Guest views are now limited to 12 pages. If you get an "Error" message, just sign in! If you need to create an account, click here.

Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'associated press article'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Welcome to DinarVets!
    • Rules, Announcements & Introductions
    • Questions and Tech Support
  • VIP Area
    • VIP Section
    • VIP Section
  • Iraq Topics
    • Iraq & Dinar Related News
    • Dinar Rumors
    • RV & Dinar Questions
    • Opinions, Perspectives, and Your Two Cents on the Iraqi Dinar
    • Chat Logs
    • ISX (Iraqi Stock Exchange)
    • Warka and Iraqi Banking
    • Dinar-ify me!
    • Buying and Selling Dinar
    • LOPster tank
    • Debate Section
  • General Topics
    • Off Topic posts
    • Natural Cures and Health Talk
    • Politics, 2nd Amendment (Gun Control)
    • Iraqi Inspiration and Stories of our Soldiers
    • World Economy
    • Music Videos etc
    • DV Weekly Powerballs.
  • Investing
    • Forex Discussion
    • Penny Stocks
    • Wall Street
    • Gold & Precious Metals
    • Foreign Currencies
    • Tax Discussion
    • Investment Opportunities and Wealth Management

Calendars

There are no results to display.

There are no results to display.

Product Groups

  • VIP Membership Packages
  • OSI Products
  • Just a Text
  • RV Intel and the Cash In Guide!

Genres

There are no results to display.

There are no results to display.


Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Phone Number (for VIP text message)


