President Trump's first weekend in office unfolded much the way things often did during his campaign: with angry Twitter messages, a familiar obsession with slights and a series of meandering and at times untrue statements, all eventually giving way to attempts at damage control. The problem is that what works on the way to the White House does not always work once a candidate gets there. To the extent that there was a plan to take advantage of the first days of his administration, when a president is usually at his maximum leverage, Mr. Trump threw it aside with a decision to lash out about crowd sizes at his swearing in and to rewrite the history of his dealings with intelligence agencies. The lack of discipline troubled even senior members of Mr. Trump's circle, some of whom had urged him not to indulge his simmering resentment at what he saw as unfair news coverage. Instead, Mr. Trump chose to listen to other aides who shared his outrage and desire to punch back. By the end of the weekend, he and his team were scrambling to get back on script. New presidents typically find the adjustment from candidate to leader to be a jarring one, and Mr. Trump was not the first to get drawn into the latest flap in a way that fritters away whatever political good will comes with an inauguration. Former President Bill Clinton got off to a tough start by engaging on issues that were not central to his agenda, most notably gays in the military, and took a while to learn how to focus on his highest priorities. But Mr. Clinton showed none of the combativeness and anger of Mr. Trump. "The adjustment from private citizen to running the country is unbelievably hard," said Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime adviser to former President Barack Obama. He said that what people, even new presidents, often fail to fully understand "is that after you stand out there in the weather and take the oath of office in front of an adoring crowd, you walk into that building and you are in charge of the free world. " At first, at least, Mr. Trump seemed to be resisting the notion that he should adjust his approach now that he is in office. After all, his pugilistic style was a winning formula, one that got him to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the first place. Many of his supporters cheer him taking on the establishment. And some allies said any blowback would not matter long anyway. "Ultimately this is about governing," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has advised Mr. Trump. "There are two things he's got to do between now and 2020: He has to keep America safe and create a lot of jobs. That's what he promised in his speech. If he does those two things, everything else is noise. " "The average American isn't paying attention to this stuff," he added. "They are going to look around in late 2019 and early 2020 and ask themselves if they are doing better. If the answer's yes, they are going to say, 'Cool, give me some more. '" That is the long view and ultimately perhaps the most important one. The short view from many political professionals is that Mr. Trump's debut was not a success. The president himself seemed to be trying to find a way forward as the weekend proceeded. He danced to "My Way" on Friday night and did it his way on Saturday, but by Sunday he seemed to be trying something different. A day after waves of opponents gathered in Washington and cities around the nation and world to protest his presidency, Mr. Trump began Sunday still in a mood to push back. "Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election!" he posted on Twitter in the morning. "Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly. " Kellyanne Conway, his counselor, contributed to the combative mood in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd when she described the falsehoods that the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, had told reporters Saturday night as "alternative facts" — an assertion that lit up Twitter. However, Mr. Trump later adopted the more demeanor that presidents typically take. "Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy," he wrote on Twitter. "Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. " Mr. Trump faces a challenge few of his predecessors have confronted. Having won an Electoral College victory but not the popular vote, he entered office with less public support in the polls than any other president in recent times. After a transition in which he did relatively little to reach out to his opponents on the left and they hardly warmed to him, he found hundreds of thousands of protesters chanting just a few blocks from his new home on the first morning he woke up there. That has left the new White House feeling besieged from Day 1, fueling the president's grievances and, in the view of some of his aides, necessitating an aggressive strategy to defend his legitimacy. "The point is not the crowd size," Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, said on "Fox News Sunday" before the mood began to soften. "The point is that the attacks and the attempts to delegitimize this president in one day — and we're not going to sit around and take it. " Mr. Trump grew increasingly angry on Inauguration Day after reading a series of Twitter messages pointing out that the size of his inaugural crowd did not rival that of Mr. Obama's in 2009. But he spent his Friday night in a whirlwind of celebration and affirmation. When he awoke on Saturday morning, after his first night in the Executive Mansion, the glow was gone, several people close to him said, and the new president was filled anew with a sense of injury. He became even more agitated after learning of a pool report by a Time magazine reporter incorrectly reporting that a bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. (The reporter, Zeke Miller, did not see the bust and, after realizing the error, quickly issued a correction and apology.) While Mr. Trump was eager to counterattack, several senior advisers urged him to move on and focus on the responsibilities of office during his first full day as president. That included a trip to the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he had been coached to demonstrate support of the agency and criticize Senate Democrats for delaying confirmation of his nominee to lead it, Mike Pompeo. The advisers left thinking he agreed. But Mr. Spicer, who often berated reporters for what he called biased coverage during the campaign, shares Mr. Trump's dark view of the news media and advocated an declaration of war. After racing through his words of reconciliation at the C. I. A. in Langley, Va. Mr. Trump launched into a rambling, unscripted discussion that drifted to the topic of crowd size, making a series of verifiably false claims. Mr. Spicer then went to the White House briefing room for his first turn at the lectern and issued a blistering attack on reporters, made his own false claims and then stormed out without taking questions. Some of the president's supporters found the first weekend troubling. L. Lin Wood, a prominent libel lawyer who was a vocal defender of Mr. Trump's on Twitter during the campaign, said that he considered it a dangerous debut. "To someone who believed we might have a good opportunity to change, it's just a terrible start. Because he's got a long way to go," Mr. Wood said. "This is going to go downhill quickly if it's not changed, and that's not good for any of us. "


Actress and feminist activist Lena Dunham has come under fire recently for her history of racism, for example, a tweet she posted in 2010 referring to African Americans as "rodents. "["I'm never mad and I never feel victimized when people point out that they've been injured in some way by my behavior. I truly don't feel like I deserve a certain kind of pass for my feminism or for my politics," Dunham said during an appearance on comedian Phoebe Robinson's WNYC podcast, Sooo Many White Guys. "When you're living your life in the public eye, you will fuck up and you will fall down, and the only power you have is to apologize and keep moving," Dunham explained. The actress attempted to atone, specifically, for projecting sexist thoughts onto New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. when the two briefly shared a table at last year's Met Ball. "I'm not saying that this is in any way an excuse, [but] I move through the world feeling very awkward. It was at a table of notably beautiful women sitting there. I'm just having the experience of being a girl around what I consider to be like a hot, desirable athlete. So that was just projecting my own insecurity," Dunham said about falsely attributing comments to Beckham Jr. rejecting her "marshmallow" body that he did not make. "I hadn't understood the way that it fed into a very dark history of, you know, black men being lynched for not responding to white women in the way white women felt they were supposed to be responded to," Dunham said, maintaining that she was simply ignorant of the implications of her actions. "I understood the minute that that was pointed out to me what the issue was. I was seeing myself as the chubby I am inside of myself, and not the person who is a cultural figure, who has the power to say something that could be hurtful and destructive. " Later in the interview, Robinson, a black actress from New York City, grilled Dunham about the lack of characters in the early seasons of her HBO show Girls — a raunchy dramedy about four privileged white girls living in the Bronx. "There was just a certain amount of ignorance," Dunham confessed, referencing her privileged white liberal childhood. "I almost wasn't making a choice because choice implies knowledge. At that point, to be totally frank, I didn't have enough women of color in my life talking to me about what representation meant to them for me to even understand that my show would be seen and have that kind of power. " To be sure, Dunham says she has learned from her mistakes and promises never to create another show about "four white girls. " "We're not going to make another show that has four white girls on the poster," she said, "because now, we've been very deeply educated about how much representation matters. " The former Hillary Clinton campaign spokeswoman has been busy since failing to fulfill her promise to move to Canada if Donald Trump won the election. After wishing, last month, that she had an abortion, Dunham gave a "sizable donation to abortion funds" and Planned Parenthood. During the weekend, Dunham got naked, jumped in a tub of water, and took to Twitter to encourage her followers to sign up for Obamacare before the January 31 enrollment deadline: Inspired by @captdope, here's a commercial for HEALTH INSURANCE. https: . — get what's yours #pullthisad 🙏 pic. twitter. — Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) January 28, 2017, Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson.


