If Jared Kushner did not realize that the establishment press and Democrats will never give him or President Donald Trump a free ride after Democrats politicized Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, he is now learning how viciously the antagonistic press can pile on when seeking to destroy their opposition. And it looks like the establishment media are just getting started. [After the Washington Post named Kushner as the "person of interest" in the FBI's Russia investigation, Kushner, in just a matter of days, as Fox News's Howard Kurtz wrote, "has become the media's biggest target — that is, right after his . " Kushner may have thought firing Comey would be a "win" for Trump because Democrats blamed Comey for costing Hillary Clinton the election. But the media never granted Trump a honeymoon period and will not give him automatic "wins" because they consider him an illegitimate outsider. And, as Kushner is finding out, because he is regarded as Trump's top adviser, Kushner will always be in the media's crosshairs no matter how much he tries to "moderate" Trump or court and charm the media. After media outlets initially reported that a White House official in Trump's inner circle was a "person of interest" in the FBI's Russia investigation, the Washington Post last Friday dropped a supposed "bombshell" report naming Kushner as the "person of interest" who allegedly wanted a "back channel" to communicate with Russian officials. But as Breitbart Joel Pollak noted, nothing in the Post's article was new: "The meeting with Kislyak was reported nearly three months ago. The meeting with the banker was reported two months ago. And stories about a potential 'back channel' were reported almost two months ago. " In fact, Kushner is reportedly not even a "target" of the investigation. There is also no smoking gun proving Kushner colluded with Russia or did anything illegal, for that matter, as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper emphasized on Sunday. But the media have treated Kushner, like they do with nearly every Republican who does not have favored status with them, as if he is guilty until proven innocent. The establishment press have largely brushed aside the notion that Kushner may have wanted to set up the "back channel" to discuss Syria policy, especially if he feared that the Obama administration may have been spying on Trump's campaign team. Fox News reported that the idea for a "back channel" was not even Kushner's idea in the first place. The media have also downplayed the fact that Russians often embellish things to engage in disinformation campaigns. Take CNN's report, based on leaks from two anonymous former intelligence officials and even a congressional source, about the Russians having potentially "derogatory" information on Trump and his top aides. CNN reported that the Russians believed they had "leverage" on Trump's inner circle, especially regarding financial issues. It is only until after the sensational claims are made that the outlet points out that this information "could have been exaggerated or even made up" because "the Russians could be overstating" things. There are certainly more questions that need to be answered — like whether Kushner met with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov as a representative of his private company or as a representative of Trump's transition team. But the controversy surrounding Kushner, which the media have ginned up with their anonymous leakers from the Deep State intent on undermining Trump, has given the media an excuse to damage Kushner politically. As if the media had many of these stories in their back pockets for the perfect time, the media immediately blitzed Kushner with an onslaught negative pieces. Here are ten ways the antagonistic press, with help from Deep State officials, have recently ganged up on Kushner. 1. Romney Redux: Kushner Depicted as Soulless Slumlord, The establishment media never investigated Obama's top confidante and adviser Valerie Jarrett's real estate holdings to depict her as a slumlord despite a body of evidence that was right in front of them. But nearly four months into Trump's presidency, the media suddenly had the resources and the wherewithal to find former tenants who lived in Kushner's properties to depict Trump's as a seedy slumlord. ProPublica and the New York Times collaborated on an extensive story about Kushner's real estate holdings and depicted Kushner as a seedy and greedy slumlord. The piece was titled, "The Beleaguered Tenants of 'Kushnerville. " They found former tenant Kamiia Warren, who reportedly moved out of her East Baltimore townhouse when a neighbor started acting strangely — like shouting through and banging on the walls at night, which often woke up her child. According to the report, "Warren sent a letter reporting the problem to the complex's property manager" and "submitted the requisite form giving two months' notice that she was transferring her Section 8 voucher — the federal subsidy that helped her pay the rent — elsewhere. The complex's manager signed the form a week later, checking the line that read 'The tenant gave notice in accordance with the lease. '" Three years later, according to the report, she was sued for $3, 014. 08 by JK2 Westminster LLC, Kushner's real estate company, and the lawsuit "claimed she owed the money for having left in advance of her lease's expiration, though she had received written permission to leave. " The establishment media are at their best when depicting Republicans (or even Democrats like Kushner who are now associated with Republicans) as heartless (see: Mitt Romney). The report points out that "Warren was raising three children alone while taking classes for a bachelor's degree in health care administration" and paints Kushner and his associates as villains who preyed on an innocent single mother. According to the report, Warren lost her first appeal because "she did not have a copy of the form the manager had signed. The judge ruled against Warren, awarding JK2 Westminster the full sum it was seeking, plus court costs, attorney's fees and interest that brought the judgment to nearly $5, 000. " Kushner's company has reportedly pursued such actions against "hundreds" of past tenants over the last five years. When Warren could not afford to pay the judgment, Kushner's company "filed a request to garnish her wages from her elder care job. Five days earlier, Warren had gone to court to fill out a handwritten motion saying she had proof that she was given permission to leave Cove Village in 2010 — she had finally managed to get a copy from the housing department. " But since she did not know that she had to attach a copy of her form to the motion, it was denied. Warren's bank account was ultimately "zeroed out" and when she returned to court with all of the proper paperwork, her case was reportedly dismissed again without explanation. One of Kushner's lawyers reportedly told her, "This is not going to go away. You will pay us. " Soon after, according to the report, "the court sent notice of a $4, 615 lien against Warren. " 2. Kushner Threw Trump Under Bus, Claimed Thinks GOP Base Is 'Stupid' When a former Kushner employee ( York Observer editor) claimed that Kushner once told her that Trump was promoting "birtherism" even though "he really doesn't believe it" because "he knows Republicans are stupid and they'll buy it," the press jumped on the comments as proof that Trump is a "man with no real morals, no real beliefs, but who is willing to peddle any sort of hatred or monstrous thought if he thinks that it will help him toward the nebulous goal of 'winning. '" 3. Media Report Trump 'Angry' at Kushner, Relationship Showing 'Unmistakable Signs of Strain' Though Trump went on the record to publicly support Kushner, the media did their best to undercut Trump's comments with stories about how Trump was losing confidence in Kushner's judgment and political acumen. Trump explicitly told the New York Times that "Jared is doing a great job for the country" and "I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars. In addition to that, and perhaps more importantly, he is a very good person. " Yet, media outlets pointed out that Trump was not that close to Kushner before Kushner joined his campaign and quoted anonymous sources who said that Trump has yelled at Kushner in recent meetings. The Times reported that Trump has even made snide and disparaging comments about Kushner's family after Kushner's sister reportedly tried to peddle her brother's access in the White House and "dangled the availability of visas to the United States as an enticement for Chinese financiers willing to spend $500, 000 or more" to invest in Kushner's real estate holdings. 4. Huffington Post: Marrying Ivanka on Calculating Kushner's 'Checklist' to 'Rehabilitate' Family Name, According to the Huffington Post, "when Charles Kushner was heading to federal prison in 2005 for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering, his son Jared got some advice from Howard Rubenstein ― the dean of New York damage control ― on how to rehabilitate the Kushner name, Charles would later tell a family friend": Step one: Buy a New York newspaper. Don't be too particular, Rubenstein told Jared, according to the family friend's recounting of their conversation with Charles. Any newspaper will do. Step two: Buy a big Manhattan building. Any building will do. Step three: Marry the daughter of a rich New York family. Anyone will do. The Huffington Post notes that Jared Kushner "went on to do just that. He bought the New York Observer in 2006, made a $1. 8 billion purchase of 666 Fifth Ave. in 2007 and married Ivanka Trump in 2009. " "Whether or not Kushner was indeed working through a checklist, his actions during those years have served him well," the "story" points out. "They also laid the groundwork for the meticulous public relations strategy that has made possible Kushner's current paradoxical role in the press, as a blameless yet uniquely powerful member of the Trump administration. " Kushner's spokesman reportedly denied the account and Rubenstein told the outlet that the account was "preposterous" and "I never said that or anything like that. " But when it comes to making Trump's look bad, such a story is too good for outlets like the Huffington Post not to print. 5. Former Kushner Employees Smear Jared: 'Vindictive Sh*thead' Media outlets who were uncurious for eight years about former employees of top Obama administration officials suddenly started interviewing former employees and editors of Kushner's newspaper — the New York Observer. Of course, the media found those who were all too eager to smear Kushner. An "anonymous" editor described to the Washington Post that Kushner was insistent on getting a "hit job" on a banker who would not help Kushner refinance one of his buildings. Kushner was reportedly still upset when the paper's editors — even after assigning three different reporters to find dirt on the banker — decided that "there's no story there. " Politico spoke to another former Kushner employee — Harleen Kahlon — who claimed that Kushner asked her to "take one for the team" and forego her performance bonus based on meeting "agreed upon metrics on page views and audience growth. ": Kahlon abruptly quit. Ever since, whenever she sees him on TV or on the streets of New York, she points him out to people as: "the guy that stole my money. Just before the election, Kahlon described her former boss on Facebook thusly: "We're talking about a guy who isn't particularly bright or doesn't actually know anything, has bought his way into everything ever (with money he got from his criminal father) who is deeply insecure and obsessed with fame (you don't buy the NYO, marry Ivanka Trump, or constantly talk about the phone calls you get from celebrities if it's in your nature to 'shun the spotlight') and who is basically a shithead. " 6. Officials Claim Kushner Guilty of Espionage, May Even Be Russian Agent, Though Obama's former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that his "dashboard warning light was clearly on" when he found out about Kushner's dealing with Russian agents, he emphasized that there is "no evidence of collusion. " But the media rushed to get former Deep State officials who were all too eager to slam Kushner. Former intelligence agent Malcolm Nance suggested Kushner may be guilty of espionage and called for Kushner's security clearance to be revoked immediately. Former double agent Naveed Jamali went as far to say he thought Kushner was actually a Russian agent, a comment which even shocked an MSNBC host. 7. Media Suggest Kushner Family Want to Profit off Trump Presidency, Media outlets hinted that Kushner and his family may be more interested in using Trump's presidency to pad their bottom lines and enhancing their images. They pointed to the fact that a day before Kushner's sister sought funding from Chinese investors through the investor visa program, Trump extended the program when he signed the most recent spending bill, "raising many eyebrows. " Even the suggestion that Kushner and his family may be trying to profit off Trump's name has made Trump livid, according go the Times. The Times pointed out Kushner's sister's pitch to Chinese nationals "violated two major rules: Politically, it undercut his immigration crackdown, and in a personal sense, it smacked of profiteering off Mr. Trump — one of the sins that warrants expulsion from his orbit. " 8. Kushner Is 'Naive,' 'Unqualified' and Dumb … Establishment media outlets used comments from former intelligence officials to push the narrative that Kushner was "in over his head" and naive to handle foreign affairs. When asked about Kushner's alleged action, Michael Hayden, the former CIA and NSA Director, told CNN, "right now, I'm going with naïveté, and that's not particularly comforting for me. " "What manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the Russian ambassador was a good or an appropriate idea? ," he asked. Former KGB spy Jack Barsky told CNN that Kushner was "naive" and "completely unqualified" to deal with the Russians because of the "inexperience he has in international affairs. " He called Kushner's alleged actions " . " 9. … Or Maybe 'Desperate'? The Atlantic's David Frum suggested that perhaps Kushner was not naive but rather desperate to get financing for his family's Manhattan tower. "Maybe Kushner was desperate, not dumb … His family faced a huge hike in its debt servicing costs in December 2016. " Frum wrote. He cited a Bloomberg News report that claimed a Manhattan tower that Kushner's family "has been losing money for three years and faces increasing loan fees in 2017, which may explain why the family has been negotiating with Chinese insurance behemoth Anbang on new financing": The fees, at 666 Fifth Avenue, kicked in last month and escalate with each payment until the loan is repaid, a 2011 refinancing agreement shows. December brings another hurdle: Interest paid on the bulk of about $1. 1 billion of loans jumps to 6. 35 percent, more than double what it was after the debt was refinanced in 2011. And as the city's biggest office construction boom in a quarter century creates a glut of supply, the property's occupancy rates are falling. Seventy percent of the building was filled as of September, filings by LNR Partners, the loan managers, show. This is well below 91 percent for the New York metro area reported at year's end by Reis, the firm, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jeffrey Langbaum. 10. Media: 'Miserable,' 'Unhappy' Distraught Kushner May Want to Go Back to NYC, After Kushner was named as the "person of interest," the media quickly reported that Kushner has been "miserable," "unhappy" and "frustrated" with his job as he has come under more scrutiny. It is as if they had these paragraphs already written, ready to be fired off at the best possible moment. The Times cited anonymous "friends" who told the outlet that Kushner "and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have made no commitment to remain by Mr. Trump's side, saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life in New York. " Politico reported that there is a "sense of uncertainty about how long Kushner and Ivanka Trump — who associates say likes, but doesn't love, Washington — are planning to stick it out. Some have noted that they rent their Kalorama mansion, which allows them to keep their options of moving back to Manhattan more open. " On Wednesday, the Times reported that Trump "has not ruled out the possibility" that Kushner and Ivanka "would return to New York this year. " Writing in the Guardian, Walter Shapiro predicted that Kushner's "life in the coming months and maybe years will be a study in misery" because "he will probably spend more time with his personal lawyer, Clinton justice department veteran Jamie Gorelick, than with Ivanka or his children. Whether it is an appearance under oath on Capitol Hill or the inevitable FBI interview, every sentence Kushner utters will bring with it possible legal jeopardy. " Shapiro, citing Kushner's sister's visa exploits, wrote that perhaps "Kushner just calculated that all the hype surrounding his White House role was a family branding opportunity. " He also suggests that Kushner may end up behind bars, if he is not careful, like his father: "the worst thing that can happen to an real estate investor (as Trump himself knows well) is bankruptcy. When the FBI and special prosecutor Robert Mueller get involved, the penalties can theoretically involve steel bars locking behind you. " If Kushner did not realize it already, he should be well aware by now that the Democrats, the institutional left, and the establishment media seek to destroy, do not give an inch, and play for keeps. And they may just be warming up.