AIM


ICQ


Jabber


Location


Interests


Biography


Location


Interests


Occupation


My Facebook Profile ID


My Twitter ID

Found 22 results

  1. AP FACT CHECK: Biden goes too far in assurances on vaccines CALVIN WOODWARD and HOPE YEN Wed, July 21, 2021, 9:18 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden offered an absolute guarantee Wednesday that people who get their COVID-19 vaccines are completely protected from infection, sickness and death from the coronavirus. The reality is not that cut and dried. The vaccines are extremely effective but “breakthrough” infections do occur and the delta variant driving cases among the unvaccinated in the U.S. is not fully understood. Also Biden inflated the impact of his policies on U.S. jobs created in his first half-year in office, misleadingly stating his administration had done more than any other president. He neglects to mention he had population growth on his side in his comparison. A look at his remarks in a CNN town hall: PANDEMIC BIDEN: “If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in the IC unit, and you’re not going to die.” — town hall. THE FACTS: His remark accurately captures the strong protection the COVID-19 vaccines provide as cases spike among people who have resisted the shots. But it overlooks the rare exceptions. As of July 12, the government had tallied 5,492 vaccinated people who tested positive for coronavirus and were hospitalized or died. That’s out of more than 159 million fully vaccinated Americans. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said “99.5% of all deaths from COVID-19 are in the unvaccinated.” ___ BIDEN: “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.” — town hall. THE FACTS: Again, he painted with too broad a brush as he described in stark terms the disparity between those who got their shots and those who haven’t. The disparity is real, but a small number of breakthrough infections happen and health officials say they are not a cause for alarm. No vaccines are perfect, and the government is keeping a close eye on whether new coronavirus mutants start to outsmart the COVID-19 shots. But for now, federal health officials say even when breakthrough infections occur, they tend to be mild — the vaccines so far remain strongly protective against serious illness. ___ BIDEN, asked about vaccinated people who get infected: “It may be possible, I know of none where they’re hospitalized, in ICU and or have passed away so at a minimum I can say even if they did contract it, which I’m sorry they did, it’s such a tiny percentage and it’s not life threatening.” — remarks to reporters after the event. THE FACTS: Once again, too far. That is evident from the CDC's finding that 5,492 vaccinated people who tested positive for coronavirus were hospitalized or died as of July 12. That's not “none.” But he is correct that it is a small percentage of the more than 159 million fully vaccinated Americans. ___ JOBS BIDEN: “We’ve created more jobs in the first six months of our administration than any time in American history. No president, no administration, has ever created as many jobs.” — town hall. THE FACTS: His claim is misleading. While Biden’s administration in the first half year as president has seen more jobs created than any other president — just over 3 million in the five months tracked by jobs reports — that’s partly because the U.S. population is larger than in the past. When calculated as a percentage of the workforce, job growth under President Jimmy Carter increased more quickly from February through June 1977 than the same five months this year: 2.2% for Carter, compared with 2.1% for Biden. Since the late 1970s, the U.S. population has grown by more than 100 million people. It’s true, though, that the economy is growing rapidly — it expanded at a 6.4% annual rate in the first three months of the year — and is expected to grow this year at the fastest pace since 1984. Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package contributed to the vigorous growth, but much of the expansion also reflects a broader bounce-back from the unusually sharp pandemic recession, the deepest downturn since the 1930s. Even before Biden’s package, for example, the International Monetary Fund was projecting U.S. growth of over 5% for this year. Biden is also leaving out the fact that the U.S. economy remains 6.8 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level, and the unemployment rate is an elevated 5.9%, up from a five-decade low of 3.5% before the pandemic. https://news.yahoo.com/ap-fact-check-biden-inflates-011843623.html GO RV, then BV
  2. Biden pushes effort to combat rising tide of violent crime APTOPIX Biden President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Homeland Security Adviser and Deputy National Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, June 22, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) COLLEEN LONG, JONATHAN LEMIRE and MICHAEL BALSAMO Tue, June 22, 2021, 4:30 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to lay out new steps to stem a rising national tide of violent crime, with a particular focus on gun violence, as administration officials brace for what they fear could be an especially turbulent summer. The worry over crime is real and believed to be fueled by the pandemic, which has created economic hardship, displacement and anxiety. But there are also tricky politics at play. The spike in crime has become a Republican talking point and has been a frequent topic of conversation on conservative media. White House aides believe that Biden, with his long legislative record on crime as a former senator, is not easy to paint as soft on the issue, and the president has been clear that he is opposed to the “defund the police” movement, which has been effectively used against other Democrats to paint them as anti-law enforcement. But Biden also is trying to boost progressives' efforts to reform policing. And while combating crime and reforming the police don't have to be at odds with each other, the two efforts are increasingly billed that way. In a speech on Wednesday, Biden is to unveil a series of executive orders aimed at reducing violence, and he will renew his calls for Congress to pass gun legislation, aides said. Ahead of the speech, the Justice Department announced new strike forces aimed at tackling gun trafficking in five cities. The White House also planned to convene a meeting Wednesday with Attorney General Merrick Garland; the Democratic mayors of Baltimore and Miami-Dade County and the Republican mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota; the Democratic attorney general of New Jersey; the police chief in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and community activists. White House staff members have also been in touch with legislators and congressional staff. “Yes, there need to be reforms of police systems across the country. The president is a firm believer in that," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. "But there are also steps he can take as president of the United States to help address and hopefully reduce that crime. A big part of that, in his view, is putting in place gun safety measures ... using the bully pulpit but also using levers at his disposal as president.” In April, Biden announced a half-dozen executive actions on gun control, including cracking down on “ghost guns,” homemade firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them and that are often purchased without a background check. There is also new federal funding from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package directed toward municipal governments, allowing them to keep more police officers on the street. Aides said Biden would also urge a swift confirmation of his choice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. But Biden is limited in his power to act alone. The House passed two bills requiring background checks on all firearms sales and transfers and allowing an expanded 10-day review for gun purchases. But that legislation faces strong headwinds in the Senate, where some Republican support would be needed for passage. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday that she has seen double-digit increases in murder and violent crime nationwide. “It is staggering. It is sobering,” she said at a violent-crime forum held by the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum. “And it’s something that DOJ is committed to do all we can to reverse what are profoundly troubling trends.” Monaco said the Justice Department would launch strike forces in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to help reduce violent crime by addressing illegal gun trafficking, building on an initiative begun last month. If the federal effort sounds familiar, it is. Federal operations have often been launched to help cities facing spiking crime. President Donald Trump announced something similar last year when he and then-Attorney General William Barr launched Operation Legend, named for a boy who was shot to death in Kansas City, Missouri. In that effort, hundreds of investigators were deployed to nine cities with rising crime, prioritizing the arrest of violent criminals. Trump, though, laid blame for the spike in crime on protesters who demonstrated against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He claimed that Democrats were allowing crime to run amok in their cities. But despite pockets of violence in both Democratic- and Republican-run cities, the protests were mostly peaceful. A Harvard Radcliffe Institute study found there were no injuries reported in 97% of the events. Still, Republican leaders continue to echo Trump's claims. And while crime is rising — homicides and shootings are up from the same period last year in Chicago; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; Baltimore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Houston — violent crime overall remains lower than it was a decade ago or even five years ago. And most violent crimes plummeted during the first six months of the pandemic, as people stayed indoors and away from others. Crime started creeping up last summer, a trend criminologists say is hard to define and is likely due to a variety of factors such as historic unemployment, fear over the virus and mass anger over stay-at-home orders. Public mass shootings have also made an alarming return. “Many of us — if not most of us — are seeing a rise in crime, while at the same time, we’re hearing calls for reform,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said of cities in remarks at the police forum. “And some of those calls are to the extreme of dismantle and defund ... while all of the same time we’re sworn to protect the people.” Interest in guns, too, is on the rise. The number of people stopped from buying guns through the U.S. background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales. And several states have passed laws barring federal gun control laws from taking effect. Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields said lax gun laws and the presence of illegal guns on the streets are compounding the violence. “When everyone can have a gun, they tend to,” she said. “And it just leads to more illegal guns on the street.” The Justice Department recently announced a sweeping investigation into the Louisville police over the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot to death by police during a raid at her home. A similar investigation was launched into the Minneapolis police force. The rise in violence comes against the backdrop of a national debate on policing and as a police reform bill is being crafted in Congress. Psaki on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that a presidential event focused on cracking down on crime would undermine that legislative effort. As a senator, Biden wrote several major anti-crime packages, including a 1994 bill that contained provisions now viewed by some as an overreaction to the crime spikes in the 1980s and 1990s. Critics say those bills helped lead to mass incarceration of Black Americans, and Biden’s involvement became a flashpoint in his 2020 campaign. Biden has expressed second thoughts about some aspects of the legislation, and he has acknowledged its harmful impact on many Black Americans. But he and his allies still hold out the law's provisions to address domestic violence, ban assault weapons and finance community policing. https://news.yahoo.com/biden-pushes-effort-combat-rising-203054908.html GO RV, then BV
