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Each day that President TrumpDonald John TrumpWarriors visit Obama during trip to DC Kushner’s top secret security clearance was rejected twice: report Senate Democrats reject Trump’s ‘pro-rated’ wall funding pitch MORE keeps the federal government closed over funding for an unpopular border wall further transforms the perception of Republicans among the general public from favoring growth to unfavoring immigration. This gambit puts Republicans in jeopardy of losing control of the Senate next year. His stance on the border wall is the latest divisive action that has split the coalition that delivered Republicans the White House and both chambers of Congress in 2016. His immigration agenda has included separating families at the border, promising to end birthright citizenship, supporting fringe legislation to cut legal immigration levels in half, calling up the military to respond to a few thousand asylum seekers, and launching an administrative attack on immigration applications.

His decision to make the midterm elections a referendum on immigration repelled independents, suburbanites, and women. It created a blue wave that cost the party dozens of seats and the House majority. Doubling down on this message risks the Republicans losing the Senate next. Nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose a border wall. By a margin of two to one, they oppose both the tactics of shutting down the government and declaring a national emergency to force border wall funding. By a margin of three to one, Americans support immigration. No wonder the approval rating of Trump has fallen since the beginning of the shutdown.

After the midterm elections, Trump pointed to Senate Republican gains to claim victory. While the party did expand its Senate majority to 53 seats, closer inspection indicates a net gain of just two seats was not impressive. Democrats faced the most handicapped election map in at least a generation, defending 26 Senate seats, including 10 in states that Trump won in 2016, compared to nine Senate seats for Republicans. The Republican Senate victory in Florida was won by a mere 10,000 votes.

In 2020, Republicans face a much more difficult election map, defending 22 Senate seats compared to just 12 Senate seats held by Democrats. In order to take control, Democrats must win four or five Senate races in the following states that are likely to be the most competitive. In Arizona, Democrats won the seat of retiring Republican Senator Jeff FlakeJeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeWhite House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 Schumer recruiting top-notch candidate for McCain Senate seat The Hill’s Morning Report — Trump eyes wall money options as shutdown hits 21 days MORE in 2018. They will look to do the same in 2020, likely against the same opponent, in the old seat that was held by the late Republican Senator John McCainJohn Sidney McCainWhite House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 Kamala Harris faces Democrats’ Rocky Mountain divide Momentum for earmarks grows with Dem majority MORE.

In Colorado, Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonFBI lawyer’s unusual interventions in Trump probe raise questions White House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Senate holding dueling funding votes | Trump to delay State of the Union | Cohen subpoenaed by Senate Intel MORE won by five points in 2016, and voters elected a progressive Democratic governor in 2018. Democrats have Republican Senator Cory GardnerCory Scott GardnerOn The Money: Shutdown Day 34 | Senate rejects two measures to end shutdown | Trump says he will take wall ‘down payment’ | Pelosi rejects Trump proposal | GOP senators blast Pence on strategy | Ross sparks controversy with comments on furloughed workers GOP senators read Pence riot act before shutdown votes Six GOP senators vote to end shutdown without wall funding MORE as their main target there in 2020. In Iowa, Trump won by nine points in 2016, and Democrats flipped two Republican House seats in this swing state in 2018. The only remaining Republican in the four member Iowa House delegation is Representative Steve KingSteven (Steve) Arnold KingWhite House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 Majority of voters see Trump’s border proposal as ‘good faith’ start to negotiations GOP rep in op-ed: ‘Some people affiliated with our party have made racist comments’ MORE, who has poisoned the Republican brand by defending white nationalism. This deals a blow to the reelection chances of Republican Senator Joni ErnstJoni Kay ErnstWhite House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 Ernst opens up about past assaults Trump tells GOP senators he’s sticking to Syria and Afghanistan pullout  MORE.

In Maine, Clinton won by three points in 2016, and Democrats took back the governorship in 2018. Although Republican Senator Susan CollinsSusan Margaret CollinsOn The Money: Shutdown Day 34 | Senate rejects two measures to end shutdown | Trump says he will take wall ‘down payment’ | Pelosi rejects Trump proposal | GOP senators blast Pence on strategy | Ross sparks controversy with comments on furloughed workers GOP senators read Pence riot act before shutdown votes Six GOP senators vote to end shutdown without wall funding MORE is popular in the state, she faces a tough reelection campaign as the last New England Republican in Congress and is a top target of Democrats. In North Carolina, Trump won by four points in 2016. The state has a history of tight revolving door Senate races. With gains in 2018, Democrats may be able to flip this seat held by incumbent Republican Senator Thom TillisThomas (Thom) Roland TillisWhite House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 Graham angers Dems by digging into Clinton, Obama controversies Centrist efforts to convince Trump to end shutdown falter MORE.

Republicans have an advantage of three Senate seats, but Democrats must win more seats to take control since Republicans will likely win back the Alabama Senate seat held by Democrat Doug Jones. If Democrats win four of these seats and the vice presidency, or win five of these seats and lose the vice presidency, then they will gain control the Senate in 2020.

Given that Democrats are increasingly flirting with socialist policies, the possibility of such an outcome should keep conservatives up at night. To have the best chance of maintaining and increasing their presence in Congress, Republicans must stand up to Trump and present a message that resonates with the growing voter populations in the Phoenix, Denver, Des Moines, Portland, and Raleigh metro areas. That means ignoring the divisive immigration siren song in favor of a positive growth platform.

Jordan Bruneau is a policy analyst at the Becoming American Initiative.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/426804-white-house-immigration-agenda-hurts-senate-republicans-in-2020

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has rejected Nicolas Maduro’s demand that he withdraw U.S. diplomats by Saturday afternoon. I suspect he’s done so in order to encourage a systemic breach between Maduro and the Venezuelan military that keeps him in power.

Pompeo knows that the Venezuelan military’s support for Maduro is not, ultimately, ideological in nature. Rather, it reflects Maduro’s mass-bribery of the military’s top ranks — the abundant patronage he is providing. The military’s general officer ranks have become very wealthy as a result of this corruption.

Yet, even if they are immoral, they are not irrational. Maduro might rant about “extreme imperialist insolence” as he demands the U.S. withdraw its diplomats, but the military is the only means by which he can effect that withdrawal.

Any military attack on the U.S. embassy would invite a violent exchange with the embassy’s Marine security garrison. It would also become a standing invitation for the Marine FAST team, which is likely being moved proximate to Venezuela even as we speak. Even if the Venezuelan generals could win a short-term struggle for control of the embassy compound, any loss of American life would not only be matched by significant Venezuelan military casualties (the embassy’s terrain is well-suited to a defensive action), but it would also become a legitimate casus belli. An attack on the U.S. would hasten the demise of the officers involved or lead to their future lifetime spent in a U.S. federal penitentiary.

