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DonViejo's JournalBreitbart pounds Ryan, Romney, Rubio for not denouncing Antifa
BY JOE CONCHA - 08/30/17 12:14 PM EDT
Breitbart News took aim at so-called establishment Republican lawmakers Wednesday by slamming House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Ohio), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) and former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for not denouncing left-wing "antifa" violence in a lead headline on Wednesday.
‘Unequivocal Condemnation’: Pelosi Denounces Antifa Violence… Before GOP’s Ryan, Rubio, Romney,' reads the Breitbart lead headline.
The criticism from the conservative publication comes after Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) said in a statement Tuesday evening that antifa protesters — short for "antifascist" — deserve “unequivocal condemnation."
Breitbart seized on the opportunity to point out that Pelosi was ahead of the Republicans in denouncing antifa, which Trump has called the "alt-left." Pelosi had called on President Trump to be censured for his "many sides" blame remarks after violence in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12 left one woman dead when a car was rammed into a group of counter-protesters. A man with ties to white supremacist groups has been charged with murder in the case.
more
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/348550-breitbart-pounds-ryan-romney-rubio-for-not-denouncing-antifa
Dont Call Them 'Obama Holdovers'. Call Them Patriots.
The attacks on apolitical career officials are misguided and wrong. I should know, because the ‘Bush holdovers’ I worked with made Obama’s foreign policy smarter.
By ILAN GOLDENBERG August 30, 2017
The alt-right Twitter personality Mike Cernovich is at it again, with fresh accusations against the “Obama holdovers” who are supposedly undermining the Trump administration’s agenda. These attacks on apolitical career government officials show a deep misunderstanding of our government and undermine our institutions. I should know. As a political appointee early in the Obama administration, I worked with many “Bush holdovers”—and I can attest from personal experience that they are critical to achieving policy success.
My first job in government was as a junior political appointee on the Iran desk in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, starting in May 2009. Iran was a priority issue for President Barack Obama. He had distinguished himself from other Democratic candidates by arguing for engagement with adversaries, starting in the primaries in 2007 and culminating in the famous line from his first inaugural address: “We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
I showed up at the Pentagon a true believer in the president’s policy. I was convinced that if only the United States were to engage diplomatically with Iran, a solution could be found to address Iran’s nuclear program and perhaps other issues on which we disagreed. I also assumed our predecessors in the Bush administration were incompetent. I gave them little credit for laying the groundwork in building international support for U.N. sanctions. I distrusted their assertions that Iran was arming groups in Iraq that were killing American troops. I believed this was simply an excuse for the hawkish Bush administration to continue its disastrous policies in Iraq and turn attention on Iran. This dismissal of my predecessors is a common phenomenon of political transitions.
But on my first day in the job, I ran into a colleague on the Iran desk who held a very different view. He was a career government official. In today’s charged parlance you might call him a “Bush holdover.” He had been there to watch the Bush administration start building support for sanctions, and he had also spent a year in Iraq, where he saw firsthand how Iran’s destabilizing activities were resulting in the deaths of Americans. While I thought that more communication and engagement with Iran’s leadership would work things out, he used to say of the regime in Tehran: “They are not misunderstood people.”
more
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/30/donald-trump-obama-holdovers-215557?lo=ap_f1
Trumka: Some White House trade backers 'turned out to be racist'
Source: Politico
By IAN KULLGREN 08/30/2017 11:30 AM EDT
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Wednesday morning that some White House aides who support free trade "turned out to be racist," after President Donald Trump held a press conference blaming both sides for the unrest at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
"You had two factions in the White House," Trumka told reporters at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "You had one faction that actually had some of the policies that we would have supported on trade and infrastructure, but turned out to be racist."
"And on the other hand, you had people who weren't racist, but they were Wall Street."
Trumka said he quit the White House manufacturing jobs council, which Trump later dissolved, after consulting union members who saw Trump's press conference at Trump Tower as a "spirited defense" of white supremacy and neo-Nazism.
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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/30/richard-trumka-afl-cio-trump-free-trade-racists-242172?lo=ap_d1
White House targets Trump-state Dems in tax push
Source: Politico
Trump and Pence chose Missouri and West Virginia for tax events to pressure the states' senators to get on board with their program ahead of the 2018 midterms.