The Golden State Warriors just clenched the 2017 NBA Champions against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They fought hard in the 4-1 series, winning the title Monday night in their home city of Oakland. The following morning they decided to do something almost as amazing.Golden State decided in a unanimous decision not to go to the White House and meet with Donald Trump, which is customary for the winning team to do each year.This is the second NBA championship for Golden State in the past three years, as well as the third consecutive finals series against Cleveland.When the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in the finals back in 2015, they attended the customary celebration ceremony at the White House and were honored by former President Barack Obama. Last year, the Cavaliers took part in a similar visit.This isn t the first time American sports champions have refused to attend the customary White House visit under Trump. Many players on the New England Patriots did not visit Trump after their Super Bowl win due to political reasons.The Golden State Warriors have yet to make any statements about why they made this decision, but it s pretty obvious. What better way to use your fame and influence than to let Trump know how dissatisfied the people are. America is choosing to celebrate its biggest victories without him. Go Warriors!Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images


Donald Trump may think he s the best, but it looks like most Americans disagree. In reality, he s the worst. Numerous polls show that Trump is the least popular president ever. And the more time passes, the lower his approval rating sinks.The most recent Gallup Poll shows Trump s approval rating at a mere 37 percent, with 58 percent of Americans disapproving of the job he s doing as president. That s down from a brief stint at 40 percent approval earlier this month. His lowest approval ratings came in March when only 35 percent thought he was doing a decent job in the White House, but he is darn close to that now.In fact, other polls show that he has already reached the magic number of 35 percent approval, his all-time low. The American Research Group has Trump s approval rating at 35 percent, which has dropped from 37 percent approval in June and 39 percent in both May and April. Rasmussen Reports, Trump s favorite poll, also showed that Trump s approval rating is currently tied with his all-time low.According to Newsweek, Trump is closing in on his record low approval ratings in just about every poll out there. Five Thirty Eight has Trump s approval rating at 38.4 percent, just 0.4 points above his all-time low.But these aren t just record lows for Trump, they are record lows for any U.S. president ever. That s right, Trump is officially the least popular president in the history of the United States and he s only been in office for six f*cking months.It s official: @realDonaldTrump is the least popular new president in history.That could mean big trouble for his presidency. (@Reuters) pic.twitter.com/lzuJY2ZZ3P Chris Riotta (@chrisriotta) July 21, 2017Despite the fact that the majority of Americans disapprove of the alleged president, Trump s core supporters still back him, even as the Russia scandal continues to heat up. A poll from earlier this week found that just like Trump said during his campaign, even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, there are a good many of his supporters (and a subset of Republicans in general) who would back him anyway.


German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. President Donald Trump that the global fight against terrorism was no excuse for banning refugees or people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, her spokesman said on Sunday. Steffen Seibert said Merkel had expressed her concerns to Trump during a telephone call on Saturday and reminded him that the Geneva Conventions require the international community to take in war refugees on humanitarian grounds. "She is convinced that even the necessary, decisive battle against terrorism does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion," he said. Seibert said the German government regrets the U.S. entry travel ban, would review the consequences for German citizens with dual nationalities, and would "represent their interests, if needed, vis a vis our U.S. partners". The German and Dutch foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Sunday saying they were pressing U.S. authorities to determine what the order meant for their dual nationals. "We are determined to protect the rights of our citizens and will take rapid action within the European Union about the steps that are now needed," Germany's Sigmar Gabriel and his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders said. Trump ordered on Friday a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily banned travelers from Syria and six other mainly Muslim countries. Seibert's comments were the first indication of discord over the issue between Merkel and Trump, who had highlighted common interests such as strengthening NATO and combating Islamist militancy in a joint statement after their 45-minute phone call. Thomas Oppermann, who heads the parliamentary faction of the Social Democrats, the junior partner in Merkel's right-center coalition, called Trump's order "inhumane and foolhardy" and said it would result in significant damage to the U.S. economy. "The order contradicts everything that makes up the United States' good reputation as a country of immigration," he told Die Welt newspaper. "No one should be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs." Omid Nouripour, a Green party lawmaker who is vice-chair of the German-American parliamentary group and a German-Iranian dual national, said the new U.S. rule was a "dirty symbolic gesture that would hurt hundreds of thousands of people". "The German government must stand up for the over 100,000 German citizens who are affected by the order," Nouripour told Reuters. He said Trump had not included Saudi Arabia in the order because of his strong business ties there. Niema Movassat, a Left party lawmaker who also has German and Iranian citizenship, told the Tageszeitung newspaper that the ban would prevent him from visiting the United Nations to work on development issues and from visiting his relatives. Dieter Janecek, economic spokesman for the Greens in parliament, said Germany should consider a travel ban on Trump and his senior adviser Stephen Bannon unless the order was rescinded. Trump on Saturday accepted Merkel's invitation to attend the a meeting of the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Hamburg in July. He also invited Merkel to visit Washington soon.


