December 1, 2017

Russian parliament to bar all US media from accessing it

Source: Associated Press




By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW — Dec 1, 2017, 6:50 AM ET

Russia's parliament could bar U.S. media from reporting within its walls in retaliation for the withdrawal of a Kremlin-funded television station's credentials in the United States.

Olga Savastyanova of the State Duma told Russian news agencies on Friday that she expects the Duma to adopt the ban next week. Separately, Igor Morozov, member of the information policy committee at the Federation Council, told the RIA Novosti news agency that the upper chamber of the Russian parliament would support the ban and could vote to enforce it later this month.

Foreign correspondents in Russia can currently access the Russian parliament and some government agencies with their press credentials issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

A committee that governs Capitol Hill access for broadcast journalists on Wednesday withdrew credentials for Kremlin-funded RT after the company complied earlier this month with a U.S. demand that it register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Russia has denounced the move as a violation of media freedom.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-parliament-bar-us-media-accessing-51506560?cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed

December 1, 2017

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation tops $5 million

Source: ABC News





By PIERRE THOMAS Dec 1, 2017, 7:04 AM ET

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian government's efforts to interfere with the 2016 election has cost more than $5 million, ABC News has learned.

Those expenses include money for a staff of more than 16 attorneys, dozens of FBI agents, support staff, travel and office supplies.

A more detailed breakdown of those expenditures is expected to be released in the coming days. Investigations of this nature can take years to resolve and run into the tens of millions of dollars.

The Ken Starr probe into Whitewater — the investigation into Bill and Hillary Clinton and associates' real estate dealings — and other matters saw more than $70 million in expenditures and went on for more than six years.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/special-counsel-robert-muellers-investigation-tops-million/story?id=51506561

December 1, 2017

Obama digs at Trump over climate change

Source: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE




1 DEC 2017

Former US president Barack Obama launched a veiled barb at his successor Donald Trump on Friday, saying there is "a pause in American leadership" on climate change.

Since leaving office in January, Obama has been relatively restrained in his comments about Trump, who frequently fires broadsides at his predecessor's policies. But he took aim at the Republican president in a New Delhi speech over Trump's threat to leave the 2015 Paris climate accord on slashing global carbon emissions.

"It is an agreement that -- even though we have a little bit of a pause in American leadership -- is giving our children a fighting chance," Obama told a symposium organised by the Hindustan Times newspaper.

"And the good news is that in the United States, there are states, companies and universities and cities that are continuing to work to make sure that America lives up to that agreements that we made in the Paris accords," he added.

Read more: https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/obama-digs-trump-over-climate-change-doc-ur4941

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Obama says 'think before you tweet'

AFP

Bhuvan BAGGA,AFP•December 1, 2017

New Delhi (AFP) - Former US president Barack Obama said Friday that social media powers like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter are leading to "snap judgements to complex issues" and warned leaders to think before tweeting.

Obama was repeatedly asked about his successor, President Donald Trump, at a New Delhi symposium but stuck to a general warning to all high-profile figures to take care.

"I think it's important to be mindful of both the power of these tools but also its limits," Obama said when asked about the dangers of Twitter, a platform on which Trump has caused repeat controversies.

"What I would say is Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, all these various platforms are extraordinarily powerful tools, and those tools can be used for good and they tools can be used for ill," he said.

more
https://www.yahoo.com/news/obama-digs-trump-over-climate-change-082952921.html

December 1, 2017

Russia Is Preparing for North Korea War As Tensions Rise, Says Putin's Top Security Adviser

Source: Newsweek Magazine




BY DAMIEN SHARKOV ON 12/1/17 AT 6:50 AM

Russia is making preparations in case the diplomatic crisis around North Korea’s nuclear testing escalates into a fully fledged armed conflict, the head of Moscow’s Security Council said on Friday.

North Korea and the U.S. have threatened one another with war over Pyongyang’s decision to defy international appeals and continue developing nuclear weapons. Russia and China, who have provided trade lifelines to a globally isolated regime in North Korea, have also opposed its weapons programme but have been reluctant to back either side in the war posturing.