By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM and ELANA SCHOR 08/30/2017 12:02 PM EDT
The White House is kicking off its push for tax reform with the intent of winning vulnerable moderate Democrats to the cause – and of potentially punishing them if they don’t ultimately sign on.
President Donald Trump chose the home state of moderate Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is up for re-election in 2018, as the venue for his first big tax address Wednesday. At the same time, Vice President Mike Pence is heading to West Virginia, where he’ll appear alongside Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) at a Chamber of Commerce event. Manchin, too, is up for re-election in 2018 in a state Trump carried by more than 40 points.
The White House sees both senators as gettable votes on its tax plan. Sens. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) are also top targets for the White House, which wants to avoid the dismal fate of its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act—an initiative that never attracted Democratic support, robbing the White House of bipartisan cover and an extra cushion against Republicans who refused to support it.
Manchin, Donnelly and Heitkamp were the only three Democratic senators who didn’t sign a letter circulated by minority leader Chuck Schumer this month outlining principles for Democrats on tax reform.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/30/white-house-trump-tax-push-democrats-targeted-242175
Report: DHS Warned Of Violent Clashes At Charlottesville White Nationalist Rally
Source: Talking Points Memo
By MATT SHUHAM Published AUGUST 30, 2017 11:28 AM
The Department of Homeland Security warned state and local law enforcement ahead of the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that it was likely to be one of the most violent clashes to date between white supremacists and anti-fascist and anarchist groups, Politico reported Tuesday.
The rally, ostensibly to protest the removal of a Confederate monument from a park, was extremely violent: A counter-protester was killed when a man who had earlier been photographed with white nationalists allegedly rammed his car into a crowd.
Three additional arrests were made in recent days: Two Unite The Right attendees were arrested and charged with malicious wounding in connection with the brutal beating of Deandre Harris, 20, in a parking garage. And Richard Preston, an imperial wizard of the Confederate Knights, a KKK affiliate, was arrested for firing his weapon nearby a school during the rally. Video from the ACLU of Virginia showed Preston firing his gun at a crowd of protesters.
That video also showed Virginia State Police, feet away from Preston when he fired the shot, not responding at all to the incident. The city and law enforcement have come under criticism for not more actively intervening to keep the peace.
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-dhs-warned-violent-clashes-charlottesville
Mattis responds to Trump: US 'never out of diplomatic solutions' on North Korea
Source: The Hill
BY ELLEN MITCHELL - 08/30/17 11:29 AM EDT
Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday sought to downplay President Trump’s earlier assertion that seemed to rule out a diplomatic solution to North Korea's ongoing missile tests.
"The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. Mattis broke from that view, telling reporters asking about the tweet at the Pentagon, “We’re never out of diplomatic solutions.”
“We continue to work together, and the minister and I share responsibility to provide for the protection of our nation our populations and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today,” Mattis said alongside South Korea Defense Minister Song Young-moo. “And look for all the areas we can collaborate — there is already very strong collaboration, we always look for more, we are never complacent.”
The defense chiefs also declined to discuss the additional U.S. military support South Korea might need to increase pressure on North Korea.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/348539-mattis-responds-to-trump-us-never-out-of-diplomatic-solutions-on-north-korea
No, Mattis Did Not Freeze Trumps Transgender Troops Ban
AUG. 30 2017 10:01 AM
By Mark Joseph Stern
On Tuesday evening, USA Today published a surprising report alleging that Secretary of Defense James Mattis had frozen President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops. Mattis, the report explained, had convened a panel of experts to study transgender service and make recommendations next year. His “move,” the article concluded, “buys time for the Pentagon” to determine the fate of trans troops who are currently serving.
This framing is an extreme mischaracterization of the facts. Mattis did not “freeze” the trans ban, and he is not “buy[ing] time” in some potentially insubordinate effort to buck Trump. In reality, the secretary is doing exactly what Trump directed him to do in a recent memo.
Trump notoriously tweeted his ban on trans troops in July, but the Pentagon—which had reportedly not been consulted—declined to enact the new policy without further information. So, on Friday, Trump issued that information in a memo directing the implementation of his ban. The memo ordered the secretary of defense, in consultation with the secretary of homeland security, to “determine how to address transgender individuals currently serving in the United States military.” Their study must focus on “military effectiveness and lethality, budgetary constraints, and applicable law.” By Feb. 21, 2018, the secretaries must submit a plan explaining how best to implement the ban. And on March 23, 2018, the full ban will take effect. Until then, “no action may be taken” against openly trans troops who are now serving.
