Political infighting among Iran s ruling elite has moved on to a new battleground - the relief effort after an earthquake that killed at least 530 people and injured thousands. Hardline media are accusing the government of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani of reacting too slowly to last weekend s quake, while highlighting aid work by the Revolutionary Guards - a rival power center. While the government said enough help had been sent to the thousands of people left homeless by the devastation, media affiliated to Rouhani s hardline rivals painted a different picture with reports from villages where survivors complained about a lack of shelter from the bitter cold. Rouhani allies say this reflects a long-running struggle between the president and those who oppose his drive to boost the economy by improving relations with the outside world, notably through sealing a nuclear deal with world powers. Rouhani is very popular, one Rouhani ally told Reuters. It is so sad to see that even under these sad circumstances when we need unity, they are attacking his government and trying to say that the government is incompetent to help people. Shortly after the magnitude 7.3 quake, Iran s worst in more than a decade, state TV aired scenes from the devastated villages in the western Kermanshah province. Iran has so far declined offers of foreign assistance, saying planeloads of tents, blankets, mattresses and emergency food rations had arrived in areas where at least 30,000 houses have been damaged and several villages completely destroyed. The hardline semi-official Tasnim and Fars news agencies both carried reports of the role of the Revolutionary Guards - an elite force loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - and its affiliated Basij militia force in helping the survivors. Khamenei has called on the state agencies to speed up their efforts. This disaster is a test for authorities to perform their duties, he said on Tuesday. His representative, cleric Abdolhossein Moezi, told state TV after visiting Kermanshah province that more relief was needed. Editorials in hardline newspapers adopted a sharp tone, accusing the government of failing to learn the lessons of the Bam earthquake in 2003, in which 31,000 people were killed. State TV covered how the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had restored some degree of normality in one of the worst hit towns, Sarpol-e Zahab. Immediately after the quake, the IRGC rushed to the area to help, said Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the Guards. We set up shelters, field clinics ... We will not leave until all survivors have a permanent shelter. Our commanders have been working around the clock. Commanders of the IRGC, which also runs a business empire in Iran, have repeatedly criticized Rouhani s failure to improve the economy despite the official lifting last year of most international sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal. In some areas, no building was left standing, elsewhere, survivors have left homes that remain standing, fearing they could come crashing down due to aftershocks. Houses in poor Iranian villages are often made of concrete blocks or mudbrick that can quickly crumble and collapse. Many of the heavily damaged buildings in Sarpol-e Zahab were part of an affordable housing scheme, initiated in 2011 by Rouhani s hardline predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Angry survivors said the low-quality construction in the Mehr scheme had caused the high death toll in the town, nestled in the Zagros Mountains along the border with Iraq. Rouhani has ordered an investigation. It s clear there has been corruption in construction contracts, he told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, state media reported. Anyone responsible will be punished. Ahmadinejad s adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr denounced the accusations. Heavy waves of propaganda against Mehr are aimed at covering up the weakness and inefficiency of the (Rouhani) administration in helping quake-hit people, he said. Major towns and cities in the Kermanshah province appeared to have escaped heavy damage, witnesses said, while many villages were destroyed. My mother told me to buy yogurt for dinner .... As soon as I left the house everything started to collapse, 13-year-old Dozan told Reuters by telephone from Sarpol-e Zahab. I ran back but my parents and sisters were dead - only rubble and dust and no home. Rouhani has promised more help and low-interest loans to survivors to rebuild their collapsed homes. State TV showed Iranians around the country gathering goods and warm clothes and blankets for the survivors. We need shelter ... it is getting colder. They have distributed some tents but it was not enough, Ahmad Irandust, 75, told Reuters from Salas Babajani village by telephone. He said his children have slept outdoor in the freezing cold since Sunday. Don t leave us alone. Don t forget us.


A planned state visit to Britain by U.S. President Donald Trump is months away and any program has yet to be worked out, a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday. More than 1.6 million people have signed an online petition calling for Trump's visit to be canceled to avoid embarrassing Queen Elizabeth, in protest at his immigration policies. "The prime minister set out very clearly last night ... (that) the invitation has been extended. She was happy to do that. She looks forward to hosting the president and that will be a state visit this year," the spokeswoman told reporters. "On the program for the state visit, that will all need to be worked out in due course ... It is months away."


The Obama administration reversed course on Tuesday on a proposal to open the southeastern Atlantic coast to drilling as an oil price slump and strong opposition in coastal communities raised doubts about the plan. Besides market and environmental concerns, the U.S. Interior Department said it also based its decision on conflicts with competing commercial and military ocean uses. The decision, which is sure to reverberate in the presidential election campaign, reverses a January 2015 proposal for new leases in the Atlantic as part of the department's five-year plan to set new boundaries for oil development in federal waters through 2022. "We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said. "When you factor in conflicts with national defense, economic activities such as fishing and tourism, and opposition from many local communities, it simply doesn't make sense to move forward with any lease sales in the coming five years." Hillary Clinton, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic Party's nomination to run in the Nov. 8 presidential election, has moved to the left on environment under pressure from green groups. She tweeted: "Relieved Atlantic drilling is now off the table. Time to do the next right thing and protect the Arctic, too." Donald Trump, the businessman and former reality TV personality who is the Republican front-runner, has raised questions about whether more offshore drilling is necessary given the abundance of onshore shale production. The proposal would have opened up drilling sites more than 50 miles off Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia to oil drilling by 2021. Coastal communities in these states protested the administration's plan, fearing the possibility of an oil spill like the BP Horizon accident in 2010 on the U.S. Gulf Coast, and its effects on tourism and their economies. "With this decision coastal communities have won a 'David vs. Goliath' fight against the richest companies on the planet, and that is a cause for tremendous optimism for the well-being of future generations," said Jacqueline Savitz, environmental group Oceana's vice president for U.S. oceans. Virginia officials had welcomed the initial plan to allow offshore drilling, saying it would bring economic benefits. On Tuesday, Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said he was surprised that the Department of Defense had raised concerns about naval installations, one of which is off the state's coast. "The DOD has been relatively quiet during this public debate and has never shared their objections with me before," he said. Major oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp, Shell and Chevron, had pushed for an open Atlantic. Shell Oil Company spokeswoman Natalie Mazey said the decision was "short sighted" and would "jeopardize the abundance of affordable domestic energy the economy has become dependent on." The American Petroleum Institute said the decision goes against the will of voters, governors and members of Congress who support more development. "The decision appeases extremists who seek to stop oil and natural gas production which would increase the cost of energy for American consumers and close the door for years to creating new jobs, new investments and boosting energy security," said API President Jack Gerard. The Interior Department also announced Tuesday that it would evaluate 13 other potential lease sales in other areas of the country - 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and three off the coast of Alaska. "The proposal focuses potential lease sales in areas with the highest resource potential, greatest industry interest, and established infrastructure," Jewell said. The Interior Department said that in the Gulf, resource potential and industry interest are high and infrastructure already exists. It proposes two annual lease sales that include the Western, Central, and part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico not subject to the current congressional moratorium. It also includes a potential sale each in the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, and Cook Inlet planning areas in Alaska. The department would take comments on other options, including an alternative that includes no new leasing. While green groups praised the decision to keep the Atlantic off limits for now, they raised concerns that the United States would keep the door open for drilling in the vulnerable U.S. Arctic. "The administration must take Arctic leases out of the final five-year plan," said Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. "No place has potentially more to lose due to climate change than the Arctic." The Interior Department will open the five-year proposal to a 90-day comment period.


Highlights for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday: Trump proposes slashing tax rates for businesses and on overseas corporate profits returned to the country in a plan greeted as an opening gambit by his fellow Republicans in Congress. Trump's plan could shift the U.S. economy into higher gear but could have one effect the White House would not welcome — interest rates ratcheted higher than expected by a wary central bank. The Trump tax cut will generate growth but not nearly enough to replace trillions of dollars in lost revenues, while rising deficits could even take back some of the economic gains, fiscal experts say. Congress inches toward a deal to fund the government through September but is preparing to possibly extend a midnight Friday deadline in order to wrap up negotiations and avoid an imminent government shutdown. Trump is considering issuing an executive order to pull the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement, an administration official says, a move that could unravel one of the world's biggest trading blocs. Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discuss bilateral trade in their second conversation in as many days amid strains over softwood lumber and dairy. The Trump administration says it aims to push North Korea into dismantling its nuclear and missile programs through tougher international sanctions and diplomatic pressure, and remains open to negotiations to bring that about. Trump gives the military the authority to reset a confusing system of troop limits in Iraq and Syria that critics say allows the White House to micro-manage battlefield decisions and ultimately obscures the real number of U.S. forces. Trump signs an executive order to allow national monument designations to be rescinded or reduce the size of sites as the administration pushes to open more federal land to drilling, mining and other development. Trump orders Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to review the government role in school policy, which supporters cheer as a step in creating more local control in education and critics worry it could lead to lower quality schools in poorer neighborhoods. Israel's intelligence minister says his country wants an "understanding" with the Trump administration that Iran must not be allowed to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria.