Ahhh Mooch The perpetual victim. Never mind that 319 million Americans have been victims of her husband s radical, self-serving policies for the past 7 1/2 years. And never mind that the Obama clan just spent their vacation palling around with communist dictator, Raul Castro, who is currently committing some of the worst human right violations against women in the history of Cuba. Never mind that there are Christian and Yazidi women being raped and sold into a lifetime of sex slavery. Our First Lady would like to use herself as an example of what a victim of sexism looks like. How very appropriate First Lady Michelle Obama said she faced harassment from men who used to whistle at her when she was a young woman. As I got older, I found that men would whistle at me as I walked down the street, as if my body were their property, as if I were an object to be commented on instead of a full human being with thoughts and feelings of my own, Obama said in a speech in Argentina on Wednesday. I began to realize that the hopes I had for myself were in conflict with the messages I was receiving from people around me, she said at the Let Girls Learn initiative.


As Taliban fighters push toward the southern city of Lashkar Gah, members of Afghanistan's elite forces are trying to hold their ground here, about 10 miles from the city, the capital of Helmand Province and a critical link in the defense of the entire region. The Afghan government's need to rely on the special forces, highly trained for commando raids, to guard the perimeter of the city exposes a stark reality. As Helmand, the largest province in Afghanistan and the center of its opium production, endures intense enemy fire this summer, the regular police and army forces have failed to stand firm, raising the possibility that the Taliban could overrun Lashkar Gah. "The police, as soon as they were inflicted with some casualties, gave up about 27 posts one after another without a fight, and our posts were surrounded by surprise," said Col. Nematullah Khalil, the commander of the Afghan Army's Third Regiment, 215 Corps, whose soldiers are trying to help the special forces hold the line in in the Nad Ali district. "The enemy planted a lot of mines wherever they reached, and that slows us down. " Lt. Col. Mohammad Omar Jan, the police chief of the Nad Ali district, rejected that assessment. The army is blaming the police to cover up its own weakness, Colonel Jan said, adding that the army was responsible for 's security because his forces were busy trying to secure the district governor's compound. "The police are fighting in the front line and suffer heavy casualties more than any other forces," he said. In the scorching heat on the front lines near members of regular police and army units looked tired on a recent day as they gathered in small clusters, resting in the shade of some buildings' mud walls. The main road that separates the Afghan forces from the Taliban, who have been striking more forcefully and relentlessly this fighting season, is heavily mined. The cornfields around the largely abandoned homes look calm, but at night the forces regularly clash with the Taliban. The troops have managed to retake only about a mile in the 10 days since they lost much of the area, said Colonel Khalil, the Afghan Army officer. The entire area held by government forces in Helmand has shrunk in recent months. Four districts, including Musa Qala and Nawzad, that were the focus of thousands of American and coalition troops during the 2010 surge are under Taliban control. Frequent airstrikes and reinforcements are required to keep many of the other 10 districts, some only nominally in government control, from falling. While Afghan officials insist that Lashkar Gah will not be lost, their strategy seems unsustainable against an enemy that has proved to be mobile and resilient. Defending the district centers that have not fallen to the Taliban has required a delegation of senior generals and officials from Kabul to shuttle back and forth to monitor developments. On Thursday morning, the senior generals led the fighting, pushing their ground troops and calling in strikes by Afghan and American aircraft to fend off Taliban advances on the district center of Nawa, just south of Lashkar Gah and one of the safest places in Helmand until recently. The Taliban fire, including mortar barrages, damaged the government buildings and demolished the watchtowers. On returning to Lashkar Gah, the generals remained in emergency mode, constantly on the line with troops in other districts, urging them to hold their ground. The Taliban fighters, many of them retreating from Nawa, shifted to exert pressure on the center of the neighboring district of Garmsir. The generals rallied some commandos and then piled into helicopters to save Garmsir. Another team was busy trying to clear the main road to Kandahar Province, which had remained blocked for a week because of Taliban mines and check posts, officials said. Sultan Muhammad, the police chief of Maiwand District, who participated in the road clearance, said that the authorities had defused as many as 100 roadside bombs, and that teams were continuing to clear more even as they were being engaged by the Taliban. Late on Sunday, the convoy of the provincial police chief, Gen. Aqa Noor Kentoz, struck a roadside bomb. The general and three of his guards were wounded, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. Why are the Afghan forces, who local security officials say outnumber the insurgents at least five to one and receive air support, struggling so badly in a strategic province? Helmand was a center of President Obama's surge, in which tens of thousands of American and coalition troops were sent to try to secure the area, with hundreds of NATO military advisers still aiding the Afghans in the province. Some of the most senior members of the original Taliban are from Helmand, but they now operate from across the border in Pakistan, enabling them to move back and forth, often out of the reach of coalition forces. Beyond its symbolic value, Helmand remains a focus of their attacks not only because it is the gateway to other southern provinces, but also because its fields produce the highest amount of opium in Afghanistan and its vast deserts sit on the main opium trade route. Increasingly, the Taliban have come to resemble a drug cartel as much as an insurgency, relying heavily on the profits from the opium trade to fund their fight. Complicating the situation, officials in Helmand say, local strongmen are using their influence to plant their own men in provincial security jobs in outposts on the route. Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahman, the deputy interior minister, said more than 90 percent of the police officers in Helmand were residents of the province and thus vulnerable to meddling and conflicting loyalties. For example, if a commander is replaced because of incompetence or abuse, security officials say, he is apt to take hundreds of his men with him, leaving a hole in the area's defense. Political ties can also undermine security. When the brother of a powerful lawmaker who served as the security chief of the Garmsir district was fired recently over allegations that he was involved in the drug trade, the lawmaker organized protests in Lashkar Gah and Kabul. (One of the lawmaker's nephews remains the head of counternarcotics in the province.) Moreover, military goals pale compared with the allure of financial gain. "The most important thing for the forces in Helmand is their own interests and business in the province — they are trying to get the amount of money which they have been told," said Muhammad Jan Rasulyar, a former deputy governor of Helmand, referring to the widely held belief that commanders in lucrative posts pay who help them get such jobs. "Differences between government authorities in Helmand made the Taliban stronger in the province, and this is the main reason for the increasing of conflicts. The authorities ward off each other instead of the enemy. " The army itself has struggled to recover after suffering a record number of casualties in Helmand last year. Gen. Murad Ali Murad, the deputy chief of the army staff, said senior officers had tried to use the winter months to rebuild the 215 Corps. But the relentless pace of the fighting, in Helmand and in other parts of the country, derailed their efforts. New recruits with little experience were thrown into battle. "All of a sudden, the threats in Helmand increased and there was need for those forces to be used in the field, and we felt their deficiencies," General Murad said. "We felt their lack of equipment and experience in the battlefield. " Conversely, the Taliban seem to be growing in their actual fighting capability, or in their psychological hold over a struggling foe. Afghan commanders, security officials and fighters say the insurgents are physically tough and use goggles, snipers and sophisticated weapons. This phase of the war pits insurgents who plant mines and then swiftly disappear against an armed force that is lured into traps while chasing the insurgents. This happens even as the soldiers are supported by aircraft that can rain down fire that makes the holding of any area costly for the Taliban. But more than anything, it is an uneven fight between insurgents prepared to attack and die, and soldiers who would flee to live. It is also a story told by the disparity in the unverified number of casualties provided by Helmand's governor, Hayatullah Hayat. In the most recent two weeks of fighting, 210 Taliban fighters were killed and 40 were wounded, compared with 15 dead and 35 wounded for the Afghan forces, the governor said (though other local officials have suggested that the casualties to Afghan forces could be much higher).


Usain Bolt is no longer a Olympic gold medalist. Bolt and the Jamaican team have been stripped of their relay gold medal from the Beijing Games in 2008 because one runner, Nesta Carter, was found guilty of a doping violation, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday. Bolt won the 100 meters, the 200 and the 4x100 relay at the last three Summer Olympics, for a total of nine gold medals, tied for the most of any track athlete. Carter initially tested negative after the race in 2008. But his sample was one of many retested by the I. O. C. last year. It was found to contain a prohibited stimulant, methylhexaneamine. Carter's lawyer told Reuters on Wednesday that he intended to file an appeal of the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Olympic officials last year intensified scrutiny of samples from past Olympics after Russia was found to have executed an elaborate, doping scheme. Dozens of athletes from the Beijing and London Games have been found, upon retesting of their stored samples, to be guilty of doping violations. Many were medalists. It is standard practice for Olympic officials to store urine samples for up to a decade so they may conduct additional tests, often with more advanced, newly developed techniques. Carter was also a part of the winning 4x100 relay team in London in 2012, but no announcement about the status of that medal has been made. The I. O. C. directed the international track federation to "modify the results" of the 2008 event. Trinidad, Japan and Brazil were second, third and fourth in the race and would each move up a notch. The United States dropped the baton in its heat and did not make the final. The I. O. C. also told the Jamaican federation to secure the return of the physical gold medals. The other two team members in the final were Asafa Powell and Michael Frater. The Jamaican team finished in 37. 10 seconds, which was a world record at the time. When one member of a team tests positive, it is typical for the entire team to be stripped of its medals, although there have been exceptions. Marion Jones lost two relay medals from 2000 after doping violations, but her teammates were allowed to keep theirs after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. When news of Carter's positive test first emerged last year, Bolt told The Guardian, "It's heartbreaking because over the years you've worked hard to accumulate gold medals and work hard to be a champion — but it's just one of those things. " He added, "If I need to give back my gold medal, I'd have to give it back it's not a problem for me. " The I. O. C. also announced on Wednesday that Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia was disqualified from the 2008 long jump, in which she won the silver medal, and the triple jump because of a positive test. Bolt, regarded as the greatest sprinter in history, has said he will retire from the sport after this summer's world championships in London.