Each year, the People For the American Way s Equine Posterior Achievement Award is granted to public figures who drag America to a new low of right-wing extremism. For several years now, Ted Cruz has been honored with the top spot. But this year, the prize has been handed to Donald Trump.It s official Donald, you are the biggest horse s a$$ in America according to the adjudication panel of People for the American Way.Will Trump be as quick to crow about this victory as he was when he was crowned Man of the Year by WorldNetDaily? It didn t seem to bother him that the site is conspiracy theory central, and as Right Wing Watch points out, is convinced that Obama is about to throw every man, woman and child in America into a FEMA camp.Trump worked hard for this honor though. He labeled all latin American immigrants as drug dealers and rapists, he called for Muslims to be banned from entering the U.S. (even Muslim Americans returning from holiday), he lied that thousands and thousands of Muslims in America cheered while 9/11 was happening, and failed to retract or apologize when he was busted for it. Instead he chose to stand up at his next rally and physically mock the disabled reporter who had exposed his lie. On top of this, he spends the majority of time hate-tweeting any journalist or media outlet that dare refuse to kiss his trust fund tycoon posterior.This level of commitment to running for President as a bigoted man child needs to be honored somehow, and thankfully, People For The American Way solved the problem for us. Sadly, it does mean that Ted Cruz winning streak is over. He will clearly have to work harder to win back the accolade next year. His brand of evangelical, homophobic, anti-choice, anti-science, pro-gun BS might well appall any rational human being but there s a new bigot in town.Featured Image via Flickr/Flickr


If history is written by the victors, it is typically filmed by the crowd pleasers. Whether Hollywood histories chronicle the exploits of brave gladiators, courageous soldiers or noble civilians, they almost always exalt the past in a similar cinematic register, with soaring speeches, swelling strings, sweeping montages, thrilling fights and breathless romances. When the filmmaker Jeff Nichols ("Take Shelter," "Midnight Special") was writing the spare, understated script for his new drama, "Loving," he knew that his quiet approach was unusual, particularly for a film about a historical subject so well suited to the fall's noisy film awards circuit. In 1958, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, an interracial couple, were married in Washington, D. C. A short time later, back home in Virginia, the pregnant Mrs. Loving and her new husband, a bricklayer, were yanked out of their bed by police enforcing the state's Racial Integrity Act, which prohibited interracial marriage. They were arrested and ordered by a judge to dissolve their union or leave the state for 25 years. For nearly a decade, the Lovings persevered, until the 1967 Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia, struck down laws. The Lovings' case remade American history, yet Mr. Nichols described the emotional peak of the film as, "a man coming home and crying on the edge of the bed because he can't take care of his wife. " He spoke in his Arkansas drawl over lunch at a downtown Manhattan restaurant: "That's what I'm giving people as a climax? But it's so true and that's what's so crushing. That guy was good at one thing: going out and building a brick wall. That should have been enough. " The film, starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as the couple, has received some of the year's best reviews for its deliberate restraint. "There are few movies that speak to the American moment as movingly — and with as much idealism," The New York Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote, adding that the "insistent, quotidian quiet of 'Loving' can feel so startling. " In part, that quietness emerged after Mr. Nichols watched Nancy Buirski's intimate documentary "The Loving Story" and hours of archival footage of the couple. He was struck by Mildred's polite dignity and Richard's taciturn silence. When he learned that the Lovings opted not to attend the Supreme Court on the day of the ruling but instead receive the news by phone, he said his approach came into focus. "Immediately I saw that end scene, which may or may not represent reality: Richard playing with his kids on the lawn and not saying anything," Mr. Nichols said. He was aware enough of the danger of such a contrarian choice that he called his producers at Big Beach to warn them, or at least temper their expectations. "I remember saying, 'I don't think this is going to be 'The Help,' though 'The Help' made a lot of money and got nominated for a lot of Oscars," he said. "I guess I must have known we were taking a risk in its execution but I never thought there was another way. " However, when Mr. Nichols was looking for financing, he met one investor who was not so confident. "He'd shown the script to his bigwig boss who said, 'I just don't get it. It's like a courtroom drama without the courtroom,'" he said. When this financier asked Mr. Nichols if he could "punch it up," Mr. Nichols said he launched into the sort of rebellious speech that is absent in his film. "What you need to worry about right now is not whether I'm going to punch up this script so you can be involved," he recalled saying. "What you need to be worried about is how I will ever come back to work with you guys ever again because that is the most simplistic, stupid response I've heard. " Peter Saraf, a Big Beach producer on the film, said that the production company knew what it was getting into. "Jeff's idea was to tell the story from Richard and Mildred's point of view and stick to it," he said. "You can't commit to that and then say oh, but we need the big courtroom moment with the gavel falling. " Showtime's 1996 movie "Mr. and Mrs. Loving," produced with Hallmark Entertainment and starring Timothy Hutton and Lela Rochon, hit more predictable beats and portrayed Richard as more charming and garrulous. But Mr. Edgerton said in a telephone interview that he was drawn to Mr. Nichols's version of the character, who was, "just shut down and emasculated and weathered by this situation," he said, and more in keeping with the man in the documentary footage. "Every year in Hollywood, true stories get made and we feel the need to renovate them, and suit them up," Mr. Edgerton said, then continued: "That's legitimate sometimes. But to make Richard more articulate or defiant or to place him in that courtroom would have negated the idea of trying to tell a true story truthfully. " Or as Ms. Negga put it, when discussing her character on the phone, "It would have been really unfaithful and quite grotesque to have made her any different. " Though the two stars have been nominated for Gotham Independent Film Awards, one of the many ceremonies that make up Academy Award season, they will not have the explosive reels of other, often more famous, contenders. In today's market, quiet adult dramas don't sell themselves, and reviews only go so far. So Mr. Nichols, who notes that he is "not a filmmaker who wants to operate in obscurity," and his cast have been busy selling the film in a way that might have mortified the Lovings. "If Mildred were alive now, I don't think she'd want to do any junkets, any of this nonsense, any of this hoopla," said Ms. Negga, on a day in which she joked that she had done 782 interviews. "And there's not much that would have terrified Richard more. " Mr. Nichols initially objected when the film's domestic distributor, Focus Features, wanted to use the movie's few memorable lines in the trailer, including, "We may lose the small battles but win the big war. " (As Mr. Edgerton said, "Mildred didn't talk much but when she did it was kind of worth quoting. ") Then he relented. "This film doesn't speak with the histrionics of other potential award contenders, but it does fit into the frame of the award season and that's still how they're going to cut the trailer," he said. "The is just to get people into the theater. I get it. My hope is that people will go see the movie maybe expecting one thing but maybe pleased it's something else. " Mr. Nichols, polishing off his steak and fries along with his fifth of the day's seven interviews, said that in the thundering horse race of the Oscar season: "'Loving' is not even a horse. We are a whole other animal. "


British police said on Monday that a cordon in Victoria Square in the northern English town of Bolton had been lifted after a package at the site was found to be not suspicious. Greater Manchester Police had earlier evacuated the square as a precautionary measure while they investigated reports of a suspicious package.


Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ventured outside his beleaguered nation for the first time in more than four years Wednesday to meet Russia's Vladimir Putin in a surprise visit to Kremlin patrons now backing Syria's government with military might. The landmark trip is a powerful signal of Russia's growing support for the embattled Syrian government as it fights an armed rebellion that includes factions backed by the West and many Middle East partners. Russian warplanes have struck Syrian rebel targets across the country in recent weeks, allowing Assad's forces to go on the offensive and giving the Damascus government a critical lifeline after near-constant battles since 2011. Russia insists it is battling the Islamic State, which controls parts of Syria, but anti-government rebels and activists say few of the Russian strikes have hit the jihadists. Assad has painted his government's military crackdown as a fight against terrorism. But the Russian intervention has deepened tensions with Washington, which is leading separate airstrikes against the Islamic State and rejects a long-term role for Assad in Syria's future. [Obama's challenge in three words: "Assad must go"] The Pentagon and NATO allies have expressed worry over possible inadvertent encounters between Russian and U.S.-led coalition aircraft in the skies over Syria. Neighboring Turkey has accused Russia of twice violating its airspace and shot down a Russian-made drone last week. On Friday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry is expected to meet with his counterparts from Russia and two main Assad foes — Turkey and Saudi Arabia — to discuss Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Putin has made clear that Russia seeks to have a key role in any moves on Syria's political future, apparently to ensure that Moscow does not lose its main foothold in the region. "We are ready to make our contribution not only in the course of military actions . . . but during the political process," Putin said, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin. But few specific details emerged from the meetings with Assad. The extraordinary trip was announced after Assad had already returned to Damascus. Putin thanked Assad for visiting Moscow at Russia's request, praised the Syrian people for fighting opponents for several years "practically on their own" and said that "serious results have been achieved in this battle," according to the Kremlin transcript. "If it were not for your actions and decisions, the terrorism that is spreading through the region now would have made even greater gains, and spread to even wider territories," Assad said to Putin, according to the transcript. Putin said that at least 4,000 Islamist militants from the former Soviet Union are now fighting in Syria, and he warned that they could not be allowed to foment instability in Russia. He also reiterated the eventual need for a political settlement to end the conflict. The West has demanded that Assad step down as part of any political transition, a condition Putin did not address in his remarks. In the meeting with Assad, Putin said his government believes that "positive results" in military operations will lay the foundation for long-term resolution to Syria's conflict. "We would do this, of course, in close contact with the other global powers and with the countries in the region that want to see a peaceful settlement to this conflict," he said. The Kremlin meetings unfolded a day after the Pentagon's new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held talks in Iraq, seeking to bolster U.S. support for Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. said Iraqi leaders gave assurances that Baghdad has not reached out to Russia to possibly expand its airstrikes. But a group of Iraqi political leaders and influential Shiite militias have urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to request Russian airstrikes on Islamic State militants, the Reuters news agency reported. [Did U.S. aid to Syrian rebels prompt Russian moves?] Photographs released by the Kremlin also showed Assad dining with Putin and other top Russian officials, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Russian warplanes have carried out dozens of strikes daily against targets in Syria since bombing began Sept. 30. Russia says it is focused on fighting the Islamic State in Syria, but many of the strikes have been directed against other Islamists and more moderate forces opposed to Assad. The West says that Russia's main goal is to prop up Assad and allow his forces to go on the offensive, not fight the Islamic State. Russian and U.S. officials announced Tuesday that they had signed a "deconfliction" agreement to regulate aircraft and drone traffic over Syria. On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry released video of a Russian jet tailing what appeared to be an American Reaper drone over Syria. The ministry said the only aircraft legally in Syrian airspace are Russian. Reuters on Tuesday said three Russians were killed in an artillery strike in Syria, citing an intelligence source. The Defense Ministry denied that any Russian service members have been killed in Syria. Critics have said that Russia may send unofficial forces, or "volunteers," as it has done in the Ukrainian conflict. There was no immediate comment from Washington on Assad's trip. But in NATO member Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he hoped Assad would stay in Russia. "If only he could stay in Moscow longer, to give the people of Syria some relief," Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara. Little common ground between Moscow and Washington Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world


