February 13, 2017

Governor makes defense of economic incentives, tourism programs

Not even a week after the Florida House voted to kill both the state's job incentives program and its tourism marketing arm, Gov. Rick Scott is fighting back.

The Republican governor has stops planned in Cape Coral, Tampa and Flagler Beach today where he will meet with business leaders. In each city, he's holding a roundtable discussion about how important Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida have been to the state - a counter argument to House leaders who last week blasted both agencies as "corporate welfare" that puts the power in the hands of the government to pick winners and losers.

On Wednesday, the House Careers & Competition Subcommittee voted 10-5 to kill both agencies, despite Scott's warnings the move would hurt the economic momentum Florida has had since he was elected in 2010. Only one Republican on the panel defended Scott's position and the two programs.

The House plan face major obstacles still. Even the biggest critics of Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida in the Senate have said while both agencies need to be recast, they shouldn't be eliminated completely.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2017/02/governor-makes-defense-of-economic-incentives-tourism-programs.html

February 13, 2017

Automakers ask Trump to reconsider car emissions standards

Source: The Hill

The heads of several major automakers are asking President Trump to reconsider greenhouse gas standards for vehicles instituted during the Obama administration.

CEOs from General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler and the American arms of several international manufacturers sent Trump a letter last week asking him to change the fuel standards, Reuters reports.

The letter asked Trump to reconsider the standards “without prejudging the outcome,” and said Trump has a “personal focus on steps to strengthen the economy in the United States and your commitment to jobs in our sector.”

It said the rule “threaten[s] future production levels, putting hundreds of thousands and perhaps as many as a million jobs at risk." Automakers also raised the issue during a meeting with Trump in January.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/319196-automakers-ask-trump-to-reconsider-car-emissions-standards

February 13, 2017

FAMU's Robinson to attend White House discussion on black colleges and universities

Florida A&M University interim president Larry Robinson will be attending a summit this month on historically black colleges and universities with President Trump’s staff and Republican lawmakers.

Robinson and other HBCU presidents were invited to the summit by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

The summit is scheduled for Feb. 27-Feb. 28 at the White House. Among those expected to meet with university presidents are U.S. Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), along with Omarosa Manigault, director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison in the Trump administration, and staff from the Thurgood Marshall fund.

"The university is pleased with the invitation of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to participate in such a meaningful conversation about higher education in America,” Robinson said. “Institutions of higher education, historically black colleges and universities specifically, play a major role in the advancement and success of our great nation.”

more: http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/02/12/famus-robinson-attend-white-house-discussion-black-colleges-and-universities/97768950/

February 13, 2017

Ex-Navy SEAL congressman: Trump and intel community need to get on the same page 'very quickly'

Source: Politico

A GOP Congressman said Monday morning that President Donald Trump and the intelligence community that he leads “need to get on the same page very quickly” amid simmering concerns about national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Rep. Scott Taylor’s comments to CNN’s “New Day” come as Flynn is under fire for reportedly discussing a reprieve from American sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. before Trump was sworn into office. Asked by The Washington Post if he had had such a discussion, Flynn repeatedly said no but then backed away from that denial via a spokesman, who said Flynn did not recall discussion sanctions but could not be sure that the topic was not raised.

Taylor (R-Va.), a former Navy SEAL, said he did not have any information on Fynn’s situation beyond what was being reported in the media and that the degree to which he is alleged to have acted inappropriately would depend greatly on what specifically he said.

The sanctions reportedly discussed by Flynn were imposed last December by former President Barack Obama, punishment for Russia’s interference into the U.S. presidential election last year. Despite the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was to blame for the wave of election-year cyberattacks, Trump was for months reluctant to concede the point. The president was even more unwilling to accept the intelligence community’s assessment that the Kremlin had launched those attacks with the specific goal of aiding Trump’s candidacy.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-michael-flynn-intelligence-community-scott-taylor-234954

February 13, 2017

Citing Trump and Brexit, EU sees euro zone economy risk, sharp drop in UK growth

Source: Reuters

The European Commission said on Monday that uncertainty about U.S. policies, Brexit and elections in Germany and France would take their toll on the euro zone economy this year.

It forecast euro zone economic growth to lose some speed this year before rebounding in 2018. It saw a sharp growth drop ahead in non-euro zone and EU-leaver Britain.

The British economy will nearly halve its expansion by 2018, the European Union executive said in a broad series of economic forecasts.