While Pompeo is certainly playing a high-risk game here, it would be unfair to suggest he’s using U.S. diplomats as simple pawns of brinkmanship. After all, President Trump on Wednesday officially recognized Venezuelan National Assembly chief, Juan Guaido, as his nation’s interim president. Guaido has requested that the U.S. retain its diplomatic presence against Maduro’s wishes. To now evacuate U.S. diplomats would degrade U.S. foreign policy credibility and moral leadership — concerns, we should note, that Trump’s critics have often suggested he ignores.

We must also note that all of this takes place against the backdrop of the massive street mobilization against Maduro. Pompeo knows that with the generals watching the reverberations against Maduro’s rule, they have added reason to question their continued support for Maduro. The tide, likely measured by U.S. intelligence assessments as well as the street momentum, seems to be shifting.

There are risks here. Maduro retains nominal control over the Venezuelan armed forces, and he has a penchant for unpredictable action. The president might also rely on his “colectivos” — armed ideological supporters — to conduct any action against the U.S.

Still, I doubt it. Even Maduro can’t be so stupid as to use force against the United States. It would invite the end of his regime. It’s also crucial to note here that the U.S. is giving Maduro an easy way out — an offer of safe passage to a wealthy retirement — if he steps down now. In that offer and the corollary escalation of U.S. pressure, it is clear the Trump administration senses the moment has come to bring matters to a head.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/mike-pompeo-is-keeping-us-diplomats-in-venezuela-to-break-nicolas-maduros-military-alliance

WASHINGTON (AP) — The counter-puncher caved.

President Donald Trump’s decision to postpone his State of the Union address under pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi surprised allies, contradicted top aides who had been working on an alternative speech plan and left all of Washington trying to determine whether it signaled new willingness by Trump to make a deal to reopen the government.

“Well, it’s really her choice,” Trump said Thursday, acknowledging Pelosi had the upper hand when it came to scheduling the traditional presidential address to Congress. The speaker had made clear Trump could not deliver his speech from the House unless he waited until the government reopens.

So Trump, who is typically loath to show any sign of weakness, made a highly uncharacteristic about-face and one that highlighted the importance the president attaches to the type of symbolism and pageantry associated with a speech from the rostrum of the House.

The president concluded that there was no viable alternative that could match the gravitas of the traditional State of the Union address, in which all three branches of government come together under one roof, drawing the president’s largest television audience of the year. An alternative speech or rally also would have been a hard sell for television networks, which took heat earlier this month for airing the president’s prime-time Oval Office address in which he largely rehashed his case for a southern border wall.

“I would have done it in a different location but I think that would be very disrespectful to the State of the Union,” Trump said Thursday. “I could have gone to a big auditorium and gotten 25,000 people in one day and you’ve been there many times. But I think that would be very disrespectful to the State of the Union.”

Trump went so far as to praise Pelosi’s move as “actually reasonable” — although he had blasted her position just a day earlier.

The reversal surprised those who have known Trump for years.

Throughout his presidency, Trump has reveled in his take-no-prisoners negotiating style — from talking tough against North Korea to slapping tariffs on allies. And he has dug in his heels time and time again, refusing to admit errors and insisting that he won’t accept a budget deal that doesn’t include money for his promised border wall.

“Nobody’s ever seen him make such a concession in public,” said former campaign aide Sam Nunberg. “The only thing I can think of is that he wasn’t going to like the optics of not giving it in the House chamber.”

As late as Wednesday afternoon, officials had been busy discussing contingency locations, including a rally-style event, an Oval Office address, a speech in the Senate chamber and even a visit to a border state.

“We always like to have a plan B,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had said Wednesday.

But White House officials were caught off guard when Pelosi announced that she would block Trump from speaking until the shutdown ended. Indeed, at least some seemed unaware of rules specifying that both the House and Senate must pass a concurrent resolution formally inviting the president to address a joint session.

Late Wednesday, Trump announced by tweet that he would postpone the speech “because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber.”

“It is a stage that no modern president wants to vacate,” said Donald Ritchie, a former Senate historian. “I can understand why the president decided he’ll wait for the chamber to reopen so he can go in there.”

On the Trump-friendly show “Fox and Friends,” co-anchor Brian Kilmeade applauded the move.

“I really respect the president’s decision to keep some type of tradition and semblance of order. So I think it’s a great move to do it and it hopefully puts more pressure on all sides to get something done,” Kilmeade said.

The decision came hours before the Senate voted on — and failed to pass — dueling bills to end the shutdown. And it raised questions about what comes next in Trump’s evolving strategy on the budget fight. On Friday, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will miss another paycheck, and polls have shown a majority of voters blame the president for the mess.

Some worried the spat would further sour relations between Trump and Pelosi, who haven’t spoken in weeks. But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an informal adviser to the president, argued it could be a positive step.

“I assume that it is an effort on his part to signal that he’s willing to be reasonable and find a way to get along. And now we’ll see whether Pelosi will come back and be reasonable as well,” said Gingrich. “By his conceding to her, I think he sets the stage now for her” to do the same.

If that’s the case, it would be a notable new approach for the president, said Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio. He said that, in Trump’s life before politics, he never retreated, choosing instead to deflect, blame others, or simply declare himself a success even when he wasn’t, insisting, for instance, that “The Apprentice” show was a hit even when it was lagging in the ratings and framing his bankruptcies as smart legal maneuvers.

“The president’s decision to delay the State of the Union speech is an unprecedented moment of realism in the life of a man who has always promoted himself as a fantasy figure who always wins at everything,” said D’Antonio, the author of “The Truth About Trump.”

“For him to buckle in the face of a challenge from an opponent, and a woman no less, is truly a historic event.”

___

Associated Press writers David Bauder and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.snopes.com/ap/2019/01/24/trump-makes-rare-cave-on-state-of-the-union-speech/

President Trump’s strategy of forcing a government shutdown to get funding for a border wall took another blow on Thursday when a Democratic bill to reopen the government received more votes in the Republican-controlled Senate than his own compromise bill that included wall funding.

There is, right now, more evidence that Trump’s support is fracturing than there is of disunion among Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is showing no signs of retreat. The chances of Trump getting his border wall dwindle by the day.

Watching how poorly Trump has played his hand on the border wall, dating back to the start of his presidency, when his party controlled both branches of Congress and he was coming off an election win, really highlights a missing ingredient that has severely imperiled Trump’s agenda. It comes down to personnel. Trump’s administration has included people who want to fight for his agenda who have little or no experience getting things accomplished in government. It also has people who have experience with government, but have no loyalty to his agenda. It has very few people who have both attributes. And many who have neither.

This is among the most common complaint I’ve heard from people who are sympathetic to Trump, but frustrated on progress on a number of issues, whether on immigration, healthcare, or foreign policy. Just look at Pelosi and how she’s wielded her power in the border wall fight. Even on something ultimately unimportant like the State of the Union. She knew she had the power to block a joint session of Congress and thus prevent him from giving a high-profile speech in the House chamber, she asserted that power, held firm, and Trump backed down. It just reinforced a feeling that Democrats know to use power when they have it to fight for their agenda, but Republicans never do. Trump was supposed to change things, but he has not been able to, because he’s lacked the right people.