Rafael Nadal, who has not played a match since withdrawing from the French Open in May because of a wrist injury, sounded a note of optimism that his recovery would allow him to compete in the Rio Olympics, after he missed the London Olympics four years ago with a different injury. "Although, as I always say, there is nothing certain in this life," Nadal told reporters in Majorca on Wednesday. The uncertainty surrounding the Rio Olympics has become more pronounced in tennis, with four top players in the last five days having announced that they will skip the Games, now only two and a half weeks away. Two men, Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych, and two women, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova, expressed concerns over Zika, which had been largely minimized by players who answered questions about the virus during the French Open and Wimbledon. "I concluded that the risks are too high for my career and for my health, especially as a woman," Halep said in a statement on Facebook. "Family is much too important for me and I can't risk not being able to have one of my own after my career in tennis is over. " Berdych, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals, said previous tournaments had kept him too busy to think about the Olympics until recently. "Obviously, I've known about the virus a long time, since when it all started," Berdych said Tuesday at the Citi Open in Washington. "But of course the season was going on" Berdych, who said he hoped to compete in the 2020 Olympics, said that he could not justify the risks that he saw to his life after tennis. "I'm going to play two, three, four years, and then the rest of my life will be another 60 years, something like that," Berdych said. "If something happens that makes that not the way you want it, because of one week or one tournament, you might have a sad life. No, I don't think so I don't want to take that risk, even if the risks are possibly small or whatever. " Although several male players removed themselves from Olympic consideration because of a desire to focus on ATP events — which Raonic also cited in an interview after his initial announcement — only one player had mentioned Zika before late last week as a reason for not traveling to Brazil. That was Alexandr Dolgopolov, who pulled out in June and cited Zika as a particular concern giving his existing medical concerns, which include Gilbert's syndrome, a liver condition. Concerns over Zika had been discussed privately, however. Horia Tecau, who had planned to play mixed doubles with Halep, a fellow Romanian, before she announced her withdrawal, said that Halep had expressed concerns weeks ago about the virus. Tecau, who still hopes to qualify for the mixed doubles event with a partner, said the withdrawals by Halep and other athletes had disappointed him, especially given what he sees as the relatively low risk posed by the virus. "When I keep hearing about this virus, if you sit down and think about all the stuff that we go through during the year, with everything that's happening in the world now, there's a lot of risk everywhere," Tecau said. "I think this Zika virus is a very small percentage out of that risk. It's not a solid enough reason. " As an example of overblown concern, Tecau pointed to a report from the United States State Department about concerns regarding the Olympic Games that the ATP had distributed to players. While 20 of the 33 pages focused on crime and security, less than one page focused on Zika. Other players are also confident. Denis Kudla, an American, expressed faith in organizers' preparedness and said, "It's going to take a lot more than that to not go to the Olympics. " Brazilians, such as Bruno Soares, a doubles champion at this year's Australian Open, have been outspoken about assuaging the panic over the virus. "It's not the end of the world or something like this," Soares said. "I feel like it's a little bit of my duty just to try to inform people. " Soares has cited the ATP event in Rio de Janeiro in February, when mosquitoes are in season, as reason for his fellow players to be at ease. "So many guys came to me in the last swing in Europe saying, 'What's the real situation over there? '" Soares said. "International media is just making such a huge thing out of it. I'm saying: 'Listen, guys: I'm from Brazil. We played the Rio event in the summer, when the mosquitoes are way worse — they don't really grow during winter — and there was zero cases.' If you go to Brazil, there's no worry about that. People are just living normal lives. " Others remain concerned over the mixed signals. Samantha Stosur, an Australian, said she was "absolutely, 100 percent going" but admitted that she had more questions about these Games than about the three previous Olympics she had attended. Eugenie Bouchard, a Canadian, remains undecided. "I don't know if anyone knows enough about it to really give a good opinion on whether, as athletes, we should go or not," Bouchard said. "I just don't know if the health of my future babies is worth it. So that's what I'm trying to decide in my head. " Sloane Stephens of the United States said that she had received conflicting medical advice but that she planned to go — and to pack the mosquito nets she had already bought. "One doctor I talked to said, 'You shouldn't go, because we don't know what's going to happen,' and yada, yada," Stephens said. "And some other doctors are like, 'You know, if this is your dream and you want to go play the Olympics? Go. ''"


In what might be the most shocking 'campaign ad' of the election season, Americans are shown the dangerous potential of a Hillary Clinton presidency.  While Donald Trump attempts to ease tensions with the world's nuclear powers, Clinton ramps up her frightening rhetoric that could undoubtedly tip global stability and usher in a nuclear world war. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles


Jessica Davis (right) and Susan Oliver (left) (pictured above) are the widows of two Northern California sheriff s deputies who were shot to death in 2014 by a convicted felon who had twice been deported to Mexico.Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes tried to plead guilty to the murders of Sacramento County Sheriff s Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer County Sheriff s Deputy Michael Davis Jr. but was ordered to stand trial in October.Jamiel Shaw Sr., the father of a Los Angeles teen who was killed by a gang member who was in the country illegally, will also attend and sit with First Lady Melania Trump. Shaw s son, a standout football player, was shot by Pedro Espinoza as he walked home. Espinoza was sentenced to death in 2012.Shaw strongly supported Trump during the election, speaking during the Republican National Convention and appearing with Trump at a rally in Costa Mesa. SHAW SPEAKING AT THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION:The other guests invited by the president to the speech are Maureen McCarthy Scalia, the widow of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; Megan Crowley, a young woman who was expected to die within a few years of being born; and Kenisha Merriweather, a low-income African-American woman who struggled in school before attending private school on scholarship and becoming the first person in her family to graduate high school and college. LA Times


With a bitter election campaign finally over, the Congress will reconvene this week to try to set aside its partisan differences long enough to keep the government from closing. As President-elect Donald Trump shapes his administration, Republicans are expected to move away from initial plans for compromise funding legislation and opt instead for a short-term measure to keep the government running into next year, when they will have control of Congress and the White House. Washington has been operating since Oct. 1 under a temporary "continuing resolution" on the budget. It expires on Dec. 9. Lawmakers will be trying to approve a new one before then. Mired in partisan gridlock, Congress in recent years has seldom completed the entire federal budget process, falling back frequently on stop-gap measures that last a few months. During their "lame-duck" session starting this week, lawmakers will have little time to draft another continuing resolution to cover funding U.S. agencies and military operations. Congress is tentatively set to adjourn by Dec. 17 and has an additional break over the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. A new Congress will meet in January, with the 100-seat Senate more closely split than before last week's elections. Neither party will have the 60 votes needed to move legislation easily through the chamber. The voters last Tuesday also preserved the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, though it is slightly smaller, giving the Democrats more power to block the Republicans. Legislation to streamline federal regulations for new drugs could come up during the lame duck session. So could funding for cancer research, precision medicine and treatments for opioid addiction, said congressional aides. Some conservative House Republicans want a budget measure that will expire in March, which would coincide with needed action on the federal debt limit, according to House aides. Others have talked about a continuing resolution that would run until sometime February, giving the new president and Congress enough time to determine their priorities for more comprehensive funding legislation for the remainder of the federal fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. Before the election shifted the political center of gravity in favor of Republicans, Republican leaders had talked about crafting funding legislation through negotiations with Democrats and President Barack Obama and approving it before Christmas.