Our full report on the horrible shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise is below these hate-filled comments from the left. We wanted you to see that the left wasted no time in continuing the rhetoric:Soon after Congressman Steve Scalise was shot by a crazed shooter, the left wasted no time with their hate-filled comments:Restless News published a meme saying the shooting was karma:A twitter user named Charles Barkley (not the real Charles Barkley): Well that KKK f*cker deserved it The left took on gun control mentioning Sandy Hook:Some on the left even brought up Obamacare: Rep. Steve Scalise was shot Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, in a deliberate attack. A congressional staffer was also shot. Scalise is in surgery right now and is expected to recover.Rand Paul said Scalise being there likely saved everyone because his presence (he s leadership) meant Capitol Police were there.Scalise, a member of the House Republican leadership as the majority whip, appeared to have been shot in the hip and it appeared two Capitol Hill police agents were shot, according to Rep. Mo Brooks who was on deck when the shooting occurred. The shooting took place at a practice for the GOP congressional baseball team.NBC News Special Report: Congressman Scalise, aides shot at baseball practice in Virginia https://t.co/KD9i1iP9MZ Jason Calabretta (@JasonCalabretta) June 14, 2017In a statement, Texas Rep. Roger Williams, one of the team s coaches, said one of his staff members was shot during the incident and is receiving medical attention. There was no information on the staffer s injuries.According to both congressional and law enforcement sources, the shooting appears to be a deliberate attack. Two law enforcement sources say the suspect is in police custody, has been taken to a hospital.Lawmakers who spoke at the scene to reporters described a normal morning practice, at a field where they ve practiced for years, when all of a sudden shots rang out. Lawmakers, staff members and even the young son of one of the members ran for cover, jumping into dugouts and over fences to avoid the gunshots.Members described Scalise dragging himself roughly 15 yards away from second base, where he had been playing, and lying there until the shooter was neutralized, at which point some of them ran to assist him and apply pressure to the wound until he could be evacuated. Once they were able, Sen. Jeff Flake said he and Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who is a physician, went out to where Scalise was lying to apply pressure to the wound. Scalise was coherent the whole time, Flake said.Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told CNN it would have been a massacre without Capitol Hill Police.


Johnny Nicholson, whose tiny Midtown Manhattan restaurant, the Café Nicholson, served as a gathering place for the artists and celebrities known as "the New Bohemians" in the 1950s and '60s, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 99. His death was confirmed by Phyllis Eckhaus, a friend and executor. Mr. Nicholson, an antiques dealer and interior designer, opened the first Café Nicholson in 1948 on 58th Street near Third Avenue, near where he and his romantic partner, the photographer Karl Bissinger, ran an antiques store. At the time, it was a neighborhood of cheap brownstones and photographers' studios. Inspired by the Caffè Greco in Rome, he planned to offer coffee and pastries, but the chef Edna Lewis, a cook from Virginia and a close friend, convinced him that a restaurant was a better idea. He offered her a place behind the stove and a partnership in the business, giving her her first exposure in New York. She would go on to write cookbooks that made her one of America's foremost exponents of traditional Southern cuisine. Mr. Nicholson decorated the interior in a spirit of mad eclecticism, combining chic with florid romanticism, a look he once described as "fin de siècle Caribbean of Cuba style. " "Oh, it was fun," Ms. Lewis told Vanity Fair in 1999. "We shopped on the Bowery, going into basement after basement. Before we opened we put sheets over all the walls and called them curtains. " Ms. Lewis devised a simple, unchanging menu, with dishes like roast chicken with herbs, and a chocolate soufflé described by Clementine Paddleford in The New York Herald Tribune as "light as a dandelion seed in a high wind. " A parrot named Lolita screamed "Hello" and "I'm a parrot. " The combination of fantasy setting and superb food did the trick. In no time the restaurant became "a canteen for the creative class," the food writer John T. Edge wrote in The Oxford American in 2013 — a magnet for artists, writers, actors, photographers, designers and fashion editors. In a 1949 photograph accompanying a Flair magazine article titled "The New Bohemians," Mr. Bissinger captured the moment and the tone. It showed, seated at a table in the restaurant's back garden: Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, the Balanchine ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq, the novelist Donald Windham and the artist Buffie Johnson. They were served by the waitress Virginia Reed. "Until Café Nicholson, there were only two kinds of restaurants in New York: checked tablecloth places serving spaghetti and meatballs or places like Le Pavillon," the Vogue and Harper's Bazaar editor Babs Simpson told Vanity Fair in 1999. "In a way, Johnny created the first theme park. " Mr. Nicholson was born John Bulica on Sept. 5, 1916, in St. Louis to immigrant parents from Romania. He later adopted the surname of a favorite uncle. His father, Nicholas, ran a small restaurant, the Cafe Lafayette. His mother, the former Constance Cordista, was a homemaker. He had a troubled childhood. A constant truant, he dropped out of high school and went to work as an errand boy at the Stix, Baer Fuller department store, picking up decorating knowledge that he applied when he opened his own design and furniture store. From time to time he visited relatives in Manhattan, where he worked during Christmastime at Lord Taylor. He was drafted in 1941 but was exempted from military service when an Army psychiatrist recognized him as the chronic truant he had treated at a children's psychiatric hospital. Mr. Nicholson moved to New York, hoping to break into fashion design. After a brief period as a cafeteria busboy, he was hired by Lord Taylor as a window dresser. The antiques store, which did most of its business renting props to photographers, served as a useful training ground for decorating the cafe. Mr. Nicholson was a born scavenger, ferreting out unusual items in unusual places, like the marble countertop he bought from a sanitation worker off the truck, or the marble goddesses he chanced upon in a warehouse in Puerto Rico. The mad surroundings, the intimate scale, and forever and always, the roast chicken, attracted a parade of notables. The gathering immortalized by Mr. Bissinger — "pretty good for a summer's day in the garden of a New York City brownstone," Mr. Vidal told Smithsonian magazine in 2007 — was not unusual. Over the years, in its several locations, the Café Nicholson hosted the cartoonist Charles Addams, and, on one enchanted evening, Gloria Vanderbilt with Frank Sinatra. For a time, Mr. Nicholson arranged for guests with theater tickets to be chauffeured in a Silver Cloud. By the end of the 1970s, Mr. Nicholson's attention had waned. He began traveling frequently, closing the restaurant for months at a time. By this time it had been on East 58th Street for about a decade, in the former sculpture studio of Jo Davidson, just off the entry ramp to the upper level of the Queensboro Bridge. The cafe took a bow in the Woody Allen film "Bullets Over Broadway" in 1994. But five years later, Mr. Nicholson, who leaves no immediate survivors, closed it, putting the final punctuation mark on a vanished age. "You went to my restaurant because it was extraordinary, beautiful, with very good food and a very different experience," Mr. Nicholson said in 2013 in "The Luminous Years: Karl Bissinger and the New Bohemians," an documentary by Catherine Johnson. "You went there to be with your friends. "