  3. Rep. Greene apologizes for comparing safety masks, Holocaust ALAN FRAM Mon, June 14, 2021, 7:41 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized Monday for affronting people with recent comments comparing the required wearing of safety masks in the House to the horrors of the Holocaust. “I'm truly sorry for offending people with remarks about the Holocaust," the Georgia Republican told reporters outside the Capitol, saying she had visited Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum earlier in the day. “There's no comparison and there never ever will be." Greene's comments were a rare expression of regret by the conservative agitator, a freshman whose career has included the embrace of violent and offensive conspiracy theories and angry confrontations with progressive colleagues. Her apology came more than three weeks after appearing on a conservative podcast and comparing COVID-19 safety requirements adopted by Democrats controlling the House to “a time and history where people were told to wear a gold star." She said they were “put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. This is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.” Pelosi, D-Calif., is House speaker. Greene's comments were condemned by Republican leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who called the comparison “appalling." GOP leaders have often been reluctant to castigate Greene, a close ally of former President Donald Trump. After social media posts were unearthed in which Greene suggested support for executing some Democratic leaders, McCarthy and most Republicans stood by her when the House took the unusual step of stripping her of her committee assignments in February. But as House members returned to the Capitol on Monday after a three-week break, Greene was contrite. “Anti-Semitism is true hate," she said. “And I saw that today at the Holocaust Museum." In 2018, two years before her election to Congress, she speculated on Facebook that California wildfires may have been caused by “lasers or blue beams of light” controlled by a left-wing cabal tied to a powerful Jewish family. On Monday, she told reporters that when she was 19, she visited the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in what during World War II was Nazi-occupied Poland. “It isn't like I learned about it today," she said of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews and huge numbers of other people were killed. “I went today because I thought it was important," she said, and wanted to talk about it as she apologized. House leaders have recently said vaccinated people no longer must wear masks in the chamber. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said he would introduce a resolution in the House this week to censure Greene. In addition, Republicans may try forcing a vote to punish Rep. Ilhan Omar. The Minnesota Democrat recently made remarks criticized by top House Democrats and Jewish lawmakers for seeming to compare the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban. Omar said she didn't mean to draw that parallel. https://news.yahoo.com/rep-greene-apologizes-comparing-safety-234108269.html GO RV, then BV
  4. Amazing Amy to play for junior college national championship In this Aug. 28, 2019, file photo, Amy Bockerstette practices with her teaching pro at Palmbrook Country Club in Sun City, Ariz. Bockerstette is set to become the first person with Down syndrome to compete in a national collegiate athletic championship. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) Mon, May 3, 2021, 3:56 PM PHOENIX (AP) — Amy Bockerstette is set to become the first person with Down syndrome to compete in a national collegiate athletic championship. The 22-year-old golfer will play with her Paradise Valley Community College teammates at the NJCAA national championships May 10-13 at Plantation Bay Golf & Country Club in Ormond Beach, Florida. Bockerstette is the first person with Down syndrome to earn a college athletic scholarship and she became a viral sensation when she played the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale with PGA Tour player Gary Woodland before the 2019 Phoenix Open. She hit into the bunker on the par-3 stadium hole and got up and down for par, telling everyone “I got this” before sinking an eight-foot putt. Bockerstette and her family created the I Got This Foundation in 2019 to provide golf instruction and playing opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The foundation has partnered with Special Skills Sports Camps to hold the Special Skills Golf Invitational June 1 at Wedgewood Golf and Country Club in Powell, Ohio. The event will teach athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities the basics of golf, from driving to chipping and putting. https://www.yahoo.com/news/amazing-amy-play-junior-college-195654680.html GO RV, then BV
  5. Supreme Court won't take Maryland bump stock ban case In this June 29, 2020 file photo, the Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Mon, May 3, 2021, 9:52 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is declining to take up a challenge to Maryland’s ban on bump stocks and other devices that make guns fire faster. The high court on Monday turned away a challenge to the ban, which took effect in October 2018. A lower court had dismissed the challenge at an early stage and that decision had been upheld by an appeals court. As is typical, the court didn't comment in declining to take the case. Maryland's ban preceded a nationwide ban on the sale and possession of bump stocks that was put in place by the Trump administration and took effect in 2019. The Supreme Court previously declined to stop the Trump administration from enforcing that ban. Both Maryland's ban and the nationwide one followed a 2017 shooting in Las Vegas in which a gunman attached bump stocks to assault-style rifles he used to shoot concertgoers from his hotel room. Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds were injured. https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-wont-maryland-bump-135212206.html GO RV, then BV
  6. Biden and Carter, longtime allies, reconnect in Georgia BILL BARROW and ZEKE MILLER Thu, April 29, 2021, 2:35 PM PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — President Joe Biden was a first-term Delaware senator in 1976 when he endorsed an upstart former Southern governor for the presidency over the party’s Northern establishment players. Biden came full circle Thursday, visiting Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in tiny Plains, Georgia, where the 96-year-old former president and 93-year-old former first lady have lived for most of their lives. “He showed us throughout his entire life what it means to be a public servant,” Biden, 78, said of Carter for a new documentary, “CARTERLAND,” set to debut this weekend as part of the Atlanta Film Festival. The private meeting on Thursday brought together the oldest sitting president and the longest-lived former president in history. It was their first in-person encounter since Biden took office. The two presidents didn't appear together outside the Carters' home. Biden was seen with Rosalynn Carter at the door as he departed. The former first lady stood alongside him supported by her walker. Many of the 650 residents of Plains turned out to see Biden's motorcade. “It was great to see President Carter," Biden said Thursday night before leaving Georgia. "We sat and talked about the old days.” Biden also said Carter's health had gotten better. The Carters were unable to attend the Jan. 20 inauguration, the first they’d missed since Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39th president in 1977. The Carters have retreated from public life for most of the coronavirus pandemic, but they now are vaccinated and recently began attending church services again at Maranatha Baptist Church, where the former president taught Sunday school for decades. Biden's visit comes after Carter’s vice president, Walter Mondale, died April 19 at the age of 93. Carter and Biden both spoke to Mondale by phone in the days before his death. In his “CARTERLAND” remarks, recorded last week and made available to The Associated Press by producers Will and Jim Pattitz, Biden credits Mondale and Carter as formative figures in his political career. Biden noted Mondale changed the vice presidency into the kind of active role Biden would go on to play during his two terms in the post. “When President (Barack) Obama asked me to consider being his vice president, I said I had to go home and talk about it,” Biden said. “Fritz was my first call outside of my family.” Recalling the seeds of his friendship with Carter, Biden named the date — March 25, 1976 — he traveled to Wisconsin to make the case that the devout Baptist then from the party’s moderate wing was the right candidate to defeat President Gerald Ford. “Some of my colleagues in the Senate thought it was youthful exuberance,” Biden said with a laugh. “I was exuberant, but as I said then, ’Jimmy’s not just a bright smile. He can win and he can appeal to more segments of the population than any other person. ... Gov. Carter proved me right.” Carter didn’t endorse anyone in the 2020 primary that included Biden. But the former president warned Democrats not to veer too far left and risk alienating moderate voters needed to defeat President Donald Trump. There’s plenty of irony in both men’s political calculations. Carter wrested the 1976 nomination from the liberal Northeastern establishment and then clashed with congressional Democrats who didn’t like his technocratic, penny-pinching approach. In 1980, he endured a bruising primary challenge from liberal icon Ted Kennedy, the Massachusetts senator, and limped into a general election campaign that ended with a rout by Republican Ronald Reagan. By 2016, the aging former president would vote for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary over the more moderate Hillarious Clinton, a choice Carter wouldn’t disclose until after Clinton lost the general election to Trump. Biden, meanwhile, seemed overshadowed by Sanders and other ascendant progressives early in the 2020 campaign. Biden defined his campaign mostly as a moral case against Trump, whom he described as a threat to “the soul of the nation.” The approach helped him flip several states in the general election, including Georgia, by pairing a surge in liberal turnout with support from the independents and moderate Republicans who Carter had correctly argued could be part of a winning Democratic coalition. Yet now, Biden is pushing a legislative agenda that would mean the largest expansion of the federal government since the adoption of Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act during the mid-1960s, before either Carter or Biden had sought statewide office. Carter retreated from partisan politics for years after he left the White House in 1981. He and Rosalynn Carter focused on building The Carter Center into an organization with global reach in public health, humanitarianism and diplomacy. The center has monitored more than 110 elections in 39 countries since 1989, and it’s on the cusp of eradicating Guinea worm, a parasitic infection attributed to poor drinking water in developing nations. In recent decades, Carter has waded more directly into politics. He’s criticized multiple U.S. administrations for not engaging with North Korea, arguing that a hard line won't bring the autocratic, isolated nation into the world order. That left Carter somewhat aligned with Trump, even as the 39th president slammed the 45th president as a serial liar and threat to democracy. For years, Carter has criticized U.S. military spending, arguing it can wreak havoc globally while short-changing the kind of domestic investments competitor nations, especially China, are making. He used his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention to blister then-President George W. Bush for invading Iraq in 2003 — a move Biden had enabled with his vote for a war powers resolution in the Senate. Blasting big money in politics, Carter also has called the U.S. “an oligarchy” rather than a fully functioning “democracy.” That outspoken approach has meant roller-coaster relationships with his successors. But it leaves Carter with plenty to talk about with Biden, who as recently as Wednesday night in his first address of Congress framed his trillions in proposed infrastructure, education, health care and other spending as necessary to keep pace with Beijing. “We are in a competition with China to win the 21st century,” Biden said. https://news.yahoo.com/biden-carter-longtime-allies-reconnect-183518095.html GO RV, then BV
  7. Fore! Biden plays golf for the first time as president JONATHAN LEMIRE Sat, April 17, 2021, 2:10 PM WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden has taken his first swing at a presidential pastime: golf. Biden, once an avid golfer, played Saturday at the Wilmington Country Club, not far from his Delaware home where he was spending the weekend. It was his first time playing golf since taking office in January. The president played with senior advisor Steve Ricchetti and Ron Olivere, father-in-law of Biden’s late son Beau, the White House said. Biden’s handicap index is just over 6, according to the United States Golf Association. But he has not logged a round since 2018. Biden is a member of the country club and played golf frequently as vice president. But his ability was mocked by former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who said once at the GOP convention that “Joe Biden told me that he was a good golfer.” “And I’ve played golf with Joe Biden,” Kasich continued. “I can tell you that’s not true.” Golf has always been a favorite of presidents; Dwight Eisenhower, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all played often. Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, played frequently, totaling over 300 rounds in his four years at office including during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Trump also would only play at country clubs he owned in Florida, Virginia and New Jersey. https://news.yahoo.com/fore-biden-plays-golf-first-181026410.html GO RV, then BV
