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01/17/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Current Slave Lewis Says Trump Not Welcome in Selma

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would not invite President-elect Donald Trump to Selma, Ala., the site of historical civil rights marches, though he would not stop Trump from visiting the city.

“Well, by going to Selma — like President Bush, President Clinton, President Obama — maybe he would learn something. Maybe he would get religion,” Lewis said during the interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I would not invite him to come,” Lewis added when asked by host Chuck Todd about bringing Trump to Selma.

Pressed about allowing Trump to visit the city, Lewis added, “I wouldn’t try to do anything to prevent him from coming.”

Trump and Lewis have been locked in a war of words stemming from a portion of the NBC interview released Friday, where Lewis said he didn’t view Trump as a “legitimate president” and would not attend his inauguration.

Trump fired back on Saturday on Twitter, saying the Democratic lawmaker was “all talk” and “no action.”

“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results,” Trump said in several tweets.

After backlash from a number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Trump tweeted that Lewis should focus on the nation’s inner cities, suggesting they work together on the issue.

Lewis walked in Selma with President Obama in 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to the state’s capital of Montgomery as part of the voting rights movement. The lawmaker helped lead the 1965 Selma march and was beaten by police during the demonstration.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/314370-lewis-i-would-not-invite-trump-to-visit-selma

01/16/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

“Fuck White People” Says FULL Goon Genderqueer Libisian In South Africa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S40fUEtjtKI&t=554s

Dean Hutton is King Full Goon. Sorry Sally Kohn.

Genderqueer artist wears a message about race…

Dean Hutton is a South African artist whose most notorious project involves walking around in a custom-printed black and white suit and absorbing the responses from strangers.

Hutton first wore the Fuck White People suit at Gay Pride:

It was a test for me. If I can do it in a community in which I have almost de facto access to, can I do it in other spaces, where I don’t necessarily have de facto access except for the colour of my skin? You know, like, if I can’t do it at Gay Pride, then I can’t be making a whole fucking suit that says that. And, it’s still mostly an experiment, but it feels like it’s something I can do, and the reactions I am getting from it says that it is something that I should be doing.

Not sure what the term for this is, since “edgelord” is not gender-neutral.

01/16/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

1-Way Williams in the White House Press Room?

Talk radio hosts and bloggers may be included in White House press briefings

Trump administration’s proposal for new venue and inclusion of non-traditional media follows president-elect’s latest outbursts against mainstream reporters
trump

Talk radio hosts and bloggers could be given greater access to official White House press briefings once the Trump administration takes office, under a highly irregular proposal being floated that may also remove briefings from the West Wing.

Trump’s pick for White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said on Sunday that due to “off the chart” interest in the new administration, the president-elect was considering moving briefings from the James S Brady press briefing room, which has been used by presidents to address the media since 1970, to a venue with a greater capacity.

A report published by Esquire magazine on Saturday indicated the venue could be inside the Old Executive Office Building, just west of the White House.

“I know change is difficult sometimes,” Spicer told Fox News. “But sometimes change can actually be better.”

Spicer argued the proposal would mean “you can involve more people, be more transparent, have more accessibility”. He suggested that this would mean outlets that are not traditionally part of the White House press corps would be able to ask questions during presidential press briefings.

“There’s a lot of talk radio and bloggers and people that can’t fit in right now and maybe don’t have a permanency because they’re not part of the Washington elite media,” Spicer said, “but to allow them an opportunity to ask the press secretary or the president a question is a positive thing. It’s more democratic.”

Around 200 journalists make up the White House press corps. The Brady press briefing room holds 49 permanent seats for major media organisations, which are granted space by the White House reporters (WHCA). The Guardian is among those outlets allocated a space.

White House briefings are open any journalist that seeks access and passes security clearance, but the president more typically takes questions from major news organisations with an allocated seat.

It remains unclear how the proposal would be implemented, but it is likely to be interpreted as a hostile rebuke to conventional media outlets around the country.

Jeff Mason, the WHCA president and Reuters White House correspondent, said he had a “constructive”, nearly two-hour meeting with Spicer on Sunday. Mason “emphasized the importance of the White House press briefing room” and its proximity to West Wing officials.

“I made clear that the WHCA would view it as unacceptable if the incoming administration sought to move White House reporters out of the press work space behind the press briefing room,” Mason said in a statement. “Access in the West Wing to senior administration officials, including the press secretary, is critical to transparency and to journalists’ ability to do their jobs.”