Pakistan angrily criticized Donald Trump, frontrunner for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination, for saying he would force the country to free a jailed Pakistani doctor believed to have helped the CIA hunt down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Trump, a 69-year-old billionaire real estate developer, told Fox News on Friday that, if elected, he would get Pakistan to free Shakil Afridi "in two minutes", saying that Islamabad receives a lot of development aid from the United States. "Contrary to Mr. Trump's misconception, Pakistan is not a colony of the United States of America," Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said in a statement on Monday. The statement said Afridi's fate would be decided "by the Pakistani courts and the government of Pakistan and not by Mr. Donald Trump, even if he becomes the president of the United States". The statement came on the fifth anniversary of the killing of bin Laden - architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities - during a secret raid in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad that damaged relations between the strategic allies. Washington views Afridi as a hero but Pakistan sentenced him in 2012 to 33 years in jail on charges of belonging to militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, which he denies. That sentence was overturned and Afridi is now awaiting trial on another charge. Trump has alarmed U.S. allies with his combative rhetoric and his calls for an "America First" agenda that many see as a threat to retreat from the world. In his comments about Pakistan and Afridi for Fox News, Trump said: "I would tell them let (him) out and I'm sure they would let (him) out. Because we give a lot of aid to Pakistan." Afridi has also been accused in Pakistan of running a fake vaccination campaign in which he purportedly collected DNA samples to help the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) track down bin Laden. He has not been charged over those allegations. After his original conviction was overturned, he was charged in 2013 with murder relating to the death of a patient eight years earlier. He remains in jail. In the Fox interview Trump also said he supported leaving the roughly 10,000 U.S. troops still based in Afghanistan instead of withdrawing them by the end of 2017. "I would stay in Afghanistan," he said. "It's probably the one place we should have gone in the Middle East because it's adjacent and right next to Pakistan which has nuclear weapons." The United States led the military invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban for sheltering bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders following the Sept. 11 attacks. (This story has been corrected to fix typo in Pakistan minister's name in paragraph 3)


Photo by Mark Hodgins | CC BY 2.0  It's the perfect time to be an affluent white and politically correct North Side Lakefront – or other kind of – Liberal and sports fan in the Chicago area. Think about it. Your beloved Chicago Cubs are finally going to their first World Series since 1945 and they will be doing a battle against a team with the worst racist Native American logo in major U.S. professional sports: the Cleveland Indians – yes, the "Indians." The Indians' Chief Wahoo – a wild grinning caricature – is the single most offensive, politically incorrect image in sports today.  It's enough to make folks forget that the Cubs are owned by a politically active right-wing Republican family, the Ricketts, one of whom recently contributed $1 million to the racist and sexist bigot Donald Trump. And that the Cubs' storied ballpark Wrigley Field will be jammed with rich white people who can swallow up secondary market World Series tickets selling for as high as $18,000 . And that the Cubs owe no small part their ability to overcome their " Billy Goat curse " (proclaiming that they'd never go again to the final championship series) largely to massive infusions of big Ricketts money required to purchase free-agent veterans to go along with their younger stars.  Meanwhile, the liberals' party has a presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who is about to become the national government's first female chief executive after trouncing the aforementioned bigot Trump in the November 8 th election. The insane, politically incorrect spectacle of Trump has helped people forget that Mrs. Clinton is herself a "right-wing fanatic" and a "lying neoliberal warmonger" – and here I am quoting two left intellectuals who counsel folks to vote for her. Hillary's Wall Street-friendly arch-corporatism and hawkish militarism are well understood in very predominantly white establishment business and imperial circles, where she is by far and away the preferred candidate. This is true even among many normally Republican members of the economic, political, policy, and – in a word – power elite.  Identity politics provides cover for, and diversion from, class rule and from the deeper structures of class, race, gender, empire, and eco-cide that haunt American and global life today – structures that place children of liberal white North Side Chicago professionals in posh 40 th -story apartments overlooking scenic Lake Michigan while consigning children of felony-branded Black custodians and fast food workers to cramped apartments in crime-ridden South Side neighborhoods where nearly half the kids are growing up at less than half the federal government's notoriously inadequate poverty level. Most of the Black kids in deeply impoverished and hyper-segregated neighborhoods like Woodlawn and Englewood (South Side) or North Lawndale and Garfield Park (West Side) can forget not only about going to a World Series game but even about watching one on television. Their parents don't have cable and the Fox Sports 1 channel. There's few if any local restaurants and taverns with big-screen televisions in safe walking distance from their homes. Major League Baseball ticket prices being what they are, few of the South Side kids have even seen the White Sox – Chicago's South Side American League team, whose ballpark lacks the affluent white and gentrified surroundings of Wrigley Field. (Thanks in no small part to the urban social geography of race and class in Chicago, the White Sox winning the World Series in 2005 – their first championship since 1917, marking an overcoming of the Black Sox Curse – was a smaller deal in the city than the Cubs going to the World Series this year.)  The World Series might be playing out before a national and even global audience just miles away in hyper-Caucasian Wrigley Ville, but for tens of thousands of Black and Latino kids on the city's South, West, and (in fact) North Sides (there are significant stretches of minority poverty west and north of the Cubs' storied ballpark), the games are being played in another universe.  Hillary, a Cubs fan from the affluent northern white Chicago area suburb of Park Ridge (though also a self-declared Yankee fan during her years "representing Wall Street as a Senator from New York" [her own words]) isn't going to remotely change any of that. She has a long record as a vanguard neoliberal Democrat (a de facto "moderate" Republican) going back to the Clintons' days in Arkansas, where and when she played a key role in helping move the Democratic Party ever further away from its last lingering commitments to social, racial, and environmental justice and decency.  I may be a "far left radical" stamped as a White Sox fan by family upbringing and a childhood on the South Side. Still, I am going to make the most both of the Cubs going to the World Series and of Hillary trouncing Trump. Much as I wish the Sox were headed for their second championship in eleven year (they held first place in the American League Central Division for a few weeks last spring), I have to admit that nothing can beat the heartwarming story of the "lovable losers" the Cubs going to the October Classic when it comes to boosting the profile of baseball relative to that of the sadistically violent, brain-mashing blood sport called U.S. football. It is a telling tragedy that the beautiful pastoral game of baseball has been trounced by the vicious, fascist-lite spectacle that is U.S. football as the nation's favorite sport in the neoliberal era.  Plus, I have nice memories of my father taking me up to enemy territory to watch National League baseball in Wrigley Field in the late 1960s, before it became a Yuppie playground and a tourist attraction. You could sit in Wrigley's bleachers for $1.50.  Like all good leftists, I hate the Clintons, including the ones with two x chromosomes – and that includes young Chelsea, with her noxious $10 million condo complex in Manhattan Still, I do not await a Hillary Clinton administration with undiluted trepidation. The presence of a Democrat in the nominal top U.S. job can be usefully instructive for young workers and citizens. It helps demonstrate the richly bipartisan nature of the American plutocracy and Empire. The people need to see and experience how the intolerable misery and oppression imposed by capitalism and its evil twin imperialism live on when Democrats hold the White House. At the same time, the presence of a Republican in the White House tends to fuel the illusion among progressives and others that the main problem in the country is that the wrong party holds executive power and that all energy and activism must be directed at fixing that. It just feeds the electoral and candidate obsessions that do so much to divert us from building and expanding the kinds of rank and file social movements required to bringing about an actually progressive transformation.  There is, yes, I know, the problem of Democrats in the White House functioning to stifle social movements and especially peace activism (the antiwar movement has still yet to recover from the Obama experience). But there's more good news here about a Hillary presidency. Not all Democratic presidents are equally good at shutting progressive activism down. As the likely Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein (for whom I took five minutes to early vote in a "contested state" three weeks ago) noted in an interview with me last April (when the White Sox still held first place in their division), Hillary Clinton will have considerably less capacity to deceive and bamboozle progressive and young workers and citizens than Barack Obama enjoyed in 2007-08 . "Obama," Stein noted, was fairly new on the scene. Hillary," by contrast, "has been a warmonger who never found a war she didn't love forever!" Hillary's corporatist track record – ably documented in Doug Henwood's book My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency (her imperial track record receives equally impressive treatment in Diana Johnstone's volume Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton ) – is also long and transparently bad. All that and Mrs. Clinton's remarkable lacks of charisma and trustworthiness could be useful for left activism and politics in coming years.  For what it's worth, the first and most urgent place to restore such activism and politics is in the area where Barack Obama has been most deadening: foreign policy, also known (when conducted by the U.S.) as imperialism. When it comes to prospects for World War III, it is by no means clear that the saber-rattling, regime-changing, NATO-expanding, and Russia-baiting Hillary Clinton is the "lesser evil" compared to the preposterous Trump. That's no small matter. During a friend's birthday party the night the Cubs clinched the National League pennant, I asked fellow celebrants and inebriates if they were prepared for the fundamental realignment of the space-time continuum that was coming when the North Siders won the league championship. That was a joke, of course, but there's nothing funny about the heightened chances of a real downward existential adjustment resulting from war between nuclear superpowers when the "lying neoliberal warmonger" Hillary Clinton gets into office and insists on recklessly imposing a so-called no-fly zone over Russia-allied Syria.  Postscript : Meanwhile, could we save some love for the poor and mostly working class sports fans of Cleveland? They didn't vote for their one and only Major League Baseball team to be named the Indians and bear a noxious racist logo. Until LeBron James delivered on his basketball promise last spring they hadn't won a major sports professional championship in fifty-two years. In the years since 1948, the last time the Indians won the World Series, Cleveland has had two such champions: the football Browns in 1964 and the basketball Cavaliers earlier this year. Over the same period, Chicago has accumulated four National Hockey League (NHL)/Stanley Cup championships (1961, 2010, 2013, 2015), six NBA (basketball) championship (the 1990s Michael Jordan Bulls), two NFL (football) championships (the Bears in 1963 and 1985-86), and one World Series (the officially unlovable White Sox in 2005). That's Chicago 13, Cleveland 2 (9 to 2 if you subtract hockey since Cleveland has never had an NHL team). That said, I'm still rooting for the Cubs for three reasons: (1) I may be from the South Side but I'm also from Chicago and have lived on the North Side at different times; (2) the Cubs becoming a dynasty (a distinct possibility given the talent and youth of their team the money behind it) will be good for baseball versus football (3) the truly disgusting atrocity that is Chief Wahu. Check it out .