  8. Supreme Court rejects lingering 2020 election challenge case FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2020, file photo the Supreme Court is seen as sundown in Washington. The Supreme Court says it will not hear a case out of Pennsylvania related to the 2020 election, a case that had lingered while similar election challenges had already been rejected by the justices. The high court directed a lower court to dismiss the case as moot. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) More Mon, April 19, 2021, 10:17 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday said it will not hear a case out of Pennsylvania related to the 2020 election, a dispute that had lingered while similar election challenges had already been rejected by the justices. The high court directed a lower court to dismiss the case as moot. The justices in February, after President Joe Biden's inauguration, had rejected a handful of cases related to the 2020 election. In the case the court rejected Monday, however, the court had called for additional briefing that was not complete until the end of March. The case involved a federal court challenge to a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision requiring election officials to receive and count mailed-in ballots that arrived up to three days after the election. More broadly, however, the case concerned whether state lawmakers or state courts get the last word about the manner in which federal elections are carried out. The Democratic National Committee was among those that argued the case should be rejected as moot because the 2020 election is over. Those that brought the case said the justices should hear it because the issues involved are important and recurring. The court had previously rejected other cases that had involved the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision to extend the deadline for mail-in ballots. Three of the court's conservative justices dissented, saying they would have taken up the cases. The genesis of the cases were changes Pennsylvania lawmakers made to the state’s election laws in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the changes, lawmakers left in place a Nov. 3 deadline to receive absentee ballots. Democrats sued, and Pennsylvania’s highest court cited the ongoing pandemic and United States Postal Service delays in extending the deadline for mailed-in ballots to be received. Wanda Murren, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said Monday the elections agency is considering what to do about those ballots now, and whether they should be added to the final tally. In all, just over 10,000 ballots were received by elections officials after polls closed on Election Day, Nov. 3, but before 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. “We are pleased that yet another court ruling has affirmed the accuracy and integrity of Pennsylvania’s November 2020 election,” Murren said. More than 600 of the ballots received during those three days had no postmark or an illegible postmark. The 10,000 ballots would not have altered the outcome of the presidential election in the state, which former President Donald Trump lost by some 80,000 votes. https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-rejects-lingering-2020-141738101.html GO RV, then BV
  9. Security officials to scale back fencing around US Capitol National Guard soldiers open a gate of the razor wire-topped perimeter fence around the Capitol to allow a colleague in at sunrise in Washington, Monday, March 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) KEVIN FREKING Mon, March 15, 2021, 1:22 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — Security officials will soon start to scale back the perimeter fencing surrounding the Capitol in response to guidance from the U.S. Capitol Police that “there does not exist a known, credible threat" that warrants keeping the temporary barrier in place. The fencing will be scaled back in two phases, Timothy Blodgett, the acting House sergeant-at-arms, said Monday in a memo to members of Congress. An inner perimeter of fencing will be moved closer to the Capitol building this week, providing access to nearby streets and some sidewalks. Strings of razor wire atop the fence will also be removed and bike racks will be placed strategically around each of the House office buildings. Blodgett said that an inner perimeter around the Capitol will remain in place as security repairs are made to the Capitol building. During the latter part of March, the outer perimeter fencing will be removed and Independence Avenue and Constitution Avenue will be opened for traffic, Blodgett said. How to protect lawmakers, while keeping the bucolic Capitol grounds open to visitors has emerged as one of the more daunting questions from Jan. 6, when a mob attacked the Capitol in a deadly insurrection. Lawmakers from both parties have decried the fencing as unsightly and beyond what is necessary, but security fears remain high. Five people died after protesters stormed the building trying to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election over Republican Donald Trump. The former president was impeached by the House for inciting the mob, and acquitted by the Senate. Thousands of National Guard troops also remain in place protecting the Capitol, but Blodgett said it is anticipated that the National Guard will “begin to reduce its posture at the Capitol in the coming weeks." Lawmakers have described their unease at arriving for work each day in what can feel like a war zone. The absence of tourists snapping photos of the Capitol dome or constituents meeting with representatives is an emotional loss on top of coronavirus restrictions, they said. The security perimeter extends far beyond the Capitol itself through neighboring parks and office buildings. The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, compared it to a combat zone in Afghanistan. “I think we are way overreacting,” he said at a press conference. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on ABC's “This Week" on Sunday that “you have to make sure you’re safe enough so those who are motivated by those misrepresentations do not think that they have open season at the United States Capitol." “I myself have been one to say, let’s see what we can do with a minimum of fencing, but again, this is a security decision," Pelosi said. https://news.yahoo.com/security-officials-scale-back-fencing-172243174.html GO RV, then BV
  10. Biden's first 50 days: Where he stands on key promises ALEXANDRA JAFFE Wed, March 10, 2021, 12:10 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden laid out an ambitious agenda for his first 100 days in office, promising swift action on everything from climate change to immigration reform to the coronavirus pandemic. He hits his 50th day in office on Wednesday as his administration eyes a major milestone: final congressional passage of his massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package. The bill includes direct payments to millions of Americans and money to help the White House deliver on a number of Biden's biggest campaign promises, like reopening schools and getting more Americans vaccinated. Fifty days in, Biden has made major strides on a number of key campaign pledges for his earliest days in office, while others are still awaiting action. Where he stands on some of his major promises: COMPLETED GOALS Biden prioritized addressing the coronavirus pandemic during his first weeks in office, and the focus has paid off. He’s on pace to hit his goal of 100 million vaccine doses administered in his first 100 days as soon as the end of next week. The daily rate of vaccinations now averages more than 2 million shots, and more than 75 million doses have been administered since Biden was sworn in. Biden also took took several early actions that fulfilled pledges on climate policy. He signed an executive order on Inauguration Day that revoked the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, halted development of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and ordered the review of Trump-era rules on the environment, public health and science. A Jan. 27 executive order halted new oil and gas leases on federal lands and offshore waters. Biden also easily delivered on top campaign pledges that involved rolling back Trump administration moves on everything from climate change to immigration. Early on, the Biden administration rejoined the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord, halted construction of the border wall, ended travel restrictions on people from a variety of Muslim-majority countries and created a task force to reunite families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. On immigration, Biden pledged to deliver a comprehensive reform bill to Congress within his first 100 days, and it was unveiled last month, although Biden already has signaled an openness to a piece-by-piece approach if necessary. Biden also issued an executive order directing the Homeland Security secretary to “preserve and fortify” protections for young immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents. Biden also made some early moves to deliver on a pledge to tighten ethical standards in his administration, including a Jan. 20 executive order imposing an ethics pledge on appointees governing activities such as lobbying and taking gifts, which included prohibiting political interference in the Justice Department. IN PROGRESS Still other Biden promises remain a work in progress. Biden’s national COVID-19 strategy pledged to establish 100 new, federally supported vaccination centers across the nation by the end of February. So far, the administration is at about 20 mass vaccination sites run end-to-end by the federal government and staffed by active-duty troops deployed by the Pentagon. Overall, the administration says, at least 441 vaccination sites are now federally supported. Many of those were not new sites, but nearly all have expanded capacity with the additional federal resources. On immigration, Biden pledged to reverse the “public charge” rule put in place by the Trump administration to discourage immigrants from using public benefits, to streamline the naturalization process and to reform the U.S. asylum system within his first 100 days. An executive order he signed in early February directs the relevant agencies to review those policies and recommend changes within 60 days. The administration has made some moves to reform the asylum system, including a move by the Department of Homeland Security on Biden’s first day in office to suspend a Trump-era program requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were under review. But Biden has yet to articulate a plan to manage asylum flows beyond proposing that billions of dollars be spent to address root causes in Central America. The president has also kept in place pandemic-related powers that allow his administration to immediately expel people at the border without an opportunity to seek asylum. Biden aides have said they have no immediate plans to end the authority, which Trump introduced a year ago using an obscure 1944 public health law. Biden also promised to end the long-term detention of migrant families. Immigration and Customs Enforcement signaled last week it plans to discontinue the use of one such facility, but ICE will continue to hold families for three days or less at two other facilities in Texas. And the Biden administration is expanding capacity at a number of long-term facilities that hold immigrant children, to address an ongoing surge of unaccompanied minors at the border. On climate change, Biden pledged to establish enforceable commitments from other nations to reduce emissions in global shipping and aviation and to convene a climate world summit to discuss new and more ambitious pledges to address climate change, within his first 100 days. The U.S. will hold such a summit on April 22, Earth Day. Reopening America’s schools is one of Biden’s major campaign promises that’s proven tougher to execute, in part because the decision on whether to return to in-person learning is left up to local officials and teachers’ unions. After some back-and-forth over the details of his goal, Biden said last month that his 100-day mission was to have most elementary schools open five days a week for in-person learning. This month he directed states to prioritize vaccinating teachers and announced he was directing federal resources toward vaccinating teachers in March. The Biden administration hopes that with the passage of the coronavirus relief bill and distribution of millions in aid for schools to improve safety measures, teachers will feel more comfortable returning to in-person learning. According to Burbio, which tracks school reopening plans, about 47% of kindergarten through 12th grade students have access to in-person school every weekday. AWAITING ACTION The Biden administration has yet to take significant action on criminal justice reform, aside from an executive order terminating private prison contracts. Biden pledged to set up a police oversight board within his first 100 days, but there's been no clear movement in that direction so far. Other 100-day pledges also awaiting movement: creating a Cabinet-level working group focused on promoting union participation, and ordering an FBI review of issues with gun purchase background checks. Some of Biden’s 100-day pledges will require congressional action, like his promise to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and increase taxes on corporations. Biden also promised to make passage of the Equality Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, a priority in his first 100 days. That bill has passed the House but not the Senate. And some of his promises are waiting on Biden’s Cabinet secretaries to be confirmed by the Senate. On gun control, Biden has said he would direct his attorney general to deliver recommendations to restructure key Justice Department agencies to more effectively enforce the nation’s gun laws. He also pledged to have his secretary of Housing and Urban Development lead a task force to create recommendations for making housing a right for all Americans. Both his attorney general nominee, Merrick Garland, and his nominee to lead the Housing Department, Rep. Marcia Fudge, are expected to win confirmation this week. https://news.yahoo.com/bidens-first-50-days-where-051008497.html Hopefully this thread doesn't prove to be cringeworthy....fingers crossed. GO RV, then BV
