdale airport claims the shooter appeared to be a white man who used a handgun, as reported by TMZ , Jan. 6. Chenet Nerette was in baggage claim at Terminal 2 when a shooter, who police believe could be Esteban Santiago , opened fire, killing 5 people, injuring 13 and terrifying hundreds of people.

Civil Rights Groups Gear up to Fight Sessions Nomination

Leaders of civil rights organizations on Friday reasserted their criticisms of attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions as unqualified for the role, and urged his Senate colleagues to put the Alabama Republican’s record to a thorough vetting. Sessions’ hearing is set to begin Tuesday and he is expected to be confirmed in the GOP-controlled chamber.

Biden Signs Desk Drawer in Ceremonial Office

Vice President Joe Biden is signing his desk drawer at his ceremonial office to mark the final days of the Obama administration. Biden joined his wife, Jill Biden , and staff members at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for the ceremony.

Republicans face early stumbling blocks on Obamacare repeal

Republicans are unanimous in their desire to “repeal and replace” President Barack Obama’s signature health care law — but they are already flirting with not having the 50 votes needed to pass the bill in the Senate. Republicans have 52 seats in the Senate, meaning they can only afford to lose three members of their caucus before they cannot pass legislation without Democratic votes.

The twin tragedies of Syria and Myanmar

A heart-wrenching photograph of the lifeless body of a 16-month old boy, washed up on the shore of the Naf river, was recently published on CNN. The headline read, “‘The Rohingya Alan Kurdi’: Will the world take notice now?” The name of the boy in the picture is Mohammed Shohayet, a Rohingya refugee, who drowned along with his mother, uncle and three-year-old brother.

Obama challenges GOP to spell out Obamacare alternative

President Barack Obama challenged Republicans on Friday to spell out their plan for replacing his signature health law, insisting he’s open to new ideas, but casting doubt on what his political rivals can muster. “If it works, I’m for it,” Obama said during an interview with Vox, adding he would only support a Republican plan if it contains the protections that he included in the Affordable Care Act, such as barring insurance companies from withholding coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions.

Suspect in Idaho murder refuses extradition from New York

The Idaho Statesman reports that Bruce A. Marchant was arrested at a New York City Veterans Affairs hospital in December after Boise detectives conducted interviews in the death of Boise State University student Sierra Bush. Criminal suspects cannot be moved from one state to another without an extradition hearing unless they waive that right.

Final farewell to two Hollywood icons: Debbie Reynolds and daughter …

Now Obama’s building a wall! Workers put the finishing touches to a brick barrier around $5million DC mansion where Barack, Michelle and Sasha will live after leaving the White House Liberal heckler who accosted Ivanka Trump on a JetBlue flight hides his face from a reporter at his Brooklyn home as he’s seen for the first time since he hurled abuse at her Scientology lawyer goes on national TV to slam Leah Remini for show that led to death threats against their leader David Miscavige More Hillary Clinton emails surface – and show how anti-gay Sharia law ruler The Sultan of Brunei treated Bill ‘like part of his family’ Russian election-year cyber attacks fall-out is a ‘witch hunt’ orchestrated by Democrats, says Trump as he asks Congress to investigate leak of top-secret hacking intelligence report EXCLUSIVE: Angelina Jolie accuses Brad Pitt of ‘publicly impugning’ her character in new … (more)

Editorials from around New England

Republican congressmen made a troubling move on Monday, voting in a private meeting to severely weaken the House’s independent ethics panel one day before the new GOP-led Congress was set to get to work. Republicans sought to make the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics subject to oversight by the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers, the very people the Office of Congressional Ethics is meant to police.

France ‘not planning’ UNSC resolution

France is not secretly planning a UN Security Council resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after a major conference in Paris this month, the president of the French Senate said Thursday. Gerard Larcher said he was not aware of any country working on a resolution to put before the Council between the January 15 meeting and the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president on January 20. Speaking to the press in Jerusalem at the end of a four-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Larcher said that many Israeli interlocutors had expressed fear France would try to translate the outcome of the conference into a UN resolution.

