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01/12/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Trump Puts a Beatdown on Fake News

The look before you get ripped a new one.

NEW YORK CITY, New York — At Trump Tower on Wednesday morning, President-elect Donald J. Trump lambasted the media—forcing a backfire of the industry’s planned efforts to trip him up just hours before his first press conference since last summer.

The press conference saw two new media organizations—Breitbart News and One America News Network—in the front row, both getting questions with the president-elect, and CNN and BuzzFeed being exposed as “fake news” operations. It was a stunning moment, an indictment of the media class on their own turf—the press conference—by a president-elect who has spent years on friendly terms with many in the news media before they turned on him during the course of the 2016 presidential election.

The moment was also a snapshot of what senior Trump aides tell Breitbart News is likely to be regular order in a Trump administration, where the president-elect is going to—when he takes office next week—shake up the normal course of business by stripping the dishonest characters in media of their power and rewarding hardworking new media outlets for telling the truth. A rocky road for some, the new direction Trump plans to take was on display as he called for reporters and those in the media profession to be “honest” when they report on his administration moving forward and to prove they have a “moral compass.”

Late Tuesday evening, before Trump’s scheduled Wednesday press conference, BuzzFeed published a fake news report on entirely unsubstantiated allegations from a supposed intelligence report that has since been largely discredited. CNN, the cable news network, ran with the story too without verifying it. The motive was to push the fake news controversy out into the narrative and force Trump to respond to it at the press conference—without ever actually checking to see if what they printed was accurate or verifying it at all.

It turns out, in the wake of BuzzFeed’s and CNN’s decisions to run with the fake news stories, the entire narrative has crumbled: An ex-BuzzFeed reporter, Rosie Gray, blew up a major part of her old employer’s narrative when she reported and confirmed with multiple sources that Trump attorney Michael Cohen never actually went to where the fake report alleged he went to—and was instead at the University of Southern California with his son during that timeframe, something USC confirmed—and more and more details have started crumbling apart.

So, naturally, Wednesday’s press conference here began with incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer shredding CNN and BuzzFeed for their inaccurate reporting of fake news. Spicer said:

Before we start, I want to bring your attention to a few points on the report that was published in BuzzFeed last night. It’s frankly outrageous and highly irresponsible for a left-wing blog that was openly hostile to the president-elect’s campaign to drop highly salacious and flat-out false information on the internet just days before he takes the oath of office. According to BuzzFeed’s own editor, there are some serious reasons to doubt the allegations in the report. The executive editor of The New York Times also dismissed the report by saying it was, quote, ‘Totally unsubstantiated, echoing the concerns that many other reporters expressed on the internet.’ The fact that BuzzFeed and CNN made the decision to run with this unsubstantiated claim is a sad and pathetic attempt to get clicks. The report is not an intelligence report, plain and simple.

Spicer then proceeded to factually debunk the entire so-called “report”:

One issue that the report talked about was the relationship of three individuals associated with the campaign. These three individuals: Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen and Carter Page. Carter Page is an individual who the president-elect does not know and was put on notice months ago by the campaign. Paul Manafort has adamantly denied any of this involvement and Michael Cohen, who is said to have visited Prague in August and September did not leave or enter the United States during this time. We asked him to produce his passport to confirm his whereabouts on the dates in question and there was no doubt that he was not in Prague. In fact, Mr. Cohen has never been in Prague. A new report actually suggests that Michael Cohen was at — at the University of Southern California with his son at a baseball game. One report now suggested apparently it’s another Michael Cohen. For all the talk lately about fake news, this political witch hunt by some in the media is based on some of the most flimsy reporting and is frankly shameful and disgraceful.

Spicer introduced Vice President-elect Mike Pence next, who also bashed the fake news from CNN and BuzzFeed. In his remarks, Pence said, “there’s been such a concerted effort by some in the mainstream media to delegitimize this election and to demean our incoming administration.”

Pence continued:

You know, I have long been a supporter of a free and independent press and I always will be. But with freedom comes responsibility. And the irresponsible decision of a few news organizations to run with a false and unsubstantiated report, when most news organizations resisted the temptation to propagate this fake news, can only be attributed to media bias and attempt to demean the president-elect and our incoming administration and the American people are sick and tired of it.