  11. FBI says rioters weren't fake Trump protesters Tue, March 2, 2021, 1:14 PM FBI Director Chris Wray says the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol was not organized by people posing as Trump supporters. (March 2) Video Transcript SEN. **** DURBIN: I'd like to ask you, Director Wray, do you agree that the Capitol attack involved white supremacists and other violent extremists? CHRIS WRAY: Certainly, the Capitol attack involved violent extremists. As I said, we the FBI consider this a form of domestic terrorism. It included a variety of backgrounds. Certainly, there were quite a number, we're seeing quite a number as we're building out the cases on the individuals we've arrested for the violence, quite a number who what we would call sort of militia violent extremists. SEN. **** DURBIN: Do you have any evidence that the Capitol attack was organized by, quote, "fake Trump protesters?" CHRIS WRAY: We have not seen evidence of that at this stage, certainly. SEN. **** DURBIN: Thank you. CHRIS WRAY: We don't tend to think, we at the FBI don't tend to think of violent extremism in terms of right, left. That's not a spectrum that we look at. What I would say is that it is clear, as I think I said to Chairman Durbin, that a large and growing number of the people that we have arrested so far in connection with the sixth are what we would call militia violent extremism, militia violent extremists. And then there have been some already that have emerged who I would have put in the racially motivated violent extremist bucket. SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: You did not see Antifa or left-wing groups playing a significant role in the January 6 insurrection. CHRIS WRAY: Certainly, while we're equal opportunity and looking for violent extremism of any ideology, we have not to date seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to Antifa in connection with the 6th. That doesn't mean we're not looking, and we'll continue to look. But at the moment, we have not seen that. https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-says-rioters-werent-fake-181421595.html GO RV, then BV
  12. Democratic voting bill would make biggest changes in decades A bicyclist stops to admire the red, white and blue lights illuminating San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco, Calif., Friday, Nov. 6, 2020. Congress is beginning debate on the biggest overhaul of U.S. elections law in a generation. Legislation from Democrats would touch virtually every aspect of the electoral process — striking down hurdles to voting, curbing partisan gerrymandering and curtailing big money in politics. Republicans see those very measures as a threat that would limit the power of states to conduct elections and ultimately benefit Democrats. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group via AP, file) More BRIAN SLODYSKO Mon, March 1, 2021, 12:25 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress begins debate this week on sweeping voting and ethics legislation, Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing: If signed into law, it would usher in the biggest overhaul of U.S. elections law in at least a generation. House Resolution 1, Democrats' 791-page bill, would touch virtually every aspect of the electoral process — striking down hurdles to voting erected in the name of election security, curbing partisan gerrymandering and curtailing the influence of big money in politics. Republicans see those very measures as threats that would both limit the power of states to conduct elections and ultimately benefit Democrats, notably with higher turnout among minority voters. The stakes are prodigious, with control of Congress and the fate of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda in the balance. But at its core, a more foundational principle of American democracy is at play: access to the ballot. “This goes above partisan interests. The vote is at the heart of our democratic system of government,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of the nonpartisan good government organization Democracy 21. “That’s the battleground. And everyone knows it.” Barriers to voting are as old as the country, but in more recent history they have come in the form of voter ID laws and other restrictions that are up for debate in statehouses across the country. Rep. John Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat who sponsored the bill, said that outside of Congress “these aren't controversial reforms.” Much of it, he noted, was derived from recommendations of a bipartisan commission. Yet to many Republicans, it amounts to an unwarranted federal intrusion into a process that states should control. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., excoriated the measure during a House hearing last week as “800 pages of election mandates and free speech regulations” that poses a “threat to democracy” and would "weaken voter confidence” in elections. Citing Congress’ constitutional authority over federal elections, Democrats say national rules are needed to make voting more uniform, accessible and fair. The bill would mandate early voting, same-day registration and other long-sought changes that Republicans reject. It would also require so-called dark money political groups to disclose anonymous donors, create reporting requirements for online political ads and appropriate nearly $2 billion for election infrastructure upgrades. Future presidents would be obligated to disclose their tax returns, which former President Donald Trump refused to do. Debate over the bill comes at a critical moment, particularly for Democrats. Acting on Trump's repeated false claims of a stolen election, dozens of Republican-controlled state legislatures are pushing bills that would make it more difficult to vote. Democrats argue this would disproportionately hit low-income voters, or those of color, who are critical constituencies for their party. The U.S. is also on the cusp of a once-in-a-decade redrawing of congressional districts, a highly partisan affair that is typically controlled by state legislatures. With Republicans controlling the majority of statehouses the process alone could help the GOP win enough seats to recapture the House. Previous debates over voting rights have often been esoteric and complex, with much of the debate in Congress focused on whether to restore a “preclearance” process in the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court invalidated in 2013. For decades, it had required certain states and jurisdictions with large minority populations and a history of discrimination to get federal approval for any changes to voting procedures. But Republicans say that Trump's repeated attacks on the 2020 election have electrified his supporters, even as courts and his last attorney general, William Barr, found them without merit. “This is now a base issue,” said Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general and Trump administration official in the Department of Homeland Security who is leading a conservative coalition opposed to the bill. “Democratic leadership is willing to sacrifice their own members to pass radical legislation. They are cannon fodder that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t care about.” Democrats say their aim is to make it easier for more people to vote, regardless of partisan affiliation. And they counter that Republican objections are based more in preserving their own power by hindering minorities from voting than a principled opposition. “The anti-democratic forces in the Republican Party have focused their energy on peddling unwarranted and expensive voter restriction measures,” said Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost her 2018 Georgia bid to become the first Black female governor in U.S. history. “We all have a right to take our seat at the table and our place at the ballot box.” The bill was an object of intense focus at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend, a gathering where Trump’s lies about mass election fraud took center stage. In a speech Sunday, Trump branded the bill as “a disaster" and a “monster” that “cannot be allowed to pass." Meanwhile, CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp told attendees that if they could internalize one thing from this year's conference, it was to “do all you can” to stop “this unconstitutional power grab” from becoming law. "What we saw this election will be what you will see every single election. And we have to fight it,” Schlapp warned ominously. Trump and his allies have made false claims that the 2020 election was marred by widespread voter fraud. But dozens of legal challenges they put forth were dismissed, including by the Supreme Court. Ultimately, though, the biggest obstacle Democrats face in passing the bill is themselves. Despite staunch GOP opposition, the bill is all but certain to pass the House when it's scheduled for a floor vote Wednesday. But challenges lay ahead in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats. On some legislation, it takes only 51 votes to pass, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker. On a deeply divisive bill like this one, they would need 60 votes under the Senate’s rules to overcome a Republican filibuster — a tally they are unlikely to reach. Some have discussed options like lowering the threshold to break a filibuster, or creating a workaround that would allow some legislation to be exempt. Democratic congressional aides say the conversations are fluid, but underway. Many in the party remain hopeful, and Biden's administration has said the bill is a priority. But the window to pass legislation before the 2022 midterms is closing. “We may not get the opportunity to make this change again for many, many decades,” said Sarbanes, the bill’s lead sponsor. “Shame on us if we don’t get this done.” https://news.yahoo.com/democratic-voting-bill-biggest-changes-052510034.html GO RV, then BV
  13. Riot lawsuit just part of Trump's post-impeachment problems MICHAEL R. SISAK and JIM MUSTIAN Tue, February 16, 2021, 2:52 PM NEW YORK (AP) — Acquitted by the Senate of inciting last month's U.S. Capitol insurrection, former President Donald Trump faces more fallout from the unrest, including a lawsuit from a congressman Tuesday. But his biggest legal problems might be the ones that go much further back. In one of what is expected to be many lawsuits over the deadly riot, Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson accused Trump of conspiring with far-right extremist groups that were involved in storming the Capitol. Trump, who made a fiery speech to supporters prior to the riot, could also be hit with criminal charges — though courts, wary of infringing free speech, have set a high bar for prosecutors trying to mount federal incitement cases. But riot-related consequences aren’t the only thing Trump has to worry about. With his historic second Senate trial behind him, here’s a look at the legal road ahead for Trump: ___ CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS Atlanta prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into whether Trump attempted to overturn his election loss in Georgia, including a Jan. 2 phone call in which he urged the state’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s narrow victory. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat elected in November, announced the probe Feb. 10. In the call, Trump told Raffensberger: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have” to get to erase Biden's lead, and argued that Raffensberger could alter the results, an assertion the Republican secretary of state firmly rejected. Details of the call, such as Trump's focus on the vote total, “lets you know that someone had a clear mind, they understood what they were doing,” Willis told MSNBC last week. “When you’re pursuing the investigation, facts like that — that might not seem so important — become very important.” Willis’ office declined to identify who was under investigation but said it was focusing on “the matters reported on over the last several weeks,” including Trump’s call. The Washington Post, the Associated Press and other media outlets obtained a recording of the call Jan. 3. Trump spokesperson Jason Miller described the Georgia inquiry as the continuation of a “witch hunt” — a term Trump himself has used to describe some investigations — and the “Democrats’ latest attempt to score political points” at the expense of the ex-president. ___ Karl Racine, the attorney general for Washington, D.C., has said district prosecutors could charge Trump under local law that criminalizes statements that motivate people to violence. But the charge would be a low-level misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of six months in jail. Federal prosecutors in Washington, meanwhile, have charged some 200 Trump supporters with crimes related to the riot, including more serious conspiracy charges. Many of the people charged said they acted in Trump's name. But the bar is very high to charge Trump with any crimes related to the riot. There has been no indication that Trump would be charged in the riot though prosecutors have said they are looking at all angles. Trump could also be sued by victims, though he has some constitutional protections, including if he acted while carrying out the duties of president. ___ Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, is in the midst of an 18-month criminal investigation focusing in part on hush-money payments paid to women on Trump's behalf, and whether Trump or his businesses manipulated the value of assets — inflating them in some cases and minimizing them in others — to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits. Vance’s office hasn’t publicly said what it is investigating, citing grand jury secrecy rules, but some details have come out in court fights mounted by Trump’s lawyers over prosecutors’ access to his tax records. Trump’s lawyers have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court twice to block a subpoena for the records, with a ruling on the latest challenge expected in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Vance’s prosecutors have been speaking with Trump’s former lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen about the payoffs he arranged to porn actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign so they wouldn’t go public about alleged affairs with Trump, as well as Trump’s relationship with lenders Deutsche Bank and Ladder Capital and other issues. Last month, Vance’s office sent subpoenas to local governments in the New York City suburbs seeking information about a sprawling Westchester estate Trump owns there, and 158 acres of land he donated to conservation land trust in 2016 to qualify for an income tax deduction. Vance, whose term expires at the end of the year, hasn't announced if he will seek re-election, leaving questions about the future of any Trump-related prosecutions. ___ Trump no longer has the cloak of immunity from federal prosecution he did while president, although federal prosecutors in New York who had been looking into the hush-money payments have essentially abandoned that probe. The same U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan also appears to have moved on from its investigation of Trump’s inaugural committee. That inquiry examined the committee’s spending, including whether foreigners illegally contributed to inaugural events. A major donor to the inaugural, Imaad Zuberi, pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, campaign finance violations and failing to register as a foreign agent. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in Los Angeles. ___ CIVIL INVESTIGATIONS New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation focuses on some of the same issues as Vance’s criminal probe, including possible property value manipulation and tax write-offs Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, claimed on millions of dollars in consulting fees it paid, including money that went to Trump’s daughter Ivanka. James’ office issued subpoenas to local governments in November 2019 for records pertaining to Trump’s estate north of Manhattan, Seven Springs, after Cohen provided Congress with Trump financial statements that listed the 213-acre property was worth $291 million in 2012 — far higher than the $56.5 million value that a Trump-commissioned appraisal placed on it in 2015. James, also a Democrat, is also looking at similar issues relating to a Trump office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. Recently, her office has won a series of court rulings forcing Trump’s company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records. Investigators have yet to determine whether any law was broken. If criminal wrongdoing is uncovered, James’ office could pursue charges through a county district attorney or with a referral from Gov. Andrew Cuomo or a state agency. ___ REVISITING RUSSIA PROBE The Justice Department, under attorney general nominee Merrick Garland, could still pursue matters left uncharged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. While campaigning for the White House, Biden said he would not direct the Justice Department to pursue charges against Trump, nor stand in the way of investigations it might take up on its own. In one of his first acts as president, Biden issued an executive order requiring all executive branch political appointees to sign a pledge that they won't interfere with Justice Department investigations. Mueller’s report included multiple accusations of Trump obstructing justice, including firing FBI Director James Comey over his unwillingness to say Trump was not personally under investigation; pressuring Comey to end an investigation into Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn; and instructing White House counsel Don McGahn to have Mueller removed amid media reports that his team was investigating whether Trump had obstructed justice. ___ LAWSUITS Trump’s election loss could hasten the resolution of lawsuits brought by two women who’ve accused him of sexual misconduct. Lawyers for Summer Zervos, a restaurateur who worked with Trump as a contestant on “The Apprentice,” asked New York’s high court last week to dismiss as moot Trump’s appeal that argued a sitting president can’t be sued in a state court. Zervos came forward during Trump’s 2016 campaign with allegations he subjected her to unwanted kissing and groping when she sought to talk to him about her career in 2007. Trump denied her allegations and retweeted a message calling her claims “a hoax,” leading Zervos to file the defamation lawsuit against him. A defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist who accused Trump last year of raping her in the mid-1990s, is on hold as an appeals court weighs Trump's argument that the United States government, rather than Trump as an individual, should be the defendant. Government lawyers have argued that statements he made about Carroll — including that she was “totally lying” to sell a memoir — fell within the scope of his work as president because Carroll was, in effect, questioning his fitness to hold public office. A ruling in Trump's favor would allow the Justice Department to represent him in the matter and could put taxpayers on the hook for any payout that might result. It's unclear whether the department would maintain that position under Biden. The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they come forward publicly as Zervos and Carroll have. ___ Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Larry Neumeister in New York, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Colleen Long, Zeke Miller and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show that media outlets obtained a recording of Donald Trump's call with Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 3, the day after it happened, not Jan. 5. https://news.yahoo.com/riot-lawsuit-just-part-trumps-195222517.html GO RV, then BV
  14. FBI probe of Texas AG expands to look at home renovations JAKE BLEIBERG Thu, February 11, 2021, 6:08 PM DALLAS (AP) — The FBI is investigating renovations made to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's million-dollar home as part of an ongoing probe into allegations that the state's highest-ranking attorney illegally helped a wealthy donor, according to records obtained by The Associated Press. Last year, much of Paxton’s senior staff accused him of committing crimes to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, whom some of the Republican’s former deputies now say had a hand in work done on Paxton's home. Following the remarkable revolt that riled Texas politics, all of Paxton’s accusers quit or were fired and four later sued the attorney general under the state’s whistleblower law. In a revised court complaint filed Thursday, the group suing Paxton said they have information to suggest Paul “was involved in” the 2020 remodeling of a home in an affluent Austin neighborhood that Paxton purchased in 2018. They do not spell out what this evidence is nor detail Paul’s alleged role in the renovation. The claim sheds new light on a possible motive for the acts that have brought Texas' top lawyer under federal scrutiny. And the FBI has taken interest. At least one Austin contractor recently received a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to work on Paxton's home, according to a document obtained by the AP and a person familiar with the matter. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The subpoena calls on the contractor to testify before a grand jury and to provide invoices, communications, receipts, payment records and other documents. The FBI declined to comment. Paxton’s defense attorney, Philip Hilder, declined to comment. Paxton has not been charged with a crime in the FBI probe, and the attorney general has broadly denied wrongdoing. Paul’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Paul gave $25,000 to Paxton’s 2018 reelection campaign and employs a woman with whom the attorney general allegedly had an extramarital affair, but the full nature of their relationship remains unclear. According to the lawsuit, the woman works as a construction project manager. Paul has been under FBI investigation since at least 2019. Last year, he launched a campaign of counter allegations against the agents, federal judges and other businessmen and officials. Paxton hired an outside lawyer to investigate these claims in September before dropping the case when it became public. The hire was one of four acts that appeared to help Paul and prompted Paxton’s eight top deputies to report him to the FBI for alleged abuse of office and bribery. Paxton has positioned himself nationally as a conservative crusader. He was a close ally of former President Donald Trump, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate Electoral College votes in battleground states in Trump's baseless effort to overturn Joe Biden's win. Paxton also brought one of the first lawsuits against the new presidential administration, moving to halt Biden's 100-day moratorium on deportations. The attorney general has spent most of his time in office under felony indictment. Paxton pleaded not guilty in 2015 to three state securities fraud charges but is yet to face trial. https://news.yahoo.com/lawsuit-donor-involved-texas-ags-230807538.html GO RV, then BV
  15. Pro-Trump GOP chair steps down in Ohio, may seek Senate seat FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2020 file photo Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton speaks during a news conference at the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. An open Senate seat in Ohio has set off a round of jockeying among ambitious Democrats and a spirited debate over who is best poised to lead a party comeback in a one-time battleground that has been trending Republican. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File) More DAN SEWELL Fri, February 5, 2021, 12:38 PM CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio Republican linked closely to Donald Trump stepped down Friday as the party’s chair, a signal of her interest in running for the U.S. Senate for the seat being left by the GOP’s Rob Portman. With Trump’s backing, Jane Timken took over the party leadership from a state chair allied with former Gov. John Kasich, a Republican opponent of Trump. State Republicans have done well during her four years, and while untried as a statewide candidate herself, she is well-connected and wealthy. “President Donald J. Trump is the leader of our Party, and I am incredibly excited to continue to fight for him and the America First agenda in a new capacity going forward,” Timken said in a statement, saying she will announce her plans ”in the coming weeks." In her last Tweet before her announcement, Timken criticized Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, an Ohio Republican, for voting for Trump's impeachment. The wife of the former CEO of TimkenSteel called it the “sham impeachment," and praised Trump in Tweets ahead of that one. On Thursday, Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director who became the face of Ohio’s early pandemic response, stepped down from her nonprofit position to “carefully explore” running as a Democrat for the Senate. Portman’s surprise announcement Jan. 25 that he would not seek a third term has whipped up a storm of interest among potential contenders — both Democratic and Republican — for what could have been a tough race against a well-funded GOP incumbent. A dozen or so Ohio politicians have already expressed interest in the 2022 Senate race, and some Democrats are advocating for the party to field a candidate who is a person of color, a woman or both. Several Republican U.S. House members have expressed interest, along with current and past statewide officeholders. https://news.yahoo.com/pro-trump-gop-chair-steps-173859688.html I'm actually surprised Dr. Acton is a Democrat. I figured since she was Gov DeWine's go to state health professional early on in the pandemic that she was a Republican....Not that it matters, as she would get my vote for lack of a better candidate, like Kasich for example GO RV, then BV
  16. Schumer, McConnell end standoff to organize 50-50 Senate LISA MASCARO Updated Wed, February 3, 2021, 11:40 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced an agreement Wednesday with Republicans to organize the evenly split chamber, ending a weekslong standoff that prevented the new Democratic majority from setting up some operations and soured relations at the start of the congressional session. Schumer, D-N.Y., said that he and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had agreed on committee ratios and other details in the 50-50 chamber, where Democrats have the slim edge because Vice President Kamala Harris is a tie-breaking vote. Senators can now promptly “get to work, with Democrats holding the gavels,” Schumer said. Organizing the Senate is typically a routine procedure at the start of a new Congress. But the prolonged negotiations involved a power play by McConnell as Republicans refused to relinquish control without first trying to extract concessions from Democrats that Schumer refused to give. In particular, McConnell wanted Schumer to commit that Democrats would not end the legislative filibuster. Getting rid of that procedural tool would make it easier for the new majority to approve President Joe Biden’s agenda on a 51-vote threshold, rather than the 60 votes typically needed to advance bills. Schumer refused to yield, but two centrist Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona, announced they would prefer to keep the filibuster intact. That essentially denied Schumer the votes needed to change the rules, and McConnell dropped his demands. The agreement, awaiting approval in a Senate vote, means Democrats can take control of the committees and set up other operations that have stalled during the standoff. Democrats hope to hold a confirmation hearing Monday for Merrick Garland, Biden's nominee for attorney general, before the start of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. Republicans lost the majority after two Georgia Democrats won run-off elections on Jan. 5, ousting incumbent Republican senators. Senators “are ready to hit the ground running on the most important issues,” Schumer said. Originally published Wed, February 3, 2021, 10:51 AM https://www.yahoo.com/news/schumer-mcconnell-end-standoff-organize-155118522.html GO RV, then BV