From Cuba to Antigua, Caribbean islanders began counting the cost of Hurricane Irma on Sunday after the brutal storm left a trail of death, destruction and chaos from which the tourist-dependent region could take years to recover. The Category 5 storm, which killed at least 28 people across the region, devastated housing, power supplies and communications, leaving some small islands almost cut off from the world. European nations sent military reinforcements to keep order amid looting, while the damage was expected to total billions of dollars. Ex-pat billionaires and poor islanders alike were forced to take cover as Irma tore roofs off buildings, flipped cars and killed livestock, raging from the Leeward Islands across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola then into Cuba before turning on Florida. Waves of up to 36 feet (11 meters) smashed businesses along the Cuban capital Havana s sea-side drive on Sunday morning. Further east, high winds whipped Varadero, the island s most important tourist resort. It s a complete disaster and it will take a great deal of work to get Varadero back on its feet, said Osmel de Armas, 53, an aquatic photographer who works on the beach at the battered resort. Sea-front hotels were evacuated in Havana and relief workers spent the night rescuing people from homes in the city center as the sea penetrated to historic depths in the flood-prone area. U.S President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration on Sunday for Puerto Rico, where Irma killed at least 3 people and left hundreds of thousands without electricity. Trump also expanded federal funds available to the U.S. Virgin Islands, which suffered extensive damage to homes and infrastructure. Further east in the Caribbean, battered islands such as St. Martin and Barbuda were taking stock of the damage as people began emerging from shelters to scenes of devastation. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the death toll on the Dutch part of St. Martin had doubled to four, and that 70 percent of homes had been damaged or destroyed. Following reports of looting, the Netherlands said it would increase its military presence on the island to 550 soldiers by Monday. Rutte said that to ensure order, security forces were authorized to act with a firm hand . Alex Martinez, 31, a native of Florida who was vacationing on the Dutch side of St. Martin when Irma hit the island in the early hours of Wednesday, vividly described how his hotel was gutted by the storm, turning it into a debris-strewn tip. Doors were torn from hinges, windows shattered, cars lifted off the ground and furniture blown through the rooms after Irma hit the building with a burst of pressure that was like you were getting sucked out of an aeroplane, he said. Martinez, his wife and two others barricaded themselves in their bathroom, pushing with all their might to secure the door as Irma battered it with winds of up to 185 mph (300 km/h). That s when we thought, that was it , he said. I honestly, swear to God, thought we were going to die at that point in time. Everything continued for maybe 20, 30 minutes; my wife s there, she s praying, praying, praying, praying, and things just kinda calmed down. I guess that s when the eye (of the storm came). Staff deserted the hotel to look after their families and Martinez and a few others had to scavenge for food and water for three days until they were airlifted out on Saturday, he said. Dutch authorities are evacuating other tourists and injured people to Curacao, where Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk were expected to arrive today. France, which oversees neighboring Saint Barthelemy and the other half of St Martin, said the police presence on the two islands had been boosted to close to 500. The French interior ministry said 11 people suspected of malicious actions had been arrested since Friday as television footage showed scenes of chaos on the islands, with streets under water, boats and cars tossed into piles and torn rooftops. Irma killed at least 10 people on the two islands, the French government said. France s Caisse Centrale de Reassurance, a state-owned reinsurance group, estimated the cost of Irma at some 1.2 billion euros ($1.44 billion). French President Emmanuel Macron was due to visit St. Martin on Tuesday. Barbuda, home to some 1,800 inhabitants, faces a reconstruction bill that could total hundreds of millions of dollars, state officials say, after Irma steamrolled the island. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, said Irma had wreaked absolute devastation on Barbuda, which he described as barely habitable after 90 percent of cars and buildings had been damaged. The government ordered a total evacuation when a second hurricane, Jose, emerged, but a handful of people refused to leave their homes, including a gentleman (who) said he was living in a cave , said Garfield Burford, director of news at government-owned broadcaster ABS TV and Radio in Antigua and Barbuda. Irma also plunged the British Virgin Islands, an offshore business and legal center, into turmoil. Yachts were piled on top of each other in the harbor and many houses in the hillside capital of Road Town on the main island of Tortola were badly damaged. Both there and in Anguilla to the east, residents complained help from the British government was too slow in coming, prompting a defensive response from London. We weren t late, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told BBC television on Sunday, saying Britain had pre-positioned an aid ship for the Caribbean hurricane season and that his government s response has been as good as anybody else s. British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, who sought refuge in the wine cellar of his home on Necker island, called Irma the storm of the century on Twitter and urged people to make donations to help rebuild the region.


A multi-storey building collapsed in the south Indian city of Bengaluru on Monday, killing at least five people and injuring several, officials said. The accident occurred in a densely populated residential area in the south-east of the city after the suspected explosion of a cooking gas cylinder, they said. Rescue operations were under way, according to media reports. Five people have died and five have been rescued, Bengaluru Development and Town Planning Minister K.J. George said on TV from the accident site. The building is more than 20 years old. At around 6 a.m., there was a loud noise, either due to gas cylinder explosion or building collapse, said Karnataka state home minister Ramalinga Reddy.


Donald Trump is really excited about all the nothing he s accomplished in his first 100 days in office. So, he announced on Saturday that he plans to celebrate by throwing a big rally on his 100th day. Presumably, he expects a better turnout than he got for his pathetic inauguration.Next Saturday night I will be holding a BIG rally in Pennsylvania. Look forward to it! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2017Rally will be to mark Trump s 100 days in office & organized/paid for by Trump s campaign committee, per senior campaign official https://t.co/wYW92Z8a87 Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) April 22, 2017So far, with 100 days under his belt, Trump hasn t managed to accomplish squat except for failing to follow through on his absurd campaign promises. Mexico isn t paying for his stupid wall. His Muslim Ban was shot down twice as bigoted and unconstitutional. Obamacare is still the law of the land. And he is known as the biggest recruiting tool ISIS has at the moment. Exactly why he thinks this warrants a party is unclear. But as can only be expected of a narcissist, he is somehow convinced that this is a great idea and it totally won t have an embarrassing turnout.It is worth pointing out that the day of Trump s big rally is the same night the White House Correspondents Dinner will be taking place without the man occupying the White House in attendance because the press hurt his feelings.On Friday, Trump tweeted that the 100-day mark is a ridiculous standard. No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2017He then followed up by telling the press that it s just an artificial barrier. He added that since he didn t have the slightest clue how to actually president when he took office, he should be given extra leeway. He also noted that even though repealing Obamacare was one of his biggest campaign promises, he has really only been thinking about if for two months. I ve been here 92 days, but I ve only been working on the health care, you know, I had to get like a little bit of grounding, right? Trump told the Associated Press. Health care started after 30 day(s), so I ve been working on health care for 60 days.


0 comments  We all know the corruption in DC is real, but it's still be a very SHOCKING past few weeks with all the skeletons coming out of the closet proving us right!  Now, we have learned that the FBI really wanted to do their job and investigate Hillary correctly to see if she needed to be put away. The problem was …. Obama's Justice Department.  They got in the way.  CLASSIC corruption move…  Now they are busted….and metaphorically caught with their pants down. What the FBI has released now, is going to make it REAL hard for the Justice Department to dodge this one…  FBI investigators believed the audio was at least worth investigating and they grew increasingly frustrated as they ran into roadblocks erected by corruption prosecutors and even some FBI executives, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The prosecutors reportedly felt the case wasn't worth bringing to a grand jury because the individual in the secret recording wasn't working inside the Clinton Foundation.  FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Robert Capers, were both at the center of the internal dispute, per the report:  Amid the internal finger-pointing on the Clinton Foundation matter, some have blamed the FBI's No. 2 official, deputy director Andrew McCabe, claiming he sought to stop agents from pursuing the case this summer. His defenders deny that, and say it was the Justice Department that kept pushing back on the investigation.  At times, people on both sides of the dispute thought Mr. Capers agreed with them. Defenders of Mr. Capers said he was straightforward and always told people he thought the case wasn't strong.  Another bombshell Fox News report published Wednesday suggested that FBI agents are now "actively and aggressively pursuing" the Clinton Foundation case. Two separate sources told Fox News the case is now "very high priority."  To see the FOX reporting CLICK HERE  There are no answers in DC, and there hasn't been for a very long time. There is now, only corruption. I'd say it's high time we do drain the swamp.  Lets hope what need to happen in order for that to be done… happens on November 8th. Related Items


Last night, at a rally in Melbourne, Florida, Trump was trying to build more fear of brown people in his base of loyalists by referencing a completely imaginary terror attack in Sweden. Since then, he s received an earful from the former Prime Minister of Sweden, prompted questions from confused Swedes, and social media has been abuzz with mockery of the imaginary attack, too.One would have expected Trump to respond fairly quickly, since he s now formally joined the ranks of Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer when it comes to fake terror attacks, but he didn t. He waited until this afternoon to respond, and it s extremely laughable:My statement as to what s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017Yes, sure, by all means, let s call this debacle Fox News fault and completely ignore the words that actually spewed forth from his mouth: You look at what s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden! They took in large numbers. They re having problems that they never thought possible. Twitter, meanwhile, is positively gleeful in their mockery of the liar of liars for another egregious lie:@realDonaldTrump none of which referred to anything that happened two nights ago. Alex Zalben (@azalben) February 19, 2017.@realDonaldTrump I apologize. I will hold myself to provide a more clear and accurate respresentation of my beliefs in future speeches. Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump Hey, dumbass. What happened in Sweden? Nothing. That s what. FAKE NEWS! pic.twitter.com/PR4Cu42mbb The Socialist Party (@OfficialSPGB) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews Of course it fucking was. Mark Pygas (@MarkPygas) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump You said last night in Sweden . Don t retract. You are fake news for the unintelligent. Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) February 19, 2017You are fake news, Mr. So-Called President.#swedenincident #iamamuslimtoo #FuckYouBitch https://t.co/MGOL0oWFPs Jade Helm Commander (@Anomaly100) February 19, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Who needs the intelligence community when there is Fox News? Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) February 19, 2017Here s someone who was a likely witness to the imaginary attack, since reports say Swedish fish were everywhere at the scene:@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/bGk4nMmc5e Mike Denison (@mikd33) February 19, 2017@mikd33 @realDonaldTrump @FoxNews These fish are clearly terrorists. Austin Braun (@AustinOnSocial) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/dYPgcgHhmo #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/hoF53staXG #TheResistance (@AynRandPaulRyan) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump Also, is @foxandfriends your new National Security Advisor? Evan Dashevsky (@haldash) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump oh I saw it on TV, people told me this instead of being responsible for what comes out of his mouth. Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews OK time to have a chat again, so tell President Emperor Bannon you need a smoke break. This will take a bit. Kevin (@TheKevinDent) February 19, 2017@realDonaldTrump So you blindly spout whether @FoxNews tells you to? It s pathetic, not to mention awfully irresponsible, 45. Mike P Williams (@Mike_P_Williams) February 19, 2017Here s what someone who appears to be in Sweden has to say:@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews There is no migrant crisis in Sweden. We have free health care, free education, a functioning welfare system. ?? Ines Helene (@inihelene) February 19, 2017How embarrassing. You re hopelessly confused. Sad! @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/2mRZAjuj6f Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 19, 2017Um @erichmcelroy is @realDonaldTrump now trying to blame @FoxNews? I thought we could trust them! Mark Machado (@MarkMachado) February 19, 2017 Maybe, just as a change of pace and maybe to keep all of us on our toes, he should actually take responsibility for what he says and apologize. But what are we talking about? Trump is one of the worst pathological liars in the long, sad history of pathological liars.Featured image by Joe Raedle via Getty Images


