January 15, 2017

Spox Denies Report That Trump Will Meet With Putin On First Foreign Trip As Prez

By ESME CRIBB Published JANUARY 15, 2017, 10:42 AM EDT

Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer denied on Sunday reports that President-elect Donald Trump's first foreign trip will be a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"100% false," Spicer tweeted.

-snip- (two tweets)

Spicer tweeted links to stories by The Hill and Bloomberg News (since updated), both of which cited a report by the Sunday Times that Trump planned to hold a summit with Putin in Iceland within weeks of taking office.

According to the report, Trump and his team told British officials that the meeting would be his first foreign trip as president.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sean-spicer-denies-reports-trump-putin-meeting-reykjavik

January 15, 2017

'God, youre an a**hole!' Internet erupts after 'douchebag' Trump attacks John Lewis yet again

ERIC W. DOLAN
14 JAN 2017 AT 19:38 ET

President-elect Donald Trump again criticized Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) on Saturday, claiming the congressman had been ignoring urban crime.

On Saturday evening, just days ahead of Martin Luther King Day, Trump tweeted: “Congressman John Lewis should finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner-cities of the U.S. I can use all the help I can get!”

Earlier in the day, the president-elect had attacked Lewis, a prominent civil rights leader, writing on Twitter: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”

The day before, Lewis had said that he believed Trump was not a “legitimate” president because of alleged Russian hacks targeting the Democratic National Convention.

-snip-

Nell Scovell ✔
@NellSco

@realDonaldTrump You need psychiatric help. Get that.

7:26 PM - 14 Jan 2017
123 Retweets 1,432 likes

Kristina Wong ❄️ ✔
@mskristinawong

@realDonaldTrump Oh honey, maybe you need to get in a relaxing bath filled with yellow delight.

7:34 PM - 14 Jan 2017 · Portland, OR
67 Retweets 299 likes

more
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/god-youre-an-ahole-internet-erupts-after-douchebag-trump-attacks-john-lewis-yet-again/

January 15, 2017

John Lewis Tells Chuck Todd He Wouldn't Invite Trump to Selma

by Josh Feldman | 9:20 am, January 15th, 2017

Today’s Meet the Press featured more of John Lewis‘ interview with Chuck Todd and more of what he had to say about Donald Trump.

The interview already got attention for Lewis telling Todd he doesn’t consider Trump a “legitimate president.”

Todd asked Lewis if he would take Trump to Selma, where decades ago Lewis and other marchers took that iconic stand for civil rights.

Lewis said if Trump went to Selma, “Maybe he would learn something, maybe he would get religion.”

more + video:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-lewis-tells-chuck-todd-he-wouldnt-invite-trump-to-selma/

January 15, 2017

Chris Wallace Presses Pence: Was There Any Contact Between Trump Associates and Russia?

by Josh Feldman | 10:09 am, January 15th, 2017

Chris Wallace squared off with Vice President-elect Mike Pence today on the incoming president’s criticisms of the intel community and whether their campaign had any contact with Russian operatives.

Pence criticized the “salacious garbage” spreading around from an intel report on disinformation against Trump as Wallace asked him about Trump’s criticisms of the intelligence community on Twitter.

On the subject of sanctions, Pence simply said that Trump believes in fixing America’s “terrible relationship with Russia.”

Wallace brought up Michael Flynn‘s conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. and asked if there was any discussion then about sanctions, given how they spoke on the day President Obama ordered sanctions last month. Pence said their conversation was not “in any way related to new U.S. sanctions.”

Wallace followed up by asking, “Can you flatly deny––’cause this continues to be out there––that there were any contacts at any point during the campaign between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russian operatives… about the hacking of the Democrats during the election?”

more + video:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chris-wallace-presses-pence-was-there-any-contact-between-trump-associates-and-russia/

January 15, 2017

'Absolutely payback': Katrina Pierson claims Trump 'actually gains' power by attacking John Lewis

January 15, 2017

Black lawmakers consider boycotting Trump's inauguration en masse after attack on John Lewis

Source: RawStory


TOM BOGGIONI
15 JAN 2017 AT 09:19 ET

Black lawmakers are considering staying away from Donald Trump’s Friday inauguration after the president-elect attacked civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) over the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend.