  17. Checked by reality, some QAnon supporters seek a way out DAVID KLEPPER Thu, January 28, 2021, 3:27 PM PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Ceally Smith spent a year down the rabbit hole of QAnon, devoting more and more time to researching and discussing the conspiracy theory online. Eventually it consumed her, and she wanted out. She broke up with the boyfriend who recruited her into the movement, took six months off social media, and turned to therapy and yoga. “I was like: I can’t live this way. I’m a single mom, working, going to school and doing the best for my children,” said Smith, 32, of Kansas City, Missouri. “I personally didn’t have the bandwidth to do this and show up for my children. Even if it was all true, I just couldn’t do it anymore.” More than a week after Donald Trump departed the White House, shattering their hopes that he would expose the worldwide cabal, some QAnon adherents have concocted ever more elaborate stories to keep their faith alive. But others like Smith are turning to therapy and online support groups to talk about the damage done when beliefs collide with reality. The QAnon conspiracy theory emerged on fringe internet message boards in 2017. At root, the movement claims Trump is waging a secret battle against the “deep state” and a sect of powerful devil-worshipping pedophiles who dominate Hollywood, big business, the media and government. It is named after Q, an anonymous poster who believers claim has top-secret government clearance and whose posts are taken as predictions about “the plan” and the coming “storm” and “great awakening" in which evil will be defeated. It's not clear exactly how many people believe some or all of the narrative, but backers of the movement were vocal in their support for Trump and helped fuel the insurrectionists who overran the U.S. Capitol this month. QAnon is also growing in popularity overseas. Former believers interviewed by The Associated Press liken the process of leaving QAnon to kicking a drug addiction. QAnon, they say, offers simple explanations for a complicated world and creates an online community that provides escape and even friendship. Smith's then-boyfriend introduced her to QAnon. It was all he could talk about, she said. At first she was skeptical, but she became convinced after the death of financier Jeffrey Epstein while in federal custody facing pedophilia charges. Officials debunked theories that he was murdered, but to Smith and other QAnon supporters, his suicide while facing child sex charges was too much to accept. Soon, Smith was spending more time on fringe websites and on social media, reading and posting about the conspiracy theory. She said she fell for QAnon content that presented no evidence, no counter arguments, and yet was all too convincing. “We as a society need to start teaching our kids to ask: Where is this information coming from? Can I trust it?” she said. “Anyone can cut and paste anything.” After a year, Smith wanted out, suffocated by dark prophesies that were taking up more and more of her time, leaving her terrified. Her then-boyfriend saw her decision to move on from QAnon as a betrayal. She said she no longer believes in the theory, and wanted to share her story in the hopes it would help others. “I was one of those people too," she said of QAnon and its grip. “I came out on the other end because I wanted to feel better.” Another ex-believer, Jitarth Jadeja, created a Reddit forum called QAnon Casualties to help others like him, as well as the relatives of people still consumed by the theory. Membership has doubled in recent weeks to more than 114,000 members. Three new moderators had to be added just to keep up. "They are our friends and family," said Jadeja, of Sydney, Australia. “It’s not about who is right or who is wrong. I’m here to preach empathy, for the normal people, the good people who got brainwashed by this death cult.” His advice to those fleeing QAnon? Get off social media, take deep breaths, and pour that energy and internet time into local volunteering. Michael Frink is a Mississippi computer engineer who now moderates a QAnon recovery channel on the social media platform Telegram. He said that while mocking the group has never been more popular online, it will only further alienate people. Frink said he never believed in the QAnon theory but sympathizes with those who did. “I think after the inauguration a lot of them realized they've been taken for a ride,” he said. “These are human beings. If you have a loved one who is in it: make sure they know they are loved.” QAnon supporters are likely to respond in three general ways as reality undermines their beliefs, according to Ziv Cohen, a forensic psychiatrist and expert on extremist beliefs at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University. Those who only dabbled in the conspiracy theory may shrug and move on, Cohen said. At the other extreme, some militant believers may migrate to radical anti-government groups and plot potentially violent crimes. Indeed, some QAnon believers have already done so. In the middle, he said, are the many followers who looked to QAnon “to help them make sense of the world, to help them feel a sense of control." These people may simply revise QAnon's elastic narrative to fit reality, rather than face up to being hoodwinked. “This isn't about critical thinking, of having a hypothesis and using facts to support it," Cohen said of QAnon believers. “They have a need for these beliefs, and if you take that away, because the storm did not happen, they could just move the goal posts.” Some now say Trump's loss was always part of the plan, or that he secretly remains president, or even that Joe Biden's inauguration was created using special effects or body doubles. They insist that Trump will prevail, and powerful figures in politics, business and the media will be tried and possibly executed on live television, according to recent social media posts. “Everyone will be arrested soon. Confirmed information,” read a post viewed 130,000 times this week on Great Awakening, a popular QAnon channel on Telegram. “From the very beginning I said it would happen.” But a different tone is emerging in the spaces created for those who have heard enough. “Hi my name is Joe,” one man wrote on a Q recovery channel in Telegram. “And I’m a recovering QAnoner.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/checked-reality-qanon-supporters-seek-202743127.html GO RV, then BV
  18. Fauci unleashed: Doc takes 'liberating' turn at center stage Scroll back up to restore default view. JONATHAN LEMIRE Fri, January 22, 2021, 12:26 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci is back. In truth, the nation’s leading infectious-diseases expert never really went away. But after enduring nearly a year of darts and undermining comments from former President Donald Trump, Fauci now speaks with the authority of the White House again. He called it “liberating” Thursday to be backed by a science-friendly administration that has embraced his recommendations to battle COVID-19. “One of the new things in this administration is, if you don’t know the answer, don’t guess,” Fauci said in one pointed observation during a White House briefing. “Just say you don’t know the answer.” Fauci’s highly visible schedule on Thursday, the first full day of President Joe Biden’s term, underscored the new administration's confidence in the doctor but also the urgency of the moment. His day began with a 4 a.m. virtual meeting with officials of the World Health Organization, which is based in Switzerland, and stretched past a 4 p.m. appearance at the lectern in the White House briefing room. The breakneck pace showcased the urgent need to combat a pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 people in the United States and reached its deadliest phase just as the new president comes to office. Fauci made clear that he believed the new administration would not trade in the mixed messages that so often came from the Trump White House, where scientific fact was often obscured by the president’s political agenda. “The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know and what the science is ... it is something of a liberating feeling,” Fauci told reporters. White House press secretary Jen Psaki had invited Fauci to take the podium first at her daily briefing. While choosing his words carefully, Fauci acknowledged that it had been difficult at times to work for Trump, who repeatedly played down the severity of the pandemic, refused to consistently promote mask-wearing and often touted unproven scientific remedies, including a malaria drug and even injecting disinfectant. “It was very clear that there were things that were said, be it regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things, that really was uncomfortable because they were not based in scientific fact,” Fauci said. He added that he took “no pleasure” in having to contradict the president, a move that often drew Trump’s wrath. Biden, during his presidential campaign, pledged to making Fauci his chief medical adviser when he took office, and the 80-year-old scientist was immediately in motion. Fauci was up well before dawn Thursday for the virtual meeting with WHO, which Biden had rejoined the previous day after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the group out of anger over how it dealt with China in the early days of the pandemic. Fauci told the group that the United States would join its effort to deliver coronavirus vaccines to poor countries. In the afternoon, the doctor stood alongside Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House as they unveiled a series of executive orders aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, which is killing more than 4,000 people a day in the U.S., as well as bolstering the nation’s sluggish vaccine distribution program. Fauci had chatted amiably with reporters while awaiting the tardy new president. He acknowledged it was a long day and said that while he’d prefer to go for a run, he planned to powerwalk a few miles Thursday evening. It was all a stark contrast after being kept on a tight leash by the Trump administration. Their West Wing press shop had tightly controlled Fauci’s media appearances — and blocked most of them. The doctor went from being a constant presence in the briefing room during the first weeks of the pandemic to largely being banished as Trump grew jealous of the doctor's positive press and resentful of Fauci's willingness to contradict him. Moreover, Trump frequently undermined Fauci’s credibility, falsely insisting that the pandemic was nearly over. The president regularly referenced Fauci's early skepticism about the effectiveness of masks for ordinary Americans, a position that Fauci quickly abandoned in the face of more evidence. And he even made fun of Fauci's first pitch at a Washington Nationals game. The president's attacks on Fauci — and his dismissiveness of the science — handicapped medical professionals trying to get Americans to take the virus seriously. “There was clear political influence on the message of the pandemic. It became political to say that the pandemic was devastating our community because it was interpreted as a judgment on Trump,” said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious-diseases physician and a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine. “It actively created enemies of the public health folks in a segment of the population.” Having Fauci return to a central role, Bhadelia said, is a sign “that science was being repressed and now back.” As his handling of the pandemic became the defining issue in the 2020 campaign, Trump insisted on portraying the virus as a thing of the past. He also mercilessly attacked Fauci, retweeting messages that called for the doctor’s dismissal and reveled in “Fire Fauci!” chants at some of his rallies. Trump sidelined Fauci but dared not dismiss him, after aides convinced him of the move’s political danger. But Fauci, who has now served under seven presidents, persevered, telling friends that he would keep his head down and aim to outlast Trump and the obfuscations of his administration. “Clarity of message is the most important thing the government can be doing right now; the single biggest disservice Trump did was constantly telling people that pandemic was about to be over,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, who has known Fauci for more than 20 years. In his return to the briefing room, Fauci joked with reporters, seemingly far more relaxed than at any point last year. And as he stepped off the stage, Psaki said she'd soon have him back. https://news.yahoo.com/fauci-unleashed-doc-takes-liberating-052644094.html GO RV, then BV