Advisers such as Stephen Miller or, formerly, Steve Bannon, by and large, support the Trump agenda. But neither of them had the skill set to either build consensus on Capitol Hill, or wield power in a way that can muscle policies through Congress. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and ex-chief of staff John Kelly came to their jobs with reputations for competence, but clearly were not fully on board with Trumpism and spent much of their time trying to contain him.

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist about the “deep state” to recognize that many career employees of government agencies hate Trump and want to thwart his agenda. Even many appointees have approached their job as if their purpose is to manage him rather than to go to war for his policies — a sentiment infamously demonstrated by the anonymous New York Times op-ed.

There are other figures we’ve seen who were kind of the worst of both worlds. Reince Priebus had been an effective RNC chairman, but he was not the right fit to be chief of staff — nor did he really share Trump’s vision for the country. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have been an impressive CEO, but was completely out of his depth in Foggy Bottom, and fought to undermine Trump’s foreign policy, particularly on Iran.

Trump’s greatest successes have come in areas in which there were people working together who a) shared his goals and b) knew how to make them happen. A perfect example is judicial nominees, in which former White House Counsel Don McGahn consulted with outside groups such as the Federalist Society, who were eager to help Trump fulfill his promise of appointing conservative judges. The Trump team coordinated things closely with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who understood what it would take to get a lot of them confirmed.

There have also been successes in some areas of regulatory policy.

But Trump is seriously lacking people who are true believers in his cause who know enough about how to get things done in Washington. The reality is Republicans had the power in 2017 to build a wall if there was somebody knowledgeable about both immigration policy and legislative tactics to enable Trump to harness that power. This was always going to be a major challenge running as an outsider, against the party’s establishment, with plenty of seasoned hands in the party refusing to join the administration.

So he finds himself in the current situation — a protracted shutdown in which he lacks leverage. On the one side, people who want him to cave in and offer more fig leafs to Democrats, and on the other, people who are eager to see him carry on the fight with no strategy to win. This is the story of much of Trump’s presidency.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/shutdown-fight-highlights-missing-ingredient-that-has-impeded-trumps-agenda

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Source Article from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-25/u-s-sails-navy-vessels-through-taiwan-strait-challenging-china

President Trump’s strategy of forcing a government shutdown to get funding for a border wall took another blow on Thursday when a Democratic bill to reopen the government received more votes in the Republican-controlled Senate than his own compromise bill that included wall funding.

There is, right now, more evidence that Trump’s support is fracturing than there is of disunion among Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is showing no signs of retreat. The chances of Trump getting his border wall dwindle by the day.

Watching how poorly Trump has played his hand on the border wall, dating back to the start of his presidency, when his party controlled both branches of Congress and he was coming off an election win, really highlights a missing ingredient that has severely imperiled Trump’s agenda. It comes down to personnel. Trump’s administration has included people who want to fight for his agenda who have little or no experience getting things accomplished in government. It also has people who have experience with government, but have no loyalty to his agenda. It has very few people who have both attributes. And many who have neither.

This is among the most common complaint I’ve heard from people who are sympathetic to Trump, but frustrated on progress on a number of issues, whether on immigration, healthcare, or foreign policy. Just look at Pelosi and how she’s wielded her power in the border wall fight. Even on something ultimately unimportant like the State of the Union. She knew she had the power to block a joint session of Congress and thus prevent him from giving a high-profile speech in the House chamber, she asserted that power, held firm, and Trump backed down. It just reinforced a feeling that Democrats know to use power when they have it to fight for their agenda, but Republicans never do. Trump was supposed to change things, but he has not been able to, because he’s lacked the right people.

Advisers such as Stephen Miller or, formerly, Steve Bannon, by and large, support the Trump agenda. But neither of them had the skill set to either build consensus on Capitol Hill, or wield power in a way that can muscle policies through Congress. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and ex-chief of staff John Kelly came to their jobs with reputations for competence, but clearly were not fully on board with Trumpism and spent much of their time trying to contain him.

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist about the “deep state” to recognize that many career employees of government agencies hate Trump and want to thwart his agenda. Even many appointees have approached their job as if their purpose is to manage him rather than to go to war for his policies — a sentiment infamously demonstrated by the anonymous New York Times op-ed.

There are other figures we’ve seen who were kind of the worst of both worlds. Reince Priebus had been an effective RNC chairman, but he was not the right fit to be chief of staff — nor did he really share Trump’s vision for the country. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have been an impressive CEO, but was completely out of his depth in Foggy Bottom, and fought to undermine Trump’s foreign policy, particularly on Iran.

Trump’s greatest successes have come in areas in which there were people working together who a) shared his goals and b) knew how to make them happen. A perfect example is judicial nominees, in which former White House Counsel Don McGahn consulted with outside groups such as the Federalist Society, who were eager to help Trump fulfill his promise of appointing conservative judges. The Trump team coordinated things closely with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who understood what it would take to get a lot of them confirmed.

There have also been successes in some areas of regulatory policy.

But Trump is seriously lacking people who are true believers in his cause who know enough about how to get things done in Washington. The reality is Republicans had the power in 2017 to build a wall if there was somebody knowledgeable about both immigration policy and legislative tactics to enable Trump to harness that power. This was always going to be a major challenge running as an outsider, against the party’s establishment, with plenty of seasoned hands in the party refusing to join the administration.

So he finds himself in the current situation — a protracted shutdown in which he lacks leverage. On the one side, people who want him to cave in and offer more fig leafs to Democrats, and on the other, people who are eager to see him carry on the fight with no strategy to win. This is the story of much of Trump’s presidency.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/shutdown-fight-highlights-missing-ingredient-that-has-impeded-trumps-agenda

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Washington (CNN)The White House is preparing a draft proclamation for President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency along the southern border and has identified more than $7 billion in potential funds for his signature border wall should he go that route, according to internal documents reviewed by CNN.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/trump-border-wall-emergency-draft/index.html

    2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is proposing a new “wealth tax” on Americans with more than $50 million in assets, as well as other measures that include a significant hike in funding for the Internal Revenue Service.

    “We need structural change. That’s why I’m proposing something brand new – an annual tax on the wealth of the richest Americans. I’m calling it the ‘Ultra-Millionaire Tax’ & it applies to that tippy top 0.1% – those with a net worth of over $50M,” Warren, who sits on the left of her party, tweeted Thursday afternoon.

    The Washington Post reported the proposal involves a 2-percent wealth tax on those with more than $50 million in assets, and an additional 3 percent on those with more than $1 billion.

    ELIZABETH WARREN GIVES TRUMP THE SILENT TREATMENT AS 2020 CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF

    Economist Emmanuel Saez, one of two left-leaning economists at the University of California, Berkeley, who advised her on the proposal, claimed it would raise $2.75 trillion over 10 years.