U.S. Senator Mark Kirk on Wednesday introduced legislation that would give the Pentagon more flexibility in funding electronic warfare programs and speed often sluggish acquisition times. Current acquisition rules make it tough for the U.S. military to quickly procure and field electronic warfare weapons systems before they are overtaken by developments around the world. Kirk, an Illinois Republican and retired naval intelligence officer, said the bill would help the U.S. military accelerate work on electronic warfare weapons and stay ahead of other countries that are rapidly developing their own capabilities. "It is critical our military dominate the offensive and defensive ends of electronic warfare," Kirk said in a statement. "The need for enhanced electronic capabilities is even more pronounced on today's battlefield." Senator Kristen Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, is co-sponsoring the bill. The bill would amend the fiscal 2016 defense policy bill to include electronic warfare, or EW, under the Pentagon's Rapid Acquisition Authority (RAA) program. That program lets program managers waive some acquisition rules to more quickly field technology. It would also allow the department to use different contract types, including those used for commercial items, when it buys EW weapons. The bill also includes directives for the Pentagon's new joint Electronic Warfare Executive Committee, which is headed by Air Force General Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to a Kirk aide. The bill directs the committee to provide a strategic plan for the services to work together on electronic warfare systems, and tackle acquisition and budget processes, bolster training, fill capability gaps and advance offensive capabilities. Kirk is expected to discuss the legislation during a visit to a Northrop Grumman Corp facility in Rolling Meadows, Il. on Friday, the aide said.


We know that Donald Trump appeals to what he calls the poorly educated just take a look around any of his rallies but there is a disturbing number of highly educated voters who are also backing the candidate whose platform includes building an 80 ft tall cement wall and tracking Muslim Americans in a database.One such couple, who describe themselves as affluent Americans with postgraduate degrees, wrote a letter to the Financial Times that lays out their support for Trump. It s as baffling as it is terrifying.Noting that they are socially liberal and fiscally mildly conservative, the couple, identified as Jon and Elsa Sands, say they are well aware of [Trump s] vulgarity and nous deficiency and yet are tempted to vote for him anyway.Electing the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party seems purposeless. The neanderthal Republicans barely respected the legitimacy of Bill Clinton s or Barack Obama s election, let alone that of Hillary who would arrive tainted with scandal and the email lapses hanging over her head. We would get four years of gridlock and hearings . The Republican tribunes, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, are backward, foolish and inexperienced. John Kasich, a moderate with extensive governmental experience and a willingness to compromise, is an also-ran.The logic, if it can be called that, is that Republicans in Congress won t let Democratic presidents do anything so you might as well go all-in on a Republican outsider like Trump. This seems to fly directly in the face of President Obama s actual accomplishments an ever-growing list that is proof that an intelligent, driven Democratic president can easily outsmart the Party of No if he puts his or her mind to it.No matter, say the Sands, they are going with Trump.That leaves The Donald, really a moderate in wolf s garb, who would owe nothing to either party and might strike deals, for instance on tax reform. Yes, we could be like the good citizens who voted for a tameable Hitler in 1933 to get things back on track. But the alternatives look worse.Trump, who advocates for bringing back torture and killing the families of terrorists, is what the Sands consider a moderate in wolf s garb. Okay.But even if Trump turns out to be as bad as he freely admits he will be, voting for a Democrat, they say, is worse than knowingly voting for Hitler. Needless to say, this affluent white couple believe they will be safe from the programs of racial and religious of institutionalized bigotry Trump is sure to institute. Because if it doesn t affect you, then what s a little dash of war crimes and racism when Trump will stand strong on giving you tax breaks?While the temptation is to blast this couple for their terrifying support of Trump, the scarier thing is: They aren t alone.don't laugh at the "sure, maybe he's hitler, but" argument in FT. Ive heard that many many times from otherwise reasonable people this cycle Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) March 1, 2016It must never be ignored that Trump s victories in every primary state so far has been coming from both low income and high income (white people) and poorly educated and highly educated (white people). The Sands represent the beginning pangs of those looking to excuse Trump s worst attributes so they can support the dictator they want and still sleep at night.As the Sands themselves bring up, a lot of good people voted for Adolf Hitler in 1933, believing him to be an antidote to the dysfunctional German government at the time. He brought change but not the kind many people would have liked to see.


Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former reality television star-turned political aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, has resigned from the White House to "pursue other opportunities," Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday. Newman served as assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House's Office of Public Liaison. A former star of Trump's TV show "The Apprentice," Newman worked as the director of African-American outreach on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders said Newman's departure would take effect Jan. 20, 2018. Newman had what sometimes appeared to be an ambiguous role in the White House orbit. The New York Times reported in September that chief of staff John Kelly had put her on a "no-fly list" of aides who he did not consider fit to attend serious meetings. Sources with ties to the White House have said they expect a wave of departures from the administration once Trump has completed his first year in office.


On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii many have been remembering all those who lost their lives on that fateful day. It was what brought the United States into WWII and the date, as FDR said, will live in infamy. Yet, as most treat December 7, as a solemn day, Newt Gingrich just tweeted out what sounded like praise for what the Japanese did to us that dreadful day.Gingrich tweeted out: 75 years ago the Japanese displayed professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises from Hawaii to the Philippines. 75 years ago the Japanese displayed professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises from Hawaii to the Philippines Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) December 7, 2016 Professional brilliance and technological power launching surprises ?? Really? That s what Gingrich thinks of when he think of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. How the Japanese surprised attacked us?2.403 Americans died during the attack at Pearl Harbor, with 1,178 wounded.Gingrich thinks that is professional brilliance ?This tweet is absolutely disrespectful to all those who lost their lives and their families. There really couldn t be a more weird and awkward tweet to put out on the day we remember Pearl Harbor.And while relations with Japan have since been mended, we must never think what they did that day was at all brilliant. For goodness sake, someone please take away Gingrich s Twitter privileges. He clearly is out of his mind, much like his pal Donald Trump.Featured Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers


Iraq launched an offensive on Thursday to dislodge Islamic State from Hawija, west of the oil city of Kirkuk and one of two areas of the country still under the control of the militants. The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said the offensive to capture Hawija in northern Iraq will be swift, state TV reported. The action, announced by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, took place four days before a referendum on Kurdish independence due to be held in northern Iraq, including Kirkuk. Abadi says Monday s referendum is against the constitution and has called on the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government to cancel it. Kirkuk is shaping up as a flashpoint ahead of the independence vote as it is also home to Arab and Turkmen communities who oppose breaking away from Iraq. Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of Kirkuk after the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of Islamic State offensive in 2014, preventing the militants from capturing the oil fields. A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air support to the Iraqi forces offensive on Hawija, state TV said. The Iraqi forces, deployed north and west of Hawija district, are pushing southward along the Tigris River and had cleared the first lines of defense by midday, state TV said. A total of 23 villages were captured from Islamic State, said the operation s commander, Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Yarallah, cited by the TV channel. We finished the first chapter of the liberation operation, in Hawija, he said, without indicating the timing of the second chapter. The United Nations last week said up to 85,000 people could be displaced from the Hawija region. Up to 30,000 children are in extreme danger, Save the Children said on Thursday. They have already suffered horribly under ISIS rule...food, water and medicine are running out, with many children reportedly weak and malnourished, the organization said. It is imperative that all Iraqi and coalition forces open up safe escape routes for people and allow civilians to flee to wherever is safest, it added. Iraqi forces and Sunni tribal fighters also captured on Thursday the region of Ana, in the Euphrates River valley, as they pushed toward the Syria border, a military statement said. The offensive on Hawija should not affect the Kurdish plan to hold the referendum in Kirkuk on Monday, a Kurdish official told Reuters. The Peshmerga hold the frontlines with the Hawija district from the eastern side, near Kirkuk, but are not taking part in the offensive, he said. Hawija, north of Baghdad, and a stretch of land along the Syrian border, west of the Iraqi capital, are the last pieces of the country still in the hands of Islamic State. The group overran about a third of Iraq in 2014. Islamic State s self-declared caliphate effectively collapsed in July, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces captured Mosul, the group s de facto capital in Iraq, after a grueling nine-month battle. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters took part in operations against the militants. Islamic State also controls territory in Syria, along the Iraqi border but it is shrinking fast in the face of a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition and Russian and Iranian-backed forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.


Bahrain accused Qatar on Monday of illegally seizing three boats with 16 sailors on board, state news agency BNA reported, worsening an already deeply troubled diplomatic situation in the region. Coast Guard Commander Commodore Alaa Siyadi told BNA the boats were seized over the past three days. The report gave no details on the boats or where they were seized. Qatar confirmed it detained fishing boats after they entered its territorial waters illegally, and said the sailors will be released soon. Siyadi said the seizure raised to 15 the number of boats seized, and the number of sailors in Qatari custody to 20, adding that some of the boat seizures date back to 2009, BNA reported. All unauthorized fishing boats receive a warning to leave Qatari waters, and if they are non-compliant, they are referred to the competent authorities, a source at Qatar s Interior Ministry said. The crew will be released within three days, while the ships will be detained until the court makes a decision. Bahrain, together with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, imposed diplomatic, trade and travel sanctions on Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.