When the man himself took the podium, he ripped the fake news media as well—saying that the mistakes by places like CNN and BuzzFeed, and their efforts to publish fake news without verifying it, leads to him doing less press conferences. But he also thanked the media outlets that have not gotten it wrong—the ones that worked to actually check before publishing—unlike CNN and BuzzFeed. Trump said:

It’s very familiar territory, news conferences, because we used to give them on an almost daily basis. I think we probably maybe won the nomination because of news conferences and it’s good to be with you. We stopped giving them because we were getting quite a bit of inaccurate news, but I do have to say that — and I must say that I want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies? Who knows, but maybe the intelligence agencies which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they in fact did that. A tremendous blot, because a thing like that should have never been written, it should never have been had and it should certainly never been released. But I want to thank a lot of the news organizations for some of whom have not treated me very well over the years — a couple in particular — and they came out so strongly against that fake news and the fact that it was written about by primarily one group and one television station. So, I just want to compliment many of the people in the room. I have great respect for the news and great respect for freedom of the press and all of that. But I will tell you, there were some news organizations with all that was just said that were so professional — so incredibly professional, that I’ve just gone up a notch as to what I think of you. OK?

The first several questions of the press conference focused on the intelligence briefings from which the fake news outlets like CNN and BuzzFeed said this phony report emanated, with reporters zoning in on how badly the two legacy establishment media outlets screwed up.

Fox News’ John Roberts got the first question, and he asked:

First of all, did the heads of the intelligence agencies provide you with the two-page summary of these unsubstantiated allegations? And secondly to that, on the broader picture, do you accept their opinion that Vladimir Putin ordered the hack of the DNC and the attempted hack of the RNC? And if you do, how will that color your attempts to build a relationship with a leader who has been accused of committing an act of espionage against the United States?

Trump’s answer:

OK, first of all, these readings as you know are confidential, classified. So, I’m not allowed to talk about what went on in a meeting. And — but we had many witnesses in that meeting, many of them with us. And I will say, again, I think it’s a disgrace that information would be let out. I saw the information; I read the information outside of that meeting. It’s all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen. And it was gotten by opponents of ours, as you know, because you reported it and so did many of the other people. It was a group of opponents that got together — sick people — and they put that crap together.

So, I will tell you that not within the meeting, but outside of the meeting, somebody released it. It should have never been — number one, shouldn’t have even entered paper. But it should have never have been released. But I read what was released and I think it’s a disgrace. I think it’s an absolute disgrace. As far as hacking, I think it was Russia. But I think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. And I — I can say that you know when — when we lost 22 million names and everything else that was hacked recently, they didn’t make a big deal out of that. That was something that was extraordinary. That was probably China.

We had — we had much hacking going on. And one of the things we’re gonna do, we have some of the greatest computer minds anywhere in the world that we’ve assembled. You saw just a sample of it two weeks ago up here where we had the six top people in the world — they were never in the same room together as a group. And we’re gonna put those minds together and we’re going to form a defense. And I have to say this also, the Democratic National Committee was totally open to be hacked. They did a very poor job. They could’ve had hacking defense, which we had.

And I will give Reince Priebus credit, because when Reince saw what was happening in the world and with this country, he went out and went to various firms and ordered a very, very strong hacking defense. And they tried to hack the Republican National Committee and they were unable to break through. We have to do that for our country. It’s very important.

Roberts followed up by asking, “Just to the last part of that question (inaudible) how could all of this potentially color your attempts to build a better relationship with President Putin?”

Trump replied that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already noted this reporting from CNN and BuzzFeed is “fake news.” He went on:

Well, you know, President Putin and Russia put out a statement today that this fake news was indeed fake news. They said it totally never happened. Now, somebody would say, ‘Oh, of course he’s gonna say that.’ I respected the fact that he said that. And I — I’ll be honest, I think if he did have something, they would’ve released it; they would’ve been glad to release it. I think, frankly, had they broken into the Republican National Committee, I think they would’ve released it just like they did about Hillary and all of the horrible things that her people, like Mr. Podesta, said about her. I mean what he said about her was horrible. If somebody said about me, what Podesta said about Hillary, I was the boss, I would’ve fired him immediately or that person. Because what he said about her was horrible. But remember this: We talk about the hacking and hacking’s bad and it shouldn’t be done. But look at the things that were hacked, look at what was learned from that hacking. That Hillary Clinton got the questions to the debate and didn’t report it? That’s a horrible thing. That’s a horrible thing. Can you imagine that if Donald Trump got the questions to the debate — it would’ve been the biggest story in the history of stories. And they would’ve said immediately, ‘You have to get out of the race.’ Nobody even talked about it. It’s a very terrible thing.