    Warren also tweeted: “The rich & powerful run Washington. Here’s one benefit they wrote for themselves: After making a killing from the economy they’ve rigged, they don’t pay taxes on that accumulated wealth. It’s a system that’s rigged for the top if I ever saw one.”

    Such a proposal is not out of character for Warren, who has long railed against income inequality and the uber-rich, but would mark a move to the left by the party as a whole if it were adopted. Democrats have been nervous about pitching higher taxes, although a number have said they would reverse some of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.

    The Post reported the plan also would include mechanisms to combat tax evasion, such as more funding for the IRS, a measure to require all those paying the wealth tax be subject to an audit and a one-time penalty for those with over $50 million who have tried to renounce citizenship.

    Warren’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.

    OCASIO-CORTEZ AGREES THAT A WORLD THAT ALLOWS FOR BILLIONAIRES IS IMMORAL

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said earlier this month that she wanted to fund her Green New Deal in part by slapping a tax as high as 70 percent on top earners. She said that, like in the 1960s, tax rates for those with incomes up to $75,000 could be as low as 10 or 15 percent, but much higher for those earning millions.

    “But once you get to the tippie tops, on your ten millionth, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 percent or 70 percent. That doesn’t mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate. But it means that as you climb up this ladder, you should be contributing more,” she said.

    Warren’s plan likely would hit a buzzsaw of opposition from Republicans, who champion the benefits of free-market economics and low tax rates. However, there could be some breakaway support for such a plan from some of those on the nationalist right in particular — a segment of the right that has questioned free-market dogmas and where higher taxes on the rich are not always anathema.

    Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon reportedly pitched a plan that would increase the tax rate to 44 percent on those earning more than $5 million — although the plan was not adopted. Meanwhile, conservative firebrand Ann Coulter has shown support in the past for taxes on the very rich, particularly as she says they would be aimed at liberals and those who support lax immigration policies.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “Forget the top 2 percent,” she said in a 2012 column. “The top 1 percent of the top 1 percent keep voting for higher taxes — and then take advantage of indefensible tax loopholes and deductions. Get them.”

    Recently, she reacted to a call by the Chamber of Commerce for an extension of protections to illegal immigrants who came to the country as children, by tweeting: “I can’t wait for the 70-80% tax on the rich. MAKE SURE IT’S A WEALTH TAX, LIBERALS.”

    Fox News’ Peter Doocy and Tara Prindiville contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elizabeth-warren-to-call-for-wealth-tax-on-richest-americans-report

    President Trump’s decision Thursday morning to surrender to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demand that he wait until after the government shutdown is resolved to deliver his State of the Union speech in the House chamber is going to make it a lot less likely that Pelosi, D-Calif., gives in on the funding for a border wall.

    Sure, in the larger scheme of things, this childish skirmish doesn’t matter much. No lives are going to be affected by whether the date of a speech is on Jan. 29 on some other time. But in an ongoing negotiation with no real movement, any standoff is going to become a proxy battle.

    In this case, Pelosi’s petulant action of rescinding her invitation to the State of the Union was an effort to flex her muscles. Trump responded, first, by canceling a congressional delegation’s overseas trip and then sending a letter on Wednesday signaling he was going to show up anyway, widely seen as an attempt to force her hand. But Pelosi didn’t flinch — she has the power to block a resolution calling a joint session of Congress and was willing to use it. Instead of trying to call her bluff by showing up, and forcing her to shut off the lights on him, or delivering the speech an an alternate venue, he instead announced he was completely capitulating.

    As Mark Levin noted, Pelosi is now going to see this as weakness. Trump lashed out, he tut-tutted, but ultimately he gave Pelosi exactly what she wanted without getting anything in return.

    At this point, there’s very little reason to believe that Pelosi will give in. Her party is unified behind her, Trump is the one who’s getting more blame for the shutdown, and her base would flip out if she agreed to fund the border wall. Now, on top of this, she has even more reason to believe that he’ll eventually cave.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-surrender-on-the-state-of-the-union-makes-it-even-less-likely-pelosi-will-give-in-on-border-wall

    Opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself interim president, and the US is backing him.

    President Nicolás Maduro, who retains some other nations’ support, broke off relations with the US in response.

    So who’s really in charge? The BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams explains.

    Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/av/46995856/venezuela-crisis-is-maduro-or-guaid-in-charge

    President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that the 800,000 federal workers who are facing a second missed paycheck at the end of this week should essentially borrow groceries to get through what has become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

    “Local people know who they are, when they go for groceries and everything else,” Trump said of federal workers during a meeting on trade at the White House. “And I think… that they will work along. I know banks are working along.”

    “And that’s what happens in times like this,” Trump continued. “They know the people, they’ve been dealing with them for years, and they work along.”

    Trump’s apparent suggestion that local grocery stores will let furloughed federal workers take food on an IOU was offered as an explanation for comments made Thursday by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who questioned why federal workers who aren’t getting paid would need to turn to food banks for help. Ross, himself a millionaire, said workers should simply take out emergency loans to cover their living expenses.

    “True, the people might have to pay a little bit of interest,” Ross said. “But the idea that it’s ‘paycheck or zero’ is not a really valid idea.”

    Those comments were echoed Thursday by White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who praised federal workers for “volunteering” through the shutdown because they support Trump.

    “God bless them. They’re working for free. They’re volunteering,” Kudlow told reporters. “But they do it because they believe government service is honorable and they believe in President Trump and they’re working as hard as ever.”

    The shutdown shows no signs of ending as it heads into its 35th day. Trump insists he will veto any funding bill that does not include money for a wall along the southwest border, an idea Democrats in Congress have roundly rejected. Two proposed funding measures failed in the Senate on Thursday.

    After the votes failed, Trump and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders backed off the president’s $5 billion funding demand, with Trump saying he would be willing to accept a “prorated down payment” on the wall.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) met in the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, but there are no details on what deal, if any, they were discussing. House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected the down-payment compromise.

    “That is not a reasonable agreement between the senators,” Pelosi told CNN.

    Frustration among federal workers and contractors continued to grow Thursday as agencies like the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which includes the nation’s air traffic controllers, grapple with “sick outs,” low staffing levels, and long hours for employees who are working without pay.

    The National Air Traffic Controller’s Association put out a dramatic statement with the Air Line Pilots Association International and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA warning that the shutdown could stretch the country’s civil aviation system to the breaking point.

    “In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break,” the unions said. “It is unprecedented.”

    The current shutdown spares military salaries, but members of the Coast Guard, which falls under the Homeland Security Department, are working without pay. The Coast Guard said Thursday that the families of guardsmen who are currently deployed without pay won’t receive a death benefit if they’re killed in the line of duty during the shutdown.

    Earlier this week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee union said its members may not return to work for tax season during the shutdown if they’re experiencing a financial hardship, raising the possibility that millions of tax refunds could be delayed.

    Trump’s popularity has taken a hit as the shutdown drags on, with just 40 percent of registered voters approving of his job performance in the most recent Morning Consult poll. Morning Consult found that 49 percent of voters lay responsibility for the shutdown at Trump’s door, compared while 35 percent who blame congressional Democrats.