Candidates allied with Argentine President Mauricio Macri enjoyed sweeping victories in Sunday s mid-term election, strengthening his position in Congress while dimming prospects for a political comeback by his predecessor Cristina Fernandez. A free-spending populist who nearly bankrupted the country during her 2007-2015 rule, Fernandez came in a distant second in her race for the Senate representing Buenos Aires, Argentina s most populous province. With 98 percent of ballots counted by the interior ministry, Macri s former education minister, Esteban Bullrich, had 41.34 percent versus 37.27 percent for Fernandez in the province that is home to nearly 40 percent of Argentine voters. Macri s Cambiemos or Let s Change coalition won the top five population centers of Buenos Aires City, and Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Mendoza provinces. No single party had won all five in a mid-term vote since 1985. Today the change elected in 2015 has been consolidated, Vice President Gabriela Michetti told voters. The election results, largely in line with pre-vote opinion polls, robbed the opposition of the two-thirds majority needed to block presidential vetoes, said Ignacio Labaqui, a local analyst with New York-based consultancy Medley Global Advisors. This is a significant boost for the Macri administration, particularly because of the defeat of Cristina in Buenos Aires province, Labaqui said. Fernandez s second-place showing still grants her one of the province s three Senate seats under Argentina s list system. One third of the Senate and half of the house were elected, and Macri s coalition will not have a majority. The private sector has worried about a political resurgence by Fernandez, who is loved by millions of low-income Argentines helped by generous social spending during her administrations. Fernandez thanked voters at her campaign headquarters and said her Citizen s Unity party would remain a firm opposition to Macri s economic model. Critics say Fernandez s growth-at-all-costs policies stoked inflation and distorted the economy through heavy-handed currency controls. She has been further isolated politically by graft accusations. Fernandez, who as a senator will have immunity from arrest but not from trial, says there may have been corruption in her government but denies personal wrongdoing. Bullrich and Fernandez were tied in a non-binding primary in August but Bullrich pulled ahead in polls soon after, helped by a burst of economic growth as Fernandez failed to unify the Peronist opposition behind her. People are more confident in the future, the economy, in making investments. They are tired of corruption and populism, said Cecilia de Francesca, a 50-year-old writer who was celebrating at the Cambiemos campaign headquarters. Argentina s Merval stock index and its peso currency have strengthened on bets Fernandez would not get enough support to launch a serious bid for the presidency in 2019. Investors, particularly in Argentina s vast agriculture and budding shale oil sectors, have said they want to see Macri push through labor and tax reforms aimed at lowering business costs in Latin America s third-biggest economy.


Russia is working together with Saudi Arabia to unify the Syrian opposition, Russia s RIA news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying on Friday. Lavrov was speaking at a meeting with United Nations special envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who is visiting Moscow. De Mistura said a new Syrian constitution will be one of the main items on the agenda for UN-sponsored talks in Geneva next week between opposing sides in the Syria conflict, RIA reported.


White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said on Monday he expects the Treasury secretary to use extraordinary cash management measures after the government's current debt ceiling extension expires on March 15. "The secretary of the Treasury actually makes the decision and I expect him to do what all previous secretaries of the Treasury have done, at least all the ones that I'm familiar with, to use those measures to extend that date," Mulvaney said in an interview on Fox News. "But we will deal with it," he said, "certainly" before Congress recesses in August. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at his Senate confirmation hearing last month that he would like to see an increase in the debt ceiling "sooner rather than later" to avoid another standoff with Congress that could upset financial markets. The United States is one of few nations in which the legislature must approve periodic increases in the legal limit on how much money the federal government can borrow. Rather than setting a specific dollar limit on the debt, Congress in 2015 simply suspended the ceiling until March 15, allowing normal borrowing to continue. The debt ceiling will reset at the total debt level outstanding on that day, but Congress will need to approve a new debt ceiling or extension. As of Feb. 23, the federal debt stood at about $19.88 trillion, according to Treasury data. But analysts estimate that Treasury can continue to borrow and avoid a payment default for several months past March 15 even with no action from Congress as it deploys its extraordinary cash management measures. In the past, the Treasury has been able to stave off depletion of its cash reserves with steps such as temporarily halting investments in some pension funds for federal workers and suspending sales of certain securities to state and local governments. Although such steps are known as "extraordinary measures," they are routinely used by Treasury during debt ceiling debates. In 2011, Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating for the first time after a gridlocked Congress waited until the government was possibly within hours of defaulting on its debt to raise the ceiling.


Can you imagine being POTUS and having this threat every day while you re in the WhiteHouse? The threats are there but this type of threat is frightening because this man is apparently mentally ill. We were unable to find any pictures of this man. He made vile and graphic threats to President Trump and was charged:A truck driver has been charged in federal court with threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump in several phone calls to Secret Service field offices.Special Agent Matthew Lariviere wrote in a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday that James Anthony Jackson repeatedly called the Secret Service field office in Chicago on Oct. 12-13 and made more phone calls to the field office in Detroit on Oct. 18 threatening to blow Trump s brains out. Better watch Donald Trump ass, ya bitch, Jackson said, according to court records. Ya ll think someone playing with yo dumbasses, I am going to blow white brains out his (expletive) head. It appeared Jackson was masking his real number, according to the agent.Jackson called from a phone with a 616 area code number.The number was registered to James Jackson Profit Group LLC in Grand Rapids, according to the agent. The company, which does not appear in state business records, is linked to an outreach center in Grand Rapids.Phone records also showed Jackson frequently called a woman in the 517 area code. The woman told investigators she had met a man online named Jamie who had harassed and threatened her from the same Grand Rapids-area phone number used by Jackson.Jamie threatened to cut off her head and parade it in front of the White House for Trump, according to the court filing.On Friday, investigators interviewed Jackson s uncle.Jackson had cursed and threatened relatives, the uncle said.Agents played a recording of one of the Trump threats for Jackson s sister and she confirmed the voice belonged to Jackson, according to the complaint.The News reports Jackson was born in 1984 but a hometown wasn t available and the U.S. Attorney s Office refused to discuss the case.Via Detroit News


Throughout the past 19 years, Donald Trump has been sued no less than eight times for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at his various properties, and has done his best to drag out these cases for as long as possible. In addition, a federal inspection at one of his properties also turned up multiple ADA violations.Five of the cases ended in a settlement and two others were resolved in consent decrees that required Trumpto make modifications to the properties to bring them into compliance with the ADA. One ended when both sides requested the case be dismissed and another was brought to a close in a bankruptcy.Christine Da Silva, a Trump Hotels spokeswoman, claims that Trump works very hard and spends lots of money to make sure his buildings are accessible to people with disabilities. It is the policy at all of our properties to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This handful of cases, many of which are over ten years old, are not representative of our organization s strong record of ADA compliance. However, that handful of cases is pretty damning and doesn t support Trump s claims.In a suit filed in 1997, James Conlon, who is paraplegic, filed a lawsuit against Trump s Atlantic City Plaza Hotel alleging basic and serious deficiencies in accessibility. He stayed at the hotel and although he was placed in a room that was supposedly accessible, the toilets and showers were not usable by someone in a wheelchair. As for the public restrooms, they were so inaccessible he had to ask for help from strangers to be able to use them at all. A year later, Trump settled the case and agreed to renovate the accessible guest rooms and public restrooms, bringing them into compliance with the ADA. But a year later, Trump admitted to a judge that the renovations had yet to be completed.In 2001, a suit was brought by Robert Levine and Frieda Zames, who are both wheelchair users. They alleged that Trump International kept the wheelchair lift locked and when employees finally managed to locate the key, they had no idea how to use it. Levine said the degrading incident made him feel like a second-class citizen. Zames said it was as if she were a grade school child asking permission to go to the restroom. In an attempt to shift the responsibility, Trump blamed the architects. The case was amicably settled in 2009 after both sides decided to dismiss the case.In 2003, Conlon filed suit against Trump once again, this time alleging the bus between New York and the Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino was only accessible to wheelchair users if notice was given at least a week in advance. Naturally, Trump sued the bus company and said it was all their fault, but he eventually settled the case.In 2004, a disabled Purple Heart veteran filed suit against the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York, alleging the property was not equipped with adequately accessible emergency exits, guest rooms and restrooms. Trump did everything he could to get rid of the suit, besides just making his hotel accessible to people with disabilities, that is. He attempted to have the case dismissed and dragged it out for three years. Just like in 2004, Trump blamed the architects and even launched a countersuit, which a judge called bullsh*t on and dismissed.Helena Berger, the president and CEO of the nonprofit American Association of People with Disabilities, said Trump s relentless attempts to squirm his way out of the suit were appalling. What was so striking and frankly appalling was the way he tried to fight [the violations]., Berger said. That, I think, is really telling. The Plaza Hotel became the subject of another complaint in 2007, which the plaintiffs eventually agreed to dismiss. Yet another lawsuit was brought against the hotel in 2008 but came to an end when Trump s company declared bankruptcy in 2009.In 2011, the Trump Taj Mahal settled with the Department of Justice after an inspection by the U.S. Attorney s Office turned up a long list of ADA violations. And more recently, in 2014, Trump claimed that making the pool at the Trump National Doral Miami golf course would impose an undue burden. Four months after the suit was filed, Trump and the plaintiffs entered into a consent decree.


