December 30, 2016

McCain Schedules Hearing On Cyber Threats, Including Russian Hacking

Source: Talking Points Memo



By KRISTIN SALAKY Published DECEMBER 30, 2016, 12:34 PM EDT

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has scheduled a hearing for next Thursday on foreign cyber threats to the United States, which will include discussing allegations against Russia, Politico reported Friday. An unnamed committee aide also confirmed the meeting to CNN.

The Arizona senator invited James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, and Marcel Lettre, the undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence to the hearing, the aide told CNN.

The news of the hearing comes just a day after President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against Russia in response to allegations of hacking during the presidential campaign.

As CNN pointed out, this hearing marks a major divide already between President-elect Donald Trump, who has said it was time to "move on" from the election, and members of his own party who have advocated for a tougher posture towards Russia.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/senate-hearing-john-mccain-russia-hacking

December 30, 2016

Trump could be fighting Obama's climate policies for years

BY TIMOTHY CAMA - 12/30/16 06:04 AM EST

President-elect Donald Trump’s energy agenda is shaping up to be a years-long effort to undo President Obama’s policies.

Supporters of Trump and industries that have opposed Obama’s regulatory actions say turning back the clock is the most important thing the president-elect can do to help businesses succeed. But it won’t be easy to undo many of the energy and climate regulations that Obama has put in place.

Under federal law, reversing major regulations requires a time-consuming process that can drag on for months and sometimes years. And even after new rules are issued, they can be challenged in court — something environmental groups are already vowing to do.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, has in recent weeks added to Trump’s list of targets by issuing a new coal-mining regulation and offshore drilling bans in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

more
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/311878-trump-could-be-fighting-obamas-climate-policies-for-years

December 30, 2016

Interim DNC chair: Obama admin's response to Russia 'insufficient'

Democratic National Committee (DNC) interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile on Thursday called the Obama administration's retaliatory measures for hacking Democratic groups "insufficient."

Brazile said that although she welcomes President Obama's new measures in response to the Kremlin's hacking campaign, the actions of the Russian government should be treated as "attacks on the United States by a foreign power."

"We applaud President Obama for taking these actions in response to the Russian government-sponsored cyberattacks on the DNC, the Clinton campaign, and our free and fair elections. However, more must be done," Brazile said in a statement.

"Today’s action alone by the White House is insufficient. Now it's time for President-elect [Donald] Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress to put our national security before politics and show the American people that they are serious about protecting our democracy," she added.

The Obama administration announced a variety of measures Thursday against Russia in response to a hacking campaign against Democratic groups, including the DNC, leading up to the presidential election.

more
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/312166-interim-dnc-chair-russia-response-is-insufficient

December 30, 2016

Obama to meet with Dems next week on ObamaCare strategy

Source: The Hill



BY PETER SULLIVAN - 12/30/16 11:38 AM EST

President Obama will head to Capitol Hill next week to meet with Democratic lawmakers to discuss a strategy to fight the ObamaCare repeal effort, according to a congressional aide.

Obama will hold a joint meeting with House and Senate Democrats at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Capitol Visitor Center auditorium. The notice for the meeting says the session is expected to last "at least one hour."

Republicans are moving forward quickly with plans to repeal ObamaCare. They plan to vote on a budget resolution setting in motion a fast-track process for repeal of much of the healthcare law in early January.

Still, Republicans are planning to delay the date of repeal going into effect in an effort to buy time to come up with a replacement plan.

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Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/312199-obama-to-talk-obamacare-strategy-with-hill-dems-next-week

December 30, 2016

Ex-Nixon lawyer: Trump can't stop lying - even on rare times when he knows what he's talking about

Richard Nixon’s former lawyer is accusing President-elect Donald Trump of constantly lying to the American people.

John Dean, who served as White House Counsel to the former president and was directly involved in the Watergate scandal, says he’s troubled by Trump’s lack of knowledge and penchant for lies.

"It is deeply troubling when you realize that the president-elect generally does not know what he is talking about,” Dean tweeted.

“And when he does he lies.”

more
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/312179-nixons-lawyer-accuses-trump-of-lying

December 30, 2016

'Joe Walsh you are an idiot': Ex-Tea Party congressman starts online sh*tstorm by claiming Obama is

‘Joe Walsh you are an idiot’: Ex-Tea Party congressman starts online sh*tstorm by claiming Obama is Muslim

Former Illinois Republican congressman Joe Walsh kicked off an online firestorm when he said on Thursday that Pres. Barack Obama has always had an agenda against Israel because Obama is secretly Muslim.

Joe Walsh ✔
@WalshFreedom

For the past week, everybody has been asking again why Obama hates Israel. The answer is simple really: I think Obama is Muslim. /1

2:54 PM - 29 Dec 2016
393 Retweets 710 likes

Joe Walsh ✔
@WalshFreedom

For better or worse, I'm not afraid to say it publicly. I think Obama is Muslim. I think in his head and in his heart he has always been. /5

2:58 PM - 29 Dec 2016
403 Retweets 852 likes

Joe Walsh ✔
@WalshFreedom

And I think it explains Obama's hatred toward Israel and explains his weakening of America these past 8 years.

It's not complicated. /x
2:59 PM - 29 Dec 2016
142 Retweets 276 likes

In recent weeks, ex-Congressman Walsh had won the tentative embrace of some Democrats for his principled stand against the incoming Trump administration and Russian meddling in the 2016 election. However, the accused deadbeat dad and former Tea Party darling reverted to form in his attack on the president.