Spicer agreed to discuss any changes to the current system with the WHCA, Mason said.

During a chaotic press conference at Trump Tower on Wednesday, the first the businessman has held since July 2016, hundreds of journalists crammed into a small pen as Trump frequently lambasted certain media organisations and occasionally individual reporters. Trump was incensed by reports on a leaked and unsubstantiated dossier, which alleged frequent contacts between his campaign team and Russian authorities, and suggested the Kremlin held compromising material that could be used to blackmail Trump.

Trump was also asked by a reporter at Breitbart News what his views were on media ethics and “fake news”, to which he replied: “Some of the media outlets that I deal with are fake news more so than anybody. I could name them, but I won’t bother. You have a few sitting right in front of us.

“They’re very, very dishonest people, but I think it’s just something we’re going to have to live with. I guess the advantage I have is that I can speak back.”

According to the Associated Press, Breitbart News, branded by critics as a racist, far-right news site, was the only media organisation to have a reserved seat in the front row for the conference. Steve Bannon, Trump’s incoming chief strategist and senior counselor, previously served as the site’s executive chairman.

The president-elect’s campaign drew consistent support from numerous conservative talk radio hosts and internet conspiracy theory sites, for instance Alex Jones’s InfoWars. During the campaign, Trump took the unprecedented step of appearing on Jones’s site, known as America’s foremost conservative conspiracy theory outlet. Jones has previously dismissed the Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 elementary school students and six school staff were murdered, as “completely fake”, and has branded the September 11 terror attacks an “inside job”.

Trump was interviewed for around 30 minutes by Jones in December 2015, and later called Jones a “nice guy”. Jones claimed in November that Trump called him to thank him for his support after winning the presidential election.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-01-15/trump-team-may-move-briefings-from-west-wing-to-accommodate-more

01/15/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Layoffs at Crooked Clinton Foundation

The Clinton Foundation announced it’s laying off 22 staffers on the Clinton Global Initiative, keeping with a plan to deal with the negative spotlight put on the organization during former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The layoffs will take effect April 15, the Clinton Foundation said in a filing with the New York Department of Labor Thursday, citing the discontinuation of the Clinton Global Initiative. The move is part of a plan put in motion ahead of the presidential election in order to offset a storm of criticism regarding pay-to-play allegations during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

The layoffs were reportedly announced internally in September, ahead of Clinton’s stunning loss to President-elect Donald Trump. Many other employees had already begun looking for or accepting other jobs at that time, as it had become clear the future of the initiative was in doubt. It’s unclear how many of the once 200 strong staff might remain at the Clinton Foundation in some other capacity.

The Clinton Foundation could not immediately be reached for comment.

While the FBI concluded its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, a second investigation into the Clinton Foundation regarding allegations of corruption during that same tenure is ongoing.

The decision to sunset the Clinton Global Initiative reportedly set off a dispute within Clinton Foundation circles regarding the best way to handle the fallout from the allegations. Some complained the layoff process was “insensitively” handled, Politico reported, while others took issue with the optics of allowing anyone with the Clinton Global Initiative to stay on.

01/15/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Zoe Saldana Calls Hollywood a “Bunch of Arrogant Bullies”

A-list actress Zoe Saldana says Donald Trump won the election, thanks, in part, to “arrogant” celebrities whose personal insults created sympathy for the Republican candidate and galvanized his supporters.

“We got cocky and became arrogant and we also became bullies,” the Oscar-winner told AFP.

Saldana, the face of multiple blockbuster film franchises–Star Trek, Avatar,and Guardians of the Galazy–says celebrities demonizing Trump only emboldened the voters who believed in him.

“We were trying to single out a man for all these things he was doing wrong … and that created empathy in a big group of people in America that felt bad for him and that are believing in his promises,” she said.

While she did not support Trump’s candidacy, Saldana says, “I’m learning from (Trump’s victory) with a lot of humility.”

She said she is hopeful that America under Trump will not become the racially segregated society that it once was.

“If we have people continue to be strong and educate ourselves and stand by equal rights and treat everyone with respect, we won’t go back to those times,” Saldana said.

Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone. Out-sings Nina and out-thinks Hollywood.

The 38-year-old actress is but one of a growing number of stars who have condemned the cockiness of celebrities during the campaign and now insists that Americans rally around Trump.

“A lot of celebrities did, do, and shouldn’t [talk about politics], Patriots Day star Mark Wahlberg told Task & Purpose about a month after the election. “A lot of Hollywood is living in a bubble.”

“You know, it just goes to show you that people aren’t listening to that anyway. They might buy your CD or watch your movie, but you don’t put food on their table. You don’t pay their bills.”

Last week, actress Nicole Kidman said, “[Trump is] now elected and we, as a country, need to support whoever is the president.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/01/14/zoe-saldana-trump-won-hollywood-got-cocky-became-arrogant-bullies/

01/15/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Down Goes Obamacare! Senate Votes to Repeal

The House of Representatives voted Friday to approve Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, which sets in motion the repeal of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform legislation, Obamacare, by a vote of 227-to-198, with nine Republicans voting against the repeal bill.

“This provided Congress with the legislative tools that we need to repeal and replace Obamacare,” said Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R.-Wis.), who spoke on the House floor before the vote. “This is the critical first step toward delivering relief to Americans who are struggling under this law.”

It is very rare for a speaker to take to the House floor and comment on a bill, so Ryan’s remarks signal the importance of the vote.

“The law is collapsing, the insurers are pulling out, and people can’t afford it,” he said.

“The deductibles are so high, it doesn’t even feel like you have insurance in the first place,” Ryan said. “This is a rescue mission. This is a necessary move and I urge all of my colleagues to do what is right.”

Nine Republicans voted with Democrats against the bill and no Democrats voted for the bill.

After Ryan was done, he shook hands with other Republicans and walked off the floor.

Although it is the custom for the speaker not to vote, Ryan did join the rest of his conference to support passage of the bill that does not truly repeal the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Rather, because it is a bill using the track set up to pass the federal budget, it only addresses the financial underpinnings of Obamacare, such as the fees, taxes and, subsidies. Future legislation would have to address the rules and regulations.

Republican leaders chose the budget reconciliation process because Senate Republicans do not have the 60 votes required to end debate and proceed to a vote. A budget bill, however, has a fixed 50 hours of debate and then proceeds directly to a vote.

The incomplete repeal and the failure by Republicans to have a companion replacement bill that would cement the parts of Obama’s healthcare reforms that have consensus support—such as protections for people with pre-existing conditions or the ability to keep children on a parent’s plan until age 26—has raised concerns.

Following the speaker at the rostrum, the Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) approached to be recognized.

“I’m so sorry that the speaker left the floor, because I have some very good news for him,” she said.

“Clearly, he does not understand what the Affordable Care Act has brought to our country in terms of expanding access to many more people and to the promise of our Founding Fathers of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” she said.

The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus—the conservative bloc inside the House Republican Conference—Rep. Mark R. Meadows (R.-N.C.), voted for the partial repeal but has voiced his concerns about not having the replacement to Obamacare ready-to-go.

“This has been a top priority of mine and the Freedom Caucus, as I believe it is critical that we give the American people a clear direction and assurance of a smooth transition toward a sound, high quality, and affordable healthcare market—especially so the most vulnerable can get the coverage they need,” Meadows said.

“Going forward, I strongly believe and will continue to express that a full repeal of Obamacare should take effect within two years during the 115th Congress,” he said. “That is what we promised the voters we would do. That is our job–and it’s high time we accomplish it.”

Now that the bill has passed, House and Senate committees must come up with specific proposals for the transition to the post-Obamacare world. The committees are allowed to submit their proposals beginning Jan. 27 in order to be incorporated in a final “budget” bill.

The congressman Meadows whom succeeded as leader of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. James D. Jordan (R.-Ohio), said he voted for the bill because he wanted to get the process going.

“This is step one in the process to repeal Obamacare, a law that has driven up prices and hurt care. There are several steps to come but the goal is very clear: repeal it all – every regulation, every tax, every mandate – and do it this Congress,” Jordan said.

“All the talk of a three to four year phase out is not what we told the voters we would do. I will work to repeal it all as fast as we can,” he said.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/13/obamacare-on-the-ropes-as-house-follows-senate-in-voting-to-repeal/

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Talk radio hosts and bloggers may be included in White House press briefings

The House of Representatives voted Friday to approve Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, which sets in motion the repeal of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform legislation, Obamacare, by a vote of 227-to-198, with nine Republicans voting against the repeal bill.

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