Share This Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio recording , the first in almost a year, and expressed his confidence in the group's eventual victory. Amnesty International warned that is has received reports of revenge attacks on civilians in villages near the Tigris River . Victims are accusing the Sab'wai tribal militia, which is a Sunni group, of torture and false imprisonment. There are also reports that Shi'ite militiamen are interrogating civilians on the western Mosul front. In Mosul , civilians by the hundreds were able to escape the Samah neighborhood. Security forces liberated Min Gar and four other villages near Hammam al-Alil. Khafsan, Munita and Qutba were also reported freed . Also captured were Abbasiya, Ayn Shahlub, Bazzunnah, Kharar, Khubairat, Mankar, Qahira, Rahmaniyah, Shahlub, Tal Saif al Athari, Um Izzam, and Ayn al Jahsh factory. Shi'ite militiamen reported the capture of a highway linking Mosul with Raqqa , Syria. At least 283 people were killed and 84 were wounded in recent violence: In Mosul , militants killed 150 civilians as they retreated from Gogjiali . Airstrikes left 100 militants dead and 40 wounded . Eight militants were killed during house-to-house searches in Gogjiali . East of Mosul in the direction of Tal Afar , Shi'ite militias encountered many booby-traps in villages they recaptured. At least 15 militiamen were killed and 30 were wounded .


The Freedom Party of Austria filed a legal challenge on Wednesday over the results of the country's presidential election, disputing the outcome of the May 22 runoff, in which the party's candidate, Norbert Hofer, was narrowly defeated. Officials said there was no precedent for a challenge to the outcome of a presidential election in the history of modern Austria, a federal republic that was reconstituted in 1945 from the ashes of Nazi Germany, which annexed the country in 1938. The challenge, submitted by the party's chairman to the Constitutional Court, injected an element of uncertainty into a debate that has already stirred questions over the strength of the far right in a nation with a fraught wartime past. Mr. Hofer led the first round of voting, on April 24, in which the country's two mainstream parties were handed a humbling defeat. The runoff pitted Mr. Hofer against an independent candidate and former leader of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen. The results were too close to call when polls closed at 5 p. m. on May 22 only after nearly 700, 000 ballots were tallied was the result announced, midafternoon on May 23. Mr. Van der Bellen was declared the winner, with 50. 35 percent of the vote and a very tight lead of 30, 863 ballots, according to the Interior Ministry. On Wednesday, the Freedom Party's chairman, Strache, submitted 150 pages of documents to the Constitutional Court, claiming "numerous irregularities and failures" in the counting of the runoff votes. According to the Austrian news agency APA, Mr. Strache submitted three documents: one from himself, the second from Mr. Hofer and the third from "voters and citizens. " Mr. Strache said there had been electoral irregularities or fraud in 94 of 117 regional polling stations. In 82 of the stations, he said, at least 573, 000 ballots were sorted or counted before the election authorities were even on site to monitor the process. "We are not sore losers, and we are not disputing for dispute's sake," Mr. Strache said at a news conference. "The mistrust is justified. Without these failures and irregularities, Norbert Hofer could have been president. " The Freedom Party had already claimed election irregularities — including premature counting of ballots and erroneous tallies — but Mr. Strache went further on Wednesday, calling the ballot system a "systemic failure. " According to the APA, the Interior Ministry has called for an investigation into at six polling stations. The Constitutional Court could call for a recount or even a . Austrian law requires that the challenge must be resolved "within four weeks of submission. " That would be July 6 — two days before Mr. Van der Bellen's inauguration. The president of Austria is elected for a term and serves as head of state, though the position is largely ceremonial. The incumbent, Heinz Fischer, is completing his second term and was not allowed to seek a third. In 1986, Kurt Waldheim, a former foreign minister and secretary general of the United Nations, was elected president of Austria, despite revelations that he had concealed his wartime involvement with German military units that executed thousands of Yugoslav partisans and civilians and deported thousands of Greek Jews to death camps between 1942 and 1944. A commission of historians found no evidence that Mr. Waldheim was guilty of war crimes, but concluded that he must have been aware of the atrocities and, by doing nothing, had facilitated them. Mr. Waldheim did not seek in 1992 he died in 2007.


In a shift of opinion since the 2014 midterms, Americans now consider the Republican Party more extreme than the Democratic Party, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds. In the days just after the GOP retook the Senate last November, Americans were evenly split as to which party they thought was more extreme. They now say by an 8-point margin that Republicans are further from the mainstream. Half of Americans now say the GOP is too extreme, up 7 points since November. The percentage saying Democrats are too extreme, which has remained relatively steady, is currently 39 percent. Forty-eight percent of independents now say the GOP is too extreme, up 9 points from last year. The percentage of Republicans calling their own party too extreme also rose by 6 points. One thing hasn't changed: Most Americans still want members of both parties to work together. Fifty-six percent say that Republicans should compromise some of their positions to work with Democrats, rather than stick to their positions and risk not coming to an agreement, while 68 percent say Democrats in Congress should compromise. While most Democrats think their leaders should compromise, Republicans support a harder-edged approach, with 58 percent saying their congressional representatives should stick to their positions. Independents say that both sides should work together. The HuffPost/YouGov poll consisted of 1,000 completed interviews conducted April 25-27 among U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling. Data from all HuffPost/YouGov polls can be found here. More details on the poll's methodology are available here. Most surveys report a margin of error that represents some, but not all, potential survey errors. YouGov's reports include a model-based margin of error, which rests on a specific set of statistical assumptions about the selected sample, rather than the standard methodology for random probability sampling. If these assumptions are wrong, the model-based margin of error may also be inaccurate. Click here for a more detailed explanation of the model-based margin of error.


