Intel chiefs call for tougher fight against Russia

January 6, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Director of intellegence James Clapper (AP file photo)

Director of intellegence James Clapper (AP file photo)

The nation’s top intelligence chiefs said Thursday that the government needed to conduct a far more aggressive information war push to counter foreign cyberespionage while strongly defending their conclusion that top Russian officials authorized efforts to hack the presidential election in an effort to influence the vote. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the CIA and other agencies are increasingly confident that Russia used hacking, propaganda and misinformation in an effort to influence the U.S. election. He dismissed President-elect Donald Trump’s skepticism and said the U.S. has to fight an information war more aggressively. Mr. Trump is to get a private briefing on the controversy Friday. Mr. Clapper told lawmakers that the U.S. has fallen far short in efforts to counter such hacking and tell its story in the face of foreign criticism. He recommended reviving the U.S. Information Agency, the Cold War-era office that oversaw an aggressive public diplomacy campaign. Please click to read the rest of the story from Carlos Munoz of the Washington Times

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Trump on border wall: Mexico will pay us back

January 6, 2017 By Leave a Comment
President elect Donald Trump with the future first lady blasting mayor Emanuel for the violence in Chicago (Daily Mail photo)

President elect Donald Trump with the future first lady blasting mayor Emanuel for the violence in Chicago (Daily Mail photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday tweeted that Mexico will reimburse American taxpayers for a new border wall and that U.S. money spent will be for the “sake of speed.” His tweet came as congressional Republicans and his top aides consider a plan to ask Congress to ensure money is available in U.S. coffers for the wall without passing any new legislation. Instead, they would rely on existing law that already authorizes fencing and other technology along the southern border. The potential approach was disclosed Thursday by two congressional officials and a senior transition official with knowledge of the discussions; all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Click to read the rest of the story from Associated Press

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The ‘most transparent’ president in history issues record number of ‘midnight’ regulations

January 5, 2017 By Leave a Comment
President Obama boarding Marine one at JFK airport last summer. (White House file photo)

President Obama boarding Marine one at JFK airport last summer. (White House file photo)

President Obama has issued 145 “midnight” regulations with a cost of more than $21 billion since the election of Donald Trump, the most by a lame-duck president in a generation, a study has found. The conservative American Action Forum said Thursday that Mr. Obama’s rules, issued from Nov. 8 through Dec. 31 of last year, include 31 “economically significant” regulations with a cost of at least $100 million each. “The administration has published more than 21 million hours of final federal paperwork requirements since November 8,” said Sam Batkins, AAF’s director of regulatory policy. “At the current pace, the Obama administration is going to be the most active ‘midnight’ (period from Election Day to Inauguration Day) regulator in more than a generation.” Please click on the link to read the rest of the story by Dave Boyer of the Washington Times.

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Fox News Taps Tucker Carlson to Replace Megyn Kelly

January 5, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Salon photo

Salon photo

Fox News tapped veteran journalist and commentator Tucker Carlson to replace Megyn Kelly in one of its most prominent time slots, underscoring that the cable news network has no intention of moving away from its conservative roots. Mr. Carlson, who had recently begun hosting a 7 p.m. show on Fox News, will take over the 9 p.m. time slot from Ms. Kelly, a star anchor who announced this week that she is leaving for NBC News after a 12-year career at Fox. Mr. Carlson takes over on Monday. The 47-year-old rose to national prominence as the co-host of the CNN show “Crossfire,” where he represented the political right until the show’s cancellation in 2005. He has written for a variety of media outlets over the years and co-founded the conservative site the Daily Caller….please click to read the rest of the article from Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal.

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GOP drops plan to overhaul ethics rules after Trump trashes it

January 3, 2017 By Leave a Comment
AP Photo

AP Photo

Republicans’ first hardball move of the new Congress fizzled Tuesday as lawmakers were forced to drop their attempt to weaken the House’s independent ethics watchdog, bowing to widespread criticism including from President-elect Donald Trump, who told them they had more important things to work on. Within a span of 15 hours, the House GOP held a secret vote to bring the Office of Congressional Ethics under control of the lawmakers themselves, then reversed that just minutes before the chamber convened. Democrats complained that the rules adopted Tuesday were still unfair, even with GOP concession on ethics, because lawmakers will be punished for live-streaming from the floor — a long-standing violation, but one that will now earn members a fine. The GOP powered the new rules through on a 234-193 vote. Please click on the link to read the rest of the Story from the Washington Times

