Day: March 7, 2017

GOP congressman: Low-income people must choose iPhone or healthcare

A Republican congressman on Tuesday defended the GOP bill that would replace Obamacare, but he admitted people would likely lose coverage. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, in a CNN interview responded to a question on the difference between “access” and “coverage” for low-income people by saying they would need to decide between insurance and gadgets.

Hit man in San Antonio murder-for-hire slaying of young woman set to be executed by lethal injection

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering appeals from attorneys trying to keep a paid hit man from execution in Texas for gunning down a San Antonio woman in a life-insurance scheme nearly a quarter-century ago. Rolando Ruiz was convicted of accepting $2,000 to fatally shoot Theresa Rodriguez, 29, outside her home in 1992 as she was getting out of a car with her husband and brother-in-law, who both orchestrated her murder.

WikiLeaks claims publication of secret CIA hacking tools

FILE PHOTO: People are silhouetted as they pose with laptops in front of a screen projected with binary code and a Central Inteligence Agency emblem, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina October 29, 2014. WikiLeaks said on Tuesday it had obtained a top-secret trove of hacking tools used by the CIA to break into phones, communication apps and other electronic devices, and released documents related to those programs.

This App Wants To Help Women Track How Often They’re ‘Manterrupted’

Woman Interrupted was launched on Monday, and tracks “the frequency of male and female voices and voice calibrations to identify interruptions” – thus tracking the very real issue of women being interrupted, and therefore silenced, by men. The app, which is totally free and available for both iOS and Android, was inspired in part by the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in September of last year – by the end of which Trump had interrupted Clinton a grand total of 51 times.

The Latest: WikiLeaks says it reveals CIA hacking tools

The Latest on the publication by WikiLeaks of what it described as thousands of pages of confidential files about CIA hacking activities : Among the confidential documents published by WikiLeaks were a series of files purportedly attached to the CIA’s Operational Support Branch.

WikiLeaks Says CIA Hackers Can Break Into WhatsApp and Signal

The Central Intelligence Agency’s hackers have developed tools allowing them to bypass encryption in popular mobile messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Signal, according to WikiLeaks. The website posted 8,761 documents and files online Tuesday from what it claims is the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence, detailing the spy agency’s hacking techniques.

Headlines for March 7, 2017: What to Know

The toughest task before congressional GOP leadership will be to convince enough Republicans that their replacement of the Affordable Care Act, already dubbed “Obamacare Lite,” will satisfy constituents-especially those who finally secured health insurance under President Barack Obama’s signature piece of legislation. The GOP alternative fundamentally changes how health care would be financed for people who don’t have insurance through work, using tax breaks instead of a government subsidy.

Becker College president selected to lead UMass Dartmouth

Robert E. Johnson, president of Becker College for the past seven years, was named the new chancellor of UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday. The University of Massachusetts board of trustees approved his nomination, which was recommended by UMass President Martin T. Meehan, in a unanimous vote, Meehan said in a tweet.

The Latest: Kansas governor warns dry weather will remain

Grass fires fanned by gusting winds scorched swaths of Kansas grassland Monday, forcing the evacuations of several towns and the closur… . Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Chaplain Jeff Thompson passes bags of chips to, from left to right, Suzanne Morgan, Carol Shaylor and Linda Nimmo Monday, March 6, 2017, inside an evacuation center at the Kansa… .

Guests of Honor Trump surprises ecstatic White House tour group

With a portrait of then-first lady Hillary Clinton looming over his right shoulder, President Trump surprised a group of visitors Tuesday on the first public tour of the White House since the inauguration. Trump was greeted with boisterous applause and cheers from the group of about 50 tourists, mostly children, who were gathered in the basement of the White House residence.

Democrats grill Rod Rosenstein on Russia

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein faced a barrage of questions from Democratic senators Tuesday about how he would handle investigations into Russian meddling in last year’s election if he is confirmed to serve as the No. 2 official at Department of Justice.

Texas to execute man convicted of taking money to murder woman

Texas is set to execute on Tuesday a man convicted of accepting $2,000 to murder a woman from the victim’s husband and her brother-in-law, who were looking to collect $400,000 from life insurance policies they took out on her. Roland Ruiz, 44, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at the state’s death chamber in Huntsville at 6 p.m. for the murder of Theresa Rodriguez, 29, in 1992 in the San Antonio area.