Several top Republicans have yet to endorse Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee. On Sunday, Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus had some strong words for those individuals. Appearing on CBS Face the Nation, Priebus issued a thinly veiled threat directed towards those who have yet to get on board the Trump bandwagon, which Reince described as one of the biggest movements as far as people across this country in modern history. The right-wing reactionary movement is missing key GOP politicians such as Ted Cruz and other former presidential hopefuls. While they may not be considered a part of the #NeverTrump crowd, these GOPers have not really done much of anything to support the current Republican presidential candidate.They all agreed to support the eventual presidential nominee no matter who wins the election, and Priebus is expecting them to put party before country. We re a private party. We re not a public entity. Those people need to get on board, Priebus told the show s host, John Dickerson. And if they re thinking they re going to run again someday, I think we re going to evaluate the nomination process, and I don t think it s going to be that easy for them. I think these are things that our party s going to look at in the process. I think people who gave us their word, used information from the RNC, should get on board. What s interesting is that Trump has previously dragged his feet when it comes to endorsing other GOP candidates, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan. It s also interesting to note that the pledge that Priebus is referencing was reportedly designed to discourage Trump from running as an independent or on a non-establishment party campaign. It has no legal significance and is simply just a promise.The fact that Priebus, had to threaten though he insists that his comments are not a threat top members of his Party show that the GOP is still cracking under the weight of trying to hold up Trump s campaign. You can watch the video below.


" The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society . Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. " – Edward Bernays ("the father of public relations"), Propaganda , 1928 (note that Bernays' book, Propaganda , begins with the above quote). If you told somebody 10 years ago that there existed some sort of secret group or "secret government" pulling the strings behind the scenes of government policy, international law, various global rules/regulations, and more, they would have called you a "conspiracy theorist." Today things have changed, largely as a result of information leaked by Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and various other whistleblowers and activists in recent years. Their bravery has shed light on the world of secrecy that's been blinding the masses since its inception. I've mentioned this before, and I'll mention it again, did you know that the U.S. Government classifies more than 500 million pages of documents each year? Did you know that the United States has a history of government agencies existing in secret? For example, the National Security Agency (NSA) was founded in 1952, but its existence was hidden until the mid 1960's. Even more secretive is the National Reconnaissance Office, it was founded in 1960 but remained completely secret for 30 years. Then we have the entire black budget world, a world dominated by secrecy that was officially revealed by Edward Snowden a couple of years ago. This deals with what are known as "Special Access Programs." It's not just statements that these "high-level" people are making. It's all of the proof and evidence that goes along with it. ***You can read more about the black budget HERE *** Canadian Defence Minister Paul Hellyer Former Minister of National Defence, Paul Hellyer, is one of Canada's best known and most controversial politicians. He was first elected in 1949, and was the youngest cabinet minister appointed to Louis S. St. Laurent's government eight years later. He held senior posts in the governments of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre E. Trudeau. He achieved the rank of senior master (Deputy Prime Minister), and went on to become the Canadian Defence Minister. He is best known for the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces, and in September 2005 he became the first person of cabinet rank in the G8 group of countries to state unequivocally that "UFOs are as real as the airplanes flying overhead." Here's what he had to say about the world of secrecy: It is ironic that the U.S. would begin a devastating war, allegedly in search of weapons of mass destruction, when the most worrisome developments in this field are occurring in your own backyard. It is ironic that the U.S. should be fighting monstrously expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, allegedly to bring democracy to those countries, when it itself can no longer claim to be called a democracy, when trillions, and I mean thousands of billions of dollars have been spent on projects about which both the Congress and the Commander in Chief have been kept deliberately in the dark. ( source ) The 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson, an American academic, politician, and the 28th president of the United States, had this to say (among other things) in his book The New Freedom . The book also contains several other, similarly eye-opening statements: Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it. ( source ) The 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy Here's what JFK had to say in one of his most famous speeches: The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. … For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. ( source ) John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of The United States John C. Calhoun was the 7th Vice President of the United States, from 1825-1832. He was also a political theorist during the first half of the 19th century. Here's what he had to say: A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many, and various, and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. ( source ) This quote reminds me of a great clip from the Thrive documentary by Foster Gamble, heir to the Proctor Gamble corporation. He was groomed for the establishment, but chose a different path. New York City Mayor John F. Hylan John F. Hylan was Mayor of New York City from 1918-1925. He has been famously quoted as saying: The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation … The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both parties … [and] control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country. They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection. ( source )( source ) Senator William Jenner A United States senator who said this to Congress in 1954: Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means … We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state … It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government … This ruthless power-seeking elite is a disease of our century… This group … is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable. ( source ) Senator Daniel K. Inouye Inouye was the highest ranking Asian-American politician in United States history, serving the democratic party from 1963 until his death in 2012. There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself . ( source ) 34th U.S. President And 5 Star General, Dwight Eisenhower In his farewell address to the nation, president Eisenhower offered these words of caution: In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. … Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defence with our peaceful message and goals. ( source ) This speech is relevant to share here, because the disastrous rise of misplaced power within the military industrial complex has indeed occurred… Benjamin Disraeli, First British MP The world is governed by very different personages to what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes. ( Coningsby, Book 4, Chap. 15. ) – Page 131 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt President Roosevelt revealed this information: Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. ( source ) The list of quotes is very large and could fill a number of pages, so I will stop there.  The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.  You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.  "If "Survivor" was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and "The Sacred Science" hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune


Other nations are stepping up to play larger roles in the world because of Donald Trump, proving that he is destroying American respect and power abroad.One of Trump s first acts after taking over the White House was to issue a global gag rule on abortion.The executive order bans groups that receive funding from the United States from giving women information on abortion, reversal of President Obama s policy that had been in effect for the last eight years.Apparently, conservatives believe they not only have the right to tell American women what to do with their bodies, they believe they have the right to tell all women around the world what to do with their bodies as well.Trump s policy is an embarrassing shift. Women around the world will now see America as a hostile enemy of women s rights and bodily autonomy.And as a result of of the United States abandoning women around the world, other nations are sticking it to Trump by filling the gaps.According to Reuters,Norway has joined an international initiative to raise millions of dollars to replace shortfalls left by U.S. President Donald Trump s ban on U.S.-funded groups worldwide providing information on abortion.In January, the Netherlands started a global fund to help women access abortion services, saying Trump s global gag rule meant a funding gap of $600 million over the next four years, and has pledged $10 million to the initiative to replace that.Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Canada and Cape Verde have all also lent their support.Norway is also chipping in $10 million. The government is increasing its support for family planning and safe abortion, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a statement. At a time when this agenda has come under pressure, a joint effort is particularly important. So Donald Trump just hurt American prestige by doing something that will hurt women around the globe. But other nations are boosting their own prestige by filling the funding gap.Abortion is a medically necessary procedure that women should have access to no matter where they live. By trying to deny women that access, Donald Trump is putting lives at risk and taking rights away from women after our country has fought for years to lift up women around the world.Trump and Republicans should realize that as they continue to shrink America s role in the world, other nations will take advantage of it and increase their own prestige and power. As long as Trump and Republicans continue down this path, respect for us will plummet and our influence will wane.


The head of the largest conservative group in the U.S. Congress, Representative Bill Flores of Texas, said he could not back Republican Donald Trump for president at this time, CNN reported on Wednesday. Flores, the head of the Republican Study Committee in the House of Representatives, told CNN he was incredibly angry about comments that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee made about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel.


Being a pro-Trump pundit must be a tough racket right now. Between his lies, his ignorance and his bungling of nearly everything he touches, it takes a special kind of person to defend #45.Well, former Reaganite Jeffrey Lord has his work cut out for him, but he went completely out on a limb Wednesday when he called Trump the Martin Luther King of healthcare. One of the panelists on CNN Thursday morning happened to be African-American commentator Symone Sanders. As you can imagine, things did not go well for Lord.In a segment discussing the president s plans for Obamacare, Lord called Trump the Martin Luther King of health care. Sanders interjected with an Oh Jeffrey, but Lord went on, When I was a kid, President Kennedy did not want to introduce the Civil Rights bill because he said it wasn t popular, he didn t have the votes for it. Dr. King kept putting people in the streets in harm s way to put the pressure on. That s when Sanders stepped in to quash his metaphor:Okay Jeffrey. You do understand that Dr. King was marching for Civil Rights because people that looked like me were being beaten? Dogs were being sicced on them? Basic human rights were being withheld from these people merely because of the color of their skin? So let s not equate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a humanitarian, a Nobel Peace Prize winner to the vagina-grabbing President Donald Trump.Source: NY MagazineHere s the video:Posting without comment. #healthcare pic.twitter.com/dspY5BLfuV Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) April 13, 2017Republicans absolutely hate everything Martin Luther King stood for (peace and equality), but they loooove to invoke his name whenever it suits their agenda. In fact, they love to say that King was a Republican. He certainly wasn t then, and now that the Republican party has become the neo-confederate party, there s no way in hell.


Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe s president on Tuesday, a week after the army and his former political allies moved to end four decades of rule by a man once feted as an independence hero who became feared as a despot. His former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking this month prompted the military takeover that forced Mugabe out, will be sworn in as president on Wednesday or Thursday, Patrick Chinamasa, legal secretary of the ruling ZANU-PF party, told Reuters. The 93-year-old Mugabe had clung on for a week after an army takeover, with ZANU-PF urging him to go. He finally resigned moments after parliament began an impeachment process seen as the only legal way to force him out. Wild celebrations broke out at a joint sitting of parliament when Speaker Jacob Mudenda read out Mugabe s brief resignation letter. Mugabe, confined to his Harare residence, did not appear. People danced in the streets of Harare and car horns blared at the news that the era of Mugabe who had led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 was finally over. Some brandished posters of Mnangagwa and army chief General Constantino Chiwenga. Workers turned the Christmas lights on early in Africa Unity Square and people climbed aboard armored vehicles to pose for photographs with soldiers. Despite the public outpouring of joy, Mugabe s downfall was as much the result of in-fighting among the political elite as a popular uprising, although thousands of people rallied against him in the days after the army intervened last week. The army seized power after Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa, ZANU-PF s favorite to succeed him, in a bid to smooth a path to the presidency for his wife Grace, 52, known to her critics as Gucci Grace for her reputed fondness for luxury shopping. Since the crisis began, Mugabe has been mainly confined to his Blue Roof mansion in the capital where Grace is also believed to be. ZANU-PF chief whip Lovemore Matuke told Reuters that Mnangagwa would be sworn in within 48 hours and serve the remainder of Mugabe s term until the next election, which must be held by September 2018. I am very happy with what has happened, said Maria Sabawu, a supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), outside the hotel where the impeachment process was happening. I have suffered a lot at the hands of Mugabe s government, she said, showing her hand with a missing finger that she said was lost in violence during a presidential run-off election between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008. Mugabe had led Zimbabwe since a guerrilla struggle ended white-minority rule in the country formerly known as Rhodesia. He took the once-rich nation to economic ruin, presiding over the forced takeover of white-owned farms at the end of the century, which devastated agricultural foreign exchange earnings and led to hyperinflation. But brandishing his anti-colonial credentials and styling himself the Grand Old Man of African politics, Mugabe retained the admiration of many people across the continent. Amnesty International said that under Mugabe tens of thousands of people were tortured, forcibly disappeared or killed in a culture of impunity that allowed grotesque crimes to thrive . The people of Zimbabwe deserve better. The next generation of leaders must commit itself to upholding the constitution, living up to Zimbabwe s international human rights obligations and treating its people with dignity and justice, the rights group said in a statement. Mnangagwa, 75, who fled Zimbabwe after his sacking in fear for his safety, was a chief lieutenant to Mugabe for decades and himself stands accused of participating in repression. He was internal security chief in the mid-1980s when Mugabe deployed a North Korean-trained brigade against rebels during which 20,000 civilians were killed, according to rights groups. Reuters reported in September that Mnangagwa was plotting to succeed Mugabe, with army backing, at the helm of a broad coalition to seek Zimbabwe s re-engagement with the world after decades of isolation from global lenders and donors. Nicknamed Ngwena , or crocodile in the Shona language, an animal famed in Zimbabwean lore for its stealth and ruthlessness, Mnangagwa issued a statement from hiding on Tuesday calling on Zimbabweans to unite to rebuild the country. Opposition politician and former education minister David Coltart said that call gave hope of lifting a shattered economy from its knees, provided Mnangagwa made good on his promise to reach out to other factions. When we all wake up with hangovers tomorrow, we will be reminded of the dreadful state our nation is in - no money in the banks and businesses collapsing, Coltart told Reuters. As Emmerson Mnangagwa said, ZANU-PF is not capable of resolving this issue on its own. I took some comfort from his words. If he translates them into action, the future is positive. Zimbabwe s Platform for Concerned Citizens, a civil society group, called for a national dialogue and a transitional authority to decide the country s future. Theresa May, prime minister of former colonial power Britain, said Mugabe s resignation provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterized his rule . She said Britain, as Zimbabwe s oldest friend , would do all it could to support the country. The U.S. embassy in Harare said Zimbabwe was living a historic moment . Whatever short-term arrangements the government may establish, the path forward must lead to free, fair and inclusive elections, it said in a statement.


In his final 2016 White House Correspondence Dinner, a sharp tongued President Obama unleashed a scathing but hilarious barrage of humor on Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump and pretty much everyone who had ties to the GOP. The president drew many laughs in front of journalists, celebrities, and politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. However, one person wasn t there: Donald Trump. The president said of Trump s absence:I m a little hurt that he s not here tonight. We had so much fun the last time. And it is surprising. You got a room full of reporters, celebrities, cameras, and he says no. Is this dinner too tacky for the Donald? What could he possibly be doing instead? Is he at home eating a Trump steak, tweeting out insults to Angela Merkel? What s he doing?The president also had lots of fun with how the Republicans have reacted to the fact that Donald Trump is their most likely nominee. The president said:The Republican establishment is incredulous that he s their most likely nominee. Incredulous, shocking. They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be president. But in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world. Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, Miss Azerbaijan. And there s one area where Donald s experience could be invaluable. And that s closing Guantanamo. Because Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground.The president also took a shot at the media for their lopsided coverage of Trump s campaign which often times has been absurd in term of the amount of free press he s received. The president told the audience full of reporters and journalists, I hope you re all proud of yourselves. Let s hope that when all is said and done, the ascendancy of Donald Trump doesn t go beyond November and we can all breath a sigh of relief when we no longer see Trump s face plastered all over the media.Watch video here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcIrak9gdn8]


Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) lit into Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump with a series of tweets. Warren hammered away at Trump, calling him a loser and accused him of engaging in petty bullying, attacks on women, cheap racism, flagrant narcissism. Warren is hugely popular and influential with Democrats and liberals, and her series of tweets targeting Trump is seen by some as a sign that the primary season is effectively over and that the general election has begun.Here are Warren s tweets:Let s be honest @realDonaldTrump is a loser. Count all his failed businesses. See how he cheated people w/ scams like Trump U. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016See how @realDonaldTrump kept his father s empire afloat using strategic corporate bankruptcies to skip out on debt. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016Listen to experts who say @realDonaldTrump might have more money today if he d put his inheritance in an index fund & left it alone. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016.@RealDonaldTrump knows he s a loser. His insecurities are on parade: petty bullying, attacks on women, cheap racism, flagrant narcissism. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016But just because @realDonaldTrump is a loser everywhere else doesn t mean he ll lose this election. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016.@RealDonaldTrump stands ready to tear apart an America that was built on values like decency, community, and concern for our neighbors. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016The way I see it, it s our job to make sure @realDonaldTrump ends this campaign every bit the loser that he started it. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) March 21, 2016Warren s tweets all hit at what are considered soft spots for Trump. He has boasted about his huge wealth, but numerous reports indicate that his net worth is considerably exaggerated. From Trump biographer Timothy O Brien:On a single day in August 2004, he told me his net worth was $4 billion to $5 billion, then revised that later the same day to $1.7 billion. Forbes said at the time he was worth $2.6 billion. A year later Donald told me he was worth $5 billion to $6 billion, but a brochure left on my nightstand at his Palm Beach resort said he was worth $9.5 billion.The tweets also discuss Trump s sexism, which appears to be one of his major Achilles heels. When Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly pointed out his history of demeaning women, he complained she was bleeding out of her whatever, and still months later has referred to her as crazy, which drew an uncharacteristic rebuke of a Republican from the right-wing propaganda network.Perhaps most importantly, Warren is indicating to the mainstream media and other Democrats that Trump s racially motivated campaign won t be off limits to criticism. So far, Republicans have largely avoided hitting Trump on his offensive language towards latinos and Muslims, as well as towards black activists (he called for protesters to be punched). The Democrats largely have no interest in courting the racists that dwell in the base of the GOP, and have no such restrictions on what they can say in the general election.It looks like the fight is truly on.