At 7 a. m. on Monday, the line for the soup kitchen snaked through a hallway of St. Bartholomew's Church in Midtown Manhattan as men and a few women, bundled in layers of worn jackets and sweatshirts, waited for a breakfast of mixed greens and egg noodles with beef donated by the nearby Waldorf Astoria. On Tuesday, a handful of soup kitchen regulars will stand in lines at polling places around New York City to cast their votes in a presidential contest where the struggles of poverty rarely made their way into the national debate. But with the help of the League of Women Voters, volunteers with Crossroads Community Services, a nonprofit founded by the church, held voter registration drives in August and September. Homeless people are guaranteed the right to register to vote in New York despite not having fixed addresses as a result of a lawsuit argued by the Coalition for the Homeless in 1984. Wendy Range, 51, signed up, registering for the first time since the 1990s. "It was too important to not have a voice," she said. Ms. Range said she left an abusive home in Dansville, N. Y. where she was discriminated against as a teenager for being gay. Now, she chuckles at the memory of her first vote at 18 when she supported Ronald Reagan. But she grew serious when discussing how her failure to vote over two decades began with apathy and was reinforced by poverty. Ms. Range, who had attended college and had worked on lighting crews for Off Broadway shows, said her finances grew tenuous in 2008 and she lost her job to budget cuts in 2010. She said she could no longer afford her $ studio in Chelsea and became homeless. She also had no time to think about elections. "Think about being on the street," she said during an interview at St. Bartholomew's, where she is a volunteer and a client. "It's difficult to find somewhere to use the bathroom. It's difficult to find something to eat. Imagine that, and how do I get to the polls?" But Ms. Range, who recently found a little work, said she had noticed changes in the soup line and was moved to register to vote. "A lot of people out here are working," she said. "Security guards. Men in suits. What the hell are they doing here? They're working, but they are not making enough. " As of Wednesday, there were 36, 520 adults in city shelters overseen by the Department of Homeless Services. As a voting bloc, homeless adults could be powerful, but many are uninterested and overwhelmed. "They are living in crisis and dealing with a lot of immediate needs, and that may prohibit them from voting," Giselle Routhier, policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless, said. The organization distributed around 1, 500 fliers in shelters for single adults last week, Ms. Routhier said. The flier says voting could influence local and federal housing policies. "At all levels of government, these people have the power to impact your lives," she said. Vance R. Hinton, who registered two years ago, agreed that voting is an important civic duty, but at the same time he questioned what impact homeless people could have. Born and raised in Harlem within earshot of "the organ and cheers" of Yankee Stadium, Mr. Hinton, 62, went to college with the help of basketball scholarships but fell on hard times after a longtime relationship ended in 2003. He said he once called a sleeping bag in Central Park home but lived these days on the E train. After his meal, Mr. Hinton sipped coffee and opined. He wondered which of the candidates really cared about the issues that affect him. "We have folks living in boxes and living on trains," said Mr. Hinton, a registered Democrat who was once a member of the Green Party. "None of the folks dealt with that issue. "


This social media campaign against the GAP is a great example of how the Black Lives agitators are using resources like Twitter to intimidate and threaten individuals, colleges and even large corporations like GAP. You can t blame these blacktivists for using white guilt as a weapon to game the system, as a means to gain an advantage over everyone else (Hispanics and Asians included). The real question is, when is someone going to be brave enough to stand up and say enough of this manufactured hate! The ad for Gap s latest collaboration with Ellen DeGeneres is awash with pleasing blue hues, from the kid models navy outfits to the talk show host s denim jacket.But the shades that really caught people s attention were on the children s skin. The commercial s stars were three white girls and a black girl.https://youtu.be/gdxXBqdfWMEThat, in itself, wasn t a problem. In the days following the campaign s launch last week, what drew ire from commentators online was the seeming passivity of the African American girl. While the other girls eagerly fielded DeGeneres s questions about their troupe Le Petite Cirque, she sat silent. While the white girls were highlighted performing solo acrobatic tricks, she seemed to appear only in reference to the others balancing on someone s knees or with her arm wrapped around someone s waist.At least, this was the interpretation of those who were angered by the ad. And they were angered, most of all, by a photograph that showed the white girls standing in all manner of complex poses while the black girl s arms dangled idly at her sides, her head a cushion upon which another white girl rested an elbow.This imagery sparked the usual chain of reactions online. Those who were offended minced no words in expressing their outrage, and they were promptly reprimanded by those who thought they were overreacting.So @Gap decides to use the only Black girl in this campaign as a prop ..we see you! pic.twitter.com/widB8Axk5U ArtsySneakerGirl (@BamaIntrovert) April 3, 2016That ad certainly isn't suggesting that *black* girls "can do anything," @GapKids. It's incredibly distasteful to your black consumer base. stacia l. brown (@slb79) April 3, 2016Many critics zeroed in on the caption Gap had used to introduce the campaign: Meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything. The Root s Kirsten West Savali articulated the essence of the distress: While all of the girls are adorable, and indeed, all of them should grow up to be and do anything, it becomes problematic when the black child is positioned to be a white child s prop. What race agitators at The Root neglected to mention is that the white girl and the black girl whose head her arm resting upon are actually SISTERS! @TheRoot girl with arm resting on her shoulder is her sister She didn't talk in video because she was 2 shy. everyone needs to calm down. Brooke Smith (@Iam_BrookeSmith) April 3, 2016They also neglected to post the photo from the GAP s ad campaign from last year:The company apologized Tuesday. As a brand with a proud 46 year history of championing diversity and inclusivity, we appreciate the conversation that has taken place and are sorry to anyone we ve offended, Gap spokeswoman Debbie Felix said in a statement to Fortune.The offensive image will be removed, but the campaign will move forward, the company said.


EU leaders offered Ukraine closer ties on Friday at a summit meant to cement Kiev s ties with the West, but they declined to promise that the country could one day join the bloc. As fighting escalated in Ukraine s industrial east, EU leaders held a summit with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and five other former Soviet republics, part of a tug-of-war with Russia for influence through trade and cooperation. In a summit statement also signed by Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Belarus, EU leaders agreed to the European aspirations and European choice of the partners - code for deeper integration without offering membership. Ukraine, which ousted a Russian-backed president in February 2014 in a pro-European uprising, wants the promise of future membership of the EU, the world s biggest trading bloc, as it seeks to overcome entrenched corruption and economic neglect. A promise of EU membership is important, it s symbolic, said Ukraine s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk on the margins of the biennial summit. No other country was willing to pay such a high price as we did, he told Reuters. Kiev, fighting a Russian-backed insurgency in the east, sees a promise of membership as a morale-boosting next step after agreeing a free-trade accord with the bloc and winning visa-free travel to the EU for its citizens. Some EU leaders are sympathetic to Kiev and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he promised Poroshenko a formal study into how Ukraine might join the EU s customs union. The summit s chairman Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, said: I would have preferred that the wording of the (summit) agreement were more ambitious without giving details. But other leaders warned Ukraine not to push too hard, in part because governments are seeking to curb immigration and face down far-right political parties at home, and also because Ukraine s fragile economy is not yet ready to meet EU norms. Stubbornness is good, but the most important thing is not guarantees on entering (the EU), but to be stubborn about reforms, said Lithuania s President Dalia Grybauskaite. Any membership is only as valuable as it is beneficial for Ukraine, she said, referring to the country s need to reform to meet EU business, health and other trade standards. Luxembourg s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel echoed that position, saying it was not the right moment to be discussing any future Ukrainian membership of the European Union. Backed by Washington, the European Union is seeking to build an outer ring of market democracies from the Caucasus to the Sahara without offering EU membership, a policy that has had limited success so far. Ukraine is also unhappy about being grouped in with Belarus, a Russian ally whose authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, did not attend the summit on Friday despite being invited for the first time. On leaving the summit, Poroshenko said he expected a breakthrough soon on a stalled 600 million euro ($712 million) loan to the financial sector from the EU that is held up by Ukraine s failure to meet conditions. Danylyuk told Reuters he also saw the next IMF aid tranche coming early next year. Wary that reforms will slow as Ukraine moves closer to elections in 2019, the EU and IMF governments are using their financial support to push anti-corruption reforms. European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who oversees EU integration, said it was ridiculous that 1.5 million Ukrainians signed up to a wealth declarations register last year but only 100 people had been assessed to date. Danylyuk countered that he was facing a campaign against his economic reform efforts from powerful business groups that benefited from corruption and legal loopholes. This is a fight, he said. For vested interests, it s like we are taking their money.