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Ford cancels plan to build new Mexican plant, adds U.S. jobs

January 3, 2017 By Leave a Comment

ford-truckFLAT ROCK, Mich. — Ford is canceling plans to build a new $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and will invest $700 million in a Michigan plant to build new electric and autonomous vehicles. Ford, however, still plans to shift production of the Focus small car to Mexico and will make the car at an existing plant. President-elect Donald Trump has been pressuring Ford to keep production of the Focus in the U.S. The company made the announcements Tuesday at a factory in Flat Rock, Michigan, near Detroit. The factory will get 700 new jobs. Among the new vehicles it will make are a fully electric small SUV with 300 miles of range. Ford also plans a gas-electric hybrid version of the F-150 pickup. Click to read this AP story posted by the Washington Times

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Duckworth sworn in, questions some Trump appointments

January 3, 2017 By Leave a Comment

New U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said after being sworn in Tuesday that she’s hoping the Donald Trump administration will

Politico.com attachment

Politico.com photo

have a “significant” public works plan, but she has questions about some of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. In a conference call with reporters, Duckworth said she looks forward to “rolling up my sleeves and getting to work,” and she hopes the incoming Republican administration will forward a plan for “significant infrastructure development.” Illinois, she said, needs such a plan for projects from lock-and-dam improvements on the Mississippi River to work on public school buildings to “getting lead out of our water supply.” Lead has been a problem in some cities, including Chicago and Galesburg. She said other issues important to her include small business, manufacturing and agriculture. “Of course, I will always be focused on supporting our veterans and our military men and women and their families,” said Duckworth, of Hoffman Estates, who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq and who later led the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. Please click to read the rest of the article from Benard Schoenberg of the Springfield Journal-Register

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Megyn Kelly Is Leaving Fox News for NBC

January 3, 2017 By Leave a Comment
New York Times Photo

New York Times Photo

Megyn Kelly, who arrived at Fox News 12 years ago as a television news neophyte but rose to become one of its two biggest stars, has decided to leave the network to take on a broad new role at NBC News for an undisclosed salary, NBC announced Tuesday afternoon. The NBC News chairman, Andrew Lack, wooed Ms. Kelly away from Fox News by offering her a triple role in which she will host her own daytime news and discussion program, anchor an in-depth Sunday night news show and take regular part in the network’s special political programming and other big-event coverage. The move will herald a seismic shift in the cable news landscape, where Ms. Kelly had become the second-most watched host — after Bill O’Reilly of Fox News — and often helped define the national political debate, especially over the last year as Donald J. Trump regularly attacked her, at times in viciously personal terms…..Please click to read the rest of the story from the New York Times

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Quake swarm near the California-Mexico border gets scientists’ attention

January 2, 2017 By Leave a Comment

earthquake-mapA swarm of more than 250 small earthquakes have struck since New Year’s Eve near the California-Mexico border, causing unease among residents and attention from scientists. The strongest earthquake in the sequence was magnitude 3.9, striking directly underneath the town of Brawley, about 170 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The earthquakes struck in the southern end of the Brawley Seismic Zone, a seismically active region where tectonic plates are moving away from each other and the Earth’s crust is getting stretched out “and basically adding land,” said Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson.

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Obama could still force Merrick Garland onto court during ‘intersession recess’

January 2, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Lame duck president Obama and Merrick Garland, who he is trying to sneak on the Supreme Court before he leaves office. (AP photo)

Lame duck president Obama and Merrick Garland, who he is trying to sneak on the Supreme Court before he leaves office. (AP photo)

President Obama will have one last chance to force Judge Merrick Garland onto the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday — but it’s a legal gamble and one that has so many pitfalls that even those who say he could get away with it believe it isn’t worth the fight. Mr. Obama’s moment will come just before noon, in the five minutes that the Senate gavels the 114th Congress out of session and the time the 115th Congress begins. In those few moments the Senate will go into what’s known as an “intersession recess,” creating one golden moment when the president could test his recess-appointment powers by sending Judge Garland to the high court.   Please click on link to read the link from Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times.

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