After a few more questions back and forth about that, the president-elect turned the podium over to his attorney for ethics issues. He walked through how the former mogul’s businesses will be structured during his administration. Trump then started taking questions again, and when he got to CBS News’ Major Garrett, he was asked about his Wednesday morning tweet comparing the actions of CNN and BuzzFeed publishing fake news to Nazi Germany.

“The tweet that you had this morning about are we living in Nazi Germany, what were you driving at there? What are you trying to tell the American public?” Garrett asked the president-elect.

Trump first took a shot at the intelligence community.

“I think it was disgraceful — disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out,” he started in his answer. “I think it’s a disgrace, and I say that — and I say that, and that’s something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do. I think it’s a disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public.”

Then he turned his fire on CNN and BuzzFeed specifically:

As far as Buzzfeed, which is a failing pile of garbage, writing it, I think they’re going to suffer the consequence. They already are. And as far as CNN going out of their way to build it up — and by the way, we just found out I was coming down. Michael Cohen — I was being — Michael Cohen is a very talented lawyer. He’s a good lawyer in my firm. It was just reported that it wasn’t this Michael Cohen they we’re talking about. So all night long it’s Michael Cohen. I said, ‘I want to see your passport.’ He brings his passport to my office. I say, hey, wait a minute. He didn’t leave the country. He wasn’t out of the country. They had Michael Cohen of the Trump Organization was in Prague. It turned out to be a different Michael Cohen. It’s a disgrace what took place. It’s a disgrace and I think they ought to apologize to start with Michael Cohen.”

CNN’s Jim Acosta then tried to interrupt the president, still refusing to apologize for his organization’s fake news reporting, by saying: “Since you’re attacking us, can you give us a question?”

As Acosta said “Mr. Trump,” the president-elect turned to another media figure in the room to take a question from them.

“Go ahead,” Trump said to the reporter a few rows deep.

Acosta, defiant, wouldn’t let it go.

“Mr. President-elect, since you are attacking our news organization…” he said.

“Not you,” Trump put down Acosta.

“Can you give us a chance?” Acosta shouted back.

“Your organization is terrible,” Trump fired another shot back at Acosta.

“You are attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance to ask a question, sir? Sir, can you…” Acosta piped up yet again.

“Quiet,” Trump silenced Acosta once more.

As the other reporter proceeded with her question, Acosta wouldn’t relent.

“He’s asking a question, don’t be rude. Don’t be rude,” Trump scolded Acosta, asking the CNN representative to be civil.

“Can you give us a question since you’re attacking us? Can you give us a question?” Acosta shouted, refusing to be civil in the press conference.

“Don’t be rude. No, I’m not going to give you a question. I’m not going to give you a question,” Trump replied. “You are fake news.”

Trump proceeded to take his question from the journalist a few rows deep and went on with the press conference.

A couple questions later, Trump turned to Breitbart News to allow this reporter to ask a question.

“Given that CNN just published fake news and all the problems that we’ve seen throughout the media over the course of the election, what reforms do you recommend for this industry here?” I asked the president-elect. In response, he called for journalists to be honest and show that they have a “moral compass.”

“I don’t recommend reforms, I recommend people that have some moral compass,” Trump said in response to Breitbart News’ question. “You know, I’ve been hearing more and more about a thing called ‘Fake News.’ They’re talking about people that go and say all sorts of things. But I will tell you some of the media outlets 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 [pointing to CNN’s Acosta and Sara Murray]. So, they’re very, very dishonest people. But, I think it’s something we’re just going to have to live with. I guess, the advantage I have is I can speak back. When it happens to somebody that doesn’t have this [points to microphone], doesn’t have that kind of a megaphone, it’s a very sad thing. I’ve seen people destroyed. I’ve seen people absolutely destroyed, and I think it’s very unfair. So all I can ask for is honest reporters.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/11/fake-news-outlet-cnns-planned-attack-trump-backfires-press-conference-president-elect-calls-honest-reporters-moral-compass/

01/11/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Woman Pleads Guilty to Felony After Coat-Hanger Abortion In 6th Month

Baby Killer Yocca Pictured Without Her Hanger.