Standing on the bluffs of Roma, Texas on a May afternoon two border patrol agents look out over the meandering Rio Grande River that separates Mexico from the United States and recall a time when the scene was far less tranquil. Last fall, during the waning months of the Obama administration, hundreds of immigrants crossed the river on rafts at this point each day, many willingly handing themselves over to immigration authorities in hopes of being released into the United States to await court proceedings that would decide their fate. Now, the agents look out on an empty landscape. Foot paths up from the water have started to disappear under growing brush, with only the stray baby shoe or toothbrush serving as reminders of that migrant flood. The reason for the change, the agents say, is a perception in Mexico and Central America that President Donald Trump has ended the practice known as "catch-and-release," in which immigrants caught in the United States without proper documents were released to live free, often for years, as their cases ran through the court system. Now, would-be border violators know "they'll be detained and then turned right back around," said one of the two agents, Marlene Castro. "It's not worth it anymore," she said. Castro was simply echoing her boss, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who said on a visit to El Paso, Texas in April, "We have ended dangerous catch-and-release enforcement policies." But immigration attorneys, government statistics and even some officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which falls under Kelly, suggest that despite the DHS chief's statement, there has been no clear change to the catch-and-release policy. That's in large part because there are legal constraints on who can be detained and for how long, due to a shortage of beds and a court ruling limiting the stay of women and children in custody to 21 days. A separate court ruling limits detention time for immigrants whose countries refuse to repatriate them. And Kelly noted in a February memorandum that asylum seekers that have proven they have a "credible fear" of returning home could be candidates for release if they present "neither a security risk nor a risk of absconding." Daniel Bible, ICE field office director for Southern Texas, told Reuters he and his colleagues have not been issued new directions, and so continue to release illegal immigrants deemed to be low security risks, usually with notices to appear in court. "We look at each case the same way we always have," Bible said. DHS spokeswoman Jenny Burke confirmed to Reuters that the agency has not issued new guidance for releasing migrants caught at the border. Asked to explain why there had been no new guidance, given Kelly's statement in April, Burke said, "ICE officers make custody determinations on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing detention resources." In a memo made public in February, Kelly defined catch and release as any policy that allows immigrants to be released from detention while they await their court hearings, making it easy to abscond. Ending catch and release was one of Trump's central promises during the 2016 presidential campaign. Some advocates who work with migrants say they have seen little change since Trump came into office. "Sure, people are still being released," said Kevin Appleby, senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies. "Not because they believe in releasing them, but because there are not enough beds at the moment." ICE declined to provide data on the number of migrants being released into the United States. But other ICE data not previously published and reviewed by Reuters shows the pool of people not in custody and awaiting court appearances is growing. Since Trump took office in late January, the number of immigrants awaiting court proceedings while living freely in the United States has grown by nearly 30,000, rising by an average of about 7,500 per month, according to the ICE data. During the last seven months of President Barack Obama's presidency, the rolls of those awaiting legal proceedings outside of custody grew more rapidly, at an average of about 20,600 people per month. Part of the slower rate under Trump can be traced to a 58 percent drop in apprehensions of people crossing the border. Still, the numbers suggest the Trump administration is a long way from ending catch-and-release. NumbersUSA, a Washington-based organization that supports limited immigration, praised the Trump administration's tough talk and its chilling effect on illegal immigration. "That impact will be temporary, though, unless the administration follows through by ending 'catch and release' for good," it said. The Trump administration though has come up against the reality that there simply is not enough space in detention centers. Congress has funded about 34,000 beds to detain immigration violators, and the average daily population of detainees has been near or above capacity since before Trump took office. One way the administration hopes to free up detention space is to decrease the time it takes to resolve cases. The Justice Department has requested funding to hire an additional 125 immigration judges over the next two years, an increase of 50 percent. In the meantime, some border officials hope would-be migrants remain nervous. When told that ICE detention centers are still releasing many immigrants to live in the United States, Castro and her border agent colleague, who declined to be named, exchanged a look and then shrugged. "Don't tell them that," her colleague said. -See a related photo essay here reut.rs/2qZcutn


Every day we hear of more voter fraud being uncovered across the United States. This is nothing new and every election we read about more and more early voter fraud being committed. When will Republicans stop cowering to threats of racism and voter suppressions levied by the very people who are stealing our votes?There s a mere four weeks left to go before the presidential election, and the allegations of voter fraud just. Keep. Coming.The Kankakee Daily Journal, a local newspaper in a county just south of Chicago, reported last week that several citizens in the small county reported they were offered bribes in return for casting votes for Democrats. Voting officials were also looking into reports that some mail-in voter applications had been filed from outside the county.From the article:The Kankakee County State s Attorney s office says it is investigating possible voting fraud after the clerk s office reported three complaints from people who said they were offered bribes for votes.In a news release issued late Tuesday afternoon, Jamie Boyd, the state s attorney, also said several vote-by-mail applications seem to have come from people living outside of Kankakee County. This unprecedented action was taken in response to reports of individuals from Chicago offering gifts to potential voters in exchange for a vote for Kate Cloonen, Hillary Clinton and others, Boyd said in the news release. Our office takes seriously the obligation to protect the rights of citizens to vote for the candidate of their choice, and to do so without undue influence from special interest groups. The investigation will also focus on the authenticity of vote by mail requests. Several applications have been filed with the election authority that appear to be fraudulently executed. The report closely followed allegations of voter fraud in Virginia, where at least 20 dead people were illegally registered to vote by a James Madison student working for a local voter registration group called HarrisonburgVOTES. The Washington Free Beacon reported the group is run by one Joe Fitzgerald, the chairman of his local Democratic Committee, and that the student, Andrew Spieles, is also a registered Democrat.Additionally, the Virginia Voters Alliance and the Public Interest Legal Foundation found that at least 1,046 non-U.S. citizens across eight districts had voted in the 2012 presidential election.


We all remember the horrific violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia in August. White supremacists, Ku Klux Klan members, and other assorted white supremacists descended upon the historic college town to do violence, and they succeeded. Their efforts began with a torch lit march the night before, and continued with a rally the next day that quickly turned violent. It eventually ended in a white supremacist driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Now, it seems that they are at it again.As of this writing, white nationalists are holding another torch lit march in Charlottesville. As despicable as that is, it s true. White supremacist leader Richard Spencer boasted that what he calls Charlottesville 3.0 was, quote, a success. Charlottesville 3.0 was as success. pic.twitter.com/c18ktP0MWD Richard ?Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) October 8, 2017Here is a photo of the horror unfolding there, courtesy of the anti-fascist website It s Going Down s Twitter:Neo-Nazis have rallied with torches again in #Charlottesville. At emancipation square. pic.twitter.com/h4EXXQsK4h It's Going Down (@IGD_News) October 8, 2017This is the face of fascism in America, folks. This is what it has come to. Likely, they have another afternoon rally planned for tomorrow, if they were able to get a permit for the torch lit march. Further, there is likely to be more violence as well. That is what they want. Hopefully, no one gets killed this time.This story is breaking. Stay tuned to Addicting Info for further updates.


Friday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough criticized the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on President Donald Trump's executive order halting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Scarborough said that although he thought the executive order was bad policy, the appeals court's ruling was "laughable" and he said it will be overturned. "Our law professors always told us — bad facts made bad law," he said. "Horrific facts coupled with horrific politics makes for horrific law. That's exactly what happened here. " "This decision, though, is laughable," Scarborough conitnued. "This is, for me, the most disturbing part of the entire case. And by the way, at the end, this isn't going to matter because I think the White House is going to fix it up, briefly fix it up. They could do a couple quick changes and take care of these problems. But the Ninth said, 'The government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order have perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States.' As if it is the executive branches job to actually get the Intel community in and say these are all the things that are going to happen. No, in fact, Barack Obama worked with a bipartisan Congress to come up with these seven countries, not because there was specific attacks, but because they saw deteriorating security situation that they wanted to remedy. They wanted to prevent attacks. That's the entire purpose of that. " "This will be overturned," he added.


While it s certainly not true that Donald Trump will have the least diverse cabinet in history. Hell, before a generation or so ago, it was rare to see women or People of Color in positions of authority, but it s 2016. The culture is changing and skin color and gender (and religion and sexual orientation) shouldn t matter at all.Judging by the looks of his cabinet nominees so far, Trump s administration will be the least diverse since Bush George H.W. Bush.Trump, or more likely, someone working for Trump, knows that he needs to offer at least some diversity, especially with the enemies he s made in the Latino community with his wall rhetoric in the campaign. The problem is, though, he can t find any in a country with about 57 million Latinos and Hispanics. I can tell you now I have spoken to numerous folks on the transition, and they say that he s absolutely looking for qualified Latinos for a Cabinet post, said Mario Rodriguez, head of the Latino PAC Hispanic 100. Rodriguez, who sits on Trump s Hispanic advisory committee, said transition officials have asked him for recommendations and they gave him positive feedback about Trump s prior meetings with Hispanic candidates. I think some appointments are going to be pretty quick. President-elect Trump was very impressed by the candidates. He wants to put a Latino in the Cabinet, he s not doing it just for show. Source: PoliticoTrump is trying to fill the position of Agriculture Secretary with a Latino and he s receiving a lot of backlash from his farmer supporters. According to Politico, the farmers don t want it to be a political pick. Of course, they are Trump supporters, so there s a better than even chance they don t like the idea of someone with brown skin determining farm policy, especially after Trump said he wants to deport Latinos.Part of the problem is that Trump is looking for a qualified Latino to take the position. There s no doubt there are plenty, but few who likely share his political beliefs. Still, it s weird that he should look for qualified now. His current picks are some of the least qualified to ever serve office (remember, Rick Perry, who has just a Bachelor s Degree and nearly flunked a class called meats, is slated to be Energy Secretary and Ben Carson, who is a doctor, a medical doctor, will serve as Director of Housing and Urban Development) just as he is among the least qualified who will ever serve in the Office of the Presidency.Even if Trump is able to hire a Latino even a qualified one, it might not matter.Many Hispanic leaders say they are less concerned about having a Cabinet pick than what Trump s policies could mean, particularly with deportation and a wall along the Mexican border. These people say picking a Hispanic Cabinet member for agriculture could be seen as a token with little real value and liken Trump naming his only black Cabinet member to lead Housing and Urban Development.In other words, Trump could have the most diverse cabinet ever and still be the worst president for diversity in history. What Latino (or really anyone) in their right mind would want history to remember them in that way?