Meryl Streep, in a fiery speech criticizing President Trump on Saturday night, pledged to stand up against "brownshirts and bots" at a time when she and others are increasingly denouncing his administration's policies and the president himself. Ms. Streep, in New York City accepting an award from the Human Rights Campaign, referred to the backlash she received after the Golden Globes in January, when she gave a speech denouncing Mr. Trump. "It's terrifying to put the target on your forehead, and it sets you up for all sorts of attacks and armies of brownshirts and bots and worse, and the only way you can do it is to feel you have to," Ms. Streep said. "You have to. You don't have an option. You have to. " It was not immediately clear to whom Ms. Streep was referring in using the loaded term "brownshirts," which was originally applied to a paramilitary group that assisted the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. The speech was an even more stinging rebuke of Mr. Trump than her Golden Globes speech. She seemed to relish a new type of role: Trump provocateur. Although this time, Ms. Streep was without a national television audience. She took a moment to respond directly to Mr. Trump, who called her "overrated" in the midst of a barrage of posts on Twitter the morning after the Golden Globes. "I am the most overrated, overdecorated and, currently, overberated actress, who likes football, of my generation," Ms. Streep said. The crowd applauded wildly. Ms. Streep was receiving the National Ally for Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Near the beginning of her acceptance speech, she addressed, initially in a lighthearted way, one of the most controversial parts of her Golden Globes speech. "I do like football," Ms. Streep said, to a roar of laughter from the crowd at the Waldorf Astoria. At the Golden Globes, Ms. Streep said, "Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If you kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts. " She received a torrent of criticism, particularly from conservatives, for disparaging the two sports, something she acknowledged in her speech and attempted to clarify what she meant. "It isn't helpful to make it us versus them," Ms. Streep said. Referring to the film producer and director Mike Nichols, she continued, "I was making a joke, and Mike Nichols told me, 'If you have to explain the joke, Meryl, you're doomed. '" Later in the speech, she returned to criticizing Mr. Trump. "If his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn't lead us to nuclear winter, we will have much to thank this president for," Ms. Streep said. "Because he will have woken us up to how fragile freedom really is. " At one point, Ms. Streep referred to Mr. Trump as a "" and said, "The whip of the executive can through a Twitter feed lash and intimidate, punish and humiliate, delegitimize the press and imagined enemies with spasmodic irregularity and easily provoked predictability. "


Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan will use a meeting in southern Russia next week to discuss the Syria situation and energy cooperation, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin as saying on Friday. The two men are due to meet in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 13.


We all know the defense of children comes dead last when it comes to the Left. It s interesting how Hillary helped to get a child rapist off (before she still had her law license taken away) and now nearly a decade later, this news about Bernie s support for child molesters and his non-support for the Amber Alert by way of his NO vote What s happened to Bernie- 2006 anti-Bernie by DailyPolitics Back in 2006, when Sanders was running for the Senate, Republican Richard Tarrant pointed out some things about the socialist s voting record he probably doesn t want his liberal flock to know.For example, Sanders voted AGAINST the Amber Alert system and refused to endorse a bill that would lock away child molesters for life.


U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Sunday that the United States was considering cutting trade to any country doing business with North Korea. North Korea said it had tested an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile on Sunday, setting off a manmade earthquake near the test.


Now that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has crossed the Rubicon of racism, the people are starting to lash out, and rightfully so.After disqualifying the Trump University judge because of his race, Republicans and Democrats alike have been holding Trump s feet to the fire some more so than others. Most Republicans have simply disavowed his comments while some have flat out called him a fraud (and of course Democrats have been saying these things since June of last year).But the most glaring critique from any official came from Democratic Representative Filemon Vela of Texas, who penned a scathing open letter to Trump. Starting out by agreeing that Mexico should do more to deter cartel violence, Vela quickly amps up his attack, saying, Your ignorant anti-immigrant opinions, your border wall rhetoric, and your recent bigoted attack on an American jurist are just plain despicable. Pretty standard criticism. But it gets so much better. Vela beats Trump at his own purity game, and notes that his ancestry is more American than Trump s, and that his family weren t chicken hawks: Before you dismiss me as just another Mexican, let me point out that my great-great grandfather came to this country in 1857, well before your own grandfather. His grandchildren (my grandfather and his brothers) all served our country in World War I and World War II. His great-grandson, my father, served in the U.S. Army and, coincidentally, was one of the first Mexican federal judges ever appointed to the federal bench. But the most telling and poignant line from Vela s letter was a good, old fashioned smackdown: Mr. Trump, you re a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass. This is by far the best response to Trump from any elected official. You know they all want to say it, but finally someone had the guts to actually come out and do it.And that s exactly what Donald Trump can do. Even if he were to be elected, there is no feasible way a wall would be built on the Mexican border and be financed by the Mexican government.Vela represents Texas 34th Congressional District, which makes up Corpus Christie and Brownsville. According to Census data, 60 percent of Corpus Christie s population is of Hispanic or Latino descent. In Brownsville, a border city, the Hispanic/Latino population accounted for 93 percent of its citizens.The proud people of Hispanic and Latino heritage of Texas 34th district can take solace in knowing they are being represented by a man who speaks for them to the fullest extent. If only this country had 100 more Filemon Vela s.Featured image a screen capture


0 1949  The ACLU has got a few words for America's newest elected "leader," and the letter they just published through the NY Times, is probably the most amazing jab in the history of politics. It doesn't hurt that the jab came from the American Civil Liberties Union, because the power behind the letter is what makes it so ominous to the president-elect.  The letter begins with a request for Trump to "change course" on many of the claims he has made in his extremely short political career.  "Dear President-Elect Trump,  For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has stood as this nation's premier defender of freedom and justice for all.  As you assume the nation's highest office, we must ask you now as president-elect to reconsider and change course on certain campaign promises you have made.  Specifically, you promised to: amass deportation force to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants ban the entry of Muslims and institute aggressive surveillance programs targeting them restrict a woman's right to abortion services reauthorize waterboarding and other forms of torture change our nation's libel laws and restrict freedom of expression"  As if this statement alone wasn't enough of a threat, the ACLU continues:  "These proposals are not simply un-American and wrong-headed. They are unlawful and unconstitutional, and would violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, as well as other statutes and international treaties."  "Many of our country's most cherished rights are the result of ACLU litigation and advocacy. They include the Scopes trial (the right to teach evolution in public science classrooms) and the following Supreme Court cases: Korematsu (challenging Japanese American internment); Miranda (the right to remain silent); Griswold (the right to contraception); Loving (the right of interracial couples to marry); Gideon (the right to a court-appointed attorney if you can't afford one); Windsor (striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act); and Obergefell (the right of same-sex couples to marry) and others. We have worked with and battled American presidents of both parties to ensure that our country makes good on it's founding premise as the land of the free."  In the end of the open letter, the ACLU promises to make Trump's life a nightmare if he continues to pave his road to concentration camp hell. They say Trump will have the full firepower of the ACLU to deal with if he doesn't wise up.  They letter concludes:  "If you do not reverse course and endeavor to make these campaign promises a reality, you will have to contend with the full firepower of the ACLU at your every step. Our staff of litigators and activists in every state, thousands of volunteers, and millions of supporters stand ready to fight against any encroachment on our cherished freedoms and rights."  "One thing is certain: We will be vigilant every day of your tenure as president. And when you ultimately vacate the Oval Office, we will do likewise with your successor." Today we published a full-page open letter in the New York Times to President-elect Trump pic.twitter.com/FOpRqn9oNY  — ACLU National (@ACLU) November 11, 2016 Share this Article!


Comments  The conservative political machine has been working overtime to try to deny that the government of the Russian Federation is interfering with the American election in support of Republican nominee Donald Trump – but this explosive investigation by former Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee proves once and for all that dictator Vladimir Putin is using every tool at his disposal to tilt the scale in favor of Trump.  Samantha Bee, now the host of her own show, traveled to Moscow to interview two of the "thinkfluencers," members of Putin's underground troll farms that pose as Americans online and flood social media with pro-Russian and pro-Trump propaganda.  "The reason I'm hired is to make simple people change their mind about their vote and also about Russia" said one woman, who admitted she identifies herself as a Nebraskan housewife online. When asked why they thought their propaganda was working, she replied it was because Americans are "lazy and they believe everything they read."


