Politics

Angela Merkel: Germany Can No Longer Rely On An American Superpower To Maintain World Order

Reuters reports: Chancellor Angela Merkel, vowing to stay in office despite challenges at home and abroad, said she would work on Germany’s “under pressure” relationship with the United States but that Washington could no longer be relied on to deliver world order. In a wide-ranging news conference, Merkel described Germany’s relationship with the United States as “crucial”, even after U.S. …

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Trump Advisors Furious Over Dan Coats Interview

The Washington Post reports: Inside the White House, Trump’s advisers were in an uproar over [Director of National Intelligence Dan] Coats’s interview in Aspen, Colo. They said the optics were especially damaging, noting that at moments Coats appeared to be laughing at the president, playing to his audience of the intellectual elite in a manner that was sure to infuriate …

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NFL Puts Anthem Policy On Hold After Backlash

ESPN reports: With the Miami Dolphins facing backlash after submitting required paperwork to the NFL that included potential disciplinary measures for player protests during the national anthem, the league has decided to hit pause on its new policy, sources told ESPN. The league and the NFL Players Association issued a joint statement Thursday that said “no new rules relating to …

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EPA Staff Sought To Protect Pruitt From Toxic Chemical Before Squashing Report On That Same Chemical

Politico reports: Then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s staff sought to protect him from exposure to toxic formaldehyde from an office desk last year, emails show — just months before his top political aides blocked the release of a report on health dangers from the same chemical. In the spring of 2017, as Pruitt was finishing the more than $9,500 redecoration of …

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Bannon: The Biggest Threat To Trump Would Be Oprah

The Washington Post reports: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has weighed in on who could be President Donald Trump’s toughest challenger in 2020 – and it’s not Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or any of the other scores of Democratic politicians positioning themselves for potential bids. The biggest foe, Bannon says, would be Oprah Winfrey. “I think …

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Extremists Fail To Show At Maxine Waters’ Office

The Los Angeles Times reports: A group of far-right protesters who planned to demonstrate outside Rep. Maxine Waters district office in South Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon failed to show up, but dozens of counter protesters did.  The Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government group that purports to have many veterans as members, said they would protest outside the Los Angeles …

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REPORT: Putin Privately Pitched Ukraine Plan To Trump

Bloomberg reports: Vladimir Putin told Russian diplomats that he made a proposal to Donald Trump at their summit this week to hold a referendum to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but agreed not to disclose the plan publicly so the U.S. president could consider it, according to two people who attended Putin’s closed-door speech on Thursday. Details of …

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Paul Ryan Cracks Up At Trump/Hitler Joke [VIDEO]

Mediaite reports: Speaker Paul Ryan had a bit too rollicking of a time when he heard this joke. Speaking with the National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg at the American Enterprise Institute, Ryan laughed a bit too hard (read: way too hard) at a joke comparing President Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler – and it was favorable to Hitler. “As I keep …

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Whoopi Goldberg And Fox’s Jeanine Pirro Angrily Clash Over Trump In Wild Segment Of The View [VIDEO]

USA Today reports: Whoopi Goldberg has had enough. Fox News personality and former judge Jeanine Pirro visited the set of “The View” Thursday morning to promote her new book, “Liars, Leakers and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy.” But there wasn’t much discussion about the upcoming book after Pirro made a comment to co-host Goldberg, who had been trying …

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Feds Seek To Gut 1973 Endangered Species Act

Bloomberg reports: A decades-old environmental law credited with saving the American bald eagle from extinction would be reworked under a proposal the Trump administration announced Thursday. Enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, which seeks to prevent plans and animals from becoming extinct, would be changed to make it is easier to remove species from the list of protected ones. The …

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FEC Report Shows GOP Rep. Devin Nunes Spent Donor Money On Las Vegas Trips, Winery Tours, Limo Rides

The Fresno Bee reports: Rep. Devin Nunes used political donations to pay for nearly $15,000 in tickets to Boston Celtics basketball games as well as winery tours and lavish trips to Las Vegas, according to reports from the Federal Election Commission and two nonpartisan watchdog groups. Nunes, R-Calif., has reportedly been a Celtics fan since high school, though he grew …

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Dems React To Fiery Steny Hoyer Speech With “USA!” Chants After Republicans Block Election Security Bill

Fox News actually reports: They began chanting “USA, USA, USA”– but it wasn’t a Trump rally. House Democrats on Thursday erupted into the chants on the floor of the House of Representatives after House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., delivered a fiery speech condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for election meddling and accusing Republicans of not doing enough to ensure …

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ISRAEL: Video Shows Netanyahu Boasting That He’s Responsible For Trump’s Exit Of Iran Nuclear Deal

The Times Of Israel reports: In a video clip aired by Israeli television, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that Israel was responsible for US President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal. In the video, which the Kan public broadcaster said was filmed two weeks ago, Netanyahu can be seen speaking to activists and senior members from his …

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Rep. Maxine Waters Warns Supporters Not To Confront Armed Extremist Militia Group Protesting At Her Office

Roll Call reports: Rep. Maxine Waters of California warned her supporters not to be baited into a confrontation with a a far-right militia group planning a protest at her South-Central Los Angeles office Thursday. The Oath Keepers, which claims 35,000 members who often dress in military gear and carry military-grade rifles at protests and events across the country, issued a …

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Trump Blasts EU For Fining “Great Company” Google

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump said Thursday that the European Union’s antitrust ruling against Google is proof that it is taking “advantage of the U.S.” On Wednesday, the EU hit Google with a $5 billion fine, alleging the company had violated antitrust laws by bundling its apps like Chrome and Google Play with its Android operating system. Google has 90 …

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Sean Spicer Breaks With Trump: It’s Not A Witch Hunt

NBC News reports: Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that he does not believe special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is a witch hunt, contradicting a claim often repeated by President Donald Trump. “As of now, I see no evidence that is it,” Spicer said during an exclusive interview on “Today” when asked if Mueller’s probe is a …

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Israel Formally Defines Itself As “Jewish Nation-State”

TIME Magazine reports: Israel’s parliament approved a controversial piece of legislation on Thursday that defines the country as the nation-state of the Jewish people but which critics warn sidelines minorities. The government says the bill, passed in the early morning hours, will merely enshrine into law Israel’s existing character. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called its passage a “historic moment in …

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Kremlin Hails “Important Verbal Agreements” Made With Trump At Summit, Pentagon Seemingly Clueless

The Washington Post reports: Two days after President Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, Russian officials offered a string of assertions about what the two leaders had achieved. “Important verbal agreements” were reached at the Helsinki meeting, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, told reporters in Moscow Wednesday, including preservation of the New Start and INF agreements, …

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NEW YORK: AG Candidate Seeks Trump Tax Returns

The Associated Press reports: Is there a backdoor to getting at President Donald Trump’s tax returns? At least one Democratic activist says yes, and it’s through a New York state investigation into Trump’s charity. State attorney general candidate Zephyr Teachout held a news conference in front of Trump Tower on Wednesday calling on the governor to grant authority to state …

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OHIO: Rep. Jim Jordan Named In Class Action Sexual Abuse Lawuit Filed By Former University Wrestler

Rolling Stone reports: On Tuesday, Jordan’s public-relations crisis became a legal nightmare. Attorneys filed a massive class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Ohio on behalf of an as-yet-unnamed former OSU wrestler. The law firm Sauder Schelkopf is seeking to represent all the students and athletes “treated” by Strauss in his two decades at the school, from the late ‘70s …

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