Growth in the 19 countries sharing the euro would slow to 1.6 percent this year from 1.7 percent in 2016, but would gain speed in 2018 when the bloc's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase by 1.8 percent.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-forecasts-growth-idUSKBN15S162?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=58a1af0104d301318c1ffab5&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

February 13, 2017

Theo 'rape' case fuels clashes with police in Paris area

Source: BBC News

Protesters have attacked a police station on the southern outskirts of Paris amid anger over the alleged rape of a young black man by French police.

The overnight violence in Les Ulis followed earlier clashes between police and protesters at the weekend, in which several dozen people were detained.

In Les Ulis three police cars were damaged, French media report.

Tension has gripped some Paris suburbs since 2 February, when a man called Theo was allegedly beaten up and raped.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38957953?ocid=socialflow_twitter

February 13, 2017

Kremlin: Trump, Putin could meet before July

Source: The Hill

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet before the G20 summit in July, the Kremlin said Monday.

Officials said there is talk about a potential meeting between the two leaders prior to the summit, Reuters reported.

In January, Trump spoke with Putin over the phone. During that call, Trump condemned a 2010 nuclear arms-reduction treaty as a bad deal for the U.S. The treaty gives both countries until 2018 to cut their strategic nuclear missile launchers to 1,550, the lowest number in decades, and limits numbers of land- and submarine-launched missiles and heavy bombers.

While Trump has praised Putin in the past, the president tweeted earlier this month that he didn't know Putin and had "no deals in Russia."

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/international/319177-trump-putin-could-have-meeting-before-july

February 10, 2017

Defiant Assad tells Yahoo News torture report is 'fake news'

Source: Yahoo News

DAMASCUS – Confronted with new evidence of torture and mass hangings in one of his military prisons, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News that the allegations were the product of a “fake news era” and charged that a human rights group, Amnesty International, had fabricated evidence to discredit his embattled government.

“You can forge anything these days,” Assad said when asked about a new Amnesty International report estimating that between 5,000 and 13,000 prisoners were killed in a “calculated campaign of extrajudicial execution” at a military prison outside of Damascus between 2011 and December 2015. “We are living in a fake news era.”

Assad, combative and unyielding, also insisted the United States had no grounds to condemn Syria for human rights abuses, pointing to the invasion of Iraq and to American support for Saudi Arabia, a country that beheads prisoners. “The United States is in no position to talk about human rights,” he said. Challenged over the issue, Assad grew contentious, saying at one point, “You own the questions. I own the answers.”

The Syrian president was also confronted for the first time with chilling photographs taken by a former regime photographer, code named Caesar, depicting rows of emaciated, brutally beaten bodies of detainees — many of them believed to be political protesters — at his military prisons. The photographs — which U.S. officials have likened to images from Nazi concentration camps — were the basis for a landmark lawsuit filed in Spain’s National Court last week accusing nine senior Syrian intelligence and security officials of international human rights crimes.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-defiant-assad-tells-yahoo-news-torture-report-is-fake-news-100042667.html

February 10, 2017

Fil-Ams urge Duterte to 'lift a finger,' help immigrants facing deportation

Source: GMA News

Gnawing fear over Donald Trumps threat of massive deportations has thrown the immigrant community into panic as Filipinos criticize President Rodrigo Dutertes apparent insensitivity toward those in danger of being removed from the US.

Duterte has urged undocumented Filipino immigrants to better be on the right track or get out because if you are caught and deported, I will not lift a finger I will not interfere.

The Philippine Embassy and consulates estimate more than 300,000 undocumented Filipinos calculated based on 10 percent of the total Fil-Am population of 3.4 million. Immigration lawyers and advocates believe the number is much bigger and could reach a million people.

Ang yabang, akala ko ba para sa Pilipino ka, cried a family man from Queens denouncing Dutertes statement. A retired teacher from the NYC Department of Education said, she is not surprised. We all know his ability for refined speech is not there.


Read more: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/599071/news/pinoyabroad/fil-ams-urge-duterte-to-lift-a-finger-help-immigrants-facing-deportation

February 10, 2017

Teachers union president condemns protests blocking DeVos from school

Source: The Hill

The president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) on Friday condemned protests barring Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from entering a Washington, D.C., middle school.

“Just heard a protester blocked & almost knocked Secy @BetsyDeVos down at Jefferson.We don't condone such acts.We want her to go to pub schls,” Randi Weingarten tweeted.

@rweingarten
Just heard a protester blocked & almost knocked Secy @BetsyDeVos down at Jefferson.We don't condone such acts.We want her to go to pub schls
11:02 AM - 10 Feb 2017

The AFT has fiercely opposed DeVos since the GOP mega-donor was tapped to head the Education Department.



Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/318963-teachers-union-president-condemns-protests-blocking-devos-from