Excerpted from War Is A Lie by David Swanson.  W ars are not fought against flags or ideas, nations or demonized dictators. They are fought against people, 98 percent of whom are resistant to killing, and most of whom had little or nothing to do with bringing on the war. One way to dehumanize those people is to replace all of them with an image of a single monstrous individual.  Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, said that war is "easier for people to understand if there's a face to the enemy." He gave examples: "Hitler, Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic." Fitzwater might well have included the name Manuel Antonio Noriega. When the first President Bush sought, among other things, to prove he was no "wimp" by attacking Panama in 1989, the most prominent justification was that Panama's leader was a mean, drug-crazed, weirdo with a pockmarked face who liked to commit adultery. An important article in the very serious New York Times on December 26, 1989, began "The United States military headquarters here, which has portrayed General Manuel Antonio Noriega as an erratic, cocaine-snorting dictator who prays to voodoo gods, announced today that the deposed leader wore red underwear and availed himself of prostitutes." Never mind that Noriega had worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including at the time he'd stolen the 1984 election in Panama. (U.S. outrage at interference in elections is extremely new.) Never mind that his real offense was refusing to back U.S. war making against Nicaragua. Never mind that the United States had known about Noriega's drug trafficking for years and continued working with him. This man snorted cocaine in red underwear with women not his wife. "That is aggression as surely as Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland 50 years ago was aggression," declared Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger of Noriega's drug trafficking. The invading U.S. liberators even claimed to find a big stash of cocaine in one of Noriega's homes, although it turned out to be tamales wrapped in banana leaves. And what if the tamales really had been cocaine? Would that, like the discovery of actual "weapons of mass destruction" in Baghdad in 2003 have justified war?  Fitzwater's reference to "Milosevic" was, of course, to Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Serbia, whom David Nyhan of the Boston Globe in January 1999 called "the closest thing to Hitler Europe has confronted in the last half century." Except, you know, for all the other ones. By 2010, the practice in U.S. domestic politics of comparing anyone you disagreed with to Hitler had become almost comical, but it is a practice that has helped launch many wars and may still launch more. However, it takes two to tango: in 1999, Serbs were calling the president of the United States "Bill Hitler."  In the spring of 1914, in a movie theater in Tours, France, an image of Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany, came on the screen for a moment. All hell broke loose.  "Everybody yelled and whistled, men, women, and children, as if they had been personally insulted. The good natured people of Tours, who knew no more about the world and politics than what they had read in their newspapers, had gone mad for an instant," according to Stefan Zweig. But the French would not be fighting Kaiser Wilhelm II. They would be fighting ordinary people who happened to be born a little ways away from themselves in Germany.  Increasingly, over the years, we've been told that wars are not against people, but purely against bad governments and their evil leaders. Time after time we fall for tired rhetoric about new generations of "precision" weapons that our leaders pretend can target oppressive regimes without harming the people we think we're liberating. And we fight wars for "regime change." If the wars don't end when the regime has been changed, that's because we have a responsibility to take care of the "unfit" creatures, the little children, whose regimes we've changed. Yet, there's no established record of this doing any good. The United States and its allies did relatively well by Germany and Japan following World War II, but could have done so for Germany following World War I and skipped the sequel. Germany and Japan were reduced to rubble, and U.S. troops have yet to leave. That's hardly a useful model for new wars.  With wars or warlike actions the United States has overthrown governments in Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Honduras, Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, Chile, Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, and Iraq, not to mention the Congo (1960); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); Brazil (1961 & 1964); the Dominican Republic (1961 & 1963); Greece (1965 & 1967); Bolivia (1964 & 1971); El Salvador (1961); Guyana (1964); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); and of course Haiti (1991 & 2004). We've replaced democracy with dictatorship, dictatorship with chaos, and local rule with U.S. domination and occupation.  In no case has a U.S. war clearly reduced evil. In most cases, including Iran and Iraq, U.S. invasions and U.S.-backed coups have led to severe repression, disappearances, extra-judicial executions, torture, corruption, and prolonged setbacks for the democratic aspirations of ordinary people.  The focus on rulers in wars is not motivated by humanitarianism so much as propaganda. People enjoy fantasizing that a war is a duel between great leaders. This requires demonizing one and glorifying another.  This article was originally published at DavidSwanson.org . Share:


U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and said he looked forward to playing host to a visit by Modi to Washington later this year. The White House said Trump spoke with Modi to congratulate him on the outcome of recent state-level elections. Trump expressed support for Modi's economic reform agenda. "President Trump also said he looks forward to hosting Prime Minister Modi in Washington later this year," the White House said in a statement. No date for the visit was mentioned.


There is chatter within the White House that Kellyanne Conway is being looked at as the next communications director, a source within the White House told The Daily Caller.Anthony Scaramucci was ousted Monday as communications director following a week of publicly feuding with former chief of staff Reince Priebus. Scaramucci called Priebus a paranoid schizophrenic in an interview President Trump viewed as inappropriate, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.Kellyanne Conway would be a perfect choice for President Trump s new communications director. Conway is no stranger to dealing with the press. She is also no pushover. Conway has taken on almost every liberal hack at every leftist network in America, and each time she s walked away holding her head high, as she make her points in an eloquent but no holds barred way.Chris Cuomo of fake news network CNN interviewed Kellyanne Conway on Sunday. You would have thought by now, these hacks at CNN would have figured out they are no match for the brilliant Kellyanne Conway. At the opening of his interview with Conway, Cuomo attempted to convince the few viewers who still watch CNN that President Trump was very squishy on his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Kellyanne Conway snapped back in her usual calm but witty way, Chris, let s back up. So you re saying you used the word squishy which, itself, is unusual to describe the president s state of mind. So somehow that makes people on CNN insist that the president is never going to raise this with Putin? Why are they still in there? Cuomo responded, It s not about CNN. It s about what the president said, Kellyanne. Kellyanne immediately landed a right hook to fake news host Chris Cuomo when she asked him, Aren t you the least bit reluctant, if not embarrassed that you now talk about Russia more than you talk about America? Watch the brilliant exchange here:Conway, currently a counselor to the president, served as Trump s campaign manager and was previously a Republican pollster. She currently is a visible face of the Trump administration through her frequent appearances on cable news and is often relied on by the White House to deliver its message to the press. Daily Caller


STORRS, Conn. — One year ago, on the night after Super Bowl Sunday, Geno Auriemma sat alongside three stalwart seniors and momentarily imagined a coaching life without them. "I start to blink because I look out there and start to think that these three are not going to be there next year," Auriemma, coach of the Connecticut women's basketball powerhouse, said after a solid road victory over and South Carolina. He also appeared to be blinking away a tear or two at the thought of losing those three players: Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. That moment of emotional reflection for Auriemma, who is better known for biting sarcasm, came after a 60th consecutive victory, to which the Huskies predictably added 15 more on the way to their fourth straight (and 11th overall) national championship. Not many, including Auriemma, would have bet the mortgage on the streaks — both in games and titles — lasting much longer. But on Monday night, in a and expectant Gampel Pavilion, the Huskies made it an even 100 straight victories, swarming that same South Carolina team, to cross the threshold. The Huskies did it behind their forwards, Gabby Williams and Napheesa Collier. Williams scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while Collier added 18 and 9. "Continuing what they've done for so many years," said Williams, referring to past iconic Huskies, several of whom, Stewart included, watched from the stands. It starts to sound ridiculous, but the Huskies, this season, have not lost since November 2014 (in overtime at Stanford). If not for that loss, they'd be working on a streak of 148 straight. Even Auriemma sounded at a loss to explain this. He settled on "it was meant to be" after weeks of insisting that he and his players never talked about No. 100. Against the and No. 6 Gamecocks, the subject was unavoidable. And after 12 successive blowouts in an American Athletic Conference in which the Huskies have gone since its formation, the prospect of stiffer competition was preferable. With an eye on bigger game, the N. C. A. A. tournament, Auriemma said: "The streak isn't all theirs. They carried the streak across the finish line. But if they win the national championship, it's all theirs. " It's not as if the act of breaking records is new to his program. A previous record winning streak (surpassing the U. C. L. A. men's record established from 1971 to 1974) was bested by the current run last month. There is no doubt that a potential fifth straight national title, and 12th over all, are numbers more appealing to Auriemma. But triple digits in consecutive wins represents another symbolic groundbreaking and powerful statement in the continued and collective excellence of a women's sports team. Only once had Auriemma's program come this close to 100 — a winning streak that stood at 99 when an upstart St. John's team won at Gampel in February 2012, before Connecticut's departure from what was then a highly competitive Big East Conference. "Senior night, packed house at Gampel, as always," Kim Barnes Arico — then the St. John's coach, now in her fifth season at Michigan, where she has built a team — said in a telephone interview. With St. John's trailing by 2 points in the final seconds, Barnes Arico decided during a timeout to try for the win rather than overtime in such a challenging environment. Shenneika Smith — "she hadn't made a 3 in weeks" — sank the winning shot. On the bus ride home, Barnes Arico's cellphone rang. "It's Geno, calling to congratulate me after what had to be a crushing loss," Barnes Arico said. Auriemma had been supportive of her efforts to elevate the St. John's program, which is why, she said, "I can't help but applaud what he's doing there, going for 100 straight, just incredible. " That said, she was "holding off" on reaching out, or rooting for either side on Monday, given her ties to South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley. Barnes Arico has coached and U. S. A. Basketball teams with Staley, a Olympian and, like Auriemma, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member. "Either way, such a great story," Barnes Arico said. Staley's team — as have most ranked teams — presented Connecticut with its usual handicap of a size disadvantage, with their star, A'ja Wilson, and the center Alaina Coates. But the Huskies countered with Williams, only and Collier, — both quick jumpers who play bigger than they are. After Wilson helped keep the Gamecocks within at the half, the Huskies limited her to 5 points. They took control late in the third quarter and were never threatened in the fourth. "You can't let your guard down — UConn is going to make you pay every time," Staley said. In surmounting every obstacle on a schedule with opponents, Auriemma rapidly developed a cohesive Core Four to replace the Big Three of Stewart, Jefferson and Tuck, who were the top three picks in last year's W. N. B. A. draft. "We have no preseason but we have four really good players, and every time we need something, one of them comes up with something," Auriemma said, referring to the juniors Williams and Kia Nurse, and the sophomores Katie Lou Samuelson and Collier. If this wasn't supposed to be a season of extended dominance, the question entering Monday night had evolved. Would the Huskies ever lose? "It's not if," Auriemma said, "it's just when. " But if not Monday night, or sometime this season, just when? Next season, Connecticut is planning to suit up Azura Stevens, a transfer from Duke who many believe would have been UConn's best player this season. The Huskies will add Megan Walker, rated by some as the nation's No. 1 high school recruit. They will return six of their seven rotation players, the exception being Saniya Chong, who shares the position with the freshman Crystal Dangerfield. With no formidable opponent left on the conference schedule, and victories over many of the teams already recorded, an inquiring mind wants to wonder whether the Huskies might in a couple of years be on the doorstep of 200.