A Tennessee woman jailed for more than a year after trying to use a coat hanger to abort her 24-week-old fetus pleaded guilty on Monday to one felony count in exchange for her immediate release from jail.

The woman, Anna Yocca, 32, sought medical care at a hospital after attempting the at-home abortion in September 2015, according to National Advocates for Pregnant Women, an advocacy group that helped with her defense. She was later arrested and was initially charged with attempted murder. Under an agreement reached with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty this week to attempted procurement of a miscarriage and was given credit for time served.

Her case has alarmed abortion-rights advocates concerned by increasingly strict state abortion laws and the election of Donald J. Trump, who has expressed support for overturning Roe v. Wade and once said during the presidential campaign that women who have abortions should be punished.

“This case sends a dangerous message,” said Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, who called the prosecution of Ms. Yocca “a misuse of the existing criminal law system.”

“Her plea cannot be seen as any kind of validation for the use of criminal law to address pregnancy or any kind of outcome of pregnancy,” Ms. Paltrow said. “It’s an example of how criminal law can be used to pressure and intimidate people into pleading guilty to crimes so they don’t spend even more years incarcerated.”

Ms. Yocca’s lawyer, Gerald Melton, did not respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday. Attempts to reach the Rutherford County district attorney by telephone on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Ms. Yocca sought medical attention after her attempted at-home abortion because of heavy bleeding. While at the hospital, she gave birth to a premature baby boy by cesarean section. The baby was placed in foster care and later adopted.

After Ms. Yocca’s arrest, The Murfreesboro Post reported that the boy weighed just 1.5 pounds when he was born and that he had a number of severe medical problems that may have been attributable to prenatal injuries caused by the hanger.

But many of those ailments could have been caused by the baby’s premature birth, Ms. Paltrow said, and because the case did not go to trial, no evidence about the child’s medical condition was presented in court.

Ms. Yocca was arrested in December 2015 and held at the Rutherford County jail because she was unable to put up the $200,000 bond for her release. Ms. Yocca’s case ricocheted from one indictment to another over the course of a year as she remained in jail.

The attempted murder charge was dismissed in February 2016, but Ms. Yocca was then re-indicted on a charge of aggravated fetal assault under a controversial 2014 law intended to target pregnant drug abusers whose babies were harmed by their drug use. Ms. Yocca was never accused of illegal drug use.

The state’s fetal assault law expired in July 2016, and legislators declined to re-enact it. Ms. Yocca remained in jail until prosecutors charged her with three new felonies in November: aggravated assault with a weapon — in this case, a coat hanger — and two laws enacted in the 19th century, attempted criminal abortion and attempted procurement of a miscarriage.

Abortion is tightly regulated in Tennessee. State law permits abortion after 24 weeks only if there is a risk to the woman’s health or life, but women seeking an abortion must get in-person counseling from an abortion provider, wait 48 hours, then return for the procedure.

A state constitutional ballot measure passed in 2014 established that “nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.” There are abortion clinics in only four of the state’s 95 counties, and Rutherford County is not one of them.

01/11/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Incoming! McCain Gave The FBI Ammo to Smear Trump

‘I did what any citizen should do’: Sworn Trump enemy John McCain admits HE handed smear dossier to FBI – because he had no idea if it was credible

Arizona senator who disowned Trump before election admits he handed document outlining claims of Kremlin blackmail to FBI
He was simply a concerned citizen, 80-year-old Republican claimed
Brief statement claims that he received it and gave it directly to FBI Director James Comey because he was ‘unable to make judgment about accuracy’
But Washington reporter Carl Bernstein says former British ambassador to Moscow handed it to McCain
Ambassador has not been named – and author of report also gave to FBI agent he knew at its station in Rome months ago
Report was apparently paid for first BY Republican enemies of Trump then by Democrats

Sworn Donald Trump enemy John McCain admitted Wednesday that he passed the dossier of claims of a Russian blackmail plot against the president-elect – calling it ‘what any citizen should do’.