    In a separate CBS poll that ended January 21, 71 percent of respondents said that Trump’s border wall is not worth shutting down the federal government.

    As federal workers across the country have queued up at food banks, taken out loans, and rationed life-saving medicine to get by without a paycheck, Trump administration officials have continued to insist many federal workers support the shutdown.

    “I love them,” Trump told reporters Thursday of federal workers. “I respect them. I really appreciate the great job they are doing. Many of those people that are not getting paid are totally in favor of what we’re doing. Because they know the future of this country depends on having a strong border. Especially a strong southern border.”


    Source Article from https://thinkprogress.org/trump-federal-workers-shutdown-groceries-05cfe32ab341/

    SEBRING, Fla. (AP/WFLA) –  A gunman who took over a SunTrust Bank branch in Florida apparently made the five women inside lie down on the lobby floor before shooting them in the backs of their heads, police said Thursday.

    Highlands County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Scott Dressel said another employee was in the back break room when they heard the shots and ran out the back door, then called police.  

    “We will not be releasing any other information about this employee,” Dressel said. 

    Sebring police Chief Karl Hoglund said there’s no indication Zephen Xaver intended to rob the bank, and no apparent connection among him, the bank or the victims.

    Xaver, 21, has been charged with five counts of premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of the four bank employees and a customer.

    “He overtook the bank by force. He then shot everyone in the bank,” Hoglund said. “After shooting them, he called 911″ and “told dispatchers that he’d killed everyone in the bank.”

    According to an affidavit, all the victims were found in the bank’s lobby, lying face down with gunshots to the backs of their heads. Shell casings from Xaver’s 9mm handgun were scattered on the floor.

    Another customer, Victor Sparks, told the Highland News-Sun that he found the door locked during the attack, peered inside, and saw people lying on the floor while someone walked around and between them. He then turned and stepped away, and heard gunfire. He said police arrived within two minutes after he and his wife called 911.

    Dispatchers also got a 911 call from Xaver himself, saying “I have shot five people,” police said.

    But Xaver refused to surrender, and would not allow officers to reach the victims, the chief said. After more than an hour of negotiations, the chief ordered a SWAT team in; they had to use an armored vehicle to break through the front doors. Xaver was found in an office in the rear.

    By then, all the victims were already dead, the chief said.

    Hoglund identified two of the victims: customer Cynthia Watson and bank employee Marisol Lopez. Citing Florida’s version of a victims’ rights law, he said three of the families don’t want the names released.

    The community is mourning the loss of “our sisters, our mothers, our daughters and our co-workers,” Hoglund said.

    Authorities ended their news conference after only a few questions and didn’t respond when asked how Xaver obtained the gun.

    Xaver was arrested in a beige T-shirt depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Thursday morning, he wore a black-and-white striped prison uniform as he was appointed a public defender and ordered held without bond.

    His father said he’s “heartbroken for the victims” and that his son “wasn’t raised to be like this.”

    “He’s always been a good kid. He’s had his troubles, but he has never hurt anyone ever before. This is a total shock,” Josh Xaver told CNN. The Associated Press has reached out to both parents of Zephen Xaver requesting interviews, with no immediate response.

    It wasn’t a shock to Alex Gerlach, who identified herself as Xaver’s former girlfriend. She said he’s long been fascinated with the idea of killing, but no one took her warnings seriously. For some reason, he “always hated people and wanted everybody to die,” Gerlach told WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana.

    “He got kicked out of school for having a dream that he killed everybody in his class, and he’s been threatening this for so long, and he’s been having dreams about it and everything,” she said. “Every single person I’ve told has not taken it seriously, and it’s very unfortunate that it had to come to this.”

    Gerlach told The Washington Post that Xaver said he purchased a gun last week and “no one thought anything of it” because he had always liked guns.

    Xaver has no apparent criminal record in the areas where he’s lived in Indiana and Florida, and his school records are spotty: Two school districts in northern Indiana said he attended for several years but did not graduate. Xaver also briefly studied online. Salt Lake City-based Stevens-Henager College spokeswoman Sherrie Martin confirmed that Xaver was enrolled from September to December before withdrawing last year.

    In Florida, he tried to be a prison guard: Department of Corrections records show he was hired as a trainee at Avon Park Correctional Institution on Nov. 2 and resigned Jan. 9. No disciplinary issues were reported.

    Public records and neighbors say Xaver and his mother had moved to Sebring in the fall from Plymouth, Indiana, a small city south of South Bend. They lived in a nondescript pre-fabricated home about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) from the bank. No one answered the door Wednesday night after police finished searching the home.

    John Larose, who lives next door, said Xaver kept to himself, but he could hear him playing and yelling at video games in the middle of the night.

    This was at least the fourth mass shooting in Florida with five or more dead in the last three years. A gunman killed 49 at an Orlando nightclub in 2016, five died at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017, and 17 died in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in a Fort Lauderdale suburb.

    ___

    AP reporter David Fischer in Miami contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.wfla.com/news/highlands-county/police-describe-execution-style-killings-inside-sebring-bank/1723228973

    President Trump’s strategy of forcing a government shutdown to get funding for a border wall took another blow on Thursday when a Democratic bill to reopen the government received more votes in the Republican-controlled Senate than his own compromise bill that included wall funding.

    There is, right now, more evidence that Trump’s support is fracturing than there is of disunion among Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is showing no signs of retreat. The chances of Trump getting his border wall dwindle by the day.

    Watching how poorly Trump has played his hand on the border wall, dating back to the start of his presidency, when his party controlled both branches of Congress and he was coming off an election win, really highlights a missing ingredient that has severely imperiled Trump’s agenda. It comes down to personnel. Trump’s administration has included people who want to fight for his agenda who have little or no experience getting things accomplished in government. It also has people who have experience with government, but have no loyalty to his agenda. It has very few people who have both attributes. And many who have neither.

    This is among the most common complaint I’ve heard from people who are sympathetic to Trump, but frustrated on progress on a number of issues, whether on immigration, healthcare, or foreign policy. Just look at Pelosi and how she’s wielded her power in the border wall fight. Even on something ultimately unimportant like the State of the Union. She knew she had the power to block a joint session of Congress and thus prevent him from giving a high-profile speech in the House chamber, she asserted that power, held firm, and Trump backed down. It just reinforced a feeling that Democrats know to use power when they have it to fight for their agenda, but Republicans never do. Trump was supposed to change things, but he has not been able to, because he’s lacked the right people.

    Advisers such as Stephen Miller or, formerly, Steve Bannon, by and large, support the Trump agenda. But neither of them had the skill set to either build consensus on Capitol Hill, or wield power in a way that can muscle policies through Congress. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and ex-chief of staff John Kelly came to their jobs with reputations for competence, but clearly were not fully on board with Trumpism and spent much of their time trying to contain him.

