demmiblue
demmiblue's JournalThe Latest: L.L. Bean raises age to 21 to buy rifles
Source: ABC News/AP
Outdoor retailer L.L. Bean will no longer sell rifles to anyone under 21.
The company joined retail heavyweights Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods in changing policies in the wake of the Florida school massacre.
L.L. Bean said in a statement late Thursday that it will no longer sell guns or ammunition to anyone under the age of 21.
Company spokeswoman Carolyn Beem says L.L. Bean only sells firearms at its flagship store in Maine and only guns specific to hunting and target shooting.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-rei-halts-future-orders-gun-conglomerate-53453151
Rep. Barbara Lee: On the first day of #WomensHistoryMonth, I want to share one of my favorite...
On the first day of #WomensHistoryMonth, I want to share one of my favorite photos from the @librarycongress – my mentor, Shirley Chisholm, meeting with Rosa Parks.
In their time, both women were called radicals. Today, they are celebrated as visionaries. #BlackGirlMagic
4:55 PM - 1 Mar 2018
Canada threatens retaliation on Trump tariffs
Source: The Hill
Canada's foreign minister vowed on Thursday to take "responsive measures" if the Trump administration imposes stiff tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum products exported to the U.S.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said President Trump's announcement that he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports as "absolutely unacceptable."
“It is entirely inappropriate to view any trade with Canada as a national security threat to the United States," she said in a statement.
"We will always stand up for Canadian workers and Canadian businesses. Should restrictions be imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum products, Canada will take responsive measures to defend its trade interests and workers."
Read more: http://thehill.com/regulation/international/376336-canada-threatens-retaliation-on-trump-tariffs
White House preparing for McMaster exit as early as next month
Source: NBC
WASHINGTON — The White House is preparing to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser as early as next month in a move orchestrated by chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to five people familiar with the discussions.
The move would be the latest in a long string of staff shakeups at the White House over the past year and comes after months of strained relations between the president and McMaster.
A leading candidate to become President Donald Trump’s third national security adviser is the auto industry executive Stephen Biegun, according to the officials.
Biegun, who currently serves as vice president of international governmental affairs for the Ford Motor Company, is no stranger to the White House. He served on the National Security Council staff from 2001 to 2003, including as a senior staffer for then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/white-house-preparing-mcmaster-exit-early-next-month-n852371
Georgia passes tax bill punishing Delta for NRA split
Source: Axios
Georgia lawmakers on Thursday approved a tax bill that is stripped of a jet fuel tax break, likely in retaliation for Delta Air Lines' decision to end its discount program with the NRA, reports the AP. The bill will now go to the desk of Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who has said he will "sign it in whatever form it passed."
Why it matters: Georgia’s Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle pledged to kill the tax break unless Delta fully reinstates its relationship with the NRA, tweeting on Monday, "Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back." Barring a veto from Gov. Deal, Cagle will have succeeded in punishing the city of Atlanta's No. 1 employer — a highly unusual and partisan move that is sure to receive backlash.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/georgia-votes-to-punish-delta-for-nra-split-c7439cd1-feff-4a8f-b890-359956cc63f7.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100&utm_term=politics
More info:
Pro-gun Georgia lawmakers scored a political victory Thursday over Delta Air Lines, making good on Republican threats to deny the company a hefty tax break after it cut ties with the National Rifle Association in the wake of the deadly shooting at a Florida high school.
The state House and Senate within hours of each other passed a sweeping tax bill that Republicans had amended to strip out a sales tax exemption on jet fuel. Atlanta-based Delta would have been the prime beneficiary of the tax break, which would have been worth an estimated $38 million.
The political battle at the Georgia Capitol was the latest in a renewed debate over gun control and school safety after the Feb. 14 shooting. GOP Gov. Nathan Deal criticized the Delta controversy as an "unbecoming squabble" but said he would sign the broader tax measure in whatever form it passed.
The Senate's presiding officer is Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who vowed Monday to stop any tax break that would benefit Delta — sparking a showdown at the state Capitol between gun-rights supporters and one of Georgia's largest private employers.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/georgia-senate-approves-tax-bill-snubbing-delta-nra-53446838
Alisyn Camerota Loves Doing Journalism at CNN, After Doing the Opposite at Fox News
The ‘New Day’ host talks to The Daily Beast about making the transition from Fox News to CNN and why she’s so glad she quit Twitter.Source: The Daily Beast
Well, I do feel very lucky that I’ve been able to work at both. And working at both informs what I do every day. I got a real education at Fox from being around so many conservatives and you know, having my antenna attuned to bias, in either direction. So I think that it has helped. In some way, cable news is the same in that you’re always up against a deadline and you’re always rushing out for breaking news. But, obviously, the big way that it’s different is that Roger Ailes had a very particular mission statement. Roger wasn’t a journalist. Roger believed in good TV and presenting what he thought was the counterbalance to what he called “liberal media.” So that’s not what journalism is. I’m just so struck every day by, now, all the stellar journalists that I work around. And it’s freeing not to have to conform to a mission statement like that.
Oh, god no. It just isn’t the case. Jeff Zucker is never telling me how I have to do a story or what questions I have to ask or what questions I have to not ask. Never.
Yes.
Well, I can only tell you that I have a quad box, which is what we have in TV news where we monitor the other channels from our desk. So in the morning, on the anchor desk, Chris Cuomo and I get a lot of enjoyment out of watching what some of the other networks are doing. [Laughs] Chris and I will just have engaged in some high-calorie burn of an interview with somebody from the NRA or a politician and we’ll be holding their feet to the fire. Then we’ll look to the quad box and over on some other network they’ll be doing a pancake eating contest. That was happening this morning and we always stop and marvel at the different life that we have in morning news compared to some of our competitors that have a much more morning zoo approach to their programs. [Note: Fox & Friends celebrated National Pancake Day during the 6 a.m. hour on Tuesday.]