McCain – a longstanding anti-Trump Republican who had disassociated himself from the candidate’s campaign weeks before the election – cast himself as an innocent and concerned member of the public as he justified his move.

He claimed he had no idea whether it was accurate or not – but that he believed the FBI should have it because it was ‘sensitive’.

‘I did what any citizen should do. I received sensitive information and handed it to the FBI,’ he told CNN – the network which broke the story that the document existed. It was then published in full by Buzzfeed.

‘That’s why I gave it to the FBI. I don’t know if it is credible or not but the information I thought deserved to be delivered to the FBI, the appropriate agency of government.’

He added: ‘It doesn’t trouble me because I don’t know if it is accurate or not. I have no way of corroborating that.

‘The individual gave me the information. I looked at it. After receiving that information I took it to the FBI.’

He added that he was now aware from media reports that the FBI was apparently already in possession of the information. ‘

The Arizona senator had issued a public statement amid mounting questions of his exact role in the affair – and how a document riddled with errors and unverifiable claims came to be published.

‘Late last year, I received sensitive information that has since been made public,’ he said.

‘Upon examination of the contents, and unable to make a judgment about their accuracy, I delivered the information to the Director of the FBI.

‘That has been the extent of my contact with the FBI or any other government agency regarding this issue.’

But the 2008 Republican loser, who disowned his party’s candidate weeks before the election, may have been far more intimately involved than that.

The dossier claims Russian authorities filmed Trump in a Moscow hotel room with two prostitutes who ‘defiled a bed’ which had previously been used by President Barack Obama

The chain of how the document reached the FBI is not officially known.

However Carl Bernstein, the Watergate reporter who contributed to the first story about its existence, published by CNN on Tuesday afternoon, suggested that McCain was handed it by a former British ambassador to Moscow.

Bernstein told CNN: ‘It came from a former British MI6 agent who was hired from a political opposition research firm in Washington who was doing work about Donald Trump for both republican and democratic candidates opposed to Trump.

‘They were looking at Trumps business ties, they saw some questionable things about Russians, about his businesses in Russia, they in turn hired this MI6 former investigator, he then came up with additional information from his Russian sources, he was very concerned by the implications of it, he then took it to an FBI colleague that he had known in his undercover work for years, he took it to this FBI man in Rome who turned it over to the bureau in Washington in August.

‘And then, a former British ambassador to Russia independently was made aware of these findings and he took the information to John McCain – Senator John McCain of Arizona – in the period just after the election, and showed it to McCain – additional findings.

‘McCain was sufficiently disturbed by what he read to take it to FBI director James Comey himself personally, they had a five minute meeting the two men, very little was said, McCain turned it over to him and is now awaiting what the FBI’s response is to that information.’

The identity of the former British ambassador has not been disclosed.

Only one former British ambassador to Moscow remains in UK government service, Sir Tim Barrow, who went on to be Foreign Office political director and is now Britain’s ambassador to the European Union.

McCain’s long-standing opposition to Trump is well known although he only formally ended support for the Republican candidate in October, when the notorious ‘p****’ tape emerged.

The Arizona senator said at the time: ‘”Donald Trump’s behavior… concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy.’

US intelligence agencies have claimed that Russian spies hacked the Democratic National Committee and leaked damaging emails designed to undermine Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president.

The new information, which has not been independently verified, claims that Russian officials also gathered highly damaging information on Trump, but only released the details attacking Clinton through the WikiLeaks website.

The Kremlin has denied all of the allegations, while Trump tweeted: ‘FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT’.

However, McCain was so concerned about the information contained within the 35-page dossier, which included allegations that Trump had hired prostitutes in Moscow to urinate on a bed that had previously been used by US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, that he passed the information onto the FBI

CNN reported that intelligence chiefs had presented Trump with a two-page summary of the dossier late last week following a briefing with President Obama.

It is not known if it included the most salacious details.

Trump has consistently denied that Russian intelligence agencies had launched a massive cyber attack ahead of last November’s election.

The dossier which McCain passed to FBI Director James Comey was compiled by the former MI6 man.

The memos describe sex videos involving prostitutes filmed during a 2013 visit by Trump to a luxury Moscow hotel, supposedly as a potential means for blackmail.

They also suggest Russian officials proposed lucrative deals in order to win influence over the Republican real estate magnate.