Russia is nonetheless drafting plans for the scenario of a war breaking out once again on the Korean peninsula, Nikolai Patrushev, the chairman of Russia’s Security Council told state news agency RIA Novosti on Friday. Patrushev would not elaborate on the role Russia might play in such a conflict, but suggested that Moscow would primarily watch out for itself.

“We find ourselves practically on the border with them,” Patrushev said, referring to Russia’s short land border with North Korea in the region of Primorye. “If there are military actions, and you know that some countries have not ruled them out, then there can be many various problems caused, including for us as well,” he added. "But we must not allow this."

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/russia-preparing-war-north-korea-says-putins-top-security-adviser-728048

December 1, 2017

Jared Kushner Can't Pass His Security Clearance Investigation, Officials Say

Source: Newsweek Magazine




BY CHRIS RIOTTA ON 12/1/17 AT 6:00 AM

Jared Kushner is a security risk embedded in the West Wing since he still hasn't passed a comprehensive background investigation required of anyone seeking a permanent security clearance—and no one will question the president's decision to put his son-in-law in a crucial government role, experts and officials told Newsweek.

President Donald Trump's senior adviser has been working under an interim security clearance nearly a year into the administration, as investigators continue to assess his trustworthiness and analyze his web of active foreign investments, according to two sources with knowledge of the status on Kushner's clearance. His permanent security clearance was stalled because he initially omitted 100 foreign contacts before revising his forms three times. Kushner's complicated business interests are also being considered after he repeatedly revised financial disclosure forms, but experts said the sheer volume of his ongoing ties to foreign investors are enough to deny anyone access to classified information.

"The real question is why hasn't his clearance been denied?" said Allan Edmunds, senior attorney specializing in security clearance law at Edmunds Law Firm. "Of course, the real reason it hasn’t been denied yet is because nobody has the moxie to tell the president his son-in-law can't be working in the White House, even though he shouldn't be."

The process for getting a government security clearance is well established: Adjudicators from the FBI comb through a form called an SF-86 while making an official assesment as to whether someone can be trusted with the nation's secrets. Those analysts take into account personal history, such as employment, relationships, foreign entanglements and business deals — and review revisions and mistakes would-be officials have made on their disclosure forms.



Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-security-clearance-white-house-access-ivanka-donald-trump-723993

December 1, 2017

Morning Joe Mocks Trump After No One Shows Up to Christmas Tree Lighting: 'Biggest Turnout

Morning Joe Mocks Trump After No One Shows Up to Christmas Tree Lighting: ‘Biggest Turnout…in History!’

by Aidan McLaughlin | 7:23 am, December 1st, 2017

Morning Joe opened up a particularly whimsical Friday-in-December show by covering President Donald Trump’s Christmas Tree lighting at the White House — and ruthlessly mocked him for his lackluster crowd at the typically busy event.

“So a beautiful, balmy evening in D.C., no excuse to get outside,” MSNBC’s Katty Kay started, describing the night. “And you go to the Christmas tree lighting — except not many people show up.”

“I’ve never seen it this empty before, never seen it this empty,” Kay added, before a photo of empty seats at the lighting was shown, eliciting audible shock from the Morning Joe panel. “Oh my God!” Mika Brzezinski exclaimed.

“Holy moly!” added John Heilemann, before quipping: “That is the biggest turnout at a Christmas tree lighting in history.”

“Someone, we know, is not going to be happy with that photo,” Kay noted.

more
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/morning-joe-mocks-trump-after-no-one-shows-up-to-christmas-tree-lighting-biggest-turnout-in-history/

December 1, 2017

Trump Blames Democrats For Kate Steinle Verdict in Tweetstorm: 'BUILD THE WALL!'

Source: Mediate



by Ken Meyer | 7:32 am, December 1st, 2017

In his latest morning tweetstorm, President Trump is attacking Democrats over last night’s acquittal of the illegal immigrant who was accused of murdering Kate Steinle in 2015.

Trump frequently invoked Steinle’s death in his anti-illegal immigration rhetoric for the past 2 years, and he previously responded to last night’s decision by calling it a “disgraceful verdict.” Trump is now on the attack again, slamming “Schumer/Pelosi Democrats” and suggesting that their weakness on border security allowed this “travesty of justice” to happen.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/936551346299338752
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/936553863255031809

After that, Trump switched gears by ripping “obstructionist Dems” for their opposition to the latest senate proposals for tax reform.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/936555753946705920

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Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-blames-democrats-for-kate-steinle-verdict-in-tweetstorm-build-the-wall/

December 1, 2017

Geraldo Rivera's 1991 Memoir Is a Horndog's Bible of Workplace Harassment

He grabs Bette Midler’s boobs, beds every conceivable underling, and waxes about failing to have sex with Barbara Walters. I read it all so you didn’t have to.

ERIN GLORIA RYAN
11.30.17 11:00 PM ET

Threesomes with young interns in the studio boiler room. Making out with a PA in front of an entire news crew. Receiving oral sex from the estranged wife of the Canadian prime minister in a Central Park rowboat.

These sexual misadventures of one prominent media man could prompt even the most cosmopolitan among us to clutch at our necks for pearls. But I’m not talking about Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Mark Halperin, or even Matt Lauer. I’m talking Geraldo Rivera.

Up through yesterday, Geraldo didn’t have much to do with the #MeToo movement until he waded unwisely into the conversation with a Streisand Effect tweet that Matt Lauer’s sexual misconduct-related dismissal from NBC’s Today was “sad” because “news is a flirty business & it seems like the current epidemic of #SexHarassmentAllegations may be criminalizing courtship & conflating it w predation.”

Not satisfied with that, the Fox News host continued. “#SexHarassment,” he said, “should be confined to situations where superior imposes himself on subordinate who feels unable to complain because of power of perp or feared consequences to victim’s employment.”

more
https://www.thedailybeast.com/geraldo-riveras-1991-memoir-is-a-fck-fest-filled-bible-of-workplace-harassment

December 1, 2017

Paul Ryan: Unlike Trump Accusers, Moore Accusers Are 'Credible'

Source: The Daily Beast




In the full transcript of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s interview with NPR, he made a distinction between the sexual assault allegations against U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore and President Donald Trump. When asked why he called for Moore to withdraw from the race, Ryan said, “That’s because I believe those allegations are credible.” NPR’s Steve Inskeep followed up with a question asking about how those allegations differed from those about President Trump, and Ryan floundered to explain why he hasn’t, in turn, called from Trump to step down. “I think the Roy Moore—I don't know if—I'm focused on Congress,” Ryan said. “Roy Moore is trying to come to Congress.” Ryan said he wants his 15-year-old daughter to “grow up in a country, she’s 15 years old, where she is empowered and respected wherever she goes and wherever she works in whatever she does,” including Capitol Hill. “We’re just finding out about some of these things which are quite frankly very disturbing,” he said.

READ IT AT NPR

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/paul-ryan-unlike-trump-accusers-moore-accusers-are-credible

December 1, 2017

N.Y. attorney general warns Project Veritas its fundraising license is at risk

Source: The Washington Post




By Shawn Boburg November 30 at 6:26 PM

Project Veritas, a conservative charity that uses deceptive techniques and undercover videos to expose what it calls dishonesty and corruption, is at risk of losing its ability to raise money in New York because it did not disclose that its founder had a criminal record, New York regulators said Thursday.

The organization has until Dec. 14 to explain why it failed to disclose James O’Keefe’s 2010 criminal conviction on records submitted to the state, according to a letter the New York attorney general sent to the charity Wednesday.

If it does not provide an explanation, the letter states, Project Veritas could lose its ability to raise money in New York, a hotbed for charitable giving and the state where the group has its offices. It was not immediately clear how much of the group’s fundraising could be affected.

Stephen Gordon, a Project Veritas spokesman, said in a statement: “This is an intentional and malicious attempt to shut us down — but we will not be stopped! We attempt to comply not only with the letter of the law but also the spirit of the law in every state.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/ny-attorney-general-warns-project-veritas-its-fundraising-license-is-at-risk/2017/11/30/7fd2d742-d606-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_veritas-455pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.1615acab12bf