U.S. lawmakers said on Monday they did not know when legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia might come up for a vote in the House of Representatives, and the White House said it had concerns about the measure. The legislation passed the Senate by a nearly unanimous margin two weeks ago, looking like it might complicate President Donald Trump's desire for warmer relations with Moscow, where officials have denounced new sanctions. A White House official said the Trump administration felt some provisions in the bill would interfere with its ability to use sanctions to try to influence Russia. "There are some provisions in the Senate bill that would unprecedentedly impair Treasury's ability to wield its sanctions tools, risk endangering the transatlantic sanctions coalition, and weaken the State Department's ability to credibly signal that we would calibrate our sanctions in response to Russian behavior," the official said in an emailed statement, requesting anonymity. Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a co-author of the legislation, said he hoped for progress within the next day or two on a procedural issue that has kept the House from taking up the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act, which also includes the new sanctions against Russia. The measure must pass the House, where Trump's fellow Republicans control a larger majority than in the Senate, before it can be sent for Trump to sign into law or veto. House Republican leaders said last week that the Senate bill violated a constitutional requirement that any bill affecting government revenues must originate in the House, something known as a "blue slip" violation. House aides also said leadership had not yet decided whether to vote on the Senate bill once the "blue slip" issue was resolved, or first refer it to House committees, which could further delay or change it. Democrats said they were skeptical about the "blue slip" explanation, noting that the issue had resolved very quickly in recent years for other bills. Corker said Senate Republicans remained solidly behind the legislation. "I've heard no one here have second thoughts, by the way" he told Reuters. "If you find one, please tell me." White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined comment during a news briefing on Monday on whether the administration would support the sanctions bill.