According to Buzzfeed News, the Congressional Black Caucus has not discussed a full boycott and is leaving it up to individual members to decide whether they would attend, with an official statement from the group due on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

On Saturday Trump hit back at Lewis, who questioned the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency in an interview with NBC, tweeting attacks at the civil rights hero, claiming the congressman is all “talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”

According to Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), she will not attend now — nor will Reps. Lewis, John Conyers (D-MI) and Lacy Clay (D-MO).


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/01/black-lawmakers-consider-boycotting-trumps-inauguration-en-masse-after-attack-on-john-lewis/

January 15, 2017

Conservative's criticism of John Lewis backfires after CNN host points out Trump's birther lies

January 15, 2017

Warren embraces her role as a top Democratic foil to Trump

SUNDAY, JAN 15, 2017 07:00 AM EST

BOSTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren is embracing her role as a top Democratic foil to Republican President-elect Donald Trump.

The Massachusetts senator penned a scathing 16-page critique of Trump’s education secretary nominee, Betsy DeVos; grilled his pick for housing secretary Ben Carson; and co-sponsored legislation requiring the president to disclose and divest potential financial conflicts of interest.

But in a shift from the campaign, Warren tells The Associated Press her criticism of Trump is now more focused on the economic well-being of middle class and working families. That includes fighting to protect President Barack Obama’s health care law and preserve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she helped create.

Is she also prepping for a possible 2020 run for president? Warren won’t say, although she has announced she’s running for re-election in 2018.

###

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/15/warren-embraces-her-role-as-a-top-democratic-foil-to-trump/

January 15, 2017

Nowhere left to run away to: The final days of the circus

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Goodbye to death-defying feats — daring young men (and women) on the flying trapeze, whip-wielding lion tamers, human cannonballs. Goodbye to the scent of peanuts and popcorn, the thrill of three rings, the jaunty bum-bum-dadadada of circus music.

Send out the clowns. The Big Top is coming down — for good.

On Saturday, officials of the company that owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it will close in May, ending a 146-year run that dates back to a time before automobiles or airplanes or movies, when Ulysses S. Grant was president and minstrel shows were popular entertainment.

What killed the circus? There are many suspects: increased railroad costs. Costly court battles with animal rights activists that led to an end to elephant acts — and the fact that some people didn’t want to see a show without elephants.

But mostly, in an era of Pokemon Go, online role playing games and YouTube celebrities, the “Greatest Show on Earth” doesn’t seem so great.

more
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/15/nowhere-left-to-run-away-to-the-final-days-of-the-circus/

January 15, 2017

'Marielitos' Face Long-Delayed Reckoning: Expulsion to Cuba

By FRANCES ROBLESJAN. 14, 2017

MIAMI — They were some of the most feared people in South Florida, men who became cinematic fodder and, long before Donald J. Trump uttered the term “bad hombres,” ones who really did give some immigrants a bad name.

For almost 40 years, they were also pawns in the cold war between the United States government and Fidel Castro: once and future criminals who joined a mass flotilla of refugees that left Mariel Harbor and landed on Florida’s shores, then bedeviled Miami and other American cities that had taken them in.

The United States did not want them. Nor did Cuba, which refused to take them back.

On Thursday, President Obama announced the immediate end of the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy, which allowed Cuban migrants to stay in the United States if they reached its shores, special treatment that drew the ire of the Cuban government. The flip side of the deal got far less attention, but it effectively closed one chapter in the tortured relationship between the two countries: Cuba agreed to take back up to 500 criminal Mariel refugees.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/cuba-us-migrants.html?emc=edit_th_20170115&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=57435284