    You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist about the “deep state” to recognize that many career employees of government agencies hate Trump and want to thwart his agenda. Even many appointees have approached their job as if their purpose is to manage him rather than to go to war for his policies — a sentiment infamously demonstrated by the anonymous New York Times op-ed.

    There are other figures we’ve seen who were kind of the worst of both worlds. Reince Priebus had been an effective RNC chairman, but he was not the right fit to be chief of staff — nor did he really share Trump’s vision for the country. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have been an impressive CEO, but was completely out of his depth in Foggy Bottom, and fought to undermine Trump’s foreign policy, particularly on Iran.

    Trump’s greatest successes have come in areas in which there were people working together who a) shared his goals and b) knew how to make them happen. A perfect example is judicial nominees, in which former White House Counsel Don McGahn consulted with outside groups such as the Federalist Society, who were eager to help Trump fulfill his promise of appointing conservative judges. The Trump team coordinated things closely with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who understood what it would take to get a lot of them confirmed.

    There have also been successes in some areas of regulatory policy.

    But Trump is seriously lacking people who are true believers in his cause who know enough about how to get things done in Washington. The reality is Republicans had the power in 2017 to build a wall if there was somebody knowledgeable about both immigration policy and legislative tactics to enable Trump to harness that power. This was always going to be a major challenge running as an outsider, against the party’s establishment, with plenty of seasoned hands in the party refusing to join the administration.

    So he finds himself in the current situation — a protracted shutdown in which he lacks leverage. On the one side, people who want him to cave in and offer more fig leafs to Democrats, and on the other, people who are eager to see him carry on the fight with no strategy to win. This is the story of much of Trump’s presidency.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/shutdown-fight-highlights-missing-ingredient-that-has-impeded-trumps-agenda

    WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Workers affected by the government shutdown should seek loans to pay their bills and financial institutions should make credit available, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday as employees were poised to miss their second paycheck.

    In an interview on CNBC, Ross said it was “disappointing” that some federal workers were not showing up to work and that “there really is not a good excuse” for affected workers to not have money.

    “The banks and the credit unions should be making credit available to them,” said Ross, a billionaire investor. He noted the government had committed to give federal employees back pay, adding “there really is not a good excuse why there really should be a liquidity crisis.”




    “True, the people might have to pay a little bit of interest. But the idea that it’s paycheck or zero is not a really valid idea,” Ross said. “They are eventually going to be paid.”

    Trump last week signed into law a measure to ensure that the roughly 800,000 affected federal workers receive back pay, but the law does not extend to private workers for federal contractors or others whose livelihoods depend heavily on federal workers’ business.

    (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci)

    Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2019/01/24/us-commerce-chief-to-federal-workers-get-a-loan/23651683/

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    Washington (CNN)In the hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s letter announcing she would not allow President Donald Trump to speak from the room she now controls, a flurry of suggestions and proposals emerged from Trump’s advisers.

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      Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/donald-trump-state-of-the-union-behind-the-scenes/index.html

      President Trump’s decision Thursday morning to surrender to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demand that he wait until after the government shutdown is resolved to deliver his State of the Union speech in the House chamber is going to make it a lot less likely that Pelosi, D-Calif., gives in on the funding for a border wall.

      Sure, in the larger scheme of things, this childish skirmish doesn’t matter much. No lives are going to be affected by whether the date of a speech is on Jan. 29 on some other time. But in an ongoing negotiation with no real movement, any standoff is going to become a proxy battle.

      In this case, Pelosi’s petulant action of rescinding her invitation to the State of the Union was an effort to flex her muscles. Trump responded, first, by canceling a congressional delegation’s overseas trip and then sending a letter on Wednesday signaling he was going to show up anyway, widely seen as an attempt to force her hand. But Pelosi didn’t flinch — she has the power to block a resolution calling a joint session of Congress and was willing to use it. Instead of trying to call her bluff by showing up, and forcing her to shut off the lights on him, or delivering the speech an an alternate venue, he instead announced he was completely capitulating.

      As Mark Levin noted, Pelosi is now going to see this as weakness. Trump lashed out, he tut-tutted, but ultimately he gave Pelosi exactly what she wanted without getting anything in return.

      At this point, there’s very little reason to believe that Pelosi will give in. Her party is unified behind her, Trump is the one who’s getting more blame for the shutdown, and her base would flip out if she agreed to fund the border wall. Now, on top of this, she has even more reason to believe that he’ll eventually cave.

      Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trumps-surrender-on-the-state-of-the-union-makes-it-even-less-likely-pelosi-will-give-in-on-border-wall

      Furloughed federal workers are bracing to miss their second paycheck and employee unions are warning of increasingly dire consequences since the partial government shutdown began last month, as officials signal the stalemate in Washington has no end in sight.

      The government partially shut down in December after Congress failed to pass a spending package funding parts of the government, forcing some federal workers to be furloughed or work without pay. President Trump is demanding $5.7 billion for a barrier on the southern border with Mexico as part of a spending deal, something Democratic leaders are rejecting outright.

      TRUMP SAYS HE WILL GIVE STATE OF THE UNION AFTER SHUTDOWN IS OVER

      Those whose jobs are affected by the shutdown are now speaking out more forcefully about the impact on their own lives but also safety issues for the broader public.

      “This is already the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States and there is no end in sight,” said a joint statement released Wednesday by leaders of three associations representing air traffic controllers, airline pilots and flight attendants.

      It continued: “In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented.”

      The FBI Agents Association, which advocates for 14,000 active and former FBI Special agents, also released a report earlier this week of grievances from FBI employees, including one who said the shutdown “has eliminated any ability to operate.”

      “It’s bad enough to work without pay, but we can only conduct administrative functions while doing it. The fear is our enemies know they can run freely,” said an anonymous agent, described as someone working on both overt and undercover counterintelligence matters.

      On Friday, affected federal workers are set to miss their second paycheck since the partial government shutdown began. Every former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, including former White House chief of staff John Kelly, sent a letter to the president and Congress on Thursday asking them restore the department’s funding.

      CRACKS IN BORDER WALL RESISTANCE? PELOSI FACING DEM PRESSURE TO DEAL WITH TRUMP, END SHUTDOWN

      “DHS employees who protect the traveling public, investigate and counter terrorism, and protect critical infrastructure should not have to rely on the charitable generosity of others for assistance in feeding their families and paying their bills while they steadfastly focus on the mission at hand,” the letter said. “This is unconscionable.”

      Among those affected are tens of thousands of members of the U.S. Coast Guard, the only branch of the U.S. Armed Forces affected by the partial government shutdown because it falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, rather than the Department of Defense, like other branches.

      A sign that officials are preparing for the possibility of the shutdown continuing for months: White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is asking agencies to provide him a list of programs that will be jeopardized if the lapse in funding continues through the spring.

      “Prudent management means planning and preparing for events without known end-dates,” a senior Office and Management Budget official told Fox News. “As OMB continues to manage this partial lapse in appropriations, unfunded agencies are being asked to continue to share with OMB an ongoing list of programs that could be impacted within the coming weeks.”