Michelle Wallace kisses her baby. Photo source: Love Eva Rose Facebook page .  by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff  A couple in West Texas was devastated when they were accused of abusing their 6 week old daughter. Michelle and Elliot Wallace began seeking answers after the explanations given by doctors placed the blame on the parents and landed their baby in foster care. They have since learned that baby Eva sustained injuries at birth, injuries which are known complications of the kind of difficult birth that their baby had. These injuries were overlooked at the time of her birth, but are now the very injuries that doctors are claiming are caused by Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Here is their story:  On Jan 29, 2016, Michelle came home from the grocery store when Elliot met her at the door with their six-week-old daughter Eva, who was crying—a high-pitched, wailing type of cry. Her eyelids were fluttering, and her eyes were pointed left and upward, not focusing on anything.  Suddenly, Eva's body went limp, and she passed out.  When they placed Eva on the bed to examine her, she woke up crying but quickly passed out. While lying there, the baby woke up crying, and passed out again. The couple loaded Eva in the car and took her to the Shannon Medical Center emergency room in San Angelo, Texas.  The hospital staff ran tests, took x-rays, and did a CT scan. While waiting for the results, Michelle fed Eva a bottle. But, Eva could not keep it down. She projectile vomited.  The hospital staff began a round of antibiotics, which is standard protocol in an infant presenting with a fever. Also, a CT scan showed she had a blood clot in her brain. The hospital staff determined that Eva needed a specialist, so they airlifted her and Michelle to Cook's Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth. Elliot drove the 4 and 1/2 hours to join them. Hospital Staff Stopped Looking for Cause of Injuries  That night Eva suffered from intermittent fevers. A lumbar puncture was done to check for meningitis. However, it failed—no fluid was drawn. The staff said that they would hydrate Eva for up to 24 hours and try again. However, when Michelle inquired about it later, she was told that they were not going to try the lumbar puncture again because they had ruled out meningitis as the cause of Eva's injuries.  Afterwards, an MRI was done which showed a ligament injury to her upper neck. The staff believed that it was also a result of abuse.  Reportedly, the consensus among hospital staff was that Eva's injuries were trauma-related, and they stopped looking for other causes.  While waiting on the neurologist, Eva had another seizure and was moved to the intensive care unit. There, she was sedated and given anti-seizure medication. Throughout the night Michelle never left Eva's side, and she looked on as Eva was inundated with hospital staff handling her.  During the night, a CPS worker approached Michelle and pointed at a light-colored bruise on Eva's cheekbone that Michelle had not seen before. Michelle's thoughts went immediately to the hospital staff checking on the thrush in Eva's mouth, and that their fingers were placed in the exact location of the bruise on Eva's cheekbone. Michelle wondered if the bruise had come from the hospital staff handling her face.  While the family awaited Eva's diagnosis, Child Protective Services (CPS) separated everyone present, including their guests, and interrogated them. Then they asked for information to run background tests, as well as names of people with whom they could place Eva. Michelle approached a CPS worker, saying that this was premature and uncalled for, since they had yet to receive a diagnosis. But, Michelle said that she was told that this was to get "ahead of the game." Michelle holding baby Eva. Photo source: Wallace family.  Michelle requested a conference with the Child Advocacy Resources and Evaluation (CARE) team to ask questions. In the meeting, Neurologist Dr. Adrian Lacy said the staff would look at the birth records the following day. He said that Eva had "bilateral subdurals, areas of stroke, bruising on her head, [and] retinal hemorrhaging," but that the skeletal survey showed no broken bones. He informed them that the ophthalmology department said that the bruising was "consistent with shaken baby or child abuse."  He said that Eva had multiple bleeds of different ages in her brain, alleging that Eva had been abused repeatedly over time.  Michelle asked if Eva's injuries could have been caused by vacuum extraction delivery. Dr. Lacy said, "Talking to neurosurgery [department]…they don't believe that it's from any kind of vacuum delivery." He said that this is because "retinal hemorrhages" could not possibly be result of vacuum extraction. Dr. Lacy went on to say that Eva had undergone "a significant trauma."  His assertion is contradicted in the medical literature regarding vacuum extraction. Many medical journals and medical resources mention that retinal hemorrhaging is a known complication of birth via vacuum extraction. An article in Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynecology lists retinal hemorrhaging in the list of neonatal complications:  Vacuum-assisted vaginal deliveries can cause significant fetal morbidity, including scalp lacerations, cephalohematomas, subgaleal hematomas, intracranial hemorrhage, facial nerve palsies, hyperbilirubinemia, and retinal hemorrhage.  As Michelle pondered the possible events that could have occurred to cause Eva's injuries, Dr. Lacy interjected, "These are things that are severe enough [that] you would have told me. You know, [like] she was in a bad car wreck." He went on to say that, the children who come to the hospital emergency room who were in car wrecks "don't have the degree of retinal hemorrhages" that Eva had. He and the hospital staff suspected that Eva had been repeatedly shaken. Michelle said that they equated it with "the force equivalent to being in a car crash at 40 mph."  Dr. Lacy concluded, "There's nothing in the story, as far as the history, her history, that explains the history that we see." He said that there was no other explanation but Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Not long after that, Cook's Children's Medical Center Child Abuse Specialist Dr. Sophia Grant said that Eva's injuries must be non-accidental trauma. She said that she found the "classic Shaken Baby Syndrome triad." The accusation of abuse came despite Michelle informing the hospital staff that Eva had been born via vacuum extraction. Further, reportedly, Dr. Grant expressed concern over the scratches on Eva's face, and said that a child at six weeks old was not capable of inflicting them upon him or herself.  It was at that point that the staff stopped looking for other causes, Michelle said. CPS arrived and served her and Elliot an order for emergency removal. The couple was then escorted out of the hospital by security guards.  Afterwards, Eva was discharged from the hospital wearing a c-collar. It left a large dent in the back of her head, and she had to wear a helmet for a couple of months to reshape her skull.  Eva now suffers from dysphasia and is at risk of choking. She also only has 20% of her peripheral vision. Currently, Eva is in therapy and is walking and crawling. Eva still faces challenges today. Photo source: Wallace family. Difficult Birth  During pregnancy, Michelle experienced excessive fatigue, swelling, discomfort, nausea, etc., but she was told it was normal. Also, under doctor's orders, Michelle received the Tdap and flu shots while pregnant.  On December 13, 2015, the OB/GYN, reportedly "roughed up" her cervix in an attempt to bring on labor. Two days later, at 8:30 pm, Michelle was admitted to Shannon Medical Center Women and Children's Labor and Delivery Unit with excessive bleeding. The next day, around 2:00 am her doctor administered Pitocin and an epidural.  During labor Michelle was shaking a lot, and Eva's heartrate kept dropping. About ¾ of the way in, Michelle was given an oxygen mask and was told to keep it on because the baby was not getting enough oxygen. Eva's medical records indicate that she had hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, which meant that she was oxygen deprived. There was no mention of staff attempting to change the mother's position in order to help facilitate oxygen flow to the baby.  After about eight hours, the placenta began detaching prematurely. She had a 30% placental abruption. The doctor opted for vacuum extraction instead of an emergency C-section. Eva was born at 7:00 am, after about eight hours of labor and 15 minutes of pushing, weighing 5 lbs. 11 oz.  Birth records indicate that Eva's hands and feet were blue, and her coloring was gray. Eva's pathology reports indicated infection, as well as inflammation of the fetal membranes and connective tissue of the umbilical cord.  Photos taken after her birth indicate a red, bruised and molded head with vacuum marks. They also reveal swollen eyes with cuts on and above them, as well as bruising that started over her right eye. Also, at birth Eva received Hepatitis B and Vitamin K shots and erythromycin eye drops. Pattern of Medical Concerns  When Eva's pediatrician, Dr. Elizabeth Young, came by during her rounds, Michelle mentioned that Eva slept poorly the night before. However, reportedly, Dr. Young dismissed it and said that "it was normal for a newborn to do that."  Michelle attempted to breastfeed Eva for three days, but it was unsuccessful. As a result, Eva was put on formula.  At Eva's one-week checkup, everything seemed normal. Eva had been sleeping well, as well as feeding every two to three hours. That day she received the standard vaccines. Afterwards, Eva's fussiness escalated. She had a lot of gas and was sleeping poorly. Eva with sunglasses during a visit. Photo source: Wallace family.  Michelle suspected an allergy to formula, so she changed brands—to one that was for sensitive digestive systems. However, it did not seem to make a difference. Eva began sleeping poorly and crying excessively, as if she was in pain. Even talking and soft noises were waking her.  Michelle called Medical Exchange Hotline and was told by the nurse that it sounded like constipation. The nurse advised Michelle to add a bit of Karo Syrup to her bottle and use glycerin suppositories when needed, and then follow-up with the doctor the next business day.  The nurse's suggestions helped some. Once Eva would have a bowel movement, she would settle down some. But, within few hours, she would begin crying again. She seemed to be in pain. Michelle also gave Eva gripe water, which sometimes brought some temporary relief.  At the follow-up appointment with Dr. Young, Michelle was told to try putting Eva on soy formula with an extra ounce or two of water to help with constipation. The doctor also showed Michelle how to lay Eva down on her stomach to help ease gas pain.  The soy formula helped for a few days, and then the colic-like symptoms returned "as bad as ever."  At Eva's one month checkup, Michelle told the doctor that Eva was not sleeping and had inconsolable crying spells, severe constipation, and gas. Also, she told the doctor that she had seen Eva making "jerky, circular arm movements," and that she had seen Eva's chin quivering. When Michelle expressed concern, the doctor said that there was nothing to worry about.  Eva was prescribed Zantac for possible acid reflux. The doctor sent them home with a sample of another formula that was hypoallergenic. After about five bottles of it, Michelle discontinued using it because it gave Eva "explosive diarrhea" and worsened her gas problem.  Michelle tried other formulas, in hopes that she would find one that agreed with Eva's system, but the problems only worsened. Eva's sleeping deteriorated, as well. Even the slightest sound would wake her, and she rarely slept for more than an hour at a time.  Michelle and Elliot continued giving Eva gas drops, gripe water, glycerin suppositories, and adding water to her formula. They tried giving her Zantac, but they could not get Eva to swallow it. Eva began spitting up with more frequency.  The morning of January 29, 2016, Eva started getting very fussy and crying inconsolably. Michelle got her to settle down for a nap. But, within half an hour, she awoke. When Michelle went to pick her up, she noticed that Eva had two little scratches on her face, with a bruise behind each of them. She figured that Eva had scratched herself.  Later that day, Michelle went to the grocery store to get formula. She returned to find Elliot trying unsuccessfully to comfort Eva, and that's when they saw her go limp with the strange cry and fluttering eyelids. Father Charged but Not Indicted  Because Elliot was the last person to be around Eva when the symptoms occurred, he was arrested in April and charged with first degree felony assault on an infant with a $75,000 bond. Though he has been charged, there has been no indictment. A no-contact order has been issued against him. Elliot adores his daughter, but he can no longer see her. Photo source: Wallace family.  Elliot has been out on bond. He would like to meet with his court-appointed attorney to make a plan to fight the charges and to challenge the no-contact order. However, since there is no indictment and no case file opened by the district attorney, his attorney will not meet with him.  Meanwhile, he is banned from seeing his daughter. Foster Care Placement Is Five Hours Away  When Eva was discharged from the hospital, she was placed with family friends, who live five hours away from her home. Michelle and Elliot have been trying to get Eva placed with blood relatives instead who live closer to them. It has been a difficult road for the Wallaces because of Eva's special needs. Since coming off the anti-seizure medication, under doctor's orders, the baby must have 24/7 care for a year.  Because Eva's placement is five hours away, and visitation must be supervised with a CPS staff, the only time available for visits has been during the week, when Michelle was working. She is only able to go once a month for a three hour supervised visit. Michelle has to abide by strict attendance guidelines by her employer. She would readily visit Eva more often if it were possible. Missing and missed by her parents. Photo source: Wallace family.  Additionally, Michelle has had to be the breadwinner since Elliot's ability to find work has been hindered by the criminal charges against him. He has been working as a contractor laying cable, and his last contract finished at the end of August.  At their recent hearing, on November 2, 2016, the Wallaces were given a reprieve, and the judge removed the supervised visit requirement and approved visits with a caregiver. This was met with opposition from CPS. However, the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) and Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers recommended it, stating that it was in the child's best interests to have the opportunity to bond with her mother. This means that Michelle is not restricted to weekday visits and can be with Eva on her birthday and Christmas. CPS Seeks to Terminate Parental Rights  Despite the fact that Elliot and Michelle have faithfully worked their service plan, last July CPS notified the couple that they are seeking to terminate their parental rights. This is allegedly because they believe that Elliot is guilty. Additionally, the couple had agreed to separate, if it meant bringing Eva home to live with Michelle. However, CPS will not consider the option, since Michelle still believes that Elliot is innocent and that Eva has been misdiagnosed.  Further, the Guardian ad Litem and CASA volunteer are parroting CPS' recommendation of termination of parental rights because the "medical professionals" say that Eva was shaken. This is especially concerning to the Wallaces because neither the GAL nor the CASA volunteer has met with Elliot and Michelle to interview them or discuss their daughter. Medical Expert Says This is a Birth Injury  Eva was born via vacuum extraction, which is the use of a cup that attaches to the baby's head and creates suction. According to Healthline , the risks of vacuum extraction or vacuum-assisted delivery, "range from minor scalp injuries to more serious problems, such as bleeding in the skull." It lists the following injuries:  hematoma, cephalohematoma, subgaleal hematoma, intracranial hemorrhage, retinal hemorrhage, and neonatal jaundice.  Eva suffered from a retinal hemorrhage, something that Dr. Adrian Lacy said could not be a result of vacuum extraction. She also had intracranial hemorrhaging as well as a subgaleal hematoma.  According to Medical Child Abuse Investigator Anne Renk-Bernardo of Ohana Advocacy Center , who was obtained by the parents to look at this case:  "This is a birth injury case, plain and simple," and "vacuum extraction could've easily caused the injury."  She said that the cup is required to be in a "very specific position," and as a result, "any excessive or repetitive pressure" or incorrect position could easily cause injury to the infant. Michelle holding newborn Eva. Photo source: Wallace family.  Renk-Bernardo said that the Pitocin that Michelle was given caused the baby's oxygen levels to drop, and then go back up again, making it difficult for the baby to regulate the oxygen going back into its system. She said that amount of Pitocin was "too much, too fast," causing hyper stimulation. As a result, she said that it produces a "constant squeezing," which can cause complications while the baby's head is engaged in the birth canal using vacuum extraction. Additionally, medical records show that Eva experienced a couple of episodes of severe bradycardia, which is a slowing of the heartbeat caused by a deficiency of oxygen.  Another contributing factor to the complications is the placental abruption. According to the Mayo Clinic :  Placental abruption can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and cause heavy bleeding in the mother.  With regards to the scratches on Eva's face, she said that Eva could have done that herself, and that they are "not significant enough" to warrant abuse. She said that Dr. Sofia Grant said in her affidavit that Eva had bruising on her forehead, two 0.5 cm bruises, and a small scratch, which were a result of abuse.  Renk-Bernardo said that Dr. Grant's opinion was issued without reviewing Eva's records. Further, she said that the bruising she is referring to is actually on Eva's cheek. Further, she describes it as "superficial" and "over the fatty part" of her cheek, not on Eva's head. She said that Eva, at the time, "was moving her extremities," and that she could have easily scratched herself.  Renk-Bernardo said that the wide fluctuations in autonomic functions during labor and significant feeding intolerances correlate with those types of complications, indicating that she was in pain. Additionally, her eyes were swollen.  She said that hematomas are not atypical with vacuum extraction, including progressive bleeds. It is possible that Eva had a bleed that could have been slowly bleeding since birth. She pointed out that Eva was irritable and had trouble feeding from birth, including choking episodes. Renk-Bernardo said that the choking episodes are a result of the hypoxia from the subdural hemorrhages and cerebral edema.  Renk-Bernardo believes that Eva's ligament injury was probably a result of the vacuum extraction. She referred to the fact that the baby was "high up" in the pelvis and "never progressed" out of the birth canal. As a result, she said that the baby had to be forcefully pulled out. According to American Family Physician , this is a risk factor for complications while giving birth.  Lastly, with regards to the multiple bleeds on Eva's brain, Renk-Bernardo said that they are a result of "probably a bleed from birth that re-bled." She pointed out that there are several things that can cause a re-bleed, such as choking, coughing, and illness. She said that vacuum extraction injuries can manifest up to three months after birth. If This is Abuse, "How Did They Shake the Baby?"  After examining Eva's medical records, Renk-Bernardo said that the accusation of Shaken Baby Syndrome begs the question, "How did they shake the baby?" She pointed out that Eva had no fractures or bruising on the arms, chest, etc., that would be evidence of such abuse. She also said that, to her knowledge, there was no soft tissue damage. Further, Renk-Bernardo said that if there were blunt force trauma, then there would have been evidence, such as significant bruising. "Miniscule bruising is not from impact," she said.  Lastly, in her expert opinion, there is no evidence that Eva has been violently shaken. She pointed out that when the Wallaces took Eva to the emergency room, both the trauma and neurology department refused to admit Eva because they said that the cause of her injuries was not trauma-related. "Problems All Along, but Nobody Paid Attention"  According to Michelle, about a month after Eva's release from the hospital, new bleeding was found in a follow-up MRI that the doctor ignored. Further, he did not relay the information to anyone, not even the foster mother.  Further, nowhere in the medical records from Cook's Children's Medical Center does it say anything about a chronic bleed. However, during the CARE team meeting, Dr. Adrian Lacy told the family that Eva had multiple bleeds.  Michelle had expressed concerns since Eva's birth, but they were dismissed. She said, "There had been problems all along, but nobody paid attention." For instance, Eva was born with meconium in the amniotic fluid, which means that she is at risk for developing Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (MAS). MAS is associated with neonatal seizures and chronic seizure disorders. Renk-Bernardo said, "Normally, it's a concern. But, they [medical professionals] didn't seem concerned." Further, Eva's family history includes heart problems, bleeding and bruising disorders, as well as nephrotic syndrome, which involves seizures.  Now, Elliot and Michelle want to share their story to "help spread awareness of the plague of false allegations based on junk science that destroys innocent families." Eva – her parents' little Superhero. Photo source: Wallace family.  At the November 2, 2016, hearing, the CPS attorney told the Wallaces that she had contacted the district attorney about Elliot's criminal charges and that his case is to go before a grand jury in the next month or two. She went on to say that CPS had secured their own medical expert to testify against the Wallaces. Elliot and Michelle plan to request assistance from the court for securing their own medical expert testimony.  There is a pretrial hearing on December 12, 2016, and a permanency hearing on February 15, 2017. There is a family court bench trial date set for March 23-24, 2017. However, the Wallaces are considering requesting a jury trial instead. If granted, it will take place in late April of 2017. How You Can Help  There is a Facebook page set up for the family called Love Eva Rose where supporters can follow the Wallaces' story and help.  Supporters are asked to contact legislators on behalf of the family.  Texas Governor Greg Abbott may be reached at (512) 463-2000 or contacted here . His Facebook page is here , and here is a link to his Twitter page.  The Texas state representative for the Wallaces' district is Rep. Drew Darby. He may be reached at (512) 463-0331, or contacted here .  The US representative for the Wallaces' district is Rep. Mike Conway. He may be reached at (325) 659-4010, or contacted here .  Charles Perry is the Senator for their district. He may be reached at (512) 463-0128, or contacted here .  Courts and judges across the U.S. are increasingly overturning Shaken Baby abuse convictions, as most of these cases do not present the science against "Shaken Baby Syndrome," and the medical evidence that can support injuries apart from parental abuse.  Comment on this article at MedicalKidnap.com.  See:


World leaders, Democratic members of Congress and others deplored U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on Thursday to pull out of the Paris climate accord, while supporters said the United States needed a more advantageous deal. Following are reactions to Trump's announcement: "We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies." - Joint statement from Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron "The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack. But even in the absence of American leadership, even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future, I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got." - Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who was in office when the accord took effect in November, in a statement "I tell you firmly tonight: We will not renegotiate a less ambitious accord. There is no way. ... Tonight the United States has turned its back on the world, but France will not turn its back on Americans. ... Wherever we live, wherever we are we all share the same responsibility - make our planet great again." - Macron in an address with a variation on Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan "That deal imposes little responsibility on the world's largest emitters, while costing the U.S. economy $3 trillion in reduced output, 6 million industrial jobs and 3 million manufacturing jobs. That amount of economic carnage is unjustified and so we welcome this long overdue action in defense of the American people." - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement "Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world." - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, who had been on a White House advisory council, in a tweet "As a matter of principle, I've resigned from the President's Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal." - Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger on Twitter "Trump is betraying the country, in the service of Breitbart fake news, the shameless fossil fuel industry, and the Koch brothers' climate denial operation. It's sad." - Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Senate Environment Committee, in a statement "As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future ... Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80% of the vote in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stands with the world & will follow Paris Agreement." - Tweet from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in response to Trump saying: "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." "This was not a good deal for the United States. As the president said, we've been one of the leaders in reducing carbon, we've been reducing our emissions, we've been one of the best countries for the environment, and the president is committed to renegotiating the deal but a deal that's fair for us." - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in a Fox News interview "Removing the United States from the Paris Agreement is a reckless and indefensible action. It undermines America's standing in the world and threatens to damage humanity's ability to solve the climate crisis in time. But make no mistake: if President Trump won't lead, the American people will." - Al Gore, former U.S. vice president turned environmental activist, in a statement "Today's decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.'s leadership position in the world." - Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in his first post from a Twitter account he started in 2011 "President Trump acted in America's best interest, moving away from a flawed agreement ... and opening the door to a new agreement that reaches the right balance. America will remain a leader in environmental protection. But we will not jeopardize our economy in order to please other counties that don't come anywhere near our environmental standards." - Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in a statement "The White House's reckless decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement has devastating repercussions not only for the United States but for our planet. The administration is abdicating its leadership and taking a backseat to other countries in the global fight against climate change." - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a statement joining California Governor Jerry Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee in announcing the formation of an alliance of states committed to upholding the Paris agreement "This great leap backward is another bow to anti-science know-nothingism. Pandering to a handful of billionaires and special interests would impose huge harm upon our generation, upon future generations, and upon our fragile planet." - Statement from Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy "President Trump's decision to withdraw from #ParisAgreement is a catastrophic mistake. We don't have time to bury our heads in the sand. @POTUS is putting his friends in the fossil fuel industry ahead of the safety and security of American people and the future of our planet." - Democratic Senator Al Franken in a tweet "We are deeply disappointed that the United States federal government has decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement ... While the U.S. decision is disheartening, we remain inspired by the growing momentum around the world to combat climate change and transition to clean growth economies." - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement "Without question, America is a nation committed to environmental leadership ... But the Paris Climate Accord is another bad deal negotiated by the Obama administration and America should applaud President Trump's decision to exit." - Energy mogul-financier T. Boone Pickens "Though flawed, the climate accord can be fixed ... It's now up to the administration to deliver a better deal." - Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce in a statement "This is the day when the United States did a lot to forfeit its claim to be a leader among nations. ... We're going to be poorer because we took this step. ... I never thought I would say these words but the president of the United States is a clear and present danger to an orderly global system." - Lawrence Summers, former Obama economic adviser and World Bank official, in CNN interview "This decision is an immoral assault on the public health, safety and security of everyone on this planet ... I am committing to honor the goals of the Paris agreement with an executive order in the coming days, so our city can remain a home for generations to come." - Statement from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "Disappointed with today's decision on the Paris Agreement. Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government." - General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt on Twitter