OU backs Senate letter calling to double security funds for Jewish, Muslim instiutions

The Orthodox Union is backing a bipartisan letter circulating in the Senate that calls for doubling security funding for non-profits, citing threats to both Jewish and Muslim institutions. “At a time when children being evacuated from daycare centers in response to repeated bomb threats and mosques are deliberately being set on fire, we must ensure that all organizations that face these threats have the support they need,” says the letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly authored by Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

Ruddy to MSNBC: Trump Campaign Had ‘Consensus’ on Surveillance

President Donald Trump was “pretty upset” over the weekend about his belief that former President Barack Obama had targeted him, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said Monday, adding that he had not seen Trump with “this level of anger about something in a long time.” “I saw him twice on Saturday, once at the lunch hour and then again at dinner, and I would describe him as not being a happy camper,” Ruddy told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

Wesley Pruden

Some of our grown-ups are missing, just when we need them most, and our Democratic friends need more powerful meds. The ink on the streets of Washington is knee-deep and toxic.

Bill Whalen

Years ago, the political strategist Dick Morris liked to suggest that America’s chief executive suffered from a split personality – a “Saturday night Bill Clinton” who lacked good moral judgment; a more pious “Sunday morning President Clinton” who was a devoted public servant. “Sunday Trump” is an orgy of panel shows dedicated to the controversy du jour – this weekend, Trump alleging that his predecessor ordered wiretaps for Trump Tower.

Marc A. Thiessen

Here is what Attorney General Jeff Sessions should have said when he stepped up to the podium and addressed reporters last week at the Justice Department: “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” Sessions is the victim of the type of McCarthyite character assassination that the left used to condemn. Remember when accusing people without evidence of coordinating with the Kremlin was frowned upon? No longer, apparently.

Charles Lane:

The American people support more federal spending on infrastructure such as roads, buildings and waterways – 75 percent are in favor, according to a year-old Gallup poll. And so President Donald Trump’s call for a 10-year, $1 trillion “national rebuilding” plan was one of the few parts of his address to Congress on Tuesday that might have been the same if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders had won in November.

Sessions amends confirmation hearing testimony: Darcy cartoon

Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions officially amended his confirmation hearing testimony to acknowledge he met with Russia’s ambassador in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention, and in his Senate office in September. Sessions made the clarification in a three-page letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Polarized Punks

If a song wants to be smart, it’s also got to be a little dumb. Whittle down the big idea, ratchet it up a notch, and repeat to a beat-fight the power, and imagine all the people living life in peace, because God is a d.j. Such sleight of hand can make even the most implausible causes stick.

Niall Ferguson

The president has declared war on the press. He cannot forgive the media for saying that the crowd at his inaugural was small.

Cheryl K. Chumley

A new poll from CNN/ORC shows the vast majority of Americans want a special prosecutor to investigate President Donald Trump’s supposed ties to Russia. One can almost hear the cheers from the left.

Leonid Bershidsky:

Donald Trump is not one to mince words: He says he doesn’t care if the European Union breaks up, since it is “basically a vehicle for Germany” and calls the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Europe’s main defense arrangement, “obsolete.” With these statements, the next U.S. president drew sharp battle lines: He, U.K. Brexiteers and other euroskeptics on one side and the rest of Europe on the other.

Victor Davis Hanson

Clinton 08/27/15: The modern malleability of gender and race 08/20/15: Big government as the new Terminator 08/13/15: The Trump catharsis 08/06/15: History’s complexity should discourage retroactive morality 07/30/15: America needs a sensible approach to illegal immigration 07/23/15: The way of all appeasement 07/16/15: Contrary to progressive belief, human nature can’t be changed 07/13/15: Putin’s Recipe for Power 07/09/15: America’s greatest threat 07/02/15: We are all Californians now 06/25/15: Debt has been redefined as equality and fairness — abroad and here 06/18/15: The new world map 06/11/15: When everything seemed possible 06/04/15: Crossing the global border 05/28/15: Knocking on war’s door 05/21/15: Think like a lib — or else 05/14/15: The forgotten realities of World War II 05/07/15: No law, no civilization 04/30/15: An ironic drought in California 04/23/15: Clinton vs.