Lawmaker removes Capitol Hill art with pig in police uniform

A California lawmaker has removed a painting that showed a pig in a police uniform, one of hundreds of artworks on display at the Capitol and sponsored by a member of Congress. Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, says the lawmaker unscrewed the artwork from the display and returned it to the office of Missouri Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay.

APNewsBreak: L.L. Bean heiress in trouble over pro-Trump PAC

L.L. Bean heiress Linda Bean is in hot water with the Federal Election Commission over a political action committee she created to support Republican President-elect Donald Trump. According to a Wednesday letter obtained by The Associated Press, federal regulators say Bean’s Making America Great Again LLC was limited to individual contributions of $5,000 in a single year- and Bean contributed $60,000.

80 refugees to be accommodated in Roscommon hotel

There has been a mixed reaction to the news that 80 refugees will be located at a hotel in Ballaghaderreen in Co Roscommon. Several local people have criticised the Department of Justice, saying there was no consultation with the local community and no information until the announcement yesterday.

The Trump era begins

President Obama plans a valedictory for next week, and, as he promised, he’s continuing to work until the end. Last week, for example, he designated two new national monuments in Utah and Nevada .

Serendipitous Jobs, Trade Data Help Canada Shake Off Doldrums

A worker walks past a machine that sorts lumber into grades and sizes at a mill in Thunder Bay, Canada, Ontario. stock market , evidence is beginning to mount the commodity producing nation is emerging from a lingering slump, after struggling through a cocktail of hurt that included Data released Friday showed the country recorded its best half-year of job gains since 2007.

Cops didn’t like a student painting hanging in the U.S. Capitol. So a congressman took it down.

An acrylic painting, right, by high school student David Pulphus is on display on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. The painting by Pulphus, which is reported to depict Ferguson, Mo., in a chaotic scene with people marching and police officers that appear to be pigs, was chosen by Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. as part of the annual U.S. Congressional Art Competition.

Joe Biden tells Donald Trump to “grow up”

U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden speaks at the First Ministers’ and National Indigenous Leaders’ meeting in Ottawa, on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Biden dismissed Trump’s complaint on Twitter about how the Obama administration has handled the transition.

Why is Donald Trump resisting the Russian hack findings? Michael Flynn may hold the answer

Trump doesn’t want to know about Russia. The unhinged alt-right views of Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon may be why In anticipation of the release of a report commissioned by President Obama, the top brass of the United States intelligence community appeared before Congress on Thursday to testify that the Russian government interfered in the election campaign last year.

Morning Digest: Hillary Clinton unexpectedly won three Texas House seats held by Republicans

Donald Trump has won the presidency after narrowly carrying a few states to put him above 270 electoral votes.But according… a- Pres-by-CD : We arrive in Texas for our project to calculate the 2016 presidential results for all 435 congressional districts nationwide. You can find our complete data set here , which we’re updating continuously as the precinct-level election returns we need for our calculations become available.

Hate-Crime Charges Filed in Attack on Mentally Disabled Man in Chicago

Family spokesman David Boyd and others hold a news conference Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, in Crystal Lake, Ill., after an 18-year-old man was assaulted in Chicago earlier this week. Four people were charged with hate crimes Thursday in connection with a video broadcast live on Facebook that showed a mentally disabled white man being beaten and taunted, threatened with a knife and forced to drink from a toilet.

Trump on Border Wall: Mexico Will Pay Us Back

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday tweeted that Mexico will reimburse American taxpayers for a new border wall and that U.S. money spent will be for the “sake of speed.” The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall , will be paid back by Mexico later! His tweet came as top aides consider a plan to ask Congress to ensure money is available in U.S. coffers for the wall, but to rely on existing law that already authorizes fencing and other technology along the southern border.