Doesn t Corporate America get enough breaks at the expense of the everyday American? Apparently not, because they re working on a bill that would limit the ability of the American consumer to sue, even in cases of gross negligence and flat-out illegal acts. Already it s difficult to sue due to all the legal fine print that corporations use specifically to make it harder to sue. And now Republicans want to expand and cement corporations immunity from responsibility.Of course, they gave it a name intended to deceive us into believing they re making things more fair for everyone. Leveling the playing field. Things like that. It s called the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017. It s anything but fair it tips the balance of lawsuits so far towards corporations that it s obscene.Class action lawsuits are often the only avenue for Americans to hold corporations accountable if they are victims of widespread illegal behavior. In other words, victims of fraud and scams, unsafe products and workplaces, and of human and civil rights violations, would have little to no recourse, according to a detailed analysis from Elizabeth Burch from the University of Georgia s School of Law.Other egregious behavior companies could get away with include price fixing, gender discrimination, securities fraud could go unchecked, deceptive or even false advertising could likewise go unchecked, and so much more.Sure, there are laws in place that prohibit all of that, but holding companies truly responsible for the harm that their lawlessness causes involves hurting their bottom line. Do Republicans plan to put inspectors in every corporation there is, just to ensure that they all follow the law? Class-action suits really are our only method of holding a corporation s feet to the fire when they break the law.Should this bill pass, it s anything but America first, and as such, it s a major kick in the face to regular consumers. Republicans are disgusting.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images


The White House admonished Russia on Wednesday after it vetoed a United Nations plan to continue an ongoing investigation that recently found Syria killed dozens of people with chemical weapons and implored the international body to renew the probe. Russia cast a veto at the United Nations Security Council eight days ago, preventing the renewal of a mandate for a mission by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) - known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) - that investigates the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Russia s attempts to undermine and eliminate the JIM show a callous disregard for the suffering and loss of life caused by the use of chemical weapons and an utter lack of respect for international norms, the White House said in a statement. The JIM found that the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad is to blame for a chemical attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people last April, according to a report sent to the United Nations Security Council last Thursday. This unconscionable attack marks the fourth time that the JIM has confirmed that the Assad regime used chemical weapons, underscoring the brutal and horrifying barbarism of Bashar al-Assad and making the protection provided by Russia even more egregious, the White House said. JIM was unanimously created by the 15-member U.N. Security Council in 2015 and renewed in 2016 for another year. Its mandate is due to expire in mid-November. The United States implores the UN Security Council to renew the mandate of the JIM so that we may continue to identify the perpetrators of these horrific attacks and send a clear message that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated, the White House said. In their 14th report since 2011, U.N. investigators said they had in all documented 33 chemical weapons attacks to date. Twenty-seven were by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, including seven between March 1 to July 7. Perpetrators had not been identified yet in six attacks, they said. The Assad government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. It said its strikes in Khan Sheikhoun hit a weapons depot belonging to rebel forces, a claim excluded by U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria chairman Paulo Pinheiro. That attack led U.S. President Donald Trump to launch the first U.S. air strikes on a Syrian air base.


Archives Michael's Latest Video Did America Really Pass The Test? – Hillary Clinton Is Going To Win The Popular Vote By A Wide Margin By Michael Snyder, on November 9th, 2016  The 2016 election was a test, and it would be easy to assume that since Donald Trump won the election that America passed the test. Unfortunately, it may not be that simple. A closer look at the numbers reveals a very sobering reality. Yes, Donald Trump won far more electoral votes than Hillary Clinton did, and that means that he is on track to become our next president . But Hillary Clinton is going to win the popular vote, and it is likely to be by a very wide margin once all the votes are counted.  As I write this article, Hillary Clinton has a lead of 218,000 in the popular vote, but most of the votes that have not been counted are on the west coast.  In California, Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by a 5,482,166 to 2,966,654 margin, and only 68 percent of the vote has been counted so far. So assuming that the ratio stays about the same the rest of the way, Clinton is going to add at least a million more votes to her lead just from the state of California.  Up in Washington state, Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by more than 370,000 votes, and only 60 percent of the vote has been counted there so far. So she could easily pick up another 200,000 votes in that state.  When everything is all said and done, it seems very likely that Hillary Clinton will have received well over a million more votes than Donald Trump did in this election.  So the truth is that the American people chose Hillary Clinton, but because of some electoral college magic Donald Trump is the winner of the election.  And I am certainly very, very happy that Hillary Clinton is not going to be our next president. Four years under her "leadership" would have likely been the final nail in the coffin for our nation. My hope is that she will now disappear from national politics for good.  But just because she is not going to be our next president does not mean that we passed the test.  In this election, the American people were faced with a very stark choice. Hillary Clinton is the most wicked politician that our country has ever seen, and over the past three decades the American people have gotten to know exactly who she is and what she stands for.  And despite knowing exactly what they would be getting, more Americans voted for her than voted for Donald Trump.  If every vote counted equally, she would be our next president.  I certainly don't mean to rain on the Trump parade. Christians, conservatives and patriots are right to celebrate this victory by Donald Trump. But the truth is that I don't believe that we did actually pass the test that we were faced with.  As a nation, we willingly chose Hillary Clinton by a pretty substantial margin.  And don't think that the radical left is going to forget that Trump lost the popular vote. Already, violence and protests have erupted all over the nation.  Shortly after Trump declared victory, riots broke out in Berkeley, San Jose and Oakland …  "Not my president! Not my president!" chanted anti-Trump rioters in Berkley, California as they light flares and storm the streets.  Riots erupted in Berkley, San Jose and Oakland shortly after the announcement of Donald Trump as president-elect. Rioters are breaking into stores, vandalizing cars and shooting flares.  One woman in Oakland was hit by a car on Highway 24 just after midnight and has suffered serious injuries after. When she pulled over to the right shoulder, she was surrounded by anti-Trump rioters, who vandalized her car and broke the back window, according to CHP officers.  There were reports of protesters burning American flags in some areas of the country, and there were even brawls outside of the White House .  And once the sun set on Wednesday night, the protests started again. According to USA Today , "thousands of demonstrators" have hit the streets in New York City…  In New York, thousands of demonstrators blocked off streets around Trump Tower near the busy intersection of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, chanting "hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go" and "p—y grabs back," a reference to tape of a Trump conversation from years back in which he One woman protester was topless while another climbed on top of a tree to see the activity. Taxis, city buses and passenger vehicles stood at a standstill.  In Boston, radical leftists were organizing a giant protest against Trump …  Far-left organizers are planning a mass protest in Boston against President-elect Donald Trump, citing the need to "immediately start fighting against him."  Approximately 2,300 people have indicated they will gather outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston tonight for a "Boston Against Trump Rally." According to the Facebook event page, another 5,000 people say they may be interested in attending.  "Donald Trump is the next President of the United States. We need to immediately start fighting against him. We need to build a movement to fight racism, sexism, and Islamophobia," the event description says.  Sadly, this could be the beginning of a new era of protests, rioting and civil unrest.  Instead of coming together behind the new president, the radical left seems ready to go to war.  So even though Trump won the election, the truth is that our troubles may only just be starting. More than half the country didn't want Trump, our nation was already more divided than it has been in decades before he won, and it won't take much for many of our big cities to descend into utter chaos.  Without a doubt, we should be very excited that Donald Trump won the election, but an election victory is not going to magically make our problems go away.  When faced with the most monumental election in any of our lifetimes, Hillary Clinton received the most votes from the American people, and the consequences for that decision may be far more severe than most people are now anticipating.  About the author: Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and End Of The American Dream. Michael's controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled "The Rapture Verdict" is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.