One claim, that special counsel to Trump Michael Cohen met with Kremlin officials in Prague in August 2016 has been branded as ‘fake news’.

Cohen denied that he was central ‘to the ongoing secret liaison relationship between the New York tycoon’s campaign and the Russian leadership’.

Cohen tweeted a photograph of his passport and said he had never visited Prague.

According to reports, the former MI6 man had been hired to conduct ‘opposition research’ on the Trump campaign by first Republican enemies of Trump, then Democratic ones.

Russia denied the claims, with President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling journalists: ‘The Kremlin does not have compromising information on Trump.’

The Kremlin spokesman called the dossier a ‘total fake’ and ‘an obvious attempt to harm our bilateral relations’.

Earlier, the Kremlin had denied hacking the Democratic National Committee and leaking information to deliberately weaken Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Donald Trump’s transition team has repeatedly denied allegations that it had received any help from Moscow.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4108960/How-Trump-s-nemesis-John-McCain-kicked-Kremlin-memo-scandal-handing-dossier-FBI-sending-emissary-abroad-collect-it.html

01/11/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Obama Denied Strikes On Iran To Protect Secret Nuke Deal

Iranian-supplied rockets killed as many as 15 U.S. troops per month in Iraq in the summer of 2011, and Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis had a plan to retaliate. The Obama administration denied his request.
Six U.S. soldiers were killed in a single such attack in early June of 2011, with another three killed just weeks later. Mattis, then the commander of U.S. Central Command, had had enough and decided the U.S. must strike back before the Iranian rockets caused further bloodshed. In conjunction with then Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey, Mattis proposed a strike inside Iranian territory, according to former senior U.S. officials speaking to the Washington Post.

The plan was to make it clear to the the Iranian government that providing rockets to its Shiite proxy insurgents inside Iraq was no longer going to be tolerated. Mattis suggested a nighttime strike against a power plant or oil refinery within Iranian territory.

The White House received the strike proposal and subsequently denied it. President Barack Obama was under the impression such a strike would infuriate the Iranians, possibly escalating the Iraqi occupation he was trying so desperately to end. Many White House staffers feared the plan risked starting a war with Iran, a country Obama wanted to seek a detente with.

“There were clearly White House staff who thought the recommendations he was making were too aggressive,” Leon Panetta, who was secretary of defense at the time, told the Post. “But I thought a lot of that was, frankly, not having the maturity to look at all of the options that a president should look at in order to make the right decisions.”

Iran was a primary backer of the Shiite insurgency in Iraq during the U.S. occupation. In addition to rockets, Iran supplied its proxies with deadly explosively formed penetrators — a version of an improvised explosive device designed specifically to tear through U.S. armored vehicles.

Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of the notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is believed to have supplied many of the weapons used by Iraqi insurgents. Some reports suggest the group’s leader, the infamous Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani was responsible for more than 500 U.S. deaths in Iraq due to his support of the insurgents.

Obama had reason to deny the strike request, though Mattis probably did not know it. At the time, the Obama administration was secretly negotiating with Iran on its rapidly advancing nuclear weapons program. A direct strike on Iranian territory would likely scuttle the secret talks. Approximately 54 U.S. military personnel were killed in Iraq in 2011, while the secret talks Iran would eventually fall apart, regardless of the strike.

Trump Promises To ‘Repeal And Replace’ Obamacare Once HHS Secretary Is Confirmed

01/11/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Trump Called Her A Dummy- Judge Dismisses Defamation Lawsuit

NEW YORK — Donald Trump can’t be sued for defamation by a political strategist who said her reputation was trashed after then-candidate Trump called her a “dummy” on Twitter during last year’s presidential campaign, according to a judge’s decision made public Tuesday.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Barbara Jaffe ruled that though Mr.Trump’s tweets about public relations strategist and Republican consultant Cheryl Jacobus were “rife with vague and simplistic insults,” they were expressions of opinion protected by the First Amendment.

“Thus, although the intemperate tweets are clearly intended to belittle and demean plaintiff,” they wouldn’t prevent her from working as a consultant and political commentator, Jaffe wrote in a 20-page decision signed Monday.

Jacobus’ lawyer, Jay Butterman, vowed to appeal the decision, adding that the ruling had effectively given “now President-elect Donald Trump a free pass to trample on the free speech rights of any critic.”