      In Congress, two different votes are set for Thursday in the Republican-controlled Senate with the aim to end the partial government shutdown. One vote will be on a bill reflecting Trump’s demand for border wall funding in exchange for temporary protections for some immigrants.

      A second vote is set for a measure already passed by the Democrat-controlled House to reopen the government through Feb. 8. It doesn’t allow money for a border wall but gives bargainers more time to talk.

      Neither bill is expected to advance under Senate rules requiring at least 60 votes, leaving unclear whether this would spur revived talks regarding a resolution.

      The Senate votes come as Trump announced late Wednesday that he will postpone his State of the Union address until after the partial government shutdown ends.

      But he reiterated Thursday on Twitter that he will not “cave” on border wall demands.

      While Democratic leaders in Congress say they have no interest in making a deal with Trump to end the government shutdown if it includes new money for his border wall, some cracks have begun to show. A White House official said Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence is heading to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with Senate GOP lawmakers.

      The House Blue Dog coalition, the group of moderate Democrats, has written to leadership asking Congress to hold a “bipartisan, bicameral summit that brings together House and Senate leaders to hold a substantive, transparent discussion on a path forward to reopen the government.”

      “That discussion should be designed to produce legislation that will quickly pass both chambers of Congress,” the group said.

      And some House Democrats are considering drafting a new proposal to provide Trump with options for securing the border that don’t involve a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Wednesday that personnel, technology and other options “are the things that would actually improve our border security.”

      Fox News’ Chad Pergram, Kristin Brown and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

      Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/shutdown-fallout-intensifies-as-officials-signal-stalemate-could-last-much-longer

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      (CNN)We’re two federal paychecks into the longest government shutdown in history and government workers are hurting. But key people in President Donald Trump’s orbit have offered little in the way of comfort in recent days.

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        “It’s not fair to you, and we all get that, but this is so much bigger than any one person. It is a little bit of pain, but it’s going to be for the future of our country, and their children and their grandchildren and generations after them will thank them for their sacrifice right now,” she said. “I know it’s hard. I know people have families, they have bills to pay, they have mortgages, they have rents that are due. But the President is trying every single day to come up with a good solution here, and the reality is, it’s been something that’s gone on for too long and been unaddressed — our immigration problem. If we do nothing right now, it’s never going to get fixed. This is our one opportunity.”

        Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/shutdown-wilbur-ross-lara-trump-larry-kudlow/index.html

        CNN isn’t stopping at making generic accusations of witness intimidation against President Trump with respect to Michael Cohen’s prospective congressional testimony. The network is instead doing so in, quite literally, the most dramatic terms. On “New Day” Thursday morning, CNN played a clip from “Godfather II” in which the mob, in order to intimidate a witness at a Senate hearing, has brought the witness’s brother into the audience.

        After the clip rolled, CNN commentator John Avlon broke out the old mob threat:

        AVLON: I think what’s happening between the President and Rudy invoking the father-in-law and the wife goes well beyond problematic. At least from a historic precedent standpoint, there is none. What the President of the United States and his lawyer are basically doing is saying, “Nice family you got there. Be a shame if anything happened to them.”

        CNN’S CHRIS CUOMO, DON LEMON PILE ON COVINGTON STUDENTS OVER MAGA HATS

        That was an allusion to the fact that President Trump and Rudy Giuliani have made reference to Michael Cohen’s wife and father-in-law.

        Here is a partial transcript.

        CNN
        New Day
        1/24/19
        7:19 am ET

        JOHN BERMAN: You know what this reminds me of? I didn’t go to law school, but I did see “Godfather II.”

        JOHN AVLON: I knew you were going there!

        BERMAN: Because you’re saying you don’t specifically say I’m going to hurt the father-in-law —

        ALISYN CAMEROTA: You say it would sure be bad if the father-in-law got hurt.

        BERMAN: Or you just put the person in the audience like they did with Frankie Pentangeli’s brother. Watch this.

        [Godfather II clip]

        SENATOR: Would you kindly identify for the committee the gentleman sitting to your left?

        TOM HAGEN: I can answer that. His name is Vincenzo Pentangeli.

        SENATOR: Is he related to the witness?

        HAGEN: He is, I believe, his brother.

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        BERMAN: All you do is you show the family member, you show that there might be a threat.

        AVLON: I think what’s happening between the President and Rudy invoking the father-in-law and the wife goes well beyond problematic. At least from a historic precedent standpoint, there is none. What the President of the United States and his lawyer are basically doing is saying, “Nice family you got there. Be a shame if anything happened to them.”

        This article originally appeared on the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters blog.

        Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mob-movies-cnn-plays-godfather-clip-to-attack-trump-on-alleged-cohen-intimidation

        On Friday, students from Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School encountered a Native American elder at the March for Life in Washington, DC, and appeared to taunt him.

        By Tuesday, video of the incident had gone viral; longer videos, giving more context, had been released; one of the students, Nick Sandmann, had issued a detailed statement telling his side of the story; and multiple members of the media had apologized for jumping to conclusions.

        In his statement, Sandmann said that he and his fellow students were simply chanting their school spirit chants, with permission from an adult chaperone, to counter insults being directed at them by a group of protesters. He said that when they had been chanting for some time, another group, including elder Nathan Phillips, approached them.

        “I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation,” Sandmann said of his interaction with Phillips. “I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand.”

        “I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips,” he added during a Wednesday interview with Today’s Savannah Guthrie.

        In the wake of Sandmann’s statement and the release of additional video, some have defended the Covington Catholic students. “Far from engaging in racially motivated harassment, the group of mostly white, MAGA-hat-wearing male teenagers remained relatively calm and restrained,” wrote Robby Soave at Reason.

        But the increasingly contentious public conversation around the episode may be missing the point.

        The smirking silence with which Sandmann confronted elder Nathan Phillips was actually incredibly telling, according to Adam Howard, an education professor at Colby College and the author of Learning Privilege: Lessons of Power and Identity in Affluent Schooling. Sandmann’s expression clearlycommunicates that I’m better than you, that I don’t even have enough respect for you to even say anything to communicate,” Howard told me.

        The student’s behavior was the embodiment of privilege, Howard said, and nothing that came after the initial viral video changes that.

        I reached out to Howard, who previously wrote for Vox about the culture of elite private schools, to ask how that culture might help us understand the March for Life video and its aftermath. In a phone interview, which has been condensed and edited, he said that the video and the reactions to it expose not just the problem of privilege in America but our inability as a society to reckon with that problem.

        Anna North

        What did you see when you saw the March for Life video for the first time?

        Adam Howard

        When you saw the young man’s face looking at the elder, and just the smirk, and then having a whole group around him of his fellow classmates, all boys, doing the various things they were doing — chanting, doing tomahawk things, racist behaviors — this is what privilege looks like. This is what he has learned not only from his schooling but also from other sources of education, which include family and the larger national context.