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/alisyn-camerota-loves-doing-journalism-at-cnn-after-doing-the-opposite-at-fox-news?via=twitter_page
She's in Immense Personal Jeopardy: Even for Hope Hicks, the West Wing Got Too Hot
“Emotionally overwhelmed” by the headlines over Rob Porter, manipulated by Kelly, interviewed by Mueller and Congress, the president’s surrogate daughter is leaving the Trump bunker at one of his toughest moments.Source: Vanity Fair
The 29-year-old Hicks serves as communications director, but her role and power in the West Wing and in the president’s daily life is vastly more significant than any formal title. She’s been a constant presence at Trump’s side from the inception of his presidential run in 2015, serving as a gatekeeper and emotional support system for the temperamental chief executive. She defends Trump fiercely, and Trump returns the loyalty. Staffers remark that Trump treats Hicks—“Hope-y” as he calls her—like a surrogate daughter. Her centrality was such that it was hard to imagine Trump functioning without her.
But in recent weeks, Hicks became disillusioned with her job, people who’ve spoken with her told me. Her closeness to Trump meant she was also nearest to the hottest flames of the fires that have burned in the West Wing, the most intense being the Russia probe. Hicks has racked up substantial legal fees, one source told me. “She’s in immense personal jeopardy,” one Republican close to the White House said yesterday. “This is a sign the Mueller investigation is a lot more serious than any one of us thought.” (Hicks and the White House declined to comment.)
The tipping point for Hicks was more personal, sources said. She was “emotionally overwhelmed” by seeing herself in the headlines during her boyfriend Rob Porter’s domestic abuse scandal, one Hicks friend told me. Hicks expressed disbelief at the allegations that Porter beat his ex-wives. According to the friend, her parents rushed to Washington to support her in the days after the Daily Mail broke the story and encouraged her to break up with Porter. She’s recently told people she’s no longer dating Porter.
Read more: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/even-for-hope-hicks-the-west-wing-got-too-hot?mbid=social_twitter
Senate Intelligence Leaders Say House G.O.P. Leaked a Senator's Texts
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were behind the leak of private text messages between the Senate panel’s top Democrat and a Russian-connected lawyer, according to two congressional officials briefed on the matter.
Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the committee’s Republican chairman, and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat, were so perturbed by the leak that they demanded a rare meeting with Speaker Paul D. Ryan last month to inform him of their findings. They used the meeting with Mr. Ryan to raise broader concerns about the direction of the House Intelligence Committee under its chairman, Representative Devin Nunes of California, the officials said.
To the senators, who are overseeing what is effectively the last bipartisan investigation on Capitol Hill into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, the leak was a serious breach of protocol and a partisan attack by one intelligence committee against the other.
The text messages were leaked just days after the same House Republicans had taken the extraordinary step of publicly releasing, over the objections of the F.B.I., a widely disputed memorandum based on sensitive government secrets. Taken together, the actions suggested a pattern of partisanship and unilateral action by the once-bipartisan House panel.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/us/politics/senate-intelligence-nunes-leaks.html
Melania Trump got green card through program for people with extraordinary ability: report
Source: The Hill
First lady Melania Trump reportedly got a green card through a program specifically for people with "extraordinary ability."
The first lady in 2001 was given a green card through the elite EB-1 program, The Washington Post reported.
The EB-1 program is reserved for people including academic researchers, multinational business executives and people who have shown "sustained national and international acclaim," the Post noted
“We called it the Einstein visa,” Bruce Morrison, a former Democratic congressman and chairman of the House subcommittee that wrote the Immigration Act of 1990 defining EB-1, told the newspaper.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/376207-melania-trump-got-us-visa-through-program-for-people-with
In 2000, Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model dating Donald Trump, began petitioning the government for the right to permanently reside in the United States under a program reserved for people with “extraordinary ability.”
Knauss’s credentials included runway shows in Europe, a Camel cigarette billboard ad in Times Square and — in her biggest job at the time — a spot in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, which featured her on the beach in a string bikini, hugging a six-foot inflatable whale.
In March 2001, she was granted a green card in the elite EB-1 program, which was designed for renowned academic researchers, multinational business executives or those in other fields, such as Olympic athletes and Oscar-winning actors, who demonstrated “sustained national and international acclaim.”
“We called it the Einstein visa,” said Bruce Morrison, a former Democratic congressman and chairman of the House subcommittee that wrote the Immigration Act of 1990 defining EB-1.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/questions-linger-about-how-melania-trump-a-slovenian-model-scored-the-einstein-visa/2018/02/28/d307ddb2-1b35-11e8-ae5a-16e60e4605f3_story.html?utm_term=.fbd64ba6e542
Kroger won't sell guns to anyone under 21 years old
Source: CNN
Kroger, the nation's largest grocery chain, said it will stop selling guns and ammunition to customers who are younger than 21 years old. It's the third major retailer in two days to impose new age restrictions on sales.
Kroger (KR) sells weapons and ammunition at 46 Fred Meyer stores located four western states. Those stores sell general merchandise. The Kroger grocery stores do not sell weapons.
The company joins Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), the nation's largest sporting goods retailer, and Walmart (WMT), the nation's largest retailer, which both announced age limit restrictions on Wednesday.
"In response to the tragic events in Parkland and elsewhere, we've taken a hard look at our policies and procedures for firearm sales," Kroger said in a statement. "Recent events demonstrate the need for additional action on the part of responsible gun retailers."
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/01/news/companies/kroger-gun-sales-age-limit/index.html?sr=twCNN030118companies0918AMStory
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