The “Obama is a Secret Muslim” canard is one of the enduring phantasms of the right-wing “post-truth” era, a throwback to when Republicans simultaneously accused Obama of being a Muslim while loudly declaiming his Chicago Christian pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

-snip-

VA for Hillary
@VA4Hillary1

@theblaze @WalshFreedom In his book, Joe Walsh openly admits being in a relationship with a minor when he was in his 20s. Sexual predator?

10:00 AM - 30 Dec 2016

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/joe-walsh-you-are-an-idiot-ex-tea-party-congressman-starts-online-shtstorm-by-claiming-obama-is-muslim/

December 30, 2016

Giuliani On Russia: Intel Obama Has Received Is 'Incompetent Or Politicized'

Source: Talking Points Memo


By KRISTIN SALAKY Published DECEMBER 30, 2016, 11:34 AM EDT

Former New York Mayor and Donald Trump ally Rudy Giuliani slammed the sanctions President Barack Obama placed against Russia Thursday, calling them "petty little actions" and saying that they should have been put in place much earlier.

During an appearance on “Fox & Friends" Friday, Giuliani said that if hacking did take place by the Russians, that the response by the U.S. should have been earlier and stronger.

"I find it extraordinary in what President Obama is doing," he said. "I've never seen a President try to create more problems for a future president."

“There's a certain pettiness that I hadn't seen before. I mean, to do this after 18 months, when you could have prevented it 10 months ago,” Giuliani continued. “Petty little actions like this don't mean very much. It's almost a mockery to say this is too little too late. It should have been done 10 months ago, 11 months ago, 12 months ago. If it is really true the response should be much stronger.”

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/giuliani-obama-russia-sanctions

December 30, 2016

Sarah Palin: Trump should pull US out of 'globalist circus' UN over Israel vote

Sarah Palin urged the president-elect to pull the United States from the United Nations.

The former half-term governor of Alaska and failed vice-presidential candidate, joined other Republicans in urging punitive action against the international body after the Security Council approved a non-binding resolution to condemn Israeli settlement, during an interview with Breitbart Radio.

“I think many of us have called for America to really step up and consider what it is that we are funding and supporting via the U.N., and how it works so hard really against U.S. interests, and just saying – look what the U.K. just did,” Palin said, referring to the United Kingdom’s vote to withdraw from the European Union. “This is such an encouraging time, where it’s not just us, but those across the pond, too, are understanding that their nation’s sovereignty and security are on the line here, with the ties that bind us to interests that really don’t further our agendas.”

Other conservatives — including Mike Huckabee, who said he’d like to “jackhammer” the UN headquarters into the East River, and Sen. Cruz (R-TX), who called on Congress to defund the UN — have loudly condemned the vote and the Obama administration for not stopping it.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/sarah-palin-trump-should-pull-us-out-of-globalist-circus-un-over-israel-vote/

December 30, 2016

Racist pro-Trump ranter accused of lying about being attacked after charges dropped against suspect

BRAD REED
30 DEC 2016 AT 10:52 ET

Charges have been dropped against a man who had allegedly assaulted a woman who was caught on video delivering a racist rant in a Chicago-area crafts store last month.

DNA Info reports that charges against 29-year-old Ramiz Bajwa were dropped this week after his accuser, Jennifer Boyle, failed to show up in court. Stephane Jean-Louis, a friend of Bajwa’s, tells DNA Info that Bajwa never assaulted Boyle, and said that the two got into an argument after Bajwa accidentally rang her doorbell.

Specifically, Jean-Louis tells the publication that “although he heard the woman yelling at Bajwa and the two arguing,” for a short time, he “did not hear a scuffle ensue, and the woman was already walking back up the stairs by the time he’d gotten to the hallway.”

“He can’t even push her through that front door — you have to pull that door to get it open,” Jean-Louis said Thursday. “There was no noise, nothing at all to make anyone seem like they were even pushed through the door.”

Boyle first entered the national spotlight in November, when she was filmed berating a black employee at a Michael’s crafts store by calling her an “animal” and declaring her allegiance to President-elect Donald Trump.

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http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/racist-pro-trump-ranter-accused-of-lying-about-being-attacked-after-charges-dropped-against-suspect/

December 30, 2016

House Dems Vow To Fight Back Against GOP Response To Sit-In

Source: Talking Points Memo

By ESME CRIBB Published DECEMBER 30, 2016, 10:16 AM EDT

Senior House Democrats plan to push back against House Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-WI) proposal to fine members up to $2,500 for recording or streaming video from the chamber, according to a Thursday report.

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. John Larson (D-CT) compared the proposed rule to "Putin’s Russia" in a letter to Ryan, according to a report published Thursday by Politico, and senior Democrats on the House Judiciary and House Rules Committees will release a statement Friday morning calling the proposal unconstitutional.

"This kind of strong-arm tactic is what one might see in Putin’s Russia, but is incredibly disheartening to see proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives," Lewis and Larson wrote in their letter, as quoted by Politico.

Senior House Democrats described Ryan's proposal as an "unconstitutional gag rule to restrict the First Amendment rights of members" in their statement, according to a draft quoted by Politico.



Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/house-democrats-fight-back-paul-ryan-livestreaming-fines