        What he’s learned is this contempt toward others, this kind of privileged white male gaze that communicates, “I’m better than you, I don’t even have enough respect for you to even say anything to communicate, but I will communicate everything I need to through my body language.” That overconfidence, and that sense of entitlement, all of it was being performed in that moment.

        As I was reading the articles, the ways in which people were trying to make sense of that initially, none of the conversation really focused on privilege and that these were a group of privileged boys from a privileged institution.

        Anna North

        What was your reaction when you saw additional videos released after the initial viral video, and the conversation around those subsequent videos?

        Adam Howard

        Even in the other videos, [Sandmann] was still looking stone-faced, smirking. That privileged white male gaze that every minority is very familiar with — when that gaze is upon you as a minority, you know what it communicates, and it communicates that “you’re inferior to me, I have a particular kind of perception of myself that places me above you.” That performance was also being reinforced by all his classmates kind of cheering him on.

        Silence plays an incredibly important part in that performance, because as soon as the boy says something, then we can confront him, we can dissect it, we can challenge it, and so part of it was that he wasn’t even giving anything over to be challenged in any way.

        We don’t know what he was exactly thinking at that moment, because he didn’t communicate anything verbally. That’s how privilege works — it’s constantly performed and embodied in particular ways where it’s hard to challenge it.

        Anna North

        It sounds like you’re saying we can see privilege at play in this video regardless of Sandmann’s statement or the longer video that was released later. Is that right?

        Adam Howard

        Yes. And therefore, it would be useful for us to begin to ask the questions of, how do young people learn those lessons that allow them to be okay with showing such contempt toward others who are different from themselves? Do they learn that through their education? Do they learn that through their religion? Do they learn that through their family? [Do they learn that through] the national context, and what’s going on in our country and what’s going on in the larger world?

        I would argue that all of those things are teaching them incredibly important lessons, and we need to be more mindful and intentional about the kinds of lessons we want to teach young people.

        Anna North

        Earlier in our conversation, you mentioned that the video reminded you of something that happened at your institution. Can you talk about that incident?

        Adam Howard

        Several years ago, we had this incident on campus, and it sent shock waves throughout our small, elite liberal arts college. It involved members of a male sports team. Shortly after this incident, I was asked, along with another faculty colleague, to lead and facilitate this community conversation.

        Several hundred people attended, and it was a three-hour event, and it was emotionally charged — people crying, and raised voices every once in a while. It was very obvious that a lot of people were affected by this in pretty profound ways.

        What was interesting is that the first two rows of this gathering space were all teammates of the guys who were involved in this incident, and they sat there and didn’t say a word for the entire three-hour period. They had that smirk on their faces, their arms crossed, and even though they didn’t say anything, their contempt for what was going on, everything they were communicating without saying a word — it completely overshadowed everything that we were trying to do.

        We were trying to heal our community, and we weren’t fully able to. It was so destructive; it was so disruptive. Anytime you challenge privilege, there’s going to be attempts to disrupt those efforts.

        Anna North

        How should the fact that Covington Catholic is an all-boys’ school factor into our understanding of this incident?

        Adam Howard

        When I research all-boys’ schools, the headmasters and others will claim that it allows students to express themselves freely, and that they’re more involved in the arts and in creative endeavors and that they’re not negatively impacted by having girls present and the peer pressure that goes along with that. I think that’s a bunch of crap.

        I think it instead reinforces very toxic ways of thinking about what it means to be a boy and what it means to be a man. The fact that you don’t have women there often limits the opportunities for you to develop healthy, productive relationships across gender.

        Often you have this kind of mob mentality that forms, because elite schools, part of what they do is teach their students to always prove that they’re the best. So what ends up happening is that it’s always a contest of who’s the best man. A lot of that is connected to sexual conquest, proving certain things that just aren’t very healthy ways of thinking about what it means to be a man.

        Anna North

        What can we learn as a society from this whole incident — the first video, but also the longer video and the reactions to all of it?

        Adam Howard

        What’s problematic from this larger incident, if you take [it] from the moment this goes viral to now, is that we easily dismiss things that need to be discussed. People are trying to find holes in the original narrative, and as soon as they find those holes, then that gives us permission to not discuss what we need to be discussing.

        Part of that is, what are privileged, white, young men learning about themselves, not just through their education and their family but through what’s going on at the national level? How they are making sense of themselves, others, and the world around them, and then how are they acting on that? Those are the types of conversations that we need to be [having], and I don’t know how we get there. It requires us to actually be willing to get past, “This narrative is flawed, therefore there’s nothing to be discussed here,” to, “What can we learn from this?”

        Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2019/1/23/18193174/covington-catholic-school-native-american-students-video

        SEBRING, Fla. — Five women were killed after a gunman entered a SunTrust bank in Sebring on Wednesday, January 23, and opened fire on four bank employees and one bank customer before calling 911 and telling dispatchers he killed five people, according to authorities.

        Two of the five victims of the shooting were identified after their families told officials they want their names to be known to the public. Cynthia Watson, 65, a customer in the bank at the time of the shooting, and 55-year-old Marisol Lopez, an employee at the bank working when the shooting occurred, were the two victims identified by police during a press conference on Thursday.

        At a news conference at 4 p.m. on Thursday, a third victim will be identified by family members. The third, fourth and fifth victims’ ages were 37, 31 and 54, according to Scott Dressel, the Public Information Officer for the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.

        WATCH LIVE: THIRD VICTIM IDENTIFIED BY FAMILY MEMBERS | 4PM News Conference

        The remaining two victims’ names are being withheld in accordance to Marcy’s Law, which protects crime victims and their families.

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        Officials held a news conference on Thursday to release new information about the shooting. During the news conference, Sebring Police Chief Karl Hogland said the incident began at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday when Zephen Xaver entered the SunTrust bank, located at 1901 US Highway 27 in Sebring, wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a 9 mm handgun. Xaver immediately contacted bank employees and a customer and took the bank by force. He reportedly shot all five women in the bank and then called 911 and told dispatchers about the shooting at approximately 12:36 p.m. At 12:40 p.m., units from the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office arrived on scene and Sebring Police arrived two minutes later. Crisis negotiators established contact with Xaver and at 12:44 p.m., SWAT was called to the scene. The Highlands County SWAT team made a tactical entry to the bank at 1:54 p.m. and Xaver was taken into custody at 2:28 p.m. after surrendering to the SWAT team.

        Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said there is no indication Zephen Xaver intended to rob the bank and there was no apparent connection between him and the bank or the victims.

        According to the arrest affidavit, the victims were found in the bank’s lobby, lying face down with gunshot wounds to the backs of their heads and upper torsos. There were shell casings lying on the floor near the victims. Xaver was in an office in the bank with the 9 mm handgun and bulletproof vest when he was taken into custody.

        Xaver is currently in the Highlands County Jail, being held without bond on five counts of murder in the first degree.

        Story developing, refresh for updates. Stay with ABC Action News for the latest.

        Source Article from https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-desoto-highlands-hardee/sebring-bank-shooting-five-women-killed-two-identified