January 26, 2017

Theresa May suggests UK health services could be part of US trade deal

Source: The Independent

Theresa May has left the door open for the greater involvement of US corporations in British healthcare as she arrives in America to lay the groundwork for a future trade deal.

Ms May would only say that she was committed to a health service that is free at the point of delivery, but made no comment on whether the NHS would be off the table in any future talks.

Trade and the UK’s economic relationship with the US will be one of the key pillars of the Prime Minister’s visit to Philadelphia and Washington DC.

Asked whether health services might form a part of a potential deal, she said: “We're at the start of the process of talking about a trade deal. We're both very clear that we want a trade deal.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-donald-trump-nhs-us-trade-deal-brexit-torture-a7548156.html

January 26, 2017

KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN TO VISIT US

Source: Jerusalem Post

King Abdullah II of Jordan is slated to visit the United States on Monday in order to meet with "the new administration and Congress," the embassy has reported on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/King-Abdullah-II-of-Jordan-to-visit-US-479723?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

January 26, 2017

White House denies offering Infowars credentials

Source: The Hill

he White House press office is denying it offered credentials to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s website Infowars, after Jones claimed in a video that he had been offered access.

“He is not credentialed for the White House. The White House Press Office has not offered him credentials,” White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders told BuzzFeed on Thursday morning.

Jones on Wednesday posted a video claiming the White House offered him credentials.

"Here's the deal, I know I get White House credentials, we've already been offered them, we're going to get them, but I've just got to spend the money to send somebody there," Jones says in the clip.

Read more: http://thehill.com/media/316252-alex-jones-white-house-offered-infowars-press-credentials

January 26, 2017

Dem Castro weighs challenge to Cruz

Source: The Hill

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) says he'll decide by the spring whether to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) in 2018.

“I said I’ll take a look at it, and I will,” said Castro Wednesday at a Buzzfeed Brews event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. “I want to make a decision by the end of spring.

"Obviously if you want to run in Texas, it’s a large state and you need a lot of money and a lot of time to mount a serious campaign,” he told Buzzfeed's Tarini Parti.

When first asked about Cruz, Castro had joked that his stomach was "going to be in knots."

Read more: http://www.thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/316257-dem-castro-weighs-challenge-to-cruz

January 26, 2017

Federal judge rejects Ohio's new lethal injection proces

Source: Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday declared Ohio's new lethal injection process unconstitutional and delayed three executions, including one scheduled next month.

The ruling by Magistrate Judge Michael Merz in Dayton followed a weeklong hearing over the three-drug method Ohio planned to use Feb. 15 on death row inmate Ronald Phillips.

The judge agreed with attorneys for Phillips and two other condemned killers that the first drug in the process, the sedative midazolam, couldn't pass a constitutional bar of causing "substantial risk of serious harm" previously set by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The judge also barred the state from using the second and third drugs in the protocol that paralyze inmates and stop their hearts.

Read more: https://apnews.com/ce9d063add4241c38bb620097f059f98?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

January 26, 2017

Alex Jones: White House offered Infowars press credentials

Source: The Hill

Radio show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s website Infowars has been offered White House press credentials, Jones said in a video he posted Wednesday.

"Here's the deal, I know I get White House credentials, we've already been offered them, we're going to get them, but I've just got to spend the money to send somebody there," Jones says in the clip.

"I want to make sure it's even worth it. I don't want to just sit there up there like ‘I’m in the media, look our people are there.’ “

White House press secretary Sean Spicer indicated Monday that four "Skype seats" would be made available to some journalists who are outside of a 50-mile radius of Washington, D.C.. It is not known when the Skype seats will be deployed during daily press briefings.

Read more: http://thehill.com/media/316252-alex-jones-white-house-offered-infowars-press-credentials

January 25, 2017

Carl Edwards not ruling out US Senate run in '18

Source: Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carl Edwards remains a hot topic in NASCAR, two weeks after his abrupt retirement as a full-time driver.

Terry Smith, a political science professor at Columbia College, speculated in a Wednesday piece for KBIA's Talking Politics that Edwards will challenge U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri next year. McCaskill, a Democrat, is in her second term.

Edwards didn't exactly rule it out when reached by The Associated Press. He texted: "I believe firmly in the principles that the U.S. was founded upon. If I could help, I definitely would consider it."

Edwards also stressed that has no such plans at the moment, but also quoted Gen. Douglas MacArthur: "No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation."

Read more: http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/politics/elections/carl-edwards-not-ruling-out-us-senate-run-in/article_79d3ed4f-6fe5-52d7-9c39-017c3cb6910c.html

January 25, 2017

Contractor files $2 million lawsuit against Trump for unpaid bills

Source: The Hill

A Maryland-based electrical company is suing President Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel for than $2 million, Politico reports.

AES Electrical, also called Freestate Electrical, alleged that its employees had to work “nonstop” to complete electrical and fire alarm systems before the hotel’s “soft opening” in September and its grand opening in October. It says it never received payment for its work.

The lawsuit also argues that without Freestate, the real estate mogul would not have been able to hold an event at the hotel in September.
“At the time of the ‘soft opening,’ Donald J. Trump, President of Defendent, Trump Old Post Office, LLC, was a U.S. presidential candidate and the ‘soft opening’ had to occur to permit Mr. Trump’s nationally televised campaign event from the Hotel on September 16, 2016, which was to honor U.S. veterans,” the lawsuit says. “But for Freestate’s acceleration of work and performance of extra work on the project, this event would not have been able to occur.”

Freestate also noted that its work before the hotel’s “grand opening” on Oct. 26 was timed just before the Nov. 8 election in order to generate “positive press coverage.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/316098-contractor-files-2-million-against-trump-for-unpaid-bills

January 25, 2017

Trudeau welcomes Trump's Keystone XL decision

Source: CBC News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is strongly in favour of Donald Trump's decision to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline project, a move he says will be a boon for Canadian jobs and government coffers, and help a hobbled Alberta recover from the steep decline in oil prices.

Trudeau said he has spoken to the new U.S. president twice, and on both occasions he pressed upon him Canada's steadfast support for the $8-billion project, which could carry more than 800,000 barrels of Alberta oil a day to refineries in Texas.

"I reiterated my support for the project. I've been on the record for many years supporting [Keystone XL] because it leads to economic growth and good jobs for Albertans," he told reporters assembled in Calgary for the federal cabinet retreat.

"We know we can get our resources to market more safely and responsibly while meeting our climate change goals," he said, adding Premier Rachel Notley's hard cap on oilsands emissions will ensure Canada meets its reduction targets.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-cabinet-keystone-xl-1.3949754

January 25, 2017

Trump says he'll send in feds if Chicago doesn't fix 'horrible carnage going on'

Source: CNN

President Donald Trump, for the first time since taking office, has tweeted about violence in Chicago, saying: "I will send in the Feds" if they don't fix the "horrible 'carnage'" going on.

He tweeted about the shootings there in early January, saying at the time as President-elect: "If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help."

Tuesday night he wrote, "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds."

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
9:25 PM - 24 Jan 2017

The Chicago Police Department tells CNN there have been 38 homicides and 182 shooting incidents in the city so far in 2017. Chicago Police only report homicides. They are not necessarily all shooting deaths.




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