In his Tuesday announcement, Mattis declared that he will do precisely what the memo requires of him. He is not suspending the ban or disobeying Trump, but simply following orders. Moreover, as Nathaniel Frank explained in Slate, the memo does not give Mattis real discretion in executing the ban. He can, theoretically, provide a recommendation that Trump scrap it. But barring a reversal by the president, Mattis lacks any real ability to protect trans troops.
more
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2017/08/30/mattis_did_not_freeze_trump_s_transgender_troops_ban.html
U.S.-led airstrikes block ISIS fighters escaping under a Hezbollah-negotiated deal
Source: The Washington Post
By Liz Sly and Tamer El-Ghobashy August 30 at 11:32 AM
BEIRUT — The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday to block a convoy of hundreds of Islamic State fighters heading to eastern Syria under a widely criticized deal negotiated by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
The 300 fighters were traveling to the Iraqi-Syrian border on buses after being allowed by Hezbollah and the Syrian government to withdraw from a besieged enclave on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The deal had stirred rare public anger against Hezbollah even among some of its closest allies, notably in Iraq, which is gearing for an offensive to reclaim Iraqi territory adjoining the area to which the fighters were relocating.
On Wednesday morning, the U.S.-led coalition moved to prevent the convoy from reaching its destination, the Islamic State-controlled town of Bukamal on the Syrian border with Iraq, according to U.S. military spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-led-airstrikes-block-isis-fighters-escaping-under-a-hezbollah-negotiated-deal/2017/08/30/a9b40ea4-8d8c-11e7-9c53-6a169beb0953_story.html?utm_term=.015d78f0ca40&wpisrc=al_alert-world&wpmk=1
Trump at war with himself over 'Dreamers'
Administration officials say he's conflicted between his instinct to be tough on immigration and his personal feelings.
By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and ELIANA JOHNSON 08/30/2017 04:58 AM EDT
President Donald Trump often bristles at the constraints imposed on him by his aides, yet when it comes to Obama-era protections for young undocumented immigrants, he is at war with himself.
The president has waffled between his campaign pledge to kill the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and his sympathy for the nearly 800,000 people whose lives could be upended if it’s repealed, aides say.
As an unofficial Sept. 5 deadline looms, there are growing signs that Trump will decide to phase out the program. But administration officials say he remains conflicted, trying to find a middle ground that balances his instinct to be tough on immigration and his personal feelings.
Trump’s final decision could drastically change the lives of the country’s “Dreamers.” Participants in the program — which permits some people who were brought to the United States as children to live and work in the country temporarily — worry they could lose their jobs or be subject to possible deportation if the program is suddenly ended.
DACA critics say Trump’s sympathy for Dreamers shouldn’t sway his decision. “Having sympathy for people who were brought here as children is not at all inconsistent with the acknowledgment that the DACA program is just absurdly unconstitutional. Those two things are not contradictory,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors lower levels of immigration.
more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/30/trump-immigration-dreamers-242152
Trump says 'heart goes out' to Texans after not meeting Harvey victims
Source: Politico
By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL 08/30/2017 10:18 AM EDT
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his “heart goes out even more so” to the victims of hurricane-ravaged Texas after touring the state, despite not meeting on Tuesday with any victims or addressing them during his multiple public appearances.
“After witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas!” the president tweeted Wednesday morning.
Trump didn’t directly see much horror or devastation on Tuesday. Avoiding the areas hardest hit as relief efforts were underway — at least in part to avoid distracting from those efforts — the president flew to Corpus Christi, where he was briefed on the response to Harvey, and then Austin, where he toured an emergency operations center and received another briefing before flying back to Washington, D.C.
Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning appeared to be a delayed response to criticism that his prior comments lacked empathy.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/30/trump-tweet-hurricane-harvey-victims-242169?lo=ap_b1
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Name: DonGender: Male
Hometown: Massachusetts
Home country: United States
Member since: Sat Sep 1, 2012, 03:28 PM
Number of posts: 60,536