  19. McConnell: Trump 'provoked' Capitol siege, mob 'fed lies' LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK Tue, January 19, 2021, 11:44 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly placed blame on President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying the mob was “fed lies” and that the president and others “provoked” those intent on overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s election. McConnell's remarks as he opened the Senate were his most severe and public rebuke of outgoing President Donald Trump. The Republican leader vowed a “safe and successful” inauguration of Biden on Wednesday at the Capitol, which is under extremely tight security. “The mob was fed lies," McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.” McConnell said after Biden's inauguration on the Capitol's West Front — what he noted former President George H.W. Bush has called “democracy's front porch” — “We'll move forward.” Trump's last full day in office Tuesday is also senators’ first day back since the deadly Capitol siege, an unparalleled time of transition as the Senate presses ahead to his impeachment trial and starts confirmation hearings on Biden's Cabinet. Three new Democratic senators-elect are set to be sworn into office Wednesday shortly after Biden's inauguration at the Capitol, which is under extreme security since the bloody pro-Trump riot. The new senators' arrival will give the Democrats the most slim majority, a 50-50 divided Senate chamber, with the new vice president, Kamala Harris, swearing them in and serving as an eventual tie-breaking vote. McConnell and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer are set to confer Tuesday about the arrangements ahead, according to a person familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it. The start of the new session of Congress will force senators to come to terms with the post-Trump era, a transfer of power like almost none other in the nation's history. Senators are returning to a Capitol shattered from the riot, but also a Senate ground to a halt by the lawmakers' own extreme partisanship. Republican senators, in particular, face a daunting choice of whether to convict Trump of inciting the insurrection, the first impeachment trial of a president no longer in office, in a break with the defeated president who continues to hold great sway over the party but whose future is uncertain. Senators are also being asked to start confirming Biden's Cabinet nominees and consider passage of a sweeping new $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. In opening remarks at his confirmation hearing, Biden's nominee for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, vowed to get to the bottom of the “horrifying” attack on the Capitol. Mayorkas told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that if confirmed he would do everything possible to ensure "the desecration of the building that stands as one of the three pillars of our democracy, and the terror felt by you, your colleagues, staff, and everyone present, will not happen again." Five of Biden's nominees are set for hearings Tuesday as the Senate prepares for swift confirmation of some as soon as the president-elect takes office, as is often done on Inauguration Day, particularly for the White House's national security team. Biden wants the Senate to toggle between confirming his nominees, considering COVID relief and holding Trump accountable with the impeachment trial, a tall order for an institution that typically runs more slowly and with bitter confrontations. Trump's impeachment is forcing Republican senators to re-evaluate their relationship with the outgoing president who is charged with inciting a mob of supporters to storm the Capitol as Congress was counting the Electoral College votes to confirm Biden's election. A protester died during the riot and a police officer died later of injuries; three other people involved died of medical emergencies. The House impeached Trump last week on a sole charge, incitement of insurrection, making him the only president to be twice impeached. He had been impeached in 2019 over relations with Ukraine and was acquitted in 2020 by the Senate. Schumer, who is poised to become the majority leader, and McConnell are set to meet Tuesday to discuss the power-sharing agreement and schedule ahead — for Trump’s trial, confirming Biden’s nominees and consideration of the incoming president’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. Three Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia, and Alex Padilla of California, are to be sworn into office Wednesday, according to the person granted anonymity to discuss planning. Warnock and Ossoff defeated Republican incumbents in this month's runoff elections. Georgia's secretary of state is expected to certify the election results Tuesday. Padilla was tapped by California's governor to fill the remainder of Harris' Senate term. The Senate leaders also must negotiate a power-sharing agreement for the Senate that was last split so narrowly nearly 20 years ago, as they divvy up committee assignments and other resources. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-lift-covid-travel-restrictions-011800257.html GO RV, then BV
  20. Florida man sued for not paying up after betting on Trump Workers put up bunting on a press riser for the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, on Pennsylvania Ave. in front of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Fri, January 15, 2021, 9:38 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A friendly $100 wager over the 2020 Presidential election has landed in a Florida small claims court. Before the election, Sean Hynes, a Trump supporter from St. Petersburg, reached out to Jeffrey Costa, an acquaintance who is a Biden supporter from Atlanta. The deal was sealed on Facebook Messenger: If Trump won, Costa would pay $100. If Biden won, Hynes would pay up. But once the votes were counted, Hynes refused to acknowledge the Democrat's victory, even after recounts, the Supreme Court’s rejection of court challenges and the Electoral College's confirmation, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Costa, 50, decided to sue. He's seeking the $100, plus $250 in court costs and $300 in interest on the unpaid bet. He's representing himself in the action, filed Dec. 28 in Pinellas County small claims court. “You should have the integrity in your principles to follow through with what you have proposed,” Costa told the newspaper. Costa first messaged Hynes on Nov. 7, the day after the election was called in Biden’s favor, to ask for the money. “Bro, the elections are determined by the courts, not the networks,” Hynes responded. The two continued arguing back and forth. “It’s not settled by law, Sean,” Costa said. “Trump is mathematically eliminated.p When Costa told Hynes in December than he planned to sue for the money, Hynes unfriended him on Facebook, the newspaper reported. Hynes didn't answer the newspaper's Facebook message. For Costa, the lawsuit is about more than the money. If Hynes had been willing to pay the bet, he’d be willing to drop the lawsuit. Hynes didn’t. “I also felt that if you’re going to live in a post-fact world, there are consequences to that,” he said. https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-man-sued-not-paying-143831552.html GO RV, then BV
  21. After frosty few days, Pence, Trump appear to reach détente Scroll back up to restore default view. JILL COLVIN and ZEKE MILLER Mon, January 11, 2021, 8:27 PM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appear to have come to a détente after nearly a week of silence, anger and finger-pointing. The two met Monday evening in the Oval Office and had a “good conversation,” according to a senior administration official. It was their first time speaking since last Wednesday, when Trump incited his supporters to storm the Capitol building as Pence was presiding over certification of November's election results. Pence and his family were forced into hiding. During their conversation, the official said, Trump and Pence pledged to continue to work for "the remainder of their term" — a seeming acknowledgement that the vice president will not pursue efforts to try to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office with nine days left in his term. While his office had not definitively ruled out invoking the amendment, Pence had signaled that he no intention of moving forward with that kind of challenge. The House is prepared to cast a vote Tuesday calling on Pence to invoke the amendment. “The president represents an imminent threat to our Constitution, our Country and the American people, and he must be removed from office immediately,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The House on Wednesday is expected to make Trump the first president in the nation’s history to be impeached a second time. “We are further calling on the vice president to respond within 24 hours after passage,” Pelosi wrote. There is no mechanism that would force Pence to do so, making the move wholly symbolic. Indeed, one person close to Pence said aides dismissed Democrats’ efforts to drag the vice president further into the fray as little more than a tactic aimed at damaging Pence’s political future. The person, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Even if Pence had been on board with the sentiment to remove Trump, the appetite for doing so has waned across the administration since last week. While three members of Trump’s Cabinet have resigned, not one has publicly called for Trump to be forcefully removed from office. Most Cabinet-level agencies did not respond Monday when asked where their agency head stood on the matter. At Interior, spokesman Nicholas Goodwin said Secretary David Bernhardt did not support such a move. Housing Secretary Ben Carson tweeted that he had not discussed the possibility with anyone and was focused on “finishing what I started in uplifting the forgotten women and men of America.” After four years of fealty to the mercurial Trump, studiously avoiding conflict and steadfastly refusing to discuss their disagreements publicly, the events of the last week have put Pence in a highly unusual spot. Pence allies have expressed outrage over what they have described as a malicious attempt by the president to try to scapegoat the vice president by pressuring him to take the impossible step of trying to block certification of the November election results by invoking powers he did not posses. After days of behind-the-scenes arm-twisting, Trump repeatedly singled out Pence during his pre-riot rally, wrongly insisting the certification could be halted as it got underway. Trump then continued to tweet that Pence “lacked courage" as the president's supporters stormed the Capitol. Trump never bothered to check on the vice president's safety as Pence spent hours in a secure holding area with his staff and family as the rioters chanted about wanting to hang him outside the Capitol doors. Trump, for his part, was furious that Pence refused to go along with his scheme — raging about the decision behind closed doors. But Trump and Pence apparently chosen to bury the hatchet — at least for the time being. The senior administration official said that, during their Oval Office meeting, Trump and Pence discussed the week ahead and reflected on their accomplishments over the last four years. The two also “reiterated that those who broke the law and stormed the Capitol last week do not represent the America first movement backed by 75 million Americans, and pledged to continue the work on behalf of the country for the remainder of their term," the official's readout said. The official did not mention whether the disagreements between the men had been discussed. There had been previous signs that Pence's refusal to defy the Constitution by blocking the electoral count did not mean he had an appetite for anything further. Pelosi said in an interview with CBS' “60 Minutes" that Pence refused to come to the phone when she and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called to urge him to initiate 25th Amendment procedures. “We were kept on the line for 20 minutes. ‘He’s going to be here in a minute, a minute, a minute.' Well, he never did come to the phone,” she said. “I was at home, so I was running the dishwasher, putting my clothes in the laundry. We’re still waiting for him to return the call.” Even with Trump still in place, Pence has taken on some of the roles of the executive as Trump retreats ever further into a world of anger and conspiracy and continues to rage about his fate. Pence, for instance, was the one coordinating with lawmakers and the D.C. National Guard during the Capitol siege. And on Friday, he was the one who called the family of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of injuries sustained during the attack, to express condolences. In the meantime, Pence has kept a low profile as he carries out his current job. The vice president led a coronavirus task force meeting at the White House on Monday and is expected to spend his remaining days focused on ensuring a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration. That includes attending the new president's inauguration, which Trump will be the first president since Andrew Johnson in 1869 to skip. While the vice president will be present, an aide close to Biden's transition team said there was no expectation that Pence will play any major role in next Wednesday's program. ___ Associated Press writer Alexandra Jaffe contributed to this report. https://www.yahoo.com/news/frosty-few-days-pence-trump-012747266.html GO RV, then BV
  22. Supreme Court rejects fast track for Trump election cases A person walks by newly-placed barricades around the Supreme Court Building, the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Mon, January 11, 2021, 9:55 AM EST WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday formally refused to put on a fast track election challenges filed by President Donald Trump and his allies. The court rejected pleas for quick consideration of cases involving the outcome in five states won by President-elect Joe Biden: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The orders, issued without comment, were unsurprising. The justices had previously taken no action in those cases in advance of last week's counting of the electoral votes in Congress, which confirmed Biden's victory. The court still could act on appeals related to the Nov. 3 election later this winter or in the spring. Several justices had expressed interest in a Pennsylvania case involving the state Supreme Court's decision to extend the deadline for receipt of mailed ballots by three days, over the opposition of the Republican-controlled legislature. But even if the court were to take up an election-related case, it probably wouldn't hear arguments until the fall. https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-rejects-fast-track-145539923.html GO RV, then BV
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.