It has proven one of Donald Trump's greatest strengths in building a worldwide luxury brand: An obsessive attention to detail, down to the curtains hanging in hotel rooms and the marble lining the lobby floor. As president, it may prove one of his major liabilities, presidential historians warn. Interviews with a dozen people familiar with how Trump conducts business reveal the president-elect as a micromanager who regularly spars over details about decor in projects across his real estate and branding empire. "I'm very much involved in the details," Trump said during a June deposition in a lawsuit stemming from his development of a Washington hotel. "I was involved in the design of the building and the room sizes and the entrances and the lobby and the marble and the bathrooms and the fixtures and the bars and a lot of things." Trump announced on Wednesday that he would leave his businesses "in total" so that he could focus on the presidency. But those who have worked with him say a lifetime habit of micromanaging may be difficult to break, providing ammunition for critics who say his decisions as president will be driven by his private interests. A former employee of the Trump Organization who has worked closely with Trump was skeptical that he could leave behind his beloved company after spending decades building it up. "I can't picture him stepping aside for the presidency," the ex-employee said. Even if he does make a clean break, Trump will have to guard against getting bogged down in the bureaucratic minutiae inherent in the office. He should avoid the example of President Jimmy Carter, another famous micromanager, who spent his first months in office poring over the White House tennis court schedule, said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. Micromanagers rarely make successful presidents, said Rick Ghere, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton in Ohio. To be effective, presidents must delegate authority to members of their cabinet and rely on a range of expertise, he said. "Being a decisionmaker in a high-level public position is a lot different than being a CEO," Ghere said. Trump has said he will turn the Trump Organization over to his three adult children, who are already deeply involved in real estate projects around the world. His daughter Ivanka, for instance, was charged with overseeing the renovation of Washington's Old Post Office Pavilion, a $200 million project to turn the historic building into a luxury hotel. In cases where Trump has delegated authority, he still demonstrates a deep reluctance to let go, even when it comes to seemingly trivial details. Two people who participated in an inspection of the Washington hotel with Trump shortly before he announced his candidacy in June 2015 remember the businessman growing incensed over a detail: The restoration of exterior windows. Trump said the windows looked terrible, though one of the sources recounting the story said there didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with them. He demanded the contractor not be paid but was told the work had been done for free in the hopes of getting more business from the Trumps, according to the source. That source and two others on the project also recalled hearing Ivanka say she needed her father's approval before signing off on some decisions she wanted to make on the project. The sources said it was not uncommon for her to say she would "run this by my father" or "check with New York." Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Trump is "incredibly detail oriented as any great developer is, something he shares with his adult children including Ivanka." Trump's reluctance to step aside from his company was apparent in a New York Times interview last week in which he said, "in theory I could run my business perfectly, and then run the country perfectly." Trump's reputation as a micromanager dates back to some of his earliest building projects. In her 2013 book 'All Alone on the 68th Floor', Barbara Res, who oversaw construction of Trump Tower in Manhattan, described her boss in 1983 agonizing over the height and thickness of decorative trees in the building's atrium. Three decades later, Trump would bring his management style to the presidential campaign trail. Three sources who worked on the campaign said Trump made almost all the decisions on spending, strategy, and messaging. According to the sources, senior campaign officials were desperate to get aboard the candidate's plane early on in the presidential race, fearful if they were left behind he would change course on strategy and they would be shut out. When Paul Manafort, who was helping run Trump's campaign, secured the candidate's authorization to spend $20 million hiring field operatives, he was triumphant, according to a Republican National Committee member, recounting an RNC meeting with Manafort in April. The committee member though was perplexed - why had Manafort needed Trump's approval for an expenditure on such an essential part of his campaign, and why was the amount so small? At that point in an election year, past candidates had already begun spending upwards of $80 million on the same thing. Manafort told Reuters that while it was true most candidates simply signed off on a budget rather than reviewing each expenditure, Trump was different because he was partly funding his campaign. "I understood it and totally agreed with that approach," Manafort said. Later in the campaign, Trump was still agonizing over details. In October, he insisted on reviewing the script of a radio ad that was to be broadcast on stations with predominantly black audiences, according to a source inside the campaign. Micromanaging is not necessarily a recipe for disaster - presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Carter and Barack Obama gained reputations as micromanagers, said Nancy Koehn, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies the history of leadership in the United States. But Koehn said a micromanager with a lack of any government experience was a potentially toxic combination. "I think it is highly likely that diving into areas in which he has very little experience without an extraordinary cast of experts around him will result in poor policy decisions which will have large unintended consequences," she said. Only two of Trump's nominees so far have U.S. federal executive branch experience, although the lineup does include a state governor, several U.S. lawmakers, and a former Goldman Sachs executive.


Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions indicated that he would advise the to continue using the U. S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to house newly captured jihadists. [Sessions said he sees "no legal problem whatsoever" with doing so. His comments came in response to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asking Sessions what he would tell President Trump if he were to request legal guidance on incarcerating newly captured detainees at the Guantánamo facility, commonly known as Gitmo. "There's plenty of space. We're for it. It's a perfect place for it. Eventually, this will be decided by the military rather than the Justice Department, but I see no legal problem whatsoever with doing that," responded the new AG. "I've been there a number of times as a senator and it's just a very fine place for holding these kind of dangerous criminals," added the former Alabama Republican lawmaker. "We've spent a lot of money fixing it up, and I'm inclined to the view that it remains a perfectly acceptable place. And I think a lot of the criticisms have just been totally exaggerated. " Echoing President Trump, Sessions told Hewitt that he did not support former President Barack Obama's failed goal to shut down Gitmo, suggesting that he would encourage the new to keep the facility running. Sessions did urge the military justice system to speed up the process of Gitmo hearings, telling the conservative radio host, "By now, we should have worked through all the legal complications that the Obama administration seemed to allow to linger and never get decided, so nothing ever happened. " "So it is time for us in the months to come to get this thing figured out and start using it [military justice system] in an effective way," he continued. "In general, I don't think we're better off bringing these people to federal court in New York and trying them in federal court — where they get discovery rights to find out our intelligence — and get lawyers and things of that nature. " Towards the end of the Obama administration, the military justice system and the former president's panel proved to be capable of stepping up court hearings and detainee reviews as Obama pushed to shut down Gitmo. The attorney general's comments come nearly a month after the New York Times (NYT) reported that the Trump administration is considering ordering the Pentagon to continue using Gitmo to imprison newly captured terrorists linked to the Taliban, and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. During his presidential campaign, President Trump vowed to "load [Guantánamo] up with some bad dudes. " The new president has blasted Obama for reducing the number of detainees housed at Gitmo. Obama failed to keep his campaign promise of shutting down the detention center. The former president blamed his inability to deliver on "congressional restrictions," explicitly saying, "all these rules and norms and laws" prevented him from emptying out and ultimately closing Gitmo. However, Obama himself signed into law a bipartisan bill that prohibited him from carrying out his proposal to close down the facility. The law banned Obama officials from building or modifying U. S. facilities to house Guantánamo prisoners, a key move to facilitate the former president's plan to shut Gitmo down. Obama did dramatically reduce the prison's population, from 242 at the start of his presidency to 41 by the time he left. His administration liberated many jihadists who had been deemed "forever prisoners," or too dangerous to release. The U. S. intelligence community has determined that some (20) of the prisoners released by Obama are confirmed (9) or suspected (11) to have in terrorist activities. Nevertheless, the recidivism rate for detainees released by former President George W. Bush is higher — 113 confirmed and 75 suspected of having returned to the battlefield. Bush (532) did liberate more than three times the amount of prisoners released by Obama (161) which may explain the high recidivism rate. It appears that the more prisoners are released, the higher the likelihood some will return to terrorist activities.


Donald Trump s Republican running mate Mike Pence, made an appearance on CNN s State of the Union Saturday morning where he was grilled by the show s host, Jake Tapper. The grilling was brought on by a line of questioning regarding Trump s flip-flop on his proposal to forcefully deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.The segment begins with Tapper playing a clip of Trump from last November where he clearly states that We re going to have a deportation force, that will seek out undocumented immigrants and deport them to their country of origin.Throughout his campaign, Trump has referred to the undocumented immigrants his force would target as criminals. It s a clever bit of political double speak that trump has used. It implies that he is only going after undocumented criminals. From Trump s supporters viewpoints and his rhetoric, all undocumented immigrants are here illegally and are therefore criminals. Now that Trump is in general election mode, they need to come up with specifics. Trump cannot back away from his tough talk on immigration without burning his base. However, he also has to bring the scale of his proposals down since they are so radical they sound like they originated from a neo-Nazi s fever dream and thus alienate everyone whose hobbies don t include cutting eyeholes into white sheets.That s why during the interview Pence insists that Trump hasn t pivoted on the issue: Nothing has changed about Donald Trump s position on dealing with illegal immigration. His position and his principles have been absolutely consistent, Pence said. The choice could not be more clear for the American people. Donald Trump has been completely consistent in his positions. Tapper doesn t buy it. He responds to Pence saying: Except on this issue. The one issue you didn t really address is whether or not the 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants will be removed by a deportation force as you heard Mr. Trump say in that clip from November of last year. Let be clear: Trump has been slowly pivoting on immigration since the general election began. First, he wanted to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Now, he wants to ban people who come from what he views as terrorist nations. He is doing the same thing with his proposal to create a mass deportation force. He has to. Setting aside the fact that it would create one of the largest human rights crises in the world, it would also cost the U.S. around $600 billion dollars. It would also have a side effect of completely destroying the U.S. economy.You can watch the interview below.Featured image from video screen capture