Larry Rosen, Mr. Trump’s attorney, called Jaffe’s decision “well-reasoned.” A transition spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case has its roots in a February appearance Jacobus made on CNN, in which she said the Republican candidate’s presidential campaign had not been transparent about its financing.

Jacobus had previously had two meetings with then-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in the summer of 2015 about a possible job with the campaign. And though no job offer was ever made, both Mr. Trump and Lewandowski publicly attributed Jacobus’ criticisms to her lack of employment with the campaign.

Mr. Trump tweeted that Jacobus had “begged us for a job. We said no and she went hostile,” calling her “a real dummy.” Days later he tweeted that she was a “major loser, zero credibility!”

Jacobus filed a $4 million lawsuit, saying Mr. Trump’s online attacks had cost her TV appearances and inspired bullying Twitter behavior from Trump supporters.

In her decision, Jaffe ruled that whether Jacobus “begged” Mr. Trump for a job, as he had tweeted, was subjective, rather than an objective fact.

Because it followed her own public criticisms of Mr. Trump, Jaffe ruled, the context of the exchange “signals to readers that plaintiff and Mr. Trump were engaged in a petty quarrel.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-cheryl-jacobus-tweet-judge-rules-woman-cant-sue-over-calling-her-a-dummy/

01/11/2017 by The Doctor Of Common Sense

Obama Blackballed at Golf Course for Being ‘Hostile to Israel’

The switching Sissy doing what he does best: making a total fool of himself.

President Obama’s clashes with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may cost him a membership at an exclusive golf club, sources said.

Obama is looking to join the elite Woodmont Country Club in Maryland once he becomes a private citizen.

But members of the mostly Jewish club are at each other’s throats over whether to accept the golf-loving president, with many saying he deserves to be snubbed for not blocking an anti-Israel vote at the United Nations, according to the sources.

Obama’s UN decision was Followed by a speech by Secretary of State John Kerry that was seen by many in the Jewish community as hostile to Israel.

“In light of the votes at the UN and the Kerry speech and everything else, there’s this major uproar with having him part of the club, and a significant portion of the club has opposed offering him membership,” a source told The Post.

Obama’s complimentary membership in the club — which charges regular members an $80,000 initiation fee — would have begun after he leaves the White House on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.

The Obamas will continue to live in Washington, DC — and the Rockville club would offer a relaxing respite just miles from his new home. It would also offer a chance for Obama to hit the links on “two premiere golf courses . . . known across the country for their spectacular championship play and . . . rave reviews by golfers throughout the years,” according to the club’s Web site.

“It’s a very exclusive, high-end club,” a source said.

In addition to the steep initiation fee, members must cough up $9,673 in annual dues.

“Originally, this was supposed to be a back-door thing to get this done and give him the membership — free of charge — and circumvent the rules,” said a source.

“But now, with the UN thing, they are not in position or likely to do it,” he added, saying the club is currently facing threats of potential lawsuits and litigation for breaching the bylaws to let Obama join.

Democrats and Republicans in the club both oppose waiving normal procedures for the soon-to-be ex-president, a source said.

While the club “probably skews more Republican than the Jewish community as a whole,” there are many prominent Democratic members, a number of whom supported Obama’s campaigns. But they might not support him now.

“Can you imagine how angry I would be if I had paid $80K to have to look at this guy who has done more to damage Israel than any president in American history?” an official in a Washington Jewish organization fumed to The Post.

“After the UN vote and attack on Israel, I think it probably hurts the club. If there is a club that excludes Jews, he would probably be more comfortable around those folks.”

Obama first played there in September 2015 with aide Joe Paulson, former Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides and John Shulman, head of the private equity firm Juggernaut Capital Partners.

Shulman and his wife, Alison, have donated thousands to the Obama Foundation, according to published reports. His daughter also reportedly attends the Sidwell Friends School, as do the Obamas’ daughters. He did not return calls seeking comment.

When rumors first began to spread in Washington that Obama might consider joining the club, the CEO and general manager, Brian Pizzimenti, welcomed him.

“We’d be honored to have the president at the club as a member,” Pizzimenti told the Jewish publication The Forward. “We’re glad to have offered [Obama] fun and relaxation.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

http://nypost.com/2017/01/10/obama-may-get-rejected-from-